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DA A arne PY A 0 / ot MA wees

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by hi db relent: Se

CONTENTS.

fon

aed à

i “N parative Physiology ahd: Psychol ss foe aa eae 5... Clevenger. «s+

oe ee I

me ap y undescribed infuectta distal ‘sack Water. és

lirata. TE EE O N OET E TOE » AUTE C: HOREN e e A a a Oe

Notes on the Physical Geography of the Amazons Wadley. . Herbert H. ae Sarà 27

Hibernation of the Lower Vertebrates. oo re ce roaa Amos W, Butler > ee s Ss é 31

The Amblypoda. (Continued from p. 1202, Vol. xvit}. [Tllus-

raa A E e E a eet E E E OTTA

The Habits of Sint TET e [fitustrat ted] Pre ek ers Edgar k oi, AW. Butler tij

On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. [Ilustrated.]. . . . msay Wright. . I

Ont Rudimentary Hind Limb of Megaptera longimana . peti anaes: F soaa |

On iid Muscles in Megaptera longimana and in other

sA e e a John Struthers... 00 so 126

Ton Sitare dià Thevelbpment of the Suspensory nern of

the Fetloek in the Horse, Ox, &c... eee «J. D. Cunningham. .

The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vere

aes Where A Geo H. Terkini, ono e ite T

A ap aea Study of the Mite Gall found on me Black Walnut

flitmeintedi] ss T Lillie J. Martin. 2... ss 6 F

On the volt a we Verhit SPiogieadvé aad Retro

Greaves 65S Gee 5S owe eee roa cue É

D Cope. e e » 140, 234, 347

Indi r ae . E. Lewis Sturtevant... . . 225

On th Lava Foni of EA ‘porestie: “piita: sS: Wallr PERE! s e a o ae 24

Paji before and after the Elevation of the Apsbacliiak

mountains, a study in Dynamical Geol opie 7 E. W. Er A Steck e sys v ARE

Life and Nature in Southera orca Clustated.) A. S. Packard. . < 269, 365

Why certain kinds of Timber prevail in certain Localities. . -odak r Campbell. . cue T

Progress of North American greeny P a hac

1884 OTTE TE E E E ee

: The Cin ie as nck eb a o a Oe Lee, 2 5 i se

Some new Infusoria. [Illustrated.} .. .. eses e> . Alfred C. Stokes . 33

’ i ican Origi ea ea B enis Srbine -se eA

The Lemuroidea m he Insectivora of the hocone yera of $

N B.D. Cope i eoe tee os EL

orth America, [Illustrated.].

Notes on the Tabea Eskimo w their ERNS rue South-

ward, [Illustrated.] .

The Relations of Mind and Maer

OO Oa ee ae

Š akerd

en ee ree Charles Morris 53.68 tos Base

y 1059, 1150

The Inter-relationships of Art ia ss oe ae ee MG a a

“How the Pitcher Plant got = piee tiima. eh vis a fomeph F. fatter. 6. see

An Adirondack National Par! =. « . William Hosea Ballon. . . « 578

brio ni ar rable Kingdom. piimad so o deter F. Wast. os ca GRIE

pan p S . . 2

"Gee ee ee ne i E e oe . 644

ppe os taeda a on ae Lake of he Woods. [1lus- : yrs

Ce ee Ake tet es Oe See it, «A.C. Lawson... s.a os o 554

i a ar Customs of the Cie Elastrated:}. -4 ` =i T cu ieke ao

Remains found near E

the City of Mex-

ee ee

‘opper by the Delaware Indians. ‘itseatea >

Bees ae

ee ele C. d

iv Contents.

Age of Forest Trees... 21.2 ese eee Caa eens I ts CAMNPOR

The Exhalation of Ozone te Odo rous Plants. Pe ees a eee F. M. A pret ya A Miller a

Glacial Origin of Presque Isle, Lake Erie... 2... e TA pid Reece Pause 908

Mythic Dry-paintings of the Ravot “Rett, J ie W. Matt i < 931

A Biography of the Halibut... ... ee eal ate eye eS 98

races of Prehistoric Man on _ Wabash . „Jno. T. Campbell.. s» > » o 965

a ae of Iconoclasm by t q of ieexien, Diis

A A ee td ae ST Ome Cas Ae KOA

The Pé rese ut Condition f the Yallovitiaë National Park... . £. D. Cope. +e a eee SON

An Observation on the apne and Cross-breeding of

Bute EAE N A isc aver coe ewe ee Penance a E. Lewis Sturtevant... . s 1049

Phiten on the — ee eg O See ca CO ELEN oe A ae . «10444

The Problem of the Soari Pees y Se be a ee DE a a eS 1055, ae de

The Stone Ax in cea lasted > RAO RCM a a veda a ae oi a ae arenas A A

Floods, their History and Rel . o o William Hosea Ballou ae ae Rw

The Significance of the ‘ i Collar Bone ” in ‘the Peace. ee 4 Opener PUNE s i z5r%

Pear Blight and its Cause. 2. 2 esse be es Fi CTR eS ig ATT

Epitors’ TABLE.

Evolution and the Church, 55; Vagaries of Nomenclators, 56; Dates of issue of NATURALIST

for 1884,57; Report of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 148; Professor Jayne and the

School of Biology, 149 ; Naturalists in Mexico, 1 di The aoe of Speech, 150; The Do a

Museum at Washington, 276; Last Year’s Discoveries oology and Palzontology, 27 i

The Geological Survey of Canada, 277; The Piaci of oe 482; The Geological eae

the National Academy Meeting, as Original research, its motives and opportunities, 691;

Criticism, 777; Receipts for Government publications, 778; Evolution in ‘Mind in Nature,”

778; The Ann Arbor meeting of the open Association for the Advancement of Science,

i U

o n embry The U.

Coast Survey, mi aopa ered the receipt of Government publi cati ee pi The de-

f 1077; Tertiary

1079; The Faiten ‘Scientist, sia; The Geological Survey of Michigan, rx

RECENT LITERATURE.

Merriam’s Mammals of the Adirondack region, 57; Gray’s Synoptical Flora,’60; Allen’s Hu-

man Anatomy, 61; Recent Books and Pamphlets, 6t ; Third Annual Report of the U. S. Geo-

logical Gace { Ilustrated], 131 ; Hyatt on the genera of fossil C he tiga 153; Parker’s

Zostomy, 154 + Shepard's Mineral Record, 156: Rick Books and Pacihinc 157 Nadail-

378; Recent Paleontological Reports of the Second Geological Survey ea Pennsylvania, 483;

The Zoological Record for m 484; Millspaugh’s kas Medicinal Plants, iiss s Philo-

_ sophic Zoology before Darwin, 485; Canadian Geological Survey, 486; Twelfth Annual Report

of the Geological and fadiga History Survey of Minnesota, 486; Recent at ks and Pam-

pi 486; Hand-book of Central European Forest Se 584; Claus’ entary Text-

o eee Zoology, 535; 'pham’s Flora of Minnesota, 585; Recent Books and =r 586 ;

| "The Cruise of the “ Alice May” [Illustrated], 693; Irving’s Pabia Rocks of Lake

ogist zologist, M uaria >

Candolle’s Origin of Cultivated Plants, 778 ; Our. ot World oe 780 ‘moi

> j ; rs of

the National Academy of Sciences [Ilustrated], 780; Dr. Krauss’ S ago, ae 781; Kings-

| ley's Madam i and Madam a A Wiat Eyferth’s eer er mikroskopische

e Roland B :

"ing of the British aeeie ris Vinings “An Je eee pits Reis: ok Tos-

"gress of the Geological and N —— ew 9793 ‘Walcott’

Contents. v

Palæontology of the Eureka district, 979; Curtis’ Silver-lead pie of Eureka, Nevada, 979 ;

Recent Books = Pamphlets, ore White’s Review of the Fossil Oysters of North America,

1079; Recent Books and Pamp s, 1080; Roma bait Researches on the Nervous Systeias of

Jelly and e wre, 8 peti Jo aaa s Catalogue of Fishes of North America, 1199 ;

Recent Books and Pamphlet

GENERAL NOTES.

raphy and dree —African Notes, 63; American Notes, 64; Asiatic Notes, a Miscel-

eous oes , 66; Amer The Chilian pst The Supposed New Island off Iceland, Meade

; Saha

The Kingdom ot the Congo; The Red Sa Cad. press News, 696; Asia: The Sanpo ait

the Irawadi; Corea; M. de Mailly-Chalon’s Journey, 784: Oceanica: New Zealand, 786;

' South America: Roraima; The Saskat chew an region, The Xingu, 787: Europe, 788; Africa:

ican s H

ews, 984; Am 9

Travels in Morocco, African News, 1083; America: American News, 1086 ; : Asiatic News,

1087; Europe: European News, 1087; Asia and oe The Sadghis, ee Carolines, Corea,

Asiatic and Oceanic News, 1202; Atrica; African News, ; America: Am EPRE aah ans

Europe: European News, 12

Geology and Paleontology Rg of the European Tertiaries, 67; Marsh on American

Jurassic Dinosauria, Part viit ; The Eocene of North Rre 69 ; Character of a Deep-

sea Deposits off tiei Pesem Coat “ the United amie "ade eological News, 70; e White

River beds of S Y, 163 $ Occurence of Boulders jh gee

position at Washington, D. C., and elsewhere, 163; at re any fossil Algæ? 165; Geologi-

cal News, 167; The Position T emaa in the Sasi ideg 289; Types of Carbon-

iferous Xiphosura new to Nor y aor: Geological Notes, 294; The Oldest Tertiary

Mammalia, 385; A Barometer ee measu ae Se separately the Weight and Pressure of the Air [Il-

lustrated], = = Eriboll ageing Rocks, 389; The Theater of the Earthquakes in Spain,

390; Geological Notes, 390; Mammalian genus Hemiganus, nh Ma rsupials from the

fae ee New Mexico, 493; The ve iat Miocene in Mexico, 494 ; Discovery of an

extinct Elk in the eg of New Jersey ; Tertiary Man at Thee 495; Geological —

; The Origin of Fresh-water F: puaa ; ie: The Batrachia of the Permian beds of

Bohemia a the a nea aen from the Bijori group (India), 592; The Genera of the Dino-

cerata, 594; The United States Geological Survey, 594 ; Insects of the Carboniferous period , 594;

i A 9 ir William ocky Mountain

Geolugical New i wson on the ic Floras of the Rocky

region ; The Syncarida, a group of Carbonifi Ši , yoo: Marsh on

the Dinocerata, a ews, 705; The Mammalia of the Oligocene of Ayres,

789 Gampsonychidz, an undescribed family of fossil Schizopod Crustacea, 790;

News, 793; T elations of alzeozoic I rman on Di

878; On the Anthracaride, a family of Carboniferous macrurous allied to

Eryonidz, 880; The Geological History of New Zealan Geological News, 882; The

Relations of the P ie Deposits, 985 ; Crosby’s Conti: and ins,

986; ical News, 987; On the Presence of Zones of certain Silicates about the Olivine

occurring in snes hosi! m iver Saguenay, 1087; Eocen and Gono-

A Critique of Croll’s Glacial Theory, rogx ; Occurrence of a deep-sea F

“minifer i in Australian 1 Miocene e Rocks, 1092; Geological News, 1092; Polemics >

bilis [Illustrated], 1208; Pliocene Horses _

"of Southwestern Texas ate 128 L List of eee socio tee Formations of Spabergn>

vi Contents.

Mineralogy and TETE —Optical rari a in Crystals of we Regular System, 296;

Mineral Synthesis, 298; Boron Minerals, 299 nt T t a

991 phosis of Gabbro, 992; Petrographical News, 993; New Minerals, 1095 ; Amer-

ican ; Sigarsis, 1096; Meteorites, 1212 ; Mineralogical News, 1214; Petrographical News, 1215.

2; Botany in Kansas, 73; Fertility of Hybrids, 73; The Younger School of Botanists

Species of North American Fungi, 76; Botanical Notes, 77; The Fertilization of Physostg ~

i B 16 i i

Botany.—The Fertilization of the Mullein Foxglove (Seymeria macrophylla) [Tllustrated],

h 5: N wal

{

98; otanica

The Node of Equisetum arate, 502; Dispersion of Spores in a Toadstool, 3¢3; The Fer-

tilization of C us iwat 503; The internal Cambium Ring in Gelsemium

sempervirens, s bet è < St reskin s Deserta he E aeoo; 505; The Pampas, 505 ; Botanical

Not soe: REO of the Wild O (Al ) [Mustrated], 6or; The continuity

of P: i

603; The Study of the Riverdons? in North America, 604; Botany at Salem, 695 ; Botanical News,

606; American Medicinal Plants, 710; Development of $ ata of the Oat [Tllustrated], 710;

f d

ACA Botani ical N ; The Fertili

Wild er (Phascshas sven ‘sete, 887; The Movement of Protoplasm in the

Styles of Indian Corn, 88 acteri: a de 888; Work for the Botanical Club

anak o

Plants watered with Acid Solutions, 1099 ; Botanical News, 1103; The Grasses of Maine, 1217;

Te pE of ee 1217; The Sa of Sets of Botanical Specimens, ge

Botanical Notes, 1

Ent omology.—C. Emery on the Fire-fly of or ee abhi Notes, 80; Poke

Abies [Mustrated], oe Nerve-termina ons on Antenne of Chilognath ak 176;

son Apparatus i 177; Occurence of Tachina Flies racheze

of Insects, 178 ; Eaton’s Monograph of recent Ephem Structure ure and Funeti

i Cons

tion, 305; Notes on the e Mounds of the Occi e t, 303 ; Notes ta the Breeding Habits of £

E, ae Lepi 1

: es, í ocellatus,

Organs of Hearing and Smell in Spiders, 402; [gnivorous Ant, 403; oere ag Notes, 403;

teproduction in the Honey-bee, 506; Life histories of Mites, 507; Firefly Light, 508; Use

an adhesive fluid in jumping Insects, 509 ; Entomological Notes, 509 ; Riley’s cada

7 Report for 1884 [us trated], 607; Lata ’s Myriopoda of Austro-Hunga ngaria, 607; Trouessart and

ee Megnin’s Sarcoptid Mites, 608 ; a mag ti News, 608 ; Unusual number of Legs in the

wi $ b LM y a g f i PT a £4, 2 Ç :

i +7 sk

Swarming of a Dung-beetle, Aphodius inquinatus, we: Insect Decade on pibe. apito Oeit

— Notes, 716: ‘The B Black, aa t-stalk Isosoma (Isosoma mgrum, n ses tie

; En ntomological N ; Anew species of taran injuring Corn R

a in Colorado lorado, 892; Mimicry of a Dragon fly by cs, ena

Edible Mexican ar 893; Entomological » 893: Dr. Brauer’s Views on

E. ae h on

ews, 1004 ; On the Parasites of the Hessian F tiap.

the Noxious Basa of Ilinois for 1884, 1105; Flights of Locusts i 5 eee

Contents. vii

Mexico in ‘sai 1105; Chinese Insect White Wax, 1106; Palpi of Insects, 1107; Entomologi-

cal News, ; Occurrence of Colias nastes in the Pamir mountains, 1220; The Eye and Optic

Tract of accu: 1220; How Insects adhere to flat vertical Surfaces, 1221 ; Season Dimorphism

in Spiders, 1221 ; Ratomologicel News, 1221.

Zoology.—The Deep-sea Explorations of the ‘‘ Taoa Sas “ihe dapek, to WR ole

penetrates Water, 84; On the Structure of the Brain ot

On the Morphology of the Tarsus in the — 86; Zoological Notes 88; The Deep sea =

plorations of the ‘‘ Talisman ” (continued), 182; The Nervous System of Antedon, 184; Herrick’s

Cladocera and Copepoda of Minnesota, 185; "a eA of the Vertebrate Aadio Organ,

preliminary notes on the Anatomy of Fishes, 187; The Larva of Estheria mexicana

(nasa 190; Aberration in the Perch, 192; A Lizard running with its Fore Feet off the

Ground, 192; Feathers of the ei 192; The Armadillo in Texas, 192; Another Swimming

trejas Echidna, 193; RARS of BAG 194; On the Centrale. Carpi of the Mammals,

1 rapezium of th amelide, sony Last appearance of the Bison in West Virginia,

ed Zola page 198; Function of Chiorophyll in Animals, 309; A Free-swimming -

3 Stru e of Echinoderms, 311; Affinities of Onchidia, 312; Zoological Notes, 312 ;

thie pei ott Hiao 404; Nėumayr’s Classification of the Lamellibranchs, ; -

tennary Gla f Cytheri 495 n Eyeless Eel, Temperature an ibernation, 405 ;

eleon Vivip: w ma ing Si 407; The Turkey Buzzard breeding

i nnsylvania, 407 ; ver hout 407 3 T e vild Horse of Thi

Organs of the Seats 510; Earth-worms, 511; Deep-sea Explorations of last Summer

; Birds out of Season,a Tragedy, 513; How s the Jerboa jump? 514; Dis-

tribution of Color in the Animal Kingdom ; Life-history of Stentor czruleus, ; A Ner

vous System in S sOit lls ot Bivalves, 611; The Lateral Line of Fishes, 612; Zoolog-

ical News, 613; Indestructible Infusorial Life, 717; On the hol e Carpus and

Ta Vertebrates, Black-footed Ferret from Texas, 720; Zoological News, 720;

Sense of Color and of Brightness in Animals, 809 ; Artificial Division of I a -

isms in Ice, 810; A Fresh-water Spon om Mexico, 810 oditic Crab, 811; Dis-

covery of d Fishes in Califorma, 811; The Mule Deer in Domestication, 811 ; The Gr

d th odern Foot, 812; Zoologica ws, 81 keleton of the i nchi, 894;

nus and species of Shrew, 896; Harelda glacialis at New Orleans in of the American

varieties ath Z, 896; ogical News, gor; E. Ray Lankester’s Contributions to a

Knowle Rhabdopleura, 1005; T e Igua f the Greater Antilles, 1o05; M. Paul

Albrecht’s EEr , 1006; PEE ofa has in the Human Embryo, 1009; Zoological

News, 1011; Recent Work on Balanog! 107; The Reproduction of the Common Mus-

sel, 1109 ; Manner in which the Lameliranchs gees themselv ves to Foreign Objects, 1109;

Pulmonaté Uropneustic Apparatus, 1110; Helix cantiana at Quebec, 1111; Rats nesting in

T 1112; Preliminary note on the Eile of Lim g 1112; Zoological News, 1113; The Sig-

Sionee of the Cell Nucleus to the Problem of Heredity, 1222 ; etamorphosis —

of re 1226; Recent Additions to the Museum of Brown University, 1227; Zoological

News. 228. l :

Emébryology.—An Outline of a Theory of the Development of the unpaired Fins of Fishes.

[Ilustrated], go ; The bodice of the Rays of osseous Fishes iaeei 200; om the

tion forwards o Rudiments of the Pelvic Fins in the Embryos of 3

Fishes, 315; Development of the Viviparous Edible Oyster, 317; On the position of the Yolk-

p d by the size of the Vitellus, ithe Development of the Spines of the

anterior dorsal of ¢ Gasterosteus and Lophius, 415; On the probable e homologies and >

velopment of the flukes of Cetaceans and Sirenians, 515; On the Formation of the Embry-

oncrescence o i

gat cherie the classification of the Chordata, 815, 903; ‘On the

ba lp in the Cane, os; On the Mate i me he cry fhe ee

Archistome- THA ‘Ils and Struc-

vill Contents.

Physiology.—The Therapeutic pte of Oxygen and of Ozone, 97; The Presence, Source

Significance a Su PaE in goon Blo od, 9 ; The Prevention of Hydrophobia, 98; The brni

Sens 318; of “ees Capillaries in Man, 319; The Piston Recorder, 320;

ood =

in the Body, 416; On the Specific Energy of the Nerves of the Skin, 417; Bacteria Literatur,

618; Vaso-motor Nerves, 618; The URN purpose eof aie the incubating

` <é rt

Conduction, 819; Movement of the Retinal Cones under the influence of Light, 819; A Contri-

_bution to the Knowledge of Pepsin, 907; oe es to op — of Bile Capillaries,

908; The scary Appearance of Striped A ; Medical Physics

21; Influence of Cocaine, Atropine and Caffeine on the “Heart and i vessels, 1122; Re-

striction aso-motor Excitement in Hypnotized Patients by Suggestion, 1123; Koch’s

> 1124; Pp

Recent beliefs concerning Cell-structure, 1236 ; The Physiological Chemistry of the Kidney,

o A valuable Series of Physiological Pie, 1240; The Histology of Striped Muscle-fiber,

Psycholegy.—Clevenger on the Evolution of Mind and Body of Man and Animals,99; A

Horse’s Memory, 102; Training Elephants, ror ; T mpanzee in Con ent,

News Carriers, 204 ; Hearing and ell in Ants, wee Psychical Research, 206 ; lli

e fa Setter Bog, 321 ~ affectionate Ang , 420; Intelligence of Tortoises,

421; Intelligence of the Limpet, 519; Psychical Research, oa med of Theft, 621 ;

pplied Metaphysics of Sex, 820; Tenacity and Ferocity in the coon, 823; Likes and Dis-

li a Deer, 824; ohkeys invariably Learn Experience ? og’s Strategy,

999 ; Do the lower Animals suffer Pain? gro; rl Research, 911 s Duiteely of Monkeys,

1017; The Inverness Dog ‘‘ Clyde,” asik Mind and Motion, 1125; Fatelligence of the Ele-

phant, 1241; Intelligence of the Orang,

= Hee —The Precursor of Man, 102; ; International Geographical Exposition, 103 ;

wea nth

ogy at the New Orleans PES E 622 ; Den E Index, Gat; The American Antiquarian, 729;

Mesithirey among Savages, 7 Agreement, 730 ; Revue d’Anthro-

pologie, 731; Ethnograph: suk Cukali, 731; Burnt Clay in <a Mounds, 825 ; "Mariality in

Washington, 826; Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, 826; The Davenport hant

ropologi i hi

Pipes, 827; Anth: cal Publications, 912; The ians, sen ; The Eighth Volume of the

Tenth*Census, 1018 ; T , 1019; Anthropologi ‘ollectors, 1019: Pujahs in Sutlej

, 1020; ‘The eview, r021; Fur Confirmation of the -

of al Perforations from Michigan Mounds, 1127; Pilling’s Bi p 1128 ;

The Mound-builders an Hist Indians, 1129 ; atives of New Guinea, 1131; The

Marl beds of Kunda ; Anthropology in Japan, 1132; Anthropologi ews, #133; Dr.

Rau’s Prehistonc Fishing, 1243; A new Cranial Race Character, 1244; E of Ancient

Italy, 1244 ; Geographical Names in Mexico, 1245; The Kansas City Review, 1245.

Mizroscopy.—Modern Methods of Microscopical Research, 106; Caldwell’s Automatic oe

crotome [Illustrated], 215; The Brains of Urodela [Ilustrated], 328 ; Semper’s Method

making Dried Preparations, 330; _Rabl’s Methods of Studying the KEEN Figures S (is

posp i 330;,The P: Bo €, 332; iol-

Cellulaire, 4255 Pergenz’ s f paer 428; os of _ pean ‘Seder of

Microscoyists, 428; ip

solute Alcohol, 420; Some A te a ere, ee OR ee ey net eal

Temi spa seed 733; pikel Sacehel Microtome Sauri 735; EN Au-

ee e by Dr, oe (lwernteal ts K

Table, 920; A simple Method of Inject-

Contents. ix

ing me Gaii and Veins in Small Animals [Illustrated], 920; Treatment of the Eggs of the

The

Spider nzevia), 1021; Rocking Microtome [Illustrated], 1022; A Means of differ-

gatinting Embry onic Tissues, 1134; Re ‘ae Balsam Preparations, 1137; The Eyes of Annelids,

11373 w Solvent of Chitin,1137 ; White Zinc Cement, 1138; e Alimentary Canal of the

Crustac nzel’s Chrome cilage as ixative, 1245; The retractile Tentacles of

46; Fre M

the Pulmonata, 1246; Imbedding in Paraffine [Illustrated], 1247; Orientation with small Ob-

jects, 1248; Prevention of Bubbles, 1248; Box and warm Bath combined [Illustrated], 1249.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS, 108, 219, 333, 429, 530, 631, 736, 832, 921, 1025, 1139, 1250.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES,

Biological ae of oe gee 110; New York Academy of esta 111 ; Boston Society

of Natural His ; American Geographical Society, 111; Appalachian Mountain Club,

III; tioii aias of Natural a 111, 222; American Sonaty for Psychical Re-

search, 223; Biological Society of Washington, 223; New York Academy of Sciences, 224;

American oe ie ha Appalachian Mountain Club, 224; Boston Society of Nat-

of Natural Sciences, 336; Biological sap of greps 432; Appalachian Mountain Club,

432; ok ociety of Natural H ; American Geographical Society, 432; New York

Academy of Sciences, ieee - ‘Philadelphia Academy of a Sciences, 432: Biological Society

of Wawa. 530; New ; Boston Society of Natural History, 537;

erican Geographical sda. 6s S31 ‘Apgaiad hian iets i 53t; Sara — ———

of Natural Sciences, 531 ational Academy of Sciences, 633 ; 1 Socie

634; logical Society of Washington, 634; New York Academy of Sciences, EE n So-

ciety of Natural History, 634 lachia untain Club, 635; iladelphia Academy of

Natural Sciences, 635; American Philosophical Society, 636; Biolo ociety ington,

; New York Academy of Sciences, 738; on Society of Natural History, 738 ; rii

Philosophical Society, 738; Iphia Acade of Na 833,9 Cincinnati

Society of History, 930; erican Fisheries Society, achi ountain

Club, 930; American Association for the Advancement of ce, 1027; Philadelphia Academ:

ty,

ington, 1252; New York Academy of Sciences, 1252; Boston Society of Natural History, 1252.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. x1x.—/JANUARY, 1885.—No. 1

COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY.

BY S. V. CLEVENGER, M.D.

E ei science of psychiatry will advance in proportion to the

development of psychology based upon comparative micro-

scopic anatomy anda physiology into which molecular physics

shall enter more in the future. The entire fabric will be a triumph

of monism, for if we set out on any other assumption, such as

the dualistic affords, than that mind is a product of chemical

energy and other natural forces, there is an end to inquiry.

The baleful influence of teleology hangs over the average

physiologist as over the superstitious laity and debars him from

seeing things as they really are. The inability to conceive of

consciousness as a product of the motions of matter is on a level

with the inscrutability of the nature of ultimate force and atoms.

In dealing with the workings of the mental mechanism it is not

necessary to define or attempt to explain consciousness any more

than the practical electrician or chemist or optician finds it neces-

sary to define or speculate upon the ultimate nature of the vibra-

tory terms in which they deal. As the physicist increases his know-

ledge of how matter and motion act and react upon each other,

he is willing the metaphysicians should quarrel over the unknow-

able, the lunar politics. With the dawn of comparative psychol-

ogy the truth began to appear, theories became subordinated to

facts and not facts to theories.

Not only are the laws which bind the social organism similar

to and derived from those which govern the units of which it is

composed, but the protoplasmic units are governed by the same

processes down to chemical affinities.

VOL. X1X.—No. I. I

2 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. ([January,

H. C. Sorby! estimated the number of molecules in p% inch

sphere of albuminous substances to be

PE aa © oo 5 sg ws ca os ob ee es 10,000,000,000,000

Water. sircss Se ce bs ees a a eevee 520,000,000,000,000

Water in molecular combination. .......-..eeeeeee- 5.30,000,000,000,000

and claims that we are as far from seeing the ultimate constitu-

tion of organic matter with our highest and best powers as the

naked eye is from seeing the smallest objects which they now

reveal to us, and that there seems no hope that we may ever see

them, for light is too coarse.

This is a limit to our sense appreciation of the subject. Reason

enables us to make safe guesses beyond the senses, but having

them for a guide and acknowledging that science does not require

final but effective causes.

The “selection” of food which is suited to the Amceba be-

comes “selection” or mere chemical attraction depending upon

how you look at it. For instance, let the assimilable pabulum

consist of molecules for which the protoplasm has affinities or

attractions, the Amceba will not only be drawn to it locomotori-

ally, but will fuse about it. As it is drawn into and becomes part

of its tissue, there is undeniable chemical union, the inert result-

ing matter is left behind or excreted in the movements. The

inert matter not only does not attract the animal, but even its

passing by or over it the assimilative motions are not provoked.

There could be an endless wrangle over the nature of this act of

the protozoon, for it involves the most weighty considerations in

all life. There is much to be said on all sides, but the moment

the acknowledgment is made that chemical affinity and other

physical influence is not the so-called will power of the Amceba,

that moment there is an end to investigation. Admitting that these

natural causes exert entire control of the protozoon, and forthwith

the postulate proves its correctness in exact proportion to the

correctness of the logical methods used in reasoning therefrom.

Much of the perplexity into which the student has been thrown

by regarding these movements has arisen from want of considera-

tion of the composition of resultants of attraction from many

points in the medium or environment due to light, heat, eddies,

vortices, disseminated invisible attracting points, the assimilative

process itself changing the conditions of attraction, as in plethora ;

1 Presidential address Royal Micros. Soc., Feb, 2, 1876,

Ba tae oe eS ee oe

1885. ] Comparative Physiology and Psychology. 3

as might be expected, movements cease, owing to combinations

being satisfied for the time. Then too the simple nature of pro-

toplasm has been by no means proven. It is being regarded as

not only complex through atomic union, but as holding in its

molecular construction secrets which the chemist may some day

find operative in the inorganic affinities. There may be, as has

been surmised, many kinds of protoplasm, and the ultimate basic

substance may be beyond. The ova of the different animals seem

to be protoplasm plus other things, differing from each other in

quantities and composition. We know that certain animals add

to their bodies chemical substances which form tissues, and that

other animals do not, showing a variability of selective affinity.

The psychologist who attempts to explain consciousness on the

basis of molecular reaction is no more at a loss than the chemist

who accepts such words as catalysis and isomerism as represent-

ing acts of the atoms.

Starting out, then, with the fair understanding that the Amceba

moves by virtue of the operation of physical causes, and that

speculations upon the origin of matter and force are foreign to

the subject, we will see to what the assumption, if you choose to

call it one, will lead.

I invite earnest attention to the proposition I make here as a

corollary from the apparent volition of the Amceba being molec-

ular attraction.

Locomotion and prehension of the Amæba are due mainly to ex-

trinsic forces operating immediately upon its organism, whereas

these phenomena in man and the majority of the intermediate meta-

zoa are due immediately to intrinsic forces, as a rule, preponderating

over the extrinsic, but nevertheless the extrinsic remain the remote

causes of motion in all animals,

In this there is a view of the evolution of volition from the so-

called involuntary, its growth from the chemical affinities.

The belief is current among biologists that if we reverse the

conditions under which all life exists, all life would perish; if

the reversal were slowly effected most would perish and but few

survive ; if inappreciably slowly, it is highly probable that the

number of surviving forms would be very large. The survival of

any animal is evidence of its consonance with its surroundings,

and the environment not only modifies and acts upon the animal

to develop or destroy it, but also, from our chemical standpoint,

4 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. [January,

originates it. Without dipping into biogenesis, spontaneous gen-

eration somewhere, somehow, is consistent with the groundwork

of our essay, but we will avoid its consideration.

Spallanzani, Dugés, Doyére and others have demonstrated that

Infusoria and certain low worms, the Rotatoria, Tardigrada and

some Crustacea are capable of desiccation and revival. The sus-

pension of the major evidence of life function by animals under

changed conditions, whether this be absolute desiccation or not,

the development of seeds and ova, after indefinite quiescence,

point toward if they do not fully attest the merging of the inor-

ganic into the organic, and the addition of the faculty known as

life through the restoration of the medium which affords the

means for the molecular motions which go to make up all there

is in life. So the restoration of frozen fish, and as Semper cites:

“ Amphibia, Mollusca and other forms have lived years without

food.” He “kept species of land snails for years, wrapped in

paper and quite dry, in wooden boxes, and thus wholly without

food, and many of them are at this day alive and active.” His

explanation is: “ The amount of nourishment required daily by

any animal must naturally be equivalent to the organic matter

which is daily used up in the various organs to keep up the vital

processes ; the more active an animal is the more food will it

require. But the vital processes of animals as low in the scale as

Amphibia or univalves are extremely feeble; their respiration,

even under the agitating influence of propagation, fails to raise

temperature appreciably. In such the vital processes RA be

reduced to a minimum without loss of life.”

The whole matter is one of degree, for warm-blooded animals

live but a little while unfed. Hibernates are comparable in con-

dition to “ cold-blooded,” while this division sustain an arrest ot

nutrition longer, and finally in the lowest forms the approach to-

ward almost indefinite suspension leads us to think that there is

a point where life and mere chemical conditions are identical.

The repeated withdrawal of that which renders life evident entails

no permanent inconvenience. Such embryos as are capable of

living in a medium such as strong alcohol several days, point to

the mechanical nature of certain low stages of life and the dimin-

ished liability to destruction of initial forms through heteroge-

neity of environment. The internal tissues of man, with their

great range of chemical natures of fluids in which the cells

Seems ber Reet ere ae ie aaa

1885. ] Comparative Physiology and Psychology. 5

thrive, instance this. With differentiation and higher organiza-

tion comes the increased necessity for stability of environment,

paralleled by the ability of low forms to reproduce lost members,

not evident in developed life.

We may regard the Amceba in many ways as having under-

gone development above some lower form; but pending the set-

tlement of the bathybius question, and with a mere glance at

Protista and preameebic life, the organism affords us a convenient

starting point for inquiry. While physiologists agree in its pos-

session of the fundamental activities of life in simplest modes of

manifestation, they usually content themselves with a mention of

this fact and proceed to examine complex differentiated tissues as

though the Amceba merited no further attention. From my way

of looking at it, the Amceba, containing the solution of so much,

deserves very deep consideration, which being accorded it, the

apparently simple becomes intricately complex in that it explains

so much.

First the environment of the Amceba: Stagnant water, mud or

damp earth, or from the infusion of any animal substance in water

and allowing it to evaporate while exposed to direct sunlight.’

It absorbs oxygen and gives out CO, 45° C. and strong

shocks of electricity kill it; moderate shocks of electricity causes

it to assume the globular still form. Crushing kills it and then

even the nucleus disappears. Freezing point arrests motions. In

its surroundings there are, besides its food, air, water, mineral mats

ter, sunlight, heat and cold, mechanical vibrations. |

At 35° heat stiffens it, at once proving the development of the

Ameceba for its medium, and that of the white blood corpuscle,

which is more sluggish, for a different one, the temperature of

the blood currents of the different animals. This may be re-

garded as an acquired adjustment.

Its molecules are subject to the law of gravitation. Light

attracts it; heat increases, within limits, its activity; vibrations,

such as eddies of its medium, move it; electricity stuns it; its

intimate structure assimilates, chemically, the substances for

which its molecules have affinities, and being nonresponsive to

those for which it has not, consigns them to the exterior.

Now if all these forces act upon and in the Ameeba, what is to

prevent external forces from pulling or pushing out its pseudo-

Practical Biology, Huxley and Martin.

6 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. | January,

podia, and with the cohesion of its mass flowing its granules into

the pseudopodium most attracted, and thus drawing it bodily in

the line of the resultant of all its external and internal forces.

The multiplicity of the components of the resultants are evident

upon watching it.

However highly differentiated the desires of man may be, and

however he may fail to recognize the attraction of his own cells

for pabulum, as soon as the food is placed within reach of the

enteric cells, her affinities are not masked. If a complex organic

protoplasm has the capacity of chemical conversion and union

with oxygen and other molecules, and at the same time the union

of oxygen with hydrogen under the proper circumstances is

through such conditions which favor the mutual attraction at a

distance, we cannot avoid the idea that a similar effect is pro-

duced upon the bioplasm, and that affinity for its food is a chem-

ical energy which is one of the forces forming, with other modes

of motion or attraction, a resultant, each of these attracting in-

versely as the square of its distance, and directly as its mass.

Because the protozoon does not go straight toward its food, it is

thought not to be attracted by it, but when in contact the pseudo-

podia envelop it, then it is said to be a will effort. When in con-

tact then the assimilation is possible and chemical energy asserts

itself as a larger component of the general forces which make

resultant motions, when at a distance the food becomes one

_ among many influences upon its movements.

Prehension, which is here evidently locomotory, is for the obtain-

ing of food, and is caused by a number of natural extrinsic forces or

attractions combined with a lesser number of intrinsic forces or attrac-

tions.

Chemical affinity is the prime cause of assimilation. Locomo-

tion is evidently here only a form of the latter, due to the former

as a direct cause, not accidentally aided, often interfered with, by

other similar natural forces, inasmuch as the Amceba may be

drawn away from his food unless it be near enough, or there be

a compensatingly large enough amount to draw it against oppos-

ing attractions.

Throughout animal life to the highest with the development

of food-procuring faculties this rule still holds good. The

more the faculties increase the more direct is the food acquisition

and the less do generally cooperate, but in this regard interfering

Po SRS ORO SE Cee ce a eT a ERS SI ees Nig RS OS Ey ae deen

1885.] Comparative Physiology and Psychology. 7

forces influence food procuring. Atavism is prominent in doing

that which drives from a base of supplies or want of foresight in

improvidence.

Prehension is an accessory to locomotion, and both are assimi-

lative acts, or acts which have for their end the assimilative.

This also is evident in full development, for every act or move-

ment of the body is of a prehensile nature. Leg movements take

hold of the ground through gravitation to carry the body in search

of food; hands and arms being directly prehensile; jaws are pre-

hensile in their food grasp; ribs are prehensile in their assisting

oxygen introduction, that gas being a food. In snakes the ribs

are locomotory prehensile.

We thus have.all the physical forces, including gravitation and

chemical energy, acting upon the low organism to cause al its

motions. Just as the heat of the sun overcomes by its gravity

the earth’s, and lifts billions of tons of water from the ocean to

allow it to fall again in obedience to terrestrial attractive force, so

may the “vitality” of an animal or plant, apparently working

against physical laws, lift the child from the embryo, the tree

from the seed, but eventually the cycle is complete and the prim-

itive elements are separated in “death” to reenter at once upon

other changes. The natural forces are masked in life-phenomena

as the law of gravitation is, though the direct agent, not recog-

nized in the upward rush of the fountain.

The Ameeba assimilates organic matter and breathes as it uses

up oxygen and exhales carbonic acid. To complete the objective

study of the Amceba we observe that it grows as a consequence

of its eating, and that owing to its growth and the operation of

the attraction of gravitation, a force too often neglected in con-

sideration by physiologists, fission or reproduction occurs, as the

cohesive attraction of its molecules cannot pass beyond a certain

limit, and the extra weight is gravitated, excreted off, a process

still evident in all animal reproduction and through excretory

channels also.

We also see that the po act is identical with eating in the

so-called neutral, genuine hermaphrodite, form. This is more

apparent in other Protozoa as a differentiation. I append my

article on this subject from Science (N. Y.), June 1, 1881:

A paper on Researches into the Life-history of the Monads, by W. H. Dallinger,

F.R.M.S., and J. Drysdale, M.D., was read before the Royal Microscopical Society,

8 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. [January,

Dec. 3, 1873, wherein fission of the monad was described as being preceded by the

absorption of one form by another. One monad would fix on the sarcode of another

and the substance of the lesser or under one would pass into the upper one. In

about two hours the merest trace of the lower one wis left, and in four hours fission

and multiplication of the larger monad began. A full description of this interesting

RENES may be found in the Monthly Microscopical Journal (London) for Uc-

tober, 1877.

Professor Leidy has asserted that the Amceba is a cannibal, whereupon Mr. J.

Michels, in the American Journal op Microscopy, July, 1877, calls attention to Dal-

linger and Drysdale’s contribution, and draws therefrom the inference that such can-

nibalistic act of the Amceba is a reproductive one, or copulative, if the term is ad-

missible. The editor (Dr. Henry Lawson) of the English journal, Oct., 1877,

ig with Miche

the numerous speculations upon the origin of the sexual appetite, such as

isade s altruistic conclusion, which always seemed to me to be far fetched, I

have encountered none that referred its derivation to hunger. At first glance such

a suggestion seems ludicrous enough, but a little consideration will show that in thus

fusing two desires we have still to get at the meaning and derivation of the primary

one—desire for food.

The cannibalistic Amceba may, as Dallinger’s monad certainly does, impregnate

itself by eating one of its own kind, and we have innumerable instances among

Algz and Protozoa of this sexual fusion appearing very much like ingestion, Crabs

have been seen to confuse the two desires by actually eating portions of each other

while Hoian and in a recent number of the Scientific American a Texan details

the Mantis religiosa, female eating off the head of the male Mantis during conjuga-

tion. Some of the female Arachnida find it necessary to finish the marital repast by

devouring the male, who tries to scamper away from his fate. The bitings and even

the embrace of the higher animals appears to have reference to this derivation. It

isa physiological fact that association often transfers an instinct in an apparently

outrageous manner,

With quadrupeds it is undoubtedly olfaction that is most closely related to sexual

desire and its reflexes, but not so in man. Ferrier diligently searches the region of

the temporal lobe near its connection with the olfactory nerve for the seat of sexu-

ality, but with the diminished importance of the smelling sense in man the faculty

of sight has grown to vicariate olfaction; certainly the “ lust of the eye” is greater

than that of other special sense organs among Bimana.

In all animal life multiplication proceeds from moen and until a certain stage

of growth, puberty, is reached, reproduction does not oc The complementary

nature of growth and reproduction is observable in the ‘as size attained by some

animals after castration. Could we stop the division of an Amoeba, a comparable

increase in size would be effected. The grotesqueness of these views is due to their

novelty, not to their being unjustifiable.

While it would thus seem apparent that a primeval origin for both ingestive and

sexual desire existed, and that each is a true hunger, the one being repressible and

n higher animal life being subjected to more control than the other, the question

then presents itself: What is hunger? It requires but little reflection to convince us

of its potency in determining the destiny of nations and individuals and what a

stimulus it is in animated creation. It seems likely that it has its origin in the

atomic ages inagimate natare, a view monistic enough to please Haeckel and

1885.] Comparative Physiology and Psychology. 9

Dr. Spitzka, in commenting on the foregoing in the same jour-

nal, June 25, 1881, says:

“ There are some observations made by alienists which strongly tend to confirm

Dr. Clevenger’s theory. It is well known that under pathological circumstances

relations obliterated in higher development and absent in health, return and simulate

conditions found in lower and even in primitive forms.

An instance of this is the fica or morbid appetite of pregnant women and hyster-

ical girls for chalk, slate pencils and other articles of an earthy nature. To some ex-

tent this has been claimed to constitute a sort of reversion to the oviparous ancestry,

which like the birds of our day sought the calcareous material required for the shell

structure in their food (?). There are forms of mental perversion properly classed

der the head of the degenerative mental states with which a close relation between

the hunger appetite and sexual appetite became manifest.

Under the heading “ Wollust, Mordlust, Anthropophagie”’ Kraft-Ebing describes

a form of sexual perversion where the sufferer fails to find gratification unless he or

she can bite, eat, murder or mutilate the mate. He refers to the old Hindoo myth

of Civa and Durgé as showing that such observations in the sexual sphere were not

unknown to the ancient races. He gives an instance where after the act the ravisher

butchered his victim, and would have eaten a piece of the viscera; another where

the criminal drank the blood and ate the heart, still another where certain parts of

the body were cooked and eaten.}

Nature, London, commenting on my article, quoted. “ Mulie-

res in coitu nonnunquam So maris mordunt,” from Ovid,

I suppose.

The locomotory, which exhibits all the prehensile acts undif-

ferentiated, is a product of a number of natural forces, and so far

as we can speak of atoms having objects, the object of locomo-

tion is food procuration.

Prehension, locomotion, assimilation, growth, excretion, repro-

duction are so combined as to appear inseparable, all are molecu-

lar motions integrating to form mass motions, and the latter to

facilitate the first.

Keeping this in sight as a biological fact it will simplify subse-

quent inquiry.

Adjustment and readjustment of the animal perpetually occurs,

the reaction of the protozoén upon its environment is possible

only through the intimate structure of the animal having been

modified by the environment, this ‘consists in molecular changes

ending in mass changes.

This tendency. is exhibited in the frequent appearance of a part

unable to throw out pseudopodia, which gravitates to the rear

1 Ueber gewisse Anomalien das Geschlechtstriebes. Von Kraft-Ebing. Arch. f.

Psychiatrie, vit.

IO Comparative Physiology and Psychology. {January,

and thus becomes the hinder part, this occurs in the proteus ani-

malcule temporarily, and in other Amceba forms as a permanent

differentiation.

The ectosarc is composed of denser but mobile material due to

separation of granular and molecular matter by natural causes.

The vacuoles are with reason assumed to be watery or gaseous

spots filtered from the assimilative process, their constant appear-

ance and disappearance are doubtless chemical and mechanical.

The CO, and water holding in solution or suspension fine excre-

tory material will find its way out through diffusion, and the elas-

ticity of the sarcode with other larger particles gravitated out

through any temporary channel. This process is apparent, though

better provided for, in cloacal animals whose watery, gaseous and

solid excreta are poured forth from fixed, often the same orifices.

The gastrza stage is this condition in full.

If with ingestion of food and oxygen the animal increases its

bulk faster than the ectosarc can accomodate itself to the change,

extraneous matter, such as carbonic acid and water, must be pro-

pelled away from the protoplasm for which it has no affinity, and

under the operation of incessantly recurring similar causes it is

not surprising that this rythmical diastole and systole should

often become quite regular.

We thus have inspiration of oxygen as an assimilative act in

its affinity for the protoplasmic molecules together with the other

accretive atomic motions and elasticity of the ectosarc instituting

rythmic contractions to expel inert products. If this be admit-

ted then she inspiratory oxygenation of every enteric and arterial

cell from the food and blood is the direct cause of vermicular motion

and pulsation.

The motions of the Amceba are assimilatory, prehensile loco-

motory, accretory, inspiratory, expiratory, excretory, repro-

ductory.

Turning now from the objective method let us examine this

primitive form subjectively. The objections to an application of

the latter process to amoebic movements are equally valid against

all other animals, even man. We know nothing of the workings

of consciousness in others except by comparing like effects and

inferring from them similar causes. We have the various molec-

ular and molar workings of the Amceba as a guide in determin-

ing what it feels, likes and dislikes. Descartes’ conclusion,

pag gaa E a a a Gs

1885.] Comparative Physiology and Psychology. II

“ Cogito ergo sum,” Huxley regards as “non sequitur.” I would

merely postulate both ends of the sentence as being for physio-

logical study, unassailable: “Sum et cogito,” and let the meta-

physicians wrangle over the rest. The Amceba’s functions are

simple but nevertheless the same as our own. Forthwith we

must assign it a desire for food, which desire is the chemical

affinity of atoms, then the Amceba hungers. This, Professor E.

D. Cope? assigns as “the primitive desire and a form of pain.

This was followed by gratification, a pleasure, the memory of

which constituted a motive for a more evidently designed act, viz.,

pursuit.”

Dividing primitive desires arising from (or with, if you wish)

the atomic affinities into those which subserve and those which

oppose assimilative processes, we have the origin of pain and

pleasure, under which two heads all conscious workings may be

classed.

Pain increases with the quantity of atoms unsatisfied. As long

as there are protoplasmic molecules with affinities, the number of

them wanting food increases the desire (attraction directly as the

mass). Of course as soon as destructive starvation breaks down

the molecules the desire ceases.

This is evident in the final loss of desire for food in extreme

deprivation in man.

All unsatisfied desire is painful, as :

Hunger in the absence of food.

Desire to move about while disabled from so doing.

Desire to excrete when prevented by any cause.

In the act of satisfying desires pleasure is apparent :

Hunger appeased. :

Movement unconstrained.

Emunctories unobstructed and excretion active.

All pains and pleasures are relative and intense in proportion

to the precedence of one or the other extreme.

The pangs of parturition are obstructive excretory, and what

obstetrician has not noticed the happiness of accomplishment by

the mother.

A pleasure is often wholly due to the preéxistence of pain, and

bearing upon the evolution of the reproductive excretory cellular

into a desire which in its influence upon animal life is second

1 Origin of the Will, Penn Monthly for June, 1877, p- 446.

12 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. [ January,

only to that of hunger, this relativity must be borne in mind.

The pleasurable anticipation of eating is a memory, the physical

basis of which in the Amceba is a motion of the molecules in-

volved in assimilation; their activity, their tension (the hungry

Ameeba is always more active than when fed). The reproductive

excretory is in the Amceba scarcely to be called a desire, so

dependent is it upon the performance of the assimilative act.

The desire is invoked in exact proportion to growth from assimi-

lation, provided other means of consumption of this growth are

not operative.

This is obvious throughout all animal life. When hunger is

extreme the sexual desire is absent. Full meals sometimes ex-

cite voluptuous feeling. The repression of this excretory desire

for a time becomes painful until readjustment enables vicariation.

The desire to excrete the sperm cell is the male peculiarity, the

desire, when present, of the female being, as shown in the Science

article, identical with hunger. It is the hunger of the ova which

are part of the female and which by differentiation have come to

be capable of satisfaction in the manners to which they have

grown.

From the anaha stage, with its denser envelope preventing

the escape of the cells for a longer period this sexual excretory

desire would increase differentiation of the sexual hunger from

the general hunger, is shown in the Drysdale and Dallinger

monad.

C. M. Hollingsworth! on the “ Theory of Sex and Sexual Gen-

esis,” assigns causes determining sex: “Since germ cells are

large and sperm cells are small, it may be at once inferred that

where they are formed in different parts of the organism, the

parts in which germ cells or their producing organs are formed,

must be parts in which the conditions are especially favorable to

nutrition; and that the parts in which sperm cells or their pro-

ducing organs are found, must be relatively unfavorable to nutri-

tion and favorable to cell division.”

“The hypothesis is that a relative preponderance of the condi-

tions on which cell division depends causes the formation of the

female or pale generative organs,.or determines the sex of the

individ

Bateadine this to the Amceba the pure relativity of sex is seen.

1 AMERICAN NATURALIST, July and August, 1884.

PE E E EE ae ES T A E rE Be rl TE aÀ EA; ETORAS

1885.] Comparative Physiology and Psychology. 13

If the Amceba had undergone differentiation above some form by

which it was engulfed, it could be regarded as the male. If it

were swallowed by a synameeba then it is the female cell, and the

product of this sexual eating would be either male or female—

synamceba or amoeba according to the preponderance of differen-

tiating influence or the disposition to increase by fission on the

resulting fused mass.

Desires consisting of atomic tensions or affinities, the condi-

tions of continuance or satisfaction of desire, involves feeling or

sensation, a low form of consciousness; this is justified in consid-

ering our developed similar states during the same processes of

hungering, eating, etc., and as in us repletion discontinues desire,

so does it in the lowest form of life we are discussing.

The sensations involved in assimilation would be difficult to

separate from those concerned in pseudopodia-protrusion or gen-

eral locomotion, as they are identical in effect in the Ameeba;

admitting their identity, it is easy to see how, by invagination of

the ectoderm the later differentiation could occur by an enteric

tactile developing in one direction while the ectodermal would

change with direct reference to locomotion or prehension. But,

as even when the enteron is formed, a prehensile tactile sense is

retained and developed, analogies between the same distributions

to external and internal parts remain though the sensations in

many respects differ. The passage of materials in the intestines

- awaken few feelings so long as the adjustment is not disturbed,

on the same principle that we do not feel external ordinary stim-

uli perpetually recurring.

Pressure is the feeling of constraint, a with molecu-

lar and mass movement, it is a painful state of consciousness

arising from the inhibited movements, the desire to move being

consequent upon proper assimilation, and is referred to an inter-

ference with that function.

The hunger pain and appeasing hunger pleasure are due to and

consist in chemical tensions and release from tension, the absence

and presence of certain molecules. This carried up the scale of

Metazoa convinces us that desire, feeling, sensation reside im every

living cell in the body, and are not seated exclusively in nerve

tissue. With the differentiation of function there will proceed

changes of degrees of intensity of certain feelings in those living

cells, but the fundamental hunger pain and pleasure of its gratifi-

cation are never differentiated out of existence in any cell.

14 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. | January,

Desires, feelings, sensations, consciousness, cognitions, ideas,

memories, emotions, etc.,are one and all conditions of the molecules

of the cells, and in the ravenous though unavailing appetite of some

diseases wherein nutrition is at fault, the feeling is shown not to be

solely located in the intestines but all over the body, and the inabil-

ity of physiologists to locate centers for desires in the brain is ex-

plained. Whenever the exhibition of a feeling or a feeling itself

has been destroyed through injury, it has been through failure of

the zracts which convey molecular movements generated by such

feelings from the now nervous bodily cells wherein those feelings

are highly developed. The nerves are pure association systems,

and where the feeling aroused in an organ had become, through

constant repetition, associated with certain other feelings or with a

motor expression, then nerves of association would be built up through

least resistant lines.

The organism consisting in the sum total of the life activities

of its cells, the dissociation of the organism from its locomotory

organs, the legs, cut off the ability to walk, and paralysis of

strands leading to the legs dissociate similarly.

Cutting off the organ of special sense or destroying its tracts

similarly dissociate. There is a difference between cells acting

for themselves or acting unitedly with others.

Returning to our Amceba, the mobile granules and molecules

moved with every impulse. Its sensations were motions and its

motions sensations, the two were inseparable. With a change in ©

the density of its ectosarc, retarding fission, the morula form arose

and in the break of the envelope Amcebe are, as might be ex-

pected, liberated, but they have inherited this molecular develop-

ment of ectosarc induration and develop into synamcebe as did

its parent.

The planzeada developed cilia through a similar law. Owing to

the difficulty of withdrawing pseudopodia once protruded, these

atrophied into vibratile organs through starvation, and the hunger

motions of the cells set up oscillations of the cilia which, sub-

serving the life purposes better, were perpetuated and the motions

of the cells adjusted themselves to the necessity and brought the

environment food to itself by causing eddies, and a new means of

locomotion arose. Still sensation and motion were identical, for

the molecular movements constituting sensation ended in their

summation of motions into gross locomotory motion, except that

a ee ee Se E E T ET EEEE ee

1885.]+ Comparative Physiology and Psychology. 15

the cilia were organs of locomotion while the body remained

sensitive. We may regard the cilium as formed of dead material

in the main, Dallinger and Drysdale’s monad rejected it in eating

its companion. This would shadow forth the possibilities of a

set of ciliary vibrations becoming known to the animal as tactile

locomotory, differing from, though ministering to, hunger sense,

and a change in the aggregation of the cell granules would fol-

low. When the cell granules moved in keeping with the ciliary

motions either the locomotory memory or act was aroused, if in

accordance with hunger movements then the memory of hunger

was aroused and this could react on the cilia to move them.

When the ectoderm reached a stage of hardening admitting of

no more strain upon it, the central contents transuded by some

means, probably temporary rupture. The gaseous and watery

contents escaped and the animal collapsed into the gastræada

stage. The enteric cilia still remain as originally developed, but

of course changes between ectodermal and endodermal experi-

ences would differentiate the two areas. The inner remained

subject to constant encounters, or nearly so, and the outer had

the brunt of every change. :

The accelomotous Turbellaria appear to me to be more of an

aberrant type not in our phylum, many of the forms have under-

gone much development. The delamination origin of the gas-

trula stage could be one of those ontogenetic short cuts often

made in copying phylogenesis, the end attained being the same.

The Scolecid presents the most evident progress toward

development in the vertebrate direction. Its ccelom contains the

first nutrient fluid allied to blood, but its circulation is not estab-

lished. The denudation of the useless external cilia, though

occasionally developed into stiff sete, in a turbellarian follow the

locomotory process, changing to that characteristic of worms,

elongation and contraction of the body length. Hubrecht’s

Pseudonematon illustrates this movement, through the alternate

contraction of longitudinal and circular muscles with a plexiform

nervous system between. The motion is in some respects simi-

lar to the flow of amceba granules forward into an arm, but organ-

ization has restricted this to a to-and-fro motion. The shape of

the body rendering this the easiest mode of progress, the sum of

the life activities act in least resistant lines to elongate and then

contract the worm. Cause and effect exchange places in the circu-

16 Comparative Physiology and Psychology. (january,

lar fibers, being placed, through the motion of elongation, in a

state of inertia, enabling the contraction of the longitudinal with

consequent adjustment of the circular fiber molecules, so they

can act to advantage. The repetition of these two opposed mo-

tions through the epidermal confinement of the skin, rendering

them about the only ones that could be made, initiated by the

-attractive affinities of the protoplasm, finally developed the con-

tractile tissue. The ventral location of the nervous system in the

Errantia and others is due to development through use of that

region differentiating locomotor areas from the epidermis, and in

Insecta it is the persistence of the phylogenetic origin. In the

worm stage the external tactile becomes fully developed through

the heterogeneity of molar vibrations to which it is subjected.

One method of locomotion being possible, another is also pos-

sible, differences or variations in one or the other, such as could

be caused by mechanical means, could result in a sinuous move-

ment arising from want of rigidity in the worm length. A com-

plex of causes, simultaneous and successive, operate to change

the usual mode of locomotion and introduce so-called compound

reflexes.

The formed tissue, of which Beale speaks, is often excremen-

titious, and has, through being useful, been retained by the cells.

The sandy covering of the rhizopod, Astrodiscus arenaceus, may

have been “ selected” by agglutination of the envelope with the .

particies, or the shell of a mollusk may form through excretory

processes or a covering may be acquired by squatter right as

with the hermit crab. It matters little to the animal. The fight-

ing cock will use the steel gaffs with as much gusto as though

they had grown from his legs, nor is the cell a particle more par-

ticular. If it find in its environment matter with peculiar prop-

erties it will, through “ selection,” eat what it can and excrete the

rest. If the excreted material have enough affinity for the cell

to remain in its vicinity, and a life process is subserved by that

` fact, things chemical and mechanical in nature will conspire to

associate the material with the cell. I regard nerve granules,

such as are found arranging themselves or being arranged into

first plexuses of fibers and then definite tracts, as having arisen

accidentally. As the rhizopod could not have acquired his over-

coat where there was no sand, the ancestral worm which picked

up a nervous system could not have done so in the absence of

eS ern

aiii

Spe ect Se at epee age hoa a E T

1885.] ° Comparative Phystology and Psychology. 17

assimilable phosphates. The resulting nervous system became

more and more definite in tract formation as motions became

more and more definite between parts. These nerve granules

had a molecular mode of action altogether different from any-

thing experienced before by the animal. In higher forms the

cell substance, which had the particular ability to excrete or

secrete it (relative terms), formed along the area of the plexus and

tracts, next an encapsulating membrane formed about it, in obedi-

ence to ordinary physiological and pathological processes that an

intermediary substance will be attracted and form around tissues

or even foreign substances as a resultant of the mode of opera-

tion of the two tissues. In due time areas of nerve granule gen-

eration find in itself small plexiform areas which are turning

points of direction for the molecular nerve discharge, and by en-

capsulating these the nerve cell is formed, which I regard as hav-

ing no other functions than a histogenetic one aside from the

molecular impacts passing through it. From protoplasm exuding

the nerve granules the nerve cells develop to that office; from in-

different tissue forming cartilage, some of the latter form osteal

cells.

A plexiform rudimentary nervous system conveys irritations

over the body. When the discharges become definite the linear ar-

rangement appears as in the ascidian embryo, the head end devel-

oping through tactile and rudimentary sense organs determining

there with frontal impact of environment. Most influences act-

ing to excite the squirt or vermicular motions from mouth to

anus, a method of locomotion and ingestion at the same time.

It is easy to see how the mechanical perforation of a ccelenter-

ate sac caused the enteron to be completed, but the origin of the

circulatory system is not so evident. The enteroccele is in direct

communication with the enteron in ccelenterates and the fluid

it contains, as Huxley says, “ represents blood,” it is nutrient ; the

lacunz of some worms are the next step toward a blood vascu-

lar system. The pseudo-hemal system of the Annelida contains

a substance resembling hemoglobin, and with these facts before

us we may construct the vascular system and its workings in

some such way this: Ccelom, a receptacle for a fluid containing ,

nutrient matter which had strained through the endodermal cells

and through interstices between them. Next the appearance of

hzmoglobin or its —— in the ceelom. The eel proper-

VOL. XIX.—NO.

18 Infusoria from Fresh Water. [January,

ties of this substance consist mainly in its solubility by alka-

line fluids and its affinity for oxygen, “ which is linked to it by

ties so easily broken. that it can be transferred to other easily

oxidizable bodies existing by its side, that it can be given up

when its solutions are gently heated in vacuo or agitated at

moderate temperatures with large quantities of inactive gases,

as nitrogen or hydrogen.”* This oxygen carrier next formed a

cell especially adapted to its transportation.

A’

oWe

SOME APPARENTLY UNDESCRIBED INFUSORIA

FROM FRESH WATER.

BY ALFRED C. STOKES, M.D.

HE Infusoria whose descriptions are appended have as yet

been observed only in the shallow ponds of Western New

York, although they doubtless occur as plentifully elsewhere.

Near the pretty village of Olean, in the bosom of the western

hills, they pass their little lives amid attractive surroundings.

Scarlet clusters of the cardinal flower and great bunches of yel-

low primroses make brilliant the shores of their aquatic haunts,

while tall Rubus odoratus holds it purple roses aloft in the warm

air, and Anemone pennsylvanica lifts its white blossoms above the

“lush and lusty grass.” A bird chirps in the shading maple

boughs, a frog cries and splashes into the pool amid the Myrio-

phyllum and Utricularia ; a meditative cow gazes quietly at the

intruding biped, and the blue sky bends above, and the blue mists

rest in the hollows of the distant mountains, The placid water

teems with life. A furrowed Euglena, hitherto undescribed and

unseen by the eye of man, rotates like an animated screw in and

out among the utricles and leaflets of the water weeds.

This green creature, which I have named Euglena torta, bears

the remotest resemblance to any known member of its genus. The

parenchyma is as usual uninterruptedly green, but the characteris-

tic features are the spiral grooves or keel-like ridges traversing the

entire body from anterior extremity to posterior i where

they are lost in the origin of that colorless caudal prolongation:

The animalcule is but slightly flexible and apparently not change-

able in shape during life. After death by poisoning the ridges and

1Gamgee’s Phys, Chem. of the Animal Body, p. 91,

1885.] Infusoria from Fresh Water. IQ

depressions disappear, and the body becomes smoothly subcylin-

drical. In life, however, it cannot be mistaken for any known

species of the genus. Among the Euglenæ it is unique. Fig. 1

delineates it under a magnification

of 360 diameters, and the sub-

joined description probably con- Fic. 1.— Euglena torta, sp.nov. X 360.

tains its essential specific characters.

Euglena torta, sp. nov.—Body elongated, subcylindrical and traversed by three

longitudinal, spirally directed furrows, or three spiral, keel-like longitudinal eleva-

tions; anterior extremity rounded and slightly bilabiate ; more or less tapering pos-

‘teriorly and terminating in a colorless, acuminate, somewhat curved caudal prolonga-

tion; cuticular surface smooth; endoplasm green; amylaceous bodies usually two,

cylindrical, situated one on each -side of the spherical, centrally located nucleus;

contractile vesicle and pigment spot conspicuous near the anterior extremity; flagel-

lum subequal to the body in length; movement rotary on the long axis. Length of

body z}, inch. Habitat: Among Utricularia in shallow ponds in Western New

York.

In movement, but in little beside, a Phacus from the same pool

resembles Euglena torta. This rotation on the longitudinal axis

it has in common with Ph. triqueter, Ph. longi-

caudus, Ph. pyrumand Ph. pleuronectes, the other

members of the genus, all of which are more or

less abundant in still and shallow waters. It is

represented in its lateral aspect in Fig. 2, mag-

nified 280 diameters. It may be described as

follows:

Phacus anacelus, sp. nov.—Body broadly ovate or subor-

bicular, more or less compressed, the right and left sides con-

cave, the dorsal and ventral margins each traversed by a

deep longitudinal furrow, the body thus appearing to possess

four keel-like ridges; caudal prolongation colorless, acuminate Fic LA

d curved toward the dorsal aspect of the body; eye-spot g sp. nov. X

and contiguous contractile vacuole conspicuous; flagellum 280.

subequal to the body in length, inserted beneath a prominent

lip-like projection; nr green. Length of body 51, inch. Habitat : :

Shallow ponds in Western ork.

All of the Vorticellæ are attractive, but the most beautiful

form I have yet met with is one that occurs in some profusion

scattered over the rootlets of Lemna from this same rich

little pond. At first I was disposed to identify it with Ehren-

berg’s V. chlorostigma, but subsequent study showed that such

identification could be justified only by that zodid’s probable

coloration. It is considerably more campanulate in form than

20 Infusoria from Fresh Water. [ January,

the Ehrenbergian species, and has not the densely granu-

lated parenchyma of the latter. In color it is a translucent

homogeneous emerald-green. It has a frequently exercised

tendency to a characteristic change of form by retracting the

borders of one side of the extended body so as to produce a

deep depression, while the contracted zodid exhibits a habit

of some slight diagnostic value in the sheathing of the dis-

tal end of the pedicel by the posterior extremity of the body.

The cuticular surface is transversely striated by depressions so

fine that they are ordinarily visible only at the lateral borders or

after manipulation of the mirror. Minute granules occasionally

Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5.

Fic. 3.— Vorticella smaragdina, sp. nov., showing lateral depression. X 180. FIG-

4.—Diagrammatic outline of V. smaragdina when extended. Fic. 5.— Vorticella

macrocaulis, sp. NOV. X 360.

roughen the surface and are barely visible under an amplification

of 250 diameters, when they appear to add to the distinctness of

the transverse striations without making themselves conspicuous,

With magnification of 400 diameters they are seen to be minute,

dark-bordered refractive particles arranged in no apparent order

and having no connection with the surface strie. They are not

constantly present, and their absence seems to add to the beauty

of this peculiarly attractive creature. When the infusorian is well

and the surroundings are auspicious, but little of the contracted

pedicel remains uncoiled, this atomie of living emerald then

quivering at the summit of a crystalline spring, like a spherule of

ch rase on a coil of silver thread,

a EN NE

1885.] Infusoria from Fresh Water. 2I

The pencil can give hardly more of this exquisite creature’s

appearance than a diagrammatic outline, and little more has been

attempted in the figures (Figs. 3 and 4). The translucent green

coloration of the entire sarcode, the peculiar indentation of the

side, the delicate poise of the contracted body at the summit of

the closely coiled foot-stalk, the whole charm of the living crea-

ture is lost in the lines of black and white.

Vorticella smaragdina, sp. nov.—Extended body, conical-campanulate, changeable

in shape, an irregular depression often formed on one lateral border; the width of

the peristome nearly equal to the length of the body, the anterior margin dilated,

somewhat constricted beneath the peristome border, the posterior body-half tapering

to the pedicel; cuticular surface finely striate transversely and often roughened b

minute, scattered granulations; peristome border everted, slightly revolute; ciliary

disk very slightly elevated; the entire parenchyma translucent and colored emerald-

green; vestibular bristle conspicuous; pedicel colorless, eight to ten times as long

as the body, contracting in numerous close coils; contracted body subspherical, a

posterior annulation sheathing the extremity of the pedicel. Length of body zi,

to s}5 inch. Habitat: Rootlets of Lemna in ponds in Western New York. Soli-

tary or few together.

In external contour as well as in the length of the pedicel

another species of the genus, which I have named Vorticella ma-

crocaulis, resembles V. longifilum S.K. It is, however, imme-

diately distinguished by its surface striations which, although

fine, are distinct, and by the proportion borne by the length of

the body to the width, the former, with V. ongifilum, being twice

the latter, while in the species under consideration these parts

differ much less in relative size. No recorded member of the

genus possesses a pedicel of so great a length as the one here

referred to, except V. longifilum and V. telescopica, both of the

latter having an unornamented cuticular surface. If this contrac-

tile foot-stalk were delineated under an amplification equal to that

of the body in Fig. 5, it would necessarily be depicted from six

to seven inches long, being ten to twelve times the length of the

extended zooid.

Vorticella macrocaulis, sp. nov.—Body elongate-campanulate, one and one-fourth

times as long as wide, attenuate and tapering posteriorly; peristome somewhat

wider than the greatest width of the body, everted and thickened but not revolute;

ciliary disk evenly rounded and elevated; cuticular surface finely striated trans-

versely ; contracted body obovate; pedicel ten to twelve times as long as the ex-

tended body, its entire length contracting into close coils. Length of body 45

inch, Habitat : Shallow ponds in Western New York, attached to Lemna rootlets,

Solitary,

Still another species of Vorticella from the same habitat is that

\ j

22 Infusoria from Fresh Water. [ January,

shown in Fig. 6 under the name of V. utriculus, which resembles

in form V. striata Duj., a salt-water infusorian. In its conspicu-

ous surface striations it also suggests the marine animal, and in

size, furthermore, the two somewhat closely correspond. In the

comparative proportion of breadth and length they differ, also in

width of peristome as well as in the length of their respective

pedicels, that of the marine form being twice and that of the

sweet-water species three times as long as the body. V. utriculus

may be a fresh-water variety of V. striata. The coincidences of —

{

Fig. 6, Fig. 7.

Fic. 6.—Vorticella utriculus, sp. nov. X 437. Fic. 7.—Vorticella macrophya, sp.

nov. X 535-

form and other essential characters are at least interesting and

suggestive.

In its habitat it is disposed to be solitary, although it does not

object to neighbors if not too near. Usually when one is found

others are to be noted arranged singly on the same Lemna root-

let, and at almost equal distances apart. When contracted the

pedicel is coiled in close rings, and has its distal end sheathed by

_ the posterior termination of the body in a manner similar to that

of V. smaragdina when in the same inactive state. It is shown

extended in Fig. 6, magnified 437 diameters, and may be de-

scribed thus:

1885.] Infusoria from Fresh Water. 23

Vorticella utriculus, Sp. nov.—-Body vase-shaped or subpyriform, somewhat

changeable in shape, twice as long as broad, widest centrally, tapering posteriorly,

and slightly constricted beneath the everted and revolute border of the peristome,

whose width is a little less than the greatest breadth of the body; cuticular surface

strongly and conspicuously striate transversely ; ciliary disk slightly and obliquely

elevated; vestibular bristle conspicuous; pedicel three times as long as the body;

contracted zodid obovate or pyriform. Length o dy gis inch. Habitat: At-

tached to Lemna rootlets in ponds in Western New York. Solitary or scattered.

Descriptions of several members of one genus must necessa-

rily contain much repetition wearisome to the general reader.

The records can be scarcely more than comparisons of contour

and structure, resemblances and dissimilarities. The habits of

the numerous kinds of Vorticellz are essentially the same. This

particular one that I have named the “long-shaped” Vorticella,

V. macrophya, bears a striking resemblance to V. cucullus From.,

and might justly be identified with that species, were it not for the

presence of cuticular striz and the absence of the cushion-like

ciliary disk.

It is an interesting coincidence that this and two preceding

forms from the same little pool, although they so widely differ,

should so uniformly present, when contracted, the small annular

sheath about the attachment of the pedicel. In every instance

that portion of the zodid which accompanies the distal end of the

stem into the body remains included until the animal is otherwise

almost completely expanded, when that part slips out quite sud-

denly and so completes the act of dilatation. The Vorticella is

shown expanded in Fig. 7, magnified 535 diameters.

Vorticella macrophya, sp. nov.—Body elongate-conical or obconic, twice to two

and one-half times as long as broad, widest at the anterior margin and thence taper-

ing to the attenuate posterior extremity; peristome border revolute, not everted;

cuticular surface finely striate transversely ; ciliary disk slightly and obliquely ele-

vated; nucleus band-like, short, curved and situated in the anterior body-half; i-

cel once and one-half to twice as long as the body, the muscular thread stout; con-

tracted zodid obovate, the posterior extremity sheathing the distal end of the spirally

coiled pedicel. Length of body ;},inch. Habitat: Attached to Kaen of Lemna

from shallow ponds near Olean, Western New York. li

Jutting outward from the edge of Luna edand on the Ameri-

can side of Niagara falls, within twelve feet of the curving brink

of “the cataract which here shoots down the precipice like an

avalanche of foam,” projects a rock submerged and washed by

the almost rythmic flow of the reflex currents from that mighty

flood, There tangled clusters of a deep green Alga clung by a

single point of attachment. The ripples swept above and left

24 ` Infusoria from Fresh Water. [ January,

them anon streaming wildly as the waters sank below the stone,

only to dash them upward again as the waves rushed back.

Scarcely thinking to obtain any animal life clinging to a plant

that rejoiced in such swirling turbulence, I gathered the weed

while my friend adhered to the extremities of my coat as desper-

ately as the Alga adhered to that limestone rock. The plant, as

the Rev. Francis Wolle, of Bethlehem, Pa., tells me, is Cladophora

glomerata Linn.; the undescribed form of Zoothamnium, unex-

pectedly found in thrifty abundance on the lower branches, is

Zovthamnium adamsi, sp. nov., named for the Rev. J. E. Adams,

Fic. 8.—Zosthamnium adamsi, sp. nov.

of Olean, N. Y., a cultured and eloquent gentleman, who assisted

in its capture.

So far as external form is concerned the members of this col-

ony resemble those of Saville Kent’s Z. simplex, a company of

elongated zooids clustered at the summit of a smooth, unbranched

stem. Both are conical, both are widest at the frontal border,

both are tapering and attenuated toward the insertion of the ped-

icel, but here the resemblance ceases. The cuticular surface of

the new form now referred to is not smooth, as is that of every

other recorded fresh-water species, but is finely and delicately

striated transversely. So closely approximated and so tenuous

are these elevations that it is only after the most careful scrutiny

under an amplification of not less than 400 diameters, that they

1885.] Infusoria from Fresh Water. 25

become apparent to a trained eye, and even then only as infini-

tesimal lines on the lateral borders of the extended bodies. No

more careful adjustment of the objective, no more careful man-

ipulation of the mirror is needed to study the markings of a

diatom than is demanded by this little creature before its mark-

ings impress the observer’s retina. In the figure (Fig. 8) they

are represented by lines, fine it is true, but almost out of propor-

tion to the elevations which Nature has placed on the living sur-

face of the infusorial atomie, whose home was at the brink of

that stupendous cataract of emerald and foam and spray-

smoke, amid the eternal complaining of beaten rock and broken

flood.

The supporting pedicel is usually simply bifurcated at a point

distant from its algal attachment about twice as far as are the fur-

cations of the branches from the extremity of the main rachis.

Sometimes the pedicel throws off three branches from its sum-

mit, and more frequently four divisions. The prevailing form,

however, is the dichotomous. Above the second series of bifur-

cations the branches become of diverse: lengths, instances occur-

ring in which the branchlet is twice as long as any other part.

The length of the ultimate divisions, those immediately support-

ing the zodids, seems quite constant, being usually about one-

half as long as the extended body. The whole pedicel is stout

and robust, and, is conspicuously marked by longitudinal strie.

Its contractions are comparatively slow and few. There is none

of that sudden coiling, as with the Vorticellz, when the expanded

_ infusorian leaps back into quick contractions and momentary qui-

escence that often startles the rapt observer.

After the colony has been under observation for a prolonged

period an action takes place that I have not seen recorded with

any member of the genus, a movement recalling the contractile

performances of the disconnected muscular threads of individual

members of Carchesium. Two neighboring zodids fold together

their ciliary apparatus, and their own private foot-stalks retract

into coils without disturbing the general equanimity of the com-

munity. This has been observed repeatedly, the retracted mus-

cular thread being, in every instance, in apparent connection with

that of the remainder of the pedicel. This thread, however,

seems to be delicate. For no visible reason it soon separates into

numerous scattered fragments within the sheath. In those in-

26 Infusoria from Fresh Water. [ January,

stances just referred to, an inappreciable separation had probably

taken place.

The contracted body, when certain adjuncts of the entire col-

ony are taken into consideration, affords some points that may be

of diagnostic value. The creature probably affects running

water, or water agitated by proximity to a current, but that it is

restricted to the restless waters beating the shores of Luna island

and pouring a resistless flood to make that terrific plunge, is not

to be thought of; there only was its original habitat so far as the

writer is concerned ; and when it is found, as it probably will be,

in swift streams far beyond the sound of the “ Thunderer of the

Waters,” its contracted form may offer some characters to aid in

its identification. When the frontal region is folded together,

and the whole body contracted, the zodid bears some resemblance

to the bodies, when in a similar condition, of Opercularia plicatilis,

described by the writer in the American Monthly Microscopical

Journal for December, 1884. The anterior snout-like projection,

the radiating cuticular elevations, the posterior annulations, are

all similar. With the Zoothamnium, however, the conspicuously

crenulated border of the projection and its longitudinal plications,

of the Opercularia, are absent or obscure, while the radiating

ridges on the shoulder of the Zodthamnium are much more

prominent though fewer, and the posterior annulations, though as

numerous, are less marked.

The short, curved, band-shaped nucleus is constantly present

in the anterior body-half, but its relative position is inconstant.

At times its concavity is presented directly forward toward the

ciliary disk, at others it is nearly perpendicular, with the convex-

ity directed outwardly, and in rare instances it is transversely

placed near the center of the body.

A colony of this attractive infusorian is delineated in Fig. 8.

The cuticular markings, as before intimated, are chiefly shown to

emphasize the fact of their existence, not to exhibit their tenuity

or number.

Zoithamnium adamsi, sp. nov.—Body elongate-conical or conical-campanulate,

twice as long as broad, widest anteriorly. tapering to the pedicel, and slightly con-

stricted beneath the peristome border; cuticular surface very finely striate trans-

versely; peristome border wider than the body, revolute; ciliary disk rounded and

elevated ; contractile vesicle single, situated beneath the peristome border; nucleus

short, band-like, curved and anteriorly placed; main rachis of the pedicel. usually

bifureate, frequently quadrifid, occasionally tripartite; branches dichotomous, un-

1885.] Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. 27

equal in length, commonly shorter than the main stem, the ultimate divisions less

than one-half the length of a single zoöid, each division supporting a single animal-

cule; entire pedicel stout, longitudinally striate; contracted zodid obovate or sub-

pyriform, the frontal border projecting in snout-like manner, and the anterior body-

half thrown into prominent Gestalt plications, the posterior body-half into sev-

eral annulations. Length of body ziy (0.0024) inch; height of main stem ;};

(0.0030) ; of the entire colony q}; (0.0090) inch. Habitat: Attached to Cladophora

glomerata on the shore of Luna island in the rapid water of the Niagara river.

"Ty"

NOTES ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE

AMAZONS VALLEY.

BY HERBERT H. SMITH.

OST of our common maps indicate a triple division of the

Amazons, the Peruvian portion being called Marañon, the

Middle Amazons, Solimoens, while all below the junction of the

Rio Negro is distinguished as the Lower Amazons, Geogra-

phers have treated this division as one of custom and conveni-

ence only, and so far as the Peruvian portion, or Marañon, is con-

cerned, they are right; its distinction from the Solimoens is

merely nominal, Brazilians and Peruvians speaking of both por-

tions as the Upper Amazons. But this A/to Amazonas is con-

stantly and clearly distinguished from the lower or main river.

“The Amazons,” say the river pilots, “is formed by the junction

of the Solimoens and the Rio Negro; the Solimoens is called

Upper Amazons because it is longer and has more important set-

tlements on its banks, but it is really a branch like the Negro.

Indeed, at the junction it is the Solimoens which forms an angle,

while the Negro is directly in a line with the Lower Ama-

zons, so that it appears to be the main river.” This idea is uni-

versal among the river people, and it has led to many important

results. The “ Amazons” and “ Solimoens” are well recognized

in commercial affairs, and they have even formed the basis of a

political division, the limits of the provinces of Para and Alto

Amazonas corresponding pretty nearly with those of the Lower

and Upper Amazons.

The division is, in fact, much more significant than geographers

have supposed.. Whatever may have led to the distinction of

names, there is a real and well-marked physical division, not only

of the river itself, but of the country and its fauna and flora. Mr.

Bates is, I believe, the only traveler who has nay indicated

28 Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. [January,

some of the differences between the two regions. Following him

in part we may thus divide them:

1. The Upper Amazons region, to the base of the Andes and

for hundreds of miles on both sides of the river, is a perfectly

level expanse, nowhere raised more than a hundred and fifty feet

above the river and generally only just out of reach of the high-

est floods. The Lower Amazons, on the contrary, passes through

a comparatively high country, with table-lands several hundred

feet above the river and many abrupt hills or even mountains.

These elevations increase towards the north and south until they

join the great table-lands of Guiana and Brazil.

2. As a consequence the great tributaries of the Upper Ama-

zons—notably the Purts, Juruá and Içá—present a perfectly open

navigation almost to their sources ; but those of the Lower Ama-

zons are obstructed by rapids and falls where the water flows

down from the highlands. A secondary consequence is that the

Upper Amazonian branches are very crooked, while those of the

Lower Amazons are comparatively straight.

3- The soil of the Upper Amazons is either a rich ferruginous

clay or vegetable mold which, according to Bates, often attains a

thickness of twenty or thirty feet; stones are hardly ever met

with. On the Lower Amazons the soil is nearly always sandy,

and mold forms only in favored localities, such as swamps and

river-banks,

4. On the Upper Amazons the trade-wind is never felt, and the

air is always moist and warm; rains are very frequent, especially

near the Andes, and the dry season is only marked by the com-

parative lightness of the daily showers. On the Lower Amazons

the trade-winds blow freely during a great part of the year, and

there is a well-marked dry season; in some districts the rains

cease almost entirely for weeks together. Probably the average

temperature is somewhat lower near the Atlantic than on the Up-

per Amazons. :

5. The great forest of the Upper Amazons, so far as we know,

is unbroken except by the rivers, and it has a width of a thou-

sand miles or more from north to south. The forest belt of the

Lower Amazons is hardly half so wide, and it is interrupted in

many places by campos or open lands, either grassy or stony

plains, without trees, or sandy tracks with a thin semi-forest

growth like that of Central Brazil.

1885.] Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. 29

6. The alluvial flood-plains of the Upper Amazons are far

more extensive than those of the lower river, probably attaining

in some places a width of at least one hundred miles. They are

covered everywhere with heavy forest which, during a large por-

tion or the whole of the year are flooded, so that canoes can pass

freely underneath the branches. On the Lower Amazons the

alluvial belt varies in width from fifteen to forty miles, and it

is occupied, in great part, by open meadows which are only

flooded during the rainy season.

7. The fauna and flora of the Upper Amazons are exceedingly

rich in genera and species, and they are almost entirely com-

posed of forms which are fitted only for a forest life. On the

Lower Amazons such forms are mingled with others which be-

long to the open lands, or which are not essentially sylvan; in

general the species are less numerous than on the Upper Ama-

zons, and many of them are distinct, but allied or “ representa-

tive” forms. Those species which are common to the two

regions are frequently larger and of more rapid growth on the

Upper Amazons.

As may be supposed the two regions fade into each other, but

something like a definite boundary between them is formed by

the Rio Negro on the north and the Madeira on the south side

of the Amazons. These, the former with its broad expanse of

water, the latter with its immense flood-plain, are almost impassa-

ble barriers to the migration of species. They, together with the

main river, divide the whole Amazons valley into four parts, each

of which is characterized by a pretty large number of animals

and plants. The other great tributaries may limit lesser groups

of species, and the great flood-plain has a perfectly distinct as-

semblage of animals and plants which, in their turn, differ essen-

tially on the Upper and Lower Amazons.

Let us now, for the moment, leave the Solimoens and confine

our attention to the region east of the Rio Negro and Madeira.

The valley of the Lower Amazons is limited on the north by the

mountain range which separates British and Dutch Guiana from

Brazil. Most of these mountains are table-topped; and they are

clearly remains of a great elevated plain. The region, two or

three hundred miles wide, which separates them from the Ama-

zons, is very imperfectly known, but it appears to be almost en-

tirely occupied by a less elevated plain, edges or spurs of which

30 Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. (January,

are seen near the river in the table-topped hills of Almeyrim and

Velha Pobre, each more than 1500 feet high. This plain may be

regarded as a great terrace, abutting abruptly against the high

peaks of the Guiana chain,and cut down as sharply near the

Amazons to a second terrace which forms a low region between

the table-topped hills and the river flood-plain. Sometimes an

intermediate terrace may be distinguished, as at Monte Alegre

and Prainha; outlying and much denuded portions of the upper

terrace are seen in the rugged hills of Ereré and Tajury, west

and north of Monte Alegre.

The southern side of the valley, from the Madeira eastward,

seems to be everywhere a low table-land, which rises gradually

or by terraces to the elevated plains of Central Brazil. Near the

Amazons and its tributaries it is abruptly cut down, forming

bluffs three or four hundred feet high. A line of these bluffs ex-

tends, with slight interruptions, from the Tocantins almost to the

Madeira. Generally the bluffs form the southern edge of the

Amazonian flood-plain, but in some places, as near Santarem,

they are separated from it by strips of low land answering to the

lower terrace on the northern side. The bluffs themselves may

correspond to the intermediate terrace of Monte Alegre and

Prainha.

Between these northern and southern terraces, crossing the

country from W.S.W. to E.N.E,, is a low, flat, perfectly level ex-

panse, very irregular in outline and varying in width from fifteen

to forty miles; at the Atlantic end only it spreads out like a fun-

nel, occupying perhaps a hundred miles of coast. The yellow

Amazons winds through this flood-plain, rarely touching the bor-*

ders, now pouring through the narrow pass at Obidos, now ex-

panded into sea-like reaches, again broken into two or three por-

tions, separated by great islands. Everywhere the alluvial land

is dotted with shallow lakes and seamed with channels—goodly’

rivers which hardly appear on the maps. Constant changes are

taking place in this network; new islands and shallows are

formed almost every year, and old ones are altered or washed

away. I know of one island, three miles long, which disappeared

completely in less than ten years; the river steamboats now pass

directly over its site.

On the Lower Amazons the islands and river-borders of the

flood-plain are called varzeas, though Properly the term is applied

1885.] Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. 31

only to those portions which are above water during more than

half the year; lower and perennially wet tracts are known as

ygapos In contradistinction, all dry land which is out of reach

of the annual floods is called zerre-firme. Islands of high land

(ilhas de terra-firme) are frequently seen in the midst of the var-

zeas and along the irregular borders of the flood-plain it often

happens that the varzea and terre-firme are mingled in the most

complicated manner; such places would be puzzling enough to

the student were it not that the alluvial land can be at once dis-

tinguished by its vegetation. Frequently the varzea or ygapo

forest is continuous with that of the /erre-firme, but the trees are

always of distinct species, and no experienced woodsman would

think of confounding them.

On the southern side of the mouth of the Amazons, separating

it from the Tocantins and Para, is a great lozenge-shaped island

cailed Marajó. At its south-western end it is separated from the

mainland by a network of narrow channels connecting the Ama-

zons with the Tocantins. The tides ebb and flow in these chan-

nels but the south-westerly current predominates, so that a por-

tion of Amazonian water reaches the Tocantins. The channels

are cut through a wide stretch of alluvial land which is directly

continuous with the flood-plain of the Amazons. Marajo itself is

almost entirely composed of or covered with alluvial deposits.

The eastern and northern parts of the island are occupied by

varzea meadows, while the southern and western portions are

almost continuous swamps, noted for their rubber trees and for

their deadly fevers. The whole island abounds in shallow lakes,

and it is cut up by hundreds of small creeks and channels, the

haunts of alligators and serpents. Only along the eastern and

southern edges there are some narrow strips of ¢erre-firme, true

rocky land raised well above the highest floods. The first settlers

took advantage of these little dry spots, building their houses on

- them and sheltering their cattle there when the meadows were

overflowed. Breves and other villages owe their situations to

these zorroes. 7

From the highlands of Guiana a number of rivers flow down,

with many rapids and falls, to the Amazons. None of these

streams have been explored to their sources, and most of them

are known only near their mouths, where they flow across the

1In Tupy, a wet land or swamp.

32 Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. |January,

region which I have called a lower terrace. As soon as they

enter this region the rapids cease, and immense flood-plains

spread out on both sides. Besides the fact that these flood-plains

are out of all proportion to the rivers, they are remarkable for

the extreme irregularity of their borders, Every little stream

which enters the main affluent passes through a flood-plain of its

own, often five or six miles broad, though the stream itself may

be hardly as many feet across. Crooked bays of varzea extend

far into the mainland; numberless islands of ¢erre-firme are scat-

tered over the flood-plain; and the most conscientious map-maker

who attempts to unravel this tangle is likely to give up in despair.

The irregularity generally increases toward the. Amazons, where

the alluvial land of the tributaries spread out broadly until it is

lost in the Amazon flood-plain.

Three great tributaries—the Tapajós, Xingu and Tocantins—

flow down over the southern table-land from the center of South

America. Geographically it should be said, the Tocantins cannot

be regarded as a tributary of the Amazons; its mouth, called the

Para river, receives a portion of Amazonian water, but it opens

into the Atlantic and is separated from the main mouth of the

Amazons by Marajó. Physically the three rivers resemble each

other closely. They are all clear-water streams, flowing down, with

many rapids, to a point about 150 miles from their mouths, where

the rapids cease, and the rivers gradually expand into quiet lakes.

The lakes are bordered by bluffs, edges of the table-land and

continuous with those which border the southern side of the

Amazonian flood-plain. In their lower portion these lakes are

from seven to ten miles wide and very deep; they have hardly

any current, but rise and fall with the tides as regularly as the

sea. At their northern ends they are suddenly contracted by the

Amazonian flood-plain, and here they receive Amazonian water

through narrow channels or furos. The furos, where they open

into the lakes, are still bringing in Amazonian sediment, and they

have thus pushed their mouths far into the clear water. The Tapa-

jos and Xingu finally reach the Amazons through embouchures

less than half a mile broad—about the average width of these

rivers near their lower falls.

Some smaller rivers which enter the Amazons from the south

have more or less muddy waters, and these have filled up their

valleys with sediment. The flood-plains thus formed are bordered

cai aiia pope ES ee =

1885.] Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley, 33

by bluffs precisely like those along the Lower Tapajés and

Xingu. It is evident, then, that these muddy rivers, in their

lower courses, were once expanded into lake-like reaches, similar

to those of the clear-water tributaries.

‘If we now return to the northern side of the Amazons we

shall find at least one clear-water tributary, the Trombetas, which

is lake-like along its lower courses. But as the river here passes

through low ¢erre-jirme, the bluffs are wanting; the borders are

extremely irregular, and numerous small lakes open into the

main one on either side ; islands or peninsulas of low, rocky land

separate these lakes from the river, and smaller islands are cut off

in the lakes or in the river itself} In fact the whole corresponds

precisely to the irregular flood-plains of the other northern tribu-

taries. The latter, being muddy, have filled up the lakes and

channels with sediment, and they now wind about in broad allu-

vial tracts, the borders of which seem to be inextricably mingled

with the zerre-firme.

I believe it can be shown that all the main tributaries of the

Lower Amazons are, or have been, lake-like in their lower courses.

_ The question then arises: Were these lakes produced by a dam-

ming back of the tributaries by Amazonian silt, so that they filled

up their valleys? I think not. No doubt the alluvial land,

closing the mouths of the lakes, has tended to raise their waters;

but the flood-plain of the Lower Amazons is everywhere so near

the level of the sea that this uplift cannot have been very great,

The tides, which are felt on the main Amazons as far as Obidos,

are very apparent on the Lower Xingu and Tapajós; Bates no-

ticed them on a secondary tributary of the latter river nearly six.

hundred miles from the ocean. It is well, also, to note the simi-

larity of the Tapajós and Xingu to the Tocantins, which opens.

broadly into the sea and cannot owe its lake-like lower course to-

any damming back of the waters.

Having reached this point it requires but little imagination to

apply the same reasoning to the Amazons itself; to look. upon

the flood-plains as a filled-up sea or great bay, with many

which now form the flood-plains or tidal-lakes of the tributaries.

Let us go back in imagination to the period before this sea was

filled up and map out the Amazonian system as it then was.

Stretching eight hundred miles west-south-westward from the

I owe these notes on the topography of the Trombetas to Professor Os A. Derby.

VOL, XIX.—no. I, ' 3

34 Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. |January,

Atlantic, a narrow estuary bay or inland sea divided the northern

part of the South American continent. The water in the eastern

portion was clear and salt; heavy tides swept up the long sand-

beaches and dashed against the cliffs of clay and conglomerate.

In general the channel was clear, but here and there little rocky

islands added to the picturesque beauty of the shores. On the

northern side a number of blue mountains could be seen; spurs

and outlyers of the table-land which stretched down from the

Guiana chain. To the south a line of bluffs fronted the water,

the northern edge of another great table-land. The Tapajós,

Xingu, Trombetas and many smaller rivers flowed into the Ama-

zonian sea through long branch estuaries or tidal bays. Some of

these streams were muddy and tended to fill up their mouths;

others preserved clear, deep channels.

Just at its mouth, on the southern side, the great estuary met

a lesser one, now the Lower Tocantins, and its outlet, the Para.

The two bays were partly separated by a string of low sandy

islands and reefs, like those now fronting the sounds along the

` south-eastern coast of the United States. These reefs now form

the ¢orrées along the southern and eastern side of Marajó.

In the Amazonian bay the greatest extent of brackish or fresh

water was towards the western end, where the water was shallow

and much obstructed by islands. Islands and shallows owed their

existence to, and were yearly being built up by, the Solimoens

and Madeira, which here poured in their floods of muddy water.

The mouths of these rivers formed two branches at the head of

_ the bay; a third branch marked the outlet of the Negro, which,

as it brought down little sediment, preserved a wide and clean

channel.

Then, as now, the trade-wind blew in freely from the Atlantic,

and the climate was equable and moist. The plants and animals

of the shores were probably similar to those which now inhabit

the highland, but the great estuary formed an impassable barrier

to many species, and the Guiana fauna and flora were more

sharply divided from those of Brazil. The estuary itself was-in-

habited principally by marine forms of fishes, Crustacea and Mol-

lusca; only at the western end, where the hae rivers emptied

in, brackish-water forms prevailed.

eastward, filling up the estuary with islands, As this eastward

1885.] Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. 35

movement went on, the branch estuaries were blocked up at their

mouths by the islands which formed in front of them. Where

the branch received a muddy tributary it also was filled up; but

the clear-water tributaries, like the Tapajós, Xingu and Tombetas,

brought down no sediment, and their estuaries, closed at the

mouths, assumed the form of lakes.

In this way the whole of the Amazonian flood-plain has been

built up. Passing now a step farther back it is easy to see that

the flood-plains of the Solimoens and Madeira were formed in

the same way. But the vast extent of this alluvial land on the

Upper Amazons seems to indicate a widening of the great bay at

its upper end; a kind of inland sea connected with the ocean to-

wards the east by a comparatively narrow strait. This sea, at

the period of which I am speaking, had no connection with the

Orinoco valley, for the Amazonian flood-plain is now separated

from that river by rocky terre-firme, indicated by the falls of the

Orinoco and Negro. Several large rivers, flowing down from the

Andes, emptied into the sea near its western end, and eventually

transformed it into a river by filling its bed with sediment. These

Andean torrents still exist as the Huallaga, Ucayale, Napo, Tigre

and extreme Upper Amazons.

Such a branched estuary bay as I have described could only

have been formed by the subsidence of land over a great area,

and the encroachment of the sea on the valleys of some former

Amazons and its tributaries. “This subsidence must have taken

place subsequently to the deposition of the clays and sandstones

which form much of the éesve-firme along the Lower Amazons. ,

For the very tributaries on which the above arguments have been

based flow through valleys which they have cut in the clays and

sandstones themselves. It appears probable, also, that the period

of subsidence was anterior to the formation of the Tabatinga

clays on the Upper Amazons.

- For the sake of clearness I have described the silting-up of the

valley as occurring during a period of repose subsequent to the

subsidence. But it is quite possible that the subsidence and fill-

ing up were, in part, contemporaneous. The Upper Amazonian

sea may have had its outlet through a Lower Amazonian river

1It may be, however, that this widened flood-plain is due to the extreme shallow-

ness of the valley of the upper river; the Amazons, dammed back somewhat by the

accumulations below, would tend to spread out on either side and build up its own

36 Physical Geography of the Amazons Valley. (January,

which, by the sinking of the land, was changed to an estuary

while the sea was being filled with sediment. These questions

must be settled by a more careful study of the Upper Amazons

and its tributaries and especially of the Madeira and Negro. But

whatever the changes may have been it is certain that the Ama-

zonian river system is much older than the period of subsidence

of which I have spoken. The slow pulsations of the earth have

sent many throbs to this equatorial region ; centuries of subsi-

dence have been followed by centuries of upheaval, and these

again by depression; river ‘has become sea and sea has passed

into river and estuary again and again since first the rains and

springs united to form an infant Amazons. We have ‘some

glimpses of this older history, but as yet geological exploration

on the Amazons is too new to give us any very clear sequence of

events.

It appears certain that the immense low plain of the Upper

Amazons was occupied by a Tertiary sea, older and much larger

than the one which has been described above. Tertiary marine

shells have been found at several points on the Marañon and Sol-

imoens, and the Tabatinga clays which contain these shells ex-

tend far up the Japurá and Purts. The upheaval which placed

these clays beyond reach of the river waters may have taken

place long previous to the estuary depression, and many changes

may have intervened. It appears probable that this Tertiary sea

opened into the Atlantic through what is now;the valley of the

Orinoco, and that the Cassiquiare, which at present unites the

two great river-systems, may correspond to one side of the strait

or channel. It has been supposed that the sea had two outlets,

one by the Orinoco valley and the other by that of the Lower

Amazons, and that the Guiana highland formed a great island be-

tween them. Of this I think there is no sufficient proof. On

the Lower Amazons the bluffs between the Tapajés and Tocan-

tins and the table-topped hills of the northern side are formed of

clays and ferruginous sandstones; but it is yet to be shown that

these are continuous with the Tertiary formations of Tabatinga.

Similar clays and sandstones occur all through Central and East-

ern Brazil and in the Argentine Republic, but they belong to

many different ages; no one who has studied geology in Brazil

will be likely, on mere lithological grounds, to unite formations a

thousand miles apart. The clays of the Lower Amazons, then,

1885.] Hibernation of the Lower Vertebrates. 37

may be older or newer than those of the Marañon, and the Ter-

tiary sea which left the shells at Pebas may or may not have been

united with the ocean by a Lower Amazonian strait. Some facts

in geographical distribution lead me to suppose that Guiana was

then united to Central and Southern Brazil. In that case the

Amazons may possibly have flowed westward into the Tertiary

sea from some high land farther east.

“re

HIBERNATION OF THE LOWER VERTEBRATES:

BY AMOS W. BUTLER.

je a recent article in Sczence (Vol. 1v, No. 75, pp. 36-39) Dr. C.

C. Abbott gave the results of his observations of the hiberna-

tion of some of the lower vertebrates,

I have for several years, as opportunity offered, noted my ob-

servations in this line, and while my experience in some respects

has been similar to that of Dr. Abbott, I feel that the results I

have obtained may be appreciated by others similarly interested.

The climate of New Jersey and Southern Indiana is much the

same ; this fact will lead us to expect somewhat similar results

from our observations.

The common box tortoise, called also “land tortoise” and

“terrapin,” according to locality, hibernates regularly in Southern

Indiana. It frequents the drier woodland, partially overgrown

with underbrush. It enters the ground in the latter part of Sep-

tember or early in October to a depth not exceeding a foot, the

average being from eight to ten inches.

A few years ago, in March, I was burning over a track of wood-

land on which were a number of brush piles; when the fire

burned out I passed by where some of the brush piles had been and

_ noticed that the ground appeared to have been torn up as though a

charge from a shot gun had been fired into it. Examination, in

several instances, revealed the fact that the work had been done

by tortoises. The heat having penetrated to the depth of their

winter quarters and aroused them from their winter's sleep, they

now sought the surface and the cause of their sudden awaken-

ng. :

. The day being quite cool I placed them in a beaten road which

1 Read before Section of Biology A, A. A. S., at Philadelphia meeting, 1884.

38 Hibernation of the Lower Vertebrates. [January,

passed through the woods and awaited further proceedings; they

appeared to realize that they had entered upon their summer

career too soon, anda few moments saw them all safely buried

beneath neighboring brush piles and bunches of leaves.

The box tortoise emerges from its winter quarters late in April

or early in May.

Mud turtles, including all the river and pond turtles, hibernate

in this locality, but there will, no doubt, be occasional exceptions

found to this rule.

The “soft-shelled” turtles burrow deep into the mud, while

their “ hard-shelled” relatives are not so susceptible to climatic

changes, and their wintering places are not at such a depth.

I have under my charge a water-power canal fourteen miles

long, parts of which are thickly populated by turtles. In the win-

ter time while making repairs, “ hard-shelled” turtles are often

found at a depth of four to twelve inches beneath the earth in the

bed of the canal; when one is found we feel quite confident of

finding from two to four companions near by. . Many turtles fre-

quent little coves along the banks of the canal, where the water

is from two to three feet deep; these indentures are generally made

by muskrats ; in repairing the destruction they cause as many as

three or four “ hard shells” are sometimes taken from their muddy

quarters. `

The White-Water rivers are very clear in winter, enabling one to

examine even their deeper portions to advantage. I have never

been able to hear of an instance where a turtle has been seen

even in the deepest water; besides, the deeper pools are seined

almost every winter,and I have been unable to learn of a turtle

ever having been drawn out in a seine at that time of the year.

My fellow-worker, Mr. E. R. Quick, gives me some notes

which are exceptions to the rule of hibernation just mentioned. He

says: “ I bave known mud turtles (Arvomochelys odoratus Latreille)

to leave ponds which became dry in the winter time and go to

the river near by. Inthe winter of 1874-5 I saw the tracks of a

large turtle in the snow leading from the bed of a pond which

had become dry, to the river a short distance away. I think the

tracks were made while the snow was melting.”

The above instances appear to indicate that the act of hiberna-

tion is voluntary to a certain extent. I have found “ hard-shelled ”

turtles that had been left at some distance from the river by win-

yA OP NE re BE ENA eo iy ae ee a a a en ee a

SI tie STIS a! a

1885.| Hibernation of the Lower Vertebrates. 39

ter floods ; they appeared dead, but when brought to a fire became

quite active. “ Soft-shell” turtles always die when thus thrown

out by rises in the river in winter.

Our more tender fish hibernate, but there are many hardy spe-

cies that frequent the deeper pools of our rivers and are caught

in large numbers by means of seines and nets let down through

the ice.

The species most commonly caught in this manner are quill-

backs (Carpoides velifer Rafinesque, and C. cutisanserinus Cope),

white sucker (Catostomus teres LeS.) and the “hog sucker” or

“ molly-hog” (C. nigricans LeS.). The latter is apparently the

hardiest of our fishes, being found in winter in shallow water of

from six to twelve inches in depth. When the ice is three or

four inches thick and clear, many “ molly hogs” are caught in

the following manner: The fisherman walks slowly along’ the

edge of the river on the ice, keeping a close lookout for fish, which

will be seen just beneath the ice ; a heavy blow with an axe imme-

diately above where they are either kills or stuns them; hastily

cutting a hole in the ice the fisherman throws his fish out and

proceeds in search of another. By this method, some winters,

great quantities of fish are caught.

The common toad regularly hibernates, in sandy soil burrow-

ing to the depth of eighteen inches, in clayey ground the average

depth attained is about eight inches. . They frequent gardens and

are often found in their burrows in autumn by the gardener when

burying garden produce and apples. In early spring they are fre-

quently thrown out by the spade during early gardening, and in

a few moments hop off apparently without impediment.

Frogs are, at times, found some distance from water, passing

the winters burrowing in damp places. —

Early last spring when clearing out a cellar window two leop-

ard frogs (Rana halecina Kalm) were found burrowed beneath

the accumulation of the past year. The weather was quite cool

and the frogs appeared to be dead, but when taken into a warm

room they soon revived and began croaking. The locality where

these frogs were found is on a ridge about seventy-five feet high

and over three hundred yards from the river.

As a rule newts and salamanders do not enter the ground but

spend the winter in springs and beneath leaves and logs in the

damper woods. I have found them in winter, when the springs

40 The Amblypoda. [January,

were not frozen, to be quite active. I have taken the common

newt on several occasions in damp woods, under logs, when they

appear to be frozen, but when placed in the sun or held in the

hand a short time would revive. Early in March the woodland

ponds ot this vicinity teem with salamanders of different species.

In this part of the Ohio valley, as a rule, tortoises, turtles,

toads and frogs are found hibernating; on the other hand the

newts, salamanders and many species of fish do not enter a tor-

pid state.

Exceptions to these rules will doubtless occasionally be no-

ticed, but from the present state of our knowledge of the life-

histories of these animals they hold good.

sA’

sU.

THE AMBLYPODA.

BY E. D. COPE.

(Continued from page 1202, Vol. xviii.)

DINOCERATA.

N this suborder we have a series of mammals which are in

some respects the most remarkable that have ever existed.

This is true whether we regard the bizarre appearance of their

skulls, their dentition, so weak when compared with the bulk of

their bodies, or the insignificant size of their brain. We only

know them as yet from the Bridger or Upper Eocene formation

of North America, with a species possibly — the Wasatch or

Lower Eocene.

The characters of this suborder have been already pointed out

(Vol. xvi, p. 1121). The differences from the Pantodonta are

well marked, but the resemblances are such as to render it impos-

sible to refer the Dinocerata to a different order. Their strong

resemblances to the Proboscidia are generally admitted, but the

few characters which distinguish them are of the first import-

ance. These are, first, the very small size of the brain, especially

of the cerebral hemispheres; and second, the double distal articu-

lation of the astragalus, where the facet for the cuboid bone is

nearly as large as that for the navicular.

Within the above definition there is room for much variation,

which, however, the known genera do not display. They agree

in various points of minor importance. Thus there is no sagittal

BO ee

PS ae

1885.] The Amblypoda, 4I

crest of the skull, the temporal ridges being lateral, and there is

a great transverse supraoccipital crest. These crests are more or

less furnished with osseous processes or horns. The middle pair

of these (Fig. 29) consists in part of the maxillary bone, and

stands in front of or over the eye. The nostrils are well roofed

patna.

Sei = rom the Bridger bed of Wyom

vey Terrs., F. V. Hayden, Vol. 11. Towi jaw restored from Osborn, Geol, Sur

Soxibolbcdes and Uintatherium, From individual represented in Pl. 1.

over by the nasal bones. There is always a diastema behind the

canine tooth in both jaws. There is less difference between the

premolar and molar teeth in the known genera than in the Panto-

donta, and they all have the same pattern, although the origin of

the pattern may be different in the two series. Thus in the upper

42 The Amblypoda. [January,

jaw the crowns of the molars support two oblique cross-crests,

which unite to form a V with the apex inwards. There is some-

times an internal cusp or tubercle. The inferior molars consist

essentially of an outer V and a heel; the true molars differ in

having the heel a little larger and more recurved on its posterior

border, but it does not rise into a transverse crest as in the

Coryphodontide. Mr. Osborn shows that the inferior incisors in

Loxolophodon are compressed and two-lobed.

The known genera agree with the typical Proboscidia in the

shape of the scapula with pos-

terior expansion and apical

acumination ; in the flat carpal

bones; in the absence of pit

for round ligament of the

femur; in the flattened great

trochanter, contracted con-

dyles, and fissure-like intercon-

dylar fossa of the same bone.

Also in the short calcaneum or

heel bone, which is wider than

long, and rough on the inferior

face ; in the five digits on both

feet, and the wide peduncle and

iliac plates of the pelvis and

lack of angular production of

the latter beyond the sacrum.

In spite of these resem-

blances, the Dinocerata are at

one side of the line of descent

of the mastodons and ele-

phants (see Vol. XVIII, p. 1121,

for phylogeny of the hoofed

G. 25.—Uintatherium mirabile Marsh, Mammalia). This is indicated

sens in aa Gan oh aes not only by the structure of

eet. From Bridger beds of Wyoming. their feet, but by that of their

i oA Sch itis tee eee Marsh, teeth, which, as I have shown,

constitute a survival of the tri-

tubercular type which had been left behind by all other cotempo-

rary ungulates, and only survived in the flesh-eaters of the

Bridger epoch.

"E ad

1885.] The Amblypoda. 43

The resemblance of the feet to those of Coryphodon may be

readily seen by comparing Fig. 25 with Figs. 1-2 (p. 1110, Vol.

xvii). The characters of the component parts are quite iden-

tical.

Professor Marsh has given us a figure of the cast of the brain

chamber of the Uintatherium mirabile Marsh. It displays most

striking peculiarities. These are: (t).The small size of the hemi-

spheres; (2) the difficulty of distinguishing the cerebellum from

the surrounding parts; (3) the large size of the olfactory lobes

(Fig. 26). In all these respects there is a great resemblance to

the brain of Coryphodon (Fig. 13). The hemispheres pass into the

olfactory lobes by a gradual contraction of their outlines, They

rise higher than, and

then descend posteriorly

towards the mesenceph-

alon and cerebellum.

The latter parts, as in

Coryphodon, are not

distinguished in the cast.

The hemispheres are

not convoluted, nor is

there any sylvian fis-

sure, according to

Marsh’s figures. This

brain, as remarked by

Marsh, is the most TEP- Fic. 26.— Uintatherium mirabile Marsh, brain’

tilian among the Mam- one-third nat, size. From Marsh, Amer. Jour. Sci

Arts, Vol. xt, PL ty

malia. One of the

strongest confirmations of this statement, is the small size of the

cerebellum.

Owing to the imperfect character of the material which I have

had the opportunity of examining, it is not possible to state the

number of genera with absolute certainty. There are certainly

three of these, and probably four. So far as present knowledge

goes, they pertain to one family, which I have called the Eoba-

siliidæ. The three genera mentioned differ in the forms of the

mandible; the fourth has certain cervical vertebre of a peculiar

form, but the form of the mandible is unknown. I can only con-

trast the genera as follows:

44 The Amblypoda. [January,

A, Mandible unknown,

Certain cervical vertebrz short and flat, as in Proboscidia .............obasileus,

A, Symphysis of mandible.with four teeth on each side.

a, Mandible without inferior expansion.

Cervical vertebrz not very short; three premolars; lower incisors bilobate,

Loxolophodon.

aa, Mandible with anterior inferior expansion.

Cervical vertebrze not short; three premolars Octotomus.

aaa, Mandible expanded below, its entire length.

Cervical vertebrze unknown; four lower premolars; four incisors, simple,

athyopsis.

AAA, Symphysis of mandible with three or two teeth on each side.

Mandible with very narrow symphysis Uintatherium.

In probably a majority of the species the lower jaw has a deep

flange on its inferior border below the canine teeth, which serves,

like the corresponding structure in the saber-tooth tigers, to pro-

Fic. 27.— Uintatherium leidianum Osborn, skull left side, one-eighth nat. size;

rom the Bridger beds of Wyoming. From Osborn, Memoir on Dainis and

erium.

Uintath

tect the long superior canine tooth from lateral blows and strains

(Fig. 27). In Bathyopsis this inferior expansion includes almost

the entire inferior border of the ramus, giving an outline some-

thing like that of Megatherium (Fig. 35).

The genus Eobasileus was established on a species (Æ, pressi-

cornis Cope) which is represented by a considerable part of the

GPAI E S AAE eee EE

1885.] The Amblypoda. 45

skeleton, but without cranium or teeth; hence most of its charac-

ters remain unknown. The very short cervical vertebra which

belongs to it serves to distinguish it from other genera. A sec-

ond specimen (Æ. furcatus) found near the first, may belong to it ;

it includes a fragmentary cranium, but unfortunately no cervical

vertebrz. Its introduction into this genus is therefore purely

arbitrary.

The typical species is of large proportions, only second in size

to the Loxolophodon cornutus. Its limbs were more slender in

their proportions. It is in this species that I find much evidence

in favor of the presence of a proboscis of greater or less length.

Should several of the other cervical vertebrae have been as short

as the one preserved, it is evident that the animal could not pos-

sibly have reached the ground with a muzzle so elevated as the

long legs clearly indicate. In the species of the other genera,

where the cervical vertebre are longer, this may have not been

the case.

The bones of this species were discovered by the writer in an

amphitheater of the bad lands of the Washakie basin, known as

the Mammoth buttes, in Southwestern Wyoming. They were in

greater or less part exposed, lying on a table-like mass of soft

Eocene sandstone. A description of this remarkable locality is

given in the Penn Monthly Magazine for August, 1872.

The Eobasileus furcatus is principally represented by a skull in

which the most important features have been preserved. As in

all the species of Uintatherium in which the horns are known,

these appendages stood in front of the orbits, it is probable that

such was the case in the Zodasileus furcatus also. The muzzle is

materially shorter and more contracted, and the true apex of the

muzzle was not overhung by the great cornices seen in Lorolo-

phodon cornutus. The occipital and parietal crests are much more

extended in this species than in the Z. cornutus, so that in life the

snout and muzzle had not such a preponderance of proportion as

in that species. All the species of this genus were rather rhi-

nocerotic in the proportions of the head, although the horns and

tusks produced a different physiognomy.

The known species of Loxolophodon Cope, are the largest of

the order. Three species are known to be distinct: the Z. cornutus

Cope, L. galeatus Cope, and L. spierianus Osborn. They differ in

the form of the horns and in the shape of the occiput.

46 The Amblypoda., [ January,

The cranium in this genus is elongated and compressed. The

muzzle is posteriorly roof-shaped, but is anteriorly concave and

flattened out into a bilobed protuberance which rises above the

extremity of the nasal bone. This extremity is subconic and short

and decurved. A second pair of horn-cores stands above the

orbits, each one composed externally. of the maxillary bone, and

internally of an upward extension of the posterior part of the nasal.

Behind this horn the superior margin of the temporal fossa sinks,

but rises again at its posterior portion, ascending above the level of

the middle of the parietal bones. The occipital rises in a wall

upwards from the foramen-magnum and supports, a little in front

of the junction with the superior and posterior crests bounding

the temporal fossa, a third horn-core on each side.

Fic. 28 =< Lesolophoon spierianus Foes skull from left side, one-eigh

s th natu-

ral size; from er beds of Wyoming. From Osborn, Memoir pd Loxolo-

phodon, ete.

The three species may be ciistiticndatied as follows:

Maa -o i in section, with internal tuberosity, and above ora ; occi-

put

ma homs s subquadrate i in section without internal tuberosity ; occiput s nasal

ber

bees li

Median horns subround and without tuberosity, in front or orbits ; occiput Meg

tubercles narrow Z. spierianus

eas ee

1885.] The Amblypoda. 47

The Loxolophodon spierianus Osborn, was as large an animal as

the two others, and had a very elongate skull with weak horns and

narrow, high occiput. Its median horns are situated well ante-

rior to the orbit, and its zygomatic fossa is remarkably small. It

was discovered by the Princeton scientific exploring party at the

same locality that produced.the other species, viz., the Mammoth

buttes of Southwestern Wyoming (Fig. 28)

In the Z. cornutus and L. galeatus the tuberosities which stand

Fic, 29.—Loxolo gos cornutus Cope, skull of individual represented in Plate 1,

one-eighth nat. size. Upper figure superior surface; lower figure inferior surface.

From Bridger Eocene of Wyoming. Original, from "anion U. S. Geol. Survey of

Terrs ayden in charge, Vol. 111. Owing to distortion of the specimen be-

hind, ‘the occipital condyles are too far apart in figure.

near the free extremity of the nasal bones are greatly developed,

so as to represent a pair of cornices projecting upwards and for-

wards over the narrow apex of the bones (Fig. 24). From above,

the end of the muzzle in those species has a bilobate outline.

They differ from each other materially in the form of the middle

pair of horns.

48 The Amblypoda., [ January,

Mr. Osborn, of Princeton, has published a description of the

lower jaw and teeth of a species of Loxolophodon, which he

identifies with the Z. cornutus, which was derived from the local-

ity and horizon of the species above mentioned (Fig. 8). They

show that the descending flange of Uintatherium and Bathyopsis

is only represented by a convex ridge on each side of the sym-

physis. They point out the characters of the dentition, which

are remarkable. The molars much resemble those of Bathyop-

sis. The canines and incisors are alike in form, and in a contin-

uous series. The crowns are compressed so as to be extended

anteroposteriorly, and are deeply emarginate, so as to be bilobed,

° the lobes with subacute edges. This

form of incisors is unique, resembling

® a only remotely the large median incisors

9 of certain Insectivora (Fig. 30). Resem-

blance to mammals of the same type

may be traced in the molar teeth.

We may ascribe to the Loxolophodon

We ws chee form and proportions of body

teeth of left side of lower jaw Similar to those of the elephant (see Plate

eae Sue fourth 1), The limbs, however, were some-

what shorter, as the femur (Fig. 31) is

stouter for its length than in the Æ. indicus. It was intermediate

in this respect between the latter species and the species of Rhi-

noceros. The tibia is relatively still shorter. The tail was quite

small. The neck was a little longer than in the elephants, but

much less than in the rhinoceroses ; the occipital crest gave at-

tachments to the “gamentum nuche and muscles of the neck,

which must needs have been powerful to support the long muzzle

with its osseous prominences, and to handle with effect the terri-

ble laniary tusks. The head must have been supported some-

what obliquely downward, presenting the horns somewhat for-

ward as well as upward. The third or posterior pair of horns

towered above the middle ones, extending vertically with a diver-

gence when the head was at rest. The posterior and middle pair

of horns were no doubt covered by integument in some shape;

but whether dermal or corneous is uncertain. Their penetrating

foramina are smaller than in the Bovide. The cores have re-

motely the form of those of the Axtilocapra americana, whence I

suspect that the horns had an inner process or angle as in the

PLATE I,

SSIrrercirr

The darkly shaded portions are those in my possession; the feet and me rat cer-

Original, from AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1882, p. 1029.

Loxolophodon cornutus Cope, restored to sy nat. size.

vical vertebrae are restored after Marsh (Uintatherium); the lower jaw after Osborn.

1885. ] The Amblypoda. 49

prong-horn at present inhabiting the same region. The nasal

shovels may have supported a pair of flat divergent dermal tuber-

osities, but this is uncertain; they are not very rugose.

The elevation of the animal at the rump was about six feet, dis-

tributed as follows, allowance being made for the obliquity of the

foot:

Inches,

Foot : 4

Tiles ei aes eek AR CA kaaas skiis eo 20.50

Femur. io ssrosis. oroa lee ous ee Cee a a sv dayne SLIS

Pelvis : PE E eut 16.00

72-75

The anterior limbs were stouter than the

Fic, ee ee cornutus Cope, gore of individuel represented in PI. 1,

one-ninth nat. size. m Bridger beds of Wyoming. Original, from Report U. S.

Geol. Surv. Terrs., 11, T y. Hayden in charge.

Wey

from the proportions in various species, and were no doubt long er

if of the Proboscidian character. This would give us ie ais

thetical elevation at the withers:

Leg

Scapula (actual) va

Ne nyaj spines (extremities)

Or 7 feet 5 inches,

VOL. XIX.—NO. I. 4

50 The Amblypoda. [January, |

These measurements are made from the plantar and palmar

surfaces, allowance being made for the pads,

Pee EOS TORS ane EO Wer? e RN URES REIN STA eee S N

Fic. 32.—Loxolophodon cornutus Cope, pelvis of individual represented in Pl. 1; from front; one-eighth nat, size,

Original,

“The obliquity of the anteroposterior axis of the anterior dorsal

-vertebra indicates that the head was posteriorly elevated above the

Cs dorsal vertebra. Owing to the lack of cervical ver-

1885.] The Amblypoda. 51

tebrz, the length of the neck cannot be determined. It may have

been short, as in the LFodasileus pressicornis, or longer, as in the

species of Uintatherium. The indications derived from the bones

of the muzzle point to the attachment of a heavy upper lip. The

numerous rugosities of the posttympanic and mastoid regions

indicate the insertions of strong muscles. Some of these may

have been adductors of large external ears.

Fic. 33.— Ui ntatherium EPEE Marsh, skull, one-eighth. nat. size; upper figure

from front, lower figure from above. From Bri ridger Eocene of Wyomi ng. From

Marsh, Amer. Jour. Sci. Arts, Xi, Pl. 11.

The inferior incisor teeth have no adaptation for cutting off

vegetation. The mental foramen is small, but the small nutrient

artery thus indicated is not adverse to belief in a prehensile under

lip to make up for the uselessness of the teeth. The projecting

regions would prevent short lips from touching the ground.

52 The Amblypoda. [January,

The posterior position of the molar teeth indicates use for a long,

slender tongue.

This species was probably quite as large as the Indian elephant,

for the individual described is not adult, as indicated by the free-

dom of the epiphyses of the lumbar vertebrz ; and fragments of

others in my possession indicate considerably larger size.

The very weak dentition indicates soft food, no doubt of a

vegetable character, of what particular kind it is not easy to

divine. The long canines were no doubt for defence chiefly, and

may have been useful in pulling and cutting vines and branches

Fic. 34.—Octotomus laticeps Marsh, lower jaw, one-eighth nat. size; upper Reun

left side, lower figure from above. From Marsh, Amer. Jour. Sci. Arts, Xt, Pl. V

of the forest. The horns furnished formidable weapons of de-

fence. The anterior nasal pair might have been used for root-

ing in the earth, if the elevation of the head did not render this

impossible.

This huge animal must have been of defective vision, for the

orbits have no distinctive outline, and the eyes were so overhung

by the horns and cranial walls as to have been able to see but lit-

tle upward. The muzzle and cranial crests have obstructed the

1885.] The Amblypoda. 53

view both forward and backward, so that this beast probably

resembled the rhinoceros in the ease with which it might have

been avoided when in pursuit.

The genus Uintatherium Leidy, has the symphysis of the man-

dible more contracted than in the other genera, and the number

of its teeth correspondingly reduced.! The type is the U. robus-

tum Leidy, a species which is known from the posterior part of a

skull with a few molar teeth of both jaws, and a superior canine

tooth of one individual ; and by the greater part of the lower jaw

of another. Itis of smaller size than those referred to Loxolo-

phodon, and also smaller than the U. Zeidianum Osb. (Fig. 27).

Besides these two species four others have been described by

Marsh and referred to a genus Dinoceras, which is not yet known

to be distinct from Uintatherium. The best known of these is

the U. mirabile (Figs. 25, 26, 33), which has been well figured by

Marsh. It lacks a tubercle of the last superior molar which is

present in the Ọ. robustum. Its lower jaw is unfortunately un-

known. A species described by Marsh as Dinoceras laticeps is of

larger size than the D. robustum, and Marsh figures its lower jaw

(Fig. 34). It possesses four teeth on each side of the symphysis,

as in Loxolophodon, but their form is not known. There is a

deep flange of the lower edge of the ramus below the canine

teeth, as in Uintatherium. As this form represents a genus clearly

distinct from either of these, or Bathyopsis, I propose that it be

called Octotomus. To this genus may belong some of the spe-

cies now provisionally referred to Uintatherium.

In these animals the nasal tuberosities are small, and do not

overhang the apex of the nasal bones. The median horns are

anterior to the orbits, and are of various degrees of development

in the different species. The posterior horns vary in like manner

(compare Figs. 27 and 33). The supraoccipital crest extends

much further posteriorly in the U. mirabile than in some of the

other species.

In the genus Bathyopsis Cope, not only the incisors and

canines, but also the molars are of the full number, z. e., I. z; C-

1; Pm. 4; M. This, with the posteriorly extended expansion

of the ramus of the lower jaw, distinguishes it from the other

genera. But one species is known, the B. jissidens Cope, which

1See Cope, Proceeds. Academy Philadelphia, 1883, p- 295- _

54 The Amblypoda. [January,

was an animal probably as large as the Javan rhinoceros (R/i-

nocerus sondaicus), or rather smaller than the Uintatherium

robustum.

The characters of the inferior molars in this and other genera

of Dinocerata are very peculiar. In Bathyopsis they are con-

structed on the plan of those of insectivorous marsupial and pla-

cental mammals, so as to lead to the suspicion that its food con-

sisted of Crustacea, or insects of large size, or possibly of thin-

shelled Mollusca. :

a Bf mt 9 vi,

a AEN SEE

Fic. 35.—Bathyopsis fissidens Cope, mandible from right side, four-ninths nat. size.

Specimen represented in Fig. 7. From the Wind River (Bridger) bed of Wyoming.

Original, from Vol. 11, U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., F. V. Hayden.

The form of the ridges of the anterior part of the jaw of the

Bathyopsis fissidens, together with the remarkably large dental

canal and mental foramen strongly suggest that the animal pos-

sessed a large and perhaps prehensile lower lip. The lateral de-

scending crests of the lower jaw must have affected the physiog-

nomy curiously, especially when viewed from the front.

In the history of the discovery of the various types of the

Amblypoda, we have an illustration of the prevision which the

paleontologist may exercise as a legitimate inference from known

facts. In closing his memoir on these animals (p. 44) Mr. Osborn

remarks: “In the Upper Cretaceous or early Eocene lived a

1885.] Editors’ Table. 55

group of animals which were the common ancestors of the Dino-

cerata and Pantodonta.” This was written and published in 1881.

In the following year, 1882, I discovered the Pantolambdide in

the lowest Eocene bed known in America. How well this family

fulfills the anticipations of Mr. Osborn may be seen by reference

to the earlier pages of this essay on the Amblypoda (see NATU-

RALIST, Vol. XVIII, p. 1111).

The tracing of the phylogeny of the Amblypoda from its

earliest to its latest representatives, has presented us with an inter-

esting chapter in brain evolution. It has been asserted’ by

Lartet, and repeated by Marsh, that there has been a continuous

progress in the increase in the size and complexity of the brain

in the Vertebrata, with the passage of geological time. This

principle, as a whole, is confirmed by the results of my own

studies. The Amblypoda constitute the sole exception known

tome. The brain of the Pantolambda bathmodon, though of the

= same type as other Amblypoda, is relatively much larger than in

its descendants of the- Dinocerata and Pantodonta. It is a clear

case of retrogression, and not of progression, in brain develop-

ment.

“ry

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

The Presbyterian denomination, from the nature of its

theology, is more disposed to critical and exact study than some

of the other bodies of Christians. The relations of the doctrine

of the evolution of species, and of the mental phenomena they

display, to the prevalent theologies, are obvious. Not that it is

necessary that teachers of righteousness should know all about

the creation, but theology must have something to say on the

subject. The discussion of these questions by Presbyterian min-

isters naturally produces a wider-spread agitation than in the case

of Congregationalists, on account of the difference between the

two churches in their system of organization, which does not

give that independence to the congregation in the former that is

possible in the latter. Thus while Mr. Beecher’s advocacy of the

evolution of man and its logical consequences, has not affected

his standing in his church, when Dr. Woodrow, of the theologi-

1 Comptes Rendus, June, 1868. i

56 Editors’ Table. (January,

cal school at Charleston, S. Ca., sets forth the doctrine, the case

is quite different. No less than three ecclesiastical bodies have

investigated Dr. Woodrow, and he has been dismissed from his

chair. Later Dr. Kellogg, of Pittsburgh, who has taught that

the origin of man’s body by evolution may be true, has been the

object of disciplinary proceedings by the board of directors.

Since these supervisory bodies will not accept the results of the

labors of the botanists and zodlogists on this subject, it would be

well for them to endeavor to ascertain the facts for themselves. If

they will select almost any of the genera of animals and plants

which include a large number of species and individuals, and

study their physical characters, they will find evidence of “ origin

by descent with modification,” sufficient to satisfy any reasonable

mind, They will reach the conclusion announced by a minister

of the English Church from the north of England, at the meet-

ing of the Evangelical Alliance held in New York a few years

ago. In reply to the vigorous objections of Dr. Hodge, the j

author of the standard work of Presbyterian theology, he simply

stated that he did not believe that the species of roses and some

other well-known plants, were produced by independent acts of

creation. This presentation is much more to the point than the

argument, if such it can be called, of Dr. H. C. McCook, of Phila-

delphia, who recently took sides against the doctrine before a

body of Presbyterians, in language some of which, if correctly re-

ported, cannot be regarded as very weighty.

The loss of men like Winchell and Jordan and Woodrow is a

serious one for any church. In view of the evident desire of

Christians to know and teach the truth, would not the policy

which has retained Drs. LeConte and McCosh in the Church, be

more conducive to its future prosperity ?

The laudable desire to perpetuate the fame of our great

men of science is not only witnessed by busts and statues, but

in an humble but sometimes quite as effective way by naming

minerals or plants and animals after them. There are, however,

different ways of doing this. Dr. David Sharp has chosen to

render conspicuous both the objects of his own admiration and

his own sense of what is fitting, by publishing in the “Comptes

rendus de la Société entomologique de Belgique” for 1882, the

following generic names of water-beetles : Huxleyhydrus, Tyndall-

hydrus, Darwinhydrus and Spencerhydrus! The London Ento-

_ mological Society, at a late meeting, discussed the matter and

So nana

1885.| Recent Literature, 57

took the sensible view that “such hideous and unmeaning forms

only tend to bring scientific nomenclature into contempt.” The

venerable Professor Westwood further remarked that “ it was

puzzling to imagine how any educated man (vel doctus, vel doctor)

could deliberately write, much less print, such names; and still

more, how any scientific society could allow them to appear in

their transactions.”

No editor or publication committee should allow such gro-

tesque absurdities to go into print; and even then such barbar-

isms should be expunged; not to throw out such names, what-

ever nomenclatural codes are in vogue, is, we submit, an unpar-

donable leniency.

The numbers of the AMERICAN NATURALIST for 1884

were issued at the following dates: January, Dec. 29, 1883;

February, Jan. 21st; March, Feb. 17th; April, March 15th;

May, April 19th; June, May 17th; July, June 17th; August,

July 17th ; September, August 15th ; October, Sept. 15th; No-

vember, Oct. 20th ; December, Nov. 19th.

RECENT LITERATURE.

MERRIAM’s MAMMALS OF THE ADIRONDACK REGION *—This well-

written, elegantly printed volume is essentially a fresh and orig-

inal contribution to the- zoology of the Mammalia. Though re-

stricted to the mammals of a limited area, the species have a . wide

geographical range, and the results of so ‘much close observation,

through a period of so many years, by a close and critical stu-

dent, will be of permanent value. Sportsmen and naturalists will

be under obligations to Dr. Merriam for this volume. It is purely

biographical, with no descriptive or anatomical details. More-

over the matter is well presented, and will be found attractive, as

we have pes > know, to boys interested in wood and field

sports and na

The ok i is in the line of Audubon’s Quadrupeds and God-

man’s American Natural History; with these works as a basis,

the future student of mammals will, from work of this kind, be

led more to the comparative study of coloration, of protective

mimicry, of sexual selection and of instinctive and reasoning

acts.

1 The Mammals do the Adirondack region, Northeastern New York. With an in-

troductory chapter treating of the location and boundaries of the region, its

cal reste topogrepij, climate, general features, botany and nd position. _

CLINTON HART MERRIAM, M.D. Published by the author, Sept., I ka

printed rom vole I candids Il, ' Transactions Linnean Society, New York. Roy. 8vo,

PpP- 3!

58 Recent Literature. [January,

If anything is wanting in the pages of the book before us, it is

facts bearing on the psychology of these animals, such as are to

be found in Morgan’s work on the beaver. Studies of this kind

have, however, to be mostly carried on with animals kept in con-

finement.

Regarding the change of color in the winter and summer pel-

age, Dr. Merriam has a good deal to say, as we have shown in a

previous notice of the early part of this work, which originally

appeared in the Transactions of the Linnæan Society of New

York. Under the head of the varying hare the’ subject is again

taken up, and the author insists that the change of color is due

to the presence or absence of snow, or in his own words: “ Both

in spring and fall the time of the change seems to be governed by

the presence or absence of snow, and is not affected by the tem-

perature.” A careful, detailed and comparative study of this sub-

ject is much needed. So far as we have looked into the matter,

we have been disposed to consider Dr. Merriam’s views with

favor, but have learned from hunters facts which seem to show

that temperature is not wholly without influence in producing

the change. But why should not all of our northern mammals

- which do not hibernate, but are abroad when the snow is on the

ground change their pelage? Why are the varying hare, ermine,

arctic fox, etc., the only animals which change? Why do not

the fisher and mink change as well as the ermine ?

Whether the lay reader will be pleased with the use of the tri-

nomial nomenclature remains to be seen. Perhaps occasionally

useful in a strictly scientific treatise, why should not Scinropterus

volucella hudsonius, read Sciuropterus volucella var. hudsonius ; the

uninitiated reader would then understand that a well recognized

variety of the ordinary more southern flying squirrel was meant.

It is to be hoped that our trinomialists will not “run the thing

into the ground.”

e find no occasion for criticism in this admirable book, and

excerpt some paragraphs concerning topics which appear new and

fresh, though for that matter the entire volume smacks of out-of-

door life, is redolent of the spruce and pine woods, and carries us

back to the clear skies and sylvan retreats and mountain lakes of

the noble Adirondack forests,

Speaking of the mole Dr. Merriam writes:

“The modification of structure that adapts this animal to its

cartilaginous snout, and unencumbered with external ears or eyes

to catch the dirt, constitutes an effective wedge in forcing its way

and stout claws, supply the means by which the motive power is

applied, and serve to force the earth away laterally to admit the

1885.] Recent Literature. 59

wedge-like head ; while the apparent absence of neck, due to the

enormous development of muscles in connection with the shoul-

der-girdle, the retention of the entire arm and forearm within the

skin, the short and compact body, and the covering of soft, short

and glossy fur tend to decrease to a minimum the frictional resist-

ance against the solid medium through which it moves. In fact,

it presents a most extraordinary model of a machine adapted for

rapid and continued progress through the earth.

“The mole does not, and cannot, dig a hole in the same sense

as other mammals that engage in this occupation, either in the

construction of burrows or in the pursuit of prey. When a fox

or a woodchuck digs into the ground the anterior extremities are

brought forward, downward and backward, the plane of motion

being almost vertical; while the mole, on the other hand, in

making its excavations carries its hand forward, outward and

backward, so that the plane of motion is nearly horizontal. The

movement is almost precisely like that of a man in the act

of swimming, and the simile is still closer from the fact that the

mole brings the backs of his hands together in carrying them for-

ward, always keeping the palmar surface outward and the thumbs

below. Indeed, when taken from the earth and placed upona

hard floor, it does not tread upon the palmar aspect of its fore-

feet as other animals do, but runs along on the sides of its

thumbs, with the broad hands turned up edgewise.”

Regarding the migratory habits of the gray squirrel, which

have become almost a matter of tradition, the author writes :

“The minor migratory movements of this species occur with

more or less regularity from year to year, but on so small a scale

as to escape general notice. They must not be confounded with

the great migrations, not rare in former times, when these ani-

mals, actuated by some unknown influence, congregated in vast

armies and moved over the land, crossing open prairies, climbing

rugged mountains and swimming lakes and rivers that lay in

their path. Though hundreds, and sometimes thousands, per-

ished by the way, the multitude moved on, devouring the nuts

that grew in the forests through which they passed, and devas-

tating the grain fields of the farmer along the route. Though

these remarkable expeditions have been known and commented

upon for many years, yet our knowledge of them is limited

almost to the recognition of the fact of their existence. Scarcity

of food very probably gives rise to the disquieting impulse that

prompts them to leave their homes, but the true motives that

operate in drawing them together, and in determining the direc-

tion and distance of their journeys are as little understood to-day

as they were béfore the discovery of the continent on which they

dwell.

“In the year 1749 they invaded Pennsylvania in such vast

hosts as to endanger the crops of the entire inhabited portion of

60 Recent Literature. [January,

the State, and a reward of three pence a head was offered for

their destruction. This necessitated the payment of eight thou-

sand pounds sterling (640,000 individuals having been killed)

which so depleted the treasury that the premium was decreased

one-half.”

The book is readable throughout, and its carefully prepared

biographical sketches will have a permanent interest.

Gray’s SYNOPTICAL Fiora.’—Everything .from the pen of Dr.

Gray is welcomed by the botanists of the country as a contribu-

tion from one who is a master. A few years ago a volume

appeared bearing the title Synoptical Flora, which covered the

ground of the Gamopetalz after Composite. The volume before

us, which closely resembles its predecessor, includes the gamo-

petalous orders Caprifoliacee, Rubiacez, Valerianacez, Dipsacee

and Composite. The two volumes thus cover the whole of the

North American Gamopetalz, and bring our knowledge of this

great group down to the present.

It may be interesting to give here in concise form some of the

results brought out by this volume. By taking Bentham and

ooker’s Genera Plantarum and comparing our North American

composite flora with the composite flora of the world, we find

that we have representatives of eleven of the thirteen tribes into

which the order is now divided. We have 235 genera out of 766,

or about thirty per cent of the whole. Our species (nearly 1500)

constitute about four per cent of the whole.

- we look over the tribes we find the per cent of North

American genera and species to be as follows:

Per cent of genera,| Per cent of species.

I, Vernoniacez I 21

2. Eupatoriacez...... sioi a ach E Be yy

34 steroidez 36 29

s leii 10 4

é Jelenioideze ee 5 30%

7. Anthemideæ i icy a

8. Senecionidze 36 8 %

9. Calendulaceæ . o o :

to. Arctoidea a aa es o o

11, Cynaroideæ....

12. Mutisiaceæ ae 4%

13. Cichoriaceae eg aiaa 52 6 a%

. In like manner

we observe that the Helenioideæ, Helianthoideæ and Asteroideæ

1 Synoptical Flora of North America. By Asa Gray, LL.D., F d LS.

ras Arce "e etc. VoL 1, Past m. Caprifotia “> Samet — ne

ished e Smithsonian Institution, Washington, N a gp :

sic, ‘July, 1884, pp. 474. i on. New York, London and Leip-

Se ee eae as ee ee en a a Yo i

a TAST AAEE REN V EE ET PEE EET PERE Bee T AE E EE eT AT

1885.] Recent Literature. 61

are rich in species, the first named having about five times the

normal per cent. On the other hand it is interesting to notice the

low per cent of species of Vernoniacez, Inuloidez and tribes

seven to thirteen inclusive. Curiously the North American Cicho-

riacez, which contain fifty-two per cent of the genera, include

but a little above six per cent of the species !

e can take no more space here for further notice of this most

valuable addition to our botanical literature. We but express the

earnest hope and wish of all workers in botany that the veteran

author may be spared to give us the remainder of our flowering

plants in the Synoptical Flora—C. Æ. B.

ALLEN’s Human AnAtomy.—This work, the issue of the first

part of which was noticed in this magazine, is now completed by

the appearance of Section vi, which treats of the organs of sense,

organs of digestion and genito- urinary organs. This part alone

contains a hundred and sixteen wood-cuts and sixteen full-page

engravings. It need scarcely be said that full justice is done to

the various organs mentioned in the title page, but it may be

added that a chapter is devoted to the superficial and topographi-

cal anatomy of the various parts of the body, and another most

interesting one to embryology and the study of malformations—

a subject to which Dr. Allen has given considerable study. The

illustrations are so drawn as to be especially clear to the student.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.

Shields, C. W.—The order of the sciences. New York, 1882. From the author.

Wright, R. R., McMurrich, J. P., Macallum, A. B. a 7.—Contributions

to the anatomy of Amiurus. "1884. From the author

Stevenson, W.: G.—Physiological os of vital foro: Ext. Popular Sci.

Monthly, April, 1884. From the author.

Williams, Alb.—Mineral resources of the United States. 1883.

> — Popular fallacies regarding precious-metal ore deposits. Both from the author.

Toula, F—Ueber einige Saugethier reste von Gerlach bei ire Steiermark.

AR RS . k. k. geol. Reichsanstalt, 1884. From the au

7, K.—Ueberreste vorweltlicher Proboscidier von Java und ‘Bian Samm-

pes des geol. Reichsm museums in Leiden, No. 10. From the author.

Lesquereux, Leo—Description of the coal flora of the Carboniferous formation in

Penna. and throughout the United _ Vol. ur., Second Geol. Surv.

Penna. From the survey, through Leo Lesquereux.

aur J-—Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1882~83. Washington,

Also an abstract of the above

Bie ular x information of the P of Education. No.4. All from the

departm

Peale, A. C. eee world’s geyser-regions. 1884. From the author.

Genth, F. A.—On Herderite. Ext. Proc. Amer. Philo. Soc., Aug., 1884. From the

author.

Marshall, x M.—On the nervous system of Antedon rosaceus. Ext. Quart. Jour.

Micros. Science, 1884. From the author.

1 A System of Human Anatomy, including its Medical and Surgical Relations. By

HARRISON ALLEN, M.D. Philadelphia, Henry C. Lea’s Son & Co. 1883.

62 : Recent Literature. [January,

et P. P. C.—Catalogus der Bibliotheck. Nederlandsche Dierkundige Vereenig-

Brewer, W. H.—Heredity and the principles of stock ne Syllabus of lec-

ices at the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale Colleg

The educational influences of the farm.

Ward, L. F.—Mind as a social factor. Rep. from “ Mind.” From the author.

Jordan, D. S., and — J—A review of the American species of Epinephalus

and related gener

A review of the species of the genus Hzmulon

—— A review of the American species of marine Mugili ilidze

Notes on fishes collected by D. S. Jordan at Cedar Kein, Fla

Jordan, D. S., and Meek, S. E.—List of fishes observed in the ‘St. vay: s river at

Jacksonville, Fla.

Jordan, D. S., and Gilbert, C. H.—Notes an Calamus providens, nov. sp.

Hi, D. S.—An identification of the figures of fishes in Catesby’s Natural His-

tory of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama islands.

List of fishes collected in the vicinity of New Orleans by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt,

U.S.A. All from Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1884. From the authors

Gilbert, C. H.—A list of fishes collected in the East fork of White river, Ind., with

descriptions of two new species. Ext. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884.

——Notes on the fishes of Kansas. Ext. Bull. Washburn Tahon; 1884. Both

from the author

Shufeldt, R. W. a a some of the forms assumed by the patella in birds.

—— Observations upon a collection of insects maa in the prenis of ew Orleans.

La., 1882—83. Ext. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884. From the au

Zittel, K. A.—Ueber Fe ap a bait Aei. Aus dem Neak p

fi ür Mineralogie, From the author.

— Geologie et Paléontologie o ee ecg ibiso. Ext. Ann. de la Soc. Sebl: du

Nord. xi. From the au

Cragin, og p aaepe Tan of a Weskburn Laboratory of Natural History. Topeka,

Dall, W. H—Ona collection of shells from Florida by Mr. Hy. Hemphill. Ext.

Proc. U. S. Nat Mus., 1884, From the author

LeConte, Jos.—The bica relation r man to era From the author.

—— E. N. S.—New fossils from the four groups of the paap period of

Western New York. Ext. Proc, Ac. Nat. Sci., Phil., 1884. m the author.

Ala. pa Agric.—Alabama ——— Service, Tales, 1874.

T C. O.—The ext PM SS of the leech. Rep. Proc. Am. Acad.

d Sci., 1884. a the au

Wi. liston; i W.—Collection and oe. of Diptera. Ext. Psyche.

erkwiirdige neue Syrphiden-Gattung, Ext. Wiener Ent. Zeitun

1884. Both from the author, í : :

A J —Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey. No.7. A ae of geological maps of

rth and South America. 1884. From the author

pea W. T.—Address to the geological section of the British Association

Montreal, 1884. From the go aa a r j

Reusch, H. H—Die fossilien Führenden Edina Schiefer von Bergen in

Norwegen. Leipzig, 1883. From the Ce

De Sanctis, F,—La Scienza è la Vita, eae sap insalati, Miss Edith Wright.

Bicknell, E. P., ae C. H., and Dutcher, W. a eraga f the Linnæan

Society of New York, Vol. i. From Dr. C. H. M rriam. oe

Allen, H.—A new method of recording the motions of t ate

the author. s a the soft palate. 1884. From

an G H.—A review of the birds of Connecticut with remarks on their

1885.] Geography and Travels, 63

Merriam, C. H—Bird migration,

~——On a bird new to the Bermudas.

List of birds ascertained to occur within ten miles from Point de Monts, Que-

bec, Canada.

On a bird new to Northern South America,

Gentry’s Nests and birds of the United States:

Ravages of a rare scolytid beetle in the sugar maples of Northeastern New

York, Ext. Amer. Nat

Fit = eye of the harlequin duck (Histrionicus minutus), Ext. Bull. Nutt. Orn,

ub,

Remarks on some of the birds of Lewis county, Northern New York. Ext.

Bull. Nutt, Orn, Club

——A plea for the metric system in ornithology. From The Auk, Vol.1, 1884.

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

AFRICAN Nores.—Capt. C. E. Gissing, R. N., has recently un-

. dertaken a journey inland from Mombasa, among the Wa-duruma

and the Wa-teita, both of whom live in great dread of the Masai,

who steal all the cattle they find, and kill their owners. The

Wa-teita are rather undersized and are said to be very lazy, yet

they live on mountain sides and summits, and cultivate the

ground at the foot. The women do all the work, and carry fire-

wood, utensils, etc., to the mountain top. Ndara, 4800 feet high,

has a Wa-teita village at the top. This tribe are great robbers,

but as they are armed only with bows and" poisoned arrows, in-

stead of spear, shield, and sword, they are always defeated by the

Masai. Kasigao (5185 feet), has a village at 1500 feet elevation.

In time of drought the natives of this part of the country sell

their children as slaves to the coast people, but always redeem

them in a favorable season. Although barbarous in their deal-

ings with each other, they seem to have a horror of the regular

slave trade as carried on by slave-dealing caravans.——Mr. O.

Neill has discovered a lake (Lake Chiuta) to the north of Lake

Shirwa, south of Nyassa. The climate of the highlands of this

district (east of the Shiré) is said by Capt. Foot to be well suited

to European constitutions, and adapted to wheat, oats, European

vegetables, and coffee-——Lake Nyassa is becoming a busy inland

sea. Two steamers ply upon it, and one upon the river Shire.

There have been difficulties with the Makololo, owing to the

death of their Chief Chipatula at the hands of an English ele-

phant-hunter, but these seem likely to be settled by the efforts of

Capt. Foot. On Lake Tanganyika there are now three steamers.

The African Lakes Company has ten depots between Quillimane

and Malawanda, on Nyassa, and from this point a practicable road

has been carried to Pambete, on Tanganyika———E. A. Floyer

states that he rode from Wady Halfa to Debba, on the Nile, in

` 1This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

64 General Notes. (January,

2034 hours, and believes that the distance is not above $5 miles,

and therefore is much exaggerated on the maps. A map of the

Lower Congo, issued by the International Association in July,

1883, shows the river as flowing 100 miles more to the west than

it is marked in the best recent atlases. Gen. J. H. Lefroi, in his

presidential address to the geographical section of the British As-

sociation, stated that Dr. Pogge’s account of the kingdom of the

Muato Yanvo (not yet translated) proved that the people were

much in advance of their cannibal neighbors of Kauanda. They

practice circumcision, and are a fine warlike race, but addicted

to slave-hunting. Since Dr, Pogge’s visit Muata Yanvo has

been deposed and poisoned by the “ Lukokesha,” or second in

authority in the kingdom, who is one of his half-sisters. The

Muata Yanvo is chosen principally by the Lukokesha, but must

be a son of the former king. The Proceedings of the Royal

Geographical Society for October give a list of 120 stations occu-

pied by Europeans in Central Africa in 1884, with their latitude —

and longitude. Sixty-one of these are situated between the

Equator and the Zambezi, east of 25° E. long., and fifty-nine west

of longitude 25° E., between the equator and the Kuimén or

Cunené. Twenty-six of the latter belong to the Belgian Inter-

national Association, which has also four stations east of long.

26° E Through the letter of recommendation given by Sir

John Kirk (British Agent at Zanzibar), who is in high favor with

King Mandala, the ruler of Chagga, Mr. H. H. Johnston and

his party are fed and clothed entirely at the cost of that poten-

tate, who has given him a spot up the mountain (Kilimandjaro)

where he can build a house and carry on his natural history

work.—tThe Rev. W. P. Johnson has communicated to the

Royal Geographical Society the result of seven years travels

among the various tribes who inhabit the district east of Lake

Nyassa, watered by the Lujenda and Rovuma and their tributaries.

These streams rise east of the mountains which border the lake,

and uniting in about 38° 10’ E. Long., flow to the Indian ocean.

The district watered by them appears to be thickly peopled by

settled and intelligent tribes, but the Gwangwara, a Zulu tribe that

were driven northward about 30 years ago, oppress and enslave

them, and the slave trade flourishes. The mountains do not ex-

ceed 4000 feet in height.

AMERICAN NotEs.—Dr. C. v. den Steinen, a member of the

German expedition to South Georgia, has recently descended the

before unexplored Xingu to its junction with the Amazons.

Another German traveler, Dr. G. Steinmann, who remained in

South America at the conclusion of the

to observe the transit of Venus, has. s

PANE e amen eam

SE ee Ne, tole aeRO

1885.] Geography and Travels. 65

to the summit. The Danish gunboat 7y//a has returned to

Orkney from a successful expedition of four months’ duration,

during which a scientific exploration of the inland glaciers of

Greenland was effected, and meteorological observations taken

along the coast as far north as 70° N. lat. Much dredging aad

trawling was done, the former to a depth of goo fathoms, and

many unknown species were obtained. A new island, in the

form of a rounded flattened cone of considerable size, was seen

on July 26 by the lighthouse-keeper at Cape Reykjanes, the

south-west point of Iceland. Several earthquake shocks had been

felt during the preceding days. A large part of one side of the

cone has since slipped or fallen down into the sea. Mr.

Whitely contributes to the Proceedings of the Royal Geographi-

_ cal Society an account of his journey to the foot of the flat-

topped mountains, Roraima and Kukenam, in British Guiana.

He reckons the direct vertical sides of the latter (above the slop-

ing part) at 1090 feet, and declares that its ascent seems impos-

sible except by balloon. The vertical part of the Roraima seems

rather less, and there is a break by which ascent may be possible.

A report of considerable interest has been received from the

Danish: Expedition to East Greenland, dated Namortalik, March,

1884. Namortalik has thirty turf-covered houses, including a

brewery and a bakery, also a Lutheran mission, a church, and a

school. It is on an island, surrounded by several others, which

are visited by the natives for seals and eider-duck. The whole

southern part of Greenland is a region of wild mountains, rising

in peaks to nearly 8000 feet. Close to Namortalik is the Taser-

miut fjord, some 50 miles long, with a most luxuriant vegetation

in summer, and with heat and mosquitos enough to make one

The observations of Axel Ham-

66° N. lat. and Cape Farewell, flows upon warm water. Its depth

the heavier. The quantity of ice on the east coast diminishes in

spring and summer, and, according to numerous observations

made by Danish settlers and navigators on the south coast of

Greenland, the polar drift-ice appears there in May, June and

July, whereas in November, December, January and February

there is no ice. Mr. Hamberg believes, therefore, that the polar

current is at its maximum in spring, diminishes in force during

summer, and is insignificant in autumn and winter. He hints that

Nordenskjold owed his comparative success in reaching the east

coast to the fact that he chose September instead of an earlier

VOL, XIX,—NO, I,

66 _ General Notes. [January,

month, and suggests that an attempt made in October or Novem-

ber would be still more successful.

Asiatic Notes.—Zhe Upper Oxus. Mr. R. Michell (Proc.

Roy. Geog. Soc., Sept., 1884) gives an account of Karateghin and

Darwaz, regions situated on the upper course of the Oxus.

Karateghin occupies the middle course of the Kizyl-see or Surk-

hab, the largest tributary of the Oxus; while Darwaz, to the

south of Karateghin, lies upon the Panj or main Upper Oxus

and upon the Hing-ab, a tributary of the Surkhab. These two

Bokharian provinces are walled in by snow-capped mountains ten

to eighteen thousand feet high, and can only be entered by ways

passing over the most difficult passes. Karateghin consists of a

series of hollows or expansions in the valley of the Surkhab, and

each of these expansions gives evidence, from its terraced clayey

sides, that it was once a lake. The smaller basins are separated

by mountain spurs. Grain and fruits of the temperate climes

grow in abundance in this elevated valley. The Tadjiks of Kara-

teghin claim to be descended from the soldiers of Alexander’s

army, and Mr. Michell believes that the hereditary chiefs may

really be so descended, but suggests that the Tadjiks themselves

may be the descendants of the ancient Bactrians. The principal

valley of Darwaz is the grassy and fruitful vale of the Hing-ab,

whither, spite of the asperity of the roads, immense herds of

cattle are driven every year from Hissar to graze. Another

well-to-do valley is that of the Saghri-Dasht, a tributary of the

Hing-ab. The valley of the Panj itself has little cultivable land,

but in it stands Kila-Khumb, the residence of the Bek of Darwaz.

At the south-east limit of Darwaz is an impassable gorge, separat-

ing it from Roshan, which belongs to Afghanistan. Sir Hy.

Rawlinson stated that Roshan was the exact Oriental rendering

of Roxana, and it was here that the Bactrian chief, Oxyartes, the

father of Roxana, had his residence. The Tadjik has straight,

fine black hair, and deep-set, lively black eyes, and is thus quite

different from the Uzbeg Tartars.

MıscELLANEOUS Nores.—Mr. C. Winnecke has explored a part

of central North Australia near the western boundary of Queens-

land, as far as 136° 46” E. long. He has discovered various

minor lakes and mountains and one river, the Hay, a feeder of the

Marshall, but the general aspect of the country is that of a

waterless desert of spinifex and low scrub, except in the valleys of

the rivers, where there is grass and also gum and box trees.

to science. A recent work by an Austrian Slav enumerates

eleven millions of Slavs. Counting Russians, Poles and Czechs,

the Slavonians of Europe reach 100 millions,

SM Gitta erat diene gh, SS eo Seip rs aie

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 67

GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

RODENTIA OF THE EUROPEAN TERTIARIES.'—In this important

monograph of 161 pages M. Schlosser has given us a much

needed account of a series of Mammalia which has been hitherto

much neglected. Comparatively little information as to the char-

acter of many of the European genera has been accessible hith-

erto, and we therefore welcome this work as filling an important

hiatus in our literature. The greater number of the extinct

species of Europe belong to the Hystricomorpha and the Sciur-

omorpha; and in the former suborder the important family of the

Theridomyidz is especially characteristic of that continent. To it

M. Schlosser refers the genera Theridomys Blv. Protechimys g. n.,

Archeomys L. and P., and Trechomys Lart., which M. Schlosser

remodels. The total number of species belonging to this family

recognized, is fifteen. An important new genus is added to the

Hystricomorpha, Nesokerodon Schloss., with two species from

the French Phosphorites. Considerable attention is given in the

monograph to the rooting of the molar teeth. The book is well

illustrated with eight 4to plates.

A few blemishes appear in the text, such as the printing of the

synonyms separately and in the same type as the correct names

of the species. Also there is a good deal of confusion in the

names and ‘authorities which are quoted from the American

literature of the subject.

MARSH ON AMERICAN JuRAssic DINOSAURIA? Part vur.—In

introducing the description of the principal characters of the skele-

ton of the carnivorous Dinosauria Professor Marsh remarks that,

“Although much has been written about these reptiles since

Buckland described Megalosaurus in 1824, but little has really

important parts of the skeleton in good preservation, has afforded

the writer an opportunity to investigate the group.” The best

preserved remains belong to species of Allosaurus and Cerato-

saurus. The latter genus proves to be one of the most curious of

the Dinosauria. Marsh finds that the bones of the pelvis are

coossified as in birds; and ina subsequent article (2. c\ that the

metatarsals are coossified also, giving a metapodium a good d

like that of a penguin. These facts quite close the argument in

favor of the descent of the birds from the Dinosauria, although

. ropaischen Tertiars nebst Betrachtungen ü. d. diami

oe h, Eatvickelung 55 Nager überhaupt; von M. Schlos i : Paleontographica

July, 1884 princ cipal characters of American Jurassic Dinosaurs, Part VIN, order

Beers ire On the United Metatarsal bones of Ceratosaurus. Amer. Sot Sct.

rts, 1884, Pt. 1, 329; Pt. I1, p. 161. |

68 _ General Notes. [January,

in some of the pelvic characters we must, according to Baur,

look to the herbivorous forms for the closest resemblance. The

cervical vertebra of Ceratosaurus havea very peculiar articulation,

being deeply concave posteriorly and plane in front, thus prevent-

ing the reception of the anterior face deeply into the posterior

face of the centrum in front. The depth of its shallow entrance

is marked by a ledge on the sides of the anterior face. The skull

of Ceratosaurus is peculiar, according to Marsh, in the large

anteorbital opening.

Professor Marsh separates Ceratosaurus as type of a family

distinct from the Megalosauride, but it does not appear from his

diagnosis of the latter on what grounds. The only distinctive

character given to the former is “ horn on skull,” which is cer-

tainly of not more than generic value, and may not even be that.

The skeleton of the Megalosauridz is little known, but it is

probable that the Ceratosauridz must be distinguished from them

by the coossified metatarsals and pelvic bones. The other dis-

tinct family appears from Marsh’s definitions to be the’ Zanclo-

dontidz, where the cervical vertebra are biconcave, and the pubes

different. I have elsewhere? referred to Professor Marsh’s tend-

ency to exaggerate the systematic value of various characters,’

and reiterate the opinion that his “orders” are of no higher rank

than suborders,

As usual, Professor Marsh omits the customary reference to

facts already determined by others. Thus he states that some of

these reptiles probably rested on the free extremities of the

pelvis in a sitting posture (p. 336). The writer pointed out this

peculiarity as long ago’as 1870. Professor Marsh also finds

(p. 337) that the presence of various genera of Dinosaurs, closely

allied to these American forms, in essentially one horizon in the

Isle of Wight, suggests that the beds in which they occur are not

Wealden as generally supposed, but Jurassic. The American

beds were at first referred to the Wealden by Marsh, and subse-

quently to the Jurassic by the writer in “ Relations of the Hori-

zons of Extinct Vertebrata of Europe and North America.” 4

This paper is well illustrated by six plates.—E. D. Cope.

Fao Academy Philada., 1883, p. 97, on the structure of the skull in the

? Another illustration of this is seen in a short article by Professor Marsh imme-

, a New O i

ged with those of Saur:

-clature.

3 Extinct Batrachia Reptilia and Aves N. America, p. 122 E.

t Report of the Proceedings Con Ae Fi :

Terrs, Vol. v. Coe cacloge, Paris; Bulletin U, S. Geol. Surv.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 69

Tue Eocene oF Nortu Carorina,—I have recently ascertained

by the discovery of the unmistakable superposition of the small

outlines of Eocene fossiliferous rocks (noted in the text and geo-

logical map of the State, in the report of 1875), and of other

similarly situated patches of the same beds, with upper Eocene

shells, capping the highest hills of the so-called ‘drift or quater-

nary, that nearly all of these beds of sand and gravels heretofore

referred to the latter horizon are of Eocene age. The area of

Tertiaries in this State must now be extended over a wide stretch

of country, from the tops of Laurentian hills, near Raleigh, and

the higher elevations of the Huronian slates, to from fifty to

seventy-five miles south-eastward, along the course of the Deep

river, and so onward to the South Carolina border, reaching at one

point an elevation of 600 feet above tide. This leaves the quater-

nary, like the Miocene, to be represented by a thin and broken

covering of superficial deposits, of only a few feet to a few yards

in thickness, and reaching from the coast only about 100 miles

inland and an elevation but little above 100 feet.— W. C. Kerr,

Raleigh, N. C.

CHARACTER OF THE DEEP-SEA DEPOSITS OFF THE EASTERN

Coast oF THE UNITED States.—At the Newport meeting of the

National Academy of Sciences, Professor A. E. Verrill gave the

results of explorations made last summer by the U. S. Fish Com-

mission steamer Albatross, sixty-nine dredgings having been

made during four trips between Wood’s Holl and a point off the

Virginian coast. Of these dredgings, 5 were in depths between

2000 and 2600 fathoms (4 successful); 20 were between 1000 an

2000 fathoms ; 24 between 500 and 1000 fathoms ; 8 between 300

and 500 fathoms; 12 between 75 and 300 fathoms. Another trip

has since been made to explore more extensively the zone

tween 40 and 100 fathoms. ;

Some very interesting and important discoveries were made in

regard to the nature of the materials composing the sea-bottom

under the Gulf stream at great depths. These observations are

_of great interest from a geological point of view, and some of

them are contrary to the experience of other expeditions, and not

in accordance with the generally accepted theories of the nature .

of the deposits far from land. The bottom between 600 an

= Fast

70 | General Notes. [January,

large angular masses, sometimes weighing more than fifty pounds,

have been brought up in the trawl, and have not been washed

away appreciably, notwithstanding the rapidity with which they

have been drawn up through about two miles of water. In fact

these masses of hard clay resemble large angular blocks of stone,

but when cut with a knife they have a consistency somewhat like

hard castile soap, and in sections are mottled with lighter and

darker tints of dull green, olive, and bluish gray. When dried

they develop cracks, and break up into angular fragments. This

material is genuine clay, mixed with more or less sand, showing i

under the microscope grains of quartz and feldspar, with some

scales of mica. More or less of the shells of globigerina and other l

foraminifera are contained in the clay, but they make up a very

small percentage of the material.

In all our ten localities, between 2000 and 3000 fathoms, the bot-

tom has been “ globigerina ooze.” We have never met with the

“red clay” which ought .to occur at such depths, according to

the observations made on the cruise of the Challenger.

The temperatures observed with the improved thermometers

now used on the Albatross were between 36.4° and 37.0° F.

in 2000 to 2600 fathoms. But temperatures essentially the same

as these were also taken in 1000 to 1500 fathoms, and even in 965 3

fathoms one observation gave 36.8° F. It follows from these ob-

servations that nearly the minimum temperature is reached at

about 1000 fathoms in this region.

GEOLOGICAL News.—General—The water of the Atlantic, In-

dian ocean, Red sea, and eastern part of the Mediterranean, has

been shown by M. Dieulafait to contain manganese. The man-

ganese can scarcely be perceived in sediments consisting of sus-

pended matter, but is very perceptible when the water is free

from suspended particles. In this way the well-known concre-

tions of manganese in the deep seas were accounted for. He con-

cludes that one of the conditions for the formation of chalk is

the absence of foreign substances, and thus it may be expected

that chalk should generally be rich in manganese. It was found

that the quantity of manganese in fifty-six specimens of chalk

` from the Paris basin was fifty times more than in specimens of

granular colored limestone.

Archean—M. Barrois calls attention, in his notes on metamor-

phic rocks of Morbihan, to the way in which the schists gradu-

ally lose their crystalline character as they recede from the gran-

ite, until at length they pass into slate; while the metamorphic

sandstones also change as they approach the granite, so as to

show four distinct stages.

Devonian.—M. Paul Vernskoff has published an important

memoir upon the Devonian deposits of Russia, comprising : (1)

their geographical distribution in the centre and north-west of that

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 7i

country ; (2) a historical account of investigations of these de-

posits; (3) a description of their structure, and (4) a comparison

of the Devonian of Russia with that of western Europe. The

author concludes that the lower stages of the Devonian are lack-

ing in Russia, which has only the middle and upper stages.

Carboniferous —M. Fuchs has brought together abundant de-

tails respecting the geology of Cochin China and Tonkin. The

carboniferous limestone is particularly well-developed, is of crys-

talline structure, and generally gray or blackish in tint. These

rocks are violently dislocated in Tonkin and at Tourane, and form

crenellated inaccessible cliffs of most picturesque shape. The

islets and reefs which border the northern coast of the Gulf of

Tonkin, and which have for centuries been the refuge of pirates,

are forined of this rock. Upon these limestones rest beds of

clay-sandstones with layers of coal at their base. These beds

spread over large areas, and are certainly more than a thousand

meters in thickness. Some twenty species of plants, some new,

others like European coal measures, have been described. M.

Fuchs then describes the coal basin of Tonkin, which forms a

belt about 111 kilometers long, parallel with the coast. Only the

southern border of this has been explored. The best known

coal regions of Tonkin are those of Hon-Gac and of Ke-Bac.

Analysis has proved that the coals of Tonkin are combustibles of

good quality, adapted to diverse industrial uses———W. Dames

in remarks upon the supposed “Phyllopod” nature of Spath-

iocaris, Aptychopsis and similar bodies, maintains that some of

these are undoubtedly goniatites, and that others cannot at present

be interpreted, but that among these last none are phyllopodous.

Permian.—M. A. Gaudry announces that the study of Euchir-

osaurus has been facilitated by that of portions of Archegosaurus

= which have recently been found. Euchirosaurus possessed an a

dominal cuirass, and was capable of powerful lateral motion, so

that it was truly a reptile, progressing in reptilian fashion. e

scales of the cuirass were very hard, and the vertebre had neural

spines which not only had lateral processes like those of several

American species, but was also furnished with articular facets so as

to be slightly movable upon the centrum.

Jurassic-—M. De Loriol continues, in the Pal@ontologie Fran-

caise, the publication of his monograph of the Jurassic crinoids

of France. Sixty-four species of Millericrinus alone have been

described from the Jurassic beds, and twenty-six of these are

new. All but feur of the known species of this genus have now

been found in France. No modern species recalls in the least

this form of crinoid, with its pyriform or even globular calyx

mounted on a long stem fixed by numerous tendrils. M. Cot-

teau.in a memoir of the echini found in the limestones of the cele-

brated locality of Stramberg, in the C

72 General Notes. (January, y

eight species, of which five are new, while the others have all been

found in the Corallian or Kimmeridgian of other localities. The

beds are thus proved to be Upper Jurassic. In the specimen of

Archæopteryx in the Berlin Museum, those parts are preserved

which are wanting in the example in the British Museum, and

the pelvis, hind-limbs, and more perfect tail supply valuable de-

tails. These are worked up in the memoir “ Ueber Archæop-

teryx” in the Palaeontologische Abhandlungen, Berlin, 1884, by

:W. Dames.

Cretaceous —The variability of ancient species is well demon-

strated by five abnormal specimens of Hemiaster from the creta-

ceous of Constantine, Algeria. In some of these one of the ambu-

lacral areas is entirely or partially atrophied, while in others there

is a doubling of one of the ambulacra. These animals, provided

with four or six ambulacra, attained as full a growth as normal

examples.

Tertiary.—The series of tertiary deposits which lie along the

Alsatian slope of the Vosges, and which are often rich in bitu-

men, have by M. Blecher been determined to belong to the Ton-

grian stage. The deposits are sometimes marly and of deep-sea

origin, at others sandy and littoral, according to the widening or

narrowing of the zone between the Vosges and the Black forest.

The vegetable fossils are numerous and remarkable.

Pomel considers the terrestrial deposits of the Sahara as forming

two categories. The more ancient he places in the pliocene, and

names Saharian. The author endeavors to show that, during the

pliocene and quaternary, the maximum zone of precipitation was

displaced northwards, and successively passed from the central

Sahara to the Atlas, then to central, and lastly to northern

Europe.

BOTANY!

THE FERTILIZATION OF THE MuLLEIN Foxctove (SEYMERIA

MACROPHYLLA).—The mullein foxglove is similar to the passion ©

flower of Ohio in flowering for only one day. Both begin to

flower early in the morning. Seymeria perishes with nightfall,

the passion flower lasts till about midnight.

a yellow color, has but a short tube and is wide at the mouth.

these rows of trichomes is a portion free from them (Fig. 1) so

1 Edited by PROFESSOR C. E. Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska,

1885. ] Botany. 73

. that the rows serve the bees as a guide, leading them by means of

the smooth portion directly to the stamens and style beyond.

The lower stamens appear at either side of this groove at the

corolla’s throat (Fig. 1), the upper stamens are shorter and en-

tirely included. The style is slightly shorter than the lower

stamens and lies between them (Figs. 2 and 4) in such a way that

if the bees fail to visit it, it can be self-fertilized, ¢. e., if the pollen

of its own flower is not impotent. The stamens are erect in the

bud and the style is but slightly curved forwards. In the older

Fig. I. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4.

Fic. 1.—Flower from front view. Fic. 2.—Section of flower. Fic. 3.—The

style.. Fic. 4.-—-Stamens and style seen from below.

flowers the style is often more curved, so as to bring it into more

decided contact with any entering body. The stigma (Fig. 3) is

not exactly lobed, but the harder tissues at its tip are lobed, and

a softer layer of tissue lies between, exuding a sticky substance.

The flower is therefore but poorly specialized for cross-fertiliza-

tion, the hairs constituting its only special characters. I have

noticed most of the visits by bees in the evening. In the middle

of the day they seem to prefer other plants—Azg. F. Foerste,

Granville, Ohio.

Botany IN Kansas.—In the first number of the Bulletin of the

Washburn Laboratory of Natural History Professor F. W. Cragin

publishes lists of Kansas mosses, lichens, alge and fungi. Of

the mosses a dozen are given, determined by Eugene Rau.

lichens were identified by H. Willey, and number sixteen species `

and varieties. A dozen algæ are given, identified by Francis

Wolle. The list of fungi includes only the Hymenomycetes, of

which 158 species are enumerated. In this latter list are some /

new species, viz., Agaricus alveolatus Cragin, with a pitted pileus ;

Trametes kansensis Cragin, and Dedalia tortuosa Cragin. This _

bulletin gives promise of good work, and no doubt will do much

to stimulate the collection and identification of the lower plants

of the State. ;

FERTILITY oF Hysrips.—From a long article recently published

by Thos. Meehan, we condense as follows, regretting that space

will not permit its reproduction entire.—{ Ææ. ] ae

The facts are that the recorded and undisputed cases of sterility

in hybrids among plants are so rare that it would seem the onus

should be on that side to prove the point. The writer does not

know where to look for cases of undoubted hybrids among

74 General Notes. [January, ;

plants that are sterile. In most cases where reference is made it .

has been assumed that they were hybrids, because there was

some difference in appearance from the normal form, or perhaps

from the simple fact of sterility alone. The curious Pyrus polvil-

Jeriana in the garden of the museum at Paris is a case in point.

This was known in Bauhin’s time, and when the knowledge of

hybridism was developed, believed to be a cross between an apple

and a pear. It bore fruit, but it was thought there was no seed

in them. But in 1860 Decaisne cut large numbers open and

found thirteen seeds in 150 fruits. In 1864 sixty-two seeds were

found in 139. Now the very fact of the fertility varying with

different seasons shows that sterility was in relation to the struc-

ture in connection with external circumstances, rather than to

any physiological imperfection in the reproductive organs them-

selves. In some other locations, where the circumstances should

be uniformly as they were in 1864, we should have a tolerably

fertile tree. Seedlings from the tree showed a relationship to

Crategus aria,and, indeed, from what we know of departures

from normal types without any pretensions to hybridism, one may

_say that there is no fair reason for regarding this curious tree as

a hybrid, or the sterility as having anything to do with the ques-

tion of hybridization.

The writer has a tree certainly raised from Malesia tetraptera,

certainly no hybrid, as there is nothing near for the parent tree to

hybridize with, which is so different from the parent type that it

can scarcely be called a Halesia. It is as sterile as the most

famous hybrid could be. In short, sterility is well known to

often follow the union of two individuals in the animal kingdom,

and there are innumerable cases of sterility among individual

plants. Sterility will often be characteristic of a whole race, and

often of a whole species; and we may say positively that there

is no more sterility among recognized hybrids than we find of

every-day occurrence where hybridization is certainly out of the

question.

But let us give the illustrations of fertility in hybrids :

* %* * Flowering plants furnish the best evidence because

we know the whole history, The writer of this raised the first

hybrid fuchsia. Fuchsia fulgens was the male parent and F..

longiflora the female, the latter being itself a garden form. These

two belonging to different sections of the genus, are not only

good species, but have been regarded as of distinct genera. The

progeny of these hybrids were fertile. Other hybridists used

equally distinct species for the male parents, such as F. corymbi-

fora and F. serratifolia. Alithe numberless garden varieties now

in existence have been raised from these original hybrids. Many

successive generations have been raised. There are some sterile

individuals occasionally, but not more than is found with individ-

uals with normal species. The writer also obtained hybrids be-

ERETTA

~ 38854 Botany. 75

tween Gesneraceous plants of two genera, Gloxinia rubra and Sin-

ningia guttata. These were fertile. Indeed, European florists

have united many supposed genera in this order. Conservatories

teem with them. The writer never saw a sterile one. lis is

also true of Begonia. Large numbers of those in our conserva-

tories are hybrids, all fertile. * * * * All our garden Gla-

dioli are fertile. The original of these forms is a hybrid between

Gladiolus cardinalis and G. floribundus. Our garden geraniums

and pelargoniums are from many very distinct species, so distinct

in appearance and general character that they might almost be

regarded as distinct genera. Their ‘offspring are occasionally

sterile, but with these very few exceptions are as fertile through

many score of generations as the originals. * * * * The

Cape heaths of our greenhouses—species of Erica—have remark-

ably distinct forms among them, yet any of them hybridize freely

and produce offspring as fertile as their parents. 2:8 ode

dence for the fertility of hybrids) * * * The history of the

grape in America is one of a long succession of fertile hybrids,

though perhaps the distinctness of the species might be a ques-

tion. There is such a regular gradation that no one can refer a

form in every case to its proper species. Still, when we take the

wild fox grape and compare it with the grape of European vine-

yards, or a scuppernong and a fox grape, all will admit that in no

sense can these be regarded as one species. Yet they all hybrid-

ize, and the hybrids are fertile. Ati

M. Naudin, a very energetic French experimenter with hybrid

plants, gives as the results of his observations that never more

than twenty-five per cent of hybrids were sterile, and of these

numbers had fertile pollen ; but even this proportion may have

had more to do with the climate or surroundings than with abso-

lute sterility. In America, so far as the writer of this has had

the opportunity to observe, there is no reason to believe there is

any more sterility attached to hybrids than to ordinary plants.—

The Independent.

Tue YouncEer Scoot or Boranists—lIn a recent number of

Nature Rev. Geo. Henslow spoke of the “evil effects of the

younger school of botanists not recognizing the importance of

first training students in a thorough course of practical and sys-

tematic botany before proceeding to laboratory work.” To this

W. T. Thistleton Dyer replies with some warmth: “I am afraid

I am not wholly free from some responsibility for the proceedings

of ‘the younger school of botanists,’ the effects of which he re-

gards as evil. In the face of the successful revival in this country

of many branches of botanical study which the younger school

has effected, Iam emphatically of the opinion that these effects

are the reverse of evil. I believe I was one of the first to organ-

76 General Notes. [January,

-ize a course of so-called laboratory work in botany on lines which

it is only right to say were borrowed and extended from the

teaching and example of Professor Huxley. In what I attempted

I had the generous aid of many now distinguished members of

the younger school. I do not doubt that they have immensely

improved on the beginning that was in the first instance some-

what tentatively made. But the principle, I believe, has always

remained the same, namely, to give the students a thorough and

practical insight into the organization and structure of the leading |

types of the vegetable kingdom. When, therefore, Mr. Henslow,

himself a teacher, asserts that such laboratory teaching as this

should be preceded by a thorough course of practical and sys-

tematic botany, it appears to me that he is bound to explain what

he precisely means by this very dark saying. For if botanical

laboratory work in this country is not thorough, is not practical,

and in dealing with types drawn from every important group is

not systematic, it is important to know in what respects it falls

short of these requirements.”

New Species oF NortH AMERICAN Funoi.—Septoria purpur-

ascens—H ypophyllous on small reddish-purple spots without any

definite border, and often confluent so as to give a purplish dis--

coloration to large areas of the leaf; perithecia prominent, scat-

tered, collapsing above, 150-190 in diam.; spores fusiform, hy-

aline, slightly curved, endochrome thrice divided, 30-50 X 3m

On leaves of Potentilla norvegica, Adirondack mountains, N. Y.,

Aug., 1883. Collected by Dr. Geo. A. Rex. This can hardly be

S. sparsa Fckl., which has spores narrowly filiform and straight,

nor S. fragariæ Lasch., which has spores shorter and broader at —

one end. S. potentille Fckl., is a Gloeosporium and quite dif-

ferent.

Cercospora racemosa-—In small (1-2™) patch kahi

at first then brown and often aa Ee Hi patches, greenish-whl

usual type of Cercospora in its lateral conidia and scarcely tufted

. ? 5 E 1882. On leaves

of Teucrium canadense, by Professor LC: Aahe a

$ lit. ieee J MER ELAR ID

1885.] Entomology. 77

Ovularia monilioides—On reddish-brown, round spots, 1-4™ in.

diameter; hyphz fasciculate, hyaline, sparingly septate and often

branched above, 35-50 X 34; conidia concatenate, 2-4 connected,

obovate, hyaline, 12-17 X g-1t2v. On leaves of Myrica. Col-

lected at Magnolia, Mass., June, 1884, by Miss C. H. Clarke.

Spherella platani E. & M.—On round (2-4™") reddish-brown

spots with a narrow dark but only slightly raised border. Perithecia

epiphyllous, innate-erumpent (90-1204); asci oblong 8-spored,

40-60 X 12-15%, nearly sessile, sporidia subhyaline, ovate- oblong,

I-septate and constricted, nucleate, 14-16 X 4-64. Quite distinct

from S. platanifolia Cke. On living leaves of Platanus occident-

alis. On the same leaves, on similar spots, is a Phyllosticta which

can hardly be distinguished from the Sphzrella except by micro-

scopical examination. Perithecia epiphyllous, black, about 100#

in diameter; spores oblong-elliptic, brownish, : faintly ee

5-6 X 2.5- 30 —/. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. J., and Dr. Geo. Martin

BotanicaL Nores.—The October number of The Miran

contains an article, by Mrs. L. R. Stowell, on the microscopic

structure of Hydrastis canadensis, accompanied by two good

plates. Professor Trelease’s paper in the Aug.-Sept. number

of Psyche, Notes on the Relations of two Cecidomyans to Fungi,

has a botanical as well as an entomological interest. The last

number (Oct.-Nov.) of the Botanical Gazette is devoted to the

botanical aspect of the American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science. Short abstracts are given of the more im-

portant papers read before the association and the Botanical

Club. An account is given of the excursions of the club, and

finally the whole is summed up in an editorial note upon the

results of the Philadelphia meeting, in which, after pointing out

the good results which the meeting accomplished, the editor

properly criticises “the low average quality of the botanical

papers presented before the association.” In spite of the fact that

the attendance included “ some of the most distinguished names

of the science in this country, the botanical communications in

no instance exhibit that profound research or comprehensive

statement of laws or relationships, or other characteristics that

would entitle them to rank with the better papers presented by

the zodlogists, physicists or chemists.” We most heartily en-

dorse the remark that “ it lies with individual workers to see that

this does not remain so.”

ENTOMOLOGY.

Cc: bas: ON THE FIRE-FLY oF ITALY —Luciola i is one of the

have wings and elites the male has only six ool eats

against seven in the female; but the terminal segment of the

78 General Notes. [January,

male is large and bears indications of transverse division, as if it

represented two somites.

Dr. C. Emery, of Bologna, was induced to examine this species

(Luciola italica L.) by the publication of Wielowiejski’s study of

Lampyridez in Zeitschrift f. Wissen. Zoologie, 1882. His own

work was cut short by want of material, as last season was un-

favorable in Italy; and it is only the preliminary views which he

now publishes (same journal May, 1884). Some of these results

are valuable.

He thinks that the female Luciola, though having wings, is

unable to fly; though a friend alleged that he found both sexes

flying iz copula, The females are always very scarce, have two

luminous spots on the ventral part of the abdomen (5th abdomi-

nal segment), whilst the males are common, and have the ventral

parts of the 5th and 6th abdominal segments forming a large lumi-

nous organ. He is of opinion that in the imago state they

never eat, and he finds the fore intestine filled with large air-sacs.

[It might be well to compare this with the rectal air-sacs of

larvze of dragon-flies, and to see whether they may not be ex-

tensions of the tracheal system into the intestine, thus serving as

lungs, and correlated with the great oxygen-consumption in the

luminous organ].

The abdomen contains the luminous organ in its ventral half,

backed dorsally by a fat-body with concretions of uric acid.

There are also fat masses in the prothorax, that of the male as

well as its testes being rose-colored. The luminous organ is richly

supplied with trachee, the larger tracheal trunks being /ined

with bristles; and the fine tracheal stems or branches run down-

wards through the luminous organ, perpendicularly towards the

horizontal surface of the abdomen.

On a ventral view with weak magnifying the luminous organ

is found to consist of bright round or oval areas, one of the per-

pendicular tracheal stems being in the center of each area, and

between the bright areas are dark interspaces. The whole organ

is constituted of vertical columns or cylinders, consisting of

transparent tissue surrounding a tracheal stem and its branches,

and the gaps between adjoining columns filled up by cellular

“parenchymatous” matrix.

n a side view we can see the large tracheal trunk sending

down the vertical stems, and marked not by spirals, but by trans-

verse ridges. [This is one of the many incidental proofs coming

up that the tracheal system has been misunderstood, that it is

really the result of crenulations, and that there are no distinct

spiral threads. Emery says: “I speak purposely of transverse

‘ridges of chitin, and not, as is usually done, of a chitinous

spiral, for such does not in fact exist here.”

By teasing the substance of the luminous plates we are able

1 The remarks in brackets are by the reviewer.

ne as

1885. | Entomology. 79

to follow the tracheal branchings. Each stem forming the axis

of a column, divides racemosely into branches, and each branch

bifurcates into a pair of capillaries whose walls are perfectly

smooth.

On the application of osmic acid to the abdomen of the living

insect, death does not follow immediately, but the luminosity is

continued for atime steadily. Long before the animal has ceased

to move, the luminous plates begin to grow brown, the change

proceeding from the anterior part, from the place where the

trachee enter. The brown color becomes concentrated in round

fields corresponding to the vertical columns, each surrounded by

a circle of light.

The terminations of the vertical tracheal stems are enclosed in

cylindrical lobular masses, the columns of the luminous organ,

the trachee sending out its racemose branches within each

column; in macerated specimens (by osmic acid and thymol)

dark masses are seen where the branches bifurcate to form the

capillaries; the cells of which the columns consist exhibit no

nuclei. [Judging from these figures it would seem as if the dark

spots represented the nuclei: if this be the case every tracheal

branch is in a cell and its place of bifurcation at the cell-nucleus.]

Emery finds no case of the anastomosing of the tracheal capil-

laries either of the same or of different stems; he is satisfied that

no such anastomosing occurs in Luciola. His view is opposed to

that of Kölliker and of Wielowiejski on Lampyris. [The con-

clusion of Wielowiejski appears to be without sufficient founda-

tion; his figures show only a casual collection of a few of the

intricately twining tubules.

The cylindrical lobes or columns of the luminous organ are

separated from each other by a granulated substance, and the

tracheal capillaries extend to this and to the granulated paren-

chyme-cells, penetrating between the cells but not entering them.

The dorsal fat-layer was examined for the purpose of establish-

ing homologies. It is white, has urate concretions swimming in

the plasma of its cells, which are {not distinctly limited by cell

walls; but it has nuclei like those of the parenchyme of the

luminous organ; and these facts as well as the tracheal arrange-

ments favor the view that the luminous parenchyme is derived

from the fat-body. It cannot be that the latter with its urate

concretions is the result of combustion in the luminous organ,

for the tracheal arrangements negative such a view.

In comparing Lampyris, Emery concludes that M. Schultze’s

tracheal end-cells are represented in Luciola by the bright cell-

elements of the luminous cylinders enclosing the tracheal stems ;.

that the tracheal branching is similar; also that the reactions are

the same, csmium being precipitated so as to darken the sub-

stance in both cases. In Luciola there is a higher differentiation

of parts. :

80 General Notes. [January,

Transversely striped trachez never enter the fat-masses of Lu-

ciola; it is only the smooth tracheal capillaries that pierce them,

somewhat coarser than’those of the luminous organ, and retain-

ing air in their lumen. The fine branches heré arise not ina

racemose manner, but by a fascicle of two or more capillaries

arising at a point, and running in complicated windings before

they enter the fat masses. They were never seen to anasto-

mose; the layer of matrix was very thin on the striped trachee,

' but much thicker on the capillaries. Sometimes the ends of the

capillaries lying on a cell of the matrix were free; between two

capillaries the matrix often formed a thin web, and rarely the

matrix was gathered into a globule terminating the capillary.

Real tracheal end-cells were not seen.

As to the physiology of the luminous organ, the seat of the

luminosity is at the boundary between the tracheal cylinder

and the parenchyme-matrix around it: this is the place where `

the capillaries begin and where the osmic acid is reduced by the

illumination, where oxygen is consumed. [Here we have an ad-

ditional argument for the doctrine that the oxygenation of the

tissues depends not on a circulatory fluid around the trachee,

but on the activity of the tracheal terminations.} The action of

osmic acid at this part is an experimentum crucis, proving that at

the bifurcation the plasma of the parenchyme coming to meet

the fine tracheal capillaries, receives oxygen from them, and

hence combustion arises where the chitin of the capillaries is

very thin. —

Emery holds that the use of the. light-producing power is not

merely for attracting the rare females, but for frightening such

nocturnal enemies as bats. Luciola on being crushed emits an

unpleasant flavor, but its taste is not at all bitter—G. Macloskie.

ENTOMOLOGICAL Notes.—A case of mimicry is noticed by C.

_ M. Weed in the same number ; Tetracis lorata, a white geometrid

moth was found adhering to the stamens of a flower of the may-

apple, its head toward the center, the wings being easily mistaken

for the petals; a second one was found in exactly the same posi-

tion. . L. Ragonot, 12 quai de la Rapee, Paris, is working

out the Phycidz and Galleride of the whole world, with a view

_of monographing these groups, and desires American specimens;

European microlepidoptera will be sent in return. At a recent

meeting (July 2) of the London Entomological Society, Mr: C.

O. Waterhouse exhibited various species of phytophagous beetles

to show the extraordinary effect that exposure to light had pro-

duced on their colors. Fiery red had turned to bright green, pale

‘yellow to brown, blue to black, and green to purple. The speci-

mens exhibited had been in the public galleries of the Bristol

Museum for twenty-five years. In Zoologischer Anzeiger, July

7, P. Pancirtius publishes a note on the development of the wings

` in insects ; in the same journal for July 21, E. Korschelt begins

1885.] Zoology. 81

an account of his observations on the structure of the chorion and

micropyle in the eggs of insects. Professor A. S. Packard,

Providence, R. I., desires alcoholic specimens of Poduridæ and

other Thysanura with a view to a future monograph of this order.

He will gladly name any specimens sent him for identification.

Dr. Heylaerts publishes in the Compte-rendu de la Société

entomologique de Belgique (p. ccvi1), remarks on the Psychides

of the United States. He believes that other genera of these

sack-bearing caterpillars will be discovered, such as the Epich-

nopteryx, Bijugis and Fumea, though he adds that not an Eu-

ropean species has yet been discovered here. He describes

from Professor Riley’s collection Chala rileyi, and notices a

series of seven cases of unknown species, all, except one from

Brazil, being from the Southern and Western States and Territo-

ries. An Asiatic species of Corydalus (C. asiatica) resembling

in size and appearance our C. cornutus, is described and figured

by J. Wood-Mason in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society

of London (1884, p. 110). It occurred at the Naga hills, N. E.

frontier of India. All the previously described species of this

genus are American.

ZOOLOGY.

Tue Deep SEA EXPLORATIONS OF THE “ TALISMAN.”—The offi-

cial report by M. A. Milne-Edwards, of the last expedition of the

Talisman, has been published and translated by the /ndependent.

The expedition of 1883 was divided into several distinct steps,

the aim being to examine: 1. The coast of Africa as far as Sene-

gal, then the shores of the islands of Cape Verde, of the Cana-

ries and Azores, and, finally, to examine the Sargasso sea and

study its surface fauna as well as the nature of its depths.

In one of the first trials on the coast of Spain, the Talisman

party found an accumulation of dead shells, having the aspect of

the pliocene fossils of Sicily, and among which M. Fischer rec-

ognized Cypridina islandica and Mya truncata, which are common

in boreal seas and do not live south of England. They were as-

sociated with some Mediterranean or pliocene shells. Off the

coast of Morocco and the Sahara were found, at the depth of 500

o 600 meters, numerous fishes (Macrurus, Melanocephalus, Hop-

lostethus and Pleuronectes), crustaceans such as certain unde-

scribed shrimps with an enormous rostrum, pointed like a sword,

which was named Pandales ; other shrimps of the genera Penzus,

Pasiphaea, some small crabs (Etalia, Portunus and Oxyrhynchus),

some red Holothurians, examples of the soft-shelled sea-urchin

(Calveria), which formerly lived in the chalk formation ; also many

large-sized sponges, some in the shape of an enormous chapeau

(Askonema), the others lamellated (Farrea), the others more or

less globular. :

Deeper down, toward 1000 and 1500 meters, fishes abounded ;

e :

VOL. XIX.—NO. 1. '

82 General Notes. [ January,

there were still Macruri, to which may be added species of Ba-

thynectes, Coryphenoides, Malaccocephalus, Bathygadus, Argy-

ropelecus, Chauliodus, Bathypterois, with fins transformed into

tactile appendages (B. /ongifilts), Stomias, Malacosteus, with the

skin of an intense black, and with phosphorescent jugal plates ;

Alepocephalus, etc. All these fishes, on arriving at the surface,

were dead, the gas was separated from the blood, so as to produce

a sort of froth, and many of them were deformed by the enor-

mous distention of their swimming bladder. The species of this

group, which inhabit the abysses of the sea, have a special aspect,

and are readily recognizable. Their skin, covered with a very

thick coat, never has lively colors; it is grayish, or of a velvet

black, and the scales are not very solidly attached; the muscles

are not thick, and are of a soft consistence ; their bones are soft

and have a spongy structure; their mouth is usually large, and

armed with sharp, hook-like teeth. Most of these fishes live in

the ooze, or at its surface. All that were observed by the Talis-

man party had normally developed eyes, whose mode of action

in a medium completely obscure would be difficult to understand,

if it did not find its explanation in the existence of phosphores-

cent plates, or of a covering of luminous slime, which can shine

at a certain distance. In the black Malacosteus these plates are

situated at the eyes; in other species they are disposed in lines

on the lateral parts of the body.

The Pandali have given place to the Heterocarpus, with the

carapace furnished with projecting edges; to species of Penzeus,

whose posterior feet resemble antennz, and to enormous shrimps

of a blood-red color, and with extremely long antennz, which

were previously unknown, and should be placed in the genus

rista.

These crustacea were common, and several times they were

caught in such abundance that the cook claimed his share of

them. The Nephropsis appeared at this level; they are blind

crustacea, which externally resemble some kinds of crayfishes, ot

a coral red. Their geographical distribution seems to be very

extensive ; for they have been found on each side of the Atlantic,

in the Antilles, while a Chinese species which seems to be identi-

cal, at least very near, has been dredged at a great depth near the

Andaman islands.

The Pentacheles and the Polycheles, whose eyes are atrophied,

conceal themselves in the ooze, only extending their long, slender

pincers adapted to seize their prey. They alone represent in

actual nature the Eryons, so common in the jurassic seas.

The Nematocarcini, with remarkably long feet, live in the same

conditions. The crabs have become rarer, though some species

still exist. These are the Maians (Scyramathia, Lispognathus),

some Homolians of a new species, Lithodes of great size, hereto-

fore peculiar to Arctic and Antarctic seas. A yery large Lithodes |

1885.] Zoology. 83

was dredged by the Talisman, under the tropics, at the depth of

goo and 1000 meters. This species, distinct from all others yet

known, has been named Lithodes tropicalis. There also occurred

several crustacea of the group Galathez, whose eyes are trans-

formed into spines.

The sponges are extremely common at the surface of the bed

of this part of the ocean. Most of them, as well known, have a

silicious skeleton.

everal species of the beautiful Rosella and of Holtenia were

found living in profusion. Their long hairs of white silex are

buried in the mud, and the sponges, with a form like a rounded

vase and a narrow orifice, project above the mud. They were

especially numerous between 900 and 1 200 meters, and at certain

points they seem to form veritable beds. The Aphrocallistes,

whose solid framework, composed of regular cells, affects the

most elegant forms, and gives the appearance of a honeycomb,

form extensive banks ; they were found ordinarily associated with

and attached to, branching corals of the genera Lophohelia and

Amphihelia.

The soft sea-urchins, such as the Calveria, become more num-

erous, and at 1000 meters they probably live crowded together

like the Echini of our shores. Some Holothurians, of the genus

polyps, we find in these new conditions a different population.

Off Cape Ghir and Cape Noun,"under the 30th parallel, at 120

miles from the shore, the Talisman explored, for several days, a

very regular bank, whose depths only varied between the narrow

limits of 2075 to 2300 meters. It was on this same bank that,

on the 2d of August, 1882, the Travailleur brought up in its nets

the singular fish described by M. Vaillant under the name of `

Eurypharynx pelecanoides, associated with a great number of new

or rare species. This year two specimens of Eurypharynx have

been captured, one at 1050 meters and the other at 1400 meters,

on the bottom of the reddish ooze west of Morocco. Similar

banks, but less rich, had been already explored by the Zaisman

on the Morocco coast, off Rabat, between Cape Blanc, northerly,

and Cape Cantin, a little before the arrival of the Talisman at

Mogador. These were found again under the 24th parallel ; also

off the Arguin bank. At this depth, the fishes were represented

by some very rare species, such as the Melanocetus johnsoni,

which had been as yet known only by a single example found

floating on the water by fishermen near Madeira. With its enor-

mous mouth it could swallow a fish considerably larger than its own

body, and its prey would lodge in a sac which hangs below its

abdomen, The first ray of the dorsal fin is developed into a true

84 General Notes. [January,

tactile appendage, recalling that ot the anglers, and serving the

same purpose. Some Bathytroctes, a Stomias with phosphor-

escent plates, several Malacostei and some Halosaurus live also

on the same oozy bottom. Many Crustacea, new to science, were

here dredged, and belonging principally to the group of Galathee

of the genera Galathodes, Galacantha, and Elasmonotus, whose

eyes, deprived of any cornea, are covered with an orange colored

pigment, and should be useless for vision. With them were

dredged several new kinds of mollusks, among them a Dentalium

of large size (D. parfait’) and a Pholadomiya.

Between Senegal and the Cape Verde islands, the bottom, at a

depth of from 3210 to 3655 meters, consisted of a greenish mud

rich in life. Some of the animals found there did not differ from }

those found on the bank situated at the depth of 2300 meters.

Others presented peculiar characteristics. These were fishes of

the genus Bathynectes, Synaphobranchus, and Myrus, some

Aristes, with bright colors and very like those at depths of from

1000 to 1200 meters, but with smaller eyes. Among Crustacea

were Pasiphaés, hermit crabs and Myside. Among mollusks

were a new species of Bulla, and another gasteropod belonging

to an unknown genus (Oscorys sulcata Fischer); among Echino-

derms were species of Ctenodiscus, Ophiurans, and species of

Ophiomusium.

Between St. Antoine and St. Vincent the fauna surpassed in

richness any regions previously explored. July 29th, at a depth

of from 450 to 600 meters, the dredge came up at the end of an

hour charged with more than a thousand specimens of fishes be-

longing mostly to the genus Malacocephalus; with more than

1000 Pandali, 500 amphipods, with long feet, a new species of

Nematocarcinus, 150 Pasiphaés spotted with red, large carmine-

red Aristes, and many other forms—7To be continued.

THE DEPTH TO WHICH SUNLIGHT PENETRATES WATER.—The

much-di d questi tothe depth to which sunlight penetrates

water, and the influence which such penetration, or want of pene-

tration, may exert upon the phenomena of life at great depths

has attracted renewed attention of late on the part of both phys-

icists and biologists. The carefully conducted observations of

Professor F. A. Forel, of Geneva, made upon the Lake of Geneva

in 1874, proved—at least as far as the resources of photography

and the human retina permitted—that the limit of absolute dark-

ness in that lake was reached in summer at the very moderate

depth of 45 meters, and in winter at 100 meters. Under normal

conditions of sight a shining object disappeared when immersed

below 16 to 17 meters. Asper, who continued the researches of

Forel upon the Lake of Zurich, found in 1881 that photographic

plates sensitized with bromide of silver emulsion indicated .the

penetration of light to at least 90 meters. But while the re-

searches here recorded fix the limit of luminous perception as

O a Serer sre

1885. ] Zoology. 85

dependent upon the powers of the human retina, they do not

necessarily determine the same for the retina and visual nerves of

the lower animals, Indeed, the presence of well-developed eyes

in many of the animal forms inhabiting the greatest depths, no

less than the varied coloring of their teguments, have frequently

been taken in evidence to prove not only the existence of light

there, but also the unequal visual powers of the different organ-

isms. Professor Verrill has recently enunciated the startling prop-

osition that not improbably light of the intensity of ordinary

moonlight may penetrate to depths of 2000, or even 3000

fathoms, and that possibly some sunlight penetrates even to the

lowest bottom of the ocean. Evidently, however, the tegumen-

tary coloring as we observe it has no bearing on the question at

issue, inasmuch as it appears as such only when brought within

the influence of white light, which may be at, or quite near to,

the surface of the water. Whether or not the quantity of phos-

phorescent light emitted by the organisms themselves is sufficient

to account for the full development of visual organs, still remains

to be proved. In the meantime, the recently conducted investi-

gations of a special committee of Swiss scientists, among whose

names we find those of Sarasin, Soret, Pictet, C. De Candolle, and

Fol, seem to affirm in a general way the conclusions reached by

Forel—namely, that luminous penetration extends to only mod-

erate depths. Three candles (contained in a lantern), immersed

in the clearest water of the Lake of Geneva, were visible at a

depth of 30 meters; and an electric light, at 3 meters further.

The distance of clear vision was found to be but very feebly de-

pendent upon either the increase of brilliancy in the luminous

body, or its absolute magnitude. The extreme limit of the sun’s

luminous action was determined photographically to be 250

meters, beyond which absolute darkness was supposed to prevail.

—The Nation.

ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN OF ASELLUS AND THE EYE-

LESS FORM CecipoT#A.—The results presented grew out of an

attempt to compare the nervous system, particularly the brain

and other cephalic ganglia, of the eyeless species of cave-inhabi-

ting Crustacea and insects with the allied eyed forms. After de-

1 Read at the Newport Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, Oct. 4, 1884.

86 General Notes. [ January,

After describing the hitherto unknown peculiarities of the brain

of Asellus and isopod Crustacea in general, the histological ele-

ments, and the optic lobes, nerves, and eyes, the brain of the eye-

less forms was then described. Cecidotzea in its external form is

a somewhat dwarfed Asellus, with the body, however, much

longer and slenderer than in the eyed forms, and with slenderer

appendages. It is not usually totally eyeless, since in some in-

dividuals a rudimentary eye, in the shape of a minute black

speck, is seen on each side of the head; the spot varying in size

in different individuals.

From the examination of numerous microscopic sections it

appears that the eyeless Cecidoteza differs from the eyed form

(Asellus) in the complete loss of the optic ganglia, the optic

nerves, besides the almost and sometimes nearly total loss of

the pigment cells and lenses. As regards the other parts of the

brain, no differences were observed; the proportions of the brain

and the histological structure had remained unchanged in the

eyeless forms. Besides the atrophy of the optic ganglia and

nerves, the pigment mass forming the retina and also the lenses

exist in a very rudimentary condition. In one specimen the

number of lenses was reduced to two, and the lenses themselves

many times smaller than in the eye of the normal Asellus.

The steps taken in the degeneration or degradation of the eyes,

the result of living in perpetual darkness, seem to be these:

1. The total and nearly or quite simultaneous loss by disuse of

the optic ganglia and nerves,

2. Breaking down of the retinal cells.

3. The last step being, as seen in the totally eyeless forms, the

disappearance of the lens and retina.

That these modifications in the eye of the Cecidotza are the

result of disuse and the loss of the power of vision from the ab-

sence of light seems well established; and this, with the many |

parallel facts in the structure of other cave Crustacea, as well as

insects, arachnids, and worms, seemed to the author to be due to

the action of two factors : (a) change in the environment and (6)

heredity. Thus one is led by a study of these instances, in a

sphere where there is little if any occasion for the exercise of a

struggle for existence between the organisms, to a modified

form of Lamarckianism in order to account for the origination of

these forms, rather than the theory of natural selection, or pure

Darwinism, as such.— A, S, Packard.

On THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE Tarsus IN THE MAMMALS.—

While occupied with an extended paper on the limb-skeleton of

the vertebrates, I have obtained some new views on the homology

of the tarsal elements in the Mammalia. For some time I have

been puzzled by a bone in the tarsus of different mammals,

which has always been considered a “ sesamoid.”

Flower (Osteol. of Mamm., 2d edit., p. 317) says of this bone:

1885.] Zoology. 87

“ There is a large sesamoid bone on the tibial side of the tarsus,

articulating with the astragalus, navicular and internal cune-

iform.”

Gegenbaur, who has done so much for the morphology of the

limbs of vertebrates, says in regard to this:

“ EineVermehrung der Tarsuselemente ist bei Nagethieren vor-

handen, von Cuvier wie von Meckel ausführlich beschrieben. Es

wird dieseVermehrung aus einer Theilung des Naviculare abgelei-

tet und aus dem Hinzutreten eines tiberzahligen Knochens, der am

inneren Fussrande des Cuneiforme! angelagert ist. Der aus der

Theilung des Naviculare entstehende zweite Knochen liegt gleich-

falls am inneren Tarsus rande, hinter dem vorhin erwzhnten, ist

Strecke mit dem Cuneiforme ; zusammen. Wenn auch seine

Lagerung am Astragalus und seine Verbindung mit dem eigent-

lichen Naviculare die Ansicht von seiner Entstehung, wie sie die

oben genannten Autoren äussern, als sehr wahrscheinlich erschei-

nen lassen, so halte ich sie doch noch nicht fiir fest begründet.

Das Vorkommen des zweiten Knochens, sowie ähnlicher über-

zahliger Stücke am Tarsus der Monotremen schliesst die Mög-

lichkeit nicht aus, dass auch das aus einer Theilung des Navic-

ulare entstanden sein sollende Stück ein Accessorium ist. Daran

wird wenigstens so lange festgehalten werden dürfen, bis der

Nachweis einer Theilung der Naviculare aus der Entwicklung

geliefert ist.”

I do not consider this bone a sesamoid for the following

reasons :

1. Its situation. It articulates by distinct and well-developed

faces with the first cuneiform (Tars. 1), at the proximal prolonga-

tion of which itis situated, and with the navicular and astragalus.

In many rodents it articulates with the entire surface of the first

cuneiform,

2. Its origin. In Cavia it is always found equally developed

with the other tarsal bones and quite distinct.

3. Its relationship in certain phylogenetic old rodents, Cerco-

labes and Erethizon. In these forms there is always developed a

claw-like piece of bone, articulating with the “sesamoid” in

question, and hence it loses all the characters of a “ sesamoid.”

It is surrounded by the astragalus, navicular, cuneiform 1 and the

claw-like piece...

G. R. Waterhouse (A natural history of the Mammalia, Vol.

11, Pl. 18, Fig. 4) gives an excellent figure of the tarsus of Cerco-

labes nove hispane, but he calls these elements “supernumerary

bones ” (pp. 405—406).

Let us examine the relationship of this bone in some other orders

1Gegenbaur, C. Untersuchungen zur vergleichenden Anatomie der Wirbelthiere,

1 Heft. Carpus and Tarsus. Leipzig, 1864.

88 General Notes. [January,

of mammals. In Hyrax I find a small bone between the astragalus

and navicular, which I can only homologize with the “ sesamoid.”

In the carnivores it appears to be coalesced with the navicular, as

in Lepus, for I always find in the ascending part of the navicular

traces of a former separation. In an embryo of a dog of 65™™ I

have observed indications of a former distinction. In a recent

examination of Ornithorhyncus! I have observed the same con-

dition as in Cercolabes; the spur of the former is homologous

with the claw-like piece in this rodent. A similar condition is

found in many Edentates.

The question now is, what is the homologue of this bone? I can

only compare it with the tibiale. The astragalus would then be

homologous with the intermedium, the calcaneum with the

fibulare.

I reach the conclusion: First, by the position of the piece in

question; it lies in the first row of tarsal bones next to the astrag-

alus; second, by the development of the tarsus of mammals.

never have been able to distinguish an “intermedium ” in the

sense of Bardeleben. In embryos of mammals, I have always

found the astragalus composed of one piece, and I never find an

element between the astragalus and calcaneum. In adult mam-

mals, especially in Marsupials, I find Bardeleben’s “ intermedium ”

well developed, but I only consider it a tendon ossification.

The terminology of the tarsus of mammals would be the fol-

lowing:

Tibiale =s Sesamoid,

Intermedium bs Astragalus

Fibulare — Calcaneum.

Centrale sets Naviculare (Navic. = Centr. + Tib.).

Tarsale 1 == Cuneiform 1.

Tarsale 11 = Cuneiform 11.

Tarsale III = Cuneiform 111.

Tarsale Iv + v Cuboideum,

If we seek for connecting forms among the vertebrates below

the mammals, we must bear in mind the Theromorpha from the

Permian recently described by Cope, which show so many resem-

blances to the mammals, especially in the tarsal bones. T do mot

hesitate to consider the claw-like piece in the tarsus of Cerco-

labes and Erethizon and the spur in the monotremes as the rudi-

ment of a sixth toe, and would like to compare it with the same

structure seen in the tarsus of frogs.

In my paper on the morphogeny of the carpus and tarsus of

the vertebrates I will speak further on this subject—Dr, G. Baur,

Yale College Mus., New Haven, Conn., Oct., 1884.

OOLOGICAL Notes.—Celenterates—Messrs, Koren and Dan-

iellsen have recently described fifteen new species of Alcyona-

*Copėë, E. D., Paleont. Bull. No. 39, p. 46, 1884.

AAEN SN

noe RD EE

1885.| Zoölogy. 89

rians, most of which have been dredged in the Bergen and

Drontheim tjords. The new genus Duva contains four species.

It contains much branched forms, bearing several non-retractile

polyps at the extremity of each branchlet. The polyps are

provided with long acicular spicules, and branches, twigs, and

septa are without calcareous deposit. Gorgonia florida Rathke

belongs to this division. Another new genus Gondu, is so

peculiar that it is considered the type of a new family of Penna-

tulids and even of a section of the order characterized by the

fixity of the rachis, the presence of long calcareous spicules and

the bilateral development of the pinnules. The colony is short

and without a base. The spicules have a central canal, divided

into four by septa. The only species, G. miradi/ts,is of a beauti-

ful orange, with dark red polyps. The remaining species belong

to the alcyonarian genera Sarcophyton, Gersemia, Clavularia,

Sympodium, and Haimea, the gorgonian genera Brianeum and

Paragorgia, and the pennatulid genera Gladiscus, Kophobel-

emnon, Leptotilum and Pinnatula.

orms.—M. J. G. de Man, of Leyden, has published a mono-

graph of the nematodes of the Netherlands and of France. He

describes forty-three species belonging to thirty-six genera, of

which twenty are new. Terrestrial nematodes can usually be

found in the earth attached to the roots of damp grass, and fresh

created species abound upon the filaments of Conferve and in

the detritus of ponds and brooks.

Crustaceans Crustacea seem to be rare in Barentz sea, for

the six Dutch expeditions have only obtained fifteen species.

M. Weber, in the MMederlandische Archiv fur Zoologie, gives a

careful description of Glyptonotus sabini Kroyer.

Fishes ——Cases of hermaphroditism among fishes accumulate.

Aristotle first noticed it among the Serranidæ, and his state-

ments have been since verified. The peculiarity has been

observed in three or four species of Serranus, and in sixteen

other species of bony fishes, viz: Box salpa, Charax puntazza,

Chrysophrys aurata, Labrus mixtus, Pagellus mormyrus, Perca

fluviatilis, Sargus annularis and S. saloaini, Scomber scomber,

Gadus morrhua, G. merlangus, Lota vulgaris, Solea vulgaris,

Clupea harengus and Cyprinus carpio. The majority of these

species are Physoclysti, but three are Physostomes. He hro-

ditism has also been observed among the Chondrostei (Acipenser

huso, A. sturio), but not among the elasmobranchs or the dipno-

ans. In examples of Centrolophus pompilio, Smaris alcedo, and

Ophidium barbatum, a mass of ovules has been seen to develop

as the male gland in the midst of the spermatoblasts. M.

Weber (Ueber Hermaphrodismus bei Fischen. Nied

Tijd. vor der Dierkunde) gives an interesting anatomical de-

scription of twò hermaphrodite fishes, a perch and a cod. He

attributes hermaphroditism to the primordial sexual indifference

go General Notes. [January,

of the materials at the expense of which the genital glands are

developed. This makes it possible that, while one part of these

embryonic materials evolves the male sex, the other may suffer

modifications in the direction of the female.

Reptiles —The lizards of the genus Macroscincus, which are

not known to occur on any other spot than the desolate volcanic

islet of Branco, three and a half miles south-west of Santa Lucia

(Cape Verde islands) are said by M. A. Milne-Edwards to be

exclusively vegetable feeders of exceedingly timid disposition.

They live in holes among the loose basaltic masses which strew

the island. The largest example obtained by the naturalist of

the Talisman was sixty centimeters in length.

irds.—The report of the committee for obtaining observations

of the migrations of birds at light-houses and light-vessels aroun

and near the British islands, contains much interesting informa-

tion. Light-vessels moored from five to fifty miles off shore are

most favorably placed for such observations. At Heligoland, the

rush of migrating birds is more marked and concentrated than

anywhere onthe English coast. The great rushes on the English

east coast in 1883 were on September 21 and the two following

` days, with moderate cross-currents of air blowing over the North

sea, on October 12 and 13, and from the 27th to the 31st of the

same month. No less than eight Greenland falcons were shot

on the west coast of Ireland during the past year. Not a tithe

of the enormous immigration of the autumn returns by the same

lines in the spring.

Mammals.—M. A. Milne-Edwards stated in 1871 that, as a

result of an examination of the foetal development of Indris,

Propithecus, and Lemur, he had concluded that the lemuroids

had incontestable affinities with the herbivores. Since that epoch,

. Milne-Edwards has examined the embryos of Microcebus,

Galago, etc., which yielded the same results, and lastly has dis-

sected a foetus of the aye-aye. This was found to resemble in

every essential character those of other lemuroids, while the

foetal membranes were those of a typical lemur. The dentition

of the: young aye-aye is much less different from that of other

lemurs than that of the adult, in consequence of the shedding

and non-replacement of some of the milk-teeth. The abnormal

characters of the species are developed as age advances.

EMBRYOLOGY:.!

AN OUTLINE OF A THEORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UN-

PAIRED FINs OF Fisnes.2—The median fins of fishes normally

present five well-marked conditions of structure which corre-

spond inexactly to as many stages of development, which, in typi-

1 Edited by JOHN A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Di ti

* To appear in full in the Proceedings of the National Museum, with plates.

1885. ] Embryology. 9I

cal fishes, succeed each other in the order of time. A sixth ex-

ceptional form is developed in consequence of an extensive

degeneration of the chordal axis and hinder end of the urosome,

unaccompanied by an upbending of the hinder end of the axis,

as in the case of the evolution of heterocercy. The most prim-

æval stages, or those found to appear in the younger phases of

the growth of fishes are somewhat approximated by the structure

of the fins of some of the most ancient Devonian, Triassic and

Jurassic forms and by such living forms as Chimæra, the Dipno-

ans and Leptocardians, but the parallelism of the development of

the tail of young fishes with the successive modifications of caudal

structure found in the forms of ‘successive geological periods is

not.exact, as we shall presently show.

1. Archicercy—The most primitive modification of the urosome

is that which I will call avchicercal, and which is without any

median fin-folds whatsoever. While it is true that only a few de-

generate or specialized forms of true fishes (Hippocampus, Nero-

phis) approximate such a condition, it must be admitted that the

fins are acquired structures, and that the folds from which they

are developed have been acquired in the course of the evolution

of the ancestry of the fishes. When a young fish is developing in

the egg its tail grows out at first as a blunt prolongation back-

wards, which is for atime wholly without fin-folds, cylindrical

and vermiform in general appearance, with the muscular somites

clearly marked. -

The larva of Branchiostoma (Fig. 1) is at first without median

fin-folds, and that of Petromyzon seems to be without them during

the very early stages, and while we must make due allowance in

both these cases for the effects of degeneration, we may, I think

it probable, look upon these types as possessing at one stage a

typically archicercal and vermiform tail. The solitary Urochorda

or Ascidians pass through an archicercal stage of development

of the urosome. In the course of further development the As-

cidians never seem to pass beyond what I have called the second

or lophocercal stage when it is absorbed in the caducichordate

forms, but persists in the same stage in the perennichordate Ap-

pendicularia,

. The Elasmobranchs seem to pass through an archicercal stage

while the Amphibians do not exhibit it in so pronounced a way,

very soon becoming lophocercal, though the larva of Dactylethra

has the anterior part of the urosome with high median fin-folds

while the termination is somewhat like that of C/iimera monstrosa

(Fig. 2), but tapers more and is typically archicercal (teste, W. K.

92 General Notes. [January,

Parker). After the absorption of the lophocercal tail of anurous

amphibian larvæ has been in progress for some time, it seems to

Fig.2

tend to lose its median folds somewhat and revert to the archicer-

cal condition. This is also the case with the young of most

Urodela as they approach maturity.

2. Lophocercy—The second stage of development of the median

fin-system of Ichthyopsida is what I have called /ophocercal

(= protocercal, Wyman; = /eptocardial, A. Agassiz) when it con-

sists of continuous folds (Amphibia, Elasmobranchs, Teleosts,

etc.), or exceptionally of discontinuous folds (Siphostoma, Gam-

busia) which do not include permanent rays. The continuity of the

median fin-fold in young fishes seems to depend somewhat upon

the extent to which the permanent fins are approximated in the

adult. Several forms amongst the Clupeoids develop an ex-

panded eradiate caudal fold, with the chordal axis dividing it into

equal moieties, which anticipates the form of the outwardly homo-

cercal tail of the adult. At the close of the lophocercal condition

the ray-bearing fishes at once diverge from the rest of the Chor-

data, and also the Urochorda, in that they develop embryonic rays

in definite regions of the median fin-fold or continuously through-

out its entire extent and which give rise to the rays of the dis-

tinct or continuous fins of the adult. The intervening parts of

the fold in the first case atrophy (—local reversion to archicercy),

Fig. 3.

a”. tee TEE OE a ay

oe 5 DE ae

J EEEIEE

SSS :

font =

AY fa Enn ay, D

g5 6 . = Se zan LEM a AE m m m m AE

s fl SLS am

73% a a R EERS, D) Fogh

auu rar

SISE

the materials for the formation of the rays being supplied par-

tially by mesoblastic secretion, while the axial parts are of meso-

blastic origin; the materials for the medulla of the rays being

supplied by the outgrowth of mesoblast into the fold. The dis-

position of the materials for the development of the rays of the

unpaired fins seems to be very decidedly under the control of

heredity, which determines their permanent location or position in

E a NE ge

1885.] Embryology. 93

the primitive fold, which may therefore be considered the matrix

of the permanent fins

In the formation of rays, their supports and musculature, there

is clearly a close correspondence between the number of ray-

bearing somites of the body and the one, two or three rays and

supports which are developed to each segment, and this is mani-

fested even when heterocercy and its accompanying degenerative

processes manifest themselves in the caudal region of the most

specialized forms.

3. Diphycercy—The most archaic distribution of the median

fin-rays is a continuous one, (as in Fig. 4), and is hypaxial from

the vent to the end of the tail and then

forward dorsally or epaxially ; (Ccelacan-

thi, Placodermi, Dipnoi, Pleuracanthus).

Another archaic trait is the perfectly “

straight chorda or vertebral axis which 7S

extends without upward curvature in

` typically diphycercal forms to the end of

the urosome. (An archaic trait which

also marks a phase of the ontogeny of the Teleosts is the Ceela-

canthous—hollow—condition of the bony portion of the spines

and their supports.) Fishes with a long eel-like body have

tended to remain diphycercal, while those whose bodies have

been abbreviated have tended, with the exception of such forms

as the Heterosomata, to develop discontinuous median fins which

have very probably been derived in the first instance, from hyper-

trophied portions of a continuous series. This hypertrophy in

some cases involved the whole series, e. g., Platax. The prime-

val pre-diphycercal or lophocercal condition is mediately followed

by the next stage (Fig. 5) which, as we have seen, must have

been developed from a more archaic condi-

tion or one of true diphycercy. There

therefore occurs a more or less extensive

elision or failure to develop a continuous

of median fins. Embryonic mene rage — Mhs

therefore fails to exactly recapitulate the

phases of evolution of the median fins. Even the embryonic rays

which are of mesoblastic origin do not always form a continuous

series. They are far more numerous than the permanent rays,

and are characteristic of the diphycercal condition and rep

a stage of fin development which may be called the protopterygian

These views are fully substantiated by the development of the

caudal skeleton of the eel, in which in spite of its slight hetero-

1 Another article in the succeeding number will deal with the origin of the fin-

rays.

Gk General Notes. [January,

cercy the diphycercal continuity of the fin-series has remained

practically unimpaired, thus affording the necessary proof of the

serial homology of the entire series of median fin-rays and their

intermediary supports. (Previous authors failing to attack this

part of the problem by the light of the ontogeny of a diphycer-

cal eel-like type have missed the solution of one of the most im-

portant minor parts of a rational theory of the median fins, since

it is otherwise impossible to prove such a homology in forms

with atrophied intervals between the vertical fins.) The meso-

blastic ‘skeletogenous tract from which the median fin-rays. and

their supports are developed, is continuous in the median line of

the urosome, above, below and almost over the end of the chorda

in fish embryos; such a continuity affords an explanation of why

the median fin-rays form an uninterrupted series in cases of per-

fect diphycercy (Fig. 4), or where the archaic has not been re-

placed by a specialized mode of development, in the course of

which discontinuity has arisen (Protopterus).

4. Heterocercy—Heterocercy affects only the end of the chor-

dal axis, which is bent upwards, and as a result of this it and the

subsequently formed terminal vertebral segments are consolidated

into a urostyle (many Teleostei), above and below which epaxial

and hypaxial skeletal elements are formed, of which the former

are, however, often aborted, and the latter widened as supports

for the caudal system of rays.

is condition appears to result from two causes: (1) Great

activity of growth in the terminal hypaxial part of the primitive

caudal fin-fold in consequence of which the chorda is shoved up-

wards ; and (2) from the actions of the animal in using the result-

ing expanded, hypaxial, caudal, ray-bearing fold in swimming ;

the strokes of the fin in action, owing to the resistance offered by

the water, tend to throw up the somatic axis, just as an oar tends

to be thrown upward in sculling.

Since the hypaxial fold may be developed at some distance

from the end of the tail, in the more specialized forms (Lepidos-

teus, Fig.6; Gasterosteus) a more or less extensively free portion

aS,

2RR

ot the lophocercal caudal axis is left to project (Fig. 7) during

the growth of the true or secondary caudal, the rays of which

are mostly hypaxial and serially homologous with those of the

anal. The exserted part of the larval axis alluded to above, may

be called the ofzsthure, in reference to its position in relation to

1885. | Embryology. =

the permanent caudal. It subsequently degenerates, or it may

persist as a prolongation of the chordal axis covered by integu-

ment, as in Chimera monstrosa (Fig. 2) or, as in heterocercal

Amiurus (Fig. 8), it may, at an early stage, have the chorda ex-

serted beyond the last hypural car- , Es

tilages and at some distance behind “sy/

them have another hypaxial car- / CANNE

tilage (of) developed, which may be

called opisthural, as it probably rep-

resents the remnant of proximal

hypural pieces, which were devel-

oped in some more primitive ances-

tral form in which diphycercy was

more pronounced or even perfect.

Where the caudal, ray-bearing fin-

fold is developed nearer the end of

the chordal axis (Apeltes, Siphosto-

ma, Gambusia,) heterocercy is not

so pronounced, as the urostyle is shorter and only one or two

of the terminal vertebre are involved, whereas in other cases

(Salmo, Lepidosteus) more terminal vertebrze may be implicated

by degeneration. In archaic forms of heterocercy there may be

epaxial rays and intermediary supports developed, while the hyp-

axial supports and rays extend to the end of the upwardly bent

termination of the axial column (Fig. 5). This trait may possi-

bly differentiate the archaic type of heterocercy (Palzoniscus,

Platysomus, Acipenser, Squali) from the more recent or special-

ized form (Amiurus, Fig. 8) now prevalent amongst Teleosts, and

which have for the most part a more or less well-developed uro-

style, but with a very short or included opisthure (= dorsal lobe,

A. Agassiz), and with the epaxial spines of the urostyle displaced,

rudimentary or aborted. Outwardly homocercal Palzeozoic fishes

(Dapedius, Pycnodus,) probably had an opisthural filaments de-

veloped during their larval stages which subsequently became

aborted, as in Lepidosteus, but in others (Platysomus, Pygopterus,)

the terminal part of the chordal axis doubtless became segmented,

the segments bearing hypaxial caudal rays and few or no epaxial

ones, so that their opisthures were probably rudimentary or

wanting.

It thus becomes evident that the development of modern Tel-

eosts presents only a partial or inexact parallelism with that of the

Palæozoic Rhomboganoidei, for few, if any, of these forms show

the urostyle so distinctly developed or the hypural pieces so ex-

tensively codssified as in existing Teleostei, and we have also

shown that there is no such thing even as an exact parallelism to

be discovered between the development of the tail of the embryos

of the latter and that of the embryos of an existing representa-

tive of Palaozoic forms, viz., Lepidosteus (Fig. 6). The Rhom-

96 General Notes. [January,

boganoidei, Cycloganoidei, Crossopterygia and Chondrostei show

a more decided tendency towards the development of a dorsal and

ventral, or, only a ventral series of caudal rays which extend to

the end of the caudal axis, and thus trend more towards a diphy-

cercal condition than the existing Teleostei, which may be said to

be verging towards hypocercy when all of the caudal rays will be

of hypaxial origin, with very often a rayless interval between the

last hypaxial pieces and the end of the exserted urostyle (Fig. 8),

the latter finally tending to become shorter and be aborted as in

: Fistularia and Apeltes. These are some of the marks of pro-

gress which distinguish the Teleosts and supplement the signifi-

cant fact of their well-ossified skeleton. It is highly probable

that we shall find no remains of the larvz of Paleozoic fishes in

the rocks, so that we have no means of contrasting their early

phases with those of existing forms, but it is certain that

none of the most simple forms of the Palzozoic fishes, in respect

to their caudal skeletal structure, even approximate such a primi-

tive condition as the lophocercal stage of modern forms; the

only trait which they possess in common are the continuous me-

dian fins ; in the first instance containing rays, in the latter case

being without them. When we know the larve of Ceratodus,

Polypterus, Lepidosiren and Protopterus, as well as we know that

of Lepidosteus we may have a moderately comprehensive under-

standing of the main features of the development of Palzeozoic

hes.

The evidence in favor of degeneration of portions of the cau-

dal region of fishes is the existence of a permanent archicercal

opisthure in Chimera monstrosa and Stylephorus chordatus ; the

extensive development of a temporary opisthure in Lepidosteus ;

the concrescence of the hypural pieces; the ventrally diplacan-

thous and even triplacanthous caudal vertebre (Fig. 8), or their

coalesced representative, the urostyle ; the existence of hypaxial

opisthurai elements; the abortion of the epaxial spines of the

caudal vertebra, and finally the abortion or extreme modification

of the last muscular somites of the caudal region.

5. Homocercy—This merely expresses the condition of epaxial

and hypaxial symmetry presented by the fan-shaped caudal of

Teleosts, and is the final term in the evolution of the growth of

the rays of that fin, in consequence of which the archaic symme-

try of perfect diphycercy becomes again restored, though the

axial structure of the tail is heterocercal.

6. Gephyrocercy.—This type of tail appears to be normally met

with in only two forms of Teleosts, viz., Mola and Fierasfer.

The primitive opisthure or end of the urosome in these forms is

apparently aborted, in the first, in the course of larval existence,

in the other during post-larval life. As a result of this a hiatus

is left between the epaxial and hypaxial rudiments of the median

fins, and in the center of this hiatus the axial column ends

netted TREY SU iS

1385] Fhysiology. | 97

abruptly as if cut or bitten off, the hinder hypaxial and epaxial

tissues concerned in the formation of rays and their supports are

then approximated over the end of the aborted axis so as to form

a continuous chain, and developed later than the other and more

anterior median fin-rays (Mola), and the interval so bridged by a

secondary process of development leads to the formation of what

we may call a gephyrocercal tail, in which the spinous axial

apophyses of the caudal vertebra, together with their centra, fail

to develop, and the caudal rays rest either upon interspinous ele-

ments alone, or even these may be almost entirely aborted, as is

the case for a time in the young stages of Mola “ Ostracion boops No

and “ Molacanthus,” both of which are evidently young, post-

larval phases of that form.

The views here outlined rest partly upon facts of my own

observation, but I must express my great indebtedness to the

researches of L. and A. Agassiz,Vogt, Lotz, Balfour, Parker, Hux-

ley and Kölliker, whose labors have enabled me to coordinate

the facts and establish doctrines respecting the origin of the

median fins, which are founded upon the theory of ontogeny. —

John A. Ryder. Nov. 3d, 1884. `

EXPLANATIONS OF FIGURES.

Fic. 1,—Larval Branchiostoma, (after Kowalevsky); almost perfectly archicercal.

Fic. 2.—Chimera monstrosa, with an archicercal opisthural filament, (after:

Agassiz).

Fic. 3.—Lophocercal larva of the codfish, with continuous median fin-fold, f f f f-

Fic, 4.—Ideal diphycercal tail, nearly as in Ceratodus and Protopterus.

Fic. oe archaic heterocercal tail; somewhat as found. in sturgeons andi

sharks.

Fic. 6.—Heterocercal tail of larval Lepidosteus (after Balfour and Parker), showing

epural and hypural pieces undeveloped at the end of the chorda.

Fic. 7.—Tail of a very young Lepidosteus (from the same source), showing the

opisthure, of, above the secondary or true caudal, sc.

Fic. 8.—Caudal skeleton of a larval Amiurus, fifteen days old. o, opisthural, Ay,

hypural, and cf, epural cartilages; x, urostyle ; mt, medulla spinalis ; cå, chorda,

invested by the skeletal tissue, så, of the caudal vertebræ.

PHYSIOLOGY.!

Tue THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF OXYGEN AND OF Ozong.—It is

re. 2. In cases of poisoning with chloroform, alcohol, sula —

phuretted hydrogen or carbonic oxide, respiration of pure oxy-

‘This department is edited by Professor Henry Sewatt, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

= YOR XIX.—No. I. 7

98 General Notes. [ January,

gen offers no advantages over that of pure air. 3. Breathing in

diluted ozone is without the narcotizing effects which some ascribe

to it. 4. Respiration in concentrated ozone produces powerful

irritation of the mucous membrane, and is therefore injurious.

5. There is no proof that ozone is taken into the blood through

the lungs.—Pfliiger’s Archiv., Bd. 34, S. 335.

THE PRESENCE, SOURCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SUGAR IN THE

Bioop.—Seegen publishes an interesting contribution to the much

discussed question of the function of the liver in relation to car-

bohydrates. As is well known, Bernard and his followers re-

garded the liver as the sugar-making organ, and went so far as to

maintain that the sugar thus formed was produced chiefly by the

disruption of albuminous material. Pavy and others regard, in

general, the liver as a sugar destroyer, by whose means the over-

loading of the blood with absorbed carbohydrate is prevented.

Seegen lends his support to the older school. He shows that

sugar formation in the liver is a general physiological function

shared by widely different groups of animals, herbivorous and

carnivorous. He finds, moreover, that the liver,even when excised,

has the power of producing sugar from peptone. Numerous

researches on dogs gave the following principal results: 1. Sugar

is a normal constituent of the blood, but varies in its proportions

from 0.1 per cent to 0.15 percent. 2. The sugar content of the

blood in the right and left sides of the heart is the same. Dif-

ferences between the proportion of sugar in arterial and venous

blood are not constant but yariable within narrow limits. The

blood of the portal vein, however, nearly constantly contains less

sugar than that of the carotid artery. 3. The blood which léaves

the liver contains double the quantity of sugar held by that entering

it. The mean of thirteen experiments gave for blood of the portal

vein, sugar O.I 19 per cent ; for the hepatic vein, sugar 0.23 per cent.

4. The amount of sugar thus leaving the liver in the course of a

day is very considerable. The amount produced by the dog’s liver

in twenty-four hours is calculated to vary from 200 to more than

400 grammes. 5. The blood-sugar is formed, at least in carniv-

orous animals, exclusively from albuminous bodies. 6, The

sugar content of the blood rapidly diminishes when the liver is

excluded. This sugar is used up in all the living tissues.—

Phliigers Archiv, Bd. 34, S. 388.

THE PREVENTION oF HypropHopia.—MM. Pasteur, Chamber-

land and Roux have made the following communication on the

prophylaxis of rabies by inoculation with a modified virus. They

find (1) that the virus transferred from the dog to the ape, and

cultivated by propagation through several members of the latter

order, becomes progressively feebler after each inoculation.

After a certain period of such cultivation, if it be hypodermically

administered to dogs, guinea-pigs or rabbits, or even by intracra-

1885.] : Psychology. 99

nial injection (the most deadly method), death does not result,

but the animal acquires an immunity from hydrophobia. (2) If,

on the other hand, the poison of rabies be cultivated in suc-

cessive rabbits or guinea-pigs only, its potency is intensified, and

after a time is so great that a fatal issue invariably follows its

inoculation. The ‘poison as found in the dog is intermediate in

strength between that of the two methods of cultivation just

mentioned. Thus by careful selection of the medium and the

stage of cultivation, it is possible to accumulate a store of attenu-

ated virus which can be relied on to communicate a modified

rabies whose inoculation shall be protective against its severer

forms, as that of vaccinia is against variola. There is also good

reason to believe, though the actual experiment is postponed,

that, as with vaccinia, the modified poison hypodermically en-

grafted immediately after the bite of a rabid animal, will forestall,

by the speed of its development, the symptoms due to the bite.

No experiments have as yet been made on the human subject.

(Progrès Médical, May, 18834). The experiments which M.

Pasteur is reported thus far to have made are said to be an un-

broken success. Fifty-seven dogs have been the subjects of

investigation. Of these, nineteen were rabid, and by these, thirty-

eight healthy animals were bitten under uniform conditions. Of

the thirty-eight, one-half the number had been previously inocu-

lated or “ vaccinated ” with attenuated virus, the other half had

not. The latter, without a single exception, died with unequivocal

signs of rabies, whereas the nineteen others remain as well as ever.

They will be watched for a year by veterinary surgeons to see

whether the inoculation holds good permanently or only tempo-

rarily. If rabies be not spontaneous in its origin, and if the

experiments of Pasteur all turn out successful, there seems no

reason why canine madness should not be extirpated from our

midst.—Lancet, Fuly 12, 1884.

PSYCHOLOGY.

CLEVENGER ON THE EvoLuTion oF Minp AnD Bopy oF MAN AND

Animats.'—We have here a work, scientific and speculative, on

several of the live questions of the day. The author is an evo-

lutionist physical and metaphysical. More than this, he is a

mechanical evolutionist, and endeavors throughout the book to

prove the origin of structures through use and effort, and their

loss by disuse. The especial object of the discussion is to dem-

onstrate the origin of mind and its various departments by the

action of its material basis. From this ape he does not ex-

l EEEE Physiology and 1 Pcholgy by S. V. Clevenger, M.D., Chicago,

Jansen EE & Co., 1885, pp

100 General Notes. [January,:

our own. Forthwith we must assign it a desire for food, which

desire is the chemical affinity of atoms; then the Amceba hun-

gers.” The origin of movements under the stimulus of pain and

pleasure is next followed out. The reproductive instinct is

referred to as a modified form of hunger. There is also a theory

of the origin of the brain; and another as to the origin of the

differentiation between the motor and sensory nerves and their

functions. The work is a brilliant one, and is studded with epi-

grammatic sentences, some of which have points which will be

felt, but whether pleasurably or painfully will depend on the

opinions of the reader. For instance ; “ Sociologically the money-

grubber devours the services of men of brains, and the issue of

the business is the development of faculties and facilities for

mercantile improvement both in the sordid and mental aspects.”

Again: “ A Chicago writer dislikes to credit any one in Arkan-

sas with a good thought. A New York or Boston man cannot

conceive of Chicago originating anything, and across the sea

the general run of scientists avoid any mention of America or its

workers if possible. Darwin was a notable exception to this rule,

for he was above pettiness.” The author has ransacked the liter-

ature of his subject, and has made a most interesting,book.

he writer undervalues metaphysics, which he calls “lunar

_ politics.” Hence his identification of consciousness with chemi-

cal affinity (see above on hunger). This is a fundamental point

in the science of mind in the large sense, though it may not

greatly affect theories of the evolution of the human mind out of

consciousness with the aid of memory and molar motion. We

have already explained in this journal (1884, p. 973, on Catagen-

esis) and elsewhere the opposite doctrine, that consciousness is

not a form of energy, but that although inseparably bound to

matter and energy, it is coéqual with them. Some reasons for

this view may be restated as follows:

When a form of energy is developed (as heat, light, etc.), which

was not present before, we know, in accordance with the law of

the conservation of energy, that the energy was already present

in some other form. We thus get something out of something.

We cannot hold the same view when consciousness ‘appears

where it had not been before. It is like the attempt to add beans

and potatoes to get apples, etc.; in a word it is an attempt to get

something out of nothing. To look upon it asa product of the

metamorphosis of energy is like regarding a man as the product

of the door which is opened in order to admit him to sight.

None but a savage could entertain such an opinion. In view of

the nature of the case, as well as of the truths of Kinetogenesis,

so well presented by Dr, Clevenger, it is much more logical to

believe that the consciousness is derived from an outside source,

and is communicated to matter which is in a proper energetic

state. The difficulties in the way of this view are largely if not

°1885.] Psychology. IOI

entirely removed by the well-known facts of discontinuous con-

sciousness. There is a form of brain malady in which persons

whose consciousness is clearly continuous to outside observers,

lead two or more distinct conscious lives, the one of which knows

nothing about the other. This is caused by the abolition of the

memory of a part of the conscious existence. Now it is far more

probable than not, that in a transfer of consciousness from one

physical basis to another, the molecular structure which is the

condition of memory is lost in whole or in part. Hence the ab-

sence of prenatal memory. If the mind ever learns of its for-

gotten life it must be by a process of exploration and unraveling

of records. Such a research would be a paleontology of mind,

and its materials are doubtless as abundant in the universe as are

the records of the physical organisms which we now excavate

from the rocks.—&. D. C.

A Horse's Memory.—Our sagacious little family horse—“ Joe”

—was kept at our place a few weeks one winter several years

since, and then taken back to his owner, thirty-five miles away.

wenty-one months later I purchased him. He was led to town

by the stage-driver, where I received him a mile and a half from

my farm. I saddled and mounted him and told him to “ go,”

leaving him, however, to take his own course, with a view to see-

ing whether he remembered the way home. Several turns were

to be made in the village streets in getting out of town, but Joe

made every one as correctly as he would to-day, after having

traveled the same little journey daily for years. We finally

crossed a bridge over Boone river, at the west end of which a

gate opens into a grove, the house being forty or fifty rods off to

the north. Joe stopped at the gate of his own accord, waiting

for me to dismount and open it. He seemed to know every rod

of the way, both to the barn and the stable, though he had been

away about a yearand nine months. He was a little disconcerted,

however, upon going into the stable, appearing lost fora moment,

but the cause of his embarrassment was sufficiently apparent

from the fact that the stalls had been changed to the opposite

side. It was perfectly clear, however, that he had not forgotten

a single detail of his daily life during his first brief sojourn with

us.—Charles Aldrich, Webster City, Lowa, Nov. 21, 1884.

TRAINING ELEPHANTS.—African elephants, said Forepaugh to

a reporter, are more intelligent, imitative and cunning than the

Asiatic. In training elephants the best method is to win them

over by petting and feeding them with something nice. Ialways

have a cake or some delicacy to give one of them when I take

him out for practice, consequently the beast is always glad to see

me, and is more attentive and docile than he otherwise would be.

Elephants never forget anything—they recollect “their stage

business ” and “situation,” and do not vary an inch one evening

102 General Notes. [January,

from another in taking their positions. It requires about five

months to train an elephant. We practice from 6 o’clock in the

morning until 6 o’clock in the evening. They are drilled singly,

and then in squads, and then taught their various “ specialty ”

acts and tricks. Elephants are more imitative than any other

animal perhaps, and are very cunning. While practicing

they are looking out for an opportunity to “cut up,” and wil

reach back and kick the trainer, and then look as innocent as a

truant school-boy. They seem almost human enough to talk.

The importation of elephants has increased tenfold within the

past decade. Ten years ago very few circuses had more than

three or four elephants, and one was the usual number ; now, no

circus is complete without fifteen or twenty —LZxchange.

THE CHIMPANZEE IN CoNFINEMENT.—At the Zodlogical Gar-

dens, Philadelphia, are two interesting individuals of this species.

Although they are comparatively young, perhaps not older than

six years, yet they have an extremely antiquated appearance. I

heard a countryman say to a bystander that he “ guessed they

were 70 years old, easy.” One of them has such a great fondness

for an old blanket that he carries or drags it with him wherever

e goes. Even if he desires to climb to the extreme top of his

cage, the blanket must go along, although it greatly retards his

progress. He knows its use, but does not always use it judiciously.

Thus, on an oppressively hot day in July, I have seen him reclin-

ing for twenty minutes or more, entirely enveloped in the blanket,

with the exception of his face, looking at the spectators with a

comical and pouting expression. I saw one, when teased and dis-

appointed by its keeper, throw itself upon the floor, and roll and

scream vehemently, very like a naughty child in a tantrum. A

board shelf was placed across their cage for them to climb upon.

This they soon found could be used as a spring-board, and nothing

seems to give them more pleasure than, when there is a good audi-

ence, to steal gently to the center of the board, grasp it tightly

with all fours, and spring violently up and down, causing the board

with themselves to vibrate rapidly, and producing at the same time

a loud, jarring noise. They then seem to greatly enjoy the startled

and amused looks of the spectators. Perhaps one of their most

human actions is languidly to recline, and holding a straw in one

hand, listlessly to chew at its tip, while the eyes are rolled vacantly

around. It may be that they are then building “ castles in Spain.”

—C. F. Seiss, in Scientific American.

ANTHROPOLOGY.!

THE PRECURSOR OF Man.—At the meeting of the French As-

sociation at Rouen, last year, the section of anthropology made

an excursion to Thenay, near Blois, to study the question of Ter-

tiary . The digging was performed under the direction of

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C.

1885. | Anthropology. 103

MM. d’Ault-Dumesnil and F. Daleau. Ina small volume, pre-

pared by le Marquis de Nadaillac, and distributed among the

members, entitled: “ Notice sur Blois et les environs ;” a chapter

of fourteen pages is devoted to the silex of Thenay. In greeting

the congress M. le Senateur Dufay discarded the term “ Tertiary

man,” and spoke without apology of the Axthropopithecus, a name

invented by M. G. de Mortillet. The succession of beds, as

revealed by Abbé Bourgeois, is as follows:

A. Vegetable mesi 0.60™

B. Shell marl, mass of marine fossil 0.40

C. Beds of pase ieee meenreees Biais, with Pholas excavations

1 URE WOES DORI connec bbe pees Entróisroro ts Tis creed o.

D. Fresh-water white ‘nite: foliated, flint rare ........ saiae 0.75

E. Bed of fresh-water a T viewd sind 0.25

F. -Marls as in D, silex Mis

H. Bed of Kak with iE A nodules and bones of Acero-

theriu s > P 0.24

I. Marls as ik ey CONE CRIS ke dh i be aa oe Reese es 0.9

K. Foliated marls, arer ai containing numerous flints broken ma.

retouched

The flints brought to light reveal not only the effect x work-

ing, but the influence of fire. This past phenomenon M. G. de Mor-

tillet discusses at length, in Homme, 1884, p. 550. Now with

these facts clearly stated the next duty is to study them dispas-

sionately. The Axthropopithecus must be fairly treated. On the

one hand there is nothing sacred about him, and he may have to

be knocked on the head; on the other hand, he is not, per se, as

a rival of “ Tertiary man,” to be hustled off the wharf.

INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL ExposiTion.—-At the seventh

National Congress of French Geographical Societies to be held

in Toulouse in next August, will be organized an international

exposition, of which the fifth section relates to anthropology.

M. E. Cartailhac will have charge of this section, of which the

following is an outline:

r P ep OFER skeletons, tissues; figures and busts, especially with

reference to rac

Il. eee ee "Statistical studies of peoples; graphic methods, charts, copies

o Proisory aa remains, relics; charts, books, objects, prints, ef similia.

V. Glossology.

. Instrumentalities, of research and instruction.

Considerable space has been given to these programmes be-

cause the time has come to give to our science a more restricted

definition in the use of terms and the classification of objects.

In other words, we ought to know what terms to apply and

what arrangements to make of our specimens, to exhibit and to

describe them. The Naturatist will open its anthropological

department for the discussion of these two ideas, the meaning of

words and the best methods of classifying. The last point will

include the number and relative importance of classific concepts

as well as the method of separating and studying materials,

104 General Notes. [January,

Turner’s SAMOA.—Readers of books often wish that authors

would so concentrate their writing as to tell just what we want

to know and not one word more. This is unreasonable; but, on

the other hand, most authors write a great deal that is never

quoted by anybody. Twenty-three years ago George Turner

published his celebrated work, Nineteen Years in Polynesia,

in which he mingled his experiences as a missionary with ac- `

counts of the natives that our greatest anthropologists were never

tired of quoting. In the volume now before us the ethnographic

matter has been extracted, much new matter has been added, and

the whole has been so arranged and indexed as to constitute a

text book on Polynesia of the highest order. Dr. E. B. Tylor

endorses the work in an appreciative preface. The first two chap-

ters relate to the Samoan group and the traditions of their ori-

gin and names; the third, fourth and fifth to the religion and the

gods of the natives. . The rest of the chapters take up the gen-

eral subject in the following order. The people: infancy, child-

hood and adult years; food, cooking, liquors ; clothing ; amuse-

ments; mortality, longevity, diseases; death and burial; houses;

canoes ; articles of manufacture; government and laws; wars;

the heavens and heavenly bodies ; origin of fire and other stories;

names of the islands illustrating migration ; political divisions ;

ethnological notes on Bowditch, Humphreys, Mitchell, Ellice,

Tracey, De Peyster, Spieden, Hudson, St. Augustine, Rotch,

Hurd, Gilbert, Francis, Netherland, Savage, New Hebrides, Loy-

alty, New Caledonia and New Guinea islands. One hundred and

thirty words are given in the following fifty-nine languages:

Marquesas, Tahiti, Hawaii, Raratonga, Manahiki, Samoa, Niué,

Fakafo, Tonga, Bau, Rotuma, New Zealand, Aneiteum, Niua

Tanna, Eromanga, Vaté, Nengone, Lifu, New Caledonia, Ebon,

Moreton bay, Malayan, Javanese, Bouton, Salayer, Menado,

Bolanghitano, Sanguir, Salibabo, Sulu islands, Cajeli, Mayapo,

Massaratty, Amblaw, Tidore, Gani, Galela, Liang, Morella, Batu-

merah, Lariko, Saparua, Awaiya, Caimarian, Teluti, Ahtiago and

Tobo, Ahtiago, Gah, Wahai, Matabello, Teor, Mysot, Baju,

Dorey, Pt. Moresby, Madagascar.

Whatever other book the ethnographer may have to do with-

out, he cannot afford to deprive himself of this concentrated

treatise.

SNAKE DANCE OF THE Moguis.—Three years ago, that prince

of collectors, Col. James Stevenson, sent to the National Mu-

seum a large collection of rudely-carved and painted dolls,

wands, head-gear, blankets, rattles and other paraphernalia relat-

ing to the Moki sacred dances. Following him, Mr. Cushing,

who understands very well the purport of these objects, mounts

them for the great exposition at New Orleans; and to cap the

climax, Captain John G. Bourke, U.S.A., writes a charming book

describing the manners and customs of the Moki, their seven

1885.] Anthropology. 105

communal towns perched upon the mesas of Northeastern Ari-

zona, and relates with great minuteness his attendance upon the

snake dance, a rite which seemed revolting even to the enthusi-

astic narrator. Everybody should read the book. We do not

know which to praise the most, the author for shaking off the

lethargy of camp life and gathering the material, the happy, often

frolicksome style in which the work is written, or the beautiful

illustrations which throw so much light upon the text. We have

only space here to say that in the month of August every year

the Moki celebrate a snake dance. Eight days before the dance

the young men go north one day, west one day, south one day,

east one day, and the other four days they roam all over the

country, if necessary, to catch the snakes, using all kinds. These

reptiles are placed in an estufa until wanted, kept in order by

certain old men who have no other weapon except a small stick,

at the end of which are two eagle feathers. The snakes are afraid

of the birds of prey, and seem to have a wholesome dread even of

their feathers. After the most elaborate preparation, witnessed

by Captain Bourke, the dancers march through the principal

streets, certain of them carrying each a squirming snake in his

mouth, the animal being kept in order by a companion using the

eagle-quill teaser. The closing chapters of Captain Bourke’s

volume are devoted to the daily life and customs of the seven

Moki towns.

Way TroricaL Man 1s Bracx.—Dr. Nathaniel Alcock con-

tributes to Wature a very interesting paper in which he argues

that light and actinism have codperated with heat in the coloring

of the skin. If man could live by heat alone, in the tropics the

black man would be fittest, because he would be the hottest. But

light has also played such an important part that those in whom

a portion of the rays of the glaring sun are blocked at the sur-

face are best adapted for survival beneath its vertical beams. The

waves of light and heat follow each other at similar rates through

the luminiferous ether. When light or heat impinges on man its

_ waves select those atoms whose periods of vibration synchro-

nize with their own period of recurrence, and to such atoms de-

liver up their motion. It is thus that light and radiant heat are

absorbed. Heat waves thus notify their existence along the sur-

face fiber to the central nerve cell, and so enable the animal to

avoid their action, if excessive, or seek their increase if deficient.

While heat waves are thus received and responded to, their fel-

low workers, the waves of light, are not inert.

Admitting that theoptic nerves are but nerves of the skin,

whose molecules once could vibrate only with the large ultra-red

waves of heat, it must be conceded that in the first instance all

surface nerves must have felt the influence of that agent by which

they are to be hereafter exalted. But a yet more wondrous les-

son is to be learned from the steps which nature takes for the

106 General Notes. [January,

exaltation of a heat-responding nerve into one capable of vibra-

ting in harmony with the shorter waves of light. In the Euglena

viridis a colorless and transparent area of protoplasm lies in front

of the pigment spot, and is the point most sensitive to light.

Progressingupward we ever meet with the same arrangement,

transparency immediately in front of the part to be exalted, and

pigment immediately behind it.

Nature has made the most of her two factors by exposing

the selected tissue to the continued impinging of waves of light,

at the same time securing not only the transmission through it of

the waves of heat, but their constant accumulation behind it,

thereby causing the molecular constituents of the protoplasm to

be thrown into the highest rates of vibration possible with the

means at disposal.

Recognizing the effects of simultaneous light and heat when

their influence is concentrated, by a local peculiarity, on a partic-

ular part, must it not be evident that in an individual unprotected

by hair and unscreened by clothes, living beneath the vertical

rays of an equatorial sun, the action of these two forces playing

through a transparent skin upon the nerve endings over the entire

surface of the body, must be productive of intense, but at the

same time disadvantageous nerve vibrations, and that presumably

such individuals as were least subject thereto would he best

adapted to the surroundings. Nature having learned in ages past

that pigment placed behind a transparent nerve will exalt its

vibrations to the highest pitch, now proceeds upon the converse

reasoning, and placing the pigment in front of the endangered

nerve reduces its vibrations by so much as the interrupted light

would have excited, a quantity which, though apparently trifling,

would, when multiplied by the whole area of the body surface,

represent a total of nervous action that if continued would soon

exhaust the individual and degrade the species.

Thus it is that man still retains in its full strength the color of

skin which, while it aided him materially in his early escape

from his enemies, is now continued because it has a more im-

portant office to fulfill in warding off the millions 6f vibrations a

second which would otherwise be poured in an uninterrupted

stream upon his exposed nervous systen.—Nature, Aug. 21,84.

MICROSCOPY.

Mopern Metuops oF Microscoricat REsEARCH.—Microscop-

ical technique has made such rapid progress in the last few years

that it has been found necessary to supplement our hand-books of

methods through the publication of special journals and depart-

ments of journals which undertake to bring together the latest

discoveries and improvements. A new and very important line of

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

1885. ] Microscopy. 107

work has thus been started, and this work is destined to grow

rapidly in general importance and interest. It may be worth

while to consider briefly the character and the urgency of such

work, and to suggest how its aims can be promoted by those who

are actively engaged in the various fields of microscopical

research.

The microtome has come to occupy a place in the zoological

laboratory second in importance only to the microscope itself.

Many improvements in details and in accessories have followed

the introduction of this instrument, and a whole series of methods

has sprung up in connection with its use. In short, we have a

new art which has been appropriately called mzcrotomy.

The general favor with which the microtome has been received

is the best evidence of its usefulness. There ought no longer to

be any place for prejudice or indifference in regard to its merits.

The use of the instrument is so simple and the methods connected

with it so easily acquired that no naturalist can afford to work

without it.

It is not enough to possess a microtome and to be master of

its simpler uses; the working naturalist should have the best, or

one of the best instruments in the market, and it is important

that he should have the earliest information of any improvements

number of new preservative and staining fluids have been de-

scribed; and new methods of killing, hardening, preserving,

‘ staining and imbedding have been recommended. The rapi

development of methods is at once the result and one of the chief

causes of the increasing activity in every field of biological re-

search. The improvement of methods leads to the re-investiga-

tion of old subjects, and at the same time prepares the way for

attacking new problems. The investigator who neglects to keep

himself informed of the progress in methods of study, throws

away his opportunities, and has the vexatious mortification of

seeing himself outdone and his work superseded by that of more

skillful hands. :

So much depends on successful methods of preparing objects

for investigation, that naturalists are now expected to state pre-

cisely how their results have been obtained. But the methods

108 : Scientific News. (January,

are usually given .with the investigations themselves, and are

therefore scattered about in different journals and isolated publi-

cations; hence arises the necessity for some sort of repertory in

which the stray accounts and straggling items may be gathered

and summarized. The department of microscopy will make this

work its special concern. The necessity for immediate informa-

tion makes it impossible to avoid a more or less chaotic presenta-

tion of subjects, and reviews of progress in special directions

will therefore be in order from time to time.

There is another feature of the work proposed in this depart-

ment to which we wish to invite particular attention. Experience

has shown that each different object requires a special mode of

treatment, and that the same object must be treated differently

according to the nature of the problem in hand. For example,

the course of preparation which has given satisfactory results in

the study of the development of the ova of a certain species, may

prove quite inadequate when applied to a different though closely

allied species. And it has been found that different stages in the

development of the same ovum often require different modes of

preservation. The investigator cannot, therefore, blindly adopt

the methods employed by others, but must, in by far the greater

number of cases, determine by experiment the method to be pur-

sued. But such experiments demand a general knowledge of

methods, and, above all, a knowledge of the special applications

of methods in cognate subjects. It is in the adaptation of meth-

ods to special subjects that the skill of the investigator is shown.

Our information of the methods employed in specific cases should

be as extended as possible. To meet this need entire courses of

methods that have led to successful results in typical cases will

continue to find a place in this department.

uch then are the aims of “ microscopy.” If those who take

an active interest in the cultivation of microscopical methods de-

sire to further these aims, they can do so, and at the same time

confer a favor, by communicating to the editor any information

respecting methods which they have found useful, or by sending |

published accounts of important methods for review in these

pages.

sA’

sVe

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The winter session of the Teachers’ School of Science con-

nected with the Boston Society of Natural History commenced

in October with a lecture on sponges, by Professor Alpheus Hyatt,

who will conduct a course of ten lessons upon the structure of ani-

mals. The plan pursued by Professor Hyatt has special reference

to the teaching of methods of observation. On. Jan. 3d will be

commenced a supplementary course of ten practical laboratory

1885.] Scientific News. 109

lessons in elementary mineralogy, to be given in the laboratory of

the institute by Professor W. O. Crosby and Mrs. Ellen H. Rich-

ards. The class is limited to fifty teachers, one to be nominated

by each of the masters of the Boston grammar schools.

— The Biological School of the University of Pennsylvania

was opened on Nov. 3d. Professor Harrison Allen delivered the

opening address. He outlined the objects of the school in a mas-

terly manner, pointing out that original research is its leading aim.

It is to be hoped that Professor Allen’s views as to its conduct

will be carried into effect, otherwise it will become a school of in-

struction only, and as such an unnecessary addition to the gen-

eral university course. In order to do this its chairs must be

filled by original investigators.

— Limulus polyphemus, the horse-shoe or horse-foot crab, as it

is called in New Jersey, in whose flat sandy bogs it lives in im-

mense numbers, is becoming useful as food for fishes. Enormous

numbers are fed to eels, which greedily devour them. In one pond

they were said to consume seven hundred and fifty horse-feet

in three days. It would seem impossible to furnish so many, but

the number does not begin to detail the extent of the catch.

Millions of them are annually fed to swine and poultry, and some

men make a business of catching them. On June 15, after a

storm, Captain Downs, with a trap of his own invention, caught

one thousand “feet,” and between the 15th of July and April his

aggregate catch was nineteen thousand.

— The St. Louis Academy of Science and the Missouri His-

torical Society according to the Kansas City Review of Science,

have finally gained the property which has been so long in litiga-

tion and will probably at once erect a building suitable for the

purposes of both bodies. The property was given by the late

James H. Lucas, a number of years ago, but the delivery was

refused by his heirs on account of delay in complying with the

terms of the grantor. .

— James Macfarlane, Towanda, Pa.. is preparing a second and

_ much improved edition of his Geological Railway Guide, and

wishes persons who have used the book to send him corrections

and additions. If it will be a saving of labor, they may send him

their copies of the book containing such notes by mail, which he

will return refunding the postage.

— The French Association met at Blois, as announced on the

3d inst. One of the most interesting subjects of the sitting was

the examination of the Thenay geological strata, where Abbé

Bourgeois thinks he has discovered Tertiary man. The principal

French geologists arrived in Blois for the excursions, but there

were very few foreigners. ) `

—Among the faculty of Bryn Mawr College for ladies, to be

Opened next year near Philadelphia, we notice the name of

110 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, [ January,

Dr. Edmund B. Wilson, late lecturer on biology in Williams Col-

lege and author of zoological essays of sterling value. The

standard of science-teaching in our American colleges is steadily

rising.

— The Nature Novitates, published during the last six years

every fortnight by R. Friedlander & Sohn, at Berlin, is sold fora

dollar a year, and proves a useful bibliographic list of current lit-

erature of all nations on natural history and the exact sciences,

with brief news items, which we find of occasional use.

— The meeting of the German naturalists and physicians was

opened September 18, at Magdeburg; over a thousand members

were present. The association will meet next year at Strasburg,

with Professors Kussmaul and De Bary as secretaries.

— Professor Dr. Arnold Foerster, the well known hymenopter-

ist, died at Aachen, Aug. 13. He was a school-teacher, and we

well remember his courteous greeting when we called on him

twelve years ago.

— Alfred E. Brehm, the author of Illustrirtes Thierleben,

and well known as a traveler, died in November last; he was born

in 1829. Dr. L. Fitzinger, the well-known zodlogist of Vienna,

died Sept. 22.

— We regret to notice that Science Record, of which two vol-

umes have appeared, published by S. E. Cassino & Co., and

edited by Mr. J. S. Kingsley, ceased to exist with the December

number.

— The next meeting of the Society of Naturalists, E. U. S.,

was to be held at Washington, D. C., during the week following

Christmas, 1884.

— The late ‘Sir Erasmus Wilson’s munificent bequest to the

Royal College of Surgeons is expected to reach the sum of

£200,000.

— On July 25, 1884, died in London George B. Sowerby,

known as a conchologist and palzontologist. He continued the

Thesaurus Conchyliorum begun by his father.

ras

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

BIOLOGICAL Society or WAsHINGTON, Nov. 29, 1884.—The fol-

lowing communications were presented: Mr. Sanderson Smith on

the recent deep-sea explorations of the United States Fish Commis-

sion, with special reference to geological results; Mr. Leonard

Stejneger exhibited specimens illustrating the shedding of the

bill in auks; Dr. George Vasey on the grasses of the arid plains;

Mr. Charles D.-Walcott on the oldest known fauna on the Amer-

ican continent; Professor Lester F. Ward on the occurrence of

the seventeen-year locust in Virginia in October, 1884.

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. III

New York Acapemy oF Sctences, Nov. 10.—The following

paper was read : Elephants, ancient and modern, with reference

also to the extinction of the mammoth; and notes on the small

elephants lately brought to this city from farther India (with

lantern illustrations), by Professor H. L. Fairchild.

Dec. 1.—The paper of the evening was Iroquois customs and

language, by Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith.

Boston Society oF Naturat History, Nov. 5.—Mr. S. Gar-

man exhibited a novel type of flounder; and Mr. John M. Batch-

elder spoke of the lamprey as a builder.

Dec. 3.—Mr. F. W. Putnam gave an account of the explora-

tions of ancient earthworks in Ohio, made during the past sea-

son by Dr. Metz and himself for the Peabody Museum.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Nov. 10.—Lieutenant Shu-

feldt, U. S. Navy, delivered a lecture entitled, Madagaskara: the

land of Sinbad, the sailor; a journey of exploration across the

great African island (illustrated with twenty-five stereopticon

views from original photographs taken by the lecturer).

APPALACHIAN MounTaAIn CLuB, Boston, Nov. 12.—The reports

of councillors was presented, and Mr. Samuel H. Scudder read a

paper entitled, The Alpine Club of Williamstown, Mass.

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL Sciences, May 1.—

No less than fifty distinct species of sponges from Florida

were presented by Mr. Jos. Willcox. This gentleman remarked

that the limestone of the peninsula is eroded into numberless

caverns, and is full of sinkholes, yet when exposed it is

hard and in some localities marble-like. He believed that sea-

urchins cannot have protection in view when they cover them-

selves with sea-weed, as they are more conspicuous thus covered.

e common Busycon pyrum of the coast always deposits its

eggs below the sand, attaching the egg-cases to a shell at least

eight inches below the surface. Two mollusks, Fasciolaria tulipa

and Melongina corona, break holes in the shields of king-crabs

and eat out the flesh. Saw-fishes are abundant in shallow water,

and it was observed that when they were speared they would

turn up the saw and pull it repeatedly across the handle of the

spear, soon making a notch. The sand of the beach is siliceous,

and is probably derived from the mainland of Georgia. Mr.

Potts stated that he had received several fine fresh-water sponges

from the St. John’s river, near Palatka. One of these he believed

to be a new Meyenia, for which he proposed the name suddivisa.

Mr. Ford reported the finding of Pholas cuneiformis in a billet of

wood at Anglesea.

May 8.—Dr. Leidy exhibited fragments of a tapeworm widely

differing from the tapeworms usually found in man, and probably

ua Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Jan., 1885.

belonging to Tenta favopunctata, a species observed but once be-

fore, when it was described by Professor Weinland. It is probably

more common than might be supposed ; its small size (fifteen

inches or so in length) may have caused it to pass unnoticed, or —

it may have been confounded with other species,

May 16.—Dr. McCook gave the details of the mode in which

Lycosa riparia forms its egg-ball; the spider (one kept in captiv-

ity) made an excavation and covered it with a thin sheet of silk;

on the wall of her cave she then spun a cushion of white plush

about three-fourths of an inch in diameter; in about half an hour

the egg-mass was deposited and covered over with a layer of silk

similar to that of which the cushion was composed; soon after

the cushion had disappeared, and the round ball was dangling

from the end of the spider’s abdomen in the usual manner ; as

the spider has not excavated since, her evident object was to

secure seclusion. The same speaker called attention to the dis-

covery, by Mr. Alan Gentry, of spiders in full health and activity

beneath the surface of the ice of a frozen pond; when found they were

passing from point to point on lines stretched between water plants

at a distance of eight or ten feet from the bank. Dr. Leidy exhibited

specimens of FPentastomum proboscidium from the lungs of a

Florida rattlesnake. Mr. Potts announced the discovery of great

numbers of Cristatella in Harvey’s lake, near Wilkesbarre.

Specimens six inches long were found. In traveling they did not

follow the sinuous course usual in the genus. The colonies have

a persistent non-polypiferous appendage. As a provisional name

he proposed Cristatella lacustris,

May 22.—Mr. Willcox stated that shell-mounds abound on the

west coast of Florida. A portion of the town of Cedar Keys is

built on such a mound. Human bones, stone implements and

fragments of pottery are frequently found among the shells, On

be seen a former place of manufacture of stone implements.

Professor Heilprin announced that in addition to the foraminifer-

ous genera previously described (Orbitoides, Nummulites, Oper-

culina, Heterosteginz, Biloculina, Quinqueloculina) he had found

Spheroidina in the rock-masses from Florida. He believed that

none of the genera save Orbitoides had before been found in

America. He had found a second species of Nummulites, also

one or two additional forms of Orbitoides, one of which (O. ephip-

pium) proves beyond doubt the Oligocene age of the deposits.

Mr. Potts stated that a correspondent in Jamaica had failed to

find a single fresh-water sponge, He said that in obstructed

water pipes he could find no traces of sponge, but only clay with

iron impregnation. The skeleton spicules of Meyenia leidyi un-

dergoes degeneration in the presence of iron.

American ‘Naturalat. ; PLATE IL.

ERRATUM.

FEBRUARY NATURALIST,

Page 147, second line from bottom, omit “ Batrachia.”

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Voi. x1x—HEBRUARY, 1885.—No. 2.

THE HABITS OF SOME ARVICOLINZ}

BY EDGAR R. QUICK AND A. W. BUTLER.

OUR species of Arvicolinz have been found in Southeastern

Indiana, and it is to certain observations of the habits of these

that your attention is called. The species referred to are Synap-

tomys cooperi Bd., Arvicola pinetorum LeC., Arvicola riparius LeC.,

and Arvicola austerus Ord. The latter is the rarest species, and

A, riparius is by far the most common.

The credit of the discovery of Cooper’s field mouse in Indiana

belongs to that pioneer of Western naturalists, Dr. Rufus Hay-

mond, who, in 1866, sent an alcoholic specimen of this mouse

from Brookville to the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Haymond

says of this specimen: “I think it was in June, 1866, that I dis-

covered this mouse about a mile north of Brookville. I thought

it a common meadow mouse (A. riparius); when caught I put it

into an old leather purse in which I had previously confined a

small shrew. When I reached home I found the shrew had killed

the mouse; the little murderer Soon fell a victim to the law of

blood revenge, and was packed with its victim in a jar and sent

to the Smithsonian Institution.” This mouse is numbered 9963

in the Smithsonian collection.

No other specimen was taken in Indiana for several years. In

1879 one of the writers took the second specimen found in this

State, about three miles below Brookville and four miles from

where the first one was taken thirteen years before. Specimen

after specimen followed this one, all being taken from the same

locality.

From the most reliable information obtainable, we conclude

1 Read before the section of eet! A. A. A. S. at Philadelphia, Sept., 1884.

VOL, XIX.—NO. II,

114 The Habits of some Arvicolne. [ February,

that less than fifty specimens of this little mammal have ever

been taken, of which number more than half have been secured

by the writers from this same locality.

This mouse is found on hillsides in high, dry, blue grass pas-

tures, where flat stones are irregularly scattered over the surface ;

it especially prefers what are known as “ woods pastures,” con-

taining little or no undergrowth.

The locality whence Dr. Haymond obtained his specimen is a

hillside pasture field, with no trees, sloping towards the east.

The greater part of the other specimens have been taken from a

steep rocky hill sparsely covered with timber, known as “ Brown’s

hill.”

Cooper’s field mouse has been found breeding from February

to December. It has never been known, by the authors, to bring

forth more than four young atatime. In all suckling females

which have been brought to our attention the mammez have appa-

rently been but four, one pair pectoral and one pair inguinal. Dr.

Coues says (Monographs of N. A. Rodentia): “ In No. 9963 (Dr.

Haymond’s specimen) apparently a nursing female, we find two

pairs of pectoral mammz and one pair of inguinal mamme,

without being able to make out any intervening ventral ones. It

is probable, however, that the species possesses a ventral pair,

making eight teats in all.”

In this matter, from the light we now have upon the subject,

we are not able to coincide with Dr. Coues in his views.

In young specimens the hair appears finer, shorter and more

glossy than in more aged examples. As a rule the specimens

just reaching maturity are darkest, but one old female shows a

very dark reddish-brown back, and is dark ash below. If there

is any difference in sexual coloration, the females are slightly the

darker.

The nest of this species is always under cover, generally in a

hollow log or stump, and is composed of fine grass. It is not so

securely built as the nests of some of the other species of this

family.

Cooper’s mice live in winter chiefly upon the stems of blue

grass and the more tender portions of the white clover. Stores

of these foods may be found near their winter quarters, In No-

vember, 1883, a large quantity of the tuberous roots of the plant

commonly called “wild artichoke” (Helianthus doronicoides Lam.)

1885.] The Habits of some Arvicoline. 115

were found in one of the store-houses of a colony of these

mice.

These mice vary much in numbers in favorable localities in

different years, but it is questionable whether this variation is

from migration or irregular causes. In 1879 they were very

common on Brown’s hill, many of them frequenting the remains

of an old stone mound. No other species were commonly met

with in this locality at the same time. This year no examples of

S. cooperi have been taken on the top of this hill, but a single

specimen was found at the base of the hill. Since Dr. Haymond

took his specimen north of Brookville no other example has been

found in this direction from town, although sought for at differ-

ent times,

Cooper’s mouse is the most active representative of its family

in this locality, It is most frequently found by turning over

stones and logs, beneath which it remains concealed, especially in

winter. Upon removing their covering, as the light reaches

them, they are off like a flash for their subterranean paths, leav-

ing the collector to mourn for a valuable specimen, a glimpse of

which he caught as it fled betore his hand could grasp the prize.

Another interesting representative of this family is the pine

mouse (Arvicola pinetorum LeC.). This species has generally

been considered rare in this locality, but in a two hours’ hunt last

February eleven specimens were taken by the writers. Several

specimens have also been captured by a cat within a little more

than a year.

Dr. Coues aptly says in his Latin description, “forma quasi- `

talpoidea ;” the species strongly resembles the mole in form, espe-

cially in the size of its fore feet and in the strength of the forward

part of its body, and also in its habits,

The runways of the pine mouse are nearly always under

ground, sometimes an inch or more beneath the earth, the line of

which may easily be traced by the upheaved earth.

The locality where the pine mice, to which reference has just

been made, were taken, has long been a favorite place for the

mice-catchers of the local society of natural history to find Syz-

aptomys cooperi. On this particular occasion but a single speci-

men of this interesting species was taken, while almost a dozen

examples of a species which had previously been regarded as rare

were found in its accustomed haunts.

116 The Habits of some Arvicoline. [February,

These examples were taken from the higher part of a steep,

partially wooded hill. They apparently sought the west and

south-west sides, where they were found beneath leaves, logs,

stumps and stones. Upon the covering being suddenly removed

they appear dazed, affording for an instant an opportunity to cap-

ture them; should the first attempt prove futile, they seek safety

in the first available hiding place, but when frightened from here,

hasten through their labyrinthic underground passages and are

seldom seen again.

Of their breeding habits we have noted nothing. Asa rule

the pine mice winter in a last summer’s nest, which is a round

ball of blue grass blades, from four to six inches in diameter ; the

interior is composed of fine grass which is nicely bound together

with longer blades. The nest is generally placed beneath a pile

of leaves or an old stump. In winter collecting single specimens

are generally observed occupying these old nests. ;

The pine mouse, in winter, lives upon the tender roots of

young hickories, the young sprouts of the white clover ( Trifolium

repens), the fruit of the red haw (Crategus coccinea L.) and the

tuberous roots of the wild violet (Viola cucullata Ait.). The first

of these he uses for luncheon while excavating his runways. It

is never found stored in his burrows, but as his passages approach

these roots they expand, laying bare a large portion of the root

from which the bark is generally entirely removed. The other

products we find buried, the latter in numerous deposits, some of

which contain a gallon of tubers and extend eighteen inches be-

low the surface of the ground. This latter article evidently forms

the bulk of their winter food.

The common meadow mouse (A. riparius) is the most common

mammal in Southeastern Indiana. It varies in numbers with the

seasons.. Some years the fence rows of wheat and barley fields

are traversed by a. network of their runways. In autumn, after

the frost has cut down the more tender parts of the weeds and

grass, numbers of these little rodents may be seen darting. here

and there through their half-covered passages. In winter they

are warm friends of the farmer who leaves his corn in the shock

latest. After the early snows have fallen the corn shocks will be

found thickly colonized by these little pests, who find here not

only a comfortable residence, but also a well-filled granary from

which to draw their winter’s food. In spring, when the last snows

1885. ] The Habits of some Arvicoline. 117

have disappeared, one will observe where the meadow mice have

advanced their passages very near the public thoroughfare, while

the neighboring pastures and commons show many traces of their

highways. Their food in winter is the corn found in the thriftless

farmer’s shocks, together with the seeds of a number of plants

and the young blades of the blue grass. Their large round nests

are also constructed of the blades of this and kindred grasses.

They are built much after the manner of musk-rat houses, a mini-

ature of which they closely resemble. :

The single opening is below, where it connects with the run-

ways of the animal. These nests are found in almost every con-

ceivable place : in thickets and brier patches among the rank grass

which grows there, in swampy places upon a tussock of grass, in

a log or fence corner, under a pile of rubbish and very many on

the open ground, especially in clover meadows, where the mice

may prey upon the nests of the humble-bee.

The meadow mice breed from February to December. A suc-

cession of favorable or unfavorable circumstances, as the case

may be, causes either an abundance or scarcity of specimens.

This mouse has an ingenious and patient method of securing

the head from a standing stalk of grain. Selecting a stalk which

gives promise of a large well filled head, the mouse cuts it off as

high up as it can reach ; owing to the proximity of the surround-

ing grain the stem will not fall, the butt end drops to the ground

and another cut is made about four inches up the stalk; the pro-

cess of cutting off sections of this length is repeated until the

grain is within reach. Here, after a square meal, the mouse

leaves a collection of straws about four inches long together with

a shattered head of grain to puzzle the farmer.

Arvicola austerus, called by some authorities “prairie meadow

mouse,” is the rarest of all our mice here. We think Dr. Lang-

don very properly calls this species the “wood mouse,” on ac-

count of its attachment for the more open woodland or the grassy

fields or newly cleared land adjoining such. All the specimens

taken here have been captured by a cat, hence we are umac-

quainted with its habits.

Owing to the fact that all of these species live in summer sur-

rounded by luxuriant vegetation, much less is known of their

summer habits than of their life in winter.

The species with which we are best acquainted occur at times

eh 3

118 On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. [February,

in great numbers, while other years they are very scarce. During

the years 1878 and 1879 Arvicola riparius was very common and

could be found in every locality, but in 1880 most of them disap-

peared, and for a long time they were very scarce. They have

slowly increased in numbers and are now as numerous, perhaps,

as ever. Whether these strange reoccurrences are the result ot

migrations or disease we are, from the present state of our know-

ledge, unable to determine.

Mice have their enemies, as do most other animals. They are

caught in large numbers by the smaller hawks (Zinnunculus spar-

verius Vieill, Accipiter cooperi Bp., and Accipiter fuscus Bp.),

owls (Scops asio Bp., and Asio accipitrinus Newton); cats and

dogs catch them as opportunity affords. Many also are killed

by their curious little enemies, the shrews.

In habits no two of the species named approach each other

very nearly except in general characteristics. They all appear to

be gregarious, living as a rule in colonies. The pine mouse

burrows deepest, and makes the most lengthy runways. The

passages made by Cooper’s field mouse are never of much length,

but are very sinuous and intricate. In food each species appears

to partake of some particular kind or kinds found near the local-

ity it-frequents. Except in case of the pine mouse and Cooper’s

mouse the localities occupied by each species do not appear

to overlap, each frequents a peculiar kind of region wherein it plays

its part in the economy of nature.

ON A PARASITIC COPEPOD OF THE CLAM.

BY PROFESSOR R. RAMSAY WRIGHT.

INCE the researches of Dana, published between thirty and

forty years ago, comparatively little attention has been given

to the Copepoda in America. So much is this the case that

Gerstzcker in his account of the geographical distribution of the

order, mentions only sixteen species as inhabiting the fresh

waters and coast region of North America, the described forms

being all fish parasites. Of late, however, important contribu-

tions to the knowledge of the fresh-water, free-living forms have

appeared in this journal, and new parasitic species have been

1 Bronn’s Thierreich, Vol. v, c. 1876, p. 799.

2S. A. Forbes. Entomostraca of Lake Michigan, Vol. xvi.

C. L. Herrick. Heterogenetic development in Diaptomus, Vol. xvir.

1885.] On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. IIQ

added by Kellicott! and myself? to the list of those already de-

scribed.

That much remains to be done in this direction may be gath-

ered from the common occurrence in the gill-tubes of the ordi-

nary long clam (Mya arenaria) of an interesting form, so large as

to occasion surprise that it has hitherto escaped notice.

At the recent meeting of the Am. Assoc. for the Advancement

of Science in Philadelphia, I proposed the generic name Myicola

for the copepod in question, and shall describe the species as M.

metisiensis, from the village of Little Metis, on the Gulf of St.

Lawrence, where the specimens were taken.

The order Copepoda affords most interesting material for the

study of various grades of parasitism. At one end of the series

are the completely free forms, at the other the completely para-

sitic, in the adults of which it is often impossible to recognize any

resemblance to the copepod type. But no important gap exists

in the whole series. Even among those with well-developed jaws

(Gnathostomata of Thorell) the Notodelphyide only occur as

commensals in the branchial sacs of tunicates, while before we

reach the completely parasitic forms, where the mouth is con-

verted into a sucking tube (Siphonostomata),’we find a large

number of forms (the Poecilostomata of Thorell), some free and

some semiparasitic, where the parts of the mouth are evidently

formed for piercing soft tissues and thus obtaining fluid nourish-

ment.

To the last section belong the Coryczidz, Sapphirinidz, Lich-

omolgide, Ergasilide, to which groups some authors accord

family rank, while others are disposed to regard them as consti-

tuting a single family (Coryczide). It may be stated generally

that while the fish parasites are chiefly Siphonostomata, and the

ascidian commensals chiefly Notodelphyidz, the copepod para-

sites of the other groups of the animal kingdom—Mollusca,

Vermes, Echinodermata, Ccelenterata—are largely Poecilosto-

mata. Thus members of this group have been found on the

gills of cuttlefishes, on the delicate branchie of nudibranchs, in

similar situations on marine annelids and holothuroids, and on

the soft tissues of sea-pens and other ccelenterates.

The clam parasite also belongs to the same group, as do all

1 Proc. Am. Soc. Micros., II and Iv.

2 Proc. Can. Inst., N. S. Vol. 1, p. 243.

120 On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. [February,

the Copepoda parasitic on Mollusca with the exception of the

Penella larve found on the gills of cuttlefishes, the Artotrogus

from the egg-sacs of Doris, and certain species of Splanchno-

trophus, which bore into the skin of nudibranchiates.

Hitherto, so far as I have been able to determine, only three

cases of Copepoda parasitic on lamellibranchiates have been re-

corded, viz., Authessius solecurti Della Valle, on the external sur-

face of Solecurtus strigilatus) Modtolicola insignis Aurivilius,

from the gills of Modiola vulgaris and Mytilus edulis? and Pac-

labius tumidus Kossmann, from the pericardium of Tridacna (Phil-

ippines),? I have not had access to the description of the last-

named form, which belongs to the Ergasilide, and, according to

Aurivilius, shares the great development of the cephalothorax,

the absence of appendages on the fifth segment and the long egg-

sacs with the genus Ergasilus. The two other forms are closely

related to Lichomolgus, and.apparently still more closely allied

to each other, for a comparison of the figures shows that their

most divergent characteristics, the mouth parts and the fifth pair

of thoracic appendages, do not present greater differences than

are to be met with in the range of the genus Lichomolgus.!

Further investigation will show whether it is desirable to retain

them in separate genera.

It will appear from the following generic diagnosis of the clam

parasite that it occupies a position intermediate between Licho-

molgus and Ergasilus: i

Myicola, n. g.—Cephalothorax of Q oblong, of oS pyriform, composed of six seg-

ments, the last of which is reduced in size and carries a pair of uniramous appen-

dages. Abdomen as in Lichomolgus, Anterior antennz of seven joints, posterior

of four, robust, the basa? joint tumid, the terminal one converted into a single strong

claw ; mandible with triangular base and several setose lobes. Maxilla as in Licho-

molgus, First pair of maxillipedes robust, three-jointed, the basal joints tumid, the

terminal one carrying two setose filaments. Second pair of maxillipedes adsent in

Q , resembling those of Lichomolgus in g. Natatory feet as in Anthessius and

Modiolicola, _

This genus approaches Ergasilus in the conformation of the

posterior antenne and in the absence of the posterior maxilli-

Della Valle. Sui coriceidi parassiti, e sull’anatomia del gen. Lichomolgus.

Mitth. Zool. Stat. Neapel, 11, 102.

2 Aurivilius. Bidrag till Kannedomen om Krustaceer som lefva hos Mollusker

och Tunicater, pp. 9 and_39, Sep: imp: from ‘‘Oef: Kongl: Vet-Ak: Forh.,”

Stockholm, 39 Arg.

3 Kossmann. Zool. Ergebnisse, Leipz., 1877.

tcf. Brady. Brit, Copepoda, Vol. 111. :

PLATE III.

A Copepod Parasite of the Clam

1885.] On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. 121

pedes in the female. In the proportionate size of the thoracic

segments, the position of the mouth and the conformation of the

natatory feet, it approaches on thé other hand the Lichomolgide,

and especially those forms already found in Lamellibranchiata.-

The dimorphism of the cephalothorax, which is more striking

than in any of the allied genera, is no doubt to be attributed to

the cylindrical form of the water-tubes of the gills in which the

females live.

If Lichomolgus and the Saphirinidz be merged into the family

Coryceidz, as seems the most natural arrangement (cf. Claus,

Lehrbuch der Zoologie, p. 554; and Brady, Zoology of the

Challenger expedition, Vol. vit, p. 109, e¢ seg.), then the exist-

ence of the above described genus renders imperative the accept-

ance of Della Valle’s proposal to include Ergasilus in the same

family (Z c. p. 83). So extended, the family of the Coryceide

would embrace some free and some semiparasitic forms, some

parasites of pelagic animals, and a few whose females at least are

constant parasites of Pisces, Mollusca, Vermes and Ccelenterata.

The following description of the species will, with the help of

the figures, serve to elucidate its most important characteristics:

Myicola metisiensis, n. sp. Q 3™™ long, of which 1™ belongs to the abdomen,

inclusive of the furca. © 1.75™™" and less, First four free thoracic segments of 9

subequal, broader than long, the fifth smaller than the first abdominal segment

and chiefly developed dorsally, Thoracic segments of (j' gradually decreasing in

breadth from before backwards. Double genital segments of Q abdomen nearly as

long as remaining three segments. The posterior borders of the genital and two fol-

lowing abdominal segments of <j EES Furcal segments as long as two

ast abdominal; setze six, of which three are apical and one subapical. Rostru

kidi daad. anterior antennæ as long as the head, the first, second and fifth joints

the longest. Posterior antennæ directed downwards; shorter than the anterior.

Labrum with lateral borders denticulated, and posterior border emarginate. Mandi-

ble with two setose lobes and two setose filaments. Maxilla with three setæ, of

which the mesal is longest. Two basal joints of anterior maxillipede tumid, with

two converging oblique patches of spines, the distal joint with a strong seta and ter-

minating in two curved setose filaments of which the slenderer is attached like a

palp. Posterior maxillipede of ¢‘ with basal joint denticulated. Basal joint of Ist

pair of natatory feet with a row of strong spines on the ventral surface, decreasing

in strength on the 2d and 3d pairs, and absent on 4th; 5th pair uniramous, with

three joints, the two proximal of which carry each a distal seta, while the distal

two apical sete and a subapical group of spines.

Egg-sacs two, cylindrical, 1™™" X 0.5™™

Spermatophores subpyriform, 0.2™™ X O.1™™,

¢ free in the mantle‘cavity of Mya.

I have not thought it necessary in the above diagnosis to give

122 On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. (February,

an exhaustive account of the form ot the appendages. If a sec-

ond species of the genus should be found, diagnostic marks will

be readily obtainable from the figures. The anatomy of the soft

parts appeared to agree so completely with Della Valle’s ac-

count of Lichomolgus sarsii, that I abstain from any description

thereof.

There are two points of some interest which I have not referred

to in the diagnosis. The mouth corresponds in position nearly

to the notch of the labrum, and is situated between the points of

the mandibles. Behind this point is a sort of vestibule bounded by

the distal joints of the anterior maxillipedes, the dorsal wall of

which is formed by the sternal surface between the basal joints of

the mouth parts. A crescentic row of minute spines follows the

curve of the maxillipedes, and two pointed chitinous processes

project into the vestibule further back. These are connected with

the chitinous framework surrounding the sockets of the mouth-

parts. I have not had the opportunity of observing whether they

play the part of teeth. They appear to me comparable to the

lobes of the Metastoma (unterlippe) described by Claus! for

Nereicola. A further agreement with that genus is the presence

of a chitinous process which corresponds in position to the absent

posterior maxillipede, and is no doubt a rudiment of that

member.

I have met with no trace of the sixth pair of limbs described

by Della Valle as projecting from the anterior half of the genital

segment in Lichomolgus and do not hesitate to reckon al! of

the double genital segment to the abdomen.

The presence of female Myicolz in the gill-tubes of a clam is

readily detected by local swellings of the tube corresponding to

the length of the parasites. With a needle they are readily freed,

and swim about with considerable velocity considering that their

legs have not been stretched since they were imprisoned in the

gill. Iam unable to say by what channel they reach their rest-

ing place. I have found some in the suprabranchial chambers,

which would seem to indicate entry through the cloacal siphon,

while I have found others, head upward, in the gill-tubes, which

would appear to argue an entry, while still in the nauplius-stage,

ole the inhalant siphon and the water-pores of the gill-

plates.

1 Zeit : wiss : Zool., XXV, p. 342, pl. XXII, fig. 21.

1885. ] On a Parasitic Copepod of the Clam. 123

No considerable irritation appears to be set up by the presence

of the parasite in the gill-tubes. The claws of the posterior an-

tennz and the sete of the various appendages are often invested

by a yellowish film undoubtedly derived from the blood of the

host, but no greater exudation resulting in the formation of a

cyst round the foreign body is to be observed, such as, e. g., sur-

rounds a Trematode sporocyst in a fresh-water mollusk. The

granular contents of the intestine of the Copepod havea bluish-

green tint, which is most readily noticed in the wider rectum,

but I must leave undecided whether these are derived from the

blood of the host.

The development of Myicola appears to resemble that of Lich-

omolgus closely. When I first collected the parasite in June, the

eggs were in various stages of development; in August, when I

was at liberty to study them, the females had lost their egg-

sacs.

The difference in form of the male has been already referred

to; the contrast in locomotion is just as striking ; its movements

are as rapid as those of a Cyclops. Further investigation must

show how the females are impregnated. The presence of a well-

developed posterior maxillipede in the male would appear to in-

dicate that the female is clasped by these, while the spermato-

phores are attached to the genital orifice. If such is the case

this must occur in the suprabranchial chamber before the female

has become tightly wedged into a gill-tube.

Whether Myicola will turn out to be associated with Mya aren-

aria wherever the latter occurs, must be left for the future to de-

cide. A search for Copepoda in other lamellibranchiates would

probably yield other interesting forms, although they are hardly

likely to be of such large size as the species at present described.

I searched Mytilus and Mesodesma at Metis without detecting

any such, | ;

Some idea of the frequency of the copepod may be gathered

from the circumstance that twenty-five females were obtained

from fifteen clams out of forty examined! Only one male was

observed in this gathering, but their small size and comparatively

free life favor their escaping notice. This observation, further,

was made in August, when the females had, almost without ex-

1 Three Malacobdellz were found in the same.

124 Rudimentary Hind-limb of Megaptera longimana. | February,

ception, lost their egg-sacs. It is possible that the males would

be more frequently met with in June or July.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE III.

(The drawings are all outlined by Zeiss camera lucida, and reduced by one-third.)

Fig. 1, Gundlach 11577 X Zeiss Oc. II.

Fig. 9, Zeiss Hom. Im. 3th x Oc. 11.

Fic. 1.—MWyicola metisiensis Ramsay Wright, Ọ from above.

“ 2,—Head and part of Ist thoracic segment from below. 7, rostrum, a!, ante-

rior, a?, posterior antenna; Zæ, labrum; mz, mandible; mx, maxilla; mx,

anterior maxillipede; m7, metastoma; s¢, the somewhat complicated sternal

apparatus of the Ist pair of natatory feet.

3.—Posterior antenna, tanger the chitinous framework of the different

joints.

«© 4.—Maxilla ‘

5 saute maxillipede. g

6.—First pair of natatory feet.

“ 7.—Fifth pair.

* 10,—Posterior üúkiilipéde of 3.

A’

ON THE RUDIMENTARY HIND LIMB OF MEGAP-

: TERA LONGIMANA}

BY JOHN STRUTHERS, M.D. sil ay

f author remarked that the interest attaching to the struc-

ture of whales depends largely on the fact that they present

-numerous rudimentary structures. Megaptera is extremely rare

on British coasts. This one appeared in the Firth of Tay, and

after sporting for some weeks in sight of the inhabitants of

Dundee, was at last mortally wounded, and towed ashore dead

at Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, on January 8, 1884. It was a male,

forty feet in length. The pectoral fin, the chief character of this

species, was twelve feet in length. The parts containing the rudi-

mentary hind limbs were removed and carefully examined in the

anatomical rooms at Aberdeen. The presence of a rudimentary

1 Abstract of a paper read before the biological section of the British Association —

for the Advancement of Science at Montreal, August, 1884.

1885.] Rudimentary Hind-limd of Megaptera longimana. 125

thigh bone in this species had been discovered many years ago

by the late Professor Reinhardt, of Copenhagen. The object ot

the author's inquiry was to ascertain the precise anatomical rela-

tions of this rudimentary structure, and if possible to throw

some light on its meaning. For comparison the author exhibited

to the section the rudimentary bony thigh bone, about the size of

a hen’s egg, which he had found ina great fin-whale, the razor

back (Balenoptera musculus), in 1871, and a series of specimens

of the more developed thigh bone and cartilainous tibia, which

he had dissected in the Greenland right whale (Ba/ena mysticetus),

and his drawings of the ligaments and muscles connected with

these parts in the right whale (Your. of Anat. and Phys., Jan. 7,

1881).

In this Megaptera he found the thigh bone to be entirely com-

posed of cartilage, of a conical shape, the length five and a-half

inches on the right side, four inches on the left. It was encased

in a mass of fibrous tissue. This fibrous case was connected in-

ternally to its fellow of the opposite side; superficially and on

the outside to the posterior pelvic muscular mass; and anteriorly,

passing from the thigh bone itself, was a special band appearing

like a fibrous prolongation of the bone. The thigh bone rested

loosely on the pelvic bone without articular surface, but was

bound loosely to the latter by a strong posterior ligament, and by

a weaker ligament in the position of the hip joint in the right

whale. A muscle about the size and shape of a forefinger, within

a ligamentous tube, connected the thigh bone backwards to the

great interpelvic ligament. This was the only muscular struc-

ture directly connected with the thigh bone. It would retract

the bone. The fibrous connections of the bone were mainly

adapted to resist outward and forward traction.

The author said, that looking to all these facts, the conclu-

sion to which we must come is, that the thigh bone in Megap-

tera is a rudimentary structure, a vestige of a more complete

limb possessed by some ancestral form from which the Megap-

tera is descended.

The skeleton of this Megaptera he hoped ‘would be ready to

be inspected by the members of the British Association at the

meeting in Aberdeen in September, 1885.

126 Finger Muscles in Megaptera longimana, ete. [February,

ON FINGER MUSCLES IN MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA

AND IN OTHER WHALES’

BY JOHN STRUTHERS, M.D.

aes author’s observation, showing the presence of finger mus-

cles in Megaptera, was made on the individual beached at

Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, on January 8, 1884, the description

of the rudimentary hind limbs of which he had described at the

meeting of the British Association at Montreal. The presence of

muscles in the forearm of a whale had been first noticed by

Flower (in Balenoptera musculus) in 1865, and described in the

lesser fin-whale (B. rostrata) by Carte and Macalister in 1868,

and by Perrin in 1870. The author had described these muscles

in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, in B. musculus, in

1871; in Hyperoddon bidens in 1871 and 1873, and in the Green-

land right whale, Balena mysticetis in 1878. In B. musculus the

muscles present were the flexor carpi ulnaris, flexor digitorum

ulnaris, flexor digitorum radialis, and gn extensor communis digi-

torum. Hyperoddon bidens is the first and as yet only toothed

whale in which they have been found, except in the common por-

poise, in which he found the flexor carpi ulnaris present. In

Hyperoddon the extensor was divided into two, and much more

developed than in B. musculus, In the Greenland right whale he

found also an extensor carpi ulnaris and a flexor carpi radialis.

In the narwhal, Beluga and common pilot whale (Globicephalus

melas) he found these muscles to be present morphologically, but

histologically represented by fibrous tissue and therefore reduced

to the condition of ligaments.

Considering the enormous size of the pectoral fin in Megaptera

longimana, he had been anxious to ascertain whether these finger

muscles were present, and if so, whether they were more devel-

oped than in other finners, or more rudimentary. He found the

same flexor muscles present as in B, musculus, but the two flexor

muscles of the fingers, instead of being larger were together not

half so large as in B. musculus. Also that the proportions of

these two muscles were reversed, the ulnar flexor being about

one-third the size of the radial flexor, instead of larger than it, as

in B. musculus. The extensor aspect of the limb was not yet dis-

sected, as he had had time just to examine the flexor aspect before

2 Read before the American Association at Philadelphia, on Sept. 9. j

1885.] Suspensory Ligament of the Fetlock in the Horse, Ox,&c. 127

leaving for Canada. The dissection of whales is no easy

matter.

Here then we have these finger muscles in Megaptera not more

developed in proportion to the size of the limb, but in a still more

rudimentary condition. These facts, the author observed, could

be reasonably explained only on the hypothesis of the descent of

whales from some ancestor in which the fingers had more exten-

sive movement.

A’.

THE STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE

SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT OF THE FET-

LOCK IN THE HORSE, OX, &c.

BY J. D. CUNNINGHAM, M.D.

HE author first alluded to the various examples which are

found amongst the mammalian group of muscles becoming

transformed into fibrous tissue and assuming the duties of liga-

ments. He had observedemuscles thus metamorphosed in the

foot of the pig, walrus, armadillo, elephant, &c., and Professor

Struthers had, in a paper read before the British Association in

Montreal, instanced a remarkable case in which a muscle in the

rudimentary hind limb of a cetacean was completely converted

into ligamentous tissue around its Serka whilst it remained

muscular in its center.

The most remarkable examples of this muscle metamorphosis-

are to be found in the feet of the horse and ruminants. The sus-

pensory ligament of the fetlock, as is well known, is muscular in

its origin, and in every case its ancestry can be traced with the

greatest clearness and precision. In the horse it is derived from

` the fibrous transformation of the two bellies of the flexor brevis

medii, and if transverse sections are made of the ligament, the

remains of these bellies may be observed in its midst in the form

of two crescentic fleshy outlines placed side by side. Every here

and there, however, the outlines are interrupted by patches of fat

cells and degenerating muscular fibers. The suspensory ligament

of the ox, sheep, &c., is derived from the fusion and fibrous trans-

formation of the four fleshy bellies of the flexor brevis annularis

and flexor brevis medii, and in transverse section these show as

1 Abstract of a paper read before the biological section of the American Associa-

tion for the Advancement of Science, in Philadelphia, 1884.

128 The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. |February,

four circular outlines of muscular tissue, which are also broken

in their continuity by fatty tissue and degenerating muscular

fibers. The change, therefore, is effected by the fatty degenera-

tion of the fleshy fibers of the muscles and the coincident increase

of the connective tissue elements. It is an instance of a patho-

logical process bringing about a morphological change.

The examination of these ligaments in their embryonic condi-

tion affords some interesting results. It shows that the amount

of muscular tissue in their midst is proportionately greater than

in the adult, and further, that so long as the embryo is zx utero

there is not the slightest tendency to fatty degeneration exhib-

ited in this fleshy tissue. After birth, however, when the foot is

called into play, and its requirements show a greater need in the

suspensory ligament of fibrous than muscular tissue the change *

begins. The active change is thus confined entirely to the extra

uterine life of the animal, but a condition is produced in the parent

which affects the offspring. It is an admirable instance of the

slow progress made by morphological changes and how processes

of this nature are thrown back a stage in the embryo. Provided

that the external circumstances which originally instituted the

change remain unaltered, we may consider that there are two

conditions at work, conservative in the embryo, progressive in the

adult ; but the latter has the advantage, inasmuch as it is aided

by the influence of heredity. From this, therefore, we may argue

that in the course of time the transformation of the suspensory

ligament will become complete, and that ultimately not a trace of

muscular tissue will appear in its midst. It is very evident, how-

ever, that the fleshy fibers will be longer of disappearing in the

foetus than in the adult. `

Perea i

THE WINOOSKI OR WAKEFIELD MARBLE OF

VERMONT.

BY PROFESSOR GEO. H. PERKINS.

EDS of primordial rock known as “the red sandrock ” extend

through Western Vermont from the northern limit of the

State south into Shoreham where the formation disappears. Its

breadth is nowhere very great, and it is chiefly confined to the |

immediate neighborhood of Lake Champlain. Here and there

on the lake shore are bold headlands composed of this rock.

1885.] Zhe Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. 129

Most commonly it is a hard, dark red sandstone containing, be-

sides a large percentage of silica, eight or nine per cent of potash,

about the same of iron, and more or less of lime. The composi-

tion of the rock is not uniform, but differs greatly in different por-

tions even of the same stratum.

The color, though chiefly dark red, is sometimes light red or

even reddish-buff. Moreover the entire formation, which is about

two thousand feet thick; includes limestones, dolomites, slates

and shales, though the red sandrock is, in most places, by far the

most conspicuous member of the formation, and forms the greater

part of its thickness. Still, in some localities other beds make

up a not inconsiderable portion of the whole, as the following

section taken at Swanton by Sir William Logan, and given here

with some modification, shows:

Feet.

I. White and red dolomites (Winooski marble) with sandy layers ;—some of

the strata are mottled, rose red and white, and a few are brick red or In-

dian red. Some of the red beds contain Conocephalites adamsi and C.

wvulcanus 370

. Gray argillaceous limestone, partially magnesian, holding a great abun-

dance of oy incipiens . IIO

« Buff, sandy dolomitëseise i sa 40

Dark gray and eek black slate, parai magnesian, with thin bands of ~~

sandy dolomite. The slate contains fossils as Odollela cingulata, Orthi-

sina festinata, Camerella antiquata, Conocephalites teucer, Paradoxides

thompsoni, P. vermontana 130

- Bands of bluish mottled dolomite, mixed with patches of gray pure lime-

stone and gray dolomite and bands of gray micaceous flagstone with

fucoids 60

Qə

A mile or so north of the above section other strata, occur as

follows :

6. Light gray more or less dolomitic sandstones and “ some of which are fine

grained, others are jipes conglomerate.” These åre interstratified with

bands of whit . 630

7. Bluish thin bedded ion flagstones and slates, containing ‘ Cue

cephali sus and fucoids 60

8. Bluish and yellowish mottled dolomite 120

9. Yellowish and yellowish-gray sandy dolomite s 600

Still further north, on the Canada line, there are additional

strata, though not well exposed, but in general Sir William gives

them as follows:

10, Buff and whitish sandy dolomite, holding a great amount of black and

gray chert in irregular fragments of various sizes up to a foot in length

so six imeli wide. There are also masses of white quartz. Thickness

Lcon) 790

VOL. XIX.—NoO, 11. 9

130 The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. (February,

Most of the layers are not fossiliferous, and in few are fossils

abundant. It may be true that fossils are really more common

than they seem to be, for they only occur as casts, and, with the

exception of the Algz, these are rarely visible except when the

surface of the stone has weathered so as to leave them in relief,

and of course this only happens occasionally. Near Burlington,

where the stone is extensively quarried for building purposes,

some of the layers exhibit abundant casts of Algæ together

with mud cracks, ripple marks and other evidences of shallow

water formation. Farther north, at Georgia, and still more to

the north at Highgate, various trilobites and Mollusca have been

found of the genera Paradoxides, Conocephalites, Camerella,

Orthisina, Obolella, &c. (see No. 4 above). The dolomitic portion

of the beds constitute what has long been known as the “ Winoo-

ski marble,” to which I wish to call especial attention in the fol-

lowing pages.

The beds of “ marble” appear first one or two miles north of

Burlington and extend in a somewhat interrupted series north

through St. Albans and end between that place and Swanton.

Some of the layers are quite distinct from the red sandrock

proper, others pass into it by imperceptible gradations. Ordina-

rily the marble beds are far less siliceous than the main bulk of

the sandstone, often containing only one-seventh as much silica

as that usually contains, or even less, but they are always much

harder than ordinary marble. Analyses of the marble have been

made but cannot be of great value when applied to the whole

mass because the relative proportion of the substances compos-

ing it is extremely variable.

Identical results weuld scarcely be obtained from analyses of

any two specimens taken at places a little distant from each other.

Silica is always present, usually about ten per cent, lime carbon-

ate forms from thirty to forty per cent, and magnesia carbonate

about the same, while iron and alumina form a smaller portion of

the mass.

No fossils had been discovered in this portion of the formation

until a few years ago, when on looking over a pile of sawn frag-

ments—refuse from the mill at Swanton—I noticed two or three

pieces which contained evident fossils. These were afterwards

identified by Mr. Billings as Sa/terella pulchella, described by him

from the Straits of Belle Isle, and not hitherto known from Ver-

1885.] The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. 131

mont. It is only with difficulty that this fossil can be detected in

uncut pieces of marble, but when blocks which contained speci-

mens of it are sawn they are quite noticeable, as they are pure

white and imbedded in the red stone, appear as small thimble-

shaped, oval, conical or circular bodies, as they are cut in one or

another direction. It seems probable that the Salterella occurs

throughout the dolomitic beds, for I have found it at their

extreme limits near Burlington and Swanton. The fossil is, how-

ever, not common anywhere. It occurs in patches sometimes

as large as one’s hand scattered over the slabs here and there.

Other fossils also occur in the marble, but are not so well defined

as to be certainly identified.

More than thirty years ago the beauty of the mottled dolomite

attracted the attention of marble workers, and a quarry was

opened about six miles from Burlington, and some of the blocks

of stone taken out were sent to New York and Philadelphia to.

be sawn into slabs and polished. The results were, I believe,

satisfactory in every way except financially. _ The stone made

beautiful slabs for table tops and mantels, but its hardness, while

adding to the beauty of the polish which it received, rendered the

‘sawing and finishing so costly that after a short time the attempt

to place it in the market was abandoned.

Later quarries were opened near St. Albans, and from these

large quantities of stone have been taken, most of it to be manu-

factured at Swanton into floor tiling, for which it is admirably

adapted. This enterprise still continues and has always been

prosperous, 3

The most important attempt yet made to quarry and work up

the Winooski marble was begun by a stsong company only a

short time ago at the old quarries near Burlington.

This company have large capital and have already made such

thorough and extensive preparations to prepare the marble for

market that if success can be attained in this direction it would

seem certain to follow these’ efforts. Unfortunately, I think, this

company have dropped the well-known name “ Winooski mar-

ble,” and substituted that of “ Wakefield variegated marble,”

styling themselves the Wakefield Marble Company. It is no

part of my purpose to advertise this company (though every one

who knows of what it has accomplished and is trying to accom-

plish, and who is interested in the development of the resources

132 The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. |February,

of the country, must be ready to wish it all success), for this

would obviously be wholly out of place here. I think, however,

that the possibility of obtaining at a not too great cost an abun-

dant supply of beautiful marble which is unlike any other Amer-

ican marble, and which is fully equal to the finest imported mar-

ble for purposes of interior decoration, is a matter of interest to all.

This is especially true because of the increasing rarity and costli-

ness of imported marbles, and also because of the increasing de-

mand for colored marbles in fine public buildings. That the Ver-

mont variegated marble is fully equal to that which is imported is,

so far as I know, the opinion of all experts who have examined both.

In a pamphlet issued by the Wakefield company there are pub-

lished letters from architects and marble workers which most

emphatically declare this to be the fact. The late Hon. Geo. P.

Marsh, in a letter written about a year before his death, says: “I

have just returned from the national exposition at Florence. * *

The brilliant reddish marbles are now very rare; and there was

at the exposition none of the reddish class by any means equal

to the Wakefield except in small fragments in mosaic work and

the Sicilian jaspers.”

The Wakefield or Winooski marble has been used in many

public buildings in different portions of the country, notably in

some of the corridors at the capitol at Albany as wainscoting,

and also in the new wing of the Astor library in New York. It

should be noticed here that while this marble is unrivaled for

inside work it is not well adapted to situations in which it is ex-

posed to the weather, as its colors fade and its beauty is greatly

impaired when thus exposed. There seems to be great inequal-

ity in this respect in blocks from different layers. At least this is

indicated in the appearance of blocks that have been for some

years lying about the quarries. Some of these appear to be but

very little changed, while others have their surfaces reduced to a

nearly uniform yellowish-red. No one need fear any change in

the appearance of polished slabs when protected from the inclem-

ency of the weather.

Before attempting any description of the varieties of marble

found in the Wakefield and other quarries, it may be well to

notice some of the quarries themselves. The most extensive

deposits are about the shores of Malletts bay, one of the most

picturesque of the many lovely bays which indent the shores of

1885.) The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. 133

Lake Champlain. This bay is several miles in length and width

and the marble crops out in cliffs from one hundred to two hun-

dred feet high on both sides and forms islands in its midst. The

supply is practically unlimited, and so located that huge blocks

can be separated from the beds in the quarry, and by the same der-

rick which lifts them from these beds they may be placed in canal-

boats or barges which may convey them by lake, canal and river

either to New York or Montreal. In some parts of the cliffs the

strata are easily separable, in other parts less easily, but almost

anywhere large blocks, which prove sound and perfect through-

out, may be obtained.

Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of this marble is

the wonderful variety of shade and general appearance which it

presents,

Not only may slabs which are quite unlike each other be ob-

tained from a block as it is sawn parallel with the stratification or

transverse to it, any variation in the direction of the saws giving

variety in the slabs; but even the opposite surfaces of the same

slab may differ greatly. The rock in some of the layers is a

more or less complete breccia, white or light-colored fragments

being enclosed in a dark red paste. These fragments are of all

sizes from those several inches long and wide to those no larger

than the head ofa pin. In some cases several adjacent bits were,

when first held in the paste, one large piece, and subsequently

broken, as the fractured edges of each exactly correspond to

those of the pieces next it. The brecciated structure is conspi-

cuously perfect in some blocks and quite imperfect in others, and

it finally passes into what was evidently a pasty mass of nearly

uniform fineness before consolidation took place. Some of the

beds appear to have been much more thoroughly worked over,

and the materials more completely ground and mixed than

others, and the different varieties are in part due to this.

While but few colors are seen in the different layers, neverthe-

less these are mingled in such varying proportions as to produce

unlimited diversity. Shades of red are especially abundant, so

that almost every conceivable tint is found; less common are

green, chiefly in olive shades, drab and rarely yellow, all mingled

more or less abundantly with white. The different specimens

may conveniently, though without absolute exactness, be arranged

in several series. One of these would embrace those slabs in

134 The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. [February,

which the red, which in most cases is the predominating color, is

clear and decided. In this series we have many varieties from

those in which the red is like that of jasper, or what is known as

Indian red, to those in which it is simply a delicate pink like the

lining of a shell. Another series gives us the red always of a

brownish or chocolate cast, and this is sometimes very dark.

This in turn passes through all intermediate shades to almost

white. Ina third series the red shades are less conspicuous, and

with them are mingled greens and greenish-drabs or sometimes

lavender shades. It is easy to understand how endless variation

may be produced by varying combinations of these different

shades with white. This is true both in the blotched and in the

shaded layers. Those which show the brecciated structure more

or less clearly vary as the fragments are large or small, and

whether many large are mingled with many small or the reverse,

and whether many large light fragments are mixed with dark

small ones, or large dark bits with light small ones, and in the

clouded or shaded layers light bands and blotches may predomi-

nate in one slab and dark bands in another. It will be obvious

that no description of such marbles can convey to those who

have not seen them very clear ideas of their appearance, and no

attempt to describe all or nearly all of those found will be made.

The company have for their own convenience and the purposes

of trade, given names to over thirty varieties, all of which may

be obtained within a very short distance from their mill on Mal-

letts bay. A few of*the leading sorts may properly be men-

tioned, and perhaps it will not be impossible to give a general idea

of some of them. Nearest Burlington there are layers which

possibly should be regarded as connecting the marble beds with

the ordinary red sandrock. These are chiefly of a dark red

slightly clouded and sprinkled with little grains of transparent

quartz. This is veined with narrow veins of pure white lime car-

bonate, which is in pleasing contrast with the red about it. More

rarely these veins are of quartz. The veins are usually not at all

numerous, and often are only a small fraction of an inch in width.

None of the varieties is so hard or so difficult to polish as this,

and though handsome it is little used. An allied variety exhibits

the white not as distinct veins but as mi

1885.] Zhe Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. 135

other, and this is also true in some that show no breccia, for in

these the colors are in blotches which may not blend to any

great extent. One of the most richly shaded of all the varieties

is what has been called “ Ethan Allen.” In this the clear red

shades are in wavy bands, dark and light closely intermingled

and constantly varying. Across these bands or waves are fine

lines of clear white. This variety is finest when in large slabs,

and as it receives a very brilliant polish it is very elegant. Some

of the chocolate varieties are also very fine, and are admirably

suited for wainscoting, mantels or other uses in rooms finished

with dark woods. Of the lighter varieties of marble there are

many. One of these is called “ Florentine.” In this the darker

shades are mostly wanting, but the surface is covered with irreg-

ular blotches, usually not of large size, which are of a delicate

pink or flesh color; with these are blotches of light tan and laven-

der, the whole mingled with white. Running across and through

the blotches are lines of dark green. The effect of this combina-

tion of colors when a slab is polished is exceedingly beautiful.

The “ Bonfanti ” is somewhat similar. The darker shades of red

appear only as lines or small spots. The prevailing tints are

pink, flesh color and salmon exquisitely mingled and blended

with white and with each other. “Princess” is even more deli-

cate and beautiful with its dainty blotches of lavender and ashes

of roses, which give to the whole their peculiarly pleasing tints,

while mingled with these are pink, salmon and rose shades and

white.

A peculiar variety is “ Opal. ” In this the red tints are largely

absent, their place being taken by drabs and white. All of these

pretty marbles receive without great difficulty a splendid polish,

_ far more brilliant and durable than that of most of the white or

_ clouded marbles. They are not easily scratched, do not grow

dingy and are not stained readily. Ink and many other liquids,

so injurious to the more completely calcareous marbles, does not

affect these Wakefield varieties in the least. These advantages,

aside from their great beauty, amply compensate for the greater

cost of the harder marble. While, as has been shown, variety

rather than uniformity is the rule among slabs of Wakefield mar-

ble, so that out of the hundreds of slabs which may be seen at

any time in the store house of the company, no two can be found

which are precisely alike (unless they were facing each other in

136 A Botanical Study of the Mite Gall [February,

the block, for, of course, when the saw goes through a block the

surfaces on each side of it must be alike), yet in most cases it is

not very difficult to find a series sufficient for the wainscoting of

a large room or the top of a long counter which match closely

enough for all practical purposes.

While it has been my aim in what has been said of the differ-

ent varieties mentioned to convey some idea of what they are, it

is wholly impossible to place their beauty before the reader. No

agate or jasper is more elegant or attractive. Indeed, in looking

over slab after slab of the marble I have often been reminded of |

the close resemblance to agate which the surface before me pre-

sented. The Wakefield marble is, much of it, very similar to

agate in brilliancy of polish, delicacy of color and general appear-

ance, though quite unlike it in hardness and costliness. Nor do

, we ever see slabs of agate five or six feet wide and eight or ten

feet long, as are some of the slabs of this marble.

“ry

A BOTANICAL STUDY OF THE MITE GALL FOUND

| ON THE BLACK WALNUT?

BY LILLIE J. MARTIN.

Dooa to at least four sciences may do original work on

Erineum anomalum. Since eggs have been found among

the hairs on its surface and neither mycelium nor spores occur in

it, it can no longer be ranked among the fungi, and the entomol-

ogist alone may study the life-history of its inhabitants. The

chemist and physicist will certainly have somewhat to do if they

set out to find the forces which are at work in the production of

the gall. Nor will the botanist be without employment if he

trace its anatomy and full development. This paper is a state-

ment of what was seen in a somewhat superficial botanical exami-

nation of the gall during the month of July.

These galls usually occur in the walnut on the under side of

the main petiole, somewhat below the first set of leaflets, but are

occasionally found somewhat higher up. One or even seven or

eight galls may be found on the same petiole (Figs. 1, 2, 3). When

but one occurs the petiole is shortened and the leaf j is rather

smaller than the normal leaf; sometimes the petiole is slightly

1 Read before the Section of Biology of the American Association for the Ad-

vancement of Science in the Philadelphia meeting, 1884.

ee ee

PLATE V.

PESOS

SOENT /

Px SI LOSSY

PEER

SETA

We SA

nis

ALS >

YAA

Cte

RARS,

ore

Tat

2.)

eal 2;

PON

Sede

if ie tf

his

na)

Pad

HES a-

EEEE TIOR

RS STACA, Se

ease

Fig. 7

1885.] Found on the Black Walnut. 137

bent from back to front also. In addition to these changes, when

several galls are found on the same petiole (Fig. 3) this is often

so much twisted as to bring them on the upper side of the leaf.

The galls are elliptical in shape, the longer axis varying in

length from 3™ to 15™™ and the shorter from 1™™ to 8™™ From

above they appear slightly convex ; their centers are hairy and

purplish-red in color and set in a green ring which is continued

below into the petiole. Their average height is about 1o™™ In

appearance they are not “unlike buttons which have their tops

mounted in metal holders.

The under surface of the gall is similar in general outline to

its upper, as it abruptly contracts before passing into the petiole

(Fig. 4), sometimes nearly clasping it either in the direction of

its long or short axis. When several galls grow on the same

petiole they may either run together or be entirely separate. If

they coalesce great changes in size and shape are produced.

The normal petiole is usually horizontal, but sometimes twists

the leaf half way round (herbarium specimens). The cross sec-

tion of the petiole near its base is of a reniform shape on account

of a crease in its upper surface. The crease disappears further

from the base of the petiole, which then appears elliptical in

cross section. .

The fibro-vascular bundles of the normal petiole of the walnut

are such as are ordinarily found in the stems of dicotyledonous

plants. The bundle is better developed as the apex of the petiole

is approached. Even here, however, the bast is more abundant

than the corresponding wood. An examination of that part of

the petiole where the crease has disappeared shows a second row

of well developed fibro-vascular bundles. Almost no trace of

this can be seen in the lower part of the petiole (Fig. 5).

Under a low power of the microscope a longitudinal radial

section of that part of the gall near the pith of the petiole resem-

bles a drawing of a geological section of the earth in which the

strata are very much bent and folded (Fig. 10). The cells them-

selves are bent, but the folding takes place mainly between con-

tiguous cells. In comparing cross and longitudinal-radial sections

of the gall (Figs. 9 and 10) the bast is found to be quite as abun-

dant as in the normal petiole, but is spread over a wider area-

The wood, too, is as scanty as before. The tracheary vessels

have almost entirely disappeared. Tracheids have not only

138 A Botanical Study of the Mite Gall [ February,

supplied their place but mainly compose that part of the gall that

is made up of folded tissue. Two or three layers of the pitted

cells near the pith are wider than long and regular in shape.

As the distance from the pith increases the cells increase in

length and decrease in breadth until they are two or three times

longer than broad. Owing to the crowding to which they are

exposed, they become irregular in shape nearer the surface of the

fibro-vascular bundle.

In the normal petiole the cells overlying the fibro-vascular

bundle are longer than broad, regular in shape and contain but

little protoplasm. The corresponding part in the galls is made

up of much larger cells, irregular in form and filled with a granu-

lar substance which is slightly colored yellow by iodine, and red

by eosin.

Clustered and glandular hairs are found irregularly distributed

over the petiole. The clustered hairs (Fig. 6) are found abun-

dantly on the upper side of the petiole near its base. From this

point their number decreases though there are still more on the

upper side of the petiole than on the lower. They originate from

cells of the epidermis which have crowded together in papilla-

like masses, But one hair arises from each cell. Each papilla

may have but one hair, though it will often have nine or ten.

The ordinary number is five or six. The hairs themselves are

one-celled and pointed toward the apex. At the extremity their

walls are so thickened as to nearly obliterate the cavity. They

are thinner towards the base, and iodine shows protoplasm to be

present.

The glandular hairs vary in shape. Ina general way they are

made up of several cells, the terminal cell being larger than those

below, and secreting an “acrid aromatic” substance. Iodine

shows that there is protoplasm in their cells. These glandular

hairs arise from single epidermal cells which are separate from

each other by two or three intervening cells,

The galls have no differentiated epidermis. Certain cells which

from their position would be called epidermal are without proto-

plasm, but in other respects resemble those beneath. From

nearly every one of the epidermal cells cylindrical, one-celled

hairs arise (Fig. 8). These hairs seem to be a continuation of the

epidermis, They are about 1™ in length and ṣẹ ™ in diameter,

that is, at least twice as long and broad as the normal hairs.

PLATE VI.

ORN

AMA

~ Seni

NAR J

NS -A D PA, -

aN DS J

SSA ER AB / woe aye!

i eN ane > Dre (eG

= iY s AJ a a, !

LC P A REIN ER

f KAP ; e 4 3

x ye! ASIP TO

ea eels

EEA aa ANOS

es SE SRNT

isd EEO YY F

y O

& <

CERE OAT ANI SR

CANETO MOO

X Mee Pesan

SSA LE AR

AR ST ERT hd

pane ice aces

OOO REE ELS |

BY ISA Ne LI g. :

R BA REA = = >

— Sarai NS

ONITE INOA DES

ANNS YA, LANE

sy m ee IN y

SER Sy SATO S Oe Nae,

í 0D “9 A; ons APIO Os

Nd : 3 +

ca —s

a LD, oR a

AAAS a> 5 aaa A

An Cas) = yt ae S E) a pa ae =

SELES oe tee s DYR

w”

SN 3

RAS

——

1885.] Sound on the Black Walnut. 139

These cells contain a purplish-red coloring matter which is solu-

ble in water. If this is removed the cells are found to contain a

large quantity of a brown granular substance. The hairs of the

gall are so unlike normal hairs in shape, position, contents and

origin that they can scarcely be looked upon as modified trich-

omes. Ensconced among the hairs which are distributed over

the surface of the gall are found the eggs of the mite which pro-

duces it.

In order to know the changes which the gall has undergone in

reaching its mature state, it would be necessary to make a careful

study of the specimens of the gall from its first appearance to its

full development. I hope to do this in the future. Possibly it

may not be too presumptuous to venture a few predictions

founded on a comparison of the gall with the normal. petiole in

regard to development:

1. The gall must have started very early. The fact that the

gall hairs cannot be looked upon as modified trichomes has been

already referred to. Vestiges of the normal trichomes would be

found among the gall hairs if the petiole had been far enough ad-

vanced for them to appear, but no such remains are found. The

epidermal cells of the gall are so thin-walled and so unlike the

thick-walled and regular epidermal cells of the petiole in form,

that they could have originated from them only at an early

period. Comparison of the tissue beneath the epidermis in the

gall and petiole does not suggest that one was derived from the

other.

2. The development was doubtless inward, the stimulant, no

matter of what nature, acting on the outside. The position of

the eggs, the mode of oviposition of mites and the fact that no

sign of their having pierced the tissue can be found, suggests

this. The bending and folding of the fibro-vascular tissue would

seem to suggest that the stimulant caused a greater growth in

length than in breadth, and this produced the lateral pressure

which pushed up the tissue.

3. The value of these various modifications to the mite may be

seen in a general way. The hairs of the gall give the very best

protection to the eggs, the parenchyma is an excellent cushion

and is firmly supported by the tracheids which, with the other

140 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ February,

portions of the fibro-vascular systems may also serve their usual

purpose of conductors of water.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES,

PLATE IV.

Fic. 1.—Sketch of a gall showing its ordinary form, size and position. Natural

size.

Fic, 2.—Sketch of the gall showing its appearance when found above the first set of

leaflets.

Fic. 3.—Several galls on the same petiole showing the effect on stem and the gen-

eral arrangement and shape of the galls when more than one occurs on the

same petiole.

Fic. 4.—Cross section of gall and petiole, showing internal appearance of gall.

PLATE V.

Fic. 5.—Cross sections of normal petiole; a, at base, no well-developed second row

of fibro-vascular bundles; 4, below first pair of leaflets, appearance of second

row of fibro-vascular tanidi c, above first pair of leaflets, a well-developed

second row of fibro-vascular bundles 2

ia 6.—Clustered hairs, X 165.

G. 7.—Glandular hairs. X 165.

A IG. 8.—Gall hairs, extensions of epidermal cells,

PLATE VI.

Fic. 9.—Cross section of petiole and gall; a, gall hairs which appear to be contin-

uations of the epidermis 4; ¢, parenchyma beneath the epidermis; æg, fibro-vas-

cular bundles in which tracheids have supplied the place of tracheary and

other vessels; e, parenchyma of the pith (highly magnified).

Fic. 10.—Longitudinal-radial section of petiole and gall; a, 4, c, d, e, as in fig. 9

highly magnified).

"ry".

ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE VERTEBRATA, PRO-

GRESSIVE AND RETROGRESSIVE.

‘BY E D. COPE.

I. PRELIMINARY.

E attempting to ascertain the course of evolution of the Verte-

brata, and to construct phylogenetic diagrams which shall

express this history, among the difficulties arising from deficient

information, one is especially prominent. As is well known,

there are many types in all the orders of the Vertebrata which

present us with rudimentary organs, as rudimental digits, feet or

limbs, rudimental fins, teeth and wings. There is scarcely an

organ or part which is not somewhere in a rudimental and more

or less useless condition. The difficulty which these cases pre-

sent is, simply, whether they be persistent primitive conditions, to

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 14I

be regarded as ancestral types which have survived to the present

time, or whether, on the other hand, they be results of a process

of degeneration, and therefore of comparatively modern origin.

The question, in brief, is, whether these creatures presenting these

features be primitive ancestors or degenerate descendants.

In the first place let us define the meaning of the word degen-

erate. - This must be done first from a structural or anatomical

standpoint. Degeneracy may be defined as a loss of parts with-

out corresponding development of other parts. All animals are

degenerate in some respect or another, as, for instance, the Mam-

malia in the small size of the pineal gland and of the coracoid

bone ; so that degeneracy, as a whole, can only be affirmed where

the sum of the subtractions is greater than the sum of the addi-

tions. Function of the parts must, however, be consulted in this

matter. We naturally regard sensibility as the highest of animal

functions, and mind as the highest form of sensibility. There-

fore development of organs of sensibility and sense and mind

constitutes a better claim of progress than development of stom-

ach or of skin. Since motion is under the direction of sensibil-

ity, organs of movement have much to do with the question.

When perfection in this respect conflicts with perfection of brain,

in evidence of position, we naturally give the preference to the

latter in deciding. Thus the ruminating mammals are much

superior to man in the structure of their feet, teeth and stomach,

yet we properly assign the higher position to the quadrumana

and to man, on account of the superior complication of their brain

structure,

Palæontology has proven? what had been already surmised,

at the development of animal organisms has been on lines of

increasing specialization of parts. That is, in lines of increasingly

perfect adaptations of structures to ends, or functions. In certain

series of animals we witness steadily increasing perfection of

mechanisms of the limbs for running; in others for digging; in

others for flying. In the teeth we find increasing perfection of

machines for grinding, for cutting or for seizing. In the brain

the specialization has evidently been towards increased acuteness

of perception, increased energy of action, and increased intelli-

gence. Specialization does not, however, necessarily imply pro-

gressive development. Adaptation may be to a parasitic or a

1 Cfr. On the Evidence for Evolution in the History of the Extinct Mammalia ;’

Proc. Amer. Assoc, Adv. Sciences for 1883.

-142 - On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [February,

sessile mode of life. Such adaptation is often displayed in a very

special modification of parts, as in the anterior limbs of some of

the parasitic Crustacea; in the mouth parts of some Arachnida ;

in the feet of the sloth, and in the jaws of the ant-eaters.

Embryology has furnished, and will furnish, many important

hints and demonstrations as to the true meaning of the rudimen-

tary condition or absence of parts, and thus indicate the phylogen-

etic connections of animals. Thus the origin of the Tunicata

from primitive vertebrate-like forms would probably never have

been suspected but for embryological studies; and the origin of

the very peculiar order of Rotifera has been explained in like

manner, But embryology has its limitations, for the transitional

characters presented by embryos are only partially of the nature

of a record of the structures which belonged to their ancestors in

successive geological ages, and are frequently special adaptations

to the necessities of their embryonic life. Such are the stato-

blasts which are present in fresh-water sponges and Polyzoa, and

wanting in the marine forms; and the allantois and placenta of

Vertebrata, In a number of groups the embryo seems to have

been more susceptible to the influence of the environment than

the adults) It results that in many cases the phylogeny can only

1A remarkable instance of this state of things appears in the history of the evolu-

tion of the insects, It is quite impossible to understand this history without believ-

ing that the larval and pupal states of the highest insects are the results of a process

of degeneracy which has affected the middle periods of growth but not the mature

results. The earliest insects are the Orthoptera, which have active aggressive larve

and pup, undergoing the least changes in their metamorphosis oT and

never getting beyond the primitive mandibulate condition at the

morphosis of the jawed Neuroptera is little more marked, and tis are one of the

oldest orders.

The highest orders bite ne undergo a marked PASEO (Coleoptera, Hy-

menoptera), the Hymen even requiring artificial intervention in some in-

stances to make it a Finally the most specialized e the suctorial Dip-

tera and Lepidoptera, especially the latter, present us with peti unprotected more or

poses of reproduction. As is well known, many imagines (Saturniidæ, Œstridæ

can perform no other function, and soon die, while in “some Diptera the incomplete

larvee themselves reproduce, so that the metamorphosis is never completed.

This =- is parallel to that proposed by Dohrn to account for the origin of the

` Ammoccetes larval stage of the Marsipobranchii. He supposes this form to be more

degenerate a its probable ancestral type in the ancestral line of the Vertebrata, as

it is inferior to its own adult. An inactive life in mud is supposed by Dohrn to have

been the effective cause, An inactive life on the leaves of plants, or in dead car-

cases, has probably been the cause of the same phenomenon in the Lepidoptera and

Diptera.

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 143

be determined by the discovery and investigation of the ancestors

themselves, as they are preserved in the crust of the earth. In

all cases this discovery confirms and establishes such definite con-

clusions as may be derived from embryology. It is also clear

that on the discovery of phylogenetic series it becomes at once

possible to determine the nature of defective types. It becomes

possible to ascertain whether their rudimental parts represent the

beginnings of organs, or whether they are the result of a process

of degeneration of organs once well developed.

A great deal of light has been happily thrown on this question

as regards the “Vertebrata, by the recent work done in North

American paleontology. The lines of descent of many of the

minor groups have been positively determined, and the phylogen-

etic connections of most of the primary divisions or classes have

been made out. The result of these investigations has been to

prove that the evolution of the Vertebrata has proceeded not

only on lines of acceleration but, to a much greater extent than

has been heretofore suspected, on lines of retardation.’ That is,

that evolution has been not only progressive, but at times retro-

gressive. This is entirely in accord with the views-derived by

Dohrn from embryology,? who, however, wrote only of the origin

of the Vertebrata as a whole and not of its divisions, excepting

only the Leptocardii and Marsipobranchii, that is, of the sand

lance and the lampreys and hags. The demonstration of such

relations for the higher Vertebrata is now done nearly for the

first time?

Omitting from consideration the two classes above entio et

whose remains have not yet been certainly found in a fossil state,

t See Origin of Genera, E. D. Cope, Philadelphia, 1868, where these terms are

introduced.

. See Der Ursprung der Wirbelthiere u. d. Princip des Functionwechsels, Leipsic,

1875.

*On the Phylogeny of the Vertebrata, Cope, AMER. NATURALIST, Dec., 1884. I

here remark that my researches have now, as I believe, disclosed the ancestry of the

mammals, the bird, the reptiles and the true fishes, or Hyopomata, including the spe-

cial phylogenies of the Batrachia and Reptilia, and some of the Mammalia. See the

following references: AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1884, p. 1136; Proceedings Acad-

emy Philadelphia, 1867, p. 234; Proceedings American ‘Philosoph. Society, 1884, p.

585; AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1884, p. 27; Proceedings American Association for

the Advancement of Science, XIX, 1871, p. 233; Proceedings American Philosophical

Society, 1882, p. 447; AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1884, pp. 261 and 1121; Report

U. S. Geol. Survey W. of 1ooth Mer., G. M. Wheeler, 1877, IV, 1, p. 282. ;

144 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [February,

there remain the following: the Pisces, Batrachia, Reptilia,

Aves and Mammalia.

The Mammalia have been traced to the theromorphous reptiles

by the Monotremata. The birds, some of them at least, appear

to have been derived from the Dinosaurian reptiles. The reptiles

in their primary representative order, the Theromorpha, have

been probably derived from the rhachitomous Batrachia. The

Batrachia have originated from the sub-class of fishes, the Dipnoi,

though not from any known form. I have shown that the true

fishes or Hyopomata have descended from an order of sharks, the

Ichthyotomi, which possess characters of the Dipnoi also. The

origin of the sharks remains entirely obscure, as does also that of

the Pisces as a whole. Dohrn believes the Marsipobranchii to

have acquired its present characters by a process of degeneration.

The origin of the Vertebrata is as yet entirely unknown, Kowal-

evsky deriving them from the Ascidians, and Semper from the

Annelida. The above results I have embodied in the folowing

— diagram :

Aves Mammalia

Reptilia

Hyopomata Batrachia

Pisces | Selachii Ichthyotomi Dipnoi

Holocephali

Marsipobranchi

Leptocardii

Accepting this phylogeny, it becomes possible to determine

the course of development first of the whole series ; and sec-

ondly of the contents of each class taken by itself. I will first

consider the direction of the evolution of the Vertebrata as a

whole.

II. THE VERTEBRATE LINE.

The Vertebrata exhibit the most unmistakable gradation in

the characters of the circulatory system.” It has long been the

1 Proceedings Am. Phil, Soc., 1884, . 585.

2See Origin of Genera, 1868, p. 20, for a table of the characters of the circulatory

. System.

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 145

custom to define the classes by means of these characters, taken

in connection with those of the skeleton. Commencing in the

Leptocardii with the simple tube, we have two chambers in the

Marsipobranchii and fishes; three in the Batrachia and Reptilia;

and four in the Aves and Mammalia. The aorta:roots commence

as numerous pairs of branchial arteries in the Leptocardii; we

see seven in the Marsipobranchi, five in the fishes (with number

reduced in some); four and three in Batrachia, where they gener-

ally cease to perform branchial functions; two and one on each

side in Reptilia; the right hand one in birds, and the left hand

one in Mammalia. This order is clearly an ascending one

throughout. It consists of first, a transition from adaptation to

an aquatic to an aérial respiration ; and second, an increase in the

power to aérate and distribute a circulating fluid of increased quan-

tity, and of increased calorific capacity. In other words, the cir-

culation passes from the cold to the hot-blooded type coinciden-

tally with.the changes of structure above enumerated, The

accession of a-capacity to maintain a fixed temperature while that

of the surrounding medium changes, is an important advance in

animal economy.

The brain and nervous system also display a general progres-

sive ascent. Leaving the brainless Leptocardii, the Marsipo-

branchs and fishes present us with small hemispheres, larger

optic lobes and well-developed cerebellum. The hemispheres are

really larger than they appear to be, as Rabl Riickard has shown’

that the supposed hemispheres are only corpora striata. But

the superior walls are membranous, and support on their in-

ternal side only a layer of epithelial cells, as in the embryos of

other Vertebrata, instead of the gray substance. So'that although

we find that the cerebellum is really smaller in the Batrachia and

most Reptilia than in the fishes, the better development of the

hemispheres in the former gives them the preéminence. The

Elasmobranchii show themselves superior to many of the fishes

in the large size of their corpora restiformia and cerebellum. The

Reptilia constitute an advance on the Batrachia. In the latter the

optic thalami are, with some exceptions, of greater diameter than

the hemispheres, while the reverse is generally true of the rep-

tiles. The crocodiles display much superiority over the other

1 Biologisches centralblatt, 1884, p- 449

VOL, XIX.—NO, 1I.

146 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [February,

reptiles in the larger cerebellum, with rudimental lateral lobes.

The great development of the hemispheres in birds is well known,

while the general superiority of the brain of the living Mamma- -

lia over all other vertebrates is admitted,

The consideration of the successive relations of the skeleton in

the classes of vertebrates embraces, of course, only the charac-

ters which distinguish those classes, These are not numerous.

They embrace the structure of the axis of the skull; of the ear

bones; of the suspensors of the lower jaw; of the scapular arch and

anterior limb, and of the pelvic arch and posterior limb. Other

characters are numerous, but do not enter into consideration at

this time.

The persistence of the primitive cartilage in any part of the

skeleton is, embryologically speaking, a mark of inferiority. From

a physiological or functional standpoint it has the same signifi-

cance, since it is far less effective both for support and for move-

ment than is the segmented osseous skeleton. ' That this is a>

prevalent condition of the lower Vertebrata is well known. The

bony fishes and Batrachia have but little of the primitive cartilage

remaining, and the quantity is still more reduced in the higher

classes. Systematically then, the vertebrate series is in this

respect an ascending one. The Leptocardii are membranous;

the Marsipobranchii and most of the Elasmobranchii cartilagin-

-ous; the other Pisces and the Batrachia have the basicranial axis

cartilaginous, so that it is not until the Reptilia are reached that

we have osseous sphenoid and presphenoid bones, such as char-

acterize the birds and mammals. The vertebral column follows

more or less inexactly the history of the base of the skull, but its

characters do not define the classes. =

As regards the suspensor of the lower jaw the scale is in the

main ascending. We witness a gradual change in the segmenta-

tion of the mandibular visceral arch of the skull, which clearly

has for its object such a concentration of the parts as will produce

the greatest effectiveness of the biting function. This is accom

plished by reducing the number of the segments, so as to bring

the resistence of the teeth nearer and nearer to the power, that is,

the masseter and related muscles, and their base of attachment, the

brain-case. This is seen in bony Vertebrates in the reduction of

~ the segments between the lower jaw proper and the skull, from

four to none. In the fishes we have the hyomandibular, the sym-

1885. ] | Progressive and Retrogressive. se

plectic, the inferior quadrate, and the articular. In the Batrachia,

reptiles and birds, we have the quadrate and articular only,

while in the Mammalia, ‘these elements also are wanting.

The examination of the pectoral and pelvic arches reveels a

successive modification of the adaptation of the parts to the

mechanical needs of the limbs. In this regard the air-breathing

types display wide diversity from the gill-bearing types or fishes.

In the latter, the lateral elements unite below without the inter-

vention of a median element or sternum, while in the former the” ~

sternum or parts of it, are generally present. Either arrangement

is susceptible of much mechanical strength, as witness the Siiurgi

fishes on the one hand, and the mole on the other. The güner i ee

ous segments of the fishes’ pectoral arch must, howevef, be gan

element of weakness, so that from a mechanical | 1

must take the lowest place. The presence of s

with both clavicle, procoracoid, and coracoi

gives theaéXeptilia the highest place for, mec

loss of the coracoid seen in the tailed Batrachjsd, sad loss of cora-

coid and procoracoid in the Mayi ia, cone titute an element of

weakness, The line is notti ‘uniform as Scent in this

respect. E

The absence of pel remely rudimental condition in

fishes, places them. he line in this respect. The

forward exte Batrachia andin the Mam-

ckward direction in Reptilia,

derived by desc mi ctly intermediate position in the

Batrachia and

rection must b

over the posterio

ed as having the mechanical advantage

| tion, since it shortens the vertebral column

and brings the po terior nearer to the anterior feet. The prev-

alence of the latter condition in the Mammalia enables them to

stand clear of t} » ground, while the Reptilia move with the abdo-

men resting upon it. As regards the inferior arches of the pelvis,

the Mammalia have the advantage again, in the strong bony me-

dian symphysis « connecting the ischium and pubis.! This character,

universal among the land Vertebrata of the Permian epoch, has

been lost by the modern Bxtege@es Reptilia, and birds, and is re-

tained only by the Mammalia. So the line, excepting the Mam-

1 i i'an advantage as a protection during gestation.

be true is greatly to be regretted, and poih

148 Editors Table. [February,

malian, have degenerated in every direction in the characters of

the pelvis.

The limbs of the Pisces are as well adapted to their environ-

ment as are those of the land Vertebrata, but from an embryologi-

cal standpoint, their structure is inferior. The primitive rays are

less modified in the fin than in the limb; and limbs themselves

display a constantly «increasing diii kornica of parts, commenc-

ing with the Batrachia and ending with the Mammalia. The de-

tails of these modifications belong to the history of the contents

of the classes however, rather than to the succession of the

iu Vertebrata as a whole.

In review it may be said, that a comparison of the characters

whNgh define the classes of the Vertebrates, shows that this branch

of theNanimal kingdom has made with the ages successive steps

of progress from lower to higher conditions. This progress has

not been wittnout exception, since as regards the construction of

the scapular ach, the Mammalia have retrograded; “rom the

reptilian standard, as a whole.

In subsequent articles I shall take up theine of the classes

separately. Ga a

(Tè O Fe N a

EDITORS TABLE.

EDITORS: A. s. PACKARD `

E E-D. COPE.

interest to the naturalist on the subject of the accumulation and

care of collections. The director of the museum thinks that it

is not advisable to create collections which “ ‘must undoubtedly

be duplicated in Washington or Néw York,” That portion

which relates to the care of the perishable Materials contains

many suggestive statements. Aion tkese is the information

that the large collections of reptiles, fishes , molliisks, Crustacea

~ and echinoderms in alcohol, made by the museum, have become

in great degree useless for nice scientific Mork, atid that every

year much material has to be thrown away. Such a statement as

this must be equally applicable to all museums That it should

clearly to the

1885.] | Editor’ Table. 149

necessity of using more efficient methods or materials for preser-

vation in future. While in the language of Professor Agassiz,

“Undoubtedly many most interesting problems require large

collections for their solution, the cost of maintaining” the col-

lections of perishable specimens, “ may stagger the most enthu-

siastic collector,” ‘‘ The function of a museum is without doubt

to use its resources in the purchase and care of special collec- ‘

tions,” but at the same time, “ with the present facilities and cost of

specialist with the necessary funds for such an investigation

that of recent fishes); The general result of these

opposing considerations is, that while there is no lim

of institutions is more profitably e

ists with facilities and fresh mate

tion necessary as a preliminary tç ï

of studying the coarser anatom eover, while distinctness

p Save its reference collection as complete

as circumstances pe * How to do this more perfectly and

pine oblems of the day.

object instruction to persons

it. No measures will be

150 Editors’ Table. [February,

development of a community is one of the most effective ways

of elevating it in all respects, as it applies energy to the root of

the matter instead of attempting to mend the leaves and fruit. It

is a prophylactic, while much of the charity of the world has

rather the character of a curative. All students will unite in the

hope that Professor Jayne’s liberality will meet with the fullest

appreciation, and bring him due reward.

Cia

orth American

rapidly made

hich require

aaa

tudi

ms. ill tempt

, an doubtless

TORMO xp n the near

: S > had in the country is

not the least of the facilities- Mistic $

— In his attractive titi th > nporary Review enti-

tled Würzburg and Vienna, My Laysleye writes of Ludwig

"=" -> Noiré’s new book--Das

lyi

senting the action pei all

1885.] Recent Literature. 151

of an intelligence capable of progress, appeared almost simul-

taneously.”

In another work, entitled Origin of Speech, Noiré has devel-

oped this hypothesis. His book was reviewed by Max Müller,

who regarded this view as too exclusive, yet that it was far supe-

rior to either the onomatopeceia or the interjection theory, and

that it was certainly the best and most probable one brought for-

ward at present. :

Whether this hypothesis seems plausible or not, would not

comparative study of the physiology of the vocal organs, and of ~~

the connection between the brain and the faculty of speech throw

light on this problem? May not the power of speech have best

a differentiation of the musical power, and have originated from

the play of the intenser emotions or passions rather than from

the mechanical movements of the arms or legs in labor?

Lt © hd

“ee

“RECENT LITERATURE.

THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICA, SurvEY. ”—

Succeeding the diréctor’s report and those gf the¢hiefs of divi-

sions, are the papers accOmpanying, E oe the

main portion of thèwglume. These ayé: Birds with teeth, by

Professor O..C. Massie rs T>

i . S. Irving ; Sketcho the

development of the ¢

ever, and if we may j

the next classes abo}

period would still be birds, although with even stronger reptilian

features. “ Før the primal forms of the bird-type, we must evi-

dently look to the Palzeozoic; and in the rich land-fauna of our

American Permian we may yet hope to find the remains of both

birds and mammals.”

An 1 Report of the U. S. Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Inte-

nua

E er By J. W. Powe 1, Director. Washington, 1883. Royal 8vo, pp.

Sg o a

152 Recent Literature. [February,

. Professor Marsh then enumerates the characters we should ex:

pect to find in the ancestral type of birds, the more essential char-

acters being a free quadrate bone, since this is a universal feature

in birds, and only partially retained in the Dinosaurs now known.

“The birds would appear to have branched off by a single stem,

which gradually lost the reptilian characters as it assumed the

ornithic type, and in the existing Ratitæ we have the survivors of

this direct line. The lineal descendants of this aan stock

___represelited by Pyramid and other lakes in Nevada, and Honey

Neus eke in California. This system of aes lakes as it.seems to

ere been, ‘vas “ay wea in number ESTA

g present lakes of th St Lowe

an immense ise,

mountains, the Sierra N

SO great as to g

baned . mes must

e t&al area of the region.

Twenty-one of these a:tcient, lak. < waich Lake Bonneville

and aonta IE es wg, have already been

and at least three of

omnia int A é northern part, of the

some a lye are known to have of the south.

ot eae tufa pa id, thin lake basi nated i in the order

™ 3 these minerals are

Ae, ithe H hole valley is Ae 1 À PI. ıx. From the

_ study of the terraces and tufa or of

ay hat the lake had

PLATE VII. i

Tufa Domes—Shore of Pyramið Lake. ‘

1885.] Recent Literature. 153

Nearly all the valleys which combine to form the basin of Lake

Lahontan are due to profound fractures, the displacements in

‘numerous instances extending 4000 or 5000 feet. These move-

ments are thought to be still in progress, the mountains through-

out the Great basin either slowly rising or sinking. ‘ As a mat-

ter of observation we find the evidence of recent faulting best

defined along the bases of the highest of the ranges, indicating

that these owe their distinction to the fact that they are still

growing.” ,

An important contribution to glacial geology is Thos. C.

Chamberlin’s preliminary account of the terminal moraine of the

second geological epoch, illustrated by excellent maps and views.

This second great terminal moraine marks a general advance of

the great ice-sheet at a date considerably later than the stage of

greatest glaciation. The great terminal moraines of the first

glacial epoch have been traced from Cape Cod to Ohio and Ilin-

ois, but in the interior of the continent this “supposed extreme

outer moraine has not been traced out.” The author believes

that the western portion of what was supposed to be the great

terminal moraine of the first epoch is, in Michigan, Wisconsin,

Minnesota and Iowa, a part of the later moraine. pee

HYATT ON THE GENERA OF FOSSIL CEPHALOPODS.— This is an

elaborate discussion of the character and relations of the genera

of fossil Cephalopods, the results of many years’ patient study.

It appears in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural

History, and is preliminary to a monograph which will appear in

the Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cam-

bridge, Mass.

Univalve shells, the author remarks, may be generally spoken

of as cones, which may be either straight, curved or coiled. The

larger number of the more ancient shelled cephalopods are

straight cones. The young of nautilian shells are identical with

the adults of the curved (arcuate) and coiled (gyroceran) and in

different series repeat their forms, sutures, shell markings and the

outlines of their whorl in transverse, section. “ They are in suc-

cession first arcuate, then gyroceran, and lastly nautilian or close-

coiled. In several series genetic lines of adult forms may be fol-

lowed, which lead by gradation from arcuate, cyrtoceran forms to

close-coiled nautilian shells, the whole showing a connected series-

of transitions in the form and outline of section, sutures, struc-

ture and position of siphon, and shell ornaments and apertures,

In some cases these graded series are in’accord with the chrono-

logical record, the straight appearing first, the arcuate either in

company with them or later in time, and the gyroceran and

nautilian latest.”

The author adds that we cannot of course claim that such per-

fect evidence has been found even in the larger number of series.

ete E ’s OOTO) ly ee S

_ phology, or what used to be called comparative

154 Recent Literature. [February,

“In some of them, certainly, it is not an over-statement to say

that the chronology of the evolution of form, the development of

the individual, the gradations in the adults and the general differ-

ential characteristics all tell the same story, and are decisive for

the opinion that in all the larger series of shell-bearing Cephalo-

poda, the nautilian shells belong to several distinct series and

arose independently from straight cones through the intermedium

of a graded series of arcuate and gyroceran or closely coiled

forms. The generic terms, Cyrtoceras, Gyroceras and Nautilus

are really only descriptive terms for the different stages in the

development of an individual, and also the different stages in the

development or evolution of the series of adult forms in time.

In other words, each of these genera as now used, include repre-

sentatives of all the different genetic series of Tetrabranchs,

which are either young shells in the corresponding stage of

growth, or adult shells in the corresponding stage of evolution.”

Professor Hyatt maintains that the Nautilini were derived

directly and independently from a straight cone, and that this

primitive nautiline form was a close ally and ancestor of the

straight orthoceran-like Bactrites of the Silurian. “ All the re-

maining ammonoids are more concentrated in development, and

skip the orthoceran, cyrtoceran and gyroceran stages of their evo-

lution in time. They are evidently descendants of the close-

coiled Nautilinidz, and the evidence here is very strong that the

whole order.of Ammonoideaarose from a single organic center

of distribution, the Nautilini of the Silurian. The succession in

time, the evidence of gradation in structure and the development

exactly accord with this statement. Nautilinidz, Goniatites, Tri-

assic transition forms of Ammonitinz and the true Ammonites of

the Jura form a perfect progessive series.”

During the investigation Professor Hyatt has been able to add

to the facts he has already brought forward in support of the law

_ of acceleration, though he now prefers to designate it as “the

law of concentration of development.” All the more generalized

or lower types, he says, have a direct mode of development, and

the more specialized or complicated progressive types have, when

at the acme of their development, a more indirect mode of devel-

opment.” The types which are descended from these last have

often a mode of development which in many forms is an appa-

rent return to the direct mode of development again.”

It is impossible to farther epitomize this important paper, and

we shall look forward with much interest to the complete illus-

trated memoir. "aa o )

ARKER

of animal mor-

anatomy, lies at

> OIA course of Instruction in Zostomy (Vertebrata). By T. Tarver.

"With a illustrations," London, Macmillan & Con 1884. 2m, pp. sey, ene

FT A eee TT I oa w 4

Ly Xe

PLATE VIII.

Western face of the Moraine near Eagle, Wisconsin,

1885. ] Recent Literature. 155

the basis of a genuine training in zodlogy, physiology or medi-

cine; no one should undertake to be a systematic zodlogist, a

physiologist or embryologist without a thorough knowledge of

the anatomy of the leading types of the animal kingdom. The

first step the student should take is to become familiar with the

anatomy of a polyp, a worm, a mollusk, a crustacean, an insect,

as well as a representative of each class of vertebrates. We

should, as we are accustomed to with beginners, make this work

comparative at the outset. We hear a great deal now-a-days of

“animal morphology,” we hear less of “ comparative anatomy,”

we prefer the older and less pompous term, as the tendency to

extreme specialization even in animal morphology is a dangerous

one. Yet it does not appear to be so to the author of the present

book, The forms he described are treated as if they were so

many separate creations, and this is the only criticism we have to

make on a work so carefully prepared and so well proportioned.

The book is designed in great part to take the place of a teacher.

Now to our mind no teacher who does not in the beginning excite

his pupils after dissecting one animal thoroughly to compare it in

its leading features with the members of other classes, can suc-

cessfully teach morphology, whose value as a discipline consists

in leading the student to compare as well as observe. ew ad-

ditional pages of matter would, therefore, we think, have been of >

decided value in calling the student’s attention to and fixing in his ~

memory the facts concerning the resemblances as well as differ-

ences in the various types he may dissect. We think this may be

done without the pupil’s “losing in depth what he gains in

breadth.”

The list of animals selected and described in this course in

zootomy is as follows: the lamprey, skate, cod, lizard, pigeon and

rabbit ; if a frog, or better, a salamander, had been added, the list

would have been complete, but this point has been covered by

the full account of the frog in Huxley and Martin’s Biology and

Gage’s account of the Necturus or mud puppy.

The introduction treats briefly of the tools and methods of

preparing the subjects for dissection. The two most important

chapters are those on the lamprey and lizard, as the pigeon has

already been well described and figured in Rolleston’s Forms of

Animal Life ; and the student can easily get access to accounts of

the anatomy of a fish, while the works of Mivart and of Wilder

on the cat, would be more useful to the American student than

that of the rabbit in this book, however excellent Parker’s de-

- scription may be. ,

The plan of each chapter or section is excellent, the descriptions

are well proportioned, the words to be emphasized are in heavy-

faced type, the illustrations are well drawn and engraved, neatly

lettered and fully explained. The lamprey is very difficult to

dissect, and the species being the same on both continents, this

156 Recent Literature. (February,

chapter will be particularly valuable to American students. The

illustrations in this chapter are also very useful, the skull, with

the “ branchial basket” and anterior part of the notochord being

shown together, besides cuts of the brain-case from above, a full

page cut of the longitudinal section of a female from the left side,

showing the organs in place ; also a view of the urogenital sinus,

with the rectum and part of the left kidney, with three transverse

sections, one through the branchial region, another through the

abdominal, and the third through the caudal ; and finally a dorsal

view of the brain.

The skate is a novel subject, and its anatomy is carefully de-

scribed, the skeleton, venous system, urogenital organs, heart and

blood-vessels, and nervous system including several views of the

brain as well as the ear, being well illustrated. In like manner is

the cod described and figured ; this chapter will be useful to the

-American student; the cod’s skull, disarticulated, is well figured

and briefly described.

Fifty pages are devoted to the account of the lizard (Lacerta

agilts), and this will be useful in the hands of the American stu-

-dent if living south of Pennsylvania, as he can readily obtain a

‘Sceloporus or swift for dissection. The wood-cuts in this chap-

ter represent the chondrocranium, the scales on the head of sev-

_ eral species of lizards, the chief muscles of the ventral aspect and

` ʻa general view of the body to show the alimentary, circulatory,

respiratory and urogenital organs; the latter organs of each sex

are also separately figured, as well as the heart and aortic arches,

while the brain in different positions is well drawn and engrave

The remainder of the book, comprising the latter half, is devoted

to the pigeon and rabbit.

Vith such a guide as this, and Rolleston’s Forms of Life,

Brooks’ Invertebrate Anatomy, "Huxley and Martin’s Elementary

‘Biology, Moale on the Turtle and Pigeon, with Parker and

: Bettany on the Skull, the beginner in zootomy has full directions

e every incentive to lay broad and iaj foundations for a

pels of co grg anatomy.

Aaka Banc, and of chemical reactions. The one criti-

cisms we should make is, that reference is not made to the sys-

tem of crystals or the special form, an important feature of in-

struction in mineralogy, though room is left blank for these .

points, which might be a by the instructor,

a terms and chemical reactions used

_ EDWARD HEPARD, A.M., professor , y, Drury Coll

: eld, Mo. A ed to á ERG MEE” 5 rr ry ege,

oe ne én ae ee : s barnes RCo, New York and

PLATE IX.

Lahontan Lake-beds in Humboldt Valley.

1885. ] Recent Literature. 157

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.

ene IA i rnest.—Country Cousins, short — in the natural history of the United

Sta New York, 1884. From the author

Cope, È D—Paimontologien ae y 39: Phila. iy

Clevenger, S. V.—Comparative physiology and SENEE AA an, Jansen, Mc-

Clu Shon 1885. From the publisher,

Hamlin, A. C. mar tine among the peice. Boston, 1884. From the author.

anges M —On the bones, articulations and muscles of the rudimentary hind-limb

d Greenland right whale (Balena eais): Ext. Journ. Anat. and

Phys iol

On oS pa oie process in man. Both from the author.

Loew, Oscar, and Bokorny, T.—Die chemische Ca gaia poe im letné proto-

plasma. Nnchen, 1882. From the authors

Dobson, G. E.—On the esa of the ioiii or absence of the tei as a

_ generic ge: in mammalogy.

On the myology and ag anatomy of Capromys melanurus, wìth a descrip-

tion of the species. Both from the Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, 1884

——On some peculiarities in the Paota distribution and in the habits of cer-

tain Papaa inhabiting continental and oceanic is EE

he comparative hes errr of bones and muscles. Both read before the

Biol. Section Brit. Assoc. Adv, Science, beiji or 1884. All from the author.

Garrett, P. C—Second report of the Committee on Lunacy of the Board of Pub-

lic Charities, Penna., 1884; From the author.

Ennis, J.—Two on ma to be kine on our sidereal system. Washington, 1884.

From the author

Swan, C. H., Brooks, F., Herschel, C—Ninth report ea the Committee on the

Metric System of Weights and Measures, Ext. Jour. Assoc. Eng. Societies,

Wine ey, J. R.—The American Exhibition of the arts, inventions, E See pro-

wh and resources of the United States of America, London, 1886. From the

uthor

ie C—Des Cranes des autres ossements humans de Minas Geraes, decouvert

et déterrés par le feu professeur P, W. Lund. From the author.

eari, J=—On the awed an histology af hee tla vagus. Ext, Proc,

ig tiers Arts and Sciences, 1884. Fro:

pa T C: ER oeat van ie niione Seii vit het Album

der Natur. From the r.

--——Note sur une espèce de renee du a ee Ext. Arch, du

Mus. Teyler. Ser. It, quatrième partie. F

Ext. United Service Oct. and Nov., 1884.—The PR attacks iin the coast and geo-

detic survey. L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1884. From the publishers.

mi gh F. E.—New Carboniferous fossils. Danville, Ill., 1883. From the

Folie, F.—Douze tables pour le calcul des réductions stellaires. Ext. Mem. de la

Soc. Roy. des Sciences de Liege, 1883.

James, J. F.—The fucoids of the Cincinnati group, Ext. Jour. Cincin. Soc. Nat.

Hist., Oct., 1884. From the author.

Powell, J. W—Human evolution. Presid. address read bef the Anthrop. Soc. of

Washington, Nov. 6,.1883.

.——Outlines of sociology. Idem, Feb., 1882.

onorar of the philosophy of the North American Indians. Read before

Amer. Geog. Soc., Dec. 1876.

Adres os an a of the Corcoran School of Science and Arts, Washing-

n, D.

158 General Notes. [February,

ington, May

Wyandotte government, a short study of tribal society. Read before sub-section

anibropology. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Boston, 1880.

Mythologic society. Read before Amer, Assoc. Adv. Science, Saratoga, Aug.,

1879.

The philosophic bearings of Darwinism. Read before the Biol. Soc, of Wash-

, 1882.

——The three methods of evolution. . Presid. address before Philos. Soc. of Wash-

ington, Dec. 3, 1883.

Albrecht, P.—Sur les elements morphologiques du manubrium du sternum chez les

mammifères.

——Erwiderung auf Herrn. Prof. Dr. Hermann v. Meyer’s Aufsatz ‘‘ Der Zwischen

kiefer knocken und seine Beziehungen zur Hasenscharte und zur schrägen Ge-

sichtsspalte.”

i Ueber die Zah] der Zahne bei den Hasenscharten Kieferspalten,

Ueber die morphologische Bedeutung der Kiefer-Lippen und Gesichtsspalten,

——Sur les Homodynamies que existent entre la main et le pied des mammiféres,

All from the author,

, H. C.—On supposed glaciation in Pennsylvania south of the terminal mo-

raine, Ext. Amer. Jour. of Science, 1884. From the author. !

True, F. W.—Suggestions to the keepers of the U. S. life-saving stations, light-

houses and light-ships relative to the best means of collecting and preserving

specimens of whales and porpoises. From the author.

Richardson, Clifford.—An investigation of the composition of American wheat and

corn. Dep.of Agriculture. Bulletin No, 4. From the author.

Wiley, H. W.—The Northern sugar industry during the season of 1883. Dep. of

Agriculture. Bulletin No. 3. From the author.

ee a

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

AMERICA.— The Chilian Andes.—The account sent by Dr. Paul

Gussfeldt to the Berlin Academy of Sciences, of his recent

journey -in the Central Chilian Argentine Andes, contains so

thorough geographical exploration than has yet been accorded to

it. It appears that the lofty mountain region containing Acon-

cagua, the loftiest known point in America, consists of a double

range, separated, not by a wide basin or a well-defined valley,

but by a trough-like depression, divided by cross ridges. The

western chain is the true water-parting, and thus the eastern is

broken through in many places by the water rising in the great

trough between the two chains. This trough is about 185 miles

long, is entirely uninhabited, and has a mean elevation of 9800

feet. The chief valleys of this region are called “cajones,” or

boxes, because of their straight walls of rock enclosing them.

These valley sides are formed of boulder slopes and wall-like

outcropping rock, and each has its separate vegetation-zone,

limited by perpetual ice. The belts of vegetation, owing to the

varied local influences, are of very irregular distribution, and for

1 This department is edited by W. N. Locxrxcron, Philadelphia,

a eee E

1885.] Geography and Travels, 159

the same reason the snow limit is not fixed. The diversity and

richness of tint of soil and rock are material points in the land-

scape. The passes over these ranges reach heights of 11,394,

11,696, 12,270, 12,303, 13,474, and 13,779 feet. The highest

elevations are on lateral spurs of the chief western chain, near

Valle Hermoso, at the commencement of which rises the great

volcano Aconcagua, 22,867 feet high.

The structure of the range, together with the wind, are

forms which often simulate human figures, and are called “ Peni-

tentes.” These are most abundant between 11,483 and 13,779

feet. The mean height of the snow line between 32° and 33°

S. lat. is estimated at 13.779 feet, diminishing to 11,483 at 34°

S. lat. Between the western cordillera and the Pacific there is

an out-lying coast range. Dr. Gussfeldt and his assistant reached

21,030 feet on Aconcagua, and, though exhausted by the effort

of speaking, had no flow of blood from mouth or nose.

The Supposed New Island off Iceland—The supposed rtew island

off Reykjanes, Iceland, turns out tobe a myth. The French war-

vessel Romanche and the Danish Fy//a have carefully examined

either Geirfugladraugr or Grenadeerhuen, has figured as a new

island. Possibly an abnormally clear day caused the lighthouse-

keeper to, for the first time, perceive an object which he has since

continued to see simply through knowing where to look for it.

Meade river —Lieut. P. H. Ray has made an exploration south-

ward from Point Barrow along the Meade river, which he struck _

sixty milesfrom its mouth, and followed for 100 miles, until he

came in sight of a low range of mountains trénding north-west

and south-east, dividing the north-east water-shed from that of

Kotzebue sound. The guides, fearful of imaginary enemies, re-

fused to go further. The region is uninhabited, and is visited only

by a few natives from Hornook and Ooglamie in pursuit of rein-

er. There is no timber; a few Arctic willows on the river and

160 General Notes. [February;

some coarse grass on the hummocks and along the seashore,

and a dense growth of moss is all the vegetation. Lieut. Ray is

satisfied that there is no open Polar sea from the fact that the

temperature of the water does not alter between October and

July, as it must do if a large body of warmer water existed

round the pole.

Lake Mistassinti—Little that is definite appears to be as yet

known respecting the actual dimensions of Lake Mistassini and

other bodies of water reported to exist in the north-eastern part

of the Province of Quebec and in Labrador. A French mission-

ary, writing in 1672, says that Lake Mistassini is “ believed to be

so large that it took twenty days to walk around it.” Mr.

Burgess affirms that it is 150 miles in length, and abounds in

dep bogs. An old trader of the “Compagnie des Postes du

oi,” who was stationed on it for several years, estimated its least

width at ninety miles. The account of 1672 mentions another

lake “ten days round, and surrounded by lofty mountains.”

These lakesappear to occupy a depression similar to that occu-

pied by Lakes St. John, Temiscaming, and many smaller lakes to

the south ward, and Silurian limestone has been observed on

Lake Mistassini as well as at Lake St. John. The former lake is

supposed to be about 1300 feet above the sea, and the land

between it and Lake St. John to the south of it, does not rise

above 1500 feet, while Lake St. John is only 300 feet above the

sea. The plain around Lake Mistassini is said to be very fertile.

and attention has recently been called to the magnificent forests

and fertile soil of the country around Hudson’s bay, to the north

of it. Three expeditions have been dispatched during the past

summer to explore the lake region; one by way of Lake St.

John, another by the River Betsiamits, and a third from New-

foundland. The last expedition has orders to land scientific

observers at various points upon the coast of Labrador, where they

will spend the winter. The vast plain stretching north and west

of Lake St. John has a clayey soil of great fertility, and a climate

equal to that of Montreal. Thousands of settlers are already

there, and the dense forest is disappearing. The explorations in

progress will doubtless open up extensive areas for colonization,

besides adding largely to our geographical knowledge.

American Notes—The articles found by an Eskimo upon a

floe in Julianshaab bay appear to have been those left on the

occasion when, according to the’ rt of Messrs. Danenhower

and Melville, the escaping crew of the ¥eanette camped for a few

days on some ice-floes. Among them are the lower part of a

tent, the sides of a wooden chest, with some words in pencil

written upon them, a bill of lading, a torn book of cheques, a pair

of oil-skin trousers marked “ Louis Noros,” and a bear skin. The

ice-floe must have drifted about 2500 miles, and as this occupied

1885.] Geography and Travels, 161

about 1000 days, we have an average rate of drifting of two

and a half nautical miles per day. M. Thonar will undertake

an expedition to investigate the delta of Pilcomayo, and endeavor

to open up a great trade route between Bolivia and Paraguay.

In this it is said that he will receive the active support of several

South American governments. Drs. Clauss and Herr von der

Steinen have returned to Para from a successful investigation of

the tributaries on the upper right bank of the Amazon and

Xingu rivers.

Arrica.—Mr, O'Neill's Fourney—Mr. H. E. O'Neill, in his

account of his journey from Mozambique to Lakes Shirwa and

maramba, through the Makua and Lomwe countries, states

that in point of geographical interest, of security, and of facility

of travel, this route compares favorably with any overland route

to the African lakes, The Zanzibar-Tanganyika route is occupied

by lawless chiefs, who levy extortionate black-mail, the route

from North Nyassa to Zanzibar has been shown by the expedi-

tion of Capt. Elton to be one of great difficulty, and the old

Kilwa-Nyassa route, opened up by Dr. Livingstone, now passes

in great part through a deserted and desolate country, owing to

the ravages of the Magwangwara, the same tribe which blocks

the North Nyassa route. Native ruleamong the Makua consists

of a confederation of petty chiefs, each of which is perfectly

independent with regard to the internal affairs of his own state.

e Makua can weave cloth, but wear so little that a palm’s

breadth, forty inches long, would provide clothing for half a

ozen men or women. Namuli peak and its surrounding hills,

8500 to gooo feet high, forms one of the most striking features

of the country. A feeling of great reverence for particularly

conspicuous hills, reaching almost to mountain-worship in the

case of Namuli, exists among the Lomwe. The feeling probably

arises from the fact that each of these elevations has served asa

refuge to the people living near it when attacked by their enemies,

The Kwilu Expedition—In human suffering and cost of life

_ the expedition sent to H. M. Stanley, in 1882, to explore the

Kwilu-Niadi valley, rivals that of Lieut. Greely to the Arctic.

The party, consisting of seven Europeans and seventy Zanzibaris,

got into difficulties from want of food at the start. Two

Europeans were left behind at Isanghila, where one died. The

accidental discharge of the rifle of a Zanzibari, soon after, nearly

brought on a conflict with the natives. Two magnificent ranges

of hills were then met with, separated by a lovely valley, watered

by the Ludima, a tributary of the Niadi, which was found to be

identical with the Kwilu. The first station of the association,

Stephanieville, was founded near the junction of the Ludima

with the Niadi. All the white men, except the leader, Capt. A.

G. Elliott, were now disabled. Each of the two Belgian officers,

` VOL. XIX.—NO. II. Ir

162 General Notes. [ February,

MM. Destrain and Legat, were left in charge of a station, yet

Capt. Elliott pushed on, with Von Schaumann, hopelessly ill,

lashed to a mule, and the only remaining officer in a deathly

stupor from sun-stroke. Some time before this, a portion of the

Zanzibaris mutinied, fourteen deserting, and part of the baggage

had to be destroyed for want of bearers. Covered with painful

ulcers, emaciated, and with bleeding feet, Capt. Elliott, when on

the point of succumbing, was met by a native sent to his assist-

ance by M. Van de Velde, who had been sent by Stanley to his

assistance, and was at Kilabi, seven days off. Eventually Capt.

Elliott and his two companions reached the coast, but Von

Schauman died on the voyage home. In three anda half months

only 600 miles had been traversed. Capt. Elliott subsequently

explored the Kwliu river and valley in company with Mr.

Spencer-Burns and MM. Mikie and Destrain. The district has

for the most part been freely ceded by the natives to the asso-

ciation, and formed into a province with fifteen stations. Capt.

Elliott is administrator, with a staff of twenty-eight officers and

about 250 men.

African Notes—Sr. Bianchi has successfully finished a journey

_ from the eastern boundaries of Abyssinia along the River

Golima to the Italian. possession of - Assab. Lieut. Shu-

feldt, U. S. N., has recently traveled across . Madagascar

south-west from Antananarivo. He thoroughly investigated

and mapped the head-waters of the Zizibongy and its tribu-

taries, and reached the coast on July 2d, after a journey of

680 miles. Then crossing the Mozambique channel in an old

boat, he landed at Mozambique. Lieut. Becker will be

despatched by the African International Association to cross

‘Africa and connect Karema, on Lake Tanganyika, with Stanley’s

_ stations of the Upper Congo. Herr R. Flegel has returned to

erlin. During the last two years he has explored all Adamawa,

nd discov the course of the Binué, but the feuds and

violence of the intervening tribes prevented him from journeying

from the Binué to the Congo. His conviction is that the Binué

is navigable for 1100 kilometers, and its chief affluents, as for

instance the Taraba, for a distance of fifty to sixty nautical miles,

during five or six months of the year.

_ Sours Georcia.—Though in 54° 31’ S. lat., this island is by

its climate antarctic. Royal bay is surrounded with enormous

glaciers 900 to 1200 feet in height, rising inland to 6000 or 7000

feet. The mean temperature during the year, from Sept., 1882,

to Sept., 1883, was found by Dr. Schrader to be 35° F.; in Feb-

ruary, the warmest month, it was 42°, in June, the coldest, 26°

The fauna and flora are meager, although the mosses are

fine.

1885.) ©. Geology and Paleontology. 163

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

THe WHITE RIVER BEDS OF SWIFT CURRENT RIVER, NORTH- |

WEST TERRITORY.—Dr, Geo. M. Dawson, of the Geological Sur-

vey of the Dominion of Canada, Dr. Alfred Selwyn, director, has

sent me for identification a number of fragments of mammalian

skeletons from the above locality for determination. They em-

Artiodactyla, Entelodon mortoni Leidy, ? Leptomeryx mammifer

sp. nov.; Carnivora, ? Diniciis sp.

Of the above the most remarkable is the Creodont, Hemip-

salodon grandis. The new genus belongs to the Oxyznidz,! and

is the first one of that family that has been found in beds higher

than the Bridger Eocene. The species is the largest of the Cre-

odonta, and the jaw from which it is known is more robust

than that of any existing carnivore. Its dimensions are about

those of the Achenodon insolens of the Bridger beds, The genus

Hemipsalodon differs from the others of the family in the pres-

ence in the lower jaw of the full dental series of four premolars

and three true molars without diastema behind the canine. In-

cisors three. The only crown perfectly preserved is the last true

molar. It is of the type of Oxyzna, but probably has no inter-

nal tubercle (specimen worn at the point). It has a heel more or

less cutting. The species is characterized by the deep compressed

form of the ramus, and the long symphysis. The incisor teeth

are crowded, and the canine tooth is of enormous size, and is

directed upwards. The premolars are all two-rooted, except the

first. The fourth is longer than the first true molar. The true

OCCURRENCE OF BOULDERS oF DECOMPOSITION AT WASHINGTON,

D. C., AND ELSEWHERE.—In the literature of surface geology sur-

prisingly little is said of “boulders of decomposition.” This

1See NATURALIST, 1884, p. 480.

164 General Notes. [February,

probably arises from the fact that such are” seldom seen 2” situ

north of the southern limit of the drift, having been removed

from their places of origin during the ice age. It may not be un-

interesting to those geologists whose studies are in the field of

surface deposits to know of a convenient locality where such

boulders are even in the process of being made, as doubtless very

many of the erratics, especially those of larger size, were thus

produced before their subsequent transportation, as pointed out

by Dr. Sterry Hunt and others.

At several localities in the District of Columbia, boulders of

various sizes can be seen, which to the superficial observer may be

taken for drift masses, as in my own case upon earlier visits to

exposed for a depth of forty or fifty feet or more. Much of the

gneiss rock is disintegrated, but contains unaltered masses which

have resisted the atmospheric decay. The rock is often poor in

feldspar. In some places it is hornblendic. Some of the gneiss

upon weathering exhibits a schistose structure, yet much is re-

markably compact, but traversed by numerous jointed planes,

extending in all directions. As the weathering proceeds from the

jointed planes it leaves solid masses of every possible shape, from

those with only the more exposed upper solid angles rounded off,

through various forms where all the angles are removed, but with

flat sides remaining, representing the original joint planes, to

masses which are almost perfectly spheroidal, though often show-

ing a banded structure. Internally some of the smaller boulders

are more or less decayed, others are perfectly compact, but in

digging them out there may be seen surrounding them concentric

- zones, marking not concretionary structure but the progress ot

Upon the sloping top of the hills there are large sized boulders ;

with their angles and faces more or less rounded, and although

standing two, three or four feet above the grass-covered soil of

decomposed gneiss, yet their under portions, upon examination,

are found to be connected with the solid masses beneath. Thus

we find in every stage of production excellent examples of the

genesis of large “boulders of decomposition ”— boulders not

distinguishable from very many of those which have, been trans-

ee oN

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. ; 165

ported great distances during the Pleistocene period. There are

several localities in the District of Columbia where such boulders

may be seen, but their development cannot be studied so well as

in the artificial cuttings in the hillsides along the Potomac river.

aving made a study of these large boulders in a state of

formation, one, who is familiar with Northern erratics, is led to

agree with Dr. Sterry Hunt, that at least the larger “rounded

masses of crystalline rocks, left in the process of decay, consti-

tute the boulders of the drift,’ and not only these but many

roches moutonnées.

his deduction has been objected to upon the ground that

boulders generally do not continue to enfoliate.

n the District of Columbia many of the boulders seen out ot

the hillsides described, do not show continued exfoliation (natu-

rally very slow and with the atmospheric forces removing such as

rapidly as formed, where not protected) any more than many

erratics, while others are more or less uniformly OT through-

out the whole mass.

Although very many erratics do not show regula exfoliation,

yet there are numbers of places where exfoliating boulders may

be found in the drift. Perhaps there are no better localities for

studying these rocks than those I examined during the last two

summers, in the greater drift deposits along the Mississippi river,

at Burlington, Keokuk, Warsaw and elsewhere. At these places

numerous northern boulders—mostly greenstones—may be found

_ Of various sizes from a few pounds to a few thousand, which are

now exfoliating and in various stages of decay, having forms

from subangular to spheroidal. Also near the southern limit of

ee drift, at Columbia, Mo., situated upon the highlands, away

m the river valleys, similar examples may be found, both of

pheeiikeitie and gneissoid rocks.

Neither the presence nor absence of ice scratches affect the

above explanation of the primary origin of these large boulders,

but only represent subsequent abrasion, or the absence of that

action, or else the more recent surface decay of the rocks them-

selves. —J. W. Spencer, M.A., Ph.D., F.G.S.

ARE THERE ANY FOSSIL ALGa ?—Mr. Lester F. Ward, in a

paper read before the American Association at Philadelphia gave.

some statistics of the fossil flora of the globe. Among other

things he said that from the Lower Silurian there have been de-

scribed species of Algæ. The question arises, what are the prob-

abilities of Algæ being preserved in a fossil state ?

It seems to have been the habit of geologists, almost from the

time that palæontology assumed: the aspect of a science, to

refer to “fucoids” or Alge many fossil markings which were

evidently not animal remains. It was assumed that everything

fossil must have been an organism, and it is only of late years

166 y ` General Notes. ` [February,

that the fact has been admitted that many of these’ fucoids are in

reality inorganic.

Let any one consider for a moment the structure of the most

of the species of modern Algze; remember how easy it is for

cellular tissue to be destroyed by only a short immersion in

water, and the unreasonableness of expecting to find fossil Algz

will be perceived. Or again, let anyone turn, as Professor Les-

quereux, for one, has done, to modern sea beaches; let him see

the immense masses of kelp thrown up by the waves of every

storm, and see how soon they disappear by passing “ into gelatin-

ous, half-fluid matter, which penetrates the sand” (Lesq.), and he

will again see how unreasonable it is to say Algz can be long

preserved. Even when covered with sand, mud or clay they dis-

appear and leave no trace behind them.

' Professor Hall, in the first two volumes of the Paleontology

of New York, enumerates thirty-six species and varieties of these

fucoids from the Trenton, Hudson River and Clinton groups. He

recognizes the fact that many trails, burrows and possible water

marks are preserved in the rocks, but has no hesitation in refer-

ring many fossil marks to undoubted Algæ. Later writers have

not been behind in naming and describing other species. In

1878 fourteen new ones were added as found in the rocks of the

Cincinnati group. Recent investigations of these fourteen, and

of some eighteen others reported from this group, have revealed the

fact that wot a single one is an undoubted Alge, a// can be referred

either to water marks, trails, tracks or burrows of different sorts,

or to graptolites. :

_ This statement can be proved only by comparison with marks

found on recent beaches and mud flats. Sir Charles Lyell has

shown how leaves, impressions of bird tracks, mud cracks, worm

_ borings and rain-drop impressions can be and are preserved on

the mud flats of the Bay of Fundy. There is no reason for suppos-

ing that circumstances were less favorable during the continuance

of the Silurian epoch in geological time. The writer of this has

studied many recent mud marks, and has seen in process of for-

mation tracks and burrows which resemble, to an astonishing

degree these fossil marks.

For instance, the burrows made by a species of beetle in the

mud wonderfully resemble some of the fossils, Paleophycus ru-

gosus, for example. The trickling of water down a sloping bank

leaves traces like those which, fossil, have been called Algæ. The

dashing of rain on the surface of mud leaves marks which have

been compared to the roots of plants. Impressions left on mud

by fragments of organisms have been described as fossil Algæ,

even when not the remotest resemblance could be noted between

them and any modern prototype. —Ss_

Professor Nathorst, in a memoir written in Swedish! and pub-

` lOm spar af nagra Evertebrerade rade djur M. M. ochderas Paleontologsika Betydelse.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 167

lished in Stockholm in 1881, enters a vigorous protest against

the indiscriminate identification of fossil marks with Alge. In

this memoir he tells how certain of these marks were readily

made by himself, and how many others can be identified with

marks seen on ocean beaches! It is, indeed, time that this habit

of referring to some sort of life every mark found in the rocks of

the earth, and calling all uncertain marks marine plants, should

be protested against. If it is not done the nomenclature of the

science will be so encumbered with useless names that chaos

will result. The multiplication of species has gone entirely too

far already ; and when every mark made by a dash of water,

every turn made by a worm or shell, and every print left by the

claw of a crustacean is described as a new addition to science, it

is time to call a halt and eliminate some of the old before making

any more new species.— Jos. F. Fames.

GroLocicaAL News.—/urassic—The Marquis of Saporta an-

nounced to the geological section of the French Association for

the Advancement of Science, the discovery of a plant bed of

Jurassic age near Beaune. The enclosing rock is a fine-grained

limestone, probably of the Corallian epoch. The plants are

closely related to those which have been collected from beds of

the same age upon the Meuse, and consist of attenuated conifers

and dwarf cycads and ferns. The discovery at two points so far

apart of such a starveling flora proves that it was not local, as at

first believed, but was spread over a large area. Associated with

these plants are some, widely-spread echini, such as Czdaris cervi-

calis, C. florigemma, etc. M. Saporta has also returned to the

defense of bilobites, gyrolites and other fossils, the vegetable

origin of which has receatly been disputed. The Cretaceous

of the Pyrenees has been studied by M. Hebert, who published

the first part of his researches in 1867, and in a more recent arti-

cle states that nothing has since come to hand to invalidate his

previous conclusions respecting the Lower Cretaceous, which are

to the effect that the Lower Neocomian is wanting, the Middle

Neocomian is continuous, the Upper Neocomian occurs at many

ints, and is lacking in others through denudation, and that the

Gault exists both in the Central Pyrenees and the Corbiéres. The

Lower Cretaceous usually abuts upon faults which bring it in

contact with beds which are proved by their fauna to be Senonian,

and therefore much more recent. The Lower Cenomanian ap-

pears to be absent from this region, while the Upper Cenomanian

lies either upon the Neocomian or the Trias, thus showing that

at the time when the chalk of Rouen was deposited the Pyrenees

had in great part emerged, forming an island or a series of islets

in a Cenomanian sea. The Turonian is largely represented i

the Pyrenees, but the almost crystalline structure of the beds is

unfavora ble to palzontological researches.

Bini Count Saporta has shown, in reply to Mr. Nathorst, that some of the re-

i Ep.

ported Algze are correctly so determined.—

168, General Notes, [February,

Zertiary—Sr. Lotti (Boll. Com. Geol. d'Italia, 1884) gives a

summary of his investigations into the age and structure of the

granites of Elba and the surrounding districts. These granites

show two principal types, granite and quartzose porphyry; the

latter traverses and is involved with the sedimentary rocks of the

Apennines in such a way that geologists have been compelled to

pronounce it Eocene. As it is against the usual idea to refer

granites to so recent an epoch, an effort has been made to finda

separation between the granite and the quartzose porphyry into

which it passes. This Sr. Lotti declares to be thoroughly inad-

missible, and at direct issue with the facts. The feldspathic rocks

graduate from a normal or tourmaliferous granite to a quartzose

porphyry through varieties with or without tourmaline, but the

Pre-silurian gneissic schists of the eastern part of the Elba show

a gradual passage toward granite, and are traversed by granite

seams. Sr. Lotti concludes that not only are the porphyry, gran-

ite and intermediate varieties of the same age, but that all were

formed at the expense of the gneissic schists in the Eocene epoch,

while the Eocene strata were contorted and dislocated, and frag-

ments embedded in the erupted mass.

Quaternary.—M. A. Favre has presented the Paris Academy of

Sciences with a map of the ancient glaciers of the northern slope

of the Swiss Alps and of the chain of Mt. Blanc. This map in-

dicates the development of the glaciers, and, so far as the scale

permits, shows also the glacial deposits, erratic blocks, and mo-

raines. Besides showing the direction and extension of the seven

principal glaciers, M. Favre demonstrates how, on taking the.

height of an erratic block above the neighboring valley, it is pos-

sible fo know what was formerly the thickness of the ice over

that point, and also how the slope of the surface of the ancient

glacier can be determined. In this way he has determined thick-

nesses of 1181, 1220 and 1235 meters. The author particularly

insists upon the extension of the glacier of the Rhone, which at

certain points reaches a height of 1650 meters, and for a length

of 149 kilometers and a width of 45 was almost horizontal. The

moraines of these old glaciers are numerous, Many are composed

of clayey or marly deposits with striated pebbles and blocks of

greater or less size, while others are almost entirely formed of

blocks of crystalline rocks. Examples of the latter occur at

Combloux and Césarege, in the valleys of the Arve, Rhone, etc.

Here are blocks which contain from 700 to even 2000 cubic

meters. l

BOTANY.!

THE FERTILIZATION OF PHySOSTEGIA VIRGINIANA.—[In marked

contrast with the imperfectly proterandrous almost synacmic

Brunella vulgaris is the closely related Physostegia. The pro-

1 Edited by Pror. C. E. Bussey, Lincoln, Nebraska,

1885.] a Botany. 169

terandry and movements of filaments and styles are here decided.

On the opening of the bud the almost equal anthers converge

and place themselves in line across the throat of the flower. The

stamens curve forward so as to come into more ready contact

with the body of the visiting. bee (Fig. 1), while the style is

curved backward and lies under the upper lip of the corolla.

When the stamens become effete the pairs on either side diverge

(Fig. 2) and bend back, stationing themselves under the upper

lip while the style moves forwards, takes the place of the effete

stamens and opens its bilobed stigma (Fig. 3). Such is the pro-

terandry of this flower which, as most of its allies, requires the

visits of bees for its fertilization.

he flower is of a pale rose color, which is deeper on the upper

lip. The upper and lower lips are spotted with purple, while the

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.

Physostegia virginiana. Fic. 1.—Male state. Fig. 2.—Stamens curved back.

Fic. 3.-—Female state; æ, anthers; s¢, stigmas.

interior of the inflated corolla is striped with the same color, the

lines leading downwards and backwards towards the stamens, the

filaments serving as guides to the honey, which lies in a tube

formed by the contraction of the corolla along the line of the,

outer set of filaments. In this way two tubes are formed, an

lower contracted one which appears more accessible at first. sight,

but contracts below, so as to doom to disappointment the mis-

_ taken insect. The lines of purple lead to the true entrance. In

this species, as in the Brunella, the honey gland seems to be a

body of greenish-yellow color, occupying the place of a fifth nut-

let supposing that the flower contained that many.— Aug. F.

Foerste, Granville, Ohio.

BEGINNING Botany.—In teaching botany during the past twelve

or fifteen years, I have generally set students at work for several

weeks, in the beginning, with specimens only. These are given

each member, and he is required to investigate and report at the

meeting of the class. Some of these reports are made in writing.

More or less of this work is done throughout the course. It has

proved very satisfactory to pupil and teacher.

170 General Notes. [February,

In March, before the opening of vegetation, the last class of

freshmen began with the study of young branches of numerous

kinds of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. I send you

the notes of W. F. Hoyt, one member of the class. I do not

know that they are any better than many others which were pre-

sented:

“ A comparison of the leaves, buds and young branches of the

Scotch pine with those of the Austrian pine.

“To a casual observer there is little difference between these

two pines, but on close inspection it will be noticed that the Aus-

trian bears a medium-sized cone, while the Scotch has a very small

one, grown sparingly. [It was not intended to study cones at

this time.

“ Again, the leaves of the Austrian pine are from five to five

and a-half inches long. They are thick and stiff, while those of

the Scotch pine are from two to three and a-half inches long, and

are quite slender and limber. In both the leaves have the same

shape ; in both the leaves are in pairs, and when placed together

make a long round body. The covering of the lower part of the

leaves extends much farther up on the Austrian, and is of a much

darker color than on the Scotch pine. “ The leaves of the Scotch

pine are lighter in color; the tree and branches more slender.

“The outer bark of the Austrian is thicker and darker, and

the primary leaf scales shows very plainly. The leaf scales do

not show plainly in the Scotch pine. Both have three layers ot

bark, the outer being tough and thin, the next dark-green and

spongy, the inner white; in the Austrian quite tender; in the

Scotch tougher and more compact.

“ As a general rule the Scotch pine sends out five branches in

a whorl, while the Austrian pines show no such regularity in this

respect. On cutting the limb the Scotch pine discharges more |

pitch than is discharged by the Austrian pine. The wood of the

Scotch pine is a little lighter in color, the rings more plainly

marked and the pith a little larger.”

In a comparison of the twigs of butternut with those of the

epperidge, A. E. Hager observed, among other things, that the

pith of pepperidge contained numerous hard transparent parti-

tions. Our text-books all tell us of the cavities in the pith of

butternut.

_ Work done later in the course was better done—W. J. Beal.

Lansing, Mich.

THe Stupy oF Parasitic Funct.—One of the hopeful signs of

the times, so far as botany is concerned, is the increasing interest

taken in the study of the lower plants in this country. The

Fungi and the minute forms of Algæ have been too long neg-

lected excepting by a few lonely specialists here and there who

_ quietly worked away, while almost entirely ignored by the mass

__ of botanists and collectors. Now, however, the eyes of collectors,

1885. ] Botany. 171

while not less open'to the higher plants, are learning to look for

plants of all kinds, from the simplest protophytes to the most

conspicuous of phanerogams, We may hope some day to seea

manual of botany which will include within its covers descrip-

tions of all the species of the region it covers.

The Preliminary List of the Parasitic Fungi of Wisconsin, by

Professor Trelease, must prove a considerable aid and strong in-

centive to the collection of Fungi in Wisconsin. About 270

species are recorded, a large list when we remember that it is

confined to the parasitic forms only. Most of the species were col-

lected about Madison by the author, and all, with but “one or two

exceptions,” are preserved as herbarium specimens. Throughout

the list hosts and localities are given, and in many cases these are

accompanied by valuable critical notes, indicating thorough and

careful work.

The Peronosporez of the list number twenty-five species, of

which four belong to the genus Cystopus, one to Phytophthora

and twenty to Peronospora. The Perisporiaceze number twenty

species, the Uredinez sixty-five (not counting isolated Uredo and

zecidial forms, seven of the former and twenty-seven of the latter)

and the Ustilagineæ twenty-two species.—C. Æ. Bessey.

VARIATION IN CULTIVATED PLANTS.— If seed of the various

sorts of the cabbage family be planted alongside each other, a

resemblance is observed between all the seedlings at a certain

date ; it is only as growth proceeds that the development begins

to differentiate differences. It seems probable, through a study

of the law of breeding, that the period of divergence marks the

period at which original selection commenced in order to obtain

our present forms. If this observation be substantiated, then by

careful study of seedling development we shall be able to deter-

mine points of departure at which human guidance shall be ena-

bled to direct in line with the tendencies of the plant. This study

of plant growth after the method used in zodlogy, the study of

embryology so to speak, not the term “ embryology” as applied

to nature’s plant but that of man’s plant, the period between the

seed and the differentiation from the natural type, offers much

promise of good results, and it seems quite probable that as we

attempt to influence the development of the plant before or at

the time of the differentiation into the acquired properties of

the mature plant we can initiate a new series of selections in cer-

tain varieties whose root, bulb, stem and foliage finds use.—Æ£.

L. Sturtevant in 2d Ann. Rept. N. Y. Agri. Expr. Station.

BorantcaL Notes. — The post-graduate course of study in

botany offered by Syracuse University is significant of changed

notions as to what advanced work in botany consists of. The

course is two years in length and includes vegetable histology,

physiology, the study of phanerogams, pteridophytes, mosses,

172 General Notes. [ February,

liverworts, lichens, alge and fungi. Collections are required in

each group, thus insuring a practical acquaintance with the

plants in their native habitats—-—In the first annual report of

the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, Professor Tre-

lease gives accurate popular descriptions of the onion mold

(Peronospora schleideniana D. By.) and the apple scab and leaf

blight (Fusicladium dendriticum Wallroth). Both articles are

illustrated by wood-cuts, which add materially to their value.

Work of this kind is, in our opinion, much more valuable than

that which usually fills the reports of these stations. We pe

we could see more papers like Professor Trelease’s. May w

not commend to the directors of agricultural stations the rena

of the editor of Science in a recent number of that journal, in

discussing the proper aim and scope of such stations: “ The great

need of agriculture to-day is not new varieties of plants or im-

proved breeds of animals, new methods of cultivating the soil or

improved systems of farming; all these, and many other like

things, are good ; but the two great wants are a better knowledge

of principles and greater intelligence to apply them.” Dr. B.

D. Halsted, of New York, has been elected to the chair of bot-

any in the Iowa Agricultural College. The December Journal

of Botany contains a fine photograph of the late George Ben-

tham. e see it announced in English journals that transla-

tions of De Candolle’s Origin of Cultivated Plants, and De Bary’s

Anatomy of the Vegetative Organs of the Phanerogams and

Ferns have recently been brought out, the former by C. Keagan

Paul, London, and the latter by the Clarendon Press, Oxford.

‘De Bary’s “ Vergleichende Morphologie und Biologie der

Pilze, Mycetozoen und Bacterien has just reached us, but too

late for further notice at this time. It is a stout volume of 558

octavo pages and is illustrated with 198 wood-cuts. This work

merits an early translation. The Fournal of Mycology, by J.B.

Ellis and W. A. Kellerman is announced to appear soon.

ENTOMOLOGY.

EmBryoLocy or ApuipeEs.\—Witlaczil corrects many miscon-

ceptions and adds largely to our knowledge of insect embryology.

is researches were chiefly on the viviparous females. The

oviparous females and the males appear late in season, and have

much the same course of development as is here described. The

mercegi are specially characterized by a large amount of

1. The Egg—The egg has a peripheral part consisting of clear

protoplasm, and a central part consisting chiefly of granulated

yolk. The germinal vesicle with nucleus is in the central part,

and is capable of amceboid movements. The anterior aad poste-

By Dr. Emanuel Witlaczil, of Vienna (Zeitschrift f. Wiss. Zool., Bd. XL, 1884,

p 559-696; an and taf. XXVIIHI-XXXIV).

1885. ] Entomology. NRE

rior poles of the egg are determined by its position in the ovarian

tubule, in which it remains during its whole course of develop-

ment.

2. Segmentation and formation of Blastoderm—The segmenta-

tion instead of being superficial, as usually described, is endo-

vitelline. The germinal sac dissolves, and its nucleus divides

repeatedly, forming a large number of nuclei within the yolk.

The nuclei have amceboid movements, and go towards the poste-

rior pole (PE)? and thence spread over the surface-protoplasm.

A few of the nuclei remain in the center; but the great majority

become distributed over the surface, where each forms a center of

attraction for the protoplasm. Thus a layer of cells is formed

over the whole surface, the cells being smaller and more numer-

ous towards the posterior pole, which is most active in its rate of

development (Fig. 1). This layer is the blastoderm. A few cells

are subsequently forme

lation, showing a transi-

tion to epiboly, in which

the peripheric protoplasm

would be confined to the Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

spot over the germinal Fic. 1.—Ovum with blastoderm completed and

sac. The largeness of the pseudovitellus beginning to invaginate. Fic. 2.

g and the distribution _,Cermstrenk, lateral plates and amnion sre

of protoplasm all over the era enclosing genital layer and part of germ-

surface, cause the differ- str

ence. The few cells mesoblast.

formed in the center represent the endoderm.

3. Peculiar to Aphides—Cells from the epithelium of the ova-

rian tube form an appendage to the posterior pole of the egg. A

single cell is given off from these, which repeatedly divides so as

to become a cell-mass. These increase by absorbing food, and

afterwards became invaginated as a greenish mass, called pseudo-

vitellus (ps). This is destined to be received dorsally into the

embryo and to become paired masses in the abdomen. The

- Explanation of reference letters in the figures; 4B, abdomen; AP, anterior

pole; HD, head; PP, posterior pole; TA, thurax; am, amnion ; at, antenne ; d/,

blastoderm ; br, brain ; a, lioda; ge, generative cells; ; g5, germ- streak ; ; dp lateral

plate; md, ma ndible; ma! mx?, first and second m aille; a ot, ovarian tube cells;

r ?’; first, second and third thoracic limba i pe, EEA part; pre, proctodæ-

um ; fs, ss cldeeettiDhins se, serous layer; sg, salivary corr st, stomodzeum ; y, yolk.

174 General Notes. [ February,

inside of the ovarian-tube cells (of) remain as an appendage to

the posterior pole of the egg.

4. Formation of Germ-streak—Energetic cell multiplication at

the posterior pole causes a new invagination at that place (Fig.

One side of the invaginated part is of thick cells, this is the

germ-streak (gs) (ventral plate of Balfour), and ultimately the em-

bryo ; the other side of the invaginated part is of thin cells, this

becomes the amnion (am). The blastoderm remains thin, except

where it adjoins the outer extremity of the germ-streak, where it

is thickened so as to form lateral plates (44). Thus embryo and

amnion are both buried in the center of the egg; the embryo

bends ventraliy, the abdomen curving round so as to approximate

to the posterior pole, and to have appendages and amnion within

its bend. The head end is at the place of invagination, lateral

plates codperating with the extremity of the germ-streak towards

the formation of head and brain.

The central position of the embryo is characteristic of the

lower orders of insects, which are therefore termed entoblastic.

. These include Hemiptera, Orthoptera and probably Thysanura.

AP The higher orders, as Hymenoptera,

se Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and

perhaps Neuroptera, are ectoblastic,

having a ventral plate formed on the

surface, afterwards sinking slightly

under the blastoderm, and having the

anterior pole of the egg the more ac-

tive. The ectoblastic condition seems

to be a case of anticipation of changes

Ją Which must afterwards be encountered

SI by the inferior forms (see section 14

j - below). ,

. The blastoderm being now thin

uD becomes the serous tunic around the

o mo whole egg.

dei oe wan Dn ea Genital Cells —A few large cells

in the egg. arise at an early stage inside the blas-

| toderm, near the place of invagination

(ge). These come to be ultimately received into the embryo

along with the pseudo-vitellus, and become paired generative or-

gans, groups of ovarian tubules. | j

7. Germinal Layers—The germ-streak divides into an outer

and an inner layer, each cell dividing into an outer and inner

part. Thus are formed ectoderm and mesoderm (ec, ms in Fig. 3;

also indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 2). The few cells

formed in the center of the egg are the only representatives of

endoderm. (In ectoblastic insects the mesoblast is formed by an

infolding of ectoderm.

8. The appendages next show themselves, those of the head

1885. | Entomology. 175

arising first; and the body becomes segmented, the head having

three (afterwards four) segments ; the thorax three and the abdo-

men seven or eight (afterwards ten, including the telson). Thus

seventeen would be the maximum number of somites of the in-

sects.

9. Alimentary Canal—An invagination for the mouth is seen

(stomodeum, st), and subsequently another for the anus and in-

testine (proctodeum, prc). These meet each other in the body

so as to complete the alimentary canal. The stomodzum forms

cesophagus and stomach ; proctodzeum forms intestine and rec-

tum. The mid-intestine is not chitinized, but this is related to

its function and has no embryological significancy

he true endoderm becomes yolk-balls, afterwards wandering

cells, subserving nutrition, but not directly aiding in the forma-

tion of the alimentary canal or of any other organ. The author

excludes the endoderm from any share in forming the intestine

in all Aithropods, if not more widely.

10, The appendages now shew their special characters. They

arise by an evagination of the body wall, including ectoderm,

mesoderm and part of the body cavity. Thus arise the mandi-

bles and two pairs of maxilla in the head; these keep small as

compared with the limbs ; the mandibles and first maxillæ after-

wards combine to form a retort-like mass. The antennz arise

beside the stomodzum, in the same way as the other appendages

(not from the procephalic part). The EENEI segments bear

pote si AARIN probably rudimentary lim

The procephatic part is not originally lobed i in Aphides; it

ation as an extension forwards of the antennal segment. It sub-

sequently becomes pointed and forms the labrum.

12. The ventral nerve-cord arises from the ectoderm, its cells

dividing so as to leave only a thin dermal layer. Transverse seg-

mentation causes it to be marked off into ganglia (three anal,

three thoracic, seven abdominal, which are small). These subse-

quently coalesce into a subcesophageal and ventral mass

The érazn is formed in the region of the lateral oni but its

primitive relation to the ventral cord was not made o

I ody-cavity—The general body-cavity wea ao the orig-

inal segmentation-cavity. In an early stage free polar-cavities are

formed between blastoderm and yolk, thus corresponding to the

segmentation-cavity of lower animals. These cavities uniting

insert themselves between the yolk and germ-streak, and extend

into the embryo and its appendages. The same cavity spreads

under the serous layer as a separate cavity. In the early stages

the embryo is open dorsally, and by this route the pseudo-vitellus

and generative mass find admission to its interior. Between the

embryo and amnion is an “ embryonal cavity” derived from the

lumen of the ovarian tube.

14. Revolution of Embryo.—When the parts of the body and

176 General Notes. {February,

the appendages are well formed (after the stage indicated in Fig.

3) the whole embryo changes its position in the egg, so as to

approach the original attitude of the ectoblastic embryos. The

abdomen is shifted away from its proximity to the head and

thorax. The head moves to the anterior pole; the abdomen to

the posterior pole; the curvature of the embryo becomes changed

so as to invert the relation of dorsal and ventral aspects.

15. Zrachee.—Seven pairs of minute invaginations appear on

the sides of the abdomen, and afterwards two pairs in the thorax

(sometimes a third in the thorax and an eighth in the abdomen,

giving a maximum of eleven pairs). These are the entrances of

the tracheze whose inner extremities’ are afterwards united by

longitudinal tracheze. The salivary ducts from the third postoral

segment to the salivary glands (sg) arise in a similar way, and

seem to be homologous with trachee.

16. The heart is formed as a solid cylinder of mesoblast in the

dorsal region. It afterwards becomes hollow, the central cells

perhaps vicariously discharged by the cornicula.

18. The wings arise by evaginations of the dermis, the two

plates curving to flatten themselves.

19. The following developmental periods appear to be gener-

ally applicable+to insects :

(1) Preparatory to organ-budding: as segmentation, gastru-

ation, formation of blastoderm, of germ-streak, and of

embryonal skin.

(2) Organ-budding.

(3) Growth of these organs, and appearance of some new

ones before hatching.

(4) Post-embryonic development of larva; now the gener-

ative organs reach full development.—G. Macloskie.

NERVE-TERMINATIONS ON ANTENNZ OF CHILOGNATH MYRIOPODS.

—A preliminary note upon these structures is contributed by O.

Bütschli ; the results were worked out by Dr. B. Saupine in con-

junction with Dr. Bütschli, but having been left in an incomplete

condition, a brief résumé of the more important new facts seemed

desirable. | :

revious observers have noted the occurrence of conspicuous

structures upon the antennz of Chilognatha, which correspond

_ to the so-called olfactory cylinders of insects recently studied in

-= detail by Hauser, and between the two there seems to be a

a general similarity.

1885.] Entomology, 177

Each of the sensory processes is entered by a nerve which

immediately divides into two branches, each covered with gan-

glionic cells which are distributed in two groups, the anterior

one consisting of considerably smaller cells than the posterior

ones; at the distal extremity the nerve-fibres again collect into a

bundle and form the termination of the organ; that these fibers

are differently constituted from those which enter the ganglion

rom above is shown by the fact that their behavior to staining

reagents is different; the sensory process is often at the free

extremity so that a direct communication is established between

these nerve-endings and the outer world.

A structure essentially similar to this is found in Vespa, but is

differently construed by Hauser; according to him the posterior

group of cells is not present, since he only figures one nucleus

with several nucleoli, however, while the anterior group of smaller

cells has escaped his attention; accordingly the conclusion to

which Hauser has arrived at is that the whole sensory structure

is a single cell; whereas in reality it consists of a great number

of cells.—/ourn. R. Micr. Soc., August, 1884.

Porson APPARATUS AND Poison oF Scorpions.—J. Joyeux-

Laffuie, from his own studies and a consideration of what has been

discovered by other naturalists, comes to the conclusion that the

poison organ of the scorpion (ZL. occitanus) is formed by the sixth or

last somite of the post-abdomen, which terminates by a sharp pro-

cess, at the extremity and sides of which are two oval orifices by

which the poison escapes. * There are two secreting glands, each

of which opens by an excretory duct to the exterior. Each

VOL, XIX.—NO, II. 12

178 General Notes. [February,

and S. occitanus) cannot cause the death of a human subject, and

are only dangerous when several poison a man at the same time,

or attack very young children. To judge by his bibliography,

the author is unacquainted with the observations on the habits of

scorpions, published in 1882, by Prof. Lankester.—/ourn. R. Micr.

Soc., August, 1884.

OCCURRENCE OF TACHINA FLIES IN THE TRACHE OF INSECTS.—

N. Cholodkowsky gives in Zool. Anzeiger (June g) an account of

a young larval Tachina 1 ™™ long found in the ventral stigma of a

carabus beetle. He afterward found the same kind and another

species of Carabus infested with fully grown Tachina maggots.

He also found a Harpalus ruficornis literally packed with these

larvee. The occurrence of Tachina larve in the bodies of

grown-up insects is, he adds, no new thing. In 1828 Bohéman

found in Harpalus ruficornus and aulicus the larve of Uromyta

curvicauda ; Léon Dufour described Hyalomyia dispar as a parasite

of Brachyderus lusitanicus ; he also found the larva of Phasia in

Pentatoma grisea and Cassida viridis and the larva of Ocyptera

bicolor in Pentatoma grisea. Boye in 1838 took Tachinz from

three species of Carabus. Within a few years Kinkel d’ Hercu-

lais found the maggot of Gymnosoma rotundatum in the body of

Pentatoma.

Eaton’s MONOGRAPH oF ReEceNr EPHEMERIDE. Part 11.—We

have already (p. 630) called attention to this elaborate work.

This part concludes the descriptions of the species as well

as the nymphs when known. A most important feature of

this part is the illustration of the nymphs, which have been

drawn with great detail and engraved by A. T. Hollick, filling

twenty large plates. Between this magnificent work and the

elaborate memoir by Vayssiére, as well as the papers of Joly, the

Ephemerids certainly have no reason to complain; though their

own lives scarcely span a day, their historians have devoted years

of research to them. :

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE LEGs oF INsEcTs.—We have

already called attention to this essay by F. Dahl. The Journal of

the Royal Microscopical Society for October contains an abstract

of it, which our entomological readers will find of interest. The

constancy of the number of six legs is probably to be explained

as being in relation to the functions of the leg as climbing organs ;

one leg will almost always be perpendicular to the plane when

the animal is moving up a vertical surface; and on the other hand

we know that three is the smallest number with which stable

equilibrium is possible; an insect must therefore have twice this

number, and the great numerical superiority of the class may be

= associated with this mechanical advantage. This theory is not

weakened, but rather supported, by the fact that the anterior pair

= of legs is rudimentary in many butterflies, for these are almost

exclusively flying animals.

1885.] Entomology. 179

The author describes in some detail the arrangements of the

muscles of the legs; the nerve-cord supplying them is pretty

stout, and the large number of filaments sent to the joints of the

tarsus lead to the supposition that these have a tactile function;

the nerve-fibers are seen to enlarge into thick spindle-shaped

ganglia. There are two tracheal trunks.

The prime function of the leg is locomotor, and insects move

through gaseous, fluid and solid media. The last is seen in

fossorial forms, of which Gryllotalpa may be taken as the type;

here some of the joints are flattened out and provided with

teeth, and the muscles are well developed.

In some cases, legs of a fossorial type are possessed by insects

which move on the ground, but the larve of which are subterra-

nean in habitat. The water-beetles and aquatic Rhynchota have

the legs converted into swimming organs; they are widened out

into plates, and provided at the sides with movable hairs, which

are directed slightly backward. The median pair of legs in Corixa

is provided with two very long hooks, the function of which is to

x the animal at some depth among the water-plants, and so to

prevent its floating upwards.

In the aérial forms, we have first to notice those that move on

the surface of the water; in these the legs are often provided with

considerable enlargements of the tracheal trunk, by means of which

they are enabled to float. Others have very long legs, by which

they can balance themselves and extend over a large surface of

the water; the lower surface of the tarsal joints, or that which is

in contact with the water, is provided with thick hairs. In some

Diptera hairy lobes are developed. Arrangements for climbing

are very widely distributed, and are very various in character;

the most common are hooks, which by their sharp tips are able to

enter the smallest depressions, and so obtain a firm hold; some-

times they are pectinate and enabled to catch hold of fine hairs.

In very many cases there are organs of fixation; in the locust

they have their chief mass made up of a large number of free

flexible rods (not tubes). The periphery is occupied by scales

which correspond in number to the rods, with which they appear

to be connected by fibers; the space between the rods is filled

with a fluid. Below these are groups of spindle-shaped cells

which appear to be glandular in character. The fixing surface of

the Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, and Lepidoptera consists of an

impaired lobule placed between the hooks; their structure is most

complicated in the first-named order. Observations on Vespa

crabro did not result in the detection of any space which could be

regarded'as a vacuum. The lower surface of the lobule is soft

and almost smooth; a few short hairs may be developed at its

base; below this is a hard chitinous mass with stronger hairs.

The upper surface is either covered with hairs or is finely folded.

Near the base is a chitinous plate carrying a pair of strong sete.

-s

180 General Notes. [February,

Within is an elastic bar, which is rolled up in a condition of re-

pose; when extended it brings the lobule into.contact with the

surface on which the insect is standing. There are no well-

developed gland-cells. After descriptions of other modes of fixa-

tion, the author gives the following table

A, Organs of attachment at the end of the foot.

a Without fixing hairs........ putes cstyes « Orthoptera.

Forficula.

P- With fixing hansi... ena: E E A a | Coleoptera.

B. Organs oi Crono between the Bouis.

. A distinct median lobe.

edinir] lobe with chitinous arches.

1. Secondary in addition to the median lobe............ „Neuroptera.

2. No secondary lobes PEN Hymenopte

Z spidopterai

4. No chitinous arches ve ; Tipula:

f. No distinct median lobe.

do BR PE Res a See Cra eee ee ae iptera.

D LRE NO SOE IONE oe i Ss Ea bse Lh cee ake Rhyncheta.

The legs may, further, have a sexual function as attaching or

holding organs; or, as in Mantis religiosa, Nepa cinerea, etc., they

may be of use in seizing prey; and, finally they may be used as

cleansing organs. The legs in ants may be seen to be pectinate,

an admirable arrangement for forms that live in dust and earth; |

they are often especially adapted for cleansing the proboscis and

for other functions, for an account of which we must refer to the

paper itself.

Entomo.ocicaL Notes.—Dr. Brauer, says Psyche (Aug., Sept.)

has noticed the transformations of a fly (Hirmoneura obscura)

whose larva lives on that of the grub pee pupa of the June beetle,

Rhizotrogus solstitialis. Mr. O. Lugger, according to Science

Record has discovered a strange hymenopterous parasite infest-

ing the larva of Tiphia, a black sand-wasp. The Tiphia lays its

eggs in the larva of our June beetle (Lachnosterna fusca); the

larva of Tiphia when nearly mature eats the white grub and then

spins for itself a beautiful silken cocoon. This larva in turn is

often infested by the larva of Rhzpiphorus pectinatus or R. limbatus,

the eggs of which have become fastened to the Tiphia, and in this

way reach the Tiphia cocoon. Mr. Lugger has also found in the

same cocoons small hymenopterous parasites. — Interesting cases

of lack of symmetry among insects are described in Psyche

by O.P. Krancher. Mr. P. Cameron states in the Entomologist s

Monthly Magazine for October that since the publication of

the first volume of his Monograph of British Phytophagous

| sag eae. ig! wherein he gave an account of what was known up

= to that time of the occurrence of parthenogenesis in sand-flies,

oe he. has been able to prove experimentally its existence in thirteen

: am species, including Lophyrus pint, of which males were

The second number of Vol. x1, of the Transactions of

1885. ] Entomology. | 181

the American Entomological Society contains a synopsis of

North American Trichopterygide, by Rev. A. Matthews, of Eng-

land. He regards this as the most extensive family of the whole

order of Coleoptera. Dr. Horn notices the species of Anomala of

the U. S. and gives a synopsis of the U. S. species of Notoxus

and Mecynotarsus, while pp. 177 to 244 are devoted to a synopsis

of the Philonthi of boreal America. Among the papers of

value to American students in parts 1-3 of the Transactions ot

the Entomological Society of London, are Elwes’ additional notes

on the genus Colias; E. B. Poulton’s notes upon or suggested

by the colors, markings, and protective attitudes of certain lepidop-

terous larve and pupa, etc. ; Lord Walsingham’s North American

Tortricidae ; E. Saunder’s notes on the terminal segments of acu-

leate Hymenoptera, and Forsayeth’s life-histories of sixty species ot

Lepidoptera of Central India. e Transactions of the Imperial

Zoological-botanical Society of Vienna, for 1884, are rich in valu-

able entomological papers. Dr. R. Latzel describes (p. 127) two

new species of Euryp pus, myriopods of the order Pauropoda,

from Austria, showing that this genus is common to North America

and Europe. In the same volume von Wattenwyl, under the

title “Ueber hypertalische nachahmungen bei den Orthoptera,”

notices and illustrates two cases of mimicry of dead colored

leaves by a Phaneropterid grasshopper. The second form is

wingless and strikingly resembles a worker ant. It is named

Myrmecophana fallax. The fourth part of the Transactions

of the Entomological Society of London contains, among other

papers two of much general interest by Baron Osten Sacken, 7. e.,

facts concerning the importation or non-importation of Diptera

into distant countries, and an essay on comparative chetotaxy,

or the arrangement of characteristic bristles of Diptera. A

_ carefully prepared and very just tribute to the memory of our

greatest entomologist, Dr. John L. LeConte, by S. H. Scudder,

appears in advance from the Transactions of the American Ento-

mological iety. We have received a well illustrated report

on the tea-mite and the tea-bug of Assam, by J. Wood-Mason, of

Calcutta ; the mite puncturing the leaves so that “a badly smitten

garden may be recognized from a distance by its red color,” and

the bug also blighting the leaves. It appears that of the two spe-

cies of tea plant cultivated in Assam the indigenous species

which affords the strong and rasping liquor, when pure, enjoys

an almost complete immunity from attack, while the milder juices

of the imported Chinese bush render it liable to attack. Mr.

Mason then asks how the bugs distinguish between different but

closely similar plants, infallibly selecting the right food-plants for

their larve. At a meeting of the London Entomological So-

ciety held July 2, Dr. Sharp remarked that Cyédister reseli has

been kept alive from five to seven years by being fed on earth-

worms once or twice a day. Dr. Witlaczil has published in

182 General Notes. [February,

the Transactions of the Vienna Academy of Science an essay on

the polymorphism of an Aphis (Chaetophorus populi). A new

cave-spider, says Science-Gossip for December, has been found in

a cave in Tasmania, the female of which measures six and a half

inches from tip to tip of the fore and hind legs———Sharp has

detected on the prothoracic stigma of the beetle (Chalcolepidius)

trap-door- like lobes closing them so as to prevent the entrance of

small mites (Proc. Ent. Soc. London, p. iii).

ZOOLOGY.

THE DEEP-SEA EXPLORATIONS OF THE “ TALISMAN” (continued).

—The Sargasso sea was then visited, and deep-sea soundings

made to ascertain the nature of the bed of that part of the ocean.

From Cape Verde, the ocean gradually deepens toward the 25th

parallel, when it attains a depth of 6267 meters; but it gradually

rises toward the Azores, and, under the 35th parallel, it is not

over 3175 meters deep. These results are far from being in

accord with the indications on the charts of the Atlantic ocean

recently published, where the curves of depth give very consid-

erable inequalities.

Whenever soundings were made, specimens ofa very fine ooze,

formed of fine particles of pumice, mixed with globigerina,

were brought up. This ooze, at first reddish near the Cape

Verde islands, afterward became of an almost pure white. Each

time the dredge furrowed the face of the sea-bottom, it was more

or less filled with fragments of pumice stonea nd of volcanic rocks.

It would seem as if there were, more than a league under the sea,

a great chain of volcanoes parallel to the African coast, and of

which the Cape Verde islands, the Madeiras, the Canaries and

the Azores were the only points of emergence. :

The submarine fauna there is scanty. To the stones were

attached brachiopods (Discina atlantica). A blind Fusus (Fusus

abyssorum), and a new genus of Lamellibranchs (Pygotheca fra-

gilis), as well as several Pleurotoma, occurred. Some Crustacea,

such as hermit crabs (Pagurus pilimanus), which lodge in colonies

of Epizoanthus, and which have already been dredged on the

African coast, some amphipods of the genus Nematocarcinus,

Holothurians of the group of Elpidia, of which one species was

new, Asterians, Ophiurans, and rare corals, scarcely indemnified

e party for the time given to dredging at such great depths.

It was only toward the north limits of the Sargasso sea, neat

the Azores, where the depths are 3000, 2500 and 1400 meters,

_ that our collections became abundant. The 11th of August, at

2900 meters, the tog party captured the giant of

— Me family of Schizopodes—a Gnathophausia, of a blood-red,

T Eoo almost 0.25 millimeters in length, and meriting well

the specific name of Goliath, which has been applied to it. In

1885.] Zoblogy. 183

the ‘same dredge with this crustacean was found a fish of the

group of Stomias, with lateral phosphorescent plates. Further

on, at 1500 meters, several mollusks of unknown species (Scaph-

ander, Pleurotoma, and Oocorys), the Dentalium ergasticum, a

great variety of Crustacea, Holothurians, Asterians, Ophiurans

and other Echinoderms, contrasted with the penury of the

preceding days.

After visiting Fayal, the Talisman explored the uneven vol-

canic bottoms of the passages between the Azore islands, making

several successful hauls at the depth of 1250 meters. Some

fishes, large red Aristes, Heterocarpus, Galateas of the genus

Diptychus, a squid (Cirrhoteuthis) peculiar to Greenland, Actinias,

whose edges close together like a bivalve, many star-fishes, speci-

mens of Lophohelia, with their usual retinue of Mopsea, soft sea-

urchins (Calveria), large and beautifut Holtenias, recalling the

redgings some weeks previously off the coast of Morocco.

At a little distance from St. Michel, the declivity of the sea-

bottom is very rapid. Some hours after our departure, our

sounding apparatus already indicated almost 3000 meters, and

some of the species found on the plateau situated west of Cape

Ghir were brought up. Among others, some large Holothurians,

of an amethystine color. On the following day the depth was

4415 meters, and tor four days after it continued to be about the

same. 4060 meters the 24th, 4165 the 25th, 4255 the 26th.

The very large fishes of the genus Macrurus, which had been

brought up during the expedition, also occurred here. They

differed fromt hose of lesser depths. The Scopeli and Melanoceti

were here also associated. Some hermit crabs and Galatheas of

new form; some Crangons, with red eyes; a gigantic Nymphon

of the genus Colossendeis; some Ethusas, different from those

already known ; some Amphipods and Cirripedes represented the

Crustacea.

But this abyssal fauna owed its special physiognomy to the

large Holothurians of strange forms which abounded; some

whose length reached 0.65 millimeters, and whose violet colors

were very intense, belonged to a new species of the genus Psy-

chropotes, so remarkable from the existence of a very much

developed appendage, ending behind the body, and resembling a

queue; others, of the genus Oneirophanta, were easily recog- ;

nized by their pure white color and long appendages, which

garnished the whole body. Others of a delicate rose, carried on

the back an erectile, fan-like membrane; these new Pentagonias

were like those found by the Challenger at the greatest depths ex-

plored. Finally, large Actinians, some of which lived as parasites

on the Holothurians, some Hymenasters, Asterians, a Brisinga

with few arms, some Ophiurans and a crinoid, were found in the

same situations.

Aug. 27th, the sounding apparatus reached a depth of over

184 General Notes. [February,

5000 meters, and a new species of Neæra, and different Crustacea

occurred with others previously dredged. ore than fifty rosy

Pentagonias were dredged, mixed with a less number of Oneiro-

phanta, Archaster and Ophiomusium, attested the richness of

this deep sea fauna.

The bottom of the sea throughout this region is carpeted with

a white ooze formed almost entirely of globigerines. Pumice and

volcanic stones are mixed with it; but that which surprised us

most was to find some pebbles polished and striated with ice ata

distance of more than 700 miles from the coast of Europe. The

distinctness of the striations could not allow us to admit that

these pebbles had been transported by currents, because they

would never have rolled, and, besides, they lay at such a great

depth, that the tranquillity of the water there should be very

great, to judge by the nature of the ooze deposited there. Their

presence is probably due to transportation by floating ice, which,

during the quaternary epoch, advanced further south than in our

day, and which, melting in the part of the Atlantic ocean lying

between the Azores and France, let the stones fall on the bottom

with the fragments of rocks torn from the bed of the glaciers,

and which they had transported there.

Aug. 30th, dredging at the depth of 1480 meters in the Gulf

of Gascony, revealed polyps of the genus Lophohelia, with

splendid Pentacrini (P. ay & Petre gigantic Mopseas, Gor-

gonias, and corals, etc.—A. S. Pac

Tue Nervous System OF ANTEDON.—Various opinions have

_been held in regard to the nervous system of the crinoids which

has been held by some to consist of the bands along the bottom

of each ambulacral groove corresponding to the nerve cords of the

| star-fish, while others have maintained the nervous nature of the

axial cord and its connections. Dr. Carpenter first suggested the

| Othe the nature of this cord in 1865, and in 1874 further developed

the theory that the axial cords are nerve-trunks, and the five-

_ chambered organ in the centrodorsal basin is their center, and as

proof adduced the fact that an eviscerated specimen suddenly

and consentaneously closed its ten arms when a needle was thrust

into the chambered organ. P. H. Carpenter, in 1876, was the

first to maintain the nervous character both of the sub-epithelial

bands of the ambulacra and of the axial cord. Recent experi-

ments, carried on by Dr. A. M. Marshall, have established con-

clusively that the central capsule and axial cords, with their

Branches, constitute, as maintained by the Carpenters and Perrier,

i main nervous system, while the sub-epithelial bands are also

bably nervous, but have only a special and subordinate func-

: Baas in connection with the ambulacral tentacles and epithelium.

— The complex co-ordinated movements of swimming and righting

- when inverted, are all executed by the axial system, as was

1885.| Zoology. 185

proved by the fact that eviscerated specimens in which the con-

nection of the sub-epithelial bands with each other was destroyed,

were capable of executing these movements. The axial cords

act both as afferent and efferent nerves. LEvisceration causes

apparently but little inconvenience to the animal, and the visceral

mass is regenerated completely in a few weeks. The apparent

morphological difference between the nerve system of the Crin-

oidea and of other echinoderms disappears upon examination.

Taking the Asterids as the lowest term of the series, it will be

found that in those creatures, as shown by Hamann, nerve fibrils

are found over the entire dorsal surface of the animal. While in

Ophiurids, Echinids and Holothurids the ambulacral portion of

the continuous nervous sheath of the star-fish has concentrated

into a well-defined cord, the remainder being absent; in the

crinoids the ant-ambulacral or dorsal part being continuous

nerve-sheath of the star-fish has developed into the so-called

axial cords, and the ambulacral bands also subsist as a subordi-

nate nerve-system.

HERRICK’S CLADOCERA AND COPEPODA OF MinneEsoTa.’—In this

excellent report we have for the first time a summary of the

known genera and species of all our fresh-water, free-swimming

Entomostraca with the exception of the Ostracodes. It will

prove not only useful but stimulating to our inland naturalists.

As a pioneer work it is entitled to much credit, since many of

our species are identical with those of Europe, and much care is

required in the generic and specific descriptions, since the distinc-

tions are based on such slight characters. In the introduction

the author shows how important these micro-crustaceans are as

scavengers, and in what astonishing numbers they exist, 1442

specimens occurring in a quart of filthy pond water.

The discussion of the affinities and genealogy of the Clado-

cera is interesting ; this is’st led by an account of the lead-

ing works on them. The order, families and genera are charac-

terized with sufficient fullness, and a tabular view of the classifi-

cation of the Cladocera is given, as well as useful keys to species

under each genus. Under the family Daphnide a long account

of the circulatory system is given from original observations,

The Copepoda are treated in the same manner as the other order,

and all the species collected by Mr. Herrick or previously known

are described, but why no description of Canthocamptus tenuicau-

dis, n. sp., is given, we hardly understand, though it is figured,

while C. cavernarum Pack., from Mammoth cave, is not men-

tioned. The number of species of Copepoda seems meager, and

1A final report on the Crustacea of Minnesota, included in the orders C ladocera

and Copepoda. Together with a synopsis of the described species in North Amer-

ica, and keys to the known species of the more important genera. By C. L. Her-

rick. From the twelfth annual report of the Geological and Natural History Sur-

vey of Minnesota, 1884. 8vo, pp. 191, with 29 plates, ;

186 General Notes. [February,

as the author suggests, many new forms remain to be detected.

Notes on collecting and preserving these forms, and a few de-

scriptions of marine copepods from the Gulf of Mexico are

added. The figures are numerous and fairly well drawn, some

being anatomical and embryological in their nature.

The work will do credit to the author and be of service in

directing attention to these creatures, and it is to be hoped that

the author will be able to add to and extend the work, and ina

few years give us an enlarged and improved edition of it,as a

hand-book of our fresh-water Entomostraca would be useful.

The plates should have been numbered not lettered ; Limnetis

is spelt Limnetes, but the typographical errors are not numerous,

MORPHOLOGY OF THE VERTEBRATE AUDITORY OrGAN.—The

chief vertebrate sense organs have certainly had a very

different origin. The olfactory organ is probably a modified gill

olfactory and auditory nerves as well as the eye. But recent

researches, especially those of Marshall and Van Wijhe, have

proved that the auditory nerve is merely a dorsal sensory branch

of the 7th cranial nerve (3d segmental nerve of Van Wijhe).

It has been shown above that the nerves which supply the

segmental sense organs are dorsal sensory branches of the seg-

mental nerves, that the segmental sense organs are merely modi-

fied portions of the epiblast, that these sense organs primitively,

and in some existing form still throughout life, lie free on the

surface of the body, but that later in most cases they become

shut off from the epidermis in a sac which remains connected

with the external world by a small opening. The sensory cells

of these organs possess long fine terminal hairs, which are easily

affected by wave-motions in the medium in which the animal

lives, and which communicate this wave motion to the nerves

connecting them with the brain. Do we really meet with this

condition of things in the auditory organ? In other words, is

the auditory organ merely a specially modified portion of the

system of segmental sense organs ?

The auditory organ is, like the segmental sense organs, really

a modified portion of the epiblast. Very early in development it

becomes shut off in a sac from the epidermis, a condition which

only arises later in the segmental sense organs.

Phe semicircular canals, etc., are clearly secondary compli-

cations, for in every embryo the auditory organ is at first a

simple sac shut off from the epidermis, of which sac a portion of

the inner wall consists of two layers of modified epiblastic cells,

connected by a dorsal sensory branch of a segmental nerve with

the brain.

— . ON

1885.] Zoblogy. 187

comparable to a segmental sense organ. As in the latter the

cells on the free surface possess long hairs. These hairs like

those of the segmental sense organs are concerned with the per-

ception of wave-motions of the medium in which the animal lives.

The hairs on the auditory cells are indeed concerned with the

perception of much finer wave-motions—those of sound—than

those on the cells of the segmental sense organs, and hence arises

the early shutting off of this organ from the skin. The inner

layer of cells of the auditory organ is exactly comparable to the

inner layer of cells of a segmental sense organ

In Teleostei, etc., the auditory organ beedmes entirely shut off

from the skin, ut in Elasmobranchii the aperture of invagina-

tion persists, and the organ is —— ma the surface through-

out life, just as the segmental sense or

ese facts, together with the fact that the auditory nerve is

merely a dorsal sensory branch of a segmental nerve, seem to

point to the conclusion that the auditory organ of vertebrates is

fundamentally a specialized portion of the system of sense organs

of the lateral line, specialized above the rest of the system by the

acquirement of the more delicate function of the perception of

waves of sound.

In accordance with, and as a direct consequence of this func-

tion of receiving waves of sound, the auditory organ has been

early shut off from the external surface, and has developed ac-

cessory structures in the shape of semicircular canals, etc. Thus

its primitive simplicity has been lost.

I hope shortly to give elsewhere a more detailed statement of

the points touched upon in this paper.—Fokn Beard in Zoölog-'

ischer Anzeiger, 1884.

SOME PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE ANATOMY OF FISHES.—

. On the cutaneous Sense-organs.—Since the distinetion between

endknospen on the one hand, and nervenhiigel, nervenletsten, ner-

ae on the other, is generally recognized, it becomes desi-.

their shape, the term neuromast with the adjectival form neuro-

mastic.

At the meeting of the British Association in Montreal, in Sep-

tember, I pointed out that the catfish possesses neuromasts in

sacs, recalling those of the sturgeon. They resemble these, in

ct, more closely than do the similar structures of Amia an

Lepidosteus, which I have recently studied. The neuromasts

belonging to a group are connected by a canal lodged in the

corium, which is lined and in places filled by an epithelium, con-

tinuous with the epithelium of the .neuromasts. Such a canal

188 General Notes. [February,

has recently been described by Carriére for Cobitis, although he

has not recognized its true character. The deep neuromasts

found by the same author in Tinca are evidently somewhat simi-

lar to those ot the catfish, and it is probable that connecting epi-

thelial canals will yet be found. The only explanation of these

canals which has so far occurred to me is, that they are the

remains of a more complicated system of cutaneous canals simi-

lar to those of the Selachii.

In striking contrast to such deep neuromasts are those lodged

on the projecting papilla of the blind fishes. Professor S. A.

Forbes has described the distribution of these in his Chologaster

papilliferus, a specimen of which he has kindly given me for exami-

nation. I find that whereas the trunk in this species has only the

free neuromasts, the head has neuromastic canals arranged in the

ordinary way, and corresponding roughly in their course to the

chief tracts of the projecting papilla. A singular circumstance

is, that they have only four openings on each side, one posterior

above the gill-aperture and three anterior on the snout, the pores

of the mandibular, infraorbital and supraorbital canals respect-

ively.

I take the opportunity of mentioning here that the absence of

pigment in the pigmentary epithelium of the retina of this species

as very significant.

2. On the fate of the spiracular cleft in Amia and Lepidosteus.—

It is generally supposed that the spiracles of the sturgeon are

unrepresented in Amia and Lepidosteus, but a minute slit may

be seen in both genera on either side of the roof of the mouth,

immediately in front of the dorsal ends of the first branchial

arches, leading into diverticula of the mouth-cavity—the rudi-

mentary spiracles. If a bristle be pushed into one of these slits,

it will be found to pass through a canal in the primordial cranium ~

_immediately*abeve the anterior end of the hyomandibular articu-

ation, and to be only prevented from emerging on the roof of the

‘skull by the squamosal bone. Sagemehl has seen the canal in

mia without attributing to it any morphological significance.

In series of sections through young specimens of both genera, I

find a free neuromast projecting from the epithelium of the ante-

rior wall of the distal part of the cleft, supplied by a distinct

_™ division of that dorsal branch of the ¢rigemunus (the ramus oticus

= of Van Wijhe), which is distributed to the neuromastic canal in

the squamosal bone. I conclude that the distal part of the cleft

is epiblastic in origin, although Balfour believed (as far as Lepi-

dosteus is concerned) that it never acquires an opening to the

exterior. Ina recess of the anterior wall of the spiracle in Amia

is situated a pseudobranchia. This has recently been styled an

“opercular pseudobranchia,” in accordance with Gegenbaur’s

= views as to the homology of the pseudobranchia of the Teleosts,

_ but the discovery of its relations to the spiracular cleft demon-

a a | i

eee ee a eS

1885.] Zoology. 189

strate its homology with the pseudobranchia of the sturgeon. As

there can be no doubt of the homology of the pseudobranchia of

Amia with that of the Teleosts, it follows that it is the “ opercu- _

lar” gill and not the spiracular gill which disappears in the Tele-

osts. Dohrn has recently defended this from another stand-

point. Johannes Mueller’ sview is in opposition to that of Gegen-

baur

ur.

The pseudobranchia appears to be represented in Lepidosteus

by a mere anastomosis. That genus, has, however, an “ opercu-

lar” gill (absent in Amia), the two parts of which, although differ-

ing in their vascular supply, correspond to the complete opercu-

lar gill of the sturgeon. Balfour was unable to find this gill in

young specimens of an inch in length. I have arrived at the

above result from the study of specimens of two inches.

3. On the auditory organ of Hypophtha/mus.—In a recent paper

I described the connection between the air-bladder and auditory

organ in the catfish (Amiurus), paying special attention to the

morphology of the’ modified anterior vertebrz which establish

this connection.

Reissner had previously pointed out that in many tropical Silu-

roids this “ Weberian apparatus ” is much reduced, but his identi-

fication of the altered vertebre is so out of harmony with my

results that I was glad to be able to re-investigate the matter

through the liberality of Professor B. G. Wilder, who put at my

disposal last spring a number of the forms in question as well as

others. As was to be expected, the four anterior vertebrz are

always modified in a similar manner throughout the group.

„The genus Hypophthalmus, according to Günther, presents an

exception to the other Siluroids, in that the anterior vertebrz are

not united, but as a fact this genus exhibits an extreme type of

reduction of the Weberian apparatus. The four anterior verte-

bre are not only united, but the first three of them are tele-

scoped, as it were, into the occipital region of the skull, so that

a frontal section through the plane of emergence of the third

pair of nerves, falls also through the saccu/i of the auditory laby-

rinth. The air-bladder is represented by two entirely separate

bladders, about 2™™ in length by 3™™ in width, almost entirely

enclosed in osseous capsules, situated on either side of the fourth

vertebra, and coalesced with it. These osseous capsules repre-

sent the crescentic ossifications in the external tunic of the air-

bladder of the catfish which are attached to the posterior ends of

the “ mallei” All the Weberian ossicles are represented, but the

whole apparatus is so reduced as to be obviously quite func-

tionless. In conformity with this the /agenar parts of the audi-

tory labyrinths are much smaller than in the catfish, while the

saccult of opposite sides still communicate by a transverse duct.

In compensation, as I think, for the reduction of the Weberian

apparatus, the neuromastic canals of the head and trunk are

190. General Notes. [ February,

enormously developed,*and the dorsal branches of the various

cranial nerves which supply these, and which center in the ¢ader-

culum acusticum of the brain, are correspondingly large. This

appears to me an additional confirmation of the theory advanced

by Schultze and Mayser, that the cutaneous sense-organs of this

class constitute a form of auditory organ.—R. Ramsay Wright,

University College, Toronto, Dec. 18, 1884. :

P. S.—After writing the above, I learn from Professor Wilder

that he indicated the existence of rudimentary spiracles in Amia

and Lepidosteus at the A. A. A. S. in 1878. His MS., which

remains unpublished, discusses the nature of the spiracles and

their persistence in a more or less complete form in Selachians,

Ganoids and the Teleost Megalops, describes the form and rela-

tions of the spircular clefts in the adult Amia, and concludes that

these are open in the young.

The relation of the pseudobranchia referred to above is not in-

dicated. —R. &. W.

THE Larva OF EsTHERIA MEXICANA.—(The following descrip-

tions and figures were received from the late Mr. V. T. Chambers

in 1873, and overlooked in the preparation of my inonograph of

North American Phyllopoda. As we know nothing of the develop-

ment of American Estheriz except what is given by Dr. Gissler in

my monograph, it may be well to publish the drawings and de-

scription of Mr. Chambers. I have identified the species from

specimens of the shell sent by the author.—A. S. Packard.)

I send by this mail the fragments of the shell of the Estheria

and two camera drawings of the nauplius in different stages, and

a drawing of a section of the shell showing the markings. o

not know whether the nauplius has been previously figured or

not, as my knowledge of the genus is confined mainly to Baird’s

monograph in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 2, Vol. vi, p. 53; t.

R. Jones in Quar. Micro. Fournal, and a few references in the Z0d-

Out

of the hundreds of eggs only four produced Nauplii, and unfor-

short. Fig. I bears a good general resemblance to Baird’s figure

of Artemia tun. It seems to me, however, to approach more

12, clarkii, now regarded as a synonym of Claus’ Æ. mexicana.

oe re E E NS EES Hie ab WRT a RTS ai AN E

BRR SLM cee aE SR OT OTN

Sa ee ee

A O E ca =

ages Soy oe

ee ee ee eae

1885.] Zoology. IQI

nearly the young of Chirocephalus, especially in Fig. 2—V. T.

Chambers

ca ‘

Fic. 1.—EZstheria mexicana, nauplius just from the egg. Fic. 2.—After the first

molt. All ee magnified.

192 General Notes. [February,

ABERRATION IN THE PERCH.—I wish to note a peculiar ana-

tomomical aberration in a common perch (Perca americana)

which has just come under my observation. In examining some

of these fishes from Lake Michigan, an assistant noticed that one

of them had no pyloric cceca. The viscera were placed in alco-

hol with others, and on opening the alimentary canal for the pur-

pose of removing its contents, I noticed a fleshy mass apparently

nearly occluding the pyloric opening, the pyloric portion of the

stomach being stretched somewhat tightly over it. Finding that

this was not detachable I took it for a tumor, but a closer examina-

tion showed that it was divided into three finger-like lobes, of the

shape and size of pyloric tubes, and that each of these lobes was

hollow, opening upon the outer surface of the intestine by an ori-

fice large enough to admit a knitting-needle. Evidently these

were the missing pyloric coeca, which had grown wrong side out ;

for I cannot conceive of any accident which should turn these

structures within the body of. the fish.

The exposed surface is a mucous surface, and that within the

cavity of the pyloric tube is a serous surface, like that of the out-

side of the intestine.—S. A, Forbes. -

A LIZARD RUNNING WITH ITS FORE FEET OFF THE Grounp.—

In the proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,

1884, it is stated that Mr, Macleay exhibited a lizard which was

observed to run for six yards in an erect posture with. the fore

legs quite off the ground. The lizard was of the genus Gramma-

tophorus, of which there are several species in the country, all

of them much given to playing and gambolling on sunny days.

FEATHERS OF THE Dopo.—The feathers of the dodo have been

studied by Professor Moseley,who read a paper on the subject at

the Montreal meeting of the British Association. He showed

birds of the dove family, near which the dodo is placed. Earlier

in the development of the dove’s feathers the filoplume are

larger, relative to the size of the other feathers; and this condi-

tion resembles still more the structure found in the dodo.

THE _ARMADILLO IN TExas.—G. H. Ragsdale, of Gainesville,

Texas, informs me that an armadillo was recently killed in northern

Denton county, Texas, which is the only animal of the kind ever

taken in that part of the country. The armadillo is said to have

been common on the Rio Grande river twenty years ago, and is

still;common in the south-western counties of Texas.—A. Hall

(E. Rockfort, Ohio), in Forest and Stream.

ANOTHER Swimminc Woopcuuck—On page 249 of Dr. C.

Hart Merriam’s interesting work on the Mammals of the Adir-

ondacks (New York, 1884), the author states that with the ex-

eae ER OR: SRE oN ee E LF tae ti REN Heh ER

1885.] Zoology. 193

ception of a single case which came under his personal observa-

tion, and which he relates in full, he has searched in vain for the

record of an instance where a woodchuck (Arctomys monax) has

been known to swim voluntarily. An instance somewhat similar

to the one mentioned came under my own notice in the early part

of July, 1877, whilst camping within a few miles of the village of

Kempville, some thirty-two miles south of Ottawa. In company

with Mr. P. B. Taylor, of the post-office department, I was row-

ing up “the Branch,” a small tributary of the Rideau, when we

noticed a large woodchuck come down the bank and take boldly

to the water, with the evident intention of crossing to the other

side. The stream was at this point about 30 or 40 yards wide,

and we pulled hard in order to come up with the animal before

he could reach the opposite shore. As soon, however, as the

woodchuck saw us he appeared to take in the situation, and made

vigorous efforts to escape; and as he could change his direction

much more quickly than we could, he succeeded for some time

in eluding us. But we finally managed to get within reach of

him and I lifted him into the boat by the back of the neck. He

shivered a good deal and looked intensely uncomfortable; but

his long swim did not appear to have tired him much, for he

struggled violently to free himself, and when subsequently re-

leased he leaped over the side of the boat and swam back to the

shore from which he had come. He swam low in the water, pro-

gressing but slowly and with evident exertion—W. L. Scott,

Ottawa, Canada.

Nest oF NEOTOMA FLORIDANA (identified by Dr. Coues, with

question)—While hunting, the other day, my attention was

called to a singular nest of some animal, made on the ground,

just in the edge of a clump of mesquite brush. It was in the

form of a pyramid or rather oval, about two feet and a half high,

and four feet in diameter at the base, constructed of cow chips,

stones, sticks, lumps of dirt, and every imaginable light substance

that could be collected in the vicinity. There were two holes for

entrance in the nest, on opposite sides, about the size of one’s

coat sleeve. A large thick cactus leaf near one of the orifices

had been partly eaten recently. As far as we could ascertain,

without destroying the nest, it was unoccupied at the time of our

visit. My companion, the signal observer here, is very familiar

about here, but this is the only nest of the kind he has seen. A

gentleman, who has lived on the Rio Grande, says he has seen

them. Can any one tell us what animal lives in this curious

nest ?— Fon D. Parker, Fort McKavett, Texas.

HAACKE’S Discovery OF THE EGGS OF- THE AUSTRALIAN

Ecuipna.—It appears that on Aug. 25, a few days before the

announcement (Aug. 29) by telegraph from Australia, of Cald-

well’s discovery that a monotreme laid eggs, the telegram not

YOL XIX,—NO, II, 13

194 General Notes. [ February,

stating whether it was the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna, Dr. J.

W. Haacke discovered that Echidna laid eggs. His discovery

was reported in the same number of the South Australian Regis-

ter as contained Caldwell’s dispatch to the British Association at

Montreal. On Sept. 2d, at a meeting of the Royal Society of

South Australia, the Register reports: “ Dr. Haacke laid a num-

ber of specimens on the table, including an egg found in the

pouch of a female Echidna, in support of the theory that the

Echidna, although a milk-giving animal, lays eggs which are

hatched in the pouch.” Dr. Haacke, in a communication to the

Zoologischer Anzeiger of Dec. 1, adds: “I found the egg on the

25th of August last in the mammary pouch (not the uterus) of a

living Echidna hystrix, received about the 3d of the same month

from Kangaroo island. e egg was unfortunately decomposed

inside, but the circumstance of the mother having been worrie

by being captured and kept in captivity easily accounts for this.”

He also says that in dissecting the Echidna he felt a small object

in the pouch ; in hopes of finding a young Echidna he brought

it to the light, and was astonished to behold a veritable egg be-

tween his fingers! It was from one and a-half to two centi-

meters in diameter, and possessed, as many reptilian eggs, a per-

gamentaceous shell which, under the pressure of his fingers,

burst, letting out thick fluid contents. The scientific public will

now look with interest to Mr. Caldwell’s account of his dis-

covery.

DISTRIBUTION OF Mammats.—At the Montreal meeting of the

British Association Dr. G: Dobson read a paper on the distribu-

tion of mammals, in which he pointed out the remarkable resem-

blance between certain bats of the Australian and Ethiopian re-

gions. From this it was apparent that some communication once

existed between those continents. There probably had been a

chain of islands between Australasia and Africa, which had ex-

isted for a short period, by which route the bat had passed from

one place to another. Bats were widely spread in Madagascar,

Mauritius, and Australia, but there is only one species in India

which shows a strong resemblance to the Madagascar bats. So

it is evident that at no distant day they had common ancestors.

It was, therefore, deduced that there must have been a chain of

Australia, Madagascar, and India. Professor Moseley said that

the Indian ocean had never been examined as to depth, the

_ Challenger expedition not touching it. Dr. John Ball urged that

the existence of islands and continents was often too dogmatically

laid down; he believed that currents could carry trees which

might bear animals and plants with them. :

IS See

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et Bate 5

TE ANES REES,

1885.] Zoblogy. 195

ON THE CENTRALE CARPI OF THE MAmMALS.—Professor H.

Leboucq, in his “ Recherches sur la morphologie du carpe chez les

mammifères,” Arch. de Biol. Tom. v, 1884, pp. 35—102, pl. 111—-vI,

as made extended communications on this subject. I will add

some observations, which will complete Leboucq’s results. In

this present communication I will speak of the centrale only,

and will defer other points discussed by Leboucq to a future ex-

tended paper on the morphogeny of the carpus and tarsus of the

vertebrates. I have found, like Leboucq and others, a distinct

central bone in man, dog and cat. I regret not having been able

to examine embryos of bats and marsupials. I can distinguish a

centrale in two other specimens of Carnivores, in an embryo of

Lutra of 50" and in an embryo of Mustela vulgaris of

about 25™™ In Lutra the central bone was quite free and very

fully developed, the radiale and intermedium were coalesced. In

medium, at that part contiguous to the radiale. In Lutra the

radiale and intermedium were entirely coalesced, in Mustela I

found traces of a former separation.

~ In an embryo of Erinaceus europeus of 65™™ I found no

sign of a free centrale and no indication of a confluence of the

bone with the radiale. The first tarsal row consisted of two

pieces of cartilage, a radiale and intermedium, and an ulnare. In

an adult Erizaceus collaris I observed the same condition as in the

embryo. As in the different families of Insectivores, even in the

adult state, a free centrale may be found or not, I do not hesitate

to believe, that in all Insectivores in which a centrale has not yet

n seen, such a bone will be discovered in embryos at some

early stage of their development,

In regard to the Marsupials I have had ‘no opportunity to ex-

amine the embryo." In the manus of the following adult Mar-

supials I can distinguish an os centrale coalesced with the radiale,

as Leboucq has stated, viz: Didelphys azare, Perameles lagotis

and Dasypus maculatus. Further I can state the same for Orni-

thorhynchus and Myrmecophaga tetradactyla.

A centrale carpi is therefore now shown to occur in all orders

of mammals except the Ungulata and the Cetacea.

Hyrax capensis possesses, as is well known, a free central bone.

Professor Cope places the Hyracoidea together with the Con-

dylarthra inthe order Taxeopoda, and considers these the oldest

ungulates. If there is a free centrale in one of the oldest ungu-

lates, Hyrax capensis, such a bone should exist in the allied forms

of this and in the descendants of the Taxeopoda, and I have no hesi-

l Since writing the above, I have distinguished in an embryo of Didelphys,

nks fessor H. Osborn

9.5mm long, a partially free central bone. My thanks are due Pro

for the opportunity of making the examination,

196 General Notes. [February,

tation in believing that such a bone will be found in the Amblypoda’

and in embryos of Elephas, Tapir, Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus.

Whether itis coalesced with the radiale or with the trapezoid (tars.”)

or whether it has become wholly atrophied, I am not able to de-

cide. (According to Flower: Osteol. of Mamm., 11 edit., p. 265, in

Hyrax dorsalis the central bone is coalesced with the trapezoid.) It

would be interesting to know whether in the Periptychide, the

Phenacodontidz and the Meniscotheride, the three families of

Cope’s Condylarthra, indications of a central bone can be found.

It seems improbable that such indications must exist. Further-

more in regard to the Cetacea. If Leboucq’s hypothesis, that

we might consider in these animals certain ‘‘ metacarpiens”’ as

“ carpo-metacarpiens”’ should be shown to be correct, then this

last point would be elucidated.

Further morphogenetic researches on the limb-skeleton of the

vertebrates will remove many present uncertainties and errors. I

would hence be glad to receive, from those interested in the

subject, any embryological material that will enable me to make

further investigations upon these points. The most important

stages are, when cartilage begins to appear, or is already devel-

oped. In future studies I hope, so far as possible, to elucidate

the morphology of the limb-skeleton of vertebrates and to bring

to light new points on the phylogenetic relations of the different

groups of vertebrates—Dr. G. Baur, Yale College Museum, New

Haven, Conn., Oct. 1884.

THE TRAPEZIUM OF THE CAMELID&.—Professor Cope? says in

regard to the carpus of Poébrotherium, one of the ancestors of

the Camelide: “The carpus consists of eight bones, the entire

mammalian number, all entirely distinct. The second series pre-

sents the most important peculiarities. The trapezium is small

and posterior; the trapezoides has an almost entirely lateral pre-

sentation, and is also small, and fits an angle of the magnum.

There are two principal and two rudimental metacarpals. The

second and fifth are very short and wedge-shaped, and closely ad-

herent in shallow fossz of the third and fifth, respectively.”

It is generally considered that the living Camelide have no

trapezium. I cannot, however, agree with this assumption. At

the posterior part of the trapezoid of an adult Camelus bactrianus

L., I finda well developed articular surface; it is the same face

that is seen in different Cervidæ, and can only be for the trape-

zium.

1 Professor Cope believes that there is an os centrale (“intermedium ”) in Cory-

phodon. -

? Annual Report of the U.S. Geol. and Geog. Survey for 1873. Washingion, 1874,

499.

P- i

-~ 3 Baur, G. Der Carpus der Paarhufer. Eine morphogenetische Studie (Vorläufi

Mittheilung). Morphol. Jahrb. 9, 1884, pp. 600. EEE

A Nae E CRT WOR ea AEE FS

1885.] Zoölogy. 197

Between Poëbrotherium and the living camels stands, according

to Professor Cope,’ the genus Procamelus. In regard to this lat-

ter, Cope says, p. 262: “ Thus the lateral rudimental metacarpals

of Poëbrotherium have disappeared, and with them the trapezoides

of the carpus.” (This is evidently a typographical error; instead

of trapezoides it should read trapezium.)

Now if there is a trapezium in one of the living Camelidæ, as

I have found, there ought to be one in the older form—Procame-

lus. That this is in fact so, seems apparent from the figure given

by Cope? of Procamelus occidentalis (P\. LXXIX, fig. 3a). There

appears to be an articular surface, at the back part of the trape-

zoid and it would be interesting to prove it definitively.

The presence of a trapezium in the Camelidz shows that they,

like the Cervidz, are ancestral forms of the ruminants. I will

discuss this in another place.

I do not doubt that we will find in the carpus of camel embryos

the same condition as in Poébrotherium. It would be interesting

to examine embryos with this view.—Dr. G. Baur, Vale College

Museum, New Haven, Conn., Nov., 1884.

LAST APPEARANCE OF THE BISON IN WEsT VIRGINIA.—The fol-

lowing letter we owe to the kindness of Professor J. Packard of

the Theological Seminary of Virginia. The ‘facts regarding the,

last date of the appearance of the buffalo in West Virginia will

be interesting in connection with the statements in J. A. Allen’s

work on the American bison, living and extinct.

PRINCETON, MERCER COUNTY, W. VA., April 26, 1877. *

Your letter was received several days ago, and would have

been answered before this, but was delayed by me with the hope

of arriving at such information as some of the oldest of our

citizens might be in possession of, which I expected to obtain at

our last week’s court. I have failed to get but little beyond the

slight traditions I had before; to sum it all up, I think the last

buffalo killed on Guyan river was killed by a man named Mor-

gan, on a creek’and at a lick called Buffalo, about four miles from

its mouth that empties into said Guyan, and about fourteen miles

from Logan C. H., and in the County of Logan, in the year 1804.

Another one was killed, and perhaps the last one heard of, by Jo-

seph Workman on the Deer Skin fork of Coal river, about the year

1810. This information I got from old Stephen Blankenship,

who is now in his eighty-sixth year. I learn that old Mr. Work-

man is still living, and is ninety-five years old; the buffalo was

killed in the present County of Boon, where he now lives. My

impression was, before the receipt of your letter, that the last one

i Cope, E. D. The Phylogeny of the Camelidz, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1875, p.

i Report Expl. Surv. W. of tooth Mer. U. S. G. M. Wheeler in charge, rv, pt. 2,

to: 5

198 General Notes. [ February,

was killed on Coal river, but think they did not remain in the

State later than about 1805. A few elks lingered longer, perhaps

as late as 1820. I think you might obtain, perhaps, the most

accurate information in reach from Col. Benj. H. Smith (P. O.

Charleston, Kanawha county, W. Va.), who is an intelligent old

gentleman, and has practiced law in all the counties where the

buffalo was seen last, he, I think, would likely remember the

hunters’ account of his departure from the State.

N. B. FRENCH.

Anteus and Titanus Perrier, inhabit South America. The genus

Acanthodrilus, from Western Africa, has two species which attain

a length of three feet. An earthworm two to three feet long oc-

curs in the interior of New Zealand, and a similar one in South

Australia. But the largest known species is from South Africa.

Forty years ago Rapp figured an earthworm six feet two inches

long, obtained near Port Elizabeth, and recently Mr. Beddard

procured a living example of the same species between four and

five feet long and half an inch thick, from the same locality. It

expands and contracts within wide limits, and may even be longer

' when fully expanded. Externally it resembles Lumbricus, in

having four series of pairs of bristles on each segment, but its

internal structure is quite distinct. This worm seems to be abun-

dant, but is rarely seen, as it is only driven from its underground.

burrows by heavy and prolonged rains; on such occasions, which

only occur a few times a year, the ground is covered by hundreds

_ of these creatures, slowly crawling around until killed by the sun.

A curious fact in connection with these worms is that the hard

_ clayey soil in which they reside contains brackish water, thus

proving that the presence of salt does not necessarily kill earth-

worms and their eggs, as has been supposed. The genus Ponto-

drilus Perrier lives among decaying seaweed cast up by the sea.

Earthworms would appear to be exceedingly abundant in

some parts of New Zealand, if we may judge from Mr. Urquhart’s

paper, in the transactions of the New Zealand Institute. The

writer calculates that there are in one acre of pasture land near

Auckland, 348,480 worms, with a weight of 612 pounds 9 oz.

_ Crustaceans.—In describing the head of Palinurus lalandii, Pro-

fessor T. Jeffrey Parker divides the genus Palinurus into three

sub-genera. Species in which the stridulating organis absent, and

the procephalic processes present are named Jasus; those with the

stridulating organ and without the procephalic processes, Palin-

pote se ee, Fata C1 cious

rc Mah (cei ea eee eee 2 Pa S11

SS Se

fee

1885.] . Zoology. 199.

urus; while Gray’s name, Panulirus, is retained for the longicorn

species. All the species of Jasus (omitting P. longimanus and

P. frontalis, of which no definite information could be obtained),

are confined to the southern hemisphere, those of Palinurus to >

the northern, while those of Panulirus occur in both. _ .

Fishes—Mr. R. M. Johnston, in the Proc. Roy. Soc. of Tas-

mania, enumerates 188 known species of Tasmanian fishes. Of

these about one-third are good edible fish, though only twenty-

one are sufficiently abundant to be of importance. ates colon-

orum, a well-known species in Australia, seems, in Tasmania, to

be confined to one small river on the north-east of the island.

Mammals—Mr. G. E. Dobson states that many of the most

characteristic species of Australian Chiroptera have their nearest

allies in the Ethiopian region. Thus Chalinolobus and the sub-

genus Mormopterus are South African and Australian. Mega-

derma gigas, of Queensland, has its nearest ally in JZ cor from

Eastern Africa, and Trizenops, a remarkable leaf-nosed bat found

in Madagascar, Eastern Africa, and Persia, has its nearest ally in

the Riinonycteris aurantia of Australia. Finally, Australia agrees

much more closely with Madagascar, and the Mascarenes than

with the oriental region, in the species of Pteropus, eighty per cent `

of which inhabit the Australian region and Madagascar, with its

islands. r. G. E. Dobson (Proc. Zool. Soc., April, 1884) de-

scribes the myology and visceral anatomy of Capromys melanurus.

The specimens on which the description is based were from the

mountains of the southern end of Cuba, and appear to be the first

of which the complete bodies preserved in spirit have reached

Europe. The four known species of Capromys, pilorides, brachy-

urus, prehensilis and melanurus are confined, so far as known, to

the islands of Cuba and Jamaica, where they are the only indig-

enous rodents. C. drachyurus is limited to Jamaica, the others

to Cuba. The liver of this species differs remarkably from that

of C. pilorides, in the absence of that sub-division of the hepatic

lobes, which has been described in the latter species, and has been

thought a generic character. M. Testut (Bull. de la Soc. Zool.

de France, vil, 1883) has observed in twenty subjects the

fusion of the flexor muscle of the thumb with the general

flexor of the digits. As the presence of a separate muscle

for the flexure of the thumb, causing that digit to be perfectly

independent in its movements, is one of the characters made

much of by those who wish to find a broad difference between

man and the apes, it is significant to find this character so

often absent. In three cases the two flexors were completely

united into a single muscle. To meet with this. character it is

necessary to go back to the Cercopitheci, for in the anthropoid

apes the muscles have a greater or less tendency to separation.

In the gorilla, the flexor muscle divides into two parts, one of

which goes to the thumb and first finger, the other to the re-

200 General Notes. [February,

maining three fingers. This anomaly was found by M. Testut

on both arms of one subject. In the orang, not only are the two

deep flexors united, but there is no tendon for the thumb, and

this abnormality has been observed in man by Gruber, Wagstaffe,

Gegenbaur, and Chudzinski. M.Testut believes that he can trace

the presternal muscle, which in three or four per cent of the

human subjects that have been dissected is present, and is con-

nected above with the sterno-mastoid tendon and below to the

great oblique, to the condition of things which obtains in ser-

pents (or rather in vertebrates deprived of a sternum) in which

the great oblique is attached to the mastoid apophysis. The

sterno-mastoid and great oblique muscles are identical in their

position with regard to the tegument, their direction, and their in-

sertion on the haemal axial line, but where a sternum is present,

the muscular fibers which descend from the mastoid apophysis

find insertions upon it and upon the clavicle, and the part inter-

vening between these insertions and what is now the great

oblique becomes atrophied. Muscular anomalies are frequent

in man, but M. Testut, in an important work upon this subject,

shows that the muscles subject to these anomalies, which dis-

appear entirely in some, while in others they are abnormally

developed, are muscles which play an unimportant part in the

human economy, and are links which unite man to the lower

animals.

EMBRYOLOGY.'

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE Rays OF osseous FisHes.2—Since

the time when Vogt published his work on the development of

the salmonoids, in 1842, it has been known that the earliest traces

of rays to be noticed in the fin-folds of young fishes were fine,

very numerous filaments, lying parallel to each other. Th. Lotz,

in 1864, carried Vogt’s observations farther, and thought he

showed that by the coalescence of these filaments the rudiments

of the permanent rays were laid down. Both A. Agassiz and

myself have found these filaments in the embryo of numerous

widely separated genera of teleosts; the former having also

pointed out their existence in Lepidosteus. They also exist per-

manently in an almost unmodified form in the Dipnoans, as

shown by the researches of Giinther and others, Balfour and

myself have found these filaments in all of the fin-folds of Elas-

mobranchs, though they seem to be wanting in the more fleshy

pectoral of some of the Rays, They are present in the fin-folds of

embryo sturgeons, and there probably give rise to the permanent

1 Edited by JoHN A. Ryper, Smithsonion Institution, Washington, D. C.

bstract of portion of a paper on the theory of the fins, to be published, with

plates, in the Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum ” ee F

“, seva die Schwanzwirbelsãule der Salmoniden, etc. Zeitsch. f. wiss. Zool., XIV,

DRE EI ESIE ee oy ST Rr es EERO OG ENE ee

1885.] Embryology. 201

osseous rays as in Teleosts, but in very young Amphibians and

Marsipobranchs they are absent, and in Amphioxus the develop-

ment of the so-called rays at the bases of the vertical fins is so en-

tirely different, according to Kowalevsky’s account, that they are

manifestly not homologous with the homogeneous embryonic

radial filaments found in the fins of true fishes (Ganoids, Dipno-

ans, Teleosts, Elasmobranchs and Chimeroids).

In all the forms so far made the subjects of observation, these

embryonic filaments are much more numerous than the perma-

nent rays, and appear clearly defined in sections between the

mesoblast and epiblast which constitute the fin-folds when the

rays are being formed, these filaments then become covered ex-

ternally by a more or less clearly defined layer of mesoblast

about one cell deep, or, if they are not forced inwards in this way,

they coalesce directly to form the basement membrane of the

permanent rays. Usually, however, they are forced inward by

the radial proliferation of the mesoblast spoken of above, and

they then degenerate, their substance being. apparently carried

out to the surface of the mesoblastic core of the permanent rays

by a process of metabolism to form the basement membrane of

the latter which is crescentic in sections, and immediately over-

laid externally by the integument. As this new formation takes

place proximally it would appear that the primitive radial fila-

ments had coalesced by their parallel sides distally, and fused

into a continuous semi-tubular strip of basement membrane which

maintains its more primitive fibrillated form distally or at the

margin of the fin, thus giving rise to the dichotomous structure

of the right and left halves of which a caudal fin-ray is almost

always composed in osseous fishes.

The primitive radial fibers (=embryonic fin-rays of A. Agassiz)

appear first at about the end of the lophocercal stage around the

end of the tail and in the pectorals. In Gadus embryos, three

weeks old, the first traces of these filaments appear at the end of

the tail, in the vertical fold surrounding its extremity, as numer-

ous elongated cells with fine protoplasmic prolongations extend-

ing in one direction toward the axis of the body and in the other

away from it. These spindle cells are arranged like the filament-

ous rays which develop later, that is, their processes extend

nearly parallel to the processes of those adjacent. These rudi-

ments of the embryonic filaments bear a remarkable resemblance

to cells found imbedded in the rays of Ceratodus, as figured by

Günther in his memoir on that form. I will therefore call them

plerygoblasts ; their origin is mesoblastic and not epiblastic. They

develop into the embryonic radial filaments, but the extent

to which these are differentiated in the median fins of Teleosts is

very variable. Amongst those forms which have continuous

median fin-folds developed as well as a pre-anal fin-fold, Salmo is

the only form known to me which has them developed through-

202 General Notes. | February,

out the entire extent of those folds; Alosa, also a physostomous

form, does not have them developed nearly so extensively at a

corresponding period. In forms with discontinuous folds, as

Siphostoma, for example, they are not very evident even at the

time when the caudal rays are being formed, but aside from such

exceptional forms they seem to be almost universally developed to

some extent in the fin-folds of all truly fish-like forms except the

lampreys and the lancelet.

In consequence of the striking resemblance which this stage of

the development of the rays of the most specialized fishes bears

to what has remained nearly permanent, with but comparatively

little modification in the Chimzroids, Elasmobranchs, Ceratodus

and Protopterus, I propose to call this the protoprerygian stage of

the development of the fin rays in the Teleostei. The primitive

fibers in section are shown to be perfectly cylindrical and homo-

geneous, and so far as histological tests enable me to judge, are

perfectly similar in composition to the homogeneous semitubular

matrix derived from the former, in which ossification occurs to

form the permanent rays. Active metabolism evidently occurs

at the base of the fin-folds about the time the permanent rays are

in process of development, for the reason that after the stratum

of fibers becomes covered externally by mesoblast in this situation

they rapidly atrophy leaving nothing but the semitubular rudi-

ments of the permanent rays, crescentic in section, which now

lie between the epiblast and mesoblast resting upon thickened

tracts of the latter internally and which radiate toward the mar-

gin of the permanent caudal fin-fold ; the proximal ends of these

mesoblastic cores rest upon the distal end of the upturned

chorda.

The segmentation of the permanent rays has not been traced,

but this evidently occurs before ossification has gone very far, as

it is manifested quite early in the caudal rays of certain types. It

.is doubtless due in part to the bendings which the rays suffer

while in use. The rudiments of these rays are imperfectly tubu-

lar in all forms, spines also having such a form at first, thoug

frequently these have an external layer added by coalescence

with dermal plates or denticles.

The main conclusion, therefore, at which I have arrived in this

investigation is the following : that it is the mesoblast which is

involved in giving origin to the fibrous embryonic rays and that

that layer also effects their transformation into the rudiments ot

the permanent rays, and not the epiderm or embryonic integu-

ment, as heretofore generally held by anatomists. The whole

history of the fin-folds in fact favors such a conclusion, since the

horny fibers develop between the corium and epidermis or em-

bryonic skin, in the plane of the protomorphic line of Huxley.

The fin-folds of embryo fishes, it should be borne in mind also,

are at first wholly epidermic, the corium or true skin being only

developed during the later-larval or post-larval life.

Be SS n TE. POP ireae

SO Em ie NO A E A S Oe ee a a ee ee ey ee |

De ae een gee re ON yl S ay A ca a ne Ne Sane I ESET ag

1885.] Embryology. 203

During my observations on the development of Gadus, made

in 1881, I noticed a space which exists between the skin and mus-

cle-plates (see Pl. x, Figs. 43 and 44, Contrib. Embryog. of Osse-

ous Fishes), since then Carlo Emery?! has published his observa-

tions founded on a study of transverse sections of the tails ot

aia ps 8 Nerapee sryyyee S.

i GS a, $ an Par

aa La T i ae Òr mg S> ) a A

mn If aa

Seale MM: mn

a e e

————_ a T a A es

X: aal,

ISAAA =

Ep- ECS E SE Q

pren RAE,

EXPLANATION OF FIGURES.

Portions of vertical transverse sections of the caudal fin of a salmon embryo, show-

ing the development of the halves of the permanent rays of one side.

Fic. 1.—¢f, deep and superficial layer of epiblast; #, mesoblast; c, center of meso-

blastic tissue proliferated into the dermal tail fold; ff, filamentous embryonic

fin rays cut transversely near the margin of the caudal fold.

“‘ 2.—Froma section nearer the base of the fin to show the process of fusion of

the primitive rays, gr. The other letters as before, -

«« 3.—From a section in which the rudiment of the permanent ray, pr, is covered

by mesoblast, the fil tous rays, #7, having been still more thickly envel-

in Fig. 2 ra

of the presence o amentous embryonic rays can be seen ‘in the sub-

“ 4.—Froim a section through an outer caudal ray near its base, showing the fibers

ff enveloped externally by the mesoblastic core of the permanent ray, which

forms a swelling which is cut across, on the top of which the first traces of

the proximal end of the permanent ray appears.

s 5.—Section through the basal part of a median ray, the primitive fibers in the

vicinity having nearly disappeared, the ray itself again becoming covered ex-

ternally by proliferated mesoblast. All of the figures enlarged 365 times, the

cells being shown only in the two last.

embryos of Fierasfer, Belone and Lophius, in the early lophocer-

cal stage. In these he finds a homogeneous secretion interpose

between the muscle-plates and the epiblast, extending also into

1Sulla existenza del cosidetto tessuto di secrezione nei vertebrati. Att, R. Accad.

Sci., Torino, XVII, 1883.

204 General Notes. [February,

the fin-folds, beside some scattering stellate mesoblastic cells

which very possibly may be the pterygoblasts, which either them-

selves give rise to the embryonic rays or are indirectly concerned,

together with the surrounding tissues, in pouring out such a

homogeneous secretion. Such homogeneous substances I have

found in other cavities in embryos, especially in the brain; in

such cases I have been inclined to attribute their presence to the

action of reagents, as extractive matters, as homogeneous, har-

dened acid-albumen, in short. The early advent of mesoblast

into the fin-folds is at any rate a settled point, the stellate cells

which wander outwards being mesenchymal, according to the ter-

minology of the Hertwigs. In embryos of Scomberomorus I do

not find the secretion noticed by Emery, homogeneous during

the lophocercal condition, but loosely granular, more like the fine

plasmic corpuscles found by me between the vitellus and zona

radiata of the egg of Amiurus,. At any rate I am not inclined

to believe, after weighing the foregoing facts, that there is the

slightest ground for the assumption that the fin-rays of fishes

originate from the primary epiderm or larval integument, but that

they arise from the mesoblast, as their position and first vascular

supply would indicate. The distinction between the fin-rays as exo-

skeletal, from the other bones as endoskeletal, therefore breaks

down on embryological grounds; for both are clearly of mesoblastic

origin, as is further proven by the mode in which the insertions

of the muscles which move the fin-rays originate— Fon A. Ryder.

PSYCHOLOGY.

Docs As NEWSPAPER CaRRIERS.—A very common thing on all

the Connecticut railroad lines is for accommodating train men to

throw newspapers off the trains at or near the houses of subscri-

bers living on the line of the road at a distance from the stations.

In many instances dogs have been trained to watch for the cars

and get these papers, and country dogs, it is noticed, take quite

an active interest in the affair. Over onthe Naugatuck road some

one has had the curiosity to inquire into this matter of dog mes-

sengers. Mr. Philip McLean, proprietor of the Gate House, on

the Thomaston road, has a dog who goes a mile and a half every

morning to meet the train. The paper was formerly thrown off

by the brakeman on the last car, and there the dog watched for

it. Lately it has been thrown from the baggage car. The dog

appeared angry at the change, barked furiously, and waited sul-

lenly for some time before going on his errand. He has not yet

become reconciled to the new way of delivering his paper. Below

Derby a dog has acted for several years as newsboy for a number

of families. The papers are thrown out of the cars under full

speed. Whether one or a large bundle of them, the dog is able

to lug them off, making good time back. Another dog who has

become a veteran as newsboy and cannot now, from age and rheu-

REE eieaa ss anoni i NEN

ach nira r

gas

en e

= a a a

EEUE I IDEE eee ARON

1885.] Psychology. 205

matism, get down to the cars, has in some way managed to train

a younger dog to do his work. Edward Osborne, residing below

Naugatuck, has a dog who regularly meets the early morning

train. The house is a mile away from the railroad, and the dog

never leaves on his errand until he hears the train whistle at Bea-

con Falls station. Then he starts on a run and waits at the same

spot always, with his nose poked between the palings of a fence

and his keen eyes watching for the flying paper. A story is told

of one dog that was first taught to bring a certain New Haven

paper, and when his master changed to another could not be in-

duced to carry the new one. This is unlikely. Another story is

that the late Senator William Brown, of Waterbury, had a pet dog

that could readily distinguish the whistles of the New England

engines from those of the Naugatuck, though running on a par-

allel track at the same time side by side. The faithful dog always

found his train and car, and stood in waiting for the Hartford

Times, which he carried home to his master for many years.—

Hartford (Conn.) Times.

HEARING AND SMELL IN Ants.’—In the investigation of the

senses of the lower animals, especially of invertebrates, the best

efforts of the student are often rendered inconclusive from the fact

that, for aught we know, the sense-organs possessed by them may

respond to vibrations which produce no effect upon us, and thus

they may possess senses of which we have no idea, though they

may lack what we can identify as hearing, taste, or smell. So long.

as a creature possesses eyes, we feel sure that it sees, though we

may know that its perceptions are very limited; but it will not do

to say that an animal cannot hear, only because it cannot hear

sounds audible to us. For this reason Sir J. Lubbock carefully

guards himself from the assertion that ants cannot hear; although

all attempts to induce them to take notice of sounds audible to

us proved failures. Not content with trying the most intense and

the most acute sounds upon a colony of ants, and also upon single

ants, he endeavored to ascertain whether ants could produce sounds

intelligible to themselves, though inaudible to us. To this end

placed some honey upon one of six small pillars of wood set

upon a board frequented by the members of a domesticated colony

of Lasius flavus. Three ants were placed at the honey, and then

imprisoned near it; then three others, which were also imprisoned.

Numerous ants were moving round the board in search of food.

and Sir J. Lubbock reasoned that if ants can make any sound in-

telligible to other ants, the imprisoned ants would tell the search-

ers of the food. On the first occasion only seven ants found the

honey in three hours—no more than visited the pillars which had

no honey. But when the ants which had eaten the honey were

1 Résumé from the Revue Scientifique, of an extract from the work of Sir J. Lub-

bock, entitled Ants, Wasps and Bees, Experimental studies on the organism and

_ habits of hymenopterous insects.

206 a General Notes. [February,

freed, fifty-four ants found the honey in half an hour. Other days

of experiment resulted in the same manner. Thus it became evi-

dent that, if the imprisoned ants made sounds inaudible to us,

those sounds had no meaning to their companions. A sensitive

flame was not affected by anything the ants did, and a microphone,

though it made their footsteps audible, gave no indication of any

other sound. Remembering, however, that all vibrations be-

tween 35,000 per second, the highest perceived by the human ear,

and 470,000,000 per second, which produce the sensation of red

light, are only perceived by us as heat; and mindful also of the

curious sense organs present upon the antenna, Sir John Lubbock

is still of opinion that ants have a sense cognate to what we call

hearing. These antennal organs are of two kinds, one of which

occurs in other insects, but the other seems to be peculiar to ants.

The latter consist of an exterior and interior chamber, connected

by a long narrow tube. A nerve ends in the interior chamber.

The whole apparatus resembles a stethoscope, and Professor

Tyndall and Sir J. Lubbock are of opinion that it serves for a

similar purpose. Besides a group of these in the terminal segment

of. the antennz, there are one or two in each succeeding segment.

Moreover, ants have an apparatus consisting of several serrated

ridges at the junction of some of the abdominal segments, and

similar to an organ which in Mutilla europea produces sounds

audible to us. The inference is, that since Mutilla is not very

distantly related to the ants, the apparatus possessed by the latter

serves a purpose similar to that possessed by the former.

Experiments made upon the sense of smell showed that ants

ear very sensitive to odors that produce the sensation of scent

in us.

PsycHICAL ResEARCH’.—The Proceedings of the Society for

Psychical Research are certainly remarkable amongst the litera-

ture of the present century and, rightly considered, are amongst

the most interesting. The reports of the various committees are

published primarily for the edification of the members, but they

also court public criticism, and as a simple matter of fact they

are worthy of all attention. It has been known for a long time

that certain phenomena do occur amongst a certain class of per-

sons which are, to say the least, inexplicable, for though it may

be urged that collusion and connivance, conjuring and deceit,

may be practiced occasionally, there is now a mass of trustworthy

evidence demonstrating the truth of the hypothesis that thoughts

are transferred from one person to another.

It must be conceded that until we can fully explain the mech-

anism of thought as found in any individual, that we have no

right to say that it is impossible for one person to transfer his

1 Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. d ul.

London, Triibner & Co, T ch, Yol, 1, Parts 1 an

VPRO m o g a

1885.] Psychology. 207

thoughts to another ; and to go further, we might say that until

we can fully explain the phenomena of electricity we have no

right to attempt to define the bounds of possibility in nature.

Electricity has been known and utilized for years, but we are no

nearer to a definite idea of what it really is than we were in the

time of Volta and Galvani. There is ample material to enable us

to form a good working hypothesis, and so also by a parity of

reasoning there is quite sufficient to enable us to affirm that there

is more in thought transference than those unacquainted with the

phenomena have been willing to allow. In the second report of the

committee on thought reading, or, more properly, thought trans-

ference, it is taken as established that “ much of what is popularly

known as ‘thought reading’ is in reality due to the interpreta-

tion by the so-called ‘reader’ of signs, consciously or uncon-

sciously imparted by the touches, looks or gestures of those

present, and that this is to be taken as the prima facie explanation

whenever the thing thought of is not some visible or audible

object, but some action or movement to be performed,” and also

that “there does exist a group of phenomena * * * which

consist in the mental perception, by certain individuals at certain

times, of a word or other object kept vividly before the mind of

another person without any transmission of impression through

the recognized channels of sense.” The evidence the society is

able to offer is fairly conclusive, and is certainly of such a char-

acter that it must be fairly met before its assumptions can be

pooh-poohed in the orthodox manner.

coincidence, when the chances against success were fifty to one, up-

wards of forty per cent of the guesses were right, if the second’

and an occasional third response are admitted; but if the tests are

confined to the first guess only the percentage is twenty-one,

when, according to the laws of chance, the correct answers would

208 General Notes. [February,

have been less than two per cent. The committee pertinently

observe that their experiments derive much strength and cohe-

rence from their very multitude and variety ; they have eliminated,

as far as possible, the hypothesis of coilusion, chance coincidence,

and muscle or sign reading, and they are left with an accumula-

tion of experiments which indicate clearly that thought transfer-

ence is a possibility, or that there is some flaw in the evidence

which they have been unable to discover. The third part of the

Proceedings contains the first report of the committee on “ mes-

merism” and the first report of the Reichenbach commit-

tee, both of which will be found to contain a great deal more

than is dreamt of in the philosophy of the ordinary world, though

the committees respectively declare in the one case that they pre-

fer to defer the publication of results, until a more complete re-

production of the experiments of others with added tests of their

own have afforded a wider basis for discussion. The society has

fairly established its demand for an inquiry by the scientific

world, ever the most skeptical, and properly so, for it is the duty

of science to reject everything that is not proven, while desirous,

nay anxious, to take up any line of investigation that may lead to

discoveries the ultimate result of which it cannot foresee.—Zuglish

Mechanic.

ANTHROPOLOGY!

Tue Proto-Hetvetians.—The lowering of the levels of lakes

Neuchatel and Bienne by the ‘so-called “correction” of the

Jura (a work undertaken for the prevention of floods) though it

has by no means added to their beauty, is proving an immense

gain to archeology. It has laid bare many Lacustrine stations,

homes on the lakes of Central Europe, and to whom has been

given the apt name of Proto-Helvetians, they serve to correct old

theories and suggest new conclusions. An idea of the richness

of the finds made during the last ten years may be formed from

the fact that the number of relics brought to light on lakes

Bienne and Neuchatel since 1873, amounts to 19,599, of which

13,678 have been acquired by various Swiss museums. Nearly

6090 have been added to the collection of Dr. Goss, at Neuve-

ville, on Lake Neuchatel, who has undertaken many explo-

1 Edited by Prof. Otis T, Mason, National Museum, Washi pc

sé

1885. | Anthropology. 209

rations at his own cost, and in whose presence some of the most

valuable discoveries have been made. He now owns the richest

private collection of Lacustrine relics in existence, and at the

request of many brother antiquaries, he has published thirty-

three phototype plates, reproduced from photographs taken by

himself, of his more important finds. The number of the objects

depicted is nearly 1000, and being fac-similies of the originals,

and half, and in some instances three-fifths, of the natural size,

the illustrations, elucidated by the doctor’s suggestive comments,

are almost as interesting and instructive as a visit to the collec-

tion at Neuveville, according to Professor Morel, of Morges, a

high authority, the most valuable, if not the largest, known to

archeology.

Notwithstanding the doubts that have been expressed to the

every new discovery lends additional confirmation. There are

Swiss lake dwellings where not a vestige of metal has been met

with. There are others in which a few tools or arms of pure

copper, and, exceptionally, of bronze are found. It is therefore a

safe inference, as it is antecedently probable, that the use of cop-

per preceded the use of bronze. In other stations, again, bronze

preponderates and stone disappears. Last of all comes iron, first

as a precious metal, ornamenting and encrusting the bronze

which in the end it was destined to replace. A noteworthy fact is

‘ the comparative rareness of ruined villages of the age of bronze.

On Lake Bienne there have been found the vestiges of thirteen

villages of the stone age, and two only of the age of bronze; but

the latter are far the more extensive.

VOL, XIX.—N®. IT. 14

210 General Notes, [February,

that mysterious conflagration in which perished a civilization as

old as that of Egypt, and as interesting as that of Hellas.

ere is a marked difference between the habitations as

between the implements, of the age of stone and the age of

metals. The former, if more numerous, are less extensive; they

were but from fifty to one hundred yards from the shore; the

piles which formed their foundations are short, and made gen-

erally of entire trunks of trees. Between the piles are found

fragments of stag’s horns, broken stones, pieces of rude pottery,

and bones of animals. The stations of the age of bronze, on the

contrary, were large villages, built at a distance of from 200 to

300 yards from the shore, on large, long, and often squared piles,

between which are found remnants of fine pottery, and often

entire vases, It is lower down, under the mud which has accu-

mulated about the piles, that the great finds have been made.

One of the most remarkable stations is the recently discovered

village of Fenil. Although the exploration is not yet com-

pleted, more than thirty articles in pure copper have already been

found, and as similar relics have lately come to light at Greng,

on lake Thorat, at Peschiera, on Lake Garda, and in other places,

antiquaries may ere long deem it expedient to add to the three

recognized ages an age of copper.

The minute and systematic researches which have been made on

the shores of Swiss lakes, albeit they have brought to light such

a multitude of priceless relics, have not yet resulted in the dis-

covery of a single Lacustrine habitation. A few charred planks

and beams showing that they were destroyed by fire, are all that

remain. Fortunately, however, we are not without light on the

subject. A short time ago there was discovered in a marsh at

Schussenried, in Wurtemburg, a well-preserved hut of the age of

stone. The flooring and a part of the walls were intact, and, as

appeared from a careful measurement, had formed, when com-

plete, a rectangle, ten meters long and seven meters wide. e

ut was divided into two partments, icating with each

other by a foot-bridge, made of three girders. A single door

looking toward the south, was a meter wide, and opened into a

room 6.50 meters long and four meters wide. In one corner lay

a heap of stones which had apparently formed the fireplace.

This room was the kitchen, “the living room,” and probably a

night refuge for the cattle in cold weather. The second room,

which had no opening outside, measured 6.50 meters long and

five meters wide, and was no doubt used as the family bed-

chamber. The floors of both rooms were formed of sound logs,

and the walls of split logs. This, be it remembered, was a hut

of the stone age. It may be safely presumed that the dwellings

of the bronze age were larger in size, and less primitive in their

arrangements. At both periods the platform supporting the

house communicated with the shore by means of a bridge (prob-

<ra

hho eas ok aH

1885.] Anthropology. 211

ably removable at pleasure) and with the water by ladders,

These ladders, as appears from an example found at Chavannes,

were made of a single stang with holes for the rungs, which pro-

truded on either side,

The lake-dwellers, besides being carvers of stone, were workers

in wood and skillful boat-builders, At Fenil and Chavannes have

‘been found an ox yoke, fragments of tables, benches and doors,

toy boats, hammers and spades, most of which Dr. Goss has pre-

sented to the museum of Berne. One of the best preserved

canoes yet discovered was found in the stone age station of

Vingrare (Lake Bienne) nearly three feet under the mud. The

material is oak, the form of the stern square, like that of boats of

the present day, the bow is pointed and spear-shaped. Its length

is thirty-one feet two and a half inches, and in width it varies

from twenty-nine and a half inches to thirty-five anda half inches.

In order to prevent warping, the canoe was repeatedly washed

with hot linseed oil, and afterwards rubbed with sand and wax, to

fill up the interstices, by which means it has been kept in its

original shape. With smaller objects of wood the same end is

served by keeping them several weeks in alcohol or glycerine.

Yew, however, is an exception; its durability exceeds that of

oak; articles made from it show no signs of decay, and dry

without warping.—[TZo de continued]

THE Antiquity oF Man.—Professor Frederick W. Putnam,

Curator of the Peabody Museum of American Archzology at

Cambridge, made a few remarks at the semi-annual meeting of

e American Antiquaries Society, bearing on the antiquity of

man in America, based upon objects recently received at the

museum,

He presented photographs of four blocks of tufa, each con-

taining the imprint of a human foot. These blocks were cut from

a bed of tufa sixteen feet from the surface, near the shore of

Lake Managua, in Nicaragua, and were obtained by Dr. Earl

Flint, who has been for several years investigating the archeology

of Nicaragua for the museum, and has forwarded many important

collections from the old burial mounds and shell heaps of that

country. The volcanic materials above the foot-prints probably

represent several distinct volcanic eruptions followed by deposits

of silt. In one bed, apparently of clay and volcanic-ash, six and

one-half feet above the foot-prints, many fossil leaves were found.

pecimens of these are now in the museum, and their specific

determination is awaited for with interest. While there can be no

doubt of a great antiquity for these foot-prints, only a careful

geological examination of the locality and a study of the fossils

in. the superimposed beds will determine whether that antiquity is

to be counted by centuries or by geological time.

He also exhibited a portion of the right side of a human under-

212 General Notes. [February,

jaw, which was found by Dr. C. C. Abbott in place in the gravel,

fourteen feet from the surface, at the railroad cut near the station

at Trenton, New Jersey. It will be remembered that in this same

gravel deposit Dr. Abbott has found numerous rudely made im-

plements of stone, and that in 1882 he found a human tooth,

about twelve feet from the surface, not far from the spot where,

as he states, the fragment of ,jaw was discovered on April 18,

1884. Both the tooth and þiece of jaw are in the Peabody

Museum, and they are much worn as if by attrition in the gravel,

That they are as old as the gravel deposit itself there seems to

be no doubt, whatever age geologists may assign to it, and they

were apparently deposited under the same conditions as the mas-

todon tusk which was found several years since not far from

where the human remains were discovered. While there is no

doubt as to the human origin of the chipped stone implements

which have been found in the Trenton gravel, a discovery to

which archzology is indebted to Dr, Abbott, the fortunate finding

of these fragments of the human skeleton add to the evidence

which Dr. Abbott has obtained in relation to the existence of man

previous to the formation of the great Trenton gravel deposit.|

The discoveries announced in Professor Putnam’s note are of

the utmost importance, and they could not have fallen into more

cautious hands. There is no doubt that Dr. Flint is an enthusiast

on the antiquity of man in Central America. In a recent volume

of the Smithsonian Annual Report, he is said to have found a

cave that had been filled, after its formation, by tertiary sand-

stone. Now, on the removal of a portion of this sandstone,

carvings, rock inscriptions were found on the walls of the cave,

showing that man had arrived at the stage of rock carving in

Central America before the deposits of tertiary sandstone. It is

a pity that this cave cannot be visited by Professor Putnam.

_ Dr. Abbott’s discovery, on the other hand, is simply in a line

with his other finds. If man’s works exist in the Trenton gravels,

there is no improbability that man’s remains will be found there.

Wisely has Dr. Abbott yielded his own geological notions con-

cerning his finds to the judgment of those who have studied

systematically the Delaware basin.

ITINERANT ANTHROPOLOGY.—A new event in the history of

anthropology in our country is the decision of Professor Baird

to participate in the great State fairs. and notably in the cotton

exposition at New Orleans. A system of glass knock-down

cases has been devised, so that the objects may be mounted in

the museum and shipped safely. On arriving at their destination

the cases can be set up by two or three workmen in a day or two.

The recent appropriation of Congress for the New Orleans ex-

hibit was so amended as to include Cincinnati and Louisville.

The brief space allowed for preparation necessarily made the

1885.] Anthropology. 233

number of cases at the two latter cities rather small, but the

choice made was a good one. Three areas of aboriginal ‘life

were admirably portrayed, Alaska, Queen Charlotte islands, and

New Mexico. In cases running parallel, Eskimo and Haida life

were set one against the other, to bring before the eye the fact

that in close proximities the tribes of men are powerfully influ-

enced by their environment. The preparation for New Orleans

will be on a much larger scale. Professor Otis T. Mason, who

has recently been appointed curator of ethnology in the National

Museum, will have charge of these migratory anthropological

exhibitions and wishes to make them as educational as possible.

Section OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT TuRIN.—At the Esposizione

Generale Italiana in Torino, 1884, the section of anthropology

was organized with much care and included a wide treatment of

the subject. The following scheme will give some idea of the

method of installation :

Crass I.

Methods and Processes employed in the Anthropologic Sciences.

Category 1. Instruments and apparatus of anthropometry

T nstruments and apparatus of craniometry and pelvimetry.

Mades of muscular force, dynamometry.

Measures of vital capacity, ee spirography, thoracometry.

Measures of sensibility, zesthesio

Measures of experimental RA reaction, reflex action, &c. :

Measures of temperature, pulse and respiration, thermometry, sphyg-

mography, pneumography.

Methods of weighing the brain.

Processes of mounting and preserving crania and skeletons.

. Methods of preserving brains and other soft parts.

‘* 11, Cranio-cerebral topography.

“ 12. Chromatic tables for the hair, skin and iris.

Sk AZ of obtaining indices and means.

~ TA aikoi instruction in Italy.

-o IG par ee plans and documents of Italian museums, public and pri-

rae

Lal

» i f6; Specii — of Societa d’Anthropologia, Etnologia e Psicologia

mparata,

Crass II.

Comparative and General Anthropology.

eas T Rara characters of the anthropomorphous apes.

-H and comparative embryogeny.

wT Physical characters of the races of man.

«« 4. Rudimentary and atavic characteristics.

Crass III.

Anatomical Anthropology.

oe 1. Collections of typical Italian skulls,

2. Collections of typical Italian skeletons,

214 General Notes. [February

Category 3. Collections of male and female — pelves.

4. Collections of typical Italian brai

t 5. Preparations showing the development of the skeleton.

sy 6. Anthropological models and cas .

Crass IV.

Anthropo-biology and Ethnology.

Category 1. Normal development in height, weight, bn i vitality.

ou 2. Puberty and menstruation among Italian women.

weet Refraction i in ens sax in — with skull- iiis, schools, sex, &c.

“ 4. Physiologi studies upon Italians.

“ 5. Distribution of color in the hair and eyes of Italians,

> 6. Expression and physiognomy of the Italians,

«« 7. Acclimation of Italians in foreign countries.

« 8. Acclimation of non-Italian peoples in Italy.

= 9. OTs of Sardinia.

Crass V.

Pathological Anthropology.

Category 1. Anomalies in the development of the human body.

“ 2. Cranial pathology.

” 3. The delinquent classes in Italy.

= 4. The insane in Italy.

* 5. The defective classes.

Crass VI.

Prehistoric and Palacethnic Anthropology.

Corey 1. Geologic time, The ect

z The Quatern

ste 3. - “ Recent sands satelite. neolithic and bronze.

Crass VII.

Ethnography.

Category 1. Clothing characteristic of different parts of Italy.

2. Ornaments.

i > PER of dress.

s 4. Tattoo ooing.

wed z Habitations in model and design.

" 6. Characteristic furniture.

“5.9. Foner

te 8. Textiles,

had

9. Primary industries pas the gifts of nature).

“% 10. Receptacles of every kind.

“ 11. Land transportation.

* 12. Water transportation.

“ 13. Religion, superstitions, legends et similia.

“ 14, Feasts, fêtes, carnivals,

“© s-5. Music.

_ 16. Popular dances,

«17. Songs, books and prints seats to literature and popular superstition.

“18, Italian ethnography.

_ Class vit, in our scheme, would be termed Technography.

1885.] Microscopy. 215

MICROSCOPY.!

CALDWELL’S Automatic Microtome.2—This machine has been

devised to save labor to the histologist by cutting a very great

number of sections suitable for microscopic investigation in a

very short time. The machine is worked by hand and may easily

be made to deliver in one continuous band, accurately cut sec-

tions at the rate of 100 per minute. To use it, however, to the

best advantage, it is well to drive it by means of some motor, the

fly-wheel being already provided with a groove for thé reception

of the cord coming from the motor. Where there is sufficient

pressure and supply of water, a simple form of water motor seems

the most appropriate and least expensive.

Method of using the Microtome—Place one of the cylindrical

vessels supplied with the machine upon a piece of paper on a

glass plate, and pour into it sufficient melted paraffine to fill it.

As this cools the paraffine will contract, and will leave a hole,

which must be filled up with more melted paraffine.

Melt a small quantity, say an ounce, of imbedding material in

some suitable vessel; a small copper pan or a porcelain crucible

answers very well, if care is taken not to allow it to become hot-

ter than is sufficient to thoroughly melt it. Take a piece of glass

and smear it with a very small quantity of glycerine, to prevent

the imbedding material from sticking to it. Then pour the melted

material on the glass in small quantities at a time, so as to get a

layer nearly a quarter of an inch thick. This when cut up into

Suitable pieces with a knife does very well for imbedding small

objects. If larger objects are required, it is well to have two

pieces of brass of the form shewn in Fig. 5, which, when placed

together, will form a cavity half an inch in depth and of any de-

sired length up to an inch or more; this cavity may be filled with

the melted material in the manner already described, and the

object to be cut must then be placed in position while the mate-

rial is fluid. Zz is well to cool the material as rapidly as possible

by placing it in water as soon as it is sufficiently set. From the

cake thus formed, or from the piece cast in the mold, cut the

piece of the material containing the object, and with an old scal-

pel, heated in a Bunsen flame, melt a small hole in the paraffine

contained in the cylindrical vessel (Fig. 1 æ), and insert the piece

of imbedding material containing the imbedded object; then with

the heated scalpel melt a little of the paraffine round the base of

the projecting piece, so as to give it firm support, and allow this

to become thoroughly set. :

Now remove the large brass plate from the top of the micro-

tome (Fig. 1 4) and insert the vessel containing the imbedded

object in the tube for its reception, having first oiled the tube

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

? Quart. Jour. Micr. Sc, XXIV, Oct., 1884, p. 648.

216 General Notes. [February,

slightly to prevent the vessel from sticking. Next with a sharp

knife cut the material with the object imbedded in it, so that all its

opposite sides are parallel, This is extremely important. Replace

the top plate and fix the razor in the holder provided for the pur-

pose. The clamp is so made that if a little care is taken the

plate holding the razor should then be moved so that the edge of

the razor is close to and quite parallel with the mass of material

to be cut? (Fig. 3). The plate should then be clamped by the

screws at each side of it. A few turns of the fly-wheel will now

bring the razor in contact with the object to be cut. The band

of black ribbon (Figs. 1 and 3 @) is now to be placed so that the

end of it should be just above the razor and clamped in that posi-

tion. When the handle is turned the sections should come off

the razor in the form of a ribbon.

The ribbon of sections will not find its way. to the continuous

black band without assistance. With a needle in a handle or

with the point of a scalpel pick up the end of the ribbon, when a

sufficient length of it has been cut, and place it on the black con-

tinuous band, up which it will travel. When it reaches the top

of the band suitable lengths may be cut off with a pair of scis-

sors. It may be found that the black band travels either too-

slowly or too fast. Its speed may be varied by moving the ring

(Fig. I é) up or down upon the vertical brass arm—upwards if it

is moving too fast, downwards if too slow. A frequent cause of

failure in the proper movement of the band is, that the ebonite

roller at the bottom of it is allowed to press against the razor;

this must be avoi :

= The makers of the instrument have nearly completed an automatic machine for

_ — razors, since it has occurred to them that this is an operation which may

performed with much greater accuracy by mechanical means than by hand.

The di

lowering the arm (Figs. 1

surface of the imbedding mass

_ stance from either end

the speed with which the black band travels

Fo: little care is used in adjusting the rin

- g (Fig. 1 ¢), see below,

each turn of the ot oe through a mes ge equal to the breadth of the surface

<4) : , on the other hand, the object swings far beyond the razor,

band will travel too quickly and probably break the string of “oy

PLATE X.

Caldwell’s Automatic Microtome.

1885. ] Microscopy. j 217

Varying the thickness of the sections —In Fig. 2 will be seen a

milled head, f, which, when turned, controls the movement of

the clicks which, acting upon the ratchet wheel attached to the

micrometer screw, regulate the thickness of the sections. This

may be done so as to allow the clicks to engage one-half, one or

several teeth of the ratchet wheel as may be required. When

arranged for one half tooth, the sections will be z>49; of an inch

(.0025™") in thickness, when arranged to engage a whole tooth

sooo Of an inch (.005™") and soon. At first it is well to use a

whole tooth, as when thinner sections are cut so much depends

on the sharpness of the razor. After cutting for some time the

machine will suddenly stop, the object ceasing to rise when the

handle is turned. This means that the full extent of the microm-

eter screw has been reached. It is necessary then to turn the

large milled head (Fig. 2 c) downwards, which will allow the car-

riage containing the object to fall to its lowest limit. It will be

, necessary now to raise the socket (Fig. 2 g) in which the object is

held so as to be in position to come in contact with the razor.

This milled head (Fig. 2c) is useful for rapidly getting the object

in proper position and avoiding considerable loss of time in turn-

ing the handle. The frame (Fig. 2) which holds the socket is

arranged with two quadrants, so that the socket may be set at

any angle desired, and may be clamped with the milled head

underneath it. This is for use when the object has not been sym-

metrically imbedded. The nut (Fig. 17) is for tightening up the

spring which draws the carriage of the machine back after hav-

ing been pulled forward. In case this does not work properly, it

is only necessary to unloose the two screws and with some strong

but blunt pieces of steel placed in the two holes, to rotate the nut

so as to give a proper tension to the spiral spring. en this is

done the screws should be tightened up again to keep the nut in

place.

The lock nuts (Figs. 1 and 2 s) should be screwed up suffi-

ciently tight to barely prevent the carriage from falling by its own

weight, so that when the milled head (Fig. 2 c) is screwed down

a slight pressure with the finger is necessary to make the car-

riage fall.

To arrange the machine for cutting different sized blocks of

material, it is only necessary to raise or lower the arm (Figs. I

and 47). When this arm is in a vertical position the machine is

arranged for its maximum traverse. When turned to the right

and placed horizontally it is at its minimum traverse, The cord,

however, must always be in the groove of the wheel, %.

It is important to keep the strings which give motion to the

endless band in proper position: The string (Fig. 1 /) should go

from the end of the wire, m, round the groove, z, in the pulley

and thence to the elastic band, 0. The elastic band, 0, should be

stretched and placed over the hook attached to the arm, 7, care

218 General Notes. [February,

being taken that the shorter end of the arm, /, is uppermost.

The string, g, should be tied to the stud upon which the arm, $,

is supported, going thence round the groove, r, of the pulley, and

back again to the hook at the longer and lower end of the arm,

$, to which it should be tied. |

Method of preparing the slide—Make by the aid of heat a vis-

cid solution of white shellac in light colored creosote. Spreada

smooth, thin and even layer of this solution on a clean dry slide

with a camel hair brush or with the little finger. Arrange the |

ribbon containing the sections on this slide while moist, and place

it in the dry shelf of the water bath, which should be at a tem-

perature slightly above the melting point of the imbedding ma-

terial used. It should be left here until the creosote has evapo-

rated and the imbedding material melted. Now allow the slide

to cool, and then wash it with turpentine until all the imbedding

material is dissolved. Canada balsam in chloroform or turpen-

tine and the cover slip may now be applied in the usual manner.

For convenience of mounting it is extremely important that the

ribbon of sections should be quite straight, and in order to en-

sure this it is necessary that the sides of the imbedding material

from which the sections are cut should be quite parallel. The

straight ribbon, when obtained, should be removed to some clean

surface and there cut into lengths appropriate to the size of the

cover slips used. It will be found convenient to use cover slips

at least two inches long; indeed, a useful length for slides and

oid slips is six inches for the former and four inches for the

atter.

A method of imbedding the specimen to be cit.—After the speci-

men has been stained it should he left in ninety per cent alcohol

for a few minutes, and thence transferred to absolute alcohol,

there to remain until all the water is extracted. The length of

time necessary for this varies greatly with the size of the speci-

men. A three day chick, for instance, will require about an hour,

larger specimens a day or more, in which case the absolute alco-

hol should be changed occasionally. Some tissues may be trans-

ferred directly from the absolute alcohol to turpentine, and thence

in about two hours to the melted imbedding material. For deli-

cate tissues, however, the following process, though longer and

more troublesome, is greatly preferable. With a pipette intro-

duce some chloroform to which two or three drops of ether have

been added, under the alcohol in which the object is lying. The

object will then float for some time at the junction of the alcohol

and chloroform, and will finally sink into the chloroform when

_ Saturated with it. If, as often happens in the case of embryonic

: tissues, the object is lighter than the chloroform, it is not easy to

x teli when the saturation is complete, but generally on shaking the

bottle a saturated tissue can be temporarily covered by the chlo-

1885.] Scientific News. 219

roform, while tissues containing alcohol keep steadily on the

surface.

When the tissue is saturated with the etherized cloroform it

should be transferred to pure chloroform and there left for a few

minutes. Then drop in some pellets of soft paraffine and leave it

for two hours or more, shaking occasionally. The whole should

then be poured into a small melting pot and a quantity of

imbedding material added. The melting pot should then be

placed in the water bath at a temperature of about 60° C., and

there left until all the chloroform has evaporated, which may be

determined by the absence of smell of chloroform on shaking.

If much imbedding material is required this process takes a day

or two; it is therefore better, when the solution of imbedding

material is fairly strong, to take out the tissue and put it direct

into pure melted imbedding material. In any case no chloroform

must remain in the material to be cut, as it makes it brittle. Gen-

erally speaking the more gradually these processes are passed

through the better will be the result.

*ry*

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

blood was much richer in oxygen than sea water. It seemed to

him that what they needed next was a careful analysis of the gases

as they existed in the blood of fishes, more especially in that of

some of those fishes which had been found at the depth of 2570

220 : Scientific News. [ February,

was small, the carbonic acid would at once be taken up, so that

it did not accumulate in the immediate vicinity of the breathing

apparatus.—English Mechanic.

— In an address delivered lately at Preston, after distributing

the prizes to the students of the Harris Institute, Professor

Tyndall spoke of the three great discoveries which in after time

will be regarded as the glory of the present age, vis: those of the

conservation of energy, the principle of evolution, and the germ

theory of disease. The germ theory of disease in its earliest

slimmerings appeared centuries ago; but William Budd was the

first to see further than his contemporaries, and his grand gener-

alization has been confirmed by experiment. So long ago as

1817 Schwann demonstrated that putrifaction was the work of

living organisms, and in 1863, Pasteur followed with his far more

elaborate researches. A high tribute was paid to Koch’s re-

searches. The immunity enjoyed by the vaccinated, Tyndall

accounts for on the supposition that contagia being living things,

demand certain elements of life, and when those are exhausted

they can no longer live. To exhaust a soil, then, a parasite less

vigorous and destructive than its virulent representative may

suffice, and once the soil is exhausted the virulent type is power-

less to injure. Such in substance is the germ theory of disease.

—At the Newport meeting of the National Academy of

Sciences, Mr. Fairman Rogers referred to Mr. Muybridge’s ex-

periments made last summer on the motions of animals by instan-

taneous photography. No especially new system is used, but

_— Professor Bickmore, of the American Museum of Natural

History, will give a course of ten lectures for the benefit of such

teachers in the public schools as are required to deliver object

lessons upon botany and zodlogy. The first six lectures will be

- a to human physiology and anatomy. The lectures are all

pic views, and in order to make them

1885.] Scientific News. 221

as widely useful as possible, a copy of each one, together with a

set of the stereoscopic slides which were used for its illustration,

will be sent to each normal school in the State. The series, which

begins on October 18, is the commencement of a course of lec-

tures which is to extend over four years, and be conducted in the

same way and for the same object. The Legislature has appro-

priated $18,000 to defray the expenses of these lectures.

— A tidal wave burst into the harbor of New Haven, Conn.,

at 11 o'clock, Dec. 22. It is now believed that there must have

been a convulsion of the earth in Long Island sound, directly off

the harbor, or near by, for at quarter past eleven a tidal wave,

crowned with foam and fully eight feet high, came rolling into

the bay from the south, traversing the entire length of the harbor,

which is four miles long. It had a speed of about twelve miles

an hour, and moved with an ominous rushing sound, like the

blast of a hurricane, carrying destruction in its path.

— The second Abtheilung, Arthropoda, of the Zoologischer

Jahresbericht for 1883, was issued in November. It has been

prepared by Drs. Paul Mayer and W. Giesbrecht, assisted by a

corps of specialists. It is a most indispensable work to the zoolo-

gist; and this part is very full in abstracts of and reference to

the entomological literature of 1883. It is a product of the

zoological station at Naples.

— The Johns Hopkins University circulars for December con-

tain abstracts of essays on the following topics: Ona new law

of variation, by W. K. Brooks; Method of formation of the

trochosphere in Serpula, by W. H. Conn; The gill in Neptunea,

by H. L. Osborn; On the presence of an intracellular digestion in

Salpa; On the structure and affinities of Phytoptus, by J. P.

McMurrich.

By the death of Robert Alfred Cloyne Godwin-Austen,

his residence near Guildford. He was associated with the late

Edward Forbes in work on marine zodlogy, and edited and con-

tinued Forbes’ Natural History of the European seas.

— The professors of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural

Sciences have organized themselves as a faculty and elected

Professor D. G. Brinton dean, and Professor Angelo Heilprin,

Secretary,

-— At a December meeting of the London Western Micro- _

Scopical Club Mr. F. Cheshire showed some beautiful specimens

of bacilli which produce disease among bees.

222 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [ February,

— The deaths are announced of two renowned physiologists,

viz: Professor von Vierordt, of Tiibingen, and Professor von

Wittich, of Konigsberg.

— Dr. Thomas Wright, F.R.S., of Cheltenham, in whom

geology and palzontology lose a distinguished student, died in

December last.

— Professor D. S. Jordan has been appointed president of the

University of Indiana, at Bloomington,

— Erratum: on p. 109, line 15, for dogs read days.

A’

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL Sciences, May 29.—Mr.

Ford announced the discovery of Pholas truncata in peat near

Sea Isle city. Mr. Redfield said that he had found this species

thirty years ago, closely packed in salt-water turf, near Rye, Long

Island sound, and He believed the species might be found in sim-

ilar locations all along the coast.

June 12.—Professor H. C. Lewis gave the results of his exam-

ination of dust from Krakatoa, taken from the rigging of the bark

William H. Besse. By far the greater part is powdered glass, but

crystals of transparent plagioclase, and irregular fragments of

_pyroxenic materials, probably augite and hypersthene, as well as

grains of magnetite, occur. The dust does not at all resemble

that described by Mr. Wharton, and collected in Philadelphia.

The same speaker described a curious round, rock-like exposure

of basalt at Blue Rock, Chester county, Pa.

June 19.—Professor Heilprin spoke of the great difference be-

tween the Foraminifera of the rotten limestone of Northeastern

Mississippi and that of the ooze of the Gulf of Mexico. He also

showed an example of Calymene niagarensis, taken from the

Eocene above Vicksburg, but evidently washed down from the

Silurian. Dr. McCook called attention to certain globular nodules

of earth which were the cocoons of a tube-weaving spider of the

genus Micaria. Spider cocoons, covered with scraped bark, old

wood, etc., had been found before, but this was the first occasion

in which a covering of mud had been found. The specimens

were gathered upon fallen boards by Mr. F. M. Webster, assist-

ant State entomologist of Illinois.

_July to.—Professor Heilprin showed the tail-piece of a trilo-

_ bite found at the Delaware Water Gap. He proposed to name

a2 : the species Phacops broadheadii, Itis near P. nasutus. Its hori-

1885. ] Froceedings of Scientific Societies. 223

zon is the Stormville shales of the Lower Helderberg. Miss G.

Lewis described a schizomycete found in a sulphur spring at

Clifton Springs, N. Y. Mr. Meehan stated his belief that

the fasciation of a branch was a premature attempt to form

flowers. `

July 17—Professor Heilprin reported the discovery, in the

Stormville shales, at the Delaware Water Gap, of the tooth of a

Cestracion. Mr. Meehan exhibited specimens of the Western an-

nual sunflower (Helianthus lenticularis), and spoke of the,proba-

bility that it was the parent of the garden sunflower. A paper on

the geology of Delaware was presented for publication by Pro-

fessor F, D. Chester.

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PsycHICAL ResEarcH, Dec. 18.—To `

this meeting were invited all those who had accepted the invita-

tion to join a psychical society, sent out by the committee of or-

ganization appointed by the meeting held in Boston, Sept. 2 3d.

This committee consisted of G. Stanley Hall, E. C. Pickering, H,

P. Bowditch, C. S. Minot, William Watson, S. H. Scudder, Wil-

liam James, Alpheus Hyatt, and N. D. C. Hodges. The meeting

was called to order by Professor E. C. Pickering. Mr.S. H. Scud-

der was chosen chairman fro tem., and Mr. N. D. C. Hodges sec-

retary pro tem. Mr. Scudder told the history of the movement

which had resulted in the formation of the society, giving in some

detail an account of the work done by the committee, which had

had full charge of the work of organization. The first business

was the election of fifteen members of the council of twenty-one,

which will have charge of the conduct of the society. G. Stan-

ley Hall, George S. Fullerton, William James and E. C. Pickering,

were elected for three years; Simon Newcourt, C. S. Minot, HEF

Bowditch and N. D. C. Hodges, for two years; and George F.

Barker, S. H. Scudder, Rev. C. C. Everett, Moorfield Storey, Esq.,

John Trowbridge, William Watson and Alpheus Hyatt, for one

year. The constitution provides that seven shall be elected each

year, to hold office for three years.

The committee on work made an informal report, and has since

issued a circular calling for volunteers to go on the investigation

committees, and for information in regard to furnishing subjects for

investigation. The society then adjourned to meet January 8th.

BirorocicaL Society oF WasHixcrton, Dec. 13.— The fol-

lowing communications were made: Mr. Leonhard Stejneger on

an exhibition of specimens illustrating the shedding of the bill

in auks; Mr. George Vasey on the grasses of the arid plains ; Mr.

Charles D. Walcott, on the oldest known fauna on the American

continent; Professor Lester F. Ward on the occurrence of the

seventeen-year locust in Virginia in October, 1884. Additions to

the Flora of Washington, made during 1884.

224 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Feb., 1885.

27.—Mr. Frederick W. True on a new porpdise, Phocena

Dec. 27

dalli, from Alaska; Mr. John A. Ryder on the development of

the rays of fishes; Mr. John Murdoch on a collection of marine

invertebrates obtained by Lieut. A. W. Greely, U.S. A.; Mr. G

Brown Goode on natural history at the New Orleans exhibition.

New York Acapemy or Sciences, Nov. 24.—The following

aper was announced for the meeting: The glacial and pre-glacial

drifts of Staten Island and New Jersey, by Dr. N. L. Britton;

Mr. Géorge F. Kunz exhibited and made brief remarks upon-

some gems and gem-minerals.

Dec. 15.—-The food-plants and fiber-plants of the North

American Indians (illustrated), by Professor J. S. Newberry.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Dec. 12.—Lieutenant Fred-

erick Schwatka, U. S. Army, delivered a lecture, entitled Alaska,

and exploration along the Yukon river. An account of the

longest raft-journey in the world, illustrated with stereopticon

views.

APPALACHIAN Mountain Crus, Boston, Dec. 9.— Lieutenant

Frederick Schwatka, U. S. A., read a paper on Alaska and the

British Northwestern Territory.

Dec. 18.—After the routine business of the evening, those

present were given the opportunity to enjoy an hour of social

intercourse. A series of lantern views representing mountain

scenery on the Pacific slope, presented to the club by Mrs. E. A.

ne, was also exhibited. Photographs now in the possession of

the club were on exhibition, and members were invited to bring

any photographs they may have of mountain scenery.

Boston Society or Naturat History, Dec. 17—Dr. G. L.

‘bis aie, poke of the continuity of protoplasm in certain vege-

THE 7

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. x1x.— MARCH, 1885.—No. 3.

INDIAN: CORN AND THE INDIAN.

_ BY E, LEWIS STURTEVANT, M.D.

i oe is the product of an ancient American civilization,

which if small as compared with that of to-day, yet was

capable of achieving results which we of the présent gladly

appropriate. It constituted the daily food of tribes which have

now disappeared from existence, and at the time of the discovery

was a cherished plant throughout the temperate and the tropical

regions of America, and finds mention in nearly every account of

the voyager, or hardy explorer who penetrated beyond the con-

fines of the coast. The plant has never been recorded as being

found in a wild state, but has existed in numerous varieties from

time immemorial, and the leading races grown to-day can find

more or less certain identification in the imperfect descriptions of

_ the species grown by the Indians.

It is a general observation that varieties are produced through

the influence of the wants and the choice expressed by civiliza-

tion, and hence we may conclude that the vast number of varie-

ties of maize that formerly, as now, existed, have been derived

through the appreciation of a culture that was under the influence

of varied and critical consumers. In Central America the condi-

tions existed for producing varieties, and hence wheresoever the

home of the native plant is to be located, from this central region

must we preferably look for the origin of the domesticated maize-

plant, as we now know it, or at least of some of its races. We

have evidence in the tropical nature of the plant that it was orig-

inally derived from a country where winters were unknown, or

were mild. The few traditions that we have found recorded by

the Indians all point towards Central America, as where it is

VOL. XIX.—No. 111, 15

bad

226 Indian Corn and the Indian. { March,

stated in the Popol Vuh that four barbarians, the Fox, the

Jackal, the Paraquet and the Crow, guided to Paxil or Cayala,

the “land of divided and stagnant waters” where “the white

and the yellow maize did abound,” and apparently a civilized

country, and where the use of maize for meal and for preparing

“nine drinks ” was acquired. The Navajoes have the tradition

that a turkey hen came to them flying from the direction of the

morning star, and shook from her feathers an ear of blue corn

(Bancroft, Native Races, 111, 83). The Indians of Massachusetts,

as Roger Williams writes, have a tradition that the crow brought

“them at first an Indian graine of corne in one Eare, and an In-

dian or French Beane in another, from the great God Kautau-

towits’ field in the Southwest, from whence they hold came all

their Corne and Beanes ” (Key to the Lang. of Am., 1643, p. 144,

Narragansett Club ed.).

The antiquity of maize, as well as its importance, is attested by

the circumstance of its connection with religion, and its acquire-

ment of sacred characters. Centeotl, in Mexico, was goddess of

maize, and hence of agriculture, and was known, according to

Clavigero, by the title, among others, of Tonacajohua, “ she who

sustains us.” Sahagrun writes of the seventy-eight chapels of

the great temple at Mexico, that the forty-fifth edifice was called

Cinteupan, and korrin was a statue of the god of maize. Tor-

quemada also says. “ there was another chapel dedicated to the

god Cinteutl, called Cinteupan, he was the god of maize and of

bread,” and Charnay (1880), who quotes the above references,

found a statue bearing sculptural representations of ears of

maize.

The Mexican god Tlaloc is represented by Ixtlilxochitl “ in the

picture of the month Etzalli with a cane of maize in the one

hand and in the other a kind of instrument with which he was

digging the ground” (Bancroft, Native Races, 111, 325), and vari-

ious ceremonials in relation to maize are recorded by many of

the early Spanish writers upon Mexico.

In Peru the maize of Titiaca was considered sacred, and was

distributed throughout the kingdom in small parcels to impart

a portion of its sanctity to the granary wherein it was stored —

(Garcilasso, Royal Com. Hak. Soc. ed., 1, 288), and in the garden

so of the Inca: “There was also a iage field of maize, the grain

~ they call quinua, pulses, and fruit trees with their fruit; all made

ETE

1885.] Indian Corn and the Indian. 227

of gold and silver ” (¢., 1, 283). Acosta also describes ceremo-

nies in which maize took part.

It seems certain that the Indians of America were often agri-

cultural, especially under circumstances where the soil was favor-

able, and where tribal strength admitted of the protection of

their crops, and that maize was cultivated not only sufficient for

their own wants but also to admit of furnishing supplies to others

in need. We think it well to bring together evidence to this

effect connected with the northern portion of our country.

In the Icelandic Saga, in 1006, Karlsefne arrived at a place

called Hop, at the mouth of a river, which may as well be the St.

Lawrence as any other, as this seems to answer the conditions of

the narrative, and “they found there upon the land self sown

fields of wheat, there where the ground was low, but vines there

where it rose somewhat” (Icelandic Sagas, Prince Soc. ed., p.

54), and “sent out two Scotch people to explore; when they

returned they brought back a bunch of grapes, and a new sowen

ear of wheat” (Voyages of the Northmen, Prince Soc. Pub., p.

51). “The same year (1002) [Rafn.], sailing from Greenland

westward, Thorwald, brother of Lief, reached the wintering place

in Vinland [mouth of the St. Lawrence]. The following sum-

mer * * * * on an island far westward ‘met with a wooden

Kornhjalmr,’ but saw no other signs of inhabitants, nor of wild

beasts ” (Pickering Chron. Hist. of Pl., p. 664). In 1535, Jacques

Cartier, at Hochelega, now Montreal {the island far westward ?],

“began to find goodly and large fields, full of such corn as the

country yieldeth; it is even as the millet of Brazil, as great and

somewhat bigger than small peason, wherewith they live even as

we do, with ours” (Pinkerton’s Coll. of Voy., XII, 651), and else-

where he says: “At the top of the houses were garners where

they kept their corn, which was something like the millet of

Brazil, and called by them Carracony (Tytler’s Disc. of N. Coast

of Am., p. 46), and he further states that the town was situated

in the midst of extensive corn fields and the houses were large

and commodious (Cartier’s Voy. Hak. Coll.). Another name for

the corn seemed to have been offici, and he also adds: “ They

have also great store of musk-millons, pompions, gourds, cucum-

bers, peason and beans of every color, yet differing from ours”

(Pinkerton’s Voy., xu, 656). In 1613 Champlain found at Lake

Coulonge, on the Ottawa river, a crop of maize growing (Park-

228 Indian Corn and the Indian. [March,

man, Pioneers of France, 348) in this northern latitude, and on

the Ottawa river, 1632, mentions also pumpkins, beans and

French peas obtained recently from the traders (24., 352).

This year on Lake Huron, Champlain saw fields of maize, idle

pumpkins ripening in the sun, and patches of sunflowers (20., 366).

“ The Adirondacs,” says Colden, “ formerly lived 300 miles above

Trois Rivers; * * * * at that time they employed them-

selves wholly in hunting, and the Five Nations made planting of

corn their business (Hist. of the Five Nations, Lond., 1747).

In 1615 Champlain invaded the Iroquois country, the present

New York, and saw the Iroquois at work among their pumpkins

and maize, gathering their harvest, for it was the month of Octo-

ber. In 1653 Le Moyne navigated Lake Ontario, and in the

country of the Senecas had given him “ bread made from Indian

corn, of a kind to be roasted at the fire.” In 1687, in an invasion

into this country by de Nouville, some 400,090 minots, or 1,200,-

000 bushels of corn were said to have been destroyed (Doc. Hist.

of N. Y., 1, 238); and in 1696, Frontenac, in the country of the

Onondagas, spent the 7th, 8th and oth of August with his army

in destroying the growing corn which extended from a league

and a half to two leagues from the fort (zd.,1, 212). In 1779,

when the army under Gen. Sullivan came to the vicinity of Cay-

uga and Seneca lakes, they found the lands cultivated, yielding

abundant corn, extensive orchards, and a regularity in the arrange-

ments of their houses which announced prosperity and enjoy-

ment of property ; the houses were framed and painted and pos-

sessed chimneys (Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc., 1850, 380), and Gen.

Sullivan says of the Indians of the Genessee valley that their

fields) were fruitful with “every kind of vegetable that could be

perceived,” and another record catalogues “corn, beans, peas,

squashes, potatoes, onions, turnips, cabbages, cucumbers, water-

melons, carrots and parsnips (Conover’s Early History of Gen-

eva, N. Y., p. 47).

When Verrazzano, 1524, visited the New England coast he

found the Indians would trade only at a distance, and when he

landed he was welcomed with the war-whoop and clouds of

arrows. This is worthy of note as showing that the conditions

were unfavorable to agriculture. When Capt, John Smith visited

_ the coast he enumerates “ pompions, gourds, strawberries, beams,

_ pease and mayze (The Desc. of New England, 1614, p, 16; Peter

mite Fees

siii ig

TE E

1885.] Indian Corn and the Indian.” 229

Force Coll. of Tracts, 11), and mentions “ Mattahunts, two pleas-

ant isles of groves, gardens and corne fields a league in the

sea from the mayne” (2., p. 5), and this indicates a change

in the local conditioris rather than a change of habits in the

people. Champlain, in 1605, describes the method of storing

maize in large grass sacks buried under ground in dry places,

and mentions the methods of field cultivation at the mouth

of the Kennebec and Cape Cod, and finally says that after pass-

ing Cape Cod they found much land well tilled in corn and other

grains (Champlain’s Voy., Prince Soc. ed., p. 121, etc.), and in

1636, when the English made an attack on the Indians of Block

island, they found “ two hundred acres of land were under cultiva-

tion, and the maize, already partly harvested, was piled in heaps

to be stored away for winter use (Bryant’s Hist. of the U. S., 11,

4). When the pilgrims first landed they sent out Miles Standish

to explore, and “from thence [Truro] we went on, and found

much plain ground, about fifty acres, fit for the plough, 7 —

signs where the Indians formerly planted their corn, *

We went on further and found new stubble, of which Beh had

gotten corn this year” (Young’s Chron. of the Pilg., 130, 132).

This same Nov. 16, 1620, they found “ divers fair Indian baskets

filled with corn, some whereof was in ears, fair and good, of

divers colors” (Morton’s New Eng.’s Memorial ed., 1826, p. 40),

and Mouart says of this corn, “some yellow, and some red,

and others mixt with blue” (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Ser. 1, vin,

210). Higginson (1629) mentions also the color of the corn in

New England, as “ red, blew and yellow, &c.; and of one corne

there springeth four or five hundred” (New England’s Planta-

tion, 118, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.) ; and Josselyn, before 1670, de-

scribes not only corn of various colors, but beans, pumpkins,

squashes, etc. Lescarbot (Hist. Nouv. France, ed. 1612) says the

Indians of Maine, like those of Virginia and Florida, plant their

corn in hills, along with beans.

At first the Swedish settlements at New Jersey and Pennsylva-

nia (1638) were obliged to buy maize of the Indians for sowing

and eating (Peter Kalm, Trav.), and in 1633, on the Delaware

river, obtained from the Indians corn and peas (Hazard’s Annals

of Pa., 32). As showing the importance of corn to the Indians,

we may note that Rev. John Campanius, in his Delaware and

Swedish translation (1696) of the Catechism, accommodates the

: of the Delawares of Ohio:

230 Indian Corn and the Indian. [ March,

Lord’s Prayer to the circumstances of the Indian thus: instead

of “give us our daily bread,” he has it, “a plentiful supply of

venison and corn” (6. 101). In 1609 Hudson mentions “a

great Seed of maize” near where is at present Renssellaer

county, N

In Vicma Grenville, in 1585, “ with hasty cruelty ordered the.

village to be burned, and the standing corn to be destroyed”

(Bancroft, Hist. of the U. S., 1, 96); Heriot, and Strachey men-

tion maize, as also John Smith and. many others, and the method

of Indian culture is described in “A True Declaration of Vir-

ginia,” 1610.

In the expedition of Narvaez to Florida, in 1528, maize was

found in abundance. In 1544 the Indian tribes everywhere on the

route of De Soto’s expedition from Florida to Alabama, Missis-

sippi, Missouri and westward were found to be an agricultural

people, subsisting largely upon maize, and in De Bry’s collection,

15y1, Plate xxt, Vol. 11, represents Florida Indians of both sexes

engaged in the cultivation of the fields. Indeed, there is hardly

an account of Florida in the sixteenth century but what mentions

inferentially or otherwise maize, beans and pumpkins as being

produced in great abundance.

In 1540 Coronado started from Mexico ‘for an expedition north-

ward, and everywhere, where the soil was suitable, found maize

and other products of cultivation, even to his most northern

point, which is probably the now State of Kansas, a country

well watered by brooks and rivers, * * * the soil was the

best strong black mold, and bore plums like those of Spain, nuts,

grapes and excellent mulberries. The inhabitants were savages,

having no culture but of maize.” Marquette in 1673, Alouez in

1676 and Membré in 1679 all mention the cultivation of maize by

the Illinois Indians, and in 1680 Hennepin found corn everywhere

in his journey from Niagara to the Mississippi river.

e have now briefly, by the use of a few only of the authori-

ties at our command, shown the existence of the cultivation of

maize throughout a large part of the borders of the present Uni-

_ ted States. A few more references of a later date may serve to

impress the fact that the Indians were anciently an agricultural

race where the conditions for agriculture were favorable, In Gen-

‘Wayne’s letter to the Secretary of War, August, 1794, he speaks

“The margin of those beautiful

: _ Tivers, the Miami's, of the lake and Au Glaize—appear like one

1885.] Indian Corn and the Indian. 231

continued village for a number of miles, both above and below

this place ; nor have I ever before beheld such immense fields of

corn in any part of America, from Canada to Florida.” Pre-

ceding this account, Carver, the celebrated English traveler, who

traveled upwards of 5000 miles of the interior about the period

of the Revolutionary war, writes that the Ottagammies, the Sau-

kees and all the Eastern nations, were found growing Indian

corn. In 1804 the Sioux of the Upper Missouri were found by

Lewis and Clark cultivating corn, beans and potatoes, and indeed

the references to Indian cultivation either directly by the ob-

servers, or indirectly through antiquarian evidence, place beyond

a doubt the existence of an agriculture often more or less rude,

often more or less perfect, among the tribes of Northern Indians

with irrigated fields and a systematized agriculture among some

of the tribes of the Southwest.

Let us note very briefly a few points to show that the North-

ern Indians were intelligently desirous of securing agricultural

products which would add to their luxury or support. We will —

not refer to the Southern or Nahua tribes, for their possession of

maize, beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, yams, Cassava, choco-

late, peppers, tomatoes, etc., etc., in numerous varieties are suffi-

cient evidence of their progress in agriculture, even if we refrain

from mentioning the gardens of Mexico and Peru, which antedate

the existence of similar institutions in France, if Hallam is to be

credited, and in Mexico “ flowers were the delight of the people.”

The melon is mentioned in 1494 as grown by the companions

of Columbus at Isabella island, and this is their first occurrence

in America. In 1535 Jacques Cartier speaks of the Indians at

Hochelega, now Montreal, as having “ great store of muskmil-

ions.” In 1540 Lopez de Gomara mentions melons as grown at

Quivira, in the country of Tiguex, which appears to be some-

where in the region of the present Arkansas, and in 1850 Anto-

nio de Espejo found melons cultivated by the Concho Indians.

In 1542 the army of the viceroy, sent from Mexico to Cibola,

found the melon already there. Indeed melons are mentioned

by the early visitors in New England, Virginia, Florida and the

West. This rapid distribution of a desirable fruit is strong evi-

dence in favor of the care the Indians gave to their fields, in

securing and preserving seed.’

1 We must remember, however, that by the older horticulturists the pumpkin

was often called a melon.

232 Indian Corn and the Indian. [March,

Peach stones were among the articles ordered by the Governor

and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England in

1629. In 1683 Wm. Penn speaks of the Indian orchards of

peaches about Philadelphia as bearing great abundance of fruit

“ not inferior to any peach you have in England, except the true

Newington.” Hilton, in 1664, speaks of peaches abounding in

Florida, and Du Pratz, in his history of Louisiana, 1758, says the

natives had doubtless got their peach trees from the English col-

ony of Carolina before the French established themselves in

Louisiana, and says that they were of the clingstone variety. In

the destruction of the Indian settlement at Geneva, N. Y., by

Gen. Sullivan in 1779, peaches are enumerated in Major Beatty's

account of a near town called Kershong. Among the Indian

products destroyed in this invasion, apple, pear and plum trees

are also distinctly mentioned, and so remarkable was the town of

Kendaia for its orchards, that it was called Apple-town. Wm.

Bartram, in his travels in the South about 1773, speaks of the

carefully formed orange groves of the Indians, and in one place

of a cultivated plantation of shellbark hickory. The settlers of

Michigan, in 1805, found here and there about the State orchards

of seedling apple trees planted by the Indians, and which, though

of great age, were healthy and productive. We thus see that the

Indians were willing to exercise a forethought in growing plants

which would produce only a long time after being planted.

The cultivation of the potato was first introduced into New

England in 1719, and its growing as a field crop is first men-

tioned at Salem, Mass., in 1762. In 1779, on the authority of

Moses Fellows, sergeant of the 3d N. H. regiment, under Gen.

Sullivan, the soldiers destroyed, on Sept. 9, at the present Gen-

eva, N. Y., the crops of the Indians, which included “ corn, beans,

peas, squashes, potatoes, onions, turnips, cabbages, cucumbers,

watermelons, carrots and parsnips.”

Our citations are sufficient to call attention to the agricultural

tendencies of the Indian population of North America, and jus-

in their analyses our first remark, that where the circum-

stances of climate and soil were favorable, and where the tribal

strength was sufficient to protect the crops, the Indians were

apparently a people who might properly be termed agricultural.

It is this agricultural feature of the Indian character which

oe tended to develop the many varieties and agricultural species of

1885.] {Indian Corn and the Indian. 233

maize. At the time of the discovery of the various regions of

our country in detail, the Indians had already accomplished in

the matter of improvement of varieties of maize what we are at

present using, and we have no evidence, I speak after careful

research, that any new forms of maize have appeared from our

two centuries or more of civilized cultivation. The various agri-

cultural species of maize, the flints, dents, softs, sweets and pops

appear to be original forms; the subdivisions of these into local

forms appear to have been about as well accomplished by the In-

dians as by ourselves. The leading forms of maize, in all the

cases where sufficient material has been collected for examina-

tion, can be referred to an Indian original, and a more cursory

examination into all the forms, seems to indicate that this Indian

origin is common with all.

If we ask the maize plants themselves to tell their own story,

we have for reply :

We are originally of a warm region, for our seeds require

about 80° F. for their best germination, and our roots occupy

only the hotter regions of the soil. We are of very ancient ori-

gin, and many ages ago separated into several groups, for we now

represent five different families, which do not easily fraternize

and which resist attempts at mingling, to a more or less extent,

but not reciprocally. We have been long domesticated, for we

have lost the power of becoming feral, in our civilization we

do not recognize our barbarian ancestry even by sight, we-

have long ago separated into agricultural species for the conve-

nience of man, we have withia each of our species given to man’s

continuous asking varieties suited for his necessities to accom-

pany him to regions of short seasons, and to regions unknown to

our ancestry. We have varied for man as he has required new

wants of us, yet we have maintained the traditions of our origin,

when man has not compelled us to discard. We yet ask the

temperature for our growth that our ancestors enjoyed; we yet

ask that we shall not be subjected to shade. Upon unessentials

we have yielded, perhaps after long repeated persuasion, to mold

our product to man’s desire for quantity, to change our habit of

bearing, to get along with a greater or less continuance of heat,

to grow larger or smaller plants, to protect ourselves from the

thieving of birds or insects, to abandon those agencies for our

- own survival, from which care man has relieved us. We now

234 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ March,

consider ourselves as respectable and useful among man’s com-

panions, and in our habits we would show the generations of cul-

ture we have received.

Leaving our plant and returning to human experience, we can

summarize our view by saying that the problem of similarity of

types with great structural diversity of kernel, is only soluble by

influences which have had a very long period of time to work in;

and the perfectness of the result attained is to be explained only

upon the supposition of a very long period of intelligent selective

action. It is very probable that a more intimate acquaintance

with the facts concerning the development of a single domesti-

cated plant, as gained from philological, physiological and re-

corded data will some time or other tend to throw some light

upon the antiquity of man and the direction and extent of his

migrations.

"rh

ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE VERTEBRATA, PRO-

GRESSIVE AND RETROGRESSIVE?

BY E. D. COPE.

( Continued from page 148, February number.)

Ill. THE LINE OF THE UROcHORDA.

$ | ined ee ue evidence ieads us to. anticipate that the

primitive Vertebrata possessed nothing representative of the

vertebrate skeleton beyond a chorda dorsalis. Above this axis

should lie the nervous chord, and below it the nutritive and repro-

ductive systems and their appendages. Such a type we have in its

_ simplest form in the Branchiostoma, the representative of the di-

vision of the Acrania. In the animals of this division the mouth

and anus have the usual vertebrate position, at opposite ends of the

body-cavity. The Tunicata (formerly referred to the Mollusca)

are now known to present a still more primitive type of Verte-

brata, to which the name of Urochorda has been given. These

curious, frequently sessile creatures, have a vertebrate structure

during the larval stage, which they ultimately lose. They have

the necessary chorda, and nervous axis with a brain, and a cere-

ae bral eye. They have at this time a tail, and are free-swimming ;

peculiarity which a few of them retain throughout life ape

oe p- 147, 2d line from bottom, omit “ Batrach

1A lecture delivered before the Franklin se Jan. 16, 1884, (Erratum: on

a”)

1885. } i Progressive and Retrogressive. 235

dicularia).! They differ from the Acrania in the positions of the

extremities of the alimentary canal. The mouth is on the top of

the anterior end of the animal, and is supposed by some anato-

mists to represent an open extremity of the pineal gland of

other Vertebrata; while the tract represented by this body, the

third ventricle of the brain, and the pituitary body of the Crani-

ata, are the remains of the primitive cesophagus of the Urochorda.

The anus in the adult tunicates is either dorsal, or it opens into

the body cavity, as in the young larve. In Appendicularia it is

ventral (Gegenbaur).

The history of the Tunicata cannot be traced by palzontolo-

gists as yet, owing to the absence of hard parts in their structure.

The evidence of embryology has, however, convinced phylogen-

ists that the ancestors of this class resembled their larva, and

that they have as a whole undergone a remarkable degeneracy.

They have passed from an active, free life to a sessile one, and

have lost the characters which pertain to the life of vertebrates

generally. ;

It was to have been anticipated, however, that all of these an-

cestral Tunicata did not undergo this degenerative metamorphosis,

for it is to such types that we must look for the ancestors of the

other Vertebrata, the Acrania and the Craniata. And here palæ-

ontology steps in and throws new light on the question. I have

Pointed out briefly, on another page of the NATURALIST, that a

second order must be added to the Urochorda, viz., the Antiar-

cha, in which the anus presents the same position as in the

Acrania, at the posterior end of the body, while an orifice of the

upper surface represents the mouth of the Tunicata. To this order

is to be referred the family of the Pterichthyidz, of which the

typical genus, Pterichthys, is a well-known form of the Devonian

period. This genus retained its tail, which was the cause, in con-

nection with the presence of lateral fin-like appendages, of its

having been supposed to be a fish, by Agassiz, Hugh Miller and .

others. It is possible that the American Bothriolepis canadensis

lost its tail, as in the majority of Urochorda. The tunicate which

approaches nearest to the Antiarcha is the arctic Chelyosoma.

From the Antiarcha to the Acrania and Craniata, then, the line

is an ascending one.

1See Lankester on Degeneration, Nature Series, 1880.

? This (March) number, 1885, under “Geology and Palzontology.’

236 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ March,

IV. Tue LINE OF THE PISCEs.

The fishes form various series and subseries, and the tracing

of all of them is not yet practicable owing to the deficiency in our

knowledge of the earliest or ancestral forms. Thus the origins of

the four subclasses, Holocephali, Dipnoi, Elasmobranchii and

Hyopomata, are lost in the obscurity of the early Palzeozoic ages.

= A comparison of the four subclasses just named shows that

they are related in pairs. The Holocephali and Dipnoi have no

distinct suspensory segment for the lower jaw, while the Elasmo-

branchii and Hyopomata have such a separate element. The lat-

ter therefore present one step in the direction of complication be-

yond the former, but whether the one type is ‘descended from the

other, or whether both came from a common ancestor or not, is

unknown. If one type be derived from the other it is not certain

which is ancestor, and whether the process has been one of ad-

vance or retrogression. The fauna of the Permian epoch throws

some light on the relations of these subclasses in other respects.

The order of the Ichthyotomi,' while belonging technically to

the Elasmobranchi, presents characters of both the Dipnoi and

the Hyopomata. It is so near to the Dipnoi in the characters of

the skull that nothing save the presence of a free suspensor of

the lower jaw prevents its entering that subclass. It indicates

that the one of these divisions is descended from the other, or

both from a common division which may well be the group Ich-

thyotomi itself. In case the Elasmobranchi have descended from

the Ichthyotomi, they have undergone degeneracy, as the Ichthy-

otomi have a higher degree of ossification and differentiation of

the bones of the skull. If they descended from a purely carti-

laginous type of Dipnoi, they have advanced, in the addition of

the free hyomandibular. If the Dipnoi have descended from

either division, they have retrograded, in the loss of the free hyo-

- mandibular. As regards the Hyopomata, we have a clear advance

` over the other subclasses in the presence of the maxillary arch

_and the opercular apparatus.

_ Too little is known of the history of the subclasses, excepting

_ the Hyopomata, for us to be able to say much of the direction of

~ the descent of their contained orders. On the sharks some light

is shed by the discovery of the genus Chlamydoselachus Gar-

See Palzeontological Bulletin No. 38, E. D, Cope, 1884, p. 572, on the genus

1885.]} Progressive and Retrogressive. 237

man,’ which is apparently nearly related to the Cladodonts of the

Devonian seas. This genus has more numerous branchial slits than

all but two of the genera of existing sharks, and it differs from all

but these two in having a more perfect articulation between the

tooth-bearing bones and the cranium. Of the Hyopomata a

much clearer history is accessible. It has three primary divisions

or tribes which differ solely in the structure of the supports of

the fins. In the first division, the Crossopterygia, the anterior

limbs have numerous actinosts which are supported on a pedun-

cle of axial bones. The posterior limbs are similar. In the sec-

ond division, or Chondrostei (the sturgeons, etc.), the posterior

limb remains the same, while the anterior limbs have undergone `

a great abbreviation in the loss of the axial bones and the reduc-

tion of the number and length of the actinosts. In the third

group, or Actinopteri,? both limbs have undergone reduction, the

actinosts in the posterior fin being almost all atrophied, while

those of the fore limb are much reduced in number.

The phylogeny of these tribes is not easy to make out at pres-

ent. The descent has been no doubt in the order named in time,

but the starting point is yet uncertain. Thus the Chondrostei

appear later in time than either of the other tribes, a history which

probably only represents our ignorance. The characters of the

genus Crossopholis Cope, from the American Eocene, strongly

suggests that the existing forms have descended from scaled an-

cestors. The Crossopterygian fore limb, with its arm-like axis,

tells of the origin of the first limbed vertebrates, the Batrachia,

whose skull-structure, however, only permits their derivation

from the Dipnoi or Holocephali. As the former subclass has the

Crossopterygian fin structure, we can safely regard them as the

ancestors of the Batrachia, while the Crossopterygia are a side

line from a similar type, probably the Ichthyotomi, because these

have a free suspensor of the lower jaw. But of the structure of

the fins of the Ichthyotomi unfortunately we know nothing. If

this position be true, then the successive derivation of the Chon-

drostei and the Hyopomata in one line is rendered probable. The

modification of structure has consisted in the contraction of the

supporting elements of the pectoral and ventral fins by the reduc-

tion of their numbers and length. According to paleontological

1 Proceedings American Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1884.

3 Partly agrees with the Teleostei of Müller, but includes many of his Ganoidea.

238 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, { March,

history, however, the tribe with most contracted fins, Actinopteri,

appeared in the Coal measures (Paleoniscide), or very soon after

the Crossopterygia in the Devonian.

The descent of the fishes in general has witnessed, then, a

contraction of the limbs to a very small compass and their sub-

stitution by a system of accessory radii. This has been an ever

widening divergence from the type of the higher Vertebrata, and

from this standpoint, and also a view of the “ loss of parts without

complementary addition of other parts,” may be regarded asa

process of degradation.

Taking up the great division of the Actinopteri, which em-

braces most of the species of living fishes, we can trace the direc-

tion of descent largely by reference to their systematic relations

when we have no fossils to guide us.

The three subtribes adopted by Jordan represent three series of

the true fishes which indicate lines of descent. The Holostei

include the remainder of the old ganoids after the subtraction of

‘the Crossopterygia and the Chondrostei. They resemble these

forms in the muscular bulbus arteriosus of the heart and in the

chiasm of the Optic nerves. Both of these characters are com-

plexities which the two other divisions do not possess, and which,

as descendants coming later in time, must be regarded as inferior,

and therefore to that extent degenerate. Of these divisions the

Physostomi approach nearest the Holostei, and are indeed not

distinctly definable without exceptions. The third division, or

Physoclysti, shows a marked advance beyond the others in: (1)

The obliteration of the primitive trachea, or ductus pneumaticus,

which connects the swim-bladder and cesophagus; (2) the advance

of the ventral fins from the abdomen forwards to the throat; (3)

the separation of the parietal bones by the supraoccipital ; (4) the -

presence of numerous spinous rays in the fins; and (5) the

roughening of the edges of the scales, forming the ctenoid type.

There are more or less numerous exceptions to all of these char-

acters. The changes are all further divergences from the other

vertebrate classes, or away from the general line of ascent of the

vertebrate series taken as a whole. The end gained is specializa-

_ tion, but whether the series can be called either distinctively pro-

_ gressive or retrogressive is not so clear. The development of

= osseous spines, rough scales and other weapons of defense, to-

a gether with the generally superior energy and tone which prevail

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 239

among the Physoclysti, characterize them as superior to the

Physostomi, but their departure from the SEP line of the

Vertebrata has another appearance.

The descent of the Physoclystous fishes has probably been

from Holostean ancestors, both with and without the intervention

of Physostomous forms. This is indicated by increase in the

number of actinosts in the fins of families which have pectoral

ventral fins, as in the extinct genus Dorypterus}

The Physostomi display three or four distinct lines of descent.

The simplest type is represented by the order Isospondyli, and

palzontology indicates clearly that this order is also the oldest,

as it dates from the Trias at least. In one line the anterior dor-

sal vertebrae have become complicated, and from an interlocking

mass which is intimately connected with the sense of hearing.

This series commences with the Characinide, passes through the

Cyprinidz, and ends with the Siluride. The arrangements for

audition constitute a superadded complication, and to these are

added in the Siluroids defensive spines and armor. Some of this

order, however, are distinctly degenerate, as the soft purblind

Ageniosus, and the parasitic Stegophilus and Vandellia which are

nearly blind, without weapons, and with greatly reduced fins.

The next line (the Haplomi, pike, etc.) loses the przecoracoid

arch and has the parietal bones separated, both characters of the

Physoclysti. This group was apparently abundant during the

Cretaceous period, and it may have given origin to many of the

Physoclysti.

Another line also loses the precoracoid, but in other respects

diverges totally from the Physoclysti and all other Physostomi.

This is the line of the eels. They next lose the connection be-

tween the scapular arch and the skull, which is followed by the

loss of the pectoral fin. The ventral fin went sooner. The pala-

tine bones and teeth disappear, and the suspensor of the lower

jaw grows longer and loses its symplectic element. The opercu-

lar bones grow smaller, and some of them disappear. The

_ ossification of most of the hyoid elements disappears, and some

of their cartilaginous bases even vanish. These forms are the

marine eels or Colocephali. The most extraordinary example of

specialization and degeneracy is seen in the abyssal eels of the

family Eurypharyngide. Here all the degenerate features above

1 See Proceeds Amer. Assoc Adv. Science, 1878, p. 297.

240 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ March,

mentioned are present in excess, and others are added, as the

loss of ossification of a part of the skull, atmost total obliteration

of the hyoid and scapular arches, and the semi-notochordal condi-

tion of the vertebral column, etc.

The Physoclysti nearest the Physostomi have abdominal ven-

tral fins, and belong to several orders. It is such types as these

that may be supposed to have been derived directly from Holos-

tean ancestors, They appear in the Cretaceous period (Derceti-

dz), along with the types that connect with the Physostomi

(Haplomi). Intermediate forms between these and typical Phy-

soclysti occur in the Eocene (Trichophanes, Erismatopterus),

showing several lines of descent. The Dercetidæ belong appa-

rently to the order Hemibranchi, while the Eocene genera named

belong apparently to the Aphododiride, the immediate ancestor

of the highest Physoclysti, the Percomorphi, The order Hemi-

branchi is a series of much interest. Its members lose the mem-

brane of their dorsal spinous fin (Gasterosteidæ), and then the fin

itself (Fistularia, Pegasus). The branchial apparatus has under-

gone, as in the eels, successive deössification (by retardation), and

this in direct relation to the degree with which the body comes

to be protected by bony shields, reaching the greatest defect in the

Amphisilida. One more downward step is seen in the next suc-

ceeding order of the Lophobranchii. The branchial hyoid appa-

ratus is reduced to a few cartilaginous pieces and the branchial

fringes are much reduced in size. In the Hippocampide the

caudal fin disappears and the tail becomes a prehensile organ by

the aid of which the species lead a sedentary life. The mouth

is much contracted and becomes the anterior orifice of a sucto- `

rial tube. This is a second line of unmistakable degeneracy

among true fishes.

_ The Physoclysti with pectoral ventral fins present us with per-

haps ten important ordinal or subordinal divisions. Until the

palzontology of this series is better known, we shall have diffi-

culty in constructing phylogenies. Some of the lines may, how-

ever, be made out. The accompanying diagram will assist in un-

derstanding them.

_ The Anacanthini present a general weakening of the organiza-

tion in the less firmness of the osseous tissue and the frequent

~ reduction in the size and character of the fins. The caudal ver-

~ tebree are of the protocercal type. As this group does not appear

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 241

early in geological time, and as it is largely represented now in

the abyssal ocean fauna, there is every reason to regard it asa

degenerate type. The Scyphobranch line presents a specializa-

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tion of the superior pharyngeal bones, which is continued by the

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VoL. XIX.—=NO. III, 16

242 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ March,

found it convenient to lie on one side, a habit which would appear

to result from a want of motive energy. The fins are very ineff-

cient organs of movement in them, and they are certainly no

rivals for swift-swimming fishes in the struggle for existence, ex-

cepting as they conceal themselves. In order to see the better’

while unseen, the inferior eye has turned inwards, z. e., upwards,

and finally has penetrated to the superior surface, so that both

eyes are on one side. This peculiarity would be incredible if we

did not know of its existence, and is an illustration of the extra-

ordinary powers of accommodation possessed by nature. The

Heterosomata can only be considered a degenerate group.

The double bony floor of the skull of the Distegous percomorph

fishes is a complication which places them at the summit of the

line of true fishes. At the summit of this division must be placed

the Pharyngognathi, which fill an important role in the economy

of the tropical seas, and the fresh waters of the Southern hemi-

sphere. By means of their powerful grinding pharyngeal appara-

tus they can reduce vegetable and animal food inaccessible to

other fishes. The result is seen in their multifarious species and

innumerable individuals decked in gorgeous colors, and often

reaching considerable size. This is the royal order of fishes, and

there is no reason why they should not continue to increase in

importance in the present fauna.

Very different is the line of the Plectognathi. The probable

ancestors of this division, the Epilasmia (Chztodontide, etc.), are

also abundant in the tropical seas, and are among the most bril-

liantly colored of fishes. One of their peculiarities is segn in a

shortening of the brain-case and prolongation of the jaws down-

wards and forwards. The utility of this arrangement is probably

to enable them to procure their food from the holes and cavities

_ of the coral reefs among which they dwell. In some of the gen-

era the muzzle has become tubular (Chelmo), and is actually used

as a blow-gun by which insects are secured by shooting them

with drops of water. This shortening of the basicranial axis has

produced a corresponding abbreviation of the hyoid apparatus.

The superior pharyngeal bones are so crowded as to have become

a series of vertical plates like the leaves of a book. These char-

acters are further developed in the Plectognathi. The brain-case

i is very small, the face is very elongate, and the mouth is much

eae The bones surrounding it in each jaw are codssified.

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 243

The axial elements (femora) of the posterior fins unite together,

become very. elongate and lose the natatory portion. In one

group (Orthagoriscidz) the posterior part of the vertebral col-

umn is lost and the caudal fin is a nearly useless rudiment. In

‘the Ostraciontide (which may have had a different origin as the

pharyngeal bones are not contracted), the natatory powers are

much reduced, and the body is enclosed in an osseous carapace

so as to be capable of very little movement. The entire order is

deficient in osseous tissue, the bones being thin and weak. -Itis

a marked case of degeneracy.

There are several evident instances of sporadic degeneracy in

other orders. One of these is the case of the family of the Icos-

teidz, fishes from deep waters off the coast of California. Al-

though members of the Percomorphi, the skeleton in the two

genera Icosteus and Icichthys is unossified, and is perfectly flexi-

ble. Approximations to this state of things are seen in the para-

sitic genus Cyclopterus, and in the ribbon fishes, Trachypteride.

Thus nearly all the main lines of the Physoclysti are degen-

erate; the exceptions are those that terminate in the Scombride |

(mackerel), Serranida, and Scaridz (Pharyngognathi),

V. THE LINE OF THE BATRACHIA.

We know Batrachia first in the coal measures. They reach a

great development in the Permian epoch, and are represented by

large species in the Triassic period. From that time they dimin-

ish in numbers, and at the present day form an insignificant part

of the vertebrate fauna of the earth. The history of their suc-

cession is told by a table of classification, such as I give below:

I. Supraoccipital, intercalary and supratemporal bones present. Propodial

n .

Vertebral centra, including atlas, segmented, one set of segments together support-

ing one arch......ssseserseesesroeseosocortaecece:osnpaesopo achitomi.

_Vertebree segmented, es superior and inferior segments each bömplete, forming two

centra to each arc

Vertebral centra, cas atlas, not deginensed; one to each arch.,... Speen.

II. Supraoccipital and supratemporal bones wanting. Frontal and propodial

nes disti

a. An os intercalare.

A palatine arch and separate caudal vertebre Proteida.

aa, No os intercalare.

244 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata. [ March,

A ganged arch; palatine arch imperfect; nasals, premaxillaries and caudal verte-

tinct

Cenk wilh «aaah Kae Urodela,’

No beraa or palatine arches; nasals and premaxillary, also caudal vertebræ, dis-

tinct, Ae a a a Seowdecwescceetees Trachystomata.

III. Supraoccipital, intercalare and supratemporal bones wanting. Frontals

and parietals connate ; aan bones and caudal vertebre confluent.

Premaxillaries distinct from nasals; no palatine arch; astragalus and calcaneum

elongate, forming a distinct D of the lim

The probable phylogeny of these orders as imperfectly indi-

cated by palæontology is as follows:

Anura ae

Urodela Trachystomata

Proteida

Stegocephali

Embolomeri Rhachitomi?

Ganocephala®

An examination of the above tables shows that there has been

in the history of the Batrachian class a reduction in the number

of the elements composing the skull, both by loss and by fusion

with each other. It also shows that the vertebrae have passed

from a notochordal state with segmented centra, to biconcave

centra, and finally to ball and socket centra, with a ‘great reduc-

tion of the caudal series. It is also the fact that the earlier forms

(those of the Permian epoch) show the most mammalian charac-

ters of the tarsus and of the pelvis The later forms, the sala-

manders, show a more generalized form of carpus and tarsus and

of pelvis also. In the latest forms, the Anura, the carpus and-

tarsus are reduced through loss of parts, except that the astraga-

_ lus and calcaneum are phenomenally elongate. We have then,

in the Batrachian series, a somewhat mixed kind of change ; but

it principally consists of concentration and consolidation of parts.

The question as to whether this process is one of progression Or

1 Probably includes the Gymnophiona,

of Eryops is much like that of the Theromorph reptiles. See

heirs Amer. — Soc., 1884, p. 38,

eS PIEN a ee ee ee ae

: bore

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive, 245

retrogression may be answered as follows: If degeneracy con-

sists in “the loss of parts without complementary addition of

other parts,” then the Batrachian line is a degenerate line. This

is only partly true of the vertebral column, which presents the

most primitive characters in the early, Permian, genera (Rhachi-

tomi). If departure from the nearest approximation to the Mam-

malia is degeneracy, then the changes in this class come under

that head. The carpus, tarsus and scapular and pelvic arches of

the Rachitomi are more mammalian than are those of any of their

successors, :

There are several groups which, show especial marks of degen-

eracy. Such are the reduced maxillary bones and persistent gills

of the Proteida; the absence of the maxillary bones and the

presence of gills in the Trachystomata; the loss of a pair of

legs and feebleness of the remaining pair in the sirens; and the

extreme reduction of the limbs in Amphiuma. Such I must also —

regard, with Lankester, the persistent branchiz of the Siredons.

I may add that in the brain of the Proteid Necturus the hemi-

spheres are relatively larger than in the Anura, which are at the

end of the line.

It must be concluded, then, that in many respects, the Batrachia

have undergone degeneracy with the passage of time.

VI. Tue REPTILIAN LINE.

As in the case of the Batrachia, the easiest way of obtaining a

general view of the history of this class is by throwing their

principal structural characters into a tabular form. As in the

case of that class I commence with the oldest forms and end with

the latest in the order of time, which, as usual, corresponds with

the order of structure. I except from this the first order, the

Ichthyopterygia, which we do not know prior to the Triassic

period 2

A. Extremities not differentiated in form beyond proximal segment.

I. Os quadratum immovably articulated to squamosal, etc.

Tubercular and capitular rib articulations present and distinct. ..1. Jchthyopterygia. -

AA. Elements of extremities differentiated.

. | Generally similar to the system published by me. Proceedings Amer. Ass. Adv.

Science, xix, p. 233.

246 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, etc. [ March,

II. Os quadratum NAS articulated ; capitular and tubercular rib-articula-

tions distinct. Archosa

Pubis and ischium united, and with little or no obturator foramen; one posterio:

cranial arch; limbs ambulatory; a procoracoid............. 2. Theromorpha

Ischium and pubis distinct, the latter directed abort: backwards or downwards;

two posterior cranial arches; limbs ambulatory; no procoracoid , 3. Dinosauria)

Ischium and pubis united; two postcranial arches; anterior sb volant

4. Ornithosauria,

III. Os quadratum closely united to cranial arches; but one rib-articulation.

Synaptosauria.

Distinct hyposternal and postabdominal bones; ribs joining each two vertebree, and

enerally forming a carapace; one posterior cranial arch...... 5. Testudinata.

Hyposternal and postabdominal bones not distinct; two posterior cranial arches;

ribs attached to one vertebra; a sternum; ? no procoracoi

6. Rhynchocephalia.

Hyposternal and postabdominal bones not distinct ; two posterior cranial arches;

ribs attached to one centrum; no sternum?; a procoracoid...7. Sauropterygia.

IV. Os quadratum attached only at the proximal extremity, and more or less

movable; ribs with one head. Streptostylica.?

Brain case membranous in front of prodtic bone; trabecula not persistent

Lacertilia.

Brain case with osseous walls anterior to proötic; a scapular arch and sternum

9. Pythonomorphas

Brain case with osseous walls anterior to prodtic; no scapular arch nor sternum;

trabecular. grooves of sphenoid and presphenoid bones 10. Ophidia.

An inspection ofthe characters of these ten orders, and their con-

sideration in connection with their geological history will givea defi-

nite idea as to the character of their evolution. The history of the

class, and theréfore the discussion of the question, is limited in time

to the period which has elapsed since the Permian epoch inclusive,

for it is then that the Reptilia enter the field of our knowledge.

During this period but one order of reptiles inhabited the earth,

so far as now known, that of the Theromorpha. The important

character and role of this type may be inferred from the fact that

they are structurally nearer to both the Batrachia and the Mam-

malia than any other, but present characters which render it prob-

: res that all the other reptiles, with possibly the exception of the

1 This definition includes the Crocodilia in the Dinosauria, as it is absolutely con-,

nected with the typical Dinosaurs by the Opisthoccela (Sauropoda Marsh).

?Episternum present.

Sn quite possible that the three divisions ot this head form one natural order,

the Streptostylica, or Squamata.

oe Including Ch oristodera, see AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1884, p. 815.

1885.] On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. 247

Ichthyopterygia, derived their being from them. The phylogeny

may be thus expressed :

Dinosauria Testudinata Rhynchocephalia Lacertilia Ophidia

(Crocodilia) | /

. W S /

Pterosauria n Pythonomorpha

<A Ss

~~ Dinosauria Sauropterygia ~

Ichthyopterygia Theromorpha

(To be continued.)

:0:

ON THE LARVAL FORMS OF SPIRORBIS BOREALIS

DAUDIN.

BY J. WALTER FEWKES. ;

NT URALISIS who are engaged in the identification of the

larval forms which marine animals pass through in their

growth from the egg, find great difficulty in this study from the

lack of direct observations in raising these larvæ from the eggs

or in rearing them directly into the adult. This is particularly

true in regard to the young of marine annelids, a most profitable

field for new observations and one which has had but few culti-

vators among American naturalists. The following paper is

offered as a help to those engaged in this study and not as an ex-

tended account of the embryology of the animal of which it

treats. Itis especially intended for those who are interested in

the identification of our marine annelid larvz."

A genus of chztopod annelids called Spirorbis, as is well

known, in its adult and older larval stages, secretes a coiled cal-

=- Careous case, commonly called its, shell, in which it lives. This

case is permanently cemented or attached to some foreign body,

from which fact the adult is incapable of locomotion. Not so,

however, the larva, which is destitute of any such shell, is not

fixed but is free swimming, and often captured with the dip-net in

surface fishing. From the great dissimilarity in outward form as

1 The observations here recorded were made in the Zodlogical Laboratory at New-

port, R. I, I am indebted to Mr. A. Agassiz for facilities to carry on my studies at

that place.

248 On the Larval Forms of Spi orbis borealis. { March,

well as the different habitat of the young and adults, the free-

swimming larva is often unrecognized or not connected with the

genus of which it is the young.

I have often, in former years, captured the larval Spirorbis by

surface fishing, but up to a short time ago have been unable to

discover to what adult it belongs. Last summer I was fortunate

enough to raise these larve from the eggs, and am now able to

state definitely most of the changes in external form which Spi-

rorbis goes through between the last stages of the segmentation

of the egg and the time when it fastens itself to some foreign

object and begins its sessile and adult life.

The eggs of Spirorbis borealis are easily obtained in considera-

ble numbers, If live adults, enclosed in their cases, be placed in

a proper receptacle in water, and the calcareous shells crushed,

among the fragments there will be found chains composed ot

bead-like strings of ova strung along together. These chains are

easily distinguished from the other soft parts of the Spirorbis

body by their brown or red color. I found a good way to obtain

the eggs was to place a number of Spirorbes in a watch crystal

with water and then crush the cases with a spatula. Remove the

fragments of shells and the strings of eggs are easily seen at the

bottom of the watch crystal.

As the adult Spirorbis is very hardy the young can easily be

raised from the adult by keeping the latter in an aquarium for a

few days, when multitudes of the young make their way out of

the worm cases and can be easily found swimming at or near the

surface of the water in which they are kept. The young from

_ which the present studies were made were taken in the months of

_ July and August, 1884.

_ The eggs of Spzrorbis borealis have a reddish-brown color and

are arranged side by side in short strings composed of from one

to four rows of from ten to fifteen or more eggs each. The later

stages in the segmentation of the egg resemble those of other

chetopod eggs and can easily be studied in strings taken from

the Spirorbis cases. The younger stages of the segmentation

were not found. Each egg is enclosed in a membranous sac,

while all the ova lie in a common digitiform structure binding

them together. The earliest stages in the development of the

larva are passed through while the eggs are thus enclosed.

It will be observed that the larvee of Spirorbis now to be de-

1885.] On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. 249

scribed differ in some particulars from those of “ S. spirillum

Gould (non Pagenst.; an Lam. ?),” described by A. Agassiz (Ann.

Lyc. Nat. Hist., vit, pp. 318-323). They differ evén more widely

from the young of S. spirillum described by Pagenstecher (Zeit. f.

Wiss. Zool., x11). I regard my larvz of the same species as that

described as S. spirillum by Augustus A. Gould (Report on the

Invertebrata of Massachusetts [first edition], Boston, 1841).

A. Agassiz says of S. spirillum (op cit., p. 318): “The eggs, of

a dark reddish-brown color, are found in strings formed of two

rows (fig. 18), either on each side of the alimentary canal in the

anterior part of the body, where in the adult we find a consider-

able space free of bristles (as in fig. 25), or else when the strings

have been laid they are found on the sides of the body, between

it and the limestone tube, and here the young undergo their

transformations.” Later he says: “The young are quite ad-

vanced within the body of the parent previous to the transfer of

the egg-sacs to the cavity of the tube where they complete the

greater part of their growth.” In his figure 18 the larve in the

strings have already well formed eye spots. I have never been

able to observe these larvæ in stages of development in the body

of the parent, but have found many specimens of eggs outside

the walls of the body of the adult, which were in the last stages»

of segmentation and therefore much younger than those) figured

by him (fig. 18).

In the first or youngest stage after segmentation a larval condi-

¿tion was observed in which the embryo almost wholly fills the

egg capsule and presents very little differentiation in different

regions. This embryo is of an oblong shape and is girt equato-

rially by aring of cilia. On one side just below this ciliated belt

the wall of the embryo is flattened. The body is opaque, has a

dark brown or reddish color, and is destitute of eye spots.

In the next oldest stage (Fig. 1), which is very similar to the

young of the genus Pileolaria, figured by Salensky (Etude sur le

Developpement des Annelides, Pl. 1v, Fig. 7), we have a central,

opaque yolk-mass surrounded by a more transparent layer of cells

which is thickest on the same side as the flattening noticed in the

walls of the larva in a previous stage, a pair of eye spots and a cres-

centic-shaped body, which is probably lens-shaped when seen in

another view, lying between the outer layer of the embryo and

its inner cell contents. The external layer I have followed Salen-

sky in regarding as the epiblast and the thin intermediate layer the

250 On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. [ March,

mesoblast. The ring of cilia is seen in profile on each side above

the equator of the embryo.

One of the best eggs to use in following the changes has been

found to be the last of the chain, since it is always isolated, on

one side at least, from the rest. We often find strings of ova with

the eggs in a single row. These eggs have always been found

well suited for study on account of this simple arrangement. The

members of a chain can also be separated from each other with-

out injury.

In the next oldest larva to that just mentioned (Figs. 2, as

we find the indentation on the flattened side of the embryo still

more pronounced than before, as shown in Fig. 2, which repre-

sents the larva as seen from one side. If this larva is seen from

the posterior pole (Fig. 3), we notice two prominent protuber-

ances which impart to it as seen in this way an irregular triangu-

lar shape. From the ventral side (Fig. 4), upon which the pro-

tuberances lie, these appendages appear as small lateral projec-

tions (#7) on each side. The embryo fills almost the whole inte-

rior of the capsule in which it is now confined, and the protuber-

ances lie just below the ring of vibratile cilia. From this stage it

seems that the collar which is later found on the ventral side of

the larva originates as two projections, one on each side. Ina

larva somewhat older than the last (Figs. 5, 6, 7), the collar (co?)

has formed by the union of the two projections, and has grown

somewhat downward over the ventral side of the posterior region

of the body. Fig. 7 shows the same embryo as seen from the an-

terior pole, and Fig. 6 the same from the ventral side. The dor-

sal surface of the larva is more curved than in younger em-

bryos.

In Fig. 9 the larva is still enclosed in its capsule, and is repre-

sented from the ventral region, while the collar is still more de-

veloped, and two pairs of single spines were observed in the

region partially covered by the collar.’

: 1 Pagenstecher describes and figures (of. cit., Pl. xxxix, Fig. 6) a first pair of

_ spines consisting of three on each side at the base of the collar which I have not

found in my larve. He says, ‘-An der Wurzel des Kragens sprosst das erste Paar

von Borstenbiindeln hervor, vorläufig mit je drei Borsten.” I do not find these rep-

resented in the young of Spirorbis borealis, and A. Agassiz neither mentions nor fig-

ures them in his Spirorbis. My observations 5. not agree with those of Pagenstecher

when he says, “ Die erste Spur der Tentacle zeigt sich in Form von drei Höckern

~ jederseits auf dem Kopflappen.” I have also been unable to find in my species the

2 ae RY o tin geben Fleck,” which he describes ‘‘ neben dem Magen

PLATE XI.

Larval forms of Spirorbis boreal:

1885.] On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. 251

Fig. 9 is the youngest stage of development of Spirorbis in

which lateral spines were observed, and in it there are two pairs,

a single spine on each side in each pair. This character is also

recorded in one of the larval stages observed by A. Agassiz, he

says: “The bristles make their appearance in figure 21, where

we find two of the three bundles of the collar-like projection of

the anterior extremity always distinctly marked in such young

embryos.” In figs. 4 and 5, Pl. xxx1x, in Pagenstecher’s account,

it appears in the youngest stage that the spines are represented

by a single pair. .

The larva in my plate (x1, Fig. 8) is represented as divided into

three marked regions, which from now on will be known as the

anterior or cephalic, the middle covered on its ventral side by a

much larger growth of the collar and a smaller posterior region.

The first and second of these divisions are separated by a ring of

cilia, the second and posterior by the posterior border of the col-

lar. The prominent lateral ocellus lies on the ventral side of the

larva and has a bright red color. The whole body of the em-

bryo is reddish, while the external surface of the collar as

well as the ventral region of the posterior part of the embryo is

covered with small cilia. On the walls of the ventral region just

below: the collar there arises a brick-red projection. I have

homologized this projection with the “glandes tubipares” de-

scribed by Salensky in the young of the genus Pileolaria. In

this latter genus, however, these glands are arrayed laterally in-

stead of medially and vertrally. In Spirorbis as in Pileolaria I

find three ciliated regions which we may follow Salensky in des-

ignating: 1. Couronne ciliaire. 2. Couronne ciliaire abdominale.

3. Couronne ciliaire anale.

The interior of the larva on the dorsal side is occupied by a

brownish body which is in part the unabsorbed yolk mass.

Through all the stages of growth thus far traced the embryo is

still included in its egg capsule. It was observed to fret continu-

ally against its envelope and with its spines it constantly presses

upon the walls of the same. The motion of these spines shows

at once that the egg capsule has flexible walls yielding easily to

such pressure. In the next stage (Fig. 10) the larva has become

free from the capsule, swimming about in the water with consider-

able activity. Judging from A. Agassiz’s statement in regard to the

amount of the development of the side branches of the tentacles,

252 On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. (March,

the young of the Spirorbis which he studied leaves the egg cap-

sule with its cephalic appendages much more developed than I

have observed them to be in S. borealis. No branching appen-

dages were seen in the youngest larve found free in the water in

my specimens.

The free larva seen from the ventral side is represented in Fig.

10. It is easily detected in the water on account of its reddish

color, although its size is not more than 1™ in length. The

larva is more elongated and more vermiform than in previous

conditions, and the middle body region is relatively much larger

than formerly. It is no longer bounded posteriorly by the poste-

rior edge of the collar.

The head bears four! eye spots ; two larger, the original ocelli

(oc), and two small, which are apical, dorsally and -medially

placed. There is an apical tuft of cilia. The cilia of the belt,

between the head and body, are borne on a ferrule-shaped struc-

ture which separates the head from the middle body region, and

which bears a small ring of cilia on its posterior, a larger on its

anterior edge. The mouth opens medially just below this ferrule

and above the base of the ventral collar. Its lips are richly cili-

ated. The ventral collar covers about one-third the middle body

region, which is not segmented and bears three pairs of single

spines which are falciform at their free extremity. The middle

region may be homologized with the anterior body region of

such a worm as Prionospio.

_ The posterior body region is of smaller diameter than the mid-

dle and is obscurely segmented. It is ciliated on the ventral side,

a prominent ring, “couronne ciliaire abdominale,” being formed

on the segment nearest the middle division. The posterior ex-

tremity of the larva is richly ciliated and bears several short stiff

hairs. The whole body cavity, with the exception of that found

in the posterior region, has a brick red color. When this larva

_ is seen in profile it will be noticed that the external surface of the

collar is ciliated over its whole extent, and that the prominent

red projection on the ventral surface of the middle region is also

1 Pagenstec echer says (of. cit, p. 492): “Um diese Zeit bilden sich aus einigen

_ Zellen der äusseren Schicht des vordersten Lappens vier Augenpunkte, von denen

_ die hinteren grösser sind, und auf der Mitte der Stirn wachst eine erst ungemein

oye Soe gerade Borste hervor.”

a A. Agassiz says: “ The ocular spots are mS zy to two.” The larvæ which

i have studied have four and a median escribed by Pigihstecher

PLATE XII.

Larval forms of Spirorbis boreal

ae,

1885.] On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis, 253

covered with cilia. Midway between this last and the posterior

extremity of the body is a second prominent tuft, and the very

end has a third. Besides these three ciliated regions the whole

ventral surface of the posterior part of the body of the larva is

clothed with small cilia.

If the cephalic region of the last mentioned larva be looked at

from one side (Fig. 12), it will be noticed that on the left hand

side of it, snugly approximated to the dorsal walls of the head,

there is a thin triangular plate which has begun to push itself up

from the region just in advance of the ferrule-like structure upon

which the ring of larger cilia is borne. This structure which at

first grows out from the left hand side of the neck, and is un-

paired is the future operculum.! At the time of its origin it is

small, and in all stages unpaired, while later in the growth of the

worm it assumes a considerable size.

The first appendage to form on the right hand side (Fig. 11)

of the larva is a small tentacle, short, stout and club-shaped. I

do not find another similar tentacle on the left hand side, but it

it exists it may be hidden by the operculum. The better inter-

pretation, however, is, that the operculum where it originates has

the form of a simple tentacle with which it is strictly homolo-

gous ; while the size of the operculum as it grows increases so

greatly that it far outmeasures that of the right hand tentacle.

My observations do not lead me to think that the tentacles form

alternately on the sides of the head of this species of Spirorbis.

Fig. 13 represents a slightly older larva seen from the dorsal

side, in which the segmentation of the posterior body region is

more sharply defined, and in which also the operculum (ef) and

the right hand tentacle (ża) are well developed. In Fig. 14 we

have the same larva much older, shown from the ventral side,

where the operculum is represented as expanded on the left hand

side of the head. In most particulars this larva closely resem-

bles the free larva (Fig. 10).

In a stage which is older than the last the larva has passed

into a condition in which not only has the operculum assumed a

considerable size, but also several small appendages are found on

the head, while of the organs of the head which have disap-

odd opercular tentacle covering in figure 21 the right tentacle.”

was the first cephalic appendage which was observed in the larvæ which I studied.

254 On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. — (March,

peared, the most important is a pair of the ocelli, the first to origi-

nate and fora long time the most prominent eye spots found

on the ventral cephalic prominences. The apical ciliated tuft

of former stages has also disappeared. The apical eye, spots

still remain.

Of the appendages to the head we notice on the right hand

side instead of the club-shaped tentacle which formerly existed

there, that the place is now occupied by an elongated body with

beginnings of side branches, a structure which later forms a

branchia. On the left hand side, near'the operculum, are small

projections which later develop into the left hand branchia, while

medially appear two prominences, one upon the other. In the

development of the larva of Spirorbis it looks as if we had, as I

have already shown, in a larva which is provisionally identified

as the immature Prionospio, and as Salensky has found in Pileo-

laria, temporary cephalic tentacles which later give place to the

permanent branchiz of the head. In the right hand branchia,

now of considerable size, we formerly had a small tentacle which,

although it never reaches the great size of the temporary tenta-

cle of Prionospio, is so closely similar both in size and general

appearance to the temporary tentacle of Pileolaria, as described

by Salensky, that it is in Spirorbis placed in the same category.’

The passage of the free larva of Spirorbis into the form with a

case is a most interesting process, and one which is by no means

simply in the changes involved. It can easily be observed in

early conditions and the interior even of the larva studied, since

the external case, when first formed, is almost wholly transparent.

At this age the larva becomes attached to the walls of the ves-

sel in which it is confined preparatory to the secretion of a shell.

In many specimens, however, the following condition, which

although probably abnormal, was most advantageous to a study

_ of the secretion of the tube, was observed. The free larva often ,

1 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., Vol. x1, No. 9.

?I do not consider that the worm represented in fig. 57 of A. Agassiz’s paper (af.

cit.) is, when compared with fig. 56, an instance of retrograde development. Fig.

ete 57 bears a strong likeness to d/aurina prolifera commonly looked upon not as an

> amnelid but as a turbellarian. If the worm is an Alaurina I cannot regard the larva

~ :Tepresented in fig. 56 as its young. The adult of fig. 56 is unknown, and it is ex-

_ tremely doubtful that it ever loses its cephalic spines and appendages and passes into

a fig. 57. It may or may not resemble beens sox in a subsequent modification of the

os tentacles into branchiz.

1885.] On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. 255

does not immediately settle to the bottom prior to the se-

cretion of the case in which it lives, but passes through pre-

liminary stages while floating on the water. Upon the sur-

face of my aquaria, with its Spirorbis, I found a multitude of

small white bodies, unattached, which on close examination were

found to be Spirorbis larve in which the shell had just begun to

be secreted. They float on the surface for a short time until the

increasing specific gravity of their bodies sinks them to their

future homes.

Fig. 15 represents an example of a larva of this kind in which

the head and collar is half protruded outside of the cavity of the

case in which the larva is found. The head and branchial appen-

dages occupy the middle of the figure at the top, while the ex-

panded trumpet-shaped structure below it is the half protruded

collar. It is extremely difficult to draw accurately the outlines of

a specimen of Spirorbis in this stage when wholly or partially

expanded and alive, from the fact that the movements are so

quick in retracting itself into the case, and the animal is/so sensi-

tive to any small motion in the immediate vicinity. It has been

almost impossible for me to observe the expanded Spirorbis long

enough to draw anything more than a simple outline with the

camera, This difficulty increased with the growth in age of

Spirorbis.

The case or shell of the larva, Fig. 15, is not at first coiled, but `

slightly curved, horn-shaped, well formed at its larger end, with

less solid walls at the smaller extremity. The most prominent

structure in the body of the larva is an oblong mass of cells of

brick red color seen through the transparent walls of the shell.

In the next stage (F ig. 16) which was also found floating on the

surface of the water, the shell has elongated and become par-

tially coiled, but is still transparent and in places more or less

- flexible in character. The larva now occupies not more than

one-half of the whole length of the case when the appendages to

the head are expanded. Fig. 16 represents this larva taken on

the surface of the water prior to attaching itself to some foreign

object. The branchial appendages to the head are more com-

pletely developed in this than in previous conditions in the

_ growth of Spirorbis. The ciliation upon them is also more con-

spicuous than in previous embryos. The operculum is repre-

sented on the right hand side of the figure.

256 On the Larval Forms of Spirorbis borealis. (March,

The collar, which when the head is extended from the case, is

reflexed over the edge of the shell, is clothed with minute cilia.

As in previous larve, drawings are very difficult to make on ac-

count of the quick motion in the retraction of the head, in this

the difficulties are even greater. A camera drawing of the case

is, however, very easy to obtain from its more solid nature. The

soft parts were taken from a specimen which was dead, but not

distorted by the conservative fluids in which it was preserved,

On the body of the worm three pairs of spines, which are hook-

shaped at their extremities and connected with the body walls by

strong muscles, were observed. These spines are placed as in

early stages upon the anterior body region, and are very promi-

nent. The posterior body region is destitute of spines in this

stage. One of the most conspicuous structures in the body of

the worm is a large oblong mass, of reddish color, easily seen

through the transparent walls of the case which encloses the

worm. The size of the worm is 2™" measured from one side of

the coiled case to the opposite side.

EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES.

' cap, capsule in which the embryo is enclosed.

6s, covering in which the ‘‘strings ” of ova are found.

Éj, projections which later grow together and form the collar.

r, posterior body region,

za, tentacle.

PLATE XI.

Fic. 1.—The terminal egg of a string in its capsule pies segmentation and formation

of layers and cilia. Larva in capsule and chai

(Figs. 2-4, the same embryo still in eile older than the last.)

2.—Lateral view.

3.—From posterior pole. Larva in capsule iid chain.

4.—From ventral side. ;

(Figs. 5-7, still older larva.)

5.—Lateral view.

6.—Ventral view,

7-—View from anterior pole.

8. eres view of a larva slightly more mature than the last.

9.—Old from ventral surface just before escape from its capsule, Ter-

minal larva in the chain, aig a

1885.] Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation, etc. 257

Fic. 10,—Free young captured on surface of the water in glass jar containing speci-

mens of the adult. Size 1™™,

“ 11,—View of the head of a young Spirorbis older than the last with the begin-

ning of the operculum and the right hand tentacle, seen from the dorsal side.

PLATE XII.

Fic. 12.—Side view of a larva of the same age.

“« 13.—The same larva older, seen from the dorsal side.

“. 14.—An older larva seen from the ventral side.

“ 15.—Larval Spirorbis which has just begun to secrete its shell, shown with the

collar and head partly protruded.

“ 16.—An older larva with shell more completely formed than in the last. The

head and collar are extruded. Size 2™™

A’

Ie.

PENNSYLVANIA BEFORE AND AFTER THE ELEVA-

TION OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS,

A STUDY IN DYNAMICAL GEOLOGY.

BY PROFESSOR E. W. CLAYPOLE.

HE geologist traveling or working among the contorted

strata of Pennsylvania can scarcely escape being struck by

the immense compression which the rocks of that part of the

country experienced during the folding process which was the

first stage in the formation of its mountain ranges. By this term

I do not mean merely the condensation of the rock-masses by

the tangential pressure to which the folds are due, but the actual

shortening of the surface which must have resulted from the

folding.

Doubtless the thought has occurred to others, but I do not

recollect seeing it put forward or developed to its legitimate con-

clusions. Yet it is obvious that so extensive a corrugation of

the earth’s crust manifesting itself by the production of several

wide anticlinal arches, from which the present mountains have

been carved, must have been accompanied by a diminution of the

area over which those strata previously extended.

To measure as nearly as practicable the extent of this contrac-

tion of the surface and to set forth the more important conclu-

sions deducible therefrom are the objects of this paper.’

To prevent undue extension in treating the subject, it will be

necessary to assume certain propositions. These will be here

1 An abstract of this paper was read before the British Association at Montreal in

August, 1884.

VOL, XIX,—NO. UI 74

258 Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation [March,

mentioned. They are, I think, now fully accepted by all dynami-

cal geologists.

1. That cooling and consequent shrinkage taking place in the

earth’s heated interior, must produce and have produced tangen-

tial pressure in the hardened and cooled crust.

2. That this tangential pressure overcoming the rigidity of the

crust has produced deformation or crumpling.

3. That this crumpling of the strata was the first and leading

factor in the production of mountain-ranges which have been

carved by meteoric action out of the folds this produced.

4. That the folds out of which the Appalachian mountains

have been carved were formed during the later part of the Palzo-

zoic era.

Yet further to limit the subject and bring it within the bounds

of practicable treatment, another exclusion must be made. Mid-

dle Pennsylvania, from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, is occupied by an

almost continuous succession of arches of the folded Paleozoic

rocks. Some of these are closely pressed, others are more open,

- some are long, ranging for many miles from north-east to south-

west, others run only a few miles. Some involve a great breadth

of country, others extend over only a few hundred yards. To

take account of all these is impossible. The geography and

geology of the State are not yet sufficiently known to supply the

details, and the space at command is too small to discuss them if

supplied. I therefore propose to omit all the less important ones

and to consider only the leading mountain ranges of Appalachian

Pennsylvania. i

The number of these varies in different places, but not so as to

seriously affect the results sought. Thirteen principal ridges tra-

verse the middle of the State from north-east to south-west. All

these may be cut by a line drawn from a point near Warrior's

Mark in Huntingdon county, to another ten miles south-west of

Carlisle.

These thirteen ranges are the following:

13. Allegheny mountain. 6. West Shade mountain.

12. Bald Eagle “ 5. Tuscarora ?

11. Tussey - 4. Conecocheague “

10. Standing Stone * 3. Bower “

9. Jacks x 2. Blue “

8. Blue Ridge. T. South s

PLATE XIII.

Allegheny

S N, Bald Lag

, Tusseys X

N Standing Stone

Ne 1

tad ;

h E Tacks

y Biue Ridge co ie X

ji Black Log Ss

? Wist Shade, _ N

iS ( Ps tees IN

an Tascarora S

; Crecocheague :

S Bower

= em >

= a xy

ea A

— ey

South `

8 \

$ 2 \ ;

| \

\ 4

x +

tel

SS) y 3

in y,

y *

1885. ] of the Appalachian Mountains. 259

From this list I shall exclude the first because it consists in

great part of gneissic rocks whose bedding is doubtful and

difficult of detection, and the thirteenth because its strata are of

later date than those of the other ranges. There remain, there-

fore, for discussion eleven distinct mountains, rudely parallel, and,

for Pennsylvania, of the first order. To prevent misconception

or objection I should state that all these ranges are composed,

medially, of the same rock—the massive Medina sandstone—the

base of the Silurian system proper in Pennsylvania. The possi-

ble error of counting the same dip more than once is, by this

fact, evaded.

The line of section above mentioned is sixty-five miles long,

and may be divided naturally into two parts. One extends from

its north-western end to the Blue mountains, and the other from

the Blue mountains to its south-eastern end. The first division

is forty-nine miles long and crosses all the eleven ranges of moun-

tains above named. The second is sixteen miles long, and

crosses only the Cumberland valley.

The line lies in six counties, among which it is distributed as

follows :

Blair 2 miles.

Huntingdon 24 «8

Mifflin oS

Juniata poom

erry 9o

Cumberland........ ap ee

The accompanying plan exhibits the relation of the eleven

ranges to one another, and the section shews the position of the

bed of Medina sandstone which forms the axis of each.

The problem is now reduced to finding the length of the line

representing this bed of sandstone in its present contorted condi-

tion, for that must represent, approximately at least, its original

extent when spread out flat.

Taking first its north-western portion forty-nine miles in length

I have drawn it as nearly as possible to scale on the accompany-

ing diagram. I propose now to make a deduction of twenty

miles for the flattish tops of the arches and bottoms of the

troughs—an allowance which is, I think, in excess of the truth.

This deduction leaves twenty-nine miles of strata, dipping more

or less steeply, often standing nearly vertical, sometimes over-

260 > Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation [March,

thrown and probably at most exposures approaching or exceed-

ing a dip of 45°. Over this distance I propose to assume an

average dip of 40°, which to me seems fairly to represent the

facts and to be rather below than above the truth. A simple cal-

culation then proves that these twenty-nine miles of strata, if flat-

tened out, would measure about thirty-eight miles.

If from the accompanying section the distances representing

these twenty-nine miles are taken out and measured by the scale,

a result in close agreement with the above will be obtained. The

two confirm each other.

In regard to the Cumberland valley the problem is more diffi-

cult. South of the Blue mountain the structure of the country

is very different. Here the Medina sandstone is lost, having been

entirely removed by erosion, and we are consequently compelled

to adopt another stratum. The valley consists entirely of Cam-

bro-Silurian limestone and slate dipping steeply, and the latter

showing strongly developed cleavage. On the north-western

sides of the arches the strata are usually inverted. It is evident

at once that compression has here been much greater and the

tangential compressing force much more intense than along the

other portion of the line. Professor Rogers says in the Geologi-

cal Survey of Pennsylvania (Vol. 1, p. 240) :

“ The dip of the south-eastern leg of the arch is from 45° to

60°, while that of the north-western inverted side is from 60° to

80°.” “The formations repeat themselves in several narrow,

short and parallel anticlinal and synclinal outcrops. They are

- folded into a very uniform steep south-eastern dip in a series of

compressed flexures, readily discernible on the Cumberland Val-

ley Railroad. Along the south-eastern margin of the valley so

general is the inversion of the folded limestone that this forma-

tion appears everywhere to dip under the primal rocks of the

South mountains, and had we not fully established their true

position we might imagine the former to be the lower or older

group ” (p. 1113).

Adopting Professor Rogers’s figures, it is clear that the results

obtainable from the Cumberland valley must far exceed in pro-

portion those above given from the counties lying farther to the

north-west. The dips above stated show that the inverted sides

of the arches altogether underlie the others, and the measure-

ments obtained for them must therefore be added to those found

for the south-eastern or uninverted sides. The latter will be first

PLATE XIV.

Mountain Ranges of Middle Pennsylvania.

1885.] of the Appalachian Mountains. 261

In consequence of the condition of the strata it is exceedingly

difficult to determine in the field the number of folds occurring in

the valley. It is not probable, moreover, that they are regular or

constant. The beds involved are, however, about a mile in thick-

ness, so that there can scarcely be less than eight arches in the

sixteen miles. If then for the south-eastern legs we adopt Pro-

fessor Rogers’s lowest angle of dip, or 45°, and for the north-

western sides his lowest estimate, or 60°, and plat these to scale,

we have the following result :

The Cumberland valley, sixteen miles wide, consists of at least

eight overthrown anticlinal arches, the crest of each of which

overlaps to some extent the base of that following it. This will

be clear from an inspection of the diagram, where a single bed of

rock is shown folded as required by the conditions above given.

A B C, &c., are the successive crests of the arches formed by the

stratum. X Y represents the present surface of the ground.

a bc are the bases of the synclines corresponding to the arches.

Taking into consideration the mid-layer of the stratum repre-

sented by QOS TU V, &c., which will represent the actual

length of the folded bed, a short mathematical calculation will

prove that O Q is 3.3 times as long as R Q. R Q representing

one mile, O NV will therefore represent 6.6 miles. All the eight

south-eastern legs of the arches will consequently measure about -

fifty-two miles.

In like manner we find that the length of the line O R, com-

pared with R Q, is 2.7. Consequently the length of the line O S

represents 5.4 miles and the eight north-western sides of the arches

amount to forty-three miles.

Again, a reference to the figure will show that the north-west-

ern side of each arch underlies its south-eastern side, so that its

whole length must be added to the figures previously obtained.

Summing up results, we find :

Twenty-nine miles at 40° dip, 0 38 miles.

Eight anticlinal arches in Pe valley— ,

astern sides. ss =

No Aas sides.. 43

Add twenty miles for flat strata, as previously deducted.,...20

nee

Total. 153

In other terms this means that a tract of the earth’s surface

measuring originally 153 miles from south-east to north-west has

262 Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation [March,

been so crushed and compressed that its present breadth along

the line of section is only sixty-five miles. Of this shortening

the greater part has been suffered by the Cumberland valley,

where ninety-five miles of country have been compressed into

sixteen miles.

The diagram shows the distribution of the compression among

the different counties. Approximately it may be represented by

the following figures :

ORIGINAL AND PRESENT EXTENT OF THE COUNTIES ALONG THE LINE OF

SECTION

Original extent. Present extent.

Blair..... a i i

a a T E E ere se Pee ae 26 « 24 oa

MG 0. care Us pebIeS. os He. Gs 6 «

Juniata ; ee ¢. s 8 66

Perry oe 12 ét 9

58 49

Cumberland , oas e 16 4

153 “ec 65 (Zi

These facts may be thus expressed. During the compression

and corrugation of the crust to which the mountains of Pennsyl-

vania owe their origin, the south-east line of Huntingdon county

was moved forward two miles, that of Mifflin four miles, that of

Juniata six miles, that of Perry nine miles and that of Cumberland

eighty-eight miles. Consequently the whole of Mifflin county

was shoved, at the least, two miles to the north-west, the whole of

Juniata county four miles, the whole of Perry county six miles

and the whole of Cumberland county nine miles over the under-

lying deeper strata. The possibility, still less the reality, of

mass-motion of this kind and to this extent, has not, it seems to

me, been generally recognized by geologists.

The movement of course diminished toward the north-west in

consequence of the increasing resistance offered by the increasing

load, and came at length to nothing beyond the limits of Penn-

sylvania. Ohio was the great buffer-plate against which this tre-

mendous earth-force spent itself. The south-eastern portion of

_ the district—the Cumberland valley—and even probably some

Saat considerable area beyond it to the south-east felt its first and

~ mightiest pressure. There the strata were crumpled, bent, crushed

- and thereby thickened until it became easier to shove them bodily

_ forward than to bend them again. They were consequently added

PLATE XV.

— ee = l -n yl l M U

1885. ] of the Appalachian Mountains. 263

as a snow-plough in front of the mighty engine, and in their turn

communicated the movement and the crumpling to the north-

western country beyond them.

It is possible that considerable correction might be made in

these figures if more accurate details of structure were attainable.

This correction might be in either direction. That it would not

all tend to diminish the result seems clear from the following

considerations :

(1) No account is taken of the condensation of the strata

during compression.

(2) The line of section does not pass through the most dis-

torted district.

(3) All effects of compression in and beyond the South mount-

ain and west of the Bald Eagle range are disregarded.

(4) The summits of the arches and the bottoms of the troughs ~

are assumed to be, but are not quite flat.

(5) No account is taken of numerous intermediate minor folds

or of several faults, at some of which the older strata to the

south-east have been shoved uphill over the edge of the newer

north-western beds at an angle which observation does not yet

enable us to determine.

On the other hand the height of the creases in the Cumber-

berland valley may be somewhat less than that shown in the dia-

gram and assumed in the calculation. All these minor considera-

tions cannot affect the main point at issue. The figures above

given indicate a compression of the superficial layer of the crust

in Pennsylvania during the process of crumpling by which eighty-

eight miles of the surface have disappeared, sixty-five miles at

present being all that remain from a former breadth of 153 miles.

Even if only one-half of these figures be taken into account, the

problem remains equally difficult. How can such a shortening

of the surface be accounted for?

We are at no loss for a force competent to produce it. The

tangential pressure developed by a contracting nucleus under a

solid crust is amply sufficient to deform and corrugate that crust.

But to realize the effect which this tangential pressure has pro-

duced is less easy. ag ee

A shortening of the circumference by eighty-eight miles is

equivalent to a shortening of the diameter of the earth by about

twenty-seven miles. Are we prepared to admit that the globe

264 Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation [March,

actually contracted to that extent during the formation of the

Appalachian earth-folds? If not, how shall the facts above stated

be explained ?

The suggestion has been made that the subsidence of the

present bed of the Atlantic from a continental level in late Palæ-

ozoic days may have supplied the necessary compressing force

and have produced the shortening here pointed out. But the

cause is totally inadequate. Supposing that the whole Atlantic

area had subsided from the mean height of one mile above sea-

level to five miles below it at’its middle or deepest point—a max-

imum supposition—then a short calculation will prove that the

new and flattened arc so produced, of 60° in extent, would meas-

ure only about three miles less than the previously existing one.

This amount, if wholly expended in crushing the thick Appa-

lachian sediments, would evidently be far from sufficient for the

solution of our problem.

Without therefore denying the occurrence of such a subsi-

dence, we can lay it out of the case as inadequate.

Is it possible to believe that there was an accumulation of

strain on the crust during preceding ages, which was relieved by

the occurrence of this paroxysmal compression and corrugation.

Such a supposition would meet with strong opponents in many

quarters.

Mathematicians tell us that the crust cannot endure the strain

which would be caused by the shrinking away of the nucleus in

consequence of contraction, but must close down at once upon

the latter as it sinks. Some of them add that this would be the

case were it many times as resistent as now. If so, any such .

_ accumulation of strain is evidently impossible.

_ But there is a possibility that the interior of the earth may be

of such a nature as to allow of some considerable amount of

shrinkage without leaving the crust completely unsupported.

This partial support might enable contraction to proceed for some

time before the closure of the crust upon the shrinking nucleus

followed. A cellular structure about the place of junction be-

> tween the cool and heated portion might render possible such a

condition of things. Our ignorance of the earth’s interior is at

present so dense that any supposition which does not clash with

_ well established facts is admissible for the purpose of argument.’

= 1In this connection I may remark that since writing the above passage I find that

1885.] of the Appalachian Mountains. 265

The mathematical solution of geological problems such as

that now under consideration is far from being satisfactory to

geologists. Without in the least undervaluing the labors of the

many eminent mathematicians who have taken the subject in

hand, I may plainly assert that the conditions are yet too little

known to enable them to apply their processes with complete

success. The mill grinds out its meal according to the nature of

the grist supplied, but cannot change its quality. So the math-

ematical engine, of whatever kind, works out its conclusions

from the premises given. If these are full and true the results

cannot be false, But if these are insufficient and half unknown,

or if any of them are much limited and modified, the results are

to an uncertain extent invalidated. This is the case with almost

all investigations dealing with the condition of the earth’s inte-

rior. In order to bring them within the grasp of mathematical

formulas the data of the problem are narrowed down or altered

to so great a degree that the conclusion, though true for these, is

false for the actual data. A logical fallacy lurks in the argument.

The reasoning deals with an imaginary earth possessing certain

comparatively simple characters. The conclusion when obtained

is applied to the real earth, whose characters are much more

complicated. The confusion lies in the employment of the term

“earth” in two different senses—a logical fallacy of the first mag-

nitude, and one whose insinuation into any geological problem

must be avoided with the utmost care if conclusions of value are

anticipated,

Hence without any expressed or implied disrespect to the

mathematician, the geologist may receive his arguments on geo-

Dr. T. Sterry Hunt has recently, in the discussion of a different subject, put forward

some views which deserve mention in this connection, and may not be without bear-

ing upon the matter in hand, He has dwelt strongly on the universally crumpled

ble region. Much less is : t

ranges of metamorphic strata than of the Appalachian mountains. What is sup-

posable at one stage need not, however, be absurd at another, and I am glad to be

able to quote Dr, Hunt’s words, even if only in a slight degree conveying 4 sugges-

tion similar to my own.

266 Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation [March,

logical problems with great reserve. While he welcomes all aid

from this quarter for his difficult tasks, he should not allowa

mathematical deduction of the kind above mentioned to prevent

his acceptance of a contradictory physical deduction from ob-

served facts. If the latter warrant any inference out of harmony

with the former, there is at least a possibility that the latter may

be right. And in our discussions regarding the interior of the

earth we are in this condition. The data of the problem are as

yet too obscure and uncertain for the mathematical engine, and

physical deductions from observation claim and deserve at least

_ equal consideration.

If then the facts here detailed justify the interpretation put

upon them, they lead to conclusions which, if admitted by a few

geologists, have certainly not been generally asserted. If these

indications of contraction are acknowledged to the full extent

here given, or even to any considerable portion of that extent,

they require admissions and lead to conclusions for which all are

not prepared, and to which not a few will be strongly opposed.

If the eastern seaboard of North America has, by tangential pres-

sure, been shortened so that a line originally 153 miles long now

_Measures only sixty-five miles, the circumference of the earth

must be lessened to that extent. Consequently the admission of

the statement here made involves an admission that the diameter

of the earth was diminished by about one-third of this amount,

or that. its radius was shortened thirteen miles by contrac-

tion during the later part of the Paleozoic era. Geology is not

fully prepared for this conclusion, and astronomy is perhaps less

ready for it. Yet, unless one or the other can find some better

explanation, the unwillingness to admit is not a sufficient reason

for rejecting it.

It is not the object of this paper to consider and discuss the

_ various objections that must arise to the conclusion above stated.

_ And such discussion would require more space than can be here

occupied. A few words in conclusion must suffice.

Possibly, though in treading on so uncertain a ground and in so

dim a light I wish to advance with the greatest caution, aware

that every step may be in the wrong direction, yet possibly there

_ are indications to be found elsewhere which may render the infer-

~= Ence above drawn a litile less startling, even if they do not bring

ay within the bounds of oe, credibility. Spasmodic action with

———— Jaa a aaan a =

1885.] of the Appalachian Mountains. 267

intervals of repose is a usual mode of operation in nature. With-

out going back to earlier days, whose events are more obscure, I

will consider only the later geological history of our globe. And

here are not wanting evidences of similar changes. Admitting

that cooling and consequent internal contraction have been, by

physical necessity, continuous, there seem to be indications that

the subsequent corrugation of the crust has been to some extent

spasmodic. Beyond doubt the formation of arches and troughs

by compression of the strata has occurred in almost every era.

Perhaps when we know the whole earth we may find no time of

perfect repose. But since the Palzozoic era ended there has been

at least one period during which the process again rose into great

prominence, eclipsing perhaps that which it exhibited in Palzo-

zoic days. Anticlinal arches can be found of almost every date

in Secondary time. But after the beginning of the Tertiary age,

and through a great part of its duration, their development be-

came wonderful. Almost all the great mountain ranges date from

this era. Strip from the earth the mountains of Tertiary date

and it would lose nearly all its grandest features, and would be

reduced to a comparatively monotonous plain. The Rocky

mountains and the Andes in the western world, and in the east

the Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians and the

Himalayas, with other minor chains, all date back to about Mid-

tertiary days. And the elevation of so many lofty anticlinal

folds, in comparatively a short time, threw into the shade all

events of the kind that had occurred since the great Appalachian

revolution. It is not yet possible to estimate, still less to mea-

sure, the folds of these ranges, but it impossible to doubt that

they would yield results scarcely less, and perhaps greater, than

those which I have given for Pennsylvania.

- What then must be our conclusion? Must we incline to the

belief that our earth has much diminished in size.since the middle

of Paleozoic time? Must we admit that this diminution amounts

to many miles? That the radius is thirteen miles shorter than it

then was, and the circumference less by six times that amount?

Apparently there is no escape.

One word more. Is not the admission amet ? Is not the

denial unreasonable? If the earth is a cooling and contracting

globe the result must surely be evident in the long ages that have

elapsed since the Appalachian earth-folds arose. If the corru-

268 Pennsylvania before and after the Elevation, etc. (March,

gation due to contraction in that interval is inappreciable, what

an enormous time must be allotted to the earlier stages of geo-

logical history! Even allowing for a greater rate of cooling

in those earlier days, the time will surpass all that geologists

have demanded, and be more difficult of admission than the

contraction here contended for. It is not easy to admit that cool-

ing, contraction and crumpling have been important factors in the

formation of the surface of our globe, and at the same time to

deny that their action has been perceptible or important since

Mid-palzozoic ages, that is during a lapse of time amounting

probably to not less than fifteen millions of years.

Further, it is not impossible or improbable that the facts and in-

ferences here detailed may be useful in the solution of some diffi-

cult geological problems, especially regarding the older rocks.

If mass-motion to so great an extent has taken place in the

earth’s crust since Paleozoic time began—if the tangential

thrust has produced lateral movements in the rocks such as

those here described and others which might have been men-

` tioned—if strata have slid bodily over strata for great distances,

and whole counties have been shoved for miles out of their pre-

vious places, it is obvious that enormous lateral displacement of

strata must be recognized as a momentous factor in geology, and

that older beds may be found far out of their expected places and

` even overlying newer ones. Into this subject, however, I cannot

now enter, but leave it with the single remark that the greatest

caution and reserve must be manifested and every element of

doubt eliminated before we can confidently assert that in regions

of disturbance the upper is the ater deposit.

I may be allowed to repeat in conclusion that the inferences

here deduced do not rest on exact accuracy in the figures em-

ployed. Were they considerably in excess of the truth the.

argument would still hold good. Even the half of the amount

of contraction involved would far surpass-what geologists have

_ been in the habit of claiming or astronomers of allowing.

1885] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 269

LIFE AND NATURE IN SOUTHERN LABRADOR.

BY A. S, PACKARD.

HE following recollections of our student days are offered

with the suggestion that our college boys of the present day

might spend to advantage the long summer vacation in cruising

on our northern coasts, and combine in agreeable proportions

science and travel.

In the summer of 1860, while a student in Bowdoin College, I

joined the Williams College expedition to Labrador and Green-

land under the charge of Professor P. A. Chadbourne. June

27th found us on board the Nautilus, a staunch schooner of about

140 tons, commanded by Capt. Randlett. Soon after five o’clock

of a bright fresh morning our vessel cast off from the wharf at

Thomaston, Me. The Thomaston band played a lively air, a

clergyman made a parting address, calling down the blessings of

heaven upon the argonauts; our Nestor replied, the students

cheering for the citizens of Thomaston and the band, and with a

favoring north-west wind the Nautilus, gliding down the current”

of the St. George’s river, a deep fiord, in a couple of hours

reached the open sea.

Our course lay inside of Monhegan, with its high, bold sea

wall. Passing on, the Camden hills recede, and we endeavor with

the glass to make out the White mountains, said by some to have

been seen by Weymouth from inside of Monhegan. The ocean

swell not being conducive to historical controversy, we turn to

watch the Mother Carey’s chickens and the grampus as well as the

fin-back whales sporting in the waves.

By the next morning we had sailed 190 miles from Thomaston,

past Cape Sable, and our north-west wind still attending, we bowl

along, through schools of porpoise, while two or three whales

pass within a few fathoms of our vessel, showing their huge

whitish backs. The next day our seven-knot breeze does not fail

us, and takes us by the 30th into a region of light winds and

calms off the Gut of Canso.

July 1st we sail along Cape Breton island, its red shores glis-

tening in the noon-day sun and then mantled with purple as the

sun goes down over Louisbourg. As darkness sets in the lights of

Sidney appear. The next morning's sun rose on Cape Ray,

around which we beat, passing within a mile of Channels, a fish-

270 Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. [ March,

ing village of Newfoundland, behind which rise steep hills clothed

with “tucking-bush,” or dwarf spruce and larch. Cape Ray

pushes boldly into the sea, its precipitous sides of decomposed

sandstone furrowed by the rains which pour down its scarred

cheeks, on which still linger banks of the last winter’s snows.

By the next evening we pass Cape St. Georges. The 4th was

celebrated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence amid fog and rain. It

was succeeded by a twenty-four hours’ gale, rather severe for the

season, which tested the excellent qualities of the Nautilus as a

sea boat. This being our first storm at sea was enjoyed more

keenly than similar gales in after years. The sea swept our

deck, but only a few drops entered the cabin. The experience

was novel and interesting, fortunately we were not sea sick; the

long waves sloped up like far-reaching hills; sea birds rode on

their crests, and the wind, like a swarm of furies, tore through

our rigging. There were but occasional glimpses from the com-

panion way of our dark, close cabin, redolent with the stench of

the bilge water. The storm abated after sunset, and the morning

‘ of the 6th found us only fifty miles from Caribou island. Toward

noon the first iceberg was seen; others came into view, some

stranded, others floating on the sea.

The evening was a glorious one; after a gorgeous sunset, the

twilight lasting until after ten o’clock, the moon rose upon berg

and sea. We were’ in an arctic ocean; creatures born in the

Greenland seas floated past our vessel, and while becalmed at

night we fish up from a depth of sixty or seventy fathoms a

basket starfish (Astrophyton agassizii) large enough to cover the ~

bottom of a pail.

The impressions made on our minds the next day as we ap-

proached the coast and passed in shore, winding through the

labyrinth of islands fringing the main land, are ineffaceable.

That and other days in Southern Labrador are stamped indelibly

on our mind. It was passing from the temperate zone into the

life and nature of the arctic regions. There is a .strange com-

mingling of life-forms in the Straits of Belle Isle. The flora and

fauna of the boreal regions struggling, as it were, to displace the

arctic forms established on these shores since the ice period, when

Labrador was mantled in perennial snow and ice, when the great

: : auk, the walrus and the narwhal abounded in the waters of the

- _ Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Greenland flora, represented by

1885.] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 271

the Arenaria grenlandica, the dwarf cranberry, and the curlew

berry or black Empetrum, nestled among the snow and ice of the

glacier-ridden hills.

We landed on the morning of July 7th, and I was astonished

at the richness of the arctic flora which carpeted the more level

portions of the island. Groves of dwarfed alders, over which

one could look while sitting down, crowded the sides of the val-

leys, watered by rills of pure ice-cold water. The groves of

spruce and hackmatack were of the same lilliputian height. In

the glades of these dwarfed forests, and scattered over the moss-

covered rocks and bogs were Cornus canadensis, two varieties in

flower; Kalmia glauca was in profusion, as attractive a flower as

any ; the curlew berry (Empetrum nigrum), the dwarf cranberry,

with other flowers and grasses characteristic of the arctic and

Alpine regions. Particularly noticeable were the clumps of dwarf

willow from six inches to a foot in height, now in flower and vis-

ited by the arctic humble bee and other wild bees. Other insects

of subarctic and arctic types were numerous, among them a geom-

etrid moth (Rheumaptera hastata), which extends from the Alps

and snow fields of Lapland around through Greenland and Lab-

rador to the mountain regions of Maine, New Hampshire and

Northern New York. The flies, beetles and other forms had an

arctic aspect, showing that on the shores of the Straits of Belle

Isle the insect fauna is largely tinged with circumpolar forms,

On the 7th of July our party of seven men landed, lodged in

a Sibley tent, and the Nautilus left us for the Greenland seas with

the majority of our party. Our tent, provisions and baggage be-

‘coming soaked with the rain and dampness; two days after, we

moved over to Caribou island and built a house of Canada clap-

boards, kindly loaned for the purpose by the Rev. C. C. Carpen-

ter, missionary to Southern Labrador, for whom a large frame

house, sheltering under its roof a chapel, study and living rooms

was building.

A Canadian clapboard is twelve inches long and six inches

wide; with these and a few joists two of the party built a house

twelve feet square, which sheltered us from the sun and the black

flies, and only leaked when it stormed, which happened regularly

twice a week, usually Wednesdays and Sundays. Six berths were

put up on the north side (the seventh man was accommodated in

the mission house); a wide board placed on two flour barrels at

272 Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. [March,

the west end served as a dining and study table, and in the south-

east corner a little stove, not over fifteen inches square, with a

funnel whose elbow, projecting out-of-doors, had to be turned

with every change of wind, was the focus, the modernized hearth-

stone, over which hung our Lares and Penates, sundry hams and

pieces of dried beef, piéces-de-resistance of our meals, often allevi-

ated by game and fish, clams and scollops or pussels (Pecten magel-

Janicus), with oases of seal and whale flesh. How we college boys

cooked and ate, rambled and slept in those seven weeks of sub-

arctic life is a subject of pleasant memory. They were days of

rare pleasure, of continuous health, and formed an experience

whose value lasted through our future lives. We made hunting,

ornithological, entomological, botanical and dredging expeditions

in all directions, by sea and land; the geology, and the flora and

fauna were explored with zeal, and resulted in the discovery of

many new forms and the detection of Alpine and arctic European

species before unknown to this continent. We investigated the

Quaternary formation, ice marks, drift and fossil shells ; procured

fossils of the Cambrian red sandstone beds, chiefly a sponge

(a new species of Archzocyathus), which were scattered along the

shore, probably derived from the red sandstone strata so well de-

veloped at Bradore, also visited by some of our party. The re-

sults were perhaps of some importance to science, and the lessons

in natural science we learned of far greater moment to ourselves.

The coast of Labrador is fringed with islands, large and small,

from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Hudson's strait. A sail-

boat can go with safety from one point to the other, and only

occasionally will be exposed to the ocean swell. These islands

are the exact counterpart of each other, differing mainly only in

size and altitude. Caribou island was two or three miles in

length, formed of Laurentian gneiss, which had been worn and

molded by glaciers, Its scenic features recalled those of the more

rugged portions of the coast of Maine, particularly in Penobscot

bay and Mt. Desert. The higher portions of the island is of bare

rounded rock, with deep valleys or fissures down which run little

rills; these valleys are dense with ferns, shelter many insects, and

where they widen out into the lower land support a growth of

dwarf spruce, hackmatack and willow. In the more protected

e | : ~ Parts a few poplars and mountain ash rise to a height of from ten

ane to fifteen feet. The Alpine vegetation is mostly confined to the ex-

1885.] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 273

posed boggy places or moors, in which are pools of water, sup-

porting water boatmen, case worms, aquatic beetles and numer-

ous water fleas, and an occasional hair worm or Gordius.

‘Along the lower portions by the shores are patches of salt

marsh with {shallow pools of water, which in the spring and

autumn are undoubtedly frequented by ducks and geese, though

only a few of the former were to be seen. Indeed, I was sur-

prised to see so few sea-fowl. They were principally the parro-

quet, which abounded on the sea a mile or two away from shore.

A favorite breeding place of this most interesting of arctic birds

was in the soft red Cambrian sandstone of Bradore, an island

lying fifteen miles easterly from Caribou island. With their pow-

erful parrot-like beaks they excavate the crumbling rock, extend-

ing their galleries in to the distance of several feet. Three of our

party made an expedition to this well-known breeding resort, and

in thrusting their hands into the burrows received an occasional

bite from the sharp strong bills of the birds, which was not soon

forgotten. Ducks were occasionally seen, the eider duck and

also the coot, as well as the loon, both the northern diver and the

red-necked loon. Shore birds, particularly the ring-necked plo-

ver, and others ot its family, abounded, while the most familiar

bird was a white-headed sparrow which nested near our camp.

It was not yet the time for the curlews. About the middle of

July the shelldrake and coot, which breed in the inland ponds,

lead out their young and appear in great numbers. The old ones

are wary and hard to shoot, but the young will then be in fine

condition. At this time the “long-shore-men” abandon their

diet of salt pork, bread and molasses, and feast on game, for then

we were assured they have “ great plenty fowl.”

In August, also, one or two families of the red Indians or mount-

aineers of the interior come down to the mouth of the Esqui-

maux, or “ Hawskimaw ” river, as it is pronounced by the settlers,

to hunt seal, especially the young, and ducks as well as curlew. ©

These Indians are entirely governed in their wandering by the

situation of the deer and other game. One may travel a hundred

miles up the Esquimaux river without meeting them. 2

I saw but a single Esquimaux man at Caribou island. His

low stature, his prominent, angular cheek bones, pentagonal

face and straight black hair sufficiently characterized his stock.

The only other native Esquimaux was the wife of an Englishman,

VOL. XIX.—NO. III. 18 ‘

274 Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. [March,

John Goddard, the “ King of Labrador,” who lived on a point of

land three miles west of Caribou island. She was a famous hun-

ter, would go out in a boat, shoot a seal and dress it, making

boots and moccasins from the skin. Whether these Esquimaux

had strayed down from the north or, as I suspect, were the rem-

nants of their people who may have inhabited the entire coast

from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the arctic regions, deserves fur-

ther investigation.

Few mammals were to be seen. The deer and caribou were

confined to the mainland. On our island was a white fox, or

rather a blue one, for his summer pelage was of a slate color.

His burrow was situated in a hill side behind our house. He

would prowl about our camp at night, and he might have known

that it was unsafe to come within reach of our guns. His skin

undoubtedly adorns the museum of the Lyceum of Natural His-

tory of Williams College.

A weazel also visited our camp. The otter frequents the

brooks at the head of Salmon and Esquimaux rivers. In winter

they rarely come outside, 2. 2., to the coast.

It is well known that in Newfoundland the bears, especially

those living near shore, will eat fish, their diet being mixed, and

such bears are more savage than those.in the interior which

live chiefly on berries and ants. While on Caribou island a fish-

erman living a mile and a half from us had his sea-trout nets

invaded by two old bears accompanied by a young one; at low

water they would walk out to the nets, tearing them apart in

order to eat the fish.

Speaking of trout, there are two kinds; one living in the

brooks and lakes, the other the sea trout, a handsome fish about

twelve inches in length, whose food we found consisted of a sur-

face-swimming marine shrimp, the Mysis oculata, which lives in-

immense shoals. The sea trout is taken in nets, and so far as

we experimented do not, in salt water, rise to the fly.

Although it was now the 15th of July the warmer summer

weather had not yet come, we were told by the people on shore.

There is, however, scarcely any spring in Labrador. The rivers

open and the snow disappears by the roth of June as a rule, and

then the short summer is at once ushered in.

Potatoes and especially turnips are raised without much diffi-

culty as far north as Caribou island. Rhubarb is said to do well

x -~ farther up the coast towards the Mecatina islands. Among the

1885. ] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 275

wild flowers blooming in the middle of July were the dandelion

and Potentilla anserina. Another Potentilla was the P. tridentata,

the mountain trident, with its three-toothed leaf and modest

white flower. It was pleasant to see this flower, so familiar from

my earliest childhood, as it flourishes on the plains of Brunswick,

Me., and is common on Mt. Washington as well as on the mount-

ains of Maine, and abounds on the bare spots about Moosehead

lake, particularly at the foot of Mt. Kineo. The wild currant,

strawberry and raspberry were in flower; the strawberry plants

were luxuriant, sometimes eight inches in height, but the rasp-

berries were dwarfed, not exceeding the strawberry in height.

Up the rivers the raspberries and blackberries are abundant, but

the latter low and dwarfish.

The shad bush (Amelanchier canadensis) was now in flower,

blossoming in Southern New England in April or early May,

while Rubus chamæmorus, the cloud berry, so abundant in Green-

land and Arctic America as well as on the fields of Norway and

Sweden and the “ tundras” of Siberia, was going out of flower.

With it were associated the star-flower, Trientalis americana, a

few Clintonia borealis, Smilacina bifoliata and probably S. stellata,

Streptopus amplexifolia ; one or two species of Andromeda; an

Iris, species of Vaccinium, the Arctostaphylus uva-ursi or bear

berry; the shore pea, a honeysuckle (Lonicera coerulea), a Vibur-

num, and also the buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata).

Among the flowers fluttered the white butterfly (Pieris frigida),

a Colias labradorensis, Argynnis triclaris and some geometrid

moths, while a few owlet moths flew out of the grass at the late

twilight, which now lasted until near eleven o'clock at night,

when fine print could be read.

We were told that the average temperature in June here is 48°,

that of July 56°. In the warmer days of summer the thermom-

eter rises from 64° to 68°, rarely to 70°. July 17th was one of

the warmest and most pleasant days of the month ; the tempera-

ture was 60° F. The 21st, however, was much warmer, the ther-

mometer being 72° F. :

July 18th was the day of the eclipse ; the sun was obscured in

theforenoon; the light of day was much modified, though not

approaching twilight. The steamer which we saw on the day of

the storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was without doubt that

which bore the Coast Survey eclipse party to Cape Chidleigh,

where the eclipse was total..

(To be continued.)

276 ) Eaitors’ Table. [ March,

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

The appropriation of money for scientific purposes by the

Congress of the United States is a just source of national pride,

as it is a means of national development and prosperity. The

scientific men who have the disbursement of this money hold a

trust for science, and their use of it is watched by the scientific

men of all countries with interest. The expenditures have been,

as it appears to us, generally well directed. One of our na-

tional establishments, however, seems to us to be in danger of

absolute perversion from scientific uses and purposes, though,

perhaps, intelligent attention directed to the situation may be

the means of arresting such a misfortune. We refer to the

National Museum at Washington. By its present organization

it contemplates an exhibition of the products of the United

States, both raw and manufactured. At the same time it does

not embrace the agencies necessary for the prosecution of scien-

tific research, either by making collections or supporting investi-

gators. These latter objects are within the plan which the

director, Professor Baird, hopes to see realized in the future, and

it is earnestly to be desired that he may be able to accomplish so

important a project. We must confess, however, to a sense of

disappointment in learning that this was not the original basis on

which the institution was created. It might, indeed, amount to

this practically, were it not that manufactured products are in-

cluded in the objects to be displayed in its halls; but the intro-

duction of this item so overbalances the scales as to leave the

future of scientific collections precarious, to say the least of it.

We do not see how it is possible to avoid the crowding of the

building with a kind of material which has no place in a scientific

museum, and which can easily occupy all the space and consume

all the money which Congress can grant it. The paternity of the

project for a national museum was altogether scientific, and unless

this object continues predominant, it is likely to divert the lives

of a certain number of scientific men from their true channels,

unless they abandon it altogether. For aught that we know, the

situation may be past remedy, and the scientific element may

_ already read the “ handwriting on the wall.” But we hope not.

The most effective remedy would be to limit the exhibition of

1885.] Editors’ Table. 277

manufactured products of the world to those which preceded the

iron age of human industry. By cutting off everything that

belongs to the industrial history of the iron age, pure science will

save a great amount of money and a great deal of invaluable

space.—C.

The year 1884 will be notable from the important discover-

ies in vertebrate biology and invertebrate palzontology. It had

been suspected and even stated that two mammals, the duckbill

and Echidna, laid eggs; but for the first time, late in the last year,

was full and convincing proof afforded by two independent obser-

vers of the fact that both of these monotremes lay large eggs,

with a soft parchment-like shell, which are placed in the mam-

mary pouch, where they incubate until the young are hatched ina

partially developed state.

Late in the year also came the announcement that Dr. Lind-

strom had discovered a fossil scorpion in the upper Silurian (Lud-

low) of the island of Gotland. The presence of the stigmata,

proves that it breathed air directly and was a true landanimal. The

publication of this important news brought to light the fact that a

fossil scorpion of the same genus had previously been obtained

by Dr. Hunter from the upper Ludlow beds of Lanarkshire, Scot-

land. This two-fold discovery carries the existence of Arachnids

from the Carboniferous to the upper Silurian horizon.

Still nearer the close of the year, at the last meeting in 1884 of

the French Academy, M. Charles Brongniart announced the dis-

covery in the middle Silurian of Calvados of an insect’s wing re-

ferred to a cockroach. This transfers the first appearance of

insect life from the upper Devonian to the middle Silurian.

On the other hand the discovery of trilobites in the Australian

Cretaceous beds was announced last year in the Geological Maga-

zine; so that this type of Arthropod life is carried up from the

Carboniferous to the chalk period. It will be remembered that

fossil vertebrates in beds near the base of the upper Silurian of

The Geological Survey of Canada is undergoing one of

those periodical attacks which politicians of the less educated

understand or appreciate. As usual, they do not perceive the ne-

cessity of understanding the principles of the geological structure

of the country before satisfactory “ practical ” results can be ob-

tained ; but are crying for less theoretical and more cal

geology. If they will make large appropriations to the survey

278 Recent Literature. [ March,

under Dr. Selwyn, they will in time get all the practical ends they

are after; but they must let their able chief develop the subject in

the only practicable way known to science, and which he is

abundantly able to accomplish.

Tat

RECENT LITERATURE.

De NADAILLAC’S PREHISTORIC AMERICA. —In the present state

of American archæology a general work on prehistoric America

would be perhaps regarded as premature, or at least as a tempo-

rary makeshift. The French author, however, has had the cour-

age to venture on the attempt to depict the pre-Columbian his-

tory of both Americas, covering the whole field of American

anthropology. His work appeared in 1882. The present work

is based on a translation of De Nadaillac’s work. The original

contained a good many unreliable conclusions, mixed with valu-

able or well ascertained facts, there being on the whole little dis-

crimination whatever in the material used. In its present shape,

however, having passed through the editorial hands of Mr. W.

H. Dall, who has added some new material, we do not see but

that it forms an excellent and, in the main, reliable account of

American primitive times. There is a popular demand for such

a work ; its style is light and clear, perhaps not always so sober

and circumstantial as we could wish, but on the whole the book

in its American dress is timely. The chapter on the origin of

man in America is almost wholly Mr. Dall’s, who has only re-

tained some references to Central American and Peruvian myths

from the original. As it stands, therefore, the book may be con-

sidered as a fairly good résumé of the better known facts of

American archeology from a more or less European standpoint.

The chapters are headed as follows: man and the mastodon; the

kitchen-middens and the caves; the mound-builders; pottery,

weapons and ornaments of the mound-builders; the cliff-dwellers

and the inhabitants of the pueblos; the people of Central Amer-

ica; Peru; the men of America, and the origin of man in

erica.

The views concerning the Toltecs and their successors, the

Aztecs, and their monuments are moderate. . Montezuma’s so-

called “ empire” was apparently little more than a confederation

of tribes. Their buildings are but a few centuries old; their civ-

ilization of spontaneous growth, and very recent compared wi

those of the old world. As to the connection between the Cen-

tral American nations and the mound-builders, this book is con-

servative, not conceding any such intimate relation. So far good,

1 Prehistoric America. By the Marguis pe NADAILLAC. Translated by N.

D’Anvers. Edited - H. Dat, With 21g illustrations. New York and

London, S, P. Putnam’s Sons, 1884. 8vo, pp. 566. $4. )

1885.] Recent Literature. 279

but when the French author says that primeval man in America

had to contend with elephants and edentate animals, and that

the period in which he lived “ was marked by floods, of which

man still retains traditions;” when he proceeds to cover a

large area of California with glaciers, and adopts without reserva-

tion Agassiz’s view that Brazil was once covered with glaciers,

we wish for a soberer, more critical narrator of events. Again

the Trenton: unpolished stone implements occur in the higher

river terraces, which were formed long after the ice had melted

and disappeared ; they do not occur in true glacial deposits. Yet

Nadaillac thus declaims in reference to the Trenton finds : “ Man

—— Sa

aes SS

Truncated Mound at Marietta, Ohio.

ved through these convulsions; he survived the rigors of the

cold; he survived the flo ods, as the recent discoveries of Dr.

Abbott in the glacial ah oh the Delaware near Trenton, N.

. seem to prove beyond a doubt.”

: Is our Bahor is anaa in saying that the Calaveras skull

“resembles the Eskimo type;” was not Wyman’s opinion that

it case gins that of a California Ne the more natural and

correct one ag St

pees the mound-builders, the sensible view is expressed

that they were no more nor less than the immediate predecessors

in blood and culture of the Indians described by De Soto’s

chronicler and other early explorers, the Indians kbo inhabited

280 Recent Literature. { March,

the region of the mounds at the time of their discovery by civil-

ized men. As in the far north, the Aleuts up to the time of their

discovery were, by the testimony of the shell-heaps, as well as

their language, the direct successors of the early Eskimos—so in

the fertile basin of the Mississippi, the Indians were the builders

or the successors of the builders of the singular and varied struc-

tures just described. The pottery of the mound-builders is quite

fully described and illustrated, and it is remarked that if the

American pottery be “compared with that from the middens of

the lake-dwellers of Switzerland, who are supposed to have

reached a similar stage of civilization, one is astonished at the in-

feriority of the latter.”

he views respecting the period in which the mound-builders

lived, and their relations to the Indian tribes at the time of the

conquest are moderate and sensible. The mound-builders were

. Group of Sepulchral Mounds.

a numerous, tolerably homogeneous people, with nearly similar

rites and much the same arts; they were sedentary, “ for

nomads could not have erected such temples or constructed Such

intrenchments ;” they were also agricultural as well as fond of

trading. “All testify to the fact that the men, whose traces we

are seeking, had long since risen from the barbarism of savagery,

and that they had attained to a state of comparative culture.”

e Indians of Florida and Alabama, whose mound-building

habits were described by Garcilasso de la Vega; those of Geor-

gia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, who disputed the

advance of De Soto in their fortified walled towns; the Indians

1885.] Recent Literature, ` 281

lapse of thirty centuries or of five would account equally well

for the development of the civilization they represent.” Short’s

opinion is quoted with approbation that “ one or at the most two

thousand years only can have elapsed since the mound-builders

were compelled to abandon the valleys of the Ohio and its tribu-

taries, and but seven or eight hundred since they retired from the

shores of the Gulf of»Mexico. Lastly, the early explorers found

mounds occupied and even being constructed within the last few

hundred years.”

Erratic blocks covered with figures, Arizona.

The accounts of the ruins and people of Central America and

Peru are useful and timely, as is the chapter on the physical

structure of the early man of America; the latter is often critical

and with full references to the most recent authorities.

ur impression formed from reading and observation is that

the view that there is an unity of race in North and South

America, that the continent was peopled from Asia by way ot

Bering straits, and that the race shared the continent with only one

282 Recent Literature, [ March,

other race, the Eskimo, is most in accord with facts. We do not

see that there are grounds for considering that any race on

American soil was any lower in body, mind or culture than the

existing Indians and Eskimo. Archzology has failed to indicate

the existence of a race intermediate between the apes and man.

Wherever traces of human beings occur, they indicate that man

has everywhere appeared as man. Traces of a “ missing link”

may yet be discovered. Any day may bring forth the proof, but

sound reasoning from observed facts does not yet show that fos-

sil man in Europe or America was any lower, if so low, as the

existing Australians. To say with Nadaillac that primitive man

once existed in America “in a state of the lowest barbarism, and

but little elevated above the brutes, at an exceedingly distant

epoch,” is to state what has not been proved. The high state of

development and culture attained by the majority of the Indians

of North America at the time of the discovery is to us a contin-

ual source of surprise; the high degree of culture of the Eskimo,

perhaps the most primitive race existing, is, in some respects,

almost startling. We are far away from any traces of the missing

link. The so-called “ Tertiary ” man, most often Quaternary, in

regions where glaciers never existed, seems almost beside the

question in the present state of our knowledge.

The volume is elegantly printed, fully, almost lavishly illus-

trated, and on the whole is the most comprehensive and readable

view of this entrancing topic one can now obtain.

INGERSOLL’s Country Cousins.!—Country Cousins is the title ot

a little Look of breezy natural history stories, most of which have

previously appeared in the Century, St. Nicholas, the Field (Lon-

don) or other periodicals. Such books as these, full of true inner

life of animals, brimming over with psychology without burden-

ing their pages with the long word, do more to encourage a love

of nature among the young, and to make biological students, than

all the wearisome technicalities in which anatomists and zoolo- |

gists often indulge when writing for a public that needs plain

. The squirrel-mother’s care for the orphaned young is made

the vehicle of much deep teaching; the shrews are depicted in

all their true shrewishness; the birds of the brookside are inter-

viewed at home; nature is visited in her winter quarters; the

workings of a seaside laboratory are exhibited, and so on. .

Ingersoll has common-sense ideas on the subject of snake “ fasci-

nation,” and gives good directions for the formation and keeping

up of a naturalists’ club. The hibernation of bats, bears, etc.,

the vitality of marine animals, rattlesnakes, the life of an oyster

and of his enemy, the starfish, are among the subjects pleasantly

treated of in this attractive volume.

By Ernest

1 Country Cousins. Short Studies in the Natural History of the United States.

fie.

1885.] Recent Literature. 283

Tur Grorocy oF InpIANA.—The’ thirteenth annual report of

the geology and natural history of this State, by John Collett,

State geologist, fills a volume of 264 pages, with thirty-nine

plates. The large folding geological map of the State has ae

prepared from the labors of Owen, Lawrence, Brown and

as well as the present geologist and his assistants. The pe

of Mr. Leo Lesquereux is entitled, Principles of Paleozoic

Boteny, and is a most useful manual by the leading authority

on this subject. It gives character and value to the report, and is

fully illustrated. It will be easily understood by the lay reader.”

Ih the same useful direction is Dr. C. A. White’s Fossils of the

Indiana rocks, No. 3, which treats of the fossil animals of the

coal measures of the State. Besides these chapters a due amount

of space is devoted to the economic geology of the State by the

State geologist and his assistants.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Pelzein, Aug.—Brasilische Saugethiere. Resultate von Johann Natterer’s else in

1817-1 1835. Wien, 1883. From the author

Carlsson, Albertina—Beitrige zur Kenntniss der nanos der gst der K.

Schwed Akad. der Wiss, 14 Nov., 1883. From the author

Packard, A. S—Habits of an aquatic Pyralid caterpillar. Ext. Amer. Nat., Aug.,

1884. From the author.

Smith, E. A.—List of the ores and ecm of industrial importance occurring in

Alabama. 1884. From the au

Ober, F. A.—Mexican researches aa sale to Mexico. 1884. From the author.

a S. F. Eee of U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 1882. From

epartm

Faxon, W. Cea of new species of a with synonymical list of the

known nage te f Cambarus and Astacus. Rep. Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and

Sci., Dec., 1884. From the author.

ey, T. L. terida of the Stenini of America north of Mexico. 1884. From

the author

Renevier, E tiles des Terrains Sedimentaires. 1884.

mers 3 acter Geologiques, Ext. des Arch. des Sci. phys. et nat., Geneve, 1884.

rom the author.

Bare J. Rai R.—Annual Ds of the hydrographer to the Bureau of Navigation.

the a

der Böhmischen Kreideformation. 111. Der Iser-

Frin, dnt Sean re Gait Abtheilung. Ext. Arch. der Natur. Land. u.

Bö! as hogt 1883. From the author.

Westling, Beitrige zur Kenntniss des dreap sgar Nerven Systems.

Der n Sa sunt Akad. der Wiss., Feb., 1884. From the author.

Ashburner, C. A.—Sketch of the geology of Carbon county, Penna, 1884.

~— Brief description of the Anthracite coalfields of Pennsylvania. Both from the

author.

Kingsley, Es S. and others—The Standard Natural History, Vols. 1 and v. Cas-

pit the publishers. cnet pee

Si, Dip . C., and Dawson. G. 2 | sketch o ysical geogra-

wd ag EAs of the Dominion of Can Montreal, 1884. From the

Som F, and and Dawson, —Comparative vocabularies of the Indian nea of

British Columbia. ae 1882. From the authors.

284 Recent Literature. [ March,

a C. R., and Sterneck, R. D. E OE ate Bestimmen Höhen von Böh-

1884. From the autho

a T, and Helmhacker, R ee deok Karte nnd Profile des Schichtenbaues

der Umgebungen von Prag. 1880.

—— Geologische Karte des Éisengbirges ve der Angrenzenden Gegenden von

Ostlichen Böhmen. Both from the author

U gpass sea .—Prodromus von Flora von laea Vierten Theil., 1881. From

Bo sats, E—Petrologische Studien an den Porphygesteinen Böhmens. 1 Theil

Quarzporphyre und Quarzporphyrite. 1882. hor.

agri £.—Flora des Flussgebietes der Cidlina u. Midlina, 1881. From the

uthor

Nitai C.— Der Hangenflétzug im Schlan-Rakenitzer Siehikobienbedkite

1881,

Der Mittelbshmische Steinkohlenblagerung. 1883. Both from the author.

The last eight are from the Archiv. der Natur Landesdurchforschung von Boh-

men

Osborn, HF —Preliminary observations upon the brain of Menopoma and Rana,

1884, From the author

Shufeldt, R. W.—Osteology of Numenius pe eared with notes on the skeletons of

other Amer. Limicole, 1884. From the author

Seger Seer sur un-appareil destiné au REDS des Batraciens Anoures

m :

Note sur les exemplaires du Bagrus buchanani provenant du voyage de V.

Jacquemont. Ext. du Bull. Soc. Philom

——Remarques sur les disposition fotideiwietieale des ternites chez un Echeneis

vivant. Ext. idem

——Remarque sur le Eventi robustus V. & G. Comptes Rendus.

——Sur le — Ptychogaster Pomel. Chelonien fossile de Saint-Gerand-le-Puy.

Idem

——Sur un poisson des grandes profundeurs de l’Atlantique l’ Zurypharynx pele-

canoides. Idem.

——Sur la disposition des vertèbres cervicales chez les Cheloniens. Idem. All

from the author.

Het, Jo—Repors of geological explorations during 1883-84. New Zealand.

——Meteorological Report, 1880-82. New Zealand, 1884. Both from the author.

P Garman, S:—The reptiles of Bermuda. From Bulletin No. 25, U. S. National

Museum, 1884. From the author.

rare W. <a Ses letter to Hon. Jeni S. Morrill, December, 1884. From the

Faxon, W-—Selec tions from embryological a 1. Crustacea with Bibliog-

raphy. Cambridge, 1882. From the a

es, J. Wa, and Mark, E. L.—S estas oe embryological monographs.

Acalephs and Polyps, with Bibliography of Acalephs. Cambridge, 1884:

From the authors

sage ae A., Peirce, i. Newton, H. n Bartlett, W. H. C—Memoirs of the Na-

onal Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1

ates F. W.—Annual report of the Duena Ethnology, 1880-1881. From the

Clevenger, z EE open letter to the Commissioners of Cook county, Illinois.

. oh pict ak the pi in Birds and Dinosaurs. Ext. Amer. Nat., Dec.,

one 1884. From the author

1885.] Geography and Travels, 285

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

As1a.—Asiatic Notes—The peninsula of Kamtchatka is by the

Russische Revue said to contain but 6500 people. „There is no

agriculture, and for food they rely mainly on the fish, chiefly

salmon which throng the rivers in summer, and are dried and

stored for the winter. On account of the scarcity and dearness of

salt the fish often decompose, and the people suffer great priva-

tion. For clothes, utensils, tea, tobacco, they have to look abroad,

and their imports, paid for in sable skins, are almost wholly from

California. A chain of volcanic mountains, reaching 5000 feet in

height, runs down the center of the peninsula, and through this

the large navigable river Kamtchatka makes its way to the Pacific,

M. Leon de Rosny, the Japanese scholar, insists that the Aino

is one of the two chief factors in the present Japanese race. He

believes the Aino element to be a large one, and bases his argu-

ments on an examination of the cosmogony, which contains two

separate and distinctly marked mythologies, one of which is

transparently aboriginal. Thus the Japanese of to-day is, in his

opinion, a mixture of the conquering yellow and the conquered

white races. The celebrated French traveler, Charles Huber,

who has, since 1879, been engaged in the exploration of the arch-

zological remains of Central Arabia, was killed on July 30th, at

Tafua by Bedouins of the tribe of Harb, while on his way from

Hail to the Persian gulf. Steers and Calmeyer islands, the

product of the Krakatoa eruption, have again sunk, as has also

an island a mile east of Verlaten island. In 1868 a Russian

surveying officer accidently discovered in the Altai mountains the

settlements of some Russian sectaries who had migrated thither

during the last century. Recently the governor-general of Irkutsk,

in a progress through his province, came upon a town called

Ilim, with four churches and 150 houses. The town was gov-

erned by a vetche or public assembly, convoked by the ringing of

a great bell, as at Novgorod the Great in its republican days.

None of the inhabitants could read or write. The traveler Adri-

archipelago south-west of Mindoro and north of Paluan. The

three chief islands are Busuanga, Calamienes or Culion, and

Linacapan, The natives of Culion are Tagbannas, an ancient

people found also in Paluan; and probably spread formerly over a

wider area. Some few are Christianized, but most are incepe

dent, and are fetich-worshipers. In the island of Dibatac, hills

surround a horseshoe-shaped plain with a depression in the cen-

i This department is edited by W. N. Lockincron, Philadelphia,

286 General Notes. [March,

ter—perhaps volcanic. A new map of Saghalin, prepared by

M. Nikitine, shows that island to be considerably larger than was

supposed. While M. Reclus gave the area as 63,600 square kilome-

ters, M. Venukoff calculates that 73,529 is a nearer approximation.

It has been hitherto thought that the Gilbert islands were fast

wearing away by the action of the sea during western gales. The

belief was based upon the absence of the lee or western reef on

some islands, and the anchorage afforded on the lee side of others,

but a trader who has resided four years on Peru or Francis island

states that when he came he could pass through the reef passage

with a loaded boat at all states of the tide, whereas now the pas-

sage is dry at low water. From this and other indications it is

believed that the island has risen two feet in the four years.

Arrica.—Results of the Journey of Mr. Jos. Thomson.—West of

Mombasa, on passing the Rabai hills, lies the undulating country

of Duruma, densely covered with bush and tangle and thorny

scrab. The miserable natives of this district are in perpetual

dread of famine and of the spears of the Masai. At three days

march from Mombasa an uninhabited country is reached, and by

the fifth day a glaring sterile red sand marks the change from

sandstone to schists and gneiss, thorns and gnarled trees replace

the bush, and the land is flat. This waterless uninhabited wilder-

ness extends from Usambara and Paré in the south to Ukambni

and the Galla country in the north, and from Duruma in the east,

to the volcano of Kilimanjaro westward; broken only by the

mountains of Teita, arising like precipitous islands in a muddy

sea to from three to seven thousand feet. On the western side of

this desert, and somewhat eastward of the south side of Kiliman-

jaro, lies the district of Taveta, a bit of tropical forest on the

banks of the snow-fed Lumi. The natives are a mixture of the

Bantu tribe of Wa-Taveta with Masai who have been forced by

the loss of their cattle to an agricultural life, and are a manly,

pleasant, and honest, though immoral race. Kilimanjaro, the cen-

tral mass of this region, has two summits, one the grand dome or

crater of Kibo, towering above the forest-clad pediment of Chaga

(where Mr. H. H. Johnstone is now residing with the chief Man-

- dara) to a height above the sea about 18,880 feet ; the other the

pinnacle of Kimawenzi (16,250 feet) with its dark rocks and jagged

outlines. The base of the mountain near Taveta is dotted-with

~ parasitic cones, and a few miles to the north of Taveta lies the

_ small crater lake of Chala, in the center of a crater about two

and a halt miles across. The southern slopes of Kilimanjaro are

(according to Mr. Jos. Thomson, from whose recital before the

Royal Geographical Society these particulars are taken) carved

_ Into varied scenes of hill and dale by numerous streams, which

__ Tise high upon the flanks, and upon Mr. Thomson’s map are shown

_ as united into one river further south. The Lumi falls into Lake

1885.] Geography and Travels. 287

Jipé, a small elongated lake south of Taveta, and this lake is

shown as having an outlet into the system of streams which flows

from the mountain slopes to the westward. On the eastern side

of Kilimanjaro the sources of the Tzavo gush forth at the base,

but on the northern side stretches the great plain of Ngiri, once,

as is proved by the ponds and swamps yet remaining, the bottom

of a lake. Ngiri is 3550 feet above the sea. Nota stream de-

scends from the mountain on its northern side.

Lakes Naivaha and Baringo prove to be both of small size. The

latter especially has shrunk, from the liberal dimensions accorded it

upon the best maps published before Mr. Thomson's journey, into an

island-dotted sheet about a quarter of a degree in length. Both

lakes occupy portions ofa longitudinal trough, akin to that in which

the Dead and Red seas are lodged, and running north and south

for an immence distance; flanked to the east by the Kapté pla-

teau, and westward by the escarpment of Mau. This depression

was reached by Mr. Thomson from the south, after passing’

through Ngiri and through the Matumbato, a sterile but some-

what watered and inhabited broken country with red soil. South

of Naivasha the trough is occupied by a desert, and the caravan

ascended the Kapté plateau for food and water, resting awhile at

Ngongo-a-Bagas (6150 feet) near thé source of the river Alhi,

which waters the country of Ukambani farther to the east.

little to the south of Lake Naivasha is the remarkable conical ex-

tinct volcano Donyo (mountain) Longonot. This rises 3000 feet

above the plateau or 9000 above the sea, and the edge of the

crater, which is about two miles across, is so sharp that a man can

sit astride of it. Lake Naivasha is a comparatively shallow fresh-

water lake, about twelve miles long by nine wide, formed by the

piling up of volcanic débris across the trough in which it stands.

Cones and craters, the steaming mountain of Buru, faults producing

angular outlines, and hot springs, attest recent volcanic activity.

Further north, at Lake Baringo, the eastern side of the meridional

depression is formed by the Lykipia mountains, which rise nearly

feet abruptly above the lake. Opposite tower the Elgeyo

precipices to a height of 7750 feet, a northern continuation of the

lau escarpment. The depression is here longitudinally divided

by the Kamasia mountains. Lake Baringo lies west of these,

while in the narrow valley between them and Elgeyo the Mbage

or Weimei river runs toward the north through the Galla country

to the salt lake Samburu. :

Near Lake Naivasha Mr. Thomson, with a party of thirty men,

left the main caravan, ascended the plateau to the east, here called

Lykipia, and made his way to the foot of Mt. Kenia, hitherto un-

visited by any European. The rivers of this region flow into the

as yet unexplored Guaso Nyiro. On the way to Kenia a range

of mountains, running north and south, and rising to nearly 14,-

000 feet was crossed. These were | the Aberdane moun-

288 General Notes. [ March,

tains. Kenia, like Kilimanjaro, is a volcanic cone. The base is

nearly thirty miles across, and its sides slope upwards at a low an-

gle, almost unbroken by ridge or glen, to a height of 15,000 feet.

Above this rises a sugar-loaf peak, with glittering facets of snow

on its upper 3000 feet, yet with sides so steep that the snow will

not lie in many places. At this point the enmity of the Masai,

coupled with the atrocious nature of the food, which as all the

cattle were dying of some plague, consisted liberally of rotten

meat, compelled a retreat in the direction of Lake Baringe.

Westward from the Elyeyo precipices extends the vast treeless

plain of Guas-Ngishu, bounded northward by the great volcanic

mountain of Masawa or Elgon—a counter part of Kenia without

the upper peak. Farther northward lies the occasionally snow

clad mountain Donyo Lekakisera. The country of Kavirondo

lies to the west of the shelterless plateau, and surrounds the

north-east part of Victoria Nyanza. It extends to within forty

miles of the Nile, and does not reach more than thirty miles south of

the equator. A considerable part of this tract lies where Victo-

ria Nyanza is shewn upon our maps. The Wa-Kavirondo are a

pleasant people, dangerous only when excited or drunk, and

though the similarity of houses, manners, mode of life, etc., sug-

gest unity of race, are really, as their language indicates, formed

of a mixture of Wa-swahili with Nile tribes, the latter predomi-

nating southward. Kwa-sundu is a large town, and food can

here be obtained in marvelous abundance and cheapness. The

Wa-kavrondo wear no clothes, unless a small bunch of cord, worn

tail-fashion by the married women only, can be styled an article of

clothing.

Mr. O'Neill's Explorations—The journey recently undertaken

by Mr. H. E. O'Neill to Lakes Shirwa and Amaramba has

‘solved the problem of the sources of the Lujenda. That river

does not rise in Lake Kilwa or Shirwa but flows from Lake

Amaramba, which is connected by the river Msambiti with

Lake Chireta. These small lakes lie north of Kilwa, which ;

has not been known to connect with their drainage within the

memory of man, although the slight difference in level between

the Mikoko river (which flows into Lake Kilwa) and the Mtora-

denga swamp is so light that such a connection may proba-

bly follow unusually heavy rains. Mr. O'Neill believes that the

Rev. Mr. Johnson's statement that Lake Kilwa has its outlet in

the Lujenda is due to a mistake, and that the spot visited by Mr.

ohnson was really the northern end of Lake Amaramba. The

description of the scenery given by Mr. Johnson tallies with that

at Amaramba, and the natives, who told Mr. O'Neill that he was

__ the first white man who had visited Kilwa, remembered the visit

= Ofan European to Amaramba. The water of Lake Kilwa is

-~ brackish, that of the more northern lakes sweet and drinkable.

On his return to the coast Mr. O'Neill took a more southerly

1885.] ' Geology and Paleontology. 289

course, with the object to discover some practicable channel of

communication with the natives of the large area of country

lying between Lake Nyassa and the coast. A large portion of

this country, marked upon the maps as Makua land, is really oc-

cupied by the Lomwe. The valley of the Likuga is very thickly

peopled, as is indeed the entire country except near the coast

where the long continued slave trade has caused depopulation.

Mr. O'Neill believes the reverenced Namuli peak to bè an extinct

volcano, the upper cone of which has disappeared. The Lomwe

of the Likugu are a strong tribe and have a bad character among

the slave-dealing traders who are not allowed to pass through their

country. Their houses are oblong, strong, and with doors and

veranda high enough to be entered without stooping. The only

rivers that extend a considerable distance inland between the

Zambezi and Lujenda are the Miuli, Ligonya, Mlela and Likugu,

but none of these furnish a waterway into the interior, which can,

in Mr. O'Neill’s opinion, be reached most conveniently from Lake

Nyassa and the Shiré. :

In a subsequent journey Mr. O'Neill has traced the course of

the Ruo river, which has been brought forward as the natu

and proper boundary of the Portuguese in this direction.

| GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY.

THE POSITION oF PTERICHTHYS IN THE SYSTEM.—It is probable

that the most primitive type of vertebrate of which we have any

knowledge in a fossil state is the genus Pterichthys, if vertebrate

it can be called. No intelligent attempt has as yet been made to

assign this animal to its exact position. The opportunity of ex-

amining specimens of the P. canadensis Whiteaves, having been

afforded me by Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn, director of the Geological

Survey of Canada, I give here the results of my examination.

Numerous specimens in which the anterior portion of the animal

is well preserved, display three important peculiarities. There is

a single opening on the middle line above. There are no orbits.

There is no lower jaw The single opening may well be com-

pared with the so-called nasal pouch of the lampreys. The ab-

sence of orbits is comparable to the condition in Amphioxus. In

the absence of a lower jaw it agrees with both the types men-

tioned

I have also instituted comparisons with the Tunicate genus

Chelyosoma, of which the Smithsonian Institution, through the

recommendation of Dr. Dall, has liberally placed at my disposal

_a fine alcoholic specimen from Point Barrow, Alaska. The scu-

tellation of the dorsum of this animal in every detail with

ory

that of Pterichthys, excepting in some of the small segments

1 A pair of small, delicate Jaminiform bones found beneath the anterior end of the

carapace are of uncertain inati

YOL. XIx,—wno, 11, 19

290 General Notes. [March,

about the lateral anterior border, and in the intercalated small

plates which surround the anus between the first and second

distinct from the marginals, as in Chelyosoma. But they are dif-

ferently arranged in the Pterichthyidæ, one forming a median

valve of the mouth or zotosome, and one being embraced in a larger

posterior one.

The following hypothesis may be framed to account for these

further forwards than in that genus. Possibly also in this stage the

belly will be found to be shielded like the back, which would be

Fig. I, Fig. 2.

‘olepis canadensis Whiteaves, from above, half size of a small

specimen. The valve of the dorsal mouth, or notosome, is broken. (AR rg

Chelyosoma maclovianum Brod. & Sow., $ natural size, from Point Barrow, Alaska,

a still further point of approximation to Pterichthys. From such

a type I strongly suspect the latter genus to have descended.

The principal change which it has undergone has been the sub-

stitution of the dorsal anus by the normal vertebrate position at

the posterior extremity of the body. The tail has been retained

European form.

- -~ represent the primitive mouth and cesophagus, as held by Geof-

1885. ] Geology and Faleontology. 291

froy St. Hilaire, Owen and Lankester. On the other hand, in

view of the absence of orbits, the theory of Ahlborn and Rabl

Ruckard that these parts represent a primitive organ of sense or

sight, must be taken into account. The close approximation of

the orbits in some of the Cephalaspididze might add plausibility

to this opinion. This would require us to believe that Pterich-

thys is a monoculus, as it has no interorbital septum, and that the

eyes of other Vertebrata have been derived from this single one

by division and gradual separation of the halves. Such a view is

not confirmed by the embryology of the eye, nor does it neces-

sarily follow from the facts of palzontology. The resemblance

between the median orifice of Pterichthys and the orbits of the

Cephalaspidide is probably delusive, and the latter family has

probably very remote affinity to the Pterichthyide.

In view of the position of the mouth, it seems to me that this

family should be removed from the Craniata to the Urochorda.

It is true that the evidence that this orifice is a functional mouth

is not entirely conclusive, as the transfer of the extremity of the

cesophagus to the opening at the anterior extremity of the

carapace may have taken place, as in the case of the anus. But

there seems to be little doubt of the homology of the dorsal

orifice with the mouth of Chelyosoma, and the structural resem-

blance to it decides in favor of the Urochorda rather than the

Marsipobranchii. Among Urochorda it differs from the Tuni-

cata in the position of the anus, which is the normal vertebrate,

and not the dorsal orifice of the former division. It will, there-

fore, form a second order of the class Urochorda, which I pro-

pose to call Antiarcha. :

It may be more than a coincidence that while the Chelyo-

soma is an arctic type, the Pterichthyidæ are so far only known

from northern regions, Russia, Scotland, and the province of

Quebec, Canada. ; i

After an examination of at least fifty specimens of the Pterich-

thys canadensis neither Mr. Whiteaves nor myself have been able

concave as in the P. milleri, but is regularly rounded as in Chely-

osoma. I suspect that the P. canadensis belongs to a genus dis-

tinct from the P. milleri, which may, for the present, bear Eich-

wald’s name Bothriolepis. The relations of Coccosteus to this

order are not close, if the restorations given are correct, althou:

it retains the same type of ventral plates —E. D. Cope.

Types or CARBONIFEROUS XIPHOSURA NEWTO NORTH AMERICA.

—We have received from R. D. Lacoe, Esq., of Pittston, Pa., for

-study and identification, a valuable collection of Carboniferous

Xiphosura, mostly from the Mazon Creek beds at Morris, Ill.

Besides a series of Euproops dana, there is an undescribed spe-

292 General Notes. [ March,

cies of Belinurus, and of Cyclus, two genera new to this conti-

nent; also a new type probably referable to the Merostomata,

which may be called Dipeltis. From the Carboniferous beds of

Pennsylvania there is a new species of Euproops. It need scarcely

be added that the discovery of these forms, new to our American

Carboniferous fauna, is a matter of considerable interest.

Moreover, the specimen of Cyclus shows traces of four or five

pairs of limbs, apparently of the same nature as those of the larval

Limuli, proving that Cyclus is in reality, so to speak, a tailless

Limuloid. We are able also to report the existence of cephalic

appendages in Euproops, as seen in a well-preserved Luproops

dane, received from Mr. J. C. Carr, of Morris, Illinois.

We will add brief descriptions of the new forms, reserving

figures, fuller descriptions, and measurements for a future occa-

Belinurus lacoet, n. sp—Cephalic shieldjwith a long lateral acute

spine on each side extending to a point either opposite or a little

behind the middle of the urosome (abdomen), or nearly to the base

of the caudal spine. The urosome much more rounded and shorter

than in the European B. regine, being about twice as broad as

long. The caudal spine is long and slender, nearly one-half longer

than the body, 7. e., longer than the whole body by the length of the

head. Length of body including caudal spine 33™™ In nodules

at Mazon creek, Morris, Ill. Collection of R. D. Lacoe.

Euproops longispina, n. sp—The median lobe of the cephalic

shield is larger in proportion to the entire shield than in Æ. dane,

and the eyes are much nearer the lateral margin. Ocelli dis-

tinctly marked (not before observed in the Carboniferous Limu-

loids), situated on the median ridge of the median lobe of the head,

a little behind its anterior termination, and a little in front of a

line drawn through the compound eyes. The lateral spines are

much longer than in any specimen of Æ. dane from the Morris,

Ill., beds, being long and slender, extending nearly or quite to the

base of the caudal spine. No. 214* Oakwood colliery, Wilkes-

Barre, Pa. Length of body without the caudal spine 30™™ breadth

= 37™™> a smaller specimen (Nos. 215* 215°), from Butler mine,

Pittston, Pa. Collection of R. D. Lacoe.

Regarding the position of the Illinois and Pennsylvania beds

containing these fossils, Mr. Lacoe writes me: “The horizon of

the Pennsylvania specimens of Euproops is much higher than

that of Mazon creek. The latter is at the very base of the pro-

ductive coal measures in shale over the bottom seam of coal.

The specimen from the Butler mine, Pittston, is from shale over

coal ‘E’ (Mammoth vein), at the top of the lower productive

coal measures, about 300 feet above, and that from the Oakwood

colliery is either from the same horizon or the bottom of the

lower barren measure next overlying it. The shaft from which it

~ was taken, penetrating both the exact position of the rock con-

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 293

taining it could not be ascertained when we discovered it in the

‘dump’ or rock-pile.”

s Cyclus americanus, n. sp—lIn a nodule from Mazon creek,

Illinois, received from Mr. Lacoe, I recognize a species of this

rather obscure genus which has not before occurred in North

America, but is represented in Europe by nine species.

In form C. americana is perfectly orbicular, the length being

exactly equaled by the breadth. It is regularly disk-shaped, flat-

tened hemispherical, with the edge of the body broadly and regu-

larly emarginate, the margin being thin and flat, and apparently a

little wider on the sides than on the anterior or posterior end.

Length 14™™ breadth 14™™-

None of the species yet described have had limbs, and nothing

was known, so far as we are aware, of the nature of the limbs.

Fortunately there are in Mr. Lacoe’s specimen traces of four, and

perhaps five pairs of limbs, showing that Cyclus had short, stout

are not preserved sufficiently well for us to ascertain whether

ta ended in forceps, as in Limulus, or not, though they proba-

did.

nother fortunate discovery is that of the nature of the ceph-

alic appendages of Euproops. In a nodule received from Mr. J.C.

Carr, all the ambulatory limbs, except the first pair, are distinctly

preserved, with faint traces of the shorter first pair which have the

position and relative size of those of the larval Limulus just be-

nurus stage. The species of Cyclus may be referred to a distinct

family group for which we propose the name Cyclide.

Dipeltis diplodiscus, gen. et sp. nov.—This name is proposed for

a singular form which is not satisfactorily preserved, so that its

exact relations are not readily determinable, though it will be

recognizable as a Cyclus-like form. The body is suborbicular, flat-

tened, disk-like, sloping regularly and gradually from the median

area to the edge; it is divided into two portions; the larger one

to be regarded as anterior or the cephalic shield, and the other as

posterior, constituting the abdomen (urosome). The edge of the

body is very slightly emarginate, not broadly so as in ree

nor is the body distinctly trilobate as in the Limulidz, thoug

_ with the succeeding

294 General Notes. [ March,

unfortunately the median area of the cephalic shield is wanting.

The integument is rather thin, showing no traces of segments;

its surface may have had a few scattered small tubercles, at least

there are slight indications of them. The surface is smooth and

shining.

The cephalic shield is nearly twice as broad as long; the pos-

terior lateral angle is well-rounded, with no sign of a lateral

spine; in front the edge was probably obtusely rounded; the

surface is slightly convex, the disk being low and flat; the hind

edge of the shield is moderately concave, the limits between it

and the urosome being clearly indicated by a slight, but distinct,

regular curvilinear suture.

The urosome is about three-fourths as long as, but equal in

width to the cephalic shield. The front edge is somewhat arcu-

ate, so that the projecting anterior-lateral angle is directed a little

forward, and is quite free from the lateral angle of the cephalic

shield, which turns away anteriorly from it, leaving a triangular

space between the sides of the two regions. Posterior edge of

the urosome regularly rounded, and with slight margin. No

traces of a caudal lobe or spine. Total length 20™™' total

breadth 20™™ length of cephalic shield 11™™* breadth 20™™ i

length of urosome, 9™™: breadth, 19.5": Collection of R. D.

Lacoe, 2017 “© in a nodule from Mazon creek, Morris, Illinois.

This remarkable animal was disk-like in shape, composed of

two regions, the head and abdomen or urosome, which are more

distinctly separate than in the Cyclide; yet there are no posi-

tive characters to separate it from this group, to which we would,

for the present at least, refer it, as it is orbicular, tailless, and

a c trias. The mesozoic þeds are not extensive,

ae but are variously developed. The lower trias, muschelkalk and

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 295

upper trias exist, the latter commencing with well-developed beds

of red and white dolomite. At Cape Taormina Rhætic beds are

seen. The various stages of the Lias can be identified by their

fossils, and the series is completed by the chalk, which appears

only at one spot (Coll. Re.

Silurian —At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of

Sciences, M. Daubrée called attention to the discovery, by M.

Buneau, in coal belonging to the Lower Carboniferous, of tne re-

mains of a species of Equisetum, a genus not previously known

to occur below the middle coal measures, The remains of the stems

occurred with various Diplothemema and Calymmatotheca, which

proved the stage to be the upper grauwacke. The species has

been named Æ. antiquum. A. Milne-Edwards announced

the discovery in the Silurian of Scotland, of a new scorpion abso-

lutely identical with that which had previously been found by M.

Lindstrom in the upper Silurian of the island of Gothland. The

only difference is one of sex, the one being male, and the other

female. M. Brongniart recently called the attention of the Paris

Academy of Sciences to a fragment of rock belonging to the

middle Silurian, and containing: the impression of an insect’s

wing, that of a cockroach, differing from all other blattidian

wings, recent or fossil, in the length of the anal nerve, and the

width of the axillary field. M. Brongniart called this ancestor ot

the cockroaches Paleoblattina penvillei,and stated that it was

more ancient than the scorpion found by M. Lindstrom, since it

belonged to the middle instead of the upper Silurian. The in-

sect fauna of Carboniferous age is already known to be large;

the beds of Commentry alone have furnished thirteen hundred.

Carboniferous —M. Ed. Bureau states that the basin of the

Lower Loire is probably the only part of France which presents

at once the three stages of the Carboniferous formation. The

great Silurian depression between Brittany an La Vendee is

formed into parallel furrows, of which the central contains coal of

Surassic-—M. Cotteau has presented to the Paris Academy

central Apennines.

296 General Notes, [March,

Tertiary —M. V. Lemoine compares Pleuraspidotherium, a

mammal from the Cornaysien fauna of Reims, on the one hand

with Pachynolophus gaudryi, and on the other with Phalangista

vulpina of New South Wales. The dental formule of Pleuras-

pidotherium and Phalangista, are practically identical. The bones

of the face are remarkable for the development of the intermaxil-

laries and nasals, and for the almost complete ossification of the

palatine vault. The lower jaw has a broad commissure, as in

Pachynolophus, and a special development of the posterior branch

recalls Phalangista, but is not inclined inwards.——M. F. Fon-

tannes catalogues the pliocene mollusks of the valley of the

Rhone and of Rousillon. These include 195 species of gas-

tropods, of which 44 are new; and 146 bivalves, of which 24

are new. The same writer describes the shells of the fresh-

water and brackish group of Aix in Lower Languedoc, Pro-

vence, and Dauphine, 92 species in all, 11 of which belong to

Potamides, 11 to Striatella, 3 to Melania proper, 3 to Ripa, 14 to

M. Neumayr (Neues Jahrb. fir

Min., Geol. und Palzon., 1884) draws attention to the great

similarity between the molars of Tritylodon Owen, from Cape

Colony, and the molar of Triglyphus, described by Fraas from a

bone bed near Stuttgart.

Quaternary—A. Mehring (Kosmos, 1883) gives faunistic

proofs of the former glaciation of North Germany. Against the

“drift theory,” he urges that the greater portion of the low-lying

parts of North Germany are either entirely free from animal re-

mains, or enclose only land and fresh-water forms, which could

not have been the case had a diluvial sea existed. Even the find-

ing of marine animal remains in certain spots can be explained by

position from southward moving glaciers, The nature of the

deposits and other characters shows that the arctic fauna, the re-

mains of which are found, had its home in the surrounding

region.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.!

_ accounted for these optical anomalies by what is termed “ pseudo-

_ symmetry,” ¢. e., the imitation, by certain crystals, of a geometri-

1 Edited by Dr. Geo. H. WILLIAMS, of the Johns Hopkins Universit , Baltimore,

ae Md., to whom all papers for review should “egies ee yan

~ *Bull. Soc. Min, de France, T. v1, 1883, p. 122,

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 297

cal form of a higher grade of symmetry than they themselves

actually possess, by complicated and repeated twinning. Klein,

Krocke and certain other German mineralogists, on the contrary,

maintained that the optical peculiarities were produced, not by

twinning but by a molecular disturbance due to an internal ten-

sion caused by the irregular growth of the crystal} Klein had

even succeeded in proving that the apparent twinning lines—the

boundary between the areas of different optical orientation—

could be made to move by raising the temperature,’ and the inter-

pretation put by the same writer on the interesting observation

of Mallard is very important, as offering a possible means of

reconciling the different views which have hitherto existed re-

garding these anomalous optical phenomena. Klein suggests

that the fact that boracite becomes isotropic above 265° C., proves

that this substance is dimorphous, crystallizing in the regular

system above, and in some other, probably the orthorhombic, be-

low this temperature’ The crystals must therefore have been

formed at a temperature above 265° C., and hence possess geo-

metrically the regular shape; their internal condition is due to

the effort on the part of the molecules to rearrange themselves

in accordance with the altered conditions, which is strong enough

to produce a profound optical disturbance, but is not able to pull

to pieces the crystalline form. Boracite crystals at ordinary tem-

peratures are, in fact, a kind of paramorph, composed of optically

orthorhombic portions enclosed in the regular framework in

which the substance originally, at a higher temperature, crys-

tallized.

Still more recently Klein* has shown that leucite becomes iso-

tropic at high temperatures, and Merian’ obtained a similar result

for tridymite ; thus it seems very probable that many other sub-

stances, like garnet, analcite, perofskite, senarmontite, etc., which

show optical properties in no accord with their external form may

be satisfactorily explained by the assumption that they are dimor-

phous. _

Another class of substances like potassium npea leadhillite,

aragonite, etc., whose optical properties at ordinary temperatures

ite tn perfect accord with their crystalline form, have been shown

capable of transference by increase of temperature to a state

where their optical properties have a higher grade of symmetry,

and consequently are no longer what the form would require, ¢. g.,

1 Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1881, 1, pp. 255 and 256.

216. p. 239, et seq.

3 Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1884, I, p. 239. 74. ref. pp. 185 and 186.

4 Nachrichten d. Kan. Ges. d. Wissensch. zu Göttingen, May, 1884, and Neues

Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1884, II, p. 50.

5 Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1884, I, p. 193-

ê Mallard: Bull. Soc. Min. de France, T. v, 1882, p. 219.

2098 , General Notes. [March,

both orthorhombic aragonite! and monoclinic leadhillite? become

uniaxial when sufficiently heated.

MINERAL SynTHEsIS.—Nearly everything heretofore done in

the way of artificially reproducing natural minerals and their as-

sociations in rocks has been produced in France (vid. NATURALIST,

July, 1883, p. 780). Here, however, the results attained have

been very interesting and important, and it is to be noticed

with pleasure that the broad field which the researches of the

French investigators have shown to be so fruitful is beginning to

be successfully cultivated in Germany. Professor Doelter, of

Graz, commenced, in connection with his colleague, Dr. Hussak,

by studying the effects produced on various silicates by subjecting

them to the action of different molten rocks.’ Augite yielded

but small results, while hornblende was partially dissolved and

changed to an aggregate of opaque grains and microlites of

augite, as is often. observed in many volcanic rocks. Mica, gar-

net, olivine, quartz, feldspar, zircon and cordierite were treated in

same manner with different results, which cannot here be

enumerated in detail.

when melted and again allowed slowly to cool, produced meionite,

melilite, anorthite, lime-olivine, lime-nepheline, hematite and spi-

nell, together with more or less amorphous matter, but no trace of

the original minerals ever appeared. The fusion of mixtures of the

substances entering into the composition of garnet yielded no

better results. It would therefore appear that something more

than simple dry fusion is necessary to produce these two minerals.

Doelter has still more recently busied himself with synthetical

experiments on minerals of the pyroxene and nepheline groups.

The lime and potash so often observed in the latter are probably

isomorphous mixtures, since small amounts of Ca Al, Si, Os and

K, Al, Sig Os, when melted with the typical nepheline molecule,

Na, Al, Si, O; gave homogeneous crystalline masses having all

e properties of nepheline. In regard to the aluminous pyrox-

enes, Rammelsberg holds that the Al, O, and Fe, O, are present

Klein: Nachrichten d. Kön. Ges. d. Wissensch, ing ,

md Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc,, 1884, 11, p AONA a

> s Mügge: Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1884, I, p. 65.

~ Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1884, pp. 18-44.

aa Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1884, 1, 158-177.

Zeitschrift fiir Krystallographie, 1884, 1x, 322-332.

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. i 299

and shows that its physical properties are those of pyroxene! An

optical examination of a series of carefully analyzed natural

pyroxenes also yielded Doelter interesting results regarding the

particular constituents which caused an increase in the size of the

extinction angle on the clinopinacoid? Wiik? attributed this to

the amount of FeO present (vid. NATURALIST, Oct., 1882, p. 836),

but Doelter considers it rather dependent on the proportions of

the molecules Fe Ca SiO; or R R, SiO, which the pyroxene

contains, in this following the suggestion recently made by Fr.

Herwig in his article on the optical orientation of the pyroxene-

hornblende minerals.

In this connection may be mentioned among the synthetical

work lately produced in France, the artificial production of rho-

donite, tephroite, hausmanite, barite, celestite and anhydrite by

Alex. Gorgeu ;> that of apatite and wagnerite containing Br in

place of Cl by A. Ditte; and that of albite, orthoclase and anal-

cite in the wet way by Friedel and Sarasin.’ :

The reprint in book form of L. Bourgeois’ article on the arti-

ficial reproduction of minerals, written for the Encyclopédie

chimique,’ is, notwithstanding Fouqué and Lévy’s recent and

very complete work on the same subject, a very valuable addition

to the literature of this most interesting line of research.

Boron Minerats—Rammelsberg® has recently published the

results of his new examination of the natural borates, which he

arranges, starting with the metaboracic acid R, B O; as the nor-

mal, as follows

Priceite (pandermite) Ca, B Os + 5aq = {2a p o} + 4q

Boracite (stassfurtite) 2Mg, B, O,,-+ MgCl, = 2 { 3M8 id of} +. MgCl,

oiy Ce BO C ENO

Hydroboracite { ar eiL E Izag = H HB o} + 5aq

Mg, Bs Oy

‘ ; Na, Be On + 4 of aNa BO i

Boronatrocalcite (ulexite) { 2(Cay By On anes Tey ee BO, T

2{ B ot} + 19

? Na, B, O 8aq)} _. { 2Na BO,) Ca B, O,

Franklanaite {73+ pt ou E gad} = {°H Bor} + {a Bros} + 74

Borax (tinkal) Na, B, O; + 10aq = af BO} + 994

? Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1884, 11, pp. 51-66.

3 ib., 1885, 1, pp. 43-68.

* Zeitschrift für Krystallographie, VIII, p. 208.

* Schulprogramm des Kgl. Gymnasium, Saarbrücken, 1884, pp. 175.

Š Comptes rendus, 1883, XCVII, p. 320, ib., XCVI, pp. 1144 and 1734-

Comptes rendus, 1883, XCVI, pp. 575 and 846.

T Comptes rendus, 1883, XCVII, p. 290.

$ Paris, 1884, 8vo, pp. 228, viir planches, Dunod éd.

° Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1884, I, 158-163.

Soo Jour. Sci., Dec., 1884, p. 447.

foe ‘Zeit chri fir K

300 General Notes. [March,

Borocalcite (hayesine) Ca B, O, + 6aq = S B, of} + 5aq

. Am BO,

Larderellite Am, B,O,, + 4aq = 2 3H Bo: + aq ~

Sussexite R B, O, + aq = E i, o} (R = Mn, Mg)

Szaibelyite Mg, B, O,, + 3aq = H if of

Then might be added :

Lagonite Fe, B, O, + 3aq

regarded as merely substituted for Al or Fe. In warwickite it

he hexagonal mineral from Soktuj, Urals, proved by Damour

to be normal borate of alumina, and named by him jeremetewite

(vid. Naturatist, June, 1883, p. 651), has since been inves-

aragonite, while this pseudohexagonal core is surrounded by an

: The monoclinic mineral, colemanite (vid. Natu-

RALIST, September, 1884, p. 92 5), a hydrous borate of calcium

closely allied to priceite, which was recently discovered at D

i , has been crystallographically inves-

mer the axial ratio is given as 0.7769 : 1 : 0.5416, B= 69° 43%’,

observed planes + P, — P, — 3P, 3P3', IP aP Pa, oP 4, 2P

to P, og Paa P do: co Pæ, OP. Jackson determined the axial ratio as

0.774843 : 1: 0.540998, 2 = 69° 50! 45”. To the planes men-

4P co, + Pos, — Pa, — YP, 2P2, 3PX, 4P2, aP3, 3P3, 3P3, — PZ

and 4PqZ. In all thirty-one forms, of Witch twenty-four appeared

oe puesitzungsberichte d. Kgl. preuss. Ak. d. Wissensch, Berlin, 1883, Neues Jahr-

Min., etc., 1884, 1, p. I-17.

? Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1885, 1, Po.

. ographie, vinr, P- 2II.

1885.] Botany. 301

Stibnite—The stibnite crystals from Japan, which Professor

E. S. Dana has recently studied (vide Naturatist, Nov., 1883,

p. 1159) have also been investigated by Krenner! at Buda-

Pesth and by Brun.? The former adds three new forms, P, $P

and P, to the seventy observed by Dana, making the whole

number of forms now known on stibnite, eighty-eight. M. Wada,’

of Tokio, in a recent paper read in Berlin on some Japanese

minerals, gives the correct stibnite locality as Ichinokawa, in the

town of Ojoin-mura near Saijo, Province Iyo, Island of Shikoku.

Dana’s locality is incomplete, since “ Kosang,” in Japanese means

“mine,” and “ Faegimeken Kannaizu,” chart of the district of

BOTANY.‘

low, Montreal, Canada.

Wuy Fiowers Biossom Earty.—Mr. Meehan in his Native

Földtani Közlöny, 1883, ae A es ee

. Sci : at. ve (3), IX, p. : :

Teda sea as Gesellschaft be EA PEE Freunde zu Berlin, 17 Juni,

1884, 79-86.

. Edited by Proressor CHARLES E. BessEY, Lincoln, Nebraska.

302 General Notes. [ March,

long. The so-called flower, therefore, was almost half its full

size. The flower and peduncle of Anemone hepatica were 4™™

long; of Sanguinaria canadensis, 3°™' of Arisema dracontium,

mm. The flowers of Trillium grandiflorum was 8™™ long.

The hibernaculum of Aralia quinquefolia in all the plants ex-

amined was composed of three scales, the innermost entirely

sheathing next year’s flowering stalk and also a small bud. The

latter is in the axil of the scale, and is destined to produce the

flowering stalk two years hence. The leaf of the flower stalk

which is opposite to the last scale is always the largest. When

the leaves occur in whorls of fours, as was frequent in the speci-

mens at hand, the relative stage of development of the leaves

and their position suggested a contracted spiral of leaves rather

than a single and sessile twice-compound leaf, as suggested by

Gray (Manual, p. 199). The flowers could easily be determined,

the outermost flowers being developed the most. In view of the

early development in bud of the flowers of spring plants, need

their early appearance in spring be surprising? Aralia guinque-

folia flowers in July, and in August of the same year shows

ripened berries and the parts of next year’s plant! Is it not

rather surprising that with the small amount of vegetation it is

compelled to produce, it does not flower much earlier ?—Aug. F.

Foerste, Granville, Ohio. ; l

A SIGNIFICANT Discovery.—In a recent number of Nature,

Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer calls attention to a most interesting

and significant discovery in the development of certain ferns.

Some months ago Mr. E. T. Druery observed in Asplenium filix-

fæmina, var. clarissima, that the sporangia “ did: not follow their

ordinary course of development, but assuming a more vegetative

character, developed more or less well-defined prothallia,” which

ultimately bore antheridia and archegonia. “From these adven-

titious prothallia the production of seedling ferns has been ob-

served to take place in a perfectly normal way.” The prothallia

were subsequently observed by Mr. F. O. Bower to be furnished

with root-hairs

The last-named observer was so fortunate as to discover a still

more remarkable development upon Polystichum ( Aspidium) an-

_ gulare, var. pulcherrima. Here the apex of the pinnules grew ou

into an irregular prothallium, upon which antheridia and arche-

gonia were clearly made out.

: It is a genuine pleasure to note such discoveries, for they are

just what we have reason to expect. If, now, so great a change

in the ordinary course of development as this is, can take place

so suddenly, does it not, to say the least, argue in favor ot the

_ possibility of similar changes in the past having given rise to the

-~ Phanerogams? What essential difference is there between these

_ aposporous ferns and the lower phanerogams? The most remark-

1885.] Botany, 303

able feature about the discovery is the fact that it pertains to

pteridophytes of as low a type as the ferns of the Polypodiacee.

If it occurs there, may we not look for it confidently in the Lyco-

pods, and especially in the Selaginella, It may be worth giving

a good deal of attention to a careful examination of the green-

house grown plants of the various species of Selaginella. Apo-

spory in these would possess many interesting features. Who

will search for it ?

Tue History or Discovery IN Ferns.—Mr. W. T. T. Dyer

gives, in Nature, a summary of the progress of discovery with

respect to the structure of the reproductive apparatus of the

erns. It is of so much interest that we reproduce it here:

1507 GOtarGes Se issons -+...-Observed seedling plants near parents.

3045. Gessi css ios’ ror Sporangia,

1669 Cole Spores

1686 Ray. .....Hygroscopic movements of sporangia.

1735 Monson. cx Wie ive be ees Raised seedlings from spores.

1788 Ehrhart i

1789 Lindsay Germination of spores.

1827 Kaulfuss Development of prothallium.

1844 Nägeli... J.. ven NET Antheridia.

1846 Suminski Archegonia

10a ROTMOW souenha a Apogamy,

1884 Bruery eseria ....Apospory.

What better illustration do we need of the slowness of dis-

covery ?

De Bary’s COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF VEGETATIVE ORGANS.—

Between seven and eight years ago there appeared a most valuable

contribution to the literature of histological botany from the pen

of the great Strassburg professor. In its German form it has

been familiar to workers in botanical laboratories, and has been

of great service. Now we have an English translation by F. O.

Bower and D. H. Scott, which has been brought out under the

title of Comparative Anatomy of the vegetative organs of the

Phanerogams and Ferns, by the Clarendon Press in England, and

placed before the American public by the New York house of

Macmillan & Co. In its English form it consists of about 675

octavo pages, having the general appearance both in type, illus-

trations, r and binding of the well-known English editions

of Sachs’ Text Book. ae :

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the work, we

give here its general contents:

Part I. THE Forms OF TISSUE.

Chap. 1. Cellular Tissue. (i) epidermis, (ii) cork, (iii) parenchyma.

1 11, Sclerenchyma.

"Vib Appendix. Intercellular spaces.

304 General Notes. { March,

Part II. ARRANGEMENT OF THE FORMS OF TISSUE.

32. Primary Arrangement,

Chap. vin. Trachez en naka ig (i) Arrangement, (ii) structure, (iii)

develop

s 1X. Primary Ae sete

n X. Sclerenchyma n A Cells.

“ XI. Secretory Reserv

« xi. Laticiferous Pubes.

« x1. Intercellular Spaces,

3 2. Secondary Changes.

Chap. XIV. Saco growth in thickness of normal oo Stems and

Roo (i) Cambium, (ii) wood, (iii) b

ote = Foren changes outside the zone of ek.

* xvi. Anomalous thickening in Dicotyledons and Gymnospores.

“ xvi, Secondary “o of the Stem and Roots of Monocotyledons

and Cryptogam

The publication of this work in this form will do much to

stimulate a more exact study of the minute anatomy and devel-

opment of the various organs of plants, and will, we trust, do not

a little towards placing botanical work in this country upon

something of the same basis as that of zoology.

Journat or Mycotocy.—There has been a feeling for a long

while that this country should have a journal of mycology

in which should be published all the descriptions of new species

of fungi. The matter was talked over somewhat in Philadelphia

last September by members of the Botanical Club of the A. A. A.

S., and it has now so far taken form as to result in the issuance of

a prospectus. It is to be “edited by J. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. J.,

and W. A. Kellerman, Manhattan, Kan. It will be issued about

the 1st of each month, contain from twelve to fifteen pages, and be

ed exclusively to mycological botany, special attention be-

ing given to the North American Fungi. It will contain descrip-

tions, of new species as they appear from time to time; another

leading feature will be the publication of monographs of different

pn with descriptions of ali the North American species

known—thns making, in fact, a manual of our fungi. A full

account will also be given of all the current literature pertaining

to this subject.”

We bespeak for this much-needed journal a liberal patronage.

_ The business management will be in the hands of Dr. Kellerman,

to whom subscriptions ($1) should be sent.

= Boranicat Notes——Friedlender & Son, the well known book-

-sellers of Berlin, have just issued three very valuable catalogues of

__ books treating of cryptogamic plants. They are Nos. 357, 358 and

-~ 359, and we feel that we are doing good service to botanists in

: s is LEENA ” calling attention to them. J. G. Baker’s Syn-

1885.] Entomology. 305

Dr.

ground, where it divides into two branches, fifty-seven and a-half

inches in circumference.”

ENTOMOLOGY.

THE FLIGHT OF THE ROBBER FLIES DURING ConNECTION.—Both

fly vigorously though their heads are in opposite directions, the

female, by her greater size, controlling the course. The difference

in pitch of the two sets of wings is very striking —¥. E. Todd.

Notes on THE Mounps OF THE OcciDENT ANT.—The mounds

built by the Pogonomyrmex occidentalis can hardly fail to attract

the attention of any observing traveler.

neatly smoothed bare spot, from three to five feet in diame-

ter is found in the grass and in its center is a mound of quite sym-

metrical form. This mound is frequently covered entirely with

Coarse sand ,or fine gravel, even when the surrounding surface

shows little of this material. ;

It would seem, at first, that the ants, guided by some instinct,

selected the material which would best secure their structure from

the wind and the rain.

During the past season the writer has found opportunity to test

this point. A little watching showed that the excavation below

the surface and the building of the mound are carried on by two

different sets of workers, one continually bringing out particles

from within and dropping them upon the court or bare space

around the mound, the other picking up particles from the surface

of the court and depositing them upon the mound. The coarse-

ness of the material seems to'be determined by the desire of a

worker to find as large a particle as he can conveniently carry.

For instance, when, as in the case observed, the crust of the

ground was broken by the tramping of a horse, medium sized

pieces were deposited upon a mound, but none of the smallest and

_. Of course none of the largest, as ants have not learned to wor

otherwise than individually. When particles of broken glass were

scattered upon a court they were quickly found and in spite of

their angular and polished surface were soon carried and dropped

upon the mound. The coarseness and uniformity of the material,

VOL, XIX.—NO, II, 20

306 General Notes. [March,

therefore, seems readily explained by the principal stated above.

Whether the mound shall eventually be formed of gravel de-

pends upon its abundance in the particular locality — F. E. Todd.

NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE LIBELLULIDÆ.— The

following observations, though incomplete, are offered because

there is no prospect that the writer can pursue the subject farther,

at least not for some time.

In the month of July, ’82, while camping near Bear creek, Da-

kota, on a bright, breezy day, his attention was attracted to num-

bers of dragon-flies hovering over the surface of the water. Many

of them were in the usual position when pairing. The male

holding the female by the back of the head with his claspers.

From the bottom of a deep clear pool various water-plants

came to the surface, and as the water was rippled by the breeze,

their tops were occasionally thrown out of the water. Many

dragon-flies were noticed hovering about, especially around

the tops of these plants; the female evidently endeavoring

to gain a footing upon them. In a short time one was suc-

cessful and immediately folded her wings backward and com-

menced crawling down the stem into the water. The male

meanwhile was forced to let go to prevent his being dragged into

the water. I could see the females until they were about a foot

below the surface of the water but of course could not trace them

to the bottom which must have been at a depth of from three to

five feet. They seemed the more conspicuous because of the quan-

tity of air which adhered to their abdomen and wings. After

losing his companion the male hovered about, resting occasionally

upon the grass at the border of the pool, and evidently watching

for the return of the female.

I was unable to determine, very satisfactorily, the length of time

which the female remained below the surface, but after the first

after seizing her towed her to shore, being apparently unable to

lift her from the water. A male falling accidentally upon the water

was not similarly rescued. The water was more or less infested

with fish and it seems:not i

1885.] Entomology. 307

serving were not at hand, but it resembles quite closely another

species which has been determined by Dr. Hagen as Lestes ungui-

culata. The latter species, at another locality, was found deposit-

ing eggs in the stems of bulrushes and cat-tails, the male accom-

panying the female in a position similar to that in the first species

named, The female saws a hole through the skin with her ovi-

positor and deposits the egg in the pith. Similar localities have

been diligently watched by the writer during the past two seasons,

but it has not been his privilege again to see the dragon-flies go

below the surfacc of the water. The laying of eggs in the stems

of bulrushes is a very common sight about the marshy ponds

and streams of Dakota.

The different stages or positions in the process of copulation in

the dragon-flies are very interesting and sometimes puzzling,

but as a general rule they seem to be as follows :—at least it is so

with the genus Lestes. First, the male seizes the female by the back

of the head and flies some time with her in this position before

the second stage is reached, in which the male, still holding the

female, curves his abdomen and charges the seminal sac, then re-

sumes the first position. The female seizes the abdomen of the

male with her feet and brings the tip of her abdomen forward and

receives the seminal fluid from its receptacle From the third the

fourth is readily reached by the female withdrawing her abdomen

and letting go with her feet or not as the case may be. In the

species of Lestes before referred to the fourth position corresponds

to the first. It seems not improbable that after laying a number of

eggs the female may return to the second position and become fer-

tilized for a second brood. The length of time which is occupied

evidently varies considerably. In some cases I have observed,

the males and females united during their rest at night. Another

curious habit observed, especially in a large olive-green species

of Æschna, is this: while flying at full speed the insect dashes

flat upon the surface of the water in a pond and, apparently by

the rebound, recovers its position in the air, This may serve the

purpose of a bath, clearing the wings of dust, or possibly of par-

asites.— ¥ E. Todd, Tabor, Ia., Fan. 10,’85.

THE NUMBER oF ABDOMINAL SEGMENTS IN LEPIDOPTEROUS LAR-

v#.—In connection with our examination of the caterpiller of

308 General Notes. [ March,

tinguishable; beneath, the segment is distinct on the sides, but

obsolete in the middle.

In the larval butterflies the ninth segment is rather more distinct

than in the Sphinges, but it is short; the tenth segment is as in

all caterpillars represented by the supra-anal plate and anal legs.

In the A‘gerians, Zygænidæ and Bombycidz, the latter especi-

ally, the ninth segment is very distinct. In Halesidota the ninth

segment is quite long, forming an entire segment, with its own set

of hair-bearing warts, the urite, or ventral surface is- quite dis-

tinct from the infra-anal plate or tenth urite. In Datana the ninth

segment is longer than the supra-anal plate; in Lochmaus tessella

with its long anal filaments, the homologues of the anal feet, the

ninth segment is distinct from the tenth; in an allied Notodon-

tian with elongated anal legs, the ninth segment is unusually long

and distinct. In Teea polyphemus there are ten abdominal seg-

ments, counting the supra-anal plate and anal legs as the tenth ; in

Hyperchiria io and Clisiocampa the ninth is distinct from the tenth

segment

In Limacodes scapha and P. pithecium there are no traces of

legs; the number of abdominal segments appears to be ten.

In the Noctuidae the ninth segment is distinct, with a series of

-verticils above and a well marked ventral portion or urite.

In the geometers the ninth segment is distinct above but below

merged into the infra-anal plate. In the Pyralid caterpillars, as

well as the Tortricids and Tineids, the ninth segment is longer

and more distinct than in the higher families.

Although the indications are slight, yet the Bombycidz, as we

have previously remarked, seem to be the oldest, most generalized

group of Lepidoptera, and it is a question whether the Pyralids,

Tortricids and Tineids are not degenerate forms which have de-

scended fron the Noctuidz and ultimately from the Bombycide ;

there are indications that the Noctuide have descended from the.

geometers, since the young of the Plusiæ and Catocale, &c.,

have three pairs of abdominal legs, being semi-loopers when

hatched, and afterwards acquiring the additional pair of legs. At

any rate the primitive caterpillar had ten pairs of abdominal legs.

_ it will be remembered that the saw-fly larvae (Lophyrus) have

eight pairs of abdominal legs, while the embryo honey-bee has

tenpairs of temporary abdominal appendages.—A. S. Packard.

In Psyche for June-July,

rai

1885.] Zoölogy. 309

faces, and concludes that the fluid by which flies adhere to smooth

surfaces is not sticky, that they need no adhesive secretion and

that if the fluid were pure water or olive oil it would act the same

and that the fly’s power of walking on a smooth surface is due

simply to capillary attraction. A firm adhesion of the hairs to

smooth surfaces, which Hepworth in 1854, and Dahl and Simmer-

macher consider as necessary, he finds not to exist A memoir

of great value on the anatomy of a Myriopod (Lithobius forfi-

catus), with four colored plates and wood-cuts, but unfortunately

wholly in Russian, was published in 1880, by N. Sograff in the

Moscow Transactions. In the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Ento-

mological Society, Nov., 1884, Mr. G. Gabe claims that Riyssa

lunator is not a true ichneumon, but a true wood-feeder. The

breeding habits are described, and the mode of oviposition. Dur-

ing the process the long ovipositor is bent, passed between

the posterior legs, the abdomen is elevated almost to a right angle

with the thorax, and the ovipositor, guided by the anterior tarsi is

forced with a ramming motion into the wood to the depth of from

two orthree inches. He has watched many females ovipositing

and has cut off the ovipositor when ready to be withdrawn, and in

no instance has he found a larva of any kind anywhere near the

point reached by the borer, and where the egg was deposited.

Messrs. Hulst and Weeks stated that they had reached the same

conclusion from independent observation. During the past

winter Prof. Packard has given a series of talks or lectures to the

Providence Entomological Society on the structure and habits of

insects, in order to aid those members whose time does not per-

mit them to obtain a general knowledge of the subject. The

veteran French Coleopterist, Auguste Chevrolat, died Dec. 16th,

in his 86th year.

ZOOLOGY.

FUNCTION OF CHLOROPHYLL IN ANIMALS.—L. von Graff, dissat-

of H. viridis in eight different vessels ; four of them, A, B, E and

from an aquarium. In E—G the water was filtered. In A, C, E

and G the water was changed daily, in the others it was never

changed at all. The first Hydra to die was one in glass G, on

the thirty-first day of exposure in which the filtered water was

changed daily, and the light shut off. The glass A did not lose

a specimen till the 109th day of observation, when one died. In

C in which the aquarium water was changed daily, and light shut

off, the three specimens died on the 105th, 106th and 1rooth

days; B, in which the water was not changed, and which was ex-

310 General Notes. [ March,

posed to the light, only lost one specimen, and that on the rooth

ay.

Dr, Graff concludes that the Algz or pseudochlorophyll bodies

of Hydra have no significance as means of nutrition; the fact

that all the specimens in filtered water died by the 87th day

seems to show that the Hydra died from the want of animal food,

and that the green bodies do not serve as such, as Brandt supposes.

The most unexpected and perhaps the most remarkable fact

is that whether the Hydra were exposed to the light or placed in

the dark, they in all cases retained their green color through life.

Dr, Graff has lately been able to make some observations on

the Mesostoma viridatum, three out of five examples of which

were richly provided with chlorophyll-corpuscles; these varied

very considerably in size, and no nucleus was to be detected in

the smaller specimens; starch granules of proportionate size to

that of the chlorophyll-bodies were found in them. The larger

green bodies were arranged in closed groups, and the smaller

examples lay between the groups; most of the bodies were

rounded, but a few of the larger were oval.— Fourn. Royal Micro-

scopizal Society, Dec., 1884.

A FREE-SwimMinG Sporocyst.—The egg in the digenetic Tre-

matode worms, as is well known, does not at once give rise to

the adult Distome, but to a brood-sac which produces directly or

. indirectly in its interior a greater or less number of larval Dis-

tomes. The brood-sacs live parasitically within mollusks, and

tailed larvæ or Cercariz, but the tail may be very short as in

micrura Filippi, or entirely absent as in C. globipora Ercolani,

again the cylindrical sporocysts produce Cercariz with furcate

tails like C. furcata, and the remarkable Bucephalus-larve are

_ produced in branched tubular sporocysts.

_The object of the present note is to indicate the existence of a

hitherto unknown form of sporocyst, one specimen of which I

_ observed recently swimming very actively in an aquarium con-

~ taining a few water plants’ and fresh-water mollusks. In form and

_ Size it recalls the larger Cercarie with forked tails, and contains -

_ a single tailless Cercaria or istome. In accordance with

its free life, the muscular system is much better developed than

1885.] Zoölogy, 311

usual, and the same is true of the water-vascular system. Of

especial interest are tactile papilla, which beset the surface, and

which obviously enable the sporocyst to find the definitive host

for its contained larva. These papillae are somewhat more com-

plicated than the similar structures described by Fischer from the

neighborhood of the cirrus-pouch of Opisthotrema cochleare (Zeit.

wiss. Zool. XL, 12). Ina future paper I propose to give a full

account of the structure of the sporocyst and its contained larva.

It would be premature to attach any specific name to the Dis-

tome, as it may turn out to be a well-known form, but I am at

present unable to offer any suggestion as to its “whence” or

“whither.” I examined the mollusks in the aquarium for other

specimens in vain, and, in the hope of obtaining others for infec-

tion experiments, hardened and sectioned the only one I had se-

cured,

Professor Leuckart, to whom I communicated the substance of

the above, writes: “ Your observation is certainly calculated to

astonish helminthologists. I doubt whether the creature is really

free-living, but believe that, in place of the Cercaria, it represents

only the swarm-phase of the parasite. An entirely free-living

sporocyst, without intestine, would hardly find the conditions

necessary for a complete existence. It probably lives parasiti-

cally within a mollusk, and wanders out after development of the

contained larva, in order to seek a suitable host for the latter.

Perhaps it may attach itself to the host by the flat lobes of the

forked tail, and then discharge the larva imprisoned within it.”—

R. Ramsay Wright, University College, Toronto, Fan. 12, 1885.

STRUCTURE oF EcuHINopERMS.—C. F. Jickeli has a preliminary

note in which he states that he has made experiments confirma-

tory of the doctrine of Carpenter as to the nervous system of

Comatula. He finds that a -single arm gives no response when

the ambulacral groove is touched with a needle or stimulated by

an electric current, but that the moment the needle touches the

point at which the axial cord lies the arm is strongly flexed, and

the pinnulæ more actively. A single cirrus when stimulated

appears to be thrown into a tetanic condition. Many of the

author’s experiments are in exact agreement with those of Car-

penter. After the removal of the visceral mass irritation of the

capsule produces a synchronous contraction of all the arms. Ifa

few drops of osmic or acetic acid are put in the water, the

i njured animal.

bY :

observations of P. H. Carpenter that nerve-branches pass into

the dorsal and the ventral muscles is confirmed. A series of sec-

tions shows that the ambulacral nerve diminishes in extent as it

approaches the intestine, and finally disappears. Attention is

312 General Notes. [ March,

drawn to the fact that Gotte describes the epithelium of the so-

called ambulacral groove of Comatula as being endodermal in

origin.

A third nerve-center is described as being present in the con-

nective tissue, and as forming a pentagonal cord around the

mouth. The lateral cords are connected by branches with one

another at the angles of the pentagon, and they extend along the

water-vascular system; each of these cords gives off lateral

branches at regular distances, and these innervate the water-vas-

cular system, and the papillae of the tentacles. Other well-de-

veloped branches are also given off to the ventral integument ot

the body, where they.are lost in a fine nervous plexus. Lud-

wig’s view of the glandular character of the tentacles appears to

be incorrect. They have 3-4 sensory hairs and a centrally-placed

slowly-moving flagellum. From these observations it would fol-

low that the tentacular papilla are complicated sensory organs.—

Fourn. Royal Microscopicat Society, Dec., 1884.

dia are “opisthobranchiate,” but so are Arion and Limax; in

monata. The Onchidia are Pulmonata which have adapted them-

selves to an amphibiotic or marine mode of life. — Fourn. Royal

Microscopical Soctety, Dec. |

| ZOOLOGICAL Notes.—Polyzoa—The Polyzoa of the Challenger

Expedition have been described by ‘Mr. Geo. Busk, who finds

that out of 286 species of Cheilostomatous Polyzoa, no less than

_ 180are new. The Retepore alone have been raised from 31 to

1885. | Zoblogy. 313

the Australian region. As a rule, however, the species having

the wider geographical distribution are those from the shallower

depths. Another exception to this rule is the genus Catenicella,

rich in species, and almost confined to shallow Australian seas.

Mollusca— Nature, in reviewing Dr. R. Bergh’s report upon

the Nudibranchs collected by the Challenger, remarks that few

shallow water dredgings were made during the cruise, and thus

it is not strange that only twenty-five species were found. The

majority of them are Phylliroide and A®olidiadz, and are pela-

gic; some are littoral,as Fanclus australis, of which a single spe-

cimen was taken in the Arafura sea. Another, Cuthonella abyssi-

cola, was taken by the trawl in Farce channel at 608 fathoms.

Some new Tritoniade and Dorididæ are described, and among

the latter the most interesting is Bathydoris abyssorum. The body

of this species is semiglobular, as in the genus Kalinga of Alden

and Hancock, and it resembles this genus also in having branchie

composed of several separate branchial tufts, as well as in the

presence of soft conical papillz onthe back. It has no frontal

appendage, and a very slightly pronounced dorsal margin, and

seems to connect the Doridide with the Tritoniade. The only

specimen was taken in 2425 fathoms in the middle of the Pacific.

The body of the living animal was gelatinous and transparent, the

foot dark purple, the tentacles brown, and the gills and other ex-

ternal organs orange. One specimen only of the Onchidiade,

O. melanopneumon, was taken in shallow water at Kandara, Fiji.

Dr. Bergh believes these animals to have no relation to the Nudi-

branchs,——Mr. J. R: Davis (Nature, Jan. 1), assert that limpets

have a settled home, for they occupy scars on the rock, often

sunk to a considerable depth. He marked and watched specimens

to prove this, and found that, though a marked limpet might

move about three feet from its scar in any direction, in search of

food, it always found its way back. A limpet always returns be-

fore the rising tide reaches it, and roosts with its snout pointing

in the same direction: Mr. Davis asks what sense is used? Th

eyes of a limpet, mere sensitive cups, can at most distinguish dif-

ferent degrees of light intensity ; the examples deprived of their

tentacles found-their way back, and repeated washing of the track

with sea-water in order to destroy scent did not prevent the lim-

been found upon the stalks of fossil Pentacrini. Dr. von Graft

requests any palzontologist having crinoids under his care to ex-

amine the specimens, and, if he should notice little pustules at the

base of the pinnules, to communicate with him. Graff's class

Stelechopoda embraces the Tardigrades, Linguatulids and My-

zostomes. The forms before known were characterized by the

314 General Notes. [ March,

peculiar radial arrangement of the organs of the body, but

among the sixty-seven species here described are many which are

without this radial arrangement, while in Stelechopus not even

the muscular septa and parapodal muscles are convergent. This

fact strengthens Dr. von Graff’s previous idea that the radial sym-

metry was an adaptive change due to fixation. Several forms

are entirely without suckers, while in M. ca/ycotyle the suckers are

stalked. The Myzostomes are dicecious, but the sexes unlike.

When inhabiting the same cyst the female is usually from fifty to

a hundred times larger than the male."

Crustacea.—Dr. P. P. C. Hoek found complemental males in

nineteen out of the forty-one new species of Scalpellum gathered

by the Challenger Expedition. Some of those complementary

males do not show a division of the body into capitulum and

peduncle ; a second section still without such division has rudi-

mentary valves; a third has valves, capitulum and peduncle.

Darwin's “ true ovaria” are believed to be pancreatic glands.

Birds—Dr. W. Buller (Trans. N. Z. Institute, 1883) furnishes

notes on some rare New Zealand birds. Sceloglaux albifacies, the

laughing owl, has been found in deep fissures of the limestone

rocks at Albury, near Timaru. Examples were procured by a

process of smoking-out. In this species the male is the larger

bird, and has a harsher cry than its mate. The four captured by

Mr. Smith became quite tame, and in matters of food showed a

decided preference for young rats, though they would eat

mutton, beetles, lizards and mice. Their call on waking up at

nightfall was “ precisely the same as two men cooeying to each

other from a distance.” (The cry known as coo-ey is the call-

note of Australasian settlers.) The rock-crannies in which they

live by day and build their nests are dry, narrow at the entrance,

and often five or six yards deep. They become almost naked

while molting, and in this state two of Mr. Smith’s birds were

stung to death by a swarm of bees.——lIt appears that small

birds such as the silver-eyes (Zosterops) and the English sparrow

are in New Zealand often killed by adhesion to the viscid carpels

of Pisonia brunoniana or P, sinclairi,

Pisces.—In a letter received by Professor Liversedge from Mr.

investing gelatinous membrane about 34%4™ thick. The segmen-

tation is complete. “Part of the blastopore remains open, and

persists as anus

x mud. It lies on its side like Pleuronectide among the Teleos-

__ teans, and the oldest stages I have reared still show no traces of

Sore >» The larval , I expect, will continue for many

nent: S. A. Miller has probably already characterized this order from fossil speci-

1885. ] Embryology. 315

weeks.” Mr. Caldwell states that he will leave a large number

of the larve in an aquarium at the station in Queensland, and

will also bring a supply of eggs to Sydney to rear in the labora-

tory.— Nature. >

EMBRYOLOGY.’

ON THE TRANSLOCATION FORWARDS OF THE RUDIMENTS OF THE

Petvic Fins IN THE EmBryos OF Paysocuisr FisHEs.—The two

great subdivisions into which the species of Teleost fishes are

divisible, viz., the Physostomi and Physoclisti, stand to each other

in the relation of the unspecialized and the specialized in respect

to the evolution of the paired fins. The members of the group

Physostomi tend to retain the pelvic limb more or less nearly in

its primordial position throughout life, and no marked tendency

towards the approximation of the rudiments of the anterior and

the posterior limbs seems to be exhibited by the embryo, as may

be seen upon studying the development of a form as typical of the

group as the salmon or trout. Such retention of the primordial

posterior position of the pelvic fins by the embryos of Physos-

tomes supplements those other more unspecialized traits which

they possess, viz., the open pneumatic duct, persistent throughout

life, and the simpler or more primitive condition in later life of

the paraglenal elements (coraco-scapular plate in the embryo),

commonly differentiated in the adult into hyper-, meso- an po-

coracoid, in Gill’s nomenclature, whereas in the Physoclisti the

mesocoracoid is suppressed. The frequently persistent protop-

terygian condition of a portion of median dorsal fin-system, de-

veloped as a so-called adipose fin, is another embryonic character

retained by many Physostomes.

While the foregoing characters are unquestionably of value as

determining the relative position of the two groups under discus-

sion, I would now call attention to some embryological phe-

nomena which demonstrate beyond any doubt that the Physo-

clisti have descended from the Physostomi.

In the young larva of Lophius, or the angler, taken from the

egg shortly before hatching, A. Agassiz? has shown that the

pectoral and pelvic fin-folds arise, the latter behind the former and

almost synchronously, as lobate diverticula of the epiblast, into

which mesoblast has been thrust outwards, and with their bases

nearly horizontal. In this relation of position as anterior and

posterior paired outgrowths they develop just as do the rudi-

ments of the paired fins of the Physostomous salmon embryo;

but the two pairs of fins are much more nearly synchronous in

making their appearance, and are much closer together. The

figure of the youngest stage of the angler given by Agassiz

shows that there are but four myotomes opposite the interval be-

1 Edited by Joun A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

2 On the Young Stages of Osseous Fishes, Part 111, 20 plates; Proc. Amer. Acad.

Arts and Sciences, Vol. xvil, July, 1882 (Plates xvi, Figs. 2-5, and XVII, XVIII).

316 General Notes. [ March,

tween the pelvic and pectoral fin-folds, whereas in the young

salmon, relatively somewhat older, there are at least sixteen myo-

tomes opposite the interval between the pelvic and pectoral fin-

folds. This fact would seem to indicate that the tendency to shift

the pelvic limb forwards must have commenced to manifest itself

far back in the ancestral history of Lophius.

The sudden translocation of the pelvic fin of Lophius, which

now follows in the next stage figured by Agassiz, gives us a clear

conception of how the jugular or thoracic position of the pelvic

_limbs of Physoclists has been brought about. It also clears away

the difficulties which Haswell and Fiirbringer have encountered

in reconciling the condition of the nerve supply of such shifted fins

with the theory of the origin of the paired limbs from continuous

folds or serially homologous rudiments, as developed by Balfour

and Dohrn. For, in the next stage, we find the base of the pelvic

fin suddenly swung round, down and forward through an arc of

nearly 90°, so as to carry the whole structure below the base of

the pectoral. This shifting is then carried still further, so that

the bases of the pelvic fins are finally situated below and in front

of the insertion of the bases of the pectorals. The other equally

singular and extraordinary embryonic changes undergone by

Lophius we cannot discuss at present, but would refer the reader

to the original memoir.

This remarkably sudden shifting of the pelvic fins of Lophius

embryos, within a period of twenty-four hours, is a fine example

of saltatory development, or of how a sudden developmental

leap may be manifested, which does not very seriously involve

adjacent structures. Embryonic development is, in fact, every-

where diverted from its archetypal mode, so to speak, by such

interference with the primordial synchrony or primitive order in

time and space of the appearance of different organs. It is the

business of the philosophical morphologist to keep in mind the

import of such phenomena, and to weigh their significance in the

discussion of the evolution of organic forms,

he nerves, vessels, muscles and bones appertaining to the suc-

cessive rays of the median fins are, as is well known, derived from

embryonic metameres which are simply more developed or dif-

ferentiated in the adult. The cartilaginous rays or actinophores*

of the paired fins of the Elasmobranchs and the rays of the un-

paired fins of Teleosts are known to sustain such a relation of

~ homonomy to the primary metameres first indicated in the em-

ae bryo, though in some types two, three or even five actinophores

~ may stand in a derivative relation to such a single embryonic

‘Segment or somite. There is also much ground for the belief that

in the paired fins of Teleosts it is possible to trace such a relation

_ between the somites over which they originally arose and the

_actinosts or actinophores which constitute their axial skeletons,

: ae skeletal elements which afford support to the true fin-rays

1885.] Embryology. 317

much as the Teleostean paired fins have been specialized and

altered in the course of the history of the phylum.

If it is, therefore, found difficult to trace the nerve supply of

the pelvic fins which have been thus shifted into a jugular or tho-

racic position to segments above them, or to reconcile their mode

of innervation with the lateral-fold theory of their origin proposed

by Balfour, the comparative anatomist who confines himself to the

study of adult structures should not be surprised, for he can know

nothing of the translocation of the whole fin-rudiment forward

and downward unless he is acquainted with the process which

brings this about. Neglecting this, he remains ignorant of what

embryological investigation and investigators might do for him,

though he will often criticise the conclusions of the latter upon

the basis of his knowledge of adult structures, which, as in the

case above instanced, would manifestly be insufficient to enable

him to get at the truth. This interesting example of the value of

embryological observations as the basis for deductions in scientific

morphology, reminds the writer of what Bruch’ has said, to the

effect that, “In the kingdom of nature, as in history, all that has

become is to be understood only through its decoming.”

Lophius is an extreme type, yet other equally interesting forms

have been described, traced and figured by Mr. Agassiz; for ex-

ample, Gadus does not bud out the rudiments of its pelvic fins so

early as Lophius, though another form, Mallotus (= Onos), seems

to bud out the pelvic limb nearly as soon as the embryo angler.

Gadus is evidently intermediate —/John A. Ryder.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE VIVIPAROUS EDIBLE OysTER.*—In this

essay, the text being duplicated in Dutch and French, Dr. Horst

brings together about all the information of value which has been

acquired by his pfedecessors and contemporaries, and also gives

an account of his own investigations, especially those which relate

to the development of the shell-gland and gastrula, which he had,

however, first published two years ago. The gastrula is the first

shell-gland_ on nearly the opposite side of the blastula? The

mouth is formed at the time of invagination of the gastrula; the

anus is formed later, and is broken through at the end of the gas-

trular pouch of endoblast, which blends with the ectoblast, which

also becomes perforated where the two blend. The mantle cavity

is formed by the appearance of a space between the posterior mar-

1 « Alles Gewordene, im Reiche der Natur, wie in der Geschichte ist nur durch sein

Werden zu begreifen, und die Entwickelungsgeschichte ist in diesem Sinn fiir den

Naturforscher vollkommen dasselbe, was die Weltgeschichte fiir die Menschheit

(Wirbeltheorie des Schadels). BRS

? De ontwikkelin chiedenis van de cester ( Ostrea edulis), door Dr. R.

and Embryogénie de VHultre (Ostrea edulis, L.), parle Dr. Horst, Tijdschr. der Ned.

Dierk. Vereen. Suppl., 1884, pp. 1—63, 1 pl., Leiden.

3 In this, his observations are not in agreement with Brooks’ observations on 0.

virginica, in which that author finds the invagination which leads to the develop-

ment of the shell to coincide with the blastopore.

318 General Notes. [ March,

gins of the larval valves, lined with ectoblast (mantle), into which

the vent opens. e anterior adductor muscle degenerates after

fixation, when its function is assumed by the posterior adductor,

which develops after the former. The cephalic ganglion origi-

nates from an epiblastic thickening situated in the center of the

- trochal disk or velum. e larval shell is homogeneous; but at

the hinge there are two small teeth separated by an interval from

each other.

The earlier stages are copied from Mobius, who incorrectly

represents the nucleolus of the ripe egg as being spheroidal,

whereas the writer has shown it to be a double body in the ova

of the three species, including O. edulis, investigated by him.)

Dr. Horst’s more recent investigations upon the early growth

and fixation of the fry or veliger stage of O. edulis and its meta-

morphosis into the “spat” are of great and significant interest.

Carrying out more fully a suggestion made by the writer in 1881,

Dr. Horst used a wooden frame, into which could be fixed a large

number of glass slides, such as are used by microscopists. This

frame, with its contained slides, some of which were coated with

hydraulic cement, was immersed for a period of seventy-two

hours in waters where free-swimming oyster larva were known to

exist, at the end of which time spat was found adhering to the

slides, measuring 0.24™" in height (q}+ of an inch). After fixa-

tion, which seems to occur in the same way as in the American

species, the permanent shell is formed or built up by the mantle

beyond the margins of the valves of the fry, a homogeneous

membrane, subdivided internally into polygonal spaces or areas,

being first laid down by the mantle border. In these prismatic

areas of the periostracum, calcification occurs by the deposit of

calcic carbonate, and the shell is thus moulded upon the mem-

branous matrix of conchioline. Attachment and growth of the

young edible oyster, according to Horst, is very similar to that ot

the American species, as described by the writer (Bull. U. S. Fish

Commission, ii, 1882, p. 383). The outgrowth of the first branchie

as two series of distinct ciliated processes projecting into the

mantle cavity of the spat is interesting as showing that the more

primitive condition of the lamellibranchiate gill was much simpler

than in the existing adult oyster.

PHYSIOLOGY:

__ Tue TEMPERATURE SeENsE.—By an ingenious device Dr. Pol-

~ litzer has been able to make what are probably exact determina-

~ tions of the sensitiveness to heat of the skin in different parts of

__ the body. The rounded bottom of a small platinum cylinder was

. = Bull. U. S. Fish Commission, 11, 1882, p. 213.

~ >This department is edited by HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

sees ae

1885.] Fhystology. 3 319

at which the radiant heat could just be perceived. The relative

sensitiveness of the skin in different parts is calculated as being

inversely as the squares of the distances measured. The follow-

ing table indicates the relative sensitiveness to heat of different

parts of the skin, the sensitiveness of the palmar surface of the

third phalanx of the index finger being considered as 100:

Finger. Dors. Hand, Back. Forearm. Palm. Calf.

100 204 04 27 294 314

It follows from the observations made that, “1. The relative sen-

sitiveness to heat in different parts of the body is not the same in

different individuals. 2. It differs much less in different parts of

the same individuals than the sensitiveness to pressure or power

of localization, the greatest difference for heat being as three to

one ; while for pressure it is at least as five to one, and for locali-

zation as sixty to one. 3. The parts in which the other cuta-

neous senses are most acute are not the same as those in which

there is greatest sensitiveness to heat. 4. Of the parts examined,

the tip of the index finger is the least sensitive ; in the other parts

where the sense of locality is from five to thirty times as dull,

the thermal sense is from two to three times as acute. 5. The

thermal sensitiveness bears no definite relation to the thickness of

the epidermis.” On the contrary the time necessary for an in-

crease of temperature to be perceived depends directly upon the

thickness of the epidermis which is heated ( X. Physiology, Vol.

V; D. 143).

neg ae and Walton seek to explain temperature sensa-

tions as the outcome of mechanical stimulation of sensory nerves

whose endings are submitted to strain due to unequal expansion

of the two layers of the skin when its temperature 1s changed.

These authors find that various fresh animal tissues, as tendon,

expand when warmed, and contract when cooled; others, as elas-

experiments referred to the temperature was varied between 0°

and 63°C.—Centralbl. f. Med. Wiss., 1883, No. 32.

RHYTHMIC CONTRACTION OF THE CAPILLARIES IN Man.—Local

and obscurely automatic rhythmic contraction of the bloodvessels

is an established fact. Wharton Jones found that the veins in the

bat’s wing underwent rhythmic expansions and contractions even

after there was good reason to suppose that the influence elo

through the vessels of an excised, but living muscle, undergoes

alternate acceleration and diminution which can only be explained

changes in the caliber of the muscular vessels.

320 Generat Notes. [ March,

Dr. Lauder Brunton describes a simple experiment, but not one

very easy to verify, by means of which rhythmical contraction

and dilatation of the capillaries in man may be demonstrated. If

the finger-nail be drawn once or twice up and down the mid-

dle of the forehead a red streak remains which may persist

many minutes. This streak undergoes variations in width and

brightness, some of which correspond to the heart-beat, others to

the movements of respiration, and still another series have a

slower rhythm of some twenty seconds interval; these last

changes probably have their origin in purely local contractions of

the capillary walls—//. Physiology, Vol. v, p. 14.

THE Piston RECORDER. — Schafer describes a very simple

device for registering graphically the variations in volume of a

frog’s heart, which may find quite general application. The organ

whose changes of volume are to be measured is inclosed ina

vessel filled with fluid which communicates with a horizontal

glass tube of 3-4 ™ diameter containing oil. A disk of platinum

fits closely in the tube and is in contact with the oil column whose

movements it follows perfectly without allowing the escape of oil

round its rim, An aluminium rod of proper length, bearing a

writing point at one end, is fastened to the center of the platinum

disk, and the piston rod passing through a hole in a cap at the

end of the glass tube is kept moving in the center of the latter.

—Jt. Physiology, Vol. v, p. 130.

THE ORIGIN OF FIBRIN FORMED IN THE COAGULATION OF BLOOD.

—Research upon the cause of blood clotting has been rendered

very difficult because of rapidity of the process of coagulation in

the blood of most animals. Dr. Howell has discovered that the

blood of the terrapin clots very slowly and offers unequaled advan-

tages for the study of its chemical changes. A sample of this blood

- single chemical body, fibrinogen, which exists pre-formed in the

blood plasma, into fibrin under the influence of fibrin-ferment,

which is a product of the dissolution ot white blood corpuscles.

—Stud, Biol. Lab. Fohns Hopkins Univ., Vol. iti, p. 63.

VOLUNTARY ACCELERATION OF THE HEART-BEaT 1n Man.— _

which the rate of heart-beat seems to have been under easy con-

2 _ trol of the will. As is well known, the pulse rate and character

is normally profoundly influenced by the emotions, and there is

~ little doubt that in most of the cases recorded the alteration in heart

rhy thm was brought about indirectly through the excitement

of the appropriate psychical condition. In fact, simple concen-

3 h ttenti n on the heart r

is sufficient. in mos

1885.] Psychology. 32I

cases, to alter the regularity or rate ofitsrhythm, and it is probably

impossible for one to make an accurate estimate of his own pulse.

But there are several instances in which the connection does not

seem to have been so clear. Tüke investigated the case of an old

man who at will could increase his heart rhythm by twenty beats

per minute. A Lieut. Townsend could restrain respiration and

heart beat until he fell into a death-like condition and the body

began to grow cold, Professor Tarchanoff reports a series of ex-

periments carried out on a student who could voluntarily hasten

his heart-beat from about 90 to 120 beats per minute. The patient

declared that this acceleration was not preceded by any special

emotion, and mere thinking of the condition would not produce

it, but that a direct and fatiguing effort of the will was necessary

to cause the quickening. Comparative measurements showed

that during the acceleration there was no constant alteration of

the respiration, but that the blood pressure uniformly rose with

the heart beat.—P/fliiger’s Archiv. Bd., 35, p. 109.

PSYCHOLOGY.

INTELLIGENCE OF A SETTER Doc.—In the winter of 1880 I pur-

chased in the East a dog puppy out of a purely bred English

Gordon setter bitch, by the well known prize-winning Irish water

spaniel, Bramton Barney.

He was the only puppy in the litter and no other puppies came

from the same cross, for the reason that the bitch died soon after,

and bringing the puppy here he was named Barney, and keeping

him in the office where there were several persons employed, his

exceeding good nature was courted and his naturally pleasing

(aside from his determination), yet nervous disposition was en-

couraged. :

After a little training Barney took to retrieving, but his more

noticeable traits was the working up of some mischievous act of

his, which, though puppy-like, would at times be so unlike the or-

dinary as to appear to the observer as original.

In the spring following, when but about six months old, he re-

trieved his first duck from water, and this one being a wounded

ruddy duck made the young “ dropper ” labor hard to make good

the catch and bring the bird to me, as it was yet alive. ;

From this time on there seemed no difficulty in getting

him to go for a wounded or dead bird at any time, but owing to

his exceedingly stubborn nature he was very hard to govern in

such manner that he would perform the service as work and not as

yards from shore, breaking the ice which, by the way, was not very

thick. Barney without a whine followed after me and without

=- VOL. XIX.—No. II. 2I

322 General Notes. [March,

noise remained by my side until the first duck was dropped,

which was in time nearly half an hour, and the duck fell in the

open water seventy-five yards away.

The ice was not quite strong enough te hold up the dog and

in his struggles to get through about fifty yards of the ice before

reaching the open water he had a very tedious time of it. At last

he reached the duck and taking it in his mouth, swam first towards

the broken ice which he had made and then turning to one side

broke a new path away, but not in the direction of where I was

standing, but in a direct line for the shore, deviating only as forced

to evade a too heavy growth of rushes. Arriving upon shore he

placed the duck alongside of some ammunition sacks I had left

near a log, and upon the log and overcoat, thinking that perhaps

this would have a tendency to drive the ducks and other birds

coming up near the bank to shear off towards my blind in the

rushes. His desire to get to this log in as short a way as possible

was evident, for as soon as he dropped his duck, he at once

pulled the coat off the log, but to the east side and, lying down

upon it kept only his head exposed to the piercing north-west

wind as it struck the right side of the log which lay almost par-

allel with the points of the compass north and south. This he con-

tinued during my shooting for the forenoon, only changing when

I shot a duck, when he would at once run as rapidly as he could

to the channel he had made—swim out to where the duck had

dropped, pick it up and return to place it with the first and then

to again resume his position behind the log, with his head above

on the lookout.

Even as he grew in years his good nature of puppyhood did

not forsake him; in the kennel he was the popular dog. All the

female dogs and puppies, liked him and it seemed to him the

greatest pleasure when a puppy was being hurt to rush up and

chase the abuser away. He was also given to particular fancies.

Some men he did not like, while others instead he was particularly

fond of.

_ Asa companion he was with me going down the Arkansas

river, in the winter and spring of 1882; to Labrador, in the sum-

mer of the same year and many other nearly similar trips. Dif-

ferent from most dogs I have observed; while he at times was as

jealous as any, at others he was quite indifferent. His human ac-

quaintances named him the “ noble dog,” and this must have been

a like opinion among his canine friends.

In the kennel where he was kept for a considerable time were

quite a number of dogs and bitches, and scarcely at any time but

that there were a number of puppies there also.. In this kennel

was one highly bred pointer of large size, a powerful animal, but

_ with a very miserable disposition.

It was an almost continuous occurrence for Barney to play

~ with one or more of the puppies, permitting them to pull hi

a arrest i pu is ears,

oy tail and other parts of the body ; sometimes when three or four of

1885.] Psychology. 323

them would take position at opposite points, and pull with all .

their strength, he did not growl or get vexed, for at such times he

was in his element and enjoyed it the more when he could jump

high into the air to frighten his young friends.

The pointer instead would not permit a puppy to approach him,

in fact had so bitten a couple that they had died.

From some cause this pointer, Wad, and Barney were the worst

of enemies, and in consequence there were many battles, and the

pointer being the more powerful would have ruined his foe, were

it not for the support of one of the bitches—an Irish water

spaniel.

This bitch, Frank, would rush up at once upon seeing Barney

thrown under his adversary and catching the pointer by one of his

hind legs, start off with a sudden jerk; the result would be

that Barney would once more come to his feet and in the end be-

cause of his being shaggy would get the best in the fight with

the vicious, yet plucky pointer.

In all these fights should Barney get bitten so that blood would

be shown there seemed to be a perfect panic amongst the bitches

and puppies. ;

ne instance in particular is noticeable. Returning to my

office one afternoon I observed many people running towards the

kennel, which was in the rear of the office. :

A workman who had been engaged in the kennel was hurriedly

running up the street to me. He said that Barney, and the poin-

ter were having a big fight, and that Barney, assisted by the

bitches, was eating up the pointer. ;

Upon arriving within the kennel my greatest surprise was to

see the grown bitches chasing Wad—whose coat naturally pure

white was now covered with blood—around the yard as rapidly

as could be, Frank the more savage of the number ; while Barney

with a lot of puppies around him was assisted by them in licking

his wounds. The workman, who at the time the fight began was

at work on the south side of the kennel in cleaning outa bath-

ing tank, informed me that Wad was lying in the shade of the high

hold of Wad’s ear led him away from this shady place to the north

side of the kennel where the sun shone very hot. Here he left

him and at once went back to the shady place to lie down, from

only a few days, attempted to drive Barney ; ins

Barney growled and would not leave—showing plainly his dispo-

sition to attack the workman. :

Wad had followed Barney, but did not offer fight until after

ey’s growling, when he at once rushed upon him. Ina sie

moments Barney was the “under dog” in the fight and continue

so until Frank as usual came to the rescue. This she did, sev-

324 General Notes. [March,

eral times catching Wad by one hind leg and giving Barney a

chance to get up again.

Several witnesses who climbed up and saw the fight over the

high board fence corroborated this part of the statement by the

workman.

When I saw Barney after the fight he was lying in the chosen

place he had driven Wad from, with all the puppies and bitches

around him.— To de continued.

ANTHROPOLOGY. '

Tue Proro-HELveEtTiAns (continued)—The age of bronze shows

a marked advance on preceding ages. The villages of that period

were more extensive, the dwellings, as is shown by the planks

and main timbers which still exist, larger. In each village there

appears to have been an open place where work was undertaken .

that could not well be done indoors. The discovery on the sites

of the lacustrine villages of Neuchatel and Bienne, of molds,

crucibles, metal broken for the melting pot, damaged and half-

repaired tools and weapons, is sufficient to disprove the theory

that the workshops were on the land. There is reason to believe

that the stations of the bronze age, unlike those of the stone age,

were more or less contemporaneous. Except in unimportant de-

tails, the remains of that period hitherto brought to light possess

the same general features, and none of the villages appears to

have outlived the others.

Some of the swords of the bronze age are elegantly shaped

and exquisitely worked. They were probably worn by the chiefs,

and served rather as badges of authority than as weapons of

offense. The form of them is that of a willow leaf, and their

length varies from seventeen to twenty-three inches. The blades

are generally ornamented with several parallel bands and fastened

to the hilt with rivets. One of the finest specimens found at Lor-

cas, in addition to'the bands, is ornamented with a series of punc-

tured lines, and the hilt, which is bossed in the center, has a short

cross-guard. The total length of the blade is 23.89 inches (six-

ty-seven centimeters), the hilt measures only eight centimeters.

None of the hilts are much larger, and judging by the size of

ranean cto the lake-dwellers must have had remarkably small

The hilt of a sword found at Mcerigen appears to have been

-ornamented with ivory or amber, and its blade of cast bronze is

inlaid with thin plates of iron, the metal, which is now the com-

‘monest of all, being in that age the most precious. The blades

=~ Of all these swords are straight and pointed, and designed rather

_ for thrusting than for cutting. .

But the gem of Dr. Gross’s collection is a steel sword found at

3 _ Corcelettes.. The fact that it is steel has been proved by analy-

oe . : * Edited by Prof. Otis T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C.

1885. | Anthropology. 325

sis, and the specimen is unique among lacustrine finds. The

blade, which has suffered somewhat by fire, is 25.58 inches long,

straight and pointed, and the waved lines with which it is embel-

lished are evidently the work of some pre-historic engraver. Who

were the forgers of this weapon is a question Dr. Gross dis-

cusses at some length and, having regard to the undoubted skill

of the Lacustrians as metal workers and to other circumstances,

he leans decidedly to the opinion that it was wrought by them-

selves ; yet seeing that no other arm of the same material has

been found elsewhere, the correctness of this conclusion is per-

haps open to doubt. Among the objects brought to light by the

labors of Dr. Gross are bronze daggers, highly ornamented

hatchets, chisels, gouges, knives, hammers, anvils, needles, tools

for net-making, fishing-tackle, buttons, chains, spoons, spear-

heads, arrow-points and rings, bracelets and other ornaments in

great variety. Strange to say, saws, though they seem to have

abounded in the stone age, are rarely found among the vestiges

of the age of bronze. The total finds of them in the Swiss lakes

do not exceed half a dozen, of which two are in the collection of

Dr. Gross. One was found at Mcerigen, the other at Auvernier,

and both appear to have been used as frame saws. Another in-

teresting find was that of a distaff at Lorcas (a stone age station)

and a bundle of linen yarn, which, if it were not slightly carbon-

ized, might be passed off as having been spun yesterday. No

remains of looms have been found, but the discovery of linen

exactly like the studs which now adorn the fronts of gentlemen’s

shirts, and double buttons in no way distinguishable from the

solitaires used for fastening wristbands. Ornaments of gold are

chariot wheel and bones and skeletons of horses, put an end to

all doubts on the subject. Some of the bits are remarkable speci-

326 General Notes. [March,

mens of metallurgic art. One of them is a sample of the type

still in common use, both in England and on the continent. The

mouth-piece is jointed in the middle and twisted, the cheeks are

furnished with “dees” for holding bridle and curb-chain ; and in

shape and fashion the Proto-Helvetian bit differs hardly at all

from the “snaffle” of English grooms and harness-makers.

But it is much smaller (nine centimeters, 3.50 in. long.) than the

modern bit, a fact which, together with the smallness of all the

equine bones that have come to light, points to the conclusion

that the horses of the bronze age were little, if any, larger than

Exmoor ponies,

Professor Virchow, to whom Dr. Gross has submitted the skulls

found by him at Auvernier, declares that the brain capacity of the

lake-men was equal to that of the men of our owntime. Their

conformation, their cerebral volume, the peculiarities of their su-

tures, place them on an equality with the highest type of Aryan

skulls. That people so richly gifted by nature should have suc-

ceeded so remarkably in the struggle for existence, affords no

grounds for surprise. There was nothing in common between the

lacustrine communities and the savage tribes whom a fatal law

condemns to extinction so soon as they come under the influence

of a civilization higher than their own. The lake-dwellers pos-

sessed a singular aptitude for progress, a rare capacity for adapting

themselves to their environment, and making the most of their

advantages.

The skulls examined by Dr. Virchow are doubtless those of in-

dividuals who fell into the water by accident, possibly at the time

of the great fires in which nearly all the villages of the bronze

age seem to have perished; for the discovery at Auvernier of a

place of sepulture, shows that the lake-dwellers disposed of their

dead by laying them in the ground. This cemetery contained the

bones of about twenty individuals, and the presence among them

of stone and bronze articles, their positions on the lake shore,

opposite a range of piles, leaves no doubt that the remains are of

lacustrian origin. The appearance of the ground denotes the ex-

istence of many other tombs; but the cost of exploring them has

hitherto hindered the making of further explorations.

As touching the antiquity of the lake-dwellings of Proto-Hel-

vetia, there is very little to be said. No medals, coins, or other

relics, whereby the date of their erection can even be approxi-

mately determined, have been found. It may, however, with cer-

tainty be inferred, from the absence of anything Roman, that the

lacustrian vanished from the scene before the appearance in Cen-

tral Europe of the legions of the eternal city. According to the

calculations of Von Sacken, moreover, the Necropolis of Hall

stadt, which is admittedly more modern than the lacustrian sta-

os tions, dates from about 500 A. C., and as there is good reason to

believe that several centuries elapsed between the destruction of

1885.] Anthropology. 327

the lake-dwellings, and the making of the Necropolis, the former

event must have come to pass 800 to 1000 years before the

Christian era. The duration of the ages of stone, copper and

bronze, is a matter of pure conjecture. All that can be regarded

as certain, is that it was very long. In the opinion of Dr. Gross,

and of other erudite Swiss antiquaries, several series of centuries

—perhaps twenty or thirty—must have elapsed between the time

when the first piles were driven into the beds of the Swiss lakes,

and the time when lacustrine civilization reached its highest

development. We shall probably not be far out, then, if we assign

to the oldest of the lake-dwellings an antiquity of not less than

six thousand years.—Contemporary Review, Fuly, 1884.

WESTERN TRIBAL AND LocaL Names.—Recent investigations

of a linguistic purport on the Western States and Territories have

yielded many interesting results, which may be fully relied on, be-

cause they were made and verified on the spot. Of ¢rzbal names

we mention the following:

Bidai, a tribe in Southern Texas, of unknown affinity, The

Caddo term bidai means drushwood, thicket.

Kichai, a tribe affiliated to the Wichita tribe ; from the Wichita |

term kitsa, water. The Wichita Indians call a Kichai Indian,

Kiétsash kuétsa, the Red river of Louisiana: Kitchka.

The Caddo Indians once were in the habit of wearing nose-

rings, and are still called by other tribes “ Pierced-Noses.” The

Kayowé style them Mon-sépti, the Comanches Nasomonrhta ;

“ring-nosed.” They call themselves Assinai, which is the name

of a populous tribe once seen in the center of Texas, by C. de la

Salle (about 168

a headdress (siya feather), the other: “painted arrows” is de-

rived from pak arrow, nábor “ striped.” The Kayowé name for

that people, ’Ahiadl, is said to refer to their homes near cotton-

wood trees. : ;

The Apaches of Arizona are called by the Comanches Hitashi

or with the full form: Hiitashi nap: moccasins turned up at the

toes. Né ura’htd hitashi nap signifies: “ I wear moccasins turned

up,” and a “ pug-nose”’ is called mui tar; `

Among the local names we point out the following : :

Mobitée, a rising town in the Panhandle of Texas, is called so

from the Comanche term: mobitai, yee Several creeks and |

rivers in the vicinity are called by the same name.

Abilene, a town nee railroad Station of Northwestern Texas:

from avelino, the Mexican name of the peccary or musk-hog, fre-

quent in some portions of Texas and old Mexico. — :

Ozark, the name of this ridge is of French origin, and a muti-

328 General Notes. [ March,

lation of dots aux arcs, “ wood for bows.” The species of trees is

the osage orange, used for bows and for making hedges; when

cut green the wood never shrinks in seasoning.

Skullyville, name of a settlement in Arkansas, and of another in

the Cha’hta Nation, Indian Territory. Probably derived from the

French provisional term esca/in, Spanish esca/ino, a coin twelve

cents and a half in value. It is derived from the English shilling,

and has passed into the Cha’hta language in the form: iskúla.

Prairiedanne, village in Arkansas: corrupted from French:

Prairie dinde (d'Inde, coq d'Inde) or “ turkey prairie.”

Sangamon river, Illinois; a corruption of Saint Germain river.

Chilvcco, name of an Indian training school in northern part of

Indian Territory, near Arkansas city. Named atter a streamlet

in the vicinity, and representing the Creek term tchi-’lako, horse

(“large deer ”).

Wolf river is the name generally given by Indians of the Indian

Territory to the North fork of the Canadian, near which Fort

Reno is built. The Comanches call it, and the fort also, Issa

húnubi (issa, wolf, hinub’h, river) —A. S. Gatschet.

Tue History oF RELIGION.—As now employed, the word re-

ligion may be taker to include all human beliefs and actions with

reference to the spirit world. Of course, in employing it, we shall

be sometimes talking of creeds, again of conduct, a third time ot

the organization of society into clergy and laity, and finally of the

apparatus employed in all ‘so-called religious actions. For the

purpose of collecting and classifying all accessible information re-

garding the subjects above-named, excluding controversy about

dogmas, M. Guimet has established the Musée Guimet at Lyons,

and founded the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, under the

scientific value, and proves its rights to a place in literature by

closing its ninth volume, in its fifth year.

The Pratimoksha Sûtra, from the Thibetan.

. W. Rockhill.

The Ballad of Lenore in Greece. ; oe

J. Psichari

‘ifices of Carthage at the persecution of Decius. M. Massebieau.

Review of Miiller’s “ Greek Mythology.” M, Reville.

1e great solar Goddess, Ama-Terasow Oho-kami. De Rosny.

Belief in future life among the Jews. E. Montet.

The Myth of Osiris. J. Lieblein

i A great portion of the volume is devoted to reviews and Bib-

ography. ;

MICROSCOPY. |

_ THE Brarns or Uropeta.—The following method of prepara-

: tot is extracted from Professor H. F. Osborn’s papers® on the

_ brains of American Urodela, and from a letter in which the

_ details are more fully given.

| -3 Bdited by Dr. C. O. Wurrman, Mus. Comparati i

coe MAN, " parative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

*Proc, Acad. Nat. Sc. of Philadelphia, 1883, p. 178, and 1884, p. 262.

1885.] Microscopy. 329

“ Before hardening the brains were inflated with Miiller’s fluid,

so as to preserve the natural proportion of the cavities. After

treatment with alcohol, they were placed for a week in dilute

carmine. Calberla’s egg-mass was employed as before, except

that the ventricles were injected with the mass before hardening.

The delicate parts of the brain-roof were thus retained. It ap-

pears now that celloidin may be used- for this purpose to equal, if

not to greater advantage in results, and with considerable econ-

omy of time. The sections were cut in absolute alcohol, were

then floated upon a slide in consecutive order, from twenty to fifty

at a time, and were covered with a delicate slip of blotting paper

during treatment with oil of cloves.”

Imbedding—1. The egg-mass was prepared by shaking the

white and yolk of egg together, with three drops of glycerine to

each egg, and then well filtered through coarse cloth.

2. The bath is then prepared as follows:

a, Outside is a large water pan for boiling with the Bunsen

burner, &c.

Cover sf. th

ice pulled.

zar pet- N-

eka

--Large water pan

05% Alcohot -~~ wade

per cent alcohol. :

c. Within the glass dish is placed a piece of coarse wire netting

which supports the imbedding box, raising it above the alcohol.

` 3. The box, made of paper in the usual way, and one-fourth

filled with the imbedding mass, is kept in the bath until the mass

is hardened enough to support the brain. The brain is next

placed on the hardened stratum and covered with the fresh mass.

The second stratum is hardened i an enoni to hold the brain in

lace, and then a third is added, filling the box.

‘i 4. The whole mass must now be allowed to harden through

and through, iring about fifteen minutes.

5. The Sandenag completed by passing the box through

three grades of alcohol—eighty, ninety and a hundred per cent,

allowing it to remain twenty-four hours in each. .

330 General Notes. [ March,

When the mass becomes nearly white and ceases to discolor

the alcohol, it is ready for cutting.

SEMPER’S METHOD OF MAKING DRIED PREPARATIONS.—Semper’s

method, published in the Sitzungsber. d. phys.-med. Ges., Wirz-

burg, 1880, and in the Zoolog. Jahresbericht for 1880, has been

redescribed in detail by Dr. Sharp.!

1. Place the object in a weak solution of chromic acid (4-1

per cent), six to twenty-four hours, according to its size and

nature. For small animals, such as annelids, gastropods, frogs,

mice, &c., six to eight hours are sufficient.

2. Transfer to a large quantity of clean water, which must be

often renewed until the acid has been so far withdrawn that the

water remains uncolored by it. This part of the process may be

much shortened by allowing a current of water to flow through

the vessel. The usual time is from ten to twenty hours.

3. Treat with thirty to forty per cent alcohol ten to twenty-four

hours, with sixty to seventy per cent alcohol two or three days

(with larger objects a week), with ninety per cent alcohol two or

three days or more, and finally with absolute alcohol.?

4. Transfer to turpentine and leave it until it becomes thor-

oughly saturated (two to three days). With large objects it is

best to change the turpentine once.

5. Place the preparation in the air, in order to evaporate the

turpentine, protecting it carefully from dust.

e preparation soon becomes white, resembling the whitest

kid. It is light, stiff and, on account of the resin contained, per-

fectly insect-proof.

If hollow organs (stomach, bladders, lungs, &c.) are prepared,

they may be inflated with air after they have remained a short

time in turpentine, by so doing much space, and consequently

much alcohol, are saved

Professor Semper keeps his preparations in dust-proof, glass

boxes, in which they can be seen from both sides.

To the five steps of the process a sixth, discovered by Semper

a few years ago, is given by Dr. Sharp. It consists in placing

the prepared object in a solution of glycerine and sugar, which

brings back almost entirely the original color in many cases.

Rast’s METHODS oF Srupyinc KARYOKINETIC FIGURES —

Material—The skin and kidney of Proteus and the epithelium

of the mouth of salamander larva. The epithelium is the more

favorable object, as the very large nuclei can be examined in sur-

: hag Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1884, pp. 24-27.

oN RS radio etary Sigg the most critical part of the whole process-

Absolutely every particle of the water must be removed; for any tissue in which it

a: Femratas will become ed and eventually spoil. Dr. Sharp always takes the pre-

~ Caution of changing absolute alcohol once or twice, and leaves the object in it

a3 ok Morph. Jahrb., X, H. 2, pp. 215-219, 1884.

1885.] Microscopy. 331

face preparations. The achromatic spindles are seen to best advan-

tage in the renal tissue

Preparation.—a. Place small fresh pieces of the object in chrom-

Jormic acid (200 g. of a one-third per cent solution of chromic +

four to five drops of strong formic acid) twelve to twenty-four hours,

6. Wash thoroughly and harden slowly, first twenty-four to

thirty-six hours in sixty to seventy per cent alcohol, then in abso-

lute alcohol.!

c. Stain in either of the three following wa

1. Grenacher’s hematoxylin (strongly diluted with distilled

water) twenty-four hours, followed, after washing, with acidulated

eg (few drops o

2. Pfitzner’s safranin two to four hours, followed by absolute

alcohol, in which the object is ga until no visible cloud of color

remains upon turning it over F imd about two minutes), clove

oil a few minutes and dam

3- Double-stain with Kitistotrlik and safranin; stain very

feebly with the hæmatoxylin ; wash and treat sao acidulated

alcohol, and then stain with safranin as in number

Examination. —High powers are required in he. study of the

mounted ERRA. either the homogeneous immersion ys of

Zeiss, with Abbe’s condenser, or that of Hartnack, No. m1, zs

Nachet’s camera was employed in drawing.

It it well to work with green light, which can be obtained by

inserting a pee colored glass plate beneath the table of the

Microscope, as was first recommended by Engelmann.

The slide devieed ide Rabl enables one to examine a prepara-

the tion -otherwise ‘remaining e nie Ctl

Erea rally feecaes ¢

which brings out very di

spherules of oa ey

332 General Notes. [ March,

tion from both sides. It consists of four pieces of glass of the

shape and size seen in the figure (a 6c d), and a cover-glass, g,

which serves as the object-bearer. The two glasses, æ and 4, are

painted on one side with chloroform balsam, and then connected

turned over and the middle portions of the glass bars, c and d,

painted with balsam; and a thin glass cover, g, placed so as to

rest on the pointed sides of cand d. This glass (g) bears the

object in dammar, which is covered by another very thin glass.

The object, lying between two thin cover-glasses, can be viewed

from both sides with the highest powers.

THE PREPARATION OF MeRostastic Ova.—A. Reftilian Ova}

—1. The ova taken from the oviduct are opened in a dilute solu-

tion of osmic acid (one per cent) and then the white removed as

far as possible.

2. The osmic acid is then turned off and a weak solution of

chromic acid (% per cent) added; twenty-four hours.

3- With a sharp, fine pair of scissors cut around the germinal

area, just outside its margin; and after it has been completely

encircled with the incision, float it carefully off from the body of

e yolk,

4. The yolk and acid are next removed, and a copious supply

of clean water added, which must be several times renewed.

5. Calberla’s fluid (glycerine, water and absolute alcohol in

equal parts) three hours.

ardened in ninety per cent alcohol.

7. Stained in Bohm’s carmine acetate twenty-four hours.

B. Teleostean Ova (T. fario).—1. Chromic acid (% per cent)

twenty-four hours.

2. Distilled water two hours. The.egg-membrane expands,

and may now be easily removed,

3- Washed in distilled water twelve hours. -

4. Absolute alcohol, glycerine and aq. dest. in equal parts

four hours.

5. Absolute alcohol.

_ 6. Bohm’s carmine acetate one to two days.

_7- Mixture of water (fifty vols.), glycerine (fifty vols) and mu-

riatic acid (a half vol.), for a few minutes. .

_ 8. Washed in water, four to five hours.

9. Absolute alcohol twelve hours, preparatory to imbedding in

paraffine.

__ Bouw’s CARMINE ACETATE, —1. Carmine (four grms.) pulverized

_ 4m 200 grms. water,

__. 2, Ammonia added by drops until the solution becomes cherry-

_ ted (the carmine should now be fully dissolved).

os + Kupffer. His and Braune. Archiv. Anat. Abth., 1882, p, 4.

1885.] Scientific News. 333

3. Acetic acid slowly added until the cherry-red color becomes

brick-red. The addition of acetic acid. should be accompanied

with stirring, and should cease the moment the change in color

is effected.

4. Filter until no trace of a precipitate remains.

If the color is not sufficiently deep, a few drops of ammonia

should be added before filtering, and the solution left in an open

vessel until the alkali has volatilized.

Objects may be left for twenty-four hours or more in this fluid.

The deep stain should be partially removed by immersion in a mix-

ture of water (fifty vols.), glycerine (fifty vols.), and muriatic acid

(a half vol.), for a few minutes. The karyokinetic figures are

thus brought out with great distinctness.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The Entomologische Nachrichten, founded by Dr. Katter

at Putbus, is now edited by Dr. F. Karsch, and published by

R. Friedlander & Sohn in Berlin. It is apparently improved, and

No. 1 for this year is illustrated by a plate, with two wood-cuts.

Dr. Ernest writes to it from Caracas, “ we have here the locust

plague! Acridium peregrinum in immense swarms. The eggs

are infested by a small hymenopter, Scelio famelicus Say,” noticed

in the second report United States Entomological Commission,

270.

—A first duplicate of the “ Philip Carpenter collection” of shells,

reserved by the late Dr. Carpenter for private use and study, re-

mains in possession of his widow, Mrs. Carpenter, 241 Univer-

sity street, Montreal. It contains, according to a catalogue accom-

panying it, 4039 species. There is also one of the best duplicates

of the “ Mazatlan collection” of Dr. Carpenter. These collec-

tions will be disposed of on reasonable terms, more especially

to any public collection or working naturalist.

—WNature Nov. 20th, 1884, p. 72, contains a report of the

‘Academy of Sciences, Paris, on the depth to which sunlight pen-

etrates the waters of Lake Geneva, by MM. H. Fol and Ed.

Tarasin. From a series of experiments carried out in August

and September of that year, the author concludes that light

reaches a depth of 170 meters, and probably a little more, the lu-

ninosity at this point being about equal to a clear moonless night.

— The first part of a detailed and well illustrated work on the

embryology of Peripatus, by Dr. J. Kennel, appears in the Arbei-

ten aus dem Zoologisch-Zodtomischen Institute in Wü ;

Bd. vır, Heft 2. The six folding plates are packed with illustra-

tions which show, without undervaluing the labors of Balfour, that

this memoir will be the fullest and most important yet published

in the development of this exceedingly curious creature. i

—Mr. A. Agassiz, the director of the Museum of Comparative

Zodlogy, has distributed to correspondents in this country M.

334 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [March,

Perrier’s elaborate memoir on the star-fishes of the “ Blake,”

dredged in the Antillean seas and Gulf of Mexico, under the direc-

tion of Mr. Agassiz. It appears in “Nouvelles Archives du

Museum d’ Histoire Naturelle, June 16, 1884.

or more than twenty-five years Professor J. V. Carus has

been collecting materials for a general prodromus or preliminary

view of the fauna of the Mediterranean sea. The first part has

appeared, containing the Ccelenterates, Echinoderms and worms.

— Further experiments with the new anesthetic, cocaine, have

been made by M. Vulpian, and laid before the French Academy.

Researches on snails and crawfishes show that it is less effica-

cious in the case of invertebrate then vertebrate animals.

— Of the Australian ants, Formica rufinigra is said to be the

most numerous, bold, and destructive. It destroys the web of

certain caterpillars, and wriggles them out, when they fall a prey

to a host of attendant warrior ants,

— The death is reported of Mr. Alexander Murray, formerly

director of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland, and author

of a treatise on the geology of that island. His latest paper was

a most interesting one on the glacial scratches of Newfoundland.

——Edward Rüppell died at Frankford, Dec. 10, at the age of 90

years. He was an explorer, geographer, and naturalist, his re-

searches and travels having been made in Northeastern Africa

and Arabia Petrza.

— We regret to be obliged to announce the sudden death, in

January, by pneumonia, of Mr. Augustus Meisel, the well-known

lithographer of Boston, who has produced most excellent zodlogi-

cal illustrations.

—M. Searles V. Wood, well known for his essays on English

tertiary and quarternary deposits, died December last.

` — The death is announced of Mr. Alfred Tylor, a well-known

writer on geological and anthropological subjects.

— D. A. Keferstein, well known as a lepidopterist, died at

Erfurt, Nov. 28. ,

A’.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Sociery oF Naruratists or Norra America.—This body

met at Washington, in the lecture room of the National Museum,

on Jan. 29th. The following papers were read:

zogth, a. M.

I. Charles S. Minot. A new cabinet for microscopical specimens.

_ 2, ——AÀ new feeding trough.

- 4. S. H. Gage. The use of Miiller’s fluid for preserving the dark colors of animals.

5. —— The use of collodion for protecting the rubber rings of museum jars.

ee 6 ——Glass bulb canulæ for the injection of silver nitrate, gold chloride, ete.

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies, 335

7. H. F. Osborn, A simple “method of injecting the entire arterial and nervous

systems in different colors

8. H. P. Bowditch. A new fers of stop-cock for rubber-tubing,

9. R. Ramsay Wright. On methods of staining series of sections.

10. B. G. Wilder. The use of slips in scientific correspondence.

11, C. S. Minot. On a new staining solution for histological use.

12. C. A, Ashburner. Notes on barometric hypsometry.

H. C. Lewis. A summer school of geology,

+. A. Ashburner. Methods in practical geology.

. N. Martin. The use of modeling clay to illustrate lectures.

F. Osborn, Methods of hanan the embryology of the opossum.

eo, Gill. On osteological collections

n G T fi apes The collecting and working of invertebrate palzontologic ma-

2, G. x. ‘Gilbert. Geological bibliography.

3. Geo. P. Merrill. pabibiies of a colored, enlarged photo-micrograph of a thin

4. G. Brown Aeg " Account of the unit system of cases used in the U. S.

barese e

5. Ryder. On museum alcoholic

6. Wilder and Gage. An fovedtigatare table with double or triple revolving top,

k eas

7. R. R. Wright. On the of series of sections in laboratory teaching and a

convenient method of « Seals them.

30th, P. M.

I. H. A, Howell. On en use of terrapin blood for the demonstration of the phe-

nomena of coagulati

2, Harrison Allen. Exhibition of the palat ograph.

C. V. Riley.. On the mounting of alcoholic 5 ABORT in insect cabinets,

type speci

. Gor The use of photography for making Di diagrams.

8. W. H. Niles. Shall we d efine groups of organisms?

9. L. F On a method of rapid drawing for ‘Faigle AE a

10, R. E. call, ` Dentition of certain mollusks.

BiotocicaL Society oF WasuincTon.—The fifth anniversary

meeting of the Society was held Jan. 24, 1885. The retiring

president, Professor Charles A. White, delivered an address upon

the application of biology to geological history.

New York Acapemy OF ScIENCES, Jan. 12, 1885.— sce B. B.

Chamberlain read notes on minerals from the French Creek

mines, Chester county, Penna. (with exhibition of specimens).

Jan. 26, 1885.—The plan of the Mississippi River Commission

and its relation to natural laws, was discussed by Mr. William L.

Elseffer, C. E.

Boston Soctety or NaruraL History, Jan. 7, 1885.—Professor

W. O. Crosby read a paper on the color of soils.

oo as seen oah, interviews with a native Corean.

336 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [March, 1885.

; $

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB, Jan. 8, 1885.—Mr. T. W. Bick-

nell described a summer trip to Alaska, with lantern slides, illus-

trating the topography of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Alaska,

its products, mines, people, houses, dress, customs, social and re-

ligious, seals, glaciers and icebergs.

Jan. 14.—Annual meeting. The reports of the secretaries and

the treasurer were presented, and the annual election of officers

held. W. H. Pickering presented a paper, illustrated with the lan-

tern, entitled an ascent of Vesuvius on the Pompeiian side.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, Jan. 13, 1885.—Professor

F. H. Cushing, of the Smithsonian Institution, who has dwelt for

some years among the Zuñi Indians, delivered a lecture upon his

explorations and researches on the discovery of Zufi or the ancient

province of Cibola and the seven lost cities, illustrated by ancient

costumes, paraphernalia and stereopticon views.

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY NATURAL Sciences, Nov. 13.—Dr.

Randolph stated that he and Mr. S. G. Dixon had experimented

on cutaneous absorption by placing one to fifteen drops of nico-

tine on the breasts of rabbits, taking care to previously remove

the hair without abrading the skin. Death resulted in from halt

an hour to four hours, and nicotine was found in the blood before

death, proving that it was absorbed by the uninjured skin.

Nov. 20—Dr. Leidy presented specimenns of Urnatella gracilis,

showing that at the approach of winter the polyps die, the stalk

alone remaining securely anchored and ready to reproduce in

spring from the summit of the terminal joint. Mr. Potts stated

that he had seen examples with seventeen joints, and that the

number seemed to be limited only by the time of growth.

The latter speaker also describes a rhizopod, apparently a new

species of the genus Acanthocystis. It was collected on mica

schist west of the Schuylkill. The protoplasm filled about one-

third of the cavity of the capsule.

Professor Heilprin called attention to a boulder found at Sum-

mit, N. J., and containing Airypa reticularis, a form of Stropho-

mena, and several other species, proving that the material came

from the Lower Helderberg, the nearest locality of which is sixty

miles from where the boulder was found, while the nearest locality

in a direction of the glacier’s movement was at least a hundred

miles.

Nov. 27.—Mr. Ford detailed the finding of Pholas truncata,

Pierispata, and Littorina irrorata upon the beach at Atlantic City,

also the discovery of capsules of Fulgur carica with living em-

bryos. The Rev. Dr. McCook described a collection of the

a _ towers of turret spiders, some made with cotton and other mate-

= rials supplied to them, others with their own materials. The

-work of individuals which have just emerged from the egg shows

e ; i Rok f 88 snow

that at that age their instincts are perfectly developed.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. x1x.— APRIL, 1885.—No. 4.

WHY CERTAIN KINDS OF TIMBER PREVAIL IN

CERTAIN LOCALITIES.

BY JOHN T. CAMPBELL,

T has often been observed that in certain localities a certain

species of timber will prevail, or be more numerous than any,

and sometimes than every other kind. It has been further ob-

served that when anji prevailing timber has been cleared away,

and the land allowed to grow up again in timber, that some other

species will prevail. This, I think, has often been erroneously

attributed to the inability or indisposition of the soil to repro-

duce the former prevailing timber. I have observed much on

this subject, and I never could see any important difference in

the ability or disposition of the soil to nourish any of the different

kinds of native trees, and also no important difference in the suc-

cess in planting and starting them.

My observations convince me that it all, or mainly, lies in the

favorable condition of the ground to receive the seeds of the

various species of timber when it happens to fall thereon. A

sycamore in the Wabash region will grow as large and rapidly on

` the uplands, where they are seldom found, as in the sandy bot-

toms along the margins of the streams, where they seem to best

thrive. A white oak when planted will grow as well in the low

river bottoms, where they are never or seldom found, as on the

hills and ridges near by,.where they seem to be the spontaneous

product of the ground. ;

But if an acorn should be blown from a white oak on the hills

into the low bottoms beneath, it would fall on ground very un-

favorable to the sprouting of such acorns, and it would rot where

it fell. So, on the other hand, if a sycamore ball (which contains

VOL. XIX.—NO. IY, 22

338 Why certain kinds of Timber [April,

one thousand to two thousand seeds) should, in the spring time,

be blown to pieces after the winter’s freeze, and their needle-like

seeds be blown upon the adjacent hills, very few of them would

light on ground favorable to sprouting them. Occasionally we

find a lone sycamore on the uplands, standing among the oak,

beech, poplar and other upland timber, and every year bearing its

quota of seed and shedding them on the adjacent ground by the

million, none, or very few of which, ever take effect, and for rea-

sons before hinted at, but which will be more fully explained

further on.

The sycamore seed must fall on ground, warm, very moist, but

not absolutely wet, and sufficiently bare for the sun to shine on it

the greater part of the day. Otherwise it may not sprout. The

acorn, on the other hand, falls a little while before the leaves fall.

If it falls on very moist ground it rots. If it falls on the leaves

of the former year, and is shaded enough to prevent drying or

baking from the sun, and is covered lightly by the fall of the cur-

rent year’s leaves, or by a chance wind has the old leaves drifted

on top of it, a slow rain with subsequent sunshine will sprout it.

It will send out little rootlets which bore through the underlying

old leaves and penetrate the ground, and once started, no weather

or climatic conditions will kill it. The same is true of the seed

of the hickory, beech, sugar maple and other upland trees.

During the past two years my work has been on and about the

Wabash river banks and its bottoms (flood-plains), and I have

discovered why it is that in some parts of these bottoms one

kind of timber, as sycamore, will take complete possession of a

few acres, while at or near by the cottonwood will prevail almost

to the exclusion of everything else, and at other places the soft

or water maple will do likewise, and at still another the water elm

will monopolize all the space on which a grown tree can stand

for several acres.

It comes about in this way. The balls of the sycamore, after

undergoing the winter’s freeze, are dissolved so that the sepa-

rate, needle-like, or more properly pin-like seeds (as the outer

end has the germ of the root, and swells into a bulb like a pin-

head) are blown by the wind, the little “ fuz” they hold enabling

them to float a great way both in wind and on water. They

begin falling early in the spring months, and if a flood is receding

at the time, they stick to the soft, moist banks wherever they

1885.] prevail in certain Localities. 339

touch them, and particularly along the highest part of the sand

bars. Were it not for the subsequent floods the same spring,

there could no other trees grow, as the sycamore, being the first

to shed, would seed all the tree-growing space (each large tree

bearing one hundred and fifty million seeds), and their broad

leaves would shade the ground till nothing else could sprout.

But during their early infancy they are easily killed by an over-

flow, and this ill fortune happens to the greater portion of them.

The cottonwood is the next in order of shedding seed. If an-

other flood is receding while the cottonwood is shedding, this

flood will have killed all the sycamores which it covered for only

a few days, and will sprout all the cottonwood seed that may fall

on and along the banks and bars. As the earlier floods are gen-

erally the highest there will be some sycamores not reached by

the following floods, and they will hold sway along that margin.

If, when the cottonwoods are a few inches high, another flood

follows, they too will be killed to the extent that they are kept

under water a few days. \

Next to the cottonwood the soft, or bottom maple sheds its

seed. If a flood is receding this seed will occupy all the space,

as, having a smaller leaf than the sycamore or cottonwood, they

will grow closer together. They in turn may be killed by a flood

when they are very young.

I have forgotten the exact time that each of these trees sheds

its seed, something will of course depend on the forwardness of

the spring. But along the Wabash banks, last spring, I could see

three belts of young trees, and distinguish them by their general

appearance. The farther off, the plainer these belts show, till lost

to view. The upper belt was sycamore, the second (downward)

cottonwood, and the third soft maple. In June following there

came a bigger flood than any that caused the seeds to sprout, and

killed all of them. There was a much bigger flood in the pre-

ceding February, but no seed fell then.

It will sometimes happen that the flood that plants the syca-

mores will be the last one for that year, and when they have lived

through one summer they are safe from any danger from over-

flow. In still other seasons it will happen to favor the cotton-

wood, or the maple, or elm, or willow. New bars are all the time

extending from the lower ends of the old ones, and as the eleva-

tion of these will be such as to be sometimes flooded once and

340 Why certain kinds of Timber prevail, etc. [April,

not again for that year, the trees that shed their seed with the

flood that barely covers such bars will plant them to overflowing

fullness of their kind, and once they are secure from other floods

they live out their time of two hundred to three hundred years.

The upper surface of the interior of the bottoms (back from the

rivers) is built up by sedimentation, and when built above the

height of the average floods, the burr oak, black walnut, buck-

eye, pawpaw and bottom hickory make their appearance. Such

sycamores, cottonwoods and maples as live long enough to be

relegated to the interior (as very few of them do) by the bottoms

building riverward away from them, do not and cannot reproduce

themselves, as the conditions that sprout their seeds have moved

away from them. They die at the end of three hundred years at

most, and leave no heirs to the soil.

How do the occasional lone, stray sycamore and cottonwood

find their way to the uplands? I can see how in one case it was

not only possible but very probable. Five miles south-east of

where I am now writing (Rockville, Indiana) is a pasture of hill

land, so fenced as to include a section of a small stream at the

foot of a hill facing north. There stand several half-grown syca-

mores which bear and shed their seed in this corner watering

place. There these seeds are sprouted. There the cattle and

horses resort for water. Every thimbleful of mud that may

stick to their hoofs is liable to contain from one to five half-

sprouted seeds, which are carried up the hillside and on the up-

land, as the cattle and horses return to their grass, and dropped

where the sun takes up the unfinished work of growing the tree.

The result is, that on every square rod of ground near this water-

ing place stands one to five sycamores, varying in age from one

to ten years, and they diminish in number as the distance from

the watering place increases. It has been used as a pas-

ture about ten years. I remember when it contained no syc-

amore at all. Just outside of the pasture fence, to the east-

ward, the land has never been fenced. The cows may drink

where they please, and there are no sycamores scattered over the

adjacent hills. If any seeds are thus carried there, the forest

leaves and shade prevent their sprouting and growing. But

along the little sand and gravel bars of the stream, they sprout

as thick as grass, only to be killed by the floods from the early

summer showers.

1885. ] On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, etc. 341

From this I infer that two hundred to three hundred years ago

the deer, elk and buffalo in their many wanderings across streams

and over hills, have occasionally carried in their hoofs partly

sprouted seeds, and dropped them on the hills where the sun-

shine was unobstructed, and the trees thus got their footing, and

once getting it were able to stand afterward. These are the only

kinds of trees I have observed, but I presume a similar law gov-

erns the distribution and self-planting of them all.

10:

ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE VERTEBRATA, PRO-

GRESSIVE AND RETROGRESSIVE.

BY E. D. COPE.

(Continued from page 247, March number.)

Tue REPTILIAN LiNE—CONTINUED.

igs the first place, this line departs with lapse of time from the

primitive and ancestral order, the Theromorpha, in two re-

spects. First in the loss of the capitular articulation of the ribs,

and second in the gradual elongation and final freedom of the

suspensory bone of the lower jaw (the os quadratum). In so

departing from the Theromorpha, it also departs from the mam-

malian type. The ribs assume the less perfect kind of attach-

ment which the mammals only exhibit in some of the whales, and

the articulation of the lower jaw loses in strength, while it gains

in extensibility, as is seen in the development of the line of the

eels among fishes. The end of this series, the snakes, must

therefore be said to be the result of a process of creation by

degeneration, and their lack of scapular arch and, fore limb and

usual lack of pelvic arch and hind limb are confirmatory evidence

of the truth of this view of the case.

Secondly, as regards the ossification of the anterior part of the

brain-case. This is deficient in some of the Theromorpa, the an-

cestral order, which resemble in this, as in many other things,

the cotemporary Batrachia. Some of them, however (Diadecti-

dæ), have the brain completely enclosed in front. The late orders

mostly have the anterior walls membranous, but in the strepto-

stylicate series at the end, the skull becomes entirely closed in

front. In this respect then the snakes may be said to be the

highest or most perfect order. |

As regards the scapular arch, no order possesses as many ele-

342 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ April,

ments as thoroughly articulated for the use of the anterior leg as

the Permian Theromorpha. In all the orders there is loss of

parts, excepting only in the Ornithosauria and the Lacertilia. In

the former the adaptation is to flying. The latter retain nearly

the Theromorph type. An especial side development is the

modification of abdominal bones into two peculiar elements to

be united with the scapular arch into a plastron, seen in the Tes-

tudinata. In this part of the skeleton the orders are generally

degenerate, the last one, the Ophidia, especially so.

The pelvic arch has a more simple history. Again in the

Theromorpha we have the nearest approach to the Mammalia.

The only other order which displays similar’ characters is the

Ornithosauria (Dimorphodon, according to Seeley). In the Din-

osauria we have a side modification which is an adaptation to the

erect or bipedal mode of progression, the inferior bones being

thrown backwards so as to support the viscera in a more poste-

rior position. This is an obvious necessity to a bipedal animal

where the vertebral column is not perpendicular, as in birds.

And it is from the Dinosauria that the birds are supposed to have

arisen. The main line of the Reptilia, however, departs from

both the mammalian and the avian type and loses in strength.

In the latest orders, the Pythonomorpha and Ophidia, the pelvis

is rudimental or absent. ©

As regards the limbs, the degeneracy is well marked. No

reptilian order of later ages approaches so near to the Mamma-

lia in these parts as do the Permian Theromorpha. This approxi-

mation is seen in the internal epicondylar foramen and well devel-

oped condyles of the humerus, and in the well differentiated

seven bones of the tarsus. The epicondylar foramen is only

retained in later reptiles in the Rhynchocephalian Hatteria

(Dollo); and the condyles of the Dinosauria and all of the other

orders, excepting the Ornithosauria and some Lacertilia, are

greatly wanting in the strong characterization seen in the Thero-

morpha. The posterior foot seems to have stamped out the

greater part of the tarsus in the huge Dinosauria, and it is re-

duced, though to a less degree, in all the other orders. In the

paddled Sauropterygia, dwellers in the sea, the tarsus and carpus

have lost all characterization, probably by a process of degen-

eracy, as in the mammalian whales. This is to be inferred from

the comparatively late period of their appearance in time. The

1885. ] Frogressive and Retrogressive. 343

still more unspecialized feet and limbs of the Ichthyosaurus (Ich-

thyopterygia) cannot yet be ascribed to degeneracy, for their his-

tory is too little known. At the end of the line the snakes pre-

sent us with another evidence of degeneracy. But few have a

pelvic arch (Stenostomide Peters), while very few (Peropoda)

have any trace of a posterior limb.

The vertebrz are not introduced into the definitions of the

orders, since they are not so exclusively distinctive as many other

parts of the skeleton. They nevertheless must not be over-

looked. As in the Batrachia the Permian orders show infe-

riority in the deficient ossification of the centrum. Many of the

Theromorpha are notochordal, a character not found in any later

order of reptiles excepting ina few Lacertilia (Gecconidz), They

thus differ from the Mammalia, whose characters are approached

more nearly by some of the terrestrial Dinosauria in this respect.

Leaving this order we soon reach the prevalent ball and socket

type of the majority of Reptilia. This strong kind of articula-

tion is a need which accompanies the more elongated column

which itself results at first from the posterior direction of the

ilium. In the order with the longest column, the Ophidia, a sec-

ond articulation, the zygosphen, is introduced. The mechanical

value of the later reptilian vertebral structure is obvious, and in

this respect the class may be said to present a higher or more

perfect condition than the Mammalia.

In review it may be said of the reptilian line, that it exhibits

marked degeneracy in its’ skeletal structure since the Permian

epoch ; the exception to this statement being in the nature of the

articulations of the vertebrze. And this specialization is an adap-

-tation to one of the conditions of degeneracy, viz., the weakening

and final loss of the limbs and the arches to which they are at-

tached. r

The history of the development of the brain in the Reptilia

presents some interesting facts. In the Diadectid family of the

Permian Theromorpha it is smaller than in a Boa constrictor, but

larger than in some of the Jurassic Dinosauria. Marsh has

shown that some of the latter possess brains of relatively very

narrow hemispheres, so that in this organ those gigantic reptiles

were degenerate, while the existing streptostylicate orders have

advanced beyond their Permian ancestors.

There are many remarkable cases of what may now be safely

344 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [ April,

called degradation to be seen in the contents of the orders of

reptiles! Among tortoises may be cited the loss of the rib-

heads and of one or two series of phalanges in the especially

terrestrial family of the Testudinidae. The cases among the

Lacertilia are the most remarkable. The entire families of the

Pygopodide, the Aniellidz, the Anelytropide and the Dibamide

are degraded from superior forms. In the Anguide, Teidz and

Scincide we have series of forms whose steps are measured by

the loss of a pair of limbs, or of from one to all the digits, and

even to all the limbs. In some series the surangular bone is lost.

„In others the eye diminishes in size, loses its lids, loses the folds

of the epidermis which distinguish the cornea, and finally is en-

tirely obscured by the thickening of the cornea and closure of

the ophthalmic orifice in the true skin. Among the snakes a

similar degradation of the organs of sight has taken place in the

order of the Scolecophidia, which live under ground, and often in

ants’ nests. The Tortricidae and Uropeltide are burrowing

snakes which display some of the earlier stages of this process.

One genus of the true snakes even (according to Günther) has

the eyes obscured as completely as those of the inferior types

above named (genus Typhlogeophis).

VII. Tue Avian Line.

The paleontology of the birds not being well known, our con-

clusions respecting the character of their evolution must be very

incomplete. A few lines of succession are, however, quite ob-

vious, and some of them are clearly lines of progress, and others

are lines of retrogression. The first bird we know at all com-

pletely, is the celebrated Archeopteryx of the Solenhofen slates

of the Jurassic period. In its elongate series of caudal vertebre

and the persistent digits of the anterior limbs we have a clear

indication of the process of change which has produced the true

birds, and we can see that it involves a specialization of a very

pronounced sort, The later forms described by Seeley and `

Marsh from the Cretaceous beds of England and North America,

some of which have biconcave vertebrz, and all probably, the

American forms certainly, possessed teeth. This latter character

was evidently speedily lost, and others more characteristic of the .

subclass became the field of developmental change. The parts

_ 'Such forms in the Lacertilia have been regarded as degradational by Lankester

> .

_ cending one.

1885, | Progressive and Retrogressive. 345

which subsequently attained especial development are the wings

and their appendages; the feet and their envelopes, and the vocal

organs. Taking all things into consideration the greatest sum of

progress has been made by the perching birds, whose feet have

become effective organs for grasping, whose vocal organs are

most perfect and whose flight is generally good, and often very

good. In these birds also the circulatory system is most modi-

fied, in the loss of one of the carotid arteries.

The power of flight, the especially avian character, has been

developed most irregularly, as it appears in all the orders in

especial cases. This is apparent so early as in the Cretaceous

toothed birds already mentioned. According to Marsh the Hes-

peornithide have rudimental wings, while these organs are well

developed in the Ichthyornithide. They are well developed among

natatorial forms in the albatrosses and frigate pelicans, and in the

skuas, gulls and terns; among rasorial types the sand-grouse,

and among the adjacent forms, the pigeons. Then among the

lower insessores, the humming-birds exceed all birds in their

powers of flight, and the swifts and some of the Caprimulgide

are highly developed in this respect. Among the higher or true

song birds, the swallows form a notable example. With these

high specializations occur some remarkable deficiencies. Such

are the reduction of the feet in the Caprimulgide swifts and

swallows, and the foetal character of the bill in the same families.

In the syndactyle families, represented by the kingfishers, the

condition of the feet is evidently the result of a process of de-

generation.

A great many significant points may be observed in the devel-

opmental history of the epidermic structures, especially in the

feathers. The scale of change in this respect is in general a rising

one, though various kinds of exceptions and variations occur. In

the development of the rectrices (tail feathers) there are genera of

the wading and rasorial types, and even in the insessorial series,

where those feathers are greatly reduced or absolutely wanting.

These are cases of degeneracy.

There is no doubt but that the avian series is in general an as-

VIII. THE MAMMALIAN LINE.

Discoveries in palæontology have so far invalidated the ac-

cepted definitions of the orders of this class that it is difficult to

346. On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [April,

give a clearly cut analysis, especially from the skeleton alone.

The following scheme, therefore, while it expresses the natural

groupings and affinities, is defective in that some of the defini-

tions are not without exceptions :

I. A large coracoid bone articulating with the sternum.

Marsupial bones; fibula articulating with proximal end of astragalus -

. Monotremata,

II. Coracoid a small process codssified with the scapula.

a, Marsupial bones; palate with perforations (vagina double ; placenta and

corpus callosum rudimental or wanting ; cerebral hemispheres small

and smooth

But one ine molar tooth 2. Marsupialia.

aa, No marsupial bones; palate entire (one vagina; placenta and corpus

Calbia well dev es ed).

f. Anterior limb reduced to more or less inflexible paddles, posterior

limbs wanting (Mutilata), `

No elbow joint; carpals discoid, and with the digits separated by cartilage; lower

jaw without asce nding ramus -o o 3e Cetacea.

An elbow joint; wa and phalanges with normal aiticdlations - : bwer jaw with

ascending ram 4. Sirenia.

8: pase limbs with flexible joints and distinct digits; ungual pha-

langes not compressed, and acute at apex! (Ungulata’).

Y» Tarsal bones in linear series; carpals generally in linear series.

Limbs ideal ; teeth with enamel 5. Taxeopoda!

yy. T arsal series alternating ; carpal series linear.

series linear; no intermedium ; fibula not interlocking with astragalus ; no

anapophyses ; incisors rooted; hallux not opposable.,........... Condylartha.

Carpal series ene an intermedium ; fibula interlocking with astragalus ; hallux not

opposabl yracoidea.

An interdiėdtan, menir not interlocking; anapophyses; hallux opposable ; aE

growing from persistent pulps

An panepen fibula a acne: anapophyses; hallux opposable; incisors

; carpus generally linear..... Quadrumana.

No Sea ay: nor anapophyses ; LA rows alternating ; incisors rooted

Anthropoidea.

The only difference between the Taxeopoda and the Bunotheria is in the unguli-

form terminal phalanges of the former as compared with the clawed or unguiculate

form in the latter, oe marmosets among the former division are, however, fur-

nished with typical :

me may prefer ot use the term Primates in place of Taxeopoda, and such may

be the better course.

Cuboid bone partly supporting navicular, not in contact with astragalu

‘a Proboscidia.

Pe ae

1Except the Hapalide.

* Lamarck, Zoologie Philosophique, 1809.

| 3 This order has the following suborders, whose association is now made for the

first time.

— in Pithecus and Hylobates.

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 347

yyyy. Both tarsal and carpal series more or less alternating.

Os magnum not supporting scaphoides; cuboid supporting astragalus; superior

molars tritubercular, ss .e ss soubre tase ; 8. Amblypoda.

Os magnum supporting scaphoides; superior molars quadritubercular

9. Diplarthras

BBB. Anterior limbs with flexible joints. Ungual phalanges compressed

and pointed? (Unguiculata).

e. Teeth without enamel; no incisots.

Limbs not volant; hemispheres small, smooth 10. Edentata.

es, Teeth with enamel; incisors present,

No postglenoid process ; mandibular condyle round; limbs not volant; hemispheres

small, smooth. ......essees 1, Rodentia.

Limbs volant; hemispheres small, smooth 12. Chiroptera.

A postglenoid process ; mandibular condyle transverse ; limbs not volant, no scapho-

lunar bone ;3 hemispheres small, smooth bi ean 13. Bunotheria.®

A postglenoid process; limbs not volant, with a scapholunar bone; hemispheres

larger, convoluted > ...essssssosvsrosseseeceoseseeovesresee 14. Carnivora.

Paleontology has cleared up the phylogeny of most of these

orders, but some of them remain as yet unexplained. This is

the case with the Cetacea, the Sirenia and the Taxeopoda. The

last-named order and the Marsupialia can be supposed with much

probability to have come off from the Monotremata, but there is

as yet no palzontological evidence to sustain the hypothesis.

No progress has been made in unraveling the phylogeny of the

Cetacea and Sirenia. The facts and hypotheses as to the phy-

logeny of the Mammalia may be represented in the following

diagram ia

Diplarthra Hyracoidea Insectivora Rodentia Chiroptera

Proboscidea \ Anthropoidea / Edentata | Carnivora

Amblypoda Quadrumana | Tillodonta

Tzniodonta | Creodonta

Cetacea Condylarthra

Marsupialia

Monotremata

1 Except Pantolestes. This order includes the suborders Perissodactyla and Artio-

la.

2 Except Mesonyx.

3 Eri

naceus.

4 With the suborders Insectivora, Creodonta, Tæniodonta and Tillodonta.

348 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [April,

It will be readily seen from the above diagram that the discov-

ery of the Condylarthra was an important event in the history of

our knowledge of this subject. This suborder of the Lower

Eocene epoch stands to the placental Mammalia in the same rela-

tion as the Theromorphous order does to the reptilian orders. It

generalizes the characteristics of them all, and is apparently the

parent stock of all, excepting perhaps the Cetacea. The discov-

ery of the extinct Bunotherian suborders united together insepa-

rably the clawed orders, excepting the bats; while the .extinct

order Amblypoda is the ancestor of the most specialized of the

Ungulates, the odd and even-toed Diplartkra.

The characters of the skeleton of the order Monotremata show

that it is nearest of kin to the Reptilia, and many subordinate

characters point to the Theromorpha as its ancestral source! In

the general characters the Marsupialia naturally follow ina rising

scale, as proven by the increasing perfection of the reproductive sys-

tem. The Monodelphia follow with improvements in the reproduc-

tive system and the brain, as indicated in the table already given.

The oldest Monodelphia were, in respect to the structure of the

brain, much like the Marsupialia, and some of the existing orders

. tesemble them in some parts of their brain-structure. Such are

the Condylarthra and Amblypoda of extinct groups, and the

Bunotheria, Edentata, Rodentia and Chiroptera, recent and

extinct. The characters of the brains of Amblypoda and some

Creodonta are, in their superficial characters, even inferior to

existing marsupials. The divided uterus of these recent forms

also gives them the position next to the Marsupialia. In the Car-

nivora, Hyracoidea and Proboscidia a decided advance in both

brain structure and reproductive system is evident. The hemi-

spheres increase in size and they become convoluted. A uterus

is formed and the testes become external, etc. In the Quadru-

mana the culmination in these parts of the structure is reached,

excepting only that in the lack of separation of the genital and

urinary efferent ducts, the males are inferior to those of many of

the Artiodactyla, This history displays a rising scale for the

Mammalia. .

Looking at the skeleton we observe the following ‘successional

modifications :?

1 Proceedings American Philosoph. Society, 1884, p. 43.

* See the evidence for evolution in the history of the extinct Mammalia. Proceeds.

Amer, Assoc, Adv. Science, 1883.

1885.] Progressive and Retrogressive. 349

First, as to the feet, and (A) the digits. The Condylarthra

have five digits on both feet, and they are plantigrade. This

character is retained in their descendants of the lines of Anthro-

poidea, Quadrumana and Hyracoidea, also in the Bunotheria,

Edentata and most of the Rodentia. In the Amblypoda and

Proboscidia the palm and heel area little raised. In the Carnivora

and Diplarthra the heel is raised, often very high, above the

ground, and the number of toes is diminished, as is well known, to

two in the Artiodactyla and one in the Perissodactyla. (B) The

tarsus and carpus. In the Condylarthra the bones of the two

series in the carpus and tarsus are opposite each other, so as to

form continuous and separate longitudinal series of bones. This

continues to be the case in thé Hyracoidea and many of the

' Quadrumana, but in the anthropoid apes and man the second row

is displaced inwards so as to alternate with a first row, thus inter-.

rupting the series in the longitudinal direction, and forming a

stronger structure than that of the Condylartha, In the Buno-

therian rodent and edentate series, the tarsus continues to be

without alternation, as in the Condylarthra, and is generally

identical in the Carnivora. In the hoofed series proper it under-

goes change. In the Proboscidia the carpus continues linear,

while the tarsus alternates. In the Amblypoda the tarsus alter-

nates in another fashion, and the carpal bones are on the inner

side linear, and on the outer side alternating. The complete

interlocking by universal alternation of the two carpal series is

only found in the Diplarthra. (C) As to the ankle-joint. In most

of the Condylarthra it is a flat joint or not tongued or grooved.

In most of the Carnivora, in a few Rodentia, and in all Diplarthra,

it is deeply tongued and grooved, forming a more perfect and

stronger joint than in the other orders, where the surfaces of the

tibia and astragalus are flat. (D) In the highest forms of the

Rodentia and Diplartha the fibula and ulna become more or less

coossified with the tibia and radius, and their middle portions be-

come alternated or disappear.

Secondly, as regards the vertebra. The mutual articulations

(zygapophyses) in the Condylartha are flat and nearly horizontal.

In higher forms, especially of the ungulate series, they become

curved, the posterior turning upwards and outwards, and the an-

terior embracing them on the external side. In the higher Dip-

lartha this curvature is followed by another curvature of the

y ;

350 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, [April,

postzygapophysis upwards and outwards, so that the vertical sec-

tion of the face of this process is an S. Thus is formed a very

close and secure joint, such as is nowhere seen in any other

Vertebrata,

Thirdly, as regards the dentition. Of the two types of Mono-

tremata, the Tachyglosside and the Platypodide, the known

genera of the former possess no teeth, and the known genus

of the latter possesses only a single corneous epidermic grinder

in each jaw. As the Theromorphous reptiles from which these

are descended have well developed teeth, their condition is

evidently one of degeneration, and we can look for well toothed

forms of Monotremata in the beds of the -Triassic and Jurassic

periods. Perhaps some such are already known from jaws and

teeth. Inthe marsupial order we have a great range of dental

structure, which almost epitomizes that of the Monodelph orders.

The dentition of the carnivorous forms is creodont; of the kan-

garoos is perissodactyle, and that of the wombats is rodent.

Other forms repeat the Insectivora. I therefore consider the pla-

cental series especially, I have already shown that the greater

number of the types of this series have derived the characters of

their molar teeth from the stages of the following succession.

First a simple cone or reptilian crown, alternating with that of

the other jaw. Second, a cone with lateral denticles. Third, the

denticles to the inner side of the crown forming a three-sided

prism, with tritubercular apex, which alternates with that of the

opposite jaw. Fourth, development of a heel projecting from

the posterior base of the lower jaw, which meets the crown of

the superior, forming a tubercular-sectorial inferior molar. From

this stage the carnivorous and sectorial dentition is derived, the

tritubercular type being retained. Fifth, the development of a

posterior inner cusp of the superior molar and the elevation of

the heel of the inferior molar, with the loss of the anterior inner

cusp, Thus the molars become quadritubercular, and opposite.

This is the type of many of the Taxeopoda, including the Quad-

rumana and Insectivora as well as the inferior Diplarthra. The

higher Taxeopoda (Hyracoidea) and Diplarthra add various com-

plexities. Thus the tubercles become flattened and then concave,

so as to form Vs in the section produced by wearing, or they are

_ Joined by cross-folds, forming various patterns. In the Probos-

cidia they become multiplied so as to produce numerous cross-

crests.

1885.| Progressive and Retrogressive. 351

The dentition of some of the Sirenia is like that of some of

the Ungulata, especially of the suilline group, while in others the

teeth consist of cylinders. In the Cetacea the molars of the old-

est (Eocene and Miocene) types are but two-rooted and com-

pressed, having much the form of the premolars of other Mam-

malia. In existing forms a few have simple conical teeth, while

in a considerable number teeth are entirely wanting.

A review of the characters of the existing Mammalia as com-

pared with those of their extinct ancestors displays a great deal

of improvement in many ways, and but few instances of retro-

gression. The succession in time of the Monotremata, the Mar-

supialia, and the Monodelphia, is a succession of advance in all

the characters of the soft parts and the skeleton which define

them (see table of classification), As to the monotremes them-

selves, it is more than probable that the order has degenerated in

some respects in producing the existing types. The history of

the Marsupialia is not made out, but the earliest forms of which

we know the skeleton, Polymastodon (Cope) of the Lower Eo-

cene, is as specialized as the most specialized recent forms. The

dentition of the Jurassic forms, Plagiaulax, etc., is quite special-

ized also, but not more so than that of the kangaroos. The pre-

molars are more specialized, the true molars less specialized than

in those animals.

Coming to the Monodelphia the increase in the size and com-

plication of the brain, both of the cerebellum and the hemi-

spheres, is a remarkable evidence of advance. But one retro-

gressive line in this respect is known, viz., that of the order

Amblypoda} where the brain has become relatively smaller with

the passage of time. The successive changes in the structure of

the feet are all in one direction, viz., in the reduction of the num-

ber of the toes, the elevation of the heel and the creation of

tongue and groove joints where plain surfaces has previously

existed. The diminution in the number of toes might be re-

garded as a degeneracy, but the loss is accompanied by a pro-

portional gain in the size of the toes that remain. In every

respect the progressive change in the feet is an advance. In the

carpus and tarsus we have a gradual rotation of the second row

of bones on the first, to the inner side. In the highest and latest

orders this process is most complete, and as it results in a more

1See NATURALIST, Jan., 1885, p. 55-

352 On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, etc. [April,

perfect mechanical arrangement, the change is clearly an advance.

The same progressive improvement is seen in the development of

distinct facets in the cubito-carpal articulation, and of a tongue

and groove (“intertrochlear crest”) in the elbow-joint. In the

vertebre the development of the interlocking zygapophysial artic-

ulations is a clear advance.

Progress is generally noticeable in the dental structures ; unlike

the marsupial line the earliest dentitions are the most simple, and

the later the more complex. Some of the types retain the primi-

tive tritubercular molars, as the Centetidze, shrews and some

lemurs, and many Carnivora, but the quadritubercular and its

derivative forms is by far the most common type in the recent

fauna. The forms that produced the complicated modifications

in the Proboscidia and Diplarthra appeared latest in time, and the

most complex genera, Bos and Equus, the latest of all. The

extreme sectorial modifications of the tritubercular type, as seen

in the Hyznidz and the Felidz, are the latest of their line also.

Some cases of degeneracy are, however, apparent in the mono-

delphous Mammalia. The loss of pelvis and posterior limbs in

the two mutilate orders is clearly a degenerate character, since

there can be no doubt but that they have descended from forms

with those parts of the skeleton present. The reduction of flex-

ibility seen in the limbs of the Sirenia and the loss of this char-

acter in the fore limbs of the Cetacea are features of degeneracy

for the same reason. The teeth in both orders have undergone

degenerate evolution, to extinction in the later and existing forms

of the Cetacea. The Edentata appears to have undergone de-

generation. This is chiefly apparent in the teeth which are

deprived of enamel, and which are wanting from the premaxillary

bone. A suborder of the Bunotheria, the Tzniodonta of the

Lower Eocene period, display a great reduction of enamel on the

molar teeth, so that in much worn examples it appears to be

wanting. Its place is taken by an extensive coat of cementum,

as is seen in Edentata, and the teeth are ever rootless as in that

order. It is probable that the Edentata are the descendants of the

Tzniodonta by a process of degeneracy.

Local or sporadic cases of degenerate loss of parts are seen in

various parts of the mammalian series, such are toothless Mam-

malia wherever they occur. Such are cases where the teeth be-

come extremely simple, as in the honey-eating marsupial Tarsipes,

1885.] Progress of N. A. Invertebrate Palaontology for 1884. 353

the carnivore Proteles, the Pteropod bats, and the aye-aye. Also

where teeth are lost from the series, as in the canine genus Dyso-

dus, and in man. The loss of the hallux and pollex without

corresponding gain, in various genera, may be regarded in the

same light.

In conclusion, the progressive may be compared with the

retrogressive evolution of the Vertebrata, as follows: In the

earlier periods and with the lower forms, retrogressive evolution

predominated. In the higher classes progressive evolution has

predominated. When we consider the history of the first class

of vertebrates, the Tunicata, in this respect, and compare it with

that of the last class, the Mammalia, the contrast is very great.

:0:

PROGRESS OF NORTH AMERICAN INVERTEBRATE

PALZZONTOLOGY FOR 1884.

BY J. B. MARCOU.

* Sale year that has just passed has been fairly prolific in palæ-

ontological work, about fifteen more titles appearing in this

review than there were in the last; it is true that a few of them

should have been inserted last year, but doubtless some titles

have escaped me also this year, and the two errors may be con-

sidered to compensate each other; so that we have an increase of

about one-third in the number of articles published. There is

also a general improvement in the quality of illustrations, though

of course there is still plenty of room for improvement, and it is

surprising.that some paleontologists should persist in publishing

a large number of descriptions with no illustrations at all, or with

such imperfect illustrations as to render them practically useless ;

the chief result brought about by such publication of species is

an increase of our already voluminous synonymy. The day will

_ doubtless come when descriptions of new species unaccompanied

by proper diagnoses and illustrations will no longer be recog-

nized, for it is next to impossible to recognize a form from a mea-

ger description unaccompanied by an illustration. The founding

of new genera and species on very imperfect specimens is also a

very reprehensible practice, for although it may be excellent ex-

ercise for the imagination of the author, yet it may introduce

errors which it will take a great deal of time and trouble to eradi-

cate, especially when there is no indication that such descriptions

VOL. XIX.—NO. Iv. 23

354 Progress of North American [April,

and figures are restored according to the idea that the author had

of the way in which they ought to be.

This year we have the first volume of the Transactions of the

Royal Society of Canada. The committe on publication cannot

be too severely criticised for having printed a large quarto of

about 700 pages, containing many interesting papers, without any

index, and for using five different systems of pagination, as well

as varying the system of headings for each page.

H. M. Ami has notes on Triarthus spinosus in the Trans.

Ottawa Field Nat. Club.

Chas. E. Beecher, in Report. P.P.P. 2d Geol. Surv. Penna., has

an excellent article on the “ Ceratiocaride an the Chemung

and Waverley groups at Warren, Pennsylvania.

W. B. Billings has “ Notes on, and description of some fossils

from the Trenton limestone,” in the Trans. Ottawa Field Nat.

Club.

E. J. Chapman publishes, in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, a

“ Classification of Crinoids” based on the presence or absence of

a canaliculated structure in the calyx and arm plates. ,

E. W. Claypole has an article “On the occurrence of the

genus Dalmanites in the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Ohio,” in

the Geological Magazine for July; also a Preliminary note on

some fossil Fishes recently discovered in the Silurian rocks of

North America, in the AMERICAN NATURALIST for December.

William B. Dwight, in the Amer. Fourn. of Science and Arts

for April, has his fourth article on “ Recent explorations in the

Wappinger Valley limestone of Dutchess county, New York,

No. 4, Descriptions of Calciferous ? fossils.”

Aug. F. Foerste, in the American NATURALIST for January,

has a note on “ The power of motion in Crinoid stems.”

W. M. Fontaine, in the monographs of the U. S. Geol. Survey,

has published his “ Contributions to the knowledge of the older

Mesozoic flora of Virginia.” This work is divided into three parts ;

in the first the author gives a brief description of the geology of _

the Virginia Mesozoic areas. In the second he describes the

flora and compares it with plants from the Triassic, Jurassic and

Rheetic of other regions. In the third he republishes Emmons’

figures of the Mesozoic flora of N. Carolina, compares it with the

Virginia flora, considers both floras as of the same age, and that

age as not older than the rheetic.

1885.] Invertebrate Paleontology for 1884. 355

S. W. Ford, in the Amer. Fourn. Sci. and Arts for July, has a

“Note on the discovery of Primordial fossils in the town of

Stuyvesant, Columbia county, N. York.”

James Hall has published another abstract of a paper to be

issued in the 35th museum report of the State of N. Y., contain-

ing descriptions of the species of fossil reticulate sponges, con-

stituting the family Dictyospongide ; the plates were published

before with the title, “ Notes on the family Dictyospongiz.” An

abstract of this article appeared in the Geological Magazine for

December. The same number of the Geological Magazine con-

tains an abstract of a paper “On the Lamellibranchiate fauna of

the Upper Helderberg, Hamilton, Portage, Chemung and Cats-

kill groups (equivalent to the Lower, Middle and Upper Devon-

ian of Europe); with especial reference to the arrangement of the

Monomyaria and the development and distribution of the species

of the genus Leptodesma.”

G. Hambach, in the Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, Vol. 1v, No.

3, has “ Notes about the structure and classification of the Pen-

tremites. In the same volume he has also an article describing

some “ New Palzozoic Echinodermata.”

Angelo Heilprin has published “ North American Tertiary

Ostreide” as an appendix to Dr. White’s review of the fossil

Ostreidze. He describes a Carboniferous Ammonite from Texas

in the Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. He has also pub-

lished a collection of his works on the Tertiary, under the title

“ Contributions to the Tertiary geology and palzontology of the

United States.”

Alpheus Hyatt, in Science, Vol. 111, has an article on the “ Evolu-

tion of the Cephalopoda.” In the AMER. NATURALIST for September

he has a note on the “ Protoconch of Cephalopoda.” In the Proc,

Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. he places a paper, preliminary to a mono-

graph which will appear in the memoirs of the Museum of Comp.

Zoology, on the “ Genera of fossil Cephalopods.” In the Proc.

of the Amer. Assoc. for the Adv. of Sci., August, 1883, he has a

paper on the “ Fossil Cephalopoda in the Museum of Comparative

Zoology,” containing a discussion of the relations of this group.

J. F. James, in Science, Vol. 111, criticises two of the determina-

tions made by Leo Lesquereux in his Tertiary flora U. S. Geol.

and Geog. Surv. Terr., F. V. Hayden. [This work although

printed has not yet been distributed.| He also has an article on

356 Progress of North American [April,

“The Fucoids of the Cincinnati group,” in the Journ. Cincinnati

Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. vit.

U. P. James, in the Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. vu,

publishes three articles; in the April number he describes three

fossils from the Cincinnati group. In the October number he

describes four new species of fossils from the Cincinnati group;

and in the same number he has also an article “ On Conodonts

and fossil annelid jaws.”

T. R. Jones and J. W. Kirby, in the Geological Magazine for

August, have descriptions and notes “On some Carboniferous

Entomostraca from Nova Scotia.”

Leo Lesquereux, in the 2d Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania, Rep.

Progress P., Vol. 111, finishes his description of the coal flora of

the Carboniferous formation in Pennsylvania and throughout the

United States. This contains also additions and corrections to

the first two parts previously published.

In the 13th annual report of the Indiana Department of Geol-

ogy and Natural History, the same author publishes “ Principles

of Palzozoic Botany,” an excellent elementary treatise. The Indi-

ana Geol. Surv. has done excellent work in the way of popular

instruction, and it is to be hoped that its labors will not be per-

manently discontinued. In the AMERICAN NATURALIST for Sep-

tember the author has an article on “ The Carboniferous flora of

Rhode Island.”

J. B. Marcou, in the American Naturaist for April, pub-

lished a review of the progress of North American invertebrate

paleontology for 1883.

G. F. Matthew has two short abstracts of articles in the Geo-

logical Magazine for October: “The primitive Conocoryphean,”

and “ The geological age of the Acadian fauna.” In the Trans.

Royal Soc. of Canada, Vol. 1, the same author has “ Illustrations

of the fauna of the St. John group, No. 1, The Paradoxides,” and

a supplementary section describing the parts of the previously

described species.

John Mickleborough, in the Geological Se for February,

republishes his article on the “ Locomotory appendages of Trilo-

bites ” (see last year’s review).

S. A. Miller published a “Description of a beautiful star-fish

and other fossils” from the Cincinnati group in the apa number

of the Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist.

1885.] Invertebrate Paleontology for 1884. 357

Otto Myer, in the Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, pub-

lished “ Notes on Tertiary shells.” In these notes he proposes

the n. g. Tibiella, but gives no synopsis of generic characters.

M. Neumayr, in the Neu. Jahrb. für Min., Geol. und Pal.,

Stuttgart, notes the parallel position occupied by the Laramie

group in N, W. America, and the Intertrappean beds of the

Degcan in Hindostan.

E. N. S. Ringueberg, in the Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia,

has descriptions of “ New fossils from the four groups of the

Niagara period of Western New York.”

S. H. Scudder, in the Amer. Fourn. Sci. and Arts for Septem-

ber, has an article on Triassic insects from the Rocky mountains.

Mr. Scudder identifies these beds as belonging to the Triassic

period, according to their insect fauna. Mr. Lesquereux consid-

ers that their flora shows them to be of Permian age. In the

Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 11, he has an article on “ Two

new and diverse types of Carboniferous myriapods,” and in the

same publication he has also “The species of Mylacris, a Car-

boniferous genus of cockroaches.” In the Proc. Amer. Acad.

Arts and Sci. Boston, the same author has two articles, one “A

contribution to our knowledge of Palaeozoic Arachnida ;” the

other on “ Dictyoneura and the allied insects of the Carbonifer-

ous epoch.” This last is a brief paper published in advance of a

fuller memoir with detailed descriptions and full illustrations.

J. W. Spencer, in the Bull. Museum of the University of the

State of Missouri, publishes an article on “ Niagara fossils,”

which will be reproduced also in the Proc. St. Louis Acad. Sci.,

Vol. 1v, No. 4. The illustrations are so bad and the species in

some instances, ¢. g., Cyrtoceras reversum, founded apparently on

such poor specimens that it will be very difficult if not impossible

for future workers to recognize Mr. Spencer’s types.

Frank Springer, in the Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts for February,

has an article “ On the occurrence of the Lower Burlington lime-

stone in New Mexico.

E. O. Ulrich, in the Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., Decem-

ber, 1883, continues his descriptions of N. American Palzozoic

Bryozoa.

C. D. Walcott has published his “ Palæontology of the Eureka

district,” being Vol. vin of the monographs of the U. S. Geolog-

ical Survey. The discussion of the development of Olenellus

358 Progress of North American [April,

howelli is very interesting. The discovery in the Devonian of

the interior of a dorsal valve of Lingula whitei proves the great

similarity of structure between the Lingule of the Silurian,

Devonian and recent time. A commingling of Upper Devonian

and Lower Carboniferous fossils occurs; there occurs also a

gradual transition from the beds containing Olenellus howell

through beds containing a fauna similar to the Potsdam of New

York, to beds containing a fauna comparable to that of the chazy

and calciferous groups. The transition is very gradual, and such

as would occur where there had been no marked physical dis-

turbance. In the Bull. U. S. Geological Survey the same author

has “ Preliminary studies on the Cambrian faunas of N. America.”

These are in three parts, the first is “ A review of the fauna of

the St. John formation, contained in the Hartt collection.” This

work is not meant to encroach on that of Mr. Matthew. Mr.

Walcott does not accept the genus Conocephalites, and refers its

different species to Ptychoparia and one of Conocoryphe. The

second part is on the “ Fauna of the Braintree Argillites.” The

third part contains the description of a new genus and species

of Phyllopoda from the Middle Cambrian slates of Parker’s farm,

Georgia, Vermont. In Science, Vol. m1, the same author has an

article on the “ Appendages of the Trilobite;” he notes the veri-

fication of the hypothesis that the legs were jointed beneath the

pygidium as the only addition to our knowledge furnished by

Mr. Mickleborough’s specimen,

Lester F. Ward, in the Amer. Your. of Sci. and Arts, has an

article “ On Mesozoic Dicotyledons.”

C. A. White, in the Rep. of the Secretary of the Interior for

1883, Vol. 11, gives “A review of the fossil Ostreidæ, North

America, and a comparison of the fossil with the living forms.

With appendices by Professor Angelo Heilprin and Mr. John A.

Ryder.” This work is on the same plan as that followed in the

review of the non-marine fossil Mollusca published the year pre-

vious. In the Bull. of the U. S. Geological Survey, No. 4, the

author has three articles, the first, “ On a small collection of Me-

sozoic fossils collected in Alaska, by Mr. W. H. Dall, of the U.

S. Coast Survey.” The author considers these forms to belong

to beds occupying a transitional position between Cretaceous and

Jurassic, as previously suggested by Professor J. Marcou. The

_ second is a “ Description of certain aberrant forms of the Chami-

1885.] Invertebrate Paleontology for 188 4. 359

dz from the Cretaceous rocks of Texas.” And the third is “On

the nautiloid genus Enclimatoceras Hyatt, and a description of

the type species.” In Vol. vi of the Proc. of the U. S. National

Museum he has an article “On the Macrocheilus of Phillips,

Plectostylus of Conrad, and Soleniscus of Meek and Worthen.

In Science, Vol. 111, he has a note on the “ Enemies and parasites

of the oyster, past and present.” In the 13th annual report of

the Indiana Department of Geol. and Nat. Hist., the same author

has “ The fossils of the Indiana rocks, No. 3.” In this work he

gives excellent illustrated descriptions of the characteristic inver-

tebrate animal remains of the Carboniferous period.

J. F. Whiteaves, in the Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. of Canada,

has Part 111 of his Mesozoic fossils, “On the fossils of the coal-

bearing deposits of the Queen Charlotte islands collected by Dr.

G. M. Dawson in 1878. The author is driven by his conclusions

to assert that the Jurassic of the Black hills and Rocky mountains

is Cretaceous. This assertion is far from being justified by the

facts which the author adduces for its support. He has also

Part 1 of Vol. 11 of “ Paleozoic fossils.” In the Trans. Royal

Soc. Canada, he has an article on the “Lower Cretaceous

rocks of British Columbia.” In this article he holds thatthe

presence of an abundance of Ancellz is a sure proof of the Neo-

comian age of the rocks in which they occur. In the same pub-

lication he has also an article “On some supposed Annelid tracts

from the Gaspé sandstones.”

R. P. Whitfield, in the Bull. Amer. Museum Nat. Hist. Vol. 1,

No. 5, has a “ Notice of some new species of primordial fossils in

the collections of the museum, and corrections of previously

described species.” He thinks that the difference in faunas be-

tween the different Cambrian areas is more the result of the con-

ditions upon which life depended than a difference in time.

H. S. Williams, in the Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., Vol. No. 3, has

an article “ On the fossil faunas of the Upper Devonian along the

meridian 76° 30’ from Tompkins county, New York, to Bradford

county, Pennsylvania.” The paper is the first of a series. In

Science, Vol. 111, he has an article on “ The Spirifers of the Upper

Devonian.”

H. Woodward, in the Geological Magazine for February and

for April, has two articles, one is “On the structure of Trilo-

bites.” This is a reproduction of the author’s views on the ap-

360 The Clam-Worm. [April,

pendages of trilobite and in particular of Asaphus platycephalus

Stokes, as published by him in 1871. The other bears the title,

“Notes on the appendages of Trilobites. Note to accompany

three woodcuts of Asaphus megistos, a trilobite discovered by Mr.

James Pugh, near Oxford, Ohio, in the upper portion of the

Hudson River group.” The figures are a reproduction of Mr.

Mickleborough’s.

` A. H. Worthen, in Bull. No. 2 of the Illinois State Museum

Nat. Hist., publishes descriptions of two new species of Crusta-

cea, fifty-one species of Mollusca and three species of Crinoids

from the Carboniferous formation of Illinois and adjacent States.

No illustrations whatever accompany these numerous descrip-

tions.

vat

THE CLAM-WORM.

BY SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH.D.

wo at low tide on the wet flats of the New Jersey

shore, the stranger is surprised by little spurts of water

suddenly springing from the sand. These jets reveal the hiding

places of the soft clam, or “ nanny nose,” a corruption of the In-

dian name “ maninose.” This discharge of water at the approach

- of footsteps, thus betraying its retreat, is an act which the mol-

lusk cannot help. The home of the bivalve is often many inches

deep in the sand, but the extensile siphon must reach the surface.

Alarmed at the tremor of the sand caused by the approaching

steps, this organ is so rapidly withdrawn, even down into the

valves at the bottom of the perpendicular burrow, that the sud-

den collapse expels the water with which the siphon and other

cavities of the body are filled. Without such result the rapid

retreat of the siphon from harm’s way would be impossible.

After one of these squirts I have dug fully fourteen inches deep,

and found the clam with all its parts snugly tucked within its two

valves,

The water ejected as described is simply the fluid which was

taken in before the tide went out. If the observer will be quiet

and keep motionless for a few minutes the clam may soon regain

its confidence, and the tip of the siphon, with its two pretty ori-

fices—the inlet and the outlet, again appear at the little hole in

the sand. Now let one’s foot be moved, and again the siphon is

1885.] The Clam-Worm. 361

instantly withdrawn ; but there is no spurt‘as before, because the

previous effort had emptied it of water.

The systematists call our mollusk Mya arenaria, but in popu-

lar speech, because of its siphon, it is sometimes known as the

stem-clam, and to distinguish it from Venus mercenaria, the qua-

hog, round-clam or hard-clam, it is often called the soft-clam and

long-clam.

Busily delving with short-handled hoes, men and boys may be

seen, at low tide, all over these sandy flats. They are “ the clam-

mers.” Long practice, with perhaps inherited instinct, has made

these persons expert in detecting the signs of the places of these

mollusks, even when not betrayed in the usual way. They cer-

tainly have that fine eye for discernment which comes of being

to the business “bred and born.” Though perhaps preferring

such places, these soft-clams are not limited to the sandy flats.

They are also found in gravelly and even muddy beds.

In digging the:clammer brings to the surface many a fine inver-

tebrate of much interest to the naturalist. Among these quite

often is a gayly tinted annelid, a quasi-aquatic myriopod. We

watched one of these delvers,a youth quite bright in his own

way, and respectful too, except perhaps to some student pedant

whom he cannot understand, and whom he seems to regard as a

- “dude in larning,” as we found out a little to our cost. There!

He turns up an annelid now, and we exclaim—* What a pretty

Nereid!” To which, with a quizzical cast of the eyes, he responds:

“ Nary time, Mister! That’s. only a clam-worrum P Glad to

become a learner upon opportunity, we ask why it is calleda

clam-worm. The answer, now politely given, is: “ Because its

gin’ally found along with the clam. » Most like it’s clam-feed, or

something in that way.”

The best known of these Nereids in our Eastern waters are WV.

limbata, N. virens and N. pelagica ; of these three the chances

are many that the Jersey clammers’ acquaintance will be restricted

to the first one mentioned, though all would be the same to him.

And it must be known- that though called a clam-worm, Nereis

is no pariah, but the very highest in its class, the Annelides. And

N. limbata is sometimes found seeking the higher society of the

marine invertebrates. Verrill says of this species: “ Both males

and females were often found among the barnacles and ascidians

on the piles of the wharves at Wood's Holl, but the males were

362 The Clam-Worm, [April,

the most abundant, while the reverse was the case with those dug

out of the sand and gravel at the shores.” The same author tells

of their habitats in shelly and gravelly beds, and even of their

floating in great numbers at the surface of the water. This state-

ment recalls a thrilling experience of our own many years ago

inside of Sandy Hook. All told we numbered three, in a sail-

boat, and our one object, squidding for blue-fish, the gamey Foma-

tomus saltatrix. The wind was so stiff that we had enough on our

hands to take care of ourselves and our little craft. It was a very

warm day in August, and to my astonishment we went through a

floating bank of these clam-worms, They lay close together,

and the float seemed several hundred feet long, and owing to the

high wind it was disposed in concentric drifts, or wind-rows. Our

game was up, touch our squids Pomatomus would not—he had

come to a banquet worthy of the gods—I cannot affirm whether

_ the banquet had attracted them, but just after the Nereid course

was finished, a school of Menhaden appeared, The blue-fish

went for them, and the scene was simply pitiful. In their frantic

efforts to escape, the poor things piled themselves one upon

another, and the jaws of the terrible blue-fish, like a thousand

shears, cut into them, while the air was alive with gulls screaming

in delight over the carnage, as they were continually pouncing

upon the floating fragments of the gory feast. As the Nereids

deposit their eggs near shore, and as this scene was witnessed in-

side of Sandy Hook bay, a good place for their breeding, and as

my memory serves, the worms were small, it has seemed to me

that they were young individuals.

Wishing to resume study of the Actiniz, I procured from Fall

river some specimens of Metridium marginatum, with a quan-

tity of the green sea-lettuce, Ulva latissima, among which

was one tuft of the succulent red alga, Rhabdonia tenera. The

plants soon took on a fine growth. I became annoyed, however,

at the unsightly appearance of ragged holes in the green fronds,

and their number steadily increasing. Soon the depredator was

detected at work in a thick bunch of Ulva. The red alga was

not touched. This annelid browsing was an interesting sight.

For every one of its many segments was a pair of parapoda, or

side paddles, with which, though the action seemed serpentine, it

moved about a plant as easily as a bird around an evergreen

when seeking insects on the tree. And what a pair of jaws, each

1885. ] The Clam-Worm. 363

with a row of small sharp teeth on the curve of the inner side, as

if two tiny sickles could be converted into saws. The little beast

` was slashing remorselessly into these translucent delicate sheets

of emerald gelatine. I said jaws. The whole apparatus has been

called a proboscis—but such an exceptional one! The annelid

in repose carries his jaws down his throat just over the cesopha-

gus, and when he eats the two serrate sickle jaws are everted, that

is, protruded, pharynx and all. This creature was our clam-worm,

Nereis limbata. “It moves in graceful ease through the marine

meadows by means of its two long rows of parapoda, or natural

oars. It has four eyes, and they see me too, for it disappears

instantly. Its retreat is a little burrow in the sand, a transverse

section of which would be nearly oval. The books say that the

Nereis secretes a viscid fluid with which it lines its burrow. - Its

progress in this retreat is rapid, and it can move either way with

equal ease. Its head is now at the entrance, hence it has turned

in its burrow, and as this is pretty well filled by the worm’s body,

how does it double on itself? It has such a knowing look with

its four optics, and four pairs of feelers, as if in its tentacular wis-

dom it were inspecting every object anent the cabin door. And

then it has an amiable look, for that proboscis with its formidable

jaws is concealed down the throat.

I found two others in the tank. Each was from two and a half

to three inches long. Twice one of them was so accommodating

as to make its burrow against the glass side of the tank. I now

watched the movement in the burrow and saw how easily it

could advance or recede; but I failed to see the doubling on

itself And then it was pretty to note that the paddle-like rami

were never soiled.

How could I grudge my Nereids their inroads on the lettuce

beds, as I deemed them vegetarians of the Simon-pure variety ?

I was feeding the Actiniz with small pellets of raw beef. It oc-

curred to me to tempt the Nereid from its simple fare with a

stronger diet; so I dropped a bit of beef at the entrance to the

burrow. The tentacular wisdom made a snap judgment—“ fresh

beef is good,” for out popped the proboscis, that is, the pharynx

and its formidable jaws, and the welcome morsel was hooked with

a jerk into the burrow. How deceptive are appearances. Vege-

tarian indeed! My Nereids are rabid carnivores. Thence on I

fed the Nereids beef whenever I fed the Actiniz.

364 The Clam-Worm. [April,

To the naturalist who uses the microscope, an old marine

aquarium is fruitful of interesting minute forms of life, both

plants and animals. This is certainly true of the micro-alge. I

observed one day what seemed to me a new form of alge, little

clusters of a deep orange color on the sandy floor of the aqua-

rium. Each bunch was hardly more than an eighth of an inch in

diameter. Some of the little cylinders of which a cluster was

composed were put under the microscope. There was not the

slightest appearance of any cell structure, nor even the presence

of any distinct protoplasm. They were granular in composition,

but there was no sac or case. They had something of the look,

size excepted, of the casts in Bright's disease. These little tufts

of tiny orange-colored cylinders kept on increasing. When two

or three days old they turned white. I noticed that they were all

in proximity to the burrows of the Nereids. They proved to be

their excreta—enteric casts of their imperfectly digested food.

That deep dull orange was still a puzzle, for when freshly cast

these excreta were exactly the color of the calcareous crust which

covers the horny axis of some of the sea-fans, Gorgonia. It was

noticeable that since the beef diet had been begun, the Ulva was

let entirely alone.

But there arose a famine in the land. No fresh beef could be

got. Of course the Nereids could go back to the sea-lettuce, but

they chose to let it alone. From “pickings” they turned to

“leavings,” or perhaps more correctly from “ primes” to “ mid-

dlings.” Thanks to the gentle Cowper whose Task supplies the

word befitting ears polite—every “ stercoraceous heap” was soon

eaten'up! Our pretty Nereis, then, has a threefold appetency—

since it is by turns a vegetarian, a carnivore, and even an auto-

stercophaga ! an eater of its own casts.

But such things are found in higher quarters. Dr. Rau, in his

_ translation of the Jesuit Baegert, says of certain California tribes

now extinct, that in its sgason they almost lived upon the fruit of

the pitahaya, and when that gave out they were reduced to short

rations. Says the missionary :

“In describing the pitahayas I have already stated that they

contain a great many small seeds resembling grains of powder. For

some reason unknown to me these seeds are not consumed in the

Es dca cates but _pass off in an undigested state, and in order to save

a them the natives collect during the season of the pitahayas that

1885.] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 365

which is discharged from the human body, separate the seeds

from it, and roast, grind and eat them, making merry over their

loathsome meals, which the Spaniards therefore call the second

harvest of the Californians.” See Smithsonian Report, 186s, p.

365. Baegert’s book was published at Mannheim, 1773.

:0:

LIFE AND NATURE IN SOUTHERN LABRADOR.

BY A. S, PACKARD.

(Continued from p. 275 March number.)

FTER roaming over the island and making pretty full collec-

tions of the insects, we paid attention to the marine zodlogy.

Shore collecting is not as remunerative in Labrador as on the

Maine and Massachusetts coasts. The most noticeable form is

the six-rayed starfish (Asteracanthion polaris) which sometimes ©

measured twenty inches from tip to tip of its opposing rays; its

color was a dirty yellowish white, not red as in the common fire-

finger, also abundant. The polar starfish is common in Green-

land, and is a truly arctic form.

The common crab (Cancer irrorata) frequently occurred under

stones, but the lobster was neither seen nor heard of; though

common on the southern shores of Newfoundland it does not

reach north into the Straits of Belle Isle. Among the worms

which occurred at low water mark was the Pectinaria. On the

New England coast it only occurs in deep water below tide

mark,

Dredgings were first made at the mouth of Salmon river, a few

rods from shore, in some eight fathoms of water in a firm deep

mud. The most characteristic shells were gigantic Aphrodite

&reenlandica, large cockles (Cardium islandicum), as well as the

pelican’s foot (Aporrhais occidentalis), which occurred of good

size and in profusion. In the soft mud occurred multitudes of

the neat little sand star (Ophioglypha nodosa), Another form

dredged on rocky bottom was Cynthia pyriformis, or the sea

peach, and large specimens were cast up by the waves on the

beach. Every spare day was given to dredging, and having been

deeply interested in marine zodlogy by the writings of Gosse, in

England, and of Stimpson in this country, and having obtained a

good idea of the local marine fauna of Casco bay, in Maine, it-

was with no little interest and expectation that we dropped the

366 Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. [April,

dredge in arctic waters, and we were not a little delighted with

the result of finding so near shore and in such shallow water,

forms which off the coast of Maine, in deep water, were rare and

usually but half grown.

July 25th a party of us rowed up Salmon bay and went a mile

up the river. The tide was out and we looked for the fresh-

water mussel (Alasmodon arcuata), which is our northernmost

species, and inhabits the rivers of Southern Newfoundland. We

could find none, although the settlers told us that mussels, clams

and “ oysters” were common enough in the river. But some-

thing better was discovered. We found traces of genuine Quat-

ernary marine sands and clays containing fossils. There were

several banks of sand and clay along the edges of the river. In

the latter I found Aphrodite groenlandica and Aporrhais occiden-

talis, with Buccinum undatum. They had been washed out of the

clay into the bed of the river, and were collected at low water. I

also dug several inches into the clay bank and found the disinte-

grated shells of the Aphrodite, so as to leave no doubt but that

the shells were fossils. Down at the mouth of the stream at the

head of the bay, on the flats, I found several Buccinum undatum,

and quite a number of Aporrhais, young and old, broken and

entire. On each side of the river was a terrace of sand and clay,

with a thick growth of alders and willows, with the fire-weed

(Epilobium angustifolium), the golden rod and a large cruciferous

plant common in the mountainous parts of New England; also

Comarum palustre, and a Thalictrum. Farther back and mostly

lining the banks was a dense growth, impossible to penetrate

Save occasionally where there was a break in the thicket of spruce

and a birch, perhaps Betula populifolia. Still farther up and

away back stretched the bare moss-covered hill tops, the summer

resort of deer and caribou. Here we saw a ptarmigan. But this

was one of our halcyon days, of which there were few, as the

last two weeks of July were stormy and wet. The clear fair-

weather winds were from the south-west; the south-east winds

brought in the fog and rain, while the northerly winds brought a

few curlew, the advance guard of the hosts which were to arrive

early in August.

_ The 3d of August was a fine day. A party of us went up the

Esquimaux river to Mrs. Chevalier’s, whose husband, now dead,

entertained Audubon when visiting this coast. The sail up the

1885.] . Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 367

river was a pleasant one. It was about three miles from its

mouth to an expansion of the river, on whose shores were four

or five winter houses. Although most of the settlers live on the

coast through the year, some have their winter and summer

houses. Those who live up the interior, sometimes a distance of

seventy miles from the coast, where there is wood and game,

move from the shore about the 20th of October. They spend a

month in cutting wood, a family burning through the winter

about thirty cords. Then succeeds a month of hunting and trap-

ping. The snow does not come, we were told, until the last of

December, although we should judge this to be an extreme state-

ment, and the snow is not usually more than three feet deep.

The people profess to like the winter better than the summer.

They shoot deer, foxes, &c., black fox being sometimes secured,

whose skin is worth between two and three hundred dollars.

Grouse are abundant, a good hunter securing from sixty to sev-

enty a day in favorable seasons. At any rate fresh meat is ob-

tained for each family two or three times a week.

The houses are small, built of wood, boarded and shingled,

seldom constructed of logs, and are heated by peculiar stoves,

great square structures resembling Dutch stoves, and heating the

whole house, the two living rooms opening into each other, the

stove being placed partly in each.

The French residents at the Mecatina islands, more social and

gayer than the phlegmatic English settlers about the mouth of

the Esquimaux and Salmon rivers, spend the winter evening in

dancing and other gayeties to which the Anglo-Saxon, in Labra-

dor at least, is a comparative stranger.

The Esquimaux river at its eastern entrance is but a few rods `

wide. Passing Esquimaux island we sailed out into a broad bay

or expansion of the river, with ravines leading down to it, and

under the steep bank protected from the northerly winds were

the winter houses previously described. Up the river, just beyond

Mrs. Chevalier’s, the river contracted into narrows with rapids ;

it then opened into another bay or expansion two miles wide, the

river being a succession of lakes connected by rapids, and this is

typical of the rivers and streams of the Labrador peninsula. A

barge cannot sail up the Esquimaux river more than fifteen miles,

although one can push farther on in a flat boat. We were told

that the river is about two hundred miles in length, and although

perhaps the largest in Labrador it has never been explored.

368 Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. [ April,

Here we met the black flies in full force, and although we had

been fearfully annoyed by them in rambling over Caribou island,

here they were astounding, both for numbers and voracity. The

black fly lives during its early stages in running water. The in-

sect finds nowhere in the world such favorable conditions for its

increase as in Labrador, over a third of whose surface is given up

to ponds and streams. The insides of the windows of Mrs.

Chevalier’s house swarmed with these fiends, the children’s faces

and necks were exanthematous with their bites; the very dogs,

great shaggy Newfoundlanders, would run howling into the water

and lie down out of their reach, only their noses above the sur-

face. The armies of black flies were supported by light brigades

of mosquitoes. No wonder that these entomological pests are a

perfect barrier to inland travel; that few people live during sum-

mer away from the sweep of the high winds and dwell on the ex-

posed shores of the coast to escape these torments. They are

effectual estoppers to inland exploration and settlement.

Accepting our hostess’ kind invitation to take dinner, we sat

down to a characteristic Labrador midday meal of dough balls

swimming in a deep pot of grease with lumps of salt pork, with-

out even potatoes or any dessert; nor did there seem to be any

fresh fish. The staples are bread and salt pork; the luxuries

game and fish; the delicacies an occasional mess of potatoes,

brought down the St. Lawrence once a year in Fortin’s trading

schooner.

Over the mantelpiece was a stuffed Canada grouse or partridge

and a ptarmigan in its winter plumage, but I was most delighted

with the gift of some Quaternary fossils with which Mrs. Cheva-

lier kindly presented me, including large specimens of Cardita

borealis, Aporrhais occidentalis and, most valuable of all, the

valves of a brachiopod shell, which I had also dredged on the

coast in ten fathoms, the Hypothyris psittacea. On our return

down the river we fished up the valves of the Pecten magellant-

cus, the great scollop shell, which lives in five or six feet of water.

This mollusk, which is locally known in Labrador by the name

of “ pussel,” we afterwards obtained in quantity, fried it in butter

and meal, finding it to be delicious eating, combining the prop-

erties of the clam and oyster, the single large adductor muscle

being far more tender than that of the c common scollop of South-

ern New acne and New York.

1885.] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 369

With our man, James Mosier, and his sailboat we spent two

days in dredging in from forty to fifty fathoms out in the Straits

of Belle Isle, three or four miles from land. The collection was

a valuable one, containing some new species. The crown of the

bank which we raked with our poorly constructed dredge was

packed with starfish, polyzoans, ascidians, shells, worms and

Crustacea. .The collection was purely arctic, and had not the

only dredge I had become broken, we should have reaped, or

rather dredged, a rich harvest. As it was, the novelties were

quite numerous, and the interest and excitement, as well as labor,

of overhauling, sorting and preserving what we did obtain lasted

for several days.

The only plant besides stony vegetable growths called “ nulli-

pores” dredged at this depth was a delicate red sea-weed, the

Ptilota elegans, which was found afterwards to extend as far down

in depth as ninety fathoms. Those who glibly talk, on zerra

firma, of plant life as affording a basis for animal life, should

dredge in deep water. They will find that a vast population of

animals of all sorts and conditions in the scale of life is spread at

all depths over the sea bottom, thriving almost without exception

on one another—on animal protoplasm—and in the beginning of

creation animal life was without doubt contemporaneous in ap-

pearance with vegetable existence. Indeed, what is the differ-

ence in form and structure bétween a bacterium and a moner ?

The two worlds of plant and animal life arise from the same base,

a common foundation of simplest structure, showing none of the

distinctive characteristics of animal or plant life, and only barely

earning the right to be called organisms, that vague term we

apply for convenience to any, even the simplest structures en-

dowed with life.

Of all the pleasures ot a naturalist’s existence, dredging has

_ been, to our mind, the most intense. The severe exertion, the

swimming brain, the qualms of sea sickness, tired arms and a

broken back, the memory of all these fade away at the sight of

the new world of life, or at least the samples of such a world,

which lie wriggling and sprawling on the deck of the sailboat, or

sink out of sight in the mud and ooze of the dredge, to be

brought to light by vigorous dashes of water drawn in over the

side of the boat. Those days of dredging on the Labrador

coast, where there was such an abundance and luxuriance of

VOL. XIX.—NO. IV. 24

370 Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. [ April,

arctic varieties, were days never to be forgotten. There is a

nameless charm, to our mind, in everything pertaining to the

far north, the arctic world, and we can easily appreciate the fasci-

nation which leads one back again to the polar regions, even if

hunger and frost had once threatened life. Arctic exploration

has but begun, and though its victims will yet be numbered by

the score, enthusiasts will yet attempt the dangers of arctic nav-

igation, and fresh trophies will yet be won.

Early in August, during the few still clear nights succeeding

bright and pleasant days, we had auroras of wondrous beauty,

not excelled by any depicted by arctic voyagers.

On the roth of August the curlews appeared in great numbers.

On that day we saw a flock which must have been a mile long

and nearly as broad; there must have been in that flock four or

five thousand! The sum total of their notes sounded at times

like the wind whistling through the ropes of a thousand-ton ves-

sel; at others the sound seemed like the jingling of multitudes

of sleigh bells. The flock soon after appearing would subdivide

into squadrons and smaller assemblies, scattering over the island

and feeding on the curlew berries now ripe. The small snipe-

like birds also appeared in flocks. The cloud berry was now

ripe and supplied dainty tid-bits to these birds.

By the 18th of the month the golden rods were in flower.

Here, as has been noticed in arctic regions, few bees and wasps

visit the flowers; the great majority of insect visitors are flies

(Muscidz), especially the flesh fly and allied forms. A bumble-

bee occasionally presents himself, more rarely a wasp, with an

occasional ichneumon fly, but the two-winged flies, and those of

not many species, were constant visitors to the August flowers.

The black flies still remained to this date terrible scourges in

calm weather, though in cloudy days and at night they mostly

disappeared. :

Wandering through the fog and drizzle along the mud flats on

the northern side of the island I picked up Aporrhais occidentalis,

Fusus tornatus, Cardita borealis, large valves of Saxicava rugosa,

Buccinum and Astarte sulcata and compressa; these and Pecten

us and other shells forming much the same assemblage as

Thad dredged a few days previous out in the straits in fifty fath-

_oms. The only recent shells lying about were shallow-water

forms, such as the common clam, Ze/lina fusca and the razor

1885.] Life and Nature in Southern Labrador. 371

shell. It was evident that here was a raised sea-bottom, and the

Quaternary formation. In the afternoon I returned to the spot

and dug up many more shells mingled with pieces of a yellow

limestone containing Silurian fossils, brachiopods and corals.

This horizon, then, represented a deep sea-bottom, over which

the open sea must have stood at least 300 feet, while the clay

fossils of the mouth of the Esquimaux river must have lived in

a deep muddy bay sheltered from the waves and currents of the

open sea. The drift deposits of Labrador are scanty in extent

compared with those of the Maine coast. They are but isolated

patches compared with the extensive beds of sand and clay which

compose the Quaternary deposits of New England.

On the 22d August we made our last excursion up the Esqui-

maux river, going up some six miles from its mouth. Froma

hill top I could look over the surface of this lake-dotted land.

The surface was rugged and bare in the extreme. The river val-

ley, however, was well wooded, the spruce and birch perhaps

thirty feet in height. Here and there the river passed through

high precipitous banks of sand. The hills were rough, scarred

with ravines, precipices, and deep gaps, the syenite wearing

into irregularly hummocky hills, the rough places not filled up

with drift, and thus the contours tamed down as in New Eng-

land. Indeed, Labrador at the present day is like New England

at the close of the ice period or at the beginning of the epoch of

great rivers, before the terraces were laid down and the country

adapted for man’s residence. Labrador was never adapted for

any except scattered nomad tribes. It is still an unfinished land.

While the hills were bare and the rocks covered with the rein-

deer moss, here and there by the river’s edge in favorable, pro-

tected places were tall alders and willows, with groups of asters

and golden rods. Here I saw a veritable toad, and glad enough

was I to recognize his lineaments. I was also told that there

were frogs in existence, though we ‘never saw or heard them.

There are no snakes or lizards, so that our history of these ani-

mals in Labrador will be as brief as that of the Irish historian,

but we did find a small salamander at Belles Amours in a later

trip to this coast.

On our return we found that a whaler had towed a sab into

the month of the river and was about to try out the oil. We

secured a piece of the flesh, and on reaching camp boiled it; it

Den of the Tertiary formation of the West. Book I.

372 Recent Literature. [April,

was not bad eating, tasting like coarse beef. Seal’s flippers we

also found not to be distasteful, though never to be regarded as

a delicacy.

Dredging and collecting insects on fine days when not too

calm filled up the measure of our seven weeks. The time passed

rapidly, the days were too short for all the work we planned to

do, and it was not without regret that we left the rugged un-

tamed shores of the Labrador. On the afternoon of the very day

she had set for her return to Caribou island, the Nautilus hove in

sight. As she made our harbor she struck upon a sunken

rock, tore off a piece of her keel, but slid off and came to anchor

as near as practicable to the mission house, and then succeeded

the mutual spinning of Labrador and Greenland yarns by the

reunited party.

‘oO:

RECENT LITERATURE.

Copr’s VERTEBRATA OF THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS OF THE

West.\—Just ten years ago (1875) a bulky quarto volume on the

Vertebrata of the Cretaceous formation of the West, by Professor

Cope, appeared, forming the second volume of the memoirs of

the Hayden Geological Survey of the Territories. The ponder-

ous volume now before us contains between three and four times

as many- pages and about fifty more plates. The work is de-

signed to present figures and descriptions of the vast number of

species of vertebrates of all classes, but more especially of the

mammals of the Tertiary lake-basins of the West. For the first

time the palzontologist has before him the materials for a view

of that rich fauna which through the Tertiary period crowded

the shores of the immense lakes whose sediments form the surface

‘of our Western plains—a fauna whose descendants, vastly less in

number though more highly specialized, still survive on this con-

tinent.

The subject is naturally the most attractive the palzeontologist

could have presented to him, since the materials represent a num-

ber of extinct orders, suborders and families, which fill more or

less completely the wide gaps between the existing orders of

mammals, and enable the student to examine the foundations, so

to speak, upon which the existing groups have been built up;

this, of course, has led not only to the solution of knotty points

_ in classification, but to broader conceptions of the relations of the

MATES. Geological Survey of the Territories. F. V. Hayden in charge. The Ver-

a of By Epwarp D. COPE.

h ee ren 1883-4. 4to, pp. 1009, with over 100 plates and numerous wood-cuts

1885.] Recent Literature. 373

extinct to the living groups, their genealogy, and finally the origin

of the class itself from the lower vertebrates.

The points of special value to paleontology and bearing on the

doctrine of evolution, worked out by Professor Cope in this vol-

ume, are quoted from Professor Hayden's letter of transmission

to the Secretary of the Interior: i

“1, The discovery of the fauna of the Puerco group, of thirty

genera and sixty-three species, This includes many important

ramie saurian genus Champsosaurus in the Puerco group. —

“2, The new classification of the Ungulata rendered possible

sources together.

“3, The new classification of the lower clawed mammals, based

on the analyses of fifteen new genera and forty-seven new species of

flesh-eaters and six new genera and sixteen new species of allied

forms, all discovered since the publication of the author’s volume

in connection with the Wheeler survey.

“4. The restoration of Hyracotherium, the four-toed horse of

the Wasatch group. ;

“o. The restoration of the genera Triplopus and Hyrachyus of

the Bridger fauna.

“6. The determination of the systematic relation of the Dino-

cerata as seen in the genera Loxolophodon and Bathyopsis.

“The whole number of genera described in this volume is 125

and of species 349, of which 317 species were determined by

Professor Cope. : .

“ The explorations that furnished the materials for these vol-

umes began in 1872 and are still being continued. It will there-

fore be readily seen that the amount of new matter towards the

origin and history of the Mammalian group, brought together by

the author in these two volumes, is most extraordinary, and wil

probably never be surpassed.”

The eoaid: for the fossils here described were made by

the author largely at his own expense, and full acknowledgment

is made of the services of those who made the collections when

the author was not in the field, and of the preparator in the labo-

ratory. : ;

The volume lay for a year in the bindery, so that while printed

in 1883 it was not bound until 1884, and was not distributed until

February of the present year.

374 Recent Literature. [ April,

Some typographical errors are not corrected in the errata, this

is probably due to the fact that the printing was done mostly

during the summer while the author was in the field, while a

large amount of proof was sent to Mexico and there lost.

The present volume is divided into two parts, Part 1 relating to

the Puerco, Wasatch and Bridger faune (Eocene); and Part 1

comprising the White River and John Day faunz, Lower and

Middle Miocene. Vol. 1v is in preparation and will comprise the

Upper Miocene fauna (Ticholeptus and Loup Fork fauna) and the

Pliocene.

The introduction is divided into two sections, in the first of

which the character and distributions of the Tertiary formations

of the central region of the United States are noticed, In the

second section are discussed the horizontal relations of the

orth American Tertiaries with those of Europe.

Then follow the description of the fossils, beginning with the

fishes and ending with the mammals.

The general conclusions as to affinities and phylogeny are

appearing in the NATURALIST in a series of articles which began

two years ago.

The work is richly illustrated, the details amply supplementing

the descriptions. As the result of extended investigations by an

experienced comparative anatomist and morphologist, as well as

palzontologist, this and the preceding volumes mark an epoch in

American paleontology. It isa monument of energy and devo-

tion to science, signalizing the triumphs of severe and trying

physical labor in the field, as well as patient, comprehensive and

searching work in the laboratory and study.

Craus’ ELEMENTARY TEXT-B00K oF Zootocy.!— The larger

work of Professor Claus is the latest and most authoritative trea-

tise on systematic zodlogy, having passed through four editions.

This work, somewhat cut down in size, is the original of the

present one. As it is, the first part is a bulky octavo, and, as

when completed it will be in two volumes, the book will not be

so easy of reference as if it formed a single volume. The boo

in its English dress is richly illustrated, the cuts, for the most

part, carefully prepared, mostly selected by Dr. Claus himself.

To the general part are devoted 179 pages; the usual subjects of

organic and inorganic bodies, animals and plants, cells and tissues,

correlation of organs, accounts of the different organs, intelli-

gence and instinct, development and evolution receiving full and

accurate treatment, though the author’s style is at times heavy

and prolix, the translators not always adding perspicuity or ele-

gance to the cumbrous German expressions. For example, on

1 Elementary Text-book of Zočlogy. ta ial part ; Protozoa to

Insecta. By Dr. C: oe iat et raken by Apan Sebo, with the

schein & Co., Paternoster square, 1884. Svo, pp. 615.

1885.] Recent Literature. 375

p. I the ordinary student will stand aghast at the following sen-

tence: “The matter of unorganized bodies (for instance of crys-

tals) is in a state of stable equilibrium, while through the organ-

ized being a stream of matter takes place.’ Do not streams

generally flow? The punctuation is also defective, and cases of

tautology occur. Why at this date there should be any distinc-

tion, even if in words, expressed between sarcode and protoplasm

we do not understand. p. 21 we find the following sentences

in the section on the difference between animals and plants: “In

the place of muscles, which as a special tissue are absent in the

lower animals, there is present an undifferentiated albuminous

substance known as sarcode, the contractile matrix of the body.

The viscous contents of vegetable cells, known as protoplasm,

possesses likewise the power of contractility, and resembles sar-

code in its most essential properties.” There is vegetable and

animal protoplasm, but why give different names to what is fun-

damentally the same substance? Throughout the succeeding

pages the word protoplasm is used for the contents of animal

cells, and we read no more of sarcode.

The translator has, on p. 70, referred to the “ spiral thread” of

an insect’s trachea, sufficient liberty might have been taken with

the original to have given the latest and most correct view as to

the structure of the trachea and the mode of tracheal respiration,

pears,

but the excellence of the majority of the figures and the judg-

376 " Recent Litevative. [April,

ment shown in their selection are almost beyond criticism. Why

the Gephyrea and the Hirudinea are placed above the more

highly specialized Chztopod worms we do not understand. As

also why the Phyllopods should be placed at the base of the

Crustacea, below the Copepoda and barnacles. This classification

has been strenuously advocated by Claus, but not, we suppose,

generally accepted; the reasons militating against this view are

many and urgent; the Branchipodide, with their stalked eyes

and highly specialized bodies, appear to stand nearer the stalked-

eyed Crustacea than any other Entomostraca ; and to go directly

from the root-barnacles to the Malacostraca is straining more than

one point in taxonomy. In treating the trilobites no reference

whatever fs made to American work, especially that of Walcott,

who has demonstrated that they had hard jointed limbs; Claus

states the obsolete view that they were “ soft and delicate.”

Among the Myriopods Pauropus is assigned to the Polydes-

midz, when it certainly represents a distinct suborder if not

order. The Physopoda or Thrips are regarded as a tribe of

Pseudo-neuroptera, although embryology shows they are Hem-

iptera. The taxonomy of the Lepidoptera seems to us to be very

objectionable and old-fashioned, while it is a comfort to see that

e Hymenoptera are placed at the head of the insect series. We

shall look with great interest to the appearance of the second,

closing volume.

Goopa.e’s Puystotocicat Borany..—In the year 1879 Dr.

Gray brought out the new (sixth) edition of his widely known .

and used Botanical Text-book. The new book covered much

less ground than the older editions, being confined to the structural

botany of the phanerogams. It was then announced that Dr.

Goodale was to prepare a second volume to be devoted to physio-

logical botany, Dr. Farlow a third devoted to cryptogamic bot-

any, and that the series was to be completed by a fourth volume

to include a sketch of the natural orders of phanerogams. After

waiting six years we have the pleasure of perusing advance

sheets of the long-promised Vol. 1. The part before us is de-

voted to the histology of the phanerogams, and is soon to be fol-

lowed by Part 11, which is to deal with vegetable physiology.

Upon opening the book we have first an interesting chapter

devoted to histological appliances ; a most useful chapter indeed

it will prove to all workers in the botanical laboratory. In this

we observe with pleasure the remark that “other things being

equal, a microscope with a short tube and with a low stand will be

most convenient on account of the large number of cases in which

1 Gray’: Botanical Text-book {sixth edition). Vol. 11. Physiological botany.

I. Outlines of the histology of pheenogamous plants. By GEORGE LINCOLN GooD-

ALE, A.M., M.D., professor of botany in Harvard University. Ivison, Blakeman,

Taylor & Co., New York and Chicago. 1885. pp. vii, 194, 12mo, 141 figures.

1885.] Recent Literature. 377

reagents must be employed, their application requiring a horizon-

tal stage.”

In chapter 1 we have a discussion of the vegetable cell in gen-

eral, its structure, composition and principal contents. Here it

is encouraging to note that the author still holds to the view that

the cell is the unit in vegetable anatomy. The most interesting

portion of this chapter is that devoted to plastids (including

chlorophyll), protein granules and starch. In chapter 1 the

modifications of cells, and.the ttssues they compose, are taken up.

The provisional classification adopted is as follows :

I, Cells of the fundamental system, or PARENCHYMA cells—permanent typical

cells.

1, Parenchyma cells, strictly so-called, including as modifications collenchyma

celis and sclerotic parenchyma cells, or grit cells, such as the lignified cells

of seed-coats and drupes, etc.

2. Epidermal cells and their modifications, e. g., trichomes.

3. Cork cells, forming suberous parenchyma, or cork.

II. Cells and modified cells of the fibro-vascular system—PROSENCHYMA in the

widest sense.

I. Cells of prosenchyma proper.

a. Typical wood-cells and woody fibers, including libriform cells and the

secondary wood-cells.

6. Vasiform wood-cells or tracheids.

2. Vessels or ducts.

a. Dotted.

b. Spirally marked.

c. Annular,

d. Reticulated.

e. cular. x

: 3. Bast-cells, bast-fibers or liber-fibers.

III. Sreve-cexts, or cirhose cells.

IV. LATEX-CELLS.

It will be observed that four principal kinds of cells are here

recognized, implying four kinds of tissues. Parenchyma is made

to include collenchyma and short-celled sclerenchyma, and pro-

senchyma likewise includes fibrous cells as well as vessels (trach-

We shall reserve the discussion of some points in the chapters

before us until after the appearance of part second, but in the

378 Recent Literature, [April,

meantime must congratulate the botanical fraternity of this coun-

try upon the appearance of this profound and still clearly written

work.—Charles E. Bessey.

Smiru’s DISEASES OF FIELD AND GARDEN Crops.'—In this com-

pact little volume the author has brought together the notes of a

course of lectures given at the request of the officers of the In-

stitute of. Agriculture at the British Museum, South Kensington.

It was the endeavor of the author, we are informed in the intro-

duction, to keep three objects clearly in view, viz., “ first, the de-

scription only of such diseases as are of economic importance ;

second, the definition of all the phenomena of the diseases in

familiar words, such as, with proper attention, may be understood

y all; this has been done without sacrificing scientific accuracy,

as all botanical terms in common use are adverted to and ex-

plained ; ¢hird, the consideration of the best means of preventing

the attacks of plant diseases.”

An examination of the book warrants us in saying that the

author has succeeded admirably in his attempt. Every progres-

sive farmer and gardener ought to procure this book and give it

a careful reading.

While thus commending this book as a most excellent one in

plan and purpose, we need not accept all the author’s views. But

this will not necessarily lessen the value of the work for those for

whose benefit it was designed —Charles E. Bessey.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS,

Cope, E. D., and Wortman, J. L.—¥ourteenth Sago of the State melas (Part

II). Post- pliocene Veriebrat tes of Indiana. 1884. From the author:

W. K. Brooks et al—Report of my oyster commission of SEN of Aiat

Jan., 1884. From the author

Beecher, C. E.—Some abnormal sa pathologic forms of fresh-water shells from =

na A of Albany, N. Y. Ext. 36th repurt N. Y. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1884. Fro

en, R. No es on the town and neighborhood of Fordingbridge, Hants. 1883.

Fua the author.

Dames, W.—Notes on Lestodon (Gervais). Abd. Sitz. k. Akad. Ber.

—Renthierreste von Rixdorf. Ext. natur, Freunde zu Berlin, 1883.

—— Vorkommen y Fyens i in den Pliocin-Ablagerungen von Pikermi bei

Athen. Abd, id

_ ——Eine neue basis aus dem Pliocin von Pikermi bei Athen, — ei

—Fischzahne Sige der obersenonen Tuff kreide von Mastricht.

——Hirsche un o Misie von Pikermi in Attika. Abd. a. d. api ei Tresc

: Geol. Ges. Jahrg., 1883.

— Ueber A ieee Abd. dem.

——Ueber eine tertiire Wirbelthier fauna von der bs Ge a Insel des. Birket- th

sas im Tajum Se I ata Abd. Sitz. des k. us. Akad. der Wiss.

_ Berlin. All from the author.

1 Di Field and Garden Crops, chiefly such as are caused by Fun By

iink G. Smirn, F.L.S., M.A (ae mber of the 1 he S committee

; Royal Horti icultural Society. With 143 illustrations drawn and engraved by the

on, Macmillan & Co. pp- xxiv, 353, I2mo.

1885] Recent Literature.” 379

- Ayers, H.—Untersuchungen über Pori abdominales; 1884. . From the author,

Frazer, P_—Trap dykes in the Archzan rocks, Ext. Proc. Amer. Philos, Soc., Oct.

7, 1884. From the author

Sollas, W. F—The Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society. v. On

ne origin of fresh-water faunas; a study in evolution, 1884, From the

uthor

D Æ. D.—Report of the United States Geological Survey of the egira F.

. Hayden, geol, in pipi se Vol. 11. Tertiary Vertebrata. Book 1,.pp. 1002,

plates 133. From the author

Baird, S. F—Report of the sername of Fish and Fisheries for 1882, Wash-

ington, 1884, From the department.

Whiteaves, J. F—Palzozoic fossils. Ext. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey of Canada.

Montreal, 1884.

——On a new species of piaeas Ext. Amer. Jour. of Science, Aug., 1880

saran some gy T: Crustacea and Mollusca, ep the Devonian at Campbell-

* ton, N. B. t. Canadian Naturalist, Vol. x, No.

poania some remarkable fossil aye from the Deiat rocks of Scauntenæ bay,

P.Q. Ext. idem., Vol. x, No.

— Mesozoic fossils. "Vol ¥, Part I. a some e Invertebrates from the coal-bearing

rocks of the Queen Charlotte islands. Part 11. On the fossils of the Cretaceous

rocks of Vancouver and adjacent islands in the Strait of Georgia, Geol

Surv. of Canada. "All rom the author

Baur, G—Dinosaurier und Vögel: Abd. Morph. Jahrb. 1885. From the author.

Webster City Freeman.—Autographs—the Chas. Aldrich collection.

Macoun, J.—Catalogue of Canadian e Pait 1. Polypetalæ. Part 1. Gamo-

; talæ

Geol. and Nat. Hist. Sarv. of Canada. From the author

Geol. ah Canada,—List of pablicsiiens of the Geological ne Matured History

tvey of Canada, 1884. `

Shon, A. R. C—Notes on the life of Sir W. E. Logan

— The piya ddai of the ETF group and the rales crystalline rocks of Can-

from the aui

Stetefeldt, C, A.—Russell’s PaaS process for the lixiviation of silver-ores. Ext.

Proc, Amer. Inst. Min. Eng.

Whitley, J. R.—The American exhibition, London, 1886.

Packard, A. S-—Mode of oviposition of the common longicorn pine-borer, etc., etc.

Entomo ology, American Naturalist, 1884. From the author.

Brewer, W. H.—The educational influences of the farm. From the author,

‘ames, J. F.—Contributions to the flora of Cincinnati. Ext. Jour, Cincin, Soc. Nat.

Hist. From the author

James, U. P-—On Godin and fossil Annelid jaws. Ext. Jour. Cincin. Soc. Nat.

; eke.

Hist. Oct., 1

Mell, P. 17,—Alabama weather service. Sept., 1884.

Lesley, J. P.—Report of the inst of pomisle of the Second. Geol, Surv. of

Penna., 1885. From the

Certes, A.—De vena des hautes pressions sur les phénomènes a la putrefaction.

From the author. :

Zittel, K. af 1— Bemerkungen ado: einige visage ha tee a dem sEm ET o

der k bayer. Akad. d. Wiss., 1884. From the author.

Scudder, S. H.—Dictyoneura and the allied insects of the Carboniferous epoch. Ext.

Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sciences, 1884. From the author.

380 General Notes. [ April,

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

Asta.—The Island of Formosa.—A paper recently read by Mr.

M. Beazeley, before the Royal Geographical Society, gave much

information about this little-known island, and elicited more from

other members. The Chinese do not seem to have been ac-

quainted with the island until 1403, although it is distinctly visi-

ble from the mainland and islands of the Chinese coast. So lit-

tle did the Chinese emperors know or care about it, that in 1624

they ceded it to the Dutch in exchange for the small group of

the Pescadores. Previously to this the Spanish and Portuguese

had traded there, and it is supposed that the curious red brick

fort at Tamsui, now the British consulate, was built by the Span-

iards in the 16th century. The Dutch drove the Japanese from

Anping, fortified themselves in Fort Zelandia, and held the island

until they were driven out by the celebrated piratical chieftain,

Ching Ching-kung, whose grandson handed the island over to

the Chinese government, and received his pardon.

Formosa strait, between the island and the mainland, is 245

miles wide at its southern end, but only 6214 at its northern end.

The island is 245 miles in greatest length, and 76 in greatest

width, and is computed to contain 14,982 square miles. A range

of mountains, averaging about 12,000 feet in height, extends

down the center of the island for the greater part of its length.

The ridge of this range is extremely level, though heights vary-

ing from 11,300 to 12,850 feet have been made out. Mr. Beazeley

declares them to be wooded to the very top, but Mr. Barber states

that he has seen snow on the northern parts of the range late in

June. There are now no good harbors in Formosa, owing to the

fact that the island is rising at- quite a perceptible rate. During

the Dutch occupation in the 17th century the capital, Taiwanfu,

was a port, Fort Zealandia was an island far out to sea, and an

extensive harbor and bay separated the two. This is now a level

plain of many miles in extent, and passengers are landed in cata-

marans at Anping, under the ruins of the old fort. Anping is

merely an open roadstead with no shelter in the south-west mon-

soon, during which no vessels visit it. Tamsui, in the north, is

at the mouth of a river, with only 114 fathoms on the bar, and

2% fathoms inside, with bad holding-ground. Kelung, also in

the north, is very small and much exposed during the north-

east monsoon. Takow, in the south-west, twenty-four miles

south of Anping, has a shifting bar and a very narrow entrance,

: = while only the outer end of the lagoon affords anchorage. There

-BE

s a small harbor at Sao bay on the east coast. The neighboring

small group of the Pescadores has two fine harbors, Ponghou and

Makung, and it would be absolutely necessary for any foreign

+ This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

1885. | Geography and Travels. 381

power that wished to hold Formosa to possess these harbors. At

present Amoy is practically the port of Formosa, and the produce

of the island is sent thither in small vessels. There are no active

volcanoes in the island, but there are signs of volcanic action in

boiling springs, etc., and earthquakes are frequent.

When Mr. Beazeley accompanied a party in 1875 to select a

site for a lighthouse at the South cape, Chinese authority had

not extended so far as it now has, and it was not without much

difficulty and some danger that the travelers made their way from

Takow to the cape. The Chinese inhabitants of the country are

described as apparently well-to-do, the villages clean and the chil-

dren, who are mostly naked, healthy and strong. The mangoes

grown in Formosa closely resemble the Bombay mango in ap-

pearance and flavor, and the pineapples are without a crown of

leaves. The aborigines are much darker and more muscular than

the Chinese, wear nothing but a scanty blue cloth round the

waist, and are armed with bows and arrows and long knives,

Many carry matchlocks. In shape Formosa has been compared

to a cleaver with a short handle, or to a fish, the tail or handle

being the narrow part just north of the South cape. It is cer-

tainly one of the most beautiful and fertile spots on the face of

the earth.

Northern Afghanistan —The northern part of Afghanistan is

watered by the Heri-rud, Murghab and affluents of the Amu-

Daria, and thus belongs to the Aralo-Caspian basin. The Af-

ghans do not extend beyond the mountains (Hindoo Koosh,

Parapomisus, etc.) except in the north-west at Herat, though they

hold in military subjection the Mongol tribes of the lowland areas.

The Hazareh, etc. (Mongolian) of the mountains east and south-east

of Herat are independent, and the region between the Murghab

and Heri-rud is occupied by Turkoman tribes, among whom are

about 30,000 who have recently come southward from Merv.

Eastward of these Turanian tribes are various peoples of Iranian

race, some of whom are thought to be the aboriginal inhabitants

of this mountain land—the supposed cradle of the Aryan stock.

Among these are the Black Kafirs or Siah-posh, who alone of

these tribes have not embraced Mohammedanism, who use tables

and chairs and into whose country an Afghan dare not penetrate.

North of these are the Badakshi. The Russians claim that the

Hindoo Koosh forms the northern limit of Afghanistan, but

north of this line, at its eastern extremity, Aryan tribes extend

even to Darwaz and Karateghin

Hsi-Fans, or tributary aboriginal tribes of Thibetan race which

live scattered along the Thibetan border of China from Yunnan

to Kan-su, are now in Pekin. The Hsi-Fans are short, fond of

red clothing, and adopt Chinese fashions in no small degree.

Their faces are rounder than those of the Chinese, their heads

382 General Notes. [ April,

smaller, their noses less stunted, small and pointed. Their eyes

are small, placed in a line, and have a bright black luster. Quiet

though they are now, history shows that they struggled manfully

against the Chinese. The Lolos of Sze-Chuan are allied to the

Burmese, and seem to form a nation. Both they and the Hsi-

Fans belong to the Eastern Himalaic, while the rest of the abo-

riginal tribes in Western China and in the southern provinces,

whether Miao, Rao or Tung, seem to belong to the Eastern Him-

alaic, the branch to which belong the Siamese, Shans, Laos, the Li

of Hainan, the Cambodians and the Anamese.——- Dr. Grishimailo’s

travels in Ferghana and the Altai have resulted in large geologi-

cal and entomological collections, as well as in much anthropo-

logical matter. Many evidences of the existence of a glacial

epoch in Central Asia were met with, amongst them the presence

in Thian-shan of forms which have hitherto only been found in

Labrador, Greenland, Lapland and the Swiss Alps. M. Ed.

Cotteau has ascended several of the Javan volcanoes, viz., Mt.

Cheda, 9844 feet; Mt. Merapi, 9459 feet; Mt. Bromo, 8203 feet,

and still active; and Mt.Smeru, 12,469 feet high, the culminating

peak of Java. M. Cotteau states that to one accustomed to Swiss

mountain-climbing the ascent of these volcanoes is child’s play.

AFrica.—A/rican Notes—M. Dolisie, a member of the Brazza

mission, has traveled from Loango to Brazzaville. The “ king” of

the country gave to the traveler an excellent piece of ground at

the confluence of the Ludima with the Kuilu, and had signed a

treaty placing all the country between the Ludima and the- Niari

under the protectorate of France. This prince and all his chiefs

also signed a solemn declaration that they had never ceded any

of their rights to the International Society, which did not even

own the land on which their stations were built. The route was

preferable to that of the Congo and even to that of the Ogowé.

th the entrances of this route on the coast of Loango and its

termination at Brazzaville are in the hands of France. M.

Giraud has again been unsuccessful in his attempt to continue his

explorations, having been abandoned by his porters and his

escort——The French have the command of the Niger from

Bourré to Boussa, some 700 leagues of watercourse. From

the north of Africa a French railway runs from Arzen to Méche-

ria, and ina few years will be extended to Imsalah, which is al-

ready connected with Timbuctoo by caravan routes. The latter

will become more important under French protection. The

French will certainly also push from Porto Novo on the Gulf of

Guinea to Boussa on the Niger, and thus complete their commu-

nication between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Guinea.

age of the French navy, has recently explored the valley

of the Faléme, one of the most considerable affluents of the Sene-

gal. The river, though it cannot be considered navigable, can

— | be made so by removing a few rocks which obstruct its pas-

1885.] Geography and Travels. 383

sage. Small canoes ascend it even now, and it could easily be

made accessible to small steamers, since it has neither falls nor

rapids, Life is intense throughout the valley, the vegetation for

from one to three hundred meters on each bank is so thick that it

was only at intervals that our traveler could approach the river;

elephants, lions, buffaloes, antelopes, etc., as well as birds abound,

and numerous villages are situated within a few kilometers of its

course. Gold is found in its sands. Leaving Podor June 24,

1883, he left the Faléme at Senondébau, an abandoned French fort,

and proceeded thence to Dialafara, the capital of Tambura, a

couutry rich in cattle and gold, and induced the sovereign to sign

a treaty of protectorate. From Dialafara Dr. Colin went to Kas-

sama, capital of Diébedugu, a city before unknown to Euro-

peans. Kassama seemed so important that Dr. Colin endeavored

to find a practicable route from thence to the terminus of the

French railway at Bafulabé, but failed. M. Tomezek, the com-

panion of M. Rogovinski in the exploration of the Cameroons re-

gion, died at Mondoleh, May 10, 1884, aged 24 years. Notwith-

Standing his youth, he had got together a vocabulary of the

Kruman language, explored the Rio del Rey, and taken many

notes upon the country. Not only M. Rogovinski, but M.

Passavant of Basle, has resolved to advance into the interior of the

Cameroons region in search of the mysterious Lake Liba. In

his last journey Mr. Stanley ascended the Aruwimi to Tambuga,

2° 43’ N. lat. At that point the river is called Biyere, farther on

it is the Berre and the Werré, and Mr. Stanley believes it to

be identical with the Welle of the south of the Soudan. He dis-

covered on this journey the Lulemgu, an important affluent upon

the right bank, and established a station upon the island of Wana-

usani, near the right bank of the river, in 0° 10’ N. lat.

America.—Worse and Portuguese Colonies in North America —

Mr. R. G. Haliburton (Proc. Roy. Geog. Society, January, 1885)

identifies the “ Vinland the Good” of Eric the Red with New-

foundland. The length of the day given in the Greenland Saga

coincides with that of Newfoundland, and the man who called

his first find Greenland in order to attract colonists, would not

scruple to give a good name to the land found by his son, Leif.

Wild grapes are said to occur on the west coast, and this was

enough for Eric to magnify into shiploads of grapes and a semi-

tropical winter climate. The Helluland of the Saga is, by Mr.

Haliburton identified with Labrador, the southern part of which

was Markland, while Genunga gap was Belle Isle strait. It was

not known until the publication, in 1883, of “ Os Corte Raes,’

by Senhor Ernesto do Canto, that from 1500 to 1579 oe or ak

were regularly issued to the Corte Reals as governors of terra

Nova, and that at least three settlements were made by the Por-

tuguese. Except, perhaps, the Vinland of the Norsemen, this

colony, which included Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia

384 General Notes. [April,

and probably a large portion of the east coast of the United

States, was by far the oldest European colony in the new world,

since the date 1500 is but two years after the discovery of Amer-

ica by Columbus and six years after its discovery by Cabot. In

1500 Gaspar Corte Real explored Labrador, probably nearly to

Hudson strait, and also Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. In 1521

Fagundes obtained a grant of the country between the land of the

Corte Reals (Newfoundland) and the Spanish colonies, and a settle-

ment was made at Cape Breton. Traditions of this settlement

exist among the Micmacs, who aver that certain earth-mounds at St.

Peter’s, Cape Breton, were made by white men before the French

came. An archaic cannon, formed of bars of iron, was found

many years ago, and an inquiry into the date of the manufacture

of such guns showed that it must have been made between 1500

and 1545. Terra Nova was not actually settled, but the fisheries

were actively prosecuted. The fate of this colony is not known,

but in 1567 a Portuguese settlement was made at Inganish, Cape `

reton. In 1580 the annexation of Portugal to Spain brought

the region under Spanish authority, and a colony was sent out

which appears to have had a melanchcly end, since our only

account of it is that the French convicts left on Sable island in

1598 built barracks to protect themselves out of the wrecks of

the Spanish vessels, The name of “ Spanish Harbor” is all that

marks their passage. Few persons imagine that the Bay of Fundy

is “ Baya Fonda,’ the deep bay, and that Cape Race is “ Cabo

Raso,” or bare cape, names given by the Portuguese.

Source of the Mississippi—The true source of the Mississippi

was found by Captain Glazier to be in a lake in lat. 47° 13’ 25”,

and situated three feet above Lake Itasca, the hitherto supposed

source of the river. The source is therefore 1578 feet above

the Atlantic, and the length of the river, taking former data as

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 385

the face of the great degradation of these peoples the English

missionaries assert the language of the Yahgans contains no less

than 30,000 words, “ suggesting the hypothesis of an origin very

different and far superior to their present state.”

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

Tue Otpest Tertiary MammaLia.— The lowest horizon of the

Puerco epoch of New Mexico has recently been explored by

David Baldwin with good results. The following is a list of the

species of Mammalia obtained by him. The proportion of nov-

elty, it will be seen, is large:

Polymastodon ? taoénsis Cope.

Polymastodon latimolis, sp. nov.—This marsupial equals the P.

faoénsts in size, and is therefore larger than either the P. fissidens or

the P. foliatus, It differs especially from both the P. taoënsis and

the P. foliatus in the great shortness of the first true inferior

molar, which is only one-half longer than the second or last true .

molar. The latter is as wide as long in the type, and a little nar-

rower in a second specimen. Ft supports four tubercles on the

inner side; outer side worn. The first true molar appears to have

five tubercles on the inner side, although the anterior edge is in-

jured. In P. ¢aoénsis there are six or seven. The fourth premo-

lar is two-rooted. The enamel of the last inferior molar is faintly

longitudinally wrinkled. The coronoid process rises opposite the

middle of the second true molar,

Measurements: Total length of molar series, M. .038; of sec-

ond true molar .017; width of do. .o11; length of crown of sec-

ond true molar .014; width of do. .o11. Depth of ramus at M.

II .038; do. at diastema .024. Depth of ramus of a second indi-

vidual 042. Besides the shortness of the second true molar, the

width of the same tooth and of the last true molar distinguish

this species from the Z. taoénsis. The inflection of the angle of

the ramus of the lower jaw is as well marked as in other species

of the genus. :

Chriacus hyattianus, sp. nov.—Represented by two maxillary

bones with molar teeth, one of which is accompanied by a broken

Mandibular ramus, which supports the second true molar and

parts of other teeth, The superior molars are quite peculiar, and

are especially characterized by their small transverse as compar

with their anteroposterior diameter. The crowns are surrounded

by a cingulum, except on the inner side, where distinct traces of

it are visible. The external cusps are small and low and flattened

on the external side, and are connected at their bases by a low

ridge. They send inwards each an angular ridge which unites

with its fellow in an angular internal cusp of little elevation, en-

closing a triangular fossa. Small angular intermediate tubercles

exist at the internal bases of the external cusps. The posterior

cingulum is a little better developed than the anterior, and rises

VOL. XIX,—No, IV, 25

386 General Notes. [ April,

into a very small cusp or tubercle, which is not of sufficient size to

truncate the internal outline of the crown. e crown of the

second true inferior molar displays a contracted triangle of three

well developed cusps anteriorly, and a wide basin posteriorly.

The rim of this basin is elevated all round and develops into a

cusp on the external side. An external, no internal cingulum.

Enamel longitudinally wrinkled.

Measurements: Length of three true molars .0185 ; diameters

of M. 11, anteroposterior .0075, transverse .0075; do. of second

inferior true molar, anteroposterior .0075, transverse posteriorly

.006. As the fourth inferior premolar of this species is unknown,

its reference to the genera Chriacus is provisional only. It is

dedicated to my friend, Professor Alpheus Hyatt, of Boston,

Mixodectes ? sp.—Two rami with true molars.

Loxolophus adapinus, gen. et sp. nov.— Char. gen.—Known only

from inferior molars. Crowns with three cusps anteriorly and a

basin posteriorly. The internal and external anterior so con-

nected as to form a transverse crest on a little wear; anterior or

fifth cusp distinct. Rim of basin elevated on the external side

and extending as a crest to the base of the anterior cusps. Inter-

nal rim acute, and so near the external as to resemble a large

cingulum. Third true molar with a small heel. The position of

this genus cannot be determined without further material. The

oblique direction of the crests resembles what is seen in the

genus Adapis Cuv.

Char. specif.—The posterior rim only rises into a cusp at the pos-

terior external angle. There are no cingula. The enamel is

slightly wrinkled longitudinally. The posterior molar is consid-

erably smaller than the first, which is a little smaller than the

second. The last molar rises obliquely with the anterior base

of the coronoid process, The anterior masseteric ridge is quite

predominant, but the fossa is not distinctly bounded below.

Measurements ; Length of true molars .o1g; of last molar

.006 ; width of do. .003; length of second true molar .007 ; width

1885. ] Geology and Faleontology. |

The crowns of the superior molars support two external conical

flattened on the external side. The entire crown is surrounded

by a well developed cingulum, which is especially prominent

round the external anterior cusp of the second and third true

molars. The posterior external cusp of the last true molar is

rudimental, and is situated well within the external line om the

posterior border. The fourth premolar has a single external cusp,

and the cingulum is wanting on the anterior and interior sides.

The outline of the base of the crown of this tooth is subtriangu-

lar; that of the first and second true molars is a half ellipse ;

while that of the last true molar is a transverse oval as in the two

species mentioned above. In this last respect it differs from the

species of Mesonyx and Dissacus, where that tooth has a trian-

- gular base. Enamel delicately wrinkled where unworn. In the

two species of Sarcothraustes already mentioned the first and sec-

ond true molars have a triangular outline, and there is no internal

cingulum.

The occiput of this species rises into an elevated transverse

crest with an oval outline, like that of the Dinocerata. his is

divided in front by an elevated sagittal crest. The brain cavity is

very small. There is a preglenoid crest.

Measurements: Length of true molars .031; diameters of Pm.

IV, anteroposterior .O10, transverse .OI2 ; do. of M. 11, anteropos-

terior .oI1I, transverse .016; do. of M..111, anteroposterior 008,

transverse .015 ; elevation of occipital crest .058. |

Phenacodus puercensis Cope.

Periptychus coarctatus Cope.

A BAROMETER FOR MEASURING SEPARATELY THE WEIGHT AND

PRESSURE OF THE AIR.—The present mercurial barometer at all

times measures, not alone the weight or pressure of the air, but

both weight and pressure. It cannot measure either separately,

that is, we cannot now when either pressure or weight alone has

affected it. It is the purpose of this article to suggest a barome-

ter that will measure alone the weight of the air and not be at all

influenced by pressure, temperature, moisture or the sun’s or

(from the sphere) is inserted a screw, G, with threads measuring

one hundredth of an inch, with a large circular head, Æ, gradu-

into divisions of one-tenth of its outside circumference,

388 General Notes. [April,

which in connection with a vernier, J, will read to tenths of these

or one hundredth of the circumference, or, as a whole, to one

ten-thousandth of an inch. Æ, or the head of the screw, extends

through a hole in the glass box, so as to be turned by hand. To

the right of the fulcrum, F, is a screw, e, on which a ball, D,

works, and is for the purpose of adjusting the balance at mean

KES

NEAS

SGT TN

eZ ADR YE

Eri

"lag

Bie

“es

Er p>

a Seo D.

Masi

SSeS Des

_ sea-level. When this is done the screw, G, is run in or out as the

zase may be to measure the increase or decrease of the weight of

ir. The screw, G, might be made to carry a vernier along the

valance bar, c, to register the number of turns of the screw, but

such is not shown in this sketch. O is a handle for carrying the box

y mm are fulcrums on which a spring bow, o o, rests.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 389

On the ends of this bow are two clamps, Z L, for holding and

steadying the sphere, B, when being moved or carried from place

to place. The clamp screw, J, is turned so as to draw downward

the bow, o o, between the fulcrums, 7 m, which causes the upper

ends of the bow to clamp the sphere. Four clamps may be

used.

I think it will be plain to any one that the presence of the air, or

the attraction of the earth, sun or moon will be equally exerted

on the sphere, B, and the balancing weight (screw G). Also,

_ that the difference in the weight of the sphere, 4, before the air

is exhausted and afterward, is the weight of the air exhausted.

Also, that the difference in the turn of the screw, G, from its

position at sea-level, and any tried elevation above, to balance the

sphere, is the comparative weight of the air at the two places.

If experience should prove that the accumulation of dust and

moisture on the sphere, B, will materially affect the weight

thereof, it can be obviated by balancing the sphere, B, with an-

other of the same surface and weight (exhausted air excepted),

which can be moved to the right or left on the left end of the

balance beam, c, by means of a screw similar to G, and have

the number of turns recorded by a vernier on the balance beam.

I have seen the mercurial barometer affected by the sudden

opening or closing of a door in a tight room where the barome-

ter was hung. I think I was not mistaken when I thought I saw

it vibrate with the sudden dashing March winds which are strong

enough sometimes to stagger a man as he walks. The plan I

suggest will not be affected by these conditions if kept out of the

wind current. It will be interesting to compare its action with

the mercurial barometer anyway.— no. T. Campbell, Rockville,

Ind., Fan. 24, 1885.

Tue ERIBOLL CRYSTALLINE Rocks, — Nature contains two

lengthy articles upon the crystalline rocks of the Scottish high-

lands, the one from the pen of Archibald Geikie, the other a

report by B. N. Peach and John Horne. It appears a fresh ele-

ment of difficulty has been introduced into the geology of the

Highlands. The crystalline schists which in Northwest Suther-

land overlie fossiliferous Silurian strata, and which were believed

companied by “thrust-planes” or horizontal pushings for-

ward of the rocks on the up-throw side. The coast sections of

Loch Eriboll show these dislocations clearly. Beginning with

gentle foldings they increase until the order of the strata is

reversed. In Durness, for example, the overlying schists have

been thrust over westwards across all the other rocks for at least

ten miles. Some of the overlying bands are Archean gneiss,

others Silurian quartzite, and in one case a mass of the Upper

s g

390 General Notes. o [Apa

Durness limestone can be detected. The crystallization increases,

however, so much that it becomes impossible to determine the

original character of the rock by examination in the field. From

the remarkably constant relation between the dip of the Silurian

strata and the inclination of their reversed faults, Professor

Geikie concludes that these dislocations took place before the

strata had been seriously disturbed.

THE THEATER OF THE EARTHQUAKES IN SpAIn—M. Hébert

recently presented to the French Academy of Sciences a commu-

nication upon the earthquakes in the south of Spain—cataclysms

more violent than any which have visited Spain in historic times.

If the details furnished by the papers are examined, it will be

* evident that the localities recently disturbed by earthquakes are

almost all situated on two zones, the one to the south of the

Jurassic and Cretaceous mass which bounds the provinces of

Malaga and Granada, the other to the north of it. In the south-

ern zone the most severely visited localities were Antequera,

alaga, Velez, Torros, Alhama, Granada, etc.; while the north-

ern zone comprehends Cadiz, Xerez, Seville, Cordova, Linares,

etc., and Valencia, all towns where shocks have been felt. The

rest of the peninsula does not seem to have suffered much from

this instability of the Mediterranean regions, except Albuquerque

in the parallel of Lisbon, destroyed Dec. 26th and 27th, and

some slight shocks in Galicia. M. Hébert called attention to the

Balearic isles, which are situated between the two zones, are ele-

vated eighty meters or more above the sea-level, and are com-

posed at the: surface of horizontal beds of Quaternary age. These

islands have therefore been raised more than a hundred meters

since the Quaternary epoch, and this elevation has been limited

northward and southward by fractures in the line of prolonga-

tion of the defined zones of dislocation above. Thus it is clear

_ that the cause of dislocations in these regions is always present

and always active.

GroLocicaL Notes.—General—A letter from Capt. C. E. Dut-

ton upon the basalt fields of New Mexico, has been contributed

to Nature. The center of activity is Mount Taylor, otherwise

the San Mateo mountains, a volcanic pile 11,380 feet high, carve

into numerous spurs by magnificent gorges. It was originally

built by outbreaks both from its flanks and summit. From this

1885. ] Geology and Paleontology. 391

identified. The “necks” or “chimneys” which are left standing

in the valley plains beyond the farthest verge of the lava-capped

mesas form one of the most striking features of the country.

One is nearly two thousand feet high. In the wide valley-plains

between the mesas are newer fields of lava, some so fresh that

one might think them scarcely a century old, and it is clear that

they were erupted after many a square mile of strata overflowed

by the older basalts had been eroded away. No vents are found

in connection with these younger eruptions, nor have any scoriz

been discovered. Some of them seem to have flowed from small

depressed cones at their upper ends. One stream is sixty miles

long. The ejecta found in connection with the older basalts are

in relatively small quantity. Cliffs, mesas, terraces, carved buttes

and gorgeous colors are as characteristic of the New Mexico

plateau region as of that of Utah, and the Cretaceous system is

better preserved. The younger basalt is much like the rougher

lava of Mauna Loa. As a conclusion of his studies upon the

origin of phosphates of lime in sedimentary formations M. Dieu-

lafait announces that the waters which have excavated the calca-

reous rocks of the north-west of France, and formed the phos-

phorites, are exterior waters circulating from above downwards,

It thus follows that, contrary to current ideas, deposits similar to

those of which the phosphorites form part, wherever found, and

whatever their importance, do not owe their origin to internal

but to external causes.

animals Paleophones nuncius. The four pairs of thoracic feet in

this scorpion are like those of the embryos of many other Tra-

cheata and resemble those of Campodea, The same appendages

in the Carboniferous scorpions are like those of existing species.

Cenomanian—The Elobi islands, upon the west coast of Africa

and in the first degree of north latitude, are formed of horizontal

beds of sandstone, poor in fossils. One of the species met with,

Schléinbachia inflata, characterizes the Lower Cenomanian of Eu-

rope, and is particularly abundant in the French departments of

Yonne and Aube. These beds, according to M. Ladislos Szaj-

nocka, are continued along the Gaboon coast to the islands of

Muni and Mounda, and appear also to stretch along the west

coast of Africa along the Sierra da Crista and the Sierra Camp-

lida to Mossamedes and Benguela.

392 General Notes. [ April,

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.!

RECENT TEXT-BOOKS OF MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.—The

appearance of the second edition of Professor E. S. Dana’s well

known Text-book of Mineralogy,’ containing over fifty pages of

new matter in the form of supplementary chapters, brings this

admirable introduction to the science fully up to date, as well in

respect to its treatment of the newest methods and apparatus for

mineralogical investigation as in the completeness of the list of

species mentioned.

Professor Gustav Tschermak’s excellent Lehrbueh der Mineral-

ogie, completed only near the end of 1883, fills the same place ni

the German language that Dana’s text-book does in English, and

fills it so well that a second revised edition has already appeared,’

having the imprint 1885. This work is especially strong in its

treatment of the physical, particularly the optical, properties of min-

erals, as well as their modes of origin and occurrence. Consider-

able space is also devoted to their chemical relations, and an at-

tempt made to classify them according to a scheme based some-

what on the periodic arrangement of the elements. The descrip-

tion of the species is, however, often too meager even for a text-

book, many important, minerals being mentioned only by name.

Professor A. de Lapparent, of Paris, author of the recent Traité

de Géologie, has also just issued a mineralogical manual entitled

Cours de Minéralogie* A large proportion of this work is de-

voted to the treatment of crystallography, in which the cumber-

some system of notation suggested by Haiiy and developed by

évy and Des Cloizeaux, is retained, as indeed it is in nearly all

French works on mineralogy. The arrangement of the species

is merely in accordance with the frequency of their occurrence.

In other words the classification is purely geological, and it is

among geologists that the work will probably prove to be of the

greatest use.

The second volume of Hilary Bauerman’s Mineralogy, de-

voted to the description of species, is very unsatisfactory. Mu

that is very important, especially many results of the best recent

mineralogical work, has been altogether disregarded, and the

author conveys the impression of being by no means thoroughly

acquainted with the newest methods or the latest discoveries in

the science of which he treats,

_ Dr. Heinrich Baumhauer, well known for his researches on the

figures artificially etched on crystal planes by chemical reagents

oo by Dr. Geo, H. WILLIAMS of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,

~ ? Text-book of Mineralogy, new and revised edition, 1883 (Wiley & Sons).

- ee ch der Mineralogie. Zweite verbesserte Auflage. Wien, 1885.

_ _ *Cours de Minéralogie. Par A, de Lapparent. 8vo, pp. 560, 519 cuts and one

mas colored plate. Paris (Savy) 1884. PI 59; 5

~ *Text-book of descriptive Mineralogy. Text-books of science series, 1884.

1885.| Mineralogy and Petrography. 393

and their relation to the symmetry of the crystal, has just pub-

lished a short text-book of mineralogy,’ which, however, is very

elementary in its character, being intended only for use in high

schools or for the self-instruction of beginners.

Dr. Aristides Brezina, of the University of Vienna, has pub-

lished the first part of an elaborate and exhaustive series of crys-

tallographic researches, undertaken in competition for a prize

offered by the Royal Academy of Science? The first part,

although covering over 350 octavo pages, deals only with meth-

ods of investigation, and constitutes a most valuable addition to

the works on mathematical crystallography.

Fr. Ulrich, of Hanover, is the author of a quarto pamphlet,

containing sixteen pages, covered with figures to illustrate the

relations of the crystalline forms of the different systems, the de-

velopment of hemihedral forms and some characteristic combina-

tions of common minerals3 Many of the figures are colored.

and, while roughly executed, they are useful in making plain to

beginners some of the more elementary principles of crystallog-

raphy.. No printed explanations are appended. :

A much-needed elementary text-book of microscopical miner-

alogy has very recently appeared, by Dr. Eugen Hussak, o

Gratz.‘ Only such species are treated as enter into the composi-

tion of rocks, and these almost exclusively in reference to their

appearance and the methods of their identification in thin sections

under the microscope. The first part of the book deals with the

methads of microscopical petrography—the construction of the

microscope and the manner in which the optical properties of

minerals are used for their identification ; the method of sepa-

rating rock constituents by means of a heavy solution, micro-

chemical analysis and some of the most peculiar characteristics

common to all minerals when examined in thin sections. The

second part contains the distinguishing microscopic peculiarities

of each rock-forming species arranged in tables, as is the case in

Professor Brush’s manual of Determinative Mineralogy. These

are sometimes too concise to be satisfactory, but they nevertheless

contain a great amount of information in a very small space. The

means of distinguishing similar minerals are especially empha-

sized. A valuable list of references to the more important micro-

scopic studies of different rock-forming minerals, arranged alpha-

betically, is annexed to these tables. The book is not a text-book

of petrography, since.rocks themselves are not described, but

1 Kurzes Lehrbuch der Mineralogie einschliesslich der Petrographie. Von H.

Baumhauer. 8vo, pp. 190. Freiburg, 1884.

* Krystallographische Untersuchungen an homologen und isomeren Reihen. Von

$ 3 i 8 o. pp- 9.

Dr. A. Brezina. 3 Theil, Methoden, Wien, 1884. 2 abe 35 hen Vorlesungen

Von F. Ulrich. Hanover, 1885. : :

í Anleitung zum Bestimmen de gesteinbildenden Mineralien. Von Dr. E. Hus-

sak. Leipzig, 1885, pp. 196.

394 General Notes. LApril,

rather an extension of the ordinary works on mineralogy. Although

quite elementary, it will prove very valuable to those commencing

work in microscopical mineralogy, to whom the vast amount of

material contained in the larger manuals is often discouraging.

CROCIDOLITE FROM THE CAPE oF Goop Hopr.—Considerable

which jewelers generally designate as crocidolite. In its struc-

ture it much resembles the well-known “catseye,” and when

properly cut it can scarcely be distinguished from this except by

its color, a fact which frequently causes it to be called “tiger’s

.” The true crocidolite is an asbestiform hornblende, possess-

ing a blue color, like its more compact equivalent glaucophane.

Among other localities it occurs abundantly near the Orange

river in South Africa, from which place specimens were analyzed

by Klaproth? as early as 1815, and again by Hausmann and Stro-

meyer’ in 1831. The latter authors gave it the name crocidolite

in allusion to its fibrous structure («poxés, a woof). The occur-

rence of this mineral in Africa has been described by Cohen? and

Stow." The former says that a range of mountains extends in

N. N. E. direction from the Orange river through the province of

West Griqualand, the central part of which is known as the

Asbestos mountains. Here the crocidolite occurs in veins from

one to six inches in width, together with vast quantities of jasper

and other forms of silica. Sometimes the crocidolite is pure and

is then blue in color, soft, and easily separable into the finest

fibers; more often, however, it is more or less decomposed and

toa greater or less extent replaced by quartz. It is upon this

alteration and replacement that the commercial value of the min-

eral depends. The yellowest specimens are most changed and

owe their color to the almost complete oxydation of the iron.

WibeP’ studied the mineral in 1873 and concluded that it was a

complete pseudomorph of quartz after crocidolite, only the iron

of the original mineral being left in the form of gothite. Renard

and Klement® have recently contributed an exhaustive paper on

the subject.’ Analysis of the yellowest variety gave:

PROG Mee 6 Rta ole Oo oO

85.05 4.94 - 0.66 0.44 8.26 0.76

Total 100.11

i Spn Abhandlungen gemischten Inhalts, 1815, pp. 233-242. Beiträge, VI,

, 1815.

* Gétting’scher gehl. Anzeiger, 11, 1831, p. 1887.

$ Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., airs “a Pa 5

ee 3 jaana es er ia . 622,

o a een Ie in. etc., 1873, p. 367. (H. Fischer proved the same was

< the case for many varieties of Ete ha EA ( a

ermak Min. Mittheilungen, 1373, P.

o Fun, d. Acad. Roy. d. Sciences de Belgique (3), vitt, 1884, 530-550.

1885. | Mineralogy and Petrography. 395

_ Analysis of the more greenish or bluish kind gave :

Sio, FeO, FeO Al,0, CaO MgO. H,O

93-43 2.41 1.43 0.23 0.13 0.22 0.82

Total 98.67

They announce it as the result of a microscopic examination

that the mineral is not a pseudomorph, but that the silica has

been deposited between the fibers, which were already more or

less altered, enclosing them in a hard transparent matrix.

PETROGRAPHICAL Notes. — Becke! gives, in good form, the

methods for microscopically distinguishing augite and bronzite.

Scharizer, of Vienna, has studied the hornblende from Jan

Mayen, and appends some interesting remarks regarding the

general chemical constitution of the aluminous hornblendes.?

He regards them as isomorphous mixtures of typical actinolite

(Mg Fe), Ca Si Si, Op and a molecule R, R, Si; O,., to which he

applies Breithaupt’s old name, syntagmatite. Merian contrib-

utes an interesting attempt to trace the relation between the com-

position of an eruptive rock and that of the pyroxene mineral

which it contains. J. Eliot Wolff gives a short note on the

occurrence of nephelinite and nepheline-tephrite, both rich in a

mineral of the sodalite group and often containing olivine, in the

razy mountains, an isolated range north of the Yellowstone

river, in Montana. These rocks have never before been observed

within the limits of the U. S.

ery, by J. S. Diller, of a new type of volcanic rock—a_ hyper-

sthene basalt—on Mt. Thielson, Oregon’ on the surface of which

fulgurites were found to be largely developed. This rock is new,

but exactly fills a vacancy in the accepted rock classification ——

€ same writer mentions peridotites which break through the

Carboniferous strata of Kentucky in the form of dykes, enclosing

fragments of the adjacent rock. He also finds, upon microscopic

given an elaborate microscopic study of the volcanic and cosmic

dust that forms so large a portion of the deepest ocean deposits.

—Holst and Ejichstadt® have described from _Slattmossa, in

Sweden, an amphibole granite having a beautiful spherulitic

Structure not inferior to that of the well known “ napoleonite

or “ corsite,” a nodular diorite from Corsica, described by Vogel-

'Tschermak Min. Pet. Mittheilungen, V, 1883, p. 527.

* Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min, etc.. 1884, Il, p. 143.

. Four. Science, Oct. 1884, p. 253-

€ Science, V, pp. 65 and 66, Jan. 23, 1885.

*Bull. Mus. Roy. d’Hist. Nat. d. Belgique, II, 1884, 1-24. Nature, April 17,

®Geol. Féren. i. Stockholm Forh., 1884, Vol. vit, p. 134.

396 General Notes. [April,

sang (Niederrhein. Gesell. fiir Natur-und Heilkunde, 1862). A

similar diorite has been mentioned by Reinhold? as occurring in

Placer county, Cal. (vid. NATURALIST, 1882, p. 610). Michel-

Lévy? has established seven different types of volcanic rock occur-

ring in and near Mont Dore, in Central France. They include

domite, cinerite, trachyte, andesite, phonolite and basalt.

BOTANY. °

HYBRIDIZATION oF Porators.—During the past year some ex-

periments were made at Reading, England, upon the grounds

of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, the eminent potato growers. Un-

der the advice of Mr. J. G. Baker the attempt was made to

secure a hybrid between the common potato and the Darwin

potato (Solanum maglia) from the southern part of South Amer-

ica. The experiment is reported as having been successful, and

we may look ere long for the tubers of this new form. “ Every

gardener and farmer may now welcome the birth, so to speak, of

a hybrid which we may hope will enable the potato plant to resist

the attack of parasites, and especially of those of the devastating

fungus, Peronospora infestans.”

HETEROECISM OF CEDAR APPLES.—Dr. Farlow has been study- —

í:

1. The æcidium of Gymnosporangium biseptatum is probably

Restelia botryapites [on Amelanchier].

“2. The æcidium of G, globvsum (to be kept distinct from G.

Juscum) is possibly Restelia aurantiaca [on Crategus oxycantha].

“3. The ecidium of G. macropus is to be sought among the

Reesteliz growing especially on apples and Amelanchier.”

NortH American Forests.—The North American continent,

ae 1 Proc. Philad. Acad. Nat. Science, 1882, p- 59.

: _ * Comptes Rendus, T. XCVIII, 1884, p, 1394.

= 3 Edited by Pror. C. E. Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska.

1885.] ; Botany. 397

and distribution, as the climate and topography of Eastern Amer-

ica differ from the climate and topography of the Pacific slope.

The causes which have produced the dissimilar composition of

these two forests must be sought in the climatic conditions of a

geological era earlier than our own and in the actual topographi-

cal formation of the continent.

The forests of the Atlantic and the Pacific regions, dissimilar

in composition in the central part of the continent, are united at

the north by a broad belt-of sub-arctic forests, extending across

the continent north of the fiftieth degree of latitude. One half

of the species of which this northern portion is composed, ex-

tends from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and its general features,

although differing east and west of the continental divide, in con-

formity with the climatic conditions peculiar to the Atlantic and

the Pacific sides of the continent, still possess considerable uni-

formity. The forests of the Atlantic and the Pacific regions are

also united at the south by a narrow strip of the flora peculiar to

the plateau of Northern Mexico, here extending northward into

the United States. Certain characteristic species of this flora

extend from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of the Pacific, and

the outposts between the Atlantic and the Pacific regions.—Fro-

fessor Sargent in Vol. ix of the roth Census of the United States.

FERTILIZATION OF THE LEATHER-FLOWER (CLEMATIS

THE

VIORNA).—The leather-flower is a rather™curious plant, climbing

by means of its leaf-stalks among the low underbrush. The

-flower (Fig. 1) it bears is bell-shaped and hangs pendent from a

somewhat long peduncle, which extends in a horizontal direction. `

It has no petals ; four sepals taking their place. These are very

thick and leathery, and are colored purplish without. The edges

and inner part of the sepals are white. The tips are recurved,

and these, together with the white edges of the sepals, perhaps

serve as guide marks, directing the insect to the entrance below

as a means of obtaining the honey. The bee, which I find to be

the fertilizing agent, holds to the recurved tips of the sepals

while effecting its honey-gathering, and this is the more obvious

purpose of these tips. The outer stamens begin to open

then those next within, being in advance of the pistils.

But before the inner stamens are ready to shed their pollen, the

stigmas are also ready, so that were it not for a very ingenious

398 : General Notes. [April,

arrangement, pollination would easily take place. The back of

the anthers and the entire surface of the little tips extending

above them are hairy. So are likewise the styles (Fig. 3). The

calyx is closely contracted at its opening, pressing together the

numerous stamens and pistils into a compact mass. Owing to

the greater size of the pistils, the stigmas extend beyond the an-

thers (Fig. 4), and since the close packing brings the hairs on the

Fig. I. Fig. 2. Fig. 3- Fig. 4

Fic. 1.—A flower, natural size, Fic. 2,—A stamen enlarged 1% times; a, the

anther; 7, the nectary. Fic. 3.—A pistil enlarged 114 times; o, the ovary; s¢, the

44 a “i

stigma; Fic. 4—A pistil and a stamen about natural size, showing relative length,

anthers into play, the pollen does not escape. But at a later

period the pressure of the sepals relaxes, the stamens are looser,

and self-fertilization is not absolutely impossible, but certainly un-

necessary, judging by the frequent visits of bees. The insertion

of the bee’s proboscis releases the pollen, which falls upon the

abdomen and thorax, to be left upon the more prominent stig-

mas of the next blossom. The nectary is at the base of the fila-

ment.—Aug. F. Foerste, Granville, Ohio.

Prant Micrations.—Fifteen years ago there were no dande-

lions in the Ames flora (in. Central Iowa), now they are very

abundant, and have been for half a dozen. years. Then. there

were no mulleins (Verbascum thapsus), now there are a few. Then

the low and evil-smelling Dysodia chrysanthemoides grew by the

roadside in great abundance, now it is scarcely to be found, and

is replaced by the introduced “ dog-fennel” (Arthemis cotula).

Then the small fleabane (Erigeron divaricatum) abounded on dry

soils, now it is rapidly disappearing. Then no squirrel-tail grass

(Hordeum jubatum) grew in the flora, now it is very abundant,

and has been for ten years. Then there was no bur-grass in the

flora, now it is frequently found, and appears to be rapidly increas-

ing. Both of these grasses have apparently come in from the

west and north-west. Fifteen years ago the low amaranth (Ama-

vantus bvitoides) was rather rarely found; now it is abundant and -

_ has migrated fully 150 miles north-eastward. This plant has cer-

=~ tainly come into the Ames flora from the south-west within the

last twenty years.

In Nebraska, I am informed by the old settlers, that there have

been notable migrations of plants within the past twenty or thirty

=~~ years. The buffalo grasses of various kinds were formerly abun-

1885.| Botany. . 399

dant in the eastern part of the State, now they have retreated a

hundred to a hundred and fifty miles, and have been followed up

by the blue-stems (Andropogon and Chrysopogon). The blue-

stems now grow in great luxuriance all over great tracts of the

plains of Eastern Nebraska, where twenty years ago the ground

was practically bare, being but thinly covered by buffalo grasses,

In Dakota it is the same, the blue-stems are marching across the

plains, and turning what were once but little better than deserts

into grassy prairies.— Charles E. Bessey.

Gray’s BOTANICAL CONTRIBUTIONS, 1884—’85.—These occupy

fifty-four pages of the Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., and bear

date of January 26, 1885. There are four parts, as follows:

1. A revision of some Borragineous genera. 1I. Notes on some

American species of Utricularia. «1. New genera of Arizona,

California and their Mexican borders, and two additional Ascle-

piadacee. 1v. Gamopetale Miscellanez.

In the first section, after a discussion of various structural

points, a revision of the Eritrichiez is proposed which suppresses

the genus Eritrichium (the name however being retained for a

section of Omphalodes). The species are distributed among the

genera Omphalodes, Krynitzkia, Plagiobothrys and Echidiocarya.

In the second section certain obscurities in connection with the

synonymy of species of Utricularia are clearedaway. In 111 the new

genera are Veatchia (Anacardiacez), Lyonothamnus (Rosacez ?),

Pringleophytum (Acanthacez), Phaulothamnus (Phytolaccacez),

represented by an interesting but uncomely shrub (P. spinescens

from N. W. Sonora, Himantostemma (Asclepiadacez), and Roth-

rockia (Asclepiadacez), the last dedicated to “ my friend and for-

mer pupil, Dr. J. Trimble Rothrock, professor of botany in the

University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, a keen botanist and

zealous teacher, an explorer both in Alaska and Arizona, author

of a sketch of the Flora of Alaska, and of the botany of Wheel-

er's report upon the U. S. Surveys of Arizona and Southern Cal-

ifornia, and whose name it is well to commemorate in an Arizono-

exican genus,” : ae

In Section 1v the most important accession of species is a sec-

ond Schweinitzia, viz., S. reynoldsie, discovered by Miss Mary C.

Reynolds near St. Augustine and on the Indian river, Florida,

—Charles E. Bessey.

Boranicat Nores.—The second number of the Bulletin of the

Washburn College Laboratory of Natural History (Topeka, Kan-

sas) contains descriptions of a number of new species of fungi,

among which are two Phalli, viz., Phallus collaris and P. pu i

atus, the first illustrated by several figures. Simblum rubescens,

the curious plant of abominable odor and strange distribution,

first described by Gerard in the Torrey Bulletin, is recorded as

common in Shawnee county. The Kansas form is set off (with-

400 Generat Notes. . [April,

out sufficient reason, as it appears to us) as the variety Lansensis.

Lycoperdon rubro-flavum, L. sigillatum, L. rima-spinosum, T.. taba-

cinum (the last by J, B. Ellis) and Geaster turbinatus are other

new species of Gasteromycetes. Lists of ferns, mosses, lichens,

algze and parasitic fungi complete this very interesting bulletin.

—Part 11 of the Catalogue of Canadian Plants, by John Ma-

coun, is a thick pamphlet of about 200 pages, devoted to the

Gamopetalz. Curiously the number of species in this part (908)

is almost exactly the same as in the previous one, viz., 907. There

is a great deal of exceedingly valuable information given upon

the geographical range of species, and also much in the way of

notes upon habitats. Dr. Gray’s memorial of George Bentham

in the American Fournal of Science for February, contains one of

the fullest accounts of the very full life of the venerable botanist,

whose death the world still mourns. “ His life was a perfect and

precious example, much needed in this age, of persevering and

thorough devotion to science while unconstrained as well as un-

trammeled by professional duty or necessity. For those endowed

with leisure, to ‘ live laborious days’ in her service, is not a com-

mon achievement.”——Nos. 1 and 2 of the Yournal of Mycology

have been received, and we can only say at this time that the

matter is, in the main, good, but that the editor has not yet suc-

ceeded in getting from his printers as good work as is desirable.

This, however, will doubtless be improved in the future.

ENTOMOLOGY.

Generic Position oF POLYDESMUS OCELLATUS.—In a letter to

Professor Packard the undersigned writes as follows :

In the American NATURALIST, April, 1883, you have published

per on “a new species of Polydesmus with eyes,” which you

have called Polydesmus ocellatus. As can be seen from your

description given there, the new myriopod must be a species of

the genus Craspedosoma Leach (Transac. Linn. Society, Vol. X1,

p. 380, printed 1815), and not of the genus Polydesmus Latr. ;

for the latter genus is always characterized by the want of eyes

and by the number of segments being twenty, whereas the for-

mer genus is characterized by oculi composed by multiseriated

ocelli and by the number of segments being thirty or, in younger

specimens, less, from twenty-seven to twenty-nine.

In consequence of the necessity of ranging your species in

another genus, all the members of which are provided with eyes,

the specific name ocellatus should be removed and another intro-

duced instead of it. I propose the name Craspedosoma pack-

_ As I have reason to suppose, you are probably not in posses-

sion of Dr. Fr. Meinert’s paper on the Chilognatha of Denmark

~ (Danmark’s Chilognather, published 1868 in the Naturhistorisk

oS Tidsskrift, 3 Række [= series], 5th Vol.), where the genera Poly-

1885. ] Entomology. 401

desmus and Craspedosoma are very well defined. The charac-

teristics given by that excellent author are, in extenso, as fol-

ws:

re mus.—Mandibulz aie senis, pro dente molari lobo etree in-

struct, Lamina labialis maxima, tertiam pore stipitum labialum et maxillari

sejungens. Stili ‘lin opie bidentes. rit i L fee asthinle Rigs ae“ ses

vi oo m pri mos ter io Tongi lonan quam sexto. Stigmata odorifera in

s Dien 0.5; 7,9) 1 13, 15-19 sita. Segmenta ieri eaves partita; pars

Siaitiot lateribus valde: explanata, Segme entum sie ngulo pa cetera E recer a

binis paribus pedum instructa ; numerus segmentor ve agi vs asap prima libera

t ia i m se

omn cu

loiigior quam tertius, Valvulæ anales valde conve Cor orpus non contractile.

Mas: Par prius pedum segmenti epa in — ipaa iie tlt confor-

matum. Paria pedum 30. Femina: Paria pedum A

EEn pectinibus denis; dente molari magno. Lamina

nba s magna, tertiam partem stipitum labia lium cere sejungens. Stili linguales

triden Oculi ocellis uiultiserialte, Antenne articulo penultimo longiore quam

. Stigm

rimo; tertio lo iore a

strictura transversa partita; pars posterior plus vel minus dilatata. Segmentum secun-

dum, cubed bes: om que pediferum singulo pare cetera segmenta binis paribus pe-

dum instructa ; nu $ segmentorum 30 vel minor. Sterna omnia libera. Pedes

primi et — stein i articulati, ceteri = -articulati; articulus pedum quartus go

gissimus, | ongior quam ultimus, Valvulze meee angulatim convex. Corpus

turbinem vel spiram contractile. Mas: Segmentum yaar leviter, septimum

vald tum. Utrumque par aari segment septimi in organa copulationis ob-

tecta conformatum. Paria pedum 48 vel pauciora. Pedes, paribus primo, se ecundyu

rina ange exceptis, articulo aie a pulvillato. Femina: Paria pedum 50 vel

If you should wish, for comparison, specimens of the Swedish

Da Aona rawlinsii Leach, I request the honor of receiving

your orders, and immediately some individuals will be sent to

you.—Dr. Anton Stuxberg, director of the Zool, Mus. of Gothen-

` burg, Sweden.

[We have delayed publishing this note hoping to receive the

specimens of Craspedosoma, in order to ascertain whether we

have made a mistake in referring the myriopod to Polydesmus,

but thus far it has not been received.—4A. S. P.

Aquatic CATERPILLARS.—Apropros of our = on the habits

i NATURALIST for

gills, e larva, whic

uated posteriorly. The gills are in the form of unbranched tubu-

lar appendages of the second and third thoracic and of ry " ~

minal segments; they are arranged in an upper ane a o

group; the number of gills varies somewhat. The stigmata of the

tracheal system are, as a rule, all closed, but are easily to be dis-

VOL, XIX,—NO, IV. 26

402 General Notes. [ April,

tinguished by a black oval dot; just as in other larve with

tracheal gills, as described by Palmén, the stigmatic branches are

completely closed. The larvæ are ordinarily found attached to

stones, and are rather more frequent in stagnant than in running

water. They form for themselves a chamber with delicate but

closely spun walls, and they do not leave this, as a rule, until they

attain to the imaginal state. The spaces at the edge of the co-

coon only serve asa means of exit for the fæces ; they live on

the diatoms and other cellular Algæ which grow on the stones to

which they attach themselves. They almost always fix themselves

by their backs to the stones, and in correlation with this we ob-

serve that they present the remarkable condition of having their

dorsal surface pale, and their ventral dark. This is not however,

to be regarded as a protective adaptation, but as the result of an

earlier condition in which the whole of the larva was darkly pig-

mented; the paleness of the back is due to the want of light.

After an account of the pupa and of the homes in which it

dwells, the author passes to some other species of the same genus,

all of which are Brazilian. These are much less common, an

their specific characters are not yet fully worked out, but there are

probably five species. The gills, which are always unbranched,

never attain to the relative length seen in C. pyropalis, but they are

always more numerous. The covering of the pupa contains air-

spaces in its outer division, which are connected with that of the

inner, but as the stones or alge forbid any exchange of gas with

the exterior, this can only be effected by the spaces in which the

water is able to pass; this explains how it is that we sometimes

find the air-chambers on the side of the house which is attached

to the stone. :

ORGANS OF HEARING AND SMELL IN SPIDERS.—F. Dahl pro-

poses to classify spiders according to the charac ter and disposition

of the auditory hairs on the limbs of these animals, as follows :

1, Tibia with two series of auditory hairs, metatarsus with one

hair, and tarsus with a rudimentary pit or depression free from

hairs, e. g. Epeiridz, Uloboride, Theridiidz, and Pholeide.

2. Tarsus with no rudimentary depression for auditory hairs,

usually bearing a number of hairs like the metatarsus and tibia,

e. g. Territelariz, Dysderide.

The remaining number of this class are further subdivided ac-

cording to the presence of one or two series of auditory hairs on

the tarsus. A single series is characteristic of Amaurobiide,

Agalenidæ, Philodromide, Thomisidz, and Attide. Two series

_ occur in Drasside, Anyphoenide and Lycoside.

= _ Dahl has satisfied himself that these auditory organs can appre-

=~ €late not only sound, but also variations of atmospheric pressure,

ich

= An olfactory org is stated to exist on the maxilla. On the

=- surface in front of which the mandibles work to and fro is a soft

1885.] Entomology. 403

flat track, of a sieve-like appearance, beneath which occur a num-

ber of long, polygonal processes, apparently fused, but in reality

separate, which are in connection basally with a stout nerve-fila-

ment. Rather by a process of exhaustion than from direct evi-

dence as to their function, Dahl affirms that this organ is olfactory

in nature. It is universally found in the Arachnida, though in

different stages of development, being most fully developed in

Pachygnatha.— Journ. Roy. Microscopical Society, Dec.

IGnivorous Ant.—G. Rafin described a species of ant which he

has observed in the Island of St. Thomas, and which he proposes

to call Formica ignivora. A large fire of wood having been kin-

dled at a certain distance from the ant-hill, he is able to affirm

that the ants precipitated themselves into it by thousands, until it

ogi completely extinguished.. Fourn. Roy. Microscopical Society,

éc., 1882,

EnTomotoaicaL Nores.—In a paper on the larvz and larval `

cases of some Australian Aphrophoride, F. Ratte describes those

of a species probably of Ptyelus, which are true shells, contain-

ing at least three-fourths of carbonate of lime, and resembling in

shape some fossil and recent serpulz, some being conical, others

serpuliform or helicoidal. The conical shells.are fixed on the

branches of some species of Eucalyptus, the mouth turned up-

wards, the larva being placed in it with the head downwards——

In his notes on the flight of insects, Dr. v. Lendenfeld contests

the views of the French physiologists that the position and move-

ments of the wings of insects are merely the results of the

mechanical influence of the resisting air, and gives instances

where muscular contraction had been clearly proved. DE S.

W. Williston begins, in the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomo-

logical Society for February, a series of papers on the classifica-

tion of North American Diptera. The first paper is extracted

from a monograph of the North American Syrphidæ, now ready

for the press, and which gives the results of a careful study of

nearly 275 species of this family. The committee on a union

of Papilio with the Bulletin haye reported in favor of it, and

recommend that a monthly journal be issued under the name of

Entomologica Americana, at $2 a year. n entomological

society has been established at Newark, N. J. In an examina-

tion of over 1500 specimens, Mr. C. H. T. Townsend found 115.3

males to every 100 females (Can. Ent., Dec, 1884). Mr. W.

H. Edwards recounts, in the Canadian Entomologist for December,

further experiments upon the effects of cold applied to chrysalids

of butterflies. Nature for Jan. 29, gives good figures and de-

scriptions of the two fossil scorpions from the Silurian of Swe-

den and Scotland lately discovered. A writer in the same

number claims that the leaf-eating ant has something to do with

the barrenness of the pampas of the La Plata, as they defoliate

Eucalyptus plantations, cutting off the first leaves.

404 General Notes. [April,

ZOOLOGY.

Tue ANATOMY OF THE Hirupinea.—Mr. A. G. Bourne (Quart.

Journ. Mic. Sci., July, 1884) contributes the results of observa-

tions upon ten genera of Hirudinea extending over a period of

four years. His conclusions with regard to the vascular system

are, that the whole of the vessels and sinuses are in continuity;

that the lateral vessels communicate freely with one another with-

out the intervention of any capillary system, that they possess

branches opening into botryoidal or other capillary networks of the

“ cutaneous ” system, and that they form nephridial capillaries and

also capillaries upon the intestinal wall. The nephridial capillaries

are partly collected again and carried to the capillaries of the

cutaneous system, and partly unite to form a vessel which is con-

nected with the perinephrostomial sinus. The dorsal sinus. is

directly connected with the ventral sinus, and both communicate

with: (1) The cutaneous networks; (2) the capillary network

upon the walls of the crop; (3) the capillaries upon the intestinal

wall and the spiral valve ; (4) the perinephrostomial sinuses. The

botryoidal and other cutaneous capillary networks communicate

‘with branches of the lateral vessel, and also with the extensions

of the dorsal and ventral sinuses, of which the capillaries on the

walls of the crop are developments. The vessels of the walls of

the gastro-ileal tube are directly derived from branches of the

lateral longitudinal vessels ; the ventral sinus contains the nerve

chain, the perinephrostomial sinus contains the nephridial funnel,

and the network of capillaries on the testicular wall potentially

contains the testis. The lateral vessels and their branches have

a definite muscular wall, wanting only on their smaller branches

and capillaries, but the dorsal and ventral sinuses, and the exten-

The writer leaves unsettled the vexed question of the relation-

ship of the leeches to other Vermes, but appears on the whole

more saa to approach them to the Piatyelminths than to the

NEUMAYR’S CLASSIFICATION OF THE LAMELLIBRANCHS.— Neu-

mayr (Sitz. k. Akad. der. Wiss. Wien, 1883) gives a new classifi-

cation of the lamellibranchs, founded upon the hinge. The old-

c t forms have no, or only the faintest, trace of hinge-teeth, the

~ Shells are thin, and there is usually neither mark of muscle or of

= pallial sinus. For these forms, supposed to have two equal

ad ti les an

_ aaduc nd an entire mantle-line, the order Palæconchæ

_ 1s proposed. From these are supposed to diverge the Desmo-

donta, without hinge-teeth or with irregular hinge-teeth, with

1885.] Zovlogy. 405

two equal adductor muscles and with a pallial sinus; and

the Taxodontæ, with numerous undifferentiated teeth and two

equal muscles. To the first of these groups belong the Pho-

ladomyidæ, Corbulidæ, Myidæ, Anatinidæ, Mactridæ, Paphi-

æ, Glycimceride and Solenidæ?, and to the second the

Desmodonta. From the Taxodonta branch off in one direction

the Heterodonta, with distinct cardinal and lateral teeth fitting

into each other and two muscle-impressions (Najadæ, Cardinidæ,

Astartidæ, Crassatellidæ, Megalodontidæ, Chamidæ (Rudistes)

(Tridacnidæ), Erycinidæ, Lucinidæ, Cardiidæ, Cyrenide, Cyprin-

idæ, Veneridæ, Gnathodontidæ, Tellinidæ, Donacidæ), and in

another, the Anisomyaria, with irregular or no hinge-teeth, two

-unequal muscles or one only, and no pallial sinus. These form

two suborders, Heteromyaria (Aviculidæ, Mytilidæ, Prasinidæ,

Pinnidæ) and Monomyaria (Pectinidæ, Mytilidæ, Spondylidæ,

Anomidæ, Ostreidæ). The Trigonidæ are considered a suborder

of Heterodonta.

ANTENNARY GLAND OF CyrHERIDÆ.—W. Müller-Blumenau has

discovered that Æ/pidium brossliarum is able to secrete a sticky

material while in water; the observations made in connection

with this discovery led him to the belief that the animal was able

to spin, and that the spinning organ was placed in the second pair

of antennz. The organ so well known to be present at the base of

this pair of appendages has been supposed to be poisonous in

function, but no direct observations have ever been made in sup-

port of this view, and it is opposed by the delicate nature of its

flagellum, which could never be supposed to be capable of inflict-

ing a wound. When the animal is found hanging to glass its an-

terior end is always nearest to the glass, and the creature takes

an oblique position. The author points out the difficulties pre-

sented by the habits of the animal in determining the question

which he has investigated, but it would seem to be certain that

the antennary gland is possessed of the power of secreting an at-

taching thread —¥ourn. Royal Microscopical Society, Dee.

An Eye.ess Ert.—Some years ago a very aristocratic house

at Elizabeth was deserted because of the beliet that it was

haunted. Not. long ago it passed into new hands. An old well

My wife and one of my sons saw it, an

—S. Lockwood.

TEMPERATURE AND HiserNaTion.—In the January NATURALIST

(p 37), was an interesting article on the hibernation of the lower

vertebrates. The author referred to hibernation as being in some

406 General Notes. [April,

cases a voluntary act. Some of the observations on animals con-

fined in our laboratory for the purpose of study, may throw more

light on this subject. These animals are all well known species,

and our aim is usually to keep them in surroundings as nearly

like their natural habitations as possible. The temperature can-

not, in the single room at present devoted to this use, be kept at

a degree which will suit the habits of all of them, but the effects

of its change on each is noted.

A number of frogs (Rana halecina) were placed in a closed

glass case, with growing plants to study the balancing effect of

their respiration. Plants and frogs seemed to thrive excellently,

and during the four months trial, the temperature being kept at

. about 70° F., the latter showed no evident signs of hibernation,

though the case stood in front of a window against which the

snow was often falling. To observe the effect of a lower tempera-

ture, the case was moved to a cooler place (40°), and immediately

the frogs, using their front legs like dogs, dug under the moss and

stones, and remained out of sight until the former temperature

was renewed. Similar experiments tried with salamanders, snakes,

toads, houseflies and hornets, revealed at once a desire to hide

during the lower temperature, but a complete absence of any

such tendency when the normal degree of heat was preserved. In

every one of these cases and a number of others, hibernation

seemed to be forced. If the temperature was lowered, and they

were at the same time prevented from burying themselves, they

gradually became stiff and lifeless, but could in every case tried,

except the last two mentioned above, be resuscitated upon the

application of heat.

uring this last fall a scorpion, shipped from the South in a

_bunch of bananas, was subjected to like treatment with the same

results. When cold it was so helpless that it could be handled

with impunity; but when its box was placed near the fire, it

id dart about with elevated tail in the manner peculiar to

itself.

With some of our animals experiments have given different re-

sults. A wood-tortoise, though given a warm corner near the

fire, could not be persuaded to pass the winter above ground. It

e exhibited very evident signs of uneasiness as the snow came, and,

~as soon as material was furnished, burrowed out of sight. The

d inaction. Their den was placed by a window on the

de of the building. Their food has remained untouched

1885,] Zoblogy. ` 407

window they are found to be curled up together in their straw

nest. It may be that in this case “ possuming” is only another

word for hibernating.

All of our experiments lost a ‘part of their value because the

animals are in confinement; but, with the two exceptions given

above, where habit controlled, all seemed to prove that hiberna-

tion is not an inherited and peculiar trait, but one that may be

adopted when the conditions demand it. The NATURALIST shall

hear of our further work in this direction —W. W. Thoburn (Lab-

oratory of Tilinois Wesleyan University).

Tue CHAMELEON VivipARous.—According to the newspapers a

United States vessel recently arrived at Brooklyn which had

taken on*some animals at Capetown, Africa, among these was a

female chameleon which during its passage gave birth to eleven

young ones, all of which died —S. Lockwood.

A Crow Crackinc Crams.—My son-in-law assures me that

years ago it was not so rare to see, at Port Monmouth, the com-

mon crow (Cervus americanus) take a quahog (Venus mercenaria)

up high in the air and drop it on a certain fence with a flat top-

rail, thus cracking it. The sight has been witnessed by several

persons. He was not able to say kow the bird carried the bivalve,

but it is supposable in its claws. It must have required nice cal-

culating certainly —S. Lockwood.

Tue TURKEY BUZZARD BREEDING IN PENNSYLVANIA.—On May

20, 1882, I visited a “nest” of the turkey buzzard (Cathartes aura

eggs were dirty white, spotted irregularly with reddish brown

purple— Witmer Stone, Germantow.

A Beaver Dam BUILT witHour Woop.—The idea that the

beaver must have wood with which to build his dam is so univer-

sal that an exception to the rule seems worthy of record. __

In September of 1883, near the headwaters of Beaver river,

408 » General Notes, [April,

Dakota, the writer discovered a dam freshly built of mud, and

coarse, marshy plants. No trees or bushes could be seen any-

where in the vicinity. It was about twenty-five feet in length,

thrown across a sluggish stream about half that width. Its level

top was about four feet higher than the bottom of the channel.

The dam was not more than half-filled with water.— F. E. Todd.

TuE WILpD Horse or THIBET.—The celebrated traveler, Prze-

valsky, on his return from his third great journey in Central Asia,

brought to St. Petersburg an example of a new species of Equus.

This was described in 1881 by Mr. J. S. Poliatow as Æ. przeval-

sky. It has warts on its hind-legs as well as on its fore-legs, and

has broad hoofs. These characters ally it to the true horse, but

the long hairs of the tail do not commence until about tHe middle

of that appendage. It is thus intermediate between the horse

and the asses, to which category the other known wild species of

Equus belong. Its mane is short and erect, there is no forelock,

and no trace of a dorsal stripe. The stature is small, the-legs

very thick and strong, the head large and heavy, and the ears

smaller than in the asses. In color, it is whitish gray, paler and

whiter beneath and reddish on the head, and on the upper part

of the legs, which are blackish from the knee downward.

Przevalsky’s wild horse inhabits the great Dsungarian desert

between the Altai and Tianschan mountains. The Tartars call it

“ Kertag,” and the Mongols “ Statur.” It goes in troops of from

five to fifteen, led by an old stallion. It is lively, very shy, with sight,

smell, and hearing well-developed, so that it is exceedingly diffi-

cult of approach. It seems to prefer the saline districts, and to

be able to do without water for long periods. Thus it can only

be hunted in the winter, when melted snow can be obtained.

Przevalsky only met with two herds during his whole stay in the

desert. The only specimen brought to Europe is in the museum

of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

ZOOLOGICAL Notes.—Sponges—Professor W. S. Sollas has

recently studied the development of Halisarca lobularis from

specimens obtained at Roscoff. Schulze, whose specimens were

taken in the Mediterranean, found that the development of the

young within the parent sponge did not proceed further than the

formation of the blastula, or at most of an incipient gastrula ;

whereas in those observed by Sollas the embryo became -muc

developed within the parent, and the blastula stage was slurred

over, apparently to economize space. No segmentation cavity

was observed, but directly a cavity was necessary, the loosely

aggregated cells of the morula packed themselves closely to-

gether to form the wall of the unfinished blastula, leaving their

= overplus in the interior in irregular heaps which subsequently

~ arranged themselves into a unicellular layer along the line of the

~ infolding wall of the gastrula. Professor Sollas attributes the

1885.) Zoölogy, 409

difference in development between the Mediterranean and Ros-

coff specimens to the difference of conditions, the former sea be-

ing without heavy tides and powerful currents, so that the larve

can safely issue into the water at an early stage. Dr. Senden-

feld claims, in Zool, Anzeiger, Jan. 26, to have discovered a scat-

tered system of mesodermal nerve-cells in’ several kinds of

sponges.

Mollusks—After a study of the morphology of Rhabdopleura

from specimens obtained at Lervik, near Bergen, Norway, Pro-

fessor E. R. Lankester does not decide whether the form is poly-

zoan or molluscan, but inclines to the view that both it and

Cephalodiscus are degraded lamellibranchs. The colony consists

of branching tubes, built of a series of rings, each of which is

separately secreted and added to its predecessors by the so-called

buccal shield or pre-oral lobe of the polypide. A completed

branch ends in an upstanding polyp-tube, while in a growing

branch the axis runs beyond the last erect polyp-tube. The axial

tube is divided by septa into segments, one corresponding to

each polyp. When a bud reaches a certain stage of development

it breaks through the wall of its chamber and grows outwards at

a sharp angle. . Occasionally it atrophies, leaving a sterile cham-

ber. The buccal shield or disk is locomotive as well as secretive,

and is covered with fine cilia, which occur also on the lophopho-

ral filaments of the arms right and left of it. In the center of

the ringed caulotheca or tube is the axial stalk which connects

and bears the polyps. This is soft in the polypides, hard on the

stem, but every hard portion is formed by the shrinkage of the

soft stalk and the development of a cuticle. An internal skele-

ton exists in the lophophore and in the axis. The embryology

of this curious form is as yet unknown, nor is it known whether

the sexes are distinct or the colony persistent from year to year.

More Pleurotomide. Mr. E. A. Smith describes (Aun. and

Mag. Nat. Hist, Nov., 1884) thirty additional species of this

group.——In the same magazine (Oct.) Dr. R. Bergh has a paper

upon the affinities of Onchidia. After an examination of the

structure of various organs, the writer arrives at the conclusion

that “the Onchidia agree with the Pulmonata in the structure of

the nervous system, in the existence of a lung and of a parenchy-

matous kidney, in the presence of a peculiar pedal gland, and in

various peculiarities of the generative system. They branch off

from the Pulmonata; they are Pulmonata which have adapted

themselves to an amphibiotic or marine mode of life.

Crustaceans—Among new forms of Crustacea dredged by the

Albatross in 1883, are an ally of Ethusa, taken in 1496 to 1735

fathoms, a species of Galacantha M. Edwds., in 1479 fathoms, two

forms of Pentacheles, between 843 and 1917 fathoms, Notostomus,

a Palemonid, six inches long and of an intense dark crimson, in

410 General Notes. | April,

1342 fathoms; three species of a new genus allied to Pasiphe

and also to Hymenodora ; a Penæid of the genus Aristzas, a foot

in length, and a large Sergestes, three inches long. The size of

these new shrimps is remarkable, but is greatly exceeded by that

of some of the deep-sea crabs. Thus the great spiny Lithodes

agassizii has a carapace seven inches in lengthand six in width,

and measures above three feet over the outstretched legs.

Arachnidans—The development of Chelifer differs from that

of other arachnids in the existence of a larval state as yet little

known, and the structure of which has been found by M. J. Bar-

rois to be more complicated than was stated by Metschnikoff.

The number of pairs of feet is five. The nutritive vitellus is sur-

rounded by a layer of exodermal cells preceded by an ample

organ of suction opening on the ventral aspect between the two

large claws (second pair). The whole forms a digestive apparatus

destined to pass nutritive material into the interior of the larva.

The larva is fixed upon the ventral face of its mother, and sub-

sists parasitically upon her. The sucking apparatus is destined

to fall, and its mode of elimination is singular. In the earlier

Stage the ventral nervous band consists of two parts, one in front

of, the other behind the sucking organ. Afterwards, when the

two bands are united into a continuous cord, the sucking organ

is thrust outwards, becomes attached only by a thin cord below

the definitive mouth, and falls at the same time with the larval

envelope.

Fishes——Karl Mobries, in a letter to Nature, maintains that

flying fish are incapable of flight “ for the simple reason that the

_ muscles of their pectoral fins are not large enough to bear the

weight of their body aloft in the air.” The pectoral muscles of

birds weigh on an average } of the total weight of the body,

those of bats 75, those of the flying fish only +. The impulse

is given while still in the water by the powerful masses of muscle

along the sides of the body, masses which are larger than in any

other fishes of similar size. The flickering motion which has

been noticed is only a vibration of the elastic membrane of the

pectorals, which occurs whenever the fins are in a horizontal

position parallel to the wind.

the natives. The last moa hunt of which memory is preserved,

according to Mr. White, took place near Whalatone, in the Bay

of Plenty. The feathers of birds killed there were until recently

_ inthe hands of a chief named Appanui. _

1885.] Embryology. 411

EMBRYOLOGY.!

ON THE POSITION OF THE YOLK-BLASTOPORE AS DETERMINED BY

THE SIZE OF THE VITELLUS.—This principle, which I have to some

extent elaborated elsewhere (Cont. Embryog. Oss. Fishes, p.

114), in so far as it applies to the ova of bony fishes of different

species, differing greatly in the dimensions of the vitellus, may be

expanded so as to throw some additional light upon the growth

and closure of the blastoderm of other groups of Vertebrata. In

the paper cited I have shown that the position of the point of

closure of the blastoderm in relation to the original position of

the germinal disk in Teleostei is to a large extent determined by

the size of the vitellus, and consequently also stands in an inti-

mate relation to the variation of the area of the vitelline surface

over which the blastodermic membrane must grow, that is to say,

with the increase of the superficial area of the vitelline globe

upon which the germinal disk is superimposed, and over which it

spreads as the blastoderm, the position of the yolk blastopore

must vary.

A yolk blastopore is met with only in such forms of ova in

which there is a distinct, unsegmented or partially segmented

vitellus developed. As a rule, it does not coincide with the posi-

tion of either mouth or anus, but when such a coincidence does

occur the yolk blastopore answers nearly or quite to the perma-

nent anus of the Vertebrate embryo. In the Vertebrates the yolk

blastopore is apt in most cases to close behind the position of the

permanent anus; in large-yolked cephalopod ova it closes at the

anterior or perhaps more properly on the ventral face of the yolk-

sack, and seems to have no relation to either mouth or anus.

l Edited by JoHN A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

412 General Notes, [April,

the blastoderm opposite the embryo must grow in width more

rapidly than, the embryonic half in which the embryonic shield is

formed.

These different modes of the growth in length of the bodies of

embryos of different species of osseous fishes may easily be veri-

fied by the observation of the progressive growth of the blasto-

derm of the living ova, and go far towards reconciling the differ-

ences of opinion which have been expressed by different observers

as to the growth of the blastoderm over the yolk. It is at any

rate evident that the manner in which this is accomplished in one

form does not necessarily hold true of another.

It is very significant that two large-yolked types, viz.: the Sau-

ropsida and Elasmobranchii should both have the embryo dis-

placed in position in reference to the margin of the blastoderm.

In the latter, the first traces of the embryo have the normal mar-

ginal position at the periphery of the blastoderm, but it is soon

folded off, and before the yolk blastopore has closed, the latter

finally closing a little way behind the stalk connecting the em-

bryo and yolk sack. In the Sauropsida as held by Balfour, the

primitive streak apparently represents the linear thickening be-

tween the lower vitelline stalk and the point where the blasto-

derm finally closed in the Elasmobranchii.

___ It is thus made evident that, whereas the embryonic axis in

Teleostei, Chondrostei, Ganoidei, Petromyzon and Amphibia ex-

tends back to the point where the yolk blastopore closes, in Sau-

ropsida and Elasmobranchii, the embryo is, partially folded off,

and the tail begins to bud out before the vitellus is included by

the blastoderm, and while the end of the axis of the embryo is

still remote from the opening of the yolk blastopore. This con-

trast between the two types, as will be evident to the thoughtful

person, must be due to the great difference between the bulk of

the yolks in the two cases. In the large-yolked forms if the em-

bryonic axis were to continue to grow in length and extend quite

to the point where the yolk blastopore closes, the body of the

embryo would necessarily develop more somites than are present

in the adult, so that growth in length of the embryonic axis

ceases in the large-yolked forms far short of the point of closure

of the blastoderm, covering perhaps only 30° of arc or less of the

entire circumference of the vitelline globe. Such a small segment

of the circumference of the vitelline sphere when contrasted with

g0°-125°, and on up to 180° to 230°, embraced by the primary

embryonic axis in Anamniate forms, seems inconsiderable, but is

really relatively as extensive as in the latter.

€ germinal disk of Sauropsida is relatively much larger than

that of Teleostei, so that proportionally it probably does not

spread over a much larger vitelline surface in the first case than

_ In the last in order to include the vitellus, but as the blastoderm _

_ Spreads-in either case, it must be obvious to any one conversant

1885. | Embryology. 413

with the mode in which the embryonic axis is formed during

vertebrate development, that in the former growth in length of the

axis would necessarily be completed before the blastoderm could

spread over and include the yolk. Those forms of vertebrate

embryos in which either the true or the yolk blastopore marks

the end of the embryonic axis before the appearance of the tail

bud might be called ze/eporous, while those in which there is no

such coincidence, the yolk blastopore closing some distance behind

or remotely away from the end of the embryonic axis, might be

called, ateleporous. The first would include Amphibia, Petromyzon,

Ganoidei, Chondrostei and Teleostei, the last, Elasmobranchs and

Sauropsida. The ova of the two extremes of the vertebrate series

Branchiostoma and Mammalia are yolkless, except those o

Monotremata, which are probably ateleporous, simulating the

Sauropsida in the general features of the development of the

blastoderm and early phases of the embryo.

The band of tissue from the vitelline end of the umbilical stalk

to the edge of the blastodermic rim in Elasmobranchii, and the

primitive streak in Sauropsida and Mammalia are probably homol-

Ogous structures. In the first instance it is formed by the con-

crescence of the margin of the blastoderm as it advances over the

surface of the vitellus. In the Teleostei, Ganoidei' and Chon-

drostei it would seem that the whole of the margin of the blasto-

derm was used up by a process of concrescence to form the em-

bryonic axis, whereas in the Elasmobranchii and Sauropsida there

is a portion of the rim of the blastoderm remaining behind the

development of the Sauropsida in the way in which it occurs in

Ichthyopsida, it is known that the primitive streak is related pos-

teriorly on either side to the rand-wuilst or ‘marginal thickening

of the chick's blastoderm, a structure obviously homologous with

the lower layer of the thickened margin of the blastoderm of the

a relation to the b: y and int

fishes and totally unlike that noticed in

zonts,

be seen, differs but slightly from that of bony

also supported by the way in which the y

relation to the body of the embryo.

414 General Notes. [ April,

fish embryo. It is therefore interesting to note that an actual con-

crescence from behind forward of this rand-wulst or lower layer

or a proliferation of cells from behind forwards would not be im-

possible. The zxner mass of cells of the Mammalian ovum while

in the vesicular or blastodermic stage is evidently in part homol-

ogous with some part of the thickened rim of the blastoderm of

lower forms.

It is also a matter of great interest in this connection to observe

that in the Sauropsida the rand-wulst or germinal wall is not

carried along with the extreme edge of the epiblastic stratum

quite to the border of the blastoderm all round as in Ichthyop-

sida. The epiblastic layer of the blastoderm in the Sauropsida

rapidly extends beyond the lower layer or germinal wall, leaving

it more or less remote from the outer margin of the germinal

area. This peculiarity of development alone would be sufficient

to cause the embryo to be formed away from the margin of

the blastoderm in the Sauropsida, but even this I venture to

Suggest is to be explained by the increase in the size of the yolk

of the ova of Sauropsida, the connecting link between the latter,

and the teleporous Teleostean ovum being supplied by that of

the Elasmobranchs, which probably represents at least one of the

steps by which the evolution of the blastoderm of Sauropsida and

Mammalia was attained, although it would obviously be incor-

rect to assume that these stages of blastodermic evolution were

indicative of a serial or successional affiliation through descent.

It would probably be much more rational to regard the develop-

ment of these differences as being in the main due to an increase

in the volume of the yolk as urged by Balfour, and that the

causes of variations in its development were therefore to some ex-

not the true blastopore, and if it can be regarded as representing

the yolk blastopore, which seems very probable, the zzner mass of

cells finally involuted on its closure or covered over by the epi-

bolic growth of the epiblast, and from which mass the mesoblast

and hypoblast are derived, that mass becomes homologous with

the marginal lower layer or rand-wulst of such a type as the

_ Teleostean ovum. 3

‘The degeneracy of the vitellus of the ovum of Mammalia may

_ Possibly be due to the development of the so-called uterine milk

from the uterine glands by which the egg is nourished from with-

_ out during a very early stage and before the development of the

area vasculosa or the vessels of the allantois is accomplished.

1885. ] Embryology. 415

Intracellular digestion and growth is probably accomplished by

some of the cells of the epiblast of the blastodermic vesicle,

which send out pseudopodal processes between the cells of the

uterine epithelium, as described by Caldwell in the case of the

blastoderm constituting the yolk bag of the embryos of certain

Marsupialia. Viviparity has not affected the development of the

vitellus in the Teleosts, Gambusia, Zoarces and Embiotocide,

where foetal development is either intrafollicular or intraovarian.

n albuminoid secretion is said by Blake to be found in the

temporarily closed gravid ovaries of Embiotocoid fishes ( Journ.

Anat. and Physiol., 11, 280), and in this family as well as in some

of the viviparous Elasmobranchs, it seems certain that the young

developing viviparously are larger than can be accounted for by

the size of the vitellus of the recently fertilized egg of the same

species.

It therefore seems conceivable that the Mammalian vitellus,

like the ambulatory, prehensile and other organs of parasitic

organisms, may have been atrophied in consequence of the per-

fectly parasitic ‘connection subsisting temporarily between the

maternal organism and the embryo, as was supposed by Balfour.

—John A. Ryder.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPINES OF THE ANTERIOR DORSAL OF GAS-

TEROSTEUS AND Lopnius.—The important memoir of A. Agassiz

before cited, shows that the spines of the anterior dorsal of the

angler and stickle-back develop in distinct diverticula of the epi-

blast, a diverticulum being formed for each spine into which

skeletogenous mesoblast is proliferated from its lower or proxi-

mal open end. These diverticula soon become free from the an-

' terior end of the median dorsal fin-fold, the latter, in fact, seems

to degenerate or be replaced by these diverticula, the first epi-

blastic diverticula to be developed are more or less translocated

forwards from their original positions, so that in this way these

dorsal spines are finally brought to rest on the roof of the skull

of the adult, considerably in advance of the point where their de-

velopment began on the nape of the embryo.

The formation of the singular dorsal appendage of the larva of

Fierasfer according to Emery’ is developed in a similar way as

a dorsal epiblastic diverticulum, arising from the anterior end of-

the median dorsal fin-fold. The singular foliar appendages along

its sides grow out secondarily. This transitory organ in Fieras-

fer is, however, much more precociously and rapidly developed

than the bony, anterior dorsal spines of Lophius and Gasteros-

teus; its supporting axis is evidently mesoblastic in origin as in

the latter, but degenerates just about the time of the final —

morphosis of the animal into the adult condition —/ohn A. Ryder.

1 ii sistematica, l'anatomia e la biologia delle specie

Mea pa aperea ene Accad. dei Lincei. Ser. 3, Mem. Cl. di Sci.,

VII, 1880.

416 General Notes. [April,

PHYSIOLOGY!

_ Function oF THE Tuyrorp Bopy.—The experiments of Zesas

(which appear in Arch. f. Klin. Chirurg., Bd., Lxxv) upon the

effect of the removal of the spleen and thyroid body, have given

interesting disclosures concerning the function of these organs.

During the experiments, extirpation of the spleen was alone well

tolerated, but removal of the thyroid body was followed by strik-

ing manifestations. The animals for two weeks refused nearly

all food, were drowsy, walked with tottering gait, and died usually

in convulsions. These effects were also manifested in animals

which had survived the removal of the spleen, and from which

subsequently the thyroid body was removed. In them was also

observed an enormous increase in the number of white blood cor-

puscles. In those animals from which the thyroid body alone

was removed, the increase of the white blood corpuscles was not

so remarkable as it was in those in which the spleen only had

been extirpated. Ablation of the thyroid body produced notable

anemia of the brain and hypertrophy of the spleen.

The lymphatic glands, especially those of the mesentery, were’

frequently greatly enlarged and filled with black pigment. It,

therefore, appears from these experiments that the thyroid body

not only has the function of acting vicariously for the spleen, but

also plays an important part in regulating the supply of blood to

the brain, and may, in fact, be considered asa special organ for this

purpose. Zesas decides from his experiments that the removal

of the thyroid body is not justifiable (surgically), and his conclu-

sions are strongly supported by the results of this operation per-

formed by Kocher on man for the scrofulous degeneration of the

organ.— Med. News, Fan., 1885.

1This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

sin,

1885.] Fhysiology. 417

nitric acid. Urea is thus decomposed into equal volumes of car-

bonic acid and nitrogen which were easily estimated.

It appeared from these experiments that the blood of the hepatic

veins, splenic veins and the portal vein contains always more

urea than the blood of the carotid artery, whence it is concluded

that the abdominal viscera are the seat of continuous urea forma-

tion.

There was no notable difference in urea content between the

blood coming from the head or the different members and that

blood which entered those parts. .

The chyle mixed with lymph drawn from the thoracic duct

after death was always found richer in urea than either venous or

arterial blood. . i

The difference between the urea content of venous and arterial

blood was much more marked in animals during the digesting

than in the fasting condition. This agrees with the statement of

Becker & Voit, who found the’excretion of urea much increased

during digestion.

It may be said that these observations are difficult to reconcile

with the well founded belief that the liver is the principal organ

for the formation of urea in the body.— Fourn. de l Anat. et Phys.,

1884, p. 317.

N THE SPECIFIC ENERGY OF THE NERVES OF THE SKIN.—The

underlying facts of Joh. Müller's generalization that the nerves of

special sense, as the optic, auditory, gustatory, filaments are en-

dowed with specific energies cannot be disputed. What is meant

is that any kind of stimulus whatsoever applied to the optic nerve

arouses the sensation of light, every irritation of the auditory

nerve gives rise to the sensation of sound, &c. The characteristic

quality of these sensations depends not at all upon the peculiarity

of the sensory nerve, but is determined wholly by the physiologi-

cal properties of the nerve cells which receive the sensory impulse.

From the skin, as a sense organ, we receive impressions

that arouse in us at least two different kinds of sensations, those

of pressure and of temperature, and it is an important question

whether the impulses giving rise to these different sensations pro-

ceed along identical nerves which reply in a different manner to

differences in the quality of the stimulus, or whether the nerves

of the skin are functionally differentiated in such a way as to call

forth specific sensations without regard to the character of the

stimulus. Weber believed that sensations of temperature and of

Pressure were modifications of the same sense, depending upon

the amount of energy aroused in the sensory nerve. Physiological

analogy throws doubt upon this interpretation, and recently Blix

has produced evidence which supports the view that the vane

sensations aroused by excitement of the skin are as truly specific

and due to the excitement of distinct nerves, as is the case with

the other special senses. Blix used as stimulus the faradic elec-

VOL, XIX.—NO, IV.

418 General Notes. [April,

trical current. One electrode was fixed to the skin by a broad

moistened contact, while the other electrode, used in exploring

the surface, ended in a fine metal point. By graduating the

strength of the current, sensory irritation was confined to the

region of the pointed electrode. It was found that electrical

stimulation of different areas of the skin produced different sen-

sations. At one spot the irritation excited only pain, at another

a sense of cold, at a third of warmth, at a fourth, it might be, of

pressure. Hence, it may be concluded, that the quality of the

sensation depends not on the nature of the stimulus but upon

the specific energy of the irritated nervous apparatus.

The author thinks he has shown that sensations of cold

and warmth, respectively, are excited through different sets of

nerves. The co/d nerves are broadly scattered over the skin and

their endings are rather deeply buried in its substance. The

which alone we attain sensations of heat. A cold piece of metal,

a square centimeter in section, laid upon a certain part of the fore-

arm, produces no sensation of cold, while a pointed instrument of

the same metal, at the same temperature, with a contact surface

of only half a square millimeter, gives intensely cold sensations

when applied to certain parts of the skin in the immediate neigh-

borhood of the insensitive area —Zeitsch. f. Biologie, Bd. xx, p. 141:

PSYCHOLOGY.

INTELLIGENCE OF A SETTER Doc (Continued).—It is perhaps

proper for me to here refer to the peculiar fancy of the bitch

Frank. Barney was always her choice and strange as it may seem

—with him there was no reciprocation.

I have tested her pretty thoroughly, and I can say that she has

not thus far permitted a dog not her own color to line her. And

as a further proof a short time ago, being a few days before her

season of heat, she left the farm seven miles distant upon which I

had her kept and returned here.

There are numbers of dogs in the neighborhood where she was

kept, but she returned and when a dog of different color from her

own was offered she would fight desperately. Although kept on

the farm for several months this was the only time she had left it.

Experimenting as I have with a number of dogs and bitches, I

have noticed that some are very choice in their selection of a

mate, while others are not. Some bitches will permit several to

ne them, even without interval, while others will not have but

one serve m. would not serve a wolf, Canis latræs,

but Wad did. As a further evidence for comparison, showing the

difference between the likes and dislikes of dogs, I give the

following : Frank, as above stated, chooses a mate only of her

1885.] Psychology. 419

A dog more mischievous or one more noted for his original

pranks, I never owned.’ Many of the little things usually taught

a dog were not to his liking, and for this reason would at times

bring harsh words upon him, but for originality I have not known

his equal.

He had been taught to carry quite heavy loads of shells for me

into the field to use in hunting, and in this manner he was much

strengthened in his jaws. It was an easy task for him to pick up

a twenty-five pound sack of shot and carry it a hundred or more

feet. One time he surprised me in this feat, for I had used a sack

of shot to tie him to in the office. Frank was also tied to another

sack near by. I picked up the sack of shot she was fastened to

and led her to another part of the office, to another room. After

a few moments Barney came in carrying his sack of shot. I had

not intended moving him but this ingenuity was too much in the

dog’s favor, he was permitted to remain.

While hunting it was a common practice for him to stand in

front of me when shooting from a point, stand or blind, and while

I could watch all birds that came towards me, he would give me

signal by the expression of his eyes and movement of his head

from which way I could expect the best shot, and many times I

have waited until from his signs it was evident the birds were in

close range, then turning around rapidly make a good shot.

In hunting small birds he was exceptionally fine, for when out

with me collecting specimens, as I would crawl along closely

watching the habits perhaps of some minute bird, he too would

walk as stealthily as a cat and many times he has by his cau-

tious actions, a look up into the tree or a wag of his tail, called my

attention to one or more birds I had not as yet noticed in the tree

six months of age I began

the field, this he did quite

for him to find them, but

| 420 General Notes. [ April,

He had no appreciation of the fact that that very small bird could

have been swallowed, but as I saw him do it, there was no doubt on

my part. Forsome minutes he labored to find that bird, even

going to the bottom of the ravine, and I to change his thought

shot another bird which fell into the ravine and was retrieved by

him.

Another time when his facial expression was very fine, was at

a time when he caught a wounded duck that had fallen near me,

and while he had her in his mouth I shot another duck, and this

second one also falling very near me and the dog Barney opened

his mouth and the bird he had in it flew away. Without taking

his eyes off the fleeing duck he watched until she had lighted upon

some high land away from the water. The next day I put him

to work upon the high land to find the duck, and never did I see

him more pleased than when he brought the duck yet alive to

me.

To give a statement of all the various strange proceedings of

this dog would take too much space, for they are many, but to

close I will give what perhaps was his last attempt to outwit me

and to gratify his own high intelligence.

While collecting birds and animals in Dakota in the fall of 1883,

near the close of the season I shot a muskrat in one of the lakes.

Barney went out to where it was, in shallow water upon a sand

bar, rolled it over with his foot and came towards me without it.

Speaking harshly to him he returned picked up the rat and brought

it to me on shore. Going towards camp I signaled him to bring

the rat with him; after a few moment she complied, and as he

trotted along by my side for some distance in apparently high

glee I thought no more about him until I got to camp, then look-

ing around for him I could not find him. After a little while he

The next morning at the door of my tent I accidentally shot this

my best of companions, the dog who had been my assistant and

watcher over many thousands of miles, by one of those most

dangerous, yet very handy guns, the hammerless,—D. H. Talbot.

AN AFFECTIONATE ANGORA Cat.—A, Espagne gives to the

_ Kevue Scientifique a story of a half-breed Angora cat of exceed-

ing docility and affection. During about fifteen days of every

1885. | Anthropology. 421

year this cat left the house, ignored the calls of its owners,

and led a wild life around the neighborhood. At the end of

this time it returned, and was demonstratively affectionate. It

was particularly attached to the aged head of the household, was

always at his side or on his knee during the day, and at night

slept at his feet. When he died, the cat mewed ina sad monotone

never before heard from her. Four years afterwards a baby, to

which the cat had transferred her affection, was taken sick and

died. During its illness the cat remained most of the time below

the cradle, ate little, and lost the brilliancy of its eyes. On the

return of the family from the country the cat lay dying in its ac-

customed place, and was found dead in the morning. Though

age and the cold wave which took the infant’s life may have had

their share in the matter, it yet seems that sorrow was the imme-

diate cause.

C. Jamelin gives a story of a charitable Angora cat of magnifi-

cent presence, but not usually very intelligent. This cat many

times brought home a hungry cat as if to obtain food for it, and

finally maintained a regular pensioner. The first time the estray

was brought, the Angora mewed and jumped around till food was

given to it, watched it while eating, and then accompanied it to

the door, hastening its departure with a series of light quick pats.

The strange cat learned the lesson, and often came again as a visi-

tor but not to stay.

INTELLIGENCE OF TorTorses.—Anecdotes in the Revue Scien-

tifigue appear to show that these creatures must be credited with

a considerable amount of intelligence. M. Boucard writes of one

which lives in his garden, and, when called aloud by its name,

Laideron, would immediately run towards the voice with all the

speed a tortoise can muster :

The Testudo mauritanica of M. Boisse showed even more intel-

ligence, learned to come when called by a hissing sound, followed

its master like a little dog; relished caresses bestowed on its head

and neck, gave gentle bites to show its affection, and would climb

upon its master’s boots or pull at his clothes to draw his atten-

tion. L n yi

Eastern Supan.—Professor A. H. Keane favors us with a most

valuable piece of ethnological work on the tribes of Eastern

Sudan, at a time when all eyes are turned in that direction (J.

Anthrop. Inst., XIV, gI-110). Although the scheme is somewhat

lengthy we present it in full, omitting the descriptive portion :

Ss I. Bantu GROUP. |

Waganda. N. W. of Victoria Nyanza, from Somerset to Alexandria Nile.

Wa-Nyoro. Between Somerset Nile and Albert Nyanza.

Wa-Soga. East from the Somerset Nile.

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, National Museum, Washington,

DOG.

422 General Notes. [April,

Wa-Gamba. East of the Wa-Soga.

Wa-Karaqwé. W. of Victoria Nyanza, from Alexandria Nile S.

Wa-Songora. W. of Victoria Nyanza, between Wa-Karaqwé and coast,

II. NEGRO GROUP.

Kavirondo

Kuri E. of Victoria Nyanza, from the Wa-Soga to Kerewé Is. Speecb

Aara Negro and akin to Shillu

Nauda. Nauda uplands, north of Kavirondo.

Masai. Kilimanjaro and west towards Ys Nyanza.

Kwafi. W. of Mt. Kenia, N. of M

PF N. of U-Nyoro, akin to Shilluks.

eA - Between Lower Somerset Nile and Madi mountains, limited westward by

Fiod the Bahr-el-Jebel.

Janghey

Fallanj * Lower Sabat basin.

tuak

Bari. Both sides Bahr-el-Jebel, 4°—5° N., limited N. by Shir territory.

Monbuttu. Headwaters Welle r., beyond Egyptian frontier.

Za . W. frontier Egyptian Sudan w. The Miam-Niam of Nile tribes.

Mi (Mattu). A-Madi, iadi. Kaya, Abbakah, Luba, N. of Monbuttu.

Bongo (Dor). Upper course of Tondy and Jur rivers to Zandeh

Shir, Bahr-el-Jebel, 5°-6° N., between Dinkas and Baris.

Rol

ae Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol r., east of Bonqus and Mittus.

Lehsi

Nuer (Byor, Ror). ee an course of Bahr-el-Jebel, 7°--9° N.

=p A Senge Se Agar, Ajak, Aliab, Arol, Atwot, aa Bor, ete Jur, Gak, Rish).

g Bahr-el- Jebel and right bank of White Nile , 6°—1

shit Kora, Dyakin, Dyok, Roah). Left bank of Pbre ia and White Nile,

Jaer a

Ayarr

Mok

Tondy

ót

Ayell

Takruri. Gallibat district, Abyssinian frontier (James’s “ Wild tribes,” 30). <

“nj. Dominant in Senaar, probably Shillnk, mixed with Arab,

‘rej. Headwaters of Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier.

Ili. Nusa GROUP.

Nusas gi Nuba, Kargo, Kulfan, Kolaji, Tumali. Kordofan, chiefly cent. and

south, 11° 13° N.

Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, N. E. of Bongos, 7°-8° N.

WESTERN NUBAS e . Dominant in Dar-Fur.

` Kunjara. Branch of Fur. Darfur and Kordofan,

Mattokki (Kenus). Asuan to Sebi and Wadi-el-Arab.

pray tir Saidokki ( Mahai or Marisi). Korosko to Second cataract.

“ Barapra 2 | Dongolawi. Dongola, Wadi-Halfa to Jebel Deja near Meroe.

BaRABRA ”) J

_Danagele, Nubian immigrants into Kordofan and Dar-Fur.

1885.]

(a)

HIMYARITIC

ABYSSINIAN

BRANCH.

ARAB

BRANCH.

Anthropology. 423

IV. SEMITIC GROUP,

( Dahalaki, Great Dahalak Is. near Massawa.

Massuat, Mixed people of Massawa, Tigré speech.

Hotumlu, Karneshim, Az-Shuma, Dokono, Mudun (Samhar) coast,

ab assawa as far as Aqiq.

Habab, Bejuk, Mensa, Bogos, Takue, Marea. Auseba province, N.E.

frontier of Abyssinia . inland from Mudun

lipa Sabderat, Dembela. Beit-Bibel and Dembela districts, head

streams of the Barka and Mareb, W. of A

Hlarrar, Abyssinian enclave in Somaliland, E. Kak ii

Tigréė. Predominant nation in North Abyssinia.

mhara. Predominant in So, Abyssinia, subject to Tigré,

{ memes fc eime, Yemanich, Lower and Middle Atbara, S. to

Sen

sae (Fain. Blue Nile confluence, Khartum, and Senaar, Taka,

u, Dar-Fur and Kaffa.

Kabah V. g Nile, 12°-15° N. and between Obeid to the Nile at

OSE, x u Kababish, W. of Nile and Bahr-el-Arab.

V. HAMITIC GROUP.

Tisu Partai Baele, Ennedi, Zoghawa. N. of Dar-Fur; N. W. to Wanganya and

‘ ata ay ae Fulah. W. of Dar-Fur.

; Speech like Dasa or So. Tibu; type Negroid.

( Zttu. Ittu Mts., 41°-42° E., 9°-10° N.

Carayu. S. E, of Ankober.

Dawari, W. from Tajurra bay.

Wolo. W. of Lake Ardibbo.

( OROMO Weare atte: E. of Lakes Ardibbo and Haic,

OR Mecha. S. of Goja

GALIA Raya, Asabo. W. of í Zebul.

Lango. Somerset Nile, Fowura, to Magu

So. ETHIOPIAN Wa-Huma, Wa-Tust are th Bantus, E. Boal

BRANCH. 4

CENTRAL

ETHIOPIAN

Tue RETRIEVING HARPOON; AN UNDESCRIBED TYPE OF Es

regions.

wpe Kaffaland, 4 W. of Shoa. Wrongly Nu-

the. lias Madata, Gudabirst, Habr-Awal. Be-

h, Harrar and Berbera.

| SOMALI { Stop serie pen of Berber.

Godahursi, Dalbahantu, Warsingali, Mijjerthain.

E. of Berbe

ra to India

er Asoba, Assa-Imara, ` Sidi: Habura, Galetla.

AFAR OR ast between Abyssinia and Red sea, from

DANAKIL Zala gi to Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb.

Pr (Lasta district), Agaw (Quara district), Ap and

amant (Gondar district) of ree

L p or Shoho. N. E. frontier Abyssini

on.—There was found in universal use at Point Barrow,

WEAP

Arctic Alaska, a peculiar form

of harpoon, exclusively used, as

the name I have suggested for it implies, for retrieving seals that

424 General Notes. [April,

have been shot in open holes or “ leads” of water, within darting

distance from the edge of the ice. The Eskimos call it “ aú-

lt-gt.”

It consists of a long light shaft (¢-pz-@) of wood, about one inch

in diameter, and generally about five feet long, though the Jength

varies with the height of the man who uses it. The butt of this

is armed with a slender bayonet-shaped ice-pick (¢#-~) of walrus

ivory, about fourteen inches long, and to the other end is securely

fastened a heavy pear-shaped foreshaft (u-ku-mat-lu-ta, “ weight”’)

of walrus ivory or compact bone, which serves to give weight to

the head of the harpoon and make it fly straight. It is about

five inches long and an inch and a half in diameter at the forward

end. In the center of the end of the foreshaft is a deep round

socket into which fits the butt of a slender rod of ivory about

two inches long, the “ loose-shaft”’ (¢-gi-mz). This is secured to

the foreshaft by a thong passing through a hole drilled in it, so

that it can be easily removed from the socket, while the thong

prevents it from being dropped and lost. On the tip of the loose-

shaft fits a detachable toggle-head (maz-/#) of the ordinary type

common to the whole Eskimo race, provided with a long line of

seal thong upwards of ninety feet in length.

When ready for use the line is drawn taut from the head to

about the middle of the shaft, made fast by a couple of half-

hitches, and kept from slipping by a little ivory peg (4z-/er-dwif)

inserted into the shaft. Just back of this there is also a little

curved ivory knob (#-£a) secured to the shaft as a rest for the

forefinger in aiming the weapon.

e hunter on starting out carries his rifle slung in a sort of

holster across his back, and secured to this the zaú-¿ú and line

folded in long hanks. The rest of the harpoon is carried in the

hand and serves as a staff in walking and climbing among the

ice-hummocks, where the sharp pick is useful to prevent slipping

and to try doubtful ice, and also enables the hunter to break away

thin ice at the edge of a hole so as to draw his game to the solid

floe. It can also serve as a bayonet for defence in case of neces-

Sy.

When a seal has been shot and floats, the zaú-ľû and line are

fitted on and the weapon darted with the right hand while the

left holds the end of the line. The maz-/é enters the animal en-

tirely, and a pull on the line causes it to slip off the top of the

loose-shaft (which is facilitated by the play of the latter) and to

oere securely under the skin. The whole is then drawn in by

the line.

The use of this weapon appears to be éonfined to Northwestern

; ` Alaska, and it is very rarely found south of Bering’s strait. In

the large collection made by Mr. E. W. Nelson in the neighbor-

hood of Norton sound, there is only one rather clumsily-made

naúlīgů, with a fragment of the line, which is labeled a “ beluga

1885.] Microscopy. 425

spear.” It is manifestly unfitted for such use, but this statement

goes to show that it was an unfamiliar weapon among the people

by whom he was surrounded. The natives of that region, as well

as the Greenlanders and Eastern Eskimos, retrieve seals with the

kaiak, occasionally using the stabbing harpoon common to the

whole Eskimo race, to secure a seal, but they are unprovided

with any special weapon for retrieving.

We were unable, during our stay at Point Barrow, to ascertain

whether this weapon was in use before the introduction of fire-

arms, which are now universally employed, but I am strongly led

MICROSCOPY."

La BIOLOGIE CELLULAIRE.—The first number of a comprehen-

sive treatise on general cytology, bearing the above title, has just

been published. Two more numbers are to follow, which will

Engelcke, 24 Rue de I’ Université de Gand, Belgium.

The author, J. B. Carnoy, professor of general biology in the

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, Mass.

426 General Notes. [April,

Louvain. The key to some of the deepest mysteries of life, is to

be found, if at all, in the study of the cell; and for this and other

reasons that do not call for mention, we are glad to see the sub-

ject treated as a science, and not in the narrow methods of a mere

historical compendium.

The work is intended for laboratory use. “ It is needless to

remark, says the author, “ that no lesson in cytology can be mas-

tered outside of the microscopical laboratory.’ Its aim is to furnish

the student with a proper foundation for the study of life in any

of its aspects, and both student and teacher with a guide to the

most favorable objects of study, and the best instruments and

methods now in use

Thus stated, the chief aim of the work would seem to be nearly

identical with that of the well-known Practical Biology; but '

the subject-matter and the method of dealing with it are quite

unlike in the two cases. Huxley’s course deals with the mor-

phology and physiology of a few typical vegetable and animal

organisms; Carnoy’s course deals with the chemistry as well as

the morphology and physiology of the cell, as the structural

unit of all organisms. The one makes.use of both macroscopica

and microscopical methods of observation; the other employs

- almost exclusively methods of microscopical technique. The Prac-

tical Biology pursues methods of its own, and aims to impart,

through laboratory work, such information as should form a part

of so-called general education; the Cellular Biology limiting

itself to a single subject of general and fundamental importance,

proposes to deal with it in an encyclopedic fashion and thus to

lay a broad and solid foundation for special study in botany, zodl-

ogy, or physiology. The former points out the direct way to a

system of facts, and deals very sparingly in interpretation; the

latter adds to its facts and methods, history, discussion, and gen-

eral interpretation. The English manual is an excellent guide

for the general student, who merely desires some knowledge of

typical organisms ; but the training it offers, though admirable

as far aş it goes, falls short, in some important particulars, of being

an adequate preparation for original investigation in either of the

above-named departments of biology. The French manual, if

completed with the thoroughness that characterizes the first num-

ber, will furnish, in our opinion, not only a much-needed book of

reference, but also a course of study which exactly meets the

needs of those who are preparing for independent work.

_ The general scope of the work may be seen from the following

introductory remarks by its author: “ A course in general cyt-

ology should embrace the study of both the animal and vegeta-

ble cell. * * * The essential characters of organization, and the

fundamental biological laws, are the same for all living beings.

* * * It is only after having searched the two kingdoms, after

having followed the organized element step by step, and through

1885.] Microscopy. 427

the entire series of living forms, that it becomes possible to gain

a conception of it, which can be called exact, truly scientific and

fruitful.

“ Cytological instruction should be complete and searching. In

order to be complete, it should survey the cell from all sides, from

the standpoint of morphology, anatomy, physiology and bio-

chemistry ; for it is under these several aspects that it will serve

as a basis for subsequent study. In saying that it should be

searching, we should take care to demand that it be encyclope-

dic; a course which loses itself in details would not be thorough.

What we desire is, that the student shall be made to penetrate

into the inner life of the cell, and actually to lay hold of both the

essential and accidental chemical constitution of living matter, the

fundamental organic constitution of different parts of the cell—

membrane, protoplasm, nucleus; to reflect long upon the principal

physiological phenomena—indispensable foods, elaboration, diges-

tion, assimilation, &c.; upon the general movements of the cell—

cleavage, fecundation, different movements of the protoplasmic

reticulum; upon differentiation, cellular geotropism and heliotro-

pism,” &c., &c.

The first part of this first number of the work containing 167

pages, is devoted to the instruments and methods of microscopi-

cal research. The first of the three books into which it is sub-

divided, treats of the microscope and its accessories, the microspec-

troscope, polarizing apparatus, the micrometer, goniometer, pho-

tographic apparatus, and camera lucida; and closes with a chapter

on the laboratory, aquaria, and reagents.

The second book considers the objects or materials of study,

and the methods of preparation, including the microtome and its

uses, :

The third book devotes one chapter to “the education of the

eye,” another to “the examination and treatment of prepara-

tions,” and a third to “the method to be pursued in scientific re-

searches and publications.” oo ae

The second part opens with a valuable historical preliminary,

and a discussion of general notions of the cell, including termi-

nology and definitions. Then follows a book of sixty-five pages

devoted to the zucleus—its chemical constitution, structure, and

morphography. The remaining three books of this part, dealing

with protoplasm, the eT and general discussions, will

a r in the second number.

"The historical summaries, and well-arranged bibliographical

references, form a very valuable feature of the work; and the

same may be said of the chapters devoted to methods of research,

which contain much that is new. The cuts are a// original. They

are well executed, and for the most part well chosen ; but this is

a point in which originality might have been curtailed we

selected illustrations borrowed from different sources.

428 General Notes. [April.

Professor Carnoy has undertaken an extremely difficult task,

and the success with which he has accomplished the first part is

a sufficient guaranty of an equally successful conclusion. The

best that we can wish for it is, that it may meet with a reception

as favorable as it deserves.

PERGENS’S PicrocaRMINE—I. 1. Boil for two and a half hours

500 grms. pulverized cochineal in thirty liters of water.

2. Add fifty grms. potassic nitrate, and, after a moment of boil-

ing, sixty grms. oxalate of potash; boil fifteen minutes.

3. After cooling, the carmine settles: it is washed several times

with distilled water in the course of three or four weeks.

I. 4. Pour a mixture of one volume of ammonia with four

volumes of water upon the carmine, taking care that the carmine

remain in excess. ;

5. After two days filter, and leave the filtered solution exposed

to the air until a precipitate forms.

ilter again, and add a concentrated solution of picric acid ;

agitate, and then allow it to stand twenty-four hours.

7. Filter, and add one gram chloral for one litre of the liquid.

8. At the end of eight days, separate the liquid from the slight

precipitate which is formed, and it is ready for use.

This fluid keeps unchanged for at least two years, and is recom-

mended by Carnoy above other picrocarmine solutions.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY oF Microscopists2—

The seventh volume of the Proceedings of the American Society

of Microscopists contains, besides President Cox’s address on

Robert B. Tolles, about forty articles, some of which contain

valuable information for the microscopist. We may call especial

attention to the articles on Photomicrography by the President

and H. F. Atwood; the observations of the editor in chief, Dr. D.

S. Kellicott, on Infusoria, Rotatoria, &c.; thoughts on Sponges

y Henry Mills; a new mounting medium by H. L. Smith;

serial sections by S. H. Gage; hints on hardening, imbedding,

cutting, &c., by Geo. Duffield; a cover-glass cleaner by T. L.

James ; the ideal slide by F. M. Hamlin; the magnifying power

of objectives and lenses by W. H. Bulloch ; a method of staining

and mounting by J. T. Brownell; a lens holder by R. H. Ward;

an improvement in objectives by Ernst Gundlach. The volume

contains other articles of more or less interest, report of commit-

tee on standard micrometer, and on oculars.

OURNAL OF THE New York Microscopicat Socrery.—The

first number of this new microscopical journal contains an inter-

esting article on Electrical Illumination in Microscopy, by E.

A. Schultze; and another entitled Criticisms on Mr. J. Krutt-

1 Biologie Cellulaire, by J. B. Carnoy, p. 92, 1884.

2 Seventh Annual Meeting, held at Rochester, N. Y., Aug. 19-22, 1884.

2 e

1885.] Scientific News. 429

schnitt’s Papers and Preparations relating to Pollen-tubes, by N.

L. Britton. The rest of the number is given to the Proceedings

of the Society, Miscellanea, and an Index to Articles of Interest

to Microscopists.

In the meeting of December 5th, J. D. Hyatt speaks of Hy-

drogen Peroxide as a Bleaching Agent, but gives no details of

the process.

This journal is edited by Benjamin Braman, and is to be pub-

lished in nine monthly numbers, from November to July, inclu-

sive.

' Metuop or MAKING ABSOLUTE ALcoHnoL.—Dr. Sharp states

that absolute alcohol is prepared in Ranvier’s laboratory by add-

ing anhydrous cupric sulphate to ninety-five per cent alcohol.?

Pulverized cupric sulphate is heated to red heat in order to

drive off the water of crystallization ; when cool the white pow-

der is placed in a wide-mouthed bottle, holding about a liter, and

three-fourths full of alcohol. The bottle is quickly closed and

the whole shaken. After standing a day or more—with occa-

sional shakings—it is decanted and the operation repeated, espe-

cially if the cupric sulphate shows much of the blue color due

to the reassumption of water. ;

As a test a drop of the alcohol thus dehydrated may be mixed

with a drop of turpentine on a glass slide, and examined under

the microscope; if no particles of water are to be seen the alco-

hol is absolute enough for all practical purposes.

30%

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

character of the bottom. Over the side of the vessel is a long

sounding bar or tube, in length 10% feet, or more, which bar

works freely round a fixed center inside the boat. This fixed.

center is placed in the middle of a circular dial on which are

marked fathoms or feet, a duplicate dial being placed in the cap-

tain’s cabin. On mooring the boat over a shoal rising to the sur-

depths of the shoal under the surface of the water. It has been

found that the vibrations of the sounding bar differ in degree

when the boat moves it along different formations, thus enabling

the observer, after very short experience, to record in his note-

1 Roscoe and Schorlemmer state that anhydrous cupric sulphate is a good test for

the presence of water, but not a suitable means for preparing absolute alcohol.

430 Scientific News. [April,

book whether the surface of the ground under the water is com-

posed of mud, sand, gravel, boulders or rock.

—The Department of Biology of the University of Pennsyl-

vania, which promises to be one of the leading schools of the

“science of life,’ has been formally opened. r. Joseph

Leidy is director of the department. Its aim is to encourage

original research in biology, by offering facilities to scientists

engaged in investigation and by giving instruction to advanced

students prosecuting special work. The university has rented a

table at Dr. Dohrn’s Zodlogical Station, Naples, Italy, Dr. Charles

Dolley being its representative. Mr. Edward Muybridge, whose

attention to the study of the motion of animals and the illustra-

tion of them by instantaneous photographs has gained him favor-

able mention throughout the country, will work with the faculty,

in photographing, and will give instruction in this branch to those

who desire it.

Further information respecting the department may be obtained

from Professor H. F. Jayne, M.D., secretary of the faculty, 1826

Chestnut street, Philadelphia.

—The third volume of the memoirs of the National Academy

of Sciences, which has been transmitted to Congress by its presi-

dent, Professor O. C. Marsh, of New Haven, contains the pro-

ceedings of the academy for 1884, and the following papers: I, |

The sufficiency of terrestrial rotation for the deflectian of streams,

by G. K. Gilbert; 2, On the temperature of the surface of the

moon, by Professor S. P. Langley; 3, On the determination of

the laws of the vibration of tuning forks, with special reference to

the action of a simple chronoscope, by Professor A. M. Mayer;

4, On the Baume hydrometers, by Professor C. F. Chandler; 5,

On’small differences of sensation, by Professor C. S. Peirce and J.

Jastron; 5, Description of an articulate of doubtful relationship

from the tertiary beds of Florissant, Colorado, by Dr. S. H.

Scudder; 7, The structure of the Columella auris in the Pely-

cosauria, by Professor E. D. Cope; 8, On the structure of the

brain of the sessile-eyed Crustacea, by Professor A. S. Packard.

—The existence of a cavern in the neighborhood of Beaver

hole, on Cheat river, near St. George, W. Va., has been known

for years; but it was never explored until the past week, when a

rty of men devoted a day to an examination of the cave. It

proves to be a remarkable cavern, or rather a series of caverns,

for there are five of them, one above the other. The lower one

was explored a distance of a mile, and the upper one two miles.

There is a small stream in the lower one, but the upper one

is comparatively dry. The rooms are large and have evidently

been cleared of débris at some former period. In one evidence of

a fire was found, and the remnant of bones, which were brought

1885. ] Scientific News. 431

out and will be sent to an antiquarian for identification. The cave

is almost on the line of the new West Virginia Central Railroad.

—The Amsterdam Allgemein Handelsblad, publishes a commu-

nication from Professor Cohn, recapitulating the substance of the

correspondence between Leeuwenhoek and Francis Aston, F.R.S:

The celebrated naturalist, writing from Delft in 1683, tells Aston

how, with the aid of the microscope, he had discovered and dis-

tinguished minute organisms amongst the particles of food re-

moved from between his tecth. In 1692 Leeuwenhoek sent

sketches of these organisms to the Royal Society; but he expe-

rienced a period when he could not discover any traces of them,

and attributed their disappearance to the use of hot coffee.—Eng-

lish Mechanic.

—The works of Darwin are not allowed to be issued from the

circulating libraries of Russia, and a recent imperial decree puts

those of Agassiz, Huxley, Lubbock, Adam Smith, Lewes, and

Spencer on the same list. The new list is not confined to Eng-

lish and American authors, for Moleschott, Biichner, Vogt, Re-

clus, and others are considered unsuitable for Russian readers.

—The death is announced of Mr. John Gwyn Jeffreys, LL.D.,

F.R.S., the distinguished conchologist and naturalist. Mr. Jef-

freys was born at Swansea, in 1809, and was called to the bar;

but about twenty years ago he retired from practice, and devoted

himself entirely to his favorite branch of science. In his early life

he was an enthusiastic dredger, and as soon as he was able pur-

chased a yacht in order the better to prosecute his work. When

the Porcupine was fitted out in 1869, in company with Dr. Car-

penter and the late Sir Wyville Thompson, Mr. Jeffreys conducted

the exploring voyages, and subsequently superintended the scien-

tific work of the Valorous, when that frigate accompanied our

latest Arctic expedition as far as Davis straits. His first paper

was contributed to the transactions of the Linnean Society at the

early age of nineteen, and since then his contributions to the

transactions of the Royal and other societies, have been both

numerous and valuable.

—Professor Lauritz Esmark, director of the zoological museum

of the University of Christiania, Norway, died in December last.

He once spent nearly two years in this country, traveling exten-

sively, and was hospitable to American naturalists visiting in

Norway.

` —Vice-Admiral H. W. Bayfield died at Charlottetown, N. S.,

February 12, aged go years. He will be remembered for his sur-

veys of the St. Lawrence gulf and the coast of Labrador.

—The death is also announced of Dr. Friedrich von Stein,

professor of zodlogy and zoétomy in the University of Prague for

irty years. Professor Stein was sixty-seven.

432 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [| April, 1885.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

BrotocicaL Society oF WasHINGToN, Feb. 7.—Communica-

tions were made by Dr. H. G. Beyer, U. S. N., report on intra-

cellular digestion and its relations to pathology; by Dr. J. A.

Ryder, on the probable origin and homologies of the flukes of |

Cetaceans and Sirenians.

Feb. 21.—Communications were made by Dr. Theodore Gill,

on the relative values of different types in paleontology; by Dr.

H. G. Beyer, U. S. N., on genital apparatus of Lingula; by Mr.

. L. Wortman, on a method for exhibiting the relationships of

the bones of the skull; by Mr. Frederick W. True, on the recent

capture of right whales off Long Island. —

APPALACHIAN Mountain Crus, Feb. 13.—A lecture on Colo-

rado, New Mexico, and Utah, illustrated by stereopticon, was

given by Rev. A. E. Winship.

Boston Society or Natura. History, Feb. 4.—Mr. Wm. M.

Davis read a paper on geographic evolution, illustrated by models

for use in teaching.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Feb. 26.—David Dudley

Field, delivered a lecture entitled, Nomenclature of cities and

towns in the United States.

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, Jan. 19.—The following

paper was read: Glacial observations in Canada and on the North-

ern borders of the State of New York, by Dr. A. A. Julien; Prof.

D. S. Martin exhibited some views and photographs of interesting

geological scenery.

Feb. 9.—The following paper was read: Tin deposits in the

Black Hills of Dakota (illustrated with specimens and photo-

graphs), by Prof. G. E. Bailey.

PHILADELPHIA AcaDemMy NATURAL Sciences, Dec. 4.—Profes-

sor Heilprin gave the result of his examination of fossiliferous

pebbles from near the East Park reservoir. Most of the fossils

are barely recognizable as organic remains, but Spirifer perlami-

losus could be identified. The formation represented by these

pebbles is the Decker’s Ferry sandstone connecting the Oriskany

with the Lower Helderberg beds. This deposit extends in a

south-western direction from about thirteen miles north of the

Delaware Water gap. The same speaker also showed specimens

of rock from New York containing particles and masses of ser-

pentine closely resembling the so-called Hozoon canadense, yet

with sufficient difference to show clearly that they were form

by mineral accretion. Professor Heilprin held that these speci-

_ mens were enough to prove the non-organic nature of

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vou. xıx.—MAY, 1885.—No. 5.

SOME NEW INFUSORIA.

BY ALFRED C. STOKES, M.D.

BITTER November wind out of a gray sky. A river as

gray and cold, a little foam on its surface where the rocks

fretted it. A group of bare trees ankle deep in their own leaves

on a low bank whence bubbled a rill that seemed the only happy

thing in the dreary landscape, while a shivering pedestrian shed

involuntary tears as he filled his bottle with wet leaves and with

water from the brook. A gloomy prospect anda gloomy day,

but for compensation that bottle held a potentiality of infusorial

wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. Nota tithe of the won-

derful forms developed from the germs in that natural infusion

could be noticed without making a paper of wearisome extent.

To enumerate the individuals would be impossible. I can only

present a half dozen taken at random.

As the infusion stood through the winter in a covered vessel,

to which not a single drop of water was added except by the con-

densation of its own vapor on the cover, a source of endless in-

terest to the writer has been to observe the sudden disappearance

of the creatures which, for a week or two, had swarmed among

the leaves by the thousand, and the equally sudden coming, from

unsuspected and unknown spores, of as great a crowd of entirely

different, more complex and more highly organized animalcules,

Those higher in the scale devoured the lower, it is true, and did

it without ceremony ; but many died and melted away as their

favorite food became exhausted or, for some other problematic

reason, their surroundings became inauspicious. For weeks

microscopic fungi flourished until the surface of the water bore a

jelly-like layer a quarter of an inch deep, and Hypotrichous In-

fusoria, so huge that they were distinctly visible to the unaided

vision, sported there in leaderless regiments and cohorts. But

even that collection of fungi and bacteria disappeared, and the

¥ 28

434 Some New Infusoria. [May,

water at this writing is as clear and limpid and sweet as that of a

mountain spring, and not one of those gigantic Hypotricha is

left. Yet the bowl is still a crowded infusorial menagerie. And

not the least interesting fact is that most of those that have died

as well as the living are new to science.

The lowest of those to which I desire now to refer, and per-

haps the least abundant in its habitat, is a new member of the

genus Atractonema, the threaded spindle, of Stein. Hitherto

but one species has been observed, and that only by its discoverer.

With it the body is much more fusiform than with this American

animalcule, but the latter possesses all the generic characters of

its foreign relative, and others which mark it as specifically dis-

tinct. The mouth in-both is conspicuous, being especially so in

this new form. The pharyngeal passage it is scarcely possible to

overlook since it seems to communicate directly with the contrac-

tile vesicle. Whether the food passes into the pulsating vacuole,

or through it, or to one side, are questions of interest that, so far

as I am concerned, remain unanswered, as the creature has refused

to take food when on the microscope stage. The single flagellum

arises within the pharyngeal passage, a point on the wall, presu-

mably the roof, serving as the basis of attachment. This struc-

tural feature is not mentioned, and probably does not exist in

Atractonema teres Stein. The motion of the flagellum is very

rapid, consisting of oscillations which give it the appearance of a

figure of eight. That it is held stiffly coiled in that position and

then vibrated, as is represented in the sketch (Fig. 1), I have been

unable to determine. It has been engraved in that

position because I desired to show the animalcule in

its characteristic swimming attitude. When the Atrac-

tonema has been poisoned, preferably by iodine, pref-

erably, of course, so far as the observer is concern

the flagellum is uncoiled and straightened. The fig-

ure of eight aspect may therefore be illusory.

The animalcule’s movements are by rapid writhing

and twisting, at the same time rotating on its long

axis. It is not changeable in shape, preserving its

elongate, subcylindrical, somewhat vermicular form,

Fic. 1,.°*cePt when in the agony of a toxicological death. It

Atractonema then coils and contorts itself like a wounded snake,

| — Bie olla flattening and expanding the body to a

film. The character of the numerous dark-bordered

1885.| Some New Infusoria. 435

corpuscles within the endoplasm I do not know. C/z/omonas

paramecium Ehr., for a long time the prevailing animalcule in the

infusion, contains similar bodies which, under the influence of

iodine, become intensely blue, and are therefore probably amyla-

ceous. Those within Atractonema, under similar circumstances

do not so change. The reproduction of the European species is

by longitudinal fission. Multiplication of the American form has

not been observed. Fig. 1 and the following description will

probably be sufficient for diagnosis:

Atractonema tortuosa, sp. nov.—Body elongate, subcylindrical, soft and flexible

but persistent in shape, seven to ten times as long as broad, tapering and pointed pos-

teriorly, the anterior extremity narrowed, the frontal border truncate; oral aperture

terminal, conspicuous, followed by a tubular pharyngeal passage apparently con-

nected by its posterior termination with the spherical contractile vesicle ; flagellum

single, vibratile, about one-half as long as the body, issuing from the oral aperture

and taking its origin from the wall of the pharynx at some distance from the frontal

argin; nucleus ovate, placed behind the body-center; endoplasm colorless, trans-

parent, enclosing numerous, oblong, dark-bordered corpuscles; movements tortuous

and rotatory on the long axis. Length of body ;45 tos}; inch, Habitat: a vege-

table infusion,

In the American Journal of Science for July, 1884, the writer

described two new species of fresh-water infusoria under the gen-

eric title Solenotus, which was subsequently ascertained to be

preoccupied in the Hymenoptera. Consequently, in the August

number of the same journal, the name was changed to Notosol-

enus, the two members of the genus then being Notosolenus

(Solenotus) apocamptus and N. orbicularis. The chief character-

istics, aside from the persistent shape and an oral aperture, are

the presence of a very short and inconspicuous trailing flagellum

on the convex or ventral surface, and a longitudinal depression

traversing the dorsal aspect, the infusorian thus appearing to

swim on its back, since that part is expected to be more or less

convex. Here, however, it is the ventral surface that is rounded.

When these animalcules were first obtained, although an anal

aperture was observed and its location recorded, an oral orifice

was not noted, and the systemic position of the infusoria was

assumed to be among those forms which take food through any

point on the surface, and near to Stein’s Colponema. Since then,

however, numerous specimens of both species have been observed,

and although an oral aperture has not been actually discerned,

yet the appearance of what seems to be a short pharyngeal tract

is so constantly present that an oral orifice probably exists, and

436 Some New Infusoria. [May,

the animalcules must therefore demand admission to the Flagel-

lata-Eustomata of Saville Kent. The indurated character of the

cuticular surface and the presence of green particles, apparently

of food, within the endoplasm, would indicate the existence of a

special mouth which would also be indirectly suggested by the

appearance of the anal opening. The place of the genus in a

systemic arrangement would therefore probably be, not in the

neighborhood of Colponema but near Dujardin’s Anisonema,

differing from the latter, so far as the flagella are concerned, in

having the shorter the trailing one, and the longer the vibratile,

the converse of this being characteristic of Anisonema.

In the infusion a third species of Notosolenus has appeared.

_ It is much depressed and almost triangular in form, the sloping

sides being somewhat concave or undulate, and the truncate pos-

terior extremity more or less emarginate, this emargination in

some individuals increasing to a strongly marked concavity. Fig.

2 represents the creature in its ventral aspect with the extremity

moderately uneven, and Fig. 3 another individual with a con-

Fig. 3:

Fic. 2.—Wotosolenus sinuatus, sp. nov., ventral, FIG. 3.—/. sinuatus, emarginate

form, ventral.

spicuous emargination. Its endoplasm is very bright and transpa-

rent, being obscured only in the posterior part by granules and

food particles. Its movement is forward in an almost direct

_ course, the body elevated, the anterior apex in contact with the

slide, the long flagellum held stiffly and obliquely in advance, its

free end only vibrating, while the short flagellum, which appears

_ to be of but little practical advantage to its owner, trails almost

_ motionless below or above, for whether the animalcule shall float

with the dorsal surface upward or beneath seems immaterial. It

1885.] Some New Infusoria, 437

advances across the field of view, stopping at any collection of

débris in its path, examining it for food and departing with sud-

den turns and reversals of its course. The appearance of a pha-

ryngeal tract is here more clearly defined than in the other spe-

cies, and the infusorian is by far the largest of those hitherto ob-

serv

Notosolenus (Solenotus) sinuatus, sp. nov.—Body pee broadly and irregu-

larly ovate or subtriangular, somewhat longer than broad, widest posteriorly, grad-

ually tapering through the posterior two-thirds, thence tanidi narrowing to the

rounded frontal margin, the lateral borders frequently concave or undulate, the pos-

terior extremity truncate, more or less emarginate; dorsal depression narrow, deep,

with an anterior keel-like elevation; ventral surface smoothly convex; long flagel-

lum vibratile at its distal end only, somewhat less than twice as long as the body,

held stiffly and obliquely in advance towards the right-hand side; short or trailing

flagellum about one-half as long as the body, usually extending obliquely backward

toward the right-hand border; nucleus apparently single, spherical and near the

center of the left-hand side, the contractile vesicle in front, and near the beii

margin; endoplasm colorless, Etir gerig enclosing granules and green

particles. Length of bo B 114z, greatest width inch. Habitat: standing

water, with dead lea

When the wi of fungi and bacteria on the water was near

its height, a Paramcecium appeared in profusion. It seems to be

a distinct species, and one that can scarcely be mistaken for any

known form, except possibly for P. dursarta (Ehr.) S. K., differing

from the latter, however, conspicuously in form, especially in the

apparently oblique curvature of the anterior extremity, in the

absence of the truncation of the same part, the absence of the

rapid and continuous circulation of the endoplasmic contents,

and particularly the green coloration of the cortex and sarcode.

The oral aperture of the form I have named Paramecium trichium

is at the posterior extremity of the deep

adoral fossa which gives the front part the

appearance of being folded toward the left,

and is followed by a distinct, ciliated pha-

rynx (Fig, 4). The two contractile vesicles,

instead of being placed one in each body-

half, as in P dursaria, are here anterior and

close together, contracting quickly, the one

beginning to reform almost before the com- yg gS Fig. 5.

pletion of the other’s systole. Trichocysts igen a

are very abundant, and are so arranged % x yom Fic. 5. r Tricho-

that they seem to elevate the cuticular sur- cyst.

face into the minute apse cara bosses that cover the entire

438 Some New Infusoria. [ May,

body. When forcibly extruded through the influence of the

glycerole of tannin, the distal end of each, for about one-tenth of

the entire length, is conspicuously thickened, so that the tricho-

cyst seems to be supplemented by the addition of a minute

pyramid (Fig. 5). Occasionally, before the animalcule’s death,

when suffering from the application of a very dilute solution of

the glycerole, it then gradually assuming an evenly ovoid form and

becoming pale and ghostly, and always after the extrusion of the

trichocysts and their removal from the body, the cuticular eleva-

tions are replaced by equally minute, regularly disposed, parallel-

ogrammic depressions, as if the escaping trichocysts had left

empty spaces which were filled by the sinking of the cortex.

The nucleus and nucleolus are not always constant either in rela-

tion to each other or to a special part of the body. The former

is sometimes, and normally it would seem, subcentrally located,

yet sometimes being near the dorsum, again nearest the ventral

surface, and still again in the anterior extremity, being seldom

seen behind the body center. The laterally attached nucleolus is

almost as uncertain in its relative connection with the nucleus,

becoming at times entirely detached.

Conjugation has been observed, union taking place between

the latero-ventral surfaces. Reproduction is by transverse fission,

the nucleus previously becoming much elongated, the dividing

plane passing through its center. In some instances, soon after

the beginning of genetic union, the nucleus assumes a finely

striated appearance, gradually growing more and more indistinct

in contour until it finally becomes indistinguishable from the sur-

rounding endoplasm.

Paramecium trichium, sp. nov.—Body soft and flexible, ovate, somewhat com-

pressed, three times as long as Praa, piee and TES inflated ` posteriorly, both

extremities rounded, the ventral st hat flattened; adoral fossa extending

to the center of the ventral aspect from the left obliquely toward the right, deepest

and widest anteriorly, this part of the body apparently folded obliquely toward the

left-hand side; oral aperture followed by a distinct, tubular, ciliated pharyngeal

peeenges trichocysts abundant, arranged vertically and apparently elevating the

spherical projections roughening the entire body and giving it in optical section a

cr ted outline, their distal extremities, when forcibly extruded, conspicuously and

pyramidally thickened ; nucleus ovate, usually subcentrally placed, with a laterally

attached nucleolus; contractile vesicle double, spherical, anteriorly located ; anal

aperture ventro-terminal, Length of body ;4,, of trichocysts qg inch. Habitat:

3 Santen mass of fungoid and bacterial growth on the surface of an infusion

1885. ] | Some New Infusoria, 439

Attached to the sides of the vessel, to fragments of leaves or

indeed to almost any basis of support, were many mucilaginous,

coarsely granular zoocytia formed and inhabited by an animal-

cule generically distinct from all previously known infusoria.

The sheath or zoocytium is very soft and shapeless, and variable

both in size and in number of its occupants. It appears to be

formed primarily by a thin exudation from the creature’s body

that would be nearly invisible were it not for the extraneous par-

ticles, spores, bacteria and débris of all kinds that adhere to the

surface, and especially for the zodid’s excrementitious matter which

seems to be the principal building material and the cause of the

coarsely granular aspect. It is not uncommon to find a small colony

produced by the mutual union, and probably by a mutual formation

of adjacent zoécytia, the resultant of this adhesion being a non-

descript mass of flocculent matters from under shelter of which

the animalcules project, and when startled by the approach of a

larger infusorian, or from other cause, quickly glide backward to

the posterior part of their semi-transparent dwelling. These

zoöcytia are frequently attached to vegetable fragments or to

masses of residual detritus so that they would be an almost in-

distinguishable part of the granular ‘aggregation were it not for

the presence of the living infusorian. Indeed, when deserted

these formations cannot be separated by the eye from other floc-

culent clusters so often in the field. Yet the creature forms

them, apparently involuntarily, for soon after a frightened zooid

comes to rest, rejected particles in the food-bearing current begin

to mark the outlines of the mucilaginous excretion which soon

increases in size by the adhesion of everything that touches it.

The infusoria (Fig. 6) are ovate in form and entirely ciliated.

The oral aperture is at the poste-

rior extremity of a median de- — SEE even S

pression occupying the anterior Be

one-third of the ventral surface sob

and bearing on its right-hand

margin a row of curved, cirrose Ves E

„cilia, From the frontal border Beet TEN

projects a cluster of long, dis- Fig, 6.—Cyrtolophosis mucicola, gen. et

tally curved hairs which by their sp. nov. :

constant and rapid downward lashing, force a current into the

adoral groove and against the row of strong non-vibratile cilia on

440 Some New Infusoria. [ May,

the right-hand side of the mouth, thus supplying that ever-ready

mouth with food. On such occasions the surface cilia behind the

position of the oral aperture are in only irregular and uncertain

vibration, while those on the frontal border, including the curved

fascicle, are in the most active motion, being only momentarily

visible, the right-hand ciliary fringe, under an insufficient ampli-

fication, then presenting the aspect of a single short seta, or a narrow

lip, projecting from the posterior angle of the excavation. When

the zodids have been for some time under the thin cover, they

voluntarily leave the old zoocytium, swimming rapidly and occa-

sionly settling on the slide to form a new and equally structure-

less protective covering. If a-convenient collection of miscella-

neous debris is accidentally encountered, the wandering infusorian

often takes refuge beneath it, there gliding backward when threat-

ened, as it did so conspicuously in its original home, the long

anterior cilia then streaniing out at the front.

Cyrtolophosis (kuptos, curved ; hogwats, wearing a crest), gen. nov.—Animal-

cules ovate, persistent in shape, entirely ciliate, the adoral cilia differing from those

of the general surface, the anterior extremity bearing a fascicle of long distally

curved, vibratile hairs ; secreting and inhabiting a variously modified, mucilaginous,

granular zodcytium, to which they are in no way attached and from which they may

pass at will; oral aperture at the posterior extremity of an excavated, elongated

groove, Tongia traversing the anterior part of the ventral surface, bearing on

its right-hand’ margin a series of cirrose, adoral cilia; nucleus and contractile vesi-

cle single, conspicuous; anal aperture postero-terminal.

Cyrtolophosis mucicola, sp. nov.—Body ovate, two and one-half to three times as

long as broad, both extremities rounded, narrowed anteriorly, the ventro-frontal bor-

der obliquely truncate; anterior cilia longest, those of the Aey surface setose, the

anteriorly placed fascicle of distally and downwardly curved cilia conspicuous;

adoral depression extending from the frontal border for densi the length of the

entire body; adoral cilia cirrose, curved, diminishing in length toward the oral aper-

ture; contractile vesicle single, spherical, posteriorly placed near the oat -hand lat-

` eral border; nucleus subspherical, subcentrally located. Length of body 3,5 to

toss inch. Zodcytia solitary or variously united. Habitat: an infusion of dead

leaves. Reproduction by transverse fission.

Another infusorian, bearing a carapace and having the adoral

fringe on the left-hand margin of the peristome, and therefore

undoubtedly a member of the Euplotide, proved to be an unde-

scribed species of the curious Euplotes, animalcules whose ven-

tral styles are not only used for swimming but as ambulatory

_ organs. They are often seen walking over the slide and among

the masses of débris usually present, apparently swimming only

when food is exhausted in that locality and they must journey

188 5.] Some New Infusoria. 441

further to seek it. The form now referred to differs from all

others in the number of the frontal styles, the character and

arrangement of the anal styles and caudal setz, and in the shape

of the carapace, which has a very conspicuous keel or high acute

ridge traversing the dorsum from the frontal to the posterior

borders. In Fig. 7 is shown the ventral aspect with the ambula-

Fig. 7. Fig. 8.

Fic, 2 n carinata, sp. nov., ventral aspect, Fic, 8.—The same in dor-

sal asp

tory organs and setæ; in Fig. 8 the upper surface of the cara-

pace with the central keel that suggested the specific name.

Euplotes carinata, sp. nov.—Carapace irregularly Se, sey frontal and

tight-hand borders evenly rounded, the posterior margin vex usually emar-

ginate on the right-hand side, the left-hand border reeset ah obliai; truncate in

Opposite directions, thus forming a subcentral rounded protruding angle ; dorsal sur-

face traversed by a single conspicuous median and longitudinal keel or acute ridge,

and by four to six longitudinal furrows ; seven frontal, three scattered ventral and five

Straight simple anal styles; four aboae caudal setæ, the two on the left-hand.

side close together but remote from the margin; peristome-field narrow , arcuate, the

posterior third of the right-hand border ciliated; nucleus band-shaped, long, semi

circular. Length of carapace x},, greatest width 5}; inch, Habitat: auntie

water with dead leaves

In the American eR Microscopical Journal for Dec., 1884,

the writer described a Euplotes under the specific title of plumipes,

so naming it on account of the beautifully fimbriated condition of

the anal styles ; but the figure there published represented a few

of the adoral cilia in an incorrect position. Through the kind-

ness of Dr, Packard I am able to present here a corrected draw-

ing (Fig. 9) of the same interesting infusorian with the descrip-

tion. My pleasure in doing so is increased not oniy by the

442 Some New Infusoria. [May,

opportunity to correct my own oversight, but because I can again

ask attention to one of the most beautiful American members of

the genus.

The carapace of Æ. carinata is somewhat irregularly marked

by small circles formed of minute dots visible through the trans-

parent borders. This ornamentation is variable, however, as is

probably the case in all the decorated species, the dots becoming

scattered, leaving the little circles incomplete or even entirely de-

stroying them. This variableness in the surface adornment is

also apparent in £. plumipes, but there, when most completely

developed, the ornamentation consists of oblong elevations ar-

ranged in stellate clusters which are sprinkled quite regularly in

Fig. 9. Fig. 10.

Fic. 9.—Luplotes plumipes Stokes. FIG. 10.—Ornamentation of the carapace.

longitudinal lines over a surface already roughened by minute

dots. The result is very pleasing to the eye, and adds another

item of interest to the infusorian which seems to be one of the

bravest and most self-reliant of its class, walking or swimming

boldly and steadily forward as if with some object of vital import

in view. This ornamentation is shown in detail in Fig. 10.

Euplotes plumipes Stokes.—Carapace irregularly suborbicular or elliptical, the an-

_ terior margin trunca! te, often minutely crenulate or beaded, the upper lip crescentic

oe Dai bade: commonly obliquely truncate in opposite directions and forming cen-

` trally a projecting and rounded angle or keel-like protuberance ; peristome field

1885.] Some New Infusoria. 443

wide, triangular, the upper right-hand corner prolonged in a sinistrally directed heli-

coidal curvature, posteriorly extending beyond the center of the ventral surface, the

cilia of the anterior and left-hand borders large and cirrose, the posterior third of

. the right-hand margin ciliated; six frontal, three ventral and five anal styles, the

extremities of each of the last finely fimbriated; caudal setæ four, the two on the

right-hand side of the median line much branched; dorsal surface convex, without

longitudinal furrows, minutely roughened and often ornamented by longitudinal

rows of equidistant elevations formed of minute prominences arranged in stellate

clusters; nucleus band-like, curved, very long, extending around nearly the entire

periphery, its extremities separated by a short interval near the right-hand body

margin; anal aperture in close proximity to the contractile vesicle. Length of cara-

pace sj}, inch. Habitat: pond water, near the bottom.

Conjugation is accomplished through the union of two indi-

viduals by the left-hand half of the ventral surfaces, and multipli-

cation is by transverse fission. The first apparent change pre-

ceding the latter act is the development of a series of cilia almost

parallel with the left-hand margin of the peristome, while from

the comparatively vacant space over which the ventral styles are

scattered, the zodid gradually extrudes fourteen new styles, a

second contractile vesicle appears, and the infusorian then pre-

sents the interesting aspect of a Euplotes with a double row of

adoral cilia, two pulsating vacuoles, four caudal sete and twenty-

eight ambulatory styles. The body quite rapidly elongates until

about twice the ordinary length, and separates across the middle,

distributing the twenty-eight styles so that the anterior moiety

preserves the old frontal and ventral ones, taking five of the new

for its anal supply and extruding four fresh caudal sete. The

posterior portion therefore has the newly formed frontal and ven-

tral and the old anal styles, with the old caudal sete. But before

the final separation the posterior animalcule extrudes four addi-

tional caudal setz, then having twice as many as the normal

complement, gradually and in irregular sequence absorbing the

four old and now unwelcome and useless ones, those that are

branched being the last to appear and the last to be absorbed.

444 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. (May,

KITCHEN GARDEN ESCULENTS OF AMERICAN

ORIGIN.

BY E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, M.D.

N our leading seed catalogues some seventy-two species ot

plants are usually grouped under kitchen garden esculents.

Of these we believe seventeen to be of American origin, the

purslane doubtful, and chives to belong to both the old and the

new world. Excluding these nineteen, De Candolle assigns, of

the remainder, twenty-four tq Europe, fifteen to Asia, four to

Africa, one to Australasia and nine not mentioned. Of this list

many have both European and Asiatic habitat, or other habitat as

well as the one under which tabulated. If we compare the im-

portance of the old and new world vegetables, we find it difficult

to decide. Certainly the old world cabbage, in its numerous

races, is of importance in the garden, but so is the new world

potato. What can be decided, however, is that the peppers,

pumpkin and squash, tomato, sweet corn and sweet potato are

representatives of a culture which antedated their introduction

into the gardens of Europeans, and must have been derived

through a cultivation as careful as was required for the equal

development of similar vegetables of old world origin. To ex-

pect to find the original of our longest cultivated vegetable pro-

ducts, as wheat or maize, in a plant that can now be recognized

as a wheat or a maize, seems unphilosophical, as evolution must

have long since produced changes during that long series of

selections that have resulted not alone in producing varieties, but

even races which deserve specific discrimination. On account of

the light thrown upon an ancient civilization by the knowledge

of the cultivated plants it has produced, I have thought fit to

bring together a selection from my notes relating to the esculents

of American origin which are now to be generally found in our

= vegetable gardens.

Alkekengi—The alkekengi, or more usually called strawberry

tomato in our seed catalogues, is Physalis pubescens L., an Amer-

ican plant which furnishes one of our minor vegetable products.

- This plant is said by Gray to be common southward and west-

_ ward in the United States ; and it is the camaru of Brazil It is

1 Masters, Treas. of Bot.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 445

described by Parkinson’ under the name of Hadicacabum f. alk.

virginiense, and by Feuille? under the name of Alkekengi virgini-

anum fructu luteo these names indicating its American origin.

P. peruviana Hort., the alkekengi of Peru or Capuli, is cultivated

in French gardens, but it differs but slightly from P. pubescens

Pickering’ says it is a native of tropical America, and has a Carib

name, sovsovrov-scoroo (Desc.), and is called in Tagalo potocan

(Blanco). Mueller® says P. peruviana L.,.is a native of temperate

and tropical America, and is now naturalized widely in many coun-

tries of the warmer zone, a perennial, but in colder climates an an-

nual. P, barbadensis Jacq., is another species sometimes cultivated

in France’ and a native of Barbadoes.’ P. mexicana Vil., probably

synonymous with P. edulis Sims., is grown in France, and the

seed sold under the name of petite tomate du Mexique, accord-

ing to Vilmorin (l. c.), but as grown at the New York Agricultu-

ral Experiment eae it appears to answer to the description of

P. angulata L. (var. ? philadelphica Gray ?), but the fruit larger

than in the description. If this supposition be correct it was

mentioned by Camerarius in 1588, Parkinson 1640, etc. Sloane

mentions its occurrence in Jamaica.” Pickering” says it is a native

of tropical America, but it seems to have a Malabar name, znota

inodien (Rheede), Burmese pungben (Mason), Ylocano tuttullacac

(Blanco), on Tahiti zamani (Bertero), on the Hawaiian islands

kamani. Mueller™ says it occurs in many tropical countries, ex-

tending as a native plant to the northern part of the United States

and to Japan.

The old world alkekengi is P. alkekengi L., ‘well known to the

ancients, and described by Dioscorides. It does not now seem

to be cultivated as a kitchen garden plant, having been super-

ceded by the American species.

The fruit of the strawberry tomato is much esteemed by some

1Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, 462.

2 Obs. faites sur les cotes orientales de Amerique meridionale, Paris, 1714-25.

3 Miller’s Dict.

*Vilmorin. Les Pl. Pot., p. 4.

5 Chron, Hist. of Pi, 755.

€ Select rhage p. 165.

Lunan. Hort. Jam., 1, 303.

10}, c., 429.

aLe 6

ee se

446 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. (May,

people in a raw state or in preserves, and is disliked by others. It

has a sweet acidulous taste with a pronounced flavor, considered

by some as agreeable, by others as nauseous. It was not known

in French kitchen garden culture in 1829 (not being mentioned

in L'Hort. Francais, 1824-5, Nouv. Dict. du Jard., 1826, nor by

Noisette, Man. du Jard., 1829), nor was the seed in the catalogue

of Thorburn in 1828, which would indicate that it was not then

in American gardens. P., alkekengi, according to Loudon, was

cultivated in most gardens in England till in the last century, and

he says several other hardy species, including P. pubescens, also

produce edible fruit. Alkekengi is described in several varieties

or species by Burr in his American “ Garden Vegetables,” edition

of 1863, but I have no opportunities of library conveniences to

establish when our — first appeared in kitchen garden

culture.

Bean: Kidney —We have few vegetables as difficult to trace

historically as the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris Savi.), on

account of the confusion which exists not only in the vernacular

names customarily applied to this group of the Leguminose by

common people, but also on account of the likeness which ap-

pears to exist between deans of various botanical genera. Ina

finely arranged museum collection of substances used in the arts,

and arranged by a gentleman of unusual scientific attainments, I

very recently was much surprised to recognize the Soja bean

under the name “ Beans from Japan,” and also to recognize a

variety of Dolichos under a similar mislabeling. The bean serves

as a food, and is carried as provision from place to place without

destruction of its value as a seed, and hence we should expect a

more rapid and less recorded introduction to a new locality than

is generally the case with a desirable vegetable, and this quick

distribution is illustrated by the mention, by Josselyn, one of the

early writers of New England, of the “ American beans ” of many

kinds, and also Bonivis, Calavances and the “ 4idney-bean that is

proper to Roanoke,” and he adds: “ But these are brought into the

country; the others are natural to the climate.’

In De Candolle’s writings upon geographical botany, he seems

to ignore authors who might be quoted to fortify an opinion upon

the American origin of plants, as his references show dependence

` 1 Hort. Lond., 1860, p. 582.

_ *Josselyn’s Voyages, pp. 73-74.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 447

more upon botanical writers than upon mention by voyagers and

historians. If we peruse the early accounts of American discov-

ery, we find beans mentioned as of almost universal occurrence

among the native tribes, but what bean was meant must be in-

ferred from other data. In the north-eastern portion of America

it is probable that such mention is of Phaseolus vulgaris; in the

central portion, of this and some species of the Dolichos ; further

south, the Dolichos and lima are perhaps often included; in the

south-west, the mesquit bean. All these sorts, whichever genus

was intended, served as food for the traveler, and were doubtless,

all but the mesquit, secured as provision by the many exploring

vessels victualed in those times from the productions of the coun-

tries visited.

We have absolutely no certain information which leads us to

suppose that Phaseolus vulgaris existed in the old world before

the discovery of America. The only evidence we find is the

early use of the word “kidney-bean” by voyagers, as when

Columbus, in 1502, found “ red and white beans, resembling the

kidney-beans of Spain,”? but this is in a translation; or when

Strachey says the beans of Virginia “are the same which the

Turks call garvances ;’” but Strachey was in Virginia in 1610,

and before this the kidney-bean seems well known in Southern

Europe. There is no certainty that it was known to the ancient

Greeks and Romans. According to De Candolle? this bean is

not among the numerous seeds that have been unearthed from

the ruins of ancient Troy, nor has it been found in the lacustrine

débris of the lakes of Switzerland, Savoy, Austria and Italy.

There is no proof that it existed in ancient Egypt. It is not

mentioned by ancient Chinese authors. The authors of the

fifteenth century, such as Crescenzio and Macer Floridus, do not

speak of it. The authors of the sixteenth century, after the dis-

covery of America, all publish figures and descriptions of P. vul-

garis with an infinity of varieties.’ Kidney-beans are stated to

have been introduced into England " 1597, some say imported

from the Netherlands as early as 1509.° French beans are, how-

1Knox. Coll. of Voy., 1767, I, 147-

amabas Virginia. Hak. Soc. ed., 117.

3 Origine des Plants Cultivées, 272.

t Bretschneider. On the study and value of Chinese botanical works, &c.

5 De Candolle, l. c., 272.

6 W. S. Booth, Treas. of Bot.

448 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [ May,

ever, mentioned by Barnaby Googe in 1572, which name indi-

cates their previous introduction into France. In 1640 Parkin-

son? says in his quaint form: “ There hath come likewise unto us

and others both from Africa, Brasill, the East and West Indies,

Virginia, &c., sundry other sorts and varieties which were endless

to recite, or at least useless, but onely to behold and contemplate

the wonderfull works of the Creator in those his creatures.” The

mention of a Faseolus by Albert le Grand, which De Candolle

takes to be a dwarf bean, may well apply to some species of Dol-

ichos, probably D. umguiculaius L. There is no indication of an

early introduction into India, as De Candolle remarks, and Wal-

ter Elliot* says that P. vulgaris is not an article of field produce

in Southern India nor of general use among the natives, its cul-

ture being confined to gardens near European settlements.

The evidence for the antiquity of the bean in America is both

circumstantial and direct. The number of names given in the

northern parts of America alone indicate an antiquity of culture,

such as sahe or sahu on the St. Lawrence (Cartier), ogaressa by

the Hurons (Sagard), éwppuhguam-ash, “twiners,’ by the North-

ern Algonquins (Elliot), a’teba’kwe by the Abenaki of the Ken-

nebec (Rasle), mushaquissedes by the Pequods (Pres. Stiles), mal-

achxil by the Delawares (Zeisberger), ofindgier on the Roanoke,

etc.; and in these few cases, for illustration, we find no common

root. The number of varieties that were grown by the Indians

are also another indication of antiquity of culture, but this fact of

varieties will receive illustration in our quotations from early voy-

agers.

John Verarzanno, in a letter written in July, 1524, says of the

Indians of Norum Bega: “ Their ordinairie foode is of pulse,

whereof they have great store, differing in colour and taste from

ours, of good and pleasant taste.” Evidently this first visitor to

the New England coast had never seen kidney-beans previously.’

In 1605 Champlain, writing of the Indians of the Kennebec

-region says: “ With this corn they put in each hill three or four

Brazilian beans (Febues du Bresil), which are of different colors.

_ When they grow up they interlace with the corn which reaches

* Bot. Soc. of Edinb., VII, 291.

_ *Hakluyt. Divers Voyages to Am., p. 61,

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 449

to the height of from five to six feet; and they keep the ground

very free from weeds.” In 1614 Capt. John Smith mentions

“beans” among the New England Indians,’ and when the Pil-

grims first landed, Nov. 19, 1620, Miles Standish unearthed from

a pit not only corn but “a bag of beans.” Wood also mentions

“Indian beans” as among the foods of the Massachusetts Indians,

1629-33.° Lescarbot* says that the Indians of Maine, 1608, like

those of Virginia and Florida, plant their corn in hills, “and be-

tween the kernels of corn they plant beans marked with various

colors, which are very delicate: these, because they are not so

high as the corn, grow very well among it.” The most com-

plete enumeration of varieties are, however, given in Josselyn,

before 1670: “French beans: or rather, American beans. The

herbalists call them kidney-beans from their shape and effects:

for they strengthen the kidneys. They are variegated much,—

some being bigger, a great deal, than others ; some white, black,

red, yellow, blue, spotted: besides your Bonivis and Calavances,

and the kidney-bean that is proper to Roanoke. But these are

‘brought into the country ; the others are natural to the climate.”®

In 1535 Cartier, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, found

“beans of every color, yet differing from ours.”

In 1609 Hudson, exploring the river which now bears his name,

found within the limits of what is now Rensselzr county, N. Y.,

“beans of the last year’s growth.” In 1653 Van der Donck, in

his Description of the Netherlands, says: “ Before the arrival of -

the Netherlanders [1614] the Indians raised beans of various

kinds and colors, but generally too coarse to be eaten green, or

to be pickled, except the blue sort, which are abundant.’* In

1633, De Vries “proceeded in the yacht up the [Delaware] river,

to procure beans from the Indians.”?

“Beans” were seen by Newport, in 1607, in ascending the

James river? but Heriot, in 1586, describes the okindgier of Vir-

1Champlain’s Voy. Prince. Soc. ed., 64.

2 The Disc. of New Eng, Peter Force Coll. of Tracts, II, 16.

"N. E Pios., pt. 2, ch. 6.

* Hist. Nouv. France, 1612, 835.

5 Quoted by Gray and Trumbull, 4m. Jour. of St., Aug. 1883, p. 132.

8 Josselyn’s Voyages, 73, 74.

1N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll. 2d ser., 1, 300, 325.

8Gray and Trumbull, l. c., 134.

9 Hazard’s Annals of Pa., 31.

1 Pickering, Ch. Hist. of Pl. 575.

VOL. XIX,—NO, V. 29

450 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [ May,

ginia, “ called by us beans, because in greatness and partly in

shape they are like to the beans in England, saving that they are

flatter, of more divers colours, and some pied. The leaf also of

the stem is much different”! In 1700-8 Lawson? says: “ The

kidney-beans were here before the English came, being very plen-

tiful in Indian corn-fields. The ‘bushel bean,’ a spontaneous

growth, very flat, white and mottled with a purple figure, was

trained on poles, [This is undoubtedly the lima, as it answers to

the description given to me by a very credible person who se-

cured for me samples from a spontaneous plant in Florida, ‘the

trunk as large as a man’s thigh, and the plant known for the past

twenty-five years, some years yielding as much as fifty bushels

of pods,’ and the seeds smaller than the cultivated lima, very

flat, white and mottled with purple.} Indian rounceval or mirac-

ulous pulse, so called from their large pods and great increase ;

they are very good, and so are the bonavis, calavances, nanticokes

and abundance of other pulse, too tedious to mention, which we

find the Indians possessed of when first we settled in America.”

[ Bonavis is perhaps bonavista, a variety of bean sold by Thorburn,

a New York seedsman, in 1828. The donxavista bean (Long) of

Jamaica, is said to be Lablab vulgaris ; calavances is the Barbadoes

name for Dolichos sinensis L., as used by Long, a red bean; and

galavangher pea is the Barbadoes name for D. barbadensis

Mayc.] In A true declaration of Virginia, London, 1610, p. 12,

_ “the two beanes [planted with the corn] runne-upon the stalks of

- the wheat, as our garden pease upon stickes.”

In 1528 Narvaes found beans in great plenty in Florida

and westward, and de Vaca found beans in New Mexico or

Sonora in 1535. De Soto, 1539, also found beans in abun-

dance,‘ and mentions that “the granaries were full of maes and

“small beans,” but we have no clue to the species. Beans are also

mentioned in Ribault’s voyage, in 1562, as cultivated by the

Florida Indians,

The mentions of beans in Mexico are frequent. The Olmecs

raised beans before the time of the Toltecs, as Veytia informs us;’

1 Pinkerton’s Voy., XII, 595.

_ * Voyage to Carolina, pp. 76, 77.

- §Cabeza de Vaca’s Relation.

*A relation of the invasion and conquest of Florida (no title page).

Š Hist. Antiq. de Mejico, 1, 154.

1885.] Kitthen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 451

beans were a product of the Nahua tillage ; they are mentioned

by Acosta Alarcon speaks of their culture by the Indians of the

Colorado river in 1540; Alvarado of their culture by those of the

valley of del Norte in 1541; and Vinegas says £idney-beans were

grown by the Indians of the Colorado river in 1758. The native

Mexican name was ayacotle, according to Humboldt, and Ban-

croft says that they were the “eg” of the Aztecs, when boiled in

the pod exot/,

In November, 1492, Columbus, in Cuba, found “a sort of

beans,” or “ fields planted with faxones and habas very different

from those of Spain,’ and red and white beans were afterwards

seen by him in Honduras, according to Pickering. Oviedo

says in Nicaraugua many varieties of beans are raised,’ and Gray

and Trumbull quote Oviedo as saying that on the island and

on the main many bushels are harvested every year, and in

the province of Nicaraugua they are indigenous, and a great

number of bushels are produced yearly of these and of other

Jesoles of other sorts and different colors.*

The Indians of Peru, according to de Vega, had three or four

kinds of beans called purutu? Squier found lima beans in the

mummy covering of a woman from the huaca at Pachacamac,

Peru :” and Stevenson also found beans in his exploration of

Peruvian tombs which antedated the conquest." Wittmack, who

studied the beans brought from Peruvian tombs by Reiss and

Strobel, identified the lima beans and also three kidney-beans

with P. vulgaris purpurens Martens, P. vulgaris ellipticus precox

Alefield, and P. vulgaris ellipticus atrofuscus Alefield.”

In Chili Molina says that before the country was conquered by

the Spaniards, “thirteen or fourteen kinds of the bean, varying

but little from the common European bean, were cultivated by the

1 Bancroft’s Native Races, II, 347.

2 Hist. de las Zud, Seville, 1590.

3 Knox Coll. of Voy., I, 83.

4$ Gray and Trumbull, l. c., 130.

5 F. Colomb., 28 to go.

ê Chron. Hist. of Pl., 375.

1 Hist. Gen., 1, 285. .

"1. 6., 141,

® Royal Com. Hak. Soc. ed., 11, 358.

1 Peru, 78.

u Travels, 1, 328.

12 De Candolle, Origine des Pl. Cult., 278.

452 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [May,

natives. One of these has a straight stalk, the other thirteen are

climbers.”?

In the face of this evidence, which might be even more multi-

plied from my notes, it seems unreasonable in De Candolle to

doubt the American origin of the common kidney-bean, and his

conclusion as shown by his classing “ Haricot Commun Phaseo-

lus vulgaris” under “ Especes d’un origine Completement incon-

nue ou incertaine” seems to show that with him more evidence

is required in the case of American plants than to locate others

which are of probably European or Asiatic origin.

Bean: Lima.—The lima bean is unquestionably of American

origin, and De Candolle assigns its original habitat to Brazil,

where the variety macrocarpus Benth., has been found growing

wild? Seeds have been found in the mummy graves of Peru, as

by Squier at Pachahamac, and by Reiss and Stubel at Ancon.‘

In Southern Florida the lima bean, the seeds, white blotched

or speckled with red, is found growing spontaneously in aban-

doned Indian plantations,. and various forms are recorded by

` authors under specific names as found in America and other

countries, as P. bipunctatus Jacq., P, inamoenus L., P. puberulus

Kunth., P. sazcharatus Macf., &c.,° P. derasus Sehirarik (Martens),

F Pifus. Jacq., etc. In the mentions of beans by voyagers this

form is not discriminated from the kidney-bean, and hence we

cannot offer precise statement of its occurrence from such author-

ities.

It is now widely distributed. It has not been found wild in

Asia, nor has it any modern Indian or Sanscrit name (De Can-

dolle); Ainslie says it was brought to India from the Mauritius,

and is the vellore or duffin bean of the southern provinces. Wight

says it is much cultivated, is seldom if ever found in a wild state,

and the large podded sort is said to have been brought by Dr.

Duffin from the Mauritius.” It is not mentioned by the early

1 Hist. of Chili, 1, 91.

? Orig. des Pl. Cult., 275.

> Peru, 78.

*De Candolle, 1. c., 273.

5 Letter of W. S. Allen, Chocaluskee.

ê De Candolle, 1. c.

1 Millers Dict,

8 Mat. Med., 1, 28.

? Icones Plant. PL, 755.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 453

Chinese writers,’ but Louriero mentions it in Cochinchina in his

day (1790). A dark red form came to Martens from Batavia, and

an orange-red from farther India” Schweinfurth found it in Cen-

tral Africa,> Martens‘ received it from Sierra Leone, the form

bipunctatus came from the Cape of Good Hope to ‘Vienna, and

Martens received it from Reunion under the name Pots du Cap.

As Jaquin wrote in 1770 this fixes its appearance in Austria, but

it only first reached England in 1779 The form zxamanus was

considered by Linnzus to belong to Africa, but he advances, as

De Candolle remarks, no evidence of this habitat, and we may

remark that the slave trade may well be responsible for the trans-

mission very quietly of South American species of food plants of

convenient characters for ship use to the African coast. P. der-

asus Schrank, considered by Sprengel a variety of P. inamænus,

was found at Rio Janeiro.

The lima bean is the scimetar podded kidney-bean and sugar

bean of Barbadoes ;* it was mentioned in Jamaica by Lunan ;’- it

may have been “the bushel bean,” “ very flat, white and mottled

with a purple figure,” of the Carolinas in 1700-8,” as this descrip-

tion applies very closely to the lima beans now spontaneous in

Florida. Two varieties, the “ Carolina” or sieva and the “ lima,’

were grown in American gardens in 1806. Eight varieties, some

scarcely differing, are now offered for sale by our seedsmen: Vil-

morin enumerates four for France; the speckled form occurs

in Brazil™ and in Florida; a black form (P. derasus) in Brazil ; the

blood red in Texas;” the dark red with light or orange ruddy

spots in the Bourbon isles (Jacquin); the black white-streaked

in Cochin China (Loureiro); and the large white, small white or

sieva, the red, the white striped and speckled with dark red, and

the green, in our gardens. In Central Africa but two seeds are

1 Bretschneider, On the study and value of Chinese botanical works.

2 Martens, Die Gartenbohne, 96

* Africa, 11, 254.

5 Miller’s Dict.

8 Millers Dict.

1 Martens, 1. c.

8 Schomburgh, Hist. of Barb., 605.

* Hort. Jam., 1, 434.

10 e Voy. to Car., 76-77.

artens.

454 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [May,

ever found in a pod,! in our most improved varieties five or even

six,

Beans : Asparagus.—The asparagus bean has its popular char-

acter indicated by its other name, yard-long, indicating the ex-

treme length of its pods, which often attain a length of two feet.

It is the Dolichos sesquipedalis L., and is said to be a native of

the West Indies and of tropical America, and I find no mention

of other origin accredited to it. It was included in American

seed catalogues in 1828,? and was described as a garden plant in

America by Fessenden, 1828, and in France by Noisette.* It is

said to have been first introduced into England in 1781.5 It may

have been the “Indian rouncival, or miraculous pulse, so called

from their long pods and great increase: they are very good” of

Lawson, 1700-8, found on his journey to Carolina, but the

species was not named by Linnzus before 1762, by Reichard

before 1772, nor by Jacquin before 1770-6, No varieties are now

sold by our seedsmen, nor has any but the original form been

described. My notes are very deficient regarding this species.

The name of asparagus bean is probably derived from the lack

of membrane, and hence tender character of the pods, which are

cooked and eaten as a string bean.

Bean: Scarlet Runner.— The culture of the scarlet runner,

Phaseolus multiflorus Lam., is very modern. In Johnson’s edition

of Gerarde, 1630, it is said to have been procured by Tradescant ;

in Ray’s time, 1686, it was grown for ornament; Miller, about

1750, was the first to bring it into repute in England as a vegeta-

ble” In America it was mentioned by M’Mahon in 18068 as cul-

tivated exclusively for ornament; in 1821 it is included by Thor-

burn among vegetables,’ in 1828 the scarlet and white Dutch are.

both mentioned among garden vegetable seeds,” and in 1828 or

before, both varieties with white or scarlet flowers were grown in

France under the name Haricot d’Espagne.”

1 Schweinfurth, 1. c.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 455

The species is classed as American by Unger, and is described

in 1635 under the name Phaseolus puniceo flore, by Jac. Cornuti,

in his Canadensium Plantarum Historia, and in 1640 by Parkin-

son under the name of P. flore coccineo Four forms are described

by Martens? under Phaseolus multiflorus Savi., two of these, the

black and the white seeded, were cultivated by Titius in 1654

under the name P. indicus flore miniato, semine negro and semine

albo, the names indicating a West Indian origin; one, the scarlet

runner, was first mentioned by Cornuti, 1635 ; and the fourth, the

P. multiflorus bicolor Arrabida, was first described in the flora of

_ Rio Janeiro, 1827. It is now grown in gardens in Europe, and

is mentioned for India by Firminger.$

But three varieties are known to our seedsmen, the scarlet run-

ner, the seeds black mottled with dull lilac; the painted lady,

the seeds brown mottled with creamy white; and the white or

Dutch with white beans.

Cucumber—One species of cucumber, Cucumis anguria L. (C

echinatus Moench., C. angurioides Roem., C. sylvestris americanus,

_ angurie folio Pluk., &c., C. asininus Piso, according to Naudin) is

considered to be of American origin by botanists from Tourne-

fort down to our own day, and its habitat is given by Naudin as “An-

tilles, Continental Tropical and Sub-tropical America, Brazil, New

Granada, South Florida.” De Candolle* seems to think its Amer-

ican origin doubtful, and is disposed to refer it to tropical Africa.

Naudin, the authority on Cucurbitacez, refers to this species the

guarerva ova, or C. asininus of Piso, 1658, found wild in Brazil;

Sloane, 1707,° evidently describes this or an allied species in

Jamaica; Long, 1774,° speaks of it as growing wild there,

and it is mentioned as growing plentifully there by later writers,

as Lunan’ and Titford® In Barbadoes it is mentioned by Hughes,

1750, under the name “ wild cucumber vine.”

“ Cucumbers” are mentioned by a few of the early writers on

American affairs. They were among the plants grown by the

1 Miller’s Dict. :

2 Die Gartenbohnen.

3 Gard. in India, 151.

Origin of Cult. Plants, 267, 441.

5 Nat. Hist, of Jam., 1, 227.

ê Jam., 801. :

8 Hort. Bot. Am., 100.

9 Schomburgh, Hist, of Barb., 593.

456 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [May,

companions of Columbus at Isabella island in 1494, but these

were undoubtedly from European seed. De Soto, however,

found “ Cucumbers better than those of Spain” in his inva-

sion of Florida, 1539;? Cartier found “very great cucum-

bers ” cultivated by the Indians at Montreal, 1535, the epithet

very great indicating the European cucumber however. Per-

haps the cucuméers cultivated by the Florida Indians, as men-

tioned by Ribault, 1562,3 and those seen by Captains Amidas and

Barlow in Virginia, 1584, but not those seen in Virginia in 1609,”

were this species. “Cowcombers” were also planted on the Ber-

mudas in 1609.

The “ Concombre’arada” is largely cultivated in some of the

West Indies, and under the name “ West India gherkin” appears

in the catalogues of our seedsmen. It seems to have been intro-

duced into French garden culture by Vilmorin in 1858, but it is

mentioned as grown in France by Noisette in 1829; it was culti-

vated in England by Miller in 1753, but probably only as a

botanical curiosity, It was in American gardens, as a pickle

plant, prior to 18287 The lack of its mention by early writers,

and the circumstance of its being reported as wild only in the

track of the slave trade, would throw doubts upon its American

origin; on the other hand we seem to have fewer specific reasons

for assigning its origin to Africa or elsewhere. For the present

then it must be considered as an American plant.

Garlic, Leek, Onion, Chives—Neither the leek, garlic or onion

are American plants. It is curious, therefore, to observe that

Cortes, on the authority of Humboldt’ cites onions, leeks and

garlic among the edibles found on the march to Tenochtitlan.

“ Onyons” and “ garlicke ” are also mentioned by Peter Martyr,’

and also “ Cibaioes and macoanes, like unto onions” in the West

Indies.” The “ wild leekes ” formerly eaten by the New England

1 Irving’s Columbus, New York, 1859, 1, 380.

2 Portuguese rarity 44, 46.

3 Hak. Soc. Vol. vı

t Smith’s Virginia, 166, Park. Voy., XIII.

5A True Decl. of Va., London, 1610, p. 13.

ê Newes from the eines Lond., 1613, 20

eo, * Decades Il,

oe 1 Eden’s Hist, of Trav., 1577, 142.

1885.] Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the Eocene Period, etc. 457

natives! is probably Adium canadense L., and these are now rel-

ished by the Maine Indians. This species also furnishes food to

the Indians of the Northwest? and with A. cernuum formed

almost the entire source of food for Marquette and his party on

their journey in 1674 from Green bay to Chicago (to use modern

geographical locations). This species does not, however, extend

to Mexico, and we do not find mention of species native to the

West Indies which would explain P. Martyr’s or Cortes’ mention,

although A. gracile Ait., the Jamaica garlic, might answer for

one, for these old warriors were not very choice in their applica-

tion of well-known names to newly discovered plants, if there

was any apparent resemblance. We may only suppose that the

introduction of these vegetables from the West Indies, where

brought by the Europeans, to Mexico, may have preceded the

appearance of the Spaniard.

The chives (Aium schenoprasum) occurs in America about

Lake Huron, and is also wild in Temperate and Northern Eu-

rope, Siberia and Kamschatka.’

(Tobe continued.) .

10:

THE LEMUROIDEA AND THE INSECTIVORA OF

THE EOCENE PERIOD OF NORTH AMERICA.

BY E. D. COPE.

WO distinct divisions are included in this article, because the

material is not yet sufficiently complete to enable me to refer

certain forms to the one rather than the other. The only charac-

ters on which the osteologist can rely in endeavoring to distin-

guish the two groups are these: First, the terminal phalanges of

the Insectivora are compressed and curved, forming claws; while

those of the Lemuroidea and of most other Primates are more or

less flat, and at the extremity rounded and depressed,* or more or

less like hoofsë Second, the hallux or inner toe of the posterior

foot is opposable to the others, a character dependent on the

form of the entocuneiform bone of the tarsus, which has in that

1 Josselyn’s Rarities, 84.

2R. Brown, Bot, Soc. of Ed.,1x, 380.

3 De Candolle, Origin of Cult. Pl, 437-

*See Adeantcan NATURALIST, April, 1885, where the Condylarthra are referred,

with the Quadrumana, to the Ungulata.

5 The marmosets are exceptions, having true claws.

458 The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the [May,

case a rounded distal extremity, forming part of a cylinder

directed more or less fore and aft, for articulation with the meta-

tarsus or proximal element of the great toe. In the Insectivora

this structure is wanting, the inner toe being fixed in a position

parallel with the others as in the Carnivora. In the Lemuroidea

the position of the thumb or pollex is less different from what

is seen in the Insectivora, than is the case with the posterior foot.

In the true lemur the thumb is but little opposable, except in the

genus Chirogaleus and some others. The distal end of the tra-

pezium bone of the carpus with which the thumb articulates, does

not form a part of acylinder in the Lemur or in the Tarsius.

When the thumb becomes opposable in the monkey proper, the —

thumb facet of the trapezium is not rounded, but is wide and a

little concave. It is not till we reach the man-like opposable

thumb of the anthropoid apes that we find this bone presenting

to the thumb a semicylindrical face like that of the entocunei-

form bone of the posterior foot.

The Condylarthra as I have pointed out must be regarded as

a division of the order of Taxeopoda, along with the Hyracoidea,

the lemurs, the monkeys and man. The difference between the

hoofs of Phenacodus and the ungues of Lemur is too slight to

admit of wider separation: and the other parts of the structure

show an equal agreement. There is no trace of opposability of

the hallux in Phenacodus however, nor any os centrale of the car-

pus, characters which show that the suborder Condylarthra and -

Lemuroidea are distinct. In the pollex or thumb of Phenacodus,

however, there is a distinct indication of opposability, though it

is not so well developed as in the genus Lemur. The basal artic-

_ulation with the trapezium is narrow, but is directed partly fore

and aft, so that the thumb looks inwards. Its power of flexure

at the base has been slight, but the flexure at the base of the first

phalange has been such as to make the end of the thumb quite

opposable? From the Condylarthra then we trace the order

Quadrumana on the one hand, and the hoofed orders on the other.

_ In the following pages I will not attempt to distinguish which

of the genera are lemuroid and which are insectivorous, since the

phalanges are yet unknown. An exception must be made

in ‘the case of the genus Pelycodus, where a single compressed

| -P NATURALIST, April, 1885. Primates and Taxeopoda are there regarded as

~ ŽSee NATURALIST, 1884, Plate xx1x, for the skeleton of Phenacodus. *

1885. ] Eocene Period of North America, 459

acute claw is known. This alone does not decide the question,

since such a claw exists on the second toe of many Lemuroidea.

These animals are readily distinguished into three divisions or

families by the number of their premolar teeth. There are four

such teeth in the Adapide; three in the Mixodectide, and two

in the Anaptomorphide. In the Adapidze we have the most

primitive type, and the one most nearly allied to the Condylar-

thra, from which they were probably derived. In the Mixodec-

tide we have the dental formula of the existing lemurs, with a

tendency in some of the genera to develop large cutting teeth in

the position of incisors, thus approaching the aye-aye. In

the Anaptomorphide, on the other hand, we find a dental for-

mula like that of the Simioidea and Anthropoidea, or higher

E ZZ

` FIG. 1.—Adapis parisiensis Cuv., skull nat size, from the Phosphorites of Central

France. From Filhol.

monkeys and apes; and in them we seem to geta hint of the

derivation of these higher forms, and of man himself.

The genera of the Adapidz are distinguished by various den-

tal characters. Such are the presence of a second anterior-inner

cusp of the inferior true molars; the presence of an internal cusp

of the fourth inferior premolar; the number of incisor teeth, and

number of single-rooted premolars. The difference between the

quadrituberculate and the quinquetuberculate inferior molar may

be understood by reference to Fig. 2, where the teeth of the gen-

era Hyopsodus (a) and Microsyops (2), which represent the two

, are placed side by side. :

oe (Notharctus, Tomitherium, Figs. 4-5) the fifth

cusp is present but weak. In others (Sarcolemur) it is repre-

460 The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the [ May,

sented by the anterior lobe of a twin or fissured anterior inner

Fic. 2.—Inferior molar teeth of (2) apa — Leidy, ~ (4) mapa

gracilis Marsh enlarged ta times linear, from Fig. ae, anterior extern

cusp; fe, p or externa cusp; az, anterior iinet aia Pi, T teia T usps

5 = or ciel anterior interna 1 cusp. From Leidy, Report U. S. . Surv

Terrs., F. V. Hayden in charge, Vol. 1.

cusp. To simplify the understanding of these differences, I give

the apei table:

. Inferior molars qadrituberculate.

Fourth aot premolar with internal cusp : cusp on last molar opposite ite

lyopsodus Leidy

Fourth inferior molar — internal cusp;. cusps opposite .... es arisen Cope.}

Cusps of last molar alte pisthotomus Cope.

If. Inferior molars i a

Anterior triangle not well developed on inferior molars.

Fifth cusp separated from anterior inner by an apical sega only. . Sarcolemur Cope.

Fifth cusp separated ; canine distinct; one premolar one-rooted. . Votharctus Leidy.

Fifth cusp well separated ; canine distinct; two weini one-rooted

Tomitherium Cope.

Adapis

Fifth cusp separated, low; canine incisor- or prem e

le well poA on all the inferior molars.

Canine distinct; one premolar one-rooted Pelycodus' Cope.

Jaws of four species of Hyopsodus are abundant in the Wa-

satch and Bridger Eocene beds, and a species. from the Puerco

has been doubtfully referred to it. The

best known species, the Æ. paulus Leidy

(Fig. 2), of the Bridger epoch, has the

jaws as large as those of a rabbit.. The

i H, vicarius Cope, was smaller (Fig. 3).

a * Nothing is known of the skeleton of any

bia ta nee te ha species of Hyopsodus. The only spe-

River (? Bridger) Eocene of cies of Apheliscus (A. insidiosus Cope)

: pea, feo den Mes kerr ae found Sa Se Wasatch beds of New

Report U. exico. It arge teeth in the posi-

ee ee tion of sectorials, a may be an —

rant Creodont. Nothing is known of it but jaws. Two species

-10f uncertain reference to this family and order.

1885.] Eocene Period of North America. 461

of Opisthotomus are known from the same horizon and locality,

from teeth only. The O. fagrans Cope is, with the Adapis mag-

nus Filh., the largest species of the family. Sarcolemur Cope in-

cludes a single species from the Bridger beds, of the size of the

Flyopsodus paulus. It has in its sharp dental cusps an effective

biting apparatus.

In Notharctus Leidy,

the fifth lobe of the true

molars begins to be

apparent, though it is

only present in the

first molar, where it is

represented by the in-

ternal extremity of an

anterior crest. The ca-

nine in this genus is Fic. 4.—Notharctus ep osus Leidy. a, mandible

well developed. Only fom ie sae at Meggan Fos Pioa

one species is certainly bess = Wyoming. From Leidy, ata U. S. Geol.

y Terrs., F. V. Hayden, Vol, 1

nown.

More of the skeleton

is known in the genus

Tomitherium Cope

than in any other one of

the family, and its rela-

tionship to the lemurs

wasthusindicatedat the

time of its original de- e

scription in 1872. Un-

fortunately the ungual

phalanges remain un-

known. As in Hyop-

sodus and Pelycodus,

there are but two infe-

rior incisors in the low-

er jaw, and these have

transverse cutting

iai Sa a ts a gg

oe A em a í,

edges, and are not pro- ied

duced as in recent Fic. 5 Tomit m Cope, mandible

i natu! I KE Y a, pete ear’ side; Fy ites above. Let-

apapa ters as in Fig. 2 Original, from Report U. S. Geol.

The first impression Survey Terrs., Vol. 11

462 The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the [ May,

derived from the appearance of the lower jaw and dentition, and

from the humerus, is that of an- ally of the coati (Nasua).

The humerus indeed, is almost a fac-simile of that of Nasua,

the only difference being a slight outward direction of the

axis of the head. The same bone resembles also that of many

marsupials, but the flat ilium, elevated position of dental for-

amen, and absence of inflection of the angle of the lower

jaw, etc., render affinity with that group highly improbable.

a tt a

Fic. 6.—Tomitherium rostratum Cope, fore leg of animal represented in Figs.

5-7, nat size. Fig. a, humerus; 4, ulna; c, radius, from front; 4’, from ag ars

proximal end (artificially flattened below w); ¢’’’, distal end of radius. From

beds of Wyoming. Original, from Report U. S. Geol. Surv. Terrs., Vol. e.

The length of the femur indicates that the knee was entirely

free from the body as in the Quadrumana, constituting a

marked distinction from anything known in the Carnivora, in-

_ cluding Nasua. The round head of the radius indicates a com-

plete power of supination of the fore foot, and is different in form

from that of Carnivora, including Nasua; and, finally, the distal

1885.] Eocene Period of North America. 463

end of the radius is: still

more different from that of

Nasua,and resembles close-

ly that of monkeys of the

genus Semnopithecus.

We have, then, an ani-

mal with a long thigh free

from the body, a manus

capable of complete pro-

nation and supination, and

details of lower jaw an

teeth quite similar to those

of the lower monkeys. The

form of the humerus and

its relative length to the

femur are quite as marked

as in some of the lemurs.

The most marked differ-

ence is seen in the increased

number of teeth; but in

this point it relates itself to

the other Quadrumana, as

the most ancient types oO

Carnivora and Ungulates

do to the more modern,

This genus is allied to

Adapis Cuvier, of the

French Eocene (Fig. 8),

but differs in the posses-

sion of but two incisors on

each side; in Adapis there

are three, according to Fil-

hol. From that genus and

Opisthotomus, it differs

in the structure of

the last inferior molar, as

exhibited in the analytical

There are several species

of Tomitherium, but the

Fic. 7.— — Tomitherium KAE ope, part

animal figured in Figs.

a, ilium inner si

posterior

ig.

ide; å, femur path Se do.

464 The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the [May,

best known is the T. rostratum from the Bridger formation of

Wyoming.

The following points may be gained by comparison with the

skeleton of Lemur collaris (catalogue Verreaux). There is con-

siderable resemblance in the details of structure of the molars

from the third to the sixth, inclusive. Of course the anterior

teeth differ widely in the two, and the last true molar of the

Lemur has no heel. The principal difference in the humeri is

seen in the superior size of the epicondyles of the T. rostratum,

and the rather more robust character of the shaft. The proximal

half of the ulna is deeper, and the olecranon is not so wide in 7.

rostratum. The proximal part of the radius is very similar

in the two species, but the distal extremity is in the 7. res-

tratum less transversely extended, and thicker anteroposte-

riorly. There is also much similarity in the ilia. The crest is

more extensive in T. rostratum, and the inferior border is thinner

at its proximal part. Towards the acetabulum the increase in

width of this border is similar, and the anterior inferior spine is

as prominent. The resemblance between the femora amounts to

identity of character; that of the T. rostratum is more robust.

The Mixodectide include four and perhaps five genera. In

Fic. 8.—Necrolemur antiquus Filh., skull natural size, from Phosphorites of Cen-

tral France. From Filhol Rech, s. les Phosph. de Quercy

two of these the incisors have their usual atin and space.

One of these Tricentes Cope, has large canines well separated. It

is uncertain whether the genus should not really be referred to

the Creodonta.' It contains three or four rather small species from

the Puerco formation of New Mexico. In Necrolemur the canine

is insignificant. One species of the genus, the W. antiquus Filhol,

is known. It is represented by a cranium in excellent preserva-

_ tion (Fig. 8) which has been fully investigated by Filhol. This

. able Se regards it as most nearly allied to the genus

= now existing in Africa. It furnishes conclusive evidence

SE ke former existence of lemurs in France.

1See NATURALIST, 1884, p. 353.

1885.] Eocene Period of North America, 465

Of the three genera with very large incisor (? canine) teeth,

Mixodectes has the last lower premolar with a simple cusp.

There are two species from the Puerco beds, The smaller of

these, M. pungens Cope (Fig. 9), is about the size of the kit fox.

Its premolars are of irregular size. In the two other genera the

fourth premolar has a second cusp on

the interior side of the principal one.

Both have the crowns of the inferior

true molars composed of two triangles

as in Mixodectes and Pelycodus. In

Microsyops Leidy, there is but one one-

rooted premolar. There are three spe- yc. SD cedate depo

cies from the Wasatch and Bridger beds. Cope, lower jaw right ramus,

The type is the M. gracilis Marsh (Fig. naturel Sie. Te ee

26), from the latter. It was a small ani- Report U. S. Geolog. Survey

mal, not exceeding a gray squirrel in iii

dimensions, In Cynodontomys the premolar teeth are more

reduced in size than in any of the allied genera, two of the three

being one-rooted. The large ? incisor a

tooth has a correspondingly large devel-

opment. The species was found by Mr.

Wortman in the Wasatch beds of the

Big Horn basin, Wyoming Terr. ee

The most evident lemuroids yet found A

in America belong to the family of the CSEE

Anaptomorphide. But one genus iS Fic. 10.—Cynodontomys lat-

certainly known to belong to it, Anapto- ond eee a

morphus Cope. The genus Indrodon’ Wyoming. Fig. a’, from

resembles it in dental formula excepting sbt oee a ta:

in the possession of three instead of two nı, F. V. Hayden in charge.

incisors. It embraces but one species, 7. ma/aris, which was

found by David Baldwin in the Puerco formation of New

Mexico. ,

Anaptomorphus was founded on the lower jaw of a small spe-

cies, A. emulus Cope, which does not exceed that of a ground

squirrel (Tamias) in size (Fig. 11). It agrees with a very few of the

living lemurs (Indrisinz) in the number of its teeth, but it differs

from them all in having short erect incisor teeth as in the higher,

monkeys. The molar teeth known are a good deal like those of

1 Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1883, p. 318.

VOL. XIX.—NO. V. 30

466 The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the [May,

the true monkeys in character, being quadrituberculate. The

last premolar is quite different, having a compressed, simple, cut-

ting crown. The ca-

nine is quite small, and

there is no diastema.

The evidence furnished

by this jaw was hap-

pily supplemented by

the discovery, at a later

day, of an almost en-

tire cranium of a close-

allied species in the

= ]

G, Tf. —Anaptomorphus amulus Cope, ifs ra 3

of mandible, twice natural size, linear; 4, inne > Wasatch beds of Wy

c, from above be

om ; d, from below. From Bridger ‘bed of oming by Mr. J. L.

Tonni. Origina al. Wortman. The spe-

cies it indicated is rather larger than the A. emulus, and I gave it

the name of A. homunculus (Fig. 12).

The characters of this genus now known warrant us in thinking

it one of the most interesting of Eocene Mammalia. Two spe-

cial characters confirm the reference to the Lemuroidea which its

Fic. 12.—Anaptomorphus homunculus, skull, natural size except Fig. d which is

one-half larger than nature, from the Wasatch beds of the Big Horn, Wyoming.

re. a, right side of skull; 4, oblique view of same showing outline of cerebral

emis

ey Ters.. 111, F. V. Hayden mpide

physiognomy suggests. These are the external position of the

1885.] Eocene Period of North America. 467

lachrymal foramen and the unossified symphysis mandibuli.

Among Lemuridz its dental formula agrees only with the Indri-

sinz, which have, like Anaptomorphus, two premolars in each

jaw. But no known Lemuridz possess interior lobes and cusps

of all the premolars, so that in this respect, as in the number of

its teeth, this genus resembles the higher monkeys, the Simiidz

and Hominide more than any existing member of the family. Of

these two groups the resemblance is to the Hominide in the

small size of the canine teeth. It has, however, a number of

resemblances to Tarsius, which is perhaps its nearest ally among

the lemurs, although that genus has three premolars. One of

these points is the anterior extension of the otic bulla, which is

extensively overrun by the external pterygoid ala. A conse-

quence of this arrangement is the external position of the fora-

men ovale, just as is seen in Tarsius. Another point is the prob-

ably inferior position of the foramen ovale. Though this part is

broken away in the cranium of Anaptomorphus homunculus, the

paroccipital process is preserved, and has the position seen in

Tarsius, as distinguished from the Indrisine, Lemuride, Gala-

ginz, etc. In this it also resembles the true Quadrumana.

When we remember that the lower Quadrumana, the Hapalidz

and the Cebide, have three premolar teeth, the resemblance of

Anaptomorphus to the higher members of that order is more

evident. The brain and its hemispheres are not at all smaller

than those of the Tarsius, or of the typical lemurs of the present

period. This is important in view of the very small brains of the

flesh-eating and ungulate Mammalia of the Eocene period so far

as yet known. In conclusion, there is no doubt but that the

genus Anaptomorphus is the most simian lemur yet discovered,

and probably represents the family from which the anthropoid

monkeys and men were derived. Its discovery is an important

addition to our knowledge of the phylogeny of man.

The Anaptomorphus homunculus was nocturnal in its habits,

and its food was probably like that of the smaller lemurs of

Madagascar and the Malaysian islands. Its large orbits and large

otic bullae indicate great acuteness of the senses of sight and

hearing. Its size is a little less than that of the Tarsus spectrum.

In Pelycodus we have a more decidedly insectivorous type of

dentition in the lower jaw, although that of the upper jaw

(Fig. 1) has a lemurine character. Enough of the poste-

468 The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora of the [May,

rior foot is mowi to show that its structure is like that

of. Condylarthra, lemurs and

the majority of the Insectiv-

ora (Figs. 14, 15, 16). The

quadrituberculate superior

molars (Fig. 1) forbid the ref-

m erence of the genus to the

Creodonta, and if all the un-

. gues are like that represented

in Figs. 11 d@, it cannot be

placed in either the Lemu-

roidea or Condylarthra, but is

an insectivore more or less al-

ene 13—Pelycodus puto Cope, portions of lied to the East Indian Tupæa.

natural voip- Fig. a, superior prieina from The ankle joint (Fig. 14) is

oe OTE ee : flat, or without trochlea. The

rior aad 4-6 and 7, from mie Original

from Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., 11. ` head of the astragalus is sim-

ple and convex, and is prolonged beyond the calcaneum, giving

space for a rather long cuboideum. The lower end of the fibula

is large (Fig. 15 4) and is extensively applied to the astragalus.

Fig. 14. ek I 5.

Fic. Mer —Pelycodus jarrovii Cope, ai joint, ee size. Fig. a, distal ieai

of tibia; 4, astragalus and calcaneum, external view; 4’, do., internal superio

view, From Wasatch bed New Mexico. Original, Troni Report U. S. Geol. r aie

W. of 1ooth meridian.

Fic. 15.—Pelycodus jarrovii Cope, individual represented in Fig. 14, nat. size.

Fig. a, head of radius; 4, distal end of fibula; c, Pi or scene d, entocuneiform, outer

side, d’, inn er side, @’’, distal end. Original, from eport U. S. Geol. Survey W.

-of rooth mer., G. M. Wheeler.

The entocuneiform bone (Fig. 15 d ) shows clearly that the hallux

1885.] Eocene Period of North America. : 469

was not opposable, a character which adds weight to those already

mentioned which indicate that the true place of

this genus is in the insectivorous order. The

large patella (Fig. 15 c) shows that the genus is

not marsupial. The head of the radius (Fig. 15

a) is an oval, agreeing in this with the orders

mentioned, excepting the Lemuroidea, and

showing that the supination of the manus could

be only imperfectly or not at all performed.

But three species of Pelycodus are known,

and these are confined to the Wasatch bed of

New Mexico and Wyoming. Two species for-

merly referred here have been separated under

the name Chriacus and placed in the Leptictidz

of the Creodont suborder.!

The family of the Arctocyonide includes

more or less.carnivorous animals with quadritu-

berculate true molars above. The known gen- T

era, of which there are four, possess large canine

teeth and quadrituberculate inferior molars,

The bones of Arctocyon have been described by V

Lemoine, so far as known, and they are like X on

those of Creodonta, having a flat astragalus and j) Z

an epicondylar foramen of the humerus. Their

quadritubercular superior molars place them in Ae

the Insectivora as I have defined that suborder? eh

Arctocyon primævus Blv., is a celebrated fossil of Tia pan ats ADE Seti

the Suessonian beds of France. The single spe- = aa reagan:

cies of Hyodectes and Heteroborus are each metapodial; 4, first,

from the Puerco beds of France. In America Oot sash ened: >

the family is represented by the genus Achzeno- side, and 2’, proxi-

don Cope, of which three species are known Som Wasatch bed

according to Osborn. The dentition is some-of New Mexico.

what suilline in character, and Mr. Osborn has

accordingly referred the genus fo the suilline Artiodactyla. As

none of the bones of the skeleton are known, the question

remains unsettled. The anterior crest of the glenoid cavity

grasps the condyle of the lower jaw as in a carnivorous animal,

1 See NATURALIST, 1884, pp. 348-352-

2 Report U. S. Geol, Survey Terrs., III, P- 739-

470 "The Lemuroidea and the Insectivora, ete. [ May,

but the character is also found in the peccary, The typical spe-

cies, A. insolens Cope (Fig. 17), is as large as the largest bears.

The A. robustus Osborn, is about the same size. A large part of

the skull has been discovered. This displays a very high sagittal

~oeo-9*'

.....-

1G. 17.—Achenodon insolens Cope, lower jaw, three-eighths nat. size, from

above, and right ramus from inner side, From Bridger epoch of Wyoming. Orig-

inal, from Vol. 111 Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., F. V. Hayden in charge.

crest and a very small space for a brain. Its brain was probably

of a low type, as has been shown to be the case in Arctocyon by

Gervais. In that genus the hemispheres are smooth and very

small, leaving the olfactory lobes and cerebellum entirely un-

1885.] Notes on the Labrador Eskimo, etc. 471

covered. The resemblance to the brain of the opossum is well

18.—Achenodon robustus Osborn, aoe one-fourth nat. size, from the peste, da

bed of the Washakie basin, Wyoming. Fig. 4, maxillary bone with teeth fro

low. From Osborn, Bulletin No. 3, E. M. Mus. Princeton College.

marked. In <Achenodon robustus the orbit is small, indicating

comparatively imperfect powers of vision (Fig. 1

10:

NOTES ON THE LABRADOR ESKIMO AND THEIR

FORMER RANGE SOUTHWARD.

BY A. S. PACKARD,

r is not my purpose to give an account of the Labrador Es-

kimo, but simply to put together what I have found in relation

to them in works referring to Labrador, and to add a few notes

made during two summers spent on that coast in 1860 and

1864. Although I was aware that the Eskimo formerly lived

as far south as the southern entrance to the Straits of Belle

Isle, where I saw two individuals in 1860, one said to be a fuil-

d Eskimo woman, I regarded them as stragglers from

the north. It now seems more probable, from the Rev. Mr-

Carpenter’s statement, to be hereafter given, and from the fact,

to be hereafter stated, that several hundred Eskimos lived at

472 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [May,

Chateau bay, opposite Belle Isle, in 1765, while others were known

to have extended as far east as the Mingan islands, that this race

had a more or less permanent foothold on the northern shores of

the Gulf of St. Lawrence. If this was so, it seems not im-

probable but that this roving race may have made, in very

early times, expeditions farther south to Nova Scotia and New

England. Here also comes to mind the theory of Dr. C. C.

Abbot, that the Eskimo formerly inhabited the coast of New

Jersey during the river terrace epoch.

Although at first disposed to reject such an assumption, the

examination we have made leads us to look with more favor

upon Dr. Abbot’s theory, and to think it not improbable that

long after the close of the glacial period, z. e., after the ice had

disappeared and during the terrace epoch, wien the reindeer

and walrus lived as far south as New Jersey, that the Eskimo,

now considered so primitive a race, perhaps the remnants of

the Palzolithic people of Europe, formerly extended as far as

a region defined by the edge of the great moraine; and as

the climate assumed its present features, moved northward.

They were also possibly pushed northwards by the Indians,

who may have exterminated them from the coast south of the

mouth of the St. Lawrence, the race becoming acclimated to

the arctic regions. All these hypotheses came up afresh in our

mind last summer when we began to collect these notes. Their

substantiality became more pronounced after reading the confirma-

tory remarks made by Professor E. B. Tylor at the Montreal

meeting of the British Association. We are not now, however,

prepared to adopt the view that the Norsemen did not go as far

south as Narragansett bay, and that the natives they saw were

not red Indians, their word “skralings” being indiscriminately

applied to any of the native tribes they saw. Two voyages from

Labrador to New England, not far possibly from the route taken

by the Norsemen, lead us to think that their vessels, with fair

winds, actually did sail a thousand miles to Cape Cod from South-

ern Labrador or Newfoundland in nine or ten days. We have

made the trip from Cape Cod to the Gut of Canso in about two

days, the time given in the Norsemen sagas; but we do not in-

tend at this time to touch upon this attractive subject.

We do find, however, unexpected confirmation of Professor

2 aS Tylor’s supposition that “ Eskimos eight hundred years ago, be-

1885. | and their former range Southward. - 473

fore they had ever found their way to Greenland, were hunting

seals on the coast of Newfoundland, and caribou in the forest,”

for these events did actually happen in Newfoundland, or at least

there are traces of Eskimo residence in large numbers at Chateau

bay in 1765, of their repeated crossing over to Newfoundland,

and of their learning a few French words from the French settlers.

At all events the facts we here present should induce our New

England and Canadian archzologists to make the most careful

examination of the’ shell-heaps about the mouth of the St. Law-

rence, and on the shores of Northern and Southern Nova Scotia,

as well as Maine and Northern Massachusetts for traces of Es-

kimo occupation.

Facts seem to confirm the early belief of the Greenland Danish

and Moravians that the Labrador Eskimo were an older people

than those who migrated into Greenland. In the extracts from

the appendix to Cranch’s History of Greenland given farther on,

we shall see that the Eskimo of these two regions differed in their

dress and kayaks, differences we have personally noticed.

Whether the Labrador Eskimo are an older stock than those

living directly north of Hudson’s bay we cannot say. Crantz,

- however, remarks: “ As early then as the year 1800 our mission-

aries learned from the reports of Northlanders, who visited their

settlements, that the main seat of the nation was on the coast and

islands of the north, beyond Cape Chudleigh.” Crantz, in a note,

(xv1) also claims: “There can be no hesitation in affirming that

Greenland was peopled from Labrador, not Labrador from Green

land,”

The theory that the Eskimo entered America by way of Be

ring strait, now generally received, was thus stated by Crantz

in 1767: “ Our Greenlanders it should seem having settled in Tar-

tary after the grand dispersion of the nations, were gradually im-

pelled northward by the tide of emigration, till they reached the

extreme corner of Kamtschatka, and finding themselves disturbed

even in these remote seats, they crossed the strait to the neighbor-

ing continent of America. * * * Our savages then retired

before their pursuers across the narrow strait, either by a direct

navigation, or by a more gradual passage from island to island, to

America, where they could spread themselves without opposi- ©

tion through the unoccupied wastes round the south-east part of

Hudson’s bay, or through Canada up to the northern ocean. And

474 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [ May,

here they were first met with in the eleventh century by the dis-

coverers of Wineland. But when they were compelled to evac-

uate these possessions likewise, by the numerous tribes of Indians

superior to themselves in strength and valor, who thronged to

the north out of Florida, they receded nearer to the pole, as far

as the 6oth deg. Here Ellis in his voyage to Hudson’s bay

- found the Esquimaux; resembling the Greenlanders in every par-

ticular of dress, figure, boats, weapons, houses, manners and cus-

toms. * * * The clerk of the California says that these

Esquimaux are grievously harassed by the Indians inhabiting

the south and west shores of Hudson’s bay, who are in all respects

a distinct race. An unsuccessful hunting or fishing expedition is

a sufficient pretext for their oppressors to fall upon them and take

them prisoners or murder them. These- acts of violence have in-

duced the fugitives to retreat so far to the northward ; and part

of them in all probability passed over to Greenland in the four-

teenth century, either crossing Davis’s strait in their boats from

Cape Walsingham, in lat. 66° to the South bay, a distance of

scarcely forty leagues, or otherwise proceeding by land round the

extremity of Baffin’s bay, where, if we may trust the reports of

the Greenlanders, stone-crosses, like guide-posts, are still to be

seen at intervals along the coast.”

That the Eskimo were more abundant on the eastern vee of

Hudson’s bay may be proved by the following extracts from

Coats’ Notes on the geography of Hudson’s bay, reprinted

by the Hakluyt Society® It appears from his notes that the

Eskimo inhabited Labrador from the Gulf of St. Lawrence

around to James bay, t. e., as far south in Hudson’s bay as Bel-

cher’s island (lat. 56° 06’) and the Sleepers. Their southern

range was probably Hazard gulf, in lat. 56° 22’; the coast of

Hudson’s bay is wild and barren, with floating ice. Speaking of

the barren, treeless coast from Cape Diggs to Hazard gulf, Coats

says: “ Doubtless the native Usquemows know the time and sea-

sons of those haunts, and nick it, for we found vestiges of them

1 Charlevois derives this name from the Indian word Zskimantsik, which in the

language of the Abenaquis signifies fo cat raw; and it is certain that they eat raw

fish.

2 Account of a voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage, Vol. Il, p- 43+

= ‘Notes on the Geography of Hudson’s bay, being the remarks of Capt. W. Coats

in many voyages to that locality between the years 1727 and 1751. Edited by John

Barrow. London, Hakluyt Society, 1852. 8vo.

1885.] and their former range Southward. 475

at all the places we stopt att.” From the foregoing extract it is

obvious that Capt. Coats obtained his knowledge of the Labra-

dor Indians and the Eskimo from his personal observations and

inquiries while in Hudson’s bay; he personally only by hearsay

received information that the Eskimo, by whalers called “ Hus-

kies,” lived as far south as St. Lawrence bay; but his statement

will be seen to be confirmed by Crantz. The northern Indians

mentioned by Coats are undoubtedly the Naskopies.

The following extracts from the appendix to Crantz’ History

of Greenland, English translation, fully prove that several hun-

dred Eskimo spent the summer at Chateau bay opposite the

north-eastern extremity of Newfoundland, and also crossed over

to the latter island, and must have been, for several years at least,

residents on the shores of the Strait of Belle Isle. The first

visit of the Moravians to the Labrador coast was in 1752; Chris-

tian Erbard, a Dutchman, but a member of the Moravian society,

‘ landed, in July in Nisbet’s haven, with a boat’s crew of five men

at a point north of this harbor; where all were murdered by the

Eskimo, the vessel returning to England, The next attempt to

approach the Eskimo was made in I 764, by Jens Haven, who

had labored for several years as a missionary in Greenland, and

had recently returned with Crantz to Germany. With letters of

introduction to Hugh Palliser, Esq., the governor of Newfound-

land, in May of the same year he arrived at St. Johns; “ but he

_ had to meet with many vexatious delays before he reached his

destination, every ship with which he engaged refusing to land

for fear of the Esquimaux. He was at length set on shore in

Chateau bay, on the southern coast of Labrador; here, however,

he found no signs of population except several scattered tumuli,

with the arrows and implements of the dead deposited near them.

Embarking again he finally landed on the Island of Quirpont or

Quiveron, off the north-east extremity of Newfoundland, in the

Strait of Belle Isle, where he had the first interview with the

natives. “The 4th September,” he writes in his journal, ‘ was

the happy day when I saw an Esquimaux arrive in the harbor. I

tan to meet him and addressed him in Greenlandic. He was

astonished to hear his own language from the mouth of an Euro-

oken French.” The next day eigh-

pean, and answered me in br

teen returned his visit. On the third day the Eskimo left the

harbor altogether, and after a short stay at Quirpont, Haven

returned to Newfoundland.

476 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [ May,

The following year Haven, with three other missionaries,

landed, July 17,1765, in Chateau bay, lat. 52°, on the south

shore of Labrador, opposite Belle Isle. “ Here the party sepa-

rated; Haven and Schlotzer engaging with another vessel, to

explore the coast northwards; they did not, however, accomplish

anything material in this expedition, nor did they meet with a

single Esquimaux the whole time. Drachart and John Hill

remained in Chateau bay, and were fortunate enough to have the

company of several hundred Esquimaux, for upwards of a month;

during which period they had daily opportunities of intercourse.

As soonas Sir Thomas Adams had received intelligence that they

had pitched their tents at a place twenty miles distant, he sailed

thither to invite them, in the name of the governor, to Pitts har-

bor. On the approach of the ship the savages in the kajaks

hailed them with shouts of Tout camarade, oui Hu! and the crew

returned the same salutation. Mr. Drachart did not choose to

join in the cry, but told Sir Thomas that he could converse with

the natives in their own language? When the tumult had sub-.

sided he took one of them by the hand and said in Greenlandic

“We are friends.” The savage replied, “We are also thy

friends.”

Crantz then describes from the notes of Haven and Drachart,

the peninsula of Labrador and some of the animals as well as the

habits of the Eskimos. These people remained at Chateau bay

through the summer until at least after the middle of September,

as on Sept. 12th and 13th the shallop ran ashore, and the Eskimo

invited them to lodge in their tents, carrying the missionaries

ashore on their backs,

The following extract shows that the Eskimo must, before the.

year 1765, have been in the habit of crossing the Straits of Belle

Isle and landing on Newfoundland :

“The governor wished to prevent them from crossing over to

Newfoundland, where, according to their own account, they pro-

cured a certain kind of wood not to be found in their country, of

which they made their darts. But since they interpreted this

prohibition as a breach of peace, it was rescinded, on their

promise to commit no depredation on the fishing vessels they

might meet with on the way; to which engagement they scrupu-

_lously adhered.”

_ The account then goes on to say that during the interval which

occurred between the visit of Haven and Drachart in 1765 and

1885.] and their former range Southward. 477

the foundation of the first missionary settlement at Nain in 1771,

“the old quarrels between the natives and the English traders

were resumed ; and as no one was present who could act as in-

terpreter and explain the mutual grounds of difference, the affair

terminated in bloodshed. Nearly twenty of the natives were

killed in the fray, among whom was Karpik’s father; he himself,

with another boy and seven females, were taken prisoners and

carried to Newfoundland. One of these women, of the name of

Mikak, and her son, were brought to England, where they recog-

- nized an acquaintance in Mr. Haven, who had formerly slept a

night in their tent. Karpik was detained by Governor Palliser,

with the intention of committing him to the care of Mr. Haven,

to be trained up for usefulness in a future mission to his country-

men.. He did not arrive in England till 1769, at which time he

was about fifteen years old.” He died in England of small-pox.

We glean a few more items from Crantz regarding the distribu-

tion, numbers, and habits of the Labrador Eskimos. The Mora-

vians, after founding Nain (lat. 56° 25’), determined to found two

other stations, one to the north and the other to the south. Ok-

kak (150 miles north of Nain in lat. 57° 33’) was thus founded on

land purchased from the Eskimo in 1775, Haven with his family

establishing himself there the following year. The reason for

founding these stations was for the reason that it “ was found in-

sufficient to serve as a gathering place for the Eskimo dispersed

along a line of coast not less than six hundred miles in extent,

especially as it afforded but scanty resources to the natives during

the winter season, when they had fewer inducements to rove from

place to place.”

In the summer of 1782 the Moravians began a third settlement

to the south, “on the spot which they had formerly marked out

and purchased from the Esquimaux. This station received the

name of Hopedale.” As obstacles to the missionary work were

the following : “ The spirit of traffic had become extremely prev-

alent amongst the Southern Esquimaux, the hope of exaggerated

advantages which they might derive from a voyage to the Euro-

pean factories, wholly abstracted their thoughts from religious

enquiries; and one boat-ldad followed another throughout the

summer. A Frenchman from Canada, named Makko, who had

newly settled in the south, and who sustained the double charac-

ter of trader and Catholic priest, was particularly successful in

478 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [May,

enticing the Esquimaux by the most tempting offers. Besides

the evil consequences resulting from these expeditions in a spirit-

ual point of view, so large a proportion of their wares was thus

conveyed to the south that the annual vessel which brought out

provisions and other necessaries for the brethren, and articles of

barter for the natives, could make up but a small cargo in return,

though the brethren, unwilling as they were to supply this fero-

cious race with instruments which might facilitate the execution

of their revengeful projects, furnished them with the firearms,

which they could otherwise, and on any terms, have procured

from the south.”

Crantz then mentions a feature of Eskimo life, which however

repugnant to the feelings of the Moravians, is of interest to the

ethnologist, and has not, so far as we are aware, been observed

among the Eskimo of late years. This is the erection of a tem-

porary winter éstufa or public game-house. “ A ache, or plea-

sure-house, which, to the grief of the missionaries, was erected

in 1777, by the savages near Nain, and resorted to by visitors

from Okkak, has been described by the brethren. It was built

entirely of snow, sixteen feet high and seventy feet square, The

entrance was by a round porch, which communicated with the

main body of the house by a long avenue terminated at the far-

ther end by a heart-shaped aperture, about eighteen inches broad

and two feet in height. For greater solidity the wall near the

entrance was congealed into ice by water poured upon it. Near

the entry was a pillar of ice supporting the lamp, and additional

light was let in through a transparent plate of ice in the side of

the building. A string hung from the middle of the roof, by

which a small bone was suspended, with four holes driven through

it. Round this all the women were collected, behind whom

stood the men and boys, each having a long stick shod with iron.

The string was now set a-swinging, and the men, all together,

thrust their sticks over the heads of their wives at the bone, till

one of them succeeded in striking a hole. A loud acclamation

ensued; the men sat down on a snow seat, and the victor, after

going two or three times round the house singing, was kissed by

all the men and boys; he then suddenly made his exit through

the avenue, and, on his return, the game was renewed.”

The narrative then goes on to state that “one of the objects of

Te the establishment at Hopedale had been to promote an intep- -

1885. ] and their former range Southward. 479

course with the red Indians who lived in the interior, and some-

times approached in small parties to the coast. A mutual reserve

subsisted between them and the Esquimaux, and the latter fled in

the greatest trepidation when they discovered any traces of them

in their neighborhood. In 1790, however, much of this coldness

was removed, when several families of these Indians came to

Kippokak, an European factory about twenty miles distant from

Hopedale. In April, 1799, the missionaries conversed with two

of them, a father and son, who came to Hopedale to buy tobacco.

It appeared that they were attached to the service of some Cana-

dians in the southern settlements, as well as many others of their

tribe, and had been baptized by the French priests. They evi-

dently regarded the Esquimaux with alarm, though they endeav-

ored to conceal their suspicions, excusing themselves from lodg-

ing in their tent on account of their uncleanly habits. At parting

they assured the brethren that they would receive frequent visits

from their countrymen, but this has not as yet been the case.”

From Cartwright’s “ Journal of a Residence in Labrador” we

glean the following statements, which certainly confirm those of the

Moravians: In 1765 a blockhouse was erected in a small fort at

Chateau bay to protect the English merchants from the Eskimo.

(Cartwright also gives'the best account we have seen of the Bethuks

of Newfoundland.) The southern tribe of Eskimo were at Cha-

teau bay in 1770, Cartwright observing that some Moravians were

there at the same time. He also states that there was an Eskimo

settlement “some distance to-the northward” of Cape Charles,

and that a family of nine Eskimo came to spend the winter living

near Cartwright’s house, and more Eskimo came to join them in

July, 1771, there being thirty-two in all; they traded whalebone

with the Eskimo to the northward. Cartwright saw deserted

Eskimo winter houses near Denbigh island.

In 1771 he saw an Eskimo pursuing a “ penguin” in his kayak

near Fogo island, off the coast of Newfoundland!

August 30, 1772, “500 or thereabouts ” Eskimo arrived at

Charles’ harbor from Chateau bay to the southward, to meet their

relations from London, whom Cartwright had the year previous

taken with him to London, some of them having died in Eng-

land of the small-pox. In April and May, 1776, Eskimo were

observed living near Huntington island. Many Eskimo died in

Ivuktoke inlet, probably from the small-pox, brought over from

480 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [May,

England. Cartwright also reports seeing Eskimo at Huntington

island in 1783, also at Chateau bay, where they were observed

in 1786.

The foregoing extracts abundantly prove that the Eskimo

_ repeatedly crossed to Newfoundland, residing, during the summer

at least, on the outer islands opposite Belle Isle. No reference is

made to the former presence of the Eskimo in Newfoundland. It

is not improbable that there was at least a slight intercourse, be-

tween the Bethuks, the aborigines of Newfoundiand, said to be

a branch of the Algonkins, and found to be in possession of the

island by Cabot in 1497. A stone vessel dug up with other

Bethuk remains, is “an oblong vessel of soft magnesian stone,

hollowed to the depth of two inches, the lower edges forming a

square of three and a half inches in the sides. In one corner is

a hollow groove, which apparently served as a spout.”! If this is,

as has been suggested to us by Professor Tylor, attributable to the

influence of Eskimo art, the style may have been suggested by

the possible intercourse of these aborigines with the wandering

imo.

In connection with the subject of the relations between the In-

dians of Newfoundland and the Labrador Eskimo, may be cited

the following statement of that industrious historian, the late

Jesuit, Father Vetromile. In an article entitled “ Acadia and its

Aborigines,” he says: “ The Etchimins, Micmacs and Abenakis

are very often considered as one nation, not only on account of

the similarity of their language, customs, suavity of manners and

attachment to the French, but also for their league in defending

themselves against the English. Although the Micmacs are

generally somewhat smaller in size than the other Indians of

Acadia and New France, yet they are equally brave. They have

made a long war against the Esquimaux (eaters of raw flesh),

whom they have followed and attacked in their caverns and rocks

of Labrador. Newfoundland must have several times been the

field of hard wars between the Micmacs and Esquimaux; the

latter were always chased by the former” (p. 339).

Whether these statements are well grounded, we cannot say,

: ean its history, its present condition, and its prospects in the future.

Joseph Hatton and the Rev. M. Harvey, Boston, 1883, p. 169. See also Mr.

Lloyd’ eyed, Jo of the Aisopos Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

? Collections of

of the Maine Hist. Soc., vit, pp. 339-349. 1876. Communicated

I 16, 1862.

1885.] and their former range Southward. 481

and have been unable thus far to obtain the sources from which the

author drew his conclusions that there were contests between the

Eskimo and Indians on Newfoundland soil. Nearly all the extracts

we have made tends to show that the Eskimo were generally driven

northward by the Indians and confined by them to their natural

habitat, the treeless regions of Arctic America, whither the In-

dians themselves did not care to penetrate.

In 1811 two Moravian missionaries! explored the northern

coast of Labrador from Okkak to Ungava bay, making an excel-

lent map of this part of the coast. The expedition arose from

their desire to establish missions where the Eskimo were abun-

dant, as farther down the coast they were regarded as “ mere

stragglers.”

An Eskimo tradition of interest is mentioned in this book, as

follows: “July 24th. Amitok lies N. W. from Kummaktorvik,

is of an oblong shape, and stretches out pretty far towards the

sea. The hills are of moderate height, the land is in many places

flat, but in general destitute of grass. On the other side are

some ruins of Greenland [Eskimo] houses.

“The Esquimaux have a tradition that the Greenlanders [2. e.,

Greenland Eskimo] came originally from Canada, and settled on

the outermost islands of this coast, but never penetrated into the

country before they were driven eastward to Greenland. This

report gains some credit from the state in which the above-men-

tioned ruins are found. They consist in remains of walls anda

grave, with a low stone enclosure round the tomb, covered with

a slab of the same material. They have been discovered on

islands near Nain, and though sparingly, all along the whole .

eastern coast, but we saw none in Ungava bay.”

(To be continued.)

1 Journal of a voyage from Okkak, on the coast of Labrador, to Ungava bay,

westward of Cape Chudleigh, undertaken to explore the coast and visit the Esqui-

maux in that unknown region. By Benj. Kohlmeister and George Knoch, mission-

aries of the Church of the Unitas Fratrum. London, 1814, 8vo, pp. 83.

VOL, XIX,—NO. V. 3I

482 Editors’ Table. [ May,

EDITORS’: TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

Naturalists will be the gainers by the present discussion

of the question as to the existence of objects of more or less

than three dimensions. We are accustomed to regard mathe-

matics as exact, and in its true function as the science of relations

it is so. But we have not always remembered that it may treat of

the relations of imaginary quantities as readily as those of real ones.

Hence it need not surprise us if the mathematical mind sometimes

concerns itself but little with the question of the reality of the

subjects of its discussions, This is the explanation of the ex-

traordinary mental phenomenon displayed at the present time in

the attempt, by some men of much acuteness, to persuade them-

selves and others of the existence of objects of two and four dimen-

sions. The argument rests on the very transparent assumption `

that because we usually see only the surface of things, z. €., two

dimensions, such surface has an existence apart from the three-

dimensional body of which it is an aspect. The deduction then

follows that if from the perception of two dimensions we can rise

by mental process to a perception of three dimensions, why is it

not possible that some minds can rise from the third dimension

to a perception of a fourth. The naturalist, however, will expect

a third dimension before he will permit himself to believe that he

has an object, and any one who would do otherwise would soon

find himself in the limbo of the damnati. We invite our two and

four-dimensional friends to give us a systema nature. Let them

have their Linnzeus, Cuvier and Darwin. We fear, however, that

two-dimensional objects placed edgwise to the line of vision

would be overlooked by these gentlemen, while for four-dimen-

sional beings a new teratology would have to be written.

Professor John Collett has been removed from the posi-

tion of State geologist of Indiana, and Professor J. Maurice

Thompson has been appointed in his place by the legislature of

Indiana. This change is from purely political motives, as noth-

ing was alleged against Professor Collett unfavorable to his

administration. We regret this change without knowing aught

against the new appointee, as we regret all changes in scientific

official relations without due cause. And when the incumbent is

_ an accomplished geologist who has done much good work, and

1885.] Recent Literature. * 483

the new officer is entirely unknown in science, the cause for

regret is the greater.

The bestiarians are getting into trouble through their

misrepresentations and libels. We learn from the Journal of

Science that one Ernst Weber, in Germany, has been imprisoned

for six months for making false assertions respecting the physio-

logical investigations of Dr. Pelz. Professor H. N. Martin, of

Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, publishes a vigorous

contradiction of the assertions of some British bestiarians, and

protests against their statements as libelous. In Philadelphia Dr.

Wister, addressing the Women’s Society for the suppression of

Physiology, calls vivisection “a crime.” On the other hand Dr.

W. W. Keen made vivisection the subject of his valedictory be-

fore the graduating class of the Women’s Medical College. He

demonstrated the importance of this branch of physiological

research.

Orpea

RECENT LITERATURE.

a revised index of generic and specific names, referred both to

pages and to plates, for all three volumes. The bulk of the third

part is, however, devoted to descriptions of the new species o

tained not only from Pennsylvania but from Arkansas, Rhode

Island and other parts of the country. The number of new forms,

souri, Kansas, etc.

nizable between the plants of strata of the same stage ; but a

large number of species are only locally found. The differences

in the vegetation are still more marked according to strati

cal distribution of the measures, or between th

strata of different horizons; and as new c

484 ` Recent Literature. [May,

recently opened and coal beds worked in Virginia, Tennessee,

Alabama, Georgia, etc., at a lower stage than that of the Northern

basins, a mass of specimens of fossil plants, not yet known in

this country, have been discovered and sent from those localities.”

Mr. Lesquereux adds he has had to leave a large amount of

specimens still unexamined, and he foresees “that there is left

unknown, for future research and study of the history of the

vegetation of the coal, an amount of materials at least as great

and as important as that which has already been published.”

Mr. Lesquereux acknowledges in a note the aid he has received

in the loan of specimens from Mr. R. D. Lacoe, of Pittston, Pa.,

“ who has directed for years explorations, still continued, in the

more interesting localities of the coal-fields of North America.

He has thus brought up, at great expense, a collection of fossil

plants of divers formations, of insects, crustaceans, etc., which is

not only by far the largest and most valuable of any in America,

but which certainly may compare in this specialty with the rich-

est collections of any of the European museums,”

The other report is marked P.P.P., 1884, and contains two

palzontological papers, valuable in themselves and for their illus-

trations. The first one, by Mr. C. E. Beecher on the Ceratiocar-

idæ of the Upper Devonian measures, we have already noticed

in this journal; the second is a note by Professor James Hall on

the Eurypteride from the lower coal measures, and it is illus-

trated by six heliotypes, an excellent way of illustrating these

fossils. One new species (Eurypterus potens) is described, and the

remains of other species fully illustrated.

THE ZOÖLOGICAL RECORD FoR 1883.\—That the work in sys-

tematic zodlogy throughout the scientific world went on in 1883

much as in former years, is proved by the fact that the size of

each of these useful records remains about the same from year to

year. The present volume, which contains no references to the

Arachnida, is only twenty-eight pages shorter than its predeces-

sor, in which that class occupied thirty-three pages. :

he year 1883 was, so far as regards the mammals, chiefly

marked by the large number of paleontological books and papers

which appeared, among which those of Ameghino, Cope, Filhol,

and Lydekker are the most prominent.

While there are no striking novelties in ornithological work,

the year is reported to have been remarkable for a large amount

_of steady work. Little appears to have been done with the rep-

_ tiles and Amphibia; beyond special papers no works on ichthology

of general importance appeared this year.

` As usual over half the volume is devoted to the Crustacea and

especially the insects. Regarding the former several monographs

Ae 1 The Zoblogical Record for 1883 ; being volume twentieth of the record of zodlog-

` cal literature. Edited by

E. C. Rye, London, 1884, 8vo.

1885.] Recent Literature. 485

and lengthy faunal lists, especially works on deep-sea forms have

appeared, as well as important anatomical papers. Important

papers on the myriopods appeared in 1883, and of entomologi-

cal literature there appeared important anatomical and morpho-

logical as well as palzontological works and papers, besides some

faunal works of value. We shall in another place draw attention

to recent discoveries which have not been quoted in our entomo-

logical notes. It is enough to take one’s breath away to be told

that the number of new genera described in 1883 was 1079, while

the Arachnida have yet to be heard from.

As we have said in former years the Zodlogical Record is of

immediate and pressing value to American students, and it is sur-

prising that more copies are not taken by our working natu

ralists.

MILLSPAUGH’S AMERICAN MEDICINAL Piants.'—This is a prom-

ising work now issuing in parts, each containing six colored

lithographic plates, and from ten to fifteen pages of descriptive

text. Upon each plate are shown the characteristic portions of

some plant with dissections of the floral organs, or the fruits and

seeds. The drawings are generally accurate and the coloring is

good. Of course one need not look in a work like this for that

degree of accuracy and finish which we are accustomed to see in

the drawings by Isaac Sprague, but still they answer their pur-

pose admirably, of enabling the student to identify the different

medicinal plants of his flora. ; aii

Five parts (composing Fascicle 1) of this publication have al-

ready appeared, including thirty plates. The whole work will

contain 180 plates, and it is the intention of the publishers to-

complete it within two years. The low price at which it is offered

(five dollars per fascicle) places it within reach of everyone who is

interested in the medicinal plants of the country. It will also

be found an interesting and valuable addition to the library of the

botanist.— Charles E. Bessey.

PHILOSOPHIC ZOÖLOGY BEFORE Darwin. —“ The evolution of

ideas,” says the author in his preface, is much like that of

“living beings.” They ordinarily arise in an humble way, and

lie concealed among older ideas, become confounded with them,

but slowly they become differentiated, attain a certain strength,

transform and die, after having engendered other ideas of a similar

kind.” The book is an extremely interesting and suggestive one

as will be seen by the following titles of the chapters: first ideas

on the place of animals in nature; Aristotle; the Roman period;

: 7 ‘cinal Plants ; an illustrated and descriptive guide to the Ameri-

eri ans waht ODAS remedies; their omg carn magyar 88

- Boericke & Tafel, New York and igo age i pce anaes

2 . $ alot Darwin. Par EDMOND

? La Philosophie Zoblogique ee Tea Ba on i

scientifique internationale. XLV.

486 Recent Literature. [ May,

the middle ages and the renaissance; evolution of the idea of spe-

cies; the philosophers of the eighteenth century: Buffon, La-

marck, Geoffrey St. Hilaire, Cuvier. Discussion between Cuvier

and Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, Goethe, Dugés, the natur-philosophers,

the theory of organic types and its consequences; Agassiz; the

lower animals; the cellular theory and the constitution of the in-

dividual embryology, the species and its modifications.

CanapIAN GEOLOGICAL SuRvEy.—The Canadian Geological

Survey has published a descriptive sketch of the physical geogra-

phy and geology of Canada, which has been prepared to accom-

pany a new geological map of the Dominion on a scale of forty

miles to one inch. The description of the eastern section is by

the Director of the Survey, Dr. Selwyn, and of the western part

by Dr. G. M. Dawson. The maps are a valuable addition to

geological science, as embodying the latest explorations of the

survey, particularly on the Pacific coast, as also in Newfoundland.

TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL

History Survey oF Minnesota.—The report is mainly devoted

to Mr. Herrick’s final report on the Crustacea of Minnesota,

which has been already noticed in this magazine, and also to

Mr. Warren Upham’s catalogue of the flora of Minnesota.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS,

Re N,

also a castigation and an appeal. Baltimore, 1885. From the author.

Jackson, A. W.—On the morphology of Colemanite. Bull. Cal. Acad. of Sciences,

Jan., 1885. From the author.

Derby, O. A.—Physical geography and geology of Brazil. Rio Janeiro, 1884.

——On the flexibility of Itacolumite. Ext. Amer. Jour. of Science, 1884. Both

from the author.

Rice, W. N.—The geology of Bermuda. From Bull, No. 25 U. S. National Mu-

seum, Washington, 1884. From the author. i

Sharp, B.—Homologies of the vertebrate crystalline lens, Ext. Proc. Nat. Sci.,

Phil., 1884, From the author.

Frazer, P_—Address read before the Royal Society of Canada, May, 1884. From

the author, `. TT

James, J. F.—The Fucoids of the Cincinnati group. Ext. Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist.,

1884. From the author.

Kollmann, J—HĦHohes Alter der Menschenrassen. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Ber-

lin, 1884. From the author.

Ryder, J. A., and Puysegur, M.—Papers on the development and greening of the

oyster, ' Washington, 1884. From the authors.

Geinitz, H. B.—Ueber die Grenzen der Zechsteinformation und der Dyas uberhaupt.

Crosby, W. O.—Orıgin and relations of continents and ocean basins. Ext. Proc.

; Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. .

_ = —On the relations of conglomerate and slate in the Boston basin. Ext, idem.

——On the chasm called “ Purgatory” in Sutton, Mass, Ext. idem. All from the

author,

-~ Oliver, C. A.—A correlation theory of color perception. Ext. Amer. Jour. Med.

Be Sa., 1885. From the author,

1885.] Geography and Travels, 487

Gardner, J. S:—The age of the Fii of the Northeast Atlantic. Read before the

Belfast Nat. Field Clu D, 1

—— British Cretaceous Nacutidie. i Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 188

Relative ages of American and English fossil floras. Ext. Geol. Mag., 1884.

All from the author

Robinson, J.—Report of the committee on forest trees. Ext. Proc. Essex Agric. Soc.,

188.

Soy in Essex county. Ext. Bull. Essex Institute, 1884: Both from the

uthor

PEN C E. —Some abnormal and pathologic forms of fresh-water var hese the

vicinity of ieee N. Y. Ext. 36th Rep. N. Y. State Mus. Nat. 1884.

From the author

Willard, S. W.— Migration i sa pippan of North American birds in Brown and

ears: counties.

ewe jJ.—On the ei veaaton oe muscles of the rudimentary hind-limb

f the Greh E right whale, Ext. Jour, Anat. and Phys., Vol. xv, 1881.

Foai e author.

Stevenson, W. G EE spiritualism baad natural law? From the author.

Baur, G.—On the centrale carpi of the mammals. Ext. Amer. Nat., Feb., 1885.

From the author

Scott, W. L.—The gent white egret and the yellow rail in Ottawa, Canada. From

the Auk, 1885.

The winter Passeres and Picarice of Ottawa. Both from the auth

Hanks, H. G.—Fourth annual report of the State mineralogist of iai, 1884.

From the author

Graf, L Ueber einige any none fossilen Crinoiden. From “ Palzeonto-

oriai 1885. From the

Sr $5 anys er Sar E ES Abhandlungen, Band 11, Heft

author

m the

Datngehangn, E. Spudas MERTA sur des Brachipodes nouveaux on peu connus.

f 1884. m the author

Collett, J., com , and Wortman, E Eirene annual report of 99 State

geologist of apa he Part 1. Geology and natural history. Part 11. Post-

pliocene Vertebrates of Indiana. From the State geologist.

ml seat P.—Eléments d’Anthropologie Générale. Paris, 1885. From the

Fean T, = H. zier earliest winged insects of America. Cambridge, Mass., 1885.

From the gex

Lydekker, R— Labyrinthodont from the Bijori group. Memoirs Geol. Surv. of

India. From the author.

Ki ngaton, J. S —The Sta ndard Natural pay: Vol. 1. Lower Invertebrates.

AA Ta 1885. From the publishers.

Wi neil, N. H., and Harrington, M. W.—The geo logical and natural history sur-

of Minnesota. Vols. IV, vu, X, XI, XII. From the authors.

20:

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS."

Arrica.—TZhe Ni iger.—General Faidherbe, in an article upon

-the “ Niger Question,” in the Revue Scientifique, tells us that the

people of the marshy delta, and of the fine country beyond as far

as Idda, are fetishists, while from this point Mussulmans dominate.

1 This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

488 General Notes. [May,

Lokodja is governed bya prince named by the king of Nupé, him-

self a satrap of the Sultan of Sokotto. Rabba the capital of Nupé,

„has 70,000 inhabitants. Above Egga the river becomes shallow,

and vessels drawing more than four or five feet cannot proceed to

Rabba. The constant falling in of the western bank renders navi-

gation of the Lower Nile difficult. French commercial companies

no longer exist on the Lower Niger. The Upper Niger is domi-

nated by three powerful chiefs. The “prophet” Samory, a sort

of religiously fanatic slave-hunter, who burns his unmerchantable

prisoners, occupies the upper portion. Below him is Amradon,

chief of a better organized state, with an army of Tonconleur

cavalry and Bambarra infantry, and lastly, between Sansandig and

Timbuctoo, comes Tidiani, who, with his bands of brigands, cuts

off the communications of the latter once flourishing city.

Timbuctoo has for over 200 years been ruled by a “ kahia,” a

kind of burgomaster originally appointed by the Emperor of

Morocco from the Moorish Andalusian family of Er-Rami. The

office became hereditary, but the present kahia or Amir Muham-

med Er-Rami, who is now in Paris, has little power, and is prac-

tically a puppet in the hands of whichever of the rival Arab,

rber or Fulah factions have the upper hand. The Arab chief,

Sheikh Abadin, sides with the Fulahs or Fulani, whose power is

continually increasing, and who are likely to become absolute

masters of Timbuctoo unless it falls into the hands of some Euro-

pean power.

Harrar.—The province of Harrar proper lies in a circle around -

the city of that name, and has a population, according to Major

F. M. Hunter, of nearly 329,000. The city of Harrar is fortified

so as to be fairly defensible against native attack, and contains an

area of 200 acres, and a population of about 30,000, two-thirds of

whom are women, and only about one-third natives of the city.

The suburbs contain 6000 more. Harrar is regarded by Professor

Keane as an outlier of Abyssinian civilization, and perhaps is a

remnant of the ancient kingdom of Adela or Ada, once a power-

ful enemy of Abyssinia. At any rate it has for centuries preserved

within its walls a distinct race, speaking a tongue not understood

by its neighbors, and has been the center of trade for the sur-

rounding countries, dispatching caravans to Tajura, Zeila, and

Berbera. The city has some 4500 domiciles. Major Hunter gives

some details of the material condition, dress, domestic ceremonies,

etc., of the women, and refers to the account given by Burton in

“ First Footsteps in East Africa.” Debased Egyptian piastres and

Maria Theresa dollars are the only currency, and the only indus-

. tries are bookbinding and weaving. The principal indigenous ex-

o> ‘ports are coffee,and wars or safflower. Harrar is 286 miles from

~ Berbera, and 18234 from Zeila.

_ _ Asia.—Asiatie Notes, Etc—Four French officers, who have

journeyed among the Muongs of the Black river of Tonquin, de-

1885. ] Geography and Travels. 489

scribe them as more civilized than the Mois of Cochin China.

Thev are warlike, intelligent and industrious, and make their own

arms. Practically, they are independent, though the Annamites

profess to appoint their chiefs. The country is rich in minerals,

and some gold fields are worked by Chinese, who permit no

stranger to approach. e commission to investigate the pos-

sibility of a canal across the Isthmus of Krao, Malacca, has ex-

plored a part of the peninsula before unknown to Europeans.

They were conducted to a large inland sea, called Tale-Sab (the

name seems identical with Tonle’-Sap, in Cambodia). This lake

is forty-five miles long and twelve wide, and has numerous small

islands covered with the nests of sparrows. The state of Sam-Sam,

composed of mestizos, or half-caste Malays and Siamese, a popu-

lation somewhat inclined to piracy, exists at about 7° 14’ N. lat.

——Mr. Mueller’s reconnaissance survey between Cascade plateau

and Lake McKerrow, on the west coast of the middle island,

New Zealand, has shown that a great part of the Hope range is

auriferous, while traces of gold occur along the whole length of

Gorge river. The most remarkable geological feature is the

Olivine range, a red-violet mass devoid of almost every trace of

vegetation from about 1000 feet above the Cascade river.

Evurope.—Luropean Notes—The Norwegians have discovered

several new islands to the east of King Karl or Wiche land. In

1884 the west side of Spitzbergen was blocked by a belt of land-

ice, the whole summer through, while the east side, which is

usually blocked, was more open than for many years. The prevail-

ing direction of the winds appear to cause these changes. Observa-

tions prove that the level of the shores of the Baltic is changing with

considerable rapidity, the northern shore rising, while the south-

ern is sinking. The northern part of Sweden has risen seven feet

in the last 134 years, but the rise diminishes southward until at

the Naze it is only one foot, and at the island of Bornholm

nothing. The line of equilibrium passes along the islands of

Bornhohm and Gothland. The Brussels National Institute ot

Geography is now publishing a fac-simile reproduction of the

plans of a hundred Belgian towns drawn up between 1550 and

1565, by J. de Deventer, at the command of Charles V and Philip

II, of Spain. The originals are divided between the libraries at

Brussels and Madrid.

America.—Physical Aspect of Brazil—The greater part of

Brazil is an elevated plateau, having a main elevation of from one

to more than three thousand feet. This great plateau is bounded

northward by the great Amazonian depression, westward by

basin of the Paraguay, which is continued northward by that of

the Guaporé, a tributary of the Madeira, and all along the ocean

border by a narrow strip of coast. North of the great Amazonian

valley rises a second smaller pleateau, continuous with that of

490 General Notes. [May,

Guiana. The sketch map of Brazil, prepared by O. A. Derby for Vol.

1 of La Geographica physica do Brazil is a revelation to those

whose knowledge of Brazil is mainly confined to the Amazons. Not

one-tenth of the entire country, according to this map, is less than

300 meters above the sea, and the region above 1000 meters is at

least half as large as those below 300. The true mountains of

upheaved strata are mainly in the eastern and central portions of

the Brazilian plateau, and may be considered as forming two

groups, separated by the elevated table lands of the Parana and

Sao Francisco basins. The culminating points of the eastern

group are the peaks of the Organ mountains in the Serra do

Mar, and Itatiaia (2712 meters), the highest point in the emp

The western group consists of at least two distinct ranges, culm

nating in the Montes Pyreneos near Goyaz. The great tabi

lands, though composed of horizontal strata, are often so exca-

vated by the deep river valleys as to have the appearance of

mountains. On their eastern border, in the provinces of Parana

and Sao Paolo, they rise to 1000 meters. The water-parting be-

tween the rivers flowing south and those flowing north is partly

formed by a transverse ridge across the southern part of Minas

Geraes, connecting the two groups of mountains, The Tocantins,

Xingu, Tapajos, and Madeira, all descend from the tableland in a

series of rapids at from 100 to 200 miles from the Amazon. The

Brazilian portion of the Guiana plateau is very imperfectly known,

but some spurs of its highlands extend to within a few miles of

the Amazons between the mouth of the Rio Negro and the

ocean

Muiniion Notes—The Ona of Terra del Fuego are estimated

by Lieut. Bove at from 300. to 400, and the total number of

Fuegians, men, women and children in the archipelago, according

to a careful census made by the English missionary, the Rev.

Bridges, is given as 949. Mr. E. M. Thurm telegraphed to

Kew that he has succeeded in ascending Roraima. Capt.

Eduardo O’Connor has navigated the Rio Negro of Patagonia

from its mouth in the Atlantic to its source in the romantic Lake

Nahuel-Hualpi in the Chilian Andes. He was able to proceed by

steamer as far as the confluence of the Colhincura’ or Catapuliche,

but beyond that point was compelled to make his way in an open

boat. The Upper Limay, the furthest southern headstream of

the Rio Negro, flows over numerous rapids in a narrow rocky

contracting at some points to 120 or even 100 feet. In 40°

. lat., beyond the confluence of the Treful, the rapids disap-

D the stream is deeper and less swift, and navigable for steam

launches to the lake. The scenery of the alpine basin of the lake

is represented as charming. The country around appears to be

_ uninhabited———The Indians who inhabit that part of the Chaco,

i which he Argentine government has sent an expedition, are

number about 10,009. Their weapon is the arrow,

1885.] Geography and Travels. i 491

and, when hunting and fishing fail, they live on locusts and on

stolen cattle. It is hoped that the Rio Bermejo will be found to

be navigable after its junction with the Tenco.——Dr. Claus left

Cuyaba, in Matteo Grosso, in May, 1882, navigated a small river

to ie junction with the Xingu, and followed the latter to its

mout

Lake Mistassini—A letter to Science, from A. R. C. Selwyn,

Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, states his belief that

Lake Mistassini consists of several almost separate lakes, but

that the entire body of water is not to be compared with that of

Lake Superior. The exploration of the region was commenced

in 1870-71, and last spring a party was despatched to continue

the work. The sensational article in the Montreal Witness arose

out of an interview of a reporter with Mr. F. H. Bignell, who ha

just returned from taking winter supplies to the exploring party.

The communication of Mr. Selwyn is accompanied by a tracing

of Eugene Tache’s map of the province of Quebec, the only map

upon which the results of the surveys of 1870-71 are correctly

laid down. Geologically the lake lies in a basin of flat lying lime-

stones, probably of Lower Cambrian age, resting on Laurentian

and Huronian rocks.

Dr. Carver. A Correction.—In your March number, p. 231,

an error crops out in “ Carver the celebrated English traveler.” —

According to the North American Cyclopedia, “he was an

American traveler, born at Stillwater, Connecticut, in 1732,

The notice proceeds with an incorrect statement, viz., “ He

crossed the continent to the Pacific, and returned to Boston in

1768, having traveled about 7000 miles

Whereas, with a plan to go to the Pacific, he left Boston in

June, 1766, went by the lakes, Green bay and Fox river portage

to and up the Mississippi and the sources of St. Peter’s river, where -

he wintered. He returned in the early summer of 1767 to Prairie

du Chien, and in June, went, via the Mississippi and Chippewa

rivers, &e., &c., to the north side of Lake Superior, coasted down

to Sault St. Marie, then to Michillimackinac, where he spent the

winter. “The next season he arrived in October, 1768, at

Boston, after an absence of as ers and five months, and a

journey of near 7000 miles,”

See his Travels, Philadelphia, I 1706, for which there were about -

1600 subscribers whose names are given.

Two editions (p. 1) seemed to i appeared under his care,

and the one in Philadelphia was a third—0O. P. Hubbard, 65 W.

Igth street, New York. i

492 General Notes. [May,

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

Tue MamMatiAn Genus Hemicanus.—This genus was charac-

terized by me in the NATURALIST for 1882, p. 831,' from a num-

ber of teeth. The typical species, H. vultuosus was supposed to

be a beast of about the sizeof atapir. Its exact position was not

determined. Jaws with teeth and a part of the skeleton of a second

and smaller species of the genus recently received, throw much

light on its characters, and demonstrate that it is one of the most

remarkable of the Eocene Mammalia yet discovered.

e claws are large and compressed like those of a prehensile-

footed carnivore. The astragalo-tibal articulation is nearly flat.

The femur is very robust, and has a low third trochanter, as in

Bunotheria generally. The vertebræ of the neck are short an

wide. The jaws have a very large and wide coronoid process, as

in Calamodon, and the horizontal rami are very robust. The molar

teeth of the lower jaw have but one root.. Only one true moiar

(the first) is preserved, and it has the crown worn. [Its outline is

sub-round, with a notch on the internal side, There are proba-

bly four premolars, and their crowns are short, obtuse cones,

' with a low heel-like expansion at the inner side of the posterior

base. They resemble very nearly the teeth of some of the eared

seals. There is a robust canine tooth in the upper jaw, which is

not separated from the premolars by a diastema. There is at

least one superior incisor, but the exact number is unknown. There

is a large tooth on each side of the symphysis of the lower jaw, but

in the specimens it is not in place. It has enamel on the anterior

face only, and its apex is worn transversely. The wear descend-

ing passes to one side of the middle line. It evidently has a

median position, and may therefore be an incisor. Its form

reminds one of that of the second inferior incisor of Calamodon,

but the enamel-face is much shorter.

Should the large inferior teeth be canines, the mandibular den-

tition will greatly resemble that of the seals, as does that of the

maxillary bone. The absence of postorbital angles resembles the

condition in the Phocide. The wide vertical coronoid process

and the flat vertical angle are as in PENSER The sagittal

Hemiganus may for the present he ened to the Creodonta

where it will stand quite alone, and next to the Tzniodonta.

The species which is represented by the specimens referred to ;

may be called Hemiganus otariidens. It may be characterized as

I: transverse .008; anteroposterior .008. soa eter of large in-

ferior ? incisor at shoulder : debabpoatetior 017; transverse .008.

- Depth of ramus at P-m. III .040; at coronoid process .090; length

- ‘1 It is figured on Plate XXII c, figs. 7~12, Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., II.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 493

of ramus posterior to P-m. 111 inclusive .106. From the lowest

beds of the Puerco epoch. D. Baldwin.—Z&. D. Cope.

MARSUPIALS FROM THE Lower Eocene oF New Mexico.—Two

families undoubtedly referable to the Marsupialia have been iden-

tified from the Puerco Eocene, the Polymastodontidæ and Plagi-

aulacidæ (see NATURALIST, 1884, p. 686, for an account of these

animals). One genus of each is known, viz., Polymastodon and

' Ptilodus. I now add a third genus in the Neoplagiaulax of

Lemoine, which belongs to the Plagiaulacidæ, and has been rep-

resented hitherto by a single species from the Puerco beds of

Rheims, France. The American species is very distinct from

the European, and comes from the base of the formation in New

Mexico. I describe it as follows :

.003. D. Baldwin.

Ptilodus trovessartianus Cope, Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs.,

IM, p. 737, Pl. xxv f, Fig. tg—Two mandibles of this species,

found by Mr. Baldwin, are. in excellent preservation, including

both the two premolars and the two true molars, and showing

that the species belongs to Ptilodus rather than to Neoplagiaulax.

Besides its inferior size, this species differs from the P. med.

in the smaller second true molar. e tubercles of this tooth

are two on each side; in the P. medievus they are four on one

side and two on the other. It comes from the middle horizon of

the Puerco. aes

Polymastodon taoénsis Cope: Teniolabis scalper Cope, Report

S. Geol. Surv. Terrs., UI, p. 193, Pl. Xxiii d, Fig. 7—The

kind which furnished the typical description of the Teniolabis

scalper, with superior molars of this genus, and probably of the

species P, taoénsis, of which several undoubted specimens were

494 General Notes. [ May,

found by Mr. Baldwin at the same locality. T. scalper was prob-

ably founded on superior incisors of P. taoénsis.

Polymastodon attenuatus, sp. nov.—This form is represented by

a mandibular ramus with entire dentition, of one individual, and

by a superior incisor with portions of inferior molars of a second.

The specific character is seen in the very compressed incisors and

general lightness of structure of the ramus, in which it is quite

different from the species of similar size, the P. taoënsis and P.,

latimolis (NATURALIST, April, 1885). The tubercles and propor-

tions of the true molars are as in P. taoénsis, The apex of the

fourth premolar is transversely fissured. The superior incisor is

much more compressed than in that of P. taoënsis, and is more

rapidly acuminate in its form, to the subacute apex. There are

no facets of the internal side as in that species. The enamel covers

almost the entire external face, and is marked by rather coarse

parallel grooves. A groove runs along the concave edge of the

crown, forming the edge of the enamel excepting for its distal half,

where the enamel crosses it, and covers the internal side for its

distal fourth. The inferior incisor is also much compressed so

that the enamel is presented externally rather than anteriorly,

and its cutting edge is nearly anteroposterior and not transverse,

as in P. taoénsis. Its surface is obsoletely grooved. Length ot

superior incisor .25; diameters do. at middle: anteroposterior

.013; transverse .006, ngth of inferior true molars .032;

depth of ramus at middle M. 1. .034.—£. D. Cope.

Tue Lour Fork Miocene IN Mexico.—A considerable extent

of tertiary deposit in the State of Hidalgo and the adjoining parts

of Vera Cruz has been announced by Professor Antonio de Cas-

tillo in the report of the School of Mines of Mexico for 1883. I

recently visited the region, and obtained from the beds bones and

teeth belonging to species of Protohippus, Hippotherium and

Mastodon, and probably Procamelus; and Professor Castillo has

teeth of Dicotyles. It is thus evident that the horizon is the Loup

Fork or Upper Miocene of the North American series. This is

by far the most southern exhibition of this formation, the nearest

locality which I have identified with it being in New Mexico. In

its Mexican area it occupies a tract of at least eighteen miles by

_ six, which at present presents an extremely irregular surface. It

is excavated into numerous valleys of erosion by tributaries of

the Tuxpan and Benados rivers, some of which are fifteen hun-

dred feet in depth and quite narrow. The axes of the high tands

consist of trap, which in some instances are dykes, as the lime-

stones of palæozoic or mesozoic age lie against them inclined at

high angles. Some of these traps inclose masses of obsidian of

various sizes. _ tire Loup Fork formation is now not less

us si le en

_ than two thousand feet in thickness, as it not only fills the valleys

but also caps the traps. Several thin beds of coal occur in it,

both above and below the escarpments of trap; in the latter case

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 495

frequently dipping at a low angle towards the trap. Between

the coal beds are shales apparently composed of volcanic ash, and

beds of excellent clay. The country is covered with vegetation

ranging from that of the Tierra fria, with pines, oaks, Liquidambar,

Platanus, Alnus, Negundo, etc., to the moderate Tierra caliente,

with oranges, Zamias, Cereus, etc. The fossils are only found in

making artificial excavations.—£. D. Cope.

Discovery oF AN EXTINCT ELK IN THE QUATERNARY OF NEw

Jersey —Professor William B. Scott, of Princeton, made (reports

Science) a communication on an extinct elk, a skeleton of which

was recently found in the quaternary of New Jersey. The bones,

which are ina state of remarkable preservation, were dug from

a bog near Mount Hermon. ey were at first supposed to

belong to a moose, but, on further examination, it was seen that

the skeleton was that of a remarkable form of deer-like animal,

between the genera Cervus and Alces, and the name Cervalces —

the velvet, indicating that the individual probably died in Sep-

tember. They are provided with curious scoop-shaped processes

at the base, which, when the head was lowered, must have actually

obscured lateral vision. The use of these processes, the presence

diagrams,

Tertiary Man at THeNay.—The most interesting question

brought before the geological section of the French Association

was the existence of man in the tertiary epoch. In 1867 the Abbé

Bourgeois found at Thenay (Loir et Cher) some flints which he

believed to be worked by man or split by fire. Extensive excava-

tions were made at Thenay, which is about twenty kilometers

from Blois, and forty members of the Association repaired tł

to examine the locality. Comparison with the surrounding strata

showed that the bed (of greenish clay mixed with small flints) in

which the presumably worked flints occurred, was an upper

490 General Notes. [May,

stratum of the argillaceous flint-bed which everywhere underlies

the Beauce limestone, and therefore is early miocene or even

eocene. Only two flints were found which bore the apparent

impress of human handiwork, but the splitting which has been

attributed to fire, was more common. The great majority of the

members concluded that, considering the enormous extent of the

beds, the rarity of the peculiar flints found and their unknown

use, and the possibility that the effects, like those of fire, were pro-

duced by some unknown natural cause, there was nothing to war-

rant a belief in the existence of man at so remote a period.

A map of the environs of Blois constructed for the geological

map of France, and presented to the Association, shows that

the Beauce limestone was deposited in a lake, while the clay,

with flints, passes beneath the limestone and forms the borders of

the lake.

GEOLOGICAL Notres.—General—It appears from Dr. R. D. M.

Verbeek’s atlas and description of Sumatra, between 0° 14” and

1° S. lat. and 99° 45’ and 101° 25 E. long., that productive coal

is wanting in the explored district, and that mesozoic beds are

also lacking. The Eocene lies upon the Carboniferous, and the

newer Tertiary strata appear to be wanting in the same area.

The conclusions arrived at concerning the geology of the island,

are that at the end of the Eocene or beginning of the Miocene, an

eruption of andesite from fissures occurred in Sumatra, Java an

Borneo, contemporaneous with the uplifting of the highlands of

Padang. In Bencoolen, Lower Miocene beds overlie this andesite,

and at the same spot Middle and Upper Miocene and Pliocene

strata also occur. The Pliocene marl shows no trace of newer

eruptive materials, while the overlying Quaternary consists of

clay and andesite material. In Java, also, the Eocene strata are

broken through by andesites and basalts, and the probably Mio-

cene strata which overlie the orbitoides limestone contain andesite

materials. The great craters are more modern than the fissure-

poured andesite, and between them intervened a period of com-

parative calm. The commencement of the activity of these vol-

canoes cannot be fixed with certainty, but was probably nearly

quite at the end of the Tertiary period.

Carboniferous —M. Dieulafait has conducted a series of experi-

ments upon recent Equisetacez, with a view to ascertain the rea-

son why coal is always impregnated with sulphur, and why coal

ashes do not contain free carbonates of the alkalies, such as were

general in the ashes of recent plants. He finds that modern

Equisetaceze contain a proportion of sulphuric acid very much

in excess of that contained by other recent plants, and arrives

at the conclusion that, as the flora of the Coal Measures was

a largely composed of Equisetacez, it is to them that the great `

_ quantity of sulphur and sulphate of lime is due. The absence of

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 497

alkaline carbonates in the ashes of coal is a natural consequence

of the excess of sulphate of lime always present in the ashes.

Johann Kusta describes Anthracemartus krejcit, a new Arachnid

from the Carboniferous of Bohemia. H.B. Genitz describes Krer-

scheria, a pseudo-scorpion.

‘an.—An impression of a terrestrial shell (Dendropupa

walchiarum Fischer) has been found in the Permian beds of Saone

et Loire. This is the only terrestrial mollusk of Carboniferous

age that has yet been found on the European continent. Dendro-

pupa vetusta was described in 1853 by Dawson, from trunks of

Sigillaria in Nova Scotia, and several other Devonian and Car-

boniferous pulmonates have since been found in America.

Tertiary.—Johann Kusta enumerates three species of Hyopo-

tamus and two of Anthracotherium from the Hempstead beds of

the Isle of Wight-—W. Davies has verified the occurrence of

Hyaenarctos in the Miocene strata of Pikermi near Athens.

W. Davies (Geol. Mag., Oct., 1884) describes Viverra hastingsie

and remains of two other carnivores from the Eocene fresh-water

beds of Hordwell, Hampshire. J. S. Gardiner describes (Geol.

Mag., Dec.) six species of Aporrhais, all belonging to an ancestral

type of the recent A. pes-pelecant, from the Eocene of Great

Britain. R. Lydekker describes a new species of Merycopota-

mus (M. nanus), from examples in the British museum.

Ouaternary.—Entire skeletons of the cave hyzena are rare, for

these animals devoured the bones of their own as well as of other

species. Recently M. F. Regnault, of Toulouse, has descended

into a cavity twenty meters deep in the grotto of Gargas, Hautes

Pyrenees, and has found entire skeletons of hyzenas, bears and

wolves, the position being such that the hyenas could not get at

the bones to devour them. From examination of these bones,

M. Alb. Gaudry believes that A. spe/ea is but a variety of ZH.

crocuta,

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.'

Wapswortu’s LITHOLOGICAL STUDIES, Part 17—This hand-

somely printed quarto volume of over two hundred pages and

lates, at first glance promises, both from its title

and general scope, to be a most valuable addition to the literature

of petrography ; nevertheless a careful study of its contents fails

to discover as much that is new and useful’ as was at first ex-

pected. The work aims to be an exhaustive and critical revision |

of all the petrographical work hitherto accomplished as well as

an attempt to rearrange the same in accordance with the author’s

1 Edited by Dr. Geo. H. WILLIAMS, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,

Md.

i ical Studi sription and classification of the rocks of the

P ii poea a ri hae poe 8 colored plates. Memoirs of the Mu-

seum of Comp. Zodlogy at Ha College, Vol. rx, Oct., 1

VoL. XIX.—NO. V. 32

498 General Notes. [ May,

somewhat peculiar views. The petrographical descriptions are,

however, largely taken from the work of others, while those

which are original are not sufficiently detailed; the generaliza-

tions are often broader than the facts thus far accumulated woul

seem to warrant; and even the statement of the writer’s most

original ideas regarding rock nomenclature and classification is

not in certain points altogether free from ambiguity.

Chapter first, containing nine sections, deals with the interior

structure of the earth; the origin and alterations of rocks and of

their constituent minerals ; the methods of rock-classification

hitherto followed and their ‘defects, and lastly, the proposal of the

author’s system of classification.

Sedimentary and eruptive rocks are held never to grade into

one another, as sometimes appears to be the case. Each class

mainly to the alteration of the older ones. The minerals tend

to constantly pass from less stable compounds to those which are

more stable for the conditions now existing on the earth. The

alteration therefore varies with the age, and also, under the same

_ conditions, inversely as the amount of silica which the rocks

contain. Foliation or schistose structure is no necessary proof ot

ei Deets» Us origin of a rock. Inasmuch as the alteration of

ces on in some cases much more rapidly than in others,

lithological character can be regarded as no index of age.

The mineral constituents of an eruptive rock are divided into

three classes: 1st, those present in the magma before its extru-

sion (foreign) ; 2d, those formed at the time of the consolidation

of the magma (indigenous) 3d, alteration products (secondary).

The first class is regarded as composed entirely of foreign inclu-

sions, no account .being taken, as it seems, of such minerals as

leucite, olivine, etc.,which may crystallize out of the molten magma

long before it is extruded or solidifies! Hornblende appears to be

regarded as always belonging to either the first or third class

The present systems of rock-classification, based on chemical

composition, structure, mineral constituents and geological age,

are reviewed in turn and pronounced artificial and unsatisfactory.

Section viii contains the statement of thirteen principles which

the author thinks should underlie a natural classification of rocks.

It must be confessed, however, that this attempt is not altogether

- Satisfactory. It is stated that a// the petrological (field), oe

cal (microscopical) and chemical characters of a rock must be

used in ining its species, but in what way is not made

clear. Mineral composition is sufficient to define varieties but

_ Rot species. All rocks which may be followed from one form to

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 499

another, whatever be the changes of chemical or mineral compo-

sition or of structure, within certain limits, form a species; but

what these limits are is not stated. A diorite derived by para-

morphosis from a gabbro must be called a gabbro, Even quartz

which might have replaced a basalt would have to be called

basalt, strange as this would seem, unless these “ certain limits ”

be defined. Wadsworth's classification seems to be, after all,

mainly a chemical one in which the rocks of approximately the

same composition, but differing in their constituents, structure or

degree of alteration are arranged under the principal species as

varieties.

Chapter second commences the systematic treatment of rock

classes, starting with the most basic. The suggestion of Reyer,

to consider the meteorites as eruptive rocks more basic than any

normally found near the earth’s surface, is wisely followed. Spe-

cies 1, Siderolite, is made to include all masses of iron, either

native or in its secondary state as magnetite, hematite, etc., which

are not of chemical or secondary origin. This species is of course

principally represented by meteoric iron. Species 11, Pallasite,

includes such original, eruptive, celestial or terrestrial rocks as

contain a large amount of native or oxidized iron inclosing other

minerals. Twenty-two meteoric pallasites are mentione

terrestrial variety of pallasite is described the so-called “ cumber-

landite ” from Rhode Island, an apparently eruptive mass of mag-

netite full of crystals of olivine, feldspar, etc. Analogous to this

is Sjoren’s “ magnetite-olivinite” from Taberg, in Sweden.

Chapter third deals with Species 111, Peridotite. This name

was given by Rosenbusch to massive rocks composed essentially

of olivine together with various pyroxenic minerals. The author

classifies these as follows :

Variety 1. Dunite = olivine + picotite.

“ 2, Saxonite = olivine + enstatite.

“ 3. Lherzolite = olivine + enstatite + diallage.

“« 4, Buchnerite = olivine + enstatite + augite.

“ 5, Eulysite = olivine + diallage (= “ Wehrlite gf

« 6. Lione = olivine -+ augite.

Serpentine is derived by alteration from all of these.

Eulysite is a name that was originally applied to a rock very

rich in garnet, and it is difficult to see why it is preferred to the

German term wehrlite, used for olivine-diallage rocks. Forty

meteoric peridotites are enumerated, following which is a section

devoted to the origin and character of meteorites in general. The

“chondri” are regarded as spherules due to crystallization, and

the meteorites themselves as having probably been thrown off by

the sun. Then succeeds the description of many terrestrial peri-

dotites and serpentines, with general remarks on their character

and origin. Considerable space is devoted to the relations be-

500 General Notes. : [May,

tween nt and chromite. Both are translucent with a brown

color when sufficiently thin, but the latter only with considerable -

difficulty. The suggestion is made that the chromite may be an

alteration-product of picotite.

Chapter fourth deals with the fourth rock-species, Basalt, of

which, however, only such as are of meteoric origin are treated

in the present portion of the work. Pages I-xxxul at the

close of the book contain valuable tables of all the chemical

analyses hitherto made of the rocks described. Eight plates with

forty-eight colored figures represent the microscopic structure of

these same rocks in an admirable manner

MINERALOGICAL Notes.—Quartz. Professor G. vom Rath, of

the University of Bonn, has recently made a valuable contribu-

tion to the literature of American mineralogy by his studies of

the quartz crystals from Alexander county, N. C., material for

Kunz, of Hoboken. The crystallography of these

quartzes is very varied and complicated, and the writer does not

hesitate to pronounce this American locality the most interesting

one thus far known in the world. The tetartohedral character of

this mineral is frequently shown by the large development of the

trigonal trapezohedron —2P 3 2. Complicated twins and e

acute EOE especially 3R, are also c

Much new mate-

part of Death valley, Inyo county, California. An exhaustive

mon ograph on its crystallography, by Professor A. Wendell

Jackson enumerates thirty-eight forms (of which P3, given

in the Am. Four. Sci. for Dec. is not one). Of these fourteen were ,

independently observed by vom Rath,’ and twenty by both Hjort-

dahl, of Christiania and Arzruni® of Breslau. Vom Rath and Bode-

wig give the plane of the optical axes as perpendicular to æ P œ%

making an angle with ẹ in the obtuse angle £ of 82° 42’, for so-

ž api aai Notizen. Verhandlungen des Natur. Vereins d. preuss, Rhein-

land und Westph., 1884. Bonn, 1885.

2 Bulletin of a! California Pare of Sciences, No. 2, Jan., A

PE ae rare d. Natur. Vereins d. preuss. Rheinland e ene P. 333»

_ „*Zeitschrift für Krystallographie, Vol. x, 1885, p. 25.

: — d., Natur. Verein d. preuss. Rheinland and Westph., p. 342,

1835.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 501

dium light. The real optical angle, 2V,, is 55° 20’. These

results agree very closely with those obtained by Hjortdahl.

ans Thürach' has contributed an interesting paper on the wide

distribution of zircon and certain titanium minerals as microscopic

rock-constituents. Decomposed rocks were especially investi-

gated, from which these minerals were the more easily separated,

Rutile, anatase, brookite and pseudo-brookite were all identified,

Tourmaline, staurolite, garnet and some other minerals are also

spoken of in the same connection, and a long list of localities

given where all these substances were observed. Kal s

finds that in certain rocks, especially nepheline-basalts from Ran-

den in the Hegau, Baden, and from Tharand in Saxony, twins of

olivine are quite common. The twinning plane is a brachydome

whose angle over OP is nearly 60°, as was observed by vom Rath

in free crystals of monticellite from Mte. Somma. Knop’ has

made a thorough chemical study of the augite occurring in the

various rocks of the Kaiserstuhl in Baden. One group is inter-

esting on account of their'containing TiO,, the amount sometimes

exceeding four per cent. This would naturally be supposed to

isomorphously replace SiO., but on account of the violet color of

the augite in which titanium is most abundant, it is suggested

that this element may also be present as Ti,O;, replacing ferric

iron. Schuster* adds over 200 pages to his former paper on

the crystallography and structure of danburite, making his numer-

ous and careful measurements the basis of general conclusions

regarding the nature of forms possessing very large indices, to

which Websky has applied the name “ vicinal-planes.” For the

many important results obtained, reference must be made to the

original article. Vicinal-planes are found (p. 490) to possess a defi-

nite relation to some principal plane having simple indices, wi

which they are associated. This relation is a genetic one. Vicin-

al-planes are regarded, so to speak, as “induced” by the joint

action of two forces, one exercised by the new molecules in their

effort to form a really new plane and the other exerted by the old

plane to retain its exact position. The crystalline form of -

the element thorium has been for the first time determined

by Brogger. Although apparently rhombohedral, the minute

crystals (only 0.15™™ wide and 0.015™™ thick) are really

ular, being a. combination of a cube and octahedron.

Schaeffer? describes a new American locality for tantalite, the Etta

tin mine in Dakota. Its composition is TaO, = 79.01; SnO, =

1 Ueber das Vorkommen mikroskopischer Zirkone und Titan-mineralien, Würz-

burg, 1

2 Poitschaih fiir Krystallographie, Vol. x, p. 17, 1885.

3 Zeitschrift für Krystallographie, Vol. x, p. 58, 1885.

4 Tschermak’s Min. und Petr. Mittheilungen vi, pp. 301-515, 1885.

5 Meddelanden fran Stockholms högskola, No. 1, 1883.

6 American Journal of Science, Dec., 1884, p. 430.

502 General Notes. [ May,

0.39; FeO = 8.33; MnO = 12.13; total 99.86. Sp. gr. = 7.72.

Hidden! mentions a new locality i in Colorado for phenacite,

xenotime and fayalite, also another for rutile, emerald and hidden-

ite (spodumene). A crystal of zircon from Burgess, Canada, gave

the same author a new plane %P not hitherto observed in this

mineral,

BOTANY.’

THe Nope oF Eguisetum.—If a section is made lengthy

through a node of a fertile stem of Hguzsetum arvense, each vas

cular bundle is seen to divide into two parts, each part uniting

with a corresponding part of an adjacent bundle to form one of’

the bundles of the next internode (Fig. 4.). If the section be

A. Showing the branching of the bundles at the node, seen longitudinally. 2, a

horizontal section of a portion of the bundle ring in a node

made radially through one of the teeth of the sheath or rudimen-

tary leaves, a bundle is seen to pass down and unite in the

node with one of the bundles of the stem. Fig. B, a horizontal

section in the node of a portion of the bundle ring, shows how

this leaf bundle originates. It is seen that the bundle of the leaf

is derived, not by a simple separation of a portion of the outer

phloem, part of the bundle in the stem, but that it originates

where that bundle begins to divide, and in such a manner that its

vessels are continuous with the xylem of the divided bundle.

Each bundle of the stem therefore divides at the node in three

parts—two lateral portions, each with xylem and. phloem, which

by rearrangement continue the bundles of the stem, and a central

part which bends outward into the leaf.

In Fig. B. bundle 3 has divided, and given origin to the leaf

bundle a, and two lateral portions, one of which has united with

half of the divided bundle 4 to form the perfect bundle 3’, the

other half being ready to unite with half of the dividing bundle 2

to form a bundle at 2’. A section a very little farther up would

_ show bundle 2’ completed and bundle 2 in the condition that 3

now is. As the leaves do not arise quite on the same horizontal

se _ plane successive sections show the process repeated both to the

American Journal of Science, March, 1885, p. 249.

Professor E.

ee d by CHARLES Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska.

1885. ] Botany. 503

right and left until the opposite side of the stem is reached, and

as many leaves have been produced as they are bundles in the

stem.—A. A. Crozier, Botanical Laboratory, University of Michigan.

DISPERSION OF SPORES IN A ToapsTooL.—A few days since I

have I seen notice of such a phenomenon. The atmosphere of

my room was at the time very dry, and this fact undoubtedly had

something to do with the remarkable distribution described.—

—T. H. McBride, Iowa City, Oct., 1884.

Tur FERTILIZATION OF CUPHEA VISCOSISSIMA.—The entire plant

is clammy pubescent, especially the stems and calyces. There

are six petals, purple, the two upper ones about twice the size of

the rest, the four lower ones being placed along the lower edge

of the calyx (Fig. 1 A). The lower part of the calyx near the

throat is inflated, and the base is spurred (Fig. 1 B). On the

RRAN PAV

CAA a a dA d

NEWA A

nA : ESE 1

Wi a 7

t FOT E sth \ hi

MELATI }

ti i \ l "i J y

Fig. I. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.

Cuphea viscosissima. X 1%.

aea

1.—A. View of corolla from above. B. Side view of flower. Fic, 2. Corolla

IG. F A

split open to show the relative position of stamens, magnified. Fic. 3. The pistil.

n, nectary, sf, stigma, 0, ovary.

504 General Notes. [ May,

calyx, and supplies the honey; the stigma is two-lobed, the lower

lobe being decidedly smaller (Fig. 3). There is a decided varia-

tion in the length of the style, but I was unable to deduce any

dimorphic arrangement from what I saw. Long-tongued bees

visit the flower, and the case seems one of synacmy, the outer

stamens, however, maturing first, and the ‘next in order— Aug.

F. Foerste, Granville, Ohio.

THE INTERNAL CAMBIUM RING IN GELSEMIUM SEMPERVIRENS.—

Dr. J. T. Rothrock, at the meeting of the Botanical Section of

the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, held February

9, 1885, called attention to the internal cambium ring in the stem

of Gelsemium sempervirens. It might well be designated as the

inner cambium. His attention was attracted by the fact that in a

stem of three-eighths of an inch diameter, the pith was actually

less in diameter than in a ¢wig of a quarter the size of the stem.

Microscopic examination showed that in the larger stem there

were ordinarily four or more points, at which a well-defined swel-

ling curved inward from the circumference of what should have

been the pith-cavity. These swellings resolved themselves when

closely examined into:

‘I. Toward the center an imperfectly defined membrane, resem-

bling cuticle, which was not always present.

2. One or more rows of large cells like the parenchyma we

find under the epidermal layer.

3. Several poorly defined layers of smaller cells, such as often

mark the limits of growth in bark.

4 The frequent presence uf bast fibers or of sclerenchyma

cells, :

5. An evident layer of thin-walled, square cells, closely resemb-

ling, though somewhat smaller than those of the external cam-

bium. They showed signs of division, which indicated that they

were still a living tissue. _

in the very large stems a smaller pith than in those of moderate

_ size. In this there was nothing comparable to the inner cambium.

He also remarked that for the past two winters his attention had

__ been called to the presence of considerable quantities of chloro-

_ phyllin the pith of Lycium vulgare. This was not confined to

_ the smallest stems, but was found also in those of over a quarter

of an inch in diameter, and where of course a considerable belt of

1885.| Botany. 505

hard wood was found between the pith and the outer zone

where chlorophyll is expected. It was also observed in Lycium

that the chlorophyll was not in the form of bodies, but diffused

in character, as it is said to be in some infusorians. In Lycium

the cells of the pith showed, in winter, abundance of protoplasm

which had the nucleus on one side and very striking bands ex-

tending thence across the cell to the further side.—FProc. A. N. S.

Phila.

STRASBURGER’S BOTANISCHE PrActTicuM.—Abouta year ago this

book appeared in Germany, where it has received many favorable

notices, as an excellent work for the laboratory student. The

book is so valuable that it must soon be translated, but in the

meantime we may well give an outline of what it contains. After

an introductory chapter devoted to the microscope, various kinds

of apparatus, raga peui taray etc., etc., the work is divided

into thirty-four “tasks,” in which partic ular subjects are taken

up. The aim ol the GE is to tad the student at once in

microscopy and botany, rightly believing that the art named can

be best learned in its application to the science of plants. As far

as possible the plants selected are common and easily obtainable

ones. The illustrations, 4 Daig there are 182, are all new, and

are made especially for t

e general sequence me subjects is as follows: Starch, ale-

urone, protoplasm, chlorophyll and other coloring matters; crys-

tals; anatomy of the root of sugar-beet ; fruit of pear ; epidermis

and stomata of Iris, Tradescantia and other plants ; hairs of vari-

ous plants; fibro-vascular bundles of Indian corn, oats, palm,

Ranunculus, Aristolochia, etc., etc.; secondary wood, anatomy ot

stems of Scotch pine, linden, ivy, locust (Robinia), pumpkin, etc.,

etc., running through twenty “tasks” or chapters. A couple of

chapters are devoted to the structure and reproduction of mosses,

five to the fungi and alge, one to the reproduction of pterido-

phytes, another to that of conifers, and five to that of phanerogams

iy pa smaller edition has appeared in Europe, but this we have

not yet seen. We trust that a translation of either the larger or

the smaller work will be placed before the English-speaking stu-

dents of this country. There is certainly room for such a book

here.— Charles E. Bessey.

- Tue Pampas.—In answer to the statement of Professor Asa

Gray, following Darwin and Ball, that the pampas of South

America are treeless because the only country from which trees

could be derived could not supply species suitable to the soil and

climate, Mr. Edwin Clark puts forward, in a letter to Mature,

what he, from long residence and observation, believes to be a

more probable cause or series of causes. From the absence of

rivers or water storage, periodical droughts paty occur in the

506 General Notes. [May,

summer, and at such seasons the droves of horses and cattle and

the numerous aboriginal wild rodents destroy every vestige of

vegetation in their efforts to live, the cattle even tearing out the

roots of the pampas grass. The existence of an unprotected tree

is impossible. Nothing survives save thistles, some grasses and

clovers, a few poisonous plants, thorny dwarf acacias and wiry

rushes. The extensive introduction of European plants has only

added to the flora of the pampas a few species, such as two this-

tles that are unassailable by cattle. Yet the soil is fertile and

trees grow luxuriantly wherever they are protected.

BotanicaL Nores.—The odd tree known to the Mexicans

by the name of Ocotilla, and to botanists as Fouquieria splendens,

a native of the Rio Grande plateau region, has been made the

subject of chemical studies by Miss Helen C. De S. Abbot, of

the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, the results of which have

lately been published in an eight page pamphlet. A new vegeta-

ble wax was discovered in the bark, to which the name of Ocotilla

wax was given. Dr. Farlow’s paper on the Synchitria of

the United States, in the March Botanical Gazette is of unusual

interest. It contains déscriptions of all the species known to

exist in the United States, ten in all. The Botanic garden of

Buitenzorg, Java, founded in 1817, consists of ninety-one and a

half acres, and contains more than nine thousand species of plants,

each represented by two specimens. Connected with the garden

is a botanical museum, containing the herbarium, a collection of

vegetable products, and the library, with facilities for drawing

and photography. All this is in far-off Java! When may we

hope for that kind and amount of state help in this country which

will enable our botanists to begin the making of botanic gardens

worthy of the name? As showing the tendency in our best

universities we note that, according to an item in the Gardeners’

Monthly, the University of Michigan “has established a chair of

forestry in connection with its other branches of education.” —

The University of Nebraska has made an appropriation of five

thousand dollars for procuring apparatus and collections for its

department of botany.

ENTOMOLOGY.

REPRODUCTION IN THE Honey-BEE.—At a late meeting of the

were shown under polarized light with the prisms crossed, so that

two sphincters which overlap, and the fibers of which cross, can

be dissected. One resolves the polarized beam completely, while

1885.] Entomology. 507

the other gives no twist to the plane of polarization, and so

remains invisible; but by rotating the stage plate the latter

muscle shines out brightly as the former retires into darkness.

Mr. Cheshire finds this method of studying muscular layers in in-

third object. These spermatozoa, about 200” in length, are ex-

LIFE-HISTORIES OF Mıres.—At a late meeting of the Royal

Microscopical Society, Mr. A. D. Michael read a paper “ On the

Life-histories of some little-known Tyroglyphide.” In 1873

Michael has found the acarus in England under the bark of

reeds, destroying the reeds, not feeding on any insect, and con-

cludes that it is probably a feeder on various kinds of bark, not

on animal life. He has traced the whole life history. The male

(previously unknown) presents the exceptional features possessed

by the male of Tyroglyphus carpio, discovered by Kramer in 1881,

and the hypopial nymph has been figured by Canestrini and Fan-

zago in 1877 under the name of “parasite of an Oribata,” but

without explanation. Mr. Michael finds in the life history of this

508 ` General Notes. © [May,

hypopus a confirmation of his views that the hypopial stage is not

caused’by exceptional adverse circumstances, as Mégnin sup-

oses; but is an ordinary provision of nature to insure the distri-

bution of the species, which it is intended to call Zyroglyphus

corticalis. Mr, Michael also called attention to the prevalence of

Rhizoglyphus robini on Dutch bulbs imported into England in

1884, and to the destructive nature of that species, and the

damage it did to hyacinth, dahlia and Eucharis bulbs, &c., and

recommended that imported bulbs should be carefully examined,

—English Mechanic.

FIREFLY Licut.—MM. Aubert and R. Dubois have recently

made a number of interesting observations on the light emitted

by “pyrophores,” or fire-bearing insects of the family Elateres,

genus Pyrophorus. These pyrophores have three luminous

organs, one situated at the ventral part, and two at the superior

part of the prothorax. The last are always visible, and were sub-

mitted to the tests. The light was produced by rubbing the in-

sect with a light brush, and was examined by means of an ordi-

nary spectroscope with a prism of very refrangible glass and a

micrometer. The spectrum was very fine, continuous, and show- |

- ing neither brilliant nor dark rays. This ‘peculiarity has already

been pointed out by Pasteur and Gernez, who studied the light

from a pyrophore belonging to the late Abbé Moigno, editor of

Les Mondes. The spectrum occupied about seventy-five divisions

of the micrometer, and extended on the red side to the middle of

the interval which separates the rays A and B of the solar spec-

trum, and on the blue side a little beyond the ray E. When the

intensity of the light varied, its composition changed in a remark-

able manner. When the brightness diminished the red at

orange disappeared entirely, and the spectrum consists of gree

and a little blue and yellow. The green rays lasted longest. The

contrary took place when the light grew in brightness, the green

appearing first and spectrum extending a little on the blue and a

great deal on the red side. The least refrangible rays are, there-

fore, emitted last. No other luminous source known appears to

behave in like manner. The only case which bears a resem-

blance is that of sulphate of strontium becoming phosphorescent

under the action of light at a glowing temperature. As the tem-

perature rises, rays less and less refrangible appear in the spec-

trum, but at the same time, as Edmond Becquerel has shown, the

' dess refrangible rays disappear. When the light of the organ be-

_ gins to appear, the central and forward part only of the organ is

_ luminous. Itis only when the light is very bright that the per-

iphery of the organ is luminous, and then the red rays are visi-

oe ble. The light was found to give photographic images on a gela-

__ tino-bromide plate; the insect being two centimeters from the

ae plate, and the time of exposure reduced from an hour to five

_ minutes. The photographs show that the light of the pyrophore

1885.] Entomology. 509

is capable of producing intense chemical effects, if the smallness

of the quantity emitted be taken into account. The light also de-

termines the phosphoresence of sulphate of calcium, after an expo-

sure of five minutes; and eosine and azotate of uranium are rén-

dered fluorescent by it.

The foregoing is taken from an exchange; the first spectro-

scopic research in firefly light was those of Professor C. A.

Young, published in this magazine, vol. 11, p. 615, 1870.

USE OF AN ADHESIVE FLUID IN JUMPING INSECTS.—Dr. Dewitz

has described the use of a sticky fluid by insects in jumping. A

Cicada in a closed glass tube is able to jump from the bottom on

to the cover, and from one vertical side to the other, turning in

the air; the contingency of having to jump on to vertical sur-

faces, or the under side of horizontal surfaces, occurs also in Na-

ture—viz., in the case of stems and leaves, which are, moreover,

smooth, so that claws are ineffectual to support the insect, and

sucking-disks would: probably not act with sufficient rapidity.

Now, the leaping spiders possess a well-developed pedal adhesive

apparatus, by the aid of which they can remain attached to the

surfaces on which they alight; the glands which secrete the

liquid open all over the balls of the feet, and are especially numer-

ous at their bases.

EntomotocicaL Notes.—We glean from the Zod/ogical Record

for 1883, such notes as are of general interest. Klemensiewicz

publishes detailed observations on the glands of the skin of cater-

pillars. As the respiration of insects, says Langendorf, depends

on abdominal movements, it may continue after the removal of

the head. The number of respirations is increased by heat.

Tobacco-smoke and chloroform lead to intermittent, but more or

less rhythmical respiration for a time. The head and prothorax

may be removed, and the respiration will continue; and if the

abdomen of a dragon-fly is cut to pieces, respiration will continue

in them, thus showing that each abdominal segment possesses its

own respiratory center——Osborne finds that in the Euro

tra

and those fed en honeysuckle forming pale-greenish cocoons. In

this saw-fly parthenogenesis is the rule-——H. Miller states that

bees in unaccustomed localities are timid, and find honey with

attractive colors, and bright yellow the least so.——At the sug-

gestion of Darwin, Fabre undertook a series of experiments to

510 General Notes. [ May,

test the power of bees to return to their nests when carried to a

distance ; a considerable number returned safely. Ammophila

jursuta, says Fabre, searches for the larve of Agrotis segetum,

which are detected under the surface of the ground by some

apparently unknown sense. The larva is carefully paralyzed in

every segment before being buried, which leads the author to

conclude that the Ammophila originally preyed on insects more

easily paralyzed, and as it gradually attacked larger insects, its in-

stincts enlarged, and became hereditary——W. F. Kirby finds

that hybrids between Smerinthus ocllatus and populi usually show

traces of hermaphroditism, which seems to indicate that herma-

phroditism is encouraged by hybridity, and that the usual sterility

of hybrids may be due to this cause.

ZOOLOGY.

ANOTHER VORTICELLA WITH TWO CONTRACTILE VESICLES.—In

the NATURALIST for August, 1884, the writer described a new

infusorian belonging to the genus Vorticella, under the name

Vorticella lockwoodu, one of the peculiarities of which was the

possession of two contractile vesicles, that being the first recorded

instance of the occurrence of more than a single pulsating vacuole

in any of the numerous species. Now, however, I desire to state

that a similar arrangement obtains in the well-known Vorticella

monilata Tatem, a species originally discovered in English waters,

and by no means uncommon on the continent of Europe or in

this country. It therefore seems somewhat surprising that the

presence of the two vesicles in this widely distributed form should

have hitherto eluded observation. The species occurs in this

locality in some profusion, a colony recently taken attached to

Myriophyllum from my aquarium being formed, by actual count,

of two-hundred individuals, another of eighty-three, smaller col-

lections not being rare. With these I have been able to positively

determine and demonstrate to a friend the presence of two con-

tractile vesicles which, when the vorticella is in the proper posi-

tion, are distinctly visible without a change of focus. The fact of

their presence is of interest since it is a point in the anatomy of

th inute creat t previously noted.—Dr, Alfred C. Stokes,

Trenton, N. F.

CUVIERIAN ORGANS OF THE COTTON-SPINNER.— Professor F.

Jeffrey Bell gives a technical account of this almost unknown

British Holothurian, which is of interest as being the only true

—that is, aspidochirotous (or with shield-shaped tentacles)—

member of the class which is known to occur in British seas.

The organ of most’ importance is that which produces the sticky

_ Secretion from which these animals have obtained their name, and

which makes them objects of much dread to the Cornish fisher-

= men. The producing or cuvierian organs are described as form-

_ ing a solid mass which occupies a large portion of the body-

1885. | Zoölogy. 511

cavity, and which is made up of a number of separate tubes; a

small coiled portion was found lying in the cloaca as if ready for

ejection. A small piece of a tube, measuring only 2.5™™ was

found even after twenty years’ immersion in spirit, to be capable

of extension to twelve times its own length; while, when treated

with water, the attenuated thread swells up to seven times its own

breadth. “We can thus understand that an animal at whom

these threads are thrown should, as it attempts to escape, lengthen

the threads which, at the same time, coming into contact with the

water, would be swollen out transversely as they were extended

longitudinally.” Professor Bell thinks that the observations con-

firm the view of Semper as to the protective or offensive charac-

ter of these organs, which, by Jager and most later anatomists,

have been thought to be renal in function.

In a subsequent note Professor Bell states that six threads, any

one of which was only barely visible, were capable of supporting

a weight of nearly a thousand grains; and quotes a letter from a

correspondent to say that the black holothurians near Porto-Fino,

emit a tangled mass of white threads so sticky and in such quan-

tity that it was difficult to free the hands from them.— Fournal

of the Royal Microscopical Society, December, 188 4.

EartTH-Worms.—An interesting paper on the habits of earth-

worms in New Zealand is contributed to the New Zealand Insti-

tute by Mr. A. T. Urquhart. The species are not named, but

with such wonderful opportunities as Mr. Urquhart possesses for

making a collection of these, may we hope that, in addition to his

following out his observations as to their habits, he will also

advance science by making a careful collection of the forms and

placing them in the hands of some of the able naturalists of the

Auckland Institute for description? It will be remembered that

Darwin assumes that in old pastures there may be 26,886 worms

where the return of worms was a blank, the walls were crow

with worms. Asa result there was an average of eighteen worms

per square foot, or 784,080 per acre. Although this average is

very striking when compared with that of Hensen, it is worthy

of note that the difference between the actual weight of the worms

is not so marked. According to Hensen, his average of 53,767

512 General Notes. [May,

worms would weigh 356 pounds, while Mr. Urquhart finds that

the average weight of the number found by him came to 612

pounds 9 ounces.. Scientific American,

DEEP-SEA EXPLORATIONS OF LAST SUMMER BY THE U. S. FisH

Commission.—Professor Verrill reports that the zoological. results

this year were of great interest. Many additions to the fauna of great

depths were made, anda large proportion of them are undescribed

forms. Someofthe fishes were of great interest. Huge spiny spider-

crabs (Lithodes agassizii) over three feet across were taken in 1000

to 1230 fathoms, and another very large crab (Geryon) occurred

in great abundance in 500 to 1000 fathoms, while in 2574 fathoms

a large and strong crab-like creature (Munidopsis) was taken.

any curious shrimp, some of them of large size and brightly

colored, and often with perfect eyes, occurred in most of the

deepest dredgings. Several very interesting new forms of star-

fishes, ophiurans, and holothurians were dredged, some of them

in large quantities, even in the deepest localities. Several inter-

_ esting new forms of corals, gorgonians, sea-pens, and allied forms

so occurred. Numerous specimens of huge sea-urchins with

flexible shells (Phormosoma uranus) were obtained from several

different stations, in 600 to 1100 fathoms. Some of these are about

ten inches broad. One sea-urchin (Aspidodiadema), not before

observed north of the West Indies, was taken in 991 fathoms.

Most of the deep-sea star-fishes belong to the genus Archaster

and other closely related genera. Some of these, like A. agassizii

and A. grandis, were taken in large numbers, several hundreds in

a single haul. And the same often happens with several of the

ophiurans and sea-urchins. One interesting stalked crinoid

(Rhizocrinus) was obtained in 2021 fathoms.

any additions were made to the Mollusca. In July, Professor

Verrill published a general list of all the deep-water Mollusca taken

in the gulf stream region off this coast, up to theend of 1883. That

list included 338 deep-water species and 42 that inhabit the sur-

face waters. This year about 25 deep-sea species and about 8

from the surface were added to the list, making the total number

Over 400 species. Among the new forms discovered this year

are four or five species of cephalopods, some of them very remark-

able, and representing new genera. There were some very inter-

esting new shells, some of them of good size and well developed,

_ from below 2000 fathoms. Most of the larger and finer ones

from the very deep waters belong to the Pleurotoma group, but

some large species are allied to,Sipho (or Fusus) and to Dolium.

_ Numerous specimens of three rare species of brachiopods were also

dredged from below 1000 fathoms. These are Discina atlantica,

` Waldheimia cranium and Atretia gnomon. The latter has not

been known before from this side of the Atlantic.

__ Anatomy oF a Catrisa.—Professor R. Ramsay Wright, with

_ Professor J. P. McMurrich, A. B. McCallum and T. McKenzie,

1885.] Zoology. 513

have published in the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute of

Toronto “ Contributions to the anatomy of Amiurus.” The papers

erve as a contribution to the morphology of a comparatively

little known family of fishes, and will also be of use to teachers of

comparative anatomy. The skin and cutaneous sense-organs as

well as the nervous system and sense-organs are described and

figured by Professor Wright; the osteology and myology by

Professor McMurrich, the alimentary canal, liver, pancreas and

air-bladder by Mr. McCallum, which Mr. McKenzie has worked

out the blood-vascular system, ductless glands and urogenital

system. The work comprises 206 pages, and is illustrated by

eight folding heliotypic plates.

Professor Wright describes certain structures which are appa-

rently comparable to the nerve-sacs of the ganoids; he also dis-

cusses the relationship between the air-bladder and the auditory

labyrinth. The work is another of the monographic essays now

appearing from time to time, and affords the modern student aids

and facilities such as were entirely unknown a generation ago.

THE SPIRACLES OF AMIA AND LEPIDOSTEUS.—My note on this

subject in the February NATURALIST requires modification, in so

far as what I took to be the oral aperture of the spiracle in Amia

is really the aperture of a canal in which the pseudobranchia lies,

and into which the spiracular cleft opens further forwards. The

pseudobranchia of Amia is homologous with the upper (non-res-

piratory) part of the opercular gill in Lepidosteus ; both are in-

nervated by the anterior branch of the glossopharyngeus, but the

pseudobranchia of Lepidosteus is free, while that of Amia is con-

cealed in what may be termed a pseudobranchial canal. The sin-

gular continuity of this canal with the spiracular cleft induced me

to believe that I had found evidence to justify Dohrn’s criticism

of Gegenbaur’s views as to the homology of the pseudobranchia

of the Teleosts, but I am now convinced that the condition of the

rts in Amia proves Gegenbaur’s position to be correct.—R.

Ramsay Wright, University College, Toronto, February ro, 1885.

BirDS OUT OF SEASON—A TRAGEDY.—Our winter so far has

been one of unusual severity, such low temperatures as — 20° to

— 35° having prevailed quite often. Whole weeks have passed in

which the mercury has not risen above zero! But during all this

time, until the afternoon of the 18th instant—‘a chewink”

(Pipilo erythrophthalmus) has lived about my orchard and barn-

yard. I am unaccustomed to seeing much of this species, except

in early spring, upon their return from the South. It br

here, but is a very quiet bird through the summer and autumn—

at least, it has only been upon rare occasions that I have seen it,

But soon after winter set in I saw the one in question in the barn-

yard, where he seemed to be feeding upon some scattered grain

Later I found him one very cold afternoon in a “ straw-built shed,

VOL, XIX.—NO, V. 33

514 General Notes. [May,

where I easily caught him. After looking him over, and com-

paring him with Dr. Brewer’s lucid description, I let him go.

Catching him did not seem to have caused him any alarm or dis-

comfort, for he remained about the premises quite as tame and

sprightly as usual.

In addition to the chewink, a robin has also been a frequent

visitant here. We saw him some days ago, and again last night,

when the mercury was down to — 20°. But it is not at all un-

usual for robins to be here in winter, though I do not remember

having ever seen more than one at a time.

On the afternoon of the 18th instant, our dear little chewink,

which we had come to regard with great solicitude, met with a

very sad fate. Going into the barnyard, I saw a couple of birds

dart down to the side of a hay-stack. One was a jay, and at the

first glance I thought the other was also. But in an instant it

occurred to me that the jay was killing the under bird. I sprang

forward hoping to rescue it. I was just an instant too late—for

the jay picked up the bird, now dead, and flew away with it!

The load was a heavy one, and as the cannibal flew off across a

ravine, it bore him down almost to the ground. The quick

glimpse I had of the glossy black head and back, the chestnut

sides, and the white under parts, showed that it was our poor

chewink—whose fortitude in braving our terrible winter had met

with a sad requital. I have always defended the blue jays,

though I know they are addicted to a great deal of “crooked-

ness” in their treatment of other species of birds; but this inci-

dent has quite disgusted me with them.— Charles Aldrich, Web-

ster City, lowa, Fan. 29, 1885.

How FAR DOES THE JERBOA Jump?—On page 71, of his

most entertaining volume, A Naturalist’s Rambles about Home,

Dr. Charles C. Abbott, in speaking of the pretty “kangaroo

or Jumping-mouse,” quotes Godman to the effect that it leaps

“five or six feet at every spring;” but expresses a doubt on the

subject. He says: “Without the means of determining this

point, I should judge that one-half that distance was more nearly

correct.” While living at my old boyhood home, in Cattaraugus

county, New York—forty years ago—I used occasionally to see

one of these very interesting little animals. The first one I ever

saw was in the meadow, where I was raking hay with a common,

old-fashioned hand-rake. The mouse made a sudden spring, and

“went for it” with my rake. After chasing it two or three

rods I hit it with the rake-head and killed it. My recollection is

very distinct, that it “leaped at least five or six feet,” at tl

—though it appeared to tire out very quickly, reducing the

=ngth of its leaps to not more than two or three feet. I conclude

o that both writers have recalled their observations correctly, and

-that the condition of the animal, possibly also its age, may deter-

mine its jumping capacity. I remember that in this, as in other

1885. ] Embryology. 515

instances, each jump was made in a different direction from the

last, so that it was a matter of some difficulty to pursue the little

creature! I was exceedingly interested in this first capture—

never having seen or heard of one before. One of our farm hands

told me that it was a “kangaroo mouse.” After that I saw one

occasionally, and my recollection is very clear that Godman does

not overstate its ability to jump. I have never seen or heard of

one in this region.— Charles Aldrich, Webster City, Iowa, March

5, 1885.

EMBRYOLOGY .!

ON THE PROBABLE ORIGIN, HOMOLOGIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF

THE FLUKES OF CETACEANS AND SIRENIANS.—We have seen that

the development of the Physoclist fishes (Am. NaTJRALIsT, 1885,

pp. 315-317), shows that the translocation of the pelvic fins for-

ward is accomplished in some forms in about twenty-four to forty-

eight hours, to a position more or less in advance of the pectoral,

If a limb-fold can be translocated forwards in a vertebrate embryo

from its archaic site, there is no reason to doubt that under cer-

tain conditions it might be translocated in the other direction or

backwards. A process of translocation of the distal end of the

pelvic limbs seems to have occurred in the cetaceans, as a conse-

quence of which the pes has acquired a new position far to the

rear of that which it occupies in normal mammals, and this seems

to have been accompanied by processes of atrophy in some direc-

tions and hypertrophy in others.

_ The researches of Struthers, Flower, Reinhardt, Eschricht,

Kaup, Lepsius, Howes and Wilder, leave no doubt as to the fact

that the different rudimentary structures which these anatomists

have detected, unequivocally point to the conclusion that, the

cetaceans and sirenians have descended from Mammalia which

possessed more or less perfectly developed ambulatory limbs,

which fitted them at least for an amphibious or partially terrestrial

existence. This conclusion is, I believe, generally accepted by

recent authorities.

All recent writers, amongst which. may be named Flower,

Huxley, Owen, Claus and Parker, unequivocally declare that the

hind-limbs of the whales and sirenians have been so completely

suppressed, that no rudiments or vestiges of any kind have re-

mained to indicate outwardly that these creatures ever possesse

such appendages, the evidence that they did once possess hind-

limbs resting for them rather upon the presence ofa rudimentary

pelvis with much reduced limb-bones in a few forms of Balznoi-

ea and in Halitherium. eee

From this view the-writer must dissent, having independently

arrived at conclusions in reference to the homology of the flukes

1 Edited by Joun A, Ryper, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

516 General Notes. [May,

very similar to those published by Professor Gill’ in 1882, who

regards these characteristic structures as having been derived

_ from greatly hypertrophied integuments of hind-limbs analogous

to such as are developed, for instance, to the hind-limbs of the

eared seals, while the osseous elements have been inversely atro-

nected with the organs of generation. It may, I think, be re-

garded as a fact that there is no evidence to show that develop-

ment does not attempt to recapitulate in a disguised form, in the

cetacean fœtus, the outgrowth of the hind-limb as seen in a

normal mammalian embryo.

In the mammal the pectoral limb is the first to appear, the

pelvic appearing last. If the flukes be regarded as the outward

vestiges of hind-limbs or pedes, then will the embryos of ceta-

ceans and sirenians conform to this law presiding over the order

of appearance of the limbs, which, so far as I am aware, is regnant

without exception within the limits of the vertebrate class. The

dorsal fin with which the flukes have so often been mistakenly

compared, is not present in all cetaceans; is absent in all sirenians;

is not constant in position in different genera of the former; is

sometimes a mere carina, dorsal ridge or hump; its vascular an

nerve supply is different from that of the flukes; it develops after

the latter, showing that it is a later acquirement ; it has absolutely

no connection with muscles directly or indirectly by tendons as

have the flukes, so that I regard the comparison of the dorsal fin,

which is a mere dermal fold, with the flukes, as expressing a mis-

taken apprehension of anatomical homologies, and not justified in

the face of the fact that the flukes are never absent, and always

appear laterally or serially in the position of a hind limb-fold, _

though backwardly displaced. It must, however, be stated that I

distinctly disavow the affirmation that the flukes are homologous

with more than the pedes of normal forms. The older views

which intimated that the flukes were the representatives of limbs

or of feet, it is not worth while to discuss, as these writers did not

possess the data upon which to base any reasons for their

opinions, which seem to have been in the main intuitional.

The hypothesis which is offered to account for the flukes as the

distal vestiges of limbs rests upon the following arguments :—1.

The mode of outgrowth of the flukes in the embryo, prior to the

dorsal fin, at the end of the sides of the tail, at first as a pair of

low rounded lobes or folds of skin, containing mesoblast, which

become gradually falcate, and which expand posteriorly so as to

leave a notch over the end of the tail between their inner edges.

The hind margin of the flukes answering to the terminal border

_ of the pes or the ends of the suppressed toes or the integuments

extending beyond them, and their anterior margin to the outer

_ n Scientific and popular views of nature contrasted. A lecture delivered in the

National Museum, March 11th, 1882. Pp. 10-11. Washington, Judd & Detweiler.

1885.] Embryology. 517

digital border. 2. The existence of a small median papilla, ac-

cording to Wilder, at the extreme end and under side of the tail

of the foetus of the manatee, representing apparently the last

vestige of an exserted tail extending beyond and behind the fluke ©

folds of this type, in which the flukes are in fact rudimentary. 3.

The fact that the osseous elements of the limb have atrophied ex-

actly in the reverse order in which they appear in the embryo, or

from without inwards, that is, from behind forwards in cetaceans

and sirenians, because in both, the hind-limbs have been rotated

or extended permanently backwards distad of the knee-joint. 4.

The structure of the embryonic fluke-folds or diverticula filled

with mesoblast comparable to that found in the limb-folds of

other vertebrate embryos, these limb-buds representing structures

which have survived translocation and made an attempt to im-

perfectly recapitulate the development of part of the limb. -

The above headings present the embryological argument. The

other data are anatomical and are mainly based on a comparison

of the pinniped and cetacean types. Admitted that the cetaceans

are descended from land forms, we would naturally look to types

of amphibious habits and poorly adapted for progression upon

land to furnish the first indications of modifications which have

been carried to an extreme degree in the former. Traces of the

beginnings of such modifications we actually find in pinnipeds.

In the pinnipeds, the hind limbs, from the knees, have been

rotated backward and included by a continuation of the integu-

ment which invests the body together with the tail, leaving only

the last two or three short caudal vertebræ exserted or projecting

into a caudal integumentary pocket, lying between the distal parts

of the backwardly extended limbs.. This process of inclusion, if

carried to an extreme stage, would finally cause the whole of the

tail to be lost to sight outwardly, leaving only the metapodial and

phalangeal parts free, As a result of this arrangement in the

pinnipeds certain muscular insertions of the limb muscles have

been moved backwards, and the hyposkeletal flexors of the trunk

have become more powerful; the abdominal muscles extending

over the knees have restricted the movements of the femur.- As

a further result of this restricted movement the pelvis has

to degenerate, the symphysis pubis become less defined, and the

femur shortened. We are therefore, I submit, the actual witnesses

of a process in the pinnipeds which if carried still further would

bring about the condition now found in living cetaceans. The

pedes in pinnipeds have been hypertrophied together with the

metapodial and phalangeal elements, but are not the fingers also

lengthened and their joints multiplied in the cetacean manus ?

In the Plesiosauri, Ichthyosauri and Lyrifera or true fishes, the

1 »

or increase of limb-elements comparable to p langes, with a

corresponding shortening of the proximal bones in contact with

518 General Notes. | May,

the shoulder and hip-girdles. Manifestly the pes of a form like

Megaptera, if mobile, would require a system of phalanges as

powerful as those in the manus, but the pes is not mobile in any

cetacean, on its own base, as is the fore-limb, but is rigidly affixed

to the sides of the end of the tail and incapable of independent

movement, hence the atrophy of its bones. The only evidence

remaining to indicate that the pedes or flukes of cetaceans were

once possessed of well-developed phalanges, is the distribution

of the dorsal and ventral interdigital arteries, the arrangement of

these in fact indicating that there was a great inequality in the

length of the digits of the pes, the same as we now see in the

manus, thus leading to the conclusion that the foot-structure of

the ancestral or protocetacean type was so far different from that

of the pinnipeds.

the tail, which, with the total abandonment of the land by the

animal, would become stronger and its centra greatly developed,

carrying the pedal folds or flukes still farther rearward, and

thus increase still more the interval between them and the rem-

nants of the pelvis. At the same time, the muscles of the tail

would become greatly developed, so that in the cetaceans we

actually have the spectacle of an animal type which has descended

from a land form with a degenerate tail again acquiring a tail of

the functional importance of that of a fish, but structurally very

dissimilar, especially as regards the arrangement of its muscles,

which are not homologous with the muscular somites of a fish’s

tail. The pes thus becomes the only outwardly apparent part of

the hind limb, just as the manus is the principal part exserted in

the fore-limbs of cetaceans, where some of the muscular inser-

tions have also been shoved outward or into a more distal an

effective position. The inclusion of the end of the tail of ceta-

ceans between the flukes has also differentiated the caudal verte-

brz of the latter into two distinct and well-marked series, so that

the centra, as respects their vertical diameters, do not taper from

the sacral region backward, as in other mammals, but only from

in front of the flukes backward. ;

-he arrangement of the vessels of the manus and flukes is

1885.] Psychology. 519

Finally, it may be said that the rudimentary tibia, when present,

is directed backward in the cetaceans just as in pinnipeds, show-

ing that if it were fully developed and prolonged it would carry

the pedes far behind a vertical line drawn through the hip-joint.

There is also other evidence that the inclusion of the hind limbs

in the whales has occurred in much the same way as in pinnipeds,

for example, the femora are adducted to a remarkable degree in

Balena, according to Struthers, showing that the encroachment

of other parts must have been the principal cause of such adduc-

tion. The femora of Halitherium seem also to have been direct-

ed backward toward the flukes, according to the figures given by

Lepsius.

The translocation of the pedes of cetaceans has been accom-

plished through an extended phyletic series and was not sudden

or partially saltatory as in the case of the pelvic limbs of embryo

physoclists. The translocation in the first case was due to the

ackward extension of the limb, outwardly carrying only the pes

away from its original place, in the latter the whole limb is shifted

together with the girdle. In cetaceans there has been little or no

shifting of the pelvic girdle, its detachment from the vertebral

column being due to the atrophy of the ilium. The extension

backwards of the limbs and pedes parallel with the caudal portion

of the vertebral column, obviously began in an amphibious mam-

malian type and has thus gradually brought the pedes to their

present position, where they appear ontogenetically; heredity,

through immediate ancestry, here, as in many other cases, greatly

marring the phylogenetic record. This gradual shifting, accord-

ing to the method described, completely does away with the diffi-

culty suggested by Flower as to the helplessness of the animals

during the transfer, which really began in forms already to a

great extent helpless on land but certainly not in the water.

The foregoing gives the principal anatomical and embryologi-

cal grounds for regarding the flukes of Cetacea as the representa-

tives of pedes translocated backward by rotation and extension

of the limb rearward into a position parallel with the tail by the

process of inclusion as described above, but as it is impossible to

consider the evidence in favor of this conclusion in detail in this

brief abstract, those interested are referred to my illustrated

memoir on the subject almost ready for publication by the U.S. >

Fish Commission.—/ohn A. Ryder.

PSYCHOLOGY.

INTELLIGENCE OF THE Limpet.—By far the larger number of lim-

pets “roost” upon rocks whose only covering consists of minute

green alge and millepores, together with numerous acorn barn- —

acles. These last are seen to be of very unequal degrees of “ clean-

ness,’ some being covered with vegetable growth, others quite

white and bare. Those immediately surrounding a limpet or group

520 Generat Notes. [May,

of limpets are invariably free from algz. As might have been an-

ticipated, Patella is the cause of this freedom. At low tide any

one on the foakout can hear a quick, regular rasping sound in all

directions, and see numerous limpets slowly crawling about.

Scrutiny of any particular individual shows that the rasping noise

is caused by strokes of the radula, which speedily scrapes away

the incrusting alge. Whilst “on the feed” a limpet moves

steadily on, pretty much in a straight line, and continually sweeps

its elongated snout from side to side, feeling out probably suita-

ble patches whereon to graze. When such a one is discovered, it is

gradually licked quite clean. Ifthe patch happens to be the sur-

face of a moderate-sized barnacle, the circular lip is completely

spread over it, almost tempting one to believe that the crusta-

cean is about to be “ sawn out.” Such, however, is not the case,

“house-cleaning” being the sole end in view. Indeed, limpets

are often serviceable to one another by thus clearing away escu-

lents growing upon their shells. To secure a dinner, a good deal

of licking is requisite, and perhaps this habit may help to account

for the inordinate length ofA ie tongue-ribbon. Certainly, it must

used up at a very great

But this is not the only, So aoa I believe the chief way in which

the limpet feeds. ose individuals which live near large sea-

weeds, such as Fucus, feed extensively upon them, as their

gnawed condition testifies. I can speak confidently in this mat-

ter, having caught more than one limpet in the act. The opera-

tion was as follows: The edge of a thick flat part of the thallus

was seized by the lip (as a traveler might commence on a colossal

sandwhich), and being, I suppose, held firmly by the upper jaw, a

semicircular “ bite” was gradually excavated by successive scrapes

of the radula, the edges of the bite being beveled on the under

side. So far as my observations extended, limpets do not feed

when covered by water, but always settle down firmly before the

rising tide reaches them. The intervals between which any par-

ticular limpet feeds seem to be very irregular; but, as a rule, the

largest limpets are apparently least fond of long fasts.

In regard to the second point, the locality-sense, great doubt

seems to exist in the minds of naturalists as to whether limpets

go back to the same place to roost. I believe the question was

answered in the affirmative long since by a Mr. King, but, as far

as is known to me, he did not publish any details of his observa-

tions, and this is my excuse for giving an outline of mine. Fol-

lowing a neces of Mr. yya I marked a porosa of lim-

1885.] Fsychology, 521

The question now arises, what sense is employed by the limpet

in finding its way back to its scar? The appreciation of locality

displayed is certainly, for so simply-organized an animal, very

e sense of sight is, evidently, out of court, for an eye

like the limpet’s, consisting of no more than a sensitive cup, could

do little if any more than distinguish between light of different

degrees of intensity. The tentacles seemed at first sight to be ex-

tremely likely organs to use for the purpose, and to decide this I

excised those of two marked individuals, which were off their

scars. One speedily found its way back; the other seemed con-

fused by the operation for several days, but after that time was

found on its scar, This shows a remarkable power of memory,

unless the scar was found by accident, which is possible, as the

individual was near home when the operation was performed.

But even in that case the scar must almost certainly have been

remembered. Thus the tentacles do not seem to be the means by

which home is returned to. The sense of smell then suggested

itself, and it occurred to me that one reason why limpets keep on

their scars when covered by the water was to prevent the “ scent”

of the track traversed from being washed off. With a view to

determine this the space between a wandering limpet and its scar

was carefully washed again and again with sea-water. In spite

of this the limpet in question readily found its way back again.

Further experiments are, however, needed, on this head, for any

ordinary washing would be very ineffective compared with the

rolonged soaking the tide would effect in the case of a limpet

(like the one just mentioned) living some distance below high-

water mark. Still some limpets live so near this last that they

are covered but a very short time, and yet these remain on their

scars during that time. Hence I think some other motive

ably induces them to remain firmly fixed to their scars when

under water. Of course they can hold on best when so fixed,

and this suggests the most likely reason for the habit, z.e., to avoid

522 General Notes. [May,

being washed off the rocks by the tide. Iam inclined to think that

the snout plays some part in helping the limpet to get home, as this

organ is extremely sensitive, and certainly plays an important part

in discovering suitable food. I intend carrying on more extended

observations with a view to the more complete elucidation of this

puzzling question in regard to the limpet’s locality-sense, but this

preliminary notice may possibly be of some interest —¥. R. Davis,

in Nature for Fan. 1, 188

ANTHROPOLOGY.’

ELEMENTS OF GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY.—Without drawing in-

vidious comparisons, it would not be unfair to say that anthropo-

logical science is better organized in France than in any other

country. The Dictionary of Anthropological Sciences, now

going through the press in Paris, is just at this moment followed

by a colossal work by Dr. Paul Topinard. The first volume, of

1157 pages, entitled “Eléments d’Anthropologie générale,”

relates to the history of anthropological investigations and to

those special investigations which have been prosecuted upon

the human body. The second part of the Anthropologie géné-

rale will bring together all the matter furnished by the different

branches of the natural history of man, taking into account in-

structions furnished by accessory sciences, and will make a syn-

thesis of these results, concluding with a discussion of man in

time, his origin and his future.

The second volume of the work will be the application of the

zoologic method to the determination of all the types of the

human species and of all the races. This will be denominated

“ Anthropologie spéciale.”

Without spending a word in the praise of a work which speaks

for itself, we will give our readers a few of the tables not accessi-

ble in any text books, but indispensable even to intelligent

readers.

The first six chapters are historical, tracing with great minute-

ness the methods of studying man from Herodotus, Hippocrates,

Aristotle and Galen down to the foundation of the Anthropologi-

cal Society of Paris. The next three chapters, VII, VIIL, IX, treat

of the methods to employ in anthropological research. The

remaining chapters are devoted to the study of the hair, nose,

color of hair, eyes and skin, cephalic indices, height, brain-weight,

skull-cubage, craniometry, zodlogic characters, zsthetic charac-

ters and anthropometry.

In a former number of the Natura.ist we called attention to

a fact, often noticed, that the method of the formation of races is

in a certain sense antizodlogical. As Professor Flower observes, '

_ the methods of the formation of species are necessarily disper-

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C,

1885.] Anthropology. 523.

sive, centrifugal. As in the cosmic period heavenly bodies were

thrown off by a revolving mass, so have species arisen by that

isolation which is necessary to the fixity of hereditable character-

istics. There seems to be a growing conviction that the first

human stem threw off at least three branches to which the spe-

cific law just mentioned applied. But expanding indefinitely the

borders of these subspecies, if you like, soon overlapped ard set

up a concrescent, concurrent movement, resulting in a diversity

of races,

Dr. Topinard accepts this tripartite division of humanity, de-

veloped by Cuvier and enforced by Flourens and de Quatre-

fages, but justifies s plan by arguments wholly his own.

Taki e section of the hair or crinal index as a primary

classific concept, fie gives the table below :

1. Hair apes yee more or less — Yellow and red races of Asia and

scarc the face and body. merica.,

2. Hair n sks or very spiral, section more Negro races of Africa and Oce-

or less elliptical. anica.

3. Hair more or less curled or wavy, oval in { sg pa races, Australians, Nu-

section.

The next concept is the nasal index, to which Dr. Topinard

attaches oe importance. Adding this to the color of the skin

we have

Lepiorhines White

ae: Rates 4 7 eotorhi „ayait Celt

69 pies ie) [Leucoid] ep a ine St nie) ine) _ Sie

Hyperleptorhine Anglo-Scandinavian

(Kymri) `.

Mesorhines ae te ee O (cranial) Eskim

(living) es | nos e {Me ne cial): Veloe: ga of Asia

70 to 81.4 [Xanthoid] Saliant t no Red-skin

Platyrhines Black ell formed nose African Nias

_ (living) s {xo Nose coarse, with enormous f Melanesians and

82 and above [Melanoi] ale { Australians

The nasal index he living is the ratio between the length of eel ee from the

root to the outer nOon of the septum and the width outside of the

The subject of color is further discussed in its ae? to the

eyes and hair and the races grouped as

Eyes, color. 1. Black and blackish, diff. shades (Top. 317).

2. Green.

3. Hazel.

4. Blue and clear of diff. shades, includ. clear gray.

Hair, color. 1. Absolutely black.

2. Dark brown.

5. Red.

Skin, color. 1. o black.

2. Brown, shaded

‘ “4 Browik yellowed c or olive.

4. Reddi sh.

524 General Notes. [May,

Skin, color. 5. Yellow or olive.

6. Yellowish white,

à n white,

. a. Rosy white.

8. 4. Florid white.

7; Freckled.

s. Anglo- oe or Kymri,

nny sean Sla

[Leucoid] Brunette iterraneans and Sem

Reddish ous One of the two F innish types.

Yellow proper. Races of Asia and Eskimo.

Red proper. Redskins and Caribs.

YELLOW, Red Yellowish red. Guaranis, Botoceodos,

Olive red. Peru

Blackish. Charruas an (Uia; Anct. Cal., So. Dravidas,

Yellowish. Hottentots.

By color

Blacks ioe Aus tralians, Blacks of India; Tasmanians and Papuans,

ritos, African Negroes.

The cephalic index is the ratio of the greatest skull width

divided by the greatest skullslength. As to the boundaries of

the terms applied to these ratios, most dikbapiity the doctors dis-

agree. Dr. Topinard’s table is as follows:

eye rs Ate 74 per cent and les

Mésaticéphaly, 75 to 79.9 per cent.

+75) -76 Sub,

77 Medium,

-78, .799 Super,

eine omen ix 80 per cent and over.

84 Sub——,

T i 89 Super.

-90 and over Ultra.

amzecephaly.

Stenocephaly. Noting narrow skul

Trochocephaly (zpozaen, to be round). Noting —— skulls.

ephaly. Noting large skulls.

Microcephaly, Noting small sk

Plagiocephaly. Noting oblique s kulls.

Cymbocephaly, Noting skulls with hollow bregma.

Sphenocephaly. Noting wedge-shaped skulls,

tigonocephaly, Noting triangular skulls. `

Pachycephaly. Noting skulls with thick walls.

The application of the cranial index to the divisions of the

human species previously considered, results as follows:

Ess : Anglo- Scandinavians, Franks and Germans, Fins

Délicho

E R of one Mediterraneans,

e | iiil Semites, Berber

n , Bráchy Cel to-Slavs, Lig urians, Laps.

1885.] Anthropology. 525

f sapere ancient oe some America ans,

Délicho | Santa Barbara, Mecronesia here and there; in

Asia giaa and there, epelak

II. Yellow races 4 Mésati Polynesians,

American type, Alaska Siberia, Mongols, rss

Brachy f choos, Indo-Chinese Dravidians, Thibeta

Malay.

licho en Veddahs and congeners, — Melan-

; ns, African Negroes semi

III. Black races Mésati Tasmanians, Mandingos, f

Bráchy Negritos of Malaysia and the Kalinka.

It will be readily seen that the cranial index in its three branches

applies to each of the three divisions of humanity (subspecies), the

significance of which seems to be that the tendency to pass from

one to the other belongs to the whole species rather than to any

of its three divisions.

résumé we shall have space to mention but one other

characteristic, stature :

Nomenclature of Stature.

Tall men 1™, 70 and above, women e 58 and above

Ultramedium “ = 1, 69 to 1™, 65 “ m 57 — m 53

Inframedium + > , 65 —1™, 60 “ j 52 m, 40

hort " , 60— below - ™, 39 — acts

Combining this ve with all poen mentioned, Dr. Topin-

ard groups the races studied as follo

j Z Cranial Shi:

jy terria Hair. Index. Color. Height. Races.

$ f |Dolicho- Blond |Tall Anglo-Scandinavians

cephalic fi Ruddy |Tall Fins,

/ Brown [Short Mediterraneans

hite sub- Wavy (relative)

bie a (oval sec’n) caper ge Brown (Short |Semites, Egyptians

Leptorhine alic (relative)

aaj <O Brown (Short Laps, Ligurians

Chestnut! Medium git ove

Yellow sub-| Coarse, f Dol jicho Yellow

i straight

Faernd round-sec- neater

ort

Reddish (Tall «cee

Reddish |Tall Polynesians

ead, body | |Brachy-

glabrous cephalic

Reddish |Tall Redskins

Yellow (Short | Yellow race (of Asia)

hiM Guaranis

ivish {Short Peruvians

Dolico- A seer Tall Australians

cephal

(oval section)

Black T Yellow’h Very short| Bus pee ;

i steatopygians

Platine ' \Dolicho. Black [Tall Melanesians

Wooly cephalic (eyebrow |salient, nose deep at

(elliptical the root) —

section) ||Black Tall | African Negroes

|Mesaticepalic |Black |Medium /Tasmanians

Brachyceph’ic|Black ‘Short Negritos

In a future number of the NATURALIST it may be advantageous

to give Dr. Topinard’s instructions about taking measures on the

iving.

526 General Notes. [ May,

MICROSCOPY.

SOME ANATOMICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL Metuops.2—J/, A modi-

fication of Semper s method of making dry preparations —While it

may be true that in many cases the preparations made according

to Semper’s method have an appearance similar to a gypsum

model, they quite often present a dingy, weatherbeaten aspect

that is by no means agreeable. The thin membranes and the

connective tissues of dissections are left in a loose, wooly condi-

tion that grows worse by handling.

The microscopist completes his work by mounting his prepa-

rations in a solution of balsam. In like manner Semper’s metho

may be completed by saturating the preparation with some solid

that would fill up the pores, bind the parts together and restore

the natural appearance. The solid which I have employed for

_this purpose is a mixture of Canada balsam, paraffine, and vasel-

ine, but it is probable that a soft paraffine will in most cases do

quite well. It is necessary that the mixture shall melt at about

46° C. (115° F.). It will be seen that the preparation is treated

just as the microscopist treats an object when he wishes to obtain

a consecutive series of sections. While yet saturated with the tur-

pentine, it is to be immersed in the mixture, heated a little above

the melting point and kept there until all the turpentine has been

replaced. In many, if not in most cases, however, the turpentine

may be allowed to evaporate before the preparation is put into the

melted paraffine mass. The latter then quickly penetrates the

tissues and the work is simplified. The preparation is then to be

kept in an oven vessel warm enough for the excess of paraffine to

melt and drain off. It may then be wrapped in cloths or in

bibulous paper until the whole of the paraffine mixture adhering

to the outside has been dried off.

The advantages to be derived from pushing the process to this

stage are the attainment of a greater degree of firmness and

strength in the specimen, the obviation of the bleached appear-

ance assumed on the escape of the turpentine, and the restoration

of the natural colors. Probably any colors will reappear that will

endure immersion in alcohol. In the case of anatomical prepa-

rations made in the way described, injected vessels show to ad-

vantage. I have also prepared specimens of lizards, small turtles,

‘fishes, mussels and earthworms; and whenever the tissues have

been thoroughly saturated with the wax mass, the results have

been satisfactory.

_ LL, A method of making double injections for dissecting pur-

poses.—A brief notice of Professor H. F. Osborn’s method for

-double injections appeared in Science Record, 11, Feb. 15, 1884, p.

4. His plan appears to have been to fill the whole vascular

SD Po by ce y Bart pera Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

1885. | Microscopy. 527

system with a thin colored injection mass, as in making an ordi-

nary injection. When this has passed through the capillaries and

well filled the veins, there is forced into the artery a differently

colored Plaster mass which pushes the previously injected thin

mass before it until the plaster has reached the capillaries, where

its onward movement is arrested. For a year or more before

Osborn’s notice was published, double injections based on the

same principle had been made by the writer. As practiced by

myself, a canula was fitted into the aorta of a cat, and a gelatine

mass colored with carmine was injected until it was seen to flow

from the right side of the heart; then the tube conveying the red

mass being detached, a tube conveying a blue gelatine mass was

slipped over the same canula, and the pressure again applied,

Into this blue mass had been mixed thoroughly a quantity of

starch, preferably from wheat. This starch-bearing mass pushed

the carmine mass before it until the starch grains entered the

capillaries and effectually plugged them up. The arteries were

thus left blue and the veins red, and so well was the work accom-

plished that a lens of considerable power had to be used to dis-

cover any admixture of the colors in the smallest vessels of thin

membranes. The first mass injected need not be unusually thin.

The capacity of the capillaries is so great, as compared with

that of the arteries, that any commingling of the two colors is

concealed in them. Carmine is used for the veins because of the

ease with which it may be prepared, its permanence and the facil-

ity with which it passes through the capillaries. On the other

hand, the gelatine for the arteries may be colored with the coarser

pigments, such as Prussian blue or ultramarine. The latter fur-

nishes a beautiful blue. Vermilion is not suitable for the first

injected mass, since on account of its high specific gravity it

readily sinks to the lowest side of the vessels, drags behind, and

causes a commingling of the colors. An additional reason for

filling the veins with red rather than with blue is found in the

agreeable and natural color given to the preparation.

Of course a mass of plaster of Paris injected after a gelatine

mass will drive it until the plaster reaches the smallest vessels,

thus producing a double injection. e st h mass recently

proposed as a filling for blood-vessels will readily lend itself to

the production of a double injection according to the method de-

tailed above.

III. A method of producing double injections for histological

purposes.—So far as I am aware the usual method of producing

that the mass is entering the capillaries, and immediately after to

inject a differently colored mass into the vein. The injection be-

-e General Notes. , [May,

ing thus accomplished one of two things, it seems to me, is likely

to happen ; either the vessels will not be well filled or the mass

intended for one set of vessels will be driven through into the

other. To avoid these accidents I have practiced the method of

filling both sets of vessels at the same moment and under exactly

the same pressure. This pressure is kept low at the beginning so

that all the arteries and veins shall be thoroughly filled before

either mass begins to enter the capillaries. Then as the pressure

is increased the differently colored masses meet each other in the

capillaries ; and if the pressure on each is equal, the vessels may

be filled as full as compatible with safety without danger of either

color being driven from one set of vessels into the other. e

way in which this result is accomplished will be understood bet-

ter by reference to the accompanying drawing. The desired press-

Double-Injecting Apparatus. `

ure is secured by allowing a stream of water from a hydrant or

from an elevated cistern to flow into a tight vessel. A two gal-

lon petroleum can does quite well. As the water flows in the air

is forced out through a rubber tube, A, into the wide-mouthed

bottle, F, whose tightly fitting cork gives passage to two other

glass tubes. These extend below just through the cork and

above connect respectively with the rubber tubes Cand D. Into

the side of F, near the bottom is fitted another tube, Æ, reaching

toa height of ten inches or more, open above, and graduated into

inches. If preferred, this tube may also’ pass through the cork

and extend down well into the mercury with which F is partly

filled. B is a bottle of suitable size in which is contained a blue

inj 1 mass for filling the veins, and R a similar bottle contain-

ing a red mass for the arteries. The interiors of these bottles are

connected with the bottle F by the tubes Dand C. Each of the

bottles, B and R, has a tube which, starting from near the bottom,

>. passes through the cork, and is, a little above this, bent at right

angles. With these are connected the rubber tubes, Æ and Z.

- 1886] Microscopy. 529

Now when water is allowed to flow into the reservoir mentioned

above, the air is forced out through A into F, and thence along

the tubes D and C into B and &. As soon as the pressure in

these bottles becomes sufficiently great, the liquids which they

contain will be driven out through the tubes Æ and Z. If there

should be any obstacle to the escape of these fluid masses, the

pressure in all the vessels will rise and be registered by the

height of the mercury in

If now it is desired to inject, for instance the kidney of a pig,

a canula made of a glass tube must be fitted securely into the

renal artery and a similar one into the renal vein. The canule

must be of such a size that the rubber tubes, Æ and Z, will fit

them well. Heat the gelatine masses in the bottles, 8 and X, to

the proper temperature and keep them so heated until the injec-

tion has been finished. Special care must be taken with the

tubes, Æ and /, to prevent the gelatine passing through them from

becoming frozen. Now having clamped the tube, Æ, have an

assistant turn on a small stream of water until the gelatine begins

to flow slowly from /, If the diameter of the canula is not too

small it may be held with the free end directed upward and filled

with gelatine allowed to drop from the mouth of Z. Then slip Z

over the canula. Unclamp the tube, Æ, and when the gelatine

from # has begun to flow, slip it over the canula inserted in the

vein. Then increase the pressure gradually until it has reached as

high a point as experience has taught to'be safe for the organ

operated on.

By means of this apparatus, which will require the expenditure

of only a few cents and a little ingenuity, double injections may

easily be made of any organs whose veins are not provided with

lves. I have made injections of the kidney whose arteries and

glomeruli became uniformly filled with the red mass and whose

veins and the system of capillaries surrounding the renal tubules

became filled with the blue. The lungs and the liver are easily

and successfully injected. I have been less successful in injecting

the organs that send away their blood current through the portal

vein; but I have no doubt that they too may be injected.

Triple injections of the liver may be made by first injecting the

hepatic artery with a green mass until the whole liver assumes a

green tint, and afterwards injecting the portal vein and the hepatic

vein with red and blue as above directed.

The same apparatus may be employed to make either single

injections or the double ection described under the FEA

head of this paper, by pi clamping one of the tubes, C or D.

As a matter of course care must be taken that all the corks fit

tightly in the bottles, otkeeihse the internal pressure may force

them out at the very moment when an accident will do the most

damage.

VOL, XIX,—NO. V. 34

530 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [May,

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Titian Ramsay Peale died in Philadelphia, March 13. He

was the last surviving son of Charles Willson Peale, the famous

portrait painter of Revolutionary times. For the past ten years he

has resided in Philadelphia. He was born in October, 1799. He

was an enthusiastic naturalist, and was noted for his collections of

moths and butterflies. He was one of the founders of the Philo-

sophical Society of Washington, and was the sole survivor of

Col. Long’s celebrated “ Expedition to the Rocky mountains,” to

which he was attached as assistant naturalist. He was also one

of the naturalists with the U. S. exploring expedition of Commo-

dore Wilkes. ;

— The Sea-side Laboratory, at Annisquam, Mass., will be open

to students during the coming summer from July Ist to Sept. Ist,

1885. The instruction and work of the laboratory will be under the

immediate care of Mr. B. H. Van Vleck, assistant in the labora-

tory of the Boston Society of Natural History. Applicants

should address Professor A. Hyatt, curator of the Boston Society

of Natural History.

— The Mexican government has appointed a commission for

the scientific investigation of the natural products of the country.

It includes a number of gentlemen who reside in different parts

of the republic. The president of the commission is Dr. Fer- +

nando Ferrari of the city of Puebla.

—W. Curtis Taylor, 1328 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, has

taken a series of composite photographs of the officers of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science of 1883-4.

ey compare favorably with those of the National Academy of

Sciences taken in 1883.

— Dr. F. Ritter von Stein, professor of zodlogy in the Uni-

versity of Prague, well known for his beautifully illustrated and

elaborate works on the genital organs of insects and on the Infu-

soria, died in February last.

— Mr. E. C. Rye, of London, well known as a coleopterist,

and the editor of the Zodlogical Record, died Feb. 7th, aged 52.

He was a man of versatile talents, and a pleasant person to

meet.

. PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

fas BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, March 7. — Communi-

=~ Cations were made by Dr, C. A. White on the use of gutta-percha

in making casts of fossils; by Dr. H. G, Beyer, U.S.N., re-

1885. ] _ Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 531

port on intracellular digestion and its relations to pathology; by

. G. Brown Goode, remarks on the velocity of animal motion.

March 21.—Communications were made by Mr. Wm. H. Dall

on the Marsupium of Milneria; by Prof. J. W. Chickering, Jr.,

exhibition of some botanical drawings and paintings ; by Dr. Tar-

leton H. Bean, some features of collecting at Cozumel island,

Yucatan ; by Dr. J. A. Ryder, on the development of the mam-

mary glands in the Cetacea; by Mr. Lester F. Ward, phyllotaxy

of Paulownia imperialis. —

New York Acapemy oF Sctences, March 2.—The following

paper was read: Meteorological and hypsometrical notes in the

islands of the Curaçao group, West Indies, by Dr. Alexis A.

ulien,

March 23.—The following paper was read: Notes on building-

stones (with illustrations), by Mr. Arthur H. Elliott. ;

March 30.—The following paper was read: On the trigono-

metric and topographic surveys of the United States (illustrated

by lantern slides, and the exhibition of instruments actually

employed in the field), by Prof. Wm. P. Trowbridge.

Boston Society oF Natura History, March. 4.—Dr. E. G.

Gardiner spoke of the development of the bill and epidermis in

the chick.

March. 18.—Mr. C: E. Ridler read papers on some of the rare

plants of Kingston, Mass., and on some ancient stone implements

from the same locality. y

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, March 19.—Mr. Ernest In-

gersoll delivered a lecture entitled, How the settlement of North

America has affected its wild animals. ;

APPALACHIAN MounTAIN Crus, March 11.—The following

papers were presented: Some of the hills of Plymouth county,

by C. E. Ridler; altitudes in Massachusetts, with a sketch of the

Massachusetts trigonometrical survey conducted by Simeon Bor-

den, 1830-1840, by E. G. Chamberlain; a week in the Pemige-

wasset wilderness, by Rev. H. P. Nichols (read by R. F: Curtis).

Special Meeting, March 20—An ascent of Ben Nevis, illus-

trated with a few lantern views, was presented by A. E. Scott; a

trip from the Connecticut lakes to the Rangeley lakes, was read

by R. B. Lawrence. :

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, Jan. 27.—Miss

A. M. Fielde gave the results of a series of experiments upon the

power of regeneration of lost parts possessed by earthworms

532 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [May, 1885.

(Lumbricus). Fifty-eight days after decapitation the worm had re-

produced not only the brain, but the cesophageal collar and cesopha-

geal ganglion. In one of the specimens exhibited, the lobes of

the brain-mass were about one-half of the normal size; a secon

had progressed further, while in a third the brain and ganglion

were normal. The only perceptible difference between the re-

generated ganglion and the original brain was a somewhat paler

olor

Feb. 1 7.—Miss Fielde stated that when twenty or more seg-

ments, constituting the posterior portion of a worm, were cut off

behind the clitellum, regeneration never took place at the cut

end, but by the insertion of new pieces, Mr. Meehan accounted

for the sparse distribution of the cedar of Lebanon by attributing

it to the solidity of the cones, which never open, though the seeds

are winged, and therefore designed for wide distribution. He be-

lieved it probable that this close habit of the cones has only

existed in comparatively recent times. The Indian species is so

closely related that it probably sprang from the same ancestral

stock. The only young trees which grow in a state of nature are

produced from cones which rot in rock-crevices or are broken by

accident. Professor Heilprin read a paper upon disputed points

in geology and palzontology, with special reference to the greater

adaptability of the lower forms of life to changed surroundings,

and their consequent persistence in later geological deposits, as

compared with the rapid extinction of higher types. Arguments

were adduced in-favor of homoplassy in evolution or the origin

of the same generic or even specific forms by distinct lines of

ancestors, and the reappearance of extinct genera and species in

subsequent geological epochs.

eb. 26.—Mr. Potts described a new Hydrozoan from Tacony

creek, This creature has a cylindrical body, surrounded at its

free extremity by sixty or seventy papillz, but without tentacles.

Very long ao are present. The usual length of the

creature-is about ẹ of an inch. The ectoderm is an almost

homogeneous hyaline substance filled with large cells. It was

thought that a clear central space had been seen, and that a faint

channel ending in a mouth could be traced. This appears to be

the most primitive form of Hydrozoan yet described, its power

of motion is very slight, and how it can capture prey without

tentacles is a mystery. Mr. Potts suggested that it might be the

larval state of a more developed form, as it had not changed, but

had budded from the base. Professor Sharp argued in favor of

t this organism, in common with other fresh-water

organisms, y has degenerated from a somewhat higher type. Mr.

_ Potts stated that he had received from Pictou Lake, Nova Scotia,

is of the statoblasts of a new species of sponge. Speci-

mens collected vain before Christmas indicated that it was an

species.

ERRATUM FOR APRIL NATURALIST.

Owing to the absence from the country of both the leading

editors during last month, some typographical errors occur in

the last number of the NATURALIST. The most important of

these is on page 346, where a foot-note containing the classifica-

tion of the Taxeopoda is included in the text of the classification

of the Mammalia. Therefore, p. 346, lines two to eighteen from

bottom, transfer to foot of page, under note 3. Ibid. bottom line,

change “ 7” to 6, and numbers in following lines to coincide.

PLATE XVII.

An Eskimo family at Hopedale, Labrador.

From a photograph.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xix.— FUNE, 1885.—No. 6.

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS. |

I. THe THREEFOLD NATURE oF EVOLUTION,

T what level in nature does consciousness first come definitely

into existence? This is one of the most difficult of the

problems of science, and one which, perhaps, can never be clearly

answered, At the limiting boundary of conscious and uncon-

scious action it is quite impossible to tell, by any means at pres-

ent at our command, whether blind force or intelligent agency is

at work. Even within our own bodies it is difficult to limit the

kingdoms of consciousness and unconsciousness, and equally

difficult to decide that actions which seem now wholly uncon-

scious were originally so. This question cannot always be de-

cided by the claim that here reason has evidently been at work, and

there only natural selection. For the results of reason and natu-

ral selection, as applied to the modification of the body and of its

habits, are singularly alike. In each case adaptation to external

conditions is produced, and there can be only certain definite

adaptations to each limited set of conditions. Thus if the results

of two energies are of precisely the same character, it is impossi-

ble to decide from these results which energy has been active.

Where the change has been too rapid for the powers of natural

selection, we may be sure that consciousness has been at work.

But in the case of very deliberate changes we cannot positively

decide to which force they are due, and some degree of conscious

action may extend to a much lower level in the realm of nature

than we usually imagine. On the other hand natural selection

may be the sole active agency up to a somewhat high level.

Evolution has its three distinct and dissimilar phases, on each

VOL. XIX.—NO., VI. 35

534 | The Relations of Mind and Matter. [June,

of which natural selection acts, though it is customary to apply

this principle to only the second of these phases. These are the

chemical, the functional and the psychical. So far as organic

evolution is now concerned, chemical development has become of

minor importance. Yet originally it was of supreme importance.

In fact, the whole vast range of inorganic chemical development

was a necessary preliminary to organic existence, and constituted

the primary phase in that grand whole of evolution which is a

continuous and not a broken chain.

Very probably, in the primeval period, inorganic chemism

yielded far more complex compounds than any it now presents,

The conditions of temperature at that period, and the fluid state

of many elements which are now found only as rigid solids, must

have aided such a chemical activity. Even now more complex

compounds than we find would doubtless exist but for a reason

to be considered further on. This primeval chemical evolution

may have gone on for ages without impediment, yielding steadily

higher and more complex products, every fixed stage of which

formed the basis for a new upward step of material development,

until finally a stage approximating to that of protoplasm was

reached. But long before this stage was attained, it is highly

probable that functional evolution came into play, and at once

acted as a check to the rapid progress of chemical development.

As soon as an unstable colloid compound was thus produced, so

constituted as to be subject to the disintegrating attacks of oxy-

gen, self-motion of such matter may have begun, and the long

reign of functional activity originated. This is all we find in

functional life now, the self-motion of unstable colloids through

the action of the energy set free by oxidation, and it is quite

probable that such activity began as soon asa Konea colloid,

of suitable constitution, was produced.

But chemical evolution could not have ceased with this first

appearance of functional action. It must have long continued, yield-

ing products of higher and higher complexity, and more suscepti-

ble to the function-produci ng influences, until finally the excessively

mobile compound now called protoplasm originated. Yet there

can be no doubt that with the earliest appearance of functional

peti a check was placed upon chemical development. This

. grew more vigorous as functional action became more

unfolded. Finally a practical limit to the increase of chemical

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 535

integration was reached, and functional activity took its place, as

the second great agent in evolution. Yet this check to chemism

could have been by no means completed with the first appear-

ance of active living forms. Superior and more susceptible pro-

teids may have continued to appear, perhaps to the very borders `

of the present time, rendering the operation of functional change

more and more active and capable. There is certainly good rea-

son to believe that the protoplasmic basis of all beings is not

identical, and if so, that chemical evolution may have continued,

with ever-decreasing efficiency, throughout the whole long period

of organic existence. As for the utter disappearance of the link

forms between protoplasm and the highest existing inorganic

compounds, it is no more surprising than the similar disappear-

ance of so many of the link forms of life. They have been

crowded out of existence by natural selection. Protoplasm

doubtless has its embryology, whose steps, if we could trace

them all, would lead us to a knowledge of its phylogeny. Many

of the high-atomed products which successively appear in the

development or during the disintegration and decay of organisms

may be identical with primeval compounds which preceded proto-

plasm. Yet all of these have their enemies in the vast and varied

hosts of fungi which depend upon them for nutriment. They no

sooner cease to be protected by the energies of active life, than

they are assailed and partly reduced to simple inorganic condi-

tions, partly become food for fungi.

We can readily conceive, then, that were high-atomed chemical

compounds now formed from the elements, by inorganic agency,

they would in all probability be at once attacked by fungi, and ©

consumed as nutriment or disintegrated. The incessant activity

of the fungoid organisms places a definite check on any high in-

organic evolution under present conditions. Yet, as above said,

in the existing. formation of protoplasm, its phylogeny is indi-

cated precisely as the ancestral forms of the higher animals are

indicated in their embryological development. Many of the

steps may be slurred over in the one case as in the other, and in

the formation of protoplasm by the plant, through successive inte-

grations, from carbonic acid, water and ammonia, we may have a

greatly shortened and masked preservation of the original steps

of the development of protoplasm from the inorganic elements.

The time may come when the human form can be phylogeneti-

536 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [June,

cally traced, not only to the rhizopod, but to the chemical

elements,

The second great phase of material evolution, the functional,

which has gradually unfolded until, from forms lower than the

rhizopods—mere homogeneous masses of protoplasmic mole-

cules—it has produced the extraordinarily intricate and hetero-

geneous form of man, as the highest existing stage of material

combination, is due to the operation of two characteristics inhe-

rent in protoplasm. The first of these is the power of self-move-

ment, through the agency of internal energy set free by oxida-

tion. The second is the power of inducing new chemical action

to the production of new protoplasm. The mode of operation ot

this second agency is as yet in great part a mystery. But that it

exists is too evident to be for a moment questioned. And there —

is considerable reason to believe that these two agencies do not

act simultaneously, but that oxidation of protoplasm and reinte-

gration of the same are always successive processes in the organic

economy.

At some period in this long process of organic development

there came into operation a third distinct phase or process of

evolution, the psychical or mental phase. It is this with which

we are here alone concerned. Its appearance and unfoldment

seem related to functional action as the latter is to chemism.

Psychical action has constantly tended to check functional varia-

tion, and to replace it by a new controlling agency. As organic

action slowly checked the development of chemism, and at last

wholly or nearly superseded it, so psychical action has opposed

the energy of functional variation and, in the case of man, has

largely superseded it. The three modes of energy here indicated

are probably all due to the action of forces inherent in the con-

stitution of matter, and some of the conditions of this action are

very evident. These it may not be amiss to briefly indicate.

Every mass of matter, however composed, is constantly affected —

by two sets of forces, those acting internally and tending to pre-

serve and increase its complexity of organization, and those act-

ing upon it from the external world and tending to reduce or

destroy its complexity. In chemical integration the internal

energy is in the ascendant. The compound is formed by the

__ innate forces of its elements, and grows more complex through

"See The Organic Function of Oxygen, AMER. NAT., Feb. and March, 1883.

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 537

the continued activity and supremacy of these forces. Yet all

such compounds are constantly subject to the action of external

forces, and are occasionally disintegrated or otherwise affected

thereby. The more complex the compound the more exposed is

it to the disturbing influence of external energy. At the same

time the more complex the chemical compound, the less vigorous

is the action of the innate energies of affinity. It is evident,

therefore, that at some point a balance between these opposed

energies must be reached. While chemical energies continue

superior there must be a gradual increase in the complexity ot

compounds, despite the assaults of external energy. But when

these opposing energies become definitely equal in vigor, it seems

evident that a fixed status must result. There may be upward

and downward swings, as one or the other agency gains a tempo-

rary supremacy, but the general level cannot permanently be

departed from.

Such is apparently the chemical status of protoplasm. It indi-

cates the level of balance between internal and external energies.

If it be broken down by a vigorous influx of external energy,

the activity of chemical energy becomes superior, and reintegra-

tion sets in until the balance of forces is again attained. Chem-

ism cannot go further and produce a stable compound of higher

complexity. Yet there is good reason to believe that unstable

compounds of this high character are frequently produced, mole-

cules lifted above the general level, and therefore liable to break

= down instantly at the least influx of external energy. It is prob-

ably to the existence of such excessively complex molecules that

the high sensitiveness of nervous and muscular tissue is due.

Lifted too far above the level of harmony of the forces, they break

- down at a touch.

Other results follow. Motor forces are set free within the tis-

sue which give it self-motion. This self-motion brings it into new

relations with external substances, and other changes than purely

chemical ones follow. Variations in form and constitution in

response to these external influences take place. Natural selec-

tion upon function and form comes into play, and the organism

that resists the adapting influence of external energy ceases to

exist. Only those mobile organisms that readily yield to the

molding influence of external energy, and closely adapt them-

selves to the conditions of nature continue to exist. Thus in the

538 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [June,

chemical phase of evolution internal energy is in the ascendant

and controls the results. In the functional phase chemical energy

merely holds its own, and a fixed molecular status is gained.

But external energy acts upon tissue as a whole, and produces

definite variations in form.

If we now come to consider psychical evolution we find it still

to be a question of the interplay of internal and external ener-

gies. Reference here is made to its purely physical results, and

not to its important characteristic of consciousness. In the

growth of psychical conditions we still have to do with the exter-

nal energies which play upon the body and force their way into it

over the channels of the nerves. But as the body improves in

its sensory organization, and permits the ready inflow of external

energy, the balance between the two series of energies is broken,

external energy becomes in excess and there is a tendency to

break down the molecular complexity of the body to a lower

level. Could all those inflowing energies play upon the muscles

a fixed fall in the chemical level must succeed. As it is, however,

these energies are checked in their inflow. The muscles are

permitted to receive no more than they are prepared to accept.

The remainder are restrained in their action to the cerebral gan-

glion, where they exert an organizing influence upon some sub-

stance whose character is as yet a problem. This is the third or

psychical phase of organic evolution.

The motor energies, thus drafted off into this cerebral sub-

stance, there combine into a congeries of forces of yet unknown

character, which we call the mind. It has two characteristics.

The energies which constitute it are persistent. And they enter

into new combinations which have no counterpart in external

nature. It constitutes a new center of force which in its turn acts

upon the body and aids in molding it. External forces are no

longer supreme. A reservoir of internal energy has been formed

which frequently acts in opposition to them. And one of the

most essential characteristics of the action of this mental center

of force is, that its activity is not exhausted upon the body. In

fact it finds an important field of action in the external world.

It molds nature as well as the body. In place of the organism

_ needing to adapt itself to external conditions, it acts to adapt

o external conditions to itself, and its own need of change is obvi-

ated to the extent that it acts upon and remodels the world

_ without.

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 539

All the numerous products made by man, his clothing, habita-

tion, tools, &c., and all the changes in the conditions of nature

produced by his agency, are results of this third phase of evolu-

tion. Functional change is forced upon the external world, and

to that extent ceases to act upon the body. Harmonious adapta-

tion continues necessary, but nature is made to adapt itself to

man, and man has little need to adapt himself to nature. It is

not, however, a simple reaction, through the body, of external

forces upon external nature. A reaction of this kind exists

throughout organic life. Every motion of an organism in direct

response to the impulse of external influence exerts an influence

upon external nature. But asa rule it produces no new condi-

tions. Adaptation is mainly confined to the body. In psychical

action, however, new conditions are produced. The energies

which have flowed into the cerebral reservoir are there recombined

into new aggregates, or ideas, as we name them. These, in their

reaction upon external nature, produce new conditions, embodi-

ments in matter of new relations of energy, and the substances

external to the body are forced to adapt themselves to the needs

of the organism.

This psychical reaction upon external nature is not a common

characteristic of animal action. It is specially active in man, and

presents a considerable activity in some of the lower tribes, as

the beavers, the ants and the bees. But in the great majority of

animals it is almost non-existent. Very few even of the higher

vertebrates make any effort to adapt nature to their needs, but

accept existing conditions. In such cases all the molding action

of energies must be exerted upon their bodies, and such adapta-

tion as becomes necessary must be confined to the organism.

Yet psychical action in these lower animals is not without its

special results, distinct from those yielded by the direct action of

external energies, It yields rapid variations in the habits of the

animal, adapted to particular cases, and which often enable it to

survive where otherwise it would perish. These may be special

movements in flight or combat, new modes of concealment, the

display of cunning in non-habitual manners, and the like. In

fact, in the difficulty of deciding whether any animal is influenced

by mental energies or not, we are in great measure dependent

on the occurrence of unusual actions, adapted to special situa-

tions. If actions are habitual they may be unattended by con-

540 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [June,

sciousness, even though they seem to display the utmost accuracy

of reasoning. Natural selection yields results so closely analo-

gous to those of reason that it is almost impossible to discrimi-

nate between them, and in fact quite impossible except where a

change of habits is displayed too great and sudden to be possibly

due to the action of unconscious agencies on the slight congeni-

tal variations in animal forms.

In attempting to decide, then, at what level of life conscious-

ness comes into definite existence, we are met with this difficulty.

Actions of the most intricate character, such as many of those

performed by the ants, for instance, are not beyond the conceiva-

ble powers of natural selection if they have been for very many

generations practiced, with extremely slow variations, by one

species. Yet ants adapt nature to their needs, and thus counter-

act the action of physical conditions upon their bodies. There-

fore that phase of activity which we have above considered spe-

cially significant of psychical agency—the remodeling of exter-

nal conditions—seems to be not beyond the scope of natural

selection, and only where the adaptation is individual instead of

tribal, and rapid instead of gradual, can we be sure of its psychi-

cal origin.

If, for example, we consider the great kingdom of vegetable

life, there are abundant reasons to believe that, in all of its higher

manifestations, at least, it is devoid of consciousness. And yet its

adaptations to the conditions of nature are often so complex and

extraordinary that it seems almost incredible that they could have

arisen without the aid of reason. Only the unpitying energy

with which nature weeds out all illogical adaptations can explain

the logical consistency of those that persist. If the habits of an

animal change in response to logical reasoning, this change must

be in the direction of exact adaptation to nature. But the same

end is achieved by the blind but vigorous agency of selection,

which is utterly merciless to the ill-adapted. If we could imagine

plants to be suddenly given the power of motion, and thus

brought into new and more varied relations to nature, it is evi-

dent that their adaptations might become yet more intricate, and

_ still more like the results of intelligence and judgment, though

~ gained through the action of unconscious influences, In such a

n case s might readily rival many of the lower animals, and un-

_ consciously perform actions closely analogous to those which it

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 541

is usual to ascribe to consciousness. In fact, the plant world is

not utterly destitute of such motor powers. The mycelium of

the Myxomycetes so closely simulates the Amcebze in its motions

that it is difficult or impossible to distinguish it from the latter.

Yet it is but a plant in motion, and is undoubtedly unconscious,

Again the white blood corpuscles of animals are also indistin-

guishable from Amoebz in character and habits; yet we can

scarcely credit each of them with conscious life. Ata higher

level in plant life we again meet with motor powers. Thus the

carnivorous plants display characteristics not unlike those seen in

the polyps; yet they are unquestionably unconscious, and we

might safely ascribe a similar unconsciousness to the polyps and

all other animals of similarly low grade.

Thus if we begin at the lower levels of organic life, and trace

nature upward in her development, it is very difficult to perceive

where the influence of heredity and natural selection ceases to

act and conscious choice enters into life as an element. On the

other hand if we commence with the conscious life of man, and

trace nature downwards, it is equally difficult to decide where

consciousness ends. For at a certain intermediate level the phe-

nomena observed might safely be ascribed to either conscious or

unconscious action. Both seem capable of producing them, and

it is utterly impossible to decide, with our present knowledge of

the subject, which does produce them. Where there is evidence

of unusual choice in some animal, or marked variation from its

hereditary habits, we can be sure of conscious activity. On the

other hand, where there is no nervous system, and no cerebral

organ or force reservoir, we may reasonably question the exist-

ence of psychical powers. And yet, even in this extreme case,

we cannot positively declare that consciousness does not exist.

In fact, although we may imagine that we are considering two

conditions of whose actual existence we have equal knowledge,

such is really not the case. Man finds in himself his only stand-

ard of comparison. We know that within ourselves conscious-

ness exists, and oversees, though it may not directly control, the

great mass of our actions. We know, on the other hand, that

many of our actions are performed unconsciously. In consider-

ing the activities of lower nature, then, we cannot actually know

that consciousness may not, to some extent, accompany them.

We have some warrant to say that the unconscious action, which

542 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin: [June,

is exceptional with us, is the rule with them, but we can at no

level positively declare, “ here it is absolutely impossible that con-

sciousness should exist.” We must understand the subject far

‘more thoroughly than now ere this question can be definitely

decided.

(To be continued.)

:0:

KITCHEN GARDEN ESCULENTS OF AMERICAN

ORIGIN. II.

BY E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, M.D.

(Continued from p. 457, May number.)

Jerusalem Artichoke-—Botanical analogies and the testimony of

contemporaries agree, as we have seen, says De Candolle? in con-

sidering this plant to be a native of the north-east of America. It

was introduced to England about 1617, as we learn from the sec-

ond edition of Gerarde? and this is nearly coincident with the

first mention of this species in Europe, that by Fabio Colonna.‘

Lescarbot brought these roots into France about this time

“ Hartichokes” are mentioned as growing in Virginia in 1648,°

and “ artichokes ” were cultivated at Mobile in. 1 775, but whether

this plant or not, does not appear from the context” They are

mentioned by writers on American gardening from 1806 onward’

In Pennsylvania the tubers are yet raised by some and sent to the

New York market, “they are disposed of for lunch purposes and

there is a ready sale.”

Most interesting articles on the geographical and botanical his-

tory of this plant, by Messrs. J. Hammond Trumbull and Asa

Gray, will be found in the American Fournal of Science, May,

1877, and April, 1883. ;

Martynia—Two species, Martynia proboscidea Glox. and M.

lutea Lindl., occur in our gardens, the seed pods while yet tender

1 See in this connection Cope, On Catagenesis, Amer. NAT., Oct., 1884.

2 Orig. of Cult., Pl. 44. ah

3 Herbal, 1636, 753.

Ecphasis minus cognitarum stirpium, Rome, 1616.

5 Hist, la Nouv. France, 1618.

__*M’Mahon, 1806, Gardiner and Hepburn, 1818, as good for hogs and cattle,

at Fessenden, 1828, etc.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 543

serving for pickles. The former was first known in Europe in

1738, the latter, a South American species, not until 1824.1 M.

craniolaria Glox., the white flowered, has appeared by name in

one at least of our seed catalogues among garden vegetables. It

was described in 1785. M. violacea Engelm. occurs in the South-

western States, and the Apache Indians gather the half ripe seed

pods to be used for food.

The Martynia was not an inmate of our kitchen gardens in

1828, not being mentioned in Thorburn’s seed catalogue of that

date, nor in Noisette’s Manual du Jardinier, It is not mentioned

for American gardens by Schenck in 1854, but is by Burr in

1863.4 It hence may be considered as of recent introduction.

Nasturtium—Tropeolum majus L. and T. minus L., find place in

our seed catalogues for use as a garnish and salad, and the unripe

seed pods for salads and pickling. Both are natives of Peru.

The former came to Europe in 1684, according to Linnzus,’ or

1686, according to Noisette’ and according to Collinson’s manu-

scripts it reached England in 1686. The dwarf nasturtium

was known at Lima in 1580 by Dodonzus, was cultivated in

England by Gerarde in 1596, and was a great favorite with Park-

inson in 1629; it was then lost, but afterwards reintroduced

Miller, in 1768, says it was then only less common than the tall.

Both the tall and the dwarf were in French kitchen gardens in

1828,° but the tall seems to have then only reached our ‘culture,

as the dwarf is not mentioned in Thorburn’s seed catalogue of

1828. The tall is mentioned by M’Mahon as in American gar-

dens in 1806, by Gardiner and Hepburn in 1818, and the tall and

dwarf by Bridgeman in 1832. Both were grown in = gar-

dens in 1778.2. One common name, “ Indian cress,” used as late

as 1854 by writers on American gardening, would suggest that

the use as a vegetable was coincident with its second introduc-

tion, as Parkinson’s fondness for it would seem to imply.

1 Noisette. Man. du Jard., 537.

2 Dept. Agr. Rept., 1870, 422.

3 Gard. Text-book.

t Field and Gard. Veg. of Am.

5 Miller’s Dict.

§ Man. du Jard., 508.

1 Miller’s Dict.

Connie, Man. du — 337-

9 Mawe’s Garden

544 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [June,

The nasturtiums have received greater welcome in our flower

gardens than for table use, and a large number of varieties have

been developed as florists’ plants.

Peppers—There seems to be now scarcely a doubt as to the

American origin of the peppers, Capsicum sp. It seems, how-

ever, to have escaped the attention that it deserves, that the large

number of forms already developed at the time of the discovery

of America is indicative of a long cultivation, and adds testimony

to the agricultural habits of the people. A vernacular name,

especially if short, is very persistent in its horticultural use, and

in. those varieties of vegetables which are grown in kitchen gar-

dens, some names alone, without descriptive text, may be as-

sumed as indicative of the existence of a variety to which the

same name is applied to-day. Such investigations as we have

made indicate that this is especially true for the peppers.

ow many species there are of peppers I cannot make out.

Many described species can be urhesitatingly referred to Capsi-

cum annuum, a species of great variability, and which seems to

be a perennial in some regions, as in F lorida, as I am informed,

and in Chili, according to Molina. We shall make use of the

specific names as we find them.

According to Bancroft! the use of peppers by the Southern

natives was as great in ancient times as is now observed. Saha-

grun? mentions chili more frequently than any other herb among

the edible dishes of the Aztecs; Veytia® says the Olmecs raised

chili before the time of the Toltecs. “ ft is the principal sauce

and the only spice of the Indians” as Acosta writes in I 578, and

Schomburgh says that the present Indians of Guiana eat the

fruit of these plants in such abundance as would not be credited

by an European unless he were to see it. Columbus carried

peppers with him on his return voyage in 1493, and Peter Mar-

tyr, in his epistle dated September, 1493, Says it was “more pun-

gent than that from Caucasus.” In 1494 a letter written by

Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus on his second voyage,

to the Chapter of Seville, refers to its use as a condiment. Cap-

sicum and its uses are more particularly described by Oviedo,

1 Native Races, 11.

? Hist. Gen., 11, lib. vir.

1885. ] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 545

who reached tropical America from Spain in 1514. Clusius

asserts the plant was brought from Pernambuco by the Portuguese

to India, and he saw it cultivated in Moravia, in 1585."

Hans Stade,” during his captivity in Eastern Brazil, about

1550, says the “ pepper of the country is-of two kinds; the one

yellow the other red; both, however, grow in like manner. When

green it is as large as the haws that grow on hawthorns. It isa

small shrub about half a fathom high, and has several leaves:

it is full of peppers which burn the mouth.” G. de Vega,’ writing

of Peru in 1609, says the most common pepper is “thick, some-

what long, and without a point. This is called ‘ rocot uchu’ or

‘thick pepper,’ to distinguish it from the next kind. They eat it

green, and before it assumes its ripe color, which is red. There

are others yellow, and others brown, though in Spain only the

red kind has been seen. There is another kind, the length of a

geme (5 inches ?), a little more or less, and the thickness of the

little finger. These were considered a nobler kind, and were

reserved for the use of the royal family. * * * * Another

kind of pepper is small and round, exactly like a cherry with

its stalk. They call it ‘chinchi uchu; and it burns far more than

the others. It is grown in small quantities, and for that

reason is the more highly esteemed.” Cieza de Leon, who

traveled in Peru, 1532-50, speaks of the Capsicum as a favorite

condiment of the Peruvian Indians. Molina’ says many spe-

cies of Capsicum called by the Indians “żhapi” are cultivated

in Chili, among others the annual, which is there perennial,

the berry pimento and the pimento with a subligneous

stalk. Wafer, 1699,° says on the isthmus they have two sorts of

pepper, the one called de// pepper, the other dird pepper, and

great quantities of each are much used by the Indians.” Each

sort grows on a weed or shrubby bush about a yard high. The

bird pepper has the smaller leaf, and it is by the Indians better

esteemed than the other.” Ligon, 1647-53,’ also mentions two

sorts in Barbadoes, “the one so like a child’s corall as not to be

1 Pharmacog., 406.

2 Hak. Soc. ed., p. 166,

$ Royal Com. Hak. Soc. ed., 11, 365.

* Hak. Soc. ed. Travels, 232, note.

5 Hist. of Chile, ed. of 1808, 1, 95.

6 Voy. to Isth. of Am., 100.

7 Hist, of Barbadoes, 79.

546 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. {June,

discerned at the distance of two paces; a crimson and scarlet

mixt, the fruit about three inches long, and shines more than the

best polished corall. The other, of the same color and glistening

as much, but shapt like a large button of a cloak; both of one

and the same quality ; both so violently strong, as when we break

but the skin, it sends out such a vapor into our lungs, as we fall

all a coughing. * * * * Jt grows ona little shrub, no

bigger than a gooseberry bush.” In Jamaica, Long’ says “ there

are about fifteen varieties of the Capsicum in this island, which

are found in most parts of it. Those which are most commonly

noticed are the de// pepper, goat, bonnet, bird, olive, hen, barbary,

finger, cherry, &c. Of these the ġel is esteemed most proper for

pickling.”

Capsicum annuum L., has never been found wild, but C. frutes-

cens Willd. has been found wild, apparently indigenous, in South

America. De Martius brought it from the banks of the Amazon,

Poeppig from the province of Maynas in Peru, and Blanchet from

the province of Bahia? The form, C. indicum Rumph. = C. fru-

tescens L., is said by Ainslie? to be constantly found in a wild

state in the islands of the Eastern archipelago.

Capsicum annuum L.—According to Naudin C. longum DC.,

and C. grossum Willd., are not specifically distinct from this plant.

It is said by Clusius to have been brought by the Portuguese

from Brazil to India, and reached England in 1 548 > and is men-

tioned by Gerarde as being under cultivation in his time. The

fruit is variable in form and color, as is also the plant. It was

mentioned by Louriero (1790 or 1 798) as a cultivated plant of

Southern China, but has not been noticed by the Chinese writers

of the sixteenth century or in others of more recent date, al-

though nowadays much cultivated in China’ It is the chili

pepper of India, according to Firminger,’ while Drury assigns

the name chilly to C. frutescens L.

C. angulosum Mill. (1743).—Bonnet pepper of Miller. It isa

variety of the preceding, and was described by Tournefort in

} Jamaica, ed. 1774, book Itt, chap. vill, 721.

? De Candolle, Orig. of Cult. Pl; 290.

3 Mat. Med., 1, 306.

- “Bretschneider, On the study, &c., p. 17.

_ Gard. in India, 153.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 547

1700.1 The name is the same as used by Long for one of his

Jamaica varieties, and is perhaps one of the sorts described by

Ligon, 1647-53, as occurring in Barbadoes, “ shaped like a large

button of a coat.” The fruit is described by Miller as variable,

some being bell-shaped, and Tournefort’s name would imply a

heart-shaped fruit.

C. baccatum L,—Bird pepper, eaa to Miller, and synony-

mous with C. frutescens var. L., C. fructu minimo conico rubro

Brown, etc., and described among Jamaica plants by Sloane and

Brown, in Amboina by Rumphius (1750), and as C. drazilianum

Clusius (1601). It differs little from C. frutescens, and the berries

are very pungent. Bird pepper is mentioned by name by Long

in Jamaica, and by Wafer for the Isthmus ; is perhaps the pepper

“as large as haws” described in Brazil by Hans Stade. It has

been in England since 1731,? and a “ dird or West Indian” was in

American gardens preceding 1828. It is mentioned as well

known in India by Firminger and Drury, but I do not identify it

with any of the present varieties of our seed catalogues. From

an uncertain authority? it is said to grow wild from Southern

Texas to Arizona, but it is not catalogued in the report on the

plants of the “United States and Mexican Boundary Survey,”

1858, unless it be synonymous with C. microphyllum Dun.

C. cerasiforme Mill.—Cherry pepper, also described by Tourne-

fort, 1700, It was sent from the West Indies. It is probably one

of the sorts described for Peru by Garcilasso de la Vega under

the name chinchi uchu. It is also among the names listed by

Long for Jamaica, and was in American gardens in 1806 or

before. It is a variety of C. annuum, and the fruit is quite varia-

ble in form and color, some sorts being yellow. The form figured

in Hortus Eystellensis, 1613, is precisely the cherry pepper of

our gardens,

C. conoides Mill—Came to Miller from Antigua cites the

name of hen pepper. This isa name which appears in Long’s

list of Jamaica sorts. The description of the fruit would answer

to that of the oxheart of some of our seed catalogues.

C. cordiforme Mill., or heart-shaped Guinea pepper, was also

described by Tournefort, 1700.4 It has several varieties, the

1 Miller’s Dict.

? Booth, Treas. of Bot.

"Vicks ae 1879, 184.

t Miller’s Dic

548 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [June,

fruits varying in size, shape and color, some sorts bearing yellow.

It can be referred to C. annuum, and seems to be the oxheart of

some of our seedsmen.

C. fastigiatum Blume, syn. C. minimum Roxb.—lIt is the C.

Jrutescens L. Spec. Plant., but not of L. Hort. Clif., to which the

name C. frutescens is usually applied. It occurs abundantly wild

in Southern India, and is extensively cultivated in tropical Africa

and America? According to Miller it is C. indicum Rumph.

(Amboyna), and the Cafo-molago of Reede (Malabar) which fixes

its presence in the East Indies about 1700. It is described by

Loureiro, and was in England in 1656. It does not appear to

be among the species grown in American gardens, all of which

can be referred to C. annuum.

C. frutescens: L.— This has been called barbary, cayenne,

shrubby and goat pepper. It seems to have occurred in our seed

catalogues under the name of True Cayenne, but does not appear

to be cultivated with us now. It was in English gardens in 1656.°

and seems to have been called daréary from the size and shape of

its fruit, which are like those of a berberry. It seems to be culti-

vated and to have native names in Hayti, Peru, Mexico, India,

Burma, Malabar, Ceylon, Yemen, Greece, Egypt, &c., and fur-

nishes much pod pepper to commerce. It has been found wild

from Bahia to Eastern Peru in tropical America In Ceylona

red, a yellow and a black fruited form are known

C. grossum Willd.—This is the pepper with large sweet square

fruits, and furnishes many varieties and synonyms to our seed

catalogues, and is considered to be but a form of C. annuum. It

may be the ocot uchu of G. de Vega. It was, according to Mil-

ler’s Dictionary, described by Besleri in 1613, by Bauhin in

1671, and by Tournefort in 1700. C. tetragonum is a synonym

by Miller, 1737. It was cultivated by Miller in 1759. Accord-

ing to Noisette’ it reached Europe in 1548. It is called in Hin-

dustani Zaf/rie-murich, and the fruit, as large as a small apple, is

called by the English in India coffrie chili’ or, according to Fir-

- 1 Pharmacog., 452.

ih.

R «¢,

_ *De Candolle.

5 Moon, Cat. of Ceylon Pl., 16.

ê The type, but not our varieties in Hortus Eystellensis, (Besleri), 1613.

Man. du Jard., 520.

—— "Andie, Mat. Med., 1, 307.

-e

1885.) Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 549

minger, ell pepper.’ The squash or tomato-shaped, sweet

mountain, sweet Spanish and many other similar varieties of our

seed catalogues belong to this form, of which the first was in our

gardens preceding 1828, as also this and the sweet Spanish in

French gardens. There are red and yellow sorts, as in most of

the so-called species. This is perhaps the de// of Long’s Jamaica

list, as he says it is esteemed most proper for pickling.

C. longum DC. is another form usually referred to C. annuum.

It reached Europe in 1548, or before,’ and would appear to be

the second kind, so much esteemed, of De Vega, and the one of

the sorts referred to by Ligon as “resembling a child’s corall.”

Corail. is yet one of the names for this sort in France. It was

grown in England in 1597 and before, as Gerarde speaks of it.

There is a figure of it in Fuchsius’ Historia Stirpum, Basle, 1542,

under the name of siliquastrum or calicut pepper, and a state-

ment that the plant had been introduced into Germany from

India a few years previously. It was in American gardens, by

name at least, before 1806, and is the Zong red or long yellow of

our present seed catalogues.

C. microphyllum Dun. is said by Torrey to occur in Western |

Mexico, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, etc., but he does not say

whether cultivated or wild. The Mexicans call it chipatane, and

use the fruit like other red peppers.®

C. nepalense Drury is a variety growing in Nepaul, and very

pungent and acrid.’ |

C. oliveforme Mill.—A variety of C. annuum, and described by

Miller in 1752, and by Tournefort in 1700. It came from Barba-

does,’ and the name appears in Long’s Jamaica list. It may be

the sort which appears in our catalogues under the name of cran-

betry, but other kinds occasionally produce olive-shaped fruits.

C. sinense L.—This sort was described by Linnzus and Jacquin

about 1770-76, the fruit yellow. It is cultivated in Martinique.

C. tetragonum.—this is said by Booth’ to be the ġonnet pepper

1 Gard. in India, 153.

2 Noisette, 1. c.

5 Report of the Bot. of U. S. and Mex. Bound, Survey, 152,

Drury, II.

1 Miller’s Dict.

8 Miller’s Dict.

9 Treas. of Bot.

VOL, XIX.—NO, VI. 36

550 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [June,

of Jamaica. The name appears in Long’s list, edition of 1774.

C. tetragonum Mill., 1737, is referred by him to C. annuum L.,

and also to C. grossum L., to which latter form it appears to

rightly belong. It is now cultivated under the name of paprika in

ower Hungary ona large scale, the fruit three and a half to five

inches long and three-quarters to one inch in diameter! As this

is a sweet variety, it is probably C. grossum, which is a form with

very variable fruit. The name Jdonnet pepper is used by Miller,

1743, for C. angulosum, as already stated.

C. violaceum Humb. is apparently a variety of C. annuum, but

the plant more or less deeply violet-tinted, the fruit black-violet

on one side and reddish-green on the other, but becoming. red in

ripening. It came from Spanish America, and is now an occa-

sional inmate of our gardens.

The twenty-two named varieties grown during 1882 and 1883

at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station seem to

belong to C. annuum L., and while we are not prepared to affirm

that they all can be identified with one or the other of the above

named species, yet we think there is probable identification suffi-

cient to justify the conclusion that no strongly marked sorts have

appeared during the five centuries of European culture. When

we consider that the various kinds of peppers easily cross-fertil-

ize, and hence the difficulty of keeping the sorts distinct, we are

led to believe that many of the forms which have received spe-

cific description are true agricultural or form-species, sufficiently

distinct at their first appearance by discovery to justify a conclu-

sion as to a long antiquity, and as to their power of resisting

change. The whole genus needs revision from an agricultural

instead of a strictly botanical standpoint.

Potato—De Candolle in his Origin of Cultivated Plants, says

truly: “No one can doubt that the potato is of American ori-

gin.” There are some interesting notes, however, which De

Candolle has not used. Prescott in his Conquest of Peru? says

in 1526 Pizarro, at the Rio de San Juan, eat the potato as it grew

without cultivation, This evidence is as conclusive as to its wild

_ State as the one which De Candolle quotes from Gray, which

_ “sufficiently proves its wild state in Chili, viz., that even among

the Araucanians, in the mountains of Malvarco, the soldiers of

1 Gard, Chron., Sept. 10, 1881,343.

71, 248,

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 551

Pincheira used to go and seek it for food.’ Prescott adds, on the

authority of Xerez,? that along the coast of Peru he saw the hill-

sides covered with the potato in cultivation.

Pedro de Cieza de Leon, who traveled in Peru, 1532-5, says

that the principal food of the Collao was potatoes, which “are

like earth nuts.’ John Hawkins, in his second voyage, 1564,

says the potatoes at Margarita island, “be the most delicate

rootes that may be eaten, and doe far exceede their parsenips or

carets,”* which, if sweet potatoes be not meant, indicate their

introduction to the island, as the context parsenips and carets

shows. Captains Preston and Sommers, 1595, my. at Dominica

island “the Indians came unto us in canoes * “iti and

brought in them plantains, pinos and potatoes,” which indicates

how potatoes and other victuals were taken aboard ships as pro-

visions. Under the name openawk Heriot describes, in 1584,

what is supposed to be the potato in Virginia, and of which De

Candolle thinks there can be no doubt. This fact would seem to

indicate that potatoes in our quotation meant potato and not the

sweet potato, It is quite probable that Hawkins carried the first

potatoes to Virginia, for in 1565, after relieving the famine among

the French on the banks of the River May (St. Johns), he sailed

northward toward Virginia, which name included the Carolinas

and a large extent of coast at this time, and had this tuber aboard

as he brought tubers from Santa Fé de Bogota on this voyage

into Ireland, as has been currently stated, and we know not upon

what evidence Miller and Sir J. Banks believes these tubers to

have been the sweet potato. What renders the opposite view

more tenable is the course that ships customarily sailed, this

being to Virginia by the way of the West Indies; and as well by

the fact that Virginia received the potato from the beginning of

its settlement. It is mentioned by Heriot, 1584, as already stated ;

is noticed there again in 1609, in 1648,’ and again in 1649 under

circumstances that can leave no doubt: “The West India pota-

toe (by much more delicate and large than we have here grow-

1 Flora Chiliena, v, 74.

2 Conq. del Peru ap. Barcia, 111, 181.

3 Travels. Hak. Soc, ed,, 3

* Sec. Voy. Hak. Soc. ed., an

5 Hak. Voy., IV, 62.

“A Trae Decl. of Va., Lond., 1610, 13.

T A perfect Desc. of Va., 1649, 4.

552 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [June,

ing) besides that it is a food excellently delicious and strongly

nourishing, fixes himself wherever planted, with such an irradi-

cable fertility, that being set it eternally grows.”! We see here

the distinction drawn clearly between the sweet potato described

and the potato already under cultivation.

The argument that if the introduction by Hawkins into Ireland

had been the potato, it would have secured dissemination, loses

its force when we consider the slowness of its progress in Eng-

land. It was certainly grown by Gerarde in 1597. In 1663 Mr,

Buckland, of Somersetshire, drew the attention of the Royal

Society to its value, earnestly recommending the general cultiva-

tion of the potato throughout the kingdom. In 1664 Forster

recommends its cultivation in England. Ray, 1686, takes no

further notice of the potato except by saying it is dressed in the

same manner as Spanish batatas; Merritt, 1687, records that

potatoes were then grown in many fields in Wales ; Worlidge,

1687, describes potatoes as being very useful as “ forcing fruits,”

and does not hear that field culture has yet been tried; Lisle, a

little later, is wholly silent about the potato, as are also London

and Wise, 1719; Mortimer, 1708, says the potato is not as good

nor as wholesome as the Jerusalem artichoke, but that it may

prove good for swine; Bradley, about 1 719, says they are of less

note than horse-radish, radish scorzoners, beets and skirrets, but

as they are not without their admirers, he will not pass them by

in silence. Other authorities to the same purport are given in

Martyns Miller’s Dictionary.

Worlidge above quoted, and Clusius says that the plant had be-

come so common in Italy that it was eaten like a turnip and -

given to the pigs. Targioni does not, however, recognize this

former wide cultivation in Italy, and says that it was only at the

end of the sixteenth century or beginning of the seventeenth that

the cultivation became known in Tuscany. In support of the

ae theory that the potato was not as palatable in early times as now,

-\ 2° SViteinia by E. W i i

-— 10a. wont T Gent., Lond., 1650, 48.

1885.] Notes on the Labrador Eskimo, etc. 553

we may quote a few authorities. Miller, in 1754, says they were

despised by the rich and deemed only the proper food for the

meaner sort of persons. Mawe and Abercrombie, 1778, give

caution as to their deleterious properties unless thoroughly well

cooked. In 1830, in Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia, it is writ-

ten that a gentleman, “now in his goth year, told me that the

potatoes used in his early life were very inferior to the present.

They were called Spanish potatoes, and were very sharp and

pungent in the throat and smell. They send occasionally a bet-

ter sort from Liverpool.” In 1698 potatoes were scarce, Jerusa-

lem artichokes abundant, in French markets.

Were a new root equal in edible quality to our snowflake

potato and of the same ease of culture, now introduced, who can

doubt its quick recognition and adoption? It would not be

compared to the parsnip or carrot, as Hawkins did his potato, but

would be described in glowing terms. We would not have its

medicinal qualities under discussion, but would be satisfied to

have it on our tables. If, however, we should now eat some of

our poorer qualities of potato, such as were commonly grown for

cattle a quarter of a century ago, we would see in the soggy and

hard condition a root which might well have excited the admira-

tion of Hawkins, and which would have suggested the parsnip

or the carrot for comparison more than would a sweet potato.

(To be continued.)

10:

NOTES ON THE LABRADOR ESKIMO AND THEIR

FORMER RANGE SOUTHWARD.

BY A. S. PACKARD,

(Continued from p. 481, May number.)

To stone structures, particularly the grave or dolmen-like

burial places referred to by the Moravians, are of course mat-

ters of very great interest. In connection with that statement we

would draw attention to the following extract from “The three

voyages of Martin Frobisher,” second voyage, 1577, Hakluyt

Society, London, 1867, p. 136:

“In one of the small islands here [near Lecester’s Iland in

Beares sound] we founde a tombe, wherein the bones of a dead

man lay together, and our savage being with us and demanded

(by signes) whether his countryman had not slain this man and eat

554 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [June,

his flesh so from the bones, he made signes to the contrarie, and

that he was slain with wolves and wild beastes.”

Although it is generally stated that the Eskimo seldom if ever

bury their dead, the foregoing statement would show that in early

times at least they took pains to place the corpse in stone tombs.

I found at Hopedale, in 1864, two skeletons, evidently Eskimo,

interred in the following manner: while walking over a high

bare hill north-east of the station I discovered a pole projecting

from what seemed a fissure in the rock; it proved to be the sign

of an Eskimo grave; the pole projected from the chasm, which

was about fifteen inches wide and twenty or twenty-four inches in

depth; the opening was covered by a few large stones laid across

the fissure. At the bottom lay the remains of two skeletons en-

tirely exposed to the elements, with no soil over them. The skulls

were tolerably well preserved, and so were the Jong bones, but the

vertebre, ribs, &c., had mostly decayed. Judging by the way in

which such objects are preserved in the open air on this coast, the

burial must have been made at least over half a century ago, but

more probably from one to three centuries since.

We now glean the following extracts from Hind’s excellent Ex-

plorations in the Interior of the Labrador peninsula, which show

that the Eskimo spread south-westward along the coast of Lab-

rador as far as the Mingan islands.

Speaking of the Montagnais or coast Indians of Labrador, he

writes: “ Of their wars with the Mohawks to the west, and the

Esquimaux to the east, between 200 and 300 years ago, there not

only remain traditions, but the names of many places in the Lab-

rador peninsula are derived from bloody battles with their bold and

aie enemies, or the stolid and progressive Esquimaux = (1,

p. ii

-Fhe sinkinit of the Great Boule, 700 feet above the sea, and

the brow of the bold peninsula on the west side of the harbour

[Seven Island bay] were two noted outlooks in the good old

Montagnais times. They are not unfrequently visited now, when

the Indians of the coast wish to show their country tothe Nas-

quapees from the interior, and to tell them of their ancient wars

_with the Esquimaux. * * * They were able to hold their

own against the Esquimaux in consequence of the almost exclu-

oe sively maritime habits of the people, who rarely ascended the

rivers further than the first falls or rapids: and they fearlessly

1885.] and their former range Southward, 555

pursued their way through the interior of the country as far as

the Straits of Belle Isle and Hamilton inlet, but exercising the

utmost caution as they approached the sea to hunt for seals”

(p. 30).

Of the Mingan islands Esquimaux island was so named “ be-

cause the Esquimaux were wont to assemble there every spring

in search of seals,” &c., &c. (p. 49).

“ The ruins of Brest must not be confounded with those of the

old Esquimaux fort some distance farther up the straits, and

which are found on Esquimaux island in St. Paul’s bay. These

ruins, consisting of walls composed of stone and turf, remain

almost entire to this day ;! and on the same island are large num-

bers of human bones, the relics of a great battle between the

Montagnais and French on one side and the Esquimaux on the

other, which were found about 1840” (p. 130).

“At Fox harbour there is a small settlement of Esquimaux,

who are now orderly and industrious Christian people, fruits of

the faithful labours of the missionary at Battle harbour, who has

resided eight years on the coast” (p. 198).

“Seals have been the chief cause of the wars between the

Montagnais and Esquimaux of the Labrador peninsula, and most

of the conflicts between these people have taken place at the

estuaries of rivers known to be favourite haunts of the seal”

(p. 204).

Regarding the Eskimo living near Caribou island, at the mouth

of Esquimaux river, Strait of Belle Isle, in 1860 and several years

after that date, the following information has been kindly given

me by the Rev. C. C. Carpenter, for some years (1858 to 1865) a

missionary to this part of the Labrador coast: “ Concerning the

Esquimaux (‘ Huskemaw,’ old father Chalker at Salmon bay used

to call them), in my time there was only one family living in the

immediate vicinity of the mission, and that only a fragment—the

Dukes family. They once lived at the extremity of Five League

point. The husband (George?) died and the wife married an

Englishman, old Johnny Goddard. She was a full-blooded Esqui-

maux, and could kill a seal by imitating its appearance in dress

and cry, just as quick as the next man, and a good deal quicker

if the other was white! She died at a great age about the year

1879. I was on the coast, after an absence of fifteen years, in

1 Robertson of Sparr point.

556 . Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [June,

1880, and was told that she was about 100 years old, but I

deemed that an exaggeration. Her sons were George and An-

drew, both now dead of consumption. I-buried George at Mid-

dle bay in 1862. Andrew died since we came away. He had

visited Halifax and had had his photograph taken ; I havea copy

of it; it is, however, of a dressed-up man, not my old Esqui-

maux friend. Both of the sons were unmarried. A daughter of

old Aunt Jenny Goddard had a daughter, I think by an American

sailor, She was called Lucy Dukes, and (her mother dying) was

adopted by Mrs. Goddard, I dare say you remember her there

at Stick Point island; she was lame. She married little Johnny

Goddard, nephew of old John, and they with several children

occupy the island home. She said to me in 1880, ‘“ There’s my

Jenny, just look at her narrow features ; you know Granny had a

very narrow face!” And yet an old sailor once said that the old

woman’s face was as flat as a barn door!

“There was another family of Esquimaux, whose residence

was at St. Augustine; I cannot recall the surname. I used to

sec one, ‘ Louis the Esquimaux.’ My impression is that one only

of that family was living in 1880, for I brought home Esquimaux

dolls in full dress made by her. These I feel sure were all the

remnants living in my parish, say tor fifty or a hundred miles up

and down the coast.

“The Esquimaux in Southern Labrador are a remnant. Once

powerful there and numerous, they were defeated in a battle

fought on Esquimaux island (at the mouth of the river) by the

Indians (Mountaineers), and what few were left went northward.”

We observed on Caribou island traces of Eskimo occupation

in the form of a circle of stones, like that observed farther north

near Strawberry harbor,

Along the coast north of Hamilton inlet are a few Eskimo,

half-breeds and probably remnants, At Roger’s harbor we took

aboard as pilot to Strawberry harbor one Cole, a half breed, part

Eskimo and part Englishman, who had an Eskimo wife and two

three-quarters-breed children ; his mother was an Eskimo, There

_were formerly a few Eskimo living in this region, but they had

died off rapidly within a few years past; our pilot from the

/ States, Capt. French, who had frequented this coast for many

~ YEATS, said that there was now but one Eskimo where there used

o to be twenty. Their disappearance seems due partly to that of

1885.] and their former range Southward. 557

seal, fish, birds and other game, and partly to contact with the

civilization of this coast, their close winter houses inducing con-

sumption and other chest troubles; but whatever the causes, the

race is rapidly fading away, going by entire families. Cole was

intelligent and could read and write.

On our way to Strawberry harbor we were boarded by an Es-

kimo who paddled up to our vessel in his kayak. He had been

living in the bay during the summer. The next day I landed on

a little flat islet near our harbor, and found traces of recent

Eskimo occupation. An Eskimo family had evidently been sum-

mering there in a seal-skin tent. The marks of their temporary

sojourn were the circle of water-worn stones which had been

used to pitch the tent, the feathers and bones of sea-fowl which

had been shot or snared, scattered bones of the seal and other

unmistakable signs of Eskimo occupancy and of Eskimo personal

uncleanliness. While here we learned that some Eskimo were

spending the summer on an island hard by, and we tried to find

one to pilot us to Hopedale, but were unsuccessful. We, how-

ever, obtained one who had received some education and was

then living ten miles up the bay with a Norwegian in the employ

of the Hudson Bay company, his pay being fifty dollars a year.

The number of Eskimo on the Labrador penisula is estimated

at 1400, but this is probably an overestimate, as most of this race

are now partly civilized and gathered at the Moravian Mission

stations of Hopedale, Nain, Okkak, Zoar and Ramah.

At the time I visited Hopedale, which was in the summer of

1864, in the expedition of Mr. William Bradford, the well known

artist, the Eskimo population of that station was about 200. It

was reported to us that during the preceding March twenty-four

Eskimo had died of “colds ;” while at Okkak twenty-one had

died, and the same number at Nain. Thus over a tenth part of

the native population at these stations had died of chest diseases

in a single month. This high death rate may be the result of

their partial civilization and less hardy out-of-door life, but their

houses are not very different from those their savage ancestors

inhabited. The missionaries have wisely not attempted to force

upon them European standards of living as regards dress and

houses, and their system of trading with them as well as teaching

them does not appear to have been accountable for this rapid de-

crease. On the contrary, anthropologists as well as humanita-

558 Notes on the Labrador Eskimo [June,

rians are under obligations for the success these devoted Mora-

vians have had in preserving on American soil this interesting

people intact, unmixed, and with some of their harmless and more

interesting habits preserved. They are, however, doomed, judg-

ing by the past years’ experience, to ultimate extinction.

As regards the longevity of these people, we understood the

oldest person at Hopedale, the patriarch of the colony, to be a

woman of seventy years; we saw her, a picture of uglinesss

which still haunts our memory. There were three Eskimo who

were sixty years old. A man becomes prematurely old when

forty-five years of age, as the hunters are by that time worn out

by the hardships of the autumnal seal fishery.

The Eskimo settlement of Hopedale, the only one we visited,

was founded in 1782. It consisted in 1864 of about thirty-five

houses, arranged with more or less disorder in three principal

streets. They are mostly built of upright spruce logs with the

bark still on, dovetailed at the corners and banked nearly to the

eaves with turf on the outside; the roof rather flat, though irregu-

lar, with a skylight and small window in one side, either as in the

case of the more well-to-do families consisting of a rude sash

with four or six glass panes, or panes of the intestines of the

seal sewed together.

The house is entered through a long low porch, probably the

survival of an ancient style, z. e., the low porch of their snow

houses through which their forefathers crept on their hands and

knees. On entering we were obliged to stoop low and to circum-

spectly make our way between the carcass of a seal or a codfish,

as the case might be, and a vessel of familiar, democratic shape

and use, filled with urine, in which the sealskins are soaked before

being chewed between the teeth of the housewife, an important

step in the process of making or mending sealskin boots; while

Eskimo dogs of various sizes and colors blocked the devious

way. i

Across the end of the interior, which was floored with wood,

and in which we could not stand erect, was a wooden bed or

seat, a sort of divan, on which sat a woman in spectacles weaving

a basket of dried rushes which had been colored blue or red;

~ she nodded a welcome and made us feel quite at home. The

other beleogisgr of the house were a hearth or fire-place of a

few pebbles sii on one side, a soapstone lamp which was a

1885. ] and their former range Southward. 559

flat oblong dish, carved out of soapstone, of normal Eskimo design ;

some knives of European manufacture, needles and thread, while

on a shelf we noticed an Eskimo Bible with the owner’s name

written in a neat hand on the fly leaf. On the whole the interior

was neater and less offensive to the eye and nostril than we ex-

pected, as was the exterior. Besides the house, on a cross-pole

supported by two uprights, rested a kayak, and over another hori-

zontal pole hung drying a black bear’s skin or dried cod-fish, as

the case might be. The spaces between the houses were rudely

drained, and saving the usual refuse heap at the rear of the house,

a dog’s carcass, fish bones and other rejectamenta, there was

nothing particularly repulsive, though certainly nothing attractive

about the houses. Two families sometimes live in the same

house, which is partitioned off simply by a low rail passing

through the middle. We do not remember seeing any babies,

and there seemed to be few children compared to the adults; here

as in the arctic regions the Eskimo having small families.

The women’s dress differs from that of the Greenland Eskimo

in the much longer tails of their jackets, which as seen in Pl. xvir

nearly reach to the ground; by the Greenlanders it is worn but

little longer than the men’s; this difference, as seen on p. 473,

was remarked by Cranch. Of late years woolen goods have

partly superseded sealskin, but the pattern has been retained.

Another difference is the form of the kayak; that of the Labra-

dor Eskimo is much broader than the Greenland kayak, and of

clumsier build, since the frame of the former is made of spruce ;

this renders the Labrador kayak perhaps safer.

So far as we could see the Labrador Eskimo at and north of

Hopedale are full-blooded. Our engraving (Pl. xvi1) is from a

photograph taken by Mr. Bradford, and gives an excellent idea of

a Hopedale Eskimo couple with their baby. The faces apparently

show no trace of foreign blood, while there is said to be not a full-

blooded Eskimo in the Greenland colony, the intermixture with

the Danes and Scandinavians in general being thoroughgoing.

Few Europeans or Americans had previous to 1864 visited the

Labrador coast north of Hopedale, and there the race has been

preserved in most cases intact, though there may now be an occa-

sional intermixture with the Newfoundland fishermen, who now

go as far as Nain.

__ As to the number and distribution of the Eskimo north of the

560 The Inter-Relationships of Arthropods. [June,

Moravian stations, we now have some definite information from

Lieut. Gordon’s report of the Hudson’s Bay expedition of 1884.

He says: “I cannot help thinking that their numbers have sensi-

bly diminished, inasmuch as we found signs of their presence

everywhere; yet except at Port Burwell, Ashe inlet and Stupart’s

bay, none were met with. About six miles south of Port Bur-

well [Cape Chudleigh} there are the remains of what must once

have been a large Eskimo settlement, their subterranean dwell-

ings being still in a fair state of preservation. At the present

time, so far as I can learn, there are only some five or six Eskimo

families between Cape Chudleigh and Nachvak.

‘ Along the Labrador coast the Eskimo gather in small settle-

ments round the Moravian Mission stations; at these places their

numbers vary considerably. Nain is reported to be the largest

settlement, and its Eskimo population amounts to about 200

souls ” (p. 16).

:0:

THE INTER-RELATIONSHIPS OF ARTHROPODS.

BY J. S. KINGSLEY.

es most of the schemes of classification in vogue to-day the

Arthropods are divided into two groups of equal rank, the

first being the Crustacea, the second embracing the Tracheata or

Insecta. Having recently studied the embryology of Limulus,

and finding it necessary to ascertain its place among the arthro-

pods, the writer was led to compare, in a critical manner, the

various groups. This led to somewhat unexpected views as to

the various inter-relationships of the different “types” (if that

word may be pardoned), and as the results may prove of interest,

a short résumé is here presented in advance of the full article

which will appear in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Sci-

ence for October. .

It might be stated here, parenthetically, that upon a large num-

ber of points regarding the arthropods, and especially the so-

called tracheates, our knowledge is extremely deficient. For this

reason some of the following account is merely tentative, the

probability being in favor of the views here adopted.

_ First, we may take up the relationship of Limulus to the spiders.

s The view first suggested by Strauss-Dürckheim and lately so ably

o supported by Professor E. Ray Lankester, that Limulus is not a

crustacean but an arachnid, receives full confirmation from the

1885.] The Inter-Relationships of Arthropods. 561

development of the king-crab. The introduction of this form

into this group seems to necessitate a new term for the whole, and

I have adopted the name Acerata for the arachnids and the

merostomes, in reference to the absence of antennz. It is but a

slight modification of the word Acera, used many years ago by

Latreille for the spiders alone. The term Arachnida still retains

its former significance.

As here limited, the Acerata may be defined as arthropodous

animals with the body divided into two regions (cephalothorax

and abdomen), the cephalothorax bearing six pairs of primitively

post-oral appendages. The number of abdominal appendages

vary, but four or more are modified for respiratory purposes ;

respiration being performed by gills, “lungs” or trachez, the

homology between these three types of organs being easily traced.

The genital ducts empty at the base of the seventh (first abdom-

inal) appendages and paired segmental organs open, in the young,

at the base of the fifth pair of limbs, but lose their excretory duct

in the adult. The genital glands are branched and the branches

communicate through numerous anastomoses. The liver is large

and voluminous. The development is direct, no metamorphosis

being introduced.

Some of these points may require explanation, and while I

would refer the reader to the paper on the embryology of Limu-

lus for details, I may here mention a few facts. My studies on

the development of the gills of the king-crab when compared

with those of Metschnikoff on the scorpion and those of Salen-

sky on the spiders, show that the lungs of the one and the gills

of the other are (as was suggested by Lankester) perfectly

homologous. They arise as foldings at the base of appendages,

occupying the same position serially in both Limulus and the

scorpions. Leydig showed, some thirty years ago, that the

tracheze and pulmonary sacs of the spiders were homologous

organs, and in later years the same has been pointed out by Bert-

kau and Macleod. One very important point should here be

noted. In the spiders the stigmata or external openings of the

trachez or pulmonary sacs never occur elsewhere than on the

abdomen, and they always perforate the sternal plates. In the

hexapods they occur in all parts of the body, and always on the

sides and never on the ventral surface.

The so-called coxal glands or, as I regard them, segmental

562 The Inter-Relationships of Arthropods. [June,

organs, have only recently been known. Packard first found

them in Limulus, and later Lankester made an exhaustive histo-

logical study of them in comparison with similar glands occur-

ring in the scorpions. Neither of these authors were able to find

any external duct. More recently Bertkau has found that in the

young spider they open externally at the base of the fifth pair of

appendages (third pair of legs), but this duct is lost in the adult.

The studies of Mr. Michael on the coxal glands of mites are, so

far as they go, confirmative. In Limulus I found that they arose

as coiled mesoblastic tubes, closely comparable to the segmental

organs of worms, and emptied in the young at exactly the same

point as in spiders.

It seems to me that these various points show that the Acerata

are more closely allied to the Crustacea than to the hexapods and

myriapods with which they are usually classed. Lankester has

shown from a study of Apus that all of the crustacean appen-

dages are primitively post-oral, a fact which is confirmed by the

study of the development of various forms. With this point set-

tled it would appear that we have a perfect right to compare,

within certain limits, the segments and their appendages of spi-

ders and crustaceans. Tabularly arranged, the result would be

somewhat as follows :

CRUSTACEA. ACERATA.

1, Antennula, Chelicera,

II. Antenna Pedipalpus

tt. Mandible, Leg 1.

Iv. Maxilla 1. Leg It.

v. Maxilla 2. Leg 111.

vi. Maxilliped 1, Leg Iv.

That this serial comparison is legitimate is shown by several

reasons besides that given above. In the Acerata the series em-

braces all of the cephalothoracic appendages. In the Crustacea

it stops exactly at the line of division between the so-called head

and thorax of the tetradecapods as well as in the embryos of

many other forms. A further point is interesting. In many of

the lower Crustacea a pair of so-called shell glands occur which

are regarded by Claus, Grobben and others as comparable to the

segmental organs of worms. The outlets of these organs occur

-~ at the bases of the second pair of maxillz, a position which the ~

~ above table will show is exactly comparable to that of the outlet

__ of the coxal glands of Limulus and the spiders. In many Crus-

1885.] The Inter-Relationships of Arthropods. 563

tacea another pair of glands occur, the antennal or green glands

which also appear to belong to the same series.

A further point is also to be mentioned. In both Acerata and

Crustacea the genital ducts open at the base of a pair of appen-

dages near the middle of the body, and although that exact

homology is lacking as to position which is seen in the case of the

segmental organs, still there is enough similarity to make one

think that here, as well as in other forms, a pair of segmental

ducts has become modified to subserve the purposes of the geni-

tal system.

Did space allow, these comparisons could be prolonged almost

indefinitely, showing that while there is a general resemblance

between the Acerata and the Crustacea, there exists a much closer

one between Limulus and the arachnids. If we turn now to a

comparison of the Acerata, or even the arachnids proper, with

the hexapods, we are at once struck with the important differ-

ences between them ; differences which prove that the two groups

have but little in common, and that, so far as these two are con-

cerned, the division Tracheata is an artificial and not a natural

‘aes

We have already alluded to one important difference between

the trachez in the two groups. A few other remarks may prove

of value. Trachez are internal tubes for conducting air to the

tissues of the body. They are not confined to the “ Tracheata”

but occur in some of the terrestrial Crustacea. This was first

pointed out by Lereboullet in 1851 in the sow-bugs (Oniscidz),

and more lately it has been shown that these trachez which are

developed inside the branchial lamellz are lined with a cuticle

which is raised into folds, comparable to the so-called spiral fila-

ment in the trachez of the hexapods. The inference to be drawn

is that trachez in the arthropods are not of phylogenetic signifi-

cance, but have arisen from a necessity of conveying air to the

blood and tissues in an air-breathing form. The thickenings of

the cuticular wall, whether spirally or irregularly arranged, are

intended to prevent the collapse of an otherwise delicate tube.

In both spiders and hexapods there are developed from the

hinder division of the digestive tract excretory organs which are

known as urinary or Malpighian tubules. The writer holds that

these are not to be regarded as indicating any especial affinity

between the two groups, but like the trachez are produced by

564 The Inter-Relationslups of Arthropods. [June,

environment ; though it must be admitted that the reason why a

terrestrial life should cause the development of these organs is

not as easily explained as in the case of the tracheæ. In proof,

however, of the point made, it may be stated that in those amphi-

pods which like Gammarus and Orchestia are more or less terres-

trial in habit, similar tubes are developed from the same portion

of the alimentary canal, and further that their size and length is

directly proportional to the more or less terrestrial habits of these

forms. The same is apparently true of some of the isopods, though

on this point our information is deficient.

_ Another point usually emphasized is the fact that in the Crus-

tacea a biramose condition of the appendages occurs while this —

is not known in the “tracheates.” The studies of Lankester on

Apus have shown how this biramose condition arose, and the fact

that frequently it is lacking in the Crustacea would tend to indi-

cate that it might have existed in the ancestors of the “tracheates”’

and have been lost in the present forms. Even more important

is the fact that such structures are not unknown in the “ trache-

ates.” They occur, as James Wood-Mason has shown, in the

thysanures, and Patten has described a similar state of affairs in

the embryos of the cockroach. _

So far as our present knowledge goes we can say nothing as to

the primitive position of the antennz of hexapods ; whether they

be processes of the procephalic lobes somewhat like those of

Peripatus or appendages which originally belonged to the post-

oral series and which have moved forwards to a pre-oral position

as have the similarly named appendages of the Crustacea. In the

former case the differences in this respect between the hexapods

on the one hand and the Crustacea and Acerata on the other will

be seen to be very great. If the other view prove to be the true

one, these organs of course will have less importance from a

taxonomic standpoint. Still the differences will be very marked.

That the former view is correct I am inclined to believe. If we

accept it and regard the antenne as something entirely repre-

sented in spiders and Crustacea and then make a serial compari-

son as before, the result is as follows:

HEXAPODA. ACERATA,

i oe a Chel

u, Maxi : Pedi

ut, Labium, Jay

Legh Leg 11.

Ve Leg 11. Leg lll.

1885.] The Inter-Relationships of Arthropods. 565

This comparison brings the beginning of the abdomen in the

same position in each group, but we have no other features to

test its validity as we had in the case of the Acerata and Crusta-

cea. In the hexapods there is nothing which in any way resem-

bles a segmental organ.

The hexapods have no liver, an organ voluminously developed

in Acerata and Crustacea; their genital ducts terminate at the

end of the body, and no evidence as yet presented points to the

conclusion that they are to be regarded as modified segmental

organs.

With regard to the myriapods the problem is more difficult,

and our knowledge of the development is too scanty to throw

much light on the subject. The attempt has often been made to

homologize the mouth parts in the two groups, but as yet with

not very satisfactory results. A few morphological facts may

prove suggestive. As is well known the myriapods are divided

into two groups, Chilopoda and Chilognatha, represented by

Scolopendra and Julus respectively. In the Chilopoda the geni-

tal ducts terminate at the end of the body beneath the anus, in

the chilognaths near the anterior end of the body, in a position

almost comparable to that in the Acerata. In the chilopods the

stigmata occupy the same position (between the dorsal and ven-

tral plates) as in hexapods, but in the chilognaths they may

occur on the ventral plates or even in the bases of the legs. Ap-

parently in both groups the antennz are pre-oral in position; in

the chilognaths their nerves arise in advance of those to the optic

organs.

In this connection more knowledge, especially of the head, is

desirable concerning the curious fossil myriapod, Acanther-

pestes, described by Mr. Scudder. Scolopéndrella will also repay

investigation. In these forms, between the bases of the legs are

the openings of peculiar organs. Mr. Ryder regarded those of

Scolopendrella as tracheal stigmata ; Mr. Scudder those of Acan-

therpestes as supports for branchiz. It may turn out, indeed it

is probable, that both are the outlets of segmental organs.

The few facts here presented, when taken together with the

preceding remarks on trachez and Malpighian tubes, would allow

the supposition that the myriapods may have but little relation-

ship with either hexapods or spiders, and even that chilopods and

chilognaths are not so closely connected as is usually supposed.

VOL. XIX.—NO. VI. 37

566 The Inter-Relationships of Arthropods. [June,

The discovery by Moseley of trachez in Peripatus at once

transferred this form to the tracheate phylum, and much was

expected from it as throwing light on the origin of the other air-

breathing arthropods. To the writer it does not appear to have

any close relationship to any of the other “tracheata,”’ but still

most of all to the chilognaths. Still it is not proven beyond a

doubt that it is an arthropod at all.

The so-called antenne are always pre-oral (as shown by

Kennel in the embryo and Balfour in the adult), and receive their

nerve supply from the procephalic lobes in advance of these nerves

to the eyes; thus allowing one to compare them with the pre-

oral appendages of worms. The trachez and stigmata are not

metamerically arranged, the latter opening more or less irregu-

larly over the surface of the body and legs. The legs themselves

are not distinctively arthropodous, while the numerous segmental

organs indicate, as has often been pointed out, a very primitive

form. Indeed, one has but to imagine a Syllid worm to leave its

natural element and take to the land, losing the sete of its para-

podia and developing claws at their extremities, losing its median

antennz and developing tracheal pits for respiration and salivary

giands to moisten its food, and Syllis becomes Peripatus. The

other changes would be few. It would still retain its lateral ten-

tacles, its segmental organs, its peculiar sympathetic nervous sys-

tem and many details of its digestive tract. In fact Peripatus, in

_ the light of recent studies, appears nearer the polychztous anne-

lids than to any of the arthropods unless possibly the chilognath-

ous myriapods.

Recapitulating now the results of this hasty sketch, we arrive

at the following conclusions: Peripatus has departed the least

from the ancestral annelidan stock, the hexapods the farthest.

These then will form the extremes of the series. The Acerata

and Crustacea should be placed near each other, but which is the

higher is a question. For instance, in the one only one pair of

segmental organs remains, and these have lost their external

ducts, while in the other group two pairs of these organs are

functional through life. On the other hand, two of the post-oral

ganglia of the Crustacea have moved to a prestomial position

and have joined the supra-cesophageal ganglion, while in the

: ne Acerata but one ganglion has been completely transferred and

o this has not yet become wholly united with the ganglion formed

1885.] How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. 567

by the procephalic lobes. The position to be occupied by the

myriapods can only be decided by further study.

As will be seen, the points requiring further investigation are

many. We at the same time know more and less of the arthro-

pods than of any other group of the animal kingdom, unless it

be of the birds. The literature descriptive of the species of in-

sects is enormous, but when one tries, for the purpose of exact

comparison, to find out from books some of the simplest points

of tracheate anatomy, he is met with only vague and generalized

statements or with no information at all. It may be that further

study will show that the conclusions reached above are founded

on insufficient data, but we think it must be admitted that so far

as Crustacea, Arachnida, Limulus and the hexapods are con-

cerned, the points here made are well sustained by our present

‘knowledge. What is especially needed is a more exact know-

ledge of the arthropodan brain. The papers of Newton, Dietl,

Flogel, Brant and others are good, so far as they go, but unfor-

tunately they leave many and the most important points unde-

cided. The same may be said of almost every other point in

arthropodan anatomy except the morphology of the appendages,

and even on this point much work remains to be done.

:0:

HOW THE PITCHER PLANT GOT ITS LEAVES.

BY JOSEPH F. JAMES.

0. the many curious plants which have been given to the

world by America, the pitcher plants are among the oddest.

They form a family which belongs entirely to the new world,

where the species are widely dispersed. One of them is found in

South America, one in California, while the others are natives of

the Atlantic seaboard. A single one of these extends north-

westward to Minnesota and British America. The feature which

is common to these widely-scattered forms is the hollow leaf,

making a sort of pitcher into which insects fly or fall or walk.

When a leaf departs as far from the normal shape as does the

leaf of the Sarracenia, it is always interesting work to try to dis-

< cover the causes which have lead to the divergence. To do this

it is necessary to go far back in the history of the world and find

an ancestral leaf from which it could have come. This necessi-

‘tates the examination of the various allies and relatives of the

568 How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. [June,

plants, for by so doing it is often possible to find the line along

which they have descended. It seldom happens that all traces of

this line have been destroyed. Here anc there a faint or obscure

mark gives a clue; one thing leads to another, until at last it be-

comes easy to trace the line of development to the original start-

ing point. To do this it will first be necessary to give some

account of the pitcher plants now living in the new world.

d A

Fig. 1,

_ The simplest form of leaf in the family is found in Heliam-

o phora, a native of Venezuela in South America. It is a hollow

tube with a narrow opening extending nearly one-fourth the way

to the bottom, and with a small rudimentary hood at the top

(Fig. 1). Nearly the whole of the interior of the leaf is lined

with hairs, those at the bottom long and slender, and those at the

óp short and thick (Fig. 2). They do not seem to be either

1885. | How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. 569

secreting or absorbing hairs, but serve simply to prevent the

. escape of insects which have once found their way inside. This

may be regarded as the nearest living equivalent of the original

and ancestral form, but even it has, of course, been greatly modi-

fied to suit altered conditions.

Fic. 3.—Leaf of Sarracenia purpurea.

Next in order, but a little more modified, comes the widely

dispersed Side-saddle flower (Sarracenia purpurea) of the bogs of

the Eastern and Northern United States. In this species the leaf

forms a more perfect tube, open only at the top, and surmounted

570 How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. [June,

on one side by an upright hood (Fig. 3), the inner surface of

which is thickly covered with short stiff hairs, all pointing down-

wards. The interior surface at the bottom of the hollow is lined

with slender bristles (Fig. 4). These extend about one-third of

4.—Hairs of Sarracenia pur-

Fic.

purea,; b, base; a, top.

over the first one. The hollow is more

complete ; the hood is

conspicuous and attractive; the smooth

surface at the center of the hollow is a

more effectual safeguard against the es-

cape of insects, and the

way better adapted to secure insect prey.

Still the pitcher is open to the rain, se-

cretes little or no nectar, and absorbs the

juices of the insects it captures in the form

of a liquid manure only.

The next step in advance is found in a

southern species of the genus with larger

and more upright leaves, known as Sar-

vacenia flava. The arrangement of the

hairs in the interior of the leaf is the same :

but a saccharine secretion just below the

hood shows a marked difference, and is a

more effectual lure to insects than merely

a colored surface such as there is in the

the way up. Then comes a per-

fectly smooth, glaucous surface,

extending another third of the

way, and above it is another set

of hairs similar to those on the

hood. In this leaf there is a

marked advance in development

larger and more

plant is in every

Sp ecies previously referred to. _ The pro- Fic. 5.—Leaf of Sarracenia

Mee visions for the retention of insects are 77#olaris.

=~ equally good in both species, but in the flava a secretion of honey

acts as a bait. It seems

to possess, too, a slight trace of a delete-

1885.] Flow the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. 571

The fourth round of the ladder is Sarracenia variolaris (Fig. 5),

and here is found a wonderful advance in structure. In the first

place the hood bends over the orifice of the leaf and shuts out all

rain. Secondly, the hood is marked on the posterior portion with

white translucent spots and reticulations, and honey is there

secreted. Thirdly, the fine velvety pubescence extends one-third

way down the pitcher, and then the hairs become longer, coarser

Fig. 7.

Fig. 6.

Fic. 6.—Leaf of Darlingtonia. Fic, 7.—Hairs of Darlingtonia; 4, base; a, top.

and more bristly as the tube narrows. Fourthly, a secretion is

formed at the bottom of the pitcher which has the peculiar prop-

erty of asphyxiating insects so unfortunate as to fall into it

Fifthly, there is found to be a honey-baited pathway running from

the ground up along the wing of the leaf to the hood, and a short

way into the orifice.

These are many and curious changes. A marked advance

572 How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. [June,

over the open, honeyless pitcher of S. purpurea is at once mani-

fest. But a still further advance is found in Darlingtonia,

the third genus of the order and a native of California. In this

the leaves are very long, stand upright and have a peculiar

twist not found in any other species (Fig. 6). The hood, in

addition, forms a vaulted arch, mottled with spots and reticu-

lations. The only entrance to the leaf is from below, and on

each side of this entrance is a long appendage, the whole

likened to a fish tail. The inside of this secretes honey and is

covered with hairs. The interior of the pitcher is lined with vast

numbers of hairs, which become longer and more bristly toward

the bottom (Fig. 7). A secretion is found here that has the

power of decomposing the bodies of the insects which have been

entrapped. On the outside, running along the wing, from the

ground to the orifice, is a honey pathway which lures creeping

insects to their destruction. The wings or fish-tail, at the top of

the pitcher, attract flying ones.

In these species of plants there is a regular gradation from the

simple to the complex. From the Heliamphora with its open

pitcher and small hood, to the Sarracenia purpurea with upright,

less open pitcher and larger hood; thence to the S. variolaris

through several stages of less complexity, with its almost closed

pitcher, power of secfeting honey and digestive fluid; then to

the more remarkable Darlingtonia, with its large twisted leaves,

with vaulted hoods and fish-tail appendages, decomposing fluid

and honey-secreting apparatus. Scarcely any of the steps showing

the progress are needed to complete the line of development. It

can be traced directly from Heliamphora to Darlingtonia, and it

is only necessary to have an ancestral form from which to start

to have a complete pedigree.

It seems probable that the water-lily family and the pitcher-

plant family had a single ancestor in common. This ancestor

was aquatic, or at least an inhabitant of swampy places. It had

_ small, probably peltate, perhaps reniform leaves, and these had

- hollow petioles. The inner space was lined with hairs as are now

the inner surfaces of the stems of Nymphza and its allies; it had

a four or five parted flower, with many stamens and a broad

ERS

= From such an ancestor came’ two or three branches. One of

= these developed into plants having an aquatic habit, large leaves

x i

1885.] How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. 573

and long petioles, and peduncles like those which are found at

present in the water-lilies. The other branch diverged to form

plants living in boggy or swampy grounds, with pitcher-like

leaves whose insectivorous proclivities were developed later on.

The development of the members of the water-lily family from

this hypothetical ancestor can be accounted for thus, The aquatic

habit must be confirmed, the depth of water increased, the leaves

grow larger and the change is complete. But to transform a

peltate or reniform leaf into a pitcher requires much more modi-

fication. Suppose, however, that water lodging on the upper sur-

faces of some leaves was retained there ; and that in this water

insects were caught and drowned. Suppose the constant pres-'

ence of the water caused the decay of the substance of the leaf

at its insertion on the petiole and allowed the water to penetrate

the hollow. This liquid manure might assist the plant in its

growth. The habit of catching water by means of a peculiarly

cup-like leaf, would be transmitted from generation to generation.

Each successive one would have larger and larger petiolar spaces,

and correspondingly smaller leaves. And this because the liquid

manure supplied directly to the root would enable the plant to

do with less and less leaf surface as the nutriment was more and

more fully elaborated ; until finally the petiole would have grown

into a hollow pitcher-like affair, and the

‘ leaf-blade would have dwindled to a rudi-

ment.

The primitive pitcher plant was probably

but little less specialized than the least one

now known. This one has already been

described under Heliamphora. The various

modifications of structure incident to change

of form now come under consideration.

The internal hairs of modern water-lilies

were likely represented in the ancient form | ;

from which they are descended. In spe-

cies now living these hairs are stellate, with

from three to five arms or projections (Fig. Fic. 8.—Internal hairs of

8), and they thickly line the interior spaces staan A et

of the petioles of leaves and the peduncles of flowers. Exposure

to air and adaptation to altered conditions would naturally cause

a change of form. They doubtless lost first one and then another

574 How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. [June,

projection, till they were reduced to a single one. This one would

be, at first, of the same size and shape the whole length of the

pitcher. Then, in time, as it was found that those at the bottom

would not need to be so strong, they would become longer and

more slender, while the uppermost ones would be stiff and harsh

to more effectually prevent the crawling up of insects. As the

specialization proceeded, a less number of hairs would be required

and a smooth space near the center of the wall of the leaf would

be found a still more effective guard against the escape of the

prey.

Fic, 9.—Heliamphora,

As soon as the capture of insects became a necessary part of

the existence of the plant, or even an advantage to it, honey

would be developed to serve as an attraction. This, from at first

a merely sweet secretion, would acquire, if it served a useful end,

_a character calculated to retain the insect. If, however, the honey

__ had too bad an effect, the end in view would be defeated, for it

= would in time be rendered unattractive. For insects would in

_ their turn, become modified to resist the temptation. So then

the next step in the onward march would be to keep the honey

of the lure pure, but to modify the character of the secretion at

1885.] How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. 575

the bottom of the pitcher so as to retain and eventually convert the

insects caught into nutritious material for the plant. This secre-

tion would become a further necessity, and its character would

be otherwise changed when, by a change in the nature of the

hood, rain was excluded from the cavity. Finally, as a further

lure to insects appendages brightly or curiously colored would

arise and assume a form calculated to attract them.

That these were the steps leading from the simplest to the

most complex form of pitcher is shown in the actual forms living

to-day. There can LS

hardly be a better illus- j

tration of the theory of

descent with modifica-

tion than is found in

this one family. It be-

comes, therefore, a mat-

ter of peculiar interest

to still further continue

the study, and to inves-

tigate the causes which

led to the peculiarities

of the flowers they

possess, and likewise to

study the reasons for

their present geograph-

ical distribution.

The-flowers of Heli-

amphora are described

as being regular, with Fic, 10.—Sarracenia.

four, five or perhaps, at times, six sepals, no petals, an indefinable

number of stamens, and a single, entire pistil (Fig. 9). There

are one or two flowers on a bracted scape. In the flowers of all

the species of Sarracenia a peculiar modification of the pistil is

observed. Along with the five sepals and five petals, it is found

that the pistil has assumed a broad, umbrella-like shape (Fig. 10)

with the stigmatic surfaces at the ends of the rays. These are

five in number and extend upwards as the flower hangs. A single

flower is at the top of a naked scape. The flower of Darlingtonia

(Fig. 11) is-solitary at the top of a bracted scape, has five sepals

and five petals, only twelve or fifteen stamens and a style with a

five-rayed stigma.

576 How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. [June,

In the first of these, the South American form, is probably

to be found the nearest approach to the original type of flower,

The single floral envelope,

‘indefinite number of stamens

and simple pistil, seem to

indicate a comparatively un-

specialized form, which cor-

responds to the simplicity of

the leaves. In the modern

Nympheza or water-lily, there

is a great number of petals,

but these could be readily re-

garded as some of the numer-

ous stamens of a few-sepaled

or petaled flower which have

been transformed into petals,

In the ovary of Nuphar (spat-

ter dock) there is an approach

to the simple ovary of Heli-

amphora, accompanied, to be

sure, by modifications which

may be regarded as necessi-

tated by an aquatic life. So

that it does not require much to assume that in the flowers as in

the leaves, the water-lilies and the pitcher plants are closely allied.

j fii

Fic, 11.—Darlingtonia.

The umbrella-like stigma of the side-saddle flower, as well as

its whole arrangement, is to be regarded as a modification inci-

dent to cross-fertilization ; for in these plants seed is not perfected

otherwise. On this account alone it would be expected to diverge

widely from the primitive form. But there is, in the closely allied

poppy family, an approach to this spreading umbrella-like stigma,

whose whole large expansion may undoubtedly be refered to the

necessity for cross-fertilization. :

Lastly, in the Darlingtonia the flower is also greatly modified.

This time the change has taken place in accordance with changes

~~. inthe leaves. The analogy between the fish-tail appendages of

oy the leaves and the peculiarly spreading. petals of the flower has

` been pointed out by Dr. Hooker. As both are of the same color

; and bear considerable resemblance to each other, he suggests

= > their development has proceedėd together, and that while

1885.] How the Pitcher Plant got its Leaves. 577

one attracts the insects for purposes of fertilization, the other,

by its imitative. powers draws the visitor to it and is thus

enabled to feed itself. Nor is such a suggestion an unreasonable

one when the highly specialized condition of the plant is con-

sidered. If once a hint in that direction showed itself, and any

benefit was thereby derived, it may be considered as certain that

the direction would be persevered in until both leaves and flowers

had departed very far from the original and normal type. This

is exactly what has happened.

Coming finally to the geographical distribution of the order,

the facts show plainly how one could have been derived from the

other. The original home of all was most likely in South

America, where one species still lingers. This original form may

be imagined as conveyed from its place of origin to the south

coast of what is now the United States, most likely by means of

the Gulf Stream. Finding a suitable place for living, the some-

what changed conditions would have modified the emigrant into

a plant with a leaf like S. purpurea, This once fairly established

spread all over the country where there were favorable condi-

tions for its growth. If we imagine this dispersion to have been

during the continuance of the Tertiary period, there would have

been ample time for great modification to take place. Then it

was, in all likelihood, that the Darlingtonia began to develop in

its own way. After a long period of time the Tertiary epoch

was brought to a close. A great change came over the face of

the country, and many of the intermediate forms between Sarra-

cenia and Darlingtonia became extinct. Change in climate and

in conditions produced by the glaciers which covered the country

at one time was an efficient agent of extinction. At the same

time the unextinguished forms would have continued to become

modified in various ways until they became as they are now

found.

The history of this one family, peculiarly circumstanced as it

is, shows the possible origin of a number of forms from one

common ancestor, different though they are from each other at

present. In every part can be traced the werkings of evolution.

In leaf and in flower the steps can be followed. Even in the

geographical distribution of the living species it can be seen. In

some. families of plants the steps are not so plain because encum-

bered by a larger number of generic and specific forms; but

578 An Adirondack National Park. {June,

could the gaps be filled in any one species or order, the line of

descent might be followed through the ages to one common and

generalized type. The varied forms to which that type gave rise

are seen in the different genera of different natural orders. The

time is far distant when all these can be traced step by step to

their remote origin. But every little adds, and eventually a mon-

ument will be raised which will tell how, and perhaps when, each

individual plant reached its present state of perfection or de-

generacy,

:0:

AN ADIRONDACK NATIONAL PARK.

BY WILLIAM HOSEA BALLOU,

PROPOSITION to convert the Adirondack region into a

national park, ought only to need suggestion. The only

portion of the public domain which has been set aside as a.na-

tional park is located in the distant mountain regions of Montana

and Wyoming. East of the Rockies and within a territory of four

million thickly populated square miles, not a single national breath-

ing ground exists. In the great Empire State lies an elevated

country of vast area, as lovely as the mind of man has mental

imagery to conceive. It stands to-day the prey of timber thieves

and game butchers, so neglected by the State that its boundary

lines have been lost, its forests denuded, its waters left to evapora-

tion and outrage, and its maintenance denied of all but the small-

est pittance. It is the particular surface of the globe that gives

one a glimpse through the corridors of time. It is a part of the

cradle of the earth. Here are blue-gray hypersthene and con-

torted gneiss rocks—the first forms in nature’s attempts at world

building. Before organisms came into existence these rocks

formed their part in the stable foundation of the earth. The Adi-

rondack region, then, is grandparent to the remainder of the

globe. The Hudson, which rises in its clouds, is perhaps the

oldest river in existence, being the ancient outlet of the Great

Lakes’ ancestor, and hence the grandparent of waters. Will any

one say that the Government of the United States ought not to

be charged with the care of the portions of these aged relics

which a great State has given over to weeds and bandits ?

_ Two great watersheds lie within the State of New York at

a ght angles to each other. They so interlock that writers have

1885.] An Adirondack National Park. 579

been led to regard the State as one watershed, The dividing lines

are too apparent, however, and the physical, climatic and geolog-

ical differences necessarily form divisions of the State.

Tke eastern or Adirondack watershed runs almost north and

south, throwing its waters north into the St. Lawrence, and sou

into Long Island sound. The western watershed runs nearly

east and west, at right angles to the Adirondacks, It throws its

waters from the interior chain of lakes, north into Lake Ontario.

Its southern drainage flows at oblique angles into Chesapeake

bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

The northern drainage of the western watershed occupies seven

thousand square miles of territory, of which four hundred square

miles are of lake surface, under the names of Oneida, Cayuga,

Seneca, etc. This watershed has been made subservient to the

necessities of commerce and industry. Besides being natural

reservoirs, its lakes have been regulated to maintain a uniform

flow through the Oswego river of six hundred thousand cubic

feet of water per minute, during all seasons of the year. Seven

dams on this stream, constructed by the state, provide hydraulic

advantages equal to 140,000 horse-power. Thus the western

watershed, by fostering gigantic industries, valued at millions,

repays the State for the expenditure involved in its care.

The Adirondack watershed is of a different nature; its waters

are of little commercial or industrial importance. Its rivers, the

Moose, Beaver, Grass, Raquette, Salmon, Au Sable, Oswegatchie

and others are high, turbulent and destructive in the spring. In the

summer they are dry. The Hudson itself would be insignificant

were it not an arm of the sea, scoured out and kept deep below

Albany by the tides.

The Adirondack region has resisted all attempts at cultivation,

otherwise it would be largely populated. Its mission is of higher

importance to man than that of a mere industrial and commercial

utility. Here is one of nature’s great laboratories for the genera-

tion of pure air and the maintenance of stable atmospheric condi-

tions. Its many cool lakes and babbling brooks form a natural

resting and invigorating ground. It comprises the highest land

in the State, ranging from one thousand to five thousand feet in

elevation.

In this elevated domain are upward of two thousand lakes and

lakelets abounding in clear cold waters—the ideal land of the

580 An Adirondack National Park. [June,

poet and the artist. The wild deer laves in the mirroring lake or

lies sequestered in the deep ravine. The trout break the placid

surfaces at night and the note of the whip-poor-will echoes from

valley to peak through wood and clearing. The catamount

watches from the creviced rocks and the black bear hibernates in

the recesses of the forests. This is nature’s miniature park of

the earth. The mountains, cascades, rivulets, lakes and precipices

are all scenic features in miniature, It is not a Yellowstone park,

There are no three-mile vertical projections into space, no spout-

ing geysers, no vast areas of sage brush, no great obsidian cliffs,

no fossil forests, no bad lands of towering buttes and no bottom-

less cafions. All such awful sublimity is here molded in minia-

ture—a playground of the gods.

Until the State survey began its work, ten years ago, but little

was known of the Adirondack region. The only maps in posses-

sion of the comptroller were some curiosities made by colonial

and early surveyors. So uncertain were the boundary lines that

the State lost thousands of acres of lands, and was uncertain of

any of its possessions. Investigation developed the fact that the

State lands were first sold for little more than five cents per acre.

The timber was immediately cut and the land allowed to lapse to

the State for unpaid taxes. Wherever the second growth became

valuable the lands were repurchased at tax sales, denuded and

again left barren for the State, which now owns about eight hun-

dred and ninety-five square miles. The watershed comprises

about three thousand square miles which are available for park

purposes.

The highest point in the State is Mt. — in Essex county, -

which rises 5344 feet above high tide. It is the monarch of the

Adirondacks, Mt. MacIntyre, 5112 feet, approximates this alti-

tude. Seventeen peaks exceed 4500 feet, forty-four rise above

3000 and seventy between that height and 2000 feet.

Mt. Washington, with its bridle-path and its inclined railway,

_ has long enjoyed a monopoly in the East. A change is approach-

ing. A new star has appeared in the sky. It is Mt. Marcy—

_ fature’s colossus to a noble name and the most ideal mountain

_ on the face of the globe. It is no mere stone heap, Resting on

its bosom are great forests, lofty spurs, precipices and lakes, Here

also is Lake Tear-of-the- clouds, within one thousand feet of the

: fameuit-—nthe supra-cloud source of the Hudson. It is the high-

1885. | An Adirondack National Park. 581

est water in the State. The poetic State surveyor, Mr. Verplanck.

Colvin, best describes it in these words:

“ A few summers since I stood for the first time on the cool

mossy shore of the mountain springlet lake, Tear-of-the clouds

Almost hidden in the gigantic mountain domes of Marcy, Sky-

light and Gray peaks, this lovely pool lifted on its granite pedestal

toward heaven, the loftiest water-mirror of the stars; beseeching,

not in vain, from each low-drifting cloud some tribute for the

sources of the Hudson; fresh, new, unvisited save by the wild

beast that drank ; it was a gem more pure and delightful to the

eye than the most precious jewel.”

Mt. Marcy is the center of the scenic, sporting, artistic, poetic

and scientific interest in the Adirondack region. The timber

limit is here well defined at 4900 feet above the sea. The crev-

ices are densely filled with stunted evergreen and the deep valleys

between the mountain crests are covered with forests of pine,

spruce, hemlock, beech, birch and other trees. Snows are almost

perpetual here, summer lasting but two months. So far as may

be judged by one who has visited each, there is little difference in

temperature and climatic conditions between an altitude of 5000

feet on Mt. Marcy and 12,000 feet elevation in Wyoming. This

similarity may be accounted for by means of the ameliorating in-

fluences of the Pacific coast on the Rocky mountains. Mt. Marcy

is beginning to attract many visitors and is certain to draw heavily

on the traveling public as soon as its grandeur and attractions

become more generally known. It was seldom scaled until in

1875 the State survey projected a line of levels to its highest

oint. Since then there has been a gradual increase of summer

visitants. The Indians called Mt. Marcy Ta-ha-wus, signifying

“ I cleave the clouds.”

Observations tend to show a considerable decrease of rainfall

in the State. This decrease has been attributed to the general

denuding of forests in the Adirondacks. The iron industries

alone have been shown to consume the wood on six thousand

acres of land annually, to say nothing of the trees utilized as

lumber. While no one of note has disputed the influence of for-

ests on rainfall, such influence has not been satisfactorily ex-

plained. The following explanation is offered :

The Gulf Stream projects its waters along the Atlantic coast.

It furnishes moisture to the winds which sweep over the land,

VOL. XIX.—-NO. VI. 38

582 An Adirondack National Park. [June,

tempering the climate. Formerly when these winds beat against the

Adirondack highlands there were vast.areas of brush-topped ever-

greens and myriad-leaved trees to act as electrical conductors and

precipitate moisture in the form of rain. The forests have been

ruthlessly cut and now the moist winds beat against the rocks and

burst in floods of water or in form of hail, or sweep past with their

possibilities of evenly distributed rain. Nature takes her swift

vengeance. The river bottoms show at the surface and the hur-

ricane and hailstorm beat down the structures made of the forests.

As Mr. Colvin states in one of his reports, the forests hold snow

in compact depths which melts slowly, contributing a regular

quota of water during three-fourths of the year. The cones fall

from the evergreens, become pulverized and overgrown with

moss. These cone beds hold water to such an extent that they

were named “ hanging lakes.” Wherever the forests have been

denuded the snow banks and cone beds have disappeared and

thus, concludes Mr. Colvin, nature has been robbed of her

reservoirs.

It seems incomprehensible that so great a commonwealth as

New York has appropriated so little to maintain a survey of its

own valuable possessions. No foreign government expends such

a pittance for surveys of bergs, as the Empire State has for its

entire area. The necessities of war, for which we must prepare

in times of peace, demand the most minute and exhaustive surveys.

The exchange of real estate, the prevention of needless lawsuits

among citizens, and the taxation system, demand accurate sur-

veys. The lack of good topographical maps may yet cost a

thousand times the amount required for engineering. Instead

of five thousand dollars occasionally, the State should have appro-

priated seventy-five thousand annually for this purpose.

ihe growing demand that the Adirondack region shall be set

aside as a public park with liberal appropriations for its protec-

tion, superintendence and surveys has been met with little legis-

__ lative encouragement, which so far only amounted to successive

_ and expensive commissions since 1873. There is not a prairie

State to-day that would not give millions for one Mt. Marcy.

New Yorkers have migrated to every portion of the Union in

great numbers. Had they a voice in the matter, the Adirondack

region no doubt would be surrendered to the United States and

__ cared for as jealously as is the Yellowstone park, with full appro-

~ Ppriations for surveys and maintenance. If the proper steps were

taken, there is little doubt that the consensus of opinion of the

- York has shown itself incapable of caring for its possessions.

1885.] Editors’ Tabie. 583

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

The relations of the National Academy of Sciences to

the Government deserve the attention of the scientific men of the

country. There are two views of the nature and functions of

this body. One of these is, that it is the advısor of the Govern-

ment in such matters as come within its scope. As it is most

likely to be called upon for opinions in questions of applied sci-

ence, it follows that a considerable number of its members should

represent that kind of ability, rather than advanced positions in

original research in pure science. The other view is, that the

academy is a body which includes a definite number of men who

lead the progress of pure science in the country, irrespective of

utility to the Government, and that as such, its membership con-

stitutes an order of merit which is the highest within reach of

the American scientist. From this standpoint its relations to the

Government flow simply from the character of its membership,

and not from any especial modification of its organization.

There is no reason why the two propositions above stated may

not both be realized in the academy. This is doubtless the opin-

ion of the large majority of its members, and indeed represents

the actual state of affairs in that body. It is, nevertheless, easily

seen that however combined, the two ideas are themselves dis-

tinct, and that care will always have to be exercised to preserve a

just equilibrium between them. The fact that a large proportion

of its members are in the employ of Government bureaus can

excite no adverse criticism, and is indeed a necessary consequence

of the large number of experts required for the Government ser-

vice. But the academy must be protected against possible con-

sequences of this fact.

In the interval between the annual meetings of 1884 and 1885,

two members of a committee appointed to investigate a question

affecting one of the bureaus of which they themselves are em-

ployees, were requested to resign from the committee by the chief

of the bureau in question. This was in obedience to the rule

that a department of the Government cannot be criticised by its

subordinates. It requires no argument to show that if this rule

be carried out with reference to the Academy of Sciences its use-

fulness as an independent body is at an end. There is also

584 Recent Literature. [June,

another danger which flows directly from the same or a similar

attitude on the part of heads of bureaus. These gentlemen, by

filling up the academy with their employees can obtain practical

control of its decisions. This would be immensely convenient to

them under various circumstances, but it would introduce an ele-

ment of corruption into the academy from which it has been

hitherto happily free, and which would deprive it of the respect

and confidence of the country. So long as the bureaus remain

under the direction of their present- heads, such contingency is

remote; but changes for various reasons, political or otherwise,

are by no means impossible. It is easier to provide against pos-

sible evils than to reform them when they are upon us,

—— The papers read at the late meeting of the National

Academy of Sciences include several of first-class importance in

systematic analysis. Such is the paper of Mr. Scudder on the

palzozoic insects, and such that of Dr. Sterry Hunt on the classi-

fication of the natural silicates. Of the same character was the

paper of Professor Gill on the orders of fishes; and to the same

class belongs that of Professor Cope on the phylogeny of the

placental Mammalia. These memoirs, if published in extenso in

the next volume of the memoirs of the National Academy, will

give it a value commensurate with the place the society holds

among those of the country. Of almost equal but less compre-

hensive importance were the three papers read by Professor

Packard on Palzozoic Crustacea, and by Professor Cope on the

Pretertiary Vertebrata of Brazil. The papers in other depart-

ments were less important than is sometimes the case at the

meetings of the academy,

RECENT LITERATURE.

against destructiv ts, and the economic compensations of the

more extensive losses from the depredations of insects; general

introduction to systematic and practical entomology.

1 Lehrbuch der Mitteleuropiischen Darig aiene mit einem Anhange: Die

£ Sey Vwi É achte Auflage von Dr. J. T. C. RATZEBURG Die

o Taret wat ihre Feinde. In vollständiger Tea herausgegeben von

ENE JupEIcH und De. H. NitscuHe. 1. Abtheilung, Ratzeburg’s Leben, Einlei-

tung, Allgemeiner Theil. Wien., E. Hölzel, 1885, 8vo., pp. 264.

1885.] ` Recent Literature. 585

fungi, with the excellent cuts. While the work should give the

student full theoretical knowledge it should emphasize all the

facts leading to practical field work and observation.

Craus’ ELEMENTARY Texr-Book oF ZooLocy.—We have

already called attention to the first part of this work, which has

been translated by Sedgwick and Heathcote. The second part

embraces mollusks, Tunicata and vertebrates, the spaces given to

the last group being in our opinion too little; in such a book cer-

tainly one-half of the matter should be devoted to vertebrate ani-

mals. In point of treatment, and excellence of the illustrations

the high character of the first part is well sustained in this the

concluding part. The old meaningless group of Molluscoidea is,

however, retained for the Bryozoa and. Brachiopoda. To place

these two groups of what may with safety be regarded as com-

posite types of worms in a group equivalent in rank to the Ar-

thropoda or Vertebrata shows lack of judgment. The author re-

marks in justification: “ With the increase in our knowledge ot

their developmental history, it appears more and more probable,

not only that the two groups are descended from an ancestral

form common to them and the annelids, but also that in spite of

the considerable differences between them in the adult state, they

are in reality closely related, a supposition which agrees with the

great resemblance of their larve.”

The Tunicata are placed next to the vertebrates, above the mol-

lusks and Molluscoidea, a position now seemed warranted.

The treatment of the Mammalia is, like that of the birds, anti-

quated, no reference being made to the new groups of extinct

forms and the subsequent modifications which should be made in

the classification of the class; besides, too little space is given

als.

to this most important of all classes of anim

Upnam’s FLORA oF Minnesota.'—The State of Minnesota is to

be congratulated upon the appearance of so creditable a volume

in its Annual Geological Report. The author has done a good

work well and thoroughly, and has placed before the people ot

his State a work which will take rank as one of the best of

its kind ever issued by the officers of a State survey. Ag

_ . 1 Catalogue of the flora of Minnesota, including its Phaenogamous and Vascular

Cryptogam ts, indigenous, naturalized and adventive. By WARREN UPHAM.

Part vi of the annual report of progress [Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey] for the year

1883. Minneapolis, Johnson, Smith & Harrison, 1884, pp. 193, with y plate,

586 Recent Literature. (June,

map in colors shows the forest an prairie areas, and the distribu-

tion of the principal timber tre

The total number of sken including species and varieties

enumerated in this catalogue is 1650, belonging to 557 genera

and representing 118 natural orders. The series are distributed

as IOllows

Dicotyledons ~FI4t

Lv a PM, OCT 2

Soe omy Sie an she es

Pteridophy 68

The catalogue i is sent out as a report of progress, and the hope

is expressed that it will incite all workers in the field to increased

efforts. The final report is to include the lower groups of plants

as well as the higher.— Charles E. Bessey.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS,

Forbes, S. A—Description ot new Illinois fishes. Ext. Bull. Ill. State Lab. Nat.

fist, PE og From the author :

Packard, A. S. he embryology of f Limulus S ks rae 1m. Proc, Amer,

Philocophveal Boks May, 1885. From thea

as t —Brachydiastematherim Estey ee t Maty. Ein neues Pachy-

Schichten Pee ETT nmi Budapest, 1876. From

grg H. N- SNo on the structure of ace Pocillopora, Corallium and

bipora. Ext. Quart. Jour. Mic. ee 1882.

pipe the pharynx of an un eats Hiulodacian of e family Dendrochirotæ, in

which the calcareous skeleton is remarkably developed. Ext. idem., 1884.

——On the i of oa in the shells of certain Chitonidæ, and on the structure

of these organs. Ext. idem., 1884.

——Address to ie biological sedii of the British Association, Montreal, 1884.

All ony the auth

Dawson, G. M.—On ie superficial deposits and glaciation of the district in the

vicinity of the Bow and Belly rivers. Ext, Rep. Geol. Surv. Canada, 1882—84.

Lydekker, R.—Catalogue of the wns Mammalia in the British Museum. Part I.

Dollo, £.—Rhinoceros vivants et fossiles. L’ origine des aeee a Les Laby-

herreg tes, etc. Ext. de la Revue des questions Scien., Jan

e r le Simoedosaurien d’Erquelinnes, Ext. Bull. sa ik Royal

Ae Belgiqu čj a ime. Both from the author,

Gaudry, A.—Nouvelle galerie de Paléontologie. Mus. d’ oor. ime Paris, 1885.

EFEN elle note sur les reptiles permiens. Both from the ai

Boehm, G.—Beitrige zur Kentniss der grauen Kalke in TRENE Berlin, 1884.

Fr ‘i ‘the author

Mus. Asp min Paris—Rapports annuels de MM. les professeurs et chefs de ser-

vice,

Lundgren, B .—Undersökn ingar ófver Brachiopoderna i a s Kritsystem. Ur

Lunds Universitets Arsskrift, 1885. From the author. al ty

imen L., et Megnin, M. P.—Monographie du genre Freyana Haller, et

n des espèces nouvelles du musee d’Angers, 1885. From the authors.

naas plumicoles ou analgésinés. rre partie, Les Ptérolichés, Paris,

_ 1885. From the authors.

Claus, C. textbook of zodlogy. Translated by A. Sedgwick and F. G.

Ee ‘Heathcote. 2 vols. New York, Macmillan & Co. From th PAER

Te s n aN sex in generation, New York, eS Fowler & Wells

1885.] | Geography and Travels. 587

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS."

Arrica.—Kilima-njaro.— The account given by Mr. H. H.

Johnston, before the Royal Geographical Society, of his stay at

Kilima-njaro, adds more to our knowledge of the zoology and

botany of the southern slopes of this great mountain than to its

geography. The vegetation is luxuriant, trees ascend to nine or

teh thousand feet, herbaceous vegetation is abundant up to 13,000

feet, and heaths and some shrubs linger to above 14,000 feet.

The buffalo, koodoo and elephant appear to ascend even to the

snow-line. Mr. Johnston saw the footprints of buffaloes at 14,000

feet, and came in sight of three elephants at 13,000 feet. A hyrax

ascends to 11,000 feet. In the discussion which followed, Mr.

Thomson described Kilima-njaro as an enormous mountain mass,

some sixty miles long by thirty wide, upon the summit of which

the great dome of Kibo and the peak of Kimawenzi were com-

paratively small excrescences. On the southern side the country

Chaga was formed of a series of terraces of fertile land, but on

the northern side the mountain rose at an even angle from 3000

to 18,000 feet without a break by ridge or valley.

The Egyptian Sudan.— Colonel H. G. Prout, an American

engineer, formerly under the employ of General Stone, has con-

tributed to the Exgineering News an account of the route from

Suakin to Berber. This is of interest geographically from the

light it throws upon the nature of the country, which from imme-

diately behind Suakin to Wady Ariab, 118 miles from that place,

is mountainous, the projected road passing, at about sixty miles

from Suakin, through a defile 3000 feet above the sea. The map

recently compiled from data furnished by the office of Naval

Intelligence, shows this route, as well as those between Massowah

and Kassala, and Korosko and Abn Ahmed. Gen. C. P. Stone

contributes to Sctence an account of the climate of various

parts of the vast region known as the Egyptian Sudan. From

November to February inclusive, the province of Dongola is

healthy, but in the spring months the heat is excessive, dust

storms violent, and fever prevalent. The moist winds of early

autumn increase the unhealthiness. At Suakin, the intense heat

is the chief foe to health; but the province of Taka (capital,

Kassala) and the district of Gallabat have, from June to October,

a climate which is deadly to Europeans. At that season the rains

are copious, and mingling with the floods of water coming down

from the mountains of Abyssinia, cause the rich soil to become

like a saturated sponge. Even the natives, in many districts,

abandon the country from May to October, and reside in the

desert.

1 This department is edited by W. N. Lockincron, Philadelphia.

588 General Notes. [June,

Asta.—The Lower Helmund—The valley of the Helmund, at

the point where it was struck by the Afghan boundary commis-

sion, below its junction with the Argandab, is narrow and limited

by ranges of rolling clay or sandstone hills. Beyond these ridges

rise other similar ridges, forming the dashés, or rolling plateaux

of Southern Afghanistan. This desolate country is full of ruins.

“ From Lundi to Kala Fateh,” writes Major Holdich, “ one rides

through and over the relics of dead kingdoms. The remains of

forts, of deep-cut irrigation canals, of pretentious habitations

which might have been palaces * are the common fea-

tures of the landscape. Broken pottery strews the ground some-

times for miles ata time.” All are built of mud or sun-dried

bricks. During the whole of its lower course until it disappears

in a hamun or swamp, it receives no tributaries. About Nadali

are innumerable mounds, some of which, though always bearing

ruins on their summit, are clearly stratified, and are therefore

thought to be natural.

Discovery of the Sources of the Hoang-Ho—The proceedings

of the Royal Geographical Society for March contain translations of

two letters sent by Col. Prejevalsky to the /uvalide Russe. This

intrepid traveler left Urga (a town in Northern Mongolia, situated

on a branch of the Angora and south of the Irkutsk) on Nov. 8,

1883, and soon reached the vast desert of Gobi, which measures

2650 miles from east to west, and about 700 from north to south.

The northern part of the desert is still a steppe region covered with

excellent grass; but Central Gobi consists of perfectly bare flat

spaces covered with pebbles and cut upat intervals by lone strati-

fied ridges, while Southern Gobi is covered all over with quick-

sands, the remains of shoals and dunes of the once wide Central

Asian sea. Terrible frosts in winter, without snow, and almost

tropical heat in summer, with frequent storms, characterize this

barren, rainless, riverless region; yet every part of it is inhabited

by Mongols. Crossing the Khurkhu ridge, forming the eastern

edge of the Altai, the southern desert, or Alashan, was entered,

and a stay was made at Din-yuan-in, where the Alashan range

runs like a wall between the desert and the cultivated banks of

the northern bend of the Yellow river. Crossing the Nan-shan

range, part of the unbroken wall which stretches from the Upper

“Hoang-ho to the Pamir, Col. Prejevalsky then entered Kan-su,

and prepared to go in search of the hitherto undiscovered sources

of the Hoang-ho. On his way he passed the plateau of Lake

Koko-Nor, 10,800 feet above the sea; and then crossed the ridge

of Burkhan-Buddha by a pass 15,700 feet above the sea. The

circumference of Lake Koko-Nor is given as 16624 miles. Sixty-

seven miles from the pass the sources of the Yellow river were

reache wo streamlets, flowing from the south and west, out

of the mountains scattered about the plateau, unite at an elevation

i - of 13,600 feet. The infant river is fed by the numerous springs

1885.] Geography and Travels. 589

of the wide marshy valley (40 miles by 1314) of Odontala, or, as

the Chinese call it, Sing-su-hai, or Starry sea, After a course o

about fourteen miles, the river falls into a lake, the southern shores

of which it colors with its muddy waters, then pouring out of it

to the east it soon enters another lake, which it leaves a consid-

snow-covered ridge of Amne-machin, its mad current tears

through the cross strata of the Kuen-lun and flows toward China

proper. After this our traveler went southward, but was stopped

by the unfordable Blue river, or Di-che (Yang-tsze), and return-

ing northward, made his way to Zaidam, after two serious en-

counters with Tangutan robbers.

Asiatic Notes —M. Donbrof has explored the upper course of

the Selenka, and reached the hitherto unvisited source of this

great tributary of Lake Baikal. According to Mr. Gowland,

who has recently crossed the central range of Corea during a

journey from Séul to Fusan, there are in this part of the peninsula

no mountains above about 4000 feet in height, no characteristic

volcanic cones, and no indications of mineral wealth. ‘The re-

sources of the country appear to lie entirely in agriculture.

M. Jos. Martin has arrived in Japan after a most arduous journey

from the Lena to the Amoor, across the Stanovoi range of moun-

tains. Dr. Gustave Le Bon is traveling in Nepaul. He is said

to be the first European who has been permitted to travel through

that country.

AUSTRALASIA.— The North Coast of New Guinea-—Mr. Robidé

van der Aa has recently published an account of two voyages to

the north coast of New Guinea. In the first, the Mapia group of

islands was visited, and the voyagers afterwards landed on Jamma,

an island in Walckenaer bay, and a depot for the cocoanut fiber

of the main land. About twenty-five miles south-east of Jamma

is the mouth of a river, the Witriwaai, not found on any map.

This was ascended to a large lagoon. About eight miles to the

east is the Wiriwaai, with a strong current discoloring the water

far out to sea. Sadipi bay, nearly a degree further east, is a deep

and safe harbor. The houses here have at each gable end a pent-

house roof, which comes so low that a hole is made to enable the

occupants to crawl in. On the second voyage, the Amberno

river was ascended for over sixty miles, when it shoaled, with a

current of four and a half miles an hour. Mr. van der Aa argues

from the size of this river (it is eight hundred yards wide) that it

has a long course from the interior, cutting its way through the

' Rees mountains. Thus its upper waters may be navigable-———

Dr. R. von Lendenfeld has found that Mount Kosciusko is not

the highest of the Australian alps. He has ascended a higher

at some distance farther south. This is 7256 feet high,

while Mount Kosciusko has been measured at from 7171 to 7176

590 General Notes. [June,

feet. The newly enthroned peak is named Mount Clarke. The

upper limit of trees upon it is 5900 feet. Above 6500 feet

patches of snow are found on the lee side of the main range, at

6500 feet.

AmErica.—Science states that several expeditions to Alaska are

projected during the coming season. Gen. Miles, who commands

in the military district, desires to acquire a knowledge of Cook’s

inlet and the Tananah course and watershed, and it is hoped that

a party under Lieut. Ray will be sent for the purpose. The party

under Lieut. Abercrombie were unable to pass beyond the glacier

alleged to obstruct the Copper or Atna river, about sixty miles

from the sea. A party under Lieut. Allen left for the Copper

river, June 30, and hope to cross the divide between that river and

the Yukon basin and descend the latter. Lieut. Stoney is reported

to have a new expedition nearly organized to continue his inves-

tigations of the Kowak river.

Evurope.—M. Rabot has explored Lake Enara and the valleys

of the Pasvig and Talom, in Finland. The country is an im-

mense forest, with lakes and peat bogs scattered everywhere, and

the only means of communication is by rivers which abound in

cascades and rapids. Lake Enara, drained by the Pasvig, is a

veritable inland sea, with hundreds of islets covered with magni-

ficent pine trees. The country around it, level and little broken,

forms a rie fewest between the plateau of Finmark and the hills

of Russian Lapland

GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

THE ORIGIN OF FRESH-WATER Faunas.—Professor W. J. Sollas

gives to the world, in No. v, Vol. 111, of the Scientific Transactions

of the Royal Dublin Society a review of the causes which have

originated and limited the fresh-water faunz of the world. Three

causes are admitted as proven: (1) the difference in chemical

` composition of the medium; (2) the severe character of the fresh-

water climate; (3) the necessity for the suppression of a free

larval existence. Although the first cause is doubtless a powerful

one, it is not sufficient to alone account for the facts, as seems to

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 591

and the severity of the climate the only obstacles, we might ex-

pect that many more of the forms which crowd the coasts would

work their way up the rivers. As a rule, however, the fresh-

water forms are sfa distinct from the marine, retain their dis-

tinctness everywhere, and, in time, are well marked as far back as

the Mesozoic. It is therefore probable that the fact that the

majority of marine invertebrata are diffused by means of free-

swimming larvæ has been one of the chief obstacles to their

spread up the rivers. These fragile and feeble larvæ always swim

along with even an ocean current, and are utterly powerless to

stem that of a river. Should a siow-moving marine animal suc-

ceed in ascending some distance up a stream, its larvæ, if free-

moving, would infallibly be carried out to sea. By a detailed

examination of the forms which inhabit fresh water, Professor

Sollas shows that in most of them the free larval stages are

suppressed. Other causes may exist. Thus the absence of suit-

able food is sufficient to account for the lack of carnivorous gas-

tropods and cophaliper: i in the rivers.

Fresh-water animals may be converted into marine in three

ways: (1) by direct migration; (2) by the conversion of the area

they inhabit into a fresh-water basin or lake; (3) by adaptation to

a terrestrial or marsh-loving habitat, and subsequent exchange

of this for a fluviatile or lacustrine one. The first method can

scarcely occur with fixed forms, unless they are parasitic upon

locomotive animals. Some prawns and crabs appear to have thus

immigrated by compliance with the three conditions, but the in-

stances are very few. The wide changes in the distribution of

land and water that have perir place in the course of geological

time offer a more probable mode of the gradual transformation of

a fauna from a marine to a e antes one. The comparative

poverty of the latter may be due to the escape of some species, as

well as to the extinction of others. The earliest lakes known are

of the Devonian period, and one Devonian fossil at least, Azo-

donta jukesu, has been found. Helicidæ are found in the coal

measures, and are probably the ancestors of the Limnæidæ. In

the Lias and Oodlite numerous fresh-water mollusks occur, and

Cyrena, Neritina and Hydrobia probably date from the Trias.

Saectal genera of fresh-water mollusks were already distributed

over parts of the Palæarctic, Nearctic and Oriental regions in

Cretaceous times. The Tertiary lakes of the northern hemi-

sphere have suffered from a glacial era, and the Caspian has be-

come unwholesome by concentration of its waters, yet it retains a

relic of a Tertiary fauna; while the Central African lakes have a

remarkable assemblage of Mollusca.

No marine mollusk is known to pass through a “ glochidium ”

stage, like that of the Unionide; no marine Polyzoon or sponge

produces statoblasts; no marine Phyllopod an ephippium ; and

no Tubularian an egg in a horny shell like that of Hydra.

592 General Notes. (June,

these are modifications suffered by fresh-water genera, are not

shared by their marine relatives, and appear to be necessary to

the existence of sedentary forms, as characteristic of fresh-water

organisms. The wide distribution of a form introduced by float-

ing timber is not probable until its developmental history has

changed also.

Tue BATRACHIA! oF THE PERMIAN BEDS OF BOHEMIA, AND THE

LABYRINTHODONT FROM THE Biyort Group (Inpra).2— In these

contributions we find important additions by eminent palzontol-

ogists to the knowledge of the stegocephalous Batrachia of the

regions named. In Dr. Fritsch’s volume we have the continuation

of an extensive work which we have noticed at various times in the

NATURALIST as the successive parts appeared. We have to add,

on this occasion, our renewed commendation of the care and de-

tail with which Dr. Fritsch continues to develop the subject, and

our praise for the admirable plates which accompany the text.

The species treated of are those which belong to the larger forms

of the Rhachitomi, together with some of the intermediate types,

such as the Dendrerpetonide. Of the greatest interest are two

new genera of the order Embolomeri, Chelydosaurus and Sphe-

nosaurus, where the additional vertebral centrum, entire in the

type of the order (Cricotus), is divided into three segments, two

lateral and an inferior. This is a curious discovery, especially as

Sphenosaurus has hitherto been regarded as a reptile.’ It also

has an important bearing on the value of the order Embolomeri,

which Dr. Fritsch is disposed (p. 4) to question. He thinks that

the embolomerous vertebral structure is confined to the caudal

region in the genus Cricotus, although I have figured it in the

lumbar and cervical region of that genus, and described it as

found in the dorsal* region. Dr. Fritsch reached this conclusion

because he finds that in Archegosaurus the caudal region is em-

bolomerous, and the dorsal region rhachitomous, His discovery

of the persistence of the embolomerous condition in the dorsal

ion of Chelydosaurus and Spl might have suggested

to him the correctness of my observations on Cricotus. I add

here that in Eryops, in which the dorsal vertebrz are rhachito-

mous, the caudal vertebre are not embolomerous. So Archego-

saurus stands alone in this respect. This determination of the

characters of Archegosaurus by Dr. Fritsch is very useful to

in palzontologists, as it has hitherto been very imperfect-

ly described. I have stated that there are vertebre of this type

1 Fauna der Gaskohle in d. Kalksteinen d. Permformation Böhm Von Dr. An-

ton Fritsch, B. 11, Heft 1; Praag, 1885. ' i R a

2 The Labyrinthodont from the Bijori group. By R. Lydekker, Mem, Geological

apid of India, Ser. rv, Vol. 1, 1885. iiss . eae

These two genera should form a second family of the Em i cterized

as above, which I call the Sphenosauridee, TEI

_ “Proceedings Amer. Philosoph. Society, 1884, P. 29.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 593

from Leybach in the museum of Princeton College, New Jersey.

As they agree exactly with Dr. Fritsch’s figures of Archegosau-

rus, it is difficult to perceive why he denies the accuracy of my

statement in the matter (p. 15).

Both the authors here reviewed have evidently been more or

his. characters in defining his genera. We cannot but think that

the publication of this system was a misfortune to the progress of

the subject. The characters of the relative position of the

eyes and nostrils and the outline of the skull are certainly only

specific characters, and the veriest tyro in the study of recent

Batrachia would not use them for generic characters, still less for

family characters, as is done by Mr. Miall

ydekker’s paper introduces an undoubted member of the

order Rhachitomi to the Indian Permian fauna, and devotes his

usual care to the description and illustration of it. Unfortunately

the skull of the single specimen at his disposal has lost the bones

of its superior face, so that many of the characters of the species

given the barbarous name Gwandanosaurus, is not so defined as

to be distinguishable from some of those already known. In

view of its possibly turning out to be identical with some of

these, Dr. Lydekker remarks that he relies on the spirit of the

following rule of the International Nae en Congress of Bologna

“in favor of his own name,” z.¢., “In future for specific names

priority shall not be irrevocably reh unless the species shall

ave been not only described but figured.” This is a doctrine

ing illustrations unnecessary, are much more inportant than they

to the real advancement of science.

Examples of the disregard of the law of priority in this paper

are seen in the proposition that the name Actinodontide super-

sede Eryopidæ of prior date, and the use of the term hypocen-

trum for intercentrum of prior date. This we hold to be simply

creating confusion, and causing much inconvenience to the stu-

dent! Moreover, Dr. Lydekker has not read the paper which

he quotes. He states (p. 7) that the intercentrum of Cope is the

pleurocentrum of Gaudry, and the centrum of Cope is the hypo-

centrum of Gaudry. The fact is the reverse. The intercentrum

was renamed hypocentrum by Gaudry, and the centrum of Cope

1 The same untenable method is evinced in Dr. Lydekker’s mnl of the name

Creodonta ( wet Lege the proposition to use in its stead the inconvenient expression

“Carnivora primigenia” (Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia in British Museum, 1885,

p. 20).

594 General Notes. [June,

was called pleurocentrum by Gaudry. I have since adopted the

latter term as a convenience, though this is not araya true of the

multiplication of names. —E. D. Ca ope.

THE GENERA OF THE Dinocerata.—Professor Marsh’s work

on this order of mammals, just ely supplies some important

data as to the characters of some of the species described by

him. I can now discriminate more clearly the generic characters,

which are, I think, as follows :

Four bilobed symphyseal teeth on each side; inferior canine vies not enlarged; in-

ferior premolars three xolophodon Cope.

Four symphyseal teeth on each side, at least some of which are not bilobe d; infe-

rior canine larger mes incisors; four inferior premolars, the first ae second

separa.

ted by a diastema. ......0+ Bathyopsis Cope.

Four sequal AL ? lobed) eal teeth on each side; inferior premolar four

(tes Ditetrodon Cope.

Two or art sited symphyseal teeth on each side; three inferior premolars

Uintatherium Leidy.

No inferior canines or incisors; three inferior premolars,......... Tetheopsis Cope.

Most of the known species belong to Loxolophodon, each of

the remaining four genera having but one species each. Loxolo-

phodon includes as synonymes the names Dinoceras and Tino-

ceras Marsh, which were proposed as nomina nuda after Loxolo-

phodon, and were not characterized until several years later. It

is uncertain whether Eobasileus, which was proposed and defined

at about the same.time as Loxolophodon i is distinct from it or

not. Octotomus is also a synonyme. Ditetrodon is established

on Uintatherium segne Marsh, and Tetheopsis on Tinoceras sten-

ops Marsh —E£, D. Cope.

THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL Survey,—In an article upon

the organization and plan of the United States Geological Survey,

published in the American Fournal of Science, Mr. J. W. Powell

states that, where the topography and geology are simple, as in

the prairies and great plains, the sheets of the United States sur-

vey map are made on a scale of 1—250,000, or about four miles

to the inch; while farther west, where both structure and topog-

raphy are more complex, special districts are made to twice this

scale, and important mining districts are drawn much larger. In

the less densely populated portions of the eastern part of the

United States, a scale of {-125,000 is used, but the more densely

populated portions are drawn to twice this scale, or about one

mile to the inch. The whole of the United States and Alaska

_ will, upon this plan, require not ee than 2600 sheets; besides

Tao OF - THE Sy eae PerIop.—The recent discov-

_ eries of Mr. Charles Brougniart in the insect fauna of Commen-

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 595

American types need to be brought into their proper place, I

have thought best to offer a brief synopsis of those Carboniferous

forms heretofore discovered (with a few additional ones from this

continent), which may be referred to the ancient Phasmida

Among them will be found nearly all the species heretofore re-

ferred to the Termitina from the European coal measures, for a

careful study shows that the white ants were not at all represented

in Paleozoic times, so far as the forms yet discovered show.

Most of those which have been considered Termitina belong

rather here (they have already in several instances been referred

here), while others belong to other groups of Neuroptera than

Termitina—S. H. Scudder, in Proceeds. Amer. Acad. Arts and

Sciences.

GrotocicaL News.—General—The Boletin Acad. Nac. de

Ciencias de Cordoba contains two articles by L. Brackebusch

upon the geology of the province of Jujuy. Except for the in-

formation gathered in 1876 by Lorentz and Hyeronimus, an

some notes on the primordial fauna by E. Kayser, this northern

part of the Argentine Republic has hitherto been geologically

unknown. The south-eastern part of the province, near the Ver-

mejo, is comparatively low, though even here the Sierra of St.

Barbara rises west of the Rio S. Franciso to 3000 meters. e

larger central and western portion is entirely a mountain land,

range after range rising to heights of from 4500 to 5500 meters,

separated by valleys, some of which are basin-like depressions,

km broad. This western part is sterile, while the east is .

highly fertile. The mountains of Jujuy have a closer relation to

the Bolivian plateau than to the chains of the center and west of

the Argentine provinces. The most western chains (Sierras de la

Puna) consist principally of clay slates, alternating with grau-

wacke, and, save in one locality, are without fossils. The easterly

Sierra de Chuni consists of slates, grauwacke and sandstones, the

last rich in Silurian fossils, graptolites, trilobites, cephalopods and

brachiopods. Newer formations occur in the basins between the

mountains, gypsum-bearing sandstone, dolomite, limestone, oolite

and bituminous shales, etc. Fish andi t ins have been foun

in the Sierra St. Barbara. Strata corresponding to those which

596 General Notes. ; [June,

d'Orbigny referred to the triassic in Bolivia are by Brackebusch

placed in the Wealden or Neocomian. In these Mesozoic strata

occur many petroleum springs, and throughout Jujuy and Salta,

in Bolivia, and probably below the diluvium of the Gran Chaco,

‘the character of the formation is such that Brackebusch styles it

the “ petroliferous formation.” A small basin near Jujuy has

Post-tertiary strata, with beds of lignite and mastodon remains.

Eruptive rocks occur in many localities, and gold ore is found in

the beds of the streams which flow from the Sierra, Cabalonga.

Part 1 of the “ Grand Atlas of the Second Geological Survey

of Pennsylvania,” with fifty sheets imperial folio, has been pub-

lished at Harrisburg. The two “ Prix Vaillant” of the Acad-

emie des Sciences de Paris have been given, the first to M. Gustave

Cotteau, for his researches among fossil echinoderms ; the second

to M. Emile Riviere for his work in prehistoric anthropology.

M. Cotteau has published more than 1000 plates of echinoderms ;

and for thirty years has been known asa paleontologist. The

results of the researches of M. Riviere have been published in a

work entitled “ L’antiquite de l’homme dans les Alpes Mari-

times.” M. Dieulafait is now engaged in studying the deposits

of iron, manganese and zinc which exist around the “ Plateau cen-

though the shape and nature of the zocecial avicularia are charac-

ters of the greatest value, yet their presence or absence cannot be

made a specific distinction, as there are a large number of cases

where specimens are found with none or only a few such avicu-

aria, whereas on other specimens of the same species they may

occur abundantly.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY:.!

sion maxima along which the molecules can be parted only with

the greatest difficulty, while they may be made to slip or slide

over each other as easily in this as in any other direction. The

ce eo lited by Dr. Geo, H. WILLIAMS, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. -597

position of these planes was determined for gypsum, stibnite, bis-

muthinite, orpiment and cyanite, and found to agree as regards

their direction with what had earlier been observed in the case of

mica, rocksalt, calcite and galena. Later, the application of Reusch’s

method of forming the so-called fracture figures (‘Schlagfiguren’’)

showed that the same was also true of erythrite, vivianite, hydrar-

gillite, brucite, potassium ferrocyanide, uranium mica and even

apophyllite and topaz. In the case of the two latter minerals, it

was necessary to use a diamond-pointed instrument to make the

impression.” Most interesting, however, are these “gleitflachen”

in calcite, where they stand in the closest relation to the twinning

planes. As “ structure planes” Migge designates all those along

effected. Of ea in calcite R is the true cleavage plane (“ Spal-

tungsflāche ”); —1%4R the slipping plane (“ Gleitfläche ”), while

parallel to %P2 and oR parting readily takes place under press-

ure in the proper direction (“ Reissflächen ”). If an artificial

sliding of a portion of a calcite rhombohedron into twinning

position parallel to — YR be effected, the position of the R-faces

remains unchanged ; the — 14 R-faces, except the one in which the

sliding took place, assume the position of oo P2 planes, while these

in turn come to occupy the place of —%R. A oR-face takes

the position of —2R, parallel to which a parting has also been

observed by Haidinger and Tschermak. Thus all the structure

planes retain the same positions, although they exchange them

among themselves. It is significant that all these planes, except

œP2, which is a plane of symmetry, have been observed as twin-

ning planes for calcite The great ease with which by slight

pressure the molecules of calcite may be pushed into twinning

position parallel — 4R suggests a similar origin for the lamellar

twinning of many silicates, especially as this is often observed to

be most developed w where the pressure has been greatest. Van

Werveke has called attention to this in the case of feldspar and

diallage ;* Bauer, in the case of cyanite.® Analogous examples

seem to be Malacolite and salite ( | oP), epidote and mica. [The

appear to so ai to this same category, and may ‘testy have

been produced by pressure. Hornblende rarely exhibits the same

structure parallel tooP.]’ Migge also describes twinning lamellz

in imbedded masses and crystals of hematite and corundum. They

1 age er für Min., etc., 1883, II, p. 13.

7 Ih, . 50.

? eles poser fiir Min., etc., 1883, Ipp. 32.

4 Ib., 1883, 1, p

§ Zeitschrift der deteochen geol. Gesell., 1878, xxx, p. 320.

€ Amer. Jour, of Science, June, 188.

VOL. XIX.—NO. VI. 39

598 General Notes. [June,

lie parallel to the face R, which plays here the same ré/e as “ Glei-

tungsflache” as —14R does in calcite. A similar structure is

frequent in the Graves Mt. rutile parallel oP. In these cases

also, as with the silicates, the nature of the material prevented the

artificial production of the lamella. In some minerals where no

alteration of molecular arrangement could be brought about by

pressure, this result was accomplished by heat. By a sufficient

increase of temperature twinning lamella were seen to be devel-

oped in anhydrite, cryolite’ and leadhillite,t while thenardite was

rendered optically uniaxial, as Mallard had showed was the case

ing it as a separate species.

J. Beckenkamp’ describes a new and delicate apparatus for the

measurement of the constants of elasticity in crystals. The results

of numerous determinations are given whereby the conclusion is

reached that the elasticity, like all the other physical properties of

crystals, is in exact accord with the geometrical properties. The

known substance, which accounts for its anomalous double refrac-

tion, inasmuch as very slight pressure can produce a molecular

disturbance. The elasticity of any crystal was found steadily to

decrease with repeated compression.

R. Brauns? considers that the much discussed optical anomalies

1 Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1884, 1, 216.

* Ib., 1883, 11, p. 258.

* Jahresbuch der Wissensch. Anstalten zu Hamburg, 1883, p. 67.

* Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1884, 1, 63

5 Ib., 1884, 11, p. 1. p

° Zeitschrift für Krystallographie, 1x, 1884, pp. 38-72.

-7 Iba X, 1885, 41-57.

, Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1885, 1, 96-118

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 599

of regular crystals are in many cases due to chemical impurity,

especially the crystallizing together of isomorphous compounds,

lum, rocksalt, garnet and other substances are described. The

same reason is assigned for uniaxial minerals exhibiting a biaxial

character.

W. Voigt,' of Gottingen, has developed mathematically a theory

to account for the peculiar interference figures exhibited by cached

pleochroic (idiocyclophanic) crystals recently described by

tin (Zeitschr. f. Kryst., 11, p. 449).

Tue FELDSPARS.—Professor Des Cloizeaux, of Paris, has just

published at Tours a valuable memoir of ninety-two pages, entitled

“Oligoclases et Andésine,” being an enlargement of his former

paper, “ Nouvelles recherches sur les propriétés optiques des oligo-

clases,” which appeared in 1880, and a direct continuation of his

still more recent studies on albite? (vid. NATURALIST, 1884, p. 184).

The latter paper describes thirty-four specimens from different

localities, of which ten are American (Mineral Hill, Pa., Moriah,

, Middletown, Ct., and Canada). In the present communi-

cation the number of o oligoclase specimens examined has been in-

creased from forty-four to sixty-six. These are divided into the

following four classes :

Ist. Anomalous oligoclase or oligoclase-albite. —The surface per-

pendicular to the plane of the optical axes truncates the acute

edge P:M., making with P an angle of 93°. The extinction on M

makes an angle of 6°-12° with the edge P:M, in a positive sense

according to Schuster. Oxygen ratios vary between I: 3: I

3: 10.7., corresponding to the mixtures. Abs An ae

nh.

2d. Anomalous oligoclase——Plane of the optical axes is parallel

to the basal pinacoid or perpendicular to the brachypinacoid.

Extinction on M is positive, 6°-9° inclined to the edge P:M.

xygen ratios vary from I: 3: = to I: 3: 9, corresponding

to the mixtures Ab, An;—Ab,

3d. Normal oligoclase. \ ee perpendicular to the opt. axial

plane truncates the obtuse edge P:M, making with P an angle of

g8°-104°. The extinction on M is positive, inclined 1°-6° (gen-

erally 2°—4°) to the edge P:M. Oxygen ratio is 1: 3: 9:= Ab,

a Andesine.—Surface perpendicular to the plane of the optical

axes truncates the od/use edge P:M, making an angle of 110°-120°

with P. The extinction on M is negative, varying from 1°-10°.

Sp. Gr. = 2.67. Oxygen ratio 1: 3: 8, corresponding to Ab, An,.

The first-class includes nine specimens examined, of which one

is American (Colton, N. Y.). The second-class includes eleven

1 Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1885, 1, 119-141.

2 Bull. Soc, Min. de France, 1880, 111, 157.

3 Ib., 1883, VI, 89-121.

ere cael

600 General Notes. [June,

specimens of which one is from Colton, N. Y.,and one from Min-

eral Hill, Del. Co., Pa. The third-class includes sixteen speci-

mens, mostly from Scandinavia, and the fourth-class nineteen

specimens, of which one was from Chateau Richer in Canada. |

The remaining eleven specimens examined by the author did not

yield altogether satisfactory results.

ery interesting facts regarding the relations between the

monoclinic and triclinic feldspars have been obtained by Dr. Forst-

ner of Strassburg, through his studies of material from the island

of Pantellaria.‘ He finds that both the potash (orthoclase) mole-

cule and the soda (albite) molecule undoubtedly possess a stable

and unstable modification, the former being for orthoclase in the

monoclinic, the latter in the triclinic system (microcline), while

exactly the reverse is the case for albite. It has long been known

that some varieties of orthoclase, especially sanidine, contain a

very considerable amount of soda and the existence of the tri-

clinic form of the potash molecule has been universally acknowl-

edged since the classic investigations of Des Cloizeaux? Först-

ner finds on Pantellaria that a monoclinic feldspar containing 2.1

albite molecules to every molecule or orthoclase occurs as a con-

stituent of a certain rhyolite (Cala Porticello and Bagno dell’

acqua). This he calls “ Natronorthoclase.” It is very similar both

in composition and structure to that described by Brogger® and

Miigge* from Norway, and by Klein, from Hohen Hagen, near

ttingen. Even more common on Pantellaria, as a constitu-

ent of the augite andesite and pantellarite (a dacite character-

ized by a peculiar triclinic amphibole called “ Cossyrite®”) is a

cline. Very remarkable is the ease with which these intermediate

members—natron-orthoclase and albite-microcline—can be trans-

ferred by artificial means from one modification to the other.

Some albite-microcline (Cuddia Mida) shows,even bya temperature

of 86°-115° C., a disappearance of its twinning lamellz and by

other optical changes is plainly seen to pass from the triclinic to

the monoclinic system. The oligoclase-microcline from Mt. Gibele,

on the other hand, remained unchanged even at 500° C. Most

feldspars of this series changed, back to their original triclinic

form when the temperature was again reduced, except when it

had been raised as high as 500°, in which case the change to the

monoclinic form was as a rule permanent. The natron-orthoclase

showed no change while being heated, but on being cooled from

S aai se hie, VIII, 1883, pp. 125-202; 1x, 1884, pp. 333-352-

* Comptes rendus, 1876, p. 885.

3 Die silurisc} Etagen 2 und 3 im Kristi

t, etc, ; Kristiania, 1882, pp. 258-

262; 293-307. eG: g

Peg Jahrbuch für Min., ete., 1881, 11, 106. š

-6 Zeitschrift i

für Krystallographie, v, 348.

1885.| Botany. 601

a temperature of 264° C., it passed from the monoclinic to the

triclinic modification, having a distinct system of twinning lamella

and an inclined extinction of 2° against the cleavage lines on oP.

The same feldspar was also found to undergo a like alteration

when subjected to pressure, thus experimentally proving the sug-

gestion of Van Werveke! that many plagioclase crystals owed

their twinning striation to the pressure to which they had been sub-

jected in rocks.

HyYPERSTHENE-BASALT.—A correction should be made to the

statement in the Petrographical Notes (NATuRALIST, April, 1885, p.

395), that Mr. J. S. Diller was the discoverer of the new rock

type hypersthene-basalt. This rock was described by Messrs.

Hague and Iddings in 1883,? in their Note on volcanoes of

Northern California, Oregon and Washington Territory, and

again in 1884%, in their Notes on the volcanic rocks of the Great

basin. It is, however, here spoken of as olivine-bearing hypers-

thene andesite, or as hypersthene-bearing, basalt. These authors

regard the hypersthene and olivine as playing complementary

réles in the lavas, 7. e., one being a singulosilicate and the other the

corresponding bisilicate ; in case a basalt grows slightly more acid

the hypersthene replaces the olivine, which therefore diminishes

in quantity as the other increases. In this way hypersthene-

basalt may be regarded as a connecting link between basalt and

hypersthene-andesite.

BOTANY.‘

PaxviiaterOn OF THE WILD Onion (ALLIUM CERNUUM).—The

wild onion grows in masses along the banks of shady streams in

August. The flowers are arranged in dense umbels, which are

nodding as their specific name implies. They are of a beautiful

rose ae presenting an attractive appearance, when seen from a

distanc here are six stamens, which arrive at maturity one

after the other, the outer row developing first (Fig. 1). In this

Fig. 1. Fig. 2 Fig. 3. Fig. 4.

Fig. 1. Antheriferous Be: Fig. 2. bars state. Fig. 3. The three processes

with nectaries (#) at their junction. Fig. 4. A stamen attached to an inner member

of the perianth and enfolded by it.

successive development they resemble the usual course in the an-

r maa Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1883, 11, p. 87.

2 American Journal of Science, ' Sept., 1883, p. 233.

ib, Tp, June, 1884, p, 457 and p.

4 Edited by Professor CHARLES E. BESSEY, TIA Nebraska.

602 General Notes. [June,

_ . Tue CONTINUITY oF PRoTOPLASM IN MANY-CELLED PLANTS.—

A paper recently published in Mazure, by Dr. Schaarschmidt, con-

tains a summary of the results of investigations as to the conti-

nuity of protoplasm in the many-celled plants. From this it ap-

pears that the first direct observations were made by Theodore

Hartig, in 1854, who described the continuity of the protoplasm in

sieve tubes. This case of continuity confirmed by many observ-

It has also been shown that protoplasm occurs in intercellular

spaces; and now Dr. Schaarschmidt announces the discove

inter-lamellar protoplasm, that is of a thin layer which occupies

the position of what has been long known as the “ middle lamella ”

of the cell wall

The “general results” are given by the author, as follows:

(1) “ The protoplasts of all the tissues in united cells are in direct

connection by means of finely attenuated protoplasmic threads.

| _ traverse directly the cell wall. By these threads is the communi-

~ Cation between the connective process which occupy the pit-cav-

ao ity from both sides directly established.

1885.] Botany. 603

(3) “ The intercellular plasm occurs not only in the intercellu-

lar spaces of the per dah tissues, but also in those of true

prosenchymatic tis tis

4) “ This nterullar plasm contains, in many cases, chlorophyll

granules (in Viscu

(3) * The intercellular plasm is in direct connection with the

adjacent protoplast

(6) “ PEE n e to the middle lamella around the cells, we

find a plasmatic frame; the sides of this frame end in the ‘inter

cellular plasma. This plasmatic frame forms a veritable maitie

around the protoplasts, and it is increased at each edge by an in-

tercellular plasm portion, which latter has a pillar form

“The connective threads of the protoplasts traverse this

‘middle lamellary ’ plasma ; both are also connected.

(8) The probable origin of this intercellular plasma is this:

During the cell-division, when the division was almost ended, lit-

tle cytoplasmic portions become included in the young cell wa

and it is also very probable that the connective threads, in many

instances, are the remainder of the ‘nuclear connective threads,’

and that the middle-lamellary protoplasm is the remainder of the

‘cell-plate.’ All these plasma portions are by the thickened cell-

wall much compressed together, and therefore only visible, or dis-

tinctly visible by the swelling of the cell-wall.

(9) “ The intercellular plasm can cover itself with a cell-mem-

brane, and in this way we find at the place of the intercellular

spaces veritable new cells. About these new cells, appear later

new secondary or tertiary intercellular spac

(10) “The protoplasm of the crystal-bearing cells (crystal

glands), and that of the resin-canal cells is also in communication

with the adjacent cells.

“The protoplasts of the Scores (composed of tissues) forma

higher unity, one synplast

WILLKOMM’S ARRANGEMENT OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.—

In a review of a recently published “ Bilder Atlas, ” by M. Will-

komm, in the Botanisches Centralblatt, the following i is given as

his proposed arrangement of the vegetable kingdom:

FIRST KINGDOM, SPOROPHYTA.

Division I. Thallophyta.

oma I, Mycetoideæ, containing the orders 1. Myxomycetes and 2. Fully 6

1. Phycoideæ, containing the orders 3. Lichenes, and 4. Alge.

Division TI. Cormophyta.

oe 11. Protonemacez, orders 5. Hepatice and 6. Musci

Class 1v. Prothallionate, orders 7. Eguisetine; 8. PEENE and 9. Filicine.

SECOND KINGDOM. SPERMATOPHYTA.

Division III. Gymnosperme.

Class v. Pseudocarpe, orders 10, Cycadee ; 11. Taxinee ; 12. Conifere; and 13.

Ambigue.

604. General Notes. [June,

Division IV. Angiospermae.

Class v1. Acotyledonez, order 14. Rhizanthee.

Class vil. eR orders 15. ae ae sear tl 17. Principes ;

18. aceæ; 19. Enantioblasta ; 20, Helobiea ; 21. Gynandre ; 22. Scita-

minee; 23. Ensat@; 24. pr eer g 5. Coronarie.

Class VIII, ete ieee: orders 26 to 71, in apasoninetaly: the sequence followed

in Ben ones and Hooker’s Genera Plantarum. The “‘orders” here oat however,

of higher ae than the “ orders” of Bentham Ak Ho oker, being in fact

in many cases nearly synomymous with the “ cohorts ” of the authors ue named.

e place assigned the Slime-molds (Myxomycetes) indicates

the acceptance of what we have for many years considered to be

the true interpretation of their structure and relationship. In like

manner the treatment of the Gymnosperms indicates a more philo-

sophical spirit and a practical recognition of the doctrine of evo-

lution.

E STUDY OF THE LIVERWORTS IN NORTH AMERICA.—AS one

of the results of the one-sidedness of the usual teaching of

botany in this country, whereby it is almost entirely restricted to

the flowering plants and “vascular cryptogams,” we find a most

unequal distribution of workers throughout the various botanical

fields. We have any quantity of “phanerogamists,” but though

the cryptogamic fields bear a plenteous harvest, the laborers are

few, and year by year as the scattered workers are cut off by

death, there are few among the younger ones to take their places.

There must be something faulty in the instruction given by our

botanical teachers in the many colleges and universities in this

country. The results would indicate that in too many cases the

kingdom of plants is supposed to come to an end just a little way

beyond the boundary of the phanerogams

These thoughts are suggested by a little book recently brought

out by Dr. L. M. Underwood, under the modest title of a

Descriptive Catalogue of the North American Hepatic North

of Mexico. In a prefatory note the author says, “The study of

hepatica is attended with much iia for several reasons,

among which may be named the following:

1. These plants are very largely neglected by collectors.

2. The literature on the subject is rare and inaccessible.

3- Most of our public and college libraries contain little or no

_ literature rues this subject.

4. Many of the species described as new by American writers

are not represented in any American collection.

It is to be hoped that the purpose of the book as stated by the

author “to relieve in part these difficulties, and to stimulate a

more complete collection of Hepaticz ” may be realized.

_ Tuming to the body of the book we find a few pages devoted

_ to the general characters of has liverworts, time of collecting,

a ae ution ti characters bibliography, oo

a arama of the Back being filled with the dive cl 4

1885. ] Botany. 605

As to the time for collecting, the author says: “The hepatics

should be collected for preservation and study when in fruit, if

this be possible, and this condition occurs at different seasons in

the various species ; some bear fruit in late autumn, some in early

spring, some in midsummer ; in short, there is scarcely any sea-

son of the year, even winter, that will not find some form in fruit,

yet the period from October to May may include the larger num-

ber of species for the cool temperate regions of America. Many

species have never been found in fruit, and possibly never produce

fruit, so it will be advisable to collect all species whether in fruit

or not, for otherwise these less known forms may be neglected.”

Comparing the systematic portion of this work with that of

Sullivant, which was published in Gray’s Manual, twenty-five

years ago or thereabouts, we find a very considerable increase in

the number of genera and species.

k Genera. Species.

Orders of pont; Sullivant. Underwood. Siae Underwood.

Ricciaceæ 2 3 8 24

Marchantiacez....... eek w 8 13 o EA 22

Anthocerotaceze.. .scasseceess 2 2 6 14

Jungermanniace® ...ess.ssees 26 32 82 169

An effort has been made to help the beginning by a judicious

introduction of keys and synoptic characters, which from a per-

sonal trial we can assure the reader is fairly successful. The book

ought to stimulate our younger botanists to take up the study of

these plants, and we trust that the request of the author that col-

lectors communicate specimens of the forms found in their locali-

ties may be abundantly rewarded.— Charles E. Bessey.

Botany AT SALEM.—The following extract from Professor

Robinson’s annual report of the work of the Peabody Academy

of Science (the old home of the NATURALIST) shows a commend-

able activity in its botanical department during the year 1884:

“ In the department of botany a great improvement has been

made. As various collections were from time to time arranged

of white wood, containing ninety-six compartments, has been

placed in the lecture-room, in which all the Essex county collec-

tions and the general reference collection from North America

have been arranged. Other collections have also been placed in

the lecture-room, so that now the herbarium is in a dry and

pleasant room-where it can be easily referred to by those in charge.

of it and by students who desire to consult it.

“The academy now owns a very good collection of botanical

reference books, and two microscopes, which, under proper restric-

tions, are placed at the disposal of any persons desiring to com-

species at the museum. The herbarium is by far the best

in the county; it is centrally and conveniently situated, and has

606 General Notes. [June,

been frequently consulted through the year by students in this

department of study. The special work on this collection has

been the arrangement ' of the Algz, of which there were a large

number of specimens.

BotanicaL News.—For some time occasional papers have ap-

peared in the Amer. Mo. Micr. Jour., attempting to throw doubts

upon the prevailing views as to the mode of fertilization in flowering

plants. Microscopical preparations by Mr. J. Kruttschnitt, have

been sent out for examination, with the intention of proving the

new view. The editor of the Botanical Gazette in the January num-

ber devotes about a page to an indignant denunciation of the

whole matter. In the January Jour. N. Y. Micr. Society, Dr. N

Britton devotes ten pages to criticisms of Mr. Kruttschnitt’s s

papers and preparations. He closes by saying, “ The fact of fail-

ure on the part of one, or indeed, of several persons, to discover

a pollen tube in contact with the embryo-sac of an ovule, can, it

seems to me, have no weight when viewed in connection with the

fact that so many able investigators have often and undeniably

seen such contact.” The friends of this wild theory need

no longer complain of its being ignored by botanists!

AH. Curtiss, of Jacksonville, Florida, has prepared two series of

wood specimens, including seventy-five species in each. Each

specimen shows heartwood, sapwood and bark, and is accompa-

nied by a printed label. The low price at which they are sold

($15 per single single series, or $25 for the two) ought to place

them in many a botanical cabinet. An important pamphlet On

the establishment of a Botanical Garden and Arboretum in Mon-

treal, has been issued recently by the Montreal Horticultural So-

ciety. It gives some valuable statistics as to the botanic gardens

of the world, and sets forth their scientific and practical value. It

is mainly from the pen of Professor Penhallow. One of the

aye valuable catalogues issued by the exhibitors at the New Or-

ans Exposition is that enumerating the articles forwarded from

the Island of Jamaica, the work of Mr. D. Morris. It is particu-

larly interesting as containing classified lists of plants and plant

products. The collection of Florida woods in the gs, a

is one of the finest on exhibition. It was prepared,

assured, by A. H. Curtiss, of Jacksonville. The eoleo of

California plants shown by J. G. Lemmon in the exposition, age

tains nearly a full set of the ferns of the Pacific coast. of

the absurdities to be seen in the exposition is a large well painted

‘sign over a section of a big tree (Seguoia gigantea) which

oy informs the seeker after wonderful things that these trees

attain the age of 3700 years! Strasburger’s Kleine Botanische

Practicum has just been received. It is to our mind a much more

- < useful and usable book than the large one. It should be trans-

sce et and es at once in this country for the benefit

The thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth reports

1885.] Entomology. 607

of the State Botanist of New York have come to hand. In the

first, all the New York species of the sub-genus Lepiota of Agari-

cus, are described and systematically arranged, and in the second

those of the subgenus Psalliota. Valuable notes and remarks

the press.

ENTOMOLOGY.

Ritey’s ENTOMOLOGICAL REPORT FoR 1884.—The last report

of the entomologist of the Department of Agriculture fills about

150 closely printed pages, with ten excellent plates and a full

index. In practical as well as scientific value and in the variety

of subjects treated, it is not inferior to its predecessors. The

cabbage cut-worms are described at length and well illustrated,

as well asa number of other insects. destructive to this plant.

Efforts have been made to introduce and colonize the European

ichneumon parasite (Apanteles glomeratus) of the imported cab-

bage worm, and thus far the experiment has been successful.

The report contains also interesting life-histories of the Amer-

ican Cimbex, which has in Washington injured the willow, and

lengthy notices are given of the Southern buffalo gnat, the angou-

mois grain moth, the cottony maple scale, the cranberry fruit

worm, the larger wheat straw Isosoma, etc. Much attention is

paid to the use of remedies.

The reports of the special agents comprise those of Mr. Hub-

bard on the rust of the orange, Professor Packard’s on the

causes of destruction of the evergreen trees of Northern New

‘cranberry; and Mr. Bruner’s on the Rocky mountain locust,

etc., in Nebraska. Asasample of the excellent illustrations is

Pl. xvii, which represents the cottony maple scale, with its eggs

and larva (Fig. 1), the leaf with male scales (Fig. 2), the female

scales (Fig. 3), and in Fig. 4 the adult females with the wooly

egg-mass as seen late in the spring.

Latzet’s Myriopopa oF Avustro-HuncariA.—This admirable

work bears all the marks of faithful and exhaustive labor, whether

we consider the text or plates. The descriptions of the orders,

suborders, families, genera as well as species are given in detail,

especially those of the orders and genera, and the work will thus

be of special value to American students.

This part contains monographs of the Symphyla, Pauropoda.

and Diplopoda. Personally the reviewer does not regard the

Symphyla, represented by Scolopendrella, as genuine myriopods,

but none the less would he cordially welcome the work which

608 General Notes. [June,

Latzel has — upon them, especially his figures of the

mouth-part

For the yi e Latzel adopts the term Diplopoda of

Blainville and Gervais; the latter term is a better one’ if it has pri-

ority, as it is shorter and more expressive, but the author does not

give his reasons for using it in preference to the commoner name.

However, he regards the Chilognatha as the second suborder of

Diplopoda, proposing two new suborders, first the Pselaphognatha

(for the Polyxenidze), and third and lastly the Colobognatha for

the Polyzonidz, all the other diplopods being placed ‘under the

Chilognatha.

The Lysiopetalide, as limited by American authors, is dismem-

bered, all except a TIF being referred to the family Chor-

deumi a, whereas he should regard the two groups as sub-fami-

lies of Newport's Bec Lysiopetalinaz, established in 1844. The

American genera Scoterpes, and Zygonopus are considered as

identical, a view we at first entertained, but afterwards abandoned,

so great is the difference in the sixth pair of legs and the male

genital armature. Trichopetalum is regarded as identical with

Craspedosoma and perhaps partly with Chordeuma.

TROUESSART AND Mecnin’s Sarcorptip Mires.—The first part

- Of Trouessart’s “ Les sarcoptides plumicoles ou Analgésinés,” em-

braces an account of Pterolichus and its allies, worked out with

the aid of M. P. Megnin. These mites live on the plumage of

birds, feeding upon the oily substance excreted by the skin, and

not annoying the birds themselves ; they are not then true para-

sites, but simply commensals. Several new genera and many new

species are described, and the present part is illustrated by about

twenty-five wood-cuts. About 1 150 species will be described.

_ They have been taken from birds brought from different parts of

the world, and it has been found that the same species of the sub-

family lives on all species of birds belonging to one family. They

are exposed to much variation, particularly Fregana anatina.

The great variability of this species is readily explained by the

parasite habits and by special condition of the medium, of food,

habitat and climate. The work promises to be of much value to

American students, for the subject here is almost unworked.

EntomotocicaL News.—The twelfth volume of the Transac-

tion of the American Entomological Society opens with the

second part of the late Dr. LeConte’s Short studies of North

Ta Ara Coleoptera ; and is followed by Dr. Horn’s Study of

era of Elateridæ ; Mr. Williston’s Notes on the North

erlai Aside Bue 1); $ oh oe B. Smith’s Notes on the

- systematic some North American Lepidoptera, re-

te ae Ayri oie en Peele aia Monarchie. Von Dr. Robert

eo 2 owed Dies p oe d Diplopoden. Wien, 1884. Alfred

1885.) Zoology. 609

ferring especially to the Zygænidæ. It seems to us that Mr.

Smith in this essay fails to take a comprehensive view of the

group ; his families are sub-groups, and to base families wholly on

the venation is carrying matters to an extreme ; the venation in

this family seems to us to be mainly useful in defining genera.

Mr. Smith is led to throw Endryas out of the family, whereas by

its larval, pupal and head and trunk characters it is a true Zyg-

enida, the characters Smith uses are, we think, superficial. The

two closing articles of the first number of the volume are by Dr.

Horn, on the North American species of Cryptobium and Studies

among the Meloidze. Interesting notes on oviposition in

Agrion and insect migration appear in the Extomologists’ Monthly

Magazine for February. Mr. T. L. Casey’s Contributions to the

descriptive and systematic Coleopterology of North America con-

tains carefully prepared and lengthy descriptions of new genera

and species of American beetles which will be of permanent value,

We trust that the time for sub-lined descriptions of Coleoptera

has gone by.——At a meeting of the Entomological Society of

London, held Feb. 4, Mr. W. L. Distant exhibited a series of wings

of Indian butterflies, showing the differences between broods of the

same insect in the wet and dry seasons respectively, which had

hitherto been generally regarded as distinct species. Professor

Packard desires specimens of Nola and of the Notodontians, with

aview to preparing a revision of these groups of Bombycide.

L. R. Meyer Dir, a well known Swiss: entomologist, died at

Zurich, March 2d, aged 73. On November 28th, G. A. Kefer-

stein died at Erfurt, aged 91, at the time of his death the oldest

entomologist in Europe.

ZOOLOGY.

. DISTRIBUTION OF COLOR IN THE ANIMAL Kincpom.—L. Came-

rano discusses this subject at length. Colors may be arranged in

accordance with the frequency of their occurrence, thus: (1)

Brown; (2) black; (3) yellow, grey and white; (4) red; (5)

green; (6) blue; (7) violet. Black, brown and grey are more

common in Vertebrata than in Arthropoda, while red and yellow

met with, but they occur in all groups of the animal kingdom.

White is irregularly distributed, but more characteristic of aquatic

animals. The colors of animals bear a relation to the mediums in

which they live; parasites are less varied in color than free-living

animals. Aquatic animals are commonly more evenly and less

brilliantly colored than land animals; pelagic animals, as might

be predicted from their transparency, are not strikingly colored.

Among birds the strongest flyers are most soberly tinted. Of in-

habitants of the sea, those that live among Algæ are more vividly

610 General Notes. [ June,

colored than those which live under stones or on a sandy bottom;

similarly land animals that inhabit forests are on the whole more

conspicuous for their bright coloration than animals which live in

deserts. There is no relation between the color of an animal and

its coloration,

In very dry climates the colors appear to be darker, while the

reverse is the case in damp climates. The various zoological

regions of the earth are characterized by a certain dominant range

of color in their inhabitants ; grey, white, yellow and black char-

acterize the animals of the palzarctic region; yellow and brown

those of the Ethiopian; green and red are the prevailing tints of

the neotropical; red and yellow, of the Indian region. Australia

is distinguished from the rest by the great abundance of black

animals,

In a given group of animals the larger species are usually more

uniformly colored than the smaller. Sexual colors bear a general

correspondence to the development of the animal ; the males are

mostly more brilliantly colored; in many cases, however, where

the females are larger and stronger than the males, the former

show the more brilliant coloration. Young animals are often

differently colored to the adults, their colors are generally more

like those of the adult female. The young of several species that

are most dissimiliar in their colors, when adult are often hardly

distinguishable in this respect—/ournal of the Royal Microscopical

ety, February, 1885.

LIFE-HISTORY OF STENTOR CÆRULEUS.— Professor G. W. Worces-

ter gives a detailed description of the development and life-history

of Stentor ceruleus, which can hardly be satisfactorily abstracted.

When first observed it appeared a motionless, intensely blue mass,

containing what seemed to be a row of internal vacuoles, which

later proved to be the moniliform endoplast of the mature infuso-

rian. A larger vacuole was observed that subsequently became

the mouth. The mass slowly changed its form, developing cilia

at each extremity. The cilia eventually disappeared from one

; the shape was constantly varied, and in a little less than two

hours it had put on the mature form, and was swimming very

a rapidly. Conjugation with another specimen was then observed,

each fastening itself by its posterior end to some object, their

backs meeting, when they would roll over each other till their

anterior extremities met. Conjugation lasted some moments

when the : cimens separated and swam away. The individual

1885. ] Zoology. 611

observed lost its bluish tint and became of a bronze color. About

an hour and a half after the conjugation it stopped suddenly,

assumed a flat spread-out condition, whilst at the same time large

vacuoles appeared throughout its entire mass. In appearance it `

was amoeba-like, and after a time small masses became detached

and immediately assumed a globular form. The detachment of

masses whilst in this amceba-like stage in other specimens was

witnessed, as also their development into mature forms.

The main mass would in some instances disintegrate after por-

tions had been detached to form new individuals, nearly all the

production by the formation of internal embryos was also observed,

likewise the rarer method of fission proper.

Professor Worcester considers the primitive form to be that of

a sphere, and that the series of later forms assumed are so taken

on by the creature in order to adapt itself more fully to its environ-

ment. The posterior end would seem to be appended more for

locomotion and for the purpose of fixing itself. Conjugation

must in some way play an important part in the re-arranging of

the protoplasm.— Yournal of the Royal Microscopical Society, De-

cember, 1884.

A Nervous System IN Sroxces.—Dr. R. v. Lendenfeld de-

scribes the presence of nervous elements and ganglion cells in the

heteroccelous sponges, In the Sycones the walls of the pores

contain groups of spindle-shaped cells, mesodermal in origin,

which are frequently connected with branched cells, apparently of

tinuously grown to the mantle, the organic substance of the

mother-of-pearl layer forms a net-work. Only Cyclas represents

612 General Notes. [June,

the second group, the former comprises all other Lamelli-

branchs,

_ Tue LATERAL Live oF Fisues.—It is familiarly known that the

name of “lateral line” has been given by ichthyologists to an organ

which runs along each side of almost all fishes, extending from

the head to the tail. It has been successively studied by Steno,

Lorenzini, Petit, Redi, Leydig and Schulze, the latter of whom

have indicated the true path to be followed for the discovery of

the functions of this line, whilst they have almost completed the

investigation of its anatomy.

M. de Séde, in a thesis recently maintained before the Faculty

of Sciences at Paris, and reproduced in Cosmos les Mondes,

gave an account of certain interesting experiments made for the

purpose of elucidating the physiological functions of this curious

organ.

The fishes selected for the experiment were first submitted to

the action of an anesthetic, and then underwent the operation of

re-section of the lateral nerve, which excited no reflex action due

to pain. When resuscitated the subjects were left at rest ina

large bowl, and some days afterwards they were placed in a vast

aquarium where everything is so arranged that a fish desirous of

circulating freely must make use of all its tactile resources and

means of guidance. Under these conditions it was observed that

the fishes which had been operated upon moved only with great

caution, and were almost always the last to arrive at the distribu-

tion of food. Thus it appears that a fish able to make use of its

eyes, but deprived of its lateral line, experiences a certain diffi-

culty in finding its way.

__M. G. de Séde next sought to ascertain how a fish would act

if it retained the use of its lateral line, but was deprived of sight.

Two perches were blinded by removal of the eye-ball. There

remained to them, then, for guidance, merely. the general sensi-

bility of the integuments and the special impressionability of the

lateral apparatus in question. These organs. acquire in a short

time a great delicacy, for the two perches, when placed in the

general aquarium, were soon able so guide themselves without

any difficulty. :

But the question now arises as to what part of this steering

power belongs to the general sensibility, and what to this lateral

line? Further experiments solved this problem.

A barbel was blinded, and, by way of extra precaution, its fila-

ments were amputated. Subsequently its lateral nerve was

severed. As long as this fish—even though deprived of its eyes

and beard—retained the lateral nerve it guided itself easily ; but

~ as soon as this nerve was severed, it remained persistently mo-

— 3 Lastly, a perch, blinded and deprived of its lateral line on one

1885.] Zoology. 613

side only, was placed in the labyrinthine aquarium. It contrived

to keep the non-mutilated side turned towards any obstacle.

These experiments leave no doubt as to the function of the

lateral line. It is a very delicate organ of touch, adapted to the

requirements of an aquatic life. It is sensitive to the faintest

movement of the water, takes cognizance of the slightest displace-

ments, and gives fishes continual information on the state of the

medium in which they live.

ZooLocicaL News.— Vermes.—Mr. W. Bateson has contributed

to the Quart. Jour. Micros. Sci., an account of the early stages of

the development of examples of Balanoglossus found at Hampton,

Va. The adults agree very closely with B. kowalevskii of Agassiz,

but as the development differs, the species cannot be identified.

At no stage has the larva any superficial resemblance whatever to

a Tornaria, such as is described by Agassiz as occurring in the

development of B. kowalevskii. The eggsare elliptical and opaque,

are fertilized outside of the body ; divide into two, segment regu-

larly and then form a hollow blastophore, enclosing a segmen-

tation cavity. The gastrula is formed by invagination, the blasto-

pore closes completely, a posterior transverse ring of cilia, forms,

and the body elongates and becomes marked out into regions.

The mouth is a small pore in the ventral middle line of the ante-

rior transverse groove; and the nervous system is formed by a

segregation of epiblastic cells in the dorsal middle line of the

collar, forming a cord lying immediately beneath the skin. The

larva is always opaque, and creeps about in the muddy sand when

hatched.

Celenterates—According to R. von Lendenfeld, the Crambessa

mosaica in Port Jackson is brown, while that of Port Philip is

deep blue. The difference is caused by the presence of Zoanthel-

læ, parasitic algae which may possibly be young stages of Lami-

Narians, in the Sydney variety, which Mr. Lendenfeld names

Crambessa mosaica symbiotica, because it has become associated

symbiotically with an alga, and thus differs from the Melbourne

form as lichens differ from fungi. Should the variety not be able

to live without its parasite, it would be a new species. Huxley,

in 1845, does not notice the brown color, and all previous au-

thors, though they have collected the species near Sydney, de-

scribe it as varying in color from blue to gray. . Our author asks

whether the change has taken place since 1845 ?

Batrachians and Reptiles —Professor E. D. Cope as one of the

results of his studies on the batrachian and reptilian fauna of

Mexico and Central America, which had been prosecuted by the

use of material mainly placed at his disposal by the Smithsonian

Institution, states that the total number of species described up

to date is six hundred and ten, which is described as follows :

VOL, XIX.—NO. VI. 40

614 General Notes. [June,

Genera. Species,

6 15

Urodela

Batrachia Gymnophiona........... 4 7 120

PUR : cabs pos cake dba tes Oaks bee eee red vey 31 98

AT a fo ee ids sa ok be eae ee wae: j ;

a Testudinata II 2

Reptilia | AEI Re OER Bo ener manera 42 134 f 489

| Ophidia 92 274

brought home by Mr. J.

Mt. Kenia and Victoria Nyanza. Mr. Thomson also brought

back a frontlet of A. co#iz, Thomson’s gazelle is marked with a

distinct black lateral band, which is absent in the allied G. grantit,

with which it does not mingle. Mr. Caldwell writes that Platy-

pus embryos are quite easy to get and he cannot understand why

they were not obtained before. He has thirty blacks with him and

they have found 500 Echidna in six weeks. From a study of

the cerebral convolutions of the Carnivora and Pinnepedia,

Professor St. Geo. Mivart gives additional reasons for the three-

fold division of the forms into Cynoidea, AZluroidea and Arc-

toidea., In a paper recently read before the Linnean Society, he

called attention to the universal tendency among the Arctoidea to

the definition of a distinct and conspicuous lozenge-shaped patch

of brain substance defined by the crucial and pre-crucial sulci.

This condition does not occur in any non-Arctoid carnivore, but

is found in Otaria gillespit and Phoca vitulina, where it is small and

much hidden. He adduced this fact as an important argument in

favor of the view that the Pinnipedia were evolved from some

Arctoid, probably Ursine, form of land carnivore. The brains of

` Naudinia, Galidia, Crytoprocta, Bassaricyon, Mellivora, Galictis

and Grisonia, were for the first time described in detail. The

Viverrina, judged by the cerebral characters, formed a very dis-

tinct group among the Æluroids.

EMBRYOLOGY.!

On THE FORMATION OF THE EMBRYONIC AXIS OF THE TELEOS-

TEAN EMBRYO BY THE CONCRESCENCE OF THE RIM OF THE BLASTO-

DERM.—During the season of 1881, I had an opportunity to study

part of the developmental: history of E/acate canadus at Cherry-

stone, Virginia. But unfortunately the lot of ova investigated by

me did not develop to the period of hatching, but only passed a

little beyond the stage when the blastoderm closes. “As I have

elsewhere to the very remarkable condition of affairs ob-

_ served by me just previous to the closure of the blastoderm in

~ this species, and not being likely to soon again have an opportu-

~ nity to study the same form, I will now describe and figure what

` Edited by JoHN A, RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

1885. ] Embryology. 615

was then observed in a number of ova, from which I infer that the

peculiarity about to be described is charactistic of the develop-

ment of this form. This species hatches in 24 to 36 hours.

The accompanying figure represents the embryo lying on the

surface of the vitellus, and is represented as foreshortened, anterior-

ly the optic lobes, of of, on the other side

of the vitellus show through the transparent

yolk. e embryonic axis shows the seg-

ments or somites, 7, distinctly developed,

but it is very remarkable that the segmenta-

tion does not end at the point where the

axis of the embryo so far formed ends.

The right and left limbs of the blastodermic

rim form a X-shaped mass, together wit

the embryonic axis anteriorly, but unlike

any other normal teleostean embryo both

these limbs of the rim are distinctly seg-

‘mented for some distance as at m.

Just within the yolk and a little in front

of the yolk-blastopore, which runs forward into the acute angle

formed by the limbs of the blastodermic rim, 47, lies the'large oil

drop, o. A lozenge-shaped mass of cells lies in the acute angle

of the 4-shaped terminal part of the embryo, which appears to

contain or overlie Kupffer’s vesicle, Av, and what was assumed to

be the chorda, c, at the time the observation was made, but of the

certainty of this determination I am not at present satisfied. I

was enabled to sketch this and a slightly more advanced stage

several times, and as already stated found the same condition in

a number of embryos, which seemed to be developing normally.

Four other sketches show that the blastoderm finally closes very

much as in other teleostean embryos and that pronounced wrink-

les radiate from the crater-like opening upon the yolk where the

yolk-blastopore finally disappears.

The conclusions of His and Rauber to the effect that the em-

bryonic axis is formed by the gradual fusion from before back-

wards of the inner edges or the lips of the yolk-blastopore, as it

advances over the surface of the vitelline globe, are in this case

evidently correct, though it must be admitted that the presence

of the cellular mass between the limbs of the blastodermic rim

_ where they join the embryonic axis is not a little puzzling.—

Sohn A. Ryder.

THE MODE OF FORMATION AND THE MORPHOLOGICAL VALUE OF

THE Ecc or Nera anD Notonecta.—In the last number of the

Zeitschr. fiir wissenschaftl. Zoölogie, 1885, XLI. (p. 311), Ludwig

Will has an article on this subject and reaches the rather startling

conclusion that an egg-cell is not necessarily a simple protoplast,

but may, while on the way towards the development of the ripe

616 i General Notes. [Jure,

egg, give rise to other cells. In fact, the central chromatin body

of the primitive egg-cell, which he calls the 0d/ast, ejects a large

number of chromatin pellets from its substance whic

come the nuclei of the cells forming the egg-follicle. The conclu-

sion at which Will arrives after reviewing the work of Fol, Roule,

Sabatier, H. Ludwig, Balbiani and others, that in the ascidians,

myriapods and insects, the nuclei of the follicular epithelium owe

their origin to the primitive germinal nucleus or the ooblast, also

holds good in respect to tha ova of birds and amphibians, is of

great interest, and stands in sharp contrast to the old view that,

the ovi-cell and epithelial ails of the follicle were both originally

similar elements (germ-cells), but which have merely developed

farther in widely differents ways.

Will summarizes his results as follows: 1. The nuclei of the

. oy ig epithelium are formed from the odblast. 2. The re-

siduum of the ooblast becomes the germinative vesicle of the egg.

3: Ove which are without a follicular epithelial investment, as is

the case in numerous groups of animals, are homologous only

with the egg plus the follicular epithelium of the higher forms.

4. The egg of the Hemiptera is neither a cell nor an assemblage

of cells, but the product of several cells. 5. The homological

value of the eggs of different types is to be found in the fact that,

in every case the ripe egg represents a germinal mass, in which

are contained all the capabilities of future development, and which

is the product of the activities of those cells which have shared in

its construction.

On THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAMMARY GLANDS OF CETA-

cEA.—The following is an abstract of an account of some re-

searches just completed for po aa gon this subject, founded

upon nenii in the U.S. National Mus

In ing longitudinal sections of the al A a female embryo

of A B pa melas, two inches long, the microtome cut

through the incipient mammary glands, one of which lies on

r either side of the external genital opening. The

direction of the plane of section is nearly ver-

tical and transverse judging from the appear-

ance of the consecutive series. The accom-

‘ panying cut will give the reader some idea

te of the appearance of these organs at the time

they beats to be involuted or formed as thickenings of the epi-

dermis of the young foetus of these huge mammalia

The outer corneous layer of the epidermis or epiblast, eh, and

al arse layer of the latter on the Malpighian stratum, ¢f’, are

concerned in the formation of the first rudiments of the mam-

> = 2m other mammalia. Although but a single stage was in-

and not being aware of the existence of any previously

researches upon this subject, it has been thought best

1885.] Embryology. 617

to give my results together with such other information as could

be gathered from the examination externally of the mammæ ofa

female whale’s fœtus, five and a-half inches long, belonging to the

Pacific genus Rhachianectes. The stage here figured displays

the gland in the undifferentiated condition of the five-months’

human embryo, when the gland consists merely of an involution of

the malpighian layer, ef’, filled by a solid core of more rounded

cells, f which seem to become blended, at the lower end of the

involution, with the Malpighian layer, the whole structure present-

ing the appearance of a solid pyriform body jutting down into

the mesoblast, m, and connected with the epidermis externally by

a narrow pedicel.

No signs of the outgrowth of the rudiments of acini from this

pyriform body have yet appeared, but it would be inferred from

the shape of the gland in the adults that these acini would be .

most apt to first appear at the anterior and posterior sides of this

body. The gland in the adult cetaceans is greatly elongated, flat

and less than one-third as wide as long, reaching the enormous

dimensions of ten feet in length, three feet in width and eight

inches in thickness in the adult, gravid female of Balaenoptera

sibbaldit. In the adult the gland is also traversed longitudinally

by a spacious lacteal sinus, which is probably developed during

the growth of the gland by a process of vacuolization. This sinus

opens externally through the nipple by way of a single duct. The

gland therefore probably belongs to that subdivision of mam-

mary organs provided with pseudo-nipples, which are developed

by the production of the edge of the embryonic mammary area

into a tubular teat traversed by a single canal as in the cow, cer-

. tain marsupials and rodents.

In combination with the peculiar internal structure of the mam-

mary gland of cetaceans, there is also an external teleological

which they must be over a foot in length.

It thus becomes evident that the mammary glands of cetaceans

618 General Notes. [June,

develop at the start in much the same way as those of other Mam-

malia, but that their evolution is complicated somewhat by the

early appearance of the folds on either side of the mammary area,

which grow upward to form the sides and roof of the fossz, which

eventually enclose the nipples. The condition of the still earlier

stages of the gland, judging from the general appearance of my

sections, must be very similar to that observed in other mammals

by Huss, Langer, Kölliker and others.— ohn A. Ryder.

PHYSIOLOGY."

BACTERIA LITERATURE.— Bacteria, by G. M. Sternberg, M.D.

Wm. Wood & Co., N. Y., 1885; Micro-organisms and Disease

by E. Klein, M.D., F.R.S., Macmillan & Co., 1884. English-

reading students are to be congratulated that two such competent

workers as are the authors of these books have not only given

accounts of our knowledge concerning bacteria, but have de-

scribed in sufficient detail their experimental methods so that the

laboratory student has but to follow directions in order to enter

the field of bacteria research.

Dr. Sternberg’s work includes a translation of Megnin’s Bac-

teria, in which are described the morphology, classification and

physiology of the germ fungi. But the laboratory student will

find particularly valuable the translator’s original chapters on

technology, germicides and antiseptics, bacteria in infectious dis-

eases and bacteria in surgical lesions. Photo-micrographs form

in part the illustrations of the book. To a worker the bibliogra-

phy alone is more than worth the price of the book.

Photo-micrographs and how to make them, by the same -

author, is an elaborate and practical aid in this special branch

of technology.

"he work of Dr. Klein is a reprint of a series of articles which

appeared first in the Practitioner. In addition to a clear account

-of methods of research the author gives a copiously illustrated

description of the forms of bacteria and a consideration of their

relation to disease, Especially valuable are the criticisms on such

views as Buchner’s concerning the transmutability of pathogenic

and non-pathogenic forms.

__ Vaso-MoToR Nerves.—Recherches Experimentales sur le Sys-

teme Nerveux Vaso-moteur, Paris, Masson, 1884, pp. 338. Under

this title MM. Dastre and Morat collect and publish with consid-

erable diffuseness the results of observations on the functions of

the vaso-motor nerves already announced by them during the last

| at toes k :

__This work does not strike the reader as a very keen criticism

: of disputed points in this difficult subject, nor is ee considerable -

- pr ingenuity manifested. The method of exposition,

P nt is edited by HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

1885. ] Fhysiology. 619

however, is admirable and the historical introductions might have .

been made of much value had the same attention been paid to the

literature of other nations as has been given to that of the French.

e authors study separately: 1. The innervation of the cutane-

ous blood-vessels. 2. The dilator-function of the grand-sympa-

thetic. 3. The vaso-dilator nerves of the external ear. 4. The

vaso-dilator nerves of the inferior limbs. 5. Influence of the blood

of asphyxia on the nervous mechanism of the circulation. The

authors are convinced that the slow rhythmic contractions which

small arteries, as those of the rabbit’s ear can be seen to undergo

are not peristaltic, proceeding from the heart outwards, but in-

volve the whole vessel simultaneously. In nearly all nerve trunks

containing vaso-motor fibers, as the sciatic, the cutaneous and the

sympathetic nerves, the vaso-motor filaments are of two kinds,

vaso-dilator and vaso-constrictor. Efferent or centrifugal vaso-

motor impuises, like ordinary motor discharges, all leave the

spinal cord by way of the anterior spinal nerve roots; on the

other hand all afferent or centripetal vaso-motor impulses enter

the spinal cord through the posterior spinal nerve roots. The

chemical condition of the blood determines largely the vaso-

motor coordination between the vessels of the skin and of the

viscera; asphyxia produces a dilatation of the vessels of the skin

and a simultaneous contraction of those of the viscera. The

direct action of dilator nerves traveling in the sympathetic can be

demonstrated on the dog; stimulation of the sympathetic nerve in

the neck causes flushing of the mouth and face on that side,

The most valuable part of the work is that which considers the

vaso-motor functions of the sympathetic ganglia. se

tions indicate that these ganglia are automatic vaso-motor centers

from which impulses go out to the muscular coats of the vessels

and keep them in a state of tonic contraction. Dilation or, on

the contrary, stronger contraction of the vessels is brought about

indirectly by either stimulation or inhibition of the activity of the

appropriate sympathetic ganglia through impulses reaching these

ganglia from the spinal cord along either vaso-constrictor or vaso-

dilator spinal nerves. The physiological classification of nerves

announced by Borden and by Bichat is still supported by fact;

namely, that the cerebro-spinal system presides over the functions

of animal life and of relation; while the sympathetic system is

concerned with the nutrition and vegetative life of the body.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PURPOSE OF TURNING THE INCUBATING

Hen’s Ecc.—The setting fowl frequently turns her eggs during

incubation and when this process is carried on artifically, mechani-

cal means must be adopted to effect the same purpose, M. Dareste

finds that during the first week of artificial incubation eggs which

are turned develop in essentially the same manner as those which

are allowed to rest, but the monstrosities which have already been

620 General Notes. (June,

formed in the latter soon take on an excessive development and

in very few eggs which are allowed to remain unmoved during

the whole period of incubation does the body cavity of the em-

bryo become closed in. The cause of death in the unmoved eggs

is, according to Dareste, the union by growth of the allantois

with the egg-yolk which latter is thus prevented from becoming

finally absorbed into the alimentary canal preliminary to the clos-

ure of the body cavity. These adhesions of the allantois with

the vitelline membrane lead to frequent rupture of the latter

whose contents are thus largely lost to the embryo. Death of

the chick in the unturned eggs usually occurs about the second

week of incubation. When the eggs are turned over it is proba-

ble that the position of the allantois upon the. yolk is shifted and

this daily movement prevents adhesion between the two surfaces.

Sixteen eggs were placed under the same conditions of artificial

incubation, but eight were allowed to remain unmoved while the

eight remaining were turned over twice a day. In the first set

absorption of the yolk did not occur in any specimen, and all the

embryos died in the course of the second or third week. In the

second set, in six eggs the yolk was absorbed in the normal man-

ner ; in a seventh, opened on the twenty-second day, the chick was

alive and hearty and the yolk was being absorbed; in the eighth

egg the chick was dead on the twentieth day and adhesion be-

tween the allantois and yolk had prevented absorption of the lat-

ter.— Comptes Rendus, 1884, p. 813.

PSYCHOLOGY.

PsycHIcAL REsEARCH.—At the Birmingham Midland Institute

in November last, Mr. W. H. Myers, M.A., gave a lecture on

“ Aims and Methods of Psychical Research.” The lecturer began

by dwelling on the difficulty which the religious and scientific

world experience in finding a common ground on which to meet,

and pointed out that neither party had made a serious attempt to

test the real value of those scattered indications of a psychical

element in man which actual experience offers us. He explained

that the object of the Society for Psychical Research was to sub-

ject all these indications to a fair and unbiased examination on

scientific lines. The experiments which had so far been tried

consisted mainly in discovering persons of special sensitiveness,

and subjecting them to certain influences, either of magnets, &c.

(as in the experiments of Reichenbach, of Charcot), or hypnotic

or mesmeric passes, or of mere expectant attention, this last pos-

sibly inducing some influence at present unknown, as in so-called

spiritualistic séances. In the lecturer’s view it was at present

wholly premature to ascribe the last phenomena to the spirits of

: the dead. Whatever in them was not due to mere fraud, must

- wait for an explanation until the simpler phenomena connected

: with sensitives were much better understood. The lecturer then

1885.] Fsychology. 621

explained the important discovery (due mainly to the society’s

experiments, and to those of Professor Barrett in the first place)

that mental pictures, thoughts, and sensations can in some cases

be transferred from one person to another without contact, and

without the agency of any of the recognized organs of sense.

Some diagrams were here exhibited, representing simple outline

drawings, which had been drawn by one person and reproduced

by another person who had not seen them, but into whose mind

their image had apparently been projected by a strong concentra-

tion of thought. It was next shown that this theory of thought

transference could be extended so as to explain many cases ot

apparitions at death, &c., of which some examples were given.

The lecturer insisted on the importance of a very large collection,

and a very careful sifting, of first hand narratives of apparitions,

govern such occurrences. The risks of error or exaggeration in

these accounts were pointed out, and a warning was given against

premature theorizing. The audience were requested to send to

the secretary of the Society for Psychical Research, 14 Dean’s-

yard, Westminster, any well-attested narratives of apparitions,

&c., which they could collect, and especially the records of any

experiments in thought-transference, &c. The lecturer concluded

by stating that, although the evidence hitherto collected could

not be said to amount to a proof of the survival of the soul after

the death of the body, yet, so far as it went, it pointed in that

direction, The evidence of the materialist theory was simply

negative. That theory might be likened to a pyramid set on its

apex: it was in a state of unstable equilibrium, and the smallest

amount of positive evidence against it was sufficient to overturn

it as a scientific theory. He drew a picture of the probable effect

on human life and character if that great hope were to be raised

into scientific certainty, and to become a pervading and dominant

belief. Towards such great issues psychical research seemed to

be tending, though the work must be minute and laborious, and

the result must be slowly won.—£xglish Mechanic.

A Doc ASHAMED OF THEFT.—A Baltimore gentleman owns a

skye terrier which recently proved that it could feel ashamed of a

dishonest act. At the time in question the gentleman was seated

at his table. The little Skye saw a cutlet near the edge of the

board, and yielded to the temptation to steal the meat. The cut-

let was slyly seized and taken under the sofa. The gentleman

pretended not to see the act of theft. But the conscience of the

little terrier soon got the better of its hunger. It brought the

cutlet back, laid it the feet of its master, hung its head in s

and slunk away.—Philadelphia Call.

We never personally knew “old Rove” to steal, but we were

informed that he did once steal a piece of corned beef from a

622 General Notes. [June,

grocer in town, At home he never took a thing without asking

for it, though legs of mutton have hung for days and days within

his reach. But unfortunately we cannot say as much for “ Floss,”

who however, will at once surrender anything taken, upon com-

mand ; but we don’t think that he /ooks'as ashamed of the act as

he ought to. He is no thief, however.

We have not a doubt that early and persistent training of a

bright dog, commencing with him when only a few weeks old,

would cultivate the moral side of his nature, as his intellectual

side is trained and developed by his intercourse with man. But

beating never brings about any such results.

The other evening we had turned “ Floss” out into the barn,

and when he returned through the well room we have no

doubt he gave us notice he wished for water; but we did

not observe it. As we passed into the kitchen we turned to close

the door after the dog, and there he stood upon the threshold,

with such a look of intense yearning coupled with astonishment

on his face, that we at once recognized his demand and supplied

him with water. We thought that if there was not soul behind

that look, the Creator of us all had surpassed Himself in lighting

up the cold clay with the light of life. We don’t say it can't be

done, but we do not believe it ¿s done—Brunswick Telegraph.

ANTHROPOLOGY .!

. ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE NEw Or eAns Exposition.— Every

allusion to anthropology in New Orleans should begin with Dr.

Joseph Jones, author of the Smithsonian contribution entitled the

Stone graves of Tennessee: Since writing this contribution Dr,

Jones has utilized his leisure from an arduous profession to con-

tinue his researches in American archeology and in the various

living problems which his position of president of the Board of

Health brought before him. His splendid cabinet occupies one

entire side of his house and contains nothing but the chef d’oeu-

vres of American aboriginal art. Dr. Jones has in his possession

a relic which will interest active archeologists. At Selzertown,

fourteen miles from Nachez, is a celebrated mound mentioned by

Sah ~ aa , covering about five acres of ground and about

The top of the mound is truncated and the sides indicate that

the structure was formerly a regular teocalli erection. Into this

Jr. Jones drove a trench twenty feet horizontally and fifteen feet

leep, coming upon cedar posts and charcoal mixed with ashes.

seneath these ashes was discovered a fragment of a French burr

millstone weighing about eight pounds. Dr. Jones has preserved

this Sepa an evidence of the late i at which the Nachez

: indians erected ected thes sepcartet mound

Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, Nations} Muscusi; Washington, D. C.

1885.] 3 Anthropology. 623

Abbe Roquet, in the Bishop’s bh is an excellent Choctaw

scholar, speaking the language fluently. e is collecting mate-

rial for a grammar and dictionary of that language.

In the New Orleans exposition almost every State and foreign

government has exhibited something of the greatest interest to

the anthropologist. From Maine we have basket and bark work

of the Quoddy Indians. From, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri

Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and a few other States there

are very instructive private collections of antiquities. Louisiana

exhibits one screen of the blow-tubes, basketry, bows and arrows

and clothing of the Shetimasha Indians. Minnesota has a very

large exhibit of sledges, birch bark work and Indian clothing.

Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona,

Nevada and California all exhibit the weapons, dress and imple-

ments of their modern tribes. The Greely relief relics attract

a great deal of attention, including a great many articles illustra-

tive of Greenland Eskimo life. In the government space are two

anthropological exhibits. That of the Bureau of Ethnology con-

tains the excellent models of Pueblos by the Mindeleff brothers,

two Indian busts executed by Achille Collin, a fine group of pot-

teries from Chiriqui and from the pueblos, and the superb cabinet

of old pueblo pottery belonging to Mr. Thomas Keam, who also

displays a large case of Moqui dance paraphernalia.

The Smithsonian exhibit contains a typical series of stone im-

plements arranged by Dr. Charles Rau, and an educational series

of modern Indian specimens covering the entire continent and

including every category of savage culture

The Mexican department cannot be $0 highly praised. Ina

store room at’45 Chartres street Mr. Abbadiano, a Mexican

artist, has on exhibition a series of gelatine casts of celebrated

Mexican antiquities for which he asks eight thousand dollars.

The work in these far surpasses in delicacy that of M. Charnay

in the Lorillard collection. It comes out also by examination

that M. Charnay did not take the impression of the whole sacri-

ficial stone but a group or two here and there and multiplied them

to get the fifteen groups around the stone. Now in Abbadiano’s

cast of the whole stone it plainly appears that the second and

fourth group to the left of the gutter contain women, and further- |

more the ornaments on the persons of the captives are by no

eva all alike. M. Abbadiano’s collection should find place in

some great public institution, and it is to be hoped that he will

succeed in placing it there.

_ The Mexican department proper contains about 700 cases, in

every one of which something can be seen illustrative either of

the old civilization of that iiy or of those interesting survi-

vals and transitions which throw light upon the history of man-

kind. The native drinks from the yuccas and cactuses, leather

4 therefo:

624 General Notes. [June,

work textiles, figurines in costume, pottery, in fine, everything

exhibited should find place in a permanent museum. The Mexi-

can commission and government deserve the highest commenda-

tion for this interesting feature of the exposition. Even their

musical exhibit in the celebrated band contained such instruments

as the bandolon, salteria and timpanis, new to almost every

visitor.

The Central American States of Guatemala, Honduras and

Salvador also contains many objects of interest to the student

of primitive culture, showing the continuance old Maya cus-

toms.

A great part of the Japanese exhibit is devoted to education in

that country, and is designed to show not only the method of

adopting new ideas, but the old customs are also set forth in

quaint apparatus of older types. . Quite a number of very primi-

tive devices are also among the newer ones, lighting them up

with excellent effect.

The Chinese department is devoted to showing the cotton in-

dustry in that conservative country. It is excellent. Here upon

a series of wall screens is painted the whole operation from the

planting to the wearing out. Around the space you see first a

man ginning cotton with a little wooden thing that looks like a

rude clothes wringer. Just beyond another is whipping it with a

bowstring, and from point to point you are led by a series of dum-

mies until the whole process is before you.

Of the vast arena for flying wheels and nice adjustments of

machinery, the culmination of all those primitive arts which it is

the delight of the anthropologist to trace, we have not space to

say more than that its rythmic pulsations seem to beat time to

the great song of human progress. Man has built no prouder

monument to his conquest of nature than this busy, varied, noisy

scene.

hird molar, which length is the dental length (d). For the divisor

is taken the cranio-facial axis, or baso-nasal length (B N), the

_ distance between the nasion (naso-frontal suture) and basion

_ (middle of the anterior edge of foramen magnum), The index

1885.] Anthropology.

625

The result of applying this index will appear in the following

tables :

Average index

. Index. of both series.

Male a zee, average of Gn wns E |

Female chimpanzee, average’ Of 3 ve occs eck

ale orang, average of 4

Female orang, average of 2

Male siamang Gees es

: 8

108.7 | 63.3 | 57-3 } s41

3 .6

88.3 | 42.7 | 48.1 Lang

109.

90.0 | 51.5 | 57.2 } 55.2

The races of mien, as will be seen

Microdont, below 42

Mesodont, between 42-44.

Megadont, above 44.

in the following table, may

be divided into three classes by this index :

Among the apes the first three species are megadont, while in

the or ee the molar teeth are scarcely larger than in the higher

races of me

Avere

Obser-|Average.| Average) Av Index

Sex. |vations; BN d Index. | both

sexes,

Microdont Races, ‘

British i ; 20 | 100.0 41.0 41.0 \ i

g 14 95-0.) 295. ae

Mixed European (not British)..| g s2 | 401.3 41.0 40.5 } qt.

2 14 95-1 39.6 41.6

Ancient Egyptians. ree fine g 7 |104 | 41.4 | 40.8 } b

| 3 | 95-9 | 39-5 | 41-2

Polynesians (siete Sand’h “Ts. ) J 22 | 1093 42. 40.1

w caste Cent, & S. India m’ly; œg 42 99 41.2 41.4

Mesodont Races. —

inese g Fe 98.8 42.1 42.6

American = een all parte. les 31 99.2 42.5 42.8

Malays of Java, Sumatra, &c. ..| g 7° 99-7 43.2 ie

Afri Negr oes, aa Lares yia 44 | 103-3 44. 43-

26 | 97-9 | 43.6 | 44.6

Megadont Races. i

Menai; various islands....| of 3i | 20mg 45 2 o

see eee eenae .... 9 94.4 4 9 e

Ane g 8 | 88.8 | pa | 46.5 tas 5

A ee ee re ee eae 22 | 102.5 | 45.9 | 44 l

pre g 14 | 95-5 o | 462 fA

Tasmanians ` 9 | 100.0 47-5 47.5 :

. a EEN en g 4 95-5 46.5 48.7 48

' The Microdont races include all

the so-called

Caucasian or

white races; the Mesodont the Mongolian or oe races ; the

626 General Notes. [June,

the greater length of the dasis cranii. It may not be premature

therefore to say that the species homo sapiens is divided into three

sub-species as follows :

Microdont subspecies.

Mesodont subspecies,

Megadont subspecies,

e may then reserve the term race for those actual grand

divisions of humanity, twelve or fifteen or more, as the case may

be, resulting from the crossing of these sub-species.

MICROSCOPY:! .

THE Uses oF CorLonion.—In modern histological technique

collodion has come to serve a variety of important purposes.

Duval? was the first to call attention to its advantages as an im-

bedding mass. He found that it penetrated preparations easily and

thoroughly ; that it could be quickly brought to the proper degree

of hardness in alcohol of 36° (80 %); that objects thus imbedded

could be preserved in this alcohol for an indefinite length of time;

that the imbedding mass preserved its transparency, so that the

preparation could be easily examined; that the sections did not

require to be freed from the mass, since they could be colored

and mounted in glycerine, and the mass remain unaffected by the

process.

As soon as Duvgl’s discovery became known, Merkel and

Schiefferdecker’ began to experiment with collodion, and greatly

improved and extended its use.

It was found desirable first of all to be able to vary the concen-

tration of the collodion, an end very conveniently reached by

Merkel through the use of a solid preparation, called cel/oidin,

which he dissolved in absolute alcohol and ether in equal parts.

uval mounted sections of objects imbedded in collodion in

glycerine, and was unsuccessful in his experiments with balsam.

95 per cent alcohol, and clarifying in oil origanum or oil of ber-

gamot, the sections could be mounted in balsam (“ Microscopy,”

Aug., 1884, p. 843).

Some improvements of minor importance in the process of im-

bedding have been made by Thoma, Blochmann and others.

e importance of collodion in microtomy was much increased

by the discovery that in combination with clove oil it could be

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

Nie Joem- de V'anat, et de la physiol., xv, p. 185, 1879.

nee Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., Anat, Abth., p. 199, 1882.

coe * Arch, f. mik, Anat., XXII, p. 689, 1883.

1885. | ; Microscopy. 627

the advantages of the shellac method of Giesbrecht, and offers, at

the same time, the best means of meeting the difficulties of stain-

ing objects in toto, The only other fixative thus far known which

claims to accomplish similar results is that introduced by Mayer

(“ Microscopy,” Feb., 1884).

Prof. Gage,’ who began to experiment with collodion as a fixa-

tive prior to the publication of Schallibaum’s method, has given

some valuable directions respecting its preparation and applica-

tion. (3age- applies the collodion and clove oil separately, first

coating a number of slides with collodion, which is poured on to

one end of the slide and allowed to flow quickly over it and off

into the bottle; and then, at the time of using, adding a wash of

clove oil. In order to remove any cloudiness that may arise in

the collodion film, a little clove oil is added to the balsam.

_ The use of collodion to prevent the crumbling of brittle sec-

tions originated with Norman N. Mason.? The same method was

employed in Semper’s laboratory by Timm,’ Will“ Sarasin, Sharp

and others ; and Mark has found it indispensable in sectioning the

ova of Lepidosteus. Mason applied the collodion by means of a

fine brush, taking up a small drop and placing it “in the center of

the object so as to allow it to flow out on all sides to prevent the

formation of air bubbles. After being allowed to harden a min-

ute, the section may be cut and placed on the slide with the film

of collodion underneath,”

Mark and others who have used collodion for the same pur-

pose, simply paint the cut surface of the object with a thin film a

few seconds before making each section.

Celloidin Injections—In the formation of injection masses

collodion plays still another important role, for the discovery of

which we are indebted to Schiefferdecker.6 It can be made to

but not enough to form a serious drawback. It is prepared in

different ways according to the color to be given to the injection.

A. Asphalt Celloidin Injection —1. Pulverized asphalt placed in

a well closed bottle of ether and allowed to remain twenty-four

hours, during which the mixture must be several times shaken.

: brown-colored ether is turned off, and small pieces of

celloidin dissolved in it until the solution flows like a thick oil.’

1 The Medical Student, p. 14, Seane, 1883.

25.

8Semper’s Arbeiten, VI, p. 110, 1883.

5 Semper’s Arbeiten, VI, 1883.

“L & p 20i. :

1The pulverized alt can be used many times over for coloring the ether, as

very little of it will dissolve in twenty-four hours. |

628 General Notes. [June,

B. Vesuvian Celloidin Injection—1. Make a saturated solution

of Vesuvian in absolute alcohol.

2. Dissolve in this pieces of celloidin until the desired consist-

ency is reached. The brown injection thus obtained is less satis-

factory than that formed from asphalt, as its color fades some-

what.

C. Opaque Celloidin Injections —1. Dissolve celloidin in abso-

lute alcohol and ether in equal parts.

2. Add vermilion or Prussian blue to color.

The coloring substance should be mixed with a small quantity

of absolute alcohol and then reduced to great fineness by con-

tinued trituration in a mortar. To the thick paste-like mass thus

obtained the solution of celloidin is next added. The amount of

coloring substance should be as little as possible, as the mass will

otherwise be too brittle. If a fine injection is required the mass

should be filtered through flannel moistened with ether. The

syringe employed must be entirely free from fatty substances, as

these render the injection mass brittle. If the piston does not fit

the syringe tube sufficiently closely, it may be wound with a lit-

tle gauze. The cannula should be filled with ether before it is in-

serted and tied in place, and again filled just before it is joined

to the syringe.

In using a mass dissolved in alcohol ‘and ether it is well to

the tissues. After injection the syringe and cannula should be

cleansed with ether, ~

e injected organ is placed in hydrochloric acid, diluted more

or less according to the danger of shrinkage. It is left in the

acid, which is occasionally renewed, until the tissues are suffi-

ciently corroded to be easily washed away by a slow and steady

stream of water, conducted through rubber tubing connected with

a water-pipe. The preparation may then be left in water for some

days or weeks in order to free it from remaining fragments of

tissue by gradual maceration. The preparation when finished, may

be preserved either in glycerine or a mixture of glycerine, alcohol

and water in equal parts.

The asphalt-celloidin mass is the one most highly recommended

by Schiefferdecker.— C. O. Whitman.

_ Nors ON SEcTION CutTinc.—My only apology for the present

communication is the hope that it may prove a saving of time to

those who have encountered the difficulties of cutting eggs which

are composed largely of yolk corpuscles liable to crumble in

the ordinary paraffine method. The difficulty I have experi-

~ enced lies not alone in the impossiblity of making sections—even

_ from eggs very thoroughly permeated by the paraffine—which

NG.

1885.] Microscopy. 629

will not crumble during the removal to the prepared slide, but

also in the fact that sections successfully transferred to the slide

are liable to have portions of the yolk granules loosened an

ign over other portions of the sections during the removal of

paraffine. While by the ordinary methods of mounting

(Geisbrecht, Schallibaum) those elements of the section which lie

on its under side, and therefore come in immediate contact with

the fixative, are ‘safely held in place, it may happen that man

from the upper surface are loosened and washed away, because the

fixative does not penetrate the whole thickness of the section.

This obstacle may be entirely avoided by the proper use of col-

We are indebted to Mason,! so far as I am aware, for the first

suggestion of the use of collodion in this connection. But the

method employed by Mason has serious objections. A drop of

collodion on the surface of a paraffine-imbedded preparation soft-

ens the object to such an extent that cutting is a very slow pro-

cess, and thin sections are not easily attainable. The thickness of

the collodion film, moreover, interferes more or less with accurate

study of the mounted object, even if the sections are inverted

when applied to the slide. The gradual drying of the surface of

the film also causes the section to roll into a hollow cylinder with

its collodion surface innermost, so that the inversion of the sec-.

tion becomes difficult if not altogether impossible. The consist-

ency of the collodion to be used is stated by Mason, but this is of

little value since even a short exposure to the atmosphere often

repeated will quickly change the condition of the collodion in the

bottle.

- All these impediments—but for which the method, I believe,

would have come into more general use—may be largely if not

aeaea obviated by using a very small amount of a rather thin

collod

The Eaterted which serves me is: the collodion must dry almost

instantly (within two or three seconds after being applied) without

leaving a trace of glossiness on the surface of the paraffine?

In this collodion process T use at present the following method:

The object imbedded in paraffine in the ordinary way is

placed in a receiver of a Thoma’s microtome and the

cut away to within 1™™ to 2™™ of the object on four sides,

1N. N. Mason, Use of rege ay in Cutting thin Sections of Soft Tissues, AMER.

Nart., Vol. xrv, p. 825, Nov., 1880.

2 Judging from the effects, I am inclined to think that by this method the collodion

pene! eparation certain depth, fixing the parts in their natural relations

isat paneda a feia 1At (am mph > bcp k re made sufficient-

ly thin (e. g. 5) there is no curling, whereas with muc uch thicker sections, the super-

cial portion of which alone contains in that case the collodion, there is often a ten-

dency to roll. This I have poupat to the slight shrinkage in the upper or collo-

dion-impregnated portion of the section.

VOL, XIX.—NO, VI. 41

630 General Notes. [June,

leaving a rectangular surface of paraffine, two edges of which are

parallel to the edge of the knife.

A slide prepared by being painted with æ ¿kin coat of Schalli-

baum’s mixture of collodion and clove oil is placed at the left of

the microtome.

At the right of the latter, handy to the right hand, is a small

bottle half full of the thin collodion, into which dips the tip of

a camel’s hair brush; the quill of the brush is thrust through a

hole in a thin flat cork which serves at once as a temporary cover

to the bottle and a support to the brush, the latter being adjusted

to any height of the collodion by simply shoving it up or down

through the hole in the close-fitting cork. Near by is a small bot-

tle of ether with which the collodion is thinned as soon as it be-

gins to leave a shining surface on the paraffine.

The operator should sit facing the light, so that he may judge

accurately of the condition of the surface of the paraffine, which

reflects the light. Everything being in readiness the brush is

lifted and wiped on the mouth of the bottle to remove the most of

the collodion, and then the paraffine and object are at once painted

by quickly drawing the brush across the surface, care being used

that it is evenly applied and that the collodion is not carried on to

the vertical faces of the block. The temporary moistening vanishes

like a clond from the surface of the paraffine, the brush is re-

turned to the bottle at once; the knife is drawn and returned,

leaving the section on the edge of the blade. The object in the

block is then painted again, but before drawing the knife a second

time the first section is removed with a scalpel and placed on the

slide with its upper face in contact with the fixative. Then the

knife is drawn again, and the other steps of the process repeated.

Thus the collodion has time to thoroughly dry before the section

is made, But if the precautions above given are observed, it will not

be necessary to wait for the drying of the collodion and the sec-

tion may therefore be cut at once, z. e., within five seconds after

painting. It is thus possible to cut as fast as one can paint the

surface, and with some practice it becomes possible to cut con-

tinuous ribbons of sections which may be transferred at intervals.

‘Practically I find it most convenient to cut enough to form one

row or half a row of sections at a time and transfer at once to the

1885. ] Scientific News. 631

the section being thrown under the knife blade, may, however, be

obviated either by carefully trimming the vertical face in case it is

accidentally painted (to allow for which the Aither margin of the

paraffine may be left broader than the other three), or by drawing

the knife s/ow/y, so that the first indication of a failure to cut

through the vertical film may be recognized and the section held

in place on the blade by a slight pressure with a soft brush, where-

upon the knife will cut through the film and leave the section free.

If by chance the paraffine block has been painted with too

much collodion or with collodion which is too concentrated, thus

leaving a shiny surface, the film should be at once broken by

pressing it gently two or three times in quick succession with

the end of a rather stiff, blunt, dry brush. This enables the col-

lodion to dry quickly and thus prevents the softening of the

paraffine.

If the sections have a tendency to curl they may be flattened

out on the slide by means of a brush, for a section thus impreg-

nated with collodion may be handled during the first few seconds

after contact with the Schallibaum mixture with much greater

impunity than one not so treated. If the collodion has been too

much thinned with ether, the fact will become apparent from the

softening of the paraffine, and may be remedied by waiting for

the evaporation of the ether, or by adding thicker collodion.

This process can be in no way considered as a substitute

for the ordinary method of cutting objects since it requires more

time and closer attention to details, but for those cases where `

there is a liability to crumbling, or where sections of sufficient

thinness cannot be procured free from folds, it will doubtless be

found very serviceable-—Z. Z. Mark, Mus. Comp. Zoil, Cam-

bridge, Fan., 1885.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Ata late meeting of the Liverpool Microscopical Society,

Mr. A. Norman Tate read a paper, which is reported in the

English Mechanic, on the microscopical examination of potable

dietetic purposes, he proceeded to speak of the importance of

microscopical investigation in relation to water-supply, pointing

out that it afforded better opportunity of determining the character

of organic impurities, and that it might frequently assist in ascer-

taining the character of the mineral constituents. He consi

the arbitrary standards of purity as regards organic constituents,

set up by some water analysts as being unsafe to use, without

knowing the exact nature of such matters. And in deciding this

the microscope could help. He then proceeded to speak of in-

632 Scientific News. [June,

vestigations concerning the minute animals and plants in waters

contaminated with sewage, &c., and then described different

modes of collecting and examining waters microscopically, and

urged the importance of further investigation, so as.to ascertain

how far the organized matters present in water are capable of

developing disease, and how such organisms may be destroyed

by various means, describing several modes which might be

adopted in carrying out such inquiries. In conclusion he men-,

tioned impurities found in natural ice, and also two methods of

examination of rain and air.

— In the death of Th. C. von Siebold, at the age of 80, Ger-

many has lost one of her foremost biologists, while as a compara-

tive anatomist he has held a prominent position for over fifty

years. He will be remembered for his Comparative Anatomy of

the Invertebrates, which was translated into English by Burnett

in 1854, and is still nearly indispensable ; for his fruitful labors

on parthenogenesis in bees, saw-flies, moths, the Branchi-

hybrids, and on intestinal worms, which made him second to

none of the biologists of Europe, not even excepting Darwin. He

was, with Professor Kolliker, the founder of Siebold and Kolli-

ker’s Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, a journal which has

done more than any other to elevate the tone and spirit of biologi-

cal research. He was a most unaffected man, most cordial in his

reception of young men, and he died at Munich full of honors.

— The Official Gazette of India reports that in 1883 the num-

ber of persons killed by wild beasts and poisonous snakes were

22,905, against 22,125 in 1882. 20,057 deaths were due to the

bites of poisonous animals ; 985 persons were devoured by tigers,

287 by wolves, and 217 by leopards. The loss of cattle amounted

to 47,478 animals, an increase of 771 over the preceding year.

While most of the deaths of human beings was due to the bite of

snakes, only 1644 cattle were thus poisoned. More than three-

quarters of the deaths took place in Bengal and in the provinces

of the north-west. 19,890 dangerous animals were killed during

the year.

— Ina recent memoir by F. A. Forel on the deep fauna of

: Swiss lakes, he corrects the facts and theories which he had pre-

viously advanced on the origin of the blind Gammarus and Asel-

lus of the deep parts of the lakes. Formerly he attributed them

to direct emigration from a littoral fauna, which, penetrating into

a region devoid of light, had there lost the visual organ and pig-

ment. New researches have now led him to conclude that these

__ blind animals have descended from cave-inhabiting forms which

had already become differentiated in the dark subterranean

1885. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 633

— The April number of the Journal of the Royal Microscopi-

cal Society contains Rev. Mr. Dallinger’s notable address on the

life-history of the monads, illustrated by three excellent plates.

He concludes that the vital processes in these lowest organisms

are as “orderly, rigid and immutable as in the most complex

organisms,” though as in higher animals allowing free scope to

the action of natural selection.

-— The Annals and Magazine of Natural History for January

last publishes an article from the ///ustrated Melbourne Post for

Sept. 24, 1864, in which it is stated that about ten months previous

an Ornithorhynchus laid “two eggs which were white, soft and

without shell.”

A.—In Vol. xvii, a. 140, and Vol. x1x, p. 277, it is

stated T co trilobites have pte discovered in the Cian

rocks of Australia. This is an unfortunate error which our read-

ers will please correct.

293, lines 10 from top and 2 from bottom, for emarginate

read marginate

wong” fe marae

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—This body met in Washing-

ton, D. C., April 21st. The following papers were re

I. Methods of measuring the cubic capacity of Crania, by J. S. Billings and Dr.

Matthews, U.S.A. 2. On winged insects from a paleontological point of view, by S.

H. Scudder of Connie, Mass. 3. On the Syncarida, a hitherto undescribed group

of extinct malacostracous Crustacea, by A. S. Packard of Providence, R. I. 4. On

the Gampsonychide, an undescribed family of fossil schizopod Crustacea, by A. S.

Packard of eae R. I. 5. On the Anthracaridz, a family of Carboniferous

macrurous decapod Crustacea, allied to the Eryonide, by A. S. Packard of Provi-

dence, R. I. 6. On the coral reefs of the Sandwich islands, by Alexander Agassiz.

7. On the origin of the fauna and flora of the Sandwich islands, by Alexander

Agassiz. 8. On the classification of natural silicates, by T. Sterry Hunt of Montreal,

Canada. 9. On the cause of the tig at movement of areas of low pressure,

by Elias Loomis of Yale College. 10. On the ratio of the meter to the yard, by ra

B. Comstock. 11. An account of certain stars observed by Flamsteed,

have disappeared, by C. H. F. Peters, Hamilton College, N. Y. 12. On Sr igs

ne by J. S. Billings. 14. The orders of fishes, by Theodore Gill. 15. On the

tion of the tribe, by J. W. Powell. 16. On certain lunarine qualities due to

ae action of Jupiter, and discovered by E. Nelson, by G. W. Hill. 17. On the Pre-

tertiary Vertebrata of Brazil, by E. D. Cope. 18. On the phylogeny of the placental

Mammalia, by E. D. Cope. 19. On some recent observations eae the rotation and

surface markings of Jupiter, by C. A. Young. 20. On the value of the Ohm, by H.

A. Rowland. 21. On the vanadium minerals: Vanadinite, endlichite and descloiz-

634 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [June,

ite, and on iodyrite, from the Sierra Grande mine, Lake valley, New Mexico, by F.

A. Genth and Gerhard von Rath. 22. On the total solar eclipse of August 28th,

1886, by A. N. Skinner (by invitation). 23. On the evolution and homologies of

the flukes of Cetaceans and Sirenians, by Theodore Gill and John A. Ryder. 24.

Biographical notice of Gen. A. A. Humphreys, U.S.A, by H. L. Abbot, 25. Chem-

ical action in a magnetic field, by Ira Remsen. 26, On the measurement of hearing

power, by A. Graham Bell. 27. On the possibility of obtaining echoes from ships

and icebergs in a fog, by A. Graham Bell and Mr. F. Della Torre. 28. Biographical

notice of William Stimpson, by Theodore Gill.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the council:

Professors Gibbs, Baird and Young, Gen. Meigs, and Messrs.

Hilgard and Scudder. The following gentlemen were elected

members: Henry Mitchell, Wm. A. Rogers, Edw. S. Holden,

F. W. Putnam, Arnold Hague

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Soctety, April 11.—Hon. John W.

Hoyt delivered a lecture entitled Wyoming: its resources and

wonders (illustrated by stereopticon views).

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY oF WASHINGTON, April 4.—The following

communications were made: Professor C. A. White, On vegetable

cells; Mr. Frank H. Knowlton, remarks on some Alaskan wil-

lows and birches; Dr. Frank Baker, Muscular equalization.

April 18.—Dr. 'D. E. Salmon and Dr. Theobold Smith, Koch’s

method of isolating and cultivating Bacteria, as Pa in the labo-

ratory of the Bureau of Animal Industry; Mr. A. B. Johnson,

The shipworm and the sheeps-head ; Mr. G. Brown Goode, Re-

marks on the velocity of animal motion ; Mr. Romyn Hitchcock,

a of a sag gialy’ a of the “comma Bacillus” of cholera.

— Thomas Taylor,, The — rust of cabbages,

Deiis sitet (with illustrations) ; . H. W. Henshaw,

hybrid quail; Mr. W. H. Dall, Notes ona cps in Florida.

New York AcADEMY OF SCIENCES, April 6.—George F. Kunz

made some general remarks on the mining and 7s of gems

(illustrated with a series of lantern slides).

April 13.— The language,of the ancient Egypti ans and its

“nein records (illustrated with lanterns), by Dr. Charles E.

April 20.—Professor D. Cady Eaton lectured on the Canter-

bury cathedral.

oe 27.—Cotton in Brazil: its history, methods of cultiva-

tion and the insects affecting it, by Mr. John C. Branner; Mr. G,

F Mey eNotes a building notes on a remarkable meteorite. :

y 4.—Notes on building stones: No. A

ie eel g o. 2, Limestones, by Dr. |

7 Boston Society or NATURAL History, April 1.—Professor G.

F. Wright gave an account of his latest investigations upon the

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societes. 635

terminal moraine from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, describing

also the buried forests in Southern Ohio, and the terraces of the

Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, supposed to be connected

with the ancient ice dam at Cincinnati (numerous original stereop-

ticon views were shown in illustration); Mr,S. H. Scudder spoke

of the geological history of insects.

April 15.—Mr. Percival Lowell read a paper on the mythology

of the Koreans (stereopticon views were shown in illustration).

May 6.—Mr. George H. Barton gave an azcount of the ancient

land-system of the Hawaiians.

APPALACHIAN Mountain Crus, May 13.—A paper by Mr. F.

H. Chapin, on An ascent of the Rothhorn was presented; Mr. S.

H. Scudder gave an account of a winter excursion to Tucker-

man’s ravine.

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL Sciences, March 3.—

Mr. Meehan called attention to.a specimen of Cypripedium insigne

which had developed two flowers instead of the usual one, and was

thus on the way toward a spicate inflorescence. The upper three-

lobed petal had also become one-lobed, and the labellum in the

upper flower was only twice instead of three times, the length of

the column. Mr. Meehan considered such changes as nature's

efforts to establish new forms.

Dr. Leidy had recently received from Floridaremains of a species

of Rhinoceros, including the crown of the last upper molar. The

latter indicated a species not before described. which he proposed

` to name Rhinocerus proterus, The speaker expressed his belief

that Dinoceras Marsh, was equivalent with -Uintatherium Leidy.

Mr. A. H. Smith gave an account of a boring on Black’s island,

below Fort Mifflin, Delaware river. The boring passed through

the following deposits. Alluvial mud seventy-five feet; dark gravel,

six feet; white tenacious clay, two feet; beach-sand forty-seven

feet; gravel, two feet, and then again beach-sand. :

Professor Heilprin thought that, in the light of this boring, the

beach-sand might be cretaceous. The same speaker then read a

continuation of his paper on disputed geological and palzonto-

logical points.

March 10.—Dr. Leidy exhibited the upper molar tooth of a

Hippotherium, belonging to an animal of about half the size of

the horse. The example was from Florida, and in the same col-

lection with it were some fossil crocodile bones, and the end of

the phalanx of an extinct llama or camel, probably indicating new

species. :

Professor Heilprin stated that he had made a careful micro-

scopic examination of the sand from the boring below Fort

Mifflin, but had found no traces of Foraminifera. The roundness

. of the grains might indicate sea-sand.

636 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, [June, 1885.

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, Sept. 19, 1884.—The Secre-

tary presented a series of thermometrical observations taken at

Quito, Ecuador, between Sept. 17, 1858, and June 18, 1859, by Mr.

C. B. Brockway. :

Oct. 3.—Mr. Wall exhibited a full-size ‘canvas tracing of a large

group of Indian pictures cut on the top and sides of a half-buried

block of sandstone, lying near the bluff of the Monongahela valley,

in Fayette county, Pa., 290 feet above the river. Photographs of

this and also of carvings on the shore of the same river, near Ge-

neva, and of a carved rock on the Evansville turnpike, West Vir-

ginia, were also exhibited.

Mr. Lesley read a paper upon the possible origin of the double

crown of Egypt; and also exhibited a square pipe of limonite,

deposited against the walls of a vertical drain at the Eagle shaft,

near Pottsville.

r. Syle presented a Chinese translation of Herschell’s Out-

lines of Astronomy, published at Shanghai, Dec., 1859.

Oct. 17.—Dr. D. G. Brinton presented a communication upon

the language and ethnographic position of the Xinka (Shinka)

Indians, with two vocabularies of three dialects. Mr. Ashburner

read some notes upon the origin and dimensions of the Natural

Bridge of Virginia. A communication upon the doubtful char-

acter of Professor Lewis’s alleged continuous -inge of trap

through Southern Pennsylvania, was made by Dr. Frazer.

Nov. 7.—Dr. Syle made a verbal communication on the struc-

ture of the Chinese language and exhibited copies of the Shanghai

Chinese ///ustrated News. Professor Cope presented a paper by

Miss Helen C. D. Abbott, entitled An analysis of the bark of the

Fuquiera splendens. Professor Cope proposed to communicate

oe of the Reptilia and Batrachia of Mexico and Central

erica,

Dec. 5.—Professor J. J. Stevenson communicated Notes on

metamorphism; Dr. P. Frazer exhibited and explained his inven-

tion of an improvement on the pocket compass; and Mr. Ash-

burner exhibited a new map of the anthracite region,

Dec. 19.—Professor Cope read by title Twelfth contribution to

the herpetology of Tropical America.

Mr. Ashburner communicated some notes on the recent publi-

hic cations of the Second geological survey of Pennsylvanig.

PLATE AXI

Percé Rock.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vou. x1ix.—FULY, 1885.—No. 7.

EVOLUTION IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

BY LESTER F. WARD, A.M.

i ge law of biologic evolution (for it is no longer a mere “doc-

trine ”) may be regarded as fairly established, no large and

respectable body of scientific men being any longer found to

oppose it when stated in its most general form, while difference

of opinion and discussion have narrowed down to the more

special aspects and minor details. In the animal kingdom, where

organization is generally so high and structure so definite, great

` progress has been made in discovering the particular lines along

which development has taken place and something like a true

genealogy of the existing types has been worked out. The law

of phylogeny is abundantly established by palzontology and sur-

prisingly confirmed by embryological ontogeny.

In the vegetable kingdom this last important class of evidence

is almost wholly wanting, and paleontological evidence, owing

to the lower structural rank of plants, is far less complete and

- convincing than in the animal.

It is proposed in this article briefly to inquire what vegetable

palzontology has to present in favor of evolution in plants. The

subject may be considered under three somewhat distinct points

of view, the historical, the geological and the botanical.

I. HISTORICAL VIEW.

It is a common observation that botany is far behind zoology

in supporting advanced biological theories. This is still more

strikingly true of the study of extinct than of that of living forms,

for not only were the ancients wholly unacquainted with any form

of vegetable petrifaction, although familiar with fossil shells,

VOL, XIX.—NO. VII. 42

638 Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. (July,

madrepores and other animal remains, but when at last the era of

science dawned toward the close of the eighteenth century Blu-

menbach had for many years been sounding the key-note of pa-

lezontological truth in the animal kingdom before Schlotheim took

up the refrain in favor of plants.

_ When we consider the present state of knowledge respecting

the geological strata of the earth’s crust, we can scarcely realize

that but two generations ago comparatively nothing was known

on this subject. Geology was not yet born. The investigators

of the last century were really not discussing the geologic age of

fossil remains. With those who studied fossil plants the assump-

tion was universal that they were plants that grew somewhere in

the world only a few thousand years ago at most, plants such as

either grew then in the countries where their remains were found

or in other countries from which they had been brought by one

agency or another, generally that of the Flood, or else, as some

finally conceived, had been destroyed by these agencies, so as to

have no exact living representatives.

{n the year 1804 appeared Baron von Schlotheim’s “ Flora der

Vorwelt,” as it is now universally quoted, although the author

himself merely entitled it a “ description of remarkable plant im-

pressions and petrifactions—a contribution to the flora of the

former (or primeval) world.” To us this seems modest enough,

but in view of the history of palzontology, the second part of

this title amounted to a bold declaration, and accordingly we find

him defending it in his introduction by these words: “The pet-

rifactions which so early engaged the attention of investigators,

and which, without doubt, afforded one of the first incentives to

the founding of mineral collections and to the earnest study of

_ mineralogy and geology, have, as is well known, since Walch -

began to arrange them systematically, been for a long time, as

well in as out of Germany, almost wholly neglected. They were

content to regard them as incontestable proofs of the Deluge,

which closed all further investigation until they were at last com-

pelled to explain their occurrence through other great natural

operations which had probably been going on earlier and more

universally: than the flood described in the Bible, and influencing

the formation of the upper strata of the earth’s crust; and more

~ recent observations and investigations have even led us to the

i y probable supposition that they may be the remains of an

1885.] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 639

earlter so-called pre-Adamitic See the originals of which are

now no longer to be found. * * In the continued investiga-

tion of this subject this opinion, with certain restrictions, has in

fact gained a high degree of probability with the author of the

present work, so that he ventures to announce his treatise as a

contribution to the flora of the ancient world (Vorwelt).” Since

its introduction by Schlotheim this expression; “ Flora der Vor-

welt,” has been applied to nearly all the German works on fossil

plants, and “ Beiträge zur Flora der Vorwelt” still continue to

appear.

This work was followed, though sixteen years later, by his

“ Petrefactenkunde,” and also by Count Sternberg’s important

“attempt at a geognostico-botanical presentation of the flora of

the ancient world.” These men were the pioneers of vegetable

paleontology. It was reserved for Adolphe Brongniart to be-

come its true founder. Brongniart’s paper on the classification and

distribution of fossil plants, which was published in the memoirs

of the Paris Museum of Natural History in 1822, showed that he

had already been some time at work, and after six years of nearly

complete silence he at length came forward, in 1828, with his

epoch-making works on the history of fossil plants; the “ Pro-

drome” and the “ Histoire des végétaux fossiles ”—which, taken

together as was the design, form the solid basis upon which the

science has been erected.

Brongniart’s fundamental conception was, that fossil plants were

none the less plants, and that so fast as they really became known

they should be placed in their proper position in the vegetable

series and made to form an integral part of the science of botany.

In his classification he therefore had due respect for the natural

system as then understood, but he nevertheless felt that geognos-

tic considerations must be taken into the account, and he saw ©

with almost prophetic vision that in passing up through the

geologic series higher and higher forms of vegetable life pre-

sented themselves. Although unable to understand the complete

continuity in the series, as modern evolution postulates, and

although affected by the Cuvierian idea of successive destruc-

tions and re-creations, still he insisted that each suecessive crea-

tion was superior to the one it had replaced, and that there had

thus been, as it were, a steady progress from the lowest to the

highest forms of vegetation. He divided the geologic series into

640 Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. (July,

four great periods, the first extending through the Carboniferous

and corresponding to the modern Palzozoic, the second embrac-

ing the Grés bigarré, or Buntersandstein, only, the third seeming

to include the rest of the Trias, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous,

and the fourth completing the series. The table which he gives

on page 219 of the “ Prodrome” is designed to show the devel-

opment of the higher types of vegetation in successively higher

strata, and in discussing it he remarks that “in the first period

there exist hardly anything but cryptogams, plants having a more

simple structure than that of the following classes. In the sec-

ond period the number of the two following classes becomes pro-

portionately greater. During the third period it is the gymno-

sperms which specially predominate. This class of plants may

be considered intermediate between the cryptogams and the true

phanerogams {dicotyledons} which preponderate during the fourth

period.” The words italicized in the liberal translation here

made are scarcely less than a prophecy, and one whose fulfillment

is only now being tardily granted by systematic botanists.

As the result of his prolonged studies, Brongniart finally

arrived at the following remarkable classification of plants, as

drawn up on page 11 of the “ Prodrome,” and repeated on page

20 of the “ Histoire :”

1. Agams.

1. Cellular ae io tor

ur. Vascular cryptogam:

iv, Gymnospermous RAE

v. Monocotyledonous angiospermous phanerogams.

VI. Dicotyledonous angiospermous phanerogams.

In the present state of botanical science Brongniart’s “ agams”

would probably all be relegated to his second group, or cellular

cryptogams, but in other respects this classification is preémi-

nently sound, and seems likely to be vindicated by the future

_ progress of science,

It will thus be seen that Brongniart founded the science of

vegetable palzeontology firmly upon the law of progressive devel-

opment, and there can be little doubt that if his influence could

have been felt by botanists as it was by vegetable paleontologists

in general, botany might have advanced pari passu with zodlogy,

: ae : was far in advance of his time, and his views were

z — d to meet wn violent opposition. His method was, with

1885.] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom, — 641

few exceptions, adopted by subsequent palzo-botanists but never

by botanists proper.

The most powerful antagonism to this effort of Brongniart to

confirm Lamarckian principles from the phytologic side thirty-one

years before the appearance of Darwin’s “Origin of Species”

was offered by the eminent English botanist, Dr. John Lindley,

who found a fitting occasion to meet the great French palzon-

tologist on his own ground while engaged with William Hutton

in the preparation of their “Fosssil Flora of Great Britain,”

1831—37. Of this truly great work we are here concerned only

with certain discussions which were directed against the then

infant doctrine of biologic evolution in the vegetable kingdom,

and which were not only marked with great acrimony, but were

allowed to influence and to warp the classification adopted by the

authors into forms which even to botanists now appear ridicu-

lous. The introductory remarks in the first volume, as well as

much of the general discussion throughout the work, are charac-

terized by a most astonishing and apparently willful ignorance of

the true principles of palzo-phytology as they were set forth by

Brongniart, Sternberg and even Schlotheim, and which are now

universally accepted.

One of Dr. Lindley’s remarkable aberrations was the perti-

nacity with which he contended for the existence of cactaceous

and euphorbiaceous plants in the coal measures. It is true

that Parkinson had seen a fancied resemblance between cer-

tain stems and those of large cacti, and similar guesses had

been made by Volkmann, Walch and other authors of the

eighteenth century, when it was supposed that the counterpart of

every fossil plant must be found in the living flora, but all these

imaginings had been long since laid aside only to be revived by

the leading botanist of Europe.

The theory of a former tropical climate in England and on the

continent of Europe was assailed, the existence of tree-ferns in

the Carboniferous was denied, the relation of the Calamite to

the Equisetaceæ questioned, and many other tolerably well estab-

lished generalizations were remanded to the domain of dou

and discussion.

The true secret of this sweeping skepticism is, however, not

far to seek. It is found in the more general denial, which was

finally made, of the conclusion to which the acceptance of these

642 Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. [July,

rejected theories would naturally lead and had actually led M.

Brongniart and others. The authors say: “Of a still more ques-

tionable character is the theory of progressive development, as

applied to the state of vegetation in successive ages. In the

vegetable kingdom it cannot be conceded that any satisfactory

evidence has yet been produced upon the subject; on the con-

trary, the few data that exist appear to prove exactly the con-

trary.” All the denials and assertions made in the work opposed

to Brongniart’s teachings are made to support this view. The

existence of Cactaceze, Euphorbiacez and other dicotyledons in

the Carboniferous would negative development; the admission of `

a former tropical climate was a strong argument for the nebular

hypothesis as well as for geologic progress; tree-ferns would

argue such a former tropical climate; if Calamites could be

shown to bea Juncus, a higher type would be found in Paleozoic

strata than Brongniart believed to occur. Still another good point

was thought to be gained by proving what is now admitted, viz.,

that coniferous plants occur in the coal. All botanists then held,

as many still hold, that the gymnosperms were a subclass of the

dicotyledons, coérdinate with the dicotyledonous angiosperms

But, curiously enough, Brongniart had forestalled this argument

by making the gymnosperms of lower type, intermediate between

the cryptogams and the angiospermous phanerogams. By a

special insight, characteristic of true scientific genius, he had

used their lower geological position as a proof of their lower

organization, z. ¢., had postulated evolution as an aid to organic

research—a method which is now becoming quite common, al-

though unsafe except in the hands of a master,

Dr. Lindley laid much stress upon the fact “that no trace of

any glumaceous plant has been met with even in the latest Ter-

tiary rocks,” thus freely employing the fallacy which he else-

where warns others to avoid, that because a class of plants has

not been found, therefore it did not exist at a given geologic

epoch. But to cut off the possibility of a reply to the position

he takes he finally declares that “ supposing that sigillarias and

stigmarias could really be shown to be cryptogamic plants, and

that it could be absolutely demonstrated that neither Conifer

_ for any other dicotyledonous plants existed in the first geological

__ age of land plants, still the theory of progressive development

5 : would be untenable, because it would be necessary to show that

1885. ] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 643

monocotyledons are inferior in dignity, or, to use a more intel-

ligible expression, are less perfectly formed than dicotyledons.

So far is this from being the case that if exact equality of the two

classes were not admitted, it would be a question whether mono-

cotyledons are not the more highly organized of the two;

whether palms are not of greater dignity than oaks, and Cerealia

than nettles.” Teleologic and anthropocentric reasoning like this

pervades all the discussions in this work and vitiates the scientific

deductions. The elaborate experiment that Dr. Lindley made

and described in the first dozen pages of the third volume, was

obviously animated by the same spirit of uncompromising hos-

tility tothe development hypothesis. By showing that the higher

types of plants when long immersed in water are earlier decom-

posed than ferns, conifers and palms, he thought he had demon-

strated that the reason why we find no dicotyledons in the Car-

boniferous is simply because they had not resisted, and from their

nature could not resist the destructive agencies to be overcome in

the process of petrifaction. One could wish that he might behold

the four thousand species of fossil dicotyledons now known, and

realize how vain had been his experiment as well as all his

theorizing !

It is such resistance as this, coupled with the power of the Jus-

siæan method, that has retarded the progress of correct ideas

respecting the development of plant life. Systems of classifica-

tion have been chiefly modeled after those of the early founders..

The text books of botany still generally invert the order and

begin with the phanogams, although this is doubtless merely

intended to facilitate study, and does not at all imply that our

leading botanists believe this to have been the order in which

plants have developed. This inversion of the order, however,

shows how completely the notion of development is ignored in

modern botany, and the system throughout rests upon the evi-

dence furnished by the organs of the plants as they are under-

stood. Nevertheless, it is proper to say that at the present time

quite a large body of the most thorough students of vegetal em-

bryology and histology, chiefly in Germany, have rejected much

of the modern system of botanical classification, and especially

that which concerns the position of the gymnosperms. They

prove in the most satisfactory manner that these plants constitute

a lower type than any of the remaining phanerogams, and they

644 On the Vertical Range of Certain Fossil Species [July,

also find that in their reproductive organs they form a more or

less natural transition from the cryptogams to the phænogams,

between which they place them. This result is most gratifying

to the palæo-botanist, for nearly all works on fossil plants give

the gymnosperms this position at the base of the phænogamic

series, so sagaciously assigned to them by Brongniart. They

have been compelled to do this in the face of the prevailing botan-

ical systems, because this is the position which they are found to

occupy in the ascending strata of the earth’s crust. It is aston-

ishing that botanists could have remained so indifferent to such a

weighty fact, and it is certainly most instructive to find the geo-

logical record, so long unheeded, confirmed at last by the facts

revealed in living plants. There is no evidence that those who

have thus confirmed it were in the least influenced by it, since

Sachs and Caruel are as silent respecting paleontology as De

Candolle or Bentham.

The founders and perfecters of the prevailing system of botan-

ical Classification have not been influenced to any marked degree

by the idea of development in vegetable life. Few of the earlier

ones had ever heard of development, except at least as a vision-

ary theory. This system had become established long before the

doctrine of the fixity of species had received a shock, for although

Lamarck, himself a botanist, had sown the seed of its ultimate

overthrow, still it required half a century for this seed to germi-

nate, and it was during this half century that the Jussizan system

was supplanting the Linnzan and gaining a firm foothold.

Shaking off, for the time being, all fixed allegiance to any sys-

tem, let us glance fora moment at the lesson which vegetable

palzontology now teaches upon the subject of development.

(To be continued.)

10:

ON THE VERTICAL RANGE OF CERTAIN FOSSIL

SPECIES IN PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK.

BY PROFESSOR E. W. CLAYPOLE.

1 Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania has recently

published a report on Montour, Columbia and several other

_ counties, written by Professor I. C White, of the University of

mSS Virginia. While engaged in the work Professor White

the writer to determine for him the fossils which he

1885.] in Pennsylvania and New York. 645

collected, This was done, and the results were embodied in the

volume in question, G, of the Pennsylvania reports.

In the preface to the volume Professor James Hall, of Albany,

has, through the State geologist, honored the paleontological

portion of the work with certain criticisms which call for a few

remarks. The science of paleontology advances so rapidly that

statements which were perfectly correct at one time often cease

to be so, and from this ground, if from no other, the criticisins

contained in the preface of Professor White’s report require

some notice.

It will not be necessary at any length to discuss Professor

Hall’s first remark concerning the dividing plane between the

Chemung and the Catskill. In the present state of our know-

ledge this must be largely a matter of opinion. One observation

will suffice. Whatever may ‘be the fact in Montour and Colum-

bia counties, there is no doubt that in Perry county, with which

the writer is better acquainted, spirifers, unbroken and with both

valves in contact, are found about 1000 feet above red sandstone

beds holding the scales of Holoptychius or Bothriolepis or both.

In regard to the spirifers of the Chemung, certain statements

are made which are not in harmony with facts which the writer

has observed in Middle Pennsylvania. For instance, on page xx

we read:

“How is it possible to credit such a topsy-turvy appearance of

the three species of Spirifera which, outside of mh aise,

have been found (1) never in any but ‘Chemung roc ocks; (2) co

fined each to its own horizon; and (3) always ina fixed sage

from above downward, thus :

Spir ifera disjuncta horizon (S. dj.).

Spirifera mesocostalis horizon (S. mc.).

Spirifera mesostrialis horizon (S. ms.).”

On page xxi we read further:

“ Spirifera cin aia and Spirifera mesostrialis form an impossi-

ble ? conjunction

This assertion must be, to say the least, somewhat hazardous

even with the interrogative point.

Again, on the same page:

“Professor Hall has never seen any two of the three species

646 On the Vertical Range of Certain Fossil Species (July,

coexisting in the same stratum or at the same horizon or outside

the limits of the typical Chemung. He would not be surprised

if S. mesocostalis were found to ascend high enough above its

proper horizon to mingle with S. disjuncta. But he cannot com-

sae how S, disjuncta and S. mesostrialis should be found to-

gether.

In regard to this point the experience of the writer in Penn-

sylvania has led him to very different conclusions. So far from

being strictly limited to single horizons, these three species appear

to range with great latitude over each other's territory. This is

especially true of the two lower fossils, S. mesocostalis and S.

mesostrialis, It is no doubt true that each species is specially

abundant in certain beds or zones, but while in a measure charac-

terizing these, it spreads both above and below them, and mixes

with one or both of the others.

These statements are made concerning Middle Pennsylvania

and have no reference to any other district. The writer’s expe-

rience among the rocks and fossils of New York is not sufficient

to enable him to speak with any authority concerning them, and

to these it may be supposed Professor Hall is chiefly referring in

the passage quoted above.

Since the publication, however, of the report of Professor

White, and called forth by its preface, a letter has appeared from

the pen-of Professor H. S. Williams, of Cornell- University, in

which, referring to these remarks of Professor Hall, he says:

“While the statement cited may express the general rule as

to the occurrence of the species in New York State, there are

specimens in Cornell University museum which do not bear out

the statement.

“In the first place the two species, S. mesostrialis and S. meso-

costalis, are found associated in the same stratum at Ithaca, N. Y.,

both in the mesostrialis zone and in the mesocostalis zone. Sev-

eral instances can be shown where they occur on the same slab.

“ From a higher horizon in New York State, and from several

localities, either of these species may be found associated with S.

disjuncta, and I have obtained each of the three ney from the

“representatives of S: notte and S. senses ` the latte tter pre-

-serving ‘ the fine radiate striæ with delicate concentric crosslines’

— without ut a depression’ which are describéd as distinctive charac-

A T pe (Pal. N. Y., Vol. iv, p. 243).

1885.] in Pennsylvania and New York. 647

“The other specimen, only a couple of inches distant, has the

characteristic plications on the medial fold, and with the surface

equally well preserved, shows not the least nn = radiate or

Sohne strie, unmistakably indicating S. disjun

“From the same locality, though not on this individual slab,

are specimens of both varieties of the so-called S. mesocostalis—

the large coarse form with angular plications and reduplicated

fold, and the more finely plicated form with prolonged hinge line

which is more characteristic of a lower horizon.’

From these statements of Professor Williams we find that the

three following inferences are now known to be true for Mew York

State:

1. That S. mesocostalis occurs associated with S. mesostrialis.

2. That S. mesocostalts occurs associated with S. disjuncta.

3. That S. mesostrialis occurs associated with S. disjuncta.

These are all the possible combinations of three things taken

two together. Consequently these three species are mingled in

New York State in all possible ways in which two of them can

be combined.

In order to strengthen, if possible, by cumulative evidence the

argument founded on these clear and definite statements, the-

writer applied to Professor R. P. Whitfield, of New York, asking

if the collection of the New York Museum of Science, of which `

he is curator, could supply any facts that would support the views

on the range of these fossils which are here maintained. The

greater part of that collection was made and the specimens

named by Professor Hall, so that no doubt regarding the identi-

fication of the species can be entertained. Professor Whitfield

has stated in reply:

1. “Ona small block of sandstone containing the specimen of

S: p ipaairsy figured in the Palæontology of New York (Vol.

Iv, Pl. xL, Fig. 6), there is an imprint of a part of a very charac-

me iA of S. disjuncta.

“ Another specimen measuring four inches by three, from

Schoharie county, N. Y., and bearing Professor Hall’s ticket (No.

302), contains one of the specimens of S. mesostrialis, figured in

the same plate (Pl. xx), and also casts or imprints of three indi-

viduals of S. mesocostalts,

3. “ Another small slab marked, in Professor Hall’s writing,

‘ Tioga county, N. Y.,’ contains two dorsal valves of S. disjuncta

and two ventrals of S. mesocostatis.

a antes small block, bearing Professor Hall’s ticket, shows

dorsal valves of S. mesocostalis with specimens of the long mu-

cronate hinged form of S. disjuncta.

648 On the Vertical Range of Certain Fossil Species _ [July,

s. “One from Vandermark’s creek with large examples of S.

disjuncta contains a ventral valve of S. mesocostalis.

6. “ Another bearing Professor Hall’s ticket (279), from Cayuta

creek, N. Y., has S. disjuncta with S. mesocostalis.”

Professor Whitfield also adds :

“ On one small specimen weighi ng ten or twelve ounces and

bearing the label ‘ Cayuta creek,’ with characteristic specimens of

S. mesocostalis and S. disjuncta, there is an imperfect imprint of

the medio-dorsal part of a ventral valve presenting the features of

S. mesostrialis as it occurs at some western localities [of N. Y.],

but its outline is too imperfect to admit of positive identifi-

cation.

The testimony obtained from the collection in New York,

therefore, agrees in every point with that given in Professor Wil-

liam’s letter, and suggests in addition the possible association of

all the three species at Cayuta creek.

Yet one fact more may be given. Professor H. W. Geiger, of

the U. S. Geological Survey, has informed the writer that he pos-

sesses a slab from the Chemung of Virginia on which S, meso-

strialis and S. disjuncta are lying side by side.

In the face of these facts it is quite impossible any longer to

maintain the sharp delimitation of the horizon of these three spe-

cies above and below. It is evident that though characterizing,

probably in some places by their abundance, certain zones, they

are not by any means limited to these zones, but invade each

other’s territory to an undefined extent.

This result is more in harmony than its opposite with our pres-

ent views of the progress of life on the globe. We have no rea-

_ son to believe that species came suddenly into ascendancy and

then as suddenly went out, especially at times unmarked by any

catastrophe, as was the case in the Chemung era in Middle Penn-

sylvania and New York. On the contrary, the general belief in

evolution involves the special belief that every species has, in

ordinary circumstances and barring accident, had its time of rising,

culmination and decline, during which its life has overlapped the

life of other kindred and perhaps derived species. Nothing is less

likely, a priori, than that three species of spirifer should lie like

three drawers in a geological cabinet one above another. Noth-

_ ing is more likely than that each should occur in gradually in-

-~ ¢reasing numbers until it reached its maximum, and then in grad-

ad diminishing numbers until it died away. Each may then

1885.] in Pennsylvania and New York. 649 -

distinguish certain horizons, as Professor Hall describes them,

but without sharp and decisive limitation to these horizons.

It is farther possible, and not improbable, that these zones of

maximum abundance hold the same relative positions to one an-

other in New York and in Pennsylvania. This, however, must

be decided by closer study. Nothing that the writer has seen or

published is antagonistic to such belief. But even if the zones of

maximum abundance should not hold the same relative positions

to one another in different parts of the country, we are not driven

to the alternative of asserting a “subversion of specific types in

vertical range ” (p. xxvi). Given the three species, or indeed any

two of them, living side by side through the greater part of the

Chemung era, and we need only admit that local conditions favored

here the one and there the other, and the whole difficulty disap-

pears. It is purely imaginary. It is scarcely probable that iden-

tical conditions of life existed contemporaneously over so great

an area, it need not consequently shake our belief in palzontol-

ogy if the result should show that in Pennsylvania and Virginia,

or in States still more distant, the zones of maximum abundance

hold an order different from that which Professor Hall has laid

down for New York.

Another fact may be mentioned in this connection which,

though not directly connected with the argument, yet serves to

show that the lines of delimitation bounding the range of fossil spe-

cies cannot be laid down as definitely as has been done by some

palzontologists. - S. /evis is one of the characteristic fossils of the

Portage group in New York State occurring neither above nor

below, so far as the writer is aware. Yet in Middle Pennsylvania

it has not been found in the strata occupying the position of the

. Portage of New York, and holding other Portage fossils. But it

does occur higher up, in the Chemung proper, and in company

with S. mesocostalis S. levis, it may be added, is a well charac-

terized species in New York, and is therefore readily recognized.

Passing on to another topic, we find on page xxii:

=“ Orthis tulliensis has certainly never been seen before in the

Chemung two hundred feet above the Genessee (ż. e., three hun-,

dred feet above the Tully limestone), nor in the company of S.

mesocostalts,”

1 This is possibly S. mesostrialis. The specimen is only a fragment.

650 On the Vertical Range of Certain Fossil Species [July,

This statement may be strictly true, but it may be urged, on

the other side, that there is no distinct character by which O.

tulliensis can be separated from O. impressa. No doubt two forms

can be picked out as types of the so-called species, but their vari-

ation is considerable and they run into one another, It would be

exceedingly difficult, perhaps quite impossible, to separate accu-

rately a mixture of the two species if the horizons of the speci-

mens were unknown. We seem here to have an example of a

vicious reasoning of which palzontology affords not a few simi-

lar instances. The Orthis from the Tully limestone is called O.

tulliensis ; that from the overlying Chemung is called O. impressa.

But barring this difference it would be hard to draw a line be-

tween them. The practice of giving different names to fossils

simply because they come from ‘different horizons has been car-

ried too far. It has created artificial barriers in the way of tracing

the evolution of species and the connection of strata. Neither

geological nor geographical separation is sufficient reason for

distinguishing by name fossils between which no clear structural

difference can be pointed out. The cases are few, especially

among the Testacea, that justify resort to the argument used by

the late Professor Meek, “that if the whole structure of the ani-

mal had been preserved doubtless some distinctions would be

found which do not exist in the fossil.”

Referring to the extract given above from the preface of Gy,

Professor Williams says in the letter already quoted:

“In regard to Orthis tulliensis it may be said that the common

Orthis occurring at the base of the Ithaca fauna within a few

hundred feet above the Genessee shale (less than 500) resembles

at its first appearance Orthis tulliensis in form and general charac-

ter, though for distinctness it may be appropriate to call it a vari-

ety of Orthis impressa, since a little higher and in the same fauna

the typical Orthis impressa appears in abundance.

“Still there are specimens in the collection, from the lowest

zone, which it would be difficult for any one to distinguish by

microscopic or macroscopic characters from O. tulliensis.”

There is therefore in New York an Orthis which cannot be dis-

tinguished from O. tudliensis, occurring not at 200 feet only, but

at a yet greater height (less than 500 feet) above the Genessee

shale. |

in regard to the association of this fossil with S. mesocostalis,

2 Professor Williams adds

~ “T have no single slab containing this form with S. mesocostalis,

1885. ] in Pennsylvania and New York. 651

but the aner is found both above and below the stratum contain-

ing the Ort

IV.

Reverting to the preface of G, we read on page xxii this

remark, apparently by the State geologist :

“ Halysites catenulatus [the common chain- coral] i is found aiite

out of its natural place; at one locality only it is true, but

such abundance as to make upa large proportion of the Genty

feet pi Ees through which it is found.”

. Logan recognizes it as low as the Trenton lime-

stone, A I have seen a form or variety of the same in the Hud-

son River group of Green bay,' but no one has ever before found

it above the Niagara

Professor Lesley adds very justly :

“Whatever may be the difficulty of distinguishing S. disjuncta

from S. mesostrialis, it is quite impossible for any one to mistake

Halysites catenulatus, the characteristic form of the Niagara ax

stone all over the United States and Canada, and also of the cor-

responding Wenlock of Europe.

In these passages there are obvious traces of the vicious rea-

soning already condemned. The “natural” place of a fossil is

surely that in which it is found. Its “ canonical” place may be

very different. Now of the occurrence of Halysites catenulatus in

the Lower Helderberg limestone at the place mentioned by Pro-

fessor White, there cannot be the slightest doubt. The obvious

character of the fossil, such that every tyro in paleontology is

acquainted with it, precludes all chance of mistake in its identifi-

cation. The position of the limestome bed in which it was found

is equally decisive against stratigraphical error. It overlies several

hundred feet of red shale and sandstone, which are the equiva-

lent of the Onondaga shales of New York—the Salina shale or

Salt group, as they are often called.

The correlation of these has been satisfactorily determined in

Middle Pennsylvania, and the evidence, both stratigraphical and

paleontological, may be seen in the writer's report on Perry

county (F,). It is proper to add here that the above statement

concerning the place of the bed is made from personal knowledge,

the ground having been visited for the purpose in company with

Professor White.

1 Some inconsistency exists between this statement and that on p. xxv. “ Professor

Hall has given himself infinite trouble to obtain the data on which rests the proof

that Æ. catenulatus never occurs except in Niagara and Clinton rocks.”

2 Letter from Professor Hall. :

652 On the Vertical Range of Certain Fossil Species [July,

Immediately above the limestone bed in question comes the

Oriskany sandstone, so that the evidence for position is rendered

doubly sure, and it would be idle, in the face of all the facts, to

entertain any remaining doubt or suspicion regarding the horizon

or the species of the fossil. It is Halysites catenulatus, and it is

found in the Lower Helderberg limestone.

Halysites catenulatus ranges in England from the Llandeilo up

to the Wenlock, and in America from the Trenton to the Niagara,

by consent of all geologists. At this horizon its disappearance

has been assumed. But the determination here maintained car-

ries it up through about 1200 feet of strata, and extends its spe-

cific life through a correlative lapse of time.

In the consideration of these facts it may be remarked that the

very ease and certainty with which this fossil can be recognized

appear to the writer a possible source of error. Being abundant

at numerous places in the Niagara limestone, it forms a convenient

fossil reference, and its range has been, by tacit consent and per-

haps with the aid of influential names, assumed to be limited

upward by the summit of the Niagara. It has thence become the

practice to refer ail strata containing it to the Niagara group, and

the two have become closely associated. Yet the foundation for

so strict a delimitation is as unsatisfactory as in the cases pre-

viously examined. It is in fact another instance of vicious rea-

soning. Halysites catenulatus occurs very frequently in Niagara

rocks, therefore all rocks yielding Halysites catenulatus are of

Niagara age. :

If this fallacy be avoided and the. upward range of Halysites

be admitted, its occurrence in the place and on the horizon men-

tioned by Professor White (in G,) instead of being “ a serious

matter for Pennsylvanian geology” (p. xxiii), may be a matter of

importance to the geology of some States outside of Pennsylva-

Nia, and may even cause the removal to a higher level of some

strata which have been hitherto placed in the Niagara group by

the hasty deduction above condemned.

For example, it is just possible, to say no more, that the occur-

rence of this fossil in the cement beds, as at Kingston, N. Y.,

may be hereby explained. If these cement beds are the same as

. those usually included under that name, they should lie in the

: Lower Helderberg series and not in the Niagara, as often stated.

Moreover a reference to Professor Hall’s geological map of New

1885.] in Pennsylvania and New York, 653

York State (Geol. N. Y., Vol. rv, 1843), and also to that of the

Geological Survey of Canada, 1863, will show that no outcrop of

the Niagara is represented within a hundred miles of Kingston,

the color representing that group ceasing near Utica, while the

Lower Helderberg continues and underlies the town. It is hard

to resist the conclusion that we have here an instance of correct

stratigraphy overruled by incorrect paleontology, and that so far

from its occurring only in the Niagara this is an example in Vew

York State itself of the occurrence of Halysites in the Lower

Helderberg limestone.’

From the facts and arguments here set forth the general con-

clusion must follow that all attempts to confine the range of

species within certain arbitrary lines are attempts that are not

likely to succeed. The geological record as written in the rocks

is a record of life. Evolution teaches us that life advanced by

slow stages from species to species ; that as one died out another

took its place. Evolution knows nothing of breaks or of hard

and fast planes of limitation in the range of species. All suc

planes are indications of imperfection in the geological record,

perhaps evidence of catastrophes on a small scale, but they are

no proof of widespread, disaster and destruction. And in propor-

tion to the advance of our knowledge we must expect, on the

principles of evolution, to see these breaks one by one disappear,

and these lines be one after another effaced until the record of the

rocks is in harmony with the record of life which it represents.

That this harmony will ever be perfect is unlikely, for the rocks

will never give up all their dead, but that it will one day be much

more nearly complete than now is axiomatic, in the face of the

continual discovery of missing chapters in the history supplying

missing links in the chain of life.

The artificial systems of palaontology which have been con-

structed by the faithful, earnest and devoted labors of the students

of the science are but temporary. They are invaluable aids to

the progress of the work, but they are only the means and not

1 On p. xxiii (G,) an error appears which causes some confusion, “S. ma

is the earliest spirifer which shows ribs in the medial series (sinus ?), and it recurs

nearly unchanged in the Subcarboniferous Chester limestone of the West.” &

macropleura, as may be seen by looking at Professor Hall’s figures (Pal. N. Y., Vol.

11, Pl. 27), has no ribs in the medial sinus. Nor does it recur nearly in

the Chester li e of the West.

VOL. XIX,—NO, VII. 43

684 Ancient Rock Inscriptions on the Lake of the Woods. (July,

the end. Progress will be hindered if these systems are allowed

to cramp and fetter us. If preconceived notions of what should

be are suffered to blind our eyes to what really zs, our palzon-

tology would itself become a fossil, as dead as the trilobites of

palzozoic days. Our subdivision of the geological column into

Hamilton, Chemung, Catskill, &c., or even into Cambrian, Silu-

rian and Devonian, &c., is simply a device to assist memory and

classification, not to represent actual and separate creations. And

with every new discovery we must expect to see the lines and

planes that separate these imaginary groups and systems become

less and less clear until they are fused into a whole whose parts

shade into one another like the colors of the rainbow. Nature is

larger than our systems, and our knowledge of fossil nature must

some day outgrow our artificial “canons of paleontology.” But

in all such cases nature cannot be warped to our “ canons,” our

“canons” on the contrary must bend to the facts of nature.

The writer cannot conclude without, superfluous as it may

seem, adding a word to express his sense of the value of the

labors of Professor James Hall in American paleontology. He

has laid broad and deep foundations for future workers. How

numerous or industrious soever they may be, they must always

acknowledge that they are building over his beginnings. That

some errors should creep into work so great and varied is to be

expected. But compared with the grand whole, they are insig-

nificant, In pointing out and correcting a few of these errors

in the foregoing pages, nothing is farther from the writer’s wish

an to seem to depreciate Professor Hall’s labors. The facts

and misstatements here criticised are mainly details—mere spots

on the face of the sun—but for that reason the more worthy of

attention and scrutiny.

+O:

ANCIENT ROCK INSCRIPTIONS ON THE LAKE OF

THE WOODS.

BY A. C. LAWSON, M.A.

WV HILE prosecuting a geological survey of the Lake of the

Woods last summer, I observed upon the rocks, at two

_ places not far distant from each other on the shores of the lake,

_ ancient inscriptions which may be of some interest to those who

: are F engaged | in gathering up and weaving together the scattered

1885.] Ancient Rock Inscriptions on the Lake of the Woods. 655

threads of evidence, which in the web display the checkered life-

history of the aboriginal peoples of the American continent. I

am induced to publish this note on the subject at present, rather

than wait for further opportunities of collecting additional .mate-

rial, because of the striking resemblance which some of the char-

acters of these inscriptions bear to those of certain Brazilian rock

inscriptions figured by Mr. John C. Branner in his interesting

paper in the December number of the AMERICAN NATURALIST.

The Lake of the Woods is divided about its middle into two

parts, a northern and a’southern, by a large peninsula extending

from the neck of land at Turtle Portage on the east side of the

lake to within a very few miles of the west shore. On the north

side of this peninsula, z. e., on the south shore of the northern

half of the lake, about mid-way between the east and west shores,

occurs one of the two sets of hieroglyphic markings to which I

refer. The more typical examples of these are figured in Plate xIx.

Lying off shore at a distance of a quarter to half a mile, and mak-

ing with it a long sheltered channel, is a chain of islands trending

east-and-west. On the south side of one of these islands, less than

a mile to the west of the first locality, is to be seen the other set

of inscriptions. The first set. occurs on the top of a low, glaciated,

projecting point of rock which presents the characters of an ordi-

nary roche moutonnée, The rock is a very soft, foliated, green,

chloritic schist into which the characters are more or less deeply

carved, The top of the rounded point is only a few feet above

the high water mark of the lake, whose waters rise and fall in

different seasons through a range of ten feet. The antiquity of

the inscriptions is at once forced upon the observer upon a care-

ful comparison of their weathering with that of the glacial

grooves and striz, which are very distinctly seen upon the same

rock surface. Both the ice grooves and carved inscriptions are,

so far as the eye can judge, identical in extent of weathering,

though there was doubtless a considerable lapse of time between

the disappearance of the glaciers and the date of the carving.

The ice grooves are not merely local scratches but part of the

regular striation which characterizes the whole region. Both the

striz and inscriptions present a marked contrast to some recent

letters which passing traders or travelers, attracted by the novelty

of the inscriptions, have cut into the rock, much in the same

cei as that in which my Christianized Indian canoe-man pro-

656 Ancient Rock Inscriptions on the Lake of the Woods. [July,

ceeded to carve his initials in the rock with my hammer the

moment we landed. The weathered and rough character of the

carving afforded no clue as to the tool used. In size the charac-

ters varied from about three to twelve inches. There was no in-

dication of ochre having been rubbed into the carving. The

characters figured in Plate x1x were scattered over the rock sur-

face in all directions and in greater numbers than are represented;

and although the typical ones are gathered together on one sheet,

that arrangement by no means shows their relative positions. The

chief advantage to be derived by archzologists from an acquaint-

ance with such inscriptions is the tracing out the similarity or

identity of the individual characters with those of inscriptions

found in other parts of the continent. There is little hope of any

coherent meaning or narrative ever being derived from such iso-

lated groups of characters.

The similarity of some of the characters now figured to those

described by Mr. Branner from the boulders of Alagéas is a

striking and suggestive one. For example, No. 2, Plate x1x, is

identical with the left-hand figure of Mr. Branner’s %, even as to

the number of whorls and their direction. No. 25 is almost

identical with æ and 4 of Mr. Branner’s plate. The horse-shoe

or part-circle shape is distinctly common to both, as may be seen

by comparing X and d of the Brazilian inscriptions with 17, 18,

21, 23, 24 and perhaps 29 of those from the Lake of the Woods.

Nos. 7, 8, 15, 20 may be compared with Mr. Branner’s asterisk

as simpler forms on the same principle. The circle is also com-

mon to both sets. Nos. 1, 4, and 14 are similar in character to

the 3d form from the top of Mr. Banner’s X. No. 10 has nearly

the same shape as the 3d on the top row of the same group.

No. 12 is not unlike Mr. Branner’s c and No. 19 is on the same

principle as the chain_of small circles of his J. But there is no

need of straining the comparison. The coincidence appears to

be too strong to be purely accidental, although considering the

remoteness of the two regions in question, much more abundant

material for comparison would be required before inferences, even

of the most general sort, could be drawn.

= The island on which were found the other inscriptions to which

nie ok have alluded, is one of the many steep rocky islands known

_ among the Indians as Ka-ka-ki-wa-bic win-nis, or Crow-rock

island. The rock is a hard greenstone, not easily cut, and the

1885.] Ancient Rock Inscriptions on the Lake of the Woods. 657

inscriptions (Fig. 1) are not, cut into the rock but are painted

-with ochre, which is much faded in places. The surface upon

which the characters are inscribed forms an overhanging wall

protected from the rain, part of which has fallen down, cutting

off the inscription sharply at 6. The characters are represented

in their relative positions as they appear on the rock surface,

Fic. 1.—Indian Inscriptions.

reduced about ten times. Two of the forms, viz., 1 and 4, have

a sufficiently strong resemblance to 16 and 9 respectively of

Plate x1x, although one is in ochre and the other carved into the

. rock, to lead to the belief that the two inscriptions are closely

related in authorship. The Indians of the present day have no

traditions about these inscriptions beyond the supposition that

they must have been made by the “ old’ people” long ago.

658 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [July,

KITCHEN GARDEN ESCULENTS OF AMERICAN

ORIGIN. III.

BY E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, M.D.

(Continued from p. 553, Fune number.)

Pumpkins and Squashes.—1n New England’s Annoyances,

Anon., 1630, the first recorded poem written in America, we

nd:

“If fresh meat be wanting to fill up our dish

We have carrots and pumpkins and turnips and fish.

Again:

* Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies:

We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon :

If it was not for pumpkins we should be undone.”

And:

“ For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips

Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.”

And the pumpkin has ever been’ considered a favorite vegetable

for the making of pies in New England, and the various squashes

form an appreciated vegetable.

Pumpkins and squashes seem to be of Ameidin origin, al-

though De Candolle? says “ it may be confidently asserted that the

pumpkins cultivated by the Romans and in the middle ages were

Cucurbita maxima, and those of the natives of North America,

seen by different travelers in the 17th century, were C. pepo.

There are no figures of the pumpkin in the Herbarius Batavie

Impressus of 1485, before the discovery of America, yet it is fre-

quently figured by botanists of the 16th century.” Anton Pinzus"

figures the bottle gourd, or Lagenaria, under the name of karaha or

hara or charha of the Arabs, zucca of the Italians, Aurbss of the

Germans, ca/abassa of the Spaniards, courge, ourle or causse of

the French. His figure of the pumpkin is called Cucurbite indiane

and peregrine, zucche Indiane of the Italians, courges d'yuer of the

French, which indicates how the old world names were applied

_ to new world resembling productions, with the origin prefix which .

soon became dropped.

One of the confusing elements in the research into the history

of plants is the absurd use of common names, and often the in-

3 applicability of the term used to express resemblance if inter-

: Preted i in other than the most general sense. Thus Ludovico de

1 Origin of See Py 26.

Hist. » 1561.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 659

Varthema, 1503-8, migntions a ‘ruit called camo/ango in India,

which is unquestionably Benincasa cerifera Savi, as “ resembling

a pumpkin.” Now asa matter of fact this cucurbit, as grown at

the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, resembled a

watermelon so perfectly that it was plugged by thieving boys,

and until its waxy coating was acquired, could deceive visitors

who did not notice the leaf. Early voyagers to America, as Gray

states 2 “ Wrote cucurbita. calabaza, courge or zucca as a name

for any gourd or pumpkin, and occasionally for a calabash which

was not even a cucurbit;” and translators have been equally as

indefinite in their interpretation of the original word used by their

authors. It seems useless, therefore, to add the testimony of trav-

elers of the sixteenth century, and which are not quoted by De

Candolle? and by Gray and Trumbull,‘ for to those who would

deny the accuracy of the vernacular names used, such transcripts

would not be convincing. A most valuable argument, however,

is the absence of certain identification of this class of plants with

the names used by authors preceding the discovery of America,’

1Travels, Hak. Soc., V, 32.

2 Am. Jour. of Sc., May, 1883, 371.

3 Geog. Bot. and Origine des Cult. Pl.

4Am. Jour. of Si., May, 1883. .

5 The Cucurbita of the ancients was either Cücürbita, or Lagenaria, or Benincasa

of modern botanies, a proposition to which all investigators will agree. The authors

which I have at hand are Columella, Pliny and Palladius, covering the first and third

century of the Christian era, From their writings we can infer two propositions,

First, it could be a Lagenaria; second, it could not be Cucurbita maxima.

Columella lays especial stress upon the “neck” (lib. x, V, 380-389); in verse

234 he uses “ fragili cucurbita col/o” as a distinguishing term; in verse 380 he uses

young, in the manner of a squash, but is usually grown for ornament. These char-

acters, as given by Columella, all apply to Lagenaria vulgaris, and not to Cucurbita

maxima. Palladius (lib. 1v, C. 9) describes the zeck or bottle form, and the uses as

utensils, and does not indicate their use as food. Pliny (lib. XTX, C. 23) describes a

fruit called melopepo, shaped like a quince and of recent introduction. His refer.

ence to color, odor, and their dropping from the stalk when ripe, would seem to in-

dicate our melon. In lib. xIx, C. 24, he speaks of the climbing habit of the Cucur-

bita of one kind, and the weight of the fruit so heavy that the wind does not move

it, and yet attached to a small stalk; of variable shape, sometimes long like a ser-

660 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [July,

and the frequent descriptions and mention@by botanists and trav-

elers after the discovery of America.

Naudin, the authority on this genus, refers all the forms of the

cultivated pumpkins and squashes to four species, Cucurbita max-

ima, C. pepo, C. moschata and C. melanosperma. The three first

forms of these are in French culture, and Vilmorin describes

thirty-two varieties! Of the eighteen varieties under C. maxima,

eight have their American origin indicated by name or statement ;

of the five varieties under C moschata, two have American

names; of the nine varieties under C. pepo, three have an Ameri-

can origin indicated by name. The historical record does not

seem to change this numeration in such a way as to indicate that C.

maxima is more native to Europe than is C. pepo. We may,

however, trace the appearance of such forms of this vegetable as

we have data for, and we shall find that America has contributed

very largely to the varieties,

The word pumpkin seems to have been transferred to our

cucurbits from the Greek pepon, “a gourd or melon not eaten

till quite ripe,” Aristoteles,? or the Latin pepo, “ a species of large

melon or pumpkin, Pliny? but the word does not occur in Scrip-

tores Rei Rusticz veteres Latini of Gesner, which indicates how

little known was the pepo in Italy where now the pumpkin is so

common, and where it so early appeared after the discovery of

America. The word squash seems to have been derived from the

-pent, even, says our chronicler, occasionally nine feet long. He evidently refers

~ next to the Benincasa, which he has confounded with the gourd, for he says it is

covered with a white bloom, especially as it grows large. There is not a word here

to indicate a pumpkin of any kind; the whole wording may apply to Lagenaria

vulgaris in its varieties, except the last, which fit Benincasa cerifera. To one who

hand, the references of our authors will be seen to apply very closely to the Lagen-

aria varieties figured therein; sufficiently so for a clear identification, taken with the

context; and to apply sof af a// to any of the Cucurbita varieties therein figured and

described under Cucurbita maxima,

While upon Latin authors we will take occasion to note that neither Columella

nor Palladius reckon the Saseolus or phaseolus, which some writers have taken to

kidney-beans, among garden plants, but class with field crops, and Virgil classes

with the vetch as a cheap food. The directions for planting are to sow the seed, six

pecks per acre, in the autumn, Hence their Jaseolus must have been a hardier plant

than our kidney-bean, and mot our bean. Apicius’ receipt for cooking and Pliny’s

mention would apply equally well to a Dolichos as to a Phaseolus,

Les Pl. Pot., 171-186.

Liddell and Scott’s Greek Dict.

’ ,

-T Andrews’ Lat. Lex

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 661

New England Indian “ Askutasquash—their vine-apples—which

the English, from them call squashes,’ or ésguotusquashes, or

“ squashes, but more truly sguoutersquashes,’® or from the New

York Indian guaasiens4 The first vernacular use of the word

cymling used to designate a form of bush squash (also called pat-

typan, probably from its shape, the word pattypan signifying “a

pan to bake a little pie in”’),> that I find is in 1648, when symnels

and maycocks are enumerated among other edible products of the

region at the mouth of the Susquehanna. In New England’s

Crisis, a poem by Benjamin Thomson, in 1675, we find:

“ When Cimnels were accounted noble blood,

Among the tribes of common herbage food,”

The word cushaw is Indian, and is derived from ecushaw of

Heriot, 1586. It was applied to a bluish-green, white-streaked

large pumpkin by Beverly,’ and the description applies to the

Puritan squash of Burr, and also to a Florida squash grown at

the N. Y. Agr. Exp, Station, in 1884, from seeds obtained from

the Seminoles in Florida. The word cuckaw is now used asa

synonym of the winter crookneck of New England, and cushaw

or cashaw to a Southern form of like character, both of which

have two forms, one of which is the form of the Puritan and

Neapolitan grown at Naples, the other crooknecked. It is inter-

esting to note that courge de la Floride is a French synonym of

the Neapolitan’

The popular grouping of this class of vegetables does not con-

form to the scientific. Gregory? offers the definition in use:

“Grouping all the running varieties together, we express the

marketman’s idea of a squash, as distinguished from a pumpkin,

when we say that all varieties having soft or fleshy stems, either

with or without a shell, and all varieties having a hard woody

stem, and without a shell, are sguashes. While all having a hard

stem and a shell, the flesh of which is not bitter, are pumpkins -

and all of this latter class the flesh of which contains a bitter

1 Roger Williams’ Key, &c.,

2? Wood, New Eng. Prosp., ay 2, Chap. VI.

*Josselyn’s Rar., 89.

#Van der Donck, Desc, of New Netherlands, 1656.

5 Webster’s Dict.

5A Desc. of New — [1648].

” Hist. of Va.,

* Vil., Les Pl. fade

, Soka P 4.

662 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [July,

principle, are gourds.” An examination of a more complete set

of varieties than the marketman uses, however, shows that this

classification is not always correct. The popular use of the terms

seem to be, sguashes are those forms used on the table; pump-

kins those forms that are grown for stock and for use in pie

making ; gourds are Lagenaria vulgaris, and have white flowers.

It is thus seen that the popular word as used now would be as

misleading as are the popular words used by the early explorers.

De Candolle is willing to grant that C. pepo is American, but

is uncertain about C. maxima. He says, however, that seeds,

certified by M. Naudin to belong to this species, have been found in

the tombs of Ancon,a conclusive circumstance if the date of the

latest burials at Ancon were certain. The Brazilians had, however,a

name for this plant, Jurumu, and Pickering” quotes a Carib name,

Jujuru or abora’ but Schomburgh! gives adodoras as the Brazil-

ian name of C. pepo L. It is the Pepo maximus indicus compres-

sus of Sloane (1707), Cucurbila pepo Aubl. Sloane’s name being

the same as used by Lobel, 1581 (?).° In traditionary relations

the large pumpkin appears in Mexico, for Bancroft® says: “In the

golden age of Mexico, during the reign of Quetzalcoatl, pump-

kins were said to measure a fathom round.” Pickering’ says that

“melones” too large for a man to lift, some of them internally

yellow, were noted by Oviedo’ in the West Indies. The “

moth” squash belongs to this section, and Loudon records a

weight attained of 245 lbs., and a “ mammoth chili” was exhib-

ited in New York in 1884 by a seedsman, which weighed 223

lbs. In 1857 one weighing 264 lbs. was exhibited at the Califor-

nia State Fair, and one weighing 313 lbs. is said to have been

shown at the Smithfield Club Cattle Show in Liverpool? Messrs.

Asa Gray and J. Hammond Trumbull” seem to have offered suffi-

cient reason to believe that all the pumpkins and squashes are of

American origin. I may only add therefore some horticultural

evidence.

1 Piso. Brazil, ed. 1658, 264; Marcq., ed. 1648, 44.

Chron. Hist. of Pl., 709.

3 Desc.

+Hist. of Bar., 593. i

_5De Candolle, Geog. Bot., gor.

§ Native Races, III, 241.

a : * Nat, Hist., 80.

: i Am. Jour. oF aa May, 1883,

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 663

In 1828 five varieties of “ pumpkin,” three of squash and two

of summer squash were offered in our best seed catalogue, one of

which was the Commodore Porter Valparaiso, brought from

Chili by Com. Porter, and representing C. maxima in the list of

squashes. In 1885, in one seed catalogue five varieties of pump-

kin, twelve varieties of sguash and four of summer squash; of

these squashes seven belong to C. maxima, and the Valparaiso is

not included. The Hubbard is said by Gregory, its introducer, to

be of unknown origin, but to resemble a kind which was brought

by a sea captain from the West Indies; it was distributed in

1857. The marblehead came from the West Indies, and was dis-

tributed about 1867 ; the autumnal marrow or Ohio appeared in —

1832; the Butman in 1875. Not one variety of this class

seems to have originated in Europe, although pumpkins of this

species are found there in numerous forms, but most of them in

general characters of form of fruit can be duplicated from the

varieties of traditionary origin in New England. Vernacular

names count for little, but the citrouille troguois applied to a

French pumpkin of this species would add support to the tradi-

tionary belief that pumpkins of like nature formerly existed

among the Northern Indians. Molina, 1787,’ mentions “ the yel-

low flowered or Indian gourd, called pexca, it is of two kinds, the

common and the mamillary This last in its leaves and flowers

resembles the first, but the figure of the fruit is spheroidal, with

a large nipple at the end; the pulp is sweet, and its taste is very

similar to a kind of potato known by the name of camote,” a

description which will only apply to the varieties of the squash

of the turban character. .

It would seem as if the burden of proof was upon botanists to

show the Asiatic origin, or a knowledge of the pumpkin and

squash before the voyage of Columbus, before rejecting the

American evidence as inconclusive. -

Purslane. — Gray and Trumbull are inclined to believe that

Purslane was in the new world at the time of the discovery. Oct.

28, 1492, Columbus saw “ verdolagas” on the north shore of

Cuba Oviedo, writing about 1526, enumerates among native

plants of Hispaniola “verdolagas and pertulaca,’ and in 1525

mentions the abundance of “verdolagas.” Jean de Lery in Bra-

1 Gregory, Squashes, 1867. Be

? Hist. of Chili, 1, 93.

3 Navarette, 1, 183.

664 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [July,

zil, 1557, mentions “pourpier.” Sagard-Theodat, speaking of

the country of the Hurons, speaks of pourpier or pourcelaine being

a common weed of their cornfields. These quotations are from

Gray and Trumbull’s article, Am. Pour. of Sc., April, 1883.

Champlain, in 1605, speaking of the Indians of the Maine

coast: “ They brought also some purslane, which grows in large

quantities among the Indian corn, and of which they make no

more account than of weeds.”! Josselyn, about 1672, speaks of

it in Massachusetts, and Cutler, 1785, mentions it in cornfields,

and as eaten.

Hawkins, 1593, at Cape Blanco, So. America, found upon the

rocks “ great store of the hearbe purslane,” which he collected

for the refreshment of his sick.*

_ While it is not certain that these authorities all meant Portulaca

oleracea in their mention, yet it would appear very strange if such

a common weed of cultivated lands of the old world had not

been well known and recognized.

Purslane, in one variety, yet finds sale among the seeds of our

seedsmen among potage herbs.

Claytonia perfoliata Don. is called in France Claytonia de cuba,

and pourpier d’hiver ; in Spain verdolago de cuba.*

Sweet Corn.—All the forms of maize are of American origin.

The early history of the sweet or garden form-species is very

obscure, although the peculiar appearance and rich edible quality

of its sweet kernel would presuppose quick and flattering recog-

nition from the first comers.

Sweet corn is said by some to have been brought by Lieut. Rich-

ard Bagnoll from Gen. Sullivan’s expedition against the Six Nations

in 1779, and to have been called papoon corn. The anonymous

writer in the New England Farmer (Sep. 7, 1822) under the pseu-

donym “ Plymotheus,” says: “ That was the first of the species

ever seen here, and since that time it has been more and more

diffused ; and I believe within a few years only, has been generally

and extensively cultivated for culinary purposes.” In another

communication (Aug. 3, 1822) it is said to have been found during

= Sullivan’s expedition “among the Indians on the border of the

Susquehanna.” Another account’ says it was found by Sullivan’s

81.

Wishes Voy., Hak, Soc, ed., 137.

ae * Vilmorin, Les Pl. Pot., 157.

os et eh vs

ch Se

1885.) Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 665

command in the Genesee country in 1779, and brought to Con-

necticut, whence it proceeded south.

Sweet corn is neither mentioned nor hinted at in Jefferson’s

Notes on Virginia, written in 1781. Timothy Dwight applied

the synonym “ shriveled corn,” usually called “ sweet corn,’ and

says that “maize of the kind called sweet corn was the most

delicious vegetable while in the milky stage of any known in this

country. At New Haven the sweet corn may be had in full per-

fection for the table by successive plantings from the middle of

July to the middle of November.’ Dwight traveled in New York

and in New England in 1817 and before, and was in Yale College

in 1795. (This quotation was contributed to me by O. P. Hubbard,

New York.) Bordley? says: “It has appeared to me that the

sort called sweet corn (having a white shriveled grain when ripe)

yields stalks of richer juice than the common corn.”

Sweet corn is first mentioned for sale, so far as we have seen,

in Thorburn’s seed catalogue of 1828, one kind only, the sugar

or sweet being named. It is not spoken of by name even in his

Gardeners’ Kalendar for 1817 or 1821, nor in M’Mahon’s Ameri-

can Gardeners’ Calendar, 1806, nor by Gardiner and Hepburn,

1818, nor in a Treatise on Gardening," 1818, nor in Fessenden’s

New American Gardener, 1828. In 1829 several ears of a “new

variety ” from Portland, Me., were exhibited before the Massachu-

setts Horticultural Society. Bridgeman mentions one variety in

1832; Buist, in 1851, speaks of two varieties, but Salisbury, —

1848,' describes three, and Bement,’ 1853, two sorts. In Schenck’s

Gardener’s Text-book, 1854, three varieties are named. In 1863

Burr describes nine, and in 1866, twelve sorts, In an illustrated

article of my own, contributed to the Rural New Yorker for

1884, thirty-five varieties are described as distinct, and thirty-two

are figured. :

Sweet corn is not mentioned in Noisette’s Manual Compleat

du Jardinier, 1829, not by Bonafous in his folio work published

in 1836, so we may assume it had not reached French culture at

the latter date. In 1883 Vilmorin names seven sorts, all of which

are American named.

1 Travels, 1821, I.

? Husbandry, 1801,

3 John Randolph.

+ Trans. N. Y. Ag. Soc., 1848, 836.

5 ib., 1853, 336.

666 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [July,

Sweet Potato—We do not hear of the sweet potato until after

the discovery of America.’ Clusius, in 1566, first saw them in

Spain, and Oviedo records their introduction from the West

Indies. Ramusio’s Collection of Voyages was published 1563-74,

and in the Portuguese pilot’s relation, therein published, is, “ The

root which is called by the Indians of Hispaniola atata, is named

igname at St. Thomas [coast of Africa], and is one of the most

essential articles of their food.’* The igname was mentioned at

St. Thomas by Scaliger, 1566. It was grown by Gerarde in

England in 1597, and is figured by Rheede as cultivated in Mala-

bar, and by Rumphius in Amboyna, the latter asserting that they

were brought by the Spanish Americans to Manilla and the

Moluccas, whence the Portuguese diffused it through the Malay

archipelago. In China Bretschneider tells De Candolle® that

according to the Chinese books the sweet potato is foreign to

China, and that the Min-shu published in the sixteenth century,

says that the introduction took place between 1573 and 1620.

In America they are noted by many of the early voyagers, from

Columbus onward. Asa Gray and Trumbull, Am. Four. of Sc.,

April, 1883, have collected the evidence. We may add to their

references that Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus, in a

letter dated 1494, speaks of age or sweet potatoes or yams as

among the productions of Hispaniola, and Pigafetta Vicentia,

1591, found in Brazil dazatas, “ they resembled turnips and tasted

like chestnuts.” Peter Martyr’ describes many varieties, as does

also Oviedo® and Garcilasso de la Vega,’ this fact of variety indi-

cating antiquity of culture.

Gray and Trumbull state that it had reached the Pacific islands

1! One exception may be noted, but I have not opportunity of studying into the

authenticity of the statement. In a Spanish MS., 1562, in the island of Palma, by

John de Abreu de Gallineo, a Francisan friar, an account is given of the voyage of

Betancon to the island of Ferro (Canaries) in 1405. ‘Their food was the flesh of

goats, sheep and hogs; they had also some roots which the Spaniards call batatas.”

The identity of the roots appears to rest u upon the opinion of the writer in 1562,

after the introduction of the sweet potato and the American name

_ ® Hist. Rar. Stirp., 1576,

3 A. Gray, Am. Jour. of Sc., 1883, 24

4 Gen, Coll. of Voy. by the he Lond 1789, 433.

oe of Cult. Plants, 58, noi

_ 1 Third decade Eden’s nE of Trav., 1577, 143.

8 Gray and Trumbull, 1.

a Hak. Soc. a Il, 359.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 667

in prehistoric times, but give no evidence for the statement. I

can find nothing which can countenance this belief except in the

number of varieties that are cultivated in some islands, as thirty-

three in the Hawaian islands." The name cuma/a in New Zea-

land, and Otaheite,? and Fiji kumara’ is strangely like the cumar

of the Quito dialect* We may add here that the camote of

Yucatan was called in the islands azz and datatas,

Tomato.—Tomatoes were eaten by the Nahua tribes, and were

called fomat/, and also by the wild tribes of Mexico,’ and Her-

nandez® has a chapter “ De tomatl, seu planta acinosa vel Solano,

and describes several sorts under their Mexican name.’ It was

described by various European botanists of the sixteenth century,

which indicates its introduction to Europe, and for this botanical

history we may refer to Gray and Trumbull already cited. It

seems to have been grown in European gardens as a fruit, from

its first introduction, judging from the references in Dodonzus”

and Gerarde," but Parkinson, 1656, speaks of it as grown in Eng-

land for ornament and curiosity only. In Italy Chauteauvieux, .

1812, mentions their cultivation, on a large scale, for the Naples

and Rome market. It is probable that their use was at first more

. general among southern nations, as we find that the Anglo-Saxon

races were the last to receive them into the kitchen garden. Thus

in 1774 Long” describes the fruit well, and mentions their often

use in soups and sauces, and adds that they are likewise fried and

served up with eggs. In 1778 Mawe and Abercrombie” mention

five varieties as known, two of which are described as scentless

and burnet-leaved, and add that they are eaten by the Spaniards

and Portuguese in particular, and are in high esteem.

In the United States its introduction preceded by many years

its use as we at present know it, It is said to have reached Phil-

1 Wilkes, U. S. Ex. Ex., Iv, 282.

2 Cook’s Voy., I, 199.

3 Seeman, Fl. Vil.

‘ Mackie’ s note in Cieza’s Trav., Hak. Soc. ed., 234.

5 Fourth Voy. of Columbus, Gen. Coll. of Voy. by the Port., 440.

* Bancroft, Native Races, 11. 356.

668 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. [July,

adelphia from St. Domingo in 1798, but not to have been sold in

the markets until 1829. It was used as an article of food in New

Orleans in 1812.1 The first notice of it in American gardens was

apparently by Jefferson,’ who notes it in Virginian gardens in 1781.’

It was introduced into Salem, Mass., about 1802, by an Italian, but

he found it difficult to persuade people even to taste the fruit?

Among American writers on gardening, M’Mahon, 1806, men-

tions the tomato, but no varieties, as “in much esteem for culi-

nary purposes ;” Gardiner and Hepburn, 1818, say: “make

excellent pickles ;’ Fessenden, 1828, quotes from Loudon only ;

Bridgeman, 1832, says, “ much cultivated for its fruits in soups

and sauces.” They were first grown in Western New York in

1825, the seed from Virginia, and in 1830 were not produced by

the vegetable gardeners about Albany,‘ yet directions for culti-

vating this fruit appeared in Thorburn’s Gardeners’ Kalendar, 2d

edition, New York, 1817. Buist writes that as an esculent plant

in 1828-9 the tomato was almost detested, yet in ten years more

every variety of pill and panacea was “extract of tomato.” Mr.

T. S. Gold, secretary of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture,

writes me that “ we raised our first tomatoes about 1832, only as

a curiosity, made no use of them though we had heard that the .

French ate them. They were called love apples.” D. J. Browne,’

1854, describes six varieties and says, “ the tomato until within the

last twenty years was almost wholly unknown in this county as an

esculent vegetable.” In 1835 they were sold by the dozen in

Quincy market, Boston” In the Maine Farmer, Oct. 16, 1835,

in an editorial on tomatoes, they are said to be cultivated in gar-

dens in Maine, and to be “a useful article of diet, and should be

found on every man’s table.” In a local lecture in one of the

Western colleges about this time, a Dr. Bennett refers to the

tomato or Jerusalem apple as being found in the markets in great

abundance, and in the New York Farmer of this period, one

person is mentioned as having planted a large quantity for the

1 Prairie Farmer, June 28, 1876.

2 Notes, Trenton, 1803, 54-5.

*¥Felt’s Annals of Salem, 11, 631.

+Autobiography of Thurlow Weed.

® White, Gard. for the South, 312.

€ Pat. Of. Rep., 1854, 384.

* Am, Gard. Mag., 1835, 437.

a "Me. Farmer, Aug. 21, 1835.

1885.] Kitchen Garden Escutents of American Origin. 669

purpose of making sauce.’ In 1844 the tomato was now acquir-

ing that popularity which makes them so indispensable at pres-

ent, writes R. Manning.”

The summing of the above evidence seems to be that the escu-

lent use of the tomato in America does not antedate the present

century, and only became general about 1835 to 1840. At the

present time sixty named varieties appear in our various seed

catalogues, but many of these are synonyms. Of the sixty-four

named varieties grown at the New York Agr. Exp. Station in

1883, over fifty may be called sufficiently distinct for garden pur-

poses.

The tomato can escape from cultivation quite readily and be-

come feral. In the fall of 1884 I saw “ wild” tomatoes growing

upon the rocky sides of a railroad cutting in New Jersey, a few

miles from Jersey City, and these resembled the red cherry.

Unger? refers to their occurrence on the Gallapagos islands.

Wilkes‘ mentions several sorts in the Feejee islands, but whether

wild seems doubtful from the reference. On Ascension island

they are said to have become completely established all over the

island,> and Grant mentions their occurrence in Central Africa, 7°

21’S.,and near swamps 4° to 5° S., the natives not yet having

learned their-edible quality.®

We have now completed our list of American kitchen garden

plants, which includes the alkekengi, four species of dean, one

species of cucumber, Jerusalem artichoke, martynia, two nasturtt-

ums, peppers, potato, pumpkin and squash, purslane, tomato, sweet

corn and sweet Mien. From the list of kitchen esculents recog-

nized by Vilmorin; we can add the pine apple, quinoa, Apios

tuberosa, aracacha, pea nut, ysano, claytonia, spilanthes, enotheria,

strawberry two species, hop and oca in two species. Of these the

pineapple and strawberry are rather to be regarded as fruits, the

Apios seems rather to be included as a desirable plant for trial

than as actually cultivated, and the hop is a native of both

worlds, ;

1 Me. Farmer, Sept., II, 1835.

2 Hist, Mass Hort. Soc., 269.

5 Pat. Of. Rept., 1859, 357-

Gerda bet 576.

7Les Pl. Potageres, 1883.

VOL, XIX.—NO. VII. 44

670 Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. [July,

MOURNING AND WAR CUSTOMS OF THE KANSAS.

BY THE REV. J. OWEN DORSEY.

OW, as the Kansas are few, all the men of the tribe assemble

and go on the war path; but formerly it was not so. Then

a sufficient number of warriors could be raised from a few gentes,

probably among the gentes connected with the deceased by blood

or marriage. Then a-pipe was given to one who was an impor-

tant man in the tribe; and he fasted for six days before summon-

ing the warriors to foi him in the expedition.

An account of the ceremonies observed at the death of Hosa-

sage, a Kansas, in the winter of 1882-3, will show the present

customs of the tribe. The authorities from whom the informa-

tion was obtained were the war captain of the tribe, Paha®le-

gaqli; Waqube-k’i", the chief of the Eagle gens, and Nixiidje-

yifige, the principal sacred man or doctor of the tribe.

As soon as Hosasage died, his father-in-law, Wakanda, went

after Paha*le-gaqli, the war captain. The old man said, “ Hosa-

sage is dead. Therefore I have come to tell you to take the sacred

pi The reply was, “ Yes, I will take the sacred pipe. I will

also take the sacred bag.” Wakanda returned home, reaching it

as day was coming. Paha"le-gaqli took the mysterious objects,

and put clay on his face as a sign of mourning. He fasted, per-

forming the ceremonies of the ancients. At day he took the

pipe and went to the house of the deceased. Hosasage’s affini-

ties had laid out the corpse, placing the body in the house near

the door, and with the head to the east.

A skin tent was erected outside, extending from the front of

the house towards the east. Representative men from all the

gentes entered the tent and took their stations, as in the accom-

panying figure, beginning with Nq 1.

When Paha*le-gaqli arrived he first stood at C. Then the body

was brought from the house and placed at B, with the head to

the east. Then Paha"le-gaqli stood at J), where he wept a great

deal for the dead. He could not touch the corpse or any other

_ dead body.

After mourning for him a long time, he said, “ I will sit still for

3 = four days, smoking the sacred pipe. Then will I wander about,

: and I will kill any animals that I find.” _ Then he condoled with

all pr present. After which Wakanda took the ghost (sic) from the

ps 2 and carried it back to the moue, crying as he went. Then

1885.] Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. 671

S 7

Paha”le-gaqli selected four young men to act as servants for him-

self and the warriors.’ They were Gahia-ma*yi”, of the Turtle

gens; [juka-gaqli, the brother Paha*le-gaqli, of the Black eagle

gens ; Tcehawale, or Shield, of the same gens; and Tadje-k’uwe,

of the Qiiya or Eagle gens, This last is the brother-in-law of

Pahatle-gaqli. All are Yata men, 2. e., men from gentes on the

left side of the tribal circle. They were called djexe-k’i", or het-

ile-carriers, answering to the Osage jsexe-k’i. Next Paha*le-

gaqli desired four men to act as duda"wayila", /eaders of the expe-

dition, or qlets‘age. They always decide what is to be done, as

the duda*hafiga, or war captain, cannot do that. On this occa-

sion the men chosen were Kibaqla-hi, of the Elk gens; Jifiga-

wasa, of the Qiiya (Eagle) gens ; Cu"mikase (Wolf), of the Ibatc‘e

A, The corpse: in the ` Y. The front of the

house. house.

2. An Upa” (Elk) man. I. A Ma”yiñka -gaxe

4.A ue (Eagle) man.

3. A Ta (Deer) man,

5. A Kaze (Kansas,

wind) man.

7. A Pafika (Red ce-

6. Ao He (Night)

8. ks Thee (Chicken

9. A Wasabe (Black

(Black eagle) II. A Lu (Thunder)

Lal

man. '

2. A Tceduñga (Buf- -

falo bull) man. Fig. 1.

14. A Tciju Wactage (Peacemaker ) man.

gens; and Wats‘aji, of the Black bear gens. Three were Yata

men, and the fourth was an Ictufiga (Right) man.

The directors consulted one another, saying, “ Let us go on

the war path in four days.” Then they addressed Paha*le-gaqli

for the first time in their official capacity, “O war captain, let us

go on the war path in four days.” Then Paha*le-gaqli announced

their decision to all the others present, saying, “ O comrades! in

four days I will go on the war pa

' Asa reward for his services Waksude gave Pahatle-gaqli &

spotted horse, two red blankets, two white ones and a calico

shirt. The two red blankets, one white one and the shirt were

divided at once among the four directors. Then all present, ex-

1 Nixüdje-yiñge says that there are six instead of four when the waqpele gaxe is

performed.

man,

t3. A: Ke. (Tute)

man.

672 Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. [July,

cept Paha"le-gaqli, returned to their homes. Paha"le-gaqli could

not go to his home for four days. He had told the kettle-carriers

to make him a small lodge by the course of a small stream which

used to flow near his house. This was done by Gahia-ma"yi" and

Tcehawale. Paha™le-gaqli was required to fast, wandering about

and crying in solitary places, having clay on his face. At sunset his

brother, Ijuka-gaqli, brought him water. Then could the mourner `

wash his face and drink a cupful of the water, but he could

eat no food. After sleeping awhile at night, he arose and put

more clay on his face. At sunset on the fourth day the four

directors went to the house of Paha*le-gaqli and sent the four

kettle-carriers to summon the mourner to his house. Then was

he permitted to take food. The next morning he went for Gahia-

mayi” and Tcehrwale. Before they arrived he and his wife left

their house. He ordered thêm to invite the guests to his lodge.

The messengers went in different directions, saying to each in-

vited guest, “ I have come to call you to go on the war path.”

And each man replied, “ Yes, I will go with you.” A lodge was

set up near the house of Paha"le-gaqli, and there the guests as-

sembled.

Only two gentes met as such, the two Hafiga gentes, Black

eagle and Chicken-hawk, but there were present the directors

and kettle-carriers, some of whom were members of other

gentes.

The following figure shows the seats of the Hajiga men in the

lodge:

Chicken-hawk men, Black eagle men.

2. Ali*kawahu, 1, Paha*le-gaqli.

Jf. Cu™mikase. b. Thuka-gaqli

g: Wat? li>, c. Nixüdje-yiñge

A, Mik‘a-ha, u®pewaye,

i. Tle-ha, e. Qiiyulaiige.

r Fig. 2.

A apabe legal, who took his seat suddenly when the guests

irr Was present in two capacities, as war captain and as the

1885.] Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. 673

head of his gens; Cu"mikase was there as a member of his gens

and as a director; and Ijuka-gaqle was there as a member of his

gens and also as a kettle-carrier,

Only three were allowed to sing the sacred songs, Alikawahu,

Gahi"ge-wadayiiiga (who died in Jan., 1883) and Paha®le-gaqli.

Two young men, one of the Turtle gens and one of the Qiiya

(Eagle) gens, attended to the sacred boiling (for the feast).

Paha*le-gaqli sent Tadje-k’uwe for the sacred clam shell, saying,

, Fig. 3.

“ I will take the large covering and the large bowl too. Iwill

perform a sacred ceremony. Go for them.” These objects were

at the house of Paha”le-gaqli, beyond the person addressed. The

clam shell had been brought from the “ great water at the east”

by the ancestors of the Kansas. This was the case with all the

sacred objects of the tribe, including the pipes and sundry roots

used as medicines. The shell was opened and made like the face

of a man, with eyes, teeth, etc. The above sketch was made

by Paha"le-gaqli.

674 Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. [July,

When the sacred pipe is smoked by a Large Hafiga (Black

eagle) or a Small Hafiga (Chicken-hawk) man, he must hold it in

his right hand, blowing the smoke into the clam shell, which is

held in his left. The smoke is supposed to ascend to the thunder-

god, the god of war, to whom it is pleasant. There are five

envelopes or wrappings for the shell, similar to those around the

war pipe. All of the wrappings are called the “ i"he-cabe.” The

inmost one is the bladder of a buffalo bull; the next is the

spotted fur of a fawn; the third is matting made of the tall grass

called sa; the fourth a broad piece of deer skin; the outmost

one is interwoven hair from the head of a buffalo bull.

A. The bowl. &. The tube kaaa oh through the stone, connecting the

mouth-piece (C) with the bowl.

The war pipe was kept by Paha®le-wak’ii (son of Ali®kawahu),

who died in 1883. It is made of red pipestone ("yi"), and is

called i*-jiidge nanüŭ”ba or naniitiba judje. The stem forms part

of the stone, being just long enough to be put between the lips.

The stone is about the thickness of two hands (two or three

_ inches). On each side of the pipe is an eye, that it may see the

_ €nemies. The opening of the bundle containing it is regulated

_ by Alitkawahu, A figure of it is appended, showing its appear-

1885.] Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. 675

The bundle containing the clam shell was brought by the

young man who went for it, and placed before Paha*le-gaqli.

Ali*kawahu took the bundle and began the sacred song. Paha"le-

gaqli soon joined him in the singing.

The accompanying chart used by these singers is a fac-simile of

one drawn by Paha*le-gaqli, who copied it from one he inherited

from his father and father’s father. There used to be many other

pictographs on it. The Osages have a similar chart, on which

there are fully a hundred pictographs. Paha*le-gaqli said that

there should be a representation of fire in the middle of his

chart, but he was afraid to make it. The songs are very sacred,

never being sung on ordinary occasions, or in a profane manner,

lest the offender should be killed by the thunder-god.

Fig. 1 the sacred pipe, Waqube wakandagi. Three songs refer

to it. They are sung when Ali*kawahu removes the coverings.

One is as follows:

“ Ha-ha’! tce’-ga-nu’ ha-ha’!

Ha-ha’! tce’-ga-nu’ ha-ha’!

Hü-hü’! (Said when the envelopes are

pressed down on.

Chorus—Yu! yu! yu! Hü-hü’! Hi-hii’! (Sung by all the

Black eagle and Chicken-hawk men.)

This chorus is an invocation of the thunder-god. In making

it the arms are held up to the sky, being apart and parallel, with

the palms out. Each arm is rubbed from the wrist to the shoul-

der by the other hand! After the singing of these songs, Paha®-

le-gaqli receives the clam shell and puts it on his back.

Fig. 2, Ts‘age-jifiga wayt", (Two) songs of the venerable man

or Wakanda, the maker of all the songs. When Ali®kawahu and

Paha"le-gaqli are singing these two songs, they suppose that he

walks behind them, holding up his hands to the thunder-god in

prayer for them. On the special occasion referred to in this

paper, the expedition after the death of Hosasage, when these

songs had been sung, Paha"le-gaqli shifted the shell from his own

back to that of Jifiga-wasa, one of the directors. He then

ordered another man, Tayé, to put the Ihe-cabe on his back.

1 This song and invocation is used by the Ponkas.

676 Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. [July,

Fig. 3, song of another old man, who holds a cane. It is this

Wakanda who gives success to the hunters. He is thus ad-

dressed: “ Ts‘age-jifiga hat! Dable mayi*-au’! Dáda” wadji’ta

nikaci’ga ckéda" wayakipa-bada”, ts’éya-banahau !— O venerable

man! Go hunting! Kill whatever persons or animals you may

meet! They think that this being drives the game towards the

hunters,

Fig. 4, Tadje wayu”, wind songs. The winds are deities; they

are Baza"ta (at the pines), the east wind; A’k’a, the south wind; A’k’a

jifi’ga or A’k’uye, the west wind ; and Hnita (towards the cold) the

north wind. The warriors used to remove the hearts of slain

foes, putting them in the fire as a sacrifice to the winds.

Fig. 5, songs of the large star (Venus), which is a Wakanda

or god. :

Fig. 6, Ja"-mi"dje wayu”, bow songs, This is the bow of a

Wakanda, probably that of the old man who aids the hunters. |

Fig. 7, song of sacrifice to the deities. The sign for this song

is a hand of which four fingers are seen, As this is sung some

gift is thrown down and left as an offering to the Wakanda, and

to all the deities, those above, those under the hills, the winds,

Venus, etc.

As Ali®kawahu and Paha"le-gaqli are Yata people, they elevate

the left hands, beginning at the left with the east wind, then turn-

ing to the south wind, next to the west wind and lastly to the

north wind. To each they say, “ That I give to you, O Wakan-

da!” They used to pierce themselves with knives or small splin-

ters, and offer small pieces of their flesh to the deities.

Fig. 8, deer songs. Fig. 9, an elk song. Fig. 10, seven songs of

‘the old man or deity who makes night (songs).

Fig. 11, five songs of the big rock. This is a rough, red rock

near Topeka, Kan. It has a hard body, like that of Wakanda.

“ May you continue like it!” is the prayer of the singers.

Fig. 12, four wolf songs. The wolf howls at night.

Fig. 13, five moon songs. The moon shines at night.

Fig. 14, four crow songs, The crow flies around a dead body

that it wishes to eat.

Fig. 15, Two songs of the yarn belt. This kind of belt was

a - worn by the old men over their buffalo robes.

_ Fig. 16, song of an old man or deity. Fig. 17, three noon

mps Fig. 18, two shade songs. The shade is made by a

1885.] Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. OF

deity. Fig. 19,a dream song. There is a deity who makes peo-

ple sleepy. Fig. 20, song of the small rock.

Fig. 21, three songs of a tribe of Indians who

who resembled the Witchitas. The Kansas

used to fight them. The two locks of plaited

hair are not symbolic. Their faces are marked

thus:

Fig. 22, two songs of the new moon. Fig. 23, ten songs of

the buffalo bull. Fig. 24, planting songs. Fig. 25, cooking

songs. The old man takes water in the kettle for boiling the

corn and for drinking. Fig. 26, songs about walking with stilts.

The Kansas used to walk on stilts when they forded shallow

streams. Fig. 27, three owl songs. The owl hoots at night.

All the men had picketed their horses outside the lodge be-

fore the singing of the songs, and they had brought in their

saddles,

After the singing Paha®™le-gaqli lighted and smoked the war

pipe, and then handed it to all the others. After smoking they

slept there. When the sky was getting light, before sunrise, the

men took clay which they rubbed over their faces. All rose to

their feet within the lodge and cried. They ceased crying when

the sky became white. They went out, put the saddles on the

horses, mounted them and departed. Paha®le-gaqli kept far be-

hind the others. All cried. By and by they reached the other

side of the Arkansas river; then they reined in their horses and

dismounted. Paha*le-gaqli took the clam shell and gave it to

one of the four directors to carry on his back. Subsequently

they killed five prairie chickens. Thus was life taken, and the

mourners were satisfied. They went on till they reached a small

stream, beside which they encamped. A fire was kindled and

the two kettle-carriers who had made the small lodge at the first,

went for water ; they gave water to all the warriors, who washed

off the clay from their faces. They ate the prairie chickens and

then started homeward. All returned to the house of Paha*le-

gaqli, where his wife put a kettle on the fire and gave them a

meal. All partook of it and then separated, going to their respec-

tive homes.

According to Nixiidje-yifige, two qlets‘age were chosen for

each side of the tribe. They carried on their backs thread or

sinew for mending their moccasins, and corn and squashes in

678 Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. [July,

bags. The war captain had a tobacco pouch of skunk skin. —

When he smoked he was ever praying, “O Wakanda! I wisha

Pani Loup to die !”

The war captain made one of the qlets‘age carry the sacred

bag before the ceremony of “ waqpelé gaxe” was performed. On

this occasion there were six kettle-carriers instead of four. When

the qlet s‘age carried the sacred bag two of the kettle-carriers

carried a bundle of sticks apiece, which they laid down on the

road, one end of each bundle pointing towards the land of the

enemy. Four of the kettle carriers remained still. The next

morning all the warriors went to the spot; they drew a circle

around the bundles and set up one stick within, which they at-

tacked as if it were a Pani. This might cause, in their opinion,

the death of real foes. Members of the Lu, or Thunder gens,

could not take part in this ceremony, but were obliged to keep in

the rear. The following prayers were said during the wapgqele

gaxe, according to Nixiidje-yifige: “I wish to pass along the

road to the foe! O Wakanda! I promise you a blanket if I suc-

ceed!” This was said facing the east. Turning to the west the

following prayer was made: “O Wakanda! I promise you a

feast if I succeed !”

On the return from war, during the scalp dance which followed,

the wife of the war captain held the scalp and the war pipe as

she danced. ‘

U’ce-gu"ya, an aged man of the Black bear gens, told the fol-

lowing: In former days when a man lost a child he cried for it,

_ and became a war captain. Two persons built him a small lodge ~

and filled a small kettle with corn. When the corn was boiled,

which was about dark, the captain gave a little of it away, but

he ate none. He fasted because he wished to kill an Indian.

The warriors departed the next day. The kettle-carriers took

corn, meat, moccasins, small kettles and spoons. During the

“waqpele gaxe” the following petitions were made. “ I wish to

kill a Pani! I wish to bring back horses! I wish to pull down a

_ foe! I promise you a calico shirt! I promise you a robe! I will

_ also give you a blanket, O Wakanda, if you let me come home

after killing a Pani!”

___ War Dances.—There are two dances before going to war, the

aka” watci” and the Wacdbe watci”. The former may be

ced at any season. It is designed to increase the warlike spirit

ee ee

1885.] Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. 679

of the men. The following diagram shows the position of the

different actors:

A, The principal

keeper of the

maka" or medi-

The fire or fire-

place is in the mid-

dle of the lodge.

c. Four women on

each side.

d. The men. e e. Two servants or

messengers,

Fig. 5.

The Wacabe watci" is danced four days before going on the

war path, in warm weather. There are about forty followers be-

sides the leaders. They divide into two parties of equal numbers

and dance out of doors, around the village, half going in one

direction and half in the other. Each of the four qlets‘age car-

ries a standard or wagqléqle ska, made of swan skin (mi™xa-ha),

Two of these men are in each party. The he wagleqle or wacabe,

from which the dance takes its name, is borne by the wadjipa®yi®

or village crier, a member of the Deer gens. When they start

on the war path the qlet s‘age go horseback, carrying their

standards.

The two dances after returning from war are the Watce wa-

tci? or scalp dance, danced by the women, and the Ilucka watci”,

danced by the men alone.

Other Burial and Mourning Customs-——When Wm. Johnson, a

Kansas, died, he was buried by his wife, his sister and his sister’s

daughter. As the widow did not wish any of the tribe to go on

the war path, she did not send for Paha*le-gaqli. So neither he

nor the other men assembled at the house of the deceased, as in

the case of Hosasage.

When a man’s wife dies, the husband must put earth on his

face at daybreak, and wander about till sunset, bewailing his loss.

He must fast from sunrise to sunset for a year and a half. After

sunset he washes his face. and can eat and sleep. At the end of

the period of mourning, the widower says to his wife’s brothers,

“ I will give you a horse, a red blanket, a white blanket, a calico

680 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [July,

shirt and a kettle.” One of them replies, “Yes, my sister’s hus-

band, that is good.” The presents are made the next morning at

daybreak. The elder brother-in-law takes the horse, and the

next receives the other gifts. At noon the widower washes his

face and seeks another wife.

In like manner when a woman loses her husband she must put

earth on her face and fast during the day from sunrise to sunset

for a year. She too can eat after sunset. At the end of the year

she brings the gifts to the sister and younger brother of her hus-

band. The sister gets the horse and the brother takes the rest.

When a widower does not make presents to the kinsmen of his

deceased wife before marrying again, he is sure to provoke the

anger of his brothers-in-law. Formerly an old man took a gun

and shot at his sister’s husband for this reason. And another

man, when the Kansas were south of Council Grove, Kan., took

a knife and gashed the head of the offending man in several

places. Therefore widowers are accustomed to observe this rule

of making presents, fearing the punishment which their offended

affinities might inflict on them.

:0:

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS,

(Continued from p. 542, June number.)

IJ. THe Nervous MECHANISM.

I all the higher animals a system of fibers and cell masses

forms the channel by which external energy enters the body,

and is distributed to its every organ and tissue. There is consid-

erable variation of form and condition in this apparatus, but it is

essentially a single organic agent, and includes the muscles as

part of its organism. There is little apparent differentiation in

the fibers. The main differentiation is in the endings of these

fibers. Of these endings a very great number exist on the sur-

face of the body, where they are variously modified and adapted

to different purposes. These are the receiving organs, through

whose aid external energy reaches the conducting fibers. They

a are varied to receive every form of external energy. This energy

beats upon the surface of the body in at least six forms or modes.

: One of these is that known as ethereal vibration, through which

far distant objects make themselves felt, Part of these vibrations

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 681

enter the body through a specially organized nerve apparatus,

the rods and cones of the eye. But they all, as radiant heat,

enter at every part of the surface, by aid of less specialized nerve

endings. Heat in another condition, the static vibrations of con-

tiguous matter, also enters at every part of the surface, presuma-

bly through the same channel. A second series of vibrations,

those of ponderable matter, enter by the channel of the ear,

through the aid of an intricately organized apparatus. In addi-

tion to these three conditions of vibratory influence there are

three modes of direct contact through which motor energy also

makes its way into the body. These are solid, liquid and gase-

ous contact. Gaseous contact enters by a special channel, that of

the nerves of smell, which are excited by the touch of excessively

fine material borne on the air current. Liquid contact finds its

special channel in the nerves of taste, which are only sensitive to

the direct touch of liquified or dissolved matter. Solid contact

has the whole surface for its field. The nerves of touch, indeed,

are also sensitive to liquid and gaseous contact if exerted by mat-

ter in motion, but mainly respond to the contact and pressure of

solid matter.

The internal extremities of. the nerves lack the variety of their

surface endings. They are distributing organs as the latter are

receiving organs. The energy received varies greatly in charac-

ter, and needs considerably varied apparatus for its reception.

That distributed has become far more homogeneous and can be

dispersed by a single apparatus. This is the muscle fiber, which,

though not ordinarily considered so, is essentially but a nerve

ending, an aggregation of unstable chemical molecules around

the extremity ofa nerve. And the combined aggregates of these

bers, which constitute a muscle, are but a mass of nerve extrem-

ities ending in matter which is adapted to set free a considerable

volume of motor energy. Into this matter the energy which

has traversed the nerves is discharged, and there instigates an

active chemical change and a rapid freeing of energy, with animal

motion as its result.

Such is reflex action, a frequent mode of nerve action in man,

and possibly the only one in many of the lower animals. Motor

_energy differing greatly in character and source is thus forced to

produce a single effect, that of muscular contraction and animal

1See Organic Physics, AMER. NAT., Feb., 1883.

682 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [July

mass motion. But in all the higher animals other effects are pro-

duced. All the nerve fibers enter cells or masses of cells called

ganglia, though there is no evidence that they end there. There

is some reason to believe that they simply pass through these

cells, with a reduction of diameter, and perhaps a division into

branches. All we can be sure of is that the motor energy which

they carry inward does not all pass through these ganglia, but

that much of it is arrested in its course and there distributed.

And in this distribution an interesting feature of the case is, at

least so far as the cerebral ganglion is concerned, that the motor

energy retains the peculiarities it possessed before entering the

body, or something equivalent to them, and impresses a perma-

nent record of each such peculiarity upon some internal tablet.

Only when this energy continues its course over the nerves to the

muscles does it lose its individuality and merge in the general

outflow of muscle energy.

As we descend in the animal kingdom it is to find this com-

plex apparatus of sensation and motion gradually simplify. The

sensory nerve-endings and their organs grow less intricate, and

their susceptibility is diminished. Some of the organs of special

sense completely disappear, and the power of the others becomes

little more than a modified touch. In very many cases the body

is covered by a rigid armor, and the influence of external energy

is limited to a small region of the surface. Finally the special

senses disappear, apparently the last to vanish being that of sight,

which is reduced to a vague discrimination between light an

shade. _The cerebral ganglion grows less and less marked, and

disappears as a special organ. Finally the nerve and muscle

fibers vanish, one of their last traces being the single cell which,

in the Hydra, appears to function both as nerve and muscle. On

reaching the Protozoa we find forms quite destitute of sensory

and motor organs, And yet sensation and motion persist. These

_ powers seem to be native to protoplasmic matter, however aggre-

gated, and are displayed even in the plant cell wherever it is so

situated that its protoplasm is exposed to external energy.

Yet late discoveries in regard to the constitution ofthe cell

_ prove it to be by no means the simple homogeneous structure

: nd supposed, The division into nucleus and outer cell

has bi traced to a very low level, and perhaps exists at the low-

- Anad the nucleus, and to a less marked extent the outer

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 683

cell, are now known to be heterogeneous in structure, composed

of at least two distinct substances, one of which exists as very

minute fibrils, of which the other occupies the interspaces. This

organization, very well marked in the cells of the higher animals,

becomes much less so in the Protozoa, and is only clearly distin-

guishable in their higher representatives. Yet this is probably

due to the imperfection of instruments and methods. The ner-

vous structure has been only recently discovered in the Medusz,

and has not yet been traced in the stem of the compound Ccelen-

terates, though this conveys sensory impulses, and doubtless con-

tains communicating fibrilla. In like manner the fibrillar struc-

ture may exist in all cells, though not always sufficiently defined

to be discoverable.

Again the cilia, so common in the single-celled life forms and

in many of the surface cells of higher animals, have been traced

in some instances into direct connection with the fibrillz. Per-

haps in all cases they are external continuations of the fibrillz,

and may thus function as the primitive nerve-ending, the sensory

termination which receives impressions of external motor energy

and transmits it to the fibrillz to be distributed throughout the sub-

stance of the cell. There is thus some reason to believe that the

developed motor apparatus of the highest animal has its primitive

counterpart in every cell, and that the unfolded nervous and mus-

cular organism of man is but a direct development of that existing

in the Infusoria. In Amoeba the pseudopod may function as a sen-

sory organ and receive motor impressions which are distributed

throughout the celi mass. Tissue contraction seems to be the

general result of such motor influence, however received and dis-

tributed. ý

Fg N yeh OB:

T ate eh Lamy eas Pi, Rg |

motor apparatus. It has been clearly shown that fine threads of 3

protoplasm connect contiguous cells in frequent instances,

servers have seen this structure in the cells of numerous species

of plants, and some writers look upon it as universal in plant

cells. In addition to the protoplasmic threads which join the

nucleus to the cell wall, others pass through the wall, probably

through minute apertures, and connect with the protoplasm of `

one or more neighboring cells. Possibly this, may be a result of

cell division. When pir cell separates into two its protoplasm

may not completely separate. And it is quite conceivable that

684 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [July,

this net work of protoplasm, which connects all the cells of many

and possibly the active cells of all plants, may have a nervous

function, though the conditions of plant life are such as seldom

to call it into exercise. .

In animals a similar structure has been observed in many cases,

and particularly between epithelial cells, where it is most likely

to be called into functional activity. Some observers claim that

it is general, and that the animal body is an intricate net work of

fibrill2, of which the cells forms the nodes. This doctrine,

though it has been strongly combatted, is certainly not without

considerable support in observation, and there is good reason to

believe that such continuity of protoplasm exists between the

cells of at least several of the animal tissues.

Thus the primitive motor organism quite probably exists with

‘little change throughout the highest animals, and may serve to

bring every cell within the reach of motor influences, as the simi-

larly minute vascular structure has a like result in regard to

nutritive influences. The conditions here indicated, however,

exist in very different degrees of perfection in different cells. In

some tissues they may almost or quite have ceased to exist

through lack of exercise. In nerve tissue, on the contrary, they

are remarkably well developed. The large nerve cells of the

ganglia possess an intricate fibrillar structure, so distinctly devel-

oped that it was clearly recognized long before any one imagined

that such a structure was a common feature of cells. And the

extrusion of protoplasmic threads through the cell walls, in direct

continuation of the internal fibrils, is equally well marked. The

whole surface of some of the cells is covered with a series of fine

nerve rootlets. Yet greatly developed as this structure is, there is

no reason to doubt that it is a direct unfoldment of the general

cell structure, with its nuclear and outer. cell fibrils and its one or

more protoplasmic threads running to neighboring cells. In the

case of nerve tissue the rootlets also connect with other cells, but

the connected cells are often separated by very considerable inter-

vals. Very likely this separation is a result of natural selection.

In original Metazoa sensory impressions may have passed from

‘cell to cell through the aid of their connecting protoplasmic

_ threads. In forms in which no nerves can be discovered this

_ ‘method _ still continue, as a slow yet sufficient process. But

nal life developed the connected cells seem to have become

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 685

more and more widely separated, the fibril growing thicker and

becoming a nerve fiber, with the power of conveying motor

energy more rapidly and in greater quantity. Through some

such process successive steps of evolution may have led to the

condition now existing in the highest animals, with very numer-

ous fibrils emanating from the cells, their combination into bun-

dles with an insulating covering, and their final distribution to

distant cells,

For this idea we have a degree of embryological warrant, and

can trace the nerve organism to one of its ancestral stages. For,

as observed by Beale, the cells from which the nervous system

arises form processes which connect adjacent cells together. They

are thus direct counterparts of many, and perhaps of all, tissue

cells. As growth goes on these cells separate, while their con-

necting processes lengthen and form the axis cylinder of the

nerve fiber. In this we seem to perceive the phylogenetic devel-

opment of nerve tissue. Eventually, as some observers consider,

one of these cells becomes a cell in a nerve ganglion, the other a

peripheral end organ, their connecting process being lengthened

out into a nerve fiber. That in this we have an exact representa-

tion of the mode of development of nerve tissue, however, is far

from certain. If so we should find each nerve fiber proceeding

directly from one to the other extremity without intermediate

ganglia. The frequent existence of these ganglia leads to another

conclusion, and indicates that the original development pursued

another line, which has been slurred over in the rapidity of unfold-

ment like so many embryological characteristics. Various

hypotheses of the mode of development of nerve tissue have

been heretofore offered, the most notable being that of Herbert

Spencer, but these are mainly philosophical. Still another may

be offered which is in direct consonance with the recent discov-

eries in cell and tissue formation above described, and which

_ future embryological research may fully substantiate.

The hypothesis which we propose is the following. We have

seen some reason to believe that in single-celled animals the

motor impressions received by the cilia or otherwise are distrib-

uted throughout the cell by the fibrille. This distribution is at

first general, but in case of special motions may become special,

certain fibrillæ becoming specially capacitated, through exercise

in this function, to convey the current. In Metazoan animals

VOL. XIX.—NO. VII. 45

686 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [July,

the connecting threads of protoplasm between the cells are doubt-

less competent to convey motor impulses from cell to cell, and

they very probably preceded the development of nerves as a sen-

sory arrangement, permitting a slow and general transmission of

motor influences to every part of the body. But if any particu-

lar motions became habitual, through natural selection, the sen-

sory inflow must have become to some extent specialized, follow-

ing certain channels of conduction more frequently than others.

But nutrition always attends activity, and in these special lines

the fibrils must have grown larger and more capable. If their

labor still increased, a second change must have succeeded. e

line of special conduction being mainly composed of cells, with

short interconnecting fibrils, a modification necessarily took place

in the cells also. If the outer threads had continuous fibrillar

connection through the cells, which we have some warrant to

assume, these cell fibrilla must have grown larger and straighter

as a result of extra nutrition and natural selection. They may,

indeed, have exhausted the cell nutriment and caused the abor-

tion of the remaining filaments. In short, a continuation of this

process of evolution may have caused the gradual disappearance

of most of the cells in the line of conduction, and the conversion

of their fibrillæ into direct continuations of the developing nerve

fiber.

The make-up of the axis cylinder of every nerve fiber is in strong

corroboration of this idea. It is found to consist of numerous

extremely delicate fibrilla imbedded in a finely granulated sub-

stance. Nuclei are also found in it. Thus it is closely analogous

to the cell in composition, and presents strong indications of

originating in a connected line of cells. Another feature of the

nerve fiber is an interesting confirmation of this. The medullary

sheath seems but a special elongation of the outer layer of the

cells. It does not exist in the primitive nerve, of which we have

probably a survival in the nerves of the sympathetic system, It

seems the result of a fuller development, yet the fatty and albu-

minous matters of which it consists are the substances which

: exists most abundantly in the outer cell layer. Conversion into -

matter is a general characteristic of deteriorating cells. Thus

ie every Portion of the nerve fiber can be traced directly to the

. cell, with singularly little change, and there is certainly much

Teason to believe that nerve conduction is an outgrowth of a

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 687

primitive connected-cell conduction. All these cells did not dis-

appear or suffer conversion. Some were retained, perhaps as cen-

ters of distribution, by whose aid a single inflowing current could

be sent off in several directions as a partial survival of the origi-

nal general distribution. And significantly, near these cells the

axis cylinder is naked. The cell matter has not been converted

into a medullary sheath. Yet more significant indications of

such an origin of the nerve system are seen in the bipolar nerve

cells. In these a nerve fiber enters the cell on each side, and its

fibrillated structure is clearly continuous with the fibrillæ of the

cell. And in many cases the medulla of the fibers is continued

over the cell. Such a cell, therefore, appears to be a survival of

the primitive nerve, and indicates its origin, as above conjectured,

from a line of cells with protoplasmic fibrillar connections, -

There is one more point here to consider, that of the termini

of the nerve fibers, It is quite probable that they never terminate

in the ganglionic cells, not even in those of the cerebrum, but that

they connect with the fibrillæ of these cells, which in their turn

connect with outgoing fibers. Nor is it by any means sure that

they have actual termini in the peripheral and muscular cells.

- Indications point to the contrary. In many cases they seem to

pass continuously through these cells and rejoin the exterior

nerve fibrils, or to end ina plexus whose fibrille are probably

‘continuous. Thus in the highest development of nervous tissue

there is singularly little change in structure from the condition

of undifferentiated cell tissue.

We may look upon the function of the nerve fibers as simply

conductive, though it is possible that they add to the strength of

the motor current through chemical change which takes place in

their tissue. What is the function of the nerve cells? Very

probably their action resembles that of the electric resistance

coil. In telegraphy by decreasing the diameter of the wire the

passage of the current is resisted, and part of it loses its electric

character. By suitable contrivances this checked current may be

converted into heat, light, magnetism or other forms of force. In

the nerve cells the minute fibrillæ over which the current must

pass seem to have a similar function. Part of the motor energy

is converted into some other form of force. It may become heat.

It may outflow into the high-atomed muscle molecules and cause

chemical change. Or it may assume some other condition, as it

688 ae The Relations of Mind and Matter. [July,

very evidently does in the cerebral cells. There are possibly no

actual nerve termini anywhere within the body, but simply occa-

sional resistance nodes, in some of which a single inflowing cur-

rent may be divided between several outgoing channels, but in

many or all of which the current is checked and partly converted

into some other mode of motion.

It is not necessary here to go into any minute description of

the nervous system. In man it is virtually double. In addition

to the external sensory and motor system, there is a secondary

system which is devoted to the needs of the digestive cavity and

to other internal duties. These systems are similar in general

make-up, consisting of ganglia and communicating fibers, which

extend partly to muscles and partly to the epithelial layer. But

they have marked differences. The sympathetic has no central

ganglion answering to the cerebrum. Its operations are all per-

formed without consciousness except through the occasional aid

of its cerebral nerve connections. And in its nerve fibers the

axis cylinder is destitute of a medullary sheath. Some writers

consider that its operations may have been originally conscious

and have beccme unconscious and simply reflex through inces-

sant repetition. Yet this is very doubtful. It presents every .

appearance of being a survival of a primitive nerve condition, be-

yond which it has not greatly developed. Consciousness is a con-

dition that must have been originally vague and generalized, and

which but slowly grew specialized with the gradual centralization

of the nervous system. We cannot imagine it as retrograding

and disappearing in any developing nervous system. In fact, the

system of intestinal nerves has never become centralized and defi-

nite. Such consciousness as it may possess retains its original

vagueness. Its functional existence is perhaps as ancient as that

of the external nerve system, but its development has been much

slower. When the latter had advanced to the condition of dis-

tinct nerves and ganglia, the former yet remained in the primitive

stage of cell conduction. The nerves of external sensation have

gained an insulating sheath while those of intestinal sensation

remain naked. The one has become definitely centralized while

the other yet lacks special organization. These results flow from

_ their difference of duties, which in the one case are simple and

unvarying, in the other complex and excessively varied, As a

result such consciousness as may exist in the intestinal system

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 689

retains the dim vagueness which probably exists in animals of a

very low grade. But in the cerebro-spinal system consciousness

has become sharply centralized and defined. The peculiar condi-

tion which we call consciousness may have its roots very low

down in the soil of nature as a highly generalized accompaniment

of motor energy. In.the evolution of higher forms and condi-

tions it has grown steadily more specialized, until, in the central

nerve organ of man, it has become a concentrated, developed and

sharply defined condition, the necessary accompaniment of an

equally special centralization of substance and energy, which we

name the mind.

The cerebro-spinal nerve system in man and the higher ani-

mals has become a highly differentiated and complex organism,

whose make-up may be very briefly described. The sensory

nerves, which convey motor impressions from the various points

of the surface, pass through a series of spinal ganglia in their

upward journey toward the brain. .Here they enter the great

ganglia at the base of the brain, to which the nerves of some of

the special senses pass directly. From here they communicate

with the cerebrum, though whether directly or indirectly is not

certain. It is certain that when the cerebrum is removed many

of the sensory nerves are found to be in direct communication

with those of motion. It is almost equally certain that in ordi-

nary cases many sensory impressions are directly passed on to

the motor nerves, with or without consciousness. These inter-

mediate ganglia, then, may perform a special duty in the economy

which we will consider further on. From the cerebrum motor

nerves enter these ganglia, from which the same or other motor

nerves emerge and pass onward, mainly by the route of the spinal

. ganglia, to the muscles.

According to M. Luys! the cerebral organ is composed of a

vast array of fibers which diverge to enter a hemispherical sheet

of gray or cellular nerve matter. This gray sheet is greatly

wrinkled and folded so as considerably to increase its superficial

extent. It is of no great thickness, and is composed of succes-

sive layers of nerve cells connected by fibers, these cells being

smaller in the surface layers and growing larger in the deeper

layers. The hemisphere is really a double mass, since it is

divided in the middle line of the body, the two halves being con-

1 The Brain and its Functions, International Scientific Series.

690 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [July,

nected by a thick commissure of nerve fibers. The cerebral cells

are pyramidal in shape, the summit of the pyramid being directed

upwards. Each of these cells gives off a delicate fringe of fibrils

like the fine rootlets of a plant, which spread out in an inter-

laced network and form a continuous fine plexus. These fibrils

are believed to be the origin of the sensory nerves, becoming

aggregated and covered with a medullary sheath. In addition to

the processes which thus break up into rootlets of protoplasm,

- there is always one at least which does not thus subdivide but

continues as.a defined nerve fiber from the cell outward. This is

believed to be the origin of the motor nerves. The above beliefs,

however, as yet need substantiation in discovery.

Midway in the cerebral organ, occupying the center of the

hemisphere, are two oval-shaped bodies, known respectively as

the optic thalamus and the corpus striatum. Each is composed

of several ganglia, the first being connected by nerve fibers with

the posterior, the second with the anterior portion of the spinal

chord. These, according to the hypothesis of M. Luys, are in-

termediate stations for the nerve currents. All the sensory nerves

of the body are gathered into the ganglia of the optic thalamus,

from which they are again distributed to the cerebral lobes. The

return nerves from these lobes are, on the contrary, gathered into

the corpus striatum, from which they are distributed to the mus-

cles of the body. It is not necessary to give the somewhat ques-

tionable conclusions which he draws from this mechanism of the

cerebral nerve system.

If now we trace the nervous system downward through the

different classes of the animal kingdom, its complexity of organi-

zation is found to gradually decrease. A head ganglion, sending

off nerves to the organs of special sense, is found to exist in the-

arthropods and the higher mollusks and annelids, but it has lost

_ the distinctive features of the vertebrate brain. There is no longer

a separate cerebral organ above, and only connected by fibers

with, the ganglia which directly receive sensation and control

motion. Only the analogue of the basal vertebrate brain seems

to exist in these lower animals. In the Vertebrata the cerebrum

= . may be removed without detriment to the functions of animal life,

and possibly without entire removal of consciousness. In this

Condition a vertebrate animal may be in nervous analogy with

= normal condition of the lower animals mentioned, though

1885.] Editors’ Table. 691

from lack of dependence on its lower head ganglia, in the normal

state, these possess no specialized powers of consciousness.

At a still lower level in the animal world all clear indication ot

nervous centralization disappears. Ganglia still exist but perhaps

only as agents to draft off the sensory currents of energy to the

various muscles. There probably exists a vague consciousness,

but no condition that can be called psychical. The nerve system

in these creatures has sunk to the level of the sympathetic in

man, Still lower every trace of a nervous system vanishes,

though probably continuous lines of cell protoplasm yet exist ex-

tending generally throughout the body. This condition can be

traced down into vegetable life, and particularly into the Alga,

whose generalized cell substance and lack of indurated covering

renders every portion of them subject to the inflow of external

energy. The fibril of the cell thus seems to be the germ of the

nerve apparatus of the fully developed animal,

It may be noted in conclusion that in the hypothesis of nerve

development here advanced is avoided the necessity of the

‘long and intricate explanation of nerve genesis offered by

Herbert Spencer. In this view the nerve fibril is a constituent

part of every cell, and the nerve and muscle function of conduc-

tion and contraction is performed by the Protozoa. In all ani-

mals of the many-celled character the protoplasmic connection

between the cells functions as the primitive nerve fiber, and each

cell as a primitive ganglion. Nothing further than development of

this primordial apparatus is requisite as the animal race develops, _

And even in the most highly developed nervous system the line of .

its phylogeny is evident in the mode of formation of the fiber,

and the character of its connection with the ganglion cell. All

that is further requisite is conductive specialization, the restriction

of each special impression to a special line of conduction. And

natural selection has doubtless been the agent in producing this

effect. :

(To be continued.)

:0:—

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

—— The cultivation of pure science is most successful when

pursued from non-utilitarian motives. In persons who cultivate

it in this way it has a sentimental as well as an intellectual origin.

692 Editors’ Table. [July,

Sometimes this is the desire for “ more light;” in others it is the

love of the beautiful in thought and in nature. In all minds it

comes from brain-hunger, which may be the craving of a rational

mind for a rational explanation of phenomena, or the mere neces-

sity for grist felt by an ever-running conscious mill. To such

minds money is only valuable as it enables them to satisfy these

needs, and the gratification of such a mind-thirst is more to them

than money can bring in any other direction. So it is with the

true artist. The sensitiveness to the beautiful in nature or in

idea, must find expression in proportion to its intensity, and in so

doing it finds its reward. These are phases of the intellectual

life which, if our race follow the usual course of evolution, are to

become far more general than they are at present. It is very de-

sirable that they should become more general, for they furnish

sources of pleasure that cannot be obtained in any other way.

The sentiment that loves knowledge is akin to the divine, for its

sustenance is truth, and error is discarded at whatever sacrifice.

It has faith enough in the order of the universe to see its inner-

most secrets unfolded, for unsuspicious of evil, it does not expect `

to find it predominant. It breathes good will to men, for it feels

sure that with full knowledge evil may be avoided so as to be

practically destroyed. In such a pursuit human nature is enno-

bled ; and to respect our kind is to crown human intercourse, and

to elevate social life to an ideal level.

What are the tendencies of society in this direction in our

.country? Is it not time to repeat the verity that “a man’s life

consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possess-

eth?” Does the accumulation of material property constitute

the highest achievement of the human mind? Does the care of

_ the appurtenances of mere living constitute the noblest occupa-

tion of man? An affirmative would seem to be the verdict of the

present generation in many places. We hope this state of things

may not last. The hunger and thirst of the full-grown soul will

demand satisfaction, and will some day fling aside the less worthy

ideas which its larval stage have imposed upon it. It will more

and more emerge into a fuller understanding of its relations to

= the universe, and a corresponding appreciation of its privileges

_, andits duties. To such persons life has a worth which material

Possessions cannot give. Nothing on all the varied face of nature

is devoid of meaning. Our fellow beneficiaries of the great realm

1885.] Recent Literature. 693

spectable. Professorships are mostly encumbered with work.

Positions for pure research are very few. Of prizes, honorary and

financial, we have scarcely any. The positions in the gift of our

societies are nearly all to be obtained by political methods only,

to which the true student is of necessity a stranger.

If there be no opportunities or rewards for the scientific special-

ist in this country, we will have to look abroad for the stimulus

to thought, and for a sentiment to offset universal sordidness,

10:

RECENT LITERATURE.

THE CRUISE OF THE “ Arıce May.”’—When a yachtsman is a

good story-teller and artist, and he sails through waters rich in

historic and scenic features, and moreover when his publishers

give him carte blanche to reproduce his sketches in a style unsur-

passed, with the accessories of luxurious paper and presswork to

correspond, the results can be safely predicted. The Gulf of St.

Lawrence is a royal region for the explorer and tourist. Ever

since its discovery by Jacques Cartier, and probably before his

time, Basques, Bretons, Englishmen and Spaniards have fished in

its waters, and hunted walrus on its islands; while antiquarians,

geologists and naturalists have in later times explored every recess.

The bold shores of Nova Scotia, the naked coast of Newfound-

land recalling the bare coast of Spain; the low red shores o

Prince Edwards island, the lonely isolated cliffs of Bird rocks

and the sullen, frowning crags of the Labrador coast— what

variety, what adventure, what rich gleanings in all fields of health-

ful sport and science await the summer cruiser in this grand gulf!

And now comes the artist who crowns the whole witha series

of pictures of life and nature on the shore and wave. With what

1 The Cruise of the Alice May in the Guif of St. Lawrence and adjacent waters.

With numerous illustrations. Reprinted from 7he Century magazine. By S. G. W.

BENJAMIN. New Yoik, D. Appleton & Co., 1885. Sm. 4to, pp.

res

694 Recent Literature. [July,

success Mr. Benjamin has rendered two of the grandest scenes

may be seen by a glance at the two plates, for copies of which

we are indebted to the publishers of Zhe Century magazine.

Chartering a schooner at Prince Edwards island, Mr. Benjamin

and his party sailed up the mouth of the Miramichi river, thence

to Bay of Chaleur, thence north to Cape Gaspé, then visiting the

Magdalen islands he crossed the Newfoundland coast, ascending

the Humber river. He then visited the [sland of St. Pierre on

the southern coast of Newfoundland, finally crossing over to

Cape Breton and taking the inside passage through the Little and

Great Bradore lake ; then passing through the Gut of Canso, the

party left their schooner, the voyage completed, at Georgetown,

PEL

Our naturalist readers will be interested not only in the descrip-

tions of the scenery, but also in the accounts of the fisheries and

particularly the squid fishing as carried on at the Miquelon island.

ention is made of a peculiar breed of dogs at Arichat, Cape

Breton. “ They are,” says our author, “ like Newfoundland dogs,

large, black and shaggy, but some waggish fate has robbed them

of their tails, leaving only a shortish stump.” The breed is said

to be peculiar to Arichat, and we wish it had been ascertained

through how many generations it has been in existence.

ood many tourists will want to follow more or less closely

the wake of the Alice May, and will be compelled to take with

them as a guide book this breezy, richly illustrated narrative of

the cruise.

Irvinc’s CoOPpPER-BEARING Rocks oF LAKE Sorire i “Fie

were

series, following the previous ce at of Hunt and Brooks,

and this term is adopted by Professor Irvin

_ The report appears to have been jike with care and ability,

is a most important contribution to theoretical as. well as.

> S Geological Survey. C. King, director. The er-bearing rocks of

So pai By RoLAND D, IRVING. Washington, D. CE 1883, 4to, pp. 464.

PLATE XXII.

Cape Gaspé.

Fishing-houses at Cape Gaspé.

1885.] Recent Literature. 695

Tue Microscope IN Botany.1—This edition and translation

differs in many important respects from the original, having been

especially adapted by the American editors to the wants of botan-

ical students in this country. The changes are most numerous

in chapter 1, which is devoted to a discussion of the microscope.

Here the student will find much valuable and interesting matter.

We cannot refrain from quoting, for the benefit of our makers of

microscopes as well as the younger botanists, the remark of

Hugo Von Mohl: “The simpler the construction of the micro-

scope is, the more easily and more quickly will one accomplish

all the necessary movements. The more complicated the con-

struction the more will they cost in time and reflection, and the

more will the attention be distracted thereby during the observa-

in vain to prepare a usable specimen ” (p. 8).

The second chapter is devoted to accessories, and the third to

the preparation of microscopic objects, both of which pertain to

microscopy in general fully as much as to micro-botany.

Chapter rv is devoted to the reagents to be used in the botani-

cal laboratory. The treatment here is satisfactory, and reminds

one much of Poulson’s Botanical Micro-Chemistry.

In chapter v we find the book proper, to which all the pre-

ceding chapters have been accessory and preparatory. Here are

taken up the various substances to be found in the plant, ¢. £.,

cellulose, including wood and cork, starch, dextrine, mucilage,

gum, inulin, sugar, albuminous matter, chlorophyll, the coloring

matter of flowers, etc., etc. In all this portion of the book the

treatment is such that the student cannot fail to obtain many use-

ful suggestions and hints in his work.— Charles E. Bessey.

Tue AMATEUR NATURALIST, Germanton, Phila. ; THE HOOSIER

Philada.; THz Young MINERALOGIST AND ANTIQUARIAN, Whea-

ton, Illinois—These periodicals are intended for the instruction

and pleasure of the younger naturalists, and we welcome them as

a useful agent in developing the taste for science which is so fre-

uently seen among boys. Such publications serve to keep alive

an interest which is often more or less extinguished with advanc-

ing years and responsibilities, but which is of much value to the

. A more general adoption of the scientific or positive

method in thought and action is one of the anticipations of those

13 7 id icroscopical investigation of -

Eg aae ig Seog Dr. Malius Willelm ar ge ah

and edited by Rev. A. B. Hervey, A.M., assisted by R. H. WARD, M.D., F.R.M.S.

Illustrated with r3 plates and 153 cuts. Boston, S. E. Cassino & Company. 1885,

pp. xvi, 466.

696 General Notes. [July,

that believe in progress; and these scientific journals for the

young are one of the agencies by which this state of things is to

be brought about.

——:0:——

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS!

Arrica.— The Sahara—Dr. Oscar Lenz has published his

work on “ Timbuktu” and is preparing to set out on a new expe-

dition. His exploration of 1879-80 comprised (1) Marocco and

the Atlas ranges as far as the Draa basin, and (2) the Western

Sahara. Dr. Lenz traveled with only two interpreters and a trusty

Maroccan attendant, yet thanks to a letter of recommendation

from the Sultan of Marocco, and his assumption of the character

of a Mussulman physician, he passed safely through the fanatical

tribes on the route. The stony and sandy tracts of the Western

Sahara are produced by the weathering of sandstone, quartz and

carboniferous limestones, and have a mean elevation of from 800

to 1000 feet. Dried-up watercourses, with deep eroded channels,

radiate from the central highlands north and north-east to the

Mediterranean, east to the Nile, south to the Tsad and Niger, and

west to the Atlantic. The conclusion seems to be that up to

comparatively recent times the Sahara was a well-watered and

wooded region, mostly inhabited by pastoral and agricultural

communities, the descendants of more primitive peoples who

were contemporary with Palzolithic and Neolithic man elsewhere.

In the Taudeni district, about 20° N., under the meridian of Tim-

buktu, Dr. Lenz found some well-worked greenstone implements.

Gerhard Rohlfs has found similar objects as far east as the Kufara

oasis south of. Tripoli. The Asiatic camel is a comparatively

recent intruder. The crocodile still survives in many of the pools

and lakelets which here and there mark the course of mighty

Streams. Dr. Lenz believes the desiccation to have taken place

during the historic period, and attributes it largely to the reckless

destruction of the woodlands. As vegetation disappeared so did

moisture, the large fauna became extinct, and the settled popula-

tions were succeeded by nomad Berbers and Semites. The forti-

fications of Timbuktu were razed upon its capture by the Fulahs

in 1826, and since then it has been a purely commercial town,

but a constant bone of contention between the Tuariks and the

Fulahs, which levy dues but leave the administration ir the hands

of the Kahia. Dr. Lenz affiliates the Fulahs to the Nubas, but

A. H. Keane, in his review of the work, in Mature, considers this

_anerror. The Fulahs are distinctly non-Negro, and Dr. Lenz

_ Notices the resemblance to Europeans of full-blood specimens.

~ M. Giraud’s Expedition —M. V. Giraud, in his account of two

~ years among the Central African lakes, delivered before the Geo-

le ee This department is edited by W. N. Locktncton, Philadelphia.

1885. ] Geography ana Traveis, 697

graphical Society of Paris, states that his strongest impression is

the state of extreme misery in which the natives live, a misery

due partly to their own laziness, but partly to the sterility of the

soil. The harvest is in June, but in three months the crop is

consumed, and during the rest of the year they live on wild

honey, roots, fungi and wild fruits. At this season the paths are

strewn with corpses. M. Giraud believes that the population is

always decreasing. The only two metals found were iron and

copper. It must be remembered that M. Giraud had a most dis-

couraging experience.

Recent Acquisitions of Spain. —Spain has Lappe acquired a

siderable territory in Africa, comprising the west coast of the

Sahara between Cape Bogador (20° g’ N.) a Cape Blanco (20°

45’ N.), both included; and in the Gulf of Guinea the coast line

from the Muni river, which forms the northern boundary of the

French possessions on the Gaboon, to the Rio Campo (0° 43’ to

2° 41’ N.). Six stations have already been established on

the Sahara coast, and all points giving access to shipping will be

permanently occupied, Old treaties with the chiefs on the Rio

enito have been renewed, with a view to prevent the threatened

advance of the French in that direction.

The Kingdom of the Congo.—The limits of the new “ Kingdom

of the Congo,” as recognized by the late Berlin conference, appear

to be as follows: On the Atlantic seaboard from Banana point

to Yabé (5° 45’ S. lat.), then by one parallel of Yabé to the mer-

idian of Ponta da Lenha, by this meridian north to the Chiloango,

then to the source of that river, thence to the Mtombo-Mataca

falls of the eongo, leaving to the French the station of Mboco, but

reserving Mucumbi and Manyanga, then along the Congo to its

confluence with ‘the Bumba beyond the equator, where the boun-

dary running north-west remains to be determined. The south-

ern frontier follows the Congo from Banana to a point a little

above Nokki, the south bank belonging to Portugal, then on the

parallel of Nokki to the Qwango, along this river to about 9° S. lat.,

and thence in a diagonal line across the continent to Lake Ban

eolo. Eastwards the boundary coincides with the West coast

of lakes Bangweolo, Tanganyika, Muta-Nzighe and Albert Ny-

anza. Within these limits the new State will have an approxi-

mate area of 1,000,000 square miles and a population of probably

40,000,000, mostly of Bantu speech and Negro or Negroid

stock.

The Red Sea Coast-—Sir R. W. Rawson (Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc.,

Feb., 1885) mica ps aca a long and learned article upon “ Euro-

pean Territorial claims on the coast of the Red sea and its south-

ern approaches.” oc a in the history of Abyssinia are

given, and the grounds of the variou poe discu The

runcated triangle of ae ee between pases and the Rèd sea

698 General Notes. | July,

does not seem to have ever been practically in the hands of

Abyssinia, and the rule of Turkey and Egypt has been nominal.

According to the “ Geographie Universelle,” of Reclus, the area

of this tract is about 54,000 square miles, and its population about

00,000. It is practically a desert, and its inhabitants are the

nomad Danakil and other similar tribes. There is very little

water, the chief river being the Hawash, which runs into lake

Aussa, and then forms a brackish lake called Abhebad, about

sixty-five miles from Tajura. The stream issuing from this lake

fails to reach the sea, and terminates thirty-six miles from Tajura.

Obock, the French possession outside the straits of Bab-el-Man-

deb, has sixty-two miles of coast, and an area of 1470 square miles.

It has not as yet any attraction for settlers, since it is without

water, cattle, or vegetables. The first can, however, be procured

from the Hawash basin, and cattle can be brought from Somali-

land. The real drawbacks are the situation and character of the

harbor and its position fifty or sixty miles from the route to India

and the East. Sagallo, thirty-seven miles from Obock, has also

been ceded to France by the local sultan. This place lies on the

road from Ankober, the capital of Shoa, to Tajura, the chief place

of export of King Menelik’s country. King Menelik, according

to M. Bramond, dreams of railroads through his dominions, and

of steamers on the Hawash to Lake Aussa.

The territory of Assab, now in the hands of Italy, includes the

bay of that name, with all its islands and the coast line from Ras

Darmah, the eastern point of the Bay of Beilul, in N. lat. 13° 14’

to Ras Sintiyar, the south-east point of the Bay of Assab, in N.

lat. 12° 53’. The belt of territory purchased from the local sul-

n by Italy is from two to six miles wide and thirty-five miles

ong.

African News.—From the remarks of Mr. J. M. Cook, who has

recently returned from Dongola, it appears that the cataracts of

the Nile are not correctly placed upon the map. The so-called

third cataract at Hannek is no cataract at all, only a very small

rapid. Between the second and so-called third cataracts four or five

cataracts occur, and these explain the delay in the concentration

of the British troops at Dongola. From Sarras to Sakarmatta

(seventy-four miles), the rise was 450 feet. A fresh expedition

in Somali-land has been undertaken by Messrs. F. L. and W. D.

James, who writes from Berbera that they intend to traverse the

r Gerhajis’s country to Lebiholii, whence five days over the

desert will bring them to Ogaden. They have a guard of seven-

teen Somalis collected at Aden. The map of Africa, on a scale of

~ twenty-seven geographical miles to the inch, in course of publica-

-~ tion by the Depét de la Guerre, will consist of sixty sheets, Twenty-

- four of these have ‘been published, eighteen of West and Central

_ Africa, six of South Africa and Cape Colony. Sheet 9 shows the

a Canaries and the sterile country called by Dr. Barth “ Tiris el Ferar,”

1885.] Geology and Faleontology. 699

or the country of deep wells; sheet No. 10 gives the western

half of the Sahara, and shows the routes of travelers, with man

notes on the inhabitants, nature of the country, and position of

the oases and wells and sheet No. 11 hasa portion of the Ahaggar

region, of arn little is really known, and the better known Tuat

oasis aud has finally been co ompelled to desist from

his attempted Saniat, His men deserted him, retaining the

French flag and Chassepôt rifles, and turned highwaymen on

their way back to Zanzibar, where they were cast into prison by

the French consul. Major Serpa Pinto is at Mjuani, on the

shores of the fine harbor of Nakala, which extends inward from

Fernão Veloso bay.——M. F. S. Arnot has sent to the Royal

Geographical Society a sketch-map of his route from Shoshong to

Bihé. He followed the Zambesi, from his point of crossing, a

little above Victoria falls to Lialui, from which he proceeded west-

north-west to the great plateau on which Bihé is situated.

Petermann’s Mittheilungen (31 Band, 1885, 111) contains a map

of Zululand and the gold fields of the South African republic,

with a descriptions The previous issue gives a chart of Stella-

land.

GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

Str WīiLLIAM Dawson ON THE Mesozoic FLORAS OF THE

Rocky MOUNTAIN REGION OF Canapa.’—In a previous memoir,

published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada,

Vol. 1, the author had noticed a Lower Cretaceous flora consist-

ing wholly of pines and cycads, occurring in the Queen Char-

lotte islands, and had described a dicotyledonous flora of Middle

Cretaceous age from the country adjacent to the Peace river, and

also the rich Upper poker flora of the coal formation of

Vancouver’s island—comparing these with the flora of the Lar-

amie series of the Northwest Territory, which he believed to

constitute a transition group connecting the Upper Cretaceous

with the Eocene Tertiary.

The present paper pekebréed more particularly to a remarkable

Jurasso-cretaceous flora recently discovered by Dr. G. M. Daw-

son in the Rocky mountains, and to intermediate groups of

plants between this and the Middl e Cretaceous, serving to extend

greatly our knowledge of the Lower Cretaceous flora, and to

render more complete the series of plants between this and the

Laramie.

The oldest of these floras is found in beds which it is proposed

_to call the Kootanie group, from a tribe of Indians of that name

who hunted over that part of the Rocky mountains between the

49th and 52d parallels. Plants of this age have been found on

the branches of the Old Man river, on the Martin creek, at Coal

1 Read before the Royal Society of Canada, May, 1885.

700 General Notes. . [July,

creek, and at one locality far to the north-west on the Suskwa

river. The containing rocks are sandstones, shales and con-

glomerates, with seams of coal, in some places anthracitic. They

may be traced for 130 miles in a north and south direction, and

form troughs included in the Palæozòic formations of the moun-

tains. The plants found are conifers, cycads and ferns, the cycads

being especially abundant and belonging to the genera Dioonites,

Zamites, Podozamites and Anomozamites. Some of these cyca-

daceous plants, as well as of the conifers, are identical with spe-

cies described by Heer from the Jurassic of Siberia, while others

occur in the Lower Cretaceous of Greenland. The almost world-

wide Podozamites lanceolatus is very characteristic, and there are

oy aie ; nail

been found in these beds, whose plants connect in a remarkable

way the extinct floras of Asia and America end those of the

jurassic and Cretaceous periods,

Above these are beds which, with some of the previous spe-

cies, contain a few dicotyledonous leaves, which may be provis-

ionally referred to the genera Sterculia and Laurus; and still

higher the formation abounds in remains of dicotyledonous plants .

of which additional collections have been made by Mr. T. C.

Weston. The beds containing these, though probably divisible

into two groups, may be named the Mill Creek series, and are

approximately on the horizon of the Dakota group of the United

States geologists, as illustrated by Lesquereux and others. The

species are described in the paper, and differ for the most part

from those of the Dunnegan group of the Peace river series, which

is probably of the age of the Niobrara group, and, of course, still

more from the overlying Laramie group. With regard to the

latter, the author adduced some new facts confirmatory of his pre-

viously expressed view as to the position of the Laramie at the

top of the Cretaceous and base of the Eocene, and also tending

to show that some of the plants still held by certain palzo-bot-

anists to be of Miocene age are really, in Canada at least, fossils

of the Laramie group, and consequently considerably older than

is currently supposed. The collections of plants studied by the

author had, for the most part, been placed at his disposal by the

director of the Geological Survey.

THE SYNCARIDA, A GROUP OF CARBONIFEROUS CRUSTACEA.— The

following are the conclusions of a paper read at the last meeting

the National Academy of Sciences. The genus Acanthotelson

a _ of Meek and Worthen was by them doubtfully referred to the

ugh stated ee bear some resemblance to the migi

Deca fter describing the fossils from specimens kindly

: loaned by Messrs. R. D. Lacoe and J. C. Carr, we arrived at the

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 701

following results of a reinvestigation of the characteristics of the

genus:

What we should regard as the differential characters of the

group Syncarida, to which Acanthotelson belongs, are tke sixteen

free segments of the body which are homonomous or of uniform

size; the first and second, however, being soldered together and

We should regard the Syncarida as the lowest group of Thora-

costraca, but much nearer the Schizopoda than the Cumacea;

they form a connecting link between the Amphipoda and Thora-

costraca, but at the same time in their most essential characters

are much nearer to the schizopods than the Amphipoda. The lack

pf a carapace, even a rudimentary one, and the homonomous

Segmentation cause them to bear a resemblance to the Edriop-

thalmata which they would not otherwise present.

To the Isopoda Acanthotelson presents a superficial resem-

blance, due to the slightly vertically-compressed body and the

homonomous segmentation. The Edriopthalmata (Arthrostraca

of some late authors) are defined by Claus as “ Malacostraca with

lateral sessile eyes, usually with seven, more rarely with six or

fewer separate thoracic segments, and the same number of pairs

of legs; without a carapace; but this does not express those dif-

ferences in the form of the antennz the thoracic legs and abdom-

inal appendages especially those of the end of the urosome or

abdomen, which are characteristic of the sessile-eyed Crustacea

as distinguished from the Thoracostraca.

From the Isopoda in which the body is usually broad and ver-

tically flattened, with seven free thoracic segments, while the

abdominal legs are lamellar and closely appressed to the short

abdomen, our Acanthotelson plainly differs in the long biflagellate

decapod-like first antenne; in the long homonomously ringed

abdomen and schizopodal abdominal feet and especially the schiz-

_ opod-like telson and last pair of feet, adapted as in the shrimps

for striking the water from above downwards.

The Amphipoda are in general characterized by their laterally

VOL XIX.—NO. VII,

702 General Notes. [July,

compressed body with lamellate gills on the thoracic feet and an

elongated abdomen, of which the three anterior segments bear

the swimming feet, while the three posterior has posteriorly directed

feet adapted for springing (Claus). Now if Acanthotelson is not

an isopod, still less should it be regarded as related to the Amphi-

poda. The first antenne are entirely unlike those of any known

amphipod, in which there is a very short accessory flagellum ; the

second antenne of Acanthotelson are strictly decapodous in ap-

pearance and very different from that of the Amphipoda, whereas

in Gammarus the scape is as long as the flagellum. Although

there are seven free thoracic segments in Acanthotelson as well

as in Gammarus and other Amphipoda, those of Acanthotelson

pods is still more marked. The first five pairs of uropoda or

abdominal appendages are in Acanthotelson all formed apparently

on the same plan, not essentially different from those of schizo-

pods, while the last pair are flat and on the same plane as the tel-

son and intimately associated with the latter, in that these parts

are formed on a truly macrurous plan and most approach those

of the schizopods, in which the telson and rami of the last pair

of feet are narrow and more or less acute at the end. There is

nothing in the structure of the urosome and its uropoda in Acan-

_ thotelson to remind us of the same parts in the Amphipoda.

ae homologous with those of these two groups. The Syncarida,

n their lack of a carapace and in the well-formed dorsal arch

the seven thoracic segments, we are obliged to consider as

—_

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 703

an annectant group, pointing to the existence of some extinct

group which may have still more closely connected the sessile-

eyed and stalk-eyed Crustacea——A. S. Packard.

MARSH ON THE D1noceraTA.'— This work, which has been an-

nounced for some time, is now before us. It is one of the quarto

series of the United States Geological Survey, but the present

edition was published, we are informed, by the author at his own

expense. The mechanical execution of the book is good, and it

will remain a monument to its authors. We confess, however, to

surprise at not finding it, as we had anticipated, a monograph of

the group. According to the synopsis of twenty-nine reputed

material representing them has been obtained by Professor Marsh,

but we have searched in vain for a description of the greater part

of it in the work. The memoir is in fact of a rather general

character, giving descriptions of the osteology of the two species

Loxolophodon mirabile and L. ingens,’ with occasional references

to others. It is evident that the greater part of the work of

writing this monograph remains to be done. We should have

preferred to have seen this magnificent opportunity improved, so

that it should have embraced detailed aaah aus of those char-

acters of all the species on which alone the derivation theor

can be established or refuted. A taral result of this neglect

is a failure to appreciate the true generic relationships of the

species. There are no sufficient characters adduced for the gen-

eric discrimination of the species included under the heads

Dinoceras and Tinoceras, while the characters of Uintatherium

are erroneously given. The distinct genus Bathyopsis is not ad-

Professor Marsh thinks that the females of these animals had

shorter canine teeth than the males, and that the protective man-

dibular flange is correspondingly small in that sex. He also finds

istana in the nasal tuberosities, and indicates that these also

rger in male animals.

re connection with the description of the brain of the Dinocerata,

ever, fails to give Professor Lartet credit for the proposal of the

general theory of brain development in the Mammalia with the

progress of geological time

The classification of. the Ungulata adopted is largely that of

Cope, to whom no acknowledgment is made. A hypothetical

group is proposed and defined as the primitive type of Ungulata.

1 The Dinocerata, By O. C. Marsh.

3 For the genera of Dinocerata, see NATURALIST, June, 1885.

704 General Notes. [July,

Professor Marsh is apparently not aware that this group has been

actually discovered, defined and extensively illustrated under the

name of Condylarthra by Cope, and that its discovery was antici-

pated on hypothetical grounds by the same author as long ago as

1874.1 The unwary reader may be still further impressed with

the idea that all this is new, by the array of new names which

are attached to these well-known natural divisions. The Condy-

larthra figure under another name, and those of Amblypoda and

Pantodonta are changed on the pretext that they are preoccupied,

though Professor Marsh does not state when or how.

examination has failed to reveal any real preoccupation. The

nearest name to Pantodonta is Pantodon, a genus of fishes, and

to Amblypoda is Amblypodia, an unused synonyme in Lepidop-

tera. We do not believe, however, even were the names identi-

cal, that a generic name can be preoccupied by the name of an

order, or other mononomial word, or vice versa. The name Dip-

larthra (the Ungulata of Gill and Flower) is changed for a new

one, and other terms are employed for the time-honored and

generally used Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla of Owen. We

forbear comments, remarking only that even a handsome volume

like this one will not suffice to obliterate history.”

On p. 169, one is surprised to read the following statement:

“No Cretaceous mammals are known.” Two species were des-

cribed from the Laramie Beds of Dakota, two or three years

ago.

Professor Marsh corrects by implication a good many errors

made by himself several years ago when criticising the work of

another author on this group. Thus he adopts the species Zox-

olophoden cornutus Cope, and no longer considers it identical with

a species subsequently described by himself. But he cannot avoid

making a misrepresentation as to a photograph of this spe-

cies of which a few copies were circulated at the time of its dis-

covery. The statement that the canine tooth was attached to the

skull by a plaster base so as to increase its apparent length is

erroneous. The tooth was made to adhere to its base by a piece

gures which have since appeared, is apparently designed

to substantiate this statement. Professor Marsh, moreover, does

not recede from the erroneous position he took at that time on

the question of nomenclature, but still uses generic names which

have been repeatedly shown to have no right to exist if the ordi-

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 705

nary rules of nomenciature are observed.’ The history of the

subject is concealed from the reader by the omission of reference

in their proper places to the papers which antedate those of Pro-

fessor Marsh, and by the omission of the dates of their publica-

tion when they are referred to.”

This work will always be valuable for the descriptions and

plates which it contains, and with the abatements we have already

pointed out, we recommend it as the handsomest work on the

subject yet published. —E. D. Cope.

GEOLOGICAL News.—General—From a paper recently read by

W. H. Hudleston at the meeting of the Geologists’ Association

it appears that the ‘‘ Nubian sandstone” comprises the strata be-

tween the crystalline rocks and the Upper Cretaceous ; the lower

sandstone and overlying limestone of Wady Nasb is Carbonifer-

ous; the middle division is Cenomanian, is widely extended in

Egypt, occurs in great force at Petra, and constitutes the cliffs on

the east side of the Dead sea; while the Lebanon division is prob-

ably well up among the Cretaceous limestones and possibly on

the horizon of certain ligniferous beds occurring at Edfou on the

Nile. The crystalline rocks are in two series, a lower (referred

to the Laurentian) penetrated by dykes of granite and diorite;

and a second series consisting mainly of porphyries permeated by

dykes of feldspar and basalt. All the Nile cataracts occur where

the river passes over such crystalline areas, while the tranquil

stretches are upon the Nubian sandstone. The Cretaceous lime-

stones are in Syria more important than those of Eocene age, but

in Egypt the latter are much the thickest. The Cretaceous beds

u |

horizons (Zittel). Neither in Palestine nor in Egypt is there any

sharp line of demarkation between the chalk and the Tertiary

rocks. The celebrated Jebel Usdom or Salt mountain of the Red

sea, is assigned to the Cretaceous by Dr. Lartet, but to the marls

of the Dead Sea basin by Hull. Zittel states that the palaonto-

logical boundary between the chalk and the Eocene is clearly

defined, despite the continuity of the marine deposits. The

sea hollow is undoubtedly an independent lake basin of high

1 We take the present opportunity to refer to some similar cases of hypersensitive-

ness to be. fo und in Professor Marsh’s papers on the Dinosauria. The genus Mega-

dactylus was named by Dr. Hitchcock, in 1865, from specimens from the Trias of

Connecticut, but was not defined. It was defined pi Cope in ao Professor Marsh

name i alr been used by Fi

lizards. But Fizinger’s name-is an undoubted synonyme of a eit knows form, and

has no status mpaserers, W We: hold that the change of name is unwarranted. ‘The

ei f Hymenoptera, = oe names aren vl oman and

eee ie tt iple Di } ay to Tinoceras of earlier date,

as they differ by but a single letter, were not ers names really synonymes of a still

` older one.

2 See the Bibliography, p. 225.

706 | General Notes. [July,

antiquity. The watershed separating it from the southern por-

tion of the Arabah is 660 feet high, while the highest point of

the Vale of Jezreel is only 285 feet. Marl deposits exist in the

Dead sea basin at an elevation of 1400 feet above the present

Dead sea level, and the old marls of the Jordanic lakes are not

entirely unfossiliferous, as three Melanidæ have been found in

them.

Silurian.—Figures of the now celebrated fossil scorpions found

in the Silurian rocks of Scotland and Gothland by Dr. Hunter

and Professor Lindstrom, are given in Mature (Jan. 29), and Mr.

- N. Peach gives in the same number a compendium of our

knowledge of these ancient air-breathers. The first Paleozoic scor-

pion found was described in 1835, by Count Sternberg, from a

specimen obtained in the coal formation of Chonile, near Rad-

nitz, in Bohemia. Three years later Corda described another

(Microlabis) from the same locality. In 1866 Messrs. Meek and

Worthen described two new species from the Coal Measures of

Mazon creek, Illinois. In 1873, Dr. H. Woodward showed that

the genus Eoscorpius (one of those found at Mazon creek) occurs

in the English Coal Measures and in the Carboniferous limestone

_ the present age. Mr. Peach asks, What were the victims of these

ancient murderers? The dragon-flies of the Middle Devonian of

New Brunswick were thought to be the oldest land animals until

Mr. Peach, in 1882, showed that chilognathous myriapods were far

from uncommon in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire,

in Scotland. There is but a short step from this to the Silurian,

and M. Brongniart has found in the Silurian limestone of Calvados

a fossil Blatta. Perhaps a habit of feeding on the eggs of animals

left bare by the tides may account for the embedding of these air-

reathers in marine strata.

Devonian —Hystricrinus carpenteri, a crinoid with articulating

spines, is described by G. J. Hinde in the Ann. and Mag. Nat.

Hist, March, 1885. “The genus is identical with Arthrocanthus

(Williams), a name preoccupied among the Rotatoria. Apart

from the possession of articulating spines it is near Hexacrinus.

The specimens are from calcareous shales of Middle Devonian at

2e g sa is cre A ‘that in three out of the eleven

_€xamples a shell of the genus Platyceras is attached to the vault

of the perteesy g tyce to the

1885.] ` Geology and Paleontology. 707

Cambrian.—Mr. Chas. D. Walcott (Amer.. Your. of Science,

April, 1885) describes Mesonacis, a new genus of Cambrian trilo-

bites, intermediate between Paradoxides and Olenellus, the head

and first fourteen segments being of the type of the latter, while

the pygidium and ten posterior segments more resemble the

former. The fifteenth segment fits snugly against the fourteenth,

and has a long, slender spine extending to the pygidium. Meso-

nacis vermontana occurs in the Georgian of the State it is named

after.

Carboniferous—MM. Renault and Zeiller have described a

number of mosses from the carboniferous strata of Commentry

(France). The mosses previously found in a fossil state have been

few, and of the Tertiary epoch, principally Miocene, but the Com- `

mentry beds contain many impressions of their stems, three or

four centimeters long, some simple, others with alternate fronds.

The stems are usually united in tufts. The absence of any trace

of the organs of fructification prevents the determination of the

place of these fossils in present classifications, but MM. Renault

and Zeiller think they belong rather among the acrocarps than

among the pleurocarps. and J. W. Kirkby give,

in the Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. for March, a synopsis of the

species of the ostracodous genus Kirkbya, eleven in number.

Most of the specimens are from marine shales associated with the

calcareous beds of the Carboniferous series.

Tertiary.— Mr. J. W. Judd has shown that in the Western isles

of Scotland there occur a number of peridotite rocks which are

the central cones of Tertiary volcanoes of vast dimensions. These

Tertiary peridotites are intimately associated with the gabbros and

dolerites, and present numerous variations both in structure and

mineralogical constitution. Among them occur examples of the

rocks which have received the names of dunite, picrite and lher-

zolite. Dr. C. J. Forsyth Major (Quart. ‘Jour. Geol. Soc.,

1885) gives a list of thirty-nine species of fossil Mammalia found

in the Val d’Arno. Not one of the members of the rich fauna

found in the Mediterranean region and as far east as the Siwaliks

of India, and existing on the boundary line between the Miocene

and Pliocene, is found in the Val d’Arno, though the two ante-

send the Machairodus and the Mastodon, are closely allied.

s Mediterranean fauna occurs at Casino, near Siena, and the

kaviat T e Hons of the Val d’Arno was also spread as

far as India. The shore deposits of the Pliocene sea in Italy are

said by Dr. Major to contain the same mammalian fauna as the

lacustrine deposits of the Val d’Arno. The Post-pliocene fauna

exhibits several connecting links with the Pliocene, oe Bg Italy

“at least, not a single species of the older fauna seems to have

gone over, as such, to the younger fauna. Nota le acer

of the thirty- nine is identical with those living to-day, and five

708 General Notes. [July,

genera—Macherodus, Mastodon, Leptobos, Palzeoryx and Palæ-

oreas—are extinct. iocene mammals, but little altered, yet

occur in the Sunda islands; the Anoa is close to the Siwalik

Hemibos, Bos etruscus is a Bibos, close to the Banting of Java,

the Pliocene stags, tapirs and rhinoceroses are nearly repeated by

the forms now living in Southeastern Asia, and Sus verrucosus of

Java is close to the Pliocene Sus giganteus. Professor Boyd

Dawkins believes that two of the deer of the Pliocene of the Val

d'Arno, as also the Hippopotamus, are identical with existing

species, A before unknown deposit of Pliocene age at St.

Erth’s, near the Land’s End, Cornwall, has yielded fifty species

of mollusks, of which all but eleven or twelve are extinct.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.!

New Minerats.— Ist. Bertrandite—This mineral, mentioned

by Bertrand in 1880 (Bul. soc. min. d. Fr., 11, 96) as a probably

new aluminum-silicate from Barbin, near Nantes, is shown by `

Damour? to have the composition 4BeO, 2Si0,, H,O, on which

account he proposes for it the above name. It occurs in druses of

a coarse pegmatite. Its system of crystallization is orthorhom-

bic; axial ratio a:b:c=0.5619:1: 0.5871. Observed planes

OP, wP, 0 PE oo 3 oP, kes] 3, X oo

optical axes is œ P 4. Principal bisectrix is 4. Dispersion p < v?

2d. Evigtokite is a name applied by Flight! to a mineral of the

cryolite group from Greenland having the composition CaF,

AIF;, H,O. It is composed of masses of minute, white, trans-

parent crystals,

in structure, of a white color or with a greenish or bluish tinge.

Its composition is (Al, Fe) AsO,, 8H.O. Analysis :

Fe,O, ALO, As,O, SO, CuO CaO H,O

7-64 28.229 26.962 I.1IT 1.027 0.719 34.053

4th. Pinnoite is a new borate from Stassfurt described by H.

Staute.” Its crystal form could not be determined. Sp. gr. 2.27.

Hardness 3-4. Its composition is:

| “MgO B,O, H,O Fe Cl

24.45 42.50 32.85 0.15 0.18

which gives the formula MgB, O, + 3H,O.

_ "Edited by Dr. Gro. H. WiLt1aMs, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

Bull. soc. min, de Fr., v1, 1883, p. 252.

_ SIb., p. 249.

“Journal Chem, Soc., Vol. 43, March, 1883, p. 140.

: Š Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, xvii, No. 12, p. 1584, July,

1835.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 709

Belgrade. An analysis of the purest specimen, which was, how-

80, OBE A O Fao; Me Grote BL as

56.13 14.59 14.37 3.54 1.10 0.43 1.68 2.39 5.38

6th. Zunyite—Mr. Hillebrand? of the U. S. Geol. Survey, now

stationed at Denver, Col., describes remarkable tetrahedral crys-

tals of a new mineral which he found imbedded in an uncrystal-

lized sulphide of lead and arsenic, occurring at the Zuñi mine on

nvil mountain, near Silverton, San Juan county, Col. These

crystals are mostly very minute, rarely 5™" in diameter.

They show the forms 2 — =f eretdsOe—

, and are quite

isotropic. The smallest are clear and transparent; the larger

ones dark on account of black inclusions. Sp. gr. 2.875 at 15°C.

Luster glossy, cleavage octahedral, hardness 7. The mean of

several analyses gave :

BOLO PAO TANO EO N0 ORO: Fo, F A

24.33 0.20 57.88 0.10 0.24 10.89 0.60 5.61 2.91

sum 102.76 — O for Cl and F (3.02) = 99.74.

Formula, 9R,O, 8A1,0;, 6SiO., with part of the O replaced by

Cl and F. The black inclusions were shown to be titanic oxide.

7th. Guitermanite—The metallic sulphide in which the above

described crystals of zunyite were imbedded, was found to have

_ the composition 1oPbS, 3As.S,, being likewise a new mineral to

which the same author applies the name Guitermanite.

8th. Koninckite—M. Cesàro? has recently described a new hy-

drous phosphate of iron from Visé in Belgium. It occurs in

spherical groups of radiating, nearly colorless monoclinic needles

associated with richellite, another new mineral lately described by

the same author (vid. NaTuratist, Jan., 1884, p. 65.) Koninckite

has one perfect cleavage, H = 3.5; G= 2.3. Its composition is:

P,O, Fe,O, H,O Al,O, (difference) total

38.4 33-9 26.8 4.5 100

It is named after Professor De Koninck of Liége.

oth. Endlichite or vanadium mimetite—Professor Gentht has

found that certain straw-yellow crystals occurring at the sil-

ver mines of Southern New Mexico have the composition

l Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesell., xvir, No. 13, p. 1774, Aug., 1884.

? Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 1, 1883-84, p-124. i

3 Mem. Soc. Geol. Belgique, XI, p. 247. :

‘Contributions from the Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania, No, XXIL

Read before the American Philosophical Society, April 17, 1885.

710 General Notes. [July,

Pb, Cl (AsO, + Pb, Cl (VO,); or about equal proportions

of vanadinite and mimetite. He, has assigned to them the name

Endlichite in honor of Dr. F. M. Endlich, superintendent of the

Sierra mines at Lake valley, N. M. The same paper contains

new analyses of vanadinite and a crystallographic investigation,

by Professor G. vom Rath, of the New Mexican decloizite, illus-

trated by four figures. These crystals, which are the best ones

thus far known, indicate that the mineral is orthorhombic, as was

surmised by Des Cloizeaux instead of monoclinic as held by

ebsky. Associated with the vanadinite of Sierra Grande fine

crystals of iodyrite were also found.

BOTANY.!

American MEDICINAL PLAnts.—We recently noticed the first

fascicle of this work, by Dr. Millspaugh, as worthy of patronage.

in examination of the second fascicle confirms our favorable

opinion. The illustrations are very good, and will not only serve

admirably their purpose of enabling the medical student to recog-

nize the various species of medicinal plants, but they will be

found of value to the teacher or student of ordinary botany. In

the second fascicle there are colored plates of Actea spicata,

Carya alba, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Cypripedium pubescens,

Equisetum hyemale, Fuglans cinerea, Mitchella repens, Thuja occi- `

dentalis, Viola tricolor, etc., etc., thirty in all.

DEVELOPMENT OF STOMATA OF THE OAT.—Before the stomata

appear the epidermis is composed of quadrangular cells, which

afterwards grow much faster in length than in breadth. The

mother-cell of a stoma is cut off from the end of one of these

cells, and sometimes each cell in a row furnishes a stoma (Fig. |

1a). This mother-cell rapidly increases in size, and large masses

of protoplasm touching the cell soon become evident in the cells

adjacent to the sides (Fig. 1 4 6). This gathering of protoplasm

IS preparatory to the formation of accessory cells, which are a

first nearly semicircular, and are cut out of the adjacent cells, one

on each side of the mother-cell (Fig. 244). The central and

accessory cells now enlarge in about the same proportion until

the former divides into two guard cells (Fig. 4); after this the

accessory cells encroach upon the guard cells until in the mature

stoma the latter are narrower through the center than at the

ends ; and the width of the whole four cells is but little more

than of one single epidermal cell (Fig. 6).

The behavior of the protoplasm is very characteristic, the gen-

_ eral rule is as follows: The mother-cell and the accessory cells

are both at first full of rich protoplasm. In the accessory cells

this tends to condense in the center; vacuoles first appear in the

= ends of the cells (Fig. 3), these increase in size with the develop-

a : __ * Edited by ProrEssor CHARLES E. Bussey, Lincoln, Nebraska,

oe ON ee ae RS ae Se ee

1885. ] Botany. 7II

ment of the stoma (Fig. 4), and in the mature stoma the visible

protoplasm consists merely in a large nucleus in the center of

each cell (Fig. 6 66). In the mother-cell one or two vacuoles

may appear in any place, one central vacuole is perhaps the most

frequent form (Fig. 3), but when division takes place a band of

thick protoplasm stretches across the center of the cell (Fig. 4 a).

Instead of condensing this tends to extend through the length of

the cells leaving vacuoles only in the extreme ends (Fig. 5 a a).

In the immature stoma this protoplasm is very slightly granular

and has a slight green tinge, as if chlorophyll is being formed

(Fig. 5); but in the mature stoma it appears perfectly homoge-

neous, and small chlorophyll bodies which show the presence of |

starch on application of iodine, occupy the former vacuoles. A

cross-section, made before the mother-cell has divided, shows

very thin walls (Fig. 7), but a section of a mature stoma repre-

sents the guard cells as having thick walls, and I think it proba-

ble that most of the protoplasm has been absorbed in the thick-

ening process (Fig. 8).. This behavior of the protoplasm varies

some in different stomata, especially in the stages represented in

Figs. 3 and 4, but the process described prevails, and seems to be

typical.

The methods of finding the different stages of development are

very simple. If the leaves of a growing plant be unrolled until

the youngest is reached and the base of this used, it will show

the youngest forms. It is useless to attempt to remove the epi-

dermis, for the leaves which would contain the undeveloped

stomata are too tender to permit it. Soaking the young leaves

in a two per cent salt solution for about ten minutes aids in show-

ing the formation of the accessory cells, if an examination is

made immediately.—Zffie A. Southworth, Bot. Lab. Univ. Mich.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIII.

Fic. 1.—Mother-cell of stoma.

“ 2.—Mother-cell and accessory cell.

“ 3.-—Same more advanced.

“ 4.—Same with mother-cell divided into two guard cells.

“ 5.—More developed stage of same,

“ 6,—Mature stoma.

“ 7.—Cross-section of a young stoma.

“ 8.—Cross-section of a mature stoma.

` THE OPENING oF THE FLOWERS OF DESMODIUM SESSILIFOLIUM.—

This Desmodium, which grows abundantly in Central Iowa, pre-

about 1.5 centimeters long and are arranged in pairs, racemosely

upon a spreading terminal inflorescence. The keel is at first en-

closed within the wings, which in turn enclose the stamens and

712 General Notes. [July,

pistil. The standard projects forward approximately parallel with

the other petals, diverging from them at a small angle (Fig. 1).

The standard now begins to bend upwards and the wings and

2). The flower is now in a

state of tension, and may be

likened to a spring trap ready

set for action.

A little examination will

show that many of the flow-

ers have changed the relation

of their parts, the tension be-

ing in a great measure relieved

(Fig. 3). A closer inspection

shows that when the flower is

in a state of tension, the sta-

‘mens and pistil are forcibly

drawn downward, as one

Fic. 1.—Flower when first opened; and (Fig. 3), the stamens and pis

before the petals begin to reflex. Fic. 2.

the petals reflexed; the flexed keel and occupy their

of the base of the standard (cut away If we now take a flower in

its state of tension and look

would be freed with a violent jerk. The experiment was repeated

~ — again and again, invariably with the same result. I was not for-

a Eor ronek to observe i

1885.] Botany. 713

fact that flowers brought into my laboratory where they were not

visited by insects, although they were kept in water, did not

spring open. Repeated trials under different conditions showed

that at the instant the sensitive surface was touched, the basal

third of the wings and keel became strongly curved, and that this

brought so great a tension upon the stamen-tube and pistil that the

latter could not be held longer by the petals, as a bow when bent

too far snaps its string and frees itself.

The purpose of this ingenious mechanism is obvious. When

the stamens spring out with such violence they throw the pollen

forcibly against the body of any insect hovering over the flower

or resting upon its wings and keel.— Charles E. Bessey.

BoranicaL News. — The March and April numbers of the

Western Druggist contain an interesting paper on plant hairs by

Professor E. S. Bastin of Chicago. It is illustrated by numerous

wood-cuts. In a recent number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle

Mr. W. G. Smith furnishes an illustration of Peronospora effusa.

It is in his well-known style, a style against which we are moved

to protest vigorously. Conventionalized plant figures may be

permissible in art, but certainly they are not in botany. Re-

cent numbers of Hora (Regensberg) contain a paper on the lich-

ens of the French Jura mountains, by Dr. F. Arnold——The

most interesting paper in the May ’¥ournal of Botany is one by

Mr. Spencer Moore upon the Identity of Bacterium fetidum of

Thin, with soil Cocci, in which it is shown that the bacteria

which produce or accompany “the sweating of the feet” are

identical with those producing chemical action in the soil. In

the latter situation they reduce the sulphates to sulphites, and the

phosphates to phosphites, and in both situations are instrumental

in’ setting free ammonia. r. Vasey’s Descriptive Catalogue

of the Grasses of the United States, just received, is a valuable

contribution to the literature of our Gramineæ. The genera are

described, and under each are arranged all the species which

occur within the limits of the United States. A few synonyms

are given, enough to enable one to use the catalogue in connec-

tion with the older manuals. A summary at the end of the vol-

ume gives the whole number of genera in the United States as

120, and of species 675. Following the catalogue proper is a

synopsis of the tribes of North American grasses based upon

and Hooker’s arrangement in the Genera Plantarum.

Two years ago the same author published a somewhat similar

catalogue in which there were 114 genera and 589 species. We

will repeat what we have said several times already, that work of

this kind coming from the Department of Agriculture at Wash-

ington tends to raise the value of the department in the eyes of

the scientific men of the country.

714 General Notes. [July,

ENTOMOLOGY.

UNUSUAL NUMBER OF LEGS IN THE CATERPILLAR OF LAGOA.—

Lagoa crispata Pack. is an interesting moth forming a connecting

link between the Dasychiræ (Orgyia) and the Te

represented by Limacodes and its allies. As

marked in our Synopsis of Bombycidz (1864): “When

we observe the larva we would easily mistake it for a

hairy Limacodes larva, for like them the head is re-

tracted, the body is short, and the legs are so rudimen-

tary as to impart a gliding motion to the caterpillar when

it moves,” After describing the transformations, we

Lagoa. added: “There are seven pairs of abdominal or false

legs, which are short and thick. The first pair of enay or true

legs are much shorter than the two succeeding pair

Two years ago we found the fully fed caterpillars aa also those

before the last molt on scrub-oaks in Providence, and again noticed

them while walking, then carefully examined them after placing

them in alcohol, and again examined the specimens during the

past winter. It is well known that caterpillars have no more than

five pairs of “proplegs,” “false legs” or abdominal feet, as they

are variously called; and so far as we have been able to learn the

present caterpillar is the only one which has additional legs, even

though rudimentary. As in all lepidopterous larvez, there are ten

abdominal segments, In the larve before the last molt there is a

pair of rudimentary abdominal legs on the second abdominal

segment, forming soft tubercles about one-third as large as the

succeeding normal feet; the crown of hooks was wanting, but a

tubercle on the anterior side corresponding to a similar one on

the normal feet had five or six well marked stout spines, also two

or three scattered ones in the middle, the tubercle being rounded,

convex, not flattened at the end.

On the sixth segment, following the fourth pair of normal ab-

dominal legs, is a pair of tubercles like those on the second seg-

ment and exactly corresponding in situation with the normal legs;

situated externally are two long straight spines, but none homo-

logous with those forming the crown. At the base in front of

each tubercle is a tuft of sparse hairs, and on the outside is a

chitinous spot bearing a dense tuft of hairs; these two tufts pre-

cisely agree in Saton and appearance with those at the base of

normal abdomin

In the fully fed caterpillar the tubercles are exactly the same.

It thus appears that in the Lagoa larva the first abdominal segment

-is footless; the second bears rudimentary feet; segments e bear

eime ; the seventh bears a pair of rudimentary legs;

ts eight and nine are footless, while the og bears the

ip developed asal or fifth pair of genuine propleg

= While eei two pairs of tubercles differ from z normal legs

1885.] _ Entomology. 715

in being much smaller and without a crown of curved spines, they

are protruded and actively engaged in locomotion, and in situa-

tion, as well as the presence of the basal tufts are truly homolo-

gous with the normal abdominal legs.

etc., the larve are at first geometriform, having but three pairs

of proplegs; in the geometrids there are but two pairs, while in

the Cochlidise there are not even any rudimentary feet, thoracic

or abdominal. As we have elsewhere observed, the primitive

lepidopterous larva must have had a pair of feet on each abdom-

inal segment, and may have descended from Neuroptera-like forms

allied to the Panorpide as well as Trichoptera—A. S. Packard.

USE OF THE Pup& oF Morus IN DISTINGUISHING SPECIES.—In

describing the pupz of certain moths we have found it well to

observe and note with care the shape and appendages of the ter-

minal spine of the abdomen. This has been done to some extent,

but our experience teaches us that there are, inta great number of

cases, excellent specific or at least generic characters in these

parts. In the Bombycidz, the Notodontians especially, and in

the Geometridz as well as the Phycinz and Tortricidz, there are

notable differences between those species which do or do not spin

a cocoon, the latter attaching themselves by a mass of silk to the

leaves, the spines and sete giving them a firm hold. In those

living among leaves or in the earth, the spine is provided with

long curved sete arising from the end and sides of the spines; -

these vary much, as does the abdominal tip in general in different

species of Acrobasis, according as they live simply between leaves

or in a cocoon. In some Notodontians which make a cocoon,

as in Lophodonta angulosa, the tip of the abdomen is blunt, ending

in a rounded knob, with no rudiment of a spine.

Dalana ministra the obtuse tip of the abdomen is divided

into a stumpy short bifid spine, each division ending in two spines,

with an external shorter third minute one at :

In Edema albifrons the tip proper ends in a short spine, which

is flattened vertically, deeply cleft, with tubercles, from which

arise 3—4 curved setz on each side, the entire apparatus retaining

a firm hold on the end of the mass of silk by which it adheres to

e leaves.

In the pupa of Lochmeus tessella the tip is flattened vertically

716 General Notes. [July,

and very deeply cleft, each fork ending in a short lateral excurved

hook, but with no setæ. This form lives in a slight cocoon, where

it has no need of hooks.

In Bombycidz, such as Eacles imperialis, which enters the earth

and makes no cocoon, the use of the large caudal spine is as plain

as in the pupz of the Sphinges; so also in the species of Anisota

and Dryocampa.

In the Geomtrids and Tortricids there are, in the abdominal

spine and hooks, excellent generic and specific characters, as I

have found in different species of Teras, etc—A. S. Packard.

SWARMING OF A DunG-BEETLE, APHODIUS INQUINATUS.—About

the first of last October, while riding along a country road near

Ripon, my attention was attracted to a dark mass of living matter

in the road. On examination it proved to be a host of Aphodius

inguinatus, engaged with horse dung. They were in two or three

masses, whose areas averaged perhaps three square feet each, and

were piled up two or three deep. So many, too, were flying about

in the air that as I rode along I could, with a single motion of the

hand, catch from two or three to half a dozen. Nor were they

confined to this one place, for they appeared in considerable num-

bers at a distance of at least a mile from the point at which I first

noticed them.— C. Dwight Marsh, Ripon, Wis.

INSECT PESTS ON THE PaciFic Coast.—California seems to be

fields in Alamada, Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties are being

very seriously injured by the Hessian fly, an insect which has

hitherto been supposed not to occur on the Pacific coast. Pro-

fessor Riley, the United States Entomologist, has received speci-

mens, and they prove to be the true Hessian fly.

EntomotocicaL Notes,—In Siebold and Kalliker’s Zeitschrift,

issued May 8th, A. Sommer has an elaborate and well illustrated

article on the anatomy and histology of the large common Pod-

uran, Macrotoma plumbea; the descriptions, however, do not ap-

pear to be comparative. In the same number is an essay, with

many illustrations, on the embryology of the mole cricket (Gryl-

lotalpa), by A. Korotneff. Another paper on the embryology

of insects is one by Dr. Tichomirow, on the earlier stages of de-

velopment of the silk worm (Bombyx mori). His observations

il with the process of segmentation, the first development of

the heart, and on the occurrence of an inner skeleton in the head

_ Of the insect. He then discusses the chemical properties of tne

= eggs. His paper was presented to the Physiological Society of

_ Berlin, and is reported in Nature for April 30.——In the Quar-

ly Fournal of Microscopical Science, for April, Sidney J. Hickson

1885. ] Zoölogy. 717

ZOOLOGY.

INDESTRUCTIBLE ĪNFUSORIAL LIFE.—)]. Hogg describes some

further experiments he has made on this subject, supplementing

those previously recorded on rotifers. Some Ciliata and Tardi-

grada have been included, and these have, although not to the

same degree, exhibited a remarkable tenacity of life. The inter-

vals of sleep and vigorous life have also been brought into

strict accord with the durations of dry and wet periods of the

year, so that the subjects of the experiments have been kept in a

perfectly dry condition during the whole of the long drought

which characterized the past summer.

Moreover, some older dried specimens were subjected to an ar-

tificial process of desiccation. They were kept for a time in a hot-

air chamber, the heat in which was raised to 2000 F., and subse-

quently the miniature aquarium in which they were inclosed was

plunged into a freezing mixture. Neither process kille@them nor

greatly diminished their vital powers, their revivification in both

ases being somewhat delayed. Certain poisons known to exert a

baneful influence over higher animals were added to the water

supplied to the rotifers, but in no way did they produce discomfort ;

on the contrary, portions were taken into the stomach and partly

digested. On the other hand,a drop of sewage water caused

marked discomfort ; they immediately retracted their rotating or-

gans and sank to the bottom of the cell. These were, so far as could

be ascertained, poisoned, and this was probable owing to the free

sulphide of hydrogen evolved by the putrescent sewage. From

VOL. XIX.—NO. VII. 47

718

General Notes.

[July,

his observations the author is led to infer that rotifers will live

and multiply on a very scanty supply of organic matter, provided

only that the water is fairly well oxygenated. Attention is also

called to the greatly diminished or no longer developed eye, due

no doubt, to the withdrawal of the stimulus of light, the rotifers

being nearly always kept in the dark.— Journal of the Microscopi-

cal Soctety, February, 1885.

sin THE MoxrHotocy OF THE CARPUS AND TARSUS OF VERTE-

—As a result of embryological and literary studies I reach

d following seed nad table for the carpus and tarsus:

URODE

(Menopoma, Cryptobranchas,

PAIA Salamandrella, Ranodon PARIA

Axolotl).

Carpus. ae Tarsus. Tarsus.

Scaphoideum Radiale Tibiale Sesamoid articulating with

naviculare and astragalus.!

Lunatum ertesi Centrale 1? Centrale 1° Distal part of astragalus.

ur)

Ps (ulnare|Intermedium |Intermedium Proximal part of astragalus

) (os — Bardeleben).*

weit niét ' Fibulare Calcan

Centrale (Rosen- Centrale 11 Centrale II N avicalase:

berg)®

Carpale of the rudi-jCarpale 1 Tarsale 1 Tarsale of the rudimentary

m ial tibial digit.8

digit?

Taren (carp. 1/Carpale 1 Tarsale 11 Patios I (tarsale 1 Ge-

genb

kai ope ome (carp.|Carpale 111 Tarsale 111 Canetforme i (tarsale II

Magnum an 111|Carpale Iv Tarsale 1v Cunetforme ur (tarsale 11

Ses dean se Iv|Carpale v? Tarsale v Caloris ‘(tarsale Iv and V

and v Gegenb : Gegen

Metacarpale of rudi- Metacarpaler |Metatarsaler |Metatarsale of the rudimen-

mentary radial tary tibial digit."

digit’

Metacarpale I auto-|Metacarpale 11 |Metatarsale 1. |Metatarsale 1 autorum.

rum

gored zat It au-|Metacarpale 111 |Metatarsale 11 |Metatarsale 1r “

Metacarpale 111 au-|Metacarpale 1v |Metatarsale 1v |Metatarsale m1 «

Metacarpale 1v au-|Metacarpale v!?|Metatarsale v |Metatarsale1v “

Metacarpale v auto-|Metacarpale vi | Metatarsale vi" |Metatarsalev «

rum

roai , On the rba me ad of the tarsus in the mammals. AMER. NATURAL-

IST, F pp. 87-88.

MAr -, Gur Morp əlogie des Tarsus der M ahrb., Bd. 10,

Heft 3, 1884, pp. 458-461. Sy aa Hig

Albrecht, G., Sur les homodynamies q A pipire entre la main et le pied des

mammifè j dicale belge, sete A ur octobre, I » Pp. 10.

_ Bardeleben, R., Zur Entwicklung Fossat, te ‘Jenaische

1885.] . Loblogy. 719

Now the question is, where are to be found the relations to the

reptiles, from which mammals have probably descended? I can-

not look for the six-toed forms with paddles, Ichthyosaurus,

Baptanodon (Sauranodon), Plesiosaurus, etc., for I consider those

modified in the same way as the cetaceans. In the living lacer-

tilians and chelonians we find the same condition in the carpus,

pagan = Medicin und Naturwissenschaften. Jahrg, 1885. 3. Sitzung vom

6. F

Coy CE b, Fifth contribution to the bs capt of e fauna of the Perm

forma tion ot Texas an e Indian Territory. ead before the American Philo.

sophical Society, August 15, 1884. Palzont. Bull, No. 39, pa 38-41, p. 46.

Marsh, O. C., ooe ata, a sites pE of an extinct order of gigantic mam-

a U. S. Geo l. Survey, Vol. 1884, 146.

2 ( Ranodon sibiricus, Selamandret ieee kappie Eepinen

wosnessenskyi.) Wiedersheim. R., Die ältesten Form es Carpus und Tarsus

keutigen Amphibien, Morphol. Jahrb., Bd. 11, 1876, Tar XXIX.

*(Cryptobranchus, Menopoma, Rory ptr paranee Tapren, Hyri. Jy

pik magi tees: ny fae ee a a anatom Vindobo 5, Tab. vE YN.:

n, T., Note sur ne wee ge let thras du Cryptobranchus japonicus,

Archives Néerlandaises i i » pp. 22, Fig. 2 (extr.

rsheim, R., and PORDAS N Bemerkun ngen zu seinem Aufsatze. Die

Mias Fondi des Carta & nd Tarsus der heutigen Amphibien. Morphol. Jahrb.

Bd. 111, 1877, pp. 154, Figs. 2

4 Bardeleben, R., Das os es edium tarsi der Säugethiere. Zool. Anzeiger, vi

Jahrg., No. 139, 21 regs 1883, p

Albrecht, P., Das A pE tarsi der Säugethiere. Zool, Anzeiger, vI Jahrg.

No. 145, 6 Aug., 1883; pp. 419-420

Bardeleben, R., Ueber das Intermedium tarsi. Jena. Sitzungsber., 1883, 8. Juni ;

and loc. cit. (I have not been so site es till now to find this bone in embryos of

man, n Insectivora, Rodentia, Carnivora.)

oucq, H., Richaiebs sur la morph, du carpe chez les mammiféres. Arch.

pi Biologie Tome V, 1884.

Albrecht, P., Sur les homodynamies, e

Ris osenberg, pn Ueber die Entvrieking der Wirbelsáule und das Centrale carpi

Menschen. Morph. Jahrb... Bd. 1, 1876.

TLaboiia, H, Recherches sur la riii du carpe chez les mammifères, Arch.

de Biologie, Tome V2 :

Baur, G., Ueber das Centrale carpi der Saugethiere. Morphol. Jahrb., Bd, 10,

Heft

Baar, í G., On the centrale carpi of the mammals, Am. NAT., Feb., 1885.

rudiment

carpale. The same condition I found in a skelet on of an edit. Chiromys madagasc.

abductor pollicis ” represents this element.

"I pek in a ani virg. of 15’ ™™, for which I am indebted to Professor

rudim tibial digit consisting of two pieces, a tarsale and a metatar-

sale, Conf, waibachen, K., Zur Entwicklung der Fusswurzel l. c. Rudiments of

this digit are present in n the Monotr., Rodentia, Carniv., Edent., Insectiv.

eg element probably existed in the Permian Urodela with five toes in the hand,

=< will probably be found in very young Urodela.

10 Conf. 7.

u Conf. 8.

12 Present in the Permian Urodela.

18 Not yet fe

1I regard the piece in Ce ere assert DR cascade considered a sixth

tarsal bone, as the sixth metatarsal

720 General Notes. [July,

considering the “sesamoid”’ on the ulnar side, the pisiforme, 7. e.,

the ulnare; but it has not been possible hitherto to homologize

directly the tarsus of the lacertilians and chelonians with that of

the mammals, e Theromorpha of Professor Cope give the

missing link. I believe with Professor Cope that “ the subcylindric

proximal part of the astragalus” is the intermedium (Professor

Cope calls it erroneously centrale, but corrects this p. 46). In

the distal part of the astragalus I see the first, and in the navic-

ular bone the second central bone of Cryptobranchus, etc.

My further studies will be devoted to the morphogeny of the

carpus and tarsus of the Sauropsidæ, and I shall be very much

obliged to “ee one who may kindly aid me with material for

examination—Dr. G. Baur, Yale Col. Mus., New Laven, Conn.,

April rath, 1885

A BLACK-FOOTED FERRET FROM TEXxAs.—I recently received

.from Mr. G. H. Ragsdale a specimen of the black-footed ferret,

Putorius nigripes, captured near Gainesville, Cooké county, Texas.

This is the second specimen of the species from Texas thus far

recorded. The first was noted by Dr. Coues in this journal, in

1882 (Vol. xvi. p. 1cog), and came from Abilene, Taylor county,

near the centre of the State—/. W. True, Curator of Mammals,

Smith. Institution.

ZooLocicaAL News.— Vermes — Robert Scharff (Quart. Jour.

Micros. Soc.) gives the result of his investigations upon the skin

and nervous system of Priapulus caudatus and Halicryptus spinu-

losus. The skin consists of a cuticula and hypodermis, with an

extremely thin layer of connective tissue or cutis. The nervous

system lies entirely in the ectoderm

FPolyzoa—S. F. Harmer (Quart. jar Micros. Soc ) contributes

a paper upon the structure and development of Loxosoma. The

‘investigations were carried on upon five species found at Naples.

He concludes that “in order to understand correctly the phylo-

geny of the Polyzoa we must derive the group from a trochos-

phere-like organism, and that the Entoprocta have remained

permanently at a grade hardly higher than that of this hypothet-

ancestor. xosoma shows itself the most primitive genus

by the fact that it forms no colonies, by the greater development

of the brain in the larva, and by the invariable presence of a foot-

gland i in the buds, if not in the adult.” The similarity between

Loxosoma and a molluscan larva (Dentalium) is pointed out, and

the author concludes that “ of all organisms with whose ontogeny

we are acquainted, the Mollusca come nearest to the Polyzoa,”

_ and that the Rotifera must be near the ates, Seed in many points;

= while the Brachiopoda are much less cl

- Tunicata—M. L. Roule has Seated thik Phallusiadz from

_ the coasts of Provence in addition to the two recently described

by him. One of these is intermediate between Molgula and

1885.| _ - Leblogy. 72t

Eugyra; while the others belong to the genera Microcosmus

and Cynthia.

Echinoderms.—The stalked crinoids collected by the Challenger

and reported upon by Dr, P. H. Carpenter, raise the total of ex-

isting generic forms to six, with no less than thirty-two species.

The bathymetrical range of the tribe is shown to extend from 100

fathoms to 2500. No less than 150 species of unstalked crinoids

were collected by the same expedition. In the discussion of the

pee a relations between the neocrinoids and the palæo-

r. Carpenter is, upon certain points, at issue with Mr.

Wachsmuth, the highest authority on the latter group. Of the

species of Pentacrinus from West Indian seas, P. asterias, the /szs

asterias of Linnzus, is the rarest, while P. decorus is far more

plentiful than P. mulleri. Neither of these, nor P. blakei, have

been met with elsewhere. Two species from the Western Pacific,

one from the North Atlantic, on the European side, another from

the tropical Atlantic, and a single mutilated type from the Japan

sea, complete the known Pentacrini. There is, in fact, but little

difference between this genus and Comatula, the chief distinction

themselves by their dorsal cirri; while the stalked Pentacrini are

not seldom detached by the fracture of their skins just below a

nodal joint, and they then cling to any suitable attachment by

means of the cirri of that joint, which bend downwards like the

dorsal cirri of Comatula. The five-chambered organ at the base

of the calyx is much smaller in Pentacrinus than in Comatula, but

each node of the crinoidal axis presents a dilatation similar to the

five in Comatula. In the Eastern Archipelago Pentacrinus is re-

placed by the allied Metacrinus, eleven species of which were

dredged by the Challenger.

strictly homologous with the Malpighian tubes of Tracheata.

M. Y. Delage has discovered a nervous system in Peltogaster,

which had before been believed to be without one. Eighteen

months previously the same naturalist found a nervous system in

Sacculina.

Mammais.—According to F. W. True, in a communication to

Science, the milk of Tursiops tursio is of the color and consistency

722 General Notes. [July,

of cream, without perceptible odor, and with the flavor of cocoa-

nut milk. The fishermen state that this species, which is the one

most common on the Atlantic coast, cannot remain under water

more than four or five minutes. The color of the back, in some

examples taken at Cape May Point, was a light plumbeous tint,

but it appears that the depth of the color varies in different indi-

viduals, and deepens rapidly after life is extinct, especially if the

specimens lie in the sun.

M. Paul Albrecht, in the Pressé Medicale Belge, 1884 (October),

states that there are fourteen digits in the vertebrate foét. Seven

of these are radial and tibial, one is axial, and six are ulnar and

fibular.

M. Retterer, in a thesis presented to the Faculty of Sciences of

Paris, describes the early stages of the limbs and feet in various

mammalia. e shows that the primitive cartilages display the

same numbers and character as the bones of the adults in a great

many cases,

EMBRYOLOGY.!

On THE EMBRYOLOGY OF LimuLus POLYPHEMUS? III. — The

stage under examination is that represented on Figs. 12 and 13,

14 and 15 (Plates 111 and 1v) of my essay on the development of

Limulus (Memoirs Boston Society Natural History, 1872). At

this stage the oval blastodermic disc, with the six pairs of the

cephalic appendages, is distinctly formed; the mouth is seen in a

position in front of the first pair of appendages, and from it the

primitive streak passes back to the posterior margin of the blas-

todermic disc or “ventral plate.” The abdomen is separated

from the head by a curved groove, as seen in Fig. 12 of my

memoir.

nature of the embryonic membrane, which I had previously re-

garded as the homologue of the amnion, and afterwards as the

serous membrane of insects, but which Mr. J. S. Kingsley’ has

found to be secreted from the blastoderm. A thin section (Plate

xxIv, Figs. 1 and 5) shows that the membrane is very thick, struc-

tureless, the cellular appearance being confined to the external

surface. This membrane is evidently secreted by the blastoderm ;

the irregular cell-like markings (see my second memoir, 1880,

Pl, i, Figs. 14, 144, 14¢, 14d) are, so to speak, casts of the blas-

toderm , which with the marks of even their nuclei are im-

__ pressed upon the membrane during the early stage in its forma-

= Edited by Jonn A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

. — *Read before the American Philosophical Society, January 16, 1885.

“The Development of Limulus, Science Record, 11, pp. 249-251, Sept., 1884.

1885.] Embryology. 723

tion; after a while new matter is added to the interior which is

structureless, so that the cellular appearance is only superficial.

In my comparison of this membrane with the serous membrane,

I certainly exaggerated its resemblance to the serosa of insects, as

the latter is a much more delicate membrane, and with a charac-

teristic appearance in Crustacea, the scorpion, myriopods and

hexapods. The membrane in question appears to have its homo-

logue, however, in the embryonic membrane of Apus, which we

thus appears that this supposed point of resemblance in Limulus

to the Tracheata is removed.

A longitudinal section of the embryo of Limulus is represented

by Fig. 2. The section passes through the blastodermic disc

(ventral plate) and the indications of the appendages, on one side

of the median line of the body. The epiblast entirely surrounds

the yolk, forming a thin layer with nuclei, the cell walls not being

distinct, while the nucleolus consists of a number of granules.

The nuclei are two deep only on the cephalic portion. of the em-

bryo. The blastodermic disc does not extend quite half way

around the egg. The six pairs of appendages are well developed,

increasing in size from the first to the last pair. The mesoblast

is now well developed; the nuclei well marked, but the cellular

walls more or less effaced. The mesoblastic arthromeres are now

well indicated. The somatic cavities are well marked in each

appendage ; the somatopleure is from one to three cells deep ; the

splanchnopleure is formed usually of two layers of cells, and is

more or less continuous at the ends of the somatic cavities with

the somatopleure. The relations of these divisions of the meso-

protoplasmic network connecting ose present formed

a dorsal row ranged next to the thin epiblast over about one-quar-

ter of the periphery of the ovum. earlier stage, however,

724 General Notes, [July,

The abdomen has not yet undergone segmentation; the incip-

ient steps are represented in Fig. 2, where there appear to be

arising five mesoblastic segments (1, 2, 3, 4,5). Between the first

and second mesoblastic mass is a narrow cavity which sends a

branch forward to the base of the abdomen, and a second

obliquely downward and inward ; at 2 and 3 in Fig. 2 there are

narrow cavities or splits (somatic cavities ?) which communicate

with a longitudinal internal opening, which extends in a direction

parallel to the under (now outer) surface of the abdomen. In

this respect the embryo of Limulus is very different from that of

the scorpion and spiders (see especially Balfour’s Figs. 5, 6, Pl.

xix, and Fig. 15, Pl. xx), where the abdominal segments, with

their appendages and somatic cavities are formed contemporane-

ously with those of the cephalothorax. The innermost meso-

dermic cells are now arranged in long cords, destined to form the

ventral adductor muscles of the abdomen.

The mode of formation of the head and its shape at this time

presents important differences from that of tracheate embryos.

The procephalic lobes are not developed ; the preoral portions of

e head, z. e., that part in front of the first pair of limbs is very

small, short and narrow, merely forming the end of the oval blas-

todermic disc, seen in my earlier published figures. The struc-

ture of the preoral portion of the head (procephalum as we may

term it), is seen in longitudinal section in Fig. 3, fc, to apparently

consist merely of an extension of the postoral part of the head ;

with apparently one or two splits in the mesoderm (mst, ms*), t

nature of which I do not understand; undoubtedly farther sec-

tions and comparisons will throw light upon it.

The first nervous ganglion is seen at Fig. 5 to result (as also

first shown by Kingsley) in an ingrowth of the epiblast (nv. c) ;

carrying into the interior a mass of epiblastic nuclei, which

envelop the myeloid substance (my), which, as in older embryos,

remains unstained by the carmine.

The mesoblastic nuclei stop at a large cell (c), beyond which

are long incipient loose muscle-cells with a few scattered nuclei.

d procephalum terminates abruptly, forming, as seen in our

saia figures already referred to, the end of the blastodermic

sc.

The absence of the procephalic lobes in the embryo Limulus

of this stage seems to us to be a very significant fact, and to point

- commi ith eate os. At the same time the gen-

: eral mode of formation of the blastodermic disc (ventral plate) of

1885.] Embryology. | 725

Limulus is much like that of the spider, as seen in the mode of

origin of the mesoblastic segments and the probable origin of the

hypoblastic cells. There is a superficial resemblance between the

embryo of Limulus and of the spider, as may be seen by a com-

parison of our Fig. 2 and Balfour’s Fig. 15. Without much

doubt the Tracheata and Palzocarida, as well as Crustacea Neo-

carida, branched off from a common ancestor, but the more im-

portant morphological points show that the terrestrial, air-breath-

ing tracheates were a much later branch of the arthropod tree

than the marine branchiate Paleocarida and genuine Crustacea.

Probably the Palzocarida (Limulus and other Merostomata, and

Trilobita) were the earliest arthropods to appear; after them arose

the Crustacea, perhaps at nearly the same time the Arachnida,

and finally the Myriopoda and the winged insects. Without

much doubt the earliest branchiate forms were our Protocyclus,'

the ancestor of the Palzocarida; and a protonauplius form, the

forerunner of the Crustacea; these were marine, perhaps branchi-

ate organisms, with a few pairs of simple oar-like swimming

appendages either around or just behind the mouth, and which

were free-swimming or creeping forms; the Protocyclus was,

perhaps, a solid oval creeping animal living at the bottom on mud

or sand. The branchiz probably became first developed on the

limbs of the free-swimming Protonauplii, as they needed, owing

to their great rapidity of movement, the means of rapid aération |

of the blood; while in the heavily molded less oxygen-consum-

ing Protocyclus, the evolution of gills was somewhat postponed.

The steps from Protocyclus to Agnostus was not a very long one.

The oldest arthropods, notwithstanding the recent discovery of a

Silurian scorpion, were trilobites.

The following conclusions are drawn from a study of the stage

of Limulus here figured.

The fact that the embryo Limulus had at first no abdominal

appendages (uropoda), whereas there are temporary ominal

appendages in the tracheates, shows that Limulus in this impor-

tant respect has little in common with the Arachnida, Myriopoda

or Hexapoda. On the other hand in the embryo Crustacea the

cephalic limbs are first indicated ; the nauplian limbs as we

the zoéan appendages being cephalic ; the uropods not appearing

until after the Crustacea leave the egg.

These facts indicate that Limulus probably descended from a

type in which there were cephalic appendages only, and no

abdominal appendages. The absence of a serous membrane, of

an amnion, and of procephalic lobes, of temporary embryonic

abdominal appendages (at the stage above described) ; also of

protozonites (seen in the early embryo of the scorpion and spider)

tend to prove that the embryo of Limulus has little in common

with that of Tracheata.

1 See Development of Limulus, 1872, p.

726 General Notes. [July,

On the other hand the earlier stages in the embryology of

Limulus resemble those of Crustacea in the absence of the pro-

cephalic lobes; in the primitive development of cephalic appen-

dages alone; the comparatively early appearance of the branchiæ

of Limulus in the stage succeeding that figured in this essay,

shows that the Limulus enn never had any genetic connec-

tion with a tracheate arthro

On the other hand, the pina features of mesoblastic

somites are also seen in the worms, in Peripatus and in Annelida.

It appears that the embryology of Limulus is scarcely more

like that of tracheates than. Crustacea ; it is a very primitive type

standing nearer the branchiate arthropods than the tracheate, but

on the whole should be regarded as a generalized or a composite

form, which with its fossil allies, the Eurypterida and Trilobita,

form a class by themselves with a superficial resemblance to the

Arachnida.

It seems to us that the above-mentioned characters, which sep-

arate the early embryo of Limulus from the tracheates, are as

important, if not much more so, than those of the absence at

first of an archenteric cavity or differences in the mode of origin

of the mesoblast, noted by Mr. Kingsley in his brief paper on the

development of Limulus. In these general, primitive embryonic

characters Limulus appears to be as nearly allied to the annelids

as to the tracheates; and too much dependence should not, it

seems to us, = placed upon them in ae to establish the true

relations of the Paleocarida among the arthropods. In the

higher worms the two longitudinal mesoblastic bands split into

somatic and splanchnic layers (K y). In Mysis Metsch-

nikoff states that the mesoblast becomes broken up into distinct

somites (Balfour's Embryology, 1, 436). If so, then this charac-

ter is not one of much importance to separate Limulus from the

Crustacea. The ultimate origin of Limulus from the same stock

as that which gave rise to the modern annelids seems not im-

probable.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIV.

Fic. 1 Eae gee Raye (bl. cut) lying Sas the ibang (ef). The nuclei

scattered throu: e latter; the nucleolus in these as well as the mesoblast cells,

consisting of a nu oe of granules. x i A.

Fic, 2.—Longitudi po ory through an embryo before the appearance of the ab-

dominal append. but after the eee e of the chorion; the section passes

through the six e k appendages (1 ee showi Sp somatic cavities (7s),

the iplanclinoplcare (sf), and somatopleu ith 1-9 the indications of the five

ve uromeres; Ay, hypo- or ecto blast.

Fic. 2a.—Showing the relations of hypblastic ie Ay) to the epiblast in the

dorsal region e the emb: : > P soe

Fic Cees Locse » section of ‘the head and the first three appendages ; ms!, ms?,

~ firstand second somatic cavities in the preo elipt of the head. This figure

=: also shows the relations of rae splanchnopleure and somatopleure to the epi-

large distinct x 4A,

reps. c,

Fie. 4.— Aeri ieai ka the head, indleding the e apean X44.

merican Naturalist

PLATE XXIV. =

7 Rere ~e

s4 S 9

È A f 938° . a

or i Staa

o®

Hya

Be ree

5 TAO

EF Sa

2° PEP aw)

ear 8

a 298

A “y

ge -a HDs iy

5; 6 Bs,

—

Erit

OGY OF LIMULUS.

1885.] Fhystology: 727

Fic. 5.—Transverse section through the head, showing the invagination and thick-

ening of the epiblast to form the brain; my, myeloid substance of the ganglion.

All the longitudinal sections are from the same egg, and the transverse sections

from another. The figures were all drawn by the author with the camera.

—A, S. Packard.

PHYSIOLOGY.’

SCIENCE VS. THE “ ZOOPHILIST.”—The believers in physiologi-

cal experiment upon animals as a means for increasing our know-

ledge of the body will all heartily indorse Professor Martin in

his vigorous “ castigation” of the truth-distorting and fanatic

Zobphilist, an English sheet whose ostensible object is the preven-

tion of cruelty toward animals, People who are opposed to what

is popularly known as “vivisection,” may be divided into two

classes, the reasonable and the unreasonable. It is the duty of

physiologists to maintain the respect of the former class by the

presentation of the abundant arguments which defend the use of

the lower animals, under proper conditions, for scientific pur-

poses, The latter class could probably never be completely

silenced except by a course of unresponsive contempt, but for all

that one must occasionally be pleased. to see a fool get his just

deserts.

CONDITIONS MODIFYING THE DIASTATIC ACTION OF SALIVA—

Messrs. Chittenden and Smith have extended the valuable re-

searches of the former upon the diastati¢ action of saliva. The

following are their conclusions;

“1, The diastatic action of saliva can be taken as a definite

measure of the amount of ferment present only when the dilution

of the saliva in the digestive mixture is as 1:50 or 100. The

limit of dilution at which decisive diastatic action will manifest

itself with formation of reducing bodies is I : 2000-3000, under

the conditions previously given. 2. The diastatic action of neu-

1:50 or 100, and is apparently out of all proportion to the

amount of alkalinity. 3. Sodium carbonate retards the diastatic

728 General Notes, [July,

the proteid matter, and also to a direct stimulation of the ferment.

Likewise peptone tends to diminish in a similar manner the

retarding action of the various percentages of sodium carbonate.

To accomplish this, however, the amount of peptone must be.

proportionate to the percentage of alkaline carbonate. 7. Pep-

tone tends to prevent the destructive action of dilute sodium car-

bonate on salivary ptyalin, thus giving proof of the probable

formation of an alkaline-proteid body. 8. Saliva with its proteid

matter saturated with acid appears to have a greater diastatic

action than when simply neutralized ; except when the acid pro-

teids thus formed are above a certain percentage. Small percent-

ages of peptone saturated with acid similarly increase the dias-

tatic action of neutralized saliva up to a certain point. Increasing

the percentage of acid-proteids finally causes a diminution of dias-

tatic activity. 9. The retarding influence of acid-proteids is out

of all proportion to their power of destruction. Large percent-

_ ages, however, of acid-proteids may cause almost complete de-

struction of the ferment. 10, The most favorable condition for

the diastatic action of ptyalin, under most circumstances, appears

to be a neutral condition of the fluid together with the presence

of more or less proteid matter. The addition of very small

amounts of hydrochloric acid, however, to di/ute solutions of

saliva, giving thereby a small percentage of acid-proteids, appears

to still further increase diastatic action. Under such conditions a

minute trace of free acid appears to still further increase the

action. 11. 0.003 per cent free hydrochloric acid almost com-

pletely stops the amylolytic action of ptyalin. The larger the

amount of the saturated proteids the more pronounced becomes

the retarding action of free acids. 12. The retarding action of

the smaller percentages of free acid are not due wholly to destruc-

tion of the ferment. Pronounced destruction takes place with

0.005—-0.010 per cent free hydrochloric acid. 13. Proteid matter,

885.

PaystoLocy OF THE SYMPATHETIC NERVES.—The generalization —

of Dr. Gaskell “ On the relationship between the structure and the

nction of the nerves which innervate the visceral and vascular

systems ” are of the highest interest and importance. Dr. Gas-

kell calls attention to the fact that involuntary muscles, visceral

=~ and vascular as well as cardiac muscle, are supplied by two kinds

_ of nerve fibers which are histologically distinct, the medullated

1885.] Anthropology, 729

or white and the non-medullated or gray nerve fibers. Contrac-

tion of involuntary muscle is brought about exclusively by im-

pulses proceeding along the non-medullated nerves, while relaxa-

tion or inhibition of muscular contraction is as invariably produced

by impulses conducted by the medullated nerves. All nerves in

their course from the spinal cord to the sympathetic ganglia are of

the medullated variety, but on leaving the sympathetic ganglia

they are separable into two groups of medullated and non-me dul-

lated fibers; the medullated sympathetic fibers are, Soe

easily distinguished from those of ordinary striated muscle by

their smaller diameter.

Dr. Gaskell writes: “In previous communications I have

shown that the heart of various cold blooded animals, e. g., frog,

' tortoise, crocodile, is innervated by nerves coming from two dis-

tinct scurces in the same way as the heart of the warm-blooded

animal; and I am now enabled to make the further communica-

tion that in the dog, cat, rabbit, tortoise and crocodile these two

sets of nerve fibers are structurally differentiated from each other

in precisely the same manner. The vagus fibers from their origin

up to their entrance into the heart are medullated, the sympa-

thetic fibers in the whole of their course from the basal ganglia

of the Aap ale ie along we annulus of Vieussens to the heart are

non-medullated. very involuntary muscle is inner-

vated by rotor nerves which are histologically and physiologically

distinct; the one gray, non-medullated, causing contraction of

the muscle; the other white, fine, medullated, causing relaxation

of the muscle.’ '— Jl. of Physiology, Vol. vi, p. tv.

ANTHROPOLOGY .'

THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN.—This valued exchange has now

oe a bi-monthly. The anthropological papers of No. 5, Vol.

AR mihol. By F. G. Flea eay.

Dates in the ancient history of S, America. By M. Castaing:

The hill tribes of India. John Ave nig

Emblematic mounds. By S. D. Pee

The paper of Mr. Avery is sof great value, not e in naming

and describing tribes, but in the explanation of certain customs.

The article by the editor relates to the attitudes of the animals in

the emblematic mounds, and supports the view that the construc-

tors had in mind the various poses of the animals, which are

familiar to hunters.

METALLURGY AMONG Savaces.—Dr. Richard Andrés has just

1 Edited by Professi Otis T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D.C.

730 General Notes. [July,

Leipzig, Veit u. Comp., 1884,” pp. 166. The topics treated are

as follows:

Iron and copper among the Negro races.

Iron and copper in hither India.

The Gypsies as metal workers.

Metallurgy among the Malays, farther India, China, Japan, Northern Asia.

Knowledge of iron among the American Indians,

Copper in North America. |

Copper and bronze in Mexico.

Metals used by the agree

Copper and bronze

The spread of iron in cate Sanh Sea islands,

THE FRANKFURT CRANIOMETRIC AGREEMENT.—A full statement

of this agreement has been published in the NATURALIST, and its

importance is so great that we draw attention to Professor Gar-

son’s objections to it. In the first place, since those devoting

themselves to any branch of science belong to one brotherhood,

the introduction of the word German is unfortunate. In drawing

up any code of craniometric measurements the researches of

Broca must be the basis, Professor Garson advocates the con-

dylo-alveolar plane. The audito-orbital plane is in some instances

directed more or less obliquely downward; it is more difficult to

place the skull in the latter plane; the apparatus of suspension is

complicated and in the way of important measuring. Again,

the horizontal measures are not important, the form of the skull

is quite as fully indicated by measurements from fixed points by

the sliding callipers. The following Frankfurt measurements are |

accepted, the numbers are those of the agreement:

2. Maximum length. 17a. Bi-jugal err

4. Maximum breadth. 18. Bi-zygomatic breadth,

5. Maximum frontal breadth. 18a. PBA breadth.

7. Height (basio-bregmatic). 21. Height of nose.

10, Basio-nasal length, 22. Breadth of nose,

Length 23. Orbital breadth.

13. Breadth 25. Orbital height.

14. Horizontal circumference, 30. Basio-alveolar length,

15. Fronto-occipital arc.

? of foramen magnum,

The following measurements are rejected :

t. Horizontal length. 175. Infra-jugal facial breadth,

6. Total height, 24. Maximum horizontal orbital breadth,

8. Ear height, 26. Vertical height of orbits,

g. Auxiliary ear-height. 27. Palatal length,

=> 1u. Basilar length, 28. Palatal breadth.

_. 13@, Bi-mastoid width. = 29, Posterior palatine breadth,

_ 136. Breadth of base of skull, 31. Profile angle,

1885.] Anthropology. 731

REVUE D Slap iad ke atta 1 and 11 for 1882 contain

the Sellowing paper.

Description élémentaire des Pigg upes yap dese de Homme, d’aprés le cer-

veau schematique. By Pau and S. P

Le Transformisme, Cours Aks einden PERIE de I’Ecole d’ Anthropologie.

By Mathias Duval.

Etudes sur les A gre ag primitives. Les Cafres et plus specialement les Zoulous.

By M. Elie Reclus

Le Poids du Cervelet, da Bulbe, de la Protuberance et des Hémispheres, d'après les

regis e Broca. By Dr. Philippe Rey.

Etudes sur les Populations Paaa etc. (fin.)

De l’Angle Zyphoidien. By Adrie arpy.

Etude sur les Kalmoucks (suite). By J. Denilar,

ETHNOGRAPHY OF GUATEMALA.—Dr. Otto Stoll, a resident phy-

Sician in Guatemala, has undertaken to supplement the work of

Brasseur and of Berendt on the comparative incuba of the

Central American States. There are eighteen languages now

spoken in Guatemala, fourteen of them belonging to the Maya

Quiché, viz., Maya, Mopan, Chol, Qu’ekchi, Pokonchi, Uspan-

teca, Ixil, Aquacateca, Mame, Qu’ iché, Cakchiquel, Tzu tuzil,

okomam, Chorti. The Sinca, Pupuluca, Pipil and Carib repre-

sent other stocks. Dr. Stoll takes up his work in a very system-

atic manner, stock by stock, giving in each the tribes examined

together with the literature, synonymy, chirography, history and

vocabulary. Thus :

I. Aztek stock. The Pipils Sarg Se a nee pe lars em

ae His _Gouth ors); Mej and Nahuate (Juarros); Nahual of

the Bal and of teko ena Mexicanic or language of the

Tlaskaltekas Cobaini et).

II. Mije stock. The Pupulucas (Cognaco, extreme south-east).

Spaonje: Pupuluca (Juarros; paa reg Popoluca (Berendt

MSS.).

Papuluka (Brasseu ur) is the name of a Cakchiquel village, and Scherzus Pupu-

luka Katschike is pure Cakchiquel.

III. Carib stock, The Caribs (Gulf of Honduras),

IV. The Maya-Qu’iché stock. 250 words in sixteen languages given.

Dr. Stoll divides the Maya into four groups:

A. Tzendal,

B. Pokonchi.

č. ous iché

D. Mam

A. Tzendal por. 1, Chontals of Tabasco.

wonje Do not earan them with the “ Chontales ” of Nicaragua, who

ntirely differen

2. seattle (Ocosingo).

Synonymy: Celdal (Cepeda).

3. Tzotziles (San Christobal de Chia

Synonymy: E a. (Cepeda); Zotzlem as or Zotzil; Quelenes

Spanis š

‘ 4. Chafiabal (Comitan, near north of Guatemala).

5. Choles (across Guatemala from Salinas r, to Motagua r., see

732 General Notes. [July,

Synonymy: Putum Bernat) Cholti (Moran); Colchi (Palacio); Ecolchi

(Alonzo de Esco

6. pias (north of Chols in Guatemala).

B. Pochonchi apne I. Qu’ekchis (east, west and north of Coban),

, : Cechi (Palacio); Caichi (Juarros); Egkchi (Habel); Cakchi

(Chavous) hae beealongile Cacchi with Qu’iché.

onchis (around Tactic).

Synonymy: Spelled se ae. Pocomchi and Pokomchi. The Poconchi of

Gage and Scherzer is Pokom

ĝi omams TEER to Jalapa and eastward).

Synonymy: Poconchi (Gage and Scherzer); Pokome (Charence y).

. Chortis (Zacapa and Chequemula and eastward).

Synonymy: [onpisipi (Palacio) ; Chol (Jimenez, by Brasseur).

- Quiché group. 1. Qu’ichés (Cunen and Rabinal, south-west to Pacific).

Synonymy: Lengua ‘scan (authors) also Kiché.

‘2: antaks (S. Miguel Uspantan).

4. Cakehiqusls (Tecpam to Sta Lucia and to agg te '

Synonymy: Lengua Achi (Fuentes, Palacio); Cuauhtemalteco ? (Palacio);

Kacchikil (Vater) ; eoeicniie (Th. Gage); Pupuluka Katschikel (Scher-

zer); also Cakchiquelchi.

Ta u aia (around Atitlan).

Synonymy : Sotojil (Fuentes); also Zutuhil, Tzutohil.

D. Mame group. 1. Ixiles (Cotzal and vicinity).

. Mames (all Southwestern Guatemala).

Synonymy: Zt ama (Reynoso); Mem (authors).

FN ango).

The Sinca HER papar Guatem

T! Sinca (Juarros); me (Berendt MSS.); Xorti (Carine s

‘The EIERE language (S. Cristobal) little known.

Scheme of the Maya Languages.

‘dnois

je }49Z 7],

‘dnog ‘dnos ‘dnoid

SWE PND puoyod

pni it is well to note that H. de Charencey

EEDA h in the Maya Qu’iché lan-

Whil te pgn ept

1885.] Microscopy. 733

guages, in Le Muséon, Vol. 111, 517-651; and Daniel G. Brinton

publishes in the Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., No. 11 5, PP. 345-412, a

grammar of the Cakchiquel language of Guatemala.

MICROSCOPY :!

Mayer’s Carsotic Acip SHELLAC.—Finding that ee oil and

creosote produce fine granulations when used in ordinary

shellac method, Dr. Paul Mayer has adopted a new pirer of

dissolving the shellac, by which an excellent fixative is ob-

tained that never shows any traces of Lepere The fixative

is applied by a fine brush to the cold sl

Mayer prepares the solution in the following manner :

1. Dissolve one part of bleached shellac in five parts of abso-

lute alcohol.

2. Filter the solution and evaporate the alcohol on a water-

bath. A yellowish residue quite stiff when cold is thus obtained.

If any cloudiness arises during evaporation, the solution must be

filtered again.

3 Dissolve the shellac residue in pure carbolic acid on a water-

bath. A concentrated solution of carbolic acid is obtained by

exposing the crystals to the air until they dissolve, or by adding

a small amount of water (about five per cent).

uantity of acid should be sufficient to give a thickish

liquid when cold.

This fixative is painted on to the cold slide with a brush, at the

time of using. The sections are then placed, and the slide left

in the oven of a water-bath for some minutes (10-15 minutes I

find sufficient). The carbolic acid is thus evaporated, leaving a

perfectly transparent stratum of shellac on the slide. The sec-

tions are next ae from paraffine in the ordinary way and

mounted in balsa

This method is considered to be the best and simplest for fix-

ing stained section

The shellac can te dissolved directly in carbolic acid, but then

the fluid must stand a long time in order .to become clear, as it

cannot be filtered. For this.reason it is preferable to dissolve

first in alcohol.

Note.—According to a note just received, Mayer now prepares the shellac as

rae ellac is slice and heated with crystals of colorless carbolic acid until

it iaeiei In filtering the funnel should be heated over a flame. It will filter

slowly but quite i If it is too thick crystals of carbolic acid may be added

until the desired consistency is reached.

An ETHER FREEZING AppaRAtus.2~—A very simple and conve-

nient little freezing apparatus, which can be used with almost any

microtome, has recently been described by W. Emil Beecker.

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, Mass

* Zeitschr. f. Instrumentenkunde. Apr., 7884, PP. 126-127.

VOL. XIX.—NO. VII 48

734 General Notes. [July,

Following the principle of the Lewes and the Ray’ instruments,

the ether spray is thrown on the under side of the object-plate

instead of on the object itself.

The apparatus consists of a short cylinder (Fig. 1 A), closed

by the plate, P, on which the object is placed for freezing. A

metallic tube (4) drawn to a fine point penetrates the base of the

cylinder, and another (4) its side. The vertical tube (æ) is con-

nected by rubber tubing with a small bellows, while the horizon-

tal tube (4) is similarly connected with a glass tube which passes

through the stopper of a bottle containing ether, reaching nearly

to the bottom. When the bellows is set in motion the current of

LULL

TTT

| 2

—

-n

DDD

c a

Fic. 1.—Freezing cylinder seen in section.

air throws the ether spray against the plate, P, and the rapid

evaporation thus produced soon lowers the temperature suffi-

excess of condensed ether.

The cylinder is small enough to be received by the holder of

the microtome. It is to be obtained from W. Emil Boecker, in

Wetzlar, Germany, at sixteen and a half marks ($4.25).

The Roy microtome, referred to above, is made by Schaure,

Pathologische Institut, Liebig-Strasse, Leipzig.

_ _ A new Freezinc Microrome.—Dr. F. O. Jacobs, of Newark,

O., has devised the freezing microtome shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

— lArch, f. mikr. Anat., XIX, pp. 137-143, Pl. v1, 1880,

1885.] Microscopy. 735

It consists of a copper rod, A, two inches or more in diameter

and six inches high, inclosed by an inner zinc (6) and an outer

brass tank (c). Above is the table, D, working on a fine screw

Through the center of the table passes a narrower portion

of the copper rod, the piston ().

When the inner tank is filled with a mixture of salt, ice and

water, the temperature of the copper rod is so reduced as to

an en amma

MLM ALAMLLLYG

Lk 7 eX exe

— ES

SS S

NNAAAAAANSSNNAASEAASNASANSRSENNS

SISSE

WSS

ANNIN SNNN ANANN NNENANANSND

X ka

SA TSN

TAN

AANS

ISIL LILAA

Fic. 1.—Freezing microtome.

freeze any object (F) placed on its upper end. The size of the

rod is such that its temperature will remain very steady for from

four to six hours without any further care on the part of the

erator. :

pee this arrangement, the advantages of which will be readily

seen, objects can be easily frozen, and without any slop or

(£3 m ”

The imbedding medium is composed of:

Gum arabic . 5

Gum tragacanth I

Gelatine

736 Scientific News. [July,

oe ATTACHE LEE

Fio

}

petits ances =

ne ne a

The mixture is dissolved in enough warm water to give it the

nee as ee : s

TYPE Fo PriLA

Fic, 2.—Section of the same.

consistency of thin jelly when cold. A little glycerine (1 : 6) is

added to the water.

:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Under the title “Elephant pipes in the museum of the

Academy of Natural Science, Davenport, Iowa,” Mr. Charles E.

Putnam enters a vigorous and well written protest against the

criticisms and insinuations which have been made against the char-

acter of the discoverer and the authenticity of the elephant pipes

in the museum of the Davenport Academy. The article is racy

reading, and incidentally gives strong arguments against the

desire for centralization in science shown in certain quarters. It

wil found impossible to concentrate all science in any one

clique or city. Our local societies and scattered observers need

not feel that their efforts are not as valuable in their way as the

labors of government officials and closet or office naturalists.

1885.] Scientific News, | 737

— The Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Bruns-

wick, No. 1v, contains the following papers: A preliminary list of

the plants of New Brunswick, by James Fowler; The surface

geology of Fredericton, N. B., by W. T. L. Reed; The inverte-

brates of Passamaquoddy bay, by W. F. Ganong; the more val-

uable being G. F. Matthews’ on recent discoveries in the

Saint John group, with a letter from Professor A. Hyatt. _

— Among recent works on fishes which have appeared in Eu-

rope are the second and third parts of Professor Lilljeborg’s

“ Swedish and Norwegian Fishes,” prepared in the same thorough

manner as his late work on Scandinavian mammals. From Wil-

liam Sorensen we have received an important physiological and

anatomical treatise on the organs of hearing in fishes, a book of

245 pages with four excellent plates. The Dipnoi have been

studied anatomically and physiologically by Howard Ayres,

Ph.D., whose memoir appears in the Jena Zeitschrift, and is illus-

trated by numerous figures.

— The annual meeting of the American Society of Micro-

scopists will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 18-21, 1885, and

while of especial interest to microscopists is of interest to stu-

dents in every departmont of science. The working session, in

which the most approved and original methods of microscopical

investigation will be practically demonstrated by leading experts,

will be of value to all working naturalists and students.

— The lectures on natural history now being delivered to the

school teachers of the city of New York, by Professor A. S.

Bickmore, have, as we personally know, proved a decided suc-

cess, both in point of numbers and interest manifested both in the

lectures and exhibitions of specimens to the audience in the

work-rooms of the American museum at Central park.

— The next meeting of the American Association for the Ad-

vancement of Science will be held at Ann Arbor, Mich., begin-

ning Aug. 26, 1885. The Entomological Club will meet at that

place Aug. 25th.

— The British Association will meet at Aberdeen, Sept. oth.

The president is Sir J. W. Dawson; the president elect, Right

Hon. Sir Lyon Playfair, K.C.B.

— The French Association for the Advancement of Science

will meet this year at Grenoble, on Aug. 13, under the presidency

of Professor Verneuil.

— Lrrata—Page 608, line 14, for he read we.

= 608, “ 33, “ Fregana read Freyana.

“ 609, “ 17, “ sub-lined read six-lined.

738 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [July, 1885.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Biotoaicat Society oF WaAsHINGTON, May 16.—Communica-

tions: Mr, Frederick W. True, Exhibition of a specimen of the

Guefeza monkey, Colobus guereza; Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Note

on a new fish from Florida, allied to Murznoides ; Mr. Jide

Wortman, On the reduction of the molar teeth of the ‘Carnivora : :

Professor Otis T. Mason, On post-mortem trepanning; Mr. Les-

ter F. Ward, Some Cretaceous fossil plants from the Laramie

group.

May 30. —Mr. Lester F. Ward, Recent flowering of the Ginkgo

Dre C.

Marshall McDonald, A theory to xplain the E oaa abun-

dance of migratory fishes in certain seasons ; Dr. Thomas Tay-

lor, How to distinguish between animal and vegetable fats.

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, May 11.—The following

paper was besa The geology of the Bermuda islands, by

Mr. James F. Kemp,

May 18.—The last public lecture of the free monthly course

was given by Professor Daniel C. Eaton, on Hybrids and

June 1.—Mr. William E. Hidden described the minerals of

special Nieres at the New Orleans exhibition.

Boston Society oF NATURAL HISTORY, May 20.—Mr. George

H. Barton described the ancient land-system of the Hawaiians ;

Dr. C. S. Minot discussed the causes limiting the duration of

organic life.

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SocrEty, Feb. 20, 1885.—Mr. Philips

mor aie and gave an account of a “ writing box” presented in

March 20.—Dr. Brinton read a paper on the Philosophic gram-

mar of American languages as set forth by Humboldt, and also

a paper by Dr. H. Rink on Danish explorations in Greenland and

their significance; Dr. Greene presented a paper, by Dr. O. C.

er, On the adulteration of oils,

April 21.— Professor Cope presented a.communication on

Some points in Mexican geology and zodlogy, and also a paper

on some new Eocene Vertebrata; Professor F. A. Genth pre-

sented a paper on the Vanadites and iodyrites found in Lake

valley, Sierra county, Cal.; Mr. W. Taylor presented a paper on

the method of making composite photographs on the Galton plan,

illustrating his subject with ts Sat and Professor Chase

_ sent oll abit ia “ Further experiments in weather fore-

| pa on tie Chase Maxtrell ratio.”

x vay ¥.—Dr, H. Allen made a communication on The tarsus se

PLATE XXV.

Interior view of a te and both jaws of left side of the fossil man of Mexico.

ma 5 of the original by Cruces y. Ca

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

: VoL. xix.— AUGUST, 1885.—No. 8.

NOTICE OF SOME HUMAN REMAINS FOUND NEAR

| THE CITY OF MEXICO.

BY MARIANO DE LA BARCENA,

N the month of January, 1884, some excavations were being

made, by means of dynamite, at the foot of the small hill

known as “ Peñon de los Baños,’ some four kilometers east of the

City of Mexico. The excavations were made with the object of

quarrying building stone for the Military Shooting School which

is being constructed near the Pefion and under the supervision of

Colonel Don Adolfo Obregon. This gentleman, at the beginning

of January, was informed that among the rocks loosened by the

dynamite some bones were to be found, and he accordingly col-

lected and delivered them to the Minister of Public Works, Don

Carlos Pacheco, who appointed the writer to make a study of

them. The preliminary examination being made, I presented

them to the Mexican Society of Natural History, giving at the

same time public notice of so important a discovery.

Some days afterwards I explored the formation in which the

bones were found, continuing my studies with the coöperation of

Don Antonio del Castillo, professor of geology, whom I invited

to take part in my investigations ; both making upa n which

has lately been published in Mexico.

The human remains are firmly imbedded in a rock formed of

silicified calcareous tufa, very hard and of a brownish-gray color.

The cranium with the lower and upper maxille and fragments of

the collar-bone, vertebrz, ribs and bones from the upper and

lower limbs are exposed. The bones lie in disorder, proving

that the rock in which the ongoing was found suffered an up-

VOL, XIX.—NO. VIII.

740 Notice of some Human Remains ` (August,

heaval before consolidation, a circumstance which an examination

of the ground further verifies. The bones present a yellowish

appearance and the characteristic aspects of fossilization, it being

noteworthy that they are not coated with layers of the calcareous

rock as is observed in the recent deposits, but are firmly imbed-

ded in the stone, which also fills the cells of the tissue.

Several distinct formations and rocks are seen in the locality

where the bones were found; towards the center rises the small

hill “ del Peñon,” consisting of volcanic porphyries; on the base

to the north there appear first a clearly recent formation made up

of vegetable earth, marl and ceramical remains, which in the

upper part are modern, and in the lower belong to the Aztec

ceramics. Under this recent formation are the calcareous layers

in which the human remains were found.

These layers crop out with a rise toward the northern bound-

ary, forming the end of an esplanade which surrounds the hill, and

is three meters above the actual level of the waters of Lake Tez-

coco. The layer of hardened rock does not extend with regu-

larity the whole distance from the before-mentioned edge to the

foot of the hill, some intervening spaces occurring in which this

rock does not appear; the resulting hollows being filled with

recent ground. This circumstance as well as the appearance of

the layers of calcareous tufa, prove that this rock was upheaved

after the deposit of the human bones, by the igneous rocks which

crop out in the neighborhood of the hill forming dykes. This

upheaval is also verified by the numerous smalls veins which are

found in different directions on the ground.

In order to clearly establish the age which the deposit of the

human bones might have, the best scientific method would be to

find some animal fossil remains in the same formation which

would distinctly mark the age of the layers of that calcareous

rock, but until now, notwithstanding the many searches made, it

has not yet been possible to find any traces of extinct animals;

_ neither has there been found any vestige of ceramics or other re-

mains that might indicate that these rocks were clearly modern, as

among them the only things found were the human bones, roots

converted into menilite and some small indeterminable lacustrine

shells formed by the same calcareous substance. These shells

L . belong to genera which have lived in Quaternary as well as ins

eee

: a sa waters, it ae: been Sos to determine their species

1885.] Sound near the City of Mexico. 741

on account of the bad state of preservation in which they were

ound,

In the region to the south of the hill more modern calcareous

rocks are seen, and thicker deposits of recent ground with

remains of Aztec ceramics.

Not being therefore able to utilize the palzontological data for

determining the age of these calcareous layers, we must fall back

on the inspection of the ground.

Two facts seem at once to reveal that even supposing the forma-

tion to belong to the present age, it must be of remote antiquity.

These facts are: The elevation of the ground above the actual

level of the Lake of Tezcoco, and the remarkable hardness of

the rock in which the bones are found, different from the other

calcareous rocks that contain remains of ceramics or roots® of

plants clearly modern. The upheaval of the lacustrine layers

which contain the human remains might have taken place through

the diminution and retirement of the waters of the lake, or by

the upheaval of volcanic rocks.

In the first case it could have been occasioned either by a vio-

lent filtration of the water, or a slow evaporation ; but nowhere

in the valley of Mexico are any traces to be found of a crack or

opening through which the waters could have escaped, and which

ought to appear outside of the present level of the lake, as if it

were below, all the water would have disappeared. If the lower-

ing of level was due to evaporation, a theory which would be

more admissible, because from the time of the conquest of Mex- —

ico to the present the submerged surfaces have notably dimin-

ished, the time necessary to have elapsed in order that the level

of the lake might fall three meters to its present one, must have

been very long. What is most probable is, that the upheaval is

due to volcanic action; for although until now no basalt has been

discovered immediately underneath the place occupied by the

hardened layers, yet dikes of that rock are to be seen in different

directions at the foot of the hill, and even the volcanic masses

which constitute it are found upheaved and inclined, demonstrat-

ing the succession of geological phenomena in that vicinity.

Let us now trace the origin of the silicified calcareous rock in

which the bones were found, and which is different from the

majority of the lacustrine rocks which occupy the valley of

Mexico, these latter being, for the most part, thick and extensive

742 Notice of some Human Remains [August,

layers of pumice, tufas, marls, volcanic ashes, clays and allu-

vions.

In order. to proceed with more certainty in this investigation, I

compared the calcareous rock in question with those which resem-

bled it most from other parts of Mexico, and found it could only

be considered similar to those which are clearly of a hydnotaces

mal origin.

The hot-water spring which exists in the eastern part of the

hill del Peñon- forms sediments somewhat similar to the silici-

fied calcareous tufa; but these are on a small scale and their

formation is so slow as to preclude the belief that this spring

could have filled all the immediate surroundings of the hill with

deposits of such magnitude. What is most probable is, that in

remote times there were great emissions of mineral thermal

waters through different fissures, and in several directions, whose

appearance was simultaneous with the basaltic masses that form

dikes at the foot of the hill, as in the faces of the rocks sedimen-

tations similar to the referred ones are perceived, there being

furthermore many small veins which cut through the basaltic

masses and even the calcareous rock.

By this it is seen that a series of volcanic phenomena must

have taken place in that spot, beginning before the human remains

were deposited, and which further continued when the material

which received them was but little consolidated.

_ The succession of these phenomena took place, without doubt,

in the following Way:

Ist. Emission. of thermal waters and appearance of basaltic

rocks, upheaving the massés that formed the hill. These waters

mixed with those of the lake which surrounded the hill and ex-

tended over a large area of the valley of Mexico; the calcareous

deposits gradually accumulated around the hill, and being still

. soft the human corpse was deposited upon them. -

2d. When the bones were already imbedded in the lacustrine

deposit there came a new volcanic upheaval which raised this

deposit, as the higher level which it now occupies proves, and the

disorder in which the bones of the skeleton appear.

Got In the gaps which were left after this naeran modern

oS a trine deposits were formed, which increase even at the priiy

| — TEIS to he remarked hat in other parts of the valley of Mex-

PLATE XXVI

From a

re)

kamai

c g

-o

Aoa meat

EB on

= 8

Ree

° S

O O

Ge-

E he

S OD

External view of left

1885.] found near the City of Mexico. 743

ico in connection with the Lake of. Tezcoco, isolated deposits of

this, silicified calcareous rock are seen, showing that the volcanic

upheaval extended over a large surface, and that the thermal

waters appeared several times. One of these deposits is to be

found at the height of two meters above the present ground

among rocks of the hill de? Tepeyac, north of the City ot

Mexico.

The geological circumstances of the event once determined,

and notwithstanding that the paleontological data are wanting

that might mark with precision the relative age of that deposit,

it is to be believed that it must be of remote antiquity, consider-

ing the circumstances which the mentioned rocks present, as well

as the geological phenomena which have there taken place and

of which no notice is given in the hieroglyphics or traditions of

the ancient Mexicans.

This consideration alone is enough to believe that the man of

the Peñon is prehistoric The odontological characteristics indi-

cate that this man belonged to an unmixed race, the teeth being

set with regularity and corresponding perfectly the upper with

the lower. They present the peculiarity besides, that the canine.

teeth are not conical, but have the same shape as the incisors; a

peculiarity which has been observed in other teeth found in very

ancient graves of the Toltecs.

The size and shape of the bones of the limbs are those corre-

sponding to a man of ordinary stature, and from the appearance

of the teeth the man must have been about forty years old.

The greater part of the cranium having been destroyed, it was

not possible to determine its diameters and thus classify it. The

stratigraphical and lithological characteristics of the ground seem

to indicate that the formation belongs to the upper Quaternary

or at least to the base of the present geological age.

It may as well be remarked that at the foot of the steep slope

of the Tepeyac hill, near the place where the calcareous sedi-

ments are to be seen among the rocks of the hill, as was pre-

viously mentioned, some excavations were made, and Professor

Don Antonio del Castillo found various bones of ‘Quaternary

animals enveloped in a calcareous rock similar to that of the

Pefion. The distance between this hill and the Tepeyac is nearly

three miles.

The excavations continue at the foot of the hill del Peñon, with

744 Human Remains found near the City of Mexico, (August

the object of quarrying building stone, and this will allow in the

course of time some other data to be discovered which will

clearly mark the geological age of the event; a tooth of a mas-

todon or an object of the present age would at once be the land-

mark assigning it a fixed page in the history of the earth. The

authenticity of the fossil is not only determined by the report of

Sefior Obregon and the identity of the rock which contains the

remains with the blocks that are being at present quarried at the

foot of the hill, but I, myself, have determined this authenticity,

having found part of the human remains still imbedded in the

ground rock. ;

I will conclude by mentioning other facts that indicate the an-

tiquity of man in the valley of Mexico. Twelve years ago, in

executing some works for the drainage of the valley, in the direc-

tion of Tequisquiac, numerous deposits were discovered belong-

ing to Quaternary animals, such as elephants, mastodons, glypto-

dons, etc., and among one of these deposits a fossil bone was

found carved by human hand and imitating an animal’s head.

Unfortunately no care was taken to determine if it was found

simultaneously with the bones of the Quaternary animals. The

appearance of the carved bone and of the cuts and incisions

which it has, denote a remarkable antiquity, and it has character-

istics of fossilization. Two years ago I discovered some remains

of ancient ceramics in the pumice tufa which is under the basaltic

lava formation found in the south-eastern part of the valley of

Mexico; the lava occupies a large area, and in some points its

thickness i is over two meters. No tradition makes any mention

of this volcanic cataclysm before the existence of man in the

valley of Mexico.

These are, at present, all the data I can give relative to the

man del Peñon. - On my return to Mexico I will continue with a

further investigation of the ground where the discovery was

made, and will communicate anything new that may be found, in

order to determine the sar kee importance which these

uman remains may have.

1885. | © Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 745

EVOLUTION IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

BY LESTER F. WARD, A.M.

(Continued from p. 644, Fuly number.)

II. GEOLOGICAL VIEW.

` The most ancient fossil remains that have been referred to the

vegetable kingdom are two species of Oldhamia from the Cam-

brian deposits of Ireland, but the vegetable character of these

forms has been latterly called in question. From the Lower

Silurian forty-four species, chiefly marine alge, have been named.

Among these, however, are included the earliest terrestrial forms.

Not to mention the problematical Aupterts morieret of Saporta, we

have Sphenophyllum primevum Lx., and two other vascular plants

from the Cincinnati group. In the Upper Silurian thirteen spe-

cies are recorded, five of which are vascular plants. One of these

is Cordaites robbit Dawson, found in the Silurian of Hérault as

well as in the Devonian of Canada. The Devonian furnishes 188

species of fossil plants, while from the Permo-Carboniferous

nearly two thousand species are known, or nearly nine-tenths of

the entire Palzeozoic flora.

With the Mesozoic a great diminution appears in the abundance

of vegetable life that has been preserved. Only sixty-seven spe-

cies have been found in the whole of the Trias. With the Rhetic

a new impulse is felt increasing through the Lias and reaching a

second but much reduced maximum in the Oodlite, from which

419 species are recorded. The wave then again recedes until

the close of the Gault is reached.

The Cenomanian of Europe, with the beds of Atane in Green-

land and the Dakota group of the United States which probably

correspond to it, mark a new epoch, supplying together nearly five

hundred species of fossil plants. That member of the Cretaceous

formation which immediately overlies the Cenomanian, viz., the

Turonian, to which the Fort Benton group of American rocks

seems to belong, is almost destitute in both countries of vegeta-

ble remains, but with the Senonian we meet again the increasing

voiume which was merely interrupted by unfavorable conditions

for the preservation of plants. Here we have in European strata,

in Patoot, Greenland, and in British Columbia 354 species. Al-

though none have yet been described from this horizon within

the territory of the United States, I have myself demonstrated

746 Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. [August,

their existence to a limited extent, and live in hopes of yet bring-

ing to light an important Upper Cretaceous flora.

We are thus brought to the Laramie group of the Western

Territories, which, though a brackish water deposit and difficult

to correlate with other deposits, may be regarded as extreme

Upper Cretaceous; 333 species have been thus far described from

this group, which presents a flora of a still more Tertiary aspect

than that of the Senonian proper, and fittingly ushers in the Ter-

tiary flora.

From the Paleocene of Sézanne and Gelinden to the Miocene

the progress is uniform and rapid. The Eocene of the old world

(Paris basin, Aix in Provence, Monte Bolca, Monte Promina,

Monte Pastello, Isle of Wight, London clay, etc.) furnishes over

650 species, while the Green River group of America, including

the rich beds of Florissant, Colorado, probably of that age, has

yielded more than two hundred. This is exclusive of the so-

called Oligocene of the continent (Hering in Tyrol, Sotzka in

Carniola, the Marseilles basin, Armissan near Narbonne, etc.)

from which nearly 800 more have been taken. We thus have

over 1800 pre-Miocene Tertiary plants, which is, however, much

less than half of the Tertiary flora. The Miocene supplies

nearly all the rest, yielding alone over 3000 species. It may be,

as has been charged, that this number is too great, and that a

portion of these plants belong to lower horizons. While Heer’s

determinations in Switzerland have not been seriously questioned,

his work on the arctic floras is doubtless open to revision, but this

will not diminish the number of Tertiary plants, which, if we add

to those already mentioned some 150 Pliocene species, will form

an aggregate of nearly 5000.

The Tertiary virtually closes the series for vegetable remains,

the Quaternary having thus far furnished less than one hundred

species of fossil plants.

The development of plant life through the successive geologic

ages may be graphically represented, so far as indicated by actual

discovery, by the accompanying diagram or figure, in which the

number of accredited species is taken as a measure of predom-

7 ve —_— and the- space assigned to each horizon in the vertical

. a ale sents its duration in so far as the thickness of the

es cnet time.

1885.] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom.

Quaternary.

Plio-miocene.

Eocene.

Cretaceous.

Jura-triassic.

Permo-carboniferous,

Devonian.

| |

Silurian.

Cambrian.

The fact is thus brought clearly to view that there have existed

748 Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. ` (August;

two favorable periods for the preservation of vegetable remains

—the Carboniferous and the Miocene—the wide interval between

which is relieved by two less favorable periods culminating in the

Oolite and the Cenomanian respectively. To what extent the in-

tervals of great scarcity may yet be filled, it is impossible to pre-

dict, but it is well to remember that it is only quite recently that

the Oolite has assumed prominence as a vegetable deposit, and

this chiefly through researches made in India and Siberia. With

the further development of such outlying regions it is to be

hoped that a much greater degree of uniformity in the different

geological periods will be secured. But of this there is no cer-

tainty, and it is perhaps equally probable that future research may

_ tend to exaggerate the present extremes.

Three things must combine for the successful development of

a fossil flora in any given geological formation: 1. The requi-

site vegetation must have flourished at the period in question; 2.

the conditions for its preservation and subsequent exposure must

have existed ; and 3. the localities in which it is imbedded must

be found and worked. As regards the first of these conditions,

we know that great fluctuations of the land surface of the globe

have taken place, and periods may have been passed during

which these were much less in amount than at others. Still,

there can be little doubt that the variety at least, if not the abun- -

dance of vegetation, has undergone a. somewhat uninterrupted

increase since the earliest times. The second condition is a much

more serious one. Immense periods may have elapsed without

. any record being made, not because vegetation was scarce, nor

because land areas were limited, but because, as seems now to be

the case over most of the globe, all vegetation was allowed to

decay and return to the atmosphere. Again, vast beds may have

been deposited but never afterward raised up and exposed, and

may remain forever inaccessible. It is only the third condition

__ which it is within the power of man to influence. But when we

consider the accidental manner in which a great part of such dis-

_coveries have been made thus far, we may well presume that the

most precious scientific treasures which the earth holds may

remain undiscovered indefinitely although within the easy reach

of the investigator, 5:

eo : III. Boranicar View.

~ Most of the plants of the Paleozoic age belong to archaic

_ types long since extinct and having only very much modified

1885. ] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 749

living representatives. This is less marked in the ferns than in

those forms which have as their nearest modern descendants the

Equisetacez, the Lycopodiacee and the Conifere. The Palzo-

zoic ancestors of the Equisetaceze are the Calamariz, having the

genus Calamites for their typical form. Those of the Lycopo-

diaceze are the Lepidophytes with Lepidodendron as their type;

while according to the most recent researches the Conifere had

as their ancestral form the Cordaitez, long classed among the

Cycadacez, with Cordaites as the principal genus.

As a means of expressing the fact of this prolongation of living

forms through the geologic periods ahd of denoting the probable

descent of modern from these archaic types of vegetation, the

terms Filicineze, Equisetinee and Lycopodinee have been em-

ployed as broader than the corresponding ordinal designations in

common use. The Marquis Saporta has sought to accomplish

the same object for the Coniferze by the term Aciculariz, but this

unfamiliar substitute will not be likely to meet with general

acceptance.

The cellular cryptogams, which, admitting Oldhamia to be a

plant, had two representatives in the Cambrian, constituted the

principal vegetation throughout the Silurian. Yet the ferns, if

we accept Saporta’s Eopteris, the Equisetineze and Lycopodinee,

all had their origin in the Lower Silurian, while the Conifere,

through Cordaites, made their appearance in the Upper Silurian.

Three species of Rhizocarpez (Sporangites, Protosalvinia) have

been described by Sir J. W. Dawson from spore-cases detected in

Devonian rocks of both Canada and Brazil. Heer had already*

mentioned, in 1874, what he regarded as the fruit of some rhizo-

carp from the Lower Carboniferous of Spitzbergen, and there can

be little doubt that many of the spore-bearing plants of the coal

measures belonged to this order, although none have been de-

scribed from the Carboniferous proper. This little group, which

has been supposed in a manner to mark the transition from the

cryptogams to the gymnosperms, reappears, according to Heer,

in the Odlite of Siberia, the Urgonian of Kome and the Ceno-

-manian of Atane, Greenland. It occurs in our Laramie and

Green River groups, in the Oligocene of France, and in the Mio-

cene of Switzerland and Central Europe.

With the true Carboniferous two new types appear—the Cyca-

daceæ and the monocotyledons. If, with Grand’Eury, we rele-

750: Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. [August,

gate the Medullosz to the ferns, the former of these types has a

meager representation, but Renault admits Cycadoxylon in that

formation, and Cyclocladia ornata occurs at Saarbrücken, while

Schenk finds a true Pterophyllum in the coal flora of China.

The presence of monocotyledons in the Carboniferous was

long disputed, based as it was upon certain palm-like trunks de-

scribed by Corda from Radnitz. But we now have one species

of Palzospathe whose monocotyledonous character has not been

questioned. The problematical sporangium, too, formerly sup-

posed to occur no lower than the Permian, has now been found

in the Carboniferous of St. Etienne, of Wettin, of Mazon creek,

Illinois, and of Pittston, Pennsylvania, while so skeptical an

author as Nathorst, in one’ of his latest works, defends its claims

to be called a monocotyledon.

Thus we find that all the leading groups or types of vegetation,

except the dicotyledons, had made their appearance at the close

of the Carboniferous age. Before passing to that important sub-

class of the vegetable kingdom, the Ligulate and the Gnetacee,

though numerically unimportant, deserve notice because they

have been regarded by some as transition forms connecting the

great types.

The Ligulate are allied to the Lycopodiacez, and the genus

Selaginella has sometimes been placed in the one and sometimes

in the other of these orders. It is claimed to have been found in

the Carboniferous, but of this there is doubt. Its first certain

appearance is in the Cenomanian beds of Atane, Greenland, but

‘it also occurs in our Laramie group at Golden, Colorado, and at

Point of Rocks station in Wyoming Territory, The more typi-

cal ligulate genus, Isoetes, makes its first appearance in our Eo-

cene at Florissant, Colorado, and is Bic eee by two Miocene

species in Europe.

As regards the Gnetacez, by far the most ancient known rep-

resentative is Heers Ephedrites antiquus, from the Odlite of

_ Siberia. Only two other fossil species of this order are known,

: ~n ers (Ephedrites) sotzkiana (which not only occurs in the

o, zocene of Sotzka, but in several of the principal Miocene beds .

oe of Switzerland, fria wd me = Ephedra johniana from

leone rst

ance of all other forms of plant life from that of the didoryledons

1885.]} Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 751

is one of the most striking facts revealed by paleontology.

Heer’s Populus primeva, from the Urgonian of Pattorfik, Green-

land, described ten years ago, still remains the sole representative

of this sub-class in any formation below the Cenomanian and the

most ancient dicotyledon known.’ Not less remarkable, however,

has been the march of these plants since their earlfest manifesta-

tion, as will presently be shown.

Having thus noted the time of first appearance of each princi-

pal type of vegetation, we may now hastily glance at the mode oi

subsequent development of each. This might be done from two

distinct points of view, the absolute and the relative, but as the

former would be powerfully affected by the defects in the geolog-

ical record, no attempt will be here made to represent it graphi-

cally. The relative point of view, however, admits of such rep-

resentation which in a’ certain respect eliminates these defects.

Collectors of fossil plants do not seek specially for particular

types. They take all they find, and hence if the chances of

preservation are equal for all types the chances of finding

plants of a particular type would depend upon its abundance

in the flora of the epoch to be studied, while conversely, the

degree to which any type of plants is represented in collections

would be a fair measure of its abundance in the flora of the given

epoch. The accompanying diagram is based upon this assump-

tion, and clearly shows the progress of each of the leading

pes.

The facts sustain in a striking manner the early generalization

of Brongniart, against which Dr. Lindley so strongly inveighed

as late as 1836, that there has been a general upward tendency

in structural development through the geological periods. The

Silurian was the age of cellular cryptogams, consisting principally

of marine Alge. The reign of the vascular cryptogams began

with the Devonian and closed with the Permian, the ferns con-

stantly taking the lead but being strongly supported by the Cala-

mariz and Lepidophytes throughout the Carboniferous. The

gymnosperms assumed supremacy in the Trias; the Cycada-

* Fossil wood supposed to possess the dicotyledonous structure has several times

been found in lower formations (see J. G. Kurr’s “ Beiträge zur fossilen Flora der

Jura-formation Wiirttemberg,” Stuttgart, 1845, page 9; Sorby “ On the occurrence

of non-gymnospermous exogenous wood in the Lias near Bristol,” Microsc. Soc,

— Ill, 1852, pp. 91-92), but evidence of this class is not yet accepted as con-

clusive.

752 Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. [August,

cee taking the lead in the Keuper and holding it through the

‘Odlite, then surrendering it to the Coniferze, which held it far up

into the Lower Cretaceous. The monocotyledons never held a

dominant position but increased steadily throughout the Meso-

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zoic, reaching their highest expression in the palms and their

‘greatest relative predominance in the Eocene, but probably attain-

ing their highest absolute development in the Oligocene or Lower

_ Miocene, The dicotyledons, which, as already shown, made their

"R observed ——— in the Urgonian, or Lower Cretaceous,

1885.] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 753

progressed with such amazing rapidity as to become the ruling

type in the Cenomanian, or Middle Cretaceous, furnishing in that

formation over seventy-two per cent of the total known flora of

the globe, which is nearly as high a percentage as they attained

at any subsequent period. Of the present flora they form less

than sixty per cent, and doubtless their relative position in the

fossil flora is exaggerated, owing to the failure of the myriad

fungoid forms, existing then as now, to leave any traces in the

rocks.

The systematic value of the prevailing subdivision of the

dicotyledons into monochlamydeous and dichlamydeous, and the

latter again into polypetalous and gamopetalous, diminishes with

the progress of research. The first of these divisions is invali-

dated by the fact that the natural affinities are between apetalous

and polypetalous and not between apetalous and gamopetalous

plants, the last named division being the highest in point of struc-

tural development. The apetalous division forms forty-five per

cent of the dicotyledons in the Cenomanian, thirty-seven per cent

in the Miocene and only fourteen per cent in the living flora.

The polypetalz are fifty per cent in the Cenomanian, forty-eight

per cent in the Miocene and forty per cent in the living flora.

The Gamopetalz are five per cent in the Cenomanian, fifteen per

cent in the Miocene and forty-six per cent in the living flora.

Making all due allowance for the fact that the Gamopetalz of the

living flora are more largely herbaceous than either of the other

divisions, which fact, properly viewed, constitutes a strong proof

of their greater recency, this evidence would seem quite sufficient

to establish the order of development of the dicotyledons as here

arranged.

As still further confirming the general law of development in

vegetable life, we observe the great decline of the cryptogamic

types that predominated throughout the Palæozoic. The same

is true to a less extent of the gymnosperms, and notably of the

Cycadaceæ. The monocotyledons have also probably declined,

as have the lower or monochlamydeous dicotyledons. The only

one of all the leading forms of life of which we can positively say

that it still preserves an upward tendency is the gamopetalous

division of the dicotyledons, which, unless arrested by human

agency, seems destined to form the dominant type of vegetation

or the next geologic epoch.

754 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [August,

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

(Continued from p. 691, Fuly number.)

IIL. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NERVOUS FUNCTION.

N the last section the mechanism of the ‘nervous system was

considered. The modes and causes of its special development,

and particularly the influences controlling the evolution of the

cerebrum, now call for consideration. As already said, conscious-

ness may, for all we know to the contrary, attend every nervous

manifestation. But consciousness in that clearly defined and

centralized condition which we call the psychical is the outcome `

of a long era of development through which the nervous mech-

anism has attained a high degree of specialization. At first ex-

cessively vague and faint it gradually grows stronger and more

definite, until it reaches its ultimate in the vigorous, clearly de-

fined and highly developed consciousness of man.

This result has been in great part an outgrowth of the growing

sensitiveness of animal life to external energy. In the lowest

forms this sensitiveness is undoubtedly very slight. In the Pro-

tozoa it is probable that touch is the only sense that has any

degree of strength, though it seems evident that these animals are

somewhat affected by influences emanating from substances at

minute distances. Whether the vague sensations which attract

the Protozoa to their food arise from physical emanations of the

nature of smell, or from some heat or light influence, cannot well

be determined. In many of the lower Metazoa there is no indi-

cation of any superior sensory powers. In sessile forms, indeed,

the powers may be yet lower. The sponge, for instance, may

possess only the sense of touch, resident mainly in its cilia. The

fixed polyps may possess no higher sensitiveness, though in the

free forms, such as the Medusz, there is an evident display of

more varied and delicate sensitiveness.

Yet in all the lower forms of animal life one thing is evident.

External energy does not force its way into the body in any very

_ great quantity, and it is quite possible that every sensation may

_ call forth a motor response. This, indeed, seems to be the case

in yet higher forms of life. The sensations are so limited in

number that there can readily be a motor response to every sen-

_ sation, and there is no reason why there should be a change from

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 755

the primitive system of direct and immediate communication be-

tween the organs of sensation and the organs of motion. If in

these forms intermediate ganglia exist, their sole duty may be

that of a division of the current of energy and the drafting it off

to the proper muscles,

As we ascend to higher forms of animal life, however, a more

developed sensitiveness appears. This is a necessary result of

animal development. Higher life conditions require superior

powers of perceiving prey or enemies, and greater quickness in

pursuit or flight. For this, sensitiveness to more and more dis-

tant impressions, to more delicate conditions of energy, and to a

greater variety of emanations becomes requisite. The originally

general sensitiveness must become specialized, and the nerves

attain varied endings suitable to the reception of diversified modes

of vibration or contact.

This absolutely necessary consequence of the development of

animal form yields another consequence of considerable import-

ance. If the sensory organism becomes highly developed and

capable of receiving delicate impressions both from near and far,

the inflow of energy must become so great and continuous that

a motor response to every sensation will become impossible.

There must be some means of checking the inflowing current and

preventing the whole of it from reaching the muscles, or the body

will wear itself out from the very superiority of its organization.

If the sensory currents be permitted to reach the muscle fibers

these cannot but respond, and would thus be steadily in the con-

dition of fatigue and incapability. It necessarily follows that a

full development of nervous susceptibility is impossible unless in

some method the excessively numerous external energies which

beat upon the body can be prevented from bringing all their force

to bear upon the muscles.

This is the secondary phase in the development of the nervous

function, and nature has chosen two methods of attaining the

requisite end. In the one case, as the nervous substance grows

more susceptible its sensitive terminations are covered by an in-

durated material, through which energy cannot readily force its

way. The special organs needed to receive the more delicate

forms of energy are developed only on limited tracts of the body,

and touch and temperature alone are capable of affecting the

whole surface. With the great mass of animals the effects of*

VOL, XIX.—NO. VIII. 50

750 The Relations of Mind and Matter. f August,

temperature are checked by some sort of protective covering,

while largely in the Invertebrata, and to some extent in the Ver-

tebrata, the effects of touch are diminished by a thick armor of

` scales, horn or shelly matter. In the sessile and inactive forms

only a small portion of the body is usually exposed to sensory

influences, the remainder being incased in solid armor through

which no ordinary impression can penetrate.

As animals grow superior in organization, however, the need

of swift and varied motion renders this hard covering a disadvan-

tage, and it is thrown aside, exposing the whole body to the

assaults of energy, while the organs of special sense grow con-

stantly more and more delicate and varied in their susceptibility.

In these cases, then, the body is invaded by an enormous multi-

tude of sensory currents, which, could they all reach the muscles,

would cause a serious loss of physical energy. To check this

inflow the second method referred to comes into play. The nerve

currents are forced to traverse ganglia and pass through the fine

fibrillz of the cells, which, like fine wires in the electric circuit,

check the current, only permitting a portion of it to pass, while

the remainder outflows into the ganglion as heat, or is converted

into some more special mode of energy.

But this alone would not answer the purpose. In all high

animal organisms it is necessary that the inflowing energy should

be under special control. Some power of discrimination must

exist, or must arise through the action of natural selection, to `

decide which currents of sensation shall pass onward to the mus- —

cles, and which shall be partly or completely checked. Only in

this way could the nerve currents be prevented from calling up ©

general and indefinite muscular responses, instead of the particu-

lar and well adapted responses necessary to yield the motions

demanded by the best good of the economy. This is the third

element in nerve evolution, and needs now to be considered.

It is well known that the nerve fiber is a very imperfect con-

ducting material as compared with the metal of the electric cir-

_ cuit. How it conducts is an unsettled question. Its current

resembles that of electricity in being simply a motor influence,

i perhaps i in both cases set free by chemical change at the starting

~ point of the circuit. Whether it resembles electricity in being a

-= Sort of radiant vibration through solid matter cannot be told. All

* ve know is that its onward movement is excessively slow as

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 757

compared with electricity, and that the peculiar conditions of the

instigating influence persist in the current. Yet though the nerve

current moves slowly there is no indication that it meets any

check in the conducting fiber or in the organ of sense reception.

Probably every motor influence that can make its way through

the outer surface to the nerve endings, of sufficient vigor to in-

duce chemical action in or otherwise affect these endings, pro-

duces a nerve current without reference to its character. And

every such current received by the nerves is transmitted and appa-

rently even strengthened as it flows inward.

How is it, then, that some such currents pass directly onward

to the muscles, while others are checked and disappear as cur-

rent influences? There is strong indication that the ganglia per-

form this duty. The diminution of the diameter of the fiber in

the nerve cell is a precise equivalent of the method adopted to

produce the same effect upon the electric current. But the point

here to consider is that of the evident discrimination displayed.

In the sympathetic nerve system there is no evidence of such dis-

crimination. There is a checking influence exerted, but it acts

upon all currents alike. Each fiber probably passes through a

chain of ganglia, each of which lowers the intensity of the cur-

rent until itis finally unable to force its way further. Thus the

distance to which a sympathetic current will flow depends upon

its original strength. When, for instance, in the process of diges-

tion the sympathetic nerve extremities are excited by the-contact

of food, certain muscles are affected, and produce the peristaltic

movement of the intestine. If the contact influence is slight, this

movement will be slight and local. If contact be vigorous the

effect will grow more energetic and extend further, while a wider

range of glands will be excited to action. If the contact influ-

ence be abnormaily vigorous the effect will pass onward from the

sympathetic to the spinal nerves, and the cerebrum be notified of

the abnormal condition, while its motor lines of connection with

the sympathetic nerves will be called into activity. We have

every reason to believe that it is the ganglion not the fiber that

thus diminishes the energy of the current. And the distance to

which this current can travel depends on its vigor and the num-

ber of ganglia through which it is able to force its way. `

The same is the case with the cerebro-spiral nerve system.

Nerve impulses of a character that ıs usually checked may force

758 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [August,

their way inward if exceptionally vigorous, and act upon the mus-

cles. And significantly, in such cases, the motion produced is

not special and definite but vague and general. The impulse,

when it has forced a passage through the ganglia, does not select

one motor channel in preference to others, but makes its way

over the most conductive portion of the general motor system

and calls many widely separated muscles into action. In this we

have an indication of the original action of the nervous system,

such as existed before specialization began and such as yet seems

to exist in the sympathetic system.

The action of the ganglia, then, appears to be at once repres-

sive and discriminative. Certain motor influences seem more

capable of forcing a passage through the ganglionic resistance

than others. The principle here involved seems to be that every-

motor influence of a new or unusual character is resisted, and

ready passage is only allowed to motor influences to which the

fibrilla have become adapted. And here natural selection has

come actively into play. Let us suppose the animals of a cer-

tain species to be subject to a definite series of motor impressions,

each of which makes it way through the gangliar obstruction

and tends to flow out generally to the muscular organs. Yet

being insufficient in quantity to occupy every nerve, it will follow

the largest, or those over which it finds the most open channel.

Thus while the responsive movement might be somewhat gen-

eral, certain muscles would obtain a surplus of the current and

respond more vigorously than the others. In such a case natu-

ral selection must rapidly operate. The movements of some

individuals would prove protective. Others would perish. And

on the principle that the current of energy finds easiest way over

the channel which it has already traversed, this particular motor

influence would pursue its old channel in preference and

resisted by the other nerves. In like manner others of the sen-

sory impressions might gain other favorite channels, and every

Sensation in time produce a particular action, adapted to the high-

est good of the animal.

But if the nerve fibers are only readily conductive to familiar

motor influences, and if the gangliar cells resist all unusual sen-

= Sory Currents, another element comes into the situation. It is

‘Rot only a question of the selection by the sensory currents of

= certain motor nerves in preference to others, but also of making

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 759

their way at all through the ganglia. A new sensory current

may in some animals pass onward and produce motion. In

others it may fail to reach the muscles. Natural selection would

act here also, and might preserve the individuals which failed to

respond to this sensation. Thus in a single animal some sensa-

tions will ‘come to produce a certain motor response, other sensa-

tions another response, and still other sensations no response, and

only the individual which is affected in just this manner can sur-

vive, since any other series of movements or non-movements

would cease to be protective. Such an animal would be a cor-

rectly adapted reflex organism. No conscious or psychic powers

would be necessary for its preservation.

The repression of the sensory current by the ganglia is proba-

bly a developmental characteristic of animal life. It only became

necessary when sensation became active and abundant motor

energy penetrated the body. It was absolutely necessary for the

good of the economy that every sensation should not produce a

motion, and the original nerve cells developed into ganglia, partly

through this need of repression. These checked the great mass

of the motor impulses, only permitting familiar ones to follow

their ordinary channels. Yet such repression was not an intelli-

gent one. It was largely governed, in fact, by the comparative

vigor of the current. The principle seems to be that every sen-

sory current, if sufficiently vigorous, may make its way through

the gangliar resistance and affect the muscles. But currents of a

special kind, which have already established a familiar channel,

need less vigor to make their way through the ganglia, though

even these are checked if very feeble. Finally special currents

which have been repeated a great number of times may make

their way onward even if very feeble. And in every case an

abnormally strong current, even if it be of a kind that has estab-

lished a familiar channel, will force itself to some extent upon

other nerves and produce general and indefinite motions. This is

the material out of which natural selection chooses its new adap-

tations. Finally a nervous organism thus specially adapted to

Surrounding conditions may be hereditarily transmitted, and a

special series of reflex actions or resistances become inherent in

the species.

The next question to be considered is, that of the disposition

of this repressed current energy. So far, in accordance with the

760 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (August,

electric analogy, we have considered it as transformed into heat.

Such is what must become of it in a purely reflex organism,

whose whole duty is to let certain currents pass and to repress

others. But only in general cases does the repressed electric

current become heat. In particular cases it becomes magnetism,

mass motion and other forms of energy. Such seems’to be also

the case with the sensory current. As the checked electric cur-

rent may be so employed as to produce a permanent condition or

modification in certain matter, so is the checked sensory current.

Memory results. That is to say that some substance contigu-

ous to, or forming part of, the ganglion becomes permanently

modified by the checked current of energy and assumes a condi-

tion which is persistent. And the change thus produced is not

identical in character for every condition of energy, but varies

with every variation in the producing cause. Thus the special

character of the sensation is indicated in the particular effect it

has exerted on the modified substance.

Such seems to be the character of memory. It is a condition

we produced by a motor influence. But motion can act only upon

substance. And wherever it yields a localized, permanent, inhe-

rent effect this effect can only be an organizing one, exerted upon

some substance. No motor effect can persist unchanged in any

substance except it take part in the organization of that substance

and produce in it some permanent modification. And it is quite

within the limits of possibility that such a new condition may

react on the current-bearing fibers and reproduce motor energy

in the latter. Such seems to be the characteristic of memory.

It is not necessarily conscious. Memory, as a rule, persists out-

side the range of consciousness. But it is necessarily a definite

and permanent condition in something, and the word something

necessarily signifies some substance.

Thus the current of motor energy which forces its way from

external nature into the body, and is borne inward over the chan-

nel of the nerves, yields two opposite effects. When it reaches

the muscles its effect is disorganizing. It causes chemical. disin-

_ tegration with an outflow of general energy, in which that of the

oe nerves is merged and lost. When it is checked in the ganglion |

a es it seems to exert an organizing effect, perhaps attended by chem-

- ‘ion, or the formation of chemical molecules of a high

: order. As to this, of course, nothing can be said, but that it

1885. ] The Relations of Mind and Matter, 761

yields a specialized effect for every special mode of sensation, and

that this effect is permanent, the phenomena of memory prove.

And no such effect can be produced by motion upon substance

except it take part in the organization of that substance. Motion

otherwise related to substance must flow out and disappear. Only

the motion to which formation is due persists in any aoe or

organized mass.

Possibly every ganglion has its memory. But it is much more

probable that in the continued development of the nervous sys-

tem, as superior or more centralized ganglia originated, the

function of the lower ganglia became simply distributive, and

they ceased to exert a repressive influence upon the current.

Thus in a vertebrated animal, for instance, it is not im-

probable that the discriminative power of a spinal ganglion lies

between its sending a sensory current directly to some muscle or

sending it upward towards the cerebrum. It is a question of

office. To the extent that reflex action has been established in

the Vertebrata this short circuiting is the method pursued. It is

the normal method in the sympathetic nerves, whose current

makes its way to more and more central ganglia only as it grows .

in strength or becomes unusual in character. It is the method in

many of the cerebro-spinal nerves for actions that have become

habitual, like those of walking, for instance. Only when the

regularity of step is in some way interfered with does the sensory

current force its way to the cerebrum and arouse conscious-

ness.

In nerve development, then, an early stage is the appearance of

the ganglion with its discriminative and repressive powers and its

memory record. A later stage is the appearance of several gan-

glia, one more central to the whole nervous system than the

others. In this case, as we may conceive, the function of the in-

ferior ganglia becomes confined to discrimination between send-

ing a sensory current directly to the muscles or onward to the

central ganglion. The power of final decision and repression of

the current may be confined to the latter, and it may become the

sole seat of memory. This centralization makes continuous pro-

gress through the lower life forms. It is clearly indicated in the

insects, yet here it is doubtful if it has gained ascendency over

reflex action, to which the great mass of insect motions seem due.

762 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (August,

For this reason the loss of the head section in certain insects

seems very slightly to decrease their motor powers.

As we ascend through the Vertebrata, however, nervous cen-

tralization rapidly proceeds. The cephalic ganglion, or mass of

cephalic ganglia, grows more and more predominant over the in-

ferior ganglia, and the sensory currents are diverted more and

more fully towards this central region. Throughout the whole

upward range the phenomena of nerve development indicates

that reflex action grows less and less, and conscious action more

and more declared. In certain fossil vertebrates of huge form,

the mass of the inferior surpasses that of the cephalic ganglia,

indicating a great degree of reflex action. Throughout the fossil

series cephalization seems to steadily increase, indicating a grow-

ing superiority of conscious over reflex action.

Yet this change was only made by slow stages, and an inter-

esting intermediate stage seems to have intervened between reflex

and habitually intelligent action. This is the stage of instinct, in

which reflex action and consciousness seem to be combined. In

this stage the sensory currents, on reaching the inferior ganglia,

seem to partly follow an habitual channel to the muscles, partly

_ to pursue a channel to the central ganglion, where they awaken

consciousness. It is a usual stage in the change from fully con-

scious to reflex action. In every such case intelligence may

exercise some controlling function, with a possible modification

of the reflex action. Finally, in the highest animals, the upward

channel has become the habitual one for all but the most deep-

seated or incessantly continued sensory impressions, and intelli-

- gent has grown more and more dominant over reflex and instinc-

tive action, until in man it has become the controlling agent in

the great sum of actions, .

- There is a principle, already stated, to which this increasing

cephalization seems due. The nervous system is not readily

conductive to unusual sensory impressions. It has become so to

ordinary impressions, each of which has established for itself a

habitual channel. But every unusual impression is checked at

the ganglion, and can only make its way onward if of consider-

able strength, and then over the general motor system, not over

_ any particular motor nerves. If this sensation becomes an ordi-

_ fary one, natural selection decides whether it shall gain some

- Settled led channel of outflow to the muscles, or shall be finally

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 763

checked at the ganglion. And another result of great importance

is that every such unusual impression, thus partly or wholly

checked in its course, produces the effect of memory at the gan-

glion. Thus a record is laid up in the memory of every unusual

impression, which is vivid at first but grows less and less so with

every repetition of this impression. Finally, when a particular

sensation grows habitual it may cease to affect the memory record.

It has already made a deep impression there, and it subsequently

is received with less and less consciousness of its existence. If

it passes on to the muscles it may do so utterly without affecting

consciousness, or become completely reflex.

As centralization proceeds it seems probable that all such un-

usual impressions are directly transmitted from the inferior to the

central ganglia. In this direction there appears to be the freest

channel of conduction for sensory currents. Usual impressions

may have opened direct lines to the muscles, but unusual ones

pursue a more open and general channel leading towards the

central organ, in which the final duty of discrimination is exer-

cised. And as a consequence, in the higher vertebrates the main

center of reflex action seems to have become the ganglia at the

base of the brain. In the insects the ganglia of each section

seem to exert an active reflex function. This has largely ceased

to be the case with the spinal ganglia of man, whose main reflex

center is the cerebellum and the contiguous ganglia.

In all the higher Vertebrata a nervous organ has been devel-

oped which does not seem to exist in the invertebrate animal

world. This isthe cerebrum. It is a special gangliar organ de-

voted solely to the duty of memorizing, and one in which con-

sciousness has become centralized. In the ant, the most intelli-

gent of invertebrate animals, there is no apparent differentiation

in the head ganglion. It is a single organ, centering in itself

duties of reflex and instinctive action, and of memorizing. In

the highest animals these duties have become separated. The

inferior brain ganglia apparently possess the function solely of

reflex action, if we may view as a constituent part of this function

the diversion of unusual impressions upward to the cerebrum. That

is to say, they have lost all power of checking the flow of nerve

energy. Memorizing and psychical action seem confined to the

cerebrum. And intermediately sensations of increasing frequency

grow partly reflex and partly affect the cerebrum without calling

764 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [August,

out any conflicting orders from the intelligence. Such cases are

those named instinctive. Their steady course is towards the

fully reflex condition. The memory record of them may become

so complete, through frequent repetition, that finally they fail to

produce any effect, or to arouse consciousness. Cases of this

kind are by no means confined to the lower animals, but may be

found in some of the most difficult operations of the human sen-

sory organism. In the oft-quoted case of the skillful pianist, for

instance, as the fingers become habituated to a certain series of

movements, attention may be more and more withdrawn from the

action until it reaches the instinctive stage, a vague consciousness

of the movement perhaps persisting but no intelligent oversight

being necessary. Only when some change in the succession of

sound is produced, however-caused, does consciousness at once

become again active. The element of the unusual has been intro-

duced and the sensory current immediately makes its way in its

full force to the cerebrum, arousing the powers of the dormant

attention.

The cerebral organ of man does not seem to be a constitu-

ent part of the general nervous system. Its sole duties are con-

nected with the evolution of the mind. If it be completely

removed animal life does not necessarily cease. But its removal

shows to what an extent the life action is reflex. The lower ver-

tebrates may continue to live for a long time without the cere-

brum, and perform most of the essential duties of life. Yet every

trace of memory goes with its removal, and they act only as au-

tomata. In insects the life functions are still more fully performed,

showing here an inferior dominance of the mental powers. Pos-

sibly but for the shock to the organic system by its removal, its

function of memorizing might be in part relegated to the cerebel-

lum, and the embryo state of a new mental sae oe ak be pro-

duced.

According to the hypothesis of Professor Christiani, devised

from experiments with disbrained rabbits, the cerebrum forms a

kind of secondary circuit, into which a large portion of the ener-

gies enter and are stored up, while the basal ganglia form a pri-

Mary circuit, which transforms the energies into reflex motions.

He found that with the removal of the cerebrum all energy was

nsferred into reflex motion, so that disbrained and snes

| ouna ot: Physiological Society, June 20, 1884.

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 765

animals displayed much stronger reflex action than normal ones.

In normal animals much of this distributed energy ascends to the

cerebrum, where it becomes converted into consciousness and

ideas.

According to Luys the optic thalami are intermediary sensory

organs interposed between the purely reflex phenomena of the

spinal chord and the activities of psychical life. So the corpora

striata are seated at the summit of the motor nerve system. Thus

it becomes a question of gangliar discrimination whether a sen-

sory impression, on reaching the optic thalamus, shall be at once

transferred to the corpus striatum and thence through the motor

nerves to the muscles, or shall proceed to the cerebrum and —

motor impulses descend to the corpus striatum through that

channel. In this latter case we venture to hypothesize that all

reflex action vanishes, and that all sensory impressions that

ascend to the cerebrum end there. If subsequent action take place

it must be in response to new initial energy emanating from the

mind and wholly governed by the intelligence.

These considerations lead to the idea that the cerebral organ

may be in an anatomical sense a secondary circuit. That is, that

the nerve fibers of the body may not be in direct communication

with the cerebrum. It may be possible that the sensory fibers

that enter the basal ganglia are continuous through the nerve.

cells only with the outgoing motor fibers, and that the cerebral

fibers which enter these ganglia form a circuit of their own

through fibrillz of the same cells. In sucha case the influence

of the primary on the secondary nerve circuit could be inductive

only, and we would have a mechanism similar to that of an elec-

tric inductive system. This idea of course can have no warrant

in experiment, but it is offered as a suggestion that the many

close analogies between the nervous and the electric current may

be completed by a condition like that of induction, which plays

so prominent and important a part in electric phenomena. The

sheathing of the nerve fibers by the medulla seems to be an insu-

lating apparatus. Their naked condition in the ganglia must

-favor induction, and renders it possible both that the transfer of

a sensory current to two or more outgoing nerves may be through

induction between the fibrillz, and that its transfer to a cerebral

nerve may be through induction. It is not impossible, indeed,

that the check to the sensory current in a ganglion may arise

766 *The Relations of Mind and Matter. [August,

through inductive transfer of its energy to a series of fibrillz

which are short circuited in the ganglion and make no connection

either with ingoing or outgoing nerves.

This hypothesis of an analogy between the action of the ner-

vous current and that of electric induction is at least of some in-

terest, and may be further pursued. We have argued that to this

checked current the phenomena of memory are due. If it arise

from the transfer by induction of the sensory current to a series

of fibrillæ, forming a secondary short circuit through the gan-

glion (continuous, of course, as all inductive currents must be),

then we would have here a new apparatus for the operation of

organic forces, and one leading directly to the development of a

separate cerebral organ. For, as above considered, in the devel-

opment of the nervous system the check to the sensory current

in the ganglia became a duty of growing importance, and the

volume of checked energy steadily increased with the growth of

nervous susceptibility. If, then, this check took place through

the action of a separate inductive circuit, this apparatus must

have developed with its increase of duty. At first confined to

the same cells which transmitted the reflex current, the inductive

fibrillæ may have grown in length and number, and in time

gained cells of their own, with connecting fibers. Through these

cells the checked current would produce its final effect, whether

of memory conditions or otherwise. By a continuance of such a

process the cells of the inductive circuit might become separated

entirely from those of the primary circuit, forming first a cerebral

layer upon the central reflex ganglion, and finally a completely

separate ganglion connected only by nerve fibers with the system

of reflex ganglia.

Such is conceivably the mode of origin of the cerebrum, and

the character of its nerve relations with the nerves of the reflex

system. As intelligence grew and the great mass of sensations

were transmitted to the cerebral circuit, this organ would neces-

sarily greatly develop, until from a series of secondary fibrille

short circuited through one or a few cells, it became the great

cerebral organ of man, with its highly important function of the

ae evolution of the mind.

oS may very briefly recapitulate the conclusions to which the

regoing arguments have led. The motor energy of the exter-

nal ate makes its way in various forms or phases into the ani-

1885.| Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. 767

mal body by the channel of the sense organs and the sensory

nerves. Reaching a ganglion it is received by the cells, perhaps

by many of them through the division of the fiber into its con-

stituent fibrille. It either continues over its original fibrille to

the motor nerves which issue from these cells, or is transferred,

partly or wholly, to other fibrillæ by induction. In sucha case

it may be carried to other motor nerves, or enter upon a short

local circuit and yield the local effect called memory ; that is, a

peculiar organizing effect in which is represented its peculiar

character. Or this secondary circuit may convey it toa higher

or more central ganglion, in which the same modes of distribu-

tion may be exercised. In highly developed animals it may pass

through several such intermediate ganglia, and be finally, in part

or wholly, transferred by induction to the cerebral ganglion. In

this it exerts but one action, that whose effects we call memory,

a permanent transformation produced, in some organizable sub-

stance. This effect is the germ of all mental development.

(To be continued.)

:0:—

AFFINITIES OF ANNELIDS TO VERTEBRATES.

` BY E. A. ANDREWS.

LS a group the annelids exhibit in a prominent degree both

bilateral symmetry and segmentation. The former is well

expressed in the adult, in the early larval stages and even at the

period of closure of the blastopore, when the radial symmetry of

the gastrula becomes replaced by bilateral symmetry.

Segmentation, so pronounced in the adult, is not found in what

we may regard as the most primitive larval form, the Trochoph-

ora of such forms as Serpula, or as more perfectly expressed in

some species of Polygordius.

These two fundamental characters, bilateral symmetry and seg-

mentation, naturally lead to a comparison of this group with the

other segmented Bilateralia, of which the Vertebrata especially

have attracted attention in seeking for the allies of the annelids ,

or rather in the attempt to derive the vertebrates from inverte-

brate groups, the annelids have furnished important ai

Of those who have paid especial attention to the subject and

who maintain a close relationship between the annelids and verte-

brates, may be mentioned Semper, Dohrn and Hatschek. Sem-

per seems to have advanced the most evidence in support of his

768 Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. [August,

views, working mainly from the standpoint of comparative anat-

omy, and drawing little or no material from the larval stages of

annelids. His views may be briefly (and thus necessarily imper-

fectly) stated as follows: Regarding the distinction of ventral

and dorsal surfaces as of little morphological importance, we may

make a direct comparison of annelid and vertebrate by supposing

the mouth of the annelid to be a new formation, and that a mouth

once existed upon the hemal (dorsal) side of the annelid which

was homologous with the mouth of the vertebrate (Figs. I, 2).

‘| ae o

M 7 y À

Fic, 1.—Diagram of a vertebrate according to Semper’s view, showing relative

positions of coche digestive tract, mouth (A) and anus (4); D, dorsal, V,

ventral surfac

Fic. 2.—Diagram of an annelid according io. bea M, mouth; 4, anus;

M’, primitive mouth; D, dorsal, V, ventral surfac

He draws close comparison between the muscles, nervous struc-

tures apd excretory organs of the two groups, basing his views

largely upon the study of the urogenital organs in the lower ver-

tebrates and the process of asexual reproduction in certain oligo-

chætous annelids.

n these forms new individuals are Ered in chains by the

appearance of budding zones across the body of the asexual

_ parent, each of which zones gives rise anteriorly to the trunk of

one zooid, and posteriorly to the head of the next following

> zo0did, so that two adjacent zones form a new individual between

them, and parts of the new individual in front of the anterior

-zone and behind the posterior zone. ‘As these individuals event-

ually break loose as forms like the parent it is necessary that

each” acquire a new mouth and cesophagus, supra-cesophageal

eae and muscles. In the formation of these structures from

STRT tissue and from more indifferent embryonic cells,

1885.] Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. 769

Semper finds an identity in fundamental plan between annelid

and vertebrate. Though establishing so many homologies be-

tween the two groups, he does not derive one from the other, but

inclines to the view that both are descendants of a segmented

planarian-like ancestral form which on the one hand gave rise to

the vertebrate group by the enlargement of its anterior ganglion

to form a brain and by the union of its separate nerve cords along

the dorsal side to form the spinal cord, while on the other hand

the annelid was formed by the acquirement of a new mouth

piercing the nerve cord or passing between the still separate

nerve cords and by the closure of the primitive mouth.

Dohrn’s views on the affinities of the annelids to the verte-

brates are very interesting, if perhaps of less importance as being

purely hypothetical.

$ D

—

Fic. 3.—Diagram i vertebrate according 2 Dohrn. M, mouth; ‘A, anus; M,

primitive mouth ; D, dorsal, V, ventral surfac

M` V

D A.

Fic. 4.—Diagram of an annelid according to Dohrn. M, mouth; A, anus; D,

dorsal, H ventral surface.

Homologizing the dorsal surface of one group with the ventral

of the other, he finds the necessity of supposing a new mouth to

have existed in one group, and unlike Semper regards the verte-

brate as the form in which this new structure was formed (Figs.

3, 4). Seeking a trace of the primitive mouth of the vertebrate

homologous with the mouth of the annelid, which is on the neu-

ral side, he finally concluded that the fossa rhomboidalis of the

vertebrate represented the area of the nervous system formerly

pierced by the cesophagus on its way to a neural mouth, there

being thus a circum-cesophageal ring formed homologous with

that of the annelid. The present mouth of the vertebrate was

thus a new formation having no homologue among the annelids.

770 Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. [August,

The genetic relationship of the two groups he conceives to

have been that of diverging branches from a common ancestor.

This hypothetical ancestral form was a segmented annelid-like

creature with a chorda, gills on all the segments, supported by a

cartilaginous rod on the side of each segment, with a neural

mouth like that of an annelid and with a pair of segmental

organs in each segment opening to the exterior and also inter-

nally into the digestive tract. From this ancestor the vertebrates

arise by an interesting series of modifications in structure due to

“change of function” of the primitive structures; some of the

segmental organs gave rise to the mouth and branchial clefts,

while others formed the genital and urinary ducts and even the

anus; the branchiz were variously modified to form the branchie

of the vertebrate, its fins and limbs and perhaps the external gen-

ital organs ; the cartilaginous supporting rods gave rise to the

ribs, skeleton of the limbs and part of the skull.

This hypothetical ancestor was more highly specialized than

the present annelids, which have since degenerated, perhaps (he

thinks), owing to the sharp competition between the more annelid-

like and the more vertebrate-like forms of the common ancestral

group. The whole tenor of Dohrn’s work inclines to the conclu-

sion that annelids, like ascidians, etc., are degenerate vertebrates.

However satisfactory in explaining an origin of the vertebrates

from an hypothetical ancestor this hypothesis may or may not

be, it apparently is unsatisfactory in so far as it concerns the

annelids.

Much of the evidence in support of Hatschek’s views is derived

_ from a consideration of the development of annelids, both of

Polychztz and of Oligochetze.

His comparison of the two groups, annelids and vertebrates, is

essentially that of Dohrn’s (Figs. 3, 4) except that he does not

place the point where the primitive cesophagus pierced the ner-

vous system at the fossa rhomboidalis but at the hypophysis cerebri,

a position more comparable to the present position of the mouth

among the annelids, as it is farther forward, in the unsegmented -

Portion of the head. He reduces the excretory organs in both

groups to a common type represented by a transient stage in the

2 larva of certain annelids when the branched excretory tube in the

head ofa Trochophora larva sends back a branch into the trunk,

hos apnd tube sie rise to = segmental tube in each

1885.] Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. 771

segment of the trunk, and thus a stage is present where the seg-

mental organs are connected by a common longitudinal duct. In

the annelid this connection is lost. (though perhaps retained in

a few), while each segmental organ acquires an external open-

ing. In the vertebrate the primitive connection persists, and no

external opening is developed for each segmental organ.

The conclusion reached by Hatschek is that annelids and ver-

tebrates have had a common segmented ancestor, which did not

differ much from such a simple annelid as Polygordius.

The three authorities now mentioned represent sufficiently the

views of those finding more or less close relationship between

the vertebrates and the annelids; there are others who regard

this relationship as very remote, if existing at all, either placing

other invertebrate forms nearer the vertebrates or separating this

group from the annelids, from consideration simply of the funda-

mental differences of the two groups. Among the latter may be

reckoned Mr. Adam Sedgwick, whose ingenious hypothesis in-

, cludes the question of the relationship of these two groups,

though advanced with the much wider object of accounting for

segmentation and the origin of the Triploblastica from ccel-

enterate-like forms. Founded upon the behavior of the blasto-

pore and upon the structure of the ccelenterates, the hypothesis

calls for a coelenterate-like ancestor with mouth and anus part of

one common opening to the digestive tract which bore diverticula

on each side, indicating a segmentation, and communicating with

each other as well as with the exterior; the nervous system

formed a broad ring around the mouth-anus (Fig. 5). From this

common hypothetical

Of sore) j= pI] YY

ancestor the annelids

la a NMA T TT)

were derived by the

mouth and anus, by P ULL} yy

the partial fusion of -

pL LLL

nerve-ring along the Uy / a rr Pi

median line between y pp p

estral form of bra d lids,

anus, with atrophy -= CAP and aetna an eae = oe

separation of the

| ae YU CY)

the two sides of the

the mouthr and the Fie, 5 Diagram of Sedgwick’s hypothetical

of the part behind opening; digestive tract and as i and nerve-

772 Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. [August,

and by loss of the connections of the lateral pouches with

one another and with the digestive tract, thus forming the seg- .

mented body-cavity and the segmental organs. The vertebrate

was formed by a more complete union of the lateral parts of the

nerve-ring between the separated mouth and anus, together with

disappearance of its two ends, by the persistence of some ante-

rior pouches to form branchial clefts, by the loss of external

openings for others which remained connected with one another

and with the digestive tract at one point to form part of the body- “

cavity and the urogenital ducts, and finally by the retention of

only the outer openings of the last pair of pouches which form

part of the body-cavity and the abdominal pores. Mouth and

anus are thus homologous in the two groups, and primitively

neural in position; the mouth in the vertebrate acquired its pres-

ent ventral or hæmal position by advancing around the anterior

end of the body.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 6.

Fic. 6.—Diagram of an annelid according to Sedgwick. M, mouth; 4, anus.

Fic. 7.—Diagram of a vertebrate according to Sedgwick. JZ, mouth; A, anus, with

spinal cord between.

A still more remote separation of the annelids from the verte-

brates is required by the comparisons instituted by Goette from a

study chiefly of the development of planarians and annelids ; the

fundamental ground-plan of the two groups is, he thinks, essen-

tially different, as shown by the entirely diverse ways in which

the gastrula is modified in the two to form the adult. In the

__ annelid the blastopore closes along a line which corresponds to

_ the longitudinal axis of the adult, the mouth being formed from

_ its anterior part and the anus near its posterior end; the nervous

_ cord is formed along this line of union of the lips of the blas-

topore. Thus the ventral surface of the adult represents the

1885.] Affinities of Annelids to Vertebrates. 773

blastopore area of the gastrula—the area opposite the upper end

(summit) of the gastrula and in a plane at right angles to the

chief axis of the gastrula,and along this ventral surface or blas-

topore area the nerve-cord is developed. In the vertebrate, on

the contrary, the blastopore closes in a small area representing

the posterior end of the adult and entirely behind the nervous

system, corresponding in part to the anus in position. The blas-

topore area being thus the hind end of the adult, the ventral sur-

face of the adult is formed from one side of the gastrula while

the nerve-cord develops upon the opposite side of the gastrula in

a position more nearly parallel with the chief axis of the

gastrula.

In an annelid, then, the ventral surface with the nerve-cord cor-

respond to the original lower or blastopore surface of the gas-

trula, and the mouth represents the anterior end of the blasto-

pore. In a vertebrate the ventral surface corresponds to a side of

the gastrula, while the surface homologous to the annelid’s ven-

tral surface is found represented in the vertebrate merely by the

anal region, this being the blastopore-area of the gastrula; the

mouth in the vertebrate is a new structure formed remote from

the area of the blastopore, and not at all comparable to the annelid

mouth except in function.

Figs. 8 and 9, copied from Goette’s work, will serve to illus-

trate this comparison of the two groups.

VM i CMM

Fig. 8. Fig. 9.

G. 8.—Dia ye of annelid according to Goette. D, dorsal, V, ventral surface ;

Me apen A, an Fic. ọ9.—Diagram of reiterate according to Goette. D,

dorsal, V, ‘ventral ieee? i mouth; A, anus.

The preceding statements may serve to indicate the chief views

upon the subject, showing how much difference prevails in the -

-hypotheses advanced to solve the important morphological prob-

lem of the exact affinities of the annelids and vertebrates, and at

the same time indicating, perhaps, a tendency among those who

have recently investigated the embryology of the annelids to

774 The use of Copper by the Delaware Indians. [August,

separate this group much farther from the vertebrates than, was

customary when most of the evidence was derived from the com-

parative anatomy of the adults.

THE USE OF COPPER BY THE DELAWARE

INDIANS.

BY CHARLES C, ABBOTT, M.D.

N the American Antiquarian of November, 1884, Mr. Edwin

A. Barber, speaking of the Indians of Pennsylvania, re-

marks :

“The copper age is represented by a few specimens of copper

implements which have been discovered in different localities ;

but these could earkaly have been produced by the Lenni Lenape

tribe. They were doubtless obtained from the ancient miners of

Lake Superior, or at least were the remains of the industry of

the mound-building race, which had found their way into Penn-

sylvania.

Referring in 1881 to the use of copper, by the New Jersey

tribes, I also expressed the opinion that it was “not improbable _

that all the copper articles found along the Atlantic coast, were

brought from western localities.”! A careful re-survey of many

localities where ordinary Indian stone implements occur in abun-

dance; and correspondence with collectors in various portions of

New jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania now convince me that the

use of copper, as implements and ornaments, was much more

common than I supposed, and that among our Delaware Indians

were many coppersmiths.

In the fifteenth annual report of the Peabody Museum of

American Archzology, Professor Putnam describes two exam-

ples of copper spears, of which he says, while “ these spear-heads

closely resemble one in the State Historical Society of Wiscon-

sin,” yet they differ in the important feature of having smooth

edges, while the Wisconsin specimen has a serrated point. These

_ were both made “ from a mass of native copper, hammered into

= anaes as shown: by several small laminations which can be dis-

From the same locality a third example has been found (Fig. 1)

; re Industry, p. 413. Salem, Mass., 1881. Geo. A. Bates.

1885.] The use of Copper by the Delaware Indians. 775

which does not differ in any important feature from the preced-

ing except that it has a smoother .

surface, and appears to have been

ground or polished, after being

brought to its present shape, by

hammering.

Associated with the three

spears was a small celt differing i

in no respect from scores of such fii}

objects found in Pennsylvania AK

and New Jersey. The illustra- Nf

tion (Fig. 2) represents the speci- $

men, of actual size, and needs

no detailed description of the

object. Suffice it to say that the |%

evidence of its having been ham- ți we AN

mered into shape is as patent as i i

in the examples of spear-heads (WW f

described by Professor Putnam. f

Recently I have had the op-

portunity of examining a large

collection of Indian antiquities,

made in the neighborhood of

Reading, Penn. and about

Bristol in the same State. In Fic. r.—Copper spear from Trenton,

this collection are several copper New Jersey.

objects, all of which are of patterns that have already been found

and described from other Atlantic seaboard localities. They are

of much interest, however, as showing that more of such objects

were in use than has been supposed, and proportionately as the

number found here increases, does the probability of their having

been brought from a distance decrease; for there is found both

in Eastern Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, a very considerable

amount of native copper. Indeed one mass weighing over one

hundred pounds has been found in Somerset county, New

Jersey.

Besides celts and spears there have been found many orna-

ments of copper, which clearly showed that they were made by

the same hammering process; and the character of the metal

showed, in many cases, that it was identical with the nodules of

776 The use of Copper by the Delaware Indians. {August,

impure native copper found in this region, and not, therefore,

metal derived from the Lake Superior region.

When the Delaware and Raritan canal was dug, in 1832, there

were found many skeletons of Indians during the course of the

excavations. About the wrist bones of many were narrow bands

of hammered copper, and some large crescent-shaped ornaments

were also found. In one instance a grave was opened which con-

tained a nodule of native copper weighing thirteen ounces.

This information was derived from a gentleman who saw many

of the objects mentioned, and who carefully examined the skele-

tons and grave contents as they were brought to light.

Although the specimens have long since been lost, their identi-

fication as copper objects of Indian manufacture was carefully

Fic. 2.—Copper celt from Trenton, New Jersey.

made ; and as this is information not readily obtained and has a

distinct bearing upon the question of the use of copper among

our Indians, it is worthy of being put upon record.

In the many small collections of Indian relics made in different

localities that I have examined, I find that one or more celts,

spears, arrow-points, bracelets, rude beads or fragments of sheet

copper are sure to be found, and a tabulation of these objects,

and the information derived from correspondence, gives the fol-

_ lowing results:

Celts, 11; spears, 5; arrow-points, 8; bracelets, 13; beads,

aes Eabitients of metal, 21; in all, 128 jects: When we con-

_ sider how small a chance there i is of such objects being found,

‘acs what a small proportion | of such as are recovered come to

- ledge of , it is a most reasonable presump-

1885.] Editors’ Table. Cor;

tion that the Indians had a more familiar knowledge of copper

than merely as a material, ready-wrought, which they could only

procure through barter with far distant tribes.

There is yet another feature which should be briefly dwelt

upon. Among the fragments, so-called, of hammered copper, are

several which have every appearance of being unfinished objects.

One is, I think, intended for a finger ring, such as those from

Ohio, described by Professor Putnam ; and another strongly sug-

gests those curious large ear-rings of which that author found so

many specimens in recent mound explorations.

It would appear, then, from an examination of the copper

objects found in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, that the weight

of probability is strongly in favor of their home manufacture ;

and the similarity of the forms to those taken from areas where

mounds occur is another fact in favor of the rapidly growing im-

pression that the builders of these earth-works and the Indians

of the coast were essentially one people.

——:0:——

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

Just and courageous criticism is necessary to the main-

tenance of excellence in all departments of human activity. An

indisposition to submit to it on the one hand and a fear to exer-

cise it on the other, are sure indications of the weakness or

decay of an important element of character. Even unfair criti-

cism, bad though it be, is better than none, as it gives indication

of life, and is sure to be itself corrected in the end. The

attempt to suppress criticism is an unwise proceeding, which will

react on its authors. It is better to “ make a clean breast,” if

need be; and if facts do not require it, this also can be made

plain. The force of just criticism is not weakened by suppression,

but is rather increased in energy; while the expression of it

draws the fire and silences the gun of the critic. It is a great

error to confound criticism on behalf of the truth with personal

hostility, yet it is an error by no means rare. To occupy a per-

fectly judicial attitude towards our own productions requires

some moral elevation, which all men do not attain to. Unjust

criticism, indeed, is ground for complaint against the critic.

778 Recent Literature. [ August,

Hence if the critic deserve the name, justice only will be his in-

fallible guide.

People of sensibility and refinement shrink from controversy ;

and the enervated and dishonest endeavor to avoid it alto-

gether. But it cannot be escaped without a total withdrawal

from the field of action, or an attainment of perfection such as

rarely falls to human lot. In the scientific world all the aspects

of this question come before us from time to time. We meet the

sometimes brutal vigor of German truth-telling, contrasted with

the dexterous fencing of French elegance and skill. We meet

with inexcusable rashness or misrepresentation on the one hand,

and with subservient cowardice or fulsome adulation on the other.

In our own country science is none too strong in criticism. With

here and there healthy exceptions we have a good deal of paraly-

sis in this direction. In a few quarters the indisposition to accept

fair criticism is marked. But there is enough virility in our sci-

entific community to accustom such weak brethren to this one of

the phases of “ the struggle for existence,” by administering more

criticism in judicious quantities so long as their cases may seem

to require it.

If the bureaus of the Government would send their return

receipt with or in the publications they issue, every one concerned

would be greatly accommodated. The return receipts would

then be promptly returned, whereas as now sent at another time,

it requires time and trouble to identify the package referred to,

which sometime Tesults in a failure to return the receipt as

desired.

We are sorry to see our cotemporary Mind in Nature ad-

mitting to its columns articles like that of Professor Piper on evo-

lution. If the author had spent his time in studying field mice, OF

garter-snakes, or trout, or minnows, he would have learned to

know something of the subject on which he writes so fluently.

:0:

RECENT LITERATURE.

-De CANDOLLE’S ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PranTts.!—Two years

ago the French edition of this book made its appearance, and 3

n — s Evorety received and noticed Pile the botanical og al Tt ee

of the Academies of St. Puenburp, Stoc kholm, Berlim, Munich, &c., &c

rk, D. Appleton & Con 1 E 1885, pp. x, 463.

Capybara, from South America,

"TIAXX ALV Id

1885.] Recent Literature. 779

was made the text (to some extent) of instructive articles by Gray

and Trumbull, which appeared in the American Journal of Science

during the year 1883, some of the matter of which has been in-

corporated by the author in the English edition which has now

made an appearance. This edition is, therefore, somewhat more

than a mere translation, and partakes of the nature of a new

edition.

The purpose of the book may be given in the following para-

graph in the preface: “I have always aimed at discovering the

condition and the habitat of each species before it was cultivated.

It was needful to this end to distinguish from among innumera-

‘ble varieties that which should be regarded as the most ancient

and to find out from what quarter of the globe it came. The

problem is more difficult than it appears at first sight. In the

last century and up to the middle of the present, authors made

little account of it, and the most able have contributed to the

propagation of erroneous ideas. I believe three out of four of

Linnzus’ indications of the original home of cultivated plants

are incomplete or incorrect.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first we have a

general discussion of the epochs of cultivation and of the method

of discovering the origin of cultivated species. In the second

part plants are taken up systematically and discussed as to their

origin. Thus we have first those plants which are cultivated for

their subterranean parts, next those cultivated for their stems or

leaves, then those cultivated for their flowers or the organs which

envelop them, next those cultivated for their fruits, and lastly

those for their seeds. In part third we have interesting summa-

ries and conclusions, accompanied with various tables of species.

In all the author has examined 247 species, of which 199

originated in the old world, 45 in the new world, with three whose

origin has not yet been determined. “An noteworthy fact is the

sages in some countries, of indigenous cultivated plants. *

e United States, in spite of its vast territory which

the aide: a statement which air dy overlooks our ex-

cellent grapes which are derived from several native species, our

E n raspberries and strawberries.

age 460 we find the remark: “ I have not observed the

slightest indication of an adaptation to cold. When the cultiva-

can ripen before the cold season, or by the custom of cultivating

in the north i in summer the species which in the south are sown

in winter.” To this we apprehend our horticulturists will not

assent. It may be true in the three examples cited, as well as

for many others annuals, but what shall we say for the varieties

780 Recent Literature. | August,

of the peach, pear and apple, which vary so much in their hardi-

ness? Every fruit grower in the Northern States knows well

that certain varieties of these trees will endure the winter while

others will not. This may not be due to any adaptation to cold,

but it certainly does not admit of the simple explanation given

by the learned author. There have certainly been variations in

the hardiness of cultivated plants, and these variations have, by

judicious selection, made it possible for us to extend very consid-

erably the range of the species.—Charles E. Bessey.

Our Living Wortp.—Under :this title Mr. Selmar Hess, of

New York, is publishing in forty-two quarto numbers a popular |

work on natural history, which will be welcomed by young peo-

ple on account of the abundant and showy illustrations.

The text is based on Rev. J. G. Wood’s, and is anecdotal rather

than scientific ; it has been adapted for American readers by Dr.

J. B. Holder. The wood-cuts are those which have appeared in

Wood’s book, also in Brehm’s Thierleben, while the colored

plates are oleographs reproduced by Prang from the exquisite

chromo-lithographs of the great work of Brehm

As a picture book of the animal creation, particularly of the

vertebrates, it will prove attractive. The accompanying illustra-

tion of that strange animal the Capybara, the “ native hog” of

South America, the largest of existing rodents, will give an idea

of the kind of illustrations used in the numbers we have thus far

received. While, then, not specially authoritative or American

in its plan or authorship, we doubt not that it will be welcomed

by many as a readable “ natural histo

As respects the classification adopted, the arrangement should

be such as is generally followed by modern zodlogists. To place

the marsupials between the land Carnivora and the seals is a vio-

lation of the simplest principles of classification. The Insectivora

and bats are placed too near the primates, although it should be

said that the position of these groups is in dispute.

ae work will be issued in forty-two parts of forty-eight pages

cents a part; it will contain forty-two oleographs and

NSE full-page wood engraving. The paper and press-work

are excellent.

MEMOIRS oF THE NATIONAL AcApemy oF Scrences.—The third

volume of the National Academy appeared in 1884 from the

vernment printing office. It is a quarto volume of 262 pages,

_ and contains four memoirs read before the academy in 1884,

_ under the following titles: Report of the Eclipse expedition to

Caroline island, May, 1883; Experimental determination of wave-

= lengths in the invisible prismatic spectrum, by Professor S. P.

i wii 8 On the subsidence of particles in liquids, by Professor

= H. Brewer ; On the formation of a deaf OT of the human

PLATE XXVIII,

Vegetation on Caroline Island,

*purlsy euljor1v’) uo MITA

PLATE XXIX.

1885.] Recent Literature. 781

race, by A. Graham Bell. The greater part of the volume is

devoted to the report of the eclipse expedition, the interest of

which is enhanced by the photographs reproduced in its pages.

Caroline island is a genuine atoll, of the type described by

Darwin and Dana; while the frontispiece gives a bird’s-eye view

of the low circular island, the four accompanying illustrations

will convey an idea of the scenery of a Pacific atoll. e sur-

face of the island is covered with palms and undergrowth, in-

cluding a large number of young cocoa palms planted by the own-

ers of the island, who keep a few people on the island to cultivate

them. Beside the eclipse and other physical data, the botany of

the island is described by Dr. W. S. Dixon, U.S.N., and Professor

W. Trelease ; Dr. Dixon also adds notes on the zoology of the

island. The few butterflies have been named by Messrs. Arthur

Butler and H. Stricker. The whole presents an interesting mon-

ograph of an atoll, Plates xxvilI-xxxi are from electrotypes of

four of the views taken on the island.

Dr. Krauss’ Stavic Customs.—In his latest publication, the

ethnologist Dr. Friedr. S. Krauss has taken up the subject of

the tribal and family relations, of domestic life, courtship, mar-

riage, married life, divorce, adoption, widowhood and hospitality

among the Southern Slavs of the Balkan peninsula. From the

title, “ Sitte und Gebrauch der Siidslaven” (Customs and uses

among Southern Slavs)! we would certainly expect a full treat-

ment of other subjects of popular life, also, as of legal customs,

agriculture, pastoral pursuits, etc., included in the volume; but

what is offered is so well marked with the stamp of learning and

thoroughness that we do not grudge with the author for the rest,

expecting to find it in subsequent volumes. The work was un-

dertaken in 1883 under the auspices of the Vienna Anthropolog-

ical Society, and carried out through the munificence of Baron

Ferd. von Andrian-Werburg. A considerable literature already

exists on the subject, as may be collected from the preface of

another important work of Krauss (on the Folklore of Southern

Slavs, a serial, of which two volumes have hitherto appeared),

but the author is perfectly independent of his predecessors, has

himself visited a large portion of the countries described, an

speaks several of their dialects. The “Customs” are inter-

spersed with many quotations from Slavic poets and from popu-

lar poems, of which the authors are unknown, sometimes also

with quotations from the original languages. But he avoids on

purpose ethnologic comparisons with facts taken from non-Slavic

especially non-European institutions, as the conditions under

which they originated may not always be the same as the ones

observed at home. It is interesting to see how the tribe of the

1 Sitte und meant der ag peng Nach heimischen gedruckten und ungedruck-

» Kra

ten quellen, von Dr. F. S. Krauss. (Wien, 1885. A. Hilder, publisher. S8vo,

xxvi an I pages.

782 Recent Literature. [August,

ancient period (zupa or pleme) has gradually changed into the

modern tribe, bratstvo or brotherhood, and in which manner all

the family relations have assumed another shape also. _ It is true

that many of these Slavic practices and customs are barbaric or

have originated in a barbaric age, that some of the superstitions

are exceedingly repulsive, and that the position of woman is far

from what it ought to be or even from what it is now among the

nations of Western Europe. Nevertheless a certain spirit of poetry

hovers over these populations, which are isolated from the rush

of the world’s commerce and have been so long subject to the

iron rule of the Turk. Their love for music, poetry, dance,

mimicry and fairy tales lets them forget many of their tribula-

tions and miseries of everyday life, and here in Krauss’ book are

gathered the most naive and surprising utterances of the popu-

lar spirit. - The long and useful alphabetical index was made by

a young lady of the village of Mikanovci, whose name is men-

tioned in the preface —Alvert S. Gatschet.

Kincs.ey’s Mapam How anp Mapam Wuy.—Charles Kings-

ley was no ordinary man, and no ordinary writer, and the repub-

lication among the Globe Readings of his little work, Madam

How and Madam Why, will doubtless be welcomed by many of

the class of little ones for whom it was written. It is true that

to an adult the impersonation of method and reason as “ Madam

How” and “ Madam Why,” and that of analysis and synthesis

as giants seems too metaphorical and somewhat old-fashioned,

yet the charm of the style cannot be denied. A deeper objection

to the title is, that we do not know the “ how ” or “ why” of any-

thing—we name the forces which move nature’s scenery, but we

understand them not. No one knew this better than Charles

Kingsley, as may be seen by what he has to say with regard to

analysis and synthesis. As a book for American children the

value of this treatise is impaired by the fact that all the allusions

and illustrations are European, or rather British.

EYFERTH’S NATURGESCHICHTE DER MIK CHEN SUSS-

WASSER BEWOHNER. —This is a handy book for the student of

fresh-water microscopic life, animal and végetable, and appears

to be tolerably well brought up to date. The leading authorities

_ are given, while short family descriptions, a key to the genera, and

a brief characterization of the genera and of quite a large num-

ber of species give all that is necessary to enable the observer to

place any particular form among its relatives. The work is well

indexed, and illustrated by seven full-page plates.

1 Madam How and Madam Why, or First Lessons in Earth-lore for Children. BY |

New York, Macmillan & Co., 188

_* Die Einfachsten Lebensformen des Thier-und Pflanzenreiches, Naturgeschichte —

der ischen Stisswasser bewo i B. EYFERTH.

er rohner, Bearbeitet von Braun-

2 schweig, Von Goeritz und zu Putlitz, 1885.

oo joe eee

PLATE XXX.

"PpULs] PUTTOIV> UO MATA

*purls] əuoep jo ued

PLATE XXXI.

1885. | Recent Literature. 783

GaTscHET’s “ A MIGRATION LEGEND OF THE CREEK INDIANS.”

—This publication brings forward some scientific results obtained

while studying the language and ethnology of the Creeks and

their congeners. It commences with an account of the southern

families of Indians, and concludes with the Kasi’hta migration

legend. The settlements of the Creeks, their government, war

customs, initiation and other ceremonies, history and dialect are

describe

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS,

ii iay von—Ueber einige enine a an fossilen Crinoiden. Abd. der “ Palæ-

ontographica,’”’ 1885. From the a

ewberry, F. S.—The ero TN Peg jo ice. Rep. from School of Mines Quar-

terly, 1885. From the a

Scudder, S H.—The earliest say insects of America, 1885.

——Palzodictyoptera, or the affinities and classification of Palæozoic Hexapoda,

arpa Alon, 1 insects a a palzontological po ara Şi view. The last two from Mem

t. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1885. All from the author.

tage —An account it the Eeu, i oly in the year 1883. From Smith-

sonian report, 1883. From the a

sigh as —Comstock mining and miners. U, S. Veer Surv., 1883. From the

Wi i D a ldunggeschichte und arag song ei unite des Eies von Nepia cinerea

und Notonecta glauca L. 1885. Fro

Pr H. M.—Notes on the structure of ear Aa: Corallium and

1882,

Tubipora.

——On the ee of an unknown Holothurian of the family Dendrochirote. phe

——On the presence of eyes in the shells of certain Chitonide. 1 A

the Oiarterty. youstial of Micecasupicel Science and from the author.

us. D’ Hist. Nat.—Rapports Annuels de MM. les professeurs et chefs de service.

is, 1882.

Fordice, M. ME d Eigenman, C. H—A review of the American Eleotridinz.

Ext. P Gs Sci. Phil., rade oe the authors

Brinton, D. se —tThe lineal measures of the ba nations of Mexico and

Ce pg America, 1885. From the author

Lyman, B. S.—A review of the Atlas of the westen middle aT anthra-

cite field. Rep. Ming. Herald, Dec., 1884. m the author

pippan . W.—Variations in the form of the tes that take piace during its

wth i in the short-tailed albatross. From the Auk, 1885.

The osteology of 4 calva. Ext. Ann, Rep, Comm, Fish and Fisheries,

1885. Both from ie arith,

Holbrook, M. L.—The termination of the nerves in the liver.

——tThe structure of the muscles of the lobster. Both from the Rep. Proc. Amer.

Soc. Mi hor. l

Lupton, N. T.—Meteoric iron from Coahuila, Mexico. Ext, Amer. Journ. of Sci-

ence, Vol. xxix, March, 1885. From the author

Smith, Miss R.—Notes on fishes oe at San Cristobal, Lower So oe ie

Mr. Chas. H. Townsend. Ext. ~ U, S. Na Mus., 1884.

author.

Fritsch, A. Paia der Gaskohle und der Kalksteine der Permformation Böhmens.

Band it, Heft. Prag, 1

——Ueber der Auffindung eines Mchschenechtdels 3 im diluvialen Lehm von Stre-

bichovic bei Schlan. Both from the author.

14 Migration d of e Creek Indians, By ALBERT S. GATSCHET. Vol.1.

Philadelphia, D. G. Brinton, 1884.

784 General Notes. [August,

pkg e G.—Ichthyologische und herpetologische Bemerkungen. Hamburg,

ni $ È —Bulletin of the U. S. National Museum, No. 27. Descriptive cata-

logue constituting a report upon the exhibit of the fisheries and fish culture of

the U. S. A; satis at the London Fisheries Exhibiton, 1883. From the Dept.

of the Interi

Smithsonian ments 2 —Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, Vol.

vil, 1885. From the institution

Mills, C. K.—Toner lectures, No. 1x. Mental hte ee Ta disease

among public and professional men. 1885. m the a

Taylor, W.’B.—The refraction of sound. Ext. palaidi . sea 1885. From

the author.

Mason, O. T—An account of the progress in anthropology in the year 1883. Ext.

Smith. rep., 1883. From the author.

A’

sVe

GENERAL NOTES

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

Asta.— The Sanpo and the Trawadi.—The chief paper inthe May

issue of the Proc. Roy. Geog. Society is upon the disputed question

of the sources of the Irawadi. As no one has yet followed the

Sanpo from Thibet downwards, it is still unproved whether it

enters the Irawadi or the Brahmaputra. Mr. Robert Gordon

opposes the commonly received idea by advocating the Irawadi

view. He bases his belief upon the following points :

(1) The Salween, which flows to the east of the Irawadi, has

been proved to rise north of latitude 30°, and thus the country

_which was formerly supposed to supply the Irawadi is now known

to be the watershed of the Salween

(2) The Irawadi at Bhamo, the ‘point where it first became

known to western geographers, is still one of the largest rivers in

the world, containing probably two-thirds of its volume in the

delta. The average discharge at the delta is about 521,794 mil-

lions of cubic yards, very nearly four-fifths of that of the Missis-

ippi. But three-fourths of this vast discharge come down in the

months of July, August and September. August has twenty-two ,

per cent of the entire discharge, February and March only one

a and a half per cent. At Bhamo Mr. Gordon calculates the ordi-

_nary high-water capacity at B80; 000 cubic feet per second.

(3) Chinese geographical annals, extending over twelve hun-

-dred years, and corroborated by the direct statements of French

_ missionaries and others, give direct evidence that the Sanpo is

-~ -the Irawadi, and maps, names of rivers, etc., gime indirect evi-

| to the same effect. -

adit Gordon quotes Count Sushen as follows : “ Almost all

the who could furnish information about this country

akeen answer to my question, ‘Where does this river come

om? ‘From Lassa.’ According- to Chinese and Tibetan

Tats department is edited bř W.N. LocKiNGToN, Philadelphia.

1885.] ` Geography ana Travets, 785

sources, the Irawadi is no other than the lower course of the

Tibetan Sanpo.” Not only do the old Chinese geographers

connect the Sanpo with the Irawadi,.but the Chinese official map,

made after the surveys of the French missionaries in the last

century, does the same. The imperial geography of the Thung

dynasty (617-907 A.D.) says that the great Kin-sha-Kiang is

made up of two rivers and then passes by Mano and Tchenago

(Bhamo and Tshempenago). It adds: “There is no doubt that

this river is the Yaroo Sanpo' of Thibet.” The Emperor Kang-hi

says that the Yaroo Sanpo enters the kingdom of Burma. The

Yunnanese call the Upper Irawadi the Ta-Kin-sha-kiang, or Great

Kin-sha river, while the Yang-tse-kiang is the Sui Kin-sha-kiang,

or Little Kin-sha river, Ta-Kiu-kiang, the official Chinese name

for the connecting link between the Sanpo and the Irawadi is

identical with Nam-Kiu-long, the name given by the Shans who

live upon it, both meaning the Great Kiu river. The explora-

tions of Hindoo surveyors have carried the Sanpo to the east of

the point where it was formerly supposed to enter Assam, but the

lower courses of the affluents of the Brahmaputra were immedi-

ately twisted upon the maps so as to still show the union of the

Sanpo with the Brahmaputra.

(4) It is impossible, on the supposition that the Zayul-Chu is

the upper course of the Eastern Brahmaputra and the Sanpo that

of the main branch of that river, to account for the volume of

water in the Irawadi at Bhamo. A drainage area of from 5000

to 8000 square miles, which is all that could in sucha case be

left to the Irawadi, could not possibly yield so great a volume.

(5) The Zayul-Chu, which is said to be the Eastern Brahma-

putra, may prove to be an affluent of the Irawadi. Mr. Gordon

goes into elaborate arguments to show that Rima and Sama, places

upon this river, are some. thirty miles farther to the north-east

than they are placed by Captain Wilcox (who did not visit them).

In this half degree there is room for the Sanpo to flow to the

Irawadi. The volume of the Zayul-Chu is greater than that of

the Upper Brahmaputra.

(6) The Brahmaputra influents, even if the Sanpo is barred

out by the range of mountains upon its southern and eastern

borders, have basins sufficiently large to account for their dimen-

sions. The Subansiri has 7000 square miles and a discharge of

240,000 cubic feet per second; the Eastern Brahmaputra 7000

Square miles with 326,000 cubic feet, and the Dihong, which

some believe to be the Sanpo, would without it have 7500 to

12,000 square miles, which, in the rainy climate of the southern

slopes of the Himalayas, would account for its volume of 423,-

000 cubic feet per second.

In reply General J. T. Walker attacked particularly the argu-

ments connected with the Zayul-Chu, certainly the weakest part

of Mr. Gordon’s paper.

786 General Notes. [August,.

Corea.—According to Mr. Carles there is in Corea a great

disproportion between the numbers of the sexes, the males being

the more numerous. There seems to be no evidence of female

infanticide, but a greater number of deaths among girls in infancy.

As a land of large hats Corea is unsurpassed. At Phyong Yang,

a large town on the west coast, the hats worn by the poor women

are baskets three and a half feet long, two and a half wide and

two and a half deep, which conceal their faces as effectually as

does the white cloak which women of a better class wear over

their heads. The men wear a somewhat smaller basket of the

same shape. It requires both hands to keep it in place. A simi-

lar structure, of a size but little larger, is used to cover fishing

boats. The monument erected over the grave of a doctor of let-

ters is the trunk of a tree painted like a barber’s pole up toa

height of some thirty feet. The top and branches are cut off,

and on the summit is placed a slim carved dragon twenty feet

long, with a head like that of an alligator. Mr. Carles reports,

contrary to the statements of some other travelers, frequent evi-

dences of mineral wealth.

M. de Mailly-Chalon's Fourney— M. de Mailly-Chalon gives

in the Bulletin de la Société de Geographie a paper on a journey

in Manchuria, from Peking through Kirin to Ninguta, and then

along the Tiumen to Vladivostock. The journey the whole way

was along the Corean frontier. From Vladirostock the travelers _

proceeded to Tomsk, thence to Samarkand, through Karshi to

Bokhara, to the Amou-Darya at Charjni, down that river to Petro-

Alexandrovsk, thence to Khiva, and lastly across the Kara-Kum

to Merv, Sarakhs and Meshed.

Oceanica—New Zealand—The April issue of the Proceed-

ings of the Royal Geographical Society contains an account of a

recent exploration of the King country of the North island, New

Zealand. This country, containing some 10,000 square miles, is

the Maori stronghold, and white men were, after the war 0

1863-64, forbidden to enter under pain of death. It had thus

never been surveyed prior to Mr, Kerry-Nicholl’s expedition in

1883. In the course of 600 miles of travel twenty-five rivers not

previously shown upon the maps, and two small lakes, were

found ; the sources of the four principal rivers of the colony, the

Whanganui, Waikato, Whangaehu and Manganui-a-te-Ao, were

traced; the hydrograph y of oe es in relation to the four

distinct here flowing into ined ; the or =

Mt. Tongariro (9300 feet) and Mt Toa u 9000 feet), the high-

est peak of the North Pa were uapou ( and the r logical

structure of the Kaimauawa mountains was made out. The

Toe Bs miles and 1175 feet above the sea.

1885.] Geography and Travels. 787

rivers, besides smaller streams, run into this lake, while the only

river flowing out is the Waikato. The southern part of the

tableland, known as the Rangipo plateau, rises to 3000 feet, while

the part near Lake Taupo is about 2000 feet. Tongariro’s active

crater is nearly a mile in circuit. Ruapehu is among the largest

extinct craters in the world, and is not a cone of scoria like Ton-

gariro, but a gigantic crater of elevation with a base sixty miles

around. The Kaimauawa mountains are almost in the center of

the island, neve — 600 feet, and extend along a base of

about eighty m

The Wisivicha river, which rises on the eastern side of Rua-

pehu, is one of the largest streams in the island, and descends by

a series of grand cascades. The waters of the Upper Waikato

burst from the sides of Ruapehu very near the Whangaehu, and

the streams for a while run parallel, though afterwards they run

in opposite directions. The finest forest in New Zealand is that

of Te Rangikaika, which covers some 3000 square miles between

Ruapehu and the west coast. Mr. Kerry-Nicholls reports that

the Maori race is greatly on the decrease.

South AMERICA.—Roraima—Particulars of Mr. Im Thurn’s

ascent of Roraima, with some illustrations, are given in a recent

number of ature. Koraima and Kukenam are separated by a

wide gorge, and seem like two fortresses, with walls 1200 to 1800

feet high, built upon a mountain top 7000 feet in height. The

north, east and west sides of Roraima are forest-crowned, but on

the south and south-west it is for the most part devoid of trees up

to 5890 feet. From here to the cliff-face the slope is steeper and

covered with thick undergrowth with few large trees. The cliff of

Roraima was ascended by following a ledge of rock running from

the tree-covered part up to the summit. The botany of the slope

was very interesting, but the top itself is covered with an ex-

tremely scanty and insignificant vegetation. There are several

pools of water, and on all sides are grouped rocks of the strangest

and most fantastic forms—portions of the solid sandstone on

which they rest. Bushes three to six feet high, a few scrubby

orchids, two species of thick-leafed ferns and a variety of the red

Utricularia which grows below, ees the botany. There is

no soil, and no fossils were foun

The Saskatchewan Regione M. Dawson (Science, April 24)

describes the Saskatchewan country or that portion of the prai-

ries which extends north of the northern boundary, as containing

an approximate area of 300,000 square miles, and as less than

2000 feet above the sea-level, and thus lower than the correspond-

ing porso of the continent further south. Parts of this area are

characterized by scattered groves of aspen and other trees. The

Red River valley has an altitude of 800 feet only, and from this

level the surface slopes gradually upward at the rate of four to

VOL, XIX—NO. VIII. 52

788. General Notes. [August,

five feet to the mile to the foot-hills. There the horizontal and

unaltered strata of the Cretaceous and Laramie formations break

against the base of the ancient rocks of the mountains into a

series of sharp and nearly parallel flexures. In the central por-

tion of the plains are a tumultuously hilly belt known as the Mis-

souri Coteau, and also a line of indefinite elevations nearly paral-

lel to the Coteau. The most remarkable difference between this

region and that west of the Missouri is perhaps the extraordinary

abundance of small lakes or “ sloughs,” evidently connected with

the mantle of glacial drift. These usually occupy shallow basins

without outlet, many are emptied by evaporation before autumn,

and others from the same cause become more or less saline. The

North and South Saskatchewan, Red Deer, Bow, and Belly rivers

rise far back in the Rocky mountains, and while subject to con-

fa spring freshets, are generally not in full flood till June

or July.

The Xingu,— Dr. Clauss recently gave, before the Munich

watershed between the Paraguay and the Amazon. This water-

shed is 300 to 400 meters high, and is a savannah broken up by

forests along the water courses. The watersheds between the

tributaries of the Amazons in this region are unknown. Brazilian

geographers direct the upper course of the Xingu to the Tapajos,

and put the source of the former under 11° S. lat. Eight days after

the expedition had crossed the last tributary of the Tapajos they

reached a large river which they named the Rio Batovy, and de-

scended in bark canoes to the Xingu. The inhabitants of some

Bucairi villages were found to be utterly ignorant of metals.

From 8° to 3° S. lat. the Xingu falls 200 meters ina series of

cataracts which were successfully passed under the guidance of

the Yaruna Indians,

e navians because the Lapps of earlier times lived in

caves or recesses. The t

Alpine, composed of hornblende, gabbro and eklogite, but prin-

s 39

in these regions the largest Swedish glaciers occur. About 180

square kilometers are covered with “eternal” ice, reaching Sev-.

eral hundred feet in-depth. The surface area of the lakes 15

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 789

Arrica.—A/frican News—Dr. Oscar Lenz was sent by the

Imperial Geographical Society of Vienna to explore the water-

shed between the Nile and the Congo. He started in May.

The Austrian explorers, Dr. Paulitschke and Dr. von Har-

degger have returned from the Gallas country. They were ami-

cably received by the Egyptian governor of Harrar. On their

return (March 25, 1885) they found Zeila half in ruins.

government commission has inspected and reported upon the

Tunisian forests. In the districts south of the Medjerda valley

e so-called forests are a mere brushwood with groups of larger

trees, but on the Krumis mountains to the north, exist magnifi-

cent forests with trees equal in size to those of France, including

cork trees and Quercus mirbockii. One forest covers 100,000

hectares.

GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

THE MAMMALIA OF THE OLIGOCENE OF Buenos Ayres.'—This

memoir, by M. Ameghino, is one of much importance to the

history of the Mammalia, and especially to the history of the

ampean and recent faunz of the neotropicgl realm. Ever since

M. Bravard announced the existence of species of Palzotherium

and Anoplotherium in strata within the limits of the Argentine

Confederation, the curiosity of palzontologists has been awaiting

an explanation of a statement apparently so at variance with the

paa facts of the science. M. Ameghino, aided by the labors

of Professor Scalabrini, has fortunately resolved this problem, and

with it has set before us a record of uncommon interest to the

students of the Mammalia and of their evolution.

The strata which have yielded the collections studied, are situ-

ated on the Parana river. The number of species obtained is.

sixty-two, which are referred to forty genera, which are distribu-

ted into aiden as follows: Cetacea 3; Carnivora 3; Artiodactyla

2; Perissodactyla 5; Toxodontia 4; Rodentia 11; Edentata 17.

Of these forty genera, sixteen also occur in the Pampean fauna.

Of these forms it is not to be supposed that all have been fully

elucidated and their places finally ascertained. This is especially

true of the ungulate orders, where the much-needed determina-

genera to families characteristically Pampean, is so highly See

ble as to require less exhaustive demonstration to command

belief. It is in these groups that the most interesting contribu-

A uii Restos de Mamiferos Fósiles Oligocenos Recogidos por el Prof. aad

ni y pertenencientes al Museo provincial de la Ciudad del Parana ; por Flor-

entino ped ain; Buenos Ayres, 1885, pp. 204. (Extract from the Bulletin Nat'l

Academy Sciences, Cordoba, VII, p. 5.)

790 General Notes. [ August,

tions to the history of the evolution of the well-known Pampzan

genera have been made. us a series is traced backwards in

time from Toxodon, which shows that in the more ancient types

the dentition was less rodent-like, since the molars were shorter

and the canines larger. This adds evidence to the opinion which

the writer has reached, that rodent-like types are not primitive

but derivative! Protypotherium is believed by Ameghino to be

the ancestor of Mesotherium. Scalabrintherium stands in the same

relation to Macrauchenia. As to the Edentata, the cases of evident

ancestral relation are numerous, and are expressed in such names as

Promegatherium Amegh., Promylodon Amegh., Palzhoplophorus

megh.,and Protoglyptodon Amegh. Perhaps the most interesting

fact in this connection is the existence of more or less enamel in

bands on the teeth of the gravigrades of this formation, proving

that the history of the dentition of the Edentata has been one of

degradation, as the writer had already concluded before reading

M. Ameghino’s memoir? This fact is confirmatory of the theory

of descent of the Edentata from the Tzniodonta, proposed by

On THE GAMPSONYCHIDA, AN UNDESCRIBED FAMILY OF FOSSIL

Scuizorop Crustacea.!—The opportunity of examining at my

leisure about a dozen specimens of Palgocaris typus of Meek and

Worthen, kindly afforded me by Messrs. R. D. Lacoe and J. C.

Carr, has enabled me to work out some characters of this genus

not mentioned by the original describers. The study of these

imens has led me to compare the genus with Gampsonyx,

and the result has led to the formation of a family or higher group

for the two genera, which should probably stand at the base of

. _ the Schizopoda, while also serving to bridge over the chasm

a ü ie oe 1885, p. 347, for the origin of the Rodentia from the Tillo-

“See NATURALIST, 1885, p. 352, and I e 1257.

* Report Expl. Surv. W oo Mer, G. a das Iv, pt. II, p. 158.

*Read at the April meeting of the National Academy of Sciences.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 791i

existing between the thoracostracous suborders Syncarida and

Schizopoda.

Palæocaris was first described by Messrs. Meek and Worthen

in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-

delphia, 1865, p. 48, from specimens occurring in claystone

nodules in the lower part of the true coal measures, at Mazon

creek, Morris, Grundy county, Illinois. Afterwards in the third

volume of the Report of the Geological Survey of Illinois, 1868,

the same authors figured the fossils and expressed themselves as

follows regarding its affinities : “ Hence it would seem to present

something of a combination of decapod (macruran) and tetra-

decapod characters. That is, it possesses the caudal appendages,

anteriorly-directed thoracic legs, the antennze (some of the speci-

mens appear also to show basal scales to the outer antennz), and

general aspect of a macruran, with the distinct head, divided

thorax (without a carapace) and seven pairs of thoracic legs of

a tetradecapod. We have not been able to see its eyes, but from

its other decapod characters, and its analogy to Gampsonyx,

which is said by von Meyer to have pedunculated or, at any rate,

movable eyes, we are strongly inclined to believe that our fossil

will be found to agree with Gampsonyx in this character also.

“Tt therefore becomes a matter of interest to determine to

which of the subclasses, decapods or tetradecapods, it really be-

longs. That it belongs rather near Gampsonyx, though not to

the same subordinate section (Schizopoda), there can be little

doubt. Hence these two forms apparently fall naturally into the

same family. Professor Jordan and Mr. Meyer seem to have

regarded Gampsonyx as a tetradecapod, connected with the Am-

phipoda, but also possessing macrural decapod affinities. Profes-

sor Dana, however, regards it as a low type of Macrura belong-

ing to the section Schizopoda. He and Dr. Stimpson, to whom

we sent sketches of our better specimens of Palezocaris, concur

in the opinion, judging from all its characters yet known, that it

is a low embryonic type of the Macrura, in which the carapace is

not developed. s

“ Generically it is separated from Gampsonyx, figures of which

(cuts Cand D) we have added for comparison, not only in the

nature of its caudal appendages, but in the more important char-

acter of having its thoracic legs simple, and not bifid as in the-

Schizopoda.” |

In our specimens we were able to detect well-marked narrow

lanceolate oval breeding lamellz on eight pairs of appendages,

It should be observed that the breeding lamellz are in part

represented in Meek and Worthen’s figure, but not referred to in

their description ; they are also partly represented in their copy

of Jordan and Mr. Meyer’s figure of Gampsonyx Jimbriatus ; in

the latter there is also present what is apparently a large coarsely-

spined mandibular palpus, somewhat like that in the male of the

existing deep-sea schizopod, Petalophthalmus armatus, described

792 General Notes. [August,

by Willemoes-Suhm.’ In the females, however, the palpus is

small and unarmed, and it is probable that all my specimens of

Palzotypus are females, since most of them have breeding lamel-

læ. In the figure of Gampsonyx referred to, the thoracic legs

themselves, irrespective of the breeding lamella, are represented

as biramous, and the two rami are drawn as of nearly equal

length; it is probable that there has been a mistake in drawing

the legs, as in none of the existing schizopods, such as Mysis and

allies, Euphausia, Gnathophausia, Petalopthalmus or Chalaraspis,

are the legs thus thrice divided. It is to be hoped that the fossil

itself will be examined anew with regard to this important point.

It is sufficiently evident, however, that Gampsonyx and Palzo-

caris are closely allied forms, and as suggested by Messrs. Meek

and Worthen, should fall into the same family, which may be called

Gampsonychide. The principal character which separates this

group from all other schizopods is the entire absence of a carapace.

t is worthy of notice, however, that the size of the carapace is

very variable in the Schizopoda, and in the genus Petalophthal-

mus there is a great discrepancy in the two sexes; in the female

it covers the entire thorax, while in the male it is remarkably

small, subtriangular, leaving the two hinder thoracic segments

entirely exposed, as well as the sides of the two segments in

front. In the large size and oval-lanceolate shape of the breed-

ing lamellz, both of the gnathopods (maxillipedes) and thoracic

feet, the Gampsonychidz agree with Petalophthalmus, in which

they are large and broad. In the shape of the telson and the

comparative size and proportions of the last pair of abdominal

appendages there is a close relationship in the Gampsonychide

to the schizopod genera Petalophthalmus and Chalaraspis, espe-

cially the latter genus, in which the telson is rounded at the end,

while the two rami are more as in Petalophthalmus, though

broader. The other biramous abdominal appendages in the

Gampsonychidz are truly schizopodal.

Classifying the Schizopoda by the carapace, there would seem

to be three groups, as follows:

1. Carapace aoe sany a

Il. ree, varying in size.. G fa. , Chalaraspis.

Tit, yes T to A, Sea Soa “Whee, Lagat, Cephanoia.

But I should agree with Willemoes-Suhm that this is not a

natural genealogical classification, and throwing out the Nebalia-

dz, which we have endeavored to show belong to a distinct order

of Crustacea, the families of schizopods may be enumerated

thus, all having seven abdominal segments :

carapace ab 6 pairs-of thoracic legs... sser sse sses sess.. I. Gampsonychida.

evelop A aeai of thoracic legs, i.

i. Myside. _

1I Euphausiide.

= i mid s c e mo IV Chalaraspide.

a e p“ - 4 e ‘ a Vv. Lophogastrid@.

_ TOn some Atlantic Crustacea from the Chall iti By Dr. R. vor

ae Some Atlantic A ; enger expedition. By Dr. KN.

s-Suhm. Linnæan Transactions. Zodlogy. Vol. 1, p. 23, 1874-

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 793

n we compare the Gampsonychide with the Syncaride

(Acanthotelson), we see that both groups have the same number

of body-segments, and that both lack a carapace; and thus while

the Gampsonychide are the ancestors of living schizopods, the

group as a whole probably descended from Acanthotelson, which

is thus a truly synthetic form, standing in an ancestral relation to

all the Thoracostraca, while it also suggests that the sessile-eyed

and stalk-eyed Crustacea may have had a common parentage.

GEOLOGICAL News.—Si/urian.—Various studies b

Brogger, upon the Silurian strata of Norway and their contained

fossils, are published in the Magazin fur Naturvidenskaberne,

Christiania, 1878—1882-1884, and furnish new data for a compari-

son between the Scandinavian, German and English Silurian.

Devonian.—P. Wenjukoff has published (in Russian) a work

upon the Devonian strata of European Russia, with a table of

comparison with the beds of Belgium and Eifel. It appears that

the Russian beds belong to the Middle and Upper Devonian.

Carboniferous —MM. B. Renault and E. E. Bertrand have

found incontestable proof of the existence of fungi in Carbonifer-

ous times. In the tissue of the seed of a conifer of this epo

(Spherospermum oblongum) the mycelium of a fungus was found,

consisting of threads which were lengthened out or irregularly

bunched together, according to the size of the cellules in which

they were developed. The cellules of the hypla may be entirely

or totally transformed into sporangia, in the latter case the part

which touches a sporangium is furnished with a cuticle. Two

sporangia are often thus separated by a cuticle cellule. The

sporangia are ovoid, are swollen upon the side of the orifice.

They are usually empty. The Grilletia are thus remarkable for

thei rangia without a neck and without an operculum, and

for their habitat in the seeds of gymnosperms. They must be

placed near Aphanistis, Catenaria and Ancylistis. The annals

of the Belgium Royal Museum of Natural History, 1883, contain

the fourth part of De Koninck’s studies of the fauna of the Car-

boniferous Limestone of Belgium. This part is devoted to the

Gastropods. Among new species are numerous Calyptreide,

four of Helminthochiton, four Dentaliidz and a small Hyolithes.

Mesozoic.—M. Bleicher (Bull. Soc. Geol. de Fr.) gives a strati-

graphical study of the iron beds of Lorraine, belonging to the

Upper Lias and Lower Oolite. From a comparison it appears

that there is a great agreement between these beds in France and

Germany and the corresponding ones in England. M. Neu-

meyer (Denksch. d. kais. Acad. Wien, 1883) contributes his views

upon climatic zones during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

In the first chapter, “Theory of the Climate of the Past,” he com- —

bats the usual idea that before the beginning of the Tertiary the

entire earth enjoyed an equable warm temperature through the

794. General Notes, [August,

influence of the interior heat. In the next chapter is brought to-

gether all previous knowledge of climatic zones in Jurassic times,

and the next treats of the characteristics of an Alpine Jura and a

mid-European Jura. This is followed by a chapter upon the dis-

tinguishing features of an Alpine and a Mediterranean Neocomian.

He finally thus classifies the zo6geographical provinces of Juras-

sic and Cretaceous times:

T. Boreal Zone. III, Equatorial Zone.

1. Arctic province. 1. Alpine (Mediterranean) province.

2. Russian s 2. Crimo-Caucasic z

3. Himalayan “ 3. South i bs

4. Ethiopian ~

5. Columbian vi

5a. Caribbean rs

6. Peruvian a

LIT. North Temperate Zone. LV. South Temperate Zone.

1. Mid-European province. I. Chilian province,

2. Caspian z 2. New Zealand “

3. Punjab . z 3. Australian “

4. Californian “ 4. Cape r

Tertiary.—Numerous plant impressions, together with remains

of Sus major, Hipparion gracile, Castor jegeri, etc., have been

found in the lignite beds which are interstratified with the lower

layers of the Miocene of Cerdagne, an ancient lacustrine basin on

the southern slope of the Pyrenees. F. Fontannes writes of a

new exposure of Miocene strata near Lisbon (Portugal), and de- —

scribes the fossils found there, including a species of swimming-

crab (Achelous delgadoi), the first representative of this tropical

genus yet found in the Miocene. It occurs abundantly in the

strata containing Venus riberroi. “ The classification and palæ-

ontology of the United States tertiary deposits.” Under this head

a note has been published in the number of June 12, of this jour-

nal, on the first part of my article, “ The genealogy and the age

of the species in the Southern Old-tertiary,” American Journal

of Science, June, 1885. I refer those readers of Tne NATURALIST

who are interested in this matter to the second part of this article,

which will appear in the July number of the same journal—Jr.

bear Yale College Museum, New Haven, Conn., Fune 15,

1885.

Quaternary —M.Stanislaus Meunier has described a Quaternary

flint from the valley of Loing, forty-five mm. in diameter, con-

taining not only a movable nucleus of stone, but a quantity of

water. Such cases are well-known among quartz or concretions

from amygdaloid rocks, but the example is said by M. Meunier

os to be unique among flints. The water must have come from the

Quaternary in which the flint, itself of Cretaceous age, was

__ lying, and must have penetrated the stone by permeating the silex.

[

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 705

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.!

THE CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL SILICATES,2—The author dis-

cussed the history of mineralogy, and noticed the method of

11SiO,, and pyroxene to one with 14SiO,, or some simple multi-

ple of these numbers. In such compounds the degree of com-

cate the mean equivalent weight of its atomic unit, corresponding

to an atom of NaCl, for which purpose H,O and CaO are divided

mal composition), is (ca.al2.si3) 06; the small letters representing

atoms, ando= 8. This gives an equivalent of 107, which di-

vided by six yields for the mean atomic weight of the unit in

both of these species P = 17,83. Dividing this latter number by

2.7, as the specific gravity of meionite, we have for the atomic

volume in this species V = 6.60, and by 3.4, as the specific grav-

ity of zoisite, V = 5.24. The true formulas and equivalent weights

of these polysilicates must be deduced from a comparison of their

specific gravities with those of species whose equivalent weights

are otherwise determined. Meanwhile it will be seen that zoisite,

with the lower value of V or, in other words, the more condensed

‘Edited by Dr. Geo, H. WILLIAMS, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

? Abstract of a paper read before the Nat. Acad. Sciences, April 21, 1885.

796 General Notes, [August,

molecule, differs from the less condensed meionite by its greater

hardness and its superior resistance to the action of acids.

rom a consideration of the constitution thus assigned to sili-

cates, it follows that the comparatively simple ratios generally

deduced for the silica and the various bases are, in many cases,

but approximations to the more complex ratios really existing.

These, from the frequent impurities of natural silicates, can sel-

dom be fixed with exactness, though with sufficient precision to

give very nearly the values of P and V, which latter serves to

determine the place of the species in the natural system of classi-

fication.

Water being an element universally distributed, its presence or

absence in a silicate becomes of subordinate importance in deter-

mining alike the genesis and the natural affinities of species, so

that the water-ratios are omitted in the tables of classification

(which were shown), wherein the various natural silicates are, from

the chemical side, considered with regard to the atomic ratios ot

fixed bases to each other and to the silica. There are genetic

reasons for separating silicates of sesquioxyd bases, like alumina

from protoxyd-silicates. The former of these constitute the class of

Persilicates, and the latter the Protosilicates ; those containing

both protoxyds and sesquioxyds being designated Protopersili-

cates. Ferric oxyd and zirconia are classed with alumina as ses-

quioxyds, while titanic and boric oxyds in silicates are counted

with the silica in determining the atomic ratios.

- In the table of the Protosilicates, and in that of the Persilicates,

both hydrous and anhydrous, the generally accepted ratios of the

fixed bases to the silica are noted, but in that of the Protoper-

silicates regard is had to the more important ratios of sesquioxyds

d fixed peroxyds to each other, inasmuch as the ratio of silica

to both of these is found to vary greatly in closely related spe-

cies, as may be seen in zeolites, feldspars, scapolites and micas.

In these tables the three great classes of silicates are each

arranged in groups, with primary reference to physical characters.

_ Thus for Protosilicates we have in parallel columns, Pectolitoid,

Spathoid, Adamantoid and Ophitoid, with each of which the

range of values for V is given, while in an adjacent column to

the left are inscribed the approximate atomic ratios of fixed pro-

toxyds to silica. Among pectolitoids are included with pectolite,

apophyllite and datolite, hydrohodonite, pyrosmalite, dioptase,

_ calamine, cerite, thorite, etc. The spathoids embrace willemite,

tephroite, gadolinite, helvite, leucophanite, wollastonite and tscheff-

kinite ; the adamantoids, chondrodite, chrysolite, phenacite, bert-

Yandite, hornblende, pyroxene, titanite, and danburite, while the

oids include various hydrous silicates, of which villarsite,

Serpentine and talc are representatives,

__ The Protopersilicates, in like manner, are grouped under the

s of Zeolitoid, Spathoid, Adamantoid and Phylloid, a subor-

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 797

dinate division to the latter being designated Pinitoid. In a col-

umn to the left are given the atomic ratios of sesquioxyds and

fixed peroxyds, the silica being variable. The zeolitoids include

besides the zeolites proper, forestite, prehnite, catapleiite, etc.

Under the spathoids of this class are placed petalite, all feldspars

and feldspathides, including iolite and sodalite, the scapolites,

barylite, milarite, gehlenite, sarcolite, melilite, wohlerite an

eudialyte. The adamantoids include keilhauite, schorlomite,

ilvaite, idocrase, garnet, allanite, beryl, euclase, ardennite, axinite,

epidote, zoisite, jadeite, spodumene, sapphirine, staurolite and the

various tourmalines. In the phylloids are included the whole of

the micas from phlogopite and biotite, through seybertite, chlor-

itoid, lepidolite and margarite to damourite and the muscovites,

With the phylloids, and near the magnesian micas, come the

various chlorites, while parallel with the non-magnesian or mus-

covite micas are placed the pinitoids, including besides pinite,

or geiseckite, jollyte, fahlunite, bravaisite, cossaite, gimbellite, etc.

he Persilicates are all gathered in two columns under the

heads of Kaolinoid and Adamantoid, the received ratios of the

fixed bases and silica being given in an adjacent column. The

kaolinoids include the various hydrous silicates of alumina from

the highly basic schrotterite, through kaolinite and halloysite, to

to cimolite and smectite. With these are placed chloropal and

also pyrophyllite. The adamantoid persilicates include besides

dumortierite, fibrolite, cyanite and bucholzite, andalusite, topaz,

the zircons and anthosiderite.

The relations of fluorine in silicates like topaz and chrondro-

future consideration.

If we regard the silicates as constituting a natural order, the

three groups already noticed may be called suborders; A. Proto-

silicates; B. Protopersilicates; C. Persilicates. The divisions of

these designated Pectolitoid, Zeolitoid, Spathoid, Adamantoid,

Phylloid, Ophitoid, etc., will constitute tribes. The tribal char-

acters of the spathoids and the adamantoids being repeated in the

-suborders, we have A. and B. Spathoids and A. B. and C. Ada-

mantoids. The subdivisions of these tribes into families, genera

and species cannot here be discussed. The genus feldspar, includ-

ing anorthite, albite and perhaps iolite, with other genera, some

of which are represented respectively by orthoclase, by leucite, and

by sodalite, will constitute the family of the feldspathides. The

families of the micas and the pyroxenides in like manner will each

include several genera, having different values for V.

798 General Notes. [ August,

The application of the principles above defined to carbonates,

and the reference of the various carbon-spars to different polycar-

bonates, was long ago shown by the author in his papers already

noticed. The extension of like views to all liquid and solid in-

organic species, both natural and artificial, is but a matter of de-

tail and labor, and when fully carried out will be the basis of a

new chemistry.—7, Sterry Hunt.

MINERALOGICAL News.—Dr. Carl Hintze contributes a paper

on the chemical significance of crystallography, an address deliv-

ered on the occasion of his installment as “ privatdocent” at the

University of Bonn F. Rinne’ has investigated the crystal-

lography of zincite on some artificial crystals from the zinc-fur-

naces of Lerbach in the Hartz, and finds the system hexagonal

and axial ratio 1 : 1.621934. On the ground of etched figures

produced by cold dilute hydrochloric. acid as well as from the

habit of the crystals, the author assumes that the mineral is hemi-

morphic with a decided resemblance to wurtzite. Dr. Schuster,’

of Vienna, describes an occurrence of fichtelite from a new local-

ity—Salzendeich. It is found in monoclinic crystals 114% in

length. Twins are not uncommon, the twinning plane being the

basal pinacoid. H. A. Miers* gives a valuable monograph on

the species bournonite, in which he adds to the list of fifty forms

observed by former authors twenty-nine new ones of undoubted

character, while twenty-one others are mentioned as doubtful. The

same writer finds the hexoctahedron $ o? (986) on certain cup-

rite crystals from Cornwall, Eng., developed in accordance with

the gyroidal hemihedrism of the regular system. This has

before only been once observed on artificial crystals of sal ammo-

niac by Tschermak.® L. McCay’ proves both by analysis and

determination of specific gravity that a massive as well as a crys-

tallized variety of safflorite (Co, Fe) As, occurs in nature. The

specimens which he examined were from Schneeberg, in Saxony,

where this substance is called by the miners “ schlackenkobalt.’

Messrs. Diller and Clarke’ give the results of a microscopic |

and chemical study of the change of the topaz occurring at Stone-

ham, Me., to damourite. The alteration takes place along cracks

in the topaz crystal, the transition, however, from the one min-

eral to the other being always abrupt. No intermediate product »

was observed. Professor Clarke appends some simple looking

| Ueber radon krystallographischer Forschung fiir die Chemie. Habili-

onn, I

msrede.

__ ? Neues Jahrbuch far Min., etc., 1884, 11, p. 164.

4 Ischermak’s Min, und Pet. apap Il, 1385, p. 88.

s i i . 69, 1884.

-< Minera agazine, VI. p.

_ ŠAm. Journ. Science, 1885, May, p. 420.

_ êTschermak’s Min. und Petr. Mitth., 1881, p. 331.

- aim. Jour. Science, 1885, May, p. 360.

1885.] Botany. 799

structural formulz for certain silicate minerals which are most

interesting if demonstrable-—Tiffany & Co., of New York, have

just published an illustrated catalogue of their collection of rough

diamonds which so admirably exhibits all the phases in the crys-

tallography of this interesting mineral. The collection embraces

904 stones weighing over 1876 karats, of these twenty-two are in

the rock.———Dr. Konrad Uebbeke,’ of Munich, has published

some studies made upon crystallized minerals found in the ande-

sites of Mt. Dore in Central France. Hypersthene, hornblende

and pseudo-brookite receive especial attention.—— K. von

Chrustschoff? in the second part of his paper on secondary glass-

inclusions finds that those observed in quartz fragments which

have been imbedded in a liquid magma are due in all cases either

to the infiltration of this magma into fissures or to the melting of

some more easily fusible mineral which existed as an inclusion in

the quartz before its imprisonment. in the magma. Professor

Roland Irving, of Madison, Wis., in charge of the U. S. Geologi-

cal Survey of the Archzan rocks of the Northwest, has just

issued a most interesting paper on secondary enlargements of

mineral fragments in certain rocks.* A large number of observa-

tions show the widespread growth of rounded quartz grains by

subsequent deposits of silica, which acts as their cement. This

phenomenon, which was first described by Sorby and has since

received considerable attention from A. A. Young, Irving, and

others, plays a most important rôle in the change of sandstones

to quartzites. The enlargement in the same manner of feldspar

grains by secondary deposits of feldspar substance was recently

observed for the first time by Professor C. A. Vanhise, of Madi-

son, whose paper’is appended to the present work. The facts

i d are illustrated by a large number of excellent colored

plates. ~

BOTANY.‘

RANCHING OF PTERIS AQUILINA.—Much has been written on

the structure of this well-known fern, but the relation of the

fibro-vascular system of the stipe to that of the rhizome does

not seem to have been traced. The widely-creeping rhizome A

contains at the center two strong bands of sclerenchyma with two

fibro-vascular bundles or rows of bundles between them, the

whole surrounded by a ring of bundles much as in Fig. 1 B. In

branching division occurs on a line crossing both bands of scleren-

chyma, setting off to the branch a portion of both central bundles

1 Bull. Soc. min. de France, 1885.

2 Tschermak’s Min. und Pet. Mitth., vis, 1885, p. 64.

_§ Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 8. Washington, Govt. printing office.”

1884. (Price ten cents.) `

* Edited by Professor CHARLES E. Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska.

800 General Notes. | August,

and of the outer ring, the divided bundle-ring afterwards closing

up, leaving the arrangement the same as before.

If, however, the branch is to be a frond, a connection is soon

formed between the two sclerenchyma bands, dividing both bun-

dles or rows of bundles between them. The beginning of this

connecting band is seen in Fig. 1 B, a section at the base of the

stipe just above the point of attachment. When this connection

is completed the bundles all lie in one continuous, though dis-

torted ring, the enclosed sclerenchyma occupying the place of

pith. From this point upward the band of sclerenchyma which

lies on the anterior side of the stipe gradually diminishes

Fic. 1.—A, outline of a rhizome with base of stipe, 2-2; B, a horizontal section

at point a; c, a bundle which divides; C, horizontal section at the point 4, The

areas within the dotted lines are sclerenchyma, the others fibro-vascular bundles.

A about one-half, B and C about twice natural size.

in size and finally disappears, while the one on the opposite

side becomes broader, its edges bend forward and the bundles

bordering upon it divide and increase in number. During these

changes the front of the stipe becomes nearly flat and the back

more convex, as in Fig.1 C. Farther up all the sclerenchyma

diminishes, and at the height of a few inches entirely disappears.

The bundles, however, retain the same relative position and the

pinne are given off right and left in the same manner as the

branches of the stem. i

In Fig. 1 B the bundle, c, divides and with part of the adjoin-

ing sclerenchyma enters the bud between a and 4 Fig.1 A. In

feeble plants this bud is suppressed and the branch at the left is

uced to a bud, so that the stipe then seems to arise directly

from the main axis.—A. A. Crozier, Ann Arbor, Mich.

ATTEMPTED HYBRIDIZATION BETWEEN POND-SCUMS OF DIFFER-

ENT GENERA.—In the latter part of May of this year, while ex-

amining a dish of material containing duckweeds (Lemna poly-

rhiza) and various fresh-water algæ collected in Southern Ne-

aes ca, I came across a case of attempted hybridization between

_ two pond-scums (Zygnemacez) of different genera, which is well

_ worth recording. The plants concerned were Spirogyra majus-

-~ cula and Mesocarpus scalaris, both rather common pond-scums of

_ our ponds and ditches. The normal mode of conjugation in this

_ Spirogyra is by means of short lateral branches which unite so as

1885.] Botany. 801

to form free passages between the conjugating cells, and through

these the protoplasm passes from the one cell to the other, result-

ing in the formation of a resting spore (zygospore). In Meso-

carpus the process

differs in this that

the protoplasm from `

both the conjugating

cells passes into the

connecting tube and

there forms a rest-

ing spore is thus

inter-filar, while in

the former it is intra-

ar.

The two plants

crossing, as shown

in the figure. Near

the point of crossing

each plant sent out

a characteristic con- ,

jugating tube. The Fic. 1.—a, plant of Spirogyra i -

tube from the Spiro- Mesocarpus eters ee A be. ae ty ; Nei

gyra was bent up Spirogyra; d, conjugating tube sent out by Mes ;

and partly around %3 dead cell of the Spirogyra plant containing parasites _

the filament of Mes (Iridium sp).

socarpus, while the tube of the Mesocarpus had pushed out

inst the Spirogyra filament with such force as to indent the

latter very greatly.

The attempt at fertilization was futile, of course, and so no

effort was made to keep the specimen alive. It was preserved in

camphorated water and mounted upon a slide for further study

and inspection.

We have in this case a suggestion of a reciprocal influence

exerted by one cell upon another in process of conjugation.

It is probably a kind of sensibility to contact—an irritability, as the

older vegetable physiologists would have called it. There was cer-

tainly a response to some influence on the part of one or other of

ese plants in the case before us. It is perhaps impossible to deter-

mine which plant took the initiative, whether the tube of Meso-

carpus or of Spirogyra was first pushed out, but it is impossible

to escape the conclusion that the second tube was pushed out in

response to the first. It is possible that the first tube may have

originally pushed out towards a filament of its own kind, and be-

coming displaced may have continued its growth towards the

802 Genera Notes. [ August,

stranger plant, exciting in it the production of a conjugating

tube. I may say in conclusion that the position of the filaments

and their appearance, under the microscope, precluded the suppo-

sition of an accidental juxtaposition —Charles E. Bessey.

More Poputar Botany.—A recently published little book,

“Talks Afield,” by Professor L. H. Bailey, adds another to the

short list which this country as yet affords of readable scientific

books on plants. We need not repeat here what we have said

over and over again as to the duty of scientific men to prepare

authoritative books which shall be written in non-technical lan-

guage for the great non-scientific public. The author of the book

mentioned has recognized this duty, and has given us a most

readable as well as accurate volume. Twenty pages or so are

given to a popular account of the greater groups of the vegetable

kingdom, and then some of the most interesting features of flow-

ering plants are taken up, as the flower, the stem, the rose family,

the composite family, a peep at the inside, the sexes of plants,

cross-fertilization, etc., etc.

We quote from pp. 74 and 75, as an example of our author's

style: “ The plant through its roots takes in various compounds

which are dissolved in water. These compounds contain carbon,

hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, iron, potassium and other

materials, The plant takes these solutions in through its roots

by a modification of the phenomenon known to physicists as

osmose, a sort of soaking-in process. The pressure exerted by

the liquid as it comes into the root through this osmotic action

forces the ‘sap’ upwards, but the chief cause of its rise is to be

found in another fact: the stomata on the under surface of the

leaves are open if the weather is clear and moist, and water is

constantly evaporating from them. As fast as this evaporation

takes place more water is needed. A demand is made upon the

cells in the interior of the leaf which contain more water than

those near the stomata, and as these interior cells lose some of

their water they in turn call upon cells still more distant, and so

on until the call is made all through the stem, and to the minute

root-hairs which derive their water from the earth. This water

does not flow upwards in tubes or cells, but it is soaked up

through the thick walls of the wood-cells, and it keeps soaking

upwards as fast as evaporation pumps it out through the leaves.

The publishers, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of Boston,

have given the book a neat dress, and sell it for the reasonable

Price of one dollar, i

ugust 26th to September 2d). Arrangements have already

e made for excursions at low rates to the very interesting

1885.] Botany. . 803

Mackinac and Lake Superior regions. Botanists who are anxious

to add to their collections can do so, and at the same time take a

most enjoyable steamboat voyage upon the great lakes.

But let us ask here that the botanists do something to redeem

the scientific reputation of their profession. It was a noticeable

of the two sciences, botany and zoology? Or is it a difference in

Let our botanists prepare good thoughtful papers for Section

F, and at the same time lay by numerous notelets for the Botan-

ical Club, which will have frequent meetings during the associa-

tion week. The club is intended to take in the shorter notes and

lighter discussions which cannot properly find place in the sec-

tion meetings.

804 General Notes. [ August,

As an earnest of better methods we are glad to note the appoint-

ment of E. L. Scribner as assistant botanist to the Department of

Agriculture. He has been assigned the care of the cryptogamic

portion of the herbarium, and will devote most of his time to the

study of the parasitic fungi, especially those which affect inju-

riously the field and garden crops. The April number of

Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano contains an exhaustive paper,

by Danielli, upon the structure of Agave americana. It is illus-

trated by seven large plates containing eighty-one figures.

ENTOMOLOGY.

THE BLACK, WHEAT-STALK ISOSOMA (ISOSOMA NIGRUM, n. sp.}—

Early last autumn I received from Mr. Wm. Deyo, of Denton,

Wayne county, Michigan, specimens of wheat straw which con-

tained from five to sixteen larvæ of a four-winged (hymenopter-

ous) fly. The portion attacked was usually near a joint, but

might be anywhere along the internode, and was found above

every joint, though very rarely above the highest one. The im-

mediate region of attack was creased and deformed (Fig. 1),

though not swollen, and was

Z very hard, so that to cut it,

: ee except with a very sharp

Fic. 1.—Black dots show exit of fly. knife, was difficult. At this

portion of the stalk, which was usually from three centimeters

(one and a-fifth inch) to five centimeters (two inches) long, the

straw was not hollow but solid throughout. By cutting into this

deformed straw the yellowish-white larve were found in oval

cells. These cells were about four millimeters (.16 of an inch)

long. I published an account of this fact in several papers of

Michigan and other States (see Country Gentleman, Vol. 49, P-

817) asking for further information. In response to these inqui-

ries I received several communications from Wayne and Wash-

tenaw counties, Michigan, in both of which the insect worked

extensively.

So far as I can learn the insect has never been noticed before ; and

as the hardened pieces of straw break off in thrashing and come out

=— =

Iam indebted for many specimens, says the attack was quite

general in Washtenaw county, and that the short straws in the

grain had been noticed and commented upon by many farmers

who had not even mistrusted that insects had anything to do with

it, At our Farmers’ Institute held at Plymouth, in January, I

_ found hardly a farmer who had not been vexed by the small

pieces of straw, yet not one had discovered the cause.

Country Gentleman, Vol. 49, p. 857, Professor J. A.

_ Hintner refers to similar attacks of wheat in New York, and says

z _ the cause is the same species that has done so much damage in

1885. ] Entomology. ee 805

Illinois and south—J/sosoma tritici; yet from the brief description

I think it far more likely that /sosoma_ nigrum is the insect which

is doing the damage in New York. The farmers in Wayne and

Washtenaw counties are not sure that the damage was very great,

but all reported the wheat yield below their expectations. Pro-

fessor Lintner estimated the loss in. New York to be from sixty

to seventy-five per cent in such stalks as were attacked,

` Tsosoma nigrum sp.—Female (Fig. 2): ren of body 4.4™"; expanse oi

wing 6.5™™; gr t ‘width of anterior wing I antennz sub-clavate, some-

what pilose, reach tomiddle of thorax. The cae is a little less hairy, and as long

as the two following joints together. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh joints sub-

equal. Ten of the eleven joints are plainly marked when viewed wit ith a -glass,

Head and thorax black, dull, punctate, rugose and covered, though not densely, with

fine gray hairs. Abdomen shining black, polistied sparsely hairy; as long as head

Fic. 2.—Female /sosoma nigrum n. sp. Magnified ten diam.)

and thorax together and larger than thorax. The antennz, ae scape, mouth-

parts, head, abdomen and thorax rax, except a small, rounded, lig t-colored spot on

pa pronotum just back of the eyes, are pitchy black. The eka ters, femora, mid-

and posterior tibiæ black. The anterior tibiæ, tibio-femoral aake a. wal

distal end of anterior femora, and tarsi are yellowis -brown, In e cases the

tal ends of the tarsi are dusky. The legs ar EES pilose. The wing-vens are

ing.

m ; ma

and a heeadha-s Des „n from more than 100 specim Wi ings in all

perfect. Variations very slig

The « eggs (Fig. 3) are hee 75 to 100 in number; 1™™ long, and each with a

Fic. 3.—The egg.

pedicel two and one-half times as long as the egg.

Male; Length of ER, expands 5.8™™; greatest width of front wing 1.

antennze sub-cylindrical, lo: nger than in the female, with more and anaes as!

the last seven joints ual. Thorax and abdomen as in nthe female, except that

the pronotal sen: is wanting or very obscure; the abdomen slightly peduncled,

shorter and hardly larger than the thorax. Coloration of body and appendages

same as in female. Venation similar to that of female. The wings in both sexes

are margined with hairs, which are rather coarse along the marginal and post

806 General Notes. | August,

ginal veins, The general surface of the wings show numerous short hairs, The

males are nearly as numerous as the females, and all have perfect wings. ;

Larva: The larva (Fig. 4) is yellowish-white; length 4™™: jaws dark, without

teeth. The antennz are short, one-jointed tubercles of the same color as the body.

Very few hairs. Stigmata very obscure.

Fic. 4.—Larva and pupa. #2, mandible; z, antenne. .

Pupa (Fig. 4): In autumn and winter white; in late spring black. Length 4.17" 3

male 3.2™". In autumn the wing pads are very indistinct, hardly visible, but in

spring they are plainly marked.

This insect is very different from the Z. tritici (Riley), (first

described in the Rural New-Yorker of March 4, 1882), in being

much larger, in its black scape in antennz, black mesoscutum,

black coxæ, light instead of yellow pronotal spot, the numerous

males and the fact that all are winged. These work to the num-

ber of from five to fifteen at one place in wheat stems, instead 0

one or two, and the stalk solidifies. The larva has no teeth on

its mandibles and only one joint to the tubercle-like antenna. It

differs from Z. grande (Riley) but little in size; but in other

_ respects the points of difference are much as above. i

ea From the old joint-worm of Fitch (Z. hordei Harris) it differs

= — in being larger, in having a black scape to antenna, black mouth-

~ parts, and in working in great numbers in a single straw, in caus-

_ ing the straw to solidify, in not forming a swelling and in work-

_ Ing anywhere on the internodes of the straw. l

__ From Z. elymi (French) it differs in being much larger, and the

tegs are not so fully fuscous. Z. elymi works in grass, which 1S

ably true also of this species, yet they must be quite distinct,

; 1own by sizes. : j

Dr. C. V. Riley kindly informs me that he thinks this is Z.

‘ He sya he has specimens from Virginia, right where

1885.] Entomology. 807

the original types were found, some of which have a yellow

scape, others a black one. He thinks this is Fitch’s variety “ttct.

lat first thought this Hordei, but the fact that Fitch makes no

mention of any specimens with other than a yellow scape and yel-

low mouth-parts, and inasmuch as Dr. Harris and the late B. D.

Walsh, with Fitch’s descriptions before them, say all of Fitch’s

varieties are exactly alike except in coloration of legs, added to

the fact that of the hundreds of specimens examined by me, not

one showed any tendency to vary from black in scape and mouth-

parts, while there was considerable variation in the coloration of

the legs, led me to believe that my specimens were of a distinct

species. |

The fact, as Dr. Riley writes me, that so accurate a scientist as

Dr. Harris does not speak of the yellow scape and mouth-parts

would indicate that zzgrum and ordei were identical.

Another entomologist, who has made quite an extensive study

of these Isosoma, writes me that he inclines to the opinion that

all our Isosoma are only varieties of one species modified by sur-

rounding conditions.

t will take much observation to clear all this up. As species

are only venerable varieties, which by age have been run into the

mold of invariability, it really makes no great difference. Prac-

tically the matter remains the same in either case.

From what we know of related species, and from the fact that

all the internodes (spaces between the joints) are attacked, or

receive eggs, it is quite certain that the eggs are laid late in May

and in June. By September the larve are matured. I foun

several pup in the cells of the straw on September 16. I found

a few larve in January. It would seem, then, that a few of the

insects pass the winter in the larval state, Specimens kept ina

warm room all winter commenced to leave the cells in the wheat

stalks, as mature insects, on March 22. At that date a male and

female appeared. Each succeeding day ever since from two to

eight have appeared. From straw kept in a cold room during

the winter no flies have appeared until April 20. It is likely that

in the common out-door temperature they would not come forth

from the pupa state till May. This point can be easily settled in

the field the coming season. This and the date and method of lay-

ing will have to await determination till the insects can be studied

in the field the coming May. The method of oviposition is un-

doubtedly much like that of 7. grande and J. tritici, as described

Mr. F. M. Webster (see Report Department of Agriculture,

1884, page 383), and Dr. C. V. Riley in the same volume, page

If we may judge from the related insects, /sosoma hordei (see

Fitch, 7th report, p. 162) or /sosoma tritici (see Forbes, 13th

report, State Entomological Illinois, p. 30, and Riley, Report

United States Department of Agriculture, 1881-2, p. 183) we

808 General Notes. [August,

therefore greatly to be feared that this new pest will become a

serious enemy to successful wheat raising, especially as from a

large number I have reared but a single parasite, which as yet is

undetermined. Even if it becomes very destructive, it is more

than probable that parasites will soon attack it, and that, like the

joint-worm (/sosoma hordet), it will after a time become powerless

to work very serious mischief.

The remedies for this evil are very apparent. As the insects

are in the straw from the date of cutting till the following May,

it becomes very apparent that by cutting the wheat high, in which |

case nearly all the insects will remain in the stubble, and then |

burning the latter, all these will be destroyed. In case there is |

much green vegetation, it would be better to cut the stubble low |

before burning. If short pieces of the straw are found in the grain,

these should be cleaned out and burned. From experiments

made in the laboratory, by burying the straws in sand, and the

insects still coming out, I doubt if plowing under will prove a

very thorough remedy. As these have good fully-developed

wings, rotation of crops would not serve as well to protect against

this insect as it would in case of J. tritici and 7. grande. i

The drawings were made from life by my special student in

a boy P. Gillett—Prof. A. F. Cook, Agricultural Coll.,

y , Mich,

Entomotocicat News.—The Rev. J. A. Marshall publishes in

the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, issued

April 30, Part 1 (280 pages) of a detailed monograph of British

Braconide. T

bed

1885.] Zoology. 809

Agriculture, consist of descriptions of North American Chalci-

didz from the collections of the U. S. Department of Agricul-

ture and of Dr. C. V. Riley, with biological notes, together with

a list of the described North American species of the family, by

L. O. Howard. This paper will be followed by others, and will

prove of great service to entomologists. It appears from the

observations of C. Aurivillius, reported in the Entomologists’

Monthly Magazine for May, that Gets bore, an arctic butterfly,

requires two or more summers to complete its transformations;

also that humble bees probably require more than one summer to

mature. At the meeting of the Entomological Society of

London, held April 1st, Mr. R. M. Christy exhibited a drawing

of the larve of the local form of Platysamia columbia, known as

Nokomis; he had found the larva in Canada feeding on Eleag-

nus argentea, the peculiar silvery appearance of which was strik-

ingly in accord with the color of the larva, which latter was

probably protected thereby. At a sale of beetles in London a

pair of Goliathus giganteus realized £10 10s. 6d., and a pair of G.

albosignatus £7 108.; a pair of Rhetus westwoodii sold for 48,

and a pair of Rhetulus crenatus sold for £2 10s.

ZOOLOGY.

SENSE OF COLOR AND OF BRIGHTNESS IN ANIMALS.—J. Graber

has investigated the sense of color and of illumination in animals.

To decide whether animals had a sense of light or of color he

placed them in a box so arranged that qualitative and quantitative

rays fell on one or other of its two divisions, which communi-

rep-

810 General Notes. | [August,

hinder part, and the right half a new leg, The complete organ-

isms thus formed 2 a developed by spontaneous Agp im-

ultaneously with Herr Nussbaum’s experiments A. Gruber

artificially divided Stentor ceruleus with the same seisuitt If the

divided parts of a Stentor were not completely separated they

directions. If the cut was not very deep, monstrous forms might

be produced, as, for instance, with two complete anterior or two

posterior portions—Lxglish ‘Mechanic.

ORGANISMS IN IcE.—Professor Leidy relates that he had placed

in his hands for examination, a vial of water obtained from melt-

ing ice which is used for cooling drinking water. From time to

time, among some sediment taken from a water-cooler, his in-

formant had observed what he supposed to be living worms, which

he suspected were introduced with the water into the cooler, and

not with the ice. Upon melting some of the ice alone, the worms

were still observed, and the water submitted for examination was

some that was thus obtained. Professor Leidy was surprised to

find a number of worms among some flocculent sediment, mainly

consisting of vegetal hairs and other débris. Besides the worms,

there were also immature Anguillule, and a number of Rotifer

vulgaris, all living. It would appear that these animals had all

ae contained in the ice, and had been liberated on melting. It

an unexpected source of contamination of drinking-water,

that Professor Leidy had previously supposed to be improbable.

The worms were probably an undescribed species of Lum-

briculus. Several dead worms swarmed in the interior hee ee

ovate, beaked, ciliated infusorians, measuring from 0.0

long by 0.04 to 0.48™™ broad.— Journal of the Royal roren

Society, February, 1885.

A FRESH-WATER SPONGE FROM MEXICO.—

ia mexicana, n. sp.—Sponge (as seen “oa an alcoholic preparation) green,

minute, encrusting Lemna and other water pla

Gemmulz Tee, surrounded by a close Mie of berotulate spicules, embedded

in a granular cr

Skeleton iied long slender, gradually pointed, smooth or very minutely micro-

Dermal rrer

Berotulate aleje arm A ing to the armen in length about three times the

diameter of the rote shafts nearly cylind sometimes more slender near the

middle; be ined; spines long So Ba so flat, deeply notched, rays

This species, collected by Professor E. D. Cope in Lake Xoch-

imilco, about seventeen miles south of the City of Mexico, differs

the familiar M. fluviatilis chiefly in the far greater length of

: the shafts of the berotulate spicules. Itis further interesting as

eing only the second species of fresh-water sponge to reach the’

nds of specialists from that region of N. America. These par-

; AE were probably collected in an immature condi-

1885.] Zoblogy. SII

tion, as suggested by the abundance of sarcode and the scarcity

of gemmule or statoblasts; the single small group of these

organisms alone rewarding a careful search through the whole

mass of material sufficed to fix its generic position—Zdward

Potts.

A Hermapuropitic Cras.—While conducting an exercise in

zodlogy a short time ago using the common crab (Callinectes

hastatus) I noticed one specimen having an abdomen intermediate

in form between that of the normal male and female specimens.

I at once inferred that it might be a case of hermaphroditism,

which I think it is. The abdomen is triangular and except the

terminal portion or telson is devoid of joints; the joints of the

normal female abdomen being represented by indistinct lines.

The abdomen was firmly imbedded in the plastron, it being evi-

dently not within thé animal’s power to “open” it.

dominal appendages resemble in general those of the female, al-

though much more attenuated and having an undeveloped appear-

ance. The fifth pair of pereiopods lack the reproductive orifice

in the basal joint found in the male; nor is the first pair of pleo-

pods modified into copulating organs. The two little hooks

fastening the abdomen into its groove are present ; while there are

only impressions representing the opening through the female

plastrons for the expulsion of the eggs. en examined the in-

ternal organs were not in condition for a minute examination, still

it is evident that neither male nor female organs were normally

developed, as these organs were distinct in other specimens in

similar condition, while they could not be found in this one.—A.

L. Ewing, New York, Fune 29, 1885.

Discovery OF BLIND FIsHES IN CALIFoRNIA.—At Santa Clara

College in the San José valley is a flowing artesian well 170 feet

eep, from which are discharged sightless fishes, from one to two

inches long. I shall make arrangements to send specimens of

these to Professor Baird, United States Fish Commissioner, who

informs me that he has eighteen varieties or species of blind fishes

from Eastern artesian wells; none have been secured from this

coast.— F. D. Caton.

Tue Mute DEER IN DomesticaTion.—I find here three speci-

mens of Cervus macrotis var. californicus in domestication, which

_have given me an opportunity of observing them not hitherto en-

joyed. This variety of the mule deer I first discovered at Santa Bar-

bara in 1875 and spent nearly a week in the mountains and pro-

cured specimens for mounting, which I sent to the Smithsonian

Institution, and I first described them in The Antelope and Deer of

America, p. 95. While they are a true Macrotis, the variety is

very distinct, the enormous ear which induced Lewis and Clark,

who first discovered them, to call them the mule deer is common

‘to both varieties, but the ear on this new variety I now find is not

812 General Notes. [August,

so uniform in size as in the Eastern or mountain variety. Of the

three specimens now under observation, one, a male, one year

old, has the largest and coarsest ear I ever saw on one of the

species of that age, being eight inches in length; while the pair

in the adjoining paddock, belonging to Mr. Palmer, are two

years old, have ears seven inches in length, which are smaller

than the average of the species, though still larger than those of

Cervus columbianus, which has the next largest ear for the size

of the animal of any of the American deer. In color, too, they

are more variable than the mountain variety. The yearling speci-

men above described, belonging to Mr. Simmons, is of the dark

gray color, so uniform in the mountain variety, from which no

one would think of distinguishing it, but for the peculiar coloring

of the. tail, which is after all the most distinguishing feature of

this variety from the other, and in these specimens is more pro-

nounced than on the specimens procured at Santa Barbara.

In the mountain variety the entire tail is a yellowish white,

except a jet black tuft at the end, while on the California variety

ere is a dark line extending on the top or upper side all of the

way down to the terminal black tuft. In the Santa Barbara

specimens this dark line down the tail was of the color of the

coat above, while on these the dark line is black like the terminal

tuft—at least this is the case with the yearling buck and the two

year old doe, which are evidently of normal color. The two-

year-old buck, however, is of a much brighter color than any

other Macrotis, which I have seen. While it is not a white

deer it approaches the white, the ears being the darkest, or

nearest the normal color of any part of the animal. On the tail of

this deer the dark line is much obliterated, but not entirely so.

That which distinguishes C. macrotis from all other deer is

that the under side of the tail is naked to about the same extent

as the horse’s tail. This peculiar feature is observed on all of the

Specimens of both varieties to the same extent.

The habitat of C. macrotis is from the Missouri river to the Pacific

limits.—/. D. Caton.

_ THE GREEK AND THE Mopern Foor.—lIt is well known that

the Greeks represent the second toe as longer than the great toein

their statues, while in the modern European foot, the great toe 1s

generally the longer. In this respect, as stated by Albrecht, the

: 2 Greek foot is more quadrumanous thanthe modern. Theantique

_ Statues generally represent the great toe as standing further from

_ the second than is seen in the moderns. This might also be a

_ Quadrumanous cter according to Schaffhausen, but Albrecht

1885. | Zoblogy. 813

thinks it is only the result of the wearing of the sandal strap.

The reduction of the smaller toe Albrecht is disposed to ascribe

to the wearing of shoes.

ZOOLOGICAL News,.—-Celenterates—Mr. S. J. Hickson (Trans.

of the Roy. Soc., 1883) describes the ciliated groove which exists

upon the ventral side of the stomodzum in many of the Alcy-

onarians. This groove, or “siphonoglyphe,” which keeps up the

circulation of water whilst the animals are retracted, is not present

in the three genera of simple Alcyonaria, assumes more important

proportions in these colonial forms (as Alcyonium, Spongodes,

etc.), which have long body-cavities, is present in one of the two

forms (the siphonozooids) of the dimorphic Alcyonaria Keemia

lidæ), and is absent in the Gorgonidæ, in which the solid axis

occupies a greater bulk than the sarcosoma. The itho works

these facts into a new classification of the order, which he divides

into (1) the Proto-alcyonaria, (2) the Stolonifera (Tubipora, Cla-

vularia, Sarcodictyon, etc., (3) the Pennatulida, (4) the Gorgonidæ,

containing the Primnoaceæ, Gorgonaceæ, and other families with-

out a siphonoglyph, (5) the remaining Alcyonarians (Ccelogorgia,

Paragorgia, etc., with a siphonoglyph.

Echinoderms. — In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal

Society (1884), Mr. Herbert Carpenter describes a new crinoid

from the Southern sea. This species, Zkaumatocrinus renovatus,

presents two characters found in no other Neocrinoid, but present

in some of the older Palzocrinoids. These are the persistence

of the oral plates of the larva in the adult, and the separation of

the radials by interradial plates. There is also a closed ring of

basals on the exterior of the calyx, and a jointed arm-like ap-

pendage on the interradial of the anal side. The ex ample was

dredged ata depth of 1800 fathoms. Like Eudiocrinus, it has

but five arms, and is very small.

Crustacea.—Recent notes upon crustacea, by E. J. Miers, pub-

lished in the Proc. Zool. Soc., London, include a list of thirteen

decapods from the Mauritius, five of them not before recorded,

from that island, and one, Callianassa martensii Myer, believed to

new to science.

Mr. F. Day (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1884) exhibited the skin and

skeleton of a female Acanthias vulgaris, the whole of the flesh of

had been eaten out by the Isopod, Conilera cylindracea.

About twenty examples of this crustacean, some of them one and a

quarter inches long, were taken from the remains. Mr. Dunn, of

Megavissey, who sent the specimen, remarked that in the summer

months these lice are very abundant fifteen to twenty miles from

land, generally on soft and sandy bottoms. He had taken one

hundred dog-fish at once in a mullet-net, but nearly every one

was found to have been eaten ina like manner. They devour a

fish in a few hours, and hunt in large shoals. Congers and other

814 General Notes. [August,

fish leave when they appear, but occasionally a shoal of bream

will come and eat them up.

Fishes—In the Proceedings of the National Museum Professor

Jordan published a paper which includes notes by Mr. S. B. Meek

on the types of North American freshwater fishes, found in the

` museum of the Philadelphia Academy. The latter display some

deficiency of due caution, to say nothing of amenity, in dealing

with the subject. Confidence in some positive identifications, and

also some discoveries of error, will be much weakened by a

knowledge of the fact that some of the specimens bear unreliable

labels. These were placed upon them by a person employed for

the purpose by the “authorities” of the Academy, who was totally

ignorant of ichthyology, and not very well acquainted with the

English or classical languages. At the time of the taking charge

of the collection by this person, many of the specimens had not

been distributed into separate bottles, and numerous labels were

contained in each bottle. Of course they could not be attached

to the correct specimens by the curator in question. Mr. Meek

finds that the characters of one of the species were derived from

“the shrivelled condition” of the type specimen. It is difficult to

imagine where Mr. Meek obtained this information, as the speci-

men was in a perfectly fresh state when described several years

before Mr. Meek was known as a student of the subject.

Batrachians—Mr. G. A. Boulenger (Proc. Zodl. Soc., 1884)

describes eight new species of Batrachia from the Solomon islands,

including the new genus Ceratobrachus.

e greater part of England is free from the croaking of the

frog, but a croaking edible frog has for some time been found at

several spots in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. This form, usually

thought to have been introduced from France and Belgium, has

been shown by M", G. A. Boulenger to be the Italian form, Kava

_ esculenta lessone. Forty years ago the typical R. esculenta was

_ turned out in great numbers in Norfolk, and examples have re-

cently been taken. Though, when the whole Palearctic range 1S

considered, it is difficult to keep these forms apart, so far as re-

gards England they are quite distinct. Indeed, if the genus

Pyxicephalus of many authors is admitted, the form /esson@

would fall into it. There is no authentic record of the introduc-

tion of the Italian variety, but it was possibly done by the monks.

- Birds—Capt. G. E. Shelley (Proc. Zoöl. Soc., 1884) describes

three new species of birds from the Kilimanjaro district, East

Africa. These are Muscicapa johnstoni, Nectarinia kilimensis, and

Pratincola axillaris. Nectarinia reichenowi (Drepanorhynchus reich-

~ enour Fischer) is described and figured. The specimens came

reported to have been seen in May, 1883, at Helmsley, in North-

_ east Yorkshire, England, and the female was shot.

T EEEN ee ee

1885.] Embryology. 815

A new Laniarius, L. /agdeni, from Ashantee, has been described

by Mr. R. B. Sharpe.

Mammals.—An examination of the uterus of the four-horned

antelope, made by W. F. R. Welden, showed that it is divided into

two compartments by a partition extending one inch into a passage

internal to the os uterus. The Fallopian tubes are very small.

The placenta is exactly intermediate between the completely diffuse

one of Moschus, and the complexly cotyledonary apparatus of the

sheep, for example, on the other. Each foetus has twenty-two to

thirty cotyledons,

he lesser koodoo (Strepsiceros imberbis) differs from S. kudu,

not only in its smaller size, but in the absence of the fringe of

long hair down the neck in front, and in the much more com-

pressed spiral of the curvature of the horns. Mr. Holmwood,

British Consul at Zanzibar, states that it occurs on the Juba river,

exactly under the equator, in groups of three or four. A stuffed

example from Somali land is in the British Museum.

EMBRYOLOGY."

ON THE AVAILABILITY OF EMBRYOLOGICAL CHARACTERS IN THE

CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHORDATA.—The development of a me-

dian axial cord, differing essentially from cartilage, and which

seems to arise from a strand of cells constricted off longitudinally

justified by facts. Lankester insists for this reason that the term

Vertebrata be abandoned, and that the word Chordata be substi-

tuted for the name of the phylum, so as to express a fundamental

truth in scientific taxonomy.

It has been insisted that embryological data are not available

for the purpose of discriminating classes, subclasses, etc., and,

1 Edited by JoHN A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

816 General Notes. {August,

ment of certain considerable groups, every addition to that

knowledge demonstrates that what has appeared to be excep-

tional or in violation of general principles, upon further investi-

orms.

The Chordata present three well-marked modes of embryonic

development consequent mainly upon the manner in which the

germinal matter of the egg is related to the vitellus, and upon

how much the latter takes part directly in the formation of the

embryonic organs, and in what manner the blastula or blasto-

phere is directly related to its environment in the course of its

development and growth. The direct influence of conditions

which induce modifications in a purely mechanical manner is very

plainly illustrated in embryological development ; in fact it may

be shown that the highest type of development as displayed in

- the greatest complexity of the germ or embryo has grown out 0

a simpler condition developing under simpler environing condi-

tions. It may thus be shown that even the mode of development

the ovum has been modified through adaptation.

I. The lowest and most unmodified expression of chordate

1885.] Embryology. 817

envelope and no outer shell or additional membranous covering.

Cleavage total and equal, as a result of which a blastula is directly

developed. The invaginated half of the blastula leads directly

to the formation of the intestine. No actinotrichia or embryonic

fin-rays developed. These features seem to distinguish the Lep-

tocardii, or Haplocyemate forms from the succeeding ones.

II. The second great subdivision of the Chordata I will call

the Epicyemate subphylum. In this series the embryo never

becomes bodily invaginated or so pushed into the blastodermic

vesicle as to become invested by up-growing folds of the ecto-

blast, but remains attached to the yolk bya stalk or is sessile

upon and external to the latter, which may or may not form an

integral part of the intestine. This group also embraces forms

in which no part of the ectoblast is cast off when the embryo is

set free. There is no amnion nor any functional allantois devel-

oped, The vessels of the yolk-sack, when developed, are respi-

ratory in function. e primitive streak is either comparatively

short or wanting. This subdivision answers very nearly to the

Ichthyopsida of authors.

1. The lowest division of the Epicyemate series may be called

the Ichthyoidea, and brings the Amphibia and Marsipobranchii

together. In them the ovum is provided with a zona radiata ;

there is no outer albuminous envelope ; the zona is often elastic,

and the cavity it encloses may increase with the progress of

development, and may be covered externally with an adhesive or

gelatinous investment. The cleavage is unequal ; no true blasto-

disk is formed ; the germinal and nutritive poles are, however,

developing intestine. Amphibia.

6, The second subseries of the Ichthyoidea are op phous,

that is to say, the yolk-cells while they enter into the formation

of the ventral portion of the intestinal as in a, they are ina

posterior position; the embryonic axis is formed from ; d

orwards, so as to appear as if it grew out from the posteriorly-

placed mass of yolk-cells. Petromyzon. -

Much may be said in favor of affiliating the marsipobranchs

with the amphibians, but whether the development of Myxine

will countenance the foregoing arrangement remains to be

rned. It is, however, very certain that the general plan of

development of the two preceding series approximates that of

Branchiostoma far more closely than the more specialized devel-

opment of the Ichthyes.

lS RES 1

818 General Notes. [August,

2. The highest major group in the Epicyemate subphylum I

will call Ichthyes, as it is the only series in which true fin-rays

are developed, and in all of the forms embraced by the term true

embryonic fin-rays, or actinotrichia, may be found in the fin-folds

of the embryo.

The ovum is provided with a zona radiata, but is entirely with-

out or has only an inconsiderable albuminous. envelope, rarely

with loose granules of proteinaceous matter included between the

vitellus and zona; no chalaze; no calcareous shell, though

sometimes there may be present in addition an outer tough,

the intestinal wall.

a. The first subordinate group under Ichthyes is characterized

by being ectotrophous, for the reason that the embryo is sessile

for only a short time, as it soon becomes folded off from the yolk

and raised upon a hollow umbilical stalk, so that the yolk event-

ually occupies an apparently extra-abdominal position, or rather it

lies in a bulbous extension of the abdominal cavity. This series

embraces the Selachians and Holocephali.

b. The second subdivision of the Ichthyes is equivalent to the

Teleostomi of authors. These, as far as known, are ccelotrophous,

that is to say, the embryo is sessile upon the yolk, and is never

folded off so as to develop a stalk; the yolk is intra-abdominal

and below the intestine and between the latter and the greatly

distended somatopleure. 4

The Teleostei, Holostei and Chondrostei belong here, and it

will be very surprising if any embryological characters are ever

found which will separate the archaic Crossopterygians and Dip-

noans from this series. For the characters of the latter we must,

1oWever, await the results of the researches of Mr. Caldwell.

1885.] Fhysiology. 819

amnion or the Reichert’sche deckschicht, Rauber, subzonal meni-

brane, Turner, serous envelope, von Baer, and the true amnion,

are formed, is cast off at birth or when incubation is completed.

A highly vascular allantois is also developed in the majority of

the species-of this group, and, as a rule, takes the most important

share in the respiratory functions of the embryo, and in the

development of the foetal part of the placenta whenever that

organ is present.— 3. A. Ryder. [To be continued.)

PHYSIOLOGY ®.'

PFLÜGER’S “ AVALANCHE THEORY” OF NERVE-CONDUCTION.—

M. Vulpian calls attention to the fact that in faradisation of vari-

ous motor areas in the cerebral cortex of the dog, the effective

strength of current which must be used varies definitely with the

region stimulated. The minimal effective strength of current

for the muscles of the face is less than that for the muscles of

the fore-limb, and still less than for the muscles of the hind-limb.

In general the strength of effective current must increase with

the length of motor nerve tract. This result is readily explained

if we consider that the nervous impulse started in the brain grad-

ually diminishes in power as it passes along the motor nerve.

But this assumption is in contradiction to the classic “ avalanche

theory” of Professor Pflüger, according to which the nerve im-

pulse accumulates energy in its progress, so that a certain strength

of stimulus applied to a motor nerve produces a stronger con-

traction the farther the place excited is removed from the muscle.

It is this theory which Vulpian undertakes to test, and concludes

with a denial of its adequacy.

In Vulpian’s experiments dogs were used and so heavily chlo-

ralized as to paralyze the reflex powers of the spinal cord.

carefully isolated, without cutting, the external popliteal branch

of the sciatic nerve and also the anterior tibial nerve, These

nerves are in the dog of about the same thickness. Vulpian

found that with a weak current strong flexion of the foot was

Licut.—But three kinds of physiological change have been ob-

served in the retina as an effect of the action of light: 1. The

electrical currents discovered by Holmgren; 2. The bleaching

of the visual purple in the outer segments of the retinal rods ;

3. The movement of the pigment in the outermost or epithelial

-1 This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan,

VOL, XIX.—NO. VIII, 54

820 7 General Notes. [August,

layer of the retina; both the latter phenomena were discovered

by Boll. But Professor Engelmann, of Utrecht, adds another to

the objective disturbances caused by light in the retina, namely,

that of movement of the inner segment of the retinal cones. The

inner segments of the cones become shorter under the influence

of light and longer when the light is removed. The amount of

this difference in length owing to illumination varies in different

animals. The difference was most marked in the fish and frog.

In a fish which was kept eight hours in the dark the inner cone

segments, measuring from the mem. lim. ext. to the inner pole of

the cone ellipsoid, had a length of about 50; after remaining

several hours in diffuse daylight the length of the inner cone

segments in the same animal was only about 5#. In preparing

the retina for observation the eye-ball was rapidly excised and

plunged in 3.5 per cent nitric acid, or for several minutes was

warmed to 70°—80° C. in 0.5 per cent salt solution.

A frog which has been kept in the dark shows maximal con-

traction of the cones after several minutes exposure to diffuse

daylight. All parts of the visible spectrum produce the change

in question, but the more refrangible rays have apparently most

marked influence. It is apparently the inner cone segment itself

which is directly affected by the stimulus. The movement of the

cones and of the epithelial pigment seems to be under the con-

trol of the nervous system; for if an animal which has been

kept long enough in the dark to bring about maximal lengthen-

ing of the cones and retreat of the pigment, be exposed to light

so that only one eye is illuminated, the influence of the light is

manifested by both retinas; but if the brain has been previously

destroyed, the contraction of the cones and the moving inward of

the pigment occur only in the eye which is directly exposed to

light. We may, therefore, consider that the movements in ques-

tion are reflex actions, and that the optic nerves contain motor

fibers for the protoplasm of the cones and of the retinal epithel-

ium. Engelmann declares also that light acting directly upon

the skin of a frog whose head is kept in the dark, brings about

the same retinal changes as does light falling directly upon the

eyes.—Phliiger’s Archiv., Bd. 35, S. 498.

PSYCHOLOGY.

that another should do to himself. The converse of this propo-

sition, as uttered by Christ, imposes a greater proportion of active

‘measures, Both are relatively carried into practice to the degree

a which the wishes of men are subordinated to their intelligence.

1885. ] Psychology. 821

They embody the regulating principle for what are called the

purely selfish or appetent qualities of the mind.

For the sympathetic qualities, whose selfishness is diffusive, and

includes good will to one or more other persons, somewhat dif-

ferent data are necessary. The leading interest in this department

is that of sex. The metaphysical condition of love, is a pleasur-

able hyperesthesia connected with the mental or actual image of

a person of the other sex. The province of ethics, and its appli-

cation in law in this matter, is the security of the persons interested

in this property, mental and physical. If this hyperzsthetic state

were always prominent, because based on sufficient grounds, there

would be no necessity for laws in the matter, any more than there

is necessity for laws to compel people to retain a fortune ora

sound stomach. But in fact this hyperzesthesia sometimes has no

sufficient raison d’être in the character of its object. Sometimes

the mental powers are unable to retain it long at a time; and

some persons have little or no capacity for its metaphysical form.

For the protection of people who are highly developed in this

respect, laws have been enacted which punish infringements on

their rights of property.

It is, however, evident that these laws may and do work to the

injury of the people they are designed to protect. This is the

case, e. g., when persons of great affectional capacity are bound

to those of little or no capacity. It is the case where a person of

fine general organization is bound to a person of coarse and brutal

organization. It is also true where persons of high development

of sex affection are otherwise of totally diverse and antagonistic

constitutions. Hence divorce laws for the separation of such ill-

mated persons have been enacted, and their utility cannot be

_ denied.

It is not divorce laws which are to be feared, but something

which lies deeper; that is the weakening of the metaphysical sex

interest, and its subordination to lower or less important interests.

Any system of religion, state policy, or social custom, which tends

to weaken the force and freedom of conjugal affection, is proba-

bly the greatest curse that can befall a country. A principal rea-

son why this is true is because the metaphysical sex interest con-

stitutes one of the most important stimuli to exertion, and there-

fore to development.

One of the causes which destroy this primal source of energy

and happiness in life, is the prevalence of the idea that the senti-

ment of love has no real existence; that it is a deception, or at

best a sensation of short duration. Such a view can only be

demonstrated in the lives of people in whom the instinct and sen-

timent are weak or wanting. For such it is doubtless true; but

debarred by natural incapacity. But well-constituted persons

frequently adopt the idea on various grounds. The reason why

822 General Notes. [August,

such well-constituted persons may entertain such a view, is the

failure of the individual to realize his or her ideal in this direc-

tion.

One principal cause of failure to realize the ideal conjugal state,

is constitutional weakness of the sentiment. This may be mental

alone, or it may be physical. If the “ grand passion” is to exist,

its physical basis must not be destroyed. When the affection is

properly developed, it leads to a subordination of many things

which would conflict with it. Truth and honor become the basis

of permanent confidence between the contracting parties, and

everything that is disagreeable to the object of affection will be

abandoned, so far as consistent with the necessities of existence,

and of honorable conduct to others: When the sex sentiment is

not well developed, these ameliorations will not take place. One

or both persons will have ground of complaint, and if in the bal-

ance of motives either finds it more pleasant to him or herself to

be disagreeable to their matrimonial partner than to be agreeable,

the term of such persons’ association is likely to come to a speedy

end. In the case of personal bearing the male sex is often the

sinner, since the more sensitive nature of the woman requires

more consideration than the more indifferent constitution of the

man. In the matter of rationality of conduct and opinions, the

female more frequently errs.

One of the causes which tend to weaken the sex sentiment, is

want of intellectual sympathy. This is at present a more or less

necessary evil, but the development of the intellect is progressing,

and will bear rich fruit in the field of the affections. Perhaps the

1885.] Psychology. 823

selves, and cannot be overcome by enactment. But in many

countries the laws are such as to encourage and increase social

evils, if not to produce them.

It is satisfactory to know that nature is necessarily more con-

servative in this field than in any other, so that pessimism has little

ground for assurance. The incapable and the feeble in love have

little part in the increase of the race. The irregular, excessive,

or abnormal development of the passions have still less chance

of propagation. e only cause for regret is the apparent ina-

bility of the best intellect to reproduce itself in any abundance.

The future of applied science may bring us the remedy for this

also—Z. D. Cope 3

TENACITY AND FEROCITY IN THE Raccoon.—Happening lately

to pass around the shores of a neighboring pond in my rambles,

I noticed a crowd of boys gazing excitedly at one of their com-

panions who had mounted a large tree overhanging the water,

and was “shinning” his way toward the top of it. Inquiry re-

vealed the cause to be a half-grown raccoon, which had taken up

its quarters there for the day, seeming much disposed to stay

where it was, despite the efforts of the youth to dislodge it; and

he, having exhausted every method of persuasion suggested by

his fellows, reluctantly descended to the ground, and a bombard-

ment of stones then began which, though often well directed, did

not budge young Procyon one inch from his comfortable position,

One of the spectators then produced a revolver and two rounds

were fired by the “best shots” in the crowd, six bullets of the

fourteen taking effect in its,body. Terrible as these wounds were

afterward found to be, the animal “held the fort” (so to speak)

with dogged tenacity, its only efforts being confined to clinging

to its chosen position in a fork of the tree. Seeing this, one of

the boys started off and in a few minutes returned armed with a

rifle. The second shot from this struck one of its fore-feet, pass-

ing directly through the ball of it. This wound, trivial when

compared with the others, so maddened the poor beast that it

tried hard to change its position, but its hindquarters being par-

lyzed it was unable to accomplish that feat, so in sheer despera-

tion it began to rend the useless member with its teeth, savagely

tearing it to pieces and dropping them to the ground, Another

sure-flying bullet now sped on its merciful errand, and, struggling

fiercely with death, the raccoon relaxed its grasp till one paralyzed

foot alone sufficed to support its swinging body beyond the eager

reach of its tormentors. And there it hung on, till in its dying

efforts to regain the former position, it fell fifty feet to the ground

with enough life remaining to justify considerable commotion

among the boys while administering the coup-de-grace,

This instance brings to mind another which happened during

the winter of 1879-80. Whilst a scholar at Westtown, Chester

$24 Gereral Notes. [August,

county, Pa., I found, during one of my excursions along Chester

creek, a half- grown “coon,” which had snugly tucked itself up in

the forks of a dead willow that stood on the opposite bank of the

stream from me. It had its back to me, and desirous not to spoil

the valuable pelt, I drew off some twenty yards and sent a heavy

charge of shot into its body ;—such at least was my intent, but,

judging of results, I did not accomplish it. Beyond a violent

tw tching of the skin as if to rid itself of a fly or other Be

pest, there was no counter demonstration on the coon’s part.

next fusilade was tendered from the creek bank, the long k

of my weapon reaching within fifteen feet of the animal.

touch of trigger the results were tremendous, and after taking

sufficient time to recover lost ground and senses, I realized that

the concussion had worked both ways, and the coon, thoroughly

aroused from its day-dream, was now floundering about, growling

and gurgling in the depths of the creek, Having spent nearly

a minute in that manner, it rose to the surface and divided its

efforts there between reaching the bank and tearing the wounds

in its pret: eins teeth and claws, evincing a most desperate fury

in every action. After continuing this long enough to have

drowned the liveliest of cats, it reached the opposite shore, and

instead of climbing upon it, the maddened creature disappeared

beneath it, where a strong eddy of the waters washed and swirled

under the overhanging banks and tree-roots. This suicidal man-

œuvre seemed so deliberate and intentional that hope of securing

my game was well nigh gone from me ere it again emerged growl-

ing and gnashing its teeth as if enraged that it had not found

death PY. other hands than mine.

ming fully sated with such an exhibition of brute ferocity

and self inflicted sufferings, I crossed the creek and succeeded,

after a ten minutes’ skirmish, in reducing it to perfect harmless-

ness without other disaster than several desperate nips on the

toes of my boots, one of which was received after I had sup-

posed the animal was dead. .

I refrain from entering into detail of this closing scene further

than to remark that it so impressed me with the fiendish vitality

__ of a wounded raccoon, that hereafter similar encounters will be

carefully avoided.—S. N. Rhoads, Haddonfield, N. F.

, LIKES AND DIsLIKES OF A DEER.—Mr. Simmons, who owns

Zt cept as t

- = this bird ae into the paddock to pay a neighbor ly

1885.] Anthropology. 825

ANTHROPOLOGY .!

Burnt Cray 1n THE Mounps.—The earliest travelers among

the Indians mention mounds with buildings on the top of them

covered with earth. In the mounds which I have examined,

wherever burnt clay has been found more or less ashes occur

underneath, and the impress of grass, sticks, cane or poles plainly

reveals itself in the burnt clay. These vegetable substances were

needed to support the earthen roof of the dwelling.

The dwellings of some modern Indians are built of poles,

sticks and grass, covered thickly with mud. Upon the death of

any of the inmates the house is burned down, and the framework

= consuming partly bakes the clay and leaves its impress therein.

The Pimos and Maricopas of the Gila river, with all of the Indians

of the Colorado river, build winter and summer dwellings. The

former are hemispherical and mud-covered, the latter is an open

mud-covered shed. When these are burned down at death, the

clay jis baked and appears just like that dug from many

mounds.

In many of the modern houses the earth is dug out in the cen-

ter for a foot or more; this points to the reason for the pits found

in the middle of mounds. Charred posts are found in mounds,

the same phenomenon presents itself whenever a summer shed is

consumed,

In examining the celebrated ruins of adobe and stone houses

in Arizona, it is found that they were destroyed by fire, burnt

clay with impressions of sticks and poles being found in them.

The examination of some mounds demonstrates the existence

of buildings without clay covering. Now I have lately visited

several Indian tribes who live in the hot season under sheds cov-

ered with thatch, with merely earth enough above to keep the .

twigs from blowing away. Now the burning down of such a

shelter would leave only ashes and c `

Again, both houses are on the outside the receptacle of every-

thing which the Indians wish to keep out of harm’s way, baskets,

pottery, wattled granaries for corn, mezquit, &c. Now in some

mounds I have found the pottery and other relics so curiously

located as to leave little doubt in my mind of the burning of such

a structure as I have just describe à

The modern hut builder does not cover his consumed dwelling

with a mound because the new arts taught by the white man and

his new environment have taken away all necessity. Further-

more the argument that the superior arts of the former Indians

were associated with better houses for the artists is false. The

finest works of modern art are produced in places no more ele-

gant than the Pimo’s summer shed.—Zdward Palmer.

1 Edited by Prof. Ors T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C.

k ‘

826 General Notes. [August,

MortTAatity in Wasuincton.—Dr. B. G. Poole, of the Health

office in Washington, has compiled a table of mortality by

months, from 1875 to 1885, eleven years. This table not only

exhibits the death rate of the months, but shows the disparity

between the whites and the negroids. ‘In comparing the results

it should be borne in mind that the white population is about

double that of the negroids:

White. Negroids.

o a cree PES SNe ONE SRO a 192 163

FOOT NG RN i CINCO SO ots 177 180

MATCH se Wb ads ct EN SE ie a eS 207 184

April 178 170

May 166 157

PONE As Glew T 212 206

July... eves 240 227

August. 199 198

September. 177 174

October 176 158

ovember. 164 143

D mm a n | oi bo E wed co v's Gs OS hae bc E E E 177 150

The lines run nearly parallel, the negroid death being always

nearly twice that of the white. In February the negroid death

actually exceeds the white, January, March, November and

December show a better condition for the negroids, the rate tend-

ing toward the correct proportions.

ANTHROPOLOGY AT JoHNS Hopkins University.—Under the

editorial supervision of Mr. Herbert B. Adams is published

monthly the “ Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical

and Political Science.” Several of these pamphlets, issued in

1884, have immediate bearing on anthropological science. we

stitutional beginnings in a Western State,” by Jesse Macy, A.B.,

No. 8 of the second series, appeared in July. This isa careful

study in the early history of Iowa from meager documents and

from the mouths of living witnesses. Nos. 8 and 9 of the second

of exchange, and contracts were made aes at will in wam-

um, beaver or silver. For more than a century this currency

entered into the intercourse of Indian and Golanist: affecting the

. whole development of industry and commerce. To trace this

ence is the Het sng of Mr. Weeden’s paper. No. 11 is upon

ntary society among boys,” a pamphlet of fifty-six

x pages, by John Berr A.B. S This is a charming study of the

ts made by the boys of the McDonough farm school, near

Baltimore, to imitate their elders in managing their affairs. No.

— y Richard T. Ely, Ph.D, and discusses “ Re-

1885.] ‘gl nthropology. 827

cent American socialism ” in a paper of seventy-four pages. This

monograph is a revised edition of an able series of articles pub-

lished, in 1884, in the Christian Union.

THE Davenrort ELEPHANT Piprs.—Mr. Charles E. Putnam, of

Davenport, Iowa, has published a pamphlet of thirty-eight pages

as a vindication of the authenticity of the elephant pipes and in-

scribed tablets in the museum of the Davenport Academy of

Natural Sciences, from the accusations of the Bureau of Ethnol-

ogy of the Smithsonian Institution. Those who have known the

history of Davenport Academy, its struggles and triumphs for the

love of pure science, and the extreme caution of its leading mem-

bers, regretted that anything should appear in a Government pub-

lication reflecting upon their veracity or honesty. Tablets are

common enough, being made of slate and other material and

- worn to-day by the present Indians of British Columbia and

Alaska. So long as they do not contain outlandish and unclassi- _

fiable inscriptions there is nothing mysterious about them.

the contrary, the elephant pipes are mysteries. When I try to

put the cast which we possess at the museum with something

else, there is nothing to put with it. Professor Henry once said

to one of his assistants who discovered an unclassifiable speci-

men: “That seems to stand out so unsociably that we must call

it an ‘ outstanding phenomenon,’ and wait patiently until some-

thing else turns up to go with it.” The last word that should

fall from the lips of a brother naturalist is.“ fraud.”

On the other hand, barring this indiscretion, Henshaw is just

what Major Powell says about him. e is a very careful and

skillful naturalist. We should hail with delight the accession of

all such men to the ranks of archeology because they bring light

from every side to bear upon our mysteries. It should not make

a particle of difference to any of us whether a pipe is the figure

of a crow or of a toucan, so long as we know just what it repre-

We may rest assured that for a long time every mystery

solved will be accompanied by two quite as inexplicable.

But, really, too much account is being made of the matter.

Squier and Davis are not overthrown. Their manatee, toucan

and paroquet may be shot down by the ornithologist, but these

practical gentlemen did not care a fig about such creatures. They

made the greatest archeological survey and collections ever

attempted in America, and their volume will indeed be a “ monu-

ment” to their memory and to the glory of its authors for all

time, ,

The Davenport Academy is not annihilated. Even if our

theory should turn out true and the elephant pipe should prove a

tapir pipe, and we should learn that tapirs once lived in the Mis-

Sissippi valley, this grand association would survive.

328 General Notes. [August,

MICROSCOPY.!

Some HısrorocicaL Meruops sy DR. C. S. Minot.—Miiler's

Fluid—In hardening in Müller’s fluid it is important to keep the

jar with specimens and fluid in a cold place, best near freezing,

for three or four days. The delicate tissues are then much bet-

ter preserved; probably the same is true of Erlicki’s fluid. Using

Müller’s fluid at a high temperature is bad for epithelia. -

Beales Carmine—

Carmine. I gram.

Ainoa ie OR ers oe RT 3 c.c.

Pure glycerine. sors 96 čt,

Distilled water i 96 c.é:

Aoh G per centu Iana a AA pee rer lvlees 24 A

into the original bottle. à

rom the carmine solution the sections are placed in water and

washed thoroughly, after which they are placed for 1-3 minutes

in hydrochloric acid diluted with water until it tastes about like

sharp vinegar. They are finally again washed in water and are

then ready to mount in the usual manner.

Employed in this way Beale’s carmine is one of the most val-

uable of histological staining fluids, both for general use and also

more especially for the central nervous system. If by any chance

the sections are overstained, the superfluous color may be ex-

dilute one part of the stock solution with twenty parts alcohol.

The alcoholic solution is far more convenient than the aqueous.

Imbedding in Celloidin—The object after having been tho-

= roughly dehydrated in alcohol is placed for twenty-four hours n

= a@mixture of equal parts of strong alcohol and pure ether. If

_ this mixture is kept long a little ether must be added from time

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, Mass.

1885.] Microscopy. 829

Transfer to a thin solution of celloidin, and allow it to remain

for from one to three days, according to the size of the object.

Imbed in a thicker solution of celloidin. This is best done as

follows: A cylindrical cork of convenient

diameter is selected; a strip of glazed paper

wrapped round it tightly and fastened with a

couple of pins as indicated in the figure. In

the box thus formed the object is placed and

the celloidin poured carefully over it. If neces- |

sary the object can be secured in any position

by pins. Bubbles will rise from the cork and

interfere with the imbedding ; two precautions

will essentially diminish this danger: 1. Pour

in so much celloidin that it covers the object

half an inch deep, giving an opportunity for

the bubbles to rise above the tissue; 2. Before

imbedding cover the end of the cork with a

thin layer of celloidin, which is allowed to dry

on completely. After the object is covered the

cork is mounted on a lead sinker (see figure),

and allowed to stand until a film has formed

on the upper surface. It is then immersed in f

alcohol of 82-85 per cent (stronger alcohol (HAIT

attacks the celloidin) for one to three days, 1 |

have found it best to allow plenty of time for Qj)

the hardening after imbedding.

The sections have to be cut under alcohol; we use Jung’s

microtome with his largest knife, placed so as to cut with as much

of the blade as possible; if the edge i is good, then the longer the

draw the thinner the sections which can be made. While cutting

the knife blade should have as much alcohol upon it as possible ;

to secure this we use the dripping apparatus described below.

The sections should be removed from the knife with a fine brush,

to avoid all risk to the edge. For celloidin imbedding are

needed :

1. Mixture of ether and alcohol, equal parts.

2. A thin solution of celloidin in (1). This should be syrupy

mo still flow easily.

3. A thick solution of celloidin in (1) of about the consistency

of thick molasses.

The usual mistake is to have the solution too thick. Quanti-

tative directions cannot be given because the celloidin varies in

weight according as it is more or less dried.

` Celloidin is a purified gun cotton, manufactured by E. Scher-

ring in Berlin, Germany. It may be obtained in Boston of the

Prang Educational Co., and of the Educational Supply Co., in

ounce boxes, at $1.25. It is a most valuable and important addition

to the resources of the histologist, as it enables him to make thin

830 General Notes. [ August,

sections of large objects; and in these sections all loose bits of

tissue are kept zz stu by the celloidin which does not interfere

with the staining or mounting. If for any reason it is desired to

remove the celloidin, a little ether and alcohol will dissolve it

from the section almost immediately. For the study of loose

parts, where the sections would otherwise fall to pieces or require

difficult manipulations, such as the placenta or brain, celloidin

may, I think, be safely said to surpass any other material hith-

erto employed.

For mounting sections with celloidin left on them I have found

none of the methods hitherto recommended satisfactory. The

essential oils I have tried either dissolve the celloidin like oil of

cloves, or cause it to shrink and distort the section like oil of Ber-

gamot. After trying various reagents, I have settled upon chlo-

roform as the most convenient medium of transfer from alcohol

to balsam. In using it care must be taken to place the section

Microrome Knives.—The Scientific Instrument Company of

ibridge, England, are preparing an automatic machine for

sharpening microtome knives, which, it is to be hoped, may prove

to be just what every microtomist so much needs.

_ acceptable condition, and sometimes they have been much dam-

aged or wholly ruined. The best test for the condition of the

edge is to try it on the palm of the hand. A knife that will not

-= cuta ribbon of paraffine sections .005™™ thick is not fit to use;

_ the best knives should cut as thin as .co1r™™ It is not often that

-it beci irable to cut so thin, but it is important in making

thick sections ( mm) to use a knife that has a much finer

cing capacity. A thoroughly sharp blade may have very

1885.] Microscopy. : 831

nearly a horizontal position for its lower (plane) surface in sec-

tioning, while a duller one requires to have its back raised a little

above the level of its cutting edge. It is safe to say that a knife

cuts well when thin sections (.005™™ or less) agree in size with the

cut surface of the paraffine block. It may be possible to cut a

straight ribbon with a dull knife, but in this case it will probably

be found that the sections- are shortened in a direction at right

angles to the edge of the knife, which shows that the knife is

acting the part of a plough, which crushes more than it cuts.

The statement that a sharp knife may have a nearly horizontal

position must be understood to have some limitations. In gen-

eral it may be said that the larger and harder the object the more

imperative it becomes to have the under surface of the blade

slant towards the object, and the necessity for this is greater with

a transverse than with an oblique knife. For véry hard objects a

hed thick-edged knife is required as well as a slanting

positio

For diny histological or embryological work, the upper

surface of the blade is ground hollow, the lower surface plane

(Fig. 1 2), the edge being left very thin so that an extremely

slight bevel is made in setting.

bevel there is should be mainly on the

upper side. The edge when examined

with a magnifying power of a hundred Fic. 1.—Diagram illustrating

diameters should be perfectly straight ‘y me A ———— RE

k, knife; s, oil-

and smooth. moii wW, wire. í

Method of Sharpening—Microtome knives can be properly

sharpened only by those who understand their chief peculiarities,,

who have trained themselves in this special work. The diffi-

culties in acquiring the art are not, however, insurmountable ;

for ‘with the proper means anda little perseverance they can

mastered in a short time. The first important step is to provide

oneself either with a good razor strop (those made by Zimmer-

mann in Berlin are considered eo” or with a long and wide

In using an oil-stone it is well to cover the surface of the

Stone with a mixture of glycerine (two parts) and water (one

part), as recommended by Fol.’ The blade is laid flat on the

‘Lehrbuch d. Vergl. Mikr. Anat., p. 129, 1884.

$32 * Scientific News. [ August,

stone and pushed forward, edge foremost, in such a manner that

the free end of the knife finishes by resting on the more distant

end of the stone. Here the blade is turned on its back and

returned, edge in advance as before, to the place of starting. In

drawing the blade the utmost care should be taken never to raise

in the slightest degree the back from the stone; and further the knife

must not be pressed on the stone, but held lightly by the finger-tips,

and the xecessary friction be left to capillary adhesion, ‘

fter drawing the knife fifteen to twenty times it should b

tested as before.

The knives furnished with the Thoma microtome should be

provided with a wire support (Fig. 1 w) for the back of the knife

during the process of sharpening.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

—The results of the Hudson’s Bay Expedition, in 1884, under

Lieut. Gordon, possess much interest, and Dr. Bell’s report on the

geology of the extreme northern shores of Labrador, as well as

of Hudson’s strait, contains new matter especially relating to the

glaciation of that country. As to the botanical collections made,

Prof. Macoun affirms that it shows conclusively the arctic charac-

ter of the climate of the straits and that part of Labrador north

of Nachvak. Raised beaches, 300-400 feet high, were observed

on Hudson’s strait. Ancient stone structures, erected by the

Eskimo, were observed, and Dr. Bell observes: “From what I

have seen of the situations, which the Eskimo in various places in

Hudson’s bay and strait choose for their camps, there appeared

to be little doubt that they had lived here when the sea-level

was 20 to 30 feet higher than it is at present.” .

The observations made shows that the basin of Hudson’s bay

may have formed a glacial reservoir, receiving streams of ice from

the east, north and north-west and south and south-west. The di-

rection of the glaciation on both sides of Hudson’s strait was

: d. “That an extensive glacier passed down the strait

may be inferred from the smoothed and striated character of the

rocks of the lower levels, the outline of the glaciated surfaces

pointing to an eastward movement, the composition of the drift,

and also from the fact that the long depression of Fox’s channel

and the strait runs from the north-westward towards the south-

east, and that this great channel or submerged valley deepens as

_ it goes, terminating in the Atlantic ocean. Glaciers are said to

_ exist on the shores of Fox’s channel and they may send down the

__ flat-topped icebergs which float eastward through the lower part

_ of Hudson's strait into the Atlantic. During the drift period, the

glacier of the bed of Hudson’s strait was probably joined by a

contribution from the ice which appears to have occupied the

site of Hudson’s bay, and by another also from the southward,

coming down the valley of the Koksok river, and its continuation

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 833

in the bottom of Ungava bay. The united glacier still moved

eastward round Cape Chudleigh into the Atlantic.”

Farther observations on the geology and natural history as

well as ethnology of this region are desirable, and will be made

during the season of 1885. e steamer Alert, in command of

Lieut. Gordon, R. N., left Halifax, May 30, Dr. Bell being the

scientist of the expedition. Stores sufficient for more than a

year will be taken to provide against any emergency. The round

trip is expected to occupy five months. The stations to be visited

are Port Burwell, near Cape Chidleigh, Ashe inlet, near North

bluff, Stupart’s bay, near the Prince of Wales Foreland, Notting-

ham island, Digges island and Nachvak bay, all of which were

founded last year. These stations will all be continued, except

the last named, which will be dispensed with on the score of

economy. Lieut. Gordon expected to reach Hudson’s strait by

June 10. Provisions for the ensuing year and eighteen tons of

hard coal will be left at each station. A large quantity of evapo-

rated vegetables will be taken to the stations. Forty applica-

tions have been made for positions as observatory men. Much

valuable information is expected to be gained from the observa-

tions made during the past year as to the formation and breaking

up of the ice and in regard to its movements, also relative to the

navigation of the strait. After leaving Fort Churchill, a running

survey will be made on such portions of the eastern shore of the

bay as are practicable. The A/ert is expected to arrive back in the

strait about August 25, and the remainder of the time will be occu-

pied in surveying as much of the coast of the strait as is possible.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL Sciences, March 24.—

Mr. Garrison communicated the results of his examination of.

slag from an iron furnace.

Mr. A. H. Smith and Mr. Edw. Potts described borings in the

vicinity. One in Cumberland county, N. J., reached a depth of

650 feet, and at 570 feet passed through a bed of oyster shells,

stated by Professor Heilprin to be almost certainly Cretaceous.

Dr. Leidy spoke upon the giant extinct sloths, and stated that

among fossils received last year from New Iberia, La., were three

teeth, a close study of which indicated that the form described

by Owen as Mylodon harlani should be returned to the genus

Orycterotherium, in which it had been placed by its discoverer,

Harlan

arlan. :

Mr. Eastlake presented Entomologia Hongkongensis, and Mr.

A. F, Gentry a description of a supposed new species of Cyano-

orax.

March 31.—Dr. Horn referred to certain sexual characters

separating forms of the Staphylinide. The gradual disappear-

ance of these forms might be considered as an instance of nature's

834 | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Aug., 1885.

indication of intention. He also referred to modifications in the

tarsal joints of the Silphidz, described in a paper by a Belgian

entomologist. The number of joints in tarsi and antennz under-

went gradual reduction, but the speaker considered that in view

of the intermediate conditions it was ill-advised to give impor-

tance to the presence of the smaller number of segments.

Professor Heilprin believed that in Paleozoic times no such

zoological zones as now occur existed. For instance, no exist-

ing Brachiopoda are cosmopolitan, while those of ancient times:

were much more widely distributed. The presence of corals,

graptolites, etc., in widely separated regions, indicated the former

presence of a temperature much more uniform than the present.

The speaker then drew attention to points which seemed to invali-

date the opposite conclusions arrived at by Professors Neumeyer

and Roemer. Though not a single New Jersey species of the

present day is found in the Gulf of Mexico, fifty or sixty species

of fossils out of 150 from the northern locality are found in Mis-

sissippi and Alabama, while only ten out of 200 fossil Texan

rms are found in Mississippi, showing conclusively that climate

was not the former cause of distribution, These zones were

gradually established during some period of the Tertiary. Refer-

ring to the pebbles obtained by Mr. A. H. Smith from a boring

of 170 feet on Black’s island, Professor Heilprin stated that they

came from a glacial gravel, probably the Trenton. The boring

had now, at a depth of 195 feet, reached a bed of plastic clay.

A paper entitled, Remarks on Lanius robustus Baird, by Leon-

hard Stejneger, was presented.

April 7—Mr. Morris spoke upon the question, Why are there.

no fossil forms in the strata preceding the Cambrian? - He called

attention to the fact that the oldest animals known were aa

cinders and charred bones, and above this were found

of the teeth of a rhinoceros, probably R. protersu.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST

VoL. x1x.—SEPTEMBER, 1885.—No. 9.

THE REPUTATION OF THE LANTERN FLY.

BY JOHN C. BRANNER,

N nearly every part of Brazil one may hear the most incredible

stories of a deadly insect, the very name of which inspires the

greatest awe. When I first heard these stories of the terrible

gitiranabota, tiranaboia, etc., as it is called, I was naturally rather

skeptical, but continually lisanin them repeated and testified to,

not only by the common people but even by men of education

and standing, and seeing in print accounts of the devastation

wrought by this insect, I was finally induced to inquire into its

existence and character.

_ To give an idea of the popular opinion of the gitiranaġóta, I need

only give a few specimens of the stories that are told of it. The

prevailing opinion is, that it is about the size of our seventeen-

year locust or a little larger, having a long poisonous beak pro-

jecting from its large head; that it has great powers of flight,

and when, in its wild career, it strikes any living object—if an

animal, no matter how large or powerful—it falls dead upon the

spot; if a tree it soon wilts and dies.

A certain distinguished Brazilian engineer corroborated the

general truth of these stories, and assured me that along the

Amazonas a monkey might sometimes be seen among the top-

most branches of a lofty tree, when all of a sudden he would

come tumbling down dead, without any apparent cause, struck by

the fatal gittranaboia. An extract from a Spanish American news-

paper was shown me a couple of years ago in which this insect

was spoken of as destroying the cattle of Brazil in the grazing

country of the southern provinces. In Para I was assured that

VOL, XIX.—NO, IX 55

836 The Reputation of the Lantern Fly. [September,

it was known to have stung a child which died a few days after-

wards in great agony, and in spite of all the physicians could do.

Many such cases were mentioned to me in various parts of the

empire, and although on several occasions I met persons who

claimed to have seen the insect itself, I was never able to come

upon an actual case of injury done by the insect, or to see any

one who had seen it wound the offended party.

Search for the gitiranabéia itself was nigh proving futile also,

but by dint of perseverance, cross-examinations, the sifting and

patching together of evidence, I succeeded finally in cornering

this destroyer of life in general and of the human race in par-

ticular. Some of my informants told me that it folded its long

beak beneath its body when it was not angry OF bent upon

destruction, Here, perhaps, was one character. Others said that

its head was very large in proportion to the rest of its body, in

size and general form much resembling a peanut. Others again

told of its being blind, though it appeared to have large eyes on

the sides of its big, ugly head, while others added that this head

was luminous, These characters pointed plainly to the Julgore or

porte-lanterne of the French entomologists.

Before trying to clear its character I took pains to assure my-

self that the Fulgora lanternaria is the so-called gitiranabdia, and

that it is generally supposed by the common people of Brazil.to

be poisonous. Just here trouble began again, for once I could

show that this insect was neither luminous nor harmful, it would

be stoutly declared that “in that case this was not the true giti-

ranabvia.” And this is exactly what happened.’ :

Along the coast south of Bahia? the gitiranabota is called the

bicho do pau parahy'ba, because it frequents the tree there known

as the pau parahy'ba (Simaba versicolor St. Hilaire). .

On one occasion a living specimen was taken to Bahia as a

great curiosity, and exhibited on exchange, where it was looked

‘upon and treated with the greatest respect. Dr. Antonio de _

Lacerda, a Brazilian gentleman who takes an active and intelli-

gent interest in entomology, saw the specimen and heard the

- countryman’s story of the death of a person caused by this very

e reputation

_ — lI hada very similar experience in Brazil with a certain snake, Th

_ Of the salamandro was, if anything, a little worse than that of the gitiranaboia, but

n the snake was found, and I showed that its bite was not fatal, or even very

nful, I was told : “ Then that is not the genuine salamandro.” ;

Specimens of these insects can be had of dealers in Bahia for about 30 cents each.

“

1885.] The Reputation of the Lantern Fly, 837

insect. He laughed at the seriousness with which the story was

received, refused to believe that it had injured any one, and to the

horror of every one present, took the insect in his hand and

repeatedly thrust his finger against the point of its beak which

was said to be so deadly. I mention this case especially to show

that there can be no doubt about the identity of the insect. Dr.

Lacerda also showed me specimens of it in his own collection.

Another proof of its identity is given by Pompeo de Souza in

his Ensaio Estatistico da Provincia do Ceara, p. 216. Among

the insects of that province he mentions the tiranaboia, which, he

Says, “is supposed to be poisonous, but there is no fact to justify

this story.” A dried specimen was sent him from the interior,

and he declares it to be a hemipter.

Fulgora lanternaria. Natural size.

It goes without saying that this gitiranabdia is perfectly harm-

less. It may be added also that its scientific name is a misnomer

as far as it relates to its producing light. I was often assured

that its head was luminous, but I have never met a single person

who claimed to have seen this luminosity. Snr. Luiz A. A. de

Carvalho, Jr., of Rio de Janeiro, who has several species of these

beautiful insects in his collection, assured me that he knew of no

evidence whatever that they produced light. Prince Maximilien

de Wied-Neuwied says on this subject: “ Nous n’avons jamais

aperçu le moindre vestige de la luerer éclatante du fulgore porte-

lanterne (Fulgora lanternaria) quoique nous avons souvent pris

cet insecte sur les arbres.”

838 The Age of Forest Trees. [ September,

Instances of extravagant stories of this kind are not uncommon

in Brazil. The case of the sa/amandro already referred to is a

good example. Another is that of a plant, a species of smilax,

which is said to grow from the dead body of a Cicada. Belief in

this story is so general that through some parts of the country a

certain plant is popularly known as the japecanga da cigarra, or

cicada smilax. Those who claimed to have actually seen this

phenomenon represented that the plants seen by them were all

quite young. Doubtless they were cases of larve killed by para-

sitic fungoid growth.'

Such stories come, of course, from imperfect observation, and

have an air of truth about them derived from their association

with known objects or facts.

NoTE.—We are unable to find any reference in entomological works as to the

poisonous nature of this insect, which is undoubtedly perfectly harmless. It

is, however, disputed whether the insect is luminous or not. See Westwood’s Intro-

duction to the Modern Classification of Insects, 11, 428, where after referring to his

figure of the head of Fulgora lanternaria, he says it “is the part of the body

asserted bel various writers to emit a strong light by Jae analogous to that of the

PrE The account of the luminosity of this insect originated with Madam

erian, but it:was denied by Olivier, in which opinion Hoffmansegg, the Prince Von

DERM and Lacordaire concurred. “ M. Wesmael has recently reasserted the lumi-

nous property.of the South American species on the authority of a friend who had wit-

nessed it alive. And W. Baird, Esq., has informed me of the existence of a Chinese

edict against young ladies keeping lantern flies.” In our Guide to the study of In-

sects (p. tay is the following statement regarding the East African lantern fly :

“Mr. Caleb Cooke, of Salem, who resided several years in Zanzibar, Africa, in-

forms me tal the lantern fly is said by the natives to be luminous. They state that

` the Sal snout lights up in the night, and is describing it say “its head is like a

lamp ” (keetchua kana-tah).—4. S. Packar:

AGE OF FOREST TREES.

BY JNO. T. CAMPBELL.

Toa age of trees that have an exogenous growth is correctly

indicated by the concentric rings of growth shown in their

cross-section. These rings also, when correctly interpreted give

a true history of the tree from its infancy to maturity and old age;

showing correctly the dates of prosperity and adversity in the

_ Career of the tree,

Comte Charles d'Ursel, in his Sud Amérique, figures and describes, after a fash-

= “ Pinsecte qui devient pisate,” found i in Brazil. Speaking of the plant, he says

3.4

: r e co bleues, p. 107.

" ; #

1885.] The Age of Forest Trees. 839

One ring is formed each year between the bark and the pre-

viously-formed wood. If there is a large healthy top of branches,

these concentric rings will be relatively large, especially so if the

tree is not overshadowed by older and larger ones. During the

past fifteen years there have been thousands of white oak trees

sawed down in this. country (Western Indiana) for staves, and I

have taken the time and trouble to count the ages of several

hundred of them; also the ages of other forest trees; but my

observations of the oaks have exceeded those of all other kinds.

I was led into this investigation by reading an article in a news-

paper purporting to be copied from some scientific magazine, the

name of which I have forgotten, which article claimed, not only

confidently but positively, that the large rings of growth indicated

past wet years in Kansas, or years favorable to vegetation, and.

that the small rings indicated past dry years, or years unfavorable

to vegetable growth. The article stated that the count from the

outside ring inwardly coincided with the past seasons historically

as far back as the whites or Indians had any tradition of the sea-

sons. The article further stated that some English scientific

journal had published an article by some traveler up the Nile, in

Egypt, who had made the same discovery there. He had counted

the rings on the oak stumps there from the outside inwardly,

comparing them with the years counted backwards, and had made

the startling discovery that the seven years of plenty followed by

the seven years of famine during Joseph’s rule in Egypt, were

actually and accurately registered on the stumps. Sometimes an

absurdity is so plain that nobody sees it at all. This is one of that

sort. It did not then occur to me that a tree old enough to keep

books in Joseph’s time would, if living now, be about twenty-five

feet in diameter, if it grew like an average Hoosier oak. But the

story had a charm for the credulous, and it led me to estimate

the age of trees here, and to compare the large and small

rings with the years of plenty and the years of famine. To my

Surprise, and considerable disappointment, there was no coinci-

dence whatever between them. I found stumps of trees of the

same species, the same size (and presumably the same age) stand-

ing within twenty feet of each other, on the same kind of soil,

cut down the same year, and, so far as I could judge, subject to

the same conditions throughout, one showing a large ring where

its neighbor would show only an average one, and in some few

840 The Age of Forest Trees. [September,

' cases they showed the opposite—one large and the other small,

I examined enough to prove that whatever they might show in

Kansas or in Egypt, they showed nothing of the kind in Western

Indiana.

I have not been, so far, able to account for the spasmodic pro-

duction of single rings of large or small growth, interspersed

here and there among those of the average size. But whena

succession of large, and especially small, rings prevail, say from

ten to seventy-five or more, I can see a possible cause producing

them, and have strong circumstantial evidence that such is the

very probable cause of the large or small rings. Trees are like

men in some respects. More are born than can live; more live

than thrive ; more thrive than can be masters.

“ The young cannot hold sway

Till the old are dead and out of the way.”

The tree that falls behind its fellows in the race of life will very

likely fall behind the more active of the next generation also.

Many are crowded and smothered out in infancy by their more

vigorous brother infants. Nature is not generous or charitable.

She knows but one law of growth: “To him that hath, shall be

given; to him that hath not, the little he hath shall be taken

away.” When a tree gets but little the start of its immediate fel-

lows, all the nourishment of nature seems to be offered to it, in-

stead of its more needy neighbors. And to the weakest, nature

gives next to no sympathy at all. I have seen two trees of the

same species, the same age toa year, standing side by side, the

one three times the diameter of the other and more than twelve

times the solid contents counting increased length. Both were

equally healthy, but the smaller had long ago been beaten for the

nomination to leadership in convention, and had dropped back

among and remained one of the mere constituents. The first

rays of the morning’s sun fell on the larger tree. The smaller

one had to wait till eleven o’clock for sunshine, and was cut off

at 2 P. M., while the larger one received it till sundown. If there

was only a small shower the larger one got it. The smaller one

got no rain except from heavy showers which leaked through the

_ top of the larger one. In such a case the larger tree would have

__ large concentric rings, while the smaller one would have them so

fine they could be counted only under a magnifying glass. I

_ have often seen just such cases.

1885.] The Age of Forest Trees. 841

' I have been a civil engineer and land surveyor since 1867, and

as such have had occasion to examine many trees referred

to in the field notes. The United States surveyed the land into

sections of one mile square each, and drove stakes at the section

corners, and also at the quarter section corners equidistant be-

tween the section corners. They also blazed two trees near these

corners about one anda half feet above the ground, cutting a

small notch in the blaze, and gave in the field notes the size and

species of the trees marked, and their courses and distances from

the corners.

About fifty years had elapsed between the date of the survey

and my day as a surveyor. Many of these trees could be identi-

fied at sight by the scar where the blaze was made. In other

cases the tree would be so much larger than the size given in the

field notes that the blaze would be obliterated by the spread of

the bark, and the doubt would have to be settled by chopping

into it at the place indicated by the notes. If we found the blaze

and notch, we next counted the rings from the outside into the

blaze. If the count of rings tallied with the date of the survey—

all well. Mark a new tree and record it in what we call the sub-

sequent field notes.

In the year 1868 or 1869 I was making a survey in the eastern

part of the county. Ata certain corner wanted, the field notes

called for an ash three inches in diameter. The only ash near

and answering to the locality, was about eighteen inches in diam-

eter. Nobody expected to find so large a tree in the fifty years

that had elapsed since it was marked. But on chopping into it

we found the blaze and notch near the heart, revealing the un-

mistakable fact that it was the real “ witness tree,” and that it had

been marked by a left-handed chopper with a dull axe. A look

at the ground and timber about the corner showed the further

fact that just before the original (United States) survey was made,

atornado had passed over that place and blown down all the

adult trees, as all the present ones were young and thrifty, and

the graves of the fallen trees were as plain as any mark could be.

A tree-grave is easily known; as the tree falls the roots hold a

considerable quantity of earth in their grasp, which leaves a large

hole in the ground under where the tree stood. In time the body

and roots will rot, leaving the dirt piled up on the side of the

hole the tree fell on, and it looks as if a grave had been dug with

842 The Age of Forest Trees. [September,

the dirt all cast out on one side, and the corpse had got away and

the grave remained unfilled. This tree had increased six times

its diameter, and more than thirty-six (and counting the increased

length nearly seventy-two) times its solid contents since the gov-

ernment surveyors had marked it.

The next year I made a survey in the rough hills of Sugar

creek in the north-east part of the county, and in identifying a

land corner I had occasion to examine another ash described in the

field notes as three inches in diameter also. It stood on the point

of a sandstone ridge, between three large white oaks, which

formed a triangle around it, and were about fifteen feet apart.

This ash, the same species as the one before described, had not

grown to exceed one-half inch in the increase of its diameter in

the fifty or fifty-one years since it had been marked. This would

allow only one-fourth of an inch on each side; yet I counted

under a magnifier, in this small space, the required number of

rings of growth, They were thinner than common book paper,

as they were at the rate of two hundred to the inch. This tree

had increased only thirty-six per cent in fifty years, while the

former had increased about seven thousand per cent in the same

time. Why this difference in the size of these two ash trees?

The reasons are plain. The former had a good soil on level

ground, and the tornado had destroyed all the adult trees that

would rob it of sunshine, rain and soil nourishment. The latter

stood in dissolved sandstone for soil, on the top of a narrow ridge

between three large oaks, which robbed it of sunlight and rain,

and nearly all the soil nourishment. It had but five or six small

branches for a top, and but few leaves to the branch, Under

such conditions it did well to even exist. But to do this it was

obliged to add a ring each year.

- Eleven years ago I examined the stumps of two white oaks and

the grave of a third, which told this singular story by circum-

stantial evidence so strong that it could not be doubted. In the —

year 1502 an acorn fell about one and a half miles from where

I am now writing (Rockville, Indiana), and by favorable chance

sprouted and grew into an oak. In 1594 another acorn sprouted

about twenty feet distant from it. It may “have grown on the

tree before mentioned, as it was then ninety-two years old. In 1731

a tornado from the north-west blew down a still older oak, which

its fall struck against and greatly damaged the top of the one

1885. ] The Age of Forest Trees. 843

born in 1502. There is to-day the well-marked grave of the

fallen giant, the dirt piled upon the south-east side of the hole,

and a long depression in the ground where the trunk fell and

rotted till not a vestige of its wood can be seen to-day (though

some traces of the bark of the roots can). This depression points

to the stump of the damaged oak. The two younger had been

freshly cut down when I examined them, Their stumps were

about four feet across, and there was not over an inch difference

between their diameters, though ninety-two years difference in

their ages. The younger had a large, healthy top, no broken or

dead limbs, and it had put on rings of growth from the beginning

of more than average size. The older one had been injured in

its branches by the fall of the still older one before mentioned

(in 1731) and for fifty-seven years had put on very small rings of

growth (about twenty-five to thirty years to the inch instead of

twelve to fifteen as it should), when a new set of branches devel-

oped to take the place of the damaged ones, and the rings began

to increase in size and gradually attained to the average. I ex-

amined their tops, which coincided with what has gone before,

There were the peculiar knots in the top of the older one where

dead limbs had rotted off and were healed over. (Any expert

timberman will readily recognize them.) During this delay the

younger oak caught up with the older one in size. The size of a

tree is a very uncertain indication of its age.

In all the cases of the hundreds I have examined of the oaks

(the oldest trees of the forest I think), I never saw but one that

was here when Columbus discovered America. That one was by

Aar the largest I ever saw, and was over six hundred years old,

about twice the age of the other largest ones. I could not get

its exact age as it was so decayed near the heart I could not dis-

tinguish the rings. It was between six and seven feet in diame-

ter, and forked about sixty feet up, and each fork was as large as

the other largest trees. It was not sound enough to make good

_ lumber, being what in this region is called “ doughty,” a state be-

tween soundness and rottenness. It had been down a year before

I examined it (being out of the county when it was cut), so that

it was very difficult to examine it. I have mislaid my memo-

randum of it, but it would be about as follows: At the age of

about two hundred years it had some ill-fortune which caused it

to form about one hundred small rings. It then regained its

844 The Age of Forest Trees. [September,

health and formed normal rings for about one hundred and forty

years, when another mishap caused small rings till within the last

fifty years, when it was putting on fair growths again. This tree

was about one and a half miles south-east of Rockville, Indiana,

and was noted among hunters and woodmen. It was a disagree-

able showery day when I examined it, and for that reason I did

not examine its top to see if dead and lost and healed-over limbs

coincided with the small rings, but I have often done so in other

cases, and found them to coincide.

Last May (1884) I examined a sycamore and water elm in the

Wabash river bottom, the former six feet in diameter and the lat-

ter five, each one hundred and eighty years old. They stood

about one hundred and fifty feet apart. They were stand-

ing on the upper end of a newly made bottom (I mean new as

compared with the higher and older bottoms a little more inland

from the river, say two hundred years old). This was the largest

sycamore I ever saw that was sound to the heart. I have seen

hollow ones nearly eight feet in diameter. This tree seems never

to have met with any mishap till the log man came along, as the

rings of growth were all unusually large. 3

These trees very probably sprouted twelve to fifteen feet below

the present surface of the bottom. They generally begin life on

the lower end of river sandbars, and as sedimentation builds up

the surface, they put out new surface roots at every two to three

feet of elevation. Such trees with their several sets of surface

roots, are often seen in drift piles, and also still standing on

the verge of a steep river bank where one side is exposed by the

erosion of the river. Their roots are often hollow like their

trunks, the hollow (and root too) decreasing in diameter down-

ward till it terminates in a point, like a cone standing on its

point. In the south-west corner of this county is a hollow cot-

tonwood stump on what is now a high bottom of the Wabash, in

which the hollow extends downward twelve feet. Mr. Joseph J.

Daniels, an intelligent, observing man, on whose land it stands,

told meso. Such silting up over the surface roots would kill

= most of the upland trees, or those that grow from the seed on the

high bottoms. |

1885. ] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 845

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

(Continued from p. 767, August number.)

IV. THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF THE BRAIN.

WE have, in the preceding sections, reached several conclu-

sions as to the character, development and mode of opera-

tion of the nervous organism. We have next to consider this

organism in its relation to the development of the mind. This is

undoubtedly the most difficult of the whole broad scope of prob-

lems to which science has addressed itself. Much has been writ-

ten upon it, but we can scarcely say much that is satisfactory. It

remains yet in great measure an open question, though a far nar-

rower one than of old. Science has strongly attacked the out-

works, if not the citadel of the problem, and has effectually dis-

persed the cloud of immaterial existences about which the

thoughts of men so long hovered. It is becoming clearly evident

that all existence is based upon substance. It may not be that

species of substance which we call matter. For all we know

there may be many species of substance. Yet there is no resting-

point between something and nothing, and immateriality sinks

into the category of nothingness.

But we are able to bring the conditions of the mind much nearer

to the ordinary conditions of the material universe than this. The

old idea that the soul is brought full fledged from some distant

- limbo of souls, and implanted in the infantile organism, might

serve for the philosophers of a medizval dreamland, but can

hardly be sustained in this wide-awake age. To us the germ of

the mental organism forms part of the physical germ, and the

whole development of the mind takes place through the influences

acting upon the body. It is well known that the degree of the

mental development is in close accordance with the variety and

quantity of these external influences. If the body be closed

against their entrance, through loss of the organs of the higher

Senses, the mind remains undeveloped. If all the senses were

shut off and no external influence permitted to reach the germ of

the mind, it must continue in the germinal state. In like manner

if the senses be active, but the brain, the inner organ of the mind,

be inactive or abnormal in condition, the mental development is

similarly checked. All this needs no argument. Every one

846 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (September,

must admit that the development of the mind takes place through

the agency of external energies transmitted by the nervous

mechanism.

But these energies are entirely motor. They are either radiant

vibrations emanating from some distant substance, or the motions

of molecules impressed upon the body through direct contact.

Each of them has its special character, but they are all motions.

In their transmission inward over the nerve fibers they continue

to be motor agencies. They are now some mode of radiant

energy. Those that pass through the ganglia and reach the

muscles, prove their motor character by disturbing the motor

relations of the muscle cells. Those that are retained in the

ganglia, and yield other effects, must do so as motor agencies. It

is simply impossible that motion can become anything else. Nor

can it exist independent of substance. Nor can it cease to exist.

Every quantity of motion must of absolute necessity continue to

exist as the same quantity of motion. It cannot lose or gain

quantity, or change into some condition that is non-motion. Nor

can it exist as an immaterial condition. It is indissolubly wedded

to substance.

These conclusions can scarcely be questioned by any scientist,

yet they lead to certain important inferences, If the develop-

ment of the mind takes place solely through the influence of

special motions, conveyed to it over the channel of the nerves,

then the mind must necessarily be based in substance, and its

energies must necessarily be motor. The idea that an immateri-

ality can be organized by motor agencies is a mere metaphysical

phantasm.

But though a definite quantity of motion cannot lose or gain,

its action upon matter may be almost infinitely varied. It may

separate and become widely diffused, or it may become definitely

fixed in a certain aggregate of matter. The organization of mat-

_ter takes place solely through the influences of its inherent mo-

= tions. The concentration of a crystal may be due to attraction,

= but its peculiar characteristics are undoubtedly due to the special

= motions of its particles. And an Amceba is superior in organi-

zation to a crystal solely through the vastly greater complexity

and intricacy of the motions which affect its particles. In all

these cases of aggregation the attractive agency seems to be sin-

riri in character. Its full effect is resisted by the

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 847

motion of the constituent particles, and with every variation in

the vigor or complexity of these motions some variation in the

volume, form or rigidity of the mass takes place. The reduced

rigidity and varied constitution of organic cells is primarily due

to the great absorption of heat or motor energy in the formation

of their chemical molecules, and the variety of such molecules

which enters into their constitution.

This consideration of the relations of matter and motion leads

toa second. Motion may affect matter in either a general or a

special mode. In the former case it tends to disorganize, in the

latter to organize matter. Heat motion is a disorganizing influ-

ence. It constantly tends towards the disaggregation of matter.

Electricity yields results partly of disintegration, partly of inte-

gration. Magnetism is a more specialized motor agency, and its

effects tend to integration. The motor energies which enter into

- chemical phenomena are yet more varied and specialized, and

tend strictly towards material organization. Thus the disorgani-

zation and organization of matter seem alike due to motor agen-

cies. In the case of all organization the attractive affinities ot

chemical particles enter as an essential element. Motion, of what-

ever kind, may oppose these affinities, but it is quite possible for

a definite harmony to exist between these two agencies, For in-

stance, the solar system is a definite organism, due to the har-

monized relations of its motions with its gravitative attractions.

The same is the case with the earth as a whole, and with every

crystal upon the earth. In the case of the solar system the dis-

rupting activity of motion is overcome by its being forced into

closed curves of rotation, yielding a fixed balance of energy be-

tween the two opposing forces. Something similar may exist in

all organized masses. Every mass of fixed organization, whether

it be earth, crystal, organic cell or animal body is subject to the

opposite influences above named, those of attraction and motion,

and its fixity indicates that a definite balance exists between these

influences. Motion, therefore, may be said to be organizing when,

by moving in closed curves or in other special modes, it becomes

in harmony with attraction, the degree of concentration of mat-

ter depending on the comparative vigor of the two opposing

forces.

All this may seem to have no relation to the problem of the

development of the mind. Yet it is evident that motion is the

848 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (September,

agent directly concerned in this development, and we can

conceive of but one result of the agency of motion, that of

change in the space relations of matter. The motion which

enters the cerebral ganglion, and is retained there, cannot

cease to exist. One of two things must happen. It may flow

into the surrounding matter as heat, or in some other general

and dissipating condition. Or it may become an organizing

agent, and enter-into some substance as a permanent factor. It

may produce a mental compound of substance analogous to the

inorganic crystal, and like the latter unchanging in -form and in

its internal conditions, The disorganizing energies of nature

act upon the crystal. Heat and electricity pass through it but

do not disintegrate it unless they become of excessive vigor.

The same may be the case with the mental organism. This

much we know, that the special motor energies which enter the

body and are conveyed to the cerebrum produce those conditions

which we call memories, and which are permanent and unchang-

ing. If these are motor conditions they must be motions of

organization, influences which partly overcome but which fall

into harmonious relations with the force of attraction and con-

densation. And it follows as a corollary that the development of

the mental organism from its germ to its highest unfoldment

takes place through a continued succession of these organizing

motor influences. The intricacy of the organism steadily in-

creases, as it is affected by motions of higher complexity, but

every motor state produced is permanent. The existence of

higher motor conditions does not cause obliteration of the lower

ones, This is one of the marked characteristics of motion. In

the circle the straight line of motion is masked, not obliterated.

In the spiral the circle persists. In the spiral vortex all these

inferior stages can be traced. And in the organizing motions of

the mind all inferior stages persist as constituent parts of the

_ superior stages. Consciousness may be directed to any of these

motor conditions, in which case they appear as memories. But

consciousness has no bearing upon their existence. They con-

tinue thfough life active conditions of the mind, though they may

seldom or never come within the sphere of consciousness.

The preceding argument is not advanced as anything new. It

is rapidly becoming a common belief with scientists that the

mind has its basis in matter, and that thought is a motor affec-

1885. ] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 849

tion of this matter. The belief in the material basis of mind,

indeed, has become a somewhat developed idea. It has of late

years grown a more and more widely accepted opinion with scien-

tists that the brain is the organ of mind, that mental conditions

_ are motor affections of the matter of the brain, and that they can

persist only during the persistence of the brain as a functional

organ, and must return into the realm of unspecialized motions

on the disintegration of the brain. Before considering this ques-

tion it was necessary to obtain some idea of the general princi-

ples of relation between matter and motion, and of the conditions

under which alone motion could be retained in a local mass of

matter in a persistent and specialized phase.

In addition to a widely entertained opinion among scientists

upon this subject, several authors have made it the special theme

of their works, and have brought all the conclusions of anatomi-

cal and physiological science and the principles of the correlation

and conservation of force in support of their argument that the

brain is the only and sufficient mental organ. Of the authors

who have treated the subject from this point of view may be

named Bastian and Maudsley of England, Luys of France, and

Moleschott, Vogt, Biichner and Haeckel of Germany. Many

other authors might be named who have dealt with it more or

less directly, prominent among these being Huxley. The con-

verse has also been taken by several authors, yet none of them

can be said to have squarely met the arguments of their oppo-

nents, and the most of them have dealt with it in the old and

vague metaphysical method. So far as a scientific treatment of

the question goes, the brain-mind theorists seem to have the best.

of the argument. And yet to the present writer their arguments

seem the reverse of satisfactory, and their theories to need much

Stronger lines of evidence before they can be made self-

sustaining,

That the brain is intimately and constantly concerned in the

manifestations of the mind, no one will deny. But that it is

alone concerned is far from being proved. The theories pro-

posed by the several authors are the following: Huxley declares

_ that sensation and consciousness are in some inexplicable way

caused by molecular changes in the brain. This belief is based

on the facts that thought and motion seem inextricably related,

that every thought is accompanied by brain waste, that heat

850 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (September,

appears as a consequence of thought, that mental action cannot

go on without a constant supply of arterial blood and must cease

periodically until the brain can regain its integrity through the

assimilation of nutriment, and finally that no other organ of the

mind can be discovered. The latter point, however, can be left

for future consideration. It will suffice here to say that if such

an organ does exist, though imperceptible to the anatomist, and

if the brain is its instrument of activity, the above-named cere-

bral phenomena would be as necessary as on the brain-mind

theory.

The earliest effort to definitely deal with this question is that

of Cabanis, who advanced the idea that the brain acts like a gland,

and secretes thought. This idea made a decided ripple in the

thinking world, though it has long since died out. Maudsley’s

idea is that every sensory impression upon the brain leaves be-

hind it some modification of the nerve elements. This he con-

siders to be the physical basis of memory. He looks on the

change that takes place as a motion, which he considers analo-

gous to the “compounds, and compounds of compounds, of

vibrations in music.” Other authors propound like views, and

consider thought to be a persistent vibration of the nerve fibers

of the brain. Luys offers the same idea ina fuller shape. He

says: “I have proposed to apply the term phosphorescence to that

curious property the nerve elements possess of remaining a

longer or shorter time in the state of vibration into which they

have been thrown by the arrival of external excitations; as we

` see phosphorescent substances illuminated by solar rays con-

tinue to shine after the source of light which has illuminated

them has disappeared.”

This is the present state of the brain-mind theory, as advanced

by its most ardent and learned advocates. The only definite

conclusion to which they can arrive is, that thought is a persistent

vibration of the cerebral nerve fibers. Indeed there is no other

theory open to them, The discoveries of late years hinder them

from taking refuge in the powers of a brain cell of unknown

Organization. It has become evident that the brain cell is essen-

_ tially a mass of very delicate fibrillæ which are continued through

_ the nucleus, and in all probability are continuous with the nerve

“fibers, Thus we have nothing but fibers of greater or less

4 minuteness to deal with, and it seems to follow as a necessary

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 851

consequence that if thought is nerve motion it must be some

motion of elongated fibers. This motion enters the brain as a

mode of vibration in these fibers, and we can conceive of its per-

sistence in or on them in no way except as a vibration.

Yet to theorize about a persistent vibration is to theorize on

the impossible, and to set aside all the results of the science of

acoustics. There is no such thing in nature as a vibration per-

sistently active in a limited region. No limited chord can vibrate

unceasingly. Its vibrations must be rapidly transmitted to the

surrounding material, or be converted into some other mode of

motion. Otherwise the chord would have to be surrounded by

a perfect vacuum, and be utterly free from friction. No such

conditions exist in the brain fibrilla. Thus a vibratory nerve

current, even if transferred by induction to a closed cerebral cir-

cuit, could not possibly retain its original condition. It must

make its way onward, be transferred to surrounding. material, or

be quickly transformed into some other mode of motion. The

conditions of the mental organism require that this mode of

motion shall be an organizing one, a persistent motor affection of

some substance. The brain fibrille, which are essentially con-

tinuations of the nerve fibers, cannot constitute such a definite

and self-centered organism. Neither can the cell substance sur-

rounding these fibrilla. It is to this granular or homogeneous

protoplasm seemingly that the cerebral activity is due. The

motor impulses conveyed inward by the fibers appear to instigate

chemical changes in this substance precisely as they do in the

muscle substance. It falls into a lower stage of integration and

sets free the energies which arouse the mind to action. Thus

the brain cells seem solely instruments of the mind. But for

them the mind would remain dormant. They yield, under the

influence of external impulses or of impulses derived from the

mind itself, energies which call the mental organism into activity.

But this very evident characteristic, and the constant cerebral

changes which it occasions, strongly indicate that the mental

organism is distinct from the cerebrum, though to all appearance

very intimately connected with it.

It may seem absurd to speak of the existence of an organism

thus related to the cerebrum yet not evident to our senses. Yet the

more we consider the brain as the organ of mind the less does it

seem adapted to the duties thus imputed to it. It has of late

VOL, XIX,—NO, IX, 56

852 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (September,

been rendered almost certain, by the researches of Ferrier and

others, that each region of the cerebrum has its special duties, to

the performance of which it is strictly confined. Here sensation

seems to center; there motor impuls¢s arise. Into this locality

flow the sensations of sight; into that locality those of taste or

smell. Speech has its center here; the motion of a particular

muscle there, Instead of the whole brain being concerned in

every action, each limited portion seems to be immediately and

strictly related to some fixed sensory or motor region. The

evidences of this are as yet somewhat broad and general, yet they

are steadily growing more precise and particular. Every nerve

fiber proceeding from a sensory end organ or a group of muscle

fibers may connect directly with a special group of brain cells,

and possibly every fibril of these fibers may terminate in a single

brain cell at one extremity, and in a single muscular fibril or

sensory point at the other. If such were the case the brain would

be closely related in condition with the outer terminations of the

nerves, and the nervous system would consist of a vast series of

fibers diverging outwardly to terminate in a widely separated

series of sensory and muscular cells and fibrils, and converging

inwardly to terminate in a closely aggregated series of nerve

cells, the latter being as individual in their duties as the former,

despite their much closer grouping.

This, of course, is purely hypothetical, yet the special relation

of groups of brain cells to groups of sensory or muscle cells or

fibers has been established by experiment, and it is not safe to

limit the possible minuteness of this relation. Yet the existence

of such a relation seems to stamp the brain as the instrument of

an interior mental organism. In the operations of the mind

there is no evidence of such a disconnected series of duties. The

mind constantly impresses us as an intimate unity. Its thoughts

are in continual rapport, and call up each other with instantaneous

rapidity. Such a relation could not well exist between the imag-

ined localized vibratory energies of the brain. If each locality

were capable of sending ‘its vibrations at will to any other local-

ity, and rousing into activity the energies of distant regions, what

is to hinder the complete dissemination of these energies? If

o such a condition existed, the fibrils of every cell in the brain

"must soon become affected with a vast multitude of diverse and

_ frequently discordant pulsations. And it is impossible to imagine

1885. ] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 853

how such pulsations, even if their continued local existence were

possible,.are to be thus restrained and confined. They are capa-

ble at intervals of flowing out upon the fibers of the motor

nerves. What hinders them from immediately flowing out? By

what power are they retained, so as to be let off at arbitrary and

far separated intervals? And when once such vibratory energies

are set free upon the motor nerves how can they still exist in the

brain? Thought is persistent, yet on this theory it could only

be persistent if it never produced any effect. Motion cannot be

increased or diminished at will. It cannot be discharged and yet

retained. It cannot become an outflowing radiation while still

existing with undiminished vigor as an organizing agent.

The problem of consciousness comes into the question here.

If thought be a persistent motor affection of the nerve fibrils, and

if consciousness is an accompaniment of all active thought, why

then are we not steadily conscious of all our thoughts? Are we

to look upon consciousness as a separate traveling agency, which

moves irregularly from part to part of the brain, and adds a new

increment of activity to every thought with which it momentarily

combines? We can in no other way explain the vagaries of con-

sciousness on the brain-mind hypothesis.

Again, if the brain is the organ of the mind, one of two things

must be true. Either every brain cell must contain a special por-

tion of the mental energies, or, if the thought vibrations can

make their way everywhere through the brain, every cell must be

a miniature copy of the whole mind. The localization’ of the

powers of the brain is an argument for the former. The close

interrelation of thought seems to necessitate the latter. The

dilemma of the brain-mind theorists has its two horns of diffi-

culty, and it becomes incumbent upon them to harmonize these

opposed conditions. Another difficulty connects itself with the

preceding, This is, that the cerebral cells are not permanently

in existence. Every action is attended by cell waste. The old

cells die and new ones take their place.’ Or new ones arise by.

the process of cell division. If the cells are reservoirs of special

motor forces, what becomes of these? Are they transmitted

hereditarily to the new cells? This can hardly be, since the

death of the old cell is often a consequence of the transmission

of its special energy to motor nerves. It cannot, therefore, trans-

mit more than its general organizing energy to new cells, The

854 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [September,

germ cell of an animal exists as a remarkable counterpart of the

general energies of its parent, and the offspring develops into a

close copy of the parental physical characteristics and mental

conditions. Yet the special knowledge of the parent is never

transmitted to the child. Unless the latter gain special knowl-

edge of its own, it will remain in this respect undeveloped. So

one cell may transmit to its successor its organizing characteris-

tics, but scarcely its more delicate special motor conditions.

In fact, the more we consider this hypothesis the more unsat-

isfactory does it appear. If the brain is to be looked upon as a

material organism, a machine with thought for one of its products,

we might naturally expect to find some analogy to its mode of

action in other machines. It is credited with a double duty. It

is a receiver and dispatcher of nervous impressions, and it has a

special discriminating power as to how, when and whither it shall

despatch these impressions. What is there in the brain to decide

which impressions shall be retained and which transmitted? Are

there special resistances in some cells of the brain which hinder

the transmission of sensory impressions to the muscles? If so,

how come these resistances to break down at such arbitrary

periods. What principle makes some cells resisting and others

non-resisting? How is it, again, after this resistance has yielded,

and the motor energy flowed out to the muscles, that the thought

which it represents is still found intact in the mind, and usually

stronger than before? What machine is it that has its energy

within itself and still possesses it after using it to set a train of

wheels in motion? And finally, how do we explain the peculiar

relations of consciousness to these thought impressions ?

- All this presents no difficulty if we can conceive of a mental

organism distinct from, but in the most intimate relation with, the

cerebrum, upon whose separate regions its thoughts play, like the

fingers of a performer upon the separate keys of a piano. The

same finger may touch many keys in succession and bring outa

special tone from each.” The player may be a single organism, &

resultant of organizing motor energies inherent in a definite mass

= of substance, while the instrument may be made up of many sep-

arate parts, having only general and no intimate interrelations.

: The player may bring out what sound he desires, but it would

_ not be easy for one key to emit another sound at will, or to force

another key to emit its special sound. And even if the piano

1885. | The Relations of Mind and Matter. 855

key had a reservoir of energy by which, at some arbitrary period,

it could suddenly spring into activity and yield a peculiar sound,

evidently a part or the whole of this special force must be ex-

hausted in doing so. But if struck by an exterior organism the

latter might be strengthened by the exercise, as a muscle is

strengthened by use. This is a characteristic feature of mental

action. Its special energies, or its thoughts, are strengthened by

use. It seems evident that such a condition can only exist in the

case of a definitely centralized organism, affected by motion as

an organizing agent, and also by generalized motions, which it

has the power to divert in certain directions without detriment to

its organization. Such is the human body, It is definitely organ-

ized by the double agency of chemical affinity and inhering

motions, which limit the condensing action of affinity. In

addition it is the seat of heat, electric and other motions,

which it can employ as agents of external action. The mind,

as an organism, displays these same characteristics. It is

organized by permanent motor conditions. It receives and emits

definitely directed motions. And its organization is affected and

developed through this activity precisely as the organization of

the body is aided and modified by the energies which it receives

and emits. The parallel is a close one, and indicates that the

mind, like every organism in nature, is a self-centered mass of

substance, held together by affinity and organized by inherent

motions.

There is-nothing in the conditions of the cerebral organ to in-

dicate that it is such a single, definite organism, or that it is

capable of manifesting the peculiar phenomena of the mind. The

great difficulty in the brain-mind theory is that the machine can-

not contain within itself the voluntary will power of the engineer.

If thoughts are the motor energies of the brain matter it is simply ©

incredible that they could arbitrarily retire from and reénter the

field of activity. The character of their activity must be fixed, con-

stant and unvarying. And the effects they are capable of pro-

ducing must be immediately or incessantly produced. It is im-

possible to conceive of a seif-acting machine under any other

relations. All its energies must be steadily in activity, and its

effects on outer matter must be limited and constantly similar.

We cannot imagine such a machine arbitrarily changing its

action; now producing one effect, now another; now acting on

856 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (September,

one substance, now on another; its different parts irregularly

rising into activity or sinking into quiescence ; and its energies

continuing unchanged and inexhausted through all this varied

outflow of motor activity. No instance of the kind was ever

seen or can be imagined to exist. The existence of such arbi-

trary and seemingly voluntary activity irresistibly leads to the

inference of a separate agent overruling the action of the machine,

and now calling this, now that part into activity. On the theory

of self-action of any instrument it is impossible to admit the

existence of arbitrary and irregular variations of activity like

those of the mind. On the opposite theory that the mind is an

organism separate from the brain, and using the latter as its

instrument, we can readily comprehend the varying action of the

instrument. If the two be in close but not in constant connec-

tion; if the mind now makes contact with one group of brain

cells, now with another, and now withdraws from all contact, the

difficulty diminishes. Why these varying contacts takes place is

a question of a different character. They may be due to influ-

ences of affinity or polarization, which are subject to change

under the changes in cerebral conditions which they induce. Or

they may be otherwise produced. It is difficult to understand

the cause of such seemingly arbitrary contacts; but this diffi-

culty is not an impossibility like that attending the brain-mind

theory. And underthe idea that the mind is a separate organ-

ism we can understand the vagaries of consciousness, which can-,

not possibly be done under the brain-mind hypothesis. This

subject will be considered later.

There is one more consideration to which we may briefly

advert. The cerebrum is subject to pathological changes. It

frequently becomes incapable of doing its duty properly. In

many instances of cerebral disorder the mind seems to disappear.

A whole series of mental conditions may utterly vanish, and

remain lost for years. A new series of mental conditions may

be built up. Or every trace of intelligence and consciousness

may disappear and the body act as a mere automaton, governed

by reflex action only, or possibly by the deeply based hereditary

-Or instinctive mental powers. And yet, after years of this mental

_ obliteration, there are instances on record where the brain recov-

ered its normal condition and the mind reappeared with all its

rme - contents of memories, opinions and ideas. Such a cif

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 857

cumstance it is impossible to comprehend under the theory that

the thoughts are but motor affections of brain matter. In these

years of disorder it is absolutely certain that considerable modi-

fications must take place in this matter. The motions affecting

its cells and fibers cannot continue absolutely the same as they

were years before, but must have become greatly changed and

reorganized under years of influx of external energies. But if

we view the mental organism as separate from the cerebrum

these strange phenomena lose much of their mysteriousness. In

that case the disorder of the cerebrum may not have directly

affected the mind, but simply broken the connection between the

mind and its organ of manifestation and development. The men-

tal organism may lie for years intact, as a crystal lies buried in

its bed of rock. It retains its original conditions since it has been

removed from the influence of disturbing energies. And when

once again it regains its powers of manifestation, through the

regained normal condition of the cerebrum, it must reappear in

the precise condition which it had attained at the period of the

broken connection, and with all its memories and ideas intact.

If we consider the relations of the nervous system from this

point of view, we perceive it to be composed of a vast aggregate

of fibers, which divide into their constituent fibrillz in the gan-

glion cells. These fibers are in contact, at their opposite extremi-

ties, with two distinct sources of energy. One series of them —

runs from the brain to the sense organs on the surface. Another

series runs from the brain to the muscles, The first series has its

receptive extremities at the surface, and conveys the energies of

external nature to the brain to discharge them into the mental

organism. The second series has its receptive extremities in the

brain, and conveys energies received from the mental organism

to the muscles, there to discharge them. Each of these fibers

apparently has its fixed and single duty. If one of the sensory

nerves be touched, it carries an impression to a fixed locality in

the brain. If one of the motor nerves be touched, it carries an

impression toa fixed muscle. The more deeply anatomy and

physiology search into the conditions of the nervous system the

more clearly it appears to be simply such an instrument for the

conveyance of impressions to and from two sources of energy,

an external and an internal one, and the less fitted does it seem

to sustain the theory that the brain is the organ of the mind.

* 858 The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants. (September,

THE EXHALATION OF OZONE BY ODOROUS

PLANTS.

BY DRS. J. M. ANDERS AND G. B. M. MILLER,

A the AmeERIcAN Naturauist for April and May of the year

1884, there appeared two articles, by one of us, treating of the

“ Exhalation of Ozone by Flowering Plants.” The reader will

there find recorded the results of numerous experiments which

were made with the view of ascertaining whether or not plants

have the power to generate ozone. The chief conclusions there-

from deduced were as follows: 1. That flowering plants in gen-

eral are capable of generating ozone, and odoriferous flowers in

particular. 2. That foliage plants do not possess this function.

It should be remarked that the present re-investigation of the

subject was undertaken with the view either of confirming or dis-

proving the correctness of the above conclusions. Owing to the

high importance of the question of the relation of plant growth

to the generation of ozone, this course was deemed almost

incumbent,

As the more important properties of ozone were discussed in

the previous papers, it is not deemed necessary to do so here.

The hygienic relations of this substance also received brief atten-

tion while its tests received careful consideration ; hence to fur-

ther enlarge upon these phases of our subject, at present writing,

would be a work of supererogation, The methods employed in

the former experiments were likewise used in the present series.

The following apparatus was used: A glass case large enough to

contain a dozen or more thrifty growing plants in pots. Its

dimensions were, length three and a half feet, width two and

a half feet, and height two and a half feet. A portion of the

top was left removable, so as to furnish an aperture through

which the plants could be placed in the case and again taken out.

The tests employed were the Schoenbein paper and paper im-

pregnated with tincture of guaiacum. When exposed to ozone 7

artificially prepared the Schoenbein paper turns quite blue, while

__ the guaiacum paper first turns greenish-blue and finally a bright

blue. In the present experiments we also employed the same

_ terminology, viz., “marked,” “slight” and “very slight,” to

_ denote the degree of blue coloration.

— A dozen thrifty plants belonging to the species Coleus lumei,

1885.] The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants. 859

not blooming, were first selected and placed within the glass case.

The test papers were moistened and suspended on the branches

of the plants. After adjusting the removable part of our case,

the latter was found to be pretty well filled though not over-

stocked with plants. For the purpose of detecting any alkaline

substance whose presence, it is said, will change the Schoenbein

and guaiacum pdpers in a manner indistinguishable from that

produced by ozone, we suspended with the test papers a piece of

red litmus, with the results indicated in the following tables. The

air on the exterior of the case was simultaneously tested for

ozone. In view of the fact that these tests are in an unsatis-

factory state, the necessity for taking precautions against inter-

fering conditions must be obvious to the mind of the scientfic

reader. ;

The following table will serve to show the results obtained

from the specimens above named for seven consecutive days in

the month of June, 1884:

: ; s Schoenbein : State of | Litmus

No. experiment.| Schoenbein, Guaiacum. $ open wir. Time. | ovat hee. | (red).

Mach 266 ‘ ‘ec g «s “ s

ee i, slight marked | marked jrr “ -a blue

NO vD aa negative slight negative | 9“ n negative

Ee ae very slight | marke o 7 G vd

haa a eee roe x " negative |Io “ st a

Na WIS ges slight marked slight | 8 « be blue

These results are in exact accord with those previously re-

corded (supra) by one of us. It should be remarked that whilst

two “slight” reactions occurred with the Schoenbein paper, they

were probably due to the presence of some alkaline substance,

since on the same days the red litmus was changed to a

“marked” blue. Thus, after repeated experiments, it would

appear certain that it cannot be claimed for non-odorous foliage

plants that they are ozone-generating. Though the guaiacum

Paper gave “ slight” reactions in three experiments which yielded

no results with the litmus paper, it should be here noted that

Owing to the fact that this paper (guaiacum) is materially affected

by various atmospheric conditions, we did not much rely upon

the results obtained from its employ. On the other hand, if

_ Proper precautionary measures be taken, the Schoenbein is,

doubtless, of all the tests for ozone the most reliable.

860 The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants. [September,

We next experimented with odorless flowering plants, selecting

ten plants of the species Fuchsia globosa and ten periwinkles,

species Vinca rosea, with the following results:

No. experiment.| Schoenbein. | Guatacum. Pegged ae a Time. peyè}

iO AAR marked- marked negative | negative |10 hours| clear

WOI negative - marked "E Gere r:

Nos BEL ia agens = negative | negative a iat "

FOOT eee css. very slight| slight slight ares

No, v..... cows . negative _ t -kaia 4

BO. Visine vers “ slight marked “ ee s

No. WES ok oo ue negative “ “cc “ Io “ 6

During these observations, which were made in the month of

July, 1884, the temperature within the case ranged from 80 to

100° Fahr. It will be observed that sufficient ozone was gen-

erated in four of the experiments to give one “marked” and

three “ very slight” reactions ; also that the litmus gave no indi-

cations of the presence of ammonia. Although they do not rank

as active ozone-generators, nevertheless they must, from the facts

of the case, be looked upon as sharing this important function in

a slight degree. This decision also coincides with what had

been previously demonstrated by experiment.

e now made a trial of odorous flowering plants, selecting

for this purpose seven roses and seven specimens of Lilium longi-

Jorum. After carefully enclosing them within the case, the

atmosphere of the latter was tested and simultaneously the aif

outside, with striking results as shown by the following table:

ae g i TN hoenbein| Litmus w State of

cite experiment.| Schoenbein.| Guaiacum. Fo coe en er eae Time: | ther.

No.1.........| negative | marked | negative blue | 8hours; clear

No. Way so o's marked “ ‘e ; negative 9 “ c6 i

No. 1........| negative | negative “ “e 9 * |pæly clou’y

No Steina | marked marked yr gg clear

No. v. eee ee eee marked d bie slight es 10 vig Lig

Pe VE ein te a m very slight es = T 3

Ne. Vil... 5. š te s ‘s “ ec “

No. YUk,- we ce ke negative — ‘cc rox e

_ During these experiments the temperature of the air in the

case ranged from 80 to 100° Fahr. The important conclusion

_ arrived at in previous papers, viz. that odorous flowering plants

re are active and energetic ozone-producers, it will be clear, re-

! ee. researches entire confirmation. Since this

1885. ] The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants. 861

function is so actively carried on by odorous flowers, it oc-

curred to us to make a trial of plants whose leaves emit odors

but having no flowers.. Blooming geraniums having been ex:

perimented with while making previous researches into the

same subject, and having found them to be capable of generating

ozone, it was determined to employ a number of specimens

belonging to the genus Pelargonium not in bloom, with a view of

ascertaining whether the reactions obtained with flowering gera-

niums were due to the presence of the flowers, or whether they

were due in part to the odorous principles emitted from the

leaves of the plants. To our astonishment slight reactions were

obtained, as shown by the eae record of results:

No. experiment.| Schoenbein, | Guaiacum. Peo (ha Time. pom ci

Bh bs 5 very slight | slight marked | negative tohours) clear

Lt T a be negative negative n " A na ie

M eee s & “ io à “

No hn ics "e negative “ Wen rainy

E Fs. seus very ‘slight „very slight be c lo“ | clear

Woe Vie e ss 5 negative slight « " goe i

No. vil....:...| very slight i marked had 9 “ jpa’ly clou’y

BM VES. css 0 negative | negative | negative e * rainy

NOIX Perera si marked marked spe oo clear

os a ENS marked slight slight > oo —

Ma REA. aa slight = negative é 9 * cloudy

a C negative ' negative ve r= rainy

Although there were but three “ very slight” reactions, one

“slight ” and one “marked” with the Schoenbein obtained in the:

twelve experiments here recorded; this is not a bad showing

when it is recollected that four of the tests giving no indication

of ozone were made on rainy days, it having been shown in the

former investigations that sunlight or at least good diffused light

is an essential condition to the generation of ozone by plants.

Upon this point, however, the evidence afforded by the results

of the present set of experiments alone is too slender on which

to base positive conclusions, and hence we deemed it desirable to

make further observations upon foliage possessed with marked

perfume. To aid in clearing up this subject it was next resolved

to make tests with pine foliage, possessing the well-known tere-

binthinate odor, and in the results obtained we were not dis-

appointed,

Seven branches taken from the species Pious strobus were

introduced into the case in the upright — when the same

862

The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants.

[September,

tests were applied as in the experiments on growing plants, with

results as follows:

No. experiment, Schoenbein.| Guaiacum. Ses

im open air

tC Ay SPR ..| marked slight very slight

PEL se marked i

Oe TIE. i dis $e es =

i es T slight slight marked k

a A eee negative | negative 4 xa

Litmus

(ved).

negative

‘6

: State o

Time. Rai?

ghours| clear

10 ce “

9 (Li “ce

io ce ce

9 “cc c6

After three days the pine branches turned brown and the leaves

rapidly dropped off. These facts doubtless account for negative

results after the fourth day. It should be stated that we contin-

ued to test them on the sixth and seventh days respectively, and

with negative results in both of the latter instances. We were,

however, encouraged by the success attending the first three

experiments, and resolved to make another trial of pine branches:

Accordingly we again selected a half dozen pine branches which

moderately filled our little floral chamber, and allowed them to

remain only until they began to show a change in color, which

change was first observed at the end of the third experiment.

The following results speak for themselves:

$ : ; Schoenbein| Litmus : State of

E CS: oe ae OE in open air.| (red). Time. | weather.

No. “i essre r slight negative X s |clear, part-

! ly clou

Pith. Uoan = s slight as 190. * lear

We also made four daily experiments with branches taken from

the Norway spruce (Adies canadensis) and, as shown by the fol-

lowing record, with happy results :

ee aa z . Schoenbein| Litmus ; State of

No. experiment. Schoenbein.| Guaiacum.\- “et air | (red). Time. | soegther.

No. moon ao slight | negative au a a p

No: Tse, civic} -Slight marked w a

No. ossee) Marked slight marked X TaN

We, unfortunately, were unable at that time to obtain more

foliage of the same character, and thus our investigations were

brought to an end. Although a greater number of experiments

upor fhis point could have been desired, when, on the one hand,

d how great and numerous the difficulties connected

1885. ] The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants. 863

with the making of such tests, and on the other, the brilliant and

very uniform success of the experiments made with pine foliage;

it will be readily conceded that these facts furnish abundant evi-

dence of the power the odorous principles evolved from the pine

tree have to generate ozone

From the foregoing, in conjunction with former investigations

into the same subject, we are, at present writing, justified in formu-

lating the following conclusions;

First. That flowering plants, including odorous and inodorous,

generate ozone, the former, however, much more actively than

the latter.

Secondly. That so far as tested scented foliage does possess

the power to produce ozone, and. in the case of pine or hemlock

foliage in a marked degree,

Thirdly. That inasmuch as no reactions \gdedttéd on rainy

days, it is highly probable that the function demands the influ-

ence of the sun’s rays or at least good diffused light.

In comparing the present with former conclusions, cited at the

commencement of the paper, it will be seen that they differ in so

far as relates to foliage plants only, those pertaining to flowering

vegetation being perfectly concordant.

As to the mode in which the ozone is developed by plant life,

or in other words, as to what is the nature of this ozone-gener-

ating function, the following explanation was elsewhere merely

suggested (loc cit.) : “It is known that the ashes of seeds con-

tains large quantities of the phosphates. It follows that during

the formation of the seed there is a rapid metastasis of the phos-

phorus in the form of phosphoric acid, and the phosphates to

that organ of the plant, and it may reasonably be supposed that

in the chemico-vital interchanges going on in the ovules, phos-

phorus is liberated and acted on by the moisture which the

leaves are so actively transpiring. * * * The subject, how-

ever, merits further investigation.” In view of the facts estab-

lished by present researches the theory of the production of

ozone by vegetable growth above cited must be abandoned, and

it appears evident, from present premises, that in some way the

odoriferous principles emitted, whether from flower or foliage, are

chiefly concerned in its formation. It is true we are unable in

this manner to account for its production by odorless flowers,

unless, as many contend, we grant that all blossoms are either

864 The Exhalation of Ozone by Odorous Plants. [September,

bedecked with or, somewhere in their loose cellular tissue, con-

tain scented nectar which in many so-called inodorous flowers

may not be sufficiently pronounced to be perceived by the organ

of smell.

It is a well-established fact that wherever fertilization is accom-

plished by insects, so-called mectaries are somewhere found in the

flowers. These organs are described by Sachs as follows: “ The

nectaries are often nothing but glandular portions of tissue on

the foliar or axial parts of the flower ; very often they project in

the form of cushions of more delicate tissue or take the form of

stalked or sessile protuberances; or whole foliar structures of the

perianth, of the andrcecium or even of the gyncecium, are trans-

formed into peculiar structures for the secretion and accumula-

tion of the nectar.”?

The proportion of plants where pollination is effected by insects

is certainly large, and when we take into account those flowers in

which cross-fertilization occasionally results from the aid of

insects, this proportion is still very much larger. Whether it can

be claimed for all inodorous flowers that they contain a greater or

lesser number of nectaries we are not prepared to state, but it is

certain that numerous flowers, which are classed as being without

fragrance or any other odors, such as the geranium, the passion

flower, etc., are visited by insects, and these must therefore con-

tain glandular ‘tissues filled with an alluring secretion. The

question also naturally here arises: Are there not flowers that

are never visited by apects, which flowers possess these glandular

organs?

Our investigations did not include an examination of these

organs, but there is evidently an interesting subject here pre-

sented for further experimental study.

The theory that the fragrant emanations from flowers, as well

as all the various odoriferous substances emitted from plants,

stand in close relation to the ozone-producing function in plants

likewise receives striking corroboration in the well-known chemi-

cal fact that the volatile perfumes and the strongly-scented aro-

matic substances have the power to convert the oxygen of the

atmosphere into ozone.

e application of the results of our experiments to the rather

"old but highly i ing subject of the cultivation of house plants

isaw Text-book of Botany, p. 500,

1885. | Glacial Origin of Presque Isle, Lake Erie. 865

is of considerable importance. That phase of the question, how-

ever, pertaining to flowering plants has been elsewhere treated,

It remains to speak of the sanitary relations of the new and addi-

tional fact which has been established by the present experiments

concerning odorous leaves as ozone-generators. Owing to the

fact that few varieties which have markedly odorous leaves are

cultivated within doors, their sanitary bearings may be regarded

as being slight, the leaves of the geranium and other species

usually seen in dwellings being feeble in their ozone-generating

properties. Again, it should be remarked that when kept in-

doors the odors given off both from the flower and foliage are

sometimes not only objectionable to the senses, but also may

prove detrimental, It is evident that such plants should be dis-

carded,

The case is widely different when we apply the results of our

labors to the question of the hygienic value of out-door vegeta-

tion, and more particularly of pine groves. Under these circum-

stances unpleasant odors do not form a positive objection, whilst

the species emitting the most pronounced odors are capable of

rendering valuable hygienic service by furnishing ozone to the

surrounding medium, Since the exhalations from the pine foliage

are active agents in generating ozone, it follows that all of the

important hygienic advantages of ozone are to be derived, to

a marked degree, from the presence of pine woods.’

:0:

GLACIAL ORIGIN OF PRESQUE ISLE, LAKE ERIE.

‘BY T. DWIGHT INGERSOLL,

HE peninsula of Presque isle is an extension of the main

“ land opposite the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, reaching out

into Lake Erie in a north-eastern direction. It is crescentic in

form, the convex portion facing the lake with the shore line bend-

ing toward the mainland, and forming Erie harbor, which is

known also as Presque Isle bay. The. bay is about four miles in

length by about two in breadth, with an entrance on the east.

Government operations have made the bay somewhat historical,

The vessels of Commodore Perry’s fleet were built here in 1813,

1 For a fuller discussion of the subject of the sanitary relations of pine forests, see

article by J. M. Anders, on “Sanitary Influence of Forest Growth,” a paper read

before Phila, Go. Med. Society, Oct. 22, 1884.

866 Glacial Origin of Presque Isle, Lake Erie. [September,

and after his victorious battle the Lawrence and flag-ship Magara

lay in the bay until the centennial year, 1876, in front of the old

block-house on Garrison hill, where General Anthony Wayne .

died and was buried in 1796.

When the peninsula was first occupied by Government soldiers

it was several feet broad at the junction with the mainland and

covered with large forest trees, but the constant action of waves,

since that time, has reduced that portion to a narrow neck of

land over which the waves have, during the past year, rolled into

Presque Isle bay. There is a strong probability that before the

expiration of the year this tract of land will be transformed into

a traveling island en route to Niagara falls, unless something is

done to protect it from lake storms. * For a consideration of this

matter there was a meeting of the Erie Board of Trade on Janu-

ary 5, 1885, at which Ex-judge John P. Vincent said:

“Since I came to Erie, in 1839, the north arm of the penin-

sula has moved several rods, and the east end extends fully a mile

further than it did then. If something be not done the peninsula

will waste away at the head and build up at the foot, and eventu-

ally the harbor will be below the city.”

Engineers, however, have estimated the increase of land at the

lower end to average only thirteen feet per annum. All this

material—sand and pebbles—has been washed from the north

shore, principally from that portion near the head, and when it

reached the foot an eddy was formed around it, the sand falling

to the bottom and becoming new-made land. Sometimes this

material was carried past the peninsula too far for a union with

the foot, and a bar and perhaps an island was formed, against

which other sands lodged. At some subsequent time we may sup-

pose that the eastern portion of the new formation was broken

up by opposing easterly gales, and the sand carried along both

sides of the new island toward the west until a union was

formed with the peninsula, shutting in between the two connect-

ing bars of sand a pond of water, and the island thereby became

the foot of the peninsula, receiving further increase. In this way

it is supposed that several fish-ponds, now in existence on the

peninsula, have been formed.

_ From the briefly sketched history of Presque isle the reader

_ May naturally be led to inquire into its origin. The writer at one

time imagined that there might have been a small uplift of rocks

under the surface such as he had seen on the mainland in the

1885.] Glacial Origin of Presque Isle, Lake Erie. 867

vicinity ; but after a personal investigation and inquiry of civil

engineers, he came to the conclusion that the land is composed

entirely of sand, clay and rolled pebbles of foreign and native

rocks.

History shows that this material has not only been changeable

in form, but small quantities have from time to time been trans-

ported from the western to the eastern portion by the waves.

These changes must have been in progress prior to its discovery,

and of course the peninsula was situated further west than it is

now. This we may regard as a clue to the origin of the penin-

sula however hypothetical it may seem to be. The material

being almost identical with glacial drift that is scattered all over

Northwestern Pennsylvania, which in some places is nearly 200

feet in depth, and may have had the same origin, having been

deposited at the same time about twenty miles west of its present

site, where the Devonian strata dip gently under the surface of

the lake. At that point a vast quantity of glacial drift was

shoved upon the sloping rocks during the ice age, and that de-

posit has been the sport of the waves ever since the retreat of the

great northern glacier. Professor I. C. White, of the Pennsylva-

nia State Geological Survey, says:

“The varied character of the northern drift deposits can be

well studied along the shore of Lake Erie, towards the Ohi

State line, where they constitute a terrace bluff from fifty to eighty

feet high, out of which the waves are constantly removing the

clay and fine sand into the Jake leaving the coarse sand, pebbles

and boulders to be daily rounded and polished on the beach.”

At the close of the ice age the waves began to wash away the

finer particles from the bluff of drift, and as the current of the

water was down the lake in a north-eastern direction—the storms

Moving generally the same way—the probability is that a bar of

‘sand was formed at some favorable place east of the starting

point, upon which other material was driven year after year

until an island or peninsula was formed. At some later period

more powerful storms broke up the western portion and carried

it along to or beyond the eastern extremity, while it was being

constantly enlarged by sand from the original source, and from

the bluffs and watershed along the shore, which was brought

down by numerous streams. In this way let us imagine the bar

an island or a peninsula, and alternating perhaps with

each other until the erratic bodies‘of land appeared to the first

white settlers of this region in form of a peninsula.

ERIE, PA., AUGUST, 1885.

IX.

VOL. XIX.—NO, 57

868 Recent Literature. [ September,

RECENT LITERATURE.

Prince ROLAND BONAPARTE’S Les HABITANTS DE SURINAME.

—The contents of this luxurious and costly volume will prove

the Warrau and the ’Arowak. Though in contact with Europe-

ans for longer than a century, they have retained many of their

aboriginal characteristics. No Indian of the wid interior tribes —

had been brought to the Amsterdam exhibition, and hence these

were omitted from the description in detail. The coast Indians

o not count over 800 individuals now; they assimilate with.

difficulty and tend to disappear under the funest influence of fire-

water and disease. The chapter following this deals with cus-

toms, habits and beliefs of the Indians, and entirely rests on per-

sonal or otherwise trustworthy information. The singular cus-

tom of the couvade or male childbed is alluded to at length and

an explanation offered. Heretofore our information upon the

large class of runaway slaves (“ nègres marrons ”), or descendants

of such, was very limited, but here new points are presented in

logical order and profusion. These escaped “ Negroes of the

bush ” who, for more than a century back in time, settled along

the large rivers descending from the interior, and exulting in their

_ newly-gained freedom, often made raids upon the plantations, are

_ first alluded to in the pages of the “Lettres Edifiantes.” It

‘there are now about 8000 of them, divided locally

1 Les Habitants de Suriname. Notes recuillies à P Exposition coloniale @ Amster-

dam en 1883. Paris, imprimiere de Quentin, 1884. Gr. fol. 227 pp., 2 cartes 72

1885. ] Recent Literature. 869

into Aucaners, Bekoes, Moesingas, Saramacanan and Bonis.

Their peculiar beliefs and customs, upon which the Prince’s vol-

ume expatiates at length, are clearly of African origin and ex-

tremely curious, Besides the ¢akitaki or Negro-English jargon

of Suriname (from “‘¢a/kie-talkie”), each local sept uses special

terms of African origin, and the majority also converse in the

native African tongue. The sedentary Negroes subdivide into.

plantation Negroes and city Negroes, these latter forming forty-

seven percent of the whole colonial population. Specimens of

the takitaki jargon are appended.

A sequel to this instructive volume is announced by the

author himself, and we wish it may be presented to the studious

public at an early day.—A. Pinart

e facts are correctly stated, and so are the inferences. We

think, however, known facts do not support the enormous antiq-

uity ascribed to man, viz., “ over two and a half million years.”

We think these figures are beyond those of the “ best authori-

ties.” It is better in books intended for popular use to give

under rather than over statements. Also the ape-like characters

of the Neanderthal skull are perhaps over stated. As we under-

stand it, Wyman found quite as brutish a skull in the Indian

mounds of Florida. The evidence has yet to be afforded that the

earliest known race of man in Europe was any lower than the

lowest existing savages. Such evidence, may however, be forth-

coming any day.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.

Baird, S. F—Report of Professor S. F. Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institu-

tion. 1883. From the author.

Abbe, C—An account of the progress in meteorology in the year 1883. Ext. Smith.

P., 1883. From the author, :

Dana, E. S.—An account of the progress in mineralogy in the year 1883. Ext.

idem. From the author.

Farlow, W. G.—An account of the progress in botany in the year 1883. Ext. id.

Se E nhor,

1 The Development Theory. A brief*statement for general readers. By JOSEPH

Y. BERGEN, Jr.. and Fanny D. Bercen. Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1884. 12mo,

Pp. 240. i

870 Recent Literature, [September,

Bolton, H. C.—An account of the progress in chemistry in the year 1883. Ext. id,

From the author

Barker, G. F.—An account of the progress in physics in the year 1883. Ext. id.

From the author.

Hunt, T. S.—An sbapiiat of the progress in geology in the year 1883. Ext. id.

From the au uthor,

Holden, E. S.—An Groin of the progress in inoi in the year 1883. Ext. id.

From the authọr.

Tes, RaR ee and Goode, G. B.—Contributions to the natural Jey of the Ber-

Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 25. 1884. From the ors.

Siam a S—A = alae legend of the Creek Indians. Vol. I, Phila., 1884.

From the author

Powell, F. W.—On the poner i ere work of the general government,

Washington, 1885. From the a

Cen s = —Anhual report f the oe iii of New Jersey, 1884. From the

a. Š £.—Elephant pipes in =a museum of Academy of Natural Sciences,

Davenport, Iowa. From the author.

Becker, G. F.—Geology of the Comstock lode. U. S. Geological Survey, Clarence

King, director. 1882,

Langley, S. P.—Researches on solar heat and its absorption by the earth’s atmos-

phere. Professional papers of the Signal Service, 1884. From the author.

Wood, F. G.—Our living world. An artistic edition of Rev. J. G. Wood’s Natural

History. Selmar Bros., publishers, N. Y. From the publishers.

Baur, ees .—Bemerkungen über das Deckesites Végel und Dinosaurier. From the

aut

KON £. W.—On Pteraspidian fish in the Upper G awe erza of North Amer-

a. Ext. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1885. From the

Grant, oJ: A. st, gpa geology of the valley of the aati end the Wakefield

ve. From the author.

py E. A.—A general description of the geological, ee oes agricul-

tural features of the cotton-producing States. 1884. Fro

Saone osc a á la Erpetologia Cubana, Sali pe pea the

Minois ae ae Pest pr .—Report of the Illinois State Fish Commission,

I e aut i

- Nevill, G—Hand list of Mollusca in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Part 11. Gas-

tropoda. 1884. From the author

Shields, C. W.—Reason and reualoaiois i in the sciences. Ext, Presbyterian Review,

April, 1885. From the author

mp pa En ace inglorious tein Appleton & Co., New York, 1885.

K e aut

2° ee A,—Notes sur Phistoire géologique des oiseaux. Moscow, 1885.

' — Notions sur le systeme jurassique de l’est de la Russie. Ext Bull. de la Soc.

Geol. de France, 1884. Both from the author

Capellini, G.—Resti-fossili di Diplodon e Mesoplodon Bologna, 1885.

For Zifioide fossile oe Eiger Sait scoperto aed casing plioceniche

di fangon net hen ena, Both from the

-~ Geinitz, A. B.—Palzon tologische B ae 1. Ueber Thien in ra Steinkoh-

o TE on von n Hines heringi). Dresden, From the author

—-N (cng xo Berichtigungen zu; die Hae des europäischen Ter-

‘tiars, ae Haven, ae 1885. From nel author

az ? gee: brief report on the organization „objects saad development of the works

a gr he as Commission in the ss S of Mexico. New

: 5. From

1885. ] Recent Literature. | 871

Baur, G.—A sgp phalanx in the third raya of a carinate bird’s wing. Ext. Sci-

ence, May 1,1885. From the author

Eyferth, B.—Die pes chsten Eabeialoiiiéi des Thier-und pgp Nat

geschichte der mikroskopischen Süsswasser bewohner. Braunschweig, Am “i

rom the author.

as $: —Note sur les ges Silurien et Devonien de Murasson. Ext. Bull.

de c. Geol. de France, 1883.

a aa experimentale sur le mode de ana des crateres de la lune.

xt. Comptes Rendus, 1882. Both from the a

Riley, C. V.—The i peepattod Elm Leaf-beetle. eee re 6, U. S. Dep. of Agric.,

1885. From the author

Vetter, B— are die Verwands chafts beziehungen zwischen Dinosaurien und

Vögeln. : Festschrift der Naturwiss. Gesell. Isis in Dresden, Mai, 1885.

arai

Deichmuller > fe V.—Geschichte der notary panes net tohn Gesellschaft Isis in

Dresden in den Jahren 1860-1885. m the

Frazer, P,—General notes on the New Orleans ce and Cotton Exhibition,

1885. From the author.

SRA A capuchin de Cystophora cristata, Ext. Rev. des questions Scient.,

Sur l'identité des — Champsosaurus et Simoedosaurus. Ext. idem., 1885.

Both from the author.

Scudder, S. H.—Pa keodicyoprea: or the yoo and classification of Paleozoic

apoda. Boston, 1885, From the author

F Mig res D. S— Supplementary notes on Aaii fishes. Ext. Proc. U. S. Nat.

us., 1885.

dorien D. So and Meek, S. E.—Description of Zygonectes zonifer from Georgia.

t. idem

Kiia. D. Sy. and Swain, Jos.—A review of the species of Lutjanine and Hop-

lopagrine found in American waters

Deseri of three new species of fishes collected at Pensacola, Fla. Ext.

Pro ae S. Nat. Mus., 1885. From the authors.

Otte Fel Nat. Club. hoe Field Naturalists’ Club. Transactions No. 2,

- From the

‘Keen, W. W.—The History of the Phila. School of Anatomy, 1875.

ae sketch of the early history of practical anatomy, 1874. Both from the

uthor.

Gonth, F. A; and von Rath, G.— On the Vanadates and Iodyrite. Cont. from the

Laby, of the Univ. Penn., 1885. From the authors.

Tiffany & Co.—Cat. of the collection of rough diamonds now on pen: yri

‘aera F. X., and Parker, A. J—On the artificial induction of c

ures, Oct., 1884. From the authors

Ameghino, F.—Nuevos Restos de ie fósiles oligocenos. Buenos Aires,

` Les Mamiféres fossiles de l’Amerique du Sud. Paris and Buenos Aires, 1880.

iat coe le bre le necesidad de borrar el género Schistopleurum. Ext. Bol. de la Acad.

acional de Ciencias. 1883.

oe una nuevo Colecion de Mamiferos fósiles. Ext. idem., 1883.

una Colecion de Mamiferos del piso Mesopotamico. Ext. idem., 1883.

——La antiguedad del Hombre en la Plata. Two vols., 1880-1881.

——Filogenia. Sasa de Clasificacion Transformista. Buenos Aires, 1884.

——Excursione cas y palzontolégicas en la provincia de Buenos Aires.

Ext. Bol. de la Acad. Nacional de Ciencias, 1884. All from the author.

epee, © Cheat contributions to the geology of Canada, Coals and

F of the Northwest Territory. Montreal, 1884. From the author.

872 Genera Notes. [September,

Brit. Assoc.—Report of the fifty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the

Advancement of Science, held at Montreal, Aug. and Sept., 1884. London,

1885.

Packard, A, S——On the embryology of Limulus polyphemus. Read before Amer.

Philos. Soc., Jan. 16, 1885.

——Types of Carboniferous Xiphosura new to North America. Amer. Nat., 1885.

Both from the author.

Geol. Surv. Canada.—Report of progress of the Geological and Natural History

Survey of Canada, with maps, 1882-3-4. From A. R. C. Selwyn, director.

Macoun, 7—Catalogue of Canadian plants. Part 11, Gamopetale. Geol. and

Nat. Hist. Surv. Canada, 1884. From the author.

Agassiz, A.—On the young stages of some osseous fishes. Parts 1 and 111. From

oc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sciences, 1877 and 1882.

The development of Lepidosteus, Ext. idem., Oct., 1878. Both from the author.

Hunt, T. S—The Taconic question in geology. From Trans, Roy. Soc. Canada,

1884. From the author.

Brown, A. E.—Thirteenth annual report of the board of directors of the Philadel-

phia Zoological Society, 1885. From the author.

20:

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

Asia—The Badghis district —This district in Northern Afghan-

istan, north of the watershed of the Herat valley, consists ot

hills and valleys of sandstone clay, the hills rising from» 200 to

600 feet, or even to 1000 feet, between two great streams. Though

sand-covered and desert-looking in autumn, they are not only

cultivable on their lesser slopes but exceedingly fertile, and in

spring are covered with flowers and grass knee-deep, The north-

ern and western parts have little running water, but the eastern

and southern portions, along the Parapomisus and the Kushk

rivers, are exceptionally fertile. Sir Hy. Rawlinson states that

the Bundehesh, a work compiled before the Arab. conquest (in

the fourth or fifth century) derives “Badghis” from the tribe of

e Vad-Keshan or “ wind-worshipers.” Coins of the Kushan

or Tokhari show that these tribes did worship the wind. They

were commonly called “ White Huns,” came into the land in the

fourth or fifth century, and had for their capital, Talikan, thirty

or forty miles east of Maruchak, Badghis (Kileh-Maur) was

their strong place.

The Pescadores—The Pescadores, recently bombarded and

occupied by Admiral Courbet, are in the Formosa channel,

about twenty-five miles from Formosa. The largest is Panghu,

and the Chinese name for the group is Panghuting or the

_ Panghu district. Panghu is forty-eight miles in circumference,

and the next in size, Fisher’s or West island, is seventeen. The

nty-one inhabited islands besides several rocks. Trees are

: ie " i ; i lit i by w. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

1885.] . Geography and Travels. 873

wanting, millet and the ground-nut are grown, and in the shel-

tered spots the sweet potato, but the natives depend mainly on

ormosa for vegetables and fruits. The islands offer shelter in

all states of the weather in the dangerous Formosa channel.

Port Hamilton.—Port Hamilton was stated, by Mature, to be

identical with the large Corean island of Quelpart, about sixty

miles due south of the extreme point of Corea. It is 150 miles

from Shanghai and 100 from Nagasaki, and lies in the mouth of

the only exit to the south from the Sea of Japan. It is an oval

rock-bound island covered with innumerable conical mountains,

often topped by abrupt volcanic craters, the highest of which,

Haura, or Mt. Auckland, is 6500 feet high, and bears at its sum-

mit three craters, within each of which is a lake of pure water.

Corean children are taught to believe that the three first-created

men still dwell in these lofty heights. The island is well culti-

vated, and contains three walled cities and several towns, but has

are the best in Corea. Iron appears to abound on the southern

coast.

Nature and other English papers were, however, mistaken in

the statement that the large island of Quelpart i is identical with

Port Hamilton, which is marked upon German maps as situated

somewhat to the north of Quelpart, and is formed by three rocky

and elevated islets,

Asiatic Notes—The name Pamir applies generally to the whole

region lying at the sources of the Amu-daria. The word is

derived from dam, roof, and perhaps the Kirghiz zr, earth. It

extends in the shape of a horse-shoe from north to south 200

miles, and from east to west 170 miles. This area of 67,000

Square versts has been surveyed on a scale of five versts to the

inch. On the eg and south its limits are well marked by sae

days march haar Soul, oe walls as large as those of the

capital, but the town has so dwindled that ng is “en agi

vated land inside. The Kara-kum, according

the region bounded by the Ust Urt, Khiva, gatua Alston

874 General Notes. [September,

Turkistan, Attok and Akhal. Though the name signifies a sand

desert it is not sandy throughout. The sands are of three kinds.

The first is clayey, mixed with sand and covered with small hil-

locks and brushwood ; the second kind consists of real sands

which do not drift to any great extent, the drifting portion form-

ing ridges or hillocks ; but the third kind, the true ġarkhans or

shifting-sand deserts, are without so much as a visible grass blade.

Beside these different kinds of sands there are, in the Kara-kum,

kyrs or tracts of firm clayey surfaces (mixed with sand) consist-

ing of valleys alternating with eminentes 140 to 210 feet high;

takirs, or flat clayey areas surrounded by sands; and shors or

tracts of hard ferruginous sand lying in the lowest parts of the

desert. The /zvestia gives an account of M. Potanin’s journey

from Peking to Lang-tcheou, in 1884. The country between the

Yellow river and Boro-balgasun is covered with sand, rarely

moving sand, but darkhans fortified by a growth of shiabyk,a

species of Artemisia, with bushes of Cavagana in the cavities be-

tween. Water is plentiful. The dry grounds between the sands

are covered with steppe vegetation, and sarrazin, millet and hemp

insurrection was put down. Lin-tcheou, on the Hoang-ho, is

surrounded by fruit gardens, and for fifty miles south of it numer-

ous villages extend along a canal which runs parallel to the Ho-

ang-ho. This richness is of recent origin, for the whole region

bears traces of the desolation wrought by the Chinese after the

suppression of the insurrection, of which the town of Tsin-tsi-

u was the center. South of this town M. Potanin left the

Hoang-ho and crossed the series of flat ridges which rise from

OO to 7000 feet above the sea, and are covered with loess to a

thickness of 200 to 300 feet. The sandstone of these hills con-

at the eastern foot of the coast range. About 100 miles from the

Coast the Ballombo river is spanned in wet seasons by a native

1885.] Geography and Travels. 875

bridge, whose builders take toll. The mission village lies in

about 16° E. long., and 12° 15’ S. lat., ina broad and beautiful

valley, densely populated, and lying east of a region of mountains

estimated to have peaks from five to eight thousand feet high.

——The death of King Mtesa is confirmed, but it is believed

that his son will prove more friendly to civilization than the

father. Mirambo is also dead. The Royal Geographical So-

ciety has decided to send out another expedition under Mr. J. T.

Last, who will: proceed to the confluence of the Rovuma and

Lujendi rivers, fix the longitude of the junction, and will then

establish himself awhile at the Namuli hills. After a study of

this region, Mr. Last will enter the valley of the Likugu, follow

it to the coast, and then follow the coast to Quillimane or An-

goche, The Portuguese possess a tract of land on the north-

ern bank of the Congo, extending from Cape Lembo, south of

Kabinda bay, to Massabé, and extending inland thirty or

forty miles so as to contain Kabinda, Molembo, Landana and

Massabé. The whole of the valley of the Kwilu, where the

International Association had eighteen stations, is ceded to

ance. Parts of the countries of Useguha, Nguru, Usagara

and Ukami have, by treaty with “ten independent sultans,”

been brought under the protection of Germany. The com-

mercial importance of this district is great, since the central trade

route to Lake Tanganyika passes through it. After fifty to eighty

miles of unhealthy coast region is passed, mountains and plains

with much fertile country and sufficient water are reached. The

Wa-ngaru, Wa-sagara and Wa-seguha speak nearly the same

dialect. The King of the Belgians has resolved to abandon Ka-

rema and other stations of the association east of Lake Tan-

ganyika. The territory now claimed by Germany in East

Africa is usually supposed to recognize the authority of the Sul-

tan of Zanzibar. The rule of this potentate is acknowleged along

trade routes for at least 700 miles in the interior, and also by

many chiefs away from these routes. The sultan owns 1050

miles of coast besides islands. In spite of the succession of

misfortunes which beset M. Giraud, he has added greatly to our

knowledge of Lake Bangweolo. The Luapula leaves the south-

west corner of the lake, as shown on Mr. Ravenstein’s map.——

Capt. G. A. Chaddock has ascended the Limpopo for a consider-

able distance. The channel at the bar is narrow, with no less

than four and a half fathoms of water. A long sandspit, three

miles from the coast, forms a natural breakwater, and the water

at the opening is fresh. The river channel is narrow and deep,

the surrounding country low and level, and thickly populated.

The lower course has no trees save some mangoes at the mouth,

Captain Chaddock believes that the Limpopo is free from falls or

any obstruction as far as the Transvaal.

America.—M. Chaffanjon, during an investigation of the hy-

876 General Notes. [ September,

drography of the Orinoco, not only obtained materials for a

These he has carefully copied. arty commanded by

Feilberg, and sent out by the Argentine Confederation to ex-

plore the Pilcomayo, found that a trade route via that river to

Bolivia is not feasible. Below the rapids, sixty leagues above

the mouth, the Pilcomayo receives an affluent not marked on

any chart, but with as much water as the Pilcomayo or per-

haps even more. It was obstructed by sunken trees. The coun-

try along these rivers is rich with fine pasturage. From Dr.

Bell’s report of the geological work of the Hudson Bay expedi-

tion, it appears that the highest land of the Labrador peninsula

is everywhere close to the coast, with a gradual slope westward to

the basins of the Koksoak and the rivers emptying into Hudson

The formation throughout Northern Labrador and the

Strait is gneiss, mostly Huronian, but some of it Laurentian.

Punta Arenas, the Chilian settlement in Magellan strait, is a town

of 4000 inhabitants, SAR by splendid lands with abundant

pastures, forests and waters. A hill aisea ri town from the

cold winds. The wishes is said to be ex

GEOGRAPHICAL News.—The fifth and eile: issues of Peter-

_mann’s Mittheilungen for this year contain an account of Caffra-

ria and the eastern districts of Cape Colony, by H. C. Schunke,

with a map (in No. 5) upon a scale of 1: 750,000. No 5 contains

aiso some remarks upon the health-relations of the region of the

Upper Amu Darja, by A. Regel; and an account of the German

Geographical Gierens held at Hamburg on April ọ to 11, 1885.

On this occasion Doctors Steiner and Claus gave an account of

their journey sae a Xingu, and Dr. Boas a sketch of the

Eskimo of Baffin’ No. 6 contains a map of the Panama

canal on a scale of pa 120,000; an account of the German settle-

ments on the Slave coast, by P. Langhans, and a history of ten

journeys in Costa Rica, undertaken by the now expelled bishop,

Dr. pe The coast line o the German epee on the

GEOLOGY AND PAL AONTOLOGY.

Tae RELATIONS oF THE PaLzozorc Insects —At the aoe

"modification I would ftitrodtice is to this effect: That

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 877

while we may recognize in the Palzozoic rocks insects which

were plainly precursors of existing Heterometabola, viz., Orthop-

tera, Neuroptera (both Neuroptera proper and Pseudoneuroptera).

Hemiptera (both Homoptera and Heteroptera) and perhaps Col-

eoptera—and no Metabola whatever—a statement almost identi-

cal with that previously made, we may yet not call these Orthop-

tera, Neuroptera, etc., since ordinal features were not differentiated ;

but all’ Palaeozoic insects belonged to a single order which, enlarg-

ing its scope as outlined by Goldenberg, \ we may cal Palæodic-

tyoptera; in other words, the Palæozoic insect was a generalized

Hexapod, or more particularly a generalized Heterometabolon.

Ordinal differentiation had not begun in Palæozoic times.

The grounds for this view are as follows:

1. No group of Palæozoic insects has yet been studied care-

fully; and it is important to observe that, though our knowledge

of them is of necessity fragmentary, yet the more perfectly they

are known the clearer is this true; no group, I say, has been

carefully studied which does not show, between it and the mod-

ern group which it most resembles, emer en so great that it

must be separated from that group as a whole, as one of equal

. taxonomic rank, as in the case of three felative groups last

mentioned.

2. That the different larger groups of Palzozoic times, of

which we now know nine or ten, were more closely related to one

another, at least in the structure of their wings (which is the only

point of general structure yet open for comparison) than any one

of them is to that modern group to which it is most allied, and

of which it was, with little doubt, the precursor or ancestral type.

Thus the Palæoblattariæ are more nearly allied in the ground

structure of their wings to certain neuropteroid Palzodictyoptera

of Palzozoic times than to the modern Blattariæ ; and yet we

_ can so completely trace in Mesozoic times the transition from the

Palzoblattarie to the Blattarie that no reasonable doubt can

exist as to their descent, the one from the other.

3. The ordinal distinction which is now found in the wing

structure of modern insects did not exist in Paleozoic insects,

but a common simple type of neuration which barely admitted

of family division.

It will appear from this that, by a sort of principle of family

continuity, we may recognize in the Palzeozoic insects a tendency

toward a differentiation in ordinal characters sufficient to enable

us in an ex post facto fashion to distinguish between orthopteroid,

neuropteroid, etc., Palaeodictyoptera.

when we look at the insects of later formations, we find

types of every one of the existing orders of insects—speaking of

these orders in their broadest sense, as we have everywhere done

in ae ema —we find every one fully developed in the Jurassic

878 General Notes. (September,

We find then that the entire change from the generalized hex-

apod to the ordinally specialized hexapod was made in the inter-

val between the close of the Paleozoic period and the middle, we

may say, of the Mesozoic. These significant changes were

ushered in with the dawn of the Mesozoic period, and the Tri-

assic rocks become naturally (together with the Silurian) the

most important, the expectant ground of the student of palzeon-

ology.

Hitherto for fifty years the Carboniferous period has claimed

this interest as its birthright.

It would then appear that the geological history of winged

insects, so far as we know from present indications, may be

summed up in a very few words. Appearing in the Silurian

period, insects @ontinued throughout Palaeozoic times as a gener-

alized form of Heterometabola which, tor convenience, we have

called Palzodictyoptera, and which had the front wings as well

as the hind wings membranous.

On the advent of Mesozoic times a great differentiation took

place, and before its middle all of the orders, both of Hetero-

metabola and Metabola were fully developed in all their essential

` features as they exist to-day, the more highly organized Metabola

at first in feeble numbers, but to-day, and even in Tertiary times,

as the prevailing types. The Metabola have from the first

retained the membranous character of the front wings, while in

most of the Heterometabola, which were more closely and

directly connected with Palzeozoic types, the front wings were,

even in Mesozoic times, more or less completely differentiated

from the hind wings as a sort of protective covering to the latter,

and these became the principal organs of flight.

Garman on Dipymopus.—Mr. Samuel Garman has published a

description! of the shark Chlamydoselachus anguineus Garm., an

introduced into his paper some comments on my paper? on the

extinct shark Didymodus, which has been found in the beds of

Permian age in Texas. Mr. Garman’s comments are in the form

of a criticism which denies the existence of some of the lead-

ing points of structure of the skull which I have pointed out.

The surprise which these criticisms occasion increases when it

is understood that they are derived “ from a study of the illustra-

tions,” and not of the specimens themselves. And Mr. Garman

appeals to “a comparison with the plate in the Proceedings” (of

the American Philosophical Society) to “show whether they can

be justified” (p. 29). To utter the sweeping conclusions reached

by Mr. Garman on such a basis as this, is, to say the least, haz-

ardous ; and it is a comparatively easy task to show that they are

__ Wrong, by reference to the specimens themselves. On p. 573 of

* Bulletin of Museum Comparative Zodlogy, Cambridge, x11, July, 1885.

_ Proceedings American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1884, p. 572+

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 879

my essay I state that twelve more or less complete crania of Didy-

modus are in my possession. I now add that most of them were

in my possession, and were objects of frequent mete eas by me,

for five or six years before my publication in aanry :

On p. 29 of his brochure, Mr. Garman sa

“3. The skull is unsegmented ; the lines of segmentation, so-

called, sais partly accidentals which are not alike on the two sides

of the skull.’

To this it must be replied that the lines of segmentation cer-

tainly exist, and that they are alike on the two sides of the skull

“6. The Fig. 4 of the plate should be reversed in direction, the

prolonged anterior portion in the figure should be turned back-

wards from the interorbital region, thus bringing what in the fig-

ure serve as orbits behind the postorbital processes.

ave several perfect skulls of this species, including the

one represented in ig. I, where the characters are readily seen,

the supposition of Mr. Garman that I have reversed the specimen

represented in Fig. 4 is simply curious; and as he derives his in-

formation from a plate, one is also surprised at the lack of caution

exhibited i in making the assertion

e Ichthyotomi, as based on these skulls, have not been

separated from the Selac

The suborder Ichthyotomi was thus defined in my paper (p.

581): “ A basioccipital bone and condyle. Occipital ? pterotic

and frontal bones distinct. Supraorbital (or nasal) bones present,”

r. Garman gets over this definition by denying the existence

of the segmentation, which, as we have seen, nevertheless exists ;

and by ignoring the presence of the basioccipital bone and

condyle. This would indeed be the muzzle of the skull, were the

direction of Fig. 4 reversed, as proposed by Mr. Garman. As

the characters above given are proven to exist, I must still regard

the genus Didymodus as presenting a type of skull quite different

m the true Selachii.

I now add a few comments on other points in Mr. Garman’s

ee On p. 21 of his essay Mr. Garman gives five references

to the publications where he claims that I have called the

Chlamydoselachus anguineus, Didymodus anguineus.” I have,

however, never proposed or used this name at the places cited,

or elsewhere. On p. 28 it is stated that I have never published

my conclusion that these two genera are distinct. This w.

done in the AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1885, pp. 236-7. F og Vaia a

new name is proposed as a substitute for Didymodus (p. 30),

because the latter is supposed to have became a’synomyme in

another connection. Were this the fact, I should still retain as

unused the name Didymodus, by which the form is now known ;

but as it has not yet been positively shown to be distinct from

some of the various genera of this group already proposed, the

action of Mr. Garman is at least premature—Z. D. Cope.

880 General Notes. | September,

ON THE ANTHRACARID&, A FAMILY OF CARBONIFEROUS MACRU-

ROUS DECAPOD CRUSTACEA, ALLIED TO THE Eryonip&.'—Havin

been kindly favored by Messrs. R. D. Lacoe and J. C. Carr with

the opportunity of examining their collections of nodules from

Mazon creek, containing Anthrapalemon gracilis Meek and

Worthen, I have been able to discover some features probably

not shown in the specimens examined by those paleontologists.

The newly observed characters are the carapace with its rostrum,

showing that the American species in these respects closely

resembles the European ones figured by Salter, the founder of

the genus. Moreover, specimens show the entire thoracic legs,

while the antennz of both pairs were almost entirely shown.

The fact that the first pair of thoracic feet were scarcely larger

than the succeeding pairs shows that Anthrapalemon cannot be

placed in the Eryonidz, but should form the type of a distinct

group of family rank, none of the existing Macrura having such

small anterior legs. At the same time the Carboniferous Anthra-

caridz were probably the forerunners or ancestors of the Meso-

zoic and later Eryonidz

e genus Anthrapalemon, a Carboniferous fossil, was first

described by J. W. Salter in the Quarterly Journal of the Geo-

logical Society of London, (XVII, 529, 1861). The name given

to the fossils has, the author remarks, “only a general significa-

tion, and is not intended to indicate.a a relation to Palæmon.

Minster, &. * * * It is broader than the general form of

the Astacidz, or than Glyph and its Liassic allies, but much

narrower than Eryon.” Salter’s type species is Anthrapalemon

grossarti Salter. With this species the American A. gracilis is

congeneric. A closely allied English form of A. dubius Prest-

wich, is referred by Mr. Salter to the subgenus Palæocarabus, a

name less fitting than Anthrapalemon. The telson, unlike that

of any other macruran, fossil or recent, so far as I am aware, is

differentiated into three portions: the basal, central piece is some-

what polygonal, a little longer than broad; it is separated by a

inct suture from a small triangular terminal piece which forms

the apex of the telson. Between the outer half of the entire telson

is a large broad lobe which is fringed with sete. At rst I

ed it as a subdivision of the inner lobe of the last uropoda

_ or abdominal feet, but no instance among the Decapoda is known

to us in which thedast pair of uropoda have more than two lobes

or divisions, and I have therefore been inclined to associate the

_ innermost of the three setiferous lobes with the telson, and to

regar | the telson «co mig into two median and two lateral lobu-

: Whether the two lobes belong with esa

ea or eas pye will leave for the present an open quest

Read before the National Academy of Sciences, April, 1885.

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 881

The only group in existence in which the telson is so remarkably

differentiated is the Galatheide. In Munida the telson is divided

by sutures into four pieces, the two terminal ones lobed and edged

with setæ of the same size as those of the uropoda. In Eumunida

of Smith the telson is “ short and broad, more or less membran-

aceous, and divided by a transverse articulation, so that the

distal part may be folded beneath the basal part.” In Anoplotus

politus, like the foregoing a deep-sea galatheid, the telson is stif-

fened by eight distinct calcified plates, a broad median basal plate,

with a small one on either side at the base of the uropod anda

small median one behind it and between a pair of broad lateral

plates, still behind which there is a second pair which meet

in the middle line and forms the tips and lateral angles.

From the nature of the differentiation of the telson in the Gala-

theidz I am inclined to believe, from what I have observed in the

specimens before me, that the telson of Anthrapalamon is sub

divided in nearly the same manner. If so we cannot refer the

genus to the Eryonidz, and we would therefore regard it as the

type of a distinct family which may thus be briefly characterized:

Family Anthracaride: Body broad and somewhat flattened, in

general appearance like the Eryonidz, but with the first pair of

thoracic legs no larger than the four succeeding pairs; carapace

with a long acute rostrum, with lateral spines on the anterior

half, the telson differentiated into two median pieces, with two

lateral broad rounded membranaceous lobes, fringed like the uro-

poda with large sete.

In anticipating the differentiated telson of the anomurous Gal-

atheidz, this eryon-like shrimp is not an exception to the rule

prevailing in the old-fashioned Carboniferous forms, which seem,

in most cases, to be synthetic or ancestral types. The Eryonide,

which began to exist in the Mesozoic age, have persisted to the

present time, being represented by certain deep-sea forms, 2. e.,

Willemcesia and Pentacheles; on the other hand the Anthracari-

dz appear to have become extinct at the end of the Palzozoic

age, and the question naturally arises: Did they stand in an an-

cestral relation to the Mesozoic and modern Eryonidz ? Appear-

ances certainly indicate that the Eryonide, and perhaps the Asta-

cidæ, may have descended from a group at least closely allied to

the Anthracaride.—A. S. Fackard.

Tue GeorocicaL History or New Zearanp.—Capt. F. W.

Hutton, in an article upon the origin of the fanna and flora of

New Zealand (Ann. and Mag. Natural History, February, 1885)

arrives at the following conclusions: New Zealand, which for-

merly existed as the southern part of a continent extending

through Australia to India, was isolated from Australia to-

ward the close of the Jurassic period, but was attached to a

South Pacific continent and received a stream of immigrants

882 General Notes. [September,

from the north. None arrived from the south because Fuegia

was not then in existence. In the Upper Cretaceous the land

shrank to a size considerably smaller than at present. In the

Eocene, elevation took place, and New Zealand extended out-

wards in all directions, but remained isolated. Plants and ani-

mals came in both from the north and from the south. In the

Oligocene and Miocene periods New Zealand was, except for a

short interval, a cluster of islands, but was upraised once more,

and obtained more immigrants from north and south during the

Pliocene, after which subsidence occurred, and the land through-

out the South island and southern half of the North island sank

considerably below its present level, to be again elevated during

the Pleistocene.

GEoLoGICAL News, — ¥urassic.—M. Cotteau has studied more

than 500 Echini from the Jurassic of France. The Jurassic seas,

not very deep, with broken shores, numerous isles and many ex-

tensive coral reefs, presented conditions eminently favorable for

the existence of Echini. The evolution of the fifty genera de-

scribed by M. Cotteau is of great interest. Some are special to

the beds they occur in, and nothing in the beds above recalls

their existence, while others have a curious persistence. Cidaris

has subsisted from the Trias to the present day.

Cretaceous——Herr A. Schenk has described the fossil woods

of the Libyan desert belonging to the Upper Cretaceous. Many

are petrified. At the Academy of Sciences of Paris (May

25), M. Hebert presented a note by M. Ch. Velain upon the

‘Penean formation, which in the Vosges takes a large share in

the constitution of the secondary chains, filling some very large

depressions. Except at some points where it is raised to the

summit of mountains 600 to 800 meters high, it is covered by the

Vosgian sandstone, and it lies upon the Carboniferous or gneiss.

It is usually a red clayey sandstone, passing into a fragmentary

conglomerate which unites it to the Vosgian below.

ary and Quaternary—The British Eocene land Mollusca

are treated of by J. S. Gardner, in the Geological Magazine for June,

1885.——C. Schwager enumerates the foraminifera of the Eo-

cene of Egypt and the Libyan desert. About sixty new species

are described, excluding the nummulites which have been mono-

graphed by P. de la Harpe, and of which twenty-five species occur.

The Eocene corals of the same region have been described by E.

Pratz. Messrs. P. M. Duncan and W. P. Sladen have mono-

_ graphed the Tertiary Echinoidea of Kachh and Kattywar (Pale-

groups, the two uppermost of which contain Echint. `

ulitic group of Kachh twenty-two species were

Som Oligocene above it five species, and in the Miocene

xteen species. All the Echini of Kattywar were Miocene, and

1885. ] Geology and Faleontology. 883

of the thirteen species six occurred in the Miocene of Kachh.

Thirty-one of the foregoing are new. The same authors have

monographed the Echini of Scinde, in all twenty-six genera and

forty-two species, about twenty-six of which are new.—Th. Fuchs

has described the-Miocene fauna of Egypt and the Libyan desert.

His work brings the neogene species of Lower Egypt up to 129.

The new species are Turritella distincta, Pholas ammonis, Pecten

sittelt, fraasi and geneffensis, Ostrea vestita and pseudo-cucullata,

lacuna miocenica, Brissopsis fraasi, Agassizia zitteli, Echinolam-

pas amplus, Clypeaster rohlfst, sub-placunarius and isthmicus, Scu-

tella ammonts and rostrata, and Amphiope truncata and arcuata.

— Cervalces americanus Scott = Cervus americanus Harlan, is

described by Professor W. B. Scott (Science, 1835, 420) from an

almost perfect skeleton found in Warren county, N. J. It was

a very large animal, with large head, short neck and trunk, legs

much longer than those of the great Irish deer, and antlers

which were palmated, though less so than in the moose. There

is a bezant antler and a posterior tine given off from the beam

opposite to it. The two tines are connected by a flaring process

of bone which descends below the level of the eye. The pre-

maxillze are stag-like, and join the nasals, which are much longer

than in the moose. The nostrils were smaller, and there was

evidently no such a proboscis-like snout as in the moose. Cer-

valces agrees with the moose in having the lower ends of the lat-

eral metacarpals present, and on the whole is more like Alces than

it is like Cervus. Professor Owen (Trans. Zool. Soc. London,

1883) describes the skeleton of Dinornis parvus. This smallest of .

the genus has proportionally the largest skull. The Geological

Magazine for April contains an interesting article upon the oscilla-

tions of level on the south coast of England. The May issue of the

same magazine has an account of the inland seas and salt lakes of

the glacial period, by T. F. Jamieson——A new locality for dia-

monds is Salobro (brackish) behind the flat coast of the southern

part of the province of Bahia, near the junction of the Rio Purdo

with the Jequitinhonha, at the foot of the Serrado Mar. The dia-

monds occur in a disintegrating clay, apparently of quite recent

origin, resembling the alluvium of existing rivers, and not exhib-

iting that rounding of the materials usually so characteristic of

Brazilian diamond sands. It encloses few minerals compared

with other sands; quartz is most common, next monazite in yel-

low and red crystals and zircon in brown to white, but seldom

violet crystals; while staurolite, almandine, corundum and vari-

ous iron ores are rarer. This is the first occasion in which corun- _

dum has been found in diamond beds, while tourmaline and other

characteristic minerals are wanting. Mr. D. Pidgeon (Quart.

Jour. Geol. Soc.) gives an account of some recent discoveries in

the submerged forest of Torbay, Eng., and maintains, contrary

to received opinion, that “while some of the so-called peat-beds

VOL, XIX.—NO, Ix, 58

884 General Notes. [September,

of the forest are not older than Roman times, the clays in which

the forest is rooted are either coéval with or younger than the

bronze age in Britain.” In December, 1883, the sea tore away

the beach so as to expose this clay, at the junction of which with

the Trias were found hearths of trap rock with bits of pottery,

grindstones, glass, tin, slag and ingots of copper, leading to the

conclusion that tin was smelted and bronze made prior to the

deposition of the forest clay upon the surface of the Trias rock.

Submergence need not be predicated, the damming back of the

sea and the growth of trees below high-water mark behind the

- damı furnish a probable explanation of the phenomena.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.'

AMPHIBOLE-ANTHOPHYLLITE FROM Mr. WASHINGTON, BALTI-

MORE COUNTY.—A light-gray or brownish colored mineral, with a

bronzy luster, occurs in considerable quantity as a gangue of the

chalcopyrite ore which is mined a short distance north-west of the

village of Mt. Washington, Baltimore county, Md. It is most

frequently found in thin blade-like individuals varying much in

size and with only faint indications of crystal planes. Such

During the past fall blades of unusual size (10™ X 2°) were

found, which had the planes æ Pz and æ P of the prismatic zone

well developed. The angle between the planes of the prism

(124° 30’) placed the hornblendic nature of the mineral beyon

a doubt. The great purity and transparency of some of the

material seemed to invite a chemital and optical examination

which was accordingly undertaken by Mr. C. S. Palmer, of the

_ chemical laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University. Some

specimens of a reddish-brown color were translucent—almost

transparent—though 2™™ in thickness. In these the usual fibrous

structure parallel to the vertical axis was hardly noticeable, but

a parting parallel to a very flat clinodome was quite pronounced,

A chemical analysis of this freshest and most homogeneous

material gave the following results :

SiO, Al,0, FeO, FeO CaO MgO NaO K,O _ total

$7.28 .,0.75 1.73 5.64 tr. 21.70 2.80 99

This will be at once recognized as the composition of a typical

=~ anthophyllite. The specific gravity is 3.068. No pleochroism

= is visible in thin sections, but in transparent crystals of consid-

~ erable thickness a decided difference both in the color and inten-

sity of the rays is observable. The one vibrating parallel to c is

a light copper-red, while that parallel to b is yellow. Absorp-

Edited by Dr. Gro, H. Witt1ams, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

1885. ] Mineralogy and Petrography. 885

tion c>b. No satisfactory sections parallel to the clinopinacoid

for the determination of the a ray were obtained. In converged

polarized light sections parallel to «œ P 3 showed one optical axis

somewhat out of the field, so that only a dark brush was seen to

pass as the stage was revolved. The exact measurement of the

extinction in sections parallel to the clinopinacoid was not easy

on account of the fibrous character of the mineral. Different

values were obtained on different fibers, the largest and most fre-

quent being from 22°-

There can therefore be no > doubt that this mineral is really mono-

clinic in spite of its chemical composition and general resemblance

to the orthorhombic anthophyllite. This fact is of interest in con-

nection with the observations of Des Cloizeaux on an exactly sim-

ilar mineral from Königsberg and Greenland, for which he first pro-

posed the name amphibole-anthophyllite.’. Groth has remarked

that a considerable proportion of the minerals commonly called

anthophyllite are probably monoclinic in their crystallization.

Zeparovich has recently noted the occurrence of amphibole-

anthophyllite at Sinekbele i in Passeyr—G. H. Willams.

New PLANES on HorNBLENDE Crystats.—In Vol. vu of his

Materialien zur Mineralogie Russlands, 1881, N. von Kokscharow

enumerates eighteen forms as heretofore observed on the mineral

hornblende. Of these five only b (vP &) elo P3), M (oP), u

(co P3) and a (œ P 3) belong to the prismatic zone. One other,

g (oo PZ) was added by Franzenau from his studies of the horn-

herd from Aranyerberg, in Hungary.

Certain dark-green crystals of pan e (pargasite) occurring

at East Russell, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., although having but

few lusterless terminal planes, possess in the prismatic zone a

wealth of forms which has never before been observed on this

bic=.548258: 1: .293765 — &= 75° 2’, the angle between

these planes and the clinopinacoid b are

measured calculated

For x 159° 23’ 159° 18/ 48/7

For y 165° 8 164° 54’ 20/7

On these crystals, as usual, the planes a, n, M,’e and b are the

commonest, g and x are, however, not uncommon; y was ob-

served on only one = i where it was bright and well del-

oped.—G. H. Williams.

? ; Nouvelles Recherches sur les propriétés optiques des cristaux, 1867, p. 114.

p tineraliensaminlung der ouran Strassburg, 1878, p. 228. ‘Tabellarische

bs Dt de a 1882, p. I

os,”

P iy fiir Krystallographie, vrt, 1883, p. 568.

886 General Notes. [September,

LEUCITE. — Professor H. Rosenbusch! of Heidelberg, has

recently made the most interesting observation that the morpho-

logical no less than the optical characters of the mineral leucite

can be brought into full accord with the regular system bya

sufficient increase of temperature. It is well known that this

mineral was regarded as the very type of an isometric icosatetra-

hedron until vom Rath showed that considerable variation from

the calculated angles as well as frequent twinning lamellz paral-

lel the face O necessitated the assumption of a tetragonal sym-

metry. The double refraction of this substance was also a point

in favor of this view. The recent studies of Klein, Merian and

Penfield have, however, shown that above a certain temperature

leucite, like boracite, becomes altogether isotropic and now Rosen-

busch finds that by the same means the twinning lamelle, ordi-

narily visible as a system of fine striations, may likewise be made

to disappear. A crystal upon which these were unusually dis-

tinct was brought in focus under the microscope by reflected

light in such a manner that the main face appeared bright while

the lamella were in the shadow. Heat was now gradually

applied and the most remarkable effect observed. A kind of un-

dulatory motion was noticed and whole groups of lamella would

disappear at one point and reappear at another, until finally, at

the requisite temperature, all were gone and the face was seen to

be quite uniform and even. Upon cooling the lamellæ returned

but in a different position from that which the original ones occu-

pied. So great was the molecular disturbance here produced, that

after some repetitions of the experiment on the same crystal it fell

to pieces. The supposition is made that leucite crystallizes in the

regular system at high temperatures, and in some other unknown

system at ordinary temperatures. The effort of the molecules to

suit their arrangement to the altered. conditions produces a ten-

sion which finds relief in the formation of secondary twinning

lamellz parallel to the slipping plane (“ gleitflache ”), which in

this case is ġo O: en the temperature is raised this tension 1s

of course removed. The attempt will be made by the same inves-

tigator to measure a crystal of leucite on a reflection goniometer

at the temperature necessary for the obliteration of the twinning —

lamella, when it is expected that the interfacial angles will agree

„perfectly with the regular symmetry.

BOTANY.”

_ THe Axsunpance or Asu Rust.—In Eastern Nebraska, this

‘year has been remarkable for the great abundance of the ash rust

~ '(Aicidium fraxin’) upon the leaves, petioles and twigs of the

green ash. In many instances each leaflet contained from ten to

a : Neues Jahrbuch für Min., etc., 1885.11, p. I.

* Edited by ProrEssor CHARLES E, Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska,

1885. ] Botany. 887

twenty of the characteristic spots, varfing from a tenth to a quar-

ter of an inch in diameter. The petioles and partial petioles were

frequently greatly distorted and enlarged, and in many cases the

young twigs were swollen out into rounded nut-like growths

which were covered with the tubular A®cidia.

The injury produced by this rust in Lincoln was quite consid-

erable, as green ash trees have been very largely planted along

the streets for shade and ornament. These planted trees appear

to have suffered more than the native ones along the streams,

although the latter were by no means free from the parasite.

I have as yet been unable to obtain any clue to the further de-

velopment of the ash rust. One would look for a correspondingly

great growth of red and black rust upon some of the plants of

this region, but so far I have not observed any indication that

such is the case.— Charles E. Bessey.

THE FERTILIZATION OF THE WiLD BEAN (Phaseolus diversi-

folius)—The flowers (Fig. 1) of the wild bean whén fresh are of

a pretty rose-purple color, turning to a sort of dirty flesh color in

fading. This change of color occurs at a time when insect visits

are no longer necessary to the flower and no doubt serves to in-

form the insect that it has no food to offer. The two wings are free

from the keel but lie close to it; they furnish an alighting place

Fig. 2.

Fic.—Flower of wild bean, seen somewhat from below. Fic. 2.—Keel and

wings. Fic. 3.—Keef alone, showing lens-shaped base. Fic. 4.—Enlarged section

of keel with style enclosed. Fic. 5.—The same with style projecting ; s¢, stigma;

/. st, free stamen ; a, anthers of connected stamens. The dotted lines indicate the

course of the united filaments.

= middle-sized bees which visit it (Fig. 2). The keel itself

the form of a vertically placed lens at its base, narrowing

above into a narrow tube, which encloses both stamens and styles `

(Fig. 3). The anthers lie about the hairy end of the style and

their pollen upon it. After this has escaped the free ends of

the filaments shrivel up and allow the somewhat freer movement

of the style. The anthers never leave the keel. Nine of the

stamens are united by their filaments, but the tenth is free, In

888 General Notes. [September,

their natural state both stafhnens and style are included by the

keel and lie along the lower portion of the dilated part of the

keel (Fig. 4).

When a bee visits the flower it alights upon the wings on the

left side of the keel. In its struggles to get at the honey, it

pushes down the wings, these carry with them the keel, and their

combined motion forces out the hairy end of the style, while the

peculiar curvature of the keel directs its stigma to the side and

back of the bee (Figs.5 and 1). In this act the stamens and

style are in reality passive. They lie at first along the bottom of

the keel, the depression of the keel pulls it away from the sta-

mens and draws its tube down from the style, the small opening

at its end forbidding the extrusion of the stamens. The pollen

collected on the hairs of the style is left on the back of the bee

and the stigma receives fresh pollen from some other flower

which had been left on the back of the insect during some pre-

vious visit. As soon as the bee leaves the flower the parts again

resume their normal position. The mechanism of the flower is

similar to that of h. vulgaris, but lacks the double spiral of the

keel.— Aug. F. Foerste, Granville, Ohio,

THE Movement OF PROTOPLASM IN THE STYLES OF INDIAN

Corn.—It will not be too late when this appears in print for stu-

dents in botanical laboratories to study the movement of the

protoplasm in the long styles (“silks”) of the Indian corn. By

ing a young style from an ear which has been kept in a warm

place for an hour or so, clipping off a piece a couple of inches in

length and carefully mounting it in water under a large cover-

glass, there will be no difficulty in seeing a great deal of activity

in the protoplasm. Care must of course be taken to have the

style lie flat, remembering that it is not cylindrical in shape, but

somewhat ribbon-shaped. The cells are much elongated and the

walls are so transparent that with careful focusing their contents

may be seen, even in the interior parts of the style.

The protoplasm is sufficiently granular to be easily seen. It

moves along the side of the cell in a strong steady stream, occa-

sionally heaping up a great mass, which is eventually pushed on-

ward by the current. As an easily obtained and instructive ex-

ample of protoplasmic activity I know of nothing which is supe-

rior to such a specimen.— Charles E. Bessey.

oS BACTERIA AS VEGETABLE PaRasiTes——The only genuine in-

= Stance of parasitic bacteria in plants yet mentioned in the books

_ (De Bary, Zopf, etc.) is that of the yellow sickness of hyacinths,

_ first described by Dr. Wakker, of Amsterdam, in 1882. This

bacterium winters in the bulb scales, and increases in the spring

_to slimy yellow masses which destroy the tissues and eventually

kill the plant. The priority of demonstrating parasitic bacteria in

Plants belongs, however, to an American. In 1880, two years

1885.] Botany. 889

before Dr. Wakker’s announcement of bacteria in hyacinths,

Professor T. J. Burrill, of Illinois, presented a- paper before the

American Association for the Advancement of Science demon-

disease known as “ pear blight,” which attacks pomaceous trees,

and that the disease may be transmitted from tree to tree by

inoculation. Since then the bacteria have been isolated and cul-

tivated in artificial media, and the statements of the original

paper fully confirmed. Americans should have credit for what

little original work they do accomplish in bacteriology.—/. C.

Arthur, in Botanical Gazette.

ORK FOR THE BOTANICAL CLUB OF THE A. A. A. S.—This

organization, with its large yearly attendance, may Well undertake

some work which has been long neglected in this country. We

_do not forget that the principal object of its founders was to bring

the botanists together for social purposes, and are rejoiced to

know that in this respect it has accomplished much. Many of

the lonely botanists living in remote parts of the country have

been gladdened and encouraged by meeting their fellows and

consulting upon means and methods. This result is in itself a

justification of the existence of the club.

ut this should not be all. At every annual meeting some

progress should be made in the effort to bring about concerted

action among the botanists of the country with regard to many

matters. We will venture to suggest here some things which

might well occupy a part of the time of the club.

1. In view of the rapid increase in what may be termed popu-

lar cryptogamic botany, it is desirable that there should be uni-

formity in the use of English names of the species and groups.

For example, to what group shall we apply the name of the

mildews? or the blights?

2. Cannot the botanists do somewhat to bring about greater

uniformity in the pronunciation of botanical names and terms?

t this is needed requires no further demonstration than that

afforded by a single session of the club. We believe that the

time is not far distant when botanists must listen to our Latin

lars, and take steps which shall lead to a pronunciation in

conformity with what is now regarded as the best Latin usage.

3. The question of the publication of botanical papers (aside

890 General Notes, [September,

with profit, we apprehend, to the botanists and also to the Na-

tional Herbarium.— Charles E, Bessey.

BoranicaL News.—The subject of bacteriology received espe-

cial attention in the July number of the Botanical Gazette, there

being no less than a dozen notes and notelets devoted to it, be-

sides four reviews of books upon the same subject. Clara E.

Cummings, of Wellesley, Mass., has prepared a neat catalogue ot

the Musci and Hepatic of North America north of Mexico,

which will prove useful to botanists who collect specimens in

ese classes of plants. The arrangement of the mosses is based

upon Lesquereux and James’ Manual of Mosses, and that of the

liverworts upon Underwood’s Catalogue of the North American

Hepatice. There are enumerated 888 species of mosses and 231

of liverworts, besides many varieties. Copies may be procured

of the author for thirty-five cents each. The Bulletin of the

Brookville Society of Natural History, recently issued, contains

two articles of botanical interest, viz., The Flora of Franklin

county (Indiana), by O. M. Meyncke, and Microscopical Notes,

by E.G. Grahn. The former is restricted to the “ exogens,” and

is little more than a bare list, containing but few notes. he

second paper contains a list of diatoms and desmids.——A late

number of the Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences

contains a readable paper by W. K. Higley on the Northern

1885. | Entomology. 891

ENTOMOLOGY.

A NEW SPECIES OF CRAMBUS INJURING Corn Roots.—On the

7th of June, 1883, my assistant, Mr. Webster, who had been

detailed to study the work of the black-headed grass maggot in

corn fields, brought to the office some supposed cutworms,

bristly reddish larvæ, which he had found gnawing the roots of

corn below the surface, in fields in McLean county, on both old

and new ground.

They were not seen again during this season, but on the roth

May of the present year I received the same species from Mr. E.

Gastman, superintendent of public schools at Decatur, with the

information that they had. been sent him from Harristown by a

armer who reported that they were doing serious damage to the

roots of his young corn.

On the 27th May, I visited Dwight for the purpose of searching

the fields of Mr. Mills from which the web worm had been sent

me. The corn in this field was injured most in patches. Over

one area of about one-fourth of an acre, many hills were missing,

and fully one-third of those remaining were damaged, with a plant

occasionally killed. Upon digging into the affected hills the cat- `

erpillars were found just beneath the surface, sometimes as many

as five or six in a hill, each in a retreat formed by loosely webb-

ing together a mass of dirt irregularly cylindrical in shape, one

and one-half to two inches long, and about one-half an inch in

diameter. The worm was found ina silk-lined tube within this

mass (the tube not always perfectly constructed), which in some

cases opened at the surface, its presence being indicated by a

circular opening about the size of wheat straw, in the earth next

a stalk of corn.

The first attack upon the plant was made by gnawing the outer

surface beneath the ground and above the roots. Occasionally the

stalk was completely severed, as by a cutworm, but usually not,

the larve showing rather a disposition to work upwards, eating a

superficial furrow or burrowing lengthwise along the center of

estem. In other parts_of the field, only here and there a stalk

was attacked. The foliage was also frequently eaten, the lower

leaf first and then the upper ones, the larva evidently leaving its.

burrow for this purpose, The tips of the leaves were eaten off,

or irregular elongate holes were eaten through them—probably at

night, as I have never seen the larva abroad by day. Where the

corn was largest, webbed masses of dirt were frequently found

which contained no larvæ, a fact which I was at first inclined to

Suppose indicated that the insect inhabiting them had transformed,

€specially as the larve found were of quite uniform size and

apparently full grown. I failed to find a single pupa, however ;

and as our breeding experiments did not yield the insect for more

a month, it seems more likely that these empty webs had

892 General Notes, [September,

been abandoned by worms which had gone in search of younger

stalks.

On the 7th June, after several hours of careful search in corn-

fields near Lexington, McKean county, where I selected by pref»

erence the least thrifty fields, I found no living larvæ, and but a

single mass of webbed dirt at the base of a stalk precisely similar

to those formed by the web worm, the hill containing it having

been evidently damaged some time before.

A number of the larve were brought to the office and placed

in earth in-a breeding cage on the 28th May. On the 14th June

those in the breeding cage were transferred to fresh corn, Many

of them were dead, but nine active specimens remained. On the

30th the corn was renewed and another search was made. No

larvz were found and but two living pupz. A single imperfect

moth was released from the earth in which it had completed its

transformations, but it was not able to expand its wings and could

not be determined. One of the other pupe was unfortunately

crushed by accident, and the other was badly infested by mites

which clung closely to its crust about the head with inserted

beaks. These were carefully picked away, and this sole remain-

ing pupa was returned to thoroughly calcined earth to complete

its transformation. On the 22d July it emerged as a small gray

moth, evidently belonging to the family Pyralide.

From Professor C. H. Fernald, to whom I referred the speci-

men, I learned that it was a ‘species of Crambus, new to him and

probably undescribed. It is described as Crambus zeéllus Fer-

nald, and is kńown to inhabit Maine, Penna., W. Va., Illinois and

Missouri. On the 3d July Mr. Mill, of Dwight, wrote me that

the larve had almost entirely disappeared from the corn fields,

and that the season had been so favorable to the crop that no

perceptible damage had finally ape with the exception of the

loss of a few hills here and ther

e small size of the individuals observed earliest in the season

perhaps makes it possible that they came from the egg last spring ;

and the brood represented in our collections must have complete

its development by the end of July. Whether a second brood

ap is altogether uncertain.

e injuries inflicted occur so ak as to permit replanting in

most seasons in case they should prove to be of serious import ;

~ and this species is consequently to p classed ia jH Pade”,

so far as the effect of its injuries to corn are conc —S.

Forbes, sm yeaa Sheets of Report a State pneu of

eda

UNUSUAL -o OF GRASSHOPPERS IN CoLorapo—Since

; the latter part of May Western newspapers have, from time to

ne =, contained alarming reports of swarms of young locusts or

sshoppers in the valley of the Arkansas and in other portions

1885.] Entomology. 893

of the State of Colorado, and the fear was expressed that Kan-

sas, Nebraska and Missouri would be visited by an invasion of

the Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) Under direc-

tion of Professor Riley, Mr. Lawrence Bruner has visited the

portions of Colorado from which rumors came. is report has

just been received, and is of such a nature as to allay all fears.

. The principal reports were from Salida, Rico, Cañon City and

Pueblo. During his sojourn in the State he visited all points

along the line of the Denver and South Pass R. R., between

Denver and Leadville, and from Leadville followed down the

every locality visited, from which grasshoppers were reported, it

was found that the numbers had been greatly exaggerated,

and in no case was the migratory species found. All reports

arose from a rather undue abundance of native species, which are

present every year, and most of which have their preferred food

plants in the shape of wild growth and noxious weeds.

MIMICRY OF A DRAGON-FLY BY A SUMATRAN BUTTERFLY.—By

the margin of a small stream I caught Leptocircus virescens, which

derives protection from mimicing the habits and appearance of a

dragon-fly, in a crowd of which it-is often to be found. In form

it reminded me of the European genus Nemoptera. It flits over

the top of the water fluttering its tails, jerking up and down just

‘as dragon-flies do when flicking the water with the tip of their

abdomens. When it settles on the ground it is difficult to see,

as it vibrates, in constant motion, its tail and wings, so that a

mere haze, as it were, exists where. it rests.—Forbes’ A Natural-

ist's Wanderings in Sumatra

EDIBLE MEXICAN pareans to Mr. J. M. Carter, —

glia of the telegraph lines of the Mexican National

.„ to whom I was indebted for much kindness while in Mex:

Mr. Carter also told me rae a caterpillar about two inches

long, which lives within the thick leaves of the maguey or

in Mexico, but in July, when it is often abundant. It is appa-

rently a species of Noctuide.—A. S. Packard.

EntomoLocicaL News.—Among the more remarkable insects

of Turkestan, reports H. Lansdell in Mature for May 21, is a

Wingless saw-fly, related to the Selandrie. Affected by this

ce of wings, the thorax undergoes important changes, and

appears greatly swollen, and all the females generally have the

appearance of little e bags. ——Among the Orthoptera of Turkes-

are two species of locusts whose ravages have been com-

894 General Notes. [September,

plained of in the neighborhood of Perovsk, while a third kind

called “ pruss ” have been destructive in the Zarafshan valley.

In the Annales des Sciences Naturelles for Dec., 1884 (received in

July, 1885). M. Viallanes publishes an important paper on the

optic ganglion of Æschna maculatissima, illustrated by three pho-

totypic plates. He also is working at the nervous centers of the

Orthoptera ——A Naturalist’s. Wanderings in the Eastern Archi-

pelago, by Henry O. Forbes, contains many interesting notes

regarding the insect life of Java, Sumatra and the Moluccas, as

well as Timor, It appears from the report of Professor Snow,

entomologist of the State Board of Agriculture of Kansas, that

the Hessian fly has greatly increased in that State, having appeared

in fifty-seven of the eighty-one organized counties. This increase

in area of distribution is to be accounted for from the fact that

the species is two-brooded, and that the second or spring brood

made its presence felt in many counties in which the first brood

was not sufficiently numerous to attract attention. A new de-

structive insect is the web-worm, a pyralid caterpillar whose rav-

ages have been thus far confined to Kansas, and has been inju-

rious to corn and potatoes. It is said to occur in Texas, where

it is known as the cotton-worm.

ZOOLOGY.

THE SKELETON OF THE MarsIPOBRANCHI.—Mr. W. Parker con-.

tributes to the Transactions of the Royal Society, 1883, a study

of the skeleton of the marsipobranchs. At the outset he states

that the hag and Bdellostoma are a greatly modified and arrested

sand lance or Ammocete, and that a larval frog is also a marsi-

pobranch. He remarks: I feel satisfied that the Anura have

only gradually become metamorphosed, and I doubt whether a%

the larve of Pseudis undergo that change, even now.” The adult

lamprey, like the tadpole, is truly suctorial, but the mouths of

the Ammocete or larval lamprey, and of the Myxinoids, are not

modified into a circular sucking ring, but remain as a small

hooded opening fringed with short barbels.

All the cartilage of the hag fish is cephalic, for even the far-

thest rudiment of the dorsal part of the branchial basket 1s

supplied by the vagus nerve, and the spinal region is only sup-

ported by membrane or fibrous tissue. No cartilaginous rudi-

ments of vertebral arches can be found. Notwithstanding the

ammocetine type of the Myxinoids, they come near to the lam-

ry es:

the cartilaginous

1885.] Zoology. 895

in thinking that in the transformed lamprey there is a true man-

dibular rudiment.

THE Star-Nosep More Ampuisious.—On June 7th, 1885, we

were favored with the opportunity to witness the skill and ease

with which a star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata ) propelled

itself through the water. Standing near an expanded portion of

a clear meadow brook, we noticed an object moving rapidly near

the bottom. So swift were its movements that the eye was

troubled to follow them. The zigzag course which the animal

IRIDESCENCE IN THE OrEGON Mote.—In examining alcoholic

specimens of Scapanus townsendi Bachman, from Klamath basin,

Oregon, kindly presented to me by Captain Chas. E. Bendire,

U.S. A., I have been surprised to observe a play of iridescent

metallic colors, particularly when the animals were viewed by

reflected light. The prevailing tints are purple, lilac,and bronze,

often showing a rich coppery or brassy luster.

It was doubtless a similar condition which led ‘Cassin to

apply the names S. eneus and S. metallescens to an alcoholic

specimen in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy, }

I am informed by Dr. Geo. E. Dobson, F. R.S., that the bril-

liant hues of the African genus Chrysochloris are much intensi-

ed by immersion in spirits.— C. Hart Merriam.

Tne Pine Mouse 1n NortHern New YorkK.—On the 13th of

June, 1884, at my home in Lewis county, New York, I caught a

female pine mouse (Arvicola pinetorum LeConte). It was taken in

a trap baited with beechnuts and set for the red-backed wood

mouse (Evotomys rutilus Gapperi) at the roots of a maple in the

border of a hard-wood forest. This species has not been pre-

viously recorded from so far north in the Eastern States, Massa-

chusetts having been given as the limit of its northern range. Its

rarity appears from the fact that this is the only individual ever

Procured here, while of the common meadow mouse (Arvicola

riparius) I have taken several hundred specimens.

_* This was suspected by Professor Baird nearly thirty years ago, for he said: “I

am not prepared to admit the Scalops eneus of Mr, Cassin as distinct from S. fown-

2. The smaller size would long to a young specimen, and the peculiar com-

g immersion of the animal in alcohol.” (Pacific Railroad Reports, Vol. viru,

1857, p. 67.)

896 General Notes. [September,

The pine mouse is said to be common on Long Island, and

Audubon and Bachman speak of it as “ quite abundant ia’

in the immediate vicinity of New York.” !—C. Hart Merriam,

M. D: ;

CAPTURE OF THE Pine Mouse aT Sina Sinc, New YORK.—

Until the present year we have never detected the pine mouse

(Arvicola pinetorum) in this locality. On Feb. 12th, 1885, a

specimen was picked up on the road-side, dropped probably by

some bird of prey as shown by the claw marks on it. A week

later, we had occasion to examine a hole in an old apple tree

occupied by a screech owl (Scops asio). Besides specimens of the

mole (Scalops aquaticus), and meadow mice (Arvicola riparius), we

found four pine mice, two of which were uninjured. The only

other specimen noted was shot March 3d, while running on top of

the snow.—A. K. Fisher, M. D., Sing Sing, New York.

A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF SHREW.—In the Transactions of

the Linnzan Society of New York, Dr. C. Hart Merriam describes

and figures a shrew of more than ordinary interest captured by

Captain Bendire near Fort Klamath. It is one of the largest of

the shrews, is the type of a new genus, and is called Alophyrax

bendiru. Bendire’s shrew differs from all existing genera in exter-

nal, cranial and dental characters. It has affinities with both Sorex

and Neosorex, and is in some respects intermediate between them,

though in some respects it passes Neosorex in the direction away

from Sorex. It also possesses characters of its own not found in

either of these genera. Dr. Merriam thinks that it in common

with Neosorex was early differentiated from a group of thirty-

two toothed shrews of which the genus Sorex contains the near-

living allies. “ Having abandoned a fossorial for, in the one case

a natatcry, in the other a paludal habit, Neosorex and Atophyrax

doubtless began to diverge in the same direction, their distinctive

features having been developed and intensified as their peculiari-

ties of habit became fixed—each retaining in different degrees of

modification certain characteristics of the original stock.”

HARELDA GLACIALIS AT NEw Or LeEANS.—An old male in win-

ter plumage was shot on Lake Catherine, a salt water bay a short

distance from the city, on Feb. 28th, 1885. Andubon says that

this duck comes down as far south as this latitude, but it is the

first specimen I have seen shot in this neighborhood.

The skin of this bird is in my possession —G. Kohn, 14 Caron-

delet St., New Orleans.

1885. ] Zobvlogy. 897

domestic varieties of dogs were domesticated by the aborigines

and used by them long anterior to the discovery of the continent

by the Europeans, the varieties in question originating fromthe gray

wolf or prairie wolf. First as to the Eskimo dog.. From the fol-

lowing extract from Frobisher it appears evident that the Eskimo

had the present breed of domestic dogs long anterior to the year

1577. Frobisher’s account of the Eskimo themselves is, so far as

we know, the first extant, and is full and characteristic. After

describing the natives he goes on to say: “They frank or keepe

certaine dogs not much much vnlike wolues, which they yoke

togither, as we do oxen and horses, to a sled or traile: and so

carry their necessaries over the yce and snow from place to place:

as the captive, whom we haue, made perfect signes, And when

those dogs are not apt for the same vse: or when with hunger

they are constrained for lack of other vituals, they eate them’

so that they are as pec for them in respect of their bignesse,

as our oxen are for v

Regarding the Eko dog, Richardson remarks in his Fauna

Boreali-Americana, p. 75: “The great resemblance which the

domestic dogs of the aboriginal tribes of America bear to the

wolves of the same country, was remarked by the earliest set-

tlers from Europe (Smith’s Virginia), and has induced some nat-

uralists of much observation to consider them to be nearly half-

tamed wolves (Kalm). Without entering at all into the question

of the origin of the domestic dog, I may state that the resem-

blance between the wolves and the dogs of those Indian nations,

who still preserve their ancient mode of life, continues to be very

remarkable, and it is nowhere more so, than at the very northern

extremity of the continent, the Esquimaux dogs being not only

extremely like the gray wolves of the Arctic circle, in form and

color, but also nearly equaling them in size. The ‘dog has gen-

erally a shorter tail than the wolf, and carries it more frequently

curled over the hip, but the latter practice is not totally unknown

to the wolf. *-* * I have, however, seen a family of wolves

playing together, occasionally carry their tail curled upwards.”

e Hare Indian dog is also supposed to be a domesticated

race of the prairie dog, as shown by tap following extract from

Richardson’ s Fauna Boreali-American

Great Bear lake and the banks of the Mackenzie. Itis used by

them solely in the chase, being too small to be useful as a beast of

burden or draught.” Itis smaller than the prairie wolf. “On com-

paring live specimens I could detect no marked difference in form

(except the smallness of its cranium), nor in fineness of the fur,

1 The second voyage of Master Martin Frobisher, 1577. se by Master Dio-

nise Settle, Hakluyt, Vol. 111, new edition, London, 1810, p. 6

898 General Notes. [September,

and arrangement of its spots of color. * * * It in fact, bears

the same relation to the prairie wolf that the Esquimaux dog does

to the great gray wolf.”

Another variety of Indian dog is Richardson’s Canis familiaris

var. D. novecaledonie, Carrier Indian dog. The Attnah or Car-

rier Indians of New Caledonia possess a variety of dog which

differs from the other northern races. “It was the size of a large

turnspit dog and had somewhat of the same form of body; but

it had straight legs, and its erect ears gave it a different physiog-

nomy.”

The spitz dog, Mr. J. A. Allen informs us, is with little doubt a

domesticated subarctic variety of the prairie wolf.

Sir John Richardson in the Appendix to Back’s Narrative,

Paris, 1836, p. 256, remarks: “ Indeed, the wolves and the domes-

tic dogs of the fur countries are so like each other, that it is not

. easy to distinguish them ata small distance; the want of strength

and courage of the former being the principal difference. The

offspring of the wolf and Indian dog are prolific, and are prized

by the voyagers as beasts of draught, being stronger than the

ordinary dog.” i

The origin of the ordinary Indian dog of North America is

obscure, but Richardson, who names it Canis familiaris var. C.

canadensis, North American dog, throws much light on its origin :

“ By the above title I wish to designate the kind of dog which

is most generally cultivated by the native tribes of Canada, and

the Hudson Bay countries. Itis intermediate in size and form

between the two preceding varieties, and by those who consider

the domestic races of dog to be derived from wild animals, this

might be termed the offspring of a cross between the prairie and

gray wolves. * * * The fur of the North American dog is simi-

lar to that of the Eskimaux breed, and of the wolves. The pre-

vailing colors are black and gray, mixed with white. Some of

them are entirely black. * * *” H

1885. ] Lvdlogy. 899

followed them at the heeles ; but wee retired vnto our boate with-

out any hurt at all received.” (The voyage of the ship called the

Marigold of M. Hill of Redrise vnto Cape Breton and beyond to

the latitude of 44 degrees and an half, 1593, written by Richard

Fisher Master Hilles man of Redriffe. Hacluyt, 111, 239.)

It is probably this variety, the bones of which have been found

by Dr. J. Wyman, in the shell heaps of Casco bay, Maine.

“The presence of the bones of the dog might be accounted

for on the score of its being a domesticated animal, but the fact

that they were not only found mingled with those of the edible

kinds, but like them were broken up, suggests the probability of

their having been used as food. We have not seen it mentioned,

however, by any of the earlier writers, that such was the case

along the coast, though it appears to have been otherwise with re-

gard to some of the interior tribes, as the Hurons. With them,

game being scarce, “ venison was a luxury found only at feasts,

and dog flesh was in high esteem.” * * * A whole left half

of the lower jaw of a wolf was found at Mount Desert, measur-

ing 7.5 inches in length, making a strong contrast in size witha

similar half from a dog found at Crouch’s cove. This was more

_ curved, and had a length of a little less than five inches.” (AMER.

Nar., 1, 576, Jan. 1868.)

It is possible that the Newfoundland dog was indigenous on

that island, and also an offshoot of the gray wolf, allied to the

Eskimo, In their “ Newfoundland,” Messrs Hatton and Harvey

Say that there are few fine specimens of the world-renowned

“ Newfoundland dog” to be met with now in the island from

which it derived its name. “ The origin of this fine breed is lost

ound in Labrador, and specimens are also to be met with in

Newfoundland,” Pp. 194-195.

i Regar ding the dogs of the Mexican Indians, Nadaillac says in

his Prehistoric America: “The European dog, our faithful com-

VOL. XIX.—No. Ix. 59

900 General Notes. {September,

panion, also appears to have been a stranger to them? His place

was very inadequately filled by the coyote,” or prairie wolf, which

they art in captivity and had succeeded in taming to a certain

exten

i a recent visit to Mexico, not only along the railroads, but in

the course of a stage ride of about five hundred miles through pro-

vincial Mexico, from Saltillo to San Miguel, we were struck by

the resemblance of the dogs to the coyote ; there can be little doubt

but that they are the descendants of a race which sprang from

the partly tamed coyote of the ancient Mexican Indians. At one

village, Montezuma, we saw a hairless or Carib dog as we sup-

posed it to be; similar dogs are sometimes seen in the United

States.

Finally that the domestic dog and gray as well as the prairie

wolf will hybridize has been well established.

` Dr. Coues has observed hybrids between the coyote and domes-

tic dog on the Upper Missouri (see the AMERICAN NATURALIST,

1873, p. 385). To this we may add our own observations made

at Fort Claggett on the Upper Missouri in June, 1877. We then

were much struck by the wolf-like appearance of the dogs about

an encampment of Crow Indians, as well as the fort; they were

of the size and color of the coyote, but less hairy and with a less

bushy tail. They were much like those lately observed in Mex-

ico, and I have never seen such dogs elsewhere. Their color was

a whitish tawny, like that of the Eskimo dog.

Confirmatory of these observations is the following note by J. L.

Wortman in the report of the Geological Survey of Indiana for

1884: “ During extended travel in Western U.S. my experience

has been the er: > that recorded by Dr. Coues. It is by no

means uncomm o find mongrel dogs among many of the

Western Indian thet notably among Umatillas, Bannocks, Sho-

shones, Arrapahoes, Crows, Sioux, which to one familiar with the

orth physiognomy and habits of the coyote, have every appear-

of blood relationship, if not, in many cases, this animal itself

ee a fate of semi-domestication. The free inter-breeding of these

animals, with a perfectly fertile product, has been so often repeated

to me by thoroughly reliable authorities and whose opportunities

for observation were ample, that I feel perfectly willing to accept

Dr. Coues’ statemen

To these statements may be added. that of Mr. Milton P.

‘Certain kinds of dogs were, however, eceip age in America. They were

called Xu/os in Nicaragua, 7zomes in Yucatan, and Techichis in Mexico. These

_ were considered to afford very delicate food after having been castrated and

_ 3 Canis latrans Baird. In a description of bis pg! a. in 1649, we read:

The wolf of oo is "ate dog of the wood Indians had no other curs

. ve ongst them. They ats mai ade domestic. They go in

; in T e night to to hunt deer, which they do as well as the best pack of

1885.] Zoblogy. gor

Pierce, published in Forest and Stream for June 25, 1885, as fol-

lows: “ Hybrid wolves have always been very common along

our Western frontiers. I have seen several of them, sired both by

dogs and wolves, and all I have seen have resembled wolves rather

than dogs.” It is to be hoped that our mammalogists may col-

lect and examine this subject, particularly the skulls and skins of

numerous specimens both of dogs and wolves and of the hybrids

between them. Farther observations are also needed as to the

fertility of the hybrids—A. S. Packard.

ZOOLOGICAL News.—General—-MM. G. Pouchet and T. de

Guerne have examined the organisms taken by net in the Baltic,

in 1884, by the Prince of Monaco. The region fished over ex-

tended from 54° 590’ N. lat., at 14° 48’ long. W. of Paris, to the

end of the Gulf of Finland. It seems that the pelagic fauna of

this gulf resembles that of the great lakes of Europe, as made

known by Forel, Lilljeborg, and others. Certain species of

Cladocera are very common, and, as in the lakes, are attacked by

parasitic cryptogams. Numerous Infusoria and rotifers of the

enus Anuræa augment the resemblance to the fauna ef the

Scandinavian lakes. The central basin of the Baltic offers char-

acters transitional between those of fresh and salt water.

Sponges. —Mr. H. I. Carter (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist, Febru-

ary, March and April, 1885), describes numerous new species of

sponges from the neighborhood of Port Philip Heads, South

Australia, and also contributes a note upon the mode of circula-

tion in the Spongida.

Celenterates—Professor Allman recently read before the

innzan Society descriptions of thirty-eight new species of hy-:

droids, belonging to twelve genera. The plumularian genus

Podocladium is very remarkable, not onl by the possession of

both fixed and movable nematophores, but by the fact that every

hydrocladium is supported on a cylindrical jointed peduncle.

Thuiaria heteromorpha combines upon one hydrophyton no less

than three morphological types, yet Mr. Allman regards the

generic position as determined by the one which most decidedly

prevails in it.

Mollusks—M. Lacaze Duthiers has instituted a comparison be-

tween the ordinary slugs and the genus Testacella. Especially he

has compared the nervous systems and traced out the homologies _

of the nerves. In the slug the rudimentary mantle is situated

upon the back, while Testacella carries its small shell and under-

lying mantle on the under side of its posterior extremity, yet the

innervation of these parts is the same. The Testacella is not a

vegetable eater, but searches for and devours worms by following

them into their holes, and M. Lacaze Duthiers believes it to be a

slug gradually altered and transmitting its altered characters by

redity.—W, E. Hoyle (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist, March,

902 General Notes, [September,

1885) gives the diagnoses of twenty species of Cephalopoda col-

lected during the cruise of the Challenger. The new kinds are

Octopus verrucasus, the minute hectocotylus of which is present,

O. boscil, var. pallida, O. australis, O. hongkongensis O. tonganus,

hectocotylus present, O. vitiensis, O. duplex, and four other species

of Octopus besides O. januarii, Steenstrup M.S. ; Eledone rotunda

and Æ. brevis, Fapatella (nov. gen.) prismatica and diaphana ;

Cirrolentha magna, meangensis, and pacifica, and Amphobrebus

pelagicus, nov. gen, et sp.——Mr. A. H. Cooke republishes, with

additions and corrections, a list of the testaceous mollusks ob-

tained by R. MacAndrew in the Gulf of Suez. Of nineteen

species of Cypræa found, nine occur at the Sandwich islands, six

in Japan, eight in Australia and five at Natal, and of seven

species of Triton two are common to the Sandwich islands, two

to Japan and one to Australia.

Crustacea —E. J. Miers (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., January, 1885)

gives a synopsis of the species of Micippa and Paramicippa. He

allows six species of the former genus (M. cristata, mascarenica,

philyré, spinosa, curtispina, and thalia), all of which seem to be

restricted to the shallower waters of the Indo-Pacific, yar —

n the

the littoral decapodous Crustacea of the Black sea. The num-

ber of Pontic decapods has been increased by twenty, thus reach-

ing forty-eight species. The author arrrives at some interesting

conclusions as to genealogy. The nine different stages of the

metamorphosis of Carcinus are, he says, a repetition of its gene-

alogy ; all three species of Astacus found in the Ponto-caspian

fauna are maritime forms which have immigrated into sweet

-~ water, and even Astacus pachypus of the mountain lake Abrau is

e remainder of a maritime fauna, so also Thelphusa, which has

gigantic representatives in the South Caspian. Æriphia spinifrons

and Carcinas menas reach a very large size on the shores of the

Crimea and at Odessa. While most crabs reach their fullest de-

velopment only in very salt and warm water, others reach the

same size under reverse conditions. The decapods of the Sea of

Azov have not yet been explored.

Fishes —Professor Fritsch has been induced by the examina-

tion of the peculiar flap-like appendages of Lophius to search for

_ corresponding peculiarities in the nervous system, peculiarities

which he soon discovered in the medulla oblongata. On the

posterior side of the medulla, quite superficially situated, he

found a group of huge ganglion-cells, such as had hitherto only

been found in Malapterurus. While the latter fish had but two

such cells, Lophius had a larger number.

1885.] Embryology. 903

Reptiles and Batrachians—G. A. Boulenger gives a list of

thirty-one reptiles and sixteen batrachians from the province of

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, collected by Dr. H. von Ihering. The

new species are Enyalius theringii, and Liolemus occipitalis

(Lacertilia), and Coronetta theringit.

EMBRYOLOGY.

ON THE AVAILABILITY OF EMBRYOLOGICAL CHARACTERS IN THE

F o

est major subdivision of the Endocyemate subphylum em-

braces forms in which the ovum is invested by a zona radiata,

external to which comes an additional investment of albuminous

matter secreted by the oviduct, this albuminous envelope being

usually in turn covered by a fibrous membrane immediately over-

laid by a porous, more or less calcareous shell, also secreted by

the oviduct. Chalazæ are often developed. The cleavage is par-

tial, the germinal matter, as a rule, forms but an insignificant part

of the whole ovum, and is aggregated at one pole of the latter as

a blastodisk. The blastodermic vesicle is developed from the

blastodisk by epiboly upon the vitelline mass, which is finally in- -

cluded so as to occupy a ventral position in the vesicle. Devel-

opment is at most viviparous only during the very earliest stages

or while the ovum is passing through the oviducts, or more or

less entirely oviparous, or quite ovoviparous. The allantois is

greatly developed, but never associated in the development of a

true placenta, though it is usually respiratory in function.

Under this definition the three following groups seem to be

appropriately included:

a. Ova buried in the earth or sand by the parent, and left to be

incubated by the heat of the sun. Some species ovovivipa-

rous. Reptilia. :

ő. Ova incubated by the parent in a nest specially constructed

for the purpose. Aves.

c. Ova incubated by parent in an abdominal marsupium or in

a nest at the end of a burrow. Recently hatched young nour-

ished by the parent for a time upon milk secreted by mammary

glands. No functional uterus. Ornithodelphia.

It may also be noted that with group å the distinctly warm-

blooded series of the Chordata begins. The relatively high tem-

P _rature of the body of the adult plays an important part in incu-

“tion or in accelerating metabolism in the embryo. .The pre-

c*ding three groups, on account of the many features of resem-

“ance and reptilian traits possessed in common (group c being

! Edited by JoHN A Ryper, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

904 General Notes. | September,

phylum embraces the eutherian type, or the viviparous Mamma-

lia, in which the ovum is invested only by a zona radiata. The

ovum also becomes more or less covered over by reflections of

the uterine epithelium, or processes from the surface of the ovum

are received into furrows or pits of the mucous surface of the

uterine cavity, in which embryonic development proceeds more

or less nearly to completion, and where the developing embryo

acquires nourishment after the manner of a parasitic organism.

The cleavage of the egg is total, and leads to the formation of a

hollow, rapidly-enlarging, blastodermic vesicle or blastula, in

which no vitelline matter or deutoplasm lies free in the ventral

pole or yolk sack. This group is characterized by its viviparity,

the development of a placenta and the possession of a functional

uterus; it has obviously descended from one of the preceding

groups which had ova provided with a large yolk, the yolk hav-

ing gradually atrophied or failed to develop as the peculiar vivip-

arous mode of development became more and more pronounced.

. a, The lowest division of the Eutheria would be separated

from the highest, on embryological grounds, by the circumstance

that the vascular system of the foetus is brought into relation with

the maternal vessels by means of the vessels of the yolk sack

(Owen, Osborn). Or by means of pseudopodal processes of the

cells forming the yolk sack, Phascolarctos (Caldwell). Allantois

more or less rudimentary. Didelphia.

6. In the highest division of the Eutheria the vascular system

of the foetus is brought into relation with the maternal vessels by

means of the allantois, which is concerned in forming a villous or

spongy vascular mass known as the placenta. Monodelphia.

In the present state of our knowledge it seems premature to

i attempt a definition of the orders of the Monodelphia upon the

-basis of placental characters alone, as the following scheme seems-

to show. It is difficult, however, not to believe that the non-

allantois invests the whole embryo. In this succession the orders

of the Monodelphia will therefore be here arranged as nearly as

possible :

aa. Placenta non-deciduate, diffuse or cotyledonary. Cetacea,

Sirenia, Ungulata.

_ 66, Placenta non-deciduate, diffuse (Manis); or non-deciduate ?

early zonary (Orycteropus); or non-deciduate, zonary (Dasypus

vemcinctus) ; or deciduate discoidal (Dasypus sp., Cholcepus).

a deciduate, zonary. Carnivora, Proboscidea, Hyra-

1885.] Embryology. 905

dd, Placenta deciduate, discoidal or exceptionally non-decidu-

ate and diffuse as in the Lemuride. Rodentia, Insectivora, Chei-

roptera, Primates.

uch remains to be learned of the earliest stages of the forma-

tion of the placenta, especially in the Primates. In Talpa, Heape

has found a rudimentary “träger” or suspensor developed. In

some of the Rodentia the embryonic mass is precociously invag-

inated into the blastoccel, and the amniotic cavity is formed in

the most extraordinary manner, or by a sort of vacuolization or

accumulation of fluid (liquor amnii) in the midst of the mass of

undifferentiated embryonic cells. This occurs in Mus, Arvicola

and Cavia, according to Selenka. In these forms the blastodermic

vesicle also becomes adherent to the uterine epithelium at a very

early stage, and the suspensor is very markedly developed in the

three forms mentioned. The precocious invagination of the un-

differentiated embryonic mass of cells into the blastoccel leads, in

the Rodentia, to an apparent inversion of the embryonic layers.

These forms have therefore attained the most specialized mode of

development known amongst Mammalia, so that, judged by the

standard of embryology alone, they would rank higher than the

Primates.

The foregoing scheme illustrates in a very striking manner the

way in which complication after complication has been added to

the developing germ, starting with a simple blastula developed

by total cleavage in Branchiostoma ; the-next step in the progress

of embryonic specialization is that seen in the amphibian and mar-

sipobranchian embryo, in which a distinct neurenteric canal is also

developed, and in which the neurenteron is continued into the

enteric cavity, which itself traverses the segmented vitelline mass

longitudinally along its upper half. In the next grade of special-

ization, or that represented by the Ichthyes of this arrangement,

the vitellus remains unsegmented for a long time, and is practi-

cally excluded from sharing in the formation of the enteric walls,

but the embryo is sessile in the greater number of species em-

braced in this series, and while only a portion of the blastodermic

area leads to the differentiation of an embryo, no part of the ecto-

last is ever so folded off to form provisional organs such as the

go6 General Notes. | September,

` ever, there is a manifest tendency for that structure to increase

rapidly in size owing to the imbibition of fluid with which the

blastoccel becomes more and more distended, this increase in size

at the same time being aided by the division of the cells entering

into the formation of the walls of the blastoccel. The greater

part of the walls of this vesicle are finally metamorphosed by a

process of folding off and ingrowth of the embryo into the vesi-

cle by invagination, into a respiratory apparatus and secondary

system of envelopes, a portion of which also takes part more or

less extensively in the absorption of pabulum from the surround-

ing uterine surfaces which may be more or less completely re-

flected around the embryo and its vesicle, to be finally cast off at .

birth together with those parts of the vesicle derived from the

ectoblast, which are also deciduous. The vesicle also tends, with

a few exceptions, to thrust out hollow villi, which dip into pits in

the uterine mucosa. ese may arise locally or all over the ves-

icle, and reach their fullest development when the chorion has

been formed, when the greater part of the surface of the vesicle

acquires a shaggy covering of villi, into which vascular loops

from the allantois are insinuated, over a restricted area internally

or over its whole surface. These then become more or less com-

pletely insinuated into vascular uterine crypts into the constitu-

tion of which a decidua may or may not enter.

t will, I think, be obvious to any one, that if an oviparous

paratherian form were to have the eggs which it produces so

modified as to lose the shell, yolk and albuminous and fibrous

envelopes, leaving only the naked endocyemate ovum to be re-

tained near the outlet of the oviduct, the wall of which would

then become thickened so as to form a specialized uterine dilata-

tion, the conditions for a realization of the eutherian mode o

viviparous development would be present. In this way, no doubt,

the peculiarly specialized mode of mammalian development

arose.

Objections may be urged against the position I have assigned

to the Amphibia and Marsipobranchii as well as to the names

given to the groups, and to the stress laid upon the physiological

aspects of development and their importance not only in taxon-

omy but also in tracing the mode of the evolution of particular

grades of development. ;

The form of the placenta seems to depend upon several factors:

(1) The early or late attachment of the blastodermic vesicle to the

1885.] Fhysiology. 907

vitellus, lead, in certain cases, to very remarkable modifications

of embryonic development.

The foregoing scheme deals more especially with the evolution

of the various higher types of development, and if the way in

which these have grown out of the lower ones has been made a

little less obscure than hitherto, my object in writing this will have

been attained. The manner in which placentation has been modi-

fied is also a fruitful subject for farther investigation, not less so, in

fact, than the question as to how the amnion arose. The facts of

embryology tend to show that the amnion is the result, as stated

above, of the gradual invagination of the embryo into the blasto-

dermic vesicle. The invagination begins at the head end of the

embryo ; the amnion, as is well known, always developing its

first traces at ‘the cephalic end of the embryonic disk. It is also

probable that the cavity of the false amnion is the homologue of

the cleavage cavity of certain of the lower forms — ¥ohn A.

Ryder.

PHYSIOLOGY.

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF PeEpstn?.—Sundberg

has hit upon a method for preparing pepsin, which gives results

better than those obtained by Briicke’s method. .

Calves’ stomachs are taken, the pyloric portion removedand the

remainder of the mucous membrane carefully washed with water.

The superficial portion of the membrane is then scraped off with

a watch glass, and the substance thus obtained is ground up with

a weighed quantity of salt. Enough water is added to this to

make a saturated solution of salt. After standing 24-72 hours

this was filtered and the Na Cl removed by dialysis. The dialysed

liquid contained very little albumin and had a very powerful

peptic action. It was further purified by being kept at 40°C.

for some time to destroy the rennet ferment, and was then

allowed to digest itself for one or two weeks, until all the albumin

was converted into peptone. To this liquid chloride of calcium

and acid sodium phosphate were added, and the liquid made

' This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

*Zeitsch. f. physiol, Chemis. 9, 319. Sundberg.

908 | General Notes. [September,

tively. With tannic acid, mercuric chloride, iodine, platinum

chloride, and lead acetate it gave no albumin reaction whatever.

The only reagent that affected it was absolute alcohol. When

the pepsin solution was added to five or six times its volume of

alcohol a slight white precipitate occurred. This, when burnt on

platinum foil, gave the well-known odor of burning nitrogenous

matter. The author concludes, that while pepsin is a nitrogenous

body, it is not albuminous.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF BILE CAPILLARIES !.—

Miura has discovered a modification of the gold method by

which the bile capillaries can be stained, giving a simpler means for

their study than the method of artificial injection usually em-

ployed. Pieces of liver kept in Miiller’s liquid’ for two to five

days are washed in water for several hours, and then transferred

to a fifteen per cent solution of glucose for 2-3 hours. They are

then placed in a 0.1 to 0.2 per cent solution of the double chlo-

ride of gold and sodium for two or three days, and again placed

in the glucose solution and allowed to reduce for two or three

ys. Sections are cut by means of a freezing microtome.

Miura has endeavored to settle two questions by this method,

1. Do the Kupffer vacuoles really exist in the liver cells as the

beginning of the bile capillaries? His method gives no indica-,

tion at all of these vacuoles, and he infers that, as usually found,

they are artificial products caused by the pressure used in injec-

tion. 2. Have the bile capillaries walls? When their sections

were traced out he quite frequently found places in which the

broken ends of the capillaries projected beyond the cells, or where

they formed a bridge passing between two cells at a point where

they had been separated by the tracing needle. He concludes

from these appearances that the capillaries have walls of their own.

~ Tae Microscopic APPEARANCE OF STRIPED MuscLeE DURING

Contraction *— The author investigated the muscle when thrown

into maximal tetanus, and when the tetanus was not maxima

The muscle was stimulated by induction shocks and killed dur-

ing contraction by osmic acid or alcohol.

The muscle of maximal tetanus when thus treated showed cer-

tain bands (contraction bands) running across the fibers, repre-

senting, doubtless, Krause’s membrane of the resting muscle.

Between these contraction bands the fiber was swollen out, giving

a convex border. Examined by polarized light, the whole sub-

stance of the fiber is found to be doubly refracting. The contrac-

tion band representing Krause’s membrane undergoes no change

ce during contraction; it appears, in the author’s opinion, to play the

_ Passive part of giving a fixed support from the shortening. The

portions in between the contraction bands, also doubly refracting,

--1Virchow’s Archiv., 99-512. Dr. Miura.

*Du Bois Reymond ea 1885. S. 150. Dr. Nickolaides.

1885. ] Psychology. 909

represent the dim bands of the resting muscle, while the singly

refracting light bands of the resting muscle disappear completely

during maximal tetanus, being- absorbed apparently by the doubly

refracting substance of the dim band. When the tetanus was not

maximal some of the singly refracting substance was still found

in the contracted fiber.

The results given go to support Englemann’s theory of muscle

contraction, according to which the shortening of the contracted

fiber is owing to the absorption by imbibition of the singly re-

fracting substance of certain ultimate elements in the doubly re-

fracting substance, thus becoming spherical during the act and

decreasing in diameter.

PSYCHOLOGY.

Do MONKEYS INVARIABLY LEARN by EXPERIENCE ?—Some time

ago I read a statement to the effect that monkeys were unable to

learn by experience, a particular in which they were said to differ

from cats. The experiment suggested was to show the animal its

reflection in a mirror, and after a time to repeat the process and

: observe whether it would be deceived a second time. I have

never had the opportunity to try the experiment on monkeys,

though I am told, on tolerably good authority, that a monkey can

never Satisfy itself that there is not another monkey behind the

glass. But my acquaintance with cats is somewhat larger, and I

find that, after once thoroughly investigating the subject, a cat

which has reached an age of discretion takes no further interest in

its cwn reflection. The question in my mind is: if a monkey can-

not learn by experience, how can it learn? for it seems to me

that almost every means of learning can be reduced to some

form of experience, or to something that is practically the same

thing —W. H. Frost, Brown University.

in his brains. Heis very sagacious and knowing, and only

seems to lack the power of speech to show that sensible ideas run

through his head. He likes to leap from a stump into my arms

as I am on horseback, and go off with me at a full gallop. One

day a lot of pigs got out of their enclosure through a little hole

at the apex of an acute angle, or corner, of the fence. This angle

widened into the garden where the pigs were not tolerated. As

soon as “ Trip” saw them he went after them to get them out.

They fled before him into this angle and began, slowly, of course,

to make their way through. As soon as he saw them all within

the angle, he stopped before its widest opening—the base—and

intently watching, waited until the last one had crawled back —

into its proper enclosure. He seemed to understand that if he

made a dash at them they would turn around and rush back into

gto General Notes. [September,

the garden. As soon as they were all in he looked up with a

proud and pleased expression, as much as to say: “Isn’t that a

clever piece of strategy?” We all thought it was. But in num-

berless incidents of a similar nature “Trip” has proved himself

to be a dog of excellent sense and judgment—and often of “ rare

we ability.” — Charles Aldrich, Webster City, Iowa, Fuly I1,

1885. ;

Do THE LOWER ANIMALS SUFFER PAIN?—As bearing on this

question so often asked, we may quote the following statements

from Romanes’ “ Jelly-Fish, Star-Fish and Sea-Urchins ”: Before

any rational scruples can arise with regard to the vivisection of a

living organism, some reasonable ground must be shown for sup-

posing that the organism, besides being living, is also capable of

suffering. But no such reasonable ground can be shown in the

case of these low animals. We only know of such capability in

any case through the analogy based upon our own experience,

and, if we trust to this analogy, we must conclude that the ca-

pability in question vanishes long before we come to animals so

ow in the scale as the jelly-fish or star-fish. For within the

limits of our own organism we have direct evidence that the

nervous mechanisms, much more highly elaborated than any of

those which we are about to consider, are incapable of suffering.

us, for instance, when the nervous continuity of the spinal

cord is interrupted, so that a stimulus applied to the lower ex-

tremities is unable to pass upwards to the brain, the feet will be

actively drawn away from a source of irritation without the man

being conscious of any pain; the lower nervous centers in the

spinal cord respond to the stimulation, but they do so without

Jeeling the stimulus. In order to feel there must be conscious-

ness, and, so far as our evidence goes, it appears that conscious-

ness only arises when a nerve-center attains to some such e-

gree of complexity and elaboration as is to be met with in

the brain. Whether or not there isa dawning consciousness in

any nerve-centers considerably lower in the scale of nervous

evolution, is a question which we cannot answer; but we may be

quite certain that, if such is the case, the consciousness which 1s

present must be of a commensurately dim and unsuffering kind.

Consequently, even on this positive aspect of the question, we

may be quite sure that by the time we come to the jelly-fish—

where the object of the experiments in the first instance was to

obtain evidence of the very existence of nerve-tissue—all ques-

_ tions of pain must have vanished. Whatever opinions, therefore,

__ We may severally entertain on the vexed question of vivisection

as a whole, and with whatever feelings we may regard the “ blind

` fury ” who, in the person of the modern physiologist, “ comes

_ with the abhorred shears and slits the thin-spun life,” we should

be all agreed that in the case of these animals the life is so very thin-

pun that any suggesti stion of abhorrence is on the face of it absurd.

A e ae

1885.] Psychology. QII

PsycHiCAL REsEARCH.—The Society of Psychical Research

held its third general meeting April 24, in London, to hear the

address of Professor Balfour Stewart, F. R. S. This society was

founded by Professor Barrett, on the 5th of January, 1882, and

formally constituted on the 20th of February of the same year

with Professor Henry Sidgwick as president. At present the

membership is 586, A kindred society has been recently started

in America. Since its commencement the society has issued

eight parts of proceedings, and in 1884 commenced the publica-

tion of a journal. In the autumn of 1884 a report of the Com-

mittee on Theosophical Phenomena was issued for private circu-

lation only. A large number of slips has been printed

comprising a selection of the evidence collected in the various

departments of inquiry. The greatest liberality on the part of

members has enabled the society to do a great deal of printing.

Professor Stewart says: “To my mind the evidence already ad-

duced is such as to render highly probable the occasional pres-

ence amongst us of something which we may call thought-

transference, or more generally telepathy; but it is surely our

uty as a society to continue to accumulate evidence until

the existence of such a power cannot be controverted. We have

operations,

“It is no doubt quite conceivable that after a quantity of evi-

dence on some subject has been collected the result of its discus-

sion should prove that there is nothing in it worth inquiring into,

at least nothing new. But a definite settlement even of a nega-

tive character is not without its value, and this can only be

obtained as the result of an exhaustive discussion. On the other

hand it is conceivable that the result of such a discussion may be

the establishment of new facts eminently worthy of record, and

€ next generation of our society would greatly blame the pres-

ent if we decline to bring together, examine, and register the co-

temporaneous evidence, so as to fit it, if not for our own final

_ discussion, at least for that of those who shall come after us.”

Part vit contains the following papers :—

On the telepathic explanation of some so-called spiritualistic phenomena, by

Frederick W. H, Myers.

Abstract of the president’s opening address at the eleventh general meeting.

M. Richet’s Recent Researches in Thought Transference, by O. J. Lodge and

. ge.

The problems of Hypnotism, by Edmund Gurney.

Part vii contains :—

Automatic writing, by Frederick W. H. Myers.

ening address at the thirteenth general meeting by Professor Balfour Stewart.

‘

.gI2 General Notes. (September,

Notes on the evidence collected by the Society for Phantasms of the dead, by

Mrs. H. Sidgwick.

Hallucinations, by Edmund Gurney. . :

The calculus of probabilities applied to psychical research, by F. Y. Edgeworth.

ANTHROPOLOGY.'!

ANTHROPOLOGICAL PuBLIcATIoNS.—The Philosophic Grammar

of American Languages as set forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt,

with the translation of an unpublished memoir by him on the

American verb, by Daniel G. Brinton, A.M., M.D., professor of

ethnology and archeology at the American Academy of Sciences,

Philadelphia. (Read before the American Philosophical Society,

March 20, 1885. Philadelphia, McCalla & Stavely, pp. 50.)

The original MS. of the memoirs is in the Royal Library at

Berlin, whence Dr. Brinton obtained a copy. The fundamental

ideas of the Philosophical Grammar are these: “The diversity

of structure in languages is the necessary condition of the evolu-

tion of the human mind.” Historic grammar traces the forms of

a language ; comparative grammar extends the investigation over

many dialects or languages; philosophic grammar analyzes the

inmost nature of languages with reference to thought. It is con-

trary to the results of study that the monosyllabic, the holo-

phrastic and the inflectional languages. were developed one from

another. :

On some doubtful or intermediate Articulations ; an experi-

ment in phonetics, by Horatio Hale, Esq. London, Harrison &

. Sons., St. Martin’s place. 1845, pp. 243. (Reprinted from Journ.

Anthrop. Inst., Feb., 1885.) This essay discusses the mixing of

sounds of the same character, m, b w; d, ¿Z n,r, and seeks to

account for it. Three theories are proposed; careless utterance ;

slight anatomical modifications in the speaker; failure of the

listener to catch intermediate sounds. Mr. Hale in his paper

develops the latter view, There is no doubt, as we have shown

in another place, that the philologist must take into considera-

tion the ear and the eye of the receiver of language as well as

the vocal organs or the pen of the author. Furthermore, it will

be found that all unwritten languages are holophrastic by agglu-

tination or by incorporation, and that monosyllabism and inflec-.

writing. In the examples cited by Mr. Hale the difficulties are

remedied instantly, when the missionaries invent an alphabetic

ae a

_,. American Languages and why we should study them, an ad-

__ dress delivered before the Pennsylvania Historical Society, March

9, 1885, by Daniel G. Brinton, professor of ethnology and

archeology at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

(Reprinted from the Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog.) Philadel-

ia, Lippincott, 1885, pp. 23. In this essay the author main-

Edited by Professor OTIS T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D.C.

1885. | Anthropelogy. 913

tains that language is almost our only clue to the kinship of

American tribes; it discovers the motives of the customs, laws,

social life, superstitions and religions of the savages ; it discloses

the development of his arts ; it mirrors the re?ations of the sexes ;

it discloses the Indian’s psychology ; it is the handmaid of historic

study. Dr. Brinton closes his address with an earnest appeal for

the endowment of research in this direction.

Silex Tertiaires intentionellement Taillés, by G. de Mortillet,

L’ Homme, Paris, Mai, 1885, pp. 289-299, June, 252-262. Two

propositions are insisted on in this paper, to wit: The flints of

Thenay were wrought by means of fire, and the being who

wrought the flints of the Tortonian and the Aquitaine epoch was

not man, but an intelligent animal. This animal, more intelli-

gent than the most intelligent recent apes, could not have been

man like us, for all the higher animals have been modified since

the middle Tertiary. That creature was intermediate between man

and ape, a precursor of man. M. Mortillet has always given us

great pleasure by the energy of his convictions, but in this paper,

as in others lately published, there is a spitefulness which mars

their effect. It looks very much like dodging the issues when we

follow a man like De Quatrefages to the very brink of a conclu-

sion and then shrink back, saying, “ The geologists tell us man

could not have lived in that time.” See also an account of new

diggings at Thenay by D’Ault-Dumesnil. Materiaux, xix. 241.

Remarks on chipped stone implements, by F. W. Putnam.

(From the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Salem Press.) This

communication, made in June 29, 1883, has just appeared, and, if it

were not too late to scold, we might complain from absolute

knowledge that the author has not told us all he knows about the

Subject. It is to be hoped that he will put the same nicety of

analysis into his technical as into his archeological papers.

Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi valley, by William H.

Holmes. (From the Proceedings of the Davenport Academy.)

Washington, Judd & Detweiler. The splendid collection o

mound-pottery at Davenport is well known. Mr. Holmes sig-

nalized three pottery areas; Upper Mississippi, Middle Missis-

sippi, and Lower Mississippi, or Gulf. The great body of the

Davenport pottery is from the middle province, and of this there

ae typical regions. The description of Mr. Holmes covers the

finding, age, use, construction, material, color, form, finish,

ornamentation. As an artist Mr. Holmes lays himself out on

the form and ornamental patterns. Believing with Klemm that

every art commences with a natural object, the author has worked

out by means of the Davenport pottery the shapes of the vessels

and the figures traced upon them.

Prehistoric Dogs, by M. Zabarowski, Materiaux, June, 18835, p.

263. From the commencement, or at least the middle of the

Quaternary epoch, before any possible effort at domestication, the

gI4 General Notes. [September,

dog possessed varieties passing irregularly with crossing of char-

acteristics between the wolves, jackals and foxes. If it can be

shown that these varieties were in part expanded over the globe

before the intervention of man, it will be settled that it is vain to

make the domestic dog-descent from this or that related species.

H. de Charencey. De la conjugaison dans les langues de la

famille Maya Quichée. (Extraits du Muséon.) Louvain. The nat-

uralist and the philologist in their classifications accept the same

criterium of perfection, it is the principal of the /ocalization of

Junctions. The idiom which best distinguishes grammatical cate-

gories, not confounding, for example the noun with the verb, has

preéminence. In the study of this subject of differentiation we

ve to examine a language in every particular, great progress

being made in one direction, and that ofttimes from outside influ-

ences, while the greatest simplicity remains in other particulars.

M. Charencey regards monosyllabism as the simplest linguistic

form, while agglomeration and inflection are subsequent stages.

It seems to be nearer to the truth that monosyllabism and inflec-

tion are literary effects in Speech both referable to earlier forms,

perhaps agglutinative. M. Charencey devotes 130 pages to the

discussion of the method in which the Maya language provides

for the parts of the verb as known in the French languages.

Bulletin of the Brookville Society of Natural History, No. 1,

published by the society. Richmond, J. M. Coe, pp. 45. Mr. E.

R. Quick describes the stone mounds on the Whitewater.

Archeological Institute of America. Sixth annual report,

1884-85, presented at the annual meeting of the council of the

institute, Boston, May 9, 1885. Cambridge, John Wilson & Son,

pp. 48. Among the regulations adopted October 11, 1884, some

are of general interest, as for example: i

1. The Archæological Institute consists of a number of affili-

ated societies.

: Mexico. The remainder of the pamphlet is given to a recital of

~ the institute’s successes at Assos and in its school of classical

studies at Ath

~ a Notice of some recently discovered effigy mounds, by T. H.

Lewis, from Science, No. 106, 1885. Mr. Lewis has surveyed

twenty-five effigy mounds in Minnesota, one in Iowa and ninety-

1885. | Anthropology. 915

six in Wisconsin. Those from Minnesota are illustrated and

more fully described.

The American Antiquarian, Vol. vir, No. 3, May, 1885. This

number both in its original articles, excepting Mr. Butler’s, which

ought never to have been written, and in its notes is far above

the average. The original papers are as follows:

Stone graves—the work of the Indians, by Cyrus Thomas (third paper).

The oe god of the Algonkins in his character as a cheat and a liar, by Daniel G,

rinton.

Earth and shell mounds on the Atlantic coast of Florida, by Andrew E. Douglass.

The sacrificial stone ot San Juan Teotihuacan, by Amos W., Butler.

The Khitan Languages; The Aztec and its migrations, by John

Campbell, M.A., Montreal. The purpose of this paper is to con-

nect the Aztecs of Mexico with the Khitans of ancient Syria, the

salient modern piers being Japanese, Siberian, Caucasian, Basque.

Laws of phonetic change in the Khitan languages, by the

same.

Chief George H. M. Johnson, Onwanonsyshon; his life and

works among the Six Nations, by Horatio Hale. (Reprint from

Mag. Am. Hist., Feb., 1885). With portrait, 131-142. Says Mr.

Hale: “ This eminent Mohawk chief did more perhaps than any

other individual of our time for the elevation and advancement of

his kindred of the red race.”

Tue Furcians.—The average height of twenty men of the

Tekeenika or Yaghan race, from Orange bay, was found by M.

Hyades to be 1.576 meters, that of twenty females 1.478 meters,

a difference of nearly ten centimeters in favor of the men. e

tallest man reached 1.660 meters, and the tallest woman 1.577

meters. Although the inhabitants of this district are few in

number, the size of the families seems to show that they are not

diminishing. The Yaghans of the Beagle river number some

800, and have for neighbors, at the extremity of Beagle strait,

the race of the Oxa, living in the mainland of Terra del Fuego,

is race is friendly with the Tekeenika, but those who were

seen fled the presence of the white man. The Ona are, says M.

Hahn, as tall as, or taller than the Patagonians, Five entire

bodies (preserved in alcohol) are in the collection brought to

Paris by the Romanche. These are publicly exhibited by casts,

-and a hundred casts taken from life, representing every part of °

the body of individuals of both sexes and all ages, are either

exposed publicly, or retained as a special collection open only

to naturalists and physicians. Numerous photographs taken

m every point of view, some of them representing the natives

engaged in the various occupations of their simple life, add value

to the collection. Every female of two years of age and upward

wears the machakana, a small triangular piece of guanaco skin,

ed around the haunches with a plaited band of whalebone

very Fuegian carries also a mantle, which is but a sim-

VOL. XIX.—NO. IX. 6o

916 General Notes. [September,

ple skin of otter, seal or guanaco, imperfectly serving as a protec-

tion from cold. Bracelets, necklaces of shell, etc., are also worn

by the women ; and the men often wear a band of feathers or

down, usually of Bernicla antarctica. The only cutting instru-

ment of the Fuegians is a knife of the Mytilus shell fastened to a

stone handle with shreds of sealskin. The fishing lines, made of

the stems of Macrocystis pyrifera, or of whalebone fibers, end in

a running knot furnished with a hook made from a feather. - Fire

is obtained by striking together two pieces of pyrites, and with

the spark enkindling a mixture of the down of birds and fine

scrapings from Berberis or Drimys. These scrapings are used

also as sponges or napkins.

MICROSCOPY .'

Some Histotocicat Metuops sy Dr. C. S. Minot [continued].

—Dripping apparatus for cutting under alcohol—We use the form

constructed by Dr. W.

W. Gannett, as shown in

the sketch. A liter bot-

tle is convenient in size;

the height of the stand

should be such as to

bring the end of the

dripping tube about one ~

inch above the blade of

the microtome knife, on

which the alcohol is al-

flow, an eighth inch

Fic, 1.—Dripping apparatus. be the most convenient.

Benzole—I find replaces xylol perfectly and is much pE

Balsam.—Use filtered Canada balsam diluted with pure ben-

zole.

Alcohol—I never use absolute alcohol. I have never found ay

use for which alcohol of ninety-six per cent is not sufficient, cn

have employed it for many mon successfully for which absolu

` alcohol was stated to be necessary. E

Oil—for microtome. After many trials of various oils, we ha

settled on “ pure paraffine oil, specific gravity 25.

_ Paraffine—1, Hard commercial paraffine melting at 55°-56° C.

2. Soft “ chewing-gum ” paraffine melting at 50°. ay

_ Twenty parts of 1 + nine parts of 2 makes a good nn ure,

melting about 55°, and cutting well at 20 o_22° C., the ordinary

ture.

T T SE Acid Carmine, —Boil one gramme best powdered oe

with 200 c.c. of water, plus an excess of picric acid, for ha

Edited n Dr. C. O. >. Warran, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

1885.] Microscopy. 917

hour. Allow it to stand and cool; decant the clear fluid, add

fresh water, and if necessary picric acid; boil, cool and decant ;

repeat this operation until all the carmine is dissolved. Place the

decanted fluid in an evaporating dish, add about one grain thymol

and stand in a warm place until the volume is reduced to 25 c.c.;

- let the solution cool; filter; wash out the residue which should be

on the filter with 25 c.c. water; dilute the filtrate solution with

50 c.c. water. By this means a solution ready for use, which will

keep indefinitely and contains capo and picric acid in good

proportions, can be prepared with certainty.

It gives a stronger differential coloring than Ranvier’s picric

carmine, but overstaining must be avoided most carefully ; for

staining sections two to five minutes are sufficient. The fluid

stains connective tissues (fibrous) deep red, striped muscle deep

, dull red, smooth muscle, blood and horny tissues bright yellow,

glands reddish-yellow ; with the kidney it gives differentiation of

the different portions of the tubules; for the central nervous sys-

tem it seems to be of little value. If rightly used it gives a sharp

nuclear colorin

If the aqueous solution is evaporated to dryness the residue

may be redissolved in alcohol, giving an alcoholic carmine dye.

This I have not yet tested sufficiently. Apparently the alcoholic

solution will not keep but a few months. The alcoholic solubil-

ity of the dye offers the advantage that sections stained in the

watery solution can be washed in alcohol directly.

A new WATER-BATH.—The following is a description of a

water-bath planned

by Mr. E. A. Andrews ca

and myself, which has

been in use for some

time in the serra, igh

laboratory of

Johns Hopkins Uni-

versity,

e bath proper

consists of a closed

MEPS

round, flat-bottomed i

basins, eight inches Fic. 1.—Surface view of the bath ni the table. 1,

in diameter and four vaa with lid on » 2 shelf = Moles for dishes in

inches deep, with a ; 3, open basins, 4, rectangular basins for slides ;

distance

5 myn for gas sates "6, hole for regulator; 7, hole for

of two inch- thermometer.

918 General Notes. [September,

es between the nearest points of any two basins ; and nearer the

edge of the top, at the angles between the round basins, are four

rectangular basins each five inches long, three and a half inches

wide and two inches deep. In each of the large basins is

placed, on movable supports, a shelf for the paraffine cups.

This shelf is made

El aan

Z-

from the circular

piece of copper

which was cut out

SFT.BIN.

SS N

k--------- 1/5 [Noman

. m. M

LSS)

hole, a half inch in

YY diameter, near this

for a thermometer.

Wr = PØ When the bath is

Fic. 2.—Diagrammatic section to show the depth of the RT regulated ar

bath and its basins, and its relation to the table. The legs thermometer can 0:

of the table, of course, extend from the top of the box, not course be dispensed

from the lower shelf of the table, as indicated above, and with and the hole

they are at the corners of the table. a the lid a bé

plugged up with a cork. By this arrangement the paraffine

dishes are always kept dry and at a uniform temperature all

over. e four rectangular basins are used for warming the

slides. In each of them is a movable rack made of two tin slips,

each about a half inch wide and folded as shown in Fig. 3. Each

of these basins also has a copper lid

with a button handle in the middle.

Near the center of the bath a tube

one inch in diameter passes from the

ae top down to and through the bottom.

Fic. 3.—Supports for slidesin This tube is the passage way for the

per crate “we glass tube that connects the burner

under the bath with the gas jet above the center of the bath, and

it should be soldered to the upper side as well as to the under

side of the bottom of the bath. Near this tube are two others,

each one inch in diameter, that project about one anda half inches

above the upper surface of the bath, but are soldered with their

< lower ends flush with the under side of the top of the bath. One

rough them the water is put in or taken out

1885.] Microscopy. 919

which it is supported on the copper tube. A bit of cotton in the

bottom of the test tube protects the mercury bulb of the regu-

lator or thermometer from any jars against the hard test tube.

The holes in the sides of the test tube allow the water of the bath

to come in direct contact with the mercury bulbs and at the same

time they are up high enough to keep the mercury from running

into the bath should either of the mercury bulbs break while in

the tube. The copper bath is supported ina square box-table,

the top of the bath being flush with that of the table.

This table essentially is a box on four legs, with a hole in the

top slightly more than twenty-eight inches in diameter, and with

a door at one end. The bath is supported on four props that rest

on the lower shelf of the table, and around the inside of the table

is a lining of common tin to protect against possible accident.

By this means a steady flame is obtained and the loss of heat is

reduced toa minimum. And by grouping the regulator, ther-

moméetor and gas pipe near the center of the bath, hindrances are

practically done away with. There is also connected with the

gas jet a small home-made glass Bunsen burner that is attached

to the glass gas tube a little above the bath. It is very con-

venient for warming dip tubes, lifters, etc. In so large a bath as

this two flames are required, but both are burned very low. The

one burner is connected directly with the gas jet and the other by

way of the regulator. After the bath has, so to speak, been once

set it runs on uniformly and requires no attention. Itis regulated

by putting a thermometer through the hole in one of the lids into

the dry chamber and shutting off the regulator burner when the

chamber is warm enough. The temperature, as indicated by the

thermometer that dips into the water, is always a few degrees

higher than that of the dry chambers. When the thermometer

inthe water indicates a temperature of 60° C. the basins are

warm enough to keep the hardest grade of paraffine melted. The

whole stands at a convenient working height, about three feet

eight inches, and is very satisfactory—HHenry F. Nachtrieb, Fellow

Fohns Hopkins University,

SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE PREPARATION AND USE oF SERIES OF

SECTIONS IN ZootomicaL INstTRuCTION.—It is convenient to have

in the laboratory prepared series of certain types, so that the

student may supplement the information he has acquired from

920 General Notes. [September,

exceedingly convenient stain for such purposes, as it penetrates

an object of considerable size readily, and differentiates admirably.

Thus a Limax may be left in the fluid twenty-four hours, after-

ward washed in water and the excess of coloring matter removed

by seventy per cent alcohol before it is transferred to stronger

alcohol. Sections of tissues stain in the fluid in from two to three

minutes to two to three hours, according to the method of hard-

ening that has been adopted.

The fluid is prepared as follows: Rub up seven grammes of

cochineal with an equal quantity of burnt alum in a mortar, add

700 c.c. of water, and boil down to 400 c.c. Add a trace of carbolic

acid, and filter.

Bismarck brown in concentrated solution in water or seventy

per cent alcohol also stains well i” toto; there is no danger of

over-staining, as the excess of color is removed by alcohol. It is

particularly to be recommended where cartilaginous parts are to

be studied, or where the sections are to be photographed. [The

use of plates in which the sensitized surface is impregnated with

a weak solution of eosin (Jour. Roy. Mic. Soc., Dec., 1884, p.

is said to obviate the necessity of using special stains for photo-

graphic purposes. }

Schallibaum’s collodion and clove-oil mixture (one volume of

the former to three of the latter) is excellent for sticking the sec-

tions to the slide. Although it is possible by this method to

stain the sections on the slide in either watery or alcoholic media,

much time is saved, and on the whole more satisfactory results

obtained by staining the objects previously zz toto. The collodion

medium stains slightly in aniline colors, if staining on the slide

be resorted to. Sr

The study of a slide containing a large number of sections

may, in certain cases, be much facilitated by having a photograph

of the slide enlarged two or three times by means of an ordinary

view lens. Such an enlargement is frequently sufficient to indi-

cate where an organ appears or disappears in a series, and thus

to save time in the study of the individual sections.—Professor

R. Ramsay Wright, Toronto.

A CHEAP BELL-GLASS FOR THE LABORATORY TABLE.—Taking a

plain glass finger-bowl four or five inches wide and about two

_ inches deep, a handle may be prepared by gluing a three-quarter

inch cork to the bottom. Cat off the smaller end of the cork

smoothly and cover it with marine glue. If the end of the cork

is now heated over a spirit lamp until the glue takes fire, and the

-Cork is quickly pressed with its glue-covered end upon the cen-

_ ter of the bottom of the dish, you have a cork handle by which

you can lift the dish.— F.. A. Ryder.

_A SIMPLE METHOD OF INJECTING THE ARTERIES AND VEINS IN

ALL ANIMALS.—The principle involved in this method is that

1885.] Scientific News. Q21

by the use of two injecting fluids, òf different densities, one pass-

ing through the capillaries, the other arrested at the capillaries,

the whole vascular system may be injected from the aortic arch.

The application of the principle is as follows: (1) The animal

is immersed in tepid. water an

the heart is uncovered. (2) The

apex of the single ventricle, in the

case of an amphibian, or of the

left ventricle in the case of higher

animals is then laid widely open

and the blood allowed to flow

freely from the auriculo-ventri-

cular aperture (see # in the

figure). (3) A cannula is then

inserted a short distance into the

arterial bulb and the first ligature

is fastened around the nozzle.

kuaa icle, thus surrounding the Fic, 1.—Illustrating method of prepar-

auriculo-ventricular apertures, (4) ing the frog’s heart. V, ventricle; ZA,

An ordinary gelatine injecting left auricle; ø, auriculo-ventricular open-

mass, stained deep red or purple, 783 1¢ £ and se Z, first and second

mee ‘ igatures; C, cannula.

is in the meantime prepared.

When the body is thoroughly warmed, this mass is slowly in-

jected. As the second ligature is still loose, a quantity of blood

gradually followed by the gelatine issues from the auriculo-ven-

tricular opening. (5) When the gelatine begins to run pretty

clear, the second ligature is fastened and the syringe containing

gelatine is replaced by another containing a red plaster-of-paris

injecting mass. The latter drives the gelatine contained in the

arteries before it as far as the capillaries, thus completely filling

the venous system. When the gelatine is thoroughly cooled

the animal is ready for dissection. -

This method can be applied with considerable ease to all the

smaller animals, such as frogs, lizards and pigeons, in preparation

r class-work or investigation. Its advantages are numerous.

Among its disadvantages may be mentioned the fact that alcohol

cannot well be used as a preservative, because it dehydrates the

gelatine, causing it to shrink and break up the veins. This diffi-

culty is entirely obviated, however, by the use of Wicker-

Sheimer’s fluid, in which the injection remains perfect for an in-

definite time —Henry F. Osborn.

:0:——

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

—The Washburn Biological Survey of Kansas, says the

Kansas City Review, has for its object “to investigate the fauna

922 Scientific News. [September,

and flora of a State which, together with Indian territory, holds

the key to a more definite knowledge of the inter-relationship of

four great faunal regions.”

~ To the list of Kansas mammals as given by Professor M. V. B.

the north-eastern part of the State. Both are Southern species

and their occurrence in Kansas is a matter of some surprise. It

has also added to the State fauna the Georgian bat, and is able to

record, through the favor of Professor Snow, the little shrew,

Blarina parvula, from Western Kansas. It would call attention

also to the long lost black-footed ferret, or prairie dog-hunter, of

Western Kansas, whose rediscovery was recorded a few years

since by Dr. Coues, and would urge our collectors and hunters

to keep vigilant watch for it with a view to ascertaining its distri-

bution and abundance in the State. Does the distribution of this

ferret coincide with that of the prairie-dog? The survey is also

relations of this and other species of the animals of Kansas are

greatly desired. For some of our species the historical material

must be gathered at once, or it will never be fully known. Wi

birds, as already intimated, the survey is not concerned.

In reptiles, perhaps the most interesting discovery is’ that of a

second species of green snake, the slender green snake, Cyclophis

' estivus, an austroriparian species, collected by Colonel N. S.

Goss, at Neosho falls. Kansas is doubtless the northern limit

of this bright-hued, active Southern serpent. i

Of fishes the survey has made considerable collections, mainly

of smaller forms. Three species new to science have already

been described in its reports, and the pretty little zebra-fish of the

Rio Grande river, known until recently by Girard’s imperfect

description only, has been re-discovered and fully described from

Dr. L. Watson. The zebra-

in two days’ collecting last August.

, parasitic on the buffalo-fish, etc., proves to

1885. ] Scientific News. 923

be usually the. chestnut lamprey, and the material collected tends

to confirm the suspicion expressed by Jordan and Gilbert in their

“Synopsis of Fishes of North America” that this and the silvery

lamprey may be only varieties of one and the same species.

—At a late meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society, Dr.

Maddox read a paper, “An experiment on feeding some insects

a ‘comma’ bacillus, and also with another bacillus (Bact.

subtilis)” illustrating the subject by preparations exhibited under

the microscope.

Mr. Cheshire said that he must, in the first place, congratulate

Dr. Maddox on the time he had been able to keep his bees alive

in a state of isolation. They were not at all easy to keep so under

ordinary circumstances. He had tried himself some similar ex-

periments, and thought he had succeeded in infecting Musca vom-

ttorta ; but it might be well to remark that in one hive bee he had

found eight or ten distinct kinds of bacilli, one of which had a

distinct curvature. Amongst bee-keepers there used to be an idea

that the bees had no diseases, although there was one affecting the

larve, but directly a careful examination of the bees was made it

s was found that they were subject to a great many. One kind had

the curious effect of causing all the hairs to fall out, and on exam-

ining bees which were so affected he found them all to contain

large numbers of the short red bacillus. If any one intended to

experiment in these matters it might be useful to know that if the

bees were fed with food stained with aniline dyes very curious

effects were produced upon the internal organs. Differentiation

took place within the body, and when they came to dissect them

afterwards they would find it a very ‘great help.

— Among the new investigations started in the Department of

Agriculture, not the least important is one relating to economic

ornithology. This work has been begun as a branch of that of

the Division of Entomology, of which Professor C. V. Riley

t bas charge. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, a well-known ornithologist,

and secretary of the American Ornithologists’ Union, has been

appointed a special agent to take charge of this part of the divis-

tonal work. Dr. Merriam will make his headquarters at Sing

Sing, New York, until October 1st, and after that at Washington.

_ The scope of the investigation will cover the entire field of the

inter-relation of birds and agriculture, particularly from the ento-

mological standpoint. The inquiry will relate primarily to the

food-habits of birds, but will include also the collection of data

ing on the migration and geographical distribution of North

American species. In this last inquiry the department hopes to

_ have the cooperation of the American Ornithologists’ Union, Dr.

o erriam being in charge of the Committee on Migration for said

nion.

— An officer of the Italian navy (reports Mature) after a course

of four months’ instruction at the Zoological Station at Naples,

924 Scientific News, [September,

was attached to the corvette Vettor Pisani. After an absence of

five months the first consignment arrived—the product of deep-

sea work, of dredging and coast-fishery along the shores of

Gibraltar, Brazil, and Montevideo; a second collection still more.

extensive than the first was made during a voyage from Monte-

video to Cape Horn, and among the islands of the Patagonian

group. Other collections have been made on the Peruvian coast,

the Gallapagos islands, and from Panama; also animals from

small pools and rivers in Peru. Those from Peru comprise two

complete series of embryonic forms—one of a ray, the other of a

toad. The Vettor Pisani continued its course from Peru to the

Philippine islands and China. The results have been so satisfac-

tory that three other Italian naval officers were received at the

station, one of them being afterwards stationed at the mouth of

‘the Red sea, while another is collecting in the Mediterranean.

—Dr. W. J. Lewis draws attention to the importance in legal

cases (when it is often inpossible to determine whether certain

blood stains are human or animal), of the evidence to be derived

from a microscopic study of the hairs or textile fabrics of one

sort or another generally found entangled with the blood-stains

on a weapon that has been used in a murderous assault. He

illustrates the value of such evidence by reference to actual cases,

and points out the differences between human and animal hair, and

the distinguishing features of hair from those of the more com-

mon filaments which may be mistaken for it, such as the finer

fibers of jute, linen, silk and cotton. The characteristic distinc-

arrangement of the medullary cells; (3) The size, shape and

arrangement of the superficial cortical cells; (4) The size and

shape of the hair-shaft—Fournal of the Royal Microscopical

Society, Fune, 1885.

— The effects of the poison of the cobra de capello have been

studied, says Mature, by Herr Gnezda. The poison was obtained

in India by causing the snakes to bite into snails or mussels

wrapped in gutta-percha and filled with water. The watery solu-

tion thus obtained was reduced by evaporation. The poison De

longs to the class of propeptons. Different vertebrates susceptible

half an hour, pickerels after hans frogs later, then cats, =

lastly pigeons. Stronger doses hastened death. Dilutions an

the introduction of artificial respiration delayed death. The eget

affected the nerves, especially the central nervous system, and

idly any effect on the heart.

1885.] Scientific News. 925

— Prof. Robert von Schlagintweit, the eminent ethnographer

and geographer, died June 13th, in Giessen, at the age of 52

The name of the deceased is chiefly connected with the journey

of scientific investigation made by him in 1854-7, in Central India

and the Himalayas, in conjunction with his brothers Hermann

and Adolphus. The expedition was fitted out at the expense of

the King of Prussia and the British East India Company, and

added many important and interesting facts to our knowledge in

the domains of geography, meteorology, geology, and ethnology.

An account of the journey was published in English under the

title of “ Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia.”

Prof. Robert von Schlagintweit also traveled in North America,

and wrote several shorter works on his experiences there.

— Mr. Mellard Reade’s presidential address to the Liverpool

Geological Society has been reprinted in the form of a pamphlet

entitled “ Denudation of the two Americas.” The essay may be

regarded as a sequel to the address in which he discussed the

effects of chemical denudation as a geological agent. He insists

strongly on the importance of applying quantitative methods to

K the study of geological phenomena. In.the present paper he

calculates the amount of solid matter removed in river-water

from the surface of some of the principal river-basins of America.

Mr. Reade thinks that the matter which exists in chemical solu-

tion in river-water has more importance as a factor in the recon-

struction of the earth than is generally recognized by geologists.

—English Mechanic.

— Prof. C. V. Riley, entomologist of the United States De-

partment of Agriculture, has published Bulletin No. 8, with 46

pages on the periodical or seventeen-year Cicada, comprising an

account of Cicada septendecim and its tredecim, or thirteen-year

. race, with a chronology of all broods known. A circular has also

been issued by the Division, containing lists of localities where

these two races last appeared, and a request for information re-

garding the appearance of the insect during the past season.

Brood xx11 of Septendecim appeared in 1868, locally, in the fol-

lowing States: New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylva-

nia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware, Maryland, District of

Columbia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia.

Ridgway ; while Mr. W. H. Dall describes some Hydrocor-

O26. > Scientific News, [September,

allinze from Alaska and California, and Mr. Lester F. Ward enumer-

ates the plants added to the flora of Washington, from April 1,

1882, to April 1, 1884.

—It will be remembered that the Legislature of New York

made an appropriation of $18,000 for a course of free public in-

struction at the museum in human and comparative anatomy,

physiology and zodlogy, etc. The course having already proved

successful, funds have been promised, as we understand, to en-

large the museum by the addition of the rotunda planned in the

original designs for the entire building, by which a lecture hall

capable of seating 1200 persons may be built, with other rooms

for the display of collections, The museum authorities have

greatly strengthened the scientific corps by the appointment of

Mr. J. A. Allen, the eminent ornithologist, as an assistant in the

museum,

— Volume vi of the Monographs of the United States Geologi-

cal Survey is devoted to Professor W.M. Fontaine’s contributions

to the knowledge of the older Mesozoic flora of Virginia, bearing

date of 1883, but only recently distributed. The work is based

upon the results of several years’ diligent search in the older

Mesozoic strata of Virginia. It comprises 144 pages of descrip-

tion, and is illustrated with fifty-four plates, some of them reprints

of Emmons’ figures of Mesozoic plants from North Carolina.

— A new method of collecting rhizopods has been practiced by

Professor H. Blanc, who obtained material from the deep water

of Lake Geneva by lowering to the bottom a large St. Andrew's

cross, to the four extremities of which are attached pieces of very

thick glass. After three or four weeks this is raised to the sur-

face again, and the fine mud that has collected on the pieces of

glass removed with a brush.

— A new gutta-percha plant has been brought to the rfotice of

the French Academy (Nature, May 21), by E. Heckel, who sug-

_ gests that as a substitute for the /sonandra gutta Hooker, which

is threatening to disappear, Butyrospyrum parkii Kotschy, be used,

which possesses similar properties, and which is widely diffused

throughout equatorial Africa, between Upper Senegal and the

Nile basin. '

— A new genus of fleas described by W. Schimkewitsch, under

the name of Vermipsylla alakurt, has been found to infest cattle in

Turkestan, producing great debilitation, or even death. It was

observed in the greatest abundance during severe frosts. Origin-

ally it is nearly black, but when distended becomes white, with

_ Variegated bands (Zod/. Anzeiger, VIIL, p. 75). :

= _ —At the May 5th meeting of the London Zodlogical Society,

Mr. J. Bland Sutton read a paper on hypertrophy and its value in

evolution, in which he attempted to show that material changes

1885. ] Froceedings of Scientific Societies. 927

in structure might be the result of what was originally a patho-

logical condition. i

— At the same meeting Mr. E. T. Newton read a paper on the

remains of a gigantic bird (Gastornis plassent) from the English

Lower Eocene. The author observed, reports Vature, that these

fossils proved that in early Eocene times England was inhabited

by a race of birds which equaled in their proportions some of the

more massive forms of the New Zealand moas.

— Hon. J. D. Cox publishes in the Journal of the Royal Micro-

scopical Society for June an interesting article on the structure

of the diatom shell, in which he attempts to prove the actual

presence of films of silex, whose tenuity is so great that they are

not visible by ordinary transmitted light. _

— The Des Moines Academy of Science has issued the first

number of its Bulletin, which contains, besides an introductory

note, an article by R. E. Call, entitled a geographic catalogue of

the Unionidz of the Mississippi valley.

— Professor J. H. Whiteside, the zronaut, has presented to

Woodward’s Gardens a canary twenty-two years old. The bird

is sightless, songless and very feeble.

— We learn that Dr. Taschenberg, of Halle, is preparing a new

edition of the well-known Bibliotheca Zodlogica of Agassiz and

others,

— Dr. Franklin B. Hough died June 11th, 1885, aged 62. He

was for a while United States Commissioner of Forestry, and gave

much attention to that subject.

x 8 emer

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

April 28.—Mr. Morris stated his conviction that the swim-blad-

der in fishes was a degenerate organ, formerly of use, but now

without an important function. The fact that in embryonic states

928 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, [September,

it is connected with the cesophagus by a duct points to the idea

that it formerly performed, to some extent, the function of a lung.

The speaker believed that in previous ages fishes visited the land

in search of food much more frequently than now, and that an air-

breathing apparatus was developed by a pouching of the cesopha-

gus. When the increased number of predatory land animals

compelled fishes to confine themselves to water, this structure

degenerated.

A paper by Mr. W. S. Blatchley “On the genus Aphredoderus”

was presented for publication.

r. T. Meehan, in the Botanical Section, remarked on the pecu-

liarities of Mammillaria haydeni, and other allied species, the

ovaria of which remain buried between the closely appressed

walls of the mammz from April or May until just before the next

flowering season, when they stretch out to their full length in a

single night. As in this species the fruit is two inches long, and

bright red, the effect of its sudden appearance, which is certainly

due to elastic projection and not to growth, is very striking.

May 5.—Mr. Willcox stated that Florida sea-urchins were cov-

ered in March with shells, some of which contained living mol-

lusks. In January they were free from this covering. /udgur

perversus is embedded in the sand when spawning, and attaches

the smaller end of the egg-string, first protruded, to a stone below

her. When the entire string is liberated the portion last pro-

truded floats out with the tide. As only four or five capsules are

to be found in the mollusks at one time, the process of laying the

string probably occupies weeks, The speaker stated that he had

found specimens only three and a half inches long in the act of

spawning.

' Professor Heilprin exhibited a pebble from the yellow gravel

near Glassboro’, containing Scolthus linearis, This, which he

believed to be the first instance of the occurrence of the fossil in

New Jersey, pointed, as did other Silurian and Devonian fossils

collected in the same locality, to the origin of the deposits in the

eastern continental border. `

Mr. A. F. Gentry presented “A Review of the genus Phry-

nosoma.”

May 12.—Mr. Meehan presented the manuscript diary of Wm.

Bartram from 1802 to 1822. The migration of birds, dates of

blooming of spring flowers, etc., are carefully noted.

Professor Lewis exhibited specimens of fossil plants from the

new tunnel at Phcenixville. Some minute phyllopods were also.

_ described, The same beds were found in abundance in certain

_ beds at Gwynedd. ;

_ Professor Lewis also exhibited specimens of erythrite from -

Pheenixville, and of cuprite from Frankfort. The former has

never before been found in North America, and the latter is new

1885. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 929

Professor Heilprin called attention to the grouping, by Professor

Eugene Smith, of the phosphate beds discovered by the latter,

with the Jackson and Vicksburg deposits, as Oligocene. The

palzontological character of the beds was given, and the conclu-

sion drawn that there was a strong line of demarkation between

“A review of the genera and species of Mullidæ,” by E. A.

Hall and T. Z. McCaughan, was presented for publication.

May 19.—Professor Lewis announced the discovery of genthite

in the Lafayette soapstone quarry. ccurs in small, bright,

emerald-green crusts, showing the stalactitic structure character-

istic of the species. This discovery proves the presence of nickel

in the Pennsylvania serpentines.

Mr. Jos. Willcox stated that genthite had also been found at

Webster, N. C.

Dr. Leidy described a number of tape-worms of a new species

from a trout. The specimens were mature, measured from three

to eight inches in length, and contained eggs in the segments near

the head. The name Bothriocephalus cestus was proposed for it.

Mr. Potts stated that he had found a digestive cavity in the

hydroid without tentacles previously described by him, and had

seen it capture and swallow its food. he name Microhydra

ryderi was given to it; genus and species both new.

Miss Fielde stated that, as a high authority upon nerve tissue

had suggested that its reproduction in the earth-worms she had

experimented upon was simulated, and that such reproduction

was impossible, she had carefully examined the specimens, and

found the tissue to be real, and as sensitive as the primitive growth.

All the life processes were now performed as completely by the

worms which had been decapitated as by those which had not

been injured.

May 26.—Professor H. C. Lewis gave the result of his studies

of the extreme southern edge of the ice-sheet in Pennsylvania.

Certain short ridges of stratified drift, which often seemed to repre-

sent a backward drainage of the melting edge of the glacier, were

spoken of as marginal kames. The speaker then described kames,

eskers or osars, as studied in various parts of the world, and dis-

cussed the various theories of their origin. The kames are of

gravel, fine within, often coarse without, and boulders and till

often lie upon them. They contain no shells, and their courses

coincide with the general drainage of the country. These kames

seemed to be due to sub-glacial streams draining the edge of the

ice-sheet. When the terminal moraine rested against an upward

Slope this drainage was backward or into the ice. '

June 2—Mr. W. N. Lockington gave an account of the pro-

gress of European colonization in Africa, and the opposition to it

likely to be presented by the spread of Islamism.

Mr. Potts called attention to a curious fresh-water sponge which

930 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Sept, 1885.

occurs in the dry bottom lands of the Colorado, hanging from

branches of trees in districts which are flooded about six weeks

in the year. The species had previously only been found in the

rock cisterns of Bombay. It is Mayenia plumosa Carter.

CINCINNATI SOCIETY or NATURAL History.—July 7.—The fol-

lowing papers were read : “On a supposed fossil fungus from the

coal measures,” and “Obscure markings on rocks of Cincinnati

group,” by Professor Jos. F. James; “ Notes on Tertiary of Ala-

bama and Mississippi, with descriptions of new species,” and

“ Notes on rare or little known Tertiary fossils,” by T. H. Aldrich.

THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SoclETy.—American Fish-Culture

papers: 1. The giant clams of Puget sound, Professor R. E. C.

Stearns; 2. Hibernation of the black bass, James A. Henshall,

D.; 3. Smelt hatching, Fred. Mather; 4. The porpoise

APPALACHIAN Mountain Cus, April 8.—Mr. W. M. Davis

presented a paper on geographic evolution, illustrated by models;

r, Frederic Gardiner, Jr., gave an account of a horseback trip

in Northern Arizona with lantern illustrations of scenery on the

Navajo reservation and on Walnut cafion and the Grand canon

` of the Colorado.

PLATE XXXII

|(c

| SS ES SS SS

p a

NORTH.

Navajo Dry-paintings. The visit of the Prophet to the House of the Serpents.

eee

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. x1x.—OCTOBER, 1885.—No. 10.

MYTHIC DRY-PAINTINGS OF THE NAVAJOS.

BY DR. W. MATTHEWS.

DESIRE, in this article, to call the attention of ethnographers

to some pictures which are among the most transitory in the

history of human art. They are the work of the Navajo Indians,

a people who make no graven images of their gods, who do not

decorate skins or robes, who place no symbdls on their rude and

rarely-made pottery, and may be said to have no rock inscriptions,

A few slightly scratched sketches on the cliffs of Arizona and New

Mexico may, perhaps, be attributed to them; but the vast

Majority of carvings on stone in their country, and all of the

most permanent character, are the work of the sedentary races.

Seeing no evidence of a symbolic art among them, one might

readily be led to suppose that they possessed none. Such was

my opinion for two years after I had come to reside near them.

Such is the opinion of many white men, who have lived for

periods of from ten to twenty years among them.

During my residence of nearly four years in New Mexico I had

heard of these drawings through the less conservative Indians

and through a Mexican who had been many years captive among

them. But it was not until last November, when I made a spe-

cial journey to the Navajo country under the auspices of the

Bureau of Ethnology, that I obtained unrestricted access to the

medicine-lodge, saw the hieratic figures drawn, and was given

Permission to sketch them, much to the horror of the large

Majority of the assembled multitude.

The medicine-lodge, on the floor of which these pictures are

made, is a simple conical structure of logs in the shape of an

VOL, XIX.—No, X. 6r

932 Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. [October,

Indian skin tent. It is about twenty-five feet in diameter at the

base, internally, and about eight feet high under the apex. The only

apertures are a smgke-hole above and a door, communicating

through a short passage-way, in the east. The fire is built in the

center of the floor except when the pictures are being made, then

it is removed further to the east to make room for them. It is so

dark in the lodge that on a brief winter day the artists must begin

their work before sunrise if they would finish before night-fall

and this it is essential they should do.

When the call is sounded in the morning, several young men

go forth and bring in a quantity of dry sand in blankets; this is

thrown on the floor and spread out over a surface twelve feet or

more in diameter, to the depth of about three inches; it is leveled

and made smooth by means of the broad oaken battens used in

weaving.

The drawings are begun as much towards the center as the

design will permit, due regard being paid to the precedence of

the points of the compass; the figure in the east being begun

first, that in the south, second, that in the west, third, that in the

north, fourth. The figures in the periphery come after these.

The reason for working from within outwards is a practical one;

it is that the operators may not have to step over and thus risk the

safety of their finished work.

While the work is in progress the chief shaman does little

more than direct and criticise ; a dozen or more young men per-

form the manual labor, each working on a different part. These

assistants have had a certain ceremony of initiation performed

over them before they are admitted to the lodge or allowed to

help when these pictures are made; but they need not be skilled

medicine-men or even aspirants to the craft of the shaman. They

t nothing for their pains but their food, which, however, 15

abundant. Three times a day the person, for whose benefit the

dance is performed, sends in enough mush, corn-cake, soup and

roasted mutton to satisfy to the utmost the appetites of all in the

lodge. The shaman, or hathali (chanter or singer), as the Nava-

: S __ jos call him, gets a rich present for his services.

_ The pictures are drawn according to an exact system, except

_ in certain well-defined cases, where the limner is allowed to in-

_ dulge his fancy. -This is the case with the embroidered pouches

e gods carry at the waist (see Plate xxx). Within reasonable

1885.] Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. 933

limits the artist may give his god as handsome a pouch as he

wishes. On the other hand, some parts are measured by palms

and spans, and not a line of the sacred design can be varied in

them; straight and parallel lines are drawn on a tightened cord.

The pigments are five in number: they are black made of char-

coal; white, of white sandstone; yellow, of yellow sandstone;

red, of red sandstone, and “ blue,” of the black and white mixed

in proper proportions; all ground into fine powder between two

stones. The so-called blue is, of course, gray, but it is the only

inexpensive representative of the cerulean tint they can obtain,

and, combined with the other colors on the sandy floor, it looks

like a real blue. These colored powders are kept on improvised

trays of pine bark ; to apply them, the artist grasps a little in his

hand and allows it to flow out between the thumb and the op-

posed fingers. When he makes a mistake he does not brush

away the color, he obliterates it by pouring sand on it and then

draws the corrected design on the new surface.

The naked forms of the mythical figures are first drawn, and

then the clothing is put on. Even in the representations of the

Bitses-ninez, or long bodies, which are nine feet in length, the

naked body of each is first made in its appropriate color—white

for the east, blue for the south, yellow for the west, black for the

north—and then the four shirts are painted on as shown in the

picture (Plate xxx) from thigh to axilla.

It is the task of the shaman, when the work of painting is

completed, to put the corn-pollen, emblem of fecundity, on the

lips and breast of each divine form, and to set up the bounding

plume-sticks around the picture. Then the one who gives the

feast enters and is placed sitting on the form that belongs to the

east—the white form—and looking eastward. Here the colored

dust from various parts of the divine figures is taken and applied

to corresponding parts of the patient, and many other ceremonies

are performed, which it is not my purpose to relate here. When

the patient has departed many of the spectators pick up the corn-

Pollen, now rendered doubly sacred, and put it in their medicine-

bags. Some take dust from the figures on their moistened palms

and apply it to their own bodies. If the devotee has disease in

i his legs, he takes powder from the legs of the figures; if in his

head, he takes powder from the head, and so on.

By the time they are all done the picture is pretty badly

934 Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. [October,

marred. Then it becomes the duty of the shaman to completely’

obliterate it; this he does with a slender wand, while he sings the

song appropriate to this part of the ceremony. He begins with

the figure belonging to the east, the white figure, and proceeds in

the same order as was observed in making the picture, 2. e., in

accordance with the apparent daily course of the sun, The fig-

ures at the margin are erased last, and when this is being done

the bounding plume-sticks are knocked down. When no sem-

blance of the picture is left the assistants gather the sand in their

blankets, carry it to a little distance from the lodge and throw it

away. Thusin half an hour after the completion of a large pic-

ture, ten or twelve feet in diameter, which has taken a dozen men,

or more, eight or ten hours to construct, not a trace of it is left.

I have learned of seventeen great ceremonies of the Navajos,

in which pictures of this character are drawn, and I have heard

that there are, on an average, about four pictures to each dance.

This would give us about sixty-eight such designs known to the

medicine men of the tribe. But I learn that there are different

schools or guilds among the medicine men who draw the pictures

differently in some of the details, and that besides these seventeen

great ceremonies there are many minor rites, with their appro-

priate pictures; so the number of designs in the possession of

the tribe is probably much greater than that which I give.

The medicine-men aver that these pictures are transmitted from

teacher to pupil, in each guild and for each ceremony, unaltered

from year to year and from generation to generation. That such

is strictly the case I cannot believe. No permanent design is pre-

served for reference, and there is no final authority in the tribe,

The majority of the ceremonies can be performed only during the

months when the snakes are dormant. The pictures are there-

fore carried over, from winter to winter, in the fallible memories

of men. But I think it probable that innovations are uninten-

tional, and that any changes which may occur are wrought

slowly.

__. Out of this possible number of sixty-eight or more pictures I

_ have seen seven, colored copies of which will, I hope, appear in

some future report of the Bureau of Ethnology. The majority

are too intricate to be reproduced in a satisfactory manner from a

-wood-cut on a page of this size, I therefore present illustrations

f as two, and these of the simplest,

PLATE XXXIII.

piy

{ =|

M ann Il

eu q )

M VINI

il a ‘i |

| | A |

Navajo Dry-paintings. The Long Bodies.

| | | Hl

WAH Hi

1885.] Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. 935

The first four pictures in my collection are those of the Dsi/yidje

hathal, or chant among the mountains. This ceremony is also called

ilnasjingo hathal, or chant in the dark circle of branches, from

the great corral of piñon boughs in which it is performed. As

the public ceremonies of the last night are varied and interesting,

it is best known to the whites of all Navajo dances, and by our

people is commonly called the hoshkawn dance, from the partic-

ular performance of the night, which seems most to strike the

Caucasian fancy.

The whole ceremony is propitiatory to the Yéis, or gods of the

mountains ; but when the Navajo prophet, who learned these mys-

teries, was brought around by a friendly god from place to place

to be taught them, he was, on one occasion, brought into the

house of the serpents. Now the worship of the snakes and water

animals constitutes a separate dance, that of the hojoni hathal, or

chant of terrestrial beauty, with its own pictures and ceremonies ;

but to indicate that the prophet visited the snakes in his wander-

ings and saw a portion of their mysteries, this picture, represent-

ing the home of the serpents, is drawn (Plate xxx11).

In the center of the picture is a circular concavity about six

inches in diameter, intended to represent water. In all the other

pictures where water was represented, a small bowl, I observed,

was sunk in the ground and filled with water, which was after-

wards sprinkled with powdered charcoal to give the appearance

of a flat, dry surface. Closely surrounding the central depression

are four parallelograms, each about four inches wide and ten

inches long in the original pictures; the half nearer the center is

red, the other half is blue; they are bordered with narrow lines

of white. They appear in this and in some other pictures as

something on which the gods seem to stand, and symbolize the

sha'bitlol, or raft of sunbeams, the favorite vessels on which the

divine ones navigate the upper deep. Red is the color proper to

sunlight in their symbolism; but red and blue together represent

sunbeams in the morning and evening skies when they show an

alternation of red and biue. The sunbeam shafts, the halo and the

___ fainbow are painted in the same colors, but they differ in form—

the halo is a circle; the rainbow is curved and usually anthropo-

morphic, in Plate xxxii, however, it is plumed. External to

these sunbeam rafts, and represented as standing on them, are the

figures of eight serpents—two in the east, white; two in the

936 Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navazos. [October,

south, blue; two in the west, yellow, and two in the north, black.

They cross one another in pairs, forming four figures like the let-

ter X. In each X the snake which appears to be beneath is

made first, complete in every respect, and then the other snake is

drawn over it in conformity with their realistic laws of art before

referred to. The neck in all cases is blue, crossed with four bands

of red, which, in the snake-like forms run diagonally, but in the

man-like forms to be seen in other pictures, run transversely.

The V-shaped marks on the backs of the snakes represent mot-

tlings; the four marks at the end of each tail are for rattles. Ex-

ternal to these eight snakes are four more of much greater length

but colored to correspond with those already described. They

seem to follow one another around the picture in the direction of

the sun’s apparent course, and form a frame or boundary. In the

north-east is seen one of the Yeis, who accompanied the Navajo

prophet to the home of the snakes. In the extreme west is a

black circular figure representing the mountain of Dsilya-ithin,

whence they descended to visit the snakes. In the original picture

the mountain was in relief—which I have not attempted to con-

vey in my copy—a little mound of sand about ten or twelve

inches high. From the summit of the mountain to the middle of

the central waters is drawn a wide line in corn meal with four

footprints depicted at intervals; this represents the track of the

bear. Immediately south of the track is the figure of an animal

drawn in the gray pigment, this is the grizzly himself, symboliz-

ing the prophet.

_ During the journeys of the Navajo prophet before referred to,

he came one night in the Carrizo mountains to the home of the

_ four bear-gods (so runs the legend). They took from one corner

of their cave a great sheet of cloud, unrolled it and exhibited to

his view a picture. They told him that this picture must be

drawn by the Navajos in their ceremonies; but as men had not

the power of handling the clouds they should draw it on sand.

This picture, a very elaborate one, not illustrated in this article,

represents the Yeis of the cultivated plants. It shows the central

| waters and the sunbeam rafts as in the first picture. It has four

: opomorphic figures extending from the center to different

points of the compass, and highly conventionalized representa- —

ons of the four principal domestic plants of the Indians—corm,

ar Ta and tobacco. The whole is surrounded on three

1885. ] Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. 937

sides by the anthropomorphic rainbow. The body of the eastern

god is white; that of the southern, blue; that of the western, yel-

low ; that of the northern, black. l

Here is an appropriate occasion to speak of Navajo symbol-

ism in color. In all cases, as far as I could learn, the south is

represented by blue, the west by yellow, the upper world by

blue, the lower world by black and white in spots. Usually the

east is represented by white and the north by black; but some-

times these colors are interchanged and the north becomes white

while the east is black. The reasons for this change are too

lengthy to be discussed here.

It is related in the myth which accounts for these mysteries, that

this Navajo prophet, Dzz/’-yi-neyant, or Reared among the Moun-

tains, was once led by the gods to a dwelling called the Lodge of

Dew; it was built of dew-drops, and the door was made of many

plants of different kinds. They entered and found four goddesses

called Bitses-ninez or long bodies. The holy ones rose as the

strangers entered, and they were very tall. The plumes on their

heads almost touched the sky. They said to the prophet: “ In

the rites that you will teach your people when you return to

them, you will invoke us by drawing our pictures. We stand

here, one in the east, one in the south, one in the west and one in

the north; but when you draw the picture you must place us all

in the east.”

The third picture in the series (Plate xxxtt1) is supposed to be

made in accordance with these instructions. To indicate their

great height the figures are twice the length of any in the other

pictures, except the rainbow figures, and each is clothed in four

garments, one above another; for no one garment, they say, can

be made long enough to cover such giant forms. The form im-

mediately north of the center is done first, in white, and repre-

sents the east; that next to it, on the south, comes second in

order, is painted in blue and represents the south. The form next

below the latter is in yellow and depicts the goddess who stood

in the west of the house of dew-drops. The figure in the extreme

north is drawn last of all, in black, and belongs to the north. As

before stated, these bodies. are first made naked and afterwards

clothed. The exposed chests, arms and thighs display the colors

of which the entire bodies were originally composed. Some

small animal called the g/oi is sacred to these goddesses. Two of

938 Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. [ October,

these creatures are shown in the east, guarding the entrance to

the lodge. The appendages at the sides of the heads of the god-

desses represent the g/di-bichd, or head-dresses of g/oi skins of

different colors, which these mythic personages are said to wear.

Each one bears, attached to the right hand, a rattle, a charm and

a branch of choke-cherry in blossom (highly conventionalized).

Some other adjuncts of the picture—the red robes embroidered

with sunbeams, the forearms and legs clothed with clouds and

lightning, the pendants from wrists and elbows, the blue and red

armlets, bracelets and garters—are properties of nearly all the

anthropomorphic gods shown in these pictures. The rainbow

which encloses the group on three sides is not the anthropomor-

phic rainbow, it has no head, neck, arms or lower extremities.

Five white eagle-plumes adorn its south-eastern end; five tail-

plumes of some blue bird decorate the bend in the south-west;

the tail of the red-shafted flicker is near the bend in the north-

west, and the tail of the magpie terminates the north-eastern

extremity. Throughout the myth not only is the house of dew

spoken of as adorned with hangings and festoons of rainbows,

but nearly all the holy dwellings are thus embellished.

The fourth picture represents the Kaéso-yisthan, or great plumed

arrows. These arrows are the especial great mystery, the potent

healing charm of the dance. On the last night, many public

alilis (shows, dances) may be given—shows of all sorts of socie-

ties and bands, shows adopted from alien tribes. From dark to

dawn these continue around the great central fire and within the

dark fence of evergreen branches. All of these may be changed,

omitted, or have others substituted for them, except the dance of

_ the great plumed arrow, this cannot be left out.

The three paintings remaining to be described are those of the

kledji-hathal (chant of the night), or dance of the Yeibichai

(grand-uncle of the gods). They represent some of the visions

of another Navajo prophet named Sho. The myth recounting

__ his adventures is interesting, but too long to be related here. In

childhood and youth he showed signs of unusual wisdom. He

often told his immediate relations that he held converse with the

gods; but they doubted him until, as he grew older, he exhibited

such unquestionable evidence of second-sight that the most skep-

tical were convinced. On one of his rambles he saw what he

to be a small herd of big-horn or Rocky-mountain

1885.] Mythic Dry-Paintings of the Navajos. 939

sheep, and went in pursuit. Four times he waylaid them and

tried to shoot them, but each time when he drew his arrow to the

head it would not leave the string. Then he knew the sheep to

be divinities in disguise. He approached them; they threw off

their sheep-skin coverings and revealed themselves as the géaskidt

or gods of plenty. They bore Sho to their home, admitted him

to their sacred rites, taught him all their mysteries, and sent him

back to his people that he might teach the mysteries to man. All

his adventures and visions are embodied in the myths and rites

of the £/edjt-hathal. When his mission was done he was taken

back by the gods to dwell among them forever.

The form of the gdaskidi appears several times in the pictures.

It is represented as having sheep’s horns on the head, wearing a

crown of black clouds garnished with lightning and fringed with

sunbeams, bearing on the back a great sack made of the black

thunder-cloud (said to be filled with all sorts of edible seeds and

fruits), and leaning on a staff to indicate that the sack of plenty

isa heavy burthen. Various other important characters of the

Navajo mythology appear in these pictures.

One of the Yezdichai paintings delineates a very singular vision

or revelation of the prophet So. It is called the ¢szznadle, or

whirling sticks. On one occasion Sho was led by the gods to the

shores of a dark lake, on the borders of whick grew four stalks

of sacred corn, each of a different color. In the center of the

lake lay two logs, crossing one another at right angles; near the

two extremities of each sat a pair of Yeis, male and female, making

eight in all. On the shore of the lake stood four more Yers, three

of whom had staves, by means of which they kept the logs

whirling around with a constant motion, while the Yes sitting on

the logs sang songs which are still preserved in the multitudinous

chants of this rite under the name of fstznadle-bigin, or songs of

the whirling sticks. All the circumstances of this strange scene

are duly symbolized in the painting.

The two other pictures represent scenes in the dance of the

Yeibichai, as Sho witnessed it among the gods, and with some-

modifications they would make fair representations of the dance

as it is enacted by the Navajos to-day. The pictures are beauti-

ful, and appear of high interest when their symbolism is explained; *

but I have not space to describe them, and, as before stated, they

are too intricate to be suitably illustrated here.

940 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

(Continued from p. 857, September number.)

V. THe CONDITIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

HE greatest mystery of the universe is the mystery of con-

sciousness. That we can ever understand its innate nature

is not to be expected. The mind may measure everything out-

side itself, but it cannot measure itself. The eye sees everything

except the eye. There must always remain one thing unknown;

that to and by which everything else is known. But though the

nature of consciousness may be beyond our ken, its relations to

matter and the mind are not necessarily so. Some of these rela-

tions are apparent. Others are within the reach of conjecture.

We are therefore free to consider the mystery of consciousness

from this point of view.

The character of consciousness has undoubtedly been greatly

misapprehended, even by some very acute thinkers. It is cus-

tomary to talk and write as if consciousness and mind were iden-

tical, or as if the words thought and consciousness were synon-

ymous. It is, indeed, on this ground that the brain-mind theorists

have based their deductions. They find that the existence of

consciousness and the loss of brain force are closely related.

Thought bears heavily upon the nerve cells. They sink beneath

its pressure, lose their organization and yield energy, of which

there is no evident physical display. This energy, as is claimed,

is the element of consciousness, and its successive manifestations

constitute the mind. But this amounts to a distinct claim that

the consideration of the origin of consciousness involves that of

the whole mental constitution, and that thought and the conscious

perception of thought are one and the same thing; a hypothesis

which may safely be disputed. For the mind impresses us with

a sense of unity and continuity which certainly do not belong to

consciousness. Its thoughts continue to exist, whether or not we

_ are conscious of their existence. A thought may arise to our

mental perception to-morrow, another next year, a third only

, after a decade of years. But they are evidently the same thoughts

that we formerly knew. Their loss to sight has had no effect on

their persistent existence. The action of consciousness or men-

een is, in fact, singularly like that of the eye. We per-

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 941

ceive to-day a landscape which we saw twenty years ago. There

it has lain unchanged, all its salient points familiar to our sight,

though we may have since wandered over half the world. So

the eye of the mind wanders over a world of thoughts and sud-

denly perceives a mental landscape of which it lost sight twenty

years before. There it lies, far more unchanged even than the

physical landscape, for that has suffered innumerable changes,

while the mental picture has seemingly remained utterly free from

influences of change,

Whether consciousness is an energy in itself, or a forceless side

product of energy is a question that has been considerably de-

bated. Professor Huxley takes the latter view, and declares that

consciousness is not an agent in determining action, but is a col-

lateral result of the action. Professor Cope considers that “ con-

sciousness is not a necessary condition of energy,” though “ en-

ergy is a necessary condition of consciousness,”’ and differs from

Huxley in believing that consciousness exerts a directing influ-

ence over mental action. In respect to these views it is impor-

tant to observe that the mental operations which are generally

attended by consciousness are capable, in some cases, of proceed-

ing unconsciously. There are on record many striking instances

of the active operation of the mind during unconsciousness, or

while consciousness was elsewhere directed, important results of

reasoning being sometimes produced. There are few thinkers to

whom minor instances of this kind have not occurred. Such

cases would seem to prove that consciousness is not a necessary

element of thought, and therefore not a determining agent in

thought. On the other hand it must be remembered that such

mental processes never begin in unconsciousness, In every

‘ recorded case they have been trains of thought with which con-

Sciousness was at first actively concerned, and whose movement

has proceeded during a temporary lapse of consciousness, their

final results again rising into the realm of conscious thought.

Instances of this kind, however, are comparatively few, and seem

only to occur where the preliminary train of thought has been in-

tense, and the conscious attention close and active. This intense

activity seems to set in movement energies of the mind, which,

like a train of wheels set in motion by the hand, run on for some

time after the acting agent has been withdrawn, and only slowly

- TOn Catagenesis, AMERICAN NATURALIST, Oct., 1884.

942 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

sink into a state of rest. There is not a shred of evidence that

such mental movements ever take place without the preliminary

attendance of consciousness. They may possibly be produced in

a minor degree by less energetic consciousness, but in every case

they soon sink to rest, as friction brings wheels to rest when their

moving force is withdrawn. And the mind, no more than the

wheels, seems capable of starting into activity without the aid of

some directing agent.

There is nowhere in physical science evidence of the possible

existence of a side product of energy which is not itself an

energy. Motor energy varies in its mode of action, but every

variant has a force influence of its own. A current of electricity,

for instance, when resisted in its passage, here yields heat, there

light and there magnetism, but the electricity loses in vigor

with every such side expression, and the heat, light or magnetism

at once exert force. The flash of light which gleams out when

the electric current passes through the air, signifies a conversion

of part of the current into the vibratory motion of light. May

not the flash of consciousness which gleams out on the passage

of motor energy from brain to mind signify a like partial side

conversion of this energy? And if so it may possibly produce

effects of its own, calling the mental organism into activity, or

exerting some directing force upon the mental activities, as Pro-

fessor Cope holds.

Under the hypothesis here advanced, that the brain is not the

organ of the mind, but that there exists a distinct mental organism

separate from though intimately related to the brain, the condi-

tions of this organism must be closely analogous to those of all

organized masses. We may, therefore, compare the mental or-

ganism with the crystal of some mineral. The latter is persistent,

its internal relations of motion and attraction being in exact har-

mony. If undisturbed its internal conditions would remain un-

changed indefinitely. But the motor energies of the external

world penetrate the crystal and may disturb its organizing

motions, producing changes in the relations of its particles. So

a seed under conditions of isolation is a persistent organism, held

: __ intact by the harmony of its internal energies. Exposed to the

. inflow of external energy its organization changes. The insti-

: gating touch of such inflowing energy may set up long continu-

ing changes in the motor relations of the particles of the seed,

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 943

and cause important modifications in its constitution. These

cases seem closely analogous to what we know of the constitu-

tion of the mental organism, though the susceptibility of the lat-

ter to external influences is far greater. Yet it has a fixed organi-

zation through the harmony of its internal energies. It is ex-

posed to the inflow of external energies through the medium of

the brain. And its internal conditions change under the influence

of these inflowing energies. But at every resting stage of its

development it gains a stable condition of internal energies, which

remains persistent during the temporary absence of consciousness,

And consciousness appears to be a peculiar expression of the

motor energy which flows from the brain into the mind, The

nerve current appears to produce chemical disintegration in some

highly unstable element of the brain cells, as in the muscle cells,

The energy set free by this disintegration seems merely to inten-

sify without changing the character of the influence producing it,

It flows into the mental organism, and in so doing takes on the

special condition of consciousness, or manifests consciousness as

one of the effects of its intact with the mind. Its final effect,

however, is to impress the mind with a new motor state, which

directly or indirectly repeats the conditions of the instigating ex-

ternal energy.

If such be in any sense a correct conception of the character

and relations of the mental organism, certain other necessary

consequences follow. Not only does the mind receive energy

from the brain, but its innate energies affect the brain, and set up

disintegration in its cells like that produced by the nerve current.

And the energy produced by this disintegration flows out as a

nerve current over the motor nerves to the muscles, which it

rouses into activity.! Such is the two-fold relation of the mind

to external nature. But it has interrelations of its own. Thought

energies flow from part to part of the mental organism, and ideas

are evolved from their interconnection, much of the mental evo-

1 The indications are that external energy does not flow directly into the mind, nor

does mental energy flow outwards, In both cases an intermediate energy is used,

that set free by chemical change in the tissues of the brain, The inflowing nerve

current induces this change, and the mind is affected by the energy thus set free. In

like manner the mind does not emit energy, or only to the slight extent necessary for

inductive action. It exerts force on the brain cells, and induces a special emission

of nerve energy. It constantly receives, but it never yields its stores of motor en-

ergy. It resembles a land-locked lake, into which hundreds of streams flow, but to

- which there is no outlet,

944 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

lution taking place through the interchange and combination of

these internal energies. Yet the conditions of this activity seem `

identical with the other activities described. The mental organ-

ism has no more power of arbitrarily changing the relations of

its own energies than has a crystal. All such changes arise

through its connection with an external reservoir of energy, the

brain. The seeming movements of thought through the mind

are really actions of the energies of thought on the brain, the

release of brain energy, and the inflow of this energy into another

region of the mental organism. This mediation of the brain is

signified by the physiological change that takes place, and also

by the appearance of consciousness, a condition which seems only

existent during motor interconnection of the brain and the mental

organism.

We may reiterate here the fact that no organized mass—crys-

tal, seed, solar system or mind—is capable of setting up new

actions within itself, or arbitrarily instigating changes in its con-

ditions of motor equilibrium. Such an action would be quite

as impossible, if we may offer a homely illustration, as the old

problem of a man lifting himself ina tub. Organizing motions

cannot possibly change of themselves. Perturbations may arise

through their interaction, as between the bodies of the solar sys-

tem, but not permanent changes. And by the very conditions of

their existence they resist change. All permanent change must

come from the inflow and action of external energy, and it will

be resisted to a degree in accordance with the rigidity of the

organism. In the crystal, for instance, the resistance is vigorous.

In the mind it is much less so, and varies extremely in minds of

different degrees of development. If all mental change was pro-

duced by external impulse, then the brain might be its organ.

But the existence of internal mental change renders this impossi-

ble. Such change can only take place under the instigation of

external energy, and the brain is the source of this energy. The

thoughts which seem to flow from region to region of the mind,

evidently do so through the intermedium of the brain, since all

activity of thought is attended with chemical change in the brain

_ cells, And the energy thus yielded is the active agent in the new

_ idea formed. It would seem as if every rapport between brain

and mind instigated oxidation in the brain cells, the energy

yie oat. none, to the Panas, or to another region of the mind,

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 945

over the brain fibers, on the same principle as external energy

penetrates to the mind over these fibers, In this view the mental

organism has a space extension, equivalent to that of the cere-

brum, and each region bears a relation like that of external

nature to every other region.

The vividness of consciousness seems closely related to the

degree of disturbance which it produces in the conditions of the

mental organism. Energetic sensory impressions seldom fail to

arouse consciousness, even if the mind is otherwise active. Less

energetic ones may fail under such conditions. It is not unusual

to discover that impressions have been unconsciously received

during a period of mental abstraction. Possibly the movement

of thought processes during unconsciousness is due to the small

volume of energy engaged. An important fact, in this connec-

tion, is that unusual impressions arouse the consciousness more

quickly and vividly than usual ones, The mind seems to become

dulled to a sensation when it has become habituated to it. With

every repetition of any special current of energy it seems to

create less disturbance in the mind. This may be partly due, if

the sensation is one to which immediate motor response is requi-

site, to the drafting off of part of the energy to the muscles, But

even where this is not the case, and the impression is made

wholly on the mind, its intensity diminishes with repetition, while

all unusual sensations at once arouse active consciouness, Usual

ones can only regain their original intensity of influence by

an increase in their vigor. It would appear as if the vividness of

consciousness depended upon the degree of change produced by

a sensation in the mental conditions, and that each habitual sen-

Sation found accordant mental conditions, and therefore feebly

affected the mind, while every new one produced a degree of

change in accordance with its degree of rarity.

There is good reason to believe that every sensation that

reaches the mind, however frequently repeated, is capable of

awaking consciousness, and that only the completely reflex men-

tal currents are absolutely unconscious. Thus certain tastes and

Sounds may be received with full consciousness an indefinite num-

ber of times. Yet with this rule the other holds good that an

unfamiliar sensation most vividly arouses consciousness, and that

all sensations less sharply affect the attention as they grow famil-

iar. In all cases of the kind in which a sensation is seemingly

our

946 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

received unconsciously, this is due to the activity of the attention

in some other direction. But if the attention is disengaged, every

sensation may produce consciousness, no matter how familiar a

visitant it may be to the mind.

The fact that when the mind is actively conscious in one direc-

tion it may be unconscious of the operation of important move-

ments previously set up within its organism, or of the reception

of new sensations, seems to indicate that the volume of conscious-

ness which may exist at any one time is limited. It may sink

below this volume, even to complete disappearance during inac-

tivity of the brain, but it cannot rise above it. And the variations

in the distribution of this volume of consciousness are of the

utmost interest and importance. Now it seems to diffuse itself,

and a broad field of the mind is perceived, the central ideas in the

field of vision being clear, while others crowd more faintly in,

like dimly-seem objects which crowd in at the sides of the eye.

Now it becomes concentrated, and only a few, or perhaps only a

single idea is very vividly perceived if the powers of inward vision

are acting with energy. And while, as a rule, sensations arrest

the attention much more vividly than thoughts, this does not

always hold. In some cases of mental diversion the most vivid

sensations pass unperceived.

This phenomenon of concentrated vision, as applied to the

mind, has very important consequences. For the mind is utterly

inactive except when energized by consciousness, and only that

portion of it is active which is so energized. And as the activity

of the mind governs the movements of the body, it follows that

our voluntary actions, of whatever kind, are controlled, not by

the mind as a whole, but by that portion of it which is active.

This undeniable principle produces certain strange and important

consequences. Ordinarily a certain number of our ideas are

active, and particularly those deep-lying and firmly-based mental

impressions and hereditary mental conditions which, acting to-

gether, constitute what we call judgment, or common sense. But

there are several normal and some abnormal states in which this

condition is changed.

One of these is in the case of strong emotion. As an earnest

- desire fixes the eye intently upon some single object, and causes

eye and mind alike to ignore what lies beyond this object, while

the movements of the body are in response to the desire; so

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 9047

an energetic emotion fixes the eye of the mind upon some single

thought, while all the remaining conditions of the mind fade and

vanish from sight. In such a case judgment or reason no longer

governs our actions, for the group of mental conditions which

constitutes these faculties is dormant. In deep grief the person

affected yields utterly to his sorrow, and cannot be aroused from

his depression. In intense fear no powers of reason remain to

control the movements. In violent anger only the*idea of revenge

upon the object of that anger may remain. The furious man is,

in a certain sense, irresponsible. His mind is an arrow moved by

a single string. It discharges itself upon the obnoxious object,

for there is no controlling force to restrain it. It is only when

the paroxysm of emotion has passed away, and consciousness

again spreads its revealing vision over the broad field of the mind,

that other mental conditions spring into action, and deep remorse.

may follow an impulsive deed which was committed while all the

Springs of reason were dried up by the consuming heat of pas-

sion. As to the question whether a person is morally responsi-

ble for acts committed in such a state, it can only be answered,

that every person is under moral obligation to bring his emotions

under the control of his reason. The habit of unchecked indul-

gence in emotion or passion may lead to as serious consequences

as the formation of any other bad habit. :

A second normal mode of mental concentration, utterly differ-

ing from the above, is that known as reverie. In this the con-

sciousness is not fixed upon one thought. It wanders freely from

thought to thought, and its partial concentration is a result of in-

activity instead of emotional energy. The mind is closed against

impressions from without, and is also closed against the great

mass of its internal stores, from the simple inactivity of con-

sciousness. The circulation becomes sluggish. The waste of

brain tissue is decreased. Only a slight degree of nerve energy

flows into the mind, and only a few of its countless store of ideas-

are aroused to activity. And the consciousness is not concen-

trated upon these. “It flows freely over the links of association.

The dreaming state is merely an intensification of this state of

revery. Now the circulation is reduced to its lowest point. Ex-

terior impressions, except they be very violent or very unusual,

fail to affect the mind. The inner store of ideas is alike inactive.

In its extreme state this produces dreamless sleep. But in a less

VOL. XIX.— NO. X. 62

948 . The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

extreme case the mind is partially active. Some oxygen visits the

brain. The wasted nerve tissue is being reproduced. Conditions

arise in which oxygenation feebly takes place, and the free energy

of the nerve cell is given off. These conditions may arise under the

influence of some impressions upon the nerves of sense, or under

that of some intimate connection between a locality of the mind

and a reorganized region of the brain. In either case a slight

degree of energy flows into the mind, so slight that only a very

limited field of thought becomes active. The results are very

striking. These few active thoughts form our whole mental

world. There is no force of exterior sensation or of interior

judgment to control them. The most absurd conceptions seem

to us to be actual facts. Its most vivid perceptions are in every

case facts to the mind. Ordinarily these are sensations of out-

ward objects. But where sensation is at rest the dominant idea

assumes the appearance of an external reality. And where judg-

ment is at rest the incongruity of an idea with actual facts may

remain unperceived, though even in dreams absurdity becomes

apparent, as though the judgment were partly aroused.

There are other characteristics of the mental organism which

aid in assimilating it to physical organisms. It impresses us as if

subject to variations of temperature. Its emotional states lead to

the conception of hot or cold states, and the effects which they

produce are very interesting. Thus fear or terror impresses us

as a chill of the mental organism. And its effects are singularly

like those of cold on the body. The latter when chilled becomes

sluggish, dull, torpid, strongly predisposed to sleep. Intense fear

_ in animals yields similar effects. They grow paralyzed, as it were,

torpid or inactive in condition, and probably with dulled sensibil-

ity to pain and a general inactivity of consciousness. The condi-

tion of the seemingly charmed bird is probably of this character.’

On the other hand passion is a state of heat. Its effect is to in-

‘stigate excessive activity, violent movements, vivid consciousness.

_ 1 Fear, alarm, terror, horror, in their major degrees at least, frequently paralyze

: all power of self-preservative action, creating a dangerous immobility o of body, with

3 ar may beget stupidity or mental

n leading Seon or useless action. ” Lindsay’s Mind in the Lower

mals, 11, 235- '

1885. | The Relations of Mind and Matter. 949

Between the extreme states we have the condition of pleasure, in

which the mind seems gently warmed, and of gloom or depres-

sion, in which it seems similarly chilled.1 The reasoning power

is most efficient in calm states, when the temperature is normal.

Then consciousness is diffused and its vision extended. In the

other conditions it becomes more concentrated, until, in extreme

heat or chill, a single idea or feeling dominates the mind.

We have not space here to consider the more aberrant condi-

tions of mentality, such as somnambulism, hypnotism, insanity,

&c., and the various strange phenomena which attend injury to

the brain. None of them are incongruous with the idea that the

mind is a distinct organism, and the brain its instrument of activ-

ity. Nor can we consider the many interesting relations of

thought to thought or memory to memory, and the interaction of

memories which lie at the basis of the evolution of ideas. Many

of these are highly interesting and peculiar, yet there is nothing

_in them inconsistent with the hypothesis we have advanced. It

will suffice to say that no thought ever calls up another unless

they are directly or indirectly related, or associated in time or

place of reception. It may be said, however, that our ideas differ

i widely in their degree of fixity in the mind and influence over its

movements. Below all, as the basis of the organism, lie a series

of deeply-based hereditary conditions, gained during ages of

mental development. These are very persistent, and strongly

resist warping influences. And the effort to perform any action

inconsistent with them is vigorously resisted, even though we

may be very faintly conscious of the source of the resistance.

The mental development obtained during youth is also deeply

based, and actively resists the warping influence of later impres-

sions. The later the impression in date of reception the less

firmly does it seem implanted, as if these late impressions were

but slight and superficial affections of the more deep-laid early

Stages of development.

1 “Tn certain animals there is occasionally a ae ‘wildness of joy,’ great inten-

sity of mental excitement from pleasurable emotions. Thus Darwin speaks of the

‘ madness of delight’ in a stickleback, meaning, no doubt, exhuberance of joy, or

_ uncontrollable animal spirits.” Ibid, 11, 233-

Thus strong pleasure seems to produce general activity of mind and body, w

deep. grief or depression from any cause produces sluggishness and inactivity of con-

Sciousness, just the effects which would naturally flow from states of heat or chill in

a physical organism,

950 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

In this connection a consideration of great importance and in-

terest arises. It is certainly a singular fact that in the very exact

/transmission to the germ of minute features in the physical organ-

ization of the parent, the mental organization is never transmitted

except in its basic characteristics. Every organ of the body is

reproduced, with all its powers inherent. The cerebrum is repro-

duced and develops in company with the other organs. The fact

that these organs are functionally copies of those of the parent

proves that the reproduction is not only of material form but of

the parental motor conditions. . This equally applies to the cere-

brum, whose motor conditions should fully reappear in its devel-

opment. Yet if these motor conditions are the powers of the

mind they certainly do not reappear. In every individual a new

mind has to be built up. The body, cerebrum and all, may attain

its full development and the mind remain in its germinal state.

Evidently it is a constituent of the individual alone, and not a

something that may be hereditarily transmitted. The character of

the cerebrum limits and controls the extent and direction of the

„mental development, and imposes certain hereditary characteristics

-n its primary phases of unfoldment, but not a trace of the spe-

-cial mentality of the parents reappears in the child. This indi-

cates that the mind is the property of the individual alone, in

whose life it is developed, and whom it may survive. The whole

physical frame, including the cerebrum, is represented in the

germ, but the mental organism is never transmitted. This is cer-

tainly a fact of high significance. :

_.. The condition of emotion is one that seems analogous to con-

ditions existing in every organism. It appears to be a state of

heat or cold, strong passion, for instance, being an intensely

heated state, and deep fear a state of shuddering chill. The mind

has also its attractions and repulsions, and these seem to be

closely concerned with its activities. Very many of our move-

_ ments are directly due to drawings in some direction or towards

some object, or repulsions from some object. The motives which

| our movements are very frequently motives of attraction

ee or distaste, and with these motives some degree of the emotional

state usually exists, a slight warmth in the case of attraction and

chill i in the case of repulsion. Possibly some condition of these

ies is concerned in the changing relations of the mind to the

and may be the motor influence by which contact is effected,

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter, 951

energy set free and consciousness called into existence. In this

connection attention may be called to Mr. J. S. Lambard’s experi-

ments on heat conditions during mental action. He found that

emotion had far more influence than thought in this direction. A

few minutes self-recitation of emotional poetry yielded more heat `

than several hours of deep thought. In the latter case the energy

set free seems to have been employed in mind development. If

the poetry was spoken less heat appeared. Here energy was

used in muscle movement.

The considerations here taken in regard to the conditions of

consciousness, and the relations of energy to the mental organism,

seem to lead to the conclusion that every organized mass, when

its internal relations become disturbed by the inflow of discordant

external energies, must feel some influence more or less closely

allied to consciousness. But if the vividness of consciousness

in any sense depends upon the mobility: of the organism, and

the extent of the disturbance produced in its internal condi-

tions, then it may pass through many degrees of unfoldment,

from an excessively vague and generalized effect to the

sharply specialized condition of human consciousness. In

every case there is resistance to change. But ina rigid crys-

tal the resistance is very great, while in a mobile mind it may be

excessively slight, and disturbance of conditions be produced by

influences of the utmost delicacy. It must be borne in mind,

however, that in man consciousness accompanies action of energy

on the mental organism only. Action upon the muscles, though

yielding equal disturbance, is never attended by consciousness.

us the peculiar conditions of substance which occur in the

mental organism may be absolute requisites to this effect. It is

also requisite to consciousness that the inflowing energies shall

act only to modify the motor conditions of organization, not to

produce disintegration, or to disseminate themselves as goien

ized motions.

With the lowest animals consciousness must be exceedingly

vague and inactive. Their sensitiveness is undeveloped, their

sense organs in embryo, the conditions to which they are exposed

nearly unvarying. Most of their actions must be reflex. Yet

some feeling of every new mode of impression must be expe-

rienced, and this feeling attends and perhaps aids in every step of

upward evolution. The frequency and activity of consciousness

952 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [October,

increases as we ascend in the animal scale. And what was once

conscious condition falls steadily back into the realm of the un-

conscious, as higher stages of this activity arise. Yet even in

lower man consciousness is dull in action and limited in range as

compared with civilized man. Customary actions and thoughts

tend to lose all sharpness of conscious definition, and the cus-

tomary rules far more supremely in lower men and in the brute

realm than in the world of civilization.

By this dulling of customary sensations consciousness is con-

~ Stantly set free for superior labors. It is actively exerted in get-

ting a firm grasp on every new condition presented to it. But

this once gained, attention is set free and reaches outward and

upward. The new acquisition sinks deep into the mind, to be

recalled at intervals, and perhaps in time to become a constituent

part of the mental constitution. In the case of the child learning

to walk, for instance, consciousness is vividly concentrated upon

its efforts. But the movement once gained the attention is set

free for devotion to other things, and the motion of walking may

finally be performed unconsciously. Numerous other instances

of this kind might be adduced, leading up to that often quoted

and extraordinary one of the nearly or quite unconscious action

of the fingers of the pianist.

In regard to mental labors the same rule applies. We are con-

stantly exercised in observing new facts, imagining new condi-

tions, forming new ideas, Each addition to our mental stores

occupies the consciousness more or less exclusively until it be-

comes an habitual occupant of the mind, after which the attention

is released for devotion to new labors, and the idea thus gained

sinks back into the fabric of the mind: It may be recalled at will,

but it no longer has a despotic control of the consciousness. In

this upward progress of the mind we are often inclined to believe

that the superiority of higher man is intellectual only, and that

n regard to acuteness of the senses he has fallen behind the sav-

age. Yet this is not the case. He may have lost acuteness in

respect to distant vision, or sharpness of hearing, but his sensi-

=~ tiveness has grown far more diversified. He can see countless

delicate shades of color and variations of form, can appreciate the

most minute variations of musical tone, can distinguish delicate

s of odor and taste of gece the savage is utterly incapa-

‘aad senses have y thus becom more delicate and

1885.] A Brief Biography of the Halibut. 953

varied in their powers, and his mind responsive to a greater vari-

ety of impressions.

It is in his ideas, however, that civilized man so greatly over-

tops the lower world of life. His mind has been for ages pushing

deeper and deeper into the realm of the unknown like an eating

sea that is cutting its way steadily into the land. Before it lies

the unknown, stretching away into the infinite. Behind it lies

the known, half or wholly buried beneath the shrouding waters

of the sea. The surf line is the line of consciousness, the border

between the known and the unknown. Here consciousness mines

forever into the coast line of facts, letting every new-gained fact

float out to come to rest on the quiet sea bottom, the stores of

recent memory lying half visible in the shallow waters, while in

the deep sea beyond lie the layers of ancient acquirement which

have become to us hereditary capabilities, the native stuff of

the mind. What new and deeper powers the senses may yet

attain, what new susceptibility the mind, cannot be said. We see

rising dimly and shapelessly around us new phenomena, new stuff

for thought on which the mind of future man must work, and ‘

every new age may safely say to the ages of the past: “ There

are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed

of in your philosophy.”

ey"

VU.

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE HALIBUT.

BY G. BROWN GOODE.

ee halibut, Hippoglossus vulgaris, is widely distributed

through the North Atlantic and North Pacific, near the

_ Shores, in shallow water, as well as upon the offshore banks and

the edges of the continental slope down to the depth of at least

400 fathoms. The species has not been observed in the West-

. ern Atlantic south of the fortieth parallel; stragglers have

Occasionally been taken off Sandy Hook, Block island and

Montauk point. It ranges north at least to Cumberland gulf,

latitude 64°, to Holsteinborg bank in Davis’ strait, and as far

as Disko and Omenak fiord, latitude 71°, on the coast of Green-

land, five or six degrees within the Arctic circle. It occurs

along the entire west coast of Greenland, and is abundant about *

Iceland and at Spitzbergen, in latitude 80°. No one knows

_ to what extent it ranges along the European and Asiatic shores

954 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. (October,

of the Arctic ocean, but it has been observed on both sides

of the North cape, in East and West Denmark, and from the

North cape, latitude 71°, south along the entire western line

of the Scandinavian peninsula, in the Skager Rack and Cattegat,

though not, so far as I can learn, in the Baltic sea. The halibut

is occasionally seen in the southern part of the North sea and

in the English channel, but never, in the Eastern Atlantic, south

of latitude 50°. There is yet some question whether it is found

in the south of Ireland, though some of the largest individuals

` recorded from Great Britain have been taken in the Irish sea,

off the Isle of Man.

On the Pacific coast the halibut, which has besi shown by Dr.

Bean to be identical with that of the Atlantic, ranges from the Far-

allones islands northward to Bering straits, becoming more be

dant northward. “Its center of abundance,” says Bean, “is in

the Gulf of Alaska, particularly about Kodiak, the Alexander

archipelago and the Shumagins. Large halibut are numerous

about the Seal islands, but the small ones have been killed by the

seals. I have heard from good authority of their capture as far

north as Saint Lawrence bay, near East cape, in Siberia. It has

several times been reported from off the heads of Marcus bay,

Siberia.” It is occasionally taken off San Francisco and about

Humboldt bay. In the Straits of Fuca and in the deeper chan-

nels about Puget sound it is taken in considerable numbers. A

large halibut bank exists in the mouth of the Straits of Fuca,

about nine miles from Cape Flattery in a north-westerly direc-

tion, and the capture of this fish is an Soren industry to

the coast Indians,

The halibut is emphatically a cold-water species. That it should

‘range nine or ten degrees farther south on the American than

on the European coast, is quite. in accordance with the general

law of the distribution of fish-life in the Atlantic; indeed, it is

only in winter that halibut are known to approach the shore to

-~ the south of Cape Cod, and it is safe to say that the temperature

_ of the water in which they are at present most frequently taken

is never, or rarely, higher than 45°, seldom above 35° and most

often in the neighborhood of 32°. Its geographic range cor-

responds closely to that of the codfish, with which it is almost

riably associated, the cod is, however, less dependent upon the

ce of very cold water, and in the Western Atlantic is found

1885.] A Brief Biography of the Halibut. 955

four or five degrees—in the Eastern Atlantic at least two—nearer

the equator, while the range of the two species to the north is

probably, though not certainly, known to be limited relatively in

about the same degree. In the same manner the halibut appears

to extend its wanderings further out to sea, and to deeper and

colder waters than the cod. Although observations on this point

have necessarily been imperfect, it seems to be the fact that

cod are very rarely found upon the edge of the continental slope

of North America beyond the 250-fathom line, while halibut are

present in abundance upon the outer slope.

The name of this fish is very uniform in the regions where it

is known, though, of course, subject to certain variations in the

languages of the different countries, for its characteristic features

are so unmistakable that it is rarely confounded with other spe- `

cies. The only fish for which it is mistaken seems to be the

turbot of the European coast, with which it sometimes inter-

changes names. It is said that in Scotland the halibut is fre-

quently called the turbot, and Yarrell has expressed the opinion

that in instances where it has been claimed that halibut*had been

taken in the south of Ireland the turbot was the species actually

referred to.

“Halibut” and “holibut” are words which are as old as the

English language. In Germany the fish is called “heilbutt” or

“heiligebutt ;” in Sweden, “ hillefisk” or “ hälleflundra,” while in

Holland it is known as the “ heilbot.”

In studying these names it should be borne in mind that “but”

or “bott” is only another word for flounder or flat fish, and that

the English, Dutch, German and Scandinavian prefixes to this

word or the equivalent word flounder are presumably of the same |

meaning. A false derivation has been imagined for the name,

which is exemplified in the German word “heiligebutt” just

mentioned, and also in an English spelling, which is sometimes

encountered, “ holybut.” This idea is without foundation, for the

halibut has never been reverenced more highly than any other

Species of flat fish, and the derivation is as fanciful as “ haul-a-

_ boat,” which our New England fishermen have frequently

assured me was the proper name, having reference to the size and

strength of the fish. The true derivation of the word may best

be understood through a study of its Scandinavian names, from

_ which it appears that the prefix has reference to the holes or deep

956 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. [October,

places at sea in which the fish is found, and that the name simply

means “a deep-sea fish,” or “a deep-sea flounder.”

The general distribution of the halibut having been sketched

in outline, it may, perhaps, be appropriate to discuss more fully

the range and abundance of the fish upon the coast of North

America, and to describe the regions where it is sought by

American fishing vessels.

Halibut are taken very abundantly on Holsteinborg bank, at

the southern entrance to Davis’ strait, latitude 67° north and

longitude 54° to 56° west, where several Gloucester schooners

have in past years obtained large cargoes of salted fish. In

Etzel’s “ Gronland,” it is stated that halibut are taken chiefly in the

southern part of North Greenland, and everywhere on the shoals

among the islands in the district of Egedesminde, especially about

Agto, Riskol and Ikerasak, in latitude 68°, and somewhat less

near Disko, in latitude 76°. They are captured most abundantly

in the spring and fall. They are even taken, at greater depths, as

far north as Omenak, in latitude 71°. Ina later work Rink asserts

that “the Netarnak or larger halibut is found on the banks, as

well as in different places outside the islands, up to 70° north lat-

itude, in depths of from thirty to fifty fathoms.” In the same later

work Rink remarks that halibut are plentiful in the fall about

Egedesminde, and especially about Agto, the southernmost out-

post of North Greenland. Etzel goes on to state, regarding the

occurrence of halibut in South Greenland, that in July and Au-

gust they are taken on the outer coast and among the islands

at depths of thirty to fifty fathoms, while in winter they frequent

deeper regions and are but seldom seen. Rink narrates that in

1809 there were taken among the islands off Godthaab (64° 8’

north latitude) 2000 halibut, and that in a single half-day two

boats took over one hundred. They are rarely taken in the dis-

trict of Julianshaab, in latitude 60° 43’ north.

Peter C. Sutherland, writing of Riskol bank, in 1850, stated

that halibut were then very abundant in that locality, and that the

= cod-fishing vessels which visited Davis’ strait every season used

_ them to bait their hooks, though the supply far exceeded the

_ demand for this purpose.

_ Sutherland narrates that on the return of the Penny expedition,

in 1851, when crossing the Arctic circle, in longitude 53°, the

ilors put over lines baited with pork and hooked a cod anda

i wa at sea depth of forty fathoms.

1885. ] A brief Biography of the Halibut. 957

The most northern occurrence of the halibut on the western

side of Davis’ strait is that recorded by Mr. Ludwig Kumlien,

naturalist of the Howgate expedition, who saw a large individual

taken by the Eskimos off the mouth of Davis’ straits, near lati-

tude 64° north.

Richardson, in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, speaks of the

occurrence of the species on the Greenland coast, but seems to

have no authentic information of its having been observed even

K3 as far north as Labrador on the opposite side.

There is no reasonable doubt that the halibut is found along

the entire eastern coast of Labrador, though there is no other

published record of its occurrence north of Red bay, in the Straits

of Belle Isle, near latitude 51° 40’ north, where it was observed

by Mr. Horatio R. Storer, several individuals having been taken

during his stay at that place in the summer of 1849.

It is abundant in certain parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,

especially the island of Anticosti, and is also found along the entire

-coasts of Newfoundland and the eastern shores of Nova Scotia.

In June, 1878, the schooner G. P. Whitman, of Gloucester,

caught a fare of halibut in two to twelve fathoms of water near

4 Green point, Newfoundland. The crew said that they could see

the fish lying on the bottom in shallow water.

Capt. George Olsen, schooner Proctor Brothers, arrived at

Gloucester, August 2, 1880, with 22,000 pounds’ weight of fresh

halibut from Anticosti. He reported halibut plenty then at the

western end of the island close inshore—within half a mile; he

_ Saw the halibut sporting near and on the surface; he found they

would not bite, as on the banks, at halibut bait, and since fresh

__ herring or capelin could not be obtained, could only get a partial

= trip of halibut. They were good fish, weighing sixty to eighty

w pounds.

- According to M. H. Perley halibut are found in the Bay of

Fundy up to its very head, where they are taken in summer in

Cumberland bay, near the light-house off Apple river, and also in

est bay. He states that they are also found on the south shore

_ of the Bay of Fundy, and abundantly from Cape Split to Brier

island, as well as in the Annapolis basin. Perley’s report was pre-

_ Pared in 1852, and there is no evidence of diminution in that

_ region since he wrote.

Mr. J. Matthew Jones tells me that halibut are occasionally

958 A Brief Biography of the Halibut, [October,

taken at Five islands in the Basin of Minas, but that this is of rare

occurrence.

I am indebted to Captain Ashby for the following facts about

the southern limits of the distribution of the halibut: He has

never known them to be found south of Sandy Hook, where

large ones are occasionally taken in winter. In May, 1876,

the schooner Cartwright, fishing ten miles south-east of Montauk

point, caught many halibut, In February, 1876, some Noank

_ smacks caught a few halibut about eight miles from land, off the

south-east point of Block island. Within the last.forty years one

or two halibut have been taken off the outer shore of Fisher’s

island. He has never known any to be taken in Long Island

sound. Halibut are sometimes taken in three fathoms of water

among the breakers off Nantucket, in “ blowy weather.” Forty

years ago they were abundant about Gay head and Noman’s

land. There has been no systematic fishing there lately, but

some individuals have probably been taken.

The local papers chronicled the capture, on May 1, 1876, off

Watch hill, Rhode Island, of an eighty-pound halibut, the first

taken in that locality for many years.

A halibut is occasionally taken along the shores of Maine and

Massachusetts, but so seldom that a capture of this kind by

one of the inshore fishermen is always mentioned in the local

papers.

Abundance.—Half a century ago the halibut was extremely

_abundant in Massachusetts bay, and striking stories of their great

plenty and voracity are narrated by some of the early fishermen

of Cape Ann. Of late years, however, few have been found ex-

cept in deep water on the off-shore banks.

Captain Chester Marr says that in early days halibut were ex-

ceedingly abundant on George’s bank. He has seen a “ solid

= school of them as thick as a school of porpoises” feeding on

_ . as you could see was alive with halibut; we fished all night and

= we did not catch a single codfish. The halibut would not let

_ the hook touch the bottom ; we caught 250 in three hours; the

crews of some vessels vould go and cut the fins off the fish and

let their bodies go. No wonder that they were broken up. We

thought they were always going to be so. Never made no

lations s that we were going to break them up. The southern

1885.] A Brief Biography of the Halibut. 959

side of George’s was a kind of ‘ mother-place’ for fishing hali-

but.” There was no great abundance of halibut on George’s

after 1848.

The abundance of the species on the off-shore banks before

the over-fishing took place is almost beyond credence. The fol-

lowing is selected from a large number of instances of fishermen’s

successes: The schooner Mary Carlisle, of Gloucester, made

nine trips to the banks in 1871. Her catch was 350,188 pounds

of halibut and 58,759 pounds of codfish ; her net stock amounted

to $17,275.53 for about eleven months’ work, from December 27,

1870, to November 21, 1871. On one trip in the spring she

brought in 58,553 pounds of halibut and 6900 pounds of codfish,

her net stock reaching the sum of $4738.75, and her crew sharing

$236.25 each from a voyage of thirty-four days. She had ten

men in her crew, each of whom during the season shared $858.62.

In three years this vessel stocked a total of $46,871, divided as

follows: 1869, $17,549; 1870, $12,047; 1871, $17,275.53.

The presence of so important a food-fish in America did

not long escape the observations of the early English ex-

plorers. Captain John Smith, in his History of Virginia,

wrote: “There is a large sized fish called hallibut, or turbut:

some are taken so bigg that two men have much a doe to hall

them into the boate; but there is such plenty, that the fisher men

onely eat the heads & finnes, and throw away the bodies: such in

Paris would yeeld 5. or 6. crownes a peece: and this is no dis-

commodity.” '

The halibut is surpassed in size by only three fishes on the

Atlantic coast—the swordfish, the tunny and the tarpum. It

is said, by experienced fishermen, that there is a difference in the

size of the two sexes, the females being much the larger; the

male, they tell us, rarely exceeds fifty pounds in weight, and is

ordinarily in poor condition and less desirable for food. The

average size of a full-grown female is somewhere between 100

and 150 pounds, though they are sometimes much heavier.

Captain Collins, who has had many years’ experience in the Glou-

` cester halibut fishery, assures me that he has never seen one

which would weigh over 250 pounds, and that a fish weighing over

- 250 pounds is considered large. There are, however, well authen-

ticated instances of their attaining greater dimensions. Captain

_ Atwood, in a communication to the Boston Society of Natural

960 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. [October,

History in 1864, stated that the largest he had ever taken weighed,

when dressed, 237 pounds, and would probably have registered

300 pounds when taken from the water. In July, 1879, the

same reliable observer saw, at Provincetown, two individuals

taken near Race point, one of which weighed 359 pounds (302

pounds when dressed), the other 401 pounds (322 pounds when

dressed).

There is a tradition in Boston that Mr. Anthony Holbrook, one

of the early fish-dealers of that city, had in his possession a hali-

but, taken at New Ledge, sixty miles south-east of Portland,

which weighed over 600 pounds. This story, which is recorded

by Storer in his “ Fishes of Massachusetts,” Captain Atwood be-

lieves to be untrue. Halibut weighing from three to four hun-

dred pounds, though unusual in comparison with the ordinary

size, are by no means rare. I have before me records of ten or

twelve such fish captured on the New England coast during the

past ten years. Nilsson, has mentioned the capture, on the

Swedish coast, of an individual which weighed 720 pounds.

There are stories of halibut ten feet in length; a fish weigh-

ing 350 pounds is between seven and eight feet long and nearly

four feet in width. The largest halibut are not considered

nearly so good for table use as those of less than 100 pounds

weight. A fat female of eighty pounds is, by good judges, con-

sidered to be in the highest state of perfection, while males

- are not so highly esteemed. Small halibut, known as “chicken

halibut,” ranging from ten to twenty pounds, are much sought

after by epicures, and bring a high price in the New York and

Boston markets. They are, however, comparatively rare, and

those weighing ten pounds or less are rarely seen; the smallest

recorded from our coast was about five inches in length, and was

taken by Professor Verrill in a dredge-net in the Strait of Canso.

The halibut of the Pacific are apparently similar in dimensions

to those of New England. Mr. Anderson, inspector of fisheries

for British Columbia, states that in the waters of Puget sound

_ they attain a weight of 200 pounds.

~ The wholesale dealers of Gloucester, in buying fresh halibut

_ from the fishermen, recognize two grades ; one, which they call

“gray halibut,” they consider to be of inferior value, and pay 4

lower price for. The gray halibut are distinguished by dark

s or blotches upon the under side, which in the most

1885. | A Brief Biography of the Halibut. g6r

marketable fishes are pure white. Almost all the largest halibut

are classed among the grays, Fishermen claim that there is no

actual difference between the gray and white fish, and it is a fair

question whether they may not be right.

Migrations.—It is useless to attempt to describe at this time the

migrations of the halibut from place to place; although much

information has been received upon this subject, the problem

requires long and careful study.

Captain Benjamin Ashby, of Noank, Connecticut, who is

familiar with the fisheries south of Cape Cod, informs me that

halibut frequent the deepest water in the spring and fall, and that

in May and June they come up in the shoal water, in sixty or

seventy fathoms, while in July they begin to go out again into

deep water, and by the latter part of the month are on the way

into the gully near the north-east part of George’s bank.

Captain Joseph W. Collins, undoubtedly the best authority

upon the subject, briefly expresses his views as follows; “ Halibut

are found in the deep water—say from 100 to 250 fathoms in

depth—on the edge of all the banks from George’s to the Grand

bank the year round. Sometimes, however, they seem to be more

numerous in comparatively shallow water in the winter and early

spring. This was the case in the winters and springs of 1875-’76.

and 1876-77, as well as in the year preceding, but in 1878

there was no great catch of halibut in less than 100 fathoms on.

any of the banks. The great schools that were found in the

western part of the Grand bank in February and March, 1876-

and 1877, appeared to be migrating. The fish that were found to

the south of latitude 44° north were mostly small-sized white

halibut. They went off the bank into deep water, and nobody

knew what became of them. Those that were caught to the

north of this parallel were mostly large gray fish, and were

_ traced as far as Saint Peter’s bank. These are possibly the same

fish—they are certainly the same kind of fish—that struck in on

the western coast of Newfoundland and in the summer months in.

pursuit of capelin.”

_ Capt. George A. Johnson states that the large halibut generally

frequent the outer and deeper part of the banks, while the little

“bull fish” lie inside, on shallower ground, and are caught on the

_ inner end of the trawl lines ; sometimes, however, the large halibut:

also come up on the shallow grounds.

962 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. [October,

On the coast of Newfoundland, Anticosti and Labrador, in

summer, halibut frequently run inshore after capelin. When in

shallow water near the shore they are usually wild and very

active. Within eight years the fishermen have extended their

fishing much farther out to sea; previous to that time the greater

part of the halibut were taken on top of the Grand bank in thirty

to fifty fathoms of water, but after the beginning of April the fish

went elsewhere, and the fishermen lost sight of them. They soon

learned, however, to follow them down the slopes of the banks,

though before 1876 they had rarely fished in water deeper than

seventy to ninety fathoms. Since that time, as has already been

stated, fishing has been carried into twice or three times that depth.

All that can at present be said in explanation of their movements is,

that they occur in great schools, which consume the available

food in any one locality, and are soon obliged to shift their position

to some other place where they can find fresh supplies. It does not

seem possible that their migrations can be caused by conditions

of temperature or are in connection with their breeding habits.

During the breeding season the schools sometimes remain for

months in one locality, and these places are generally of limited

extent. While spawning but little if any food is found in their

stomachs.

Food.—They are large-mouthed, ee toothed and voracious,

and though especially adapted for life upon the bottom, doubtless

feed largely upon crabs and mollusks. They are especially fond of

fish of all kinds; these they waylay, lying upon the bottom, in-

visible by reason of their flat bodies, colored to correspond with

the general color of the sand or mud upon which they rest.

When in pursuit of their prey they are active, and often come

quite to the surface, especially when in the summer they follow

the capelin to the shoal water near the land. They feed upon

skates, cod, haddock, menhaden, mackerel, herring, lobsters,

flounders, sculpins, grenadiers, turbot, Norway haddock and bank

clams. Captain Ashby tells me that common flounders and

flat fish are among their most favorite food; these they follow

upon the shoals of George’s and Nontickes lying in wait for

them on the sand-rips and seizing them as they swim over. He

has seen half a bushel of flat fish stowed away tightly in the

stomach of a single halibut. He has often seen halibut chasing

at fish over the surface of the water. About Cape Sable their

1885. ] A Brief Biography of the Halibut. 963

favorite food seems to be haddock and cusk. He has seen eight

or ten pounds of haddock and cod taken out of one of them. —

When they are on the shoals they are sometimes filled with flat

fish, haddock, cusk, sculpin and herring, but when in deep water

he has found very little food in them. They eat crabs and other

crustaceans, but shells are rarely found in their stomachs, except

those of clams and mussels.

Captain Hurlbert tells me that when the vessels are dressing

` codfish on the Grand banks, and the backbones and head are

thrown overboard, these are frequently found in the stomachs of

halibut taken in the same locality.

Mr. William H. Wonson, of Gloucester, has seen live lobsters

six inches long taken from the stomach of a halibut. Captain

Mar states that they feed on whiting, mackerel and herring.

He remarks: “Halibut will drive off any kind of fish and take

charge of the ground.”

At the meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, in

1852, Dr. W. O. Ayres stated that he had seen a block of wood, a

cubic foot in dimensions, taken from the stomach of a halibut,

where it had apparently lain for a long time. Capt. George A.

Johnson found an accordeon key in one of them. Olafson, in

1831, studying them on the coast of Greenland, found not only

pieces of iron and wood in their stomachs, but in one indi-

vidual a large piece of floe ice. Captain Collins has observed

that they often kill their prey by blows of the tail, a fact which is

very novel and interesting. He described to me an incident

which occurred on a voyage home from Sable island in 1877:

“The man at the wheel sang out that he saw a halibut flapping

its tail about a quarter of a mile off our starboard quarter. I

looked through the spy-glass and his statement was soon verified

by the second appearance of the tail. We hove out our dory and

two men went in her, taking with them a pair of gaff-hooks.

They soon returned bringing not only the halibut, which was a

fine one of about seventy pounds weight, but a small codfish

which it had been trying to kill by striking it with its tail. The

codfish was quite exhausted by the repeated blows, and did not

attempt to escape after its enemy had been captured. The hali-

but was so completely engaged in the pursuit of the codfish that

it paid no attention to the dory, and was easily captured.”

The observations of the halibut fishermen are full of interest

VOL. XIX.—NO. X. 63

964 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. [October,

to the naturalist, and it is from them that we derive all our knowl-

edge of the habits of the animal while feeding. The halibut, fol-

lowing in after the schools of capelin which visit the shores of

Western Newfoundland, Southern Labrador and the islands of

Anticosti and Miquelon to spawn, have often been found in great

abundance in very shallow water, not above five to ten fathoms

deep.

Fishermen who have watched halibut under such circum-

stances, and have been able to see them perfectly well in the clear

water, state that these fish exhibit marked peculiarities in biting

at baited hooks on a trawl. The halibut will advance to the bait,

apparently smell of it, and then retreat four or five feet from it,

always lying on the bottom, head toward the bait, as if watching

it. After repeating this performance several times—generally

three or four—the fish seems to make up its mind to eat the bait,

and suddenly darting toward it, swallows it down with a gulp.

The George’s hand-line fishermen believe that halibut often

strike the baited hooks with their tails. It is not uncommon on

board a George’sman to hear a fisherman remark: “ There’s a

halibut around; I felt him strike my gear.” When a halibut has

announced his presence in this way it is scarcely necessary to say

that every effort is put forth by the fisherman to attract the fish

to his hooks, and if a man is sufficiently skillful he generally suc-

ceeds in capturing the fish.

There is much rivalry in a vessel’s crew when it is known that

halibut are on the ground where she is lying, and every known

device is adopted to entice the fish to bite at the hooks. Strips

of newly-caught haddock, with fresh blood still on them, are con-

sidered the best bait. Two, three, or more of these are put on a

hook, which is passed through the thickest end of the strips,

while the pointed ends of the bait are left to float about in the

= water. Where there is a tide running these closely resemble the

movements of a small fish. The hooks are usually “pointed” with

herring bait. After the bait is on the hooks many fishermen add

(as they believe) to its attractiveness by mopping it in the slime

= of a halibut, if one has been previously caught. This is done by

_ wiping the baited hook back and forth over a halibut. The lure

_ thus prepared, the fisherman lowers his apparatus to the bottom,

and by a skillful manipulation tries to induce the fish to bite.

Som he will let the tide sweep his “gear” along the bot-

1885.] A Brief Biography of the Halibut. 965

tom, and again he will endeavor to give his baits the appearance

of life by slowly pulling them up a short distance from the

ground. If he finally succeeds in hooking a halibut, all his art

is required to bring the fish to the surface and land it safely on

deck. If it be a large fish it almost invariably makes a desperate

fight to escape. It may, perhaps, come up easily for ten or fifteen

fathoms, when it suddenly takes a plunge downward. Surge!

surge! goes the line through the hands of the fisherman, who

knows very well that he must “ play” his fish or else his line will

be snapped like pack thread. This operation may be repeated

several times, and it is not uncommon for a large and particularly

“wild” halibut to go almost to the bottom after having been

hauled nearly to the surface of the water. At last the fish is

alongside, and the shout of “ Gaffs! gaffs here!” brings two or

three of the nearest men to the side, armed with long-handJed |

gaffs. If the fish is exhausted the gaffs are quickly hooked into

his head and he is dragged unceremoniously over the rail and

falls with a heavy thump on deck, which usually resounds with

the strokes of his powerful tail until he is stunned by repeated

blows with a killer. If the halibut is still active when he comes

$ alongside, much dexterity is required to gaff him. He makes

desperate attempts to escape, and thrashes the water into foam

with his tail.

When the fish is on deck and. killed, his captor cuts his mark

in a conspicuous manner, generally on the white surface of the

halibut, which is the underneath portion when the fish is in the

water, but is invariably turned upward after it is taken on deck;

this method being adopted to prevent the blood from settling on

that side and thus making the fish look dark colored or gray.

The George’s fishermen frequently bleed their halibut by making

4 a cut across the tail.

Halibut caught in shallow water are exceedingly active, and

frequently make a hard fight. When a fish of 100 to 200 pounds

weight is raised from the bottom on a trawl, he usually starts off

at great speed, making the dory spin around in his effort to

escape. Of course he cannot run far in one direction, for the

_ Weight of the gear is too much for him to drag over the bottom.

After a while he is sufficiently tired out to be hauled alongside of

the dory, and if the fisherman is expert enough to hit his fish

two or three smart raps over the nose with a “ killer,” the halibut

966 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. ' October,

succumbs and is pulled into the boat. It is often the case, how-

ever, that considerable difficulty is experienced in effecting the

capture of a large fish, and it is by no means an unusual circum-

stance for one to escape.

A fisherman related to me an incident which he witnessed in

the shallow water near Miquelon beach, Newfoundland. Two

men were out hauling a trawl in about seven fathoms of water, a

short distance from the vessel. They worked along quietly for a

while, when suddenly the dory started off at a tremendous speed,

towed by a big halibut which had been started from the bottom,

and which, in its efforts to escape, darted about wildly, pulling

the boat after it and careening her at a considerable angle. By

dexterous management it was, after a while, brought to the sur-

face ; the man aft quietly pulled up on the ganging until the fish

broke water, when an iron gaff was driven into its head. The

doryman had made the mistake of gaffing his fish before it was

stunned, and as a result, no sooner was the gaff in the halibut

than the latter made a tremendous splurge, twisted the implement

out of the fisherman’s hand, and, getting a fair start, made a run

to the bottom. Another quarter of an hour was required to

again get it alongside of the dory. This time there was no

gaff, and to serve in its place the doryman had cast off the trawl

anchor from the buoy-line. When he got the halibut’s head

above water he drove the fluke of the sixteen-pound anchor into

the fish, which he made sure he would hold that time. But he

was mistaken. The halibut, as before, escaped, taking with it

the anchor, almost pulling the man out of the boat, which was

nearly capsized, and going off with the hook, too, which this time

it tore from the trawl.

The halibut, in its turn, is the prey of seals, of the white whale

and of the various large sharks, especially the ground shark, or

sleeping shark, in the stomachs of which they have sometimes

been found ; their sides, I am told by Captain Collins, are often

deeply scarred, probably by the teeth of the sharks, or in their

aie: lives by mouths of larger individuals of their own kind.

_ Spawning—There is great diversity of opinion regarding their

: speinaing season. Some fishermen say that they spawn at Christ-

‘mas time, in the month of January, when they are on the shoals.

Others declare that it is in summer, at the end of June. Capt.

A Johnson, of the schooner Augusta H. Johnson, of

1885. ] A Brief Biography of the Halibut. 967

Gloucester, assures me that halibut “ spawn, just like the human

race, at any time of the year.” In April, 1878, he was fishing on

Quereau bank and found large and small halibut, the large ones

full of spawn. In May he was on Le Have bank, where he found

only small male fish full of milt; in June he was on Le Have

again, fishing in shallow water, where he found plenty of “ small

bull fish, with their pockets full of milt;” in July he was again

on Quereau bank, where he found a school of small and big male

and female fish, all apparently spawning or ready to spawn, “with

milt and pees soft ;” in August he was on the outer part of Sable

island, where he found females full of spawn.

Captain Ashby, speaking of the halibut on George’s banks,

States that roe is always found in them in May and June. The

roes of a large halibut caught by him in 1848 on the south-west

part of George’s, and which weighed 356 pounds, after it had been

- dressed and its head removed, weighed 44 pounds. He states

that the halibut in this region have spawn in them as late as

‘Connecticut vessels continue to catch them, or until September.

He has seen eggs in halibut of twenty pounds weight, and thinks

they begin to breed at that size. The spawn of the halibut is a

favorite food of the fishermen of Southern New England, though

never eaten by those of Cape Ann.

Captain Hurlbert, of Gloucester, tells me that on the Grand

banks of Newfoundland the spawning halibut school used to come

up in shoal water in forty or fifty fathoms. In August, 1878, he

found many with the spawn already run out. At that time sev-

eral Gloucester fishermen reported that the halibut on Le Have

and Quereau banks were full of spawn. Captain Collins told me

that in July and August, and up to the first of September, they

are found here with the ovaries very large, and are often seen

with the ova and milt exuding. The ovaries of a large fish are

too heavy to be lifted by a man without considerable exertion,

being often two feet or more in length. At this time very little

food is found in their stomachs. In September, 1878, the Fish

Commission obtained from Captain Collins the roes of a fish

weighing from 190 to 200 pounds, taken by the schooner Marion

on the 13th of the month on Quereau bank. This fish was taken

at the depth of 200 fathoms, and the temperature of the water

was roughly recorded at 36° F. These ovaries were put into a

basket with ice and brought to the laboratory of the Fish Com-

968 A Brief Biography of the Halibut. [ October,

mission, where they were found to weigh seventeen pounds two

ounces. Part of the eggs were nearly ripe, and separated readily,

while others were immature and closely adherent to each other.

A portion of the roe, representing a fair average of the size of

the eggs, was weighed, and was found to contain 2185 eggs; the

weight of this portion was two drams. The total number of eggs

was from this estimated to be 2,182,773. It is not yet known

whether the eggs float or rest upon the bottom, nor is it known

how long is the period of incubation, nor what is the rate of

growth of the fish. As has already been mentioned, young fish

are very unusual; the smallest ever seen by Captain Ashby in

Southern New England was taken on Nantucket shoals, and

weighed two and a half pounds after it had been eviscerated.

Abnormal individuals—* Left-handed halibut” are sometimes

taken. Perhaps one out-of five thousand is thus abnormal in its

form, having the eyes upon the left rather than upon the right

hand side of the head.

Halibut with dark spots or patches on the under side, of the

same dark color as the back, are occasionally taken. These are

called by the fishermen “ circus halibut.” They are generally of

medium size and thick, well-fed fish.

The history of the halibut fishery has been a peculiar one. At

the beginning of the present century these fish were exceedingly

abundant in Massachusetts bay. From 1830 to 1850, and even

later, they were extremely abundant on George’s banks; since

1850 they have partially disappeared from this region; the

fishermen have recently been following them to other banks, and

since 1874 out into deeper and deeper water, and the fisheries are

now carried on almost exclusively in the gullies between the off

shore banks and on the outer edges of the banks in water 100 to

350 fathoms in depth, The species has in like manner been

driven from the shallow fishing grounds on the coast of Europe;

- there is, however, little reason to doubt that they still are present

in immense numbers within easy access off the British and Scan-

dinavian coasts, and that a good fishery will yet grow up when

__ the fishermen of those countries shall have become more enter-

prising.

_ A Prophecy—tin the year 1879 there were forty vessels, of

: 168 tons, from Gloucester, Mass., employed exclusively in the

; halibut fishery; also vessels halme from New London and

` eastern end of tore island are employed, except during the

1885.] Traces of Prehistoric Man on the Wabash. 969

winter months, chiefly in the capture of halibut, which they carry

to New York. These vessels, however, take also a considerable

quantity of codfish. In addition to the Gloucester vessels already

mentioned, which fish for halibut throughout the year, there were

eight vessels, of 647 tons, which fished for halibut in the winter

season and engaged in other fisheries, generally the cod fishery,

from May to November.

The vessels of the George’s fleet, though their chief object is

the capture of cod, take considérable quantities of halibut, which

are brought to Gloucester fresh ; a few also are sometimes taken

by the Western bank cod fleet, and a still smaller quantity by

the Boston market fleet. In 1879, and probably in 1880, there

were a few small vessels on the coast of Maine which engaged in

the fresh-halibut fishery for three or four months in the summer,

carrying their fish chiefly to Portland. The total catch of hali-

but on the New England coast for 1879 is estimated at 14.637,-

000 pounds, distributed as follows:

Gloucester halibut fishery . 8,300,000

Gloucester vessels fishing in winter only . 1,000,000

mew York halibut Catchers. 005 7.4 s.40<5 cous arahi 3,000,000

Gloucester, George’s fleet (incidental)... 2,000,000

Western bank cod vessels (incidental). ... 37,000

Small vessels on the coast of Maine and Massachusetts........ 300,000

Total 14,637,000

In 1885 the halibut fleet of Gloucester is reduced to one-fourth

of its former size, and the total catch is estimated at from three

to five million pounds,

It is evident that within a few years the American off-shore

halibut grounds will be so depleted that the fresh-halibut fishery

on our coasts will be abandoned. We shall then derive our chief

supply from the waters of Greenland and Iceland, where several

vessels go each year to bring back cargoes of salt “ flitches.”

Halibut will come into our markets only in a smoked condition,

and the species will be as unfamiliar in our fish-markets as it is in —

those of the old world. The life-history of the species must be

recorded now, for it can never be made so completely hereafter.

This is the writer's excuse for having presented in this place so

full a biography of the halibut.

— om

TRACES OF PREHISTORIC MAN ON THE WABASH.

BY JOHN. T. CAMPBELL.

p oone the year 1884 I was employed as civil engineer for

the construction of a levee from the mouth of Big Raccoon

Creek on the east side of the Wabash river, which is the west

boundary of Parke county, Indiana. The levee was built as close

to the river bank as practicable, and was aimed to be the height

970 Traces of Prehistoric Man on the Wabash. (October,

of the highest bottom land, though this is about seven feet below

‘the highest floods, such as occurred in the summer of 1875 and

winter of 1883. There is one very high bottom about four and a

half miles south of the mouth of Raccoon creek, locally known

as Blue Grass landing. Forty to fifty years ago this place was well

known to flat and steamboat men. The Wabash was then the

great commercial thoroughfare for all this country, and this being

a good landing, backed by good farms near by, and covered with

the heavy, green carpet of blue grass (Poa pratensis), was also

one of the most beautiful spots on the river. Here it was, ac-

cording to Dr. Collett, State geologist, report of 1879, that the

Kentucky soldiers of Harrison’s army, while marching from Fort

Harrison to Tippecanoe to fight the Indians there, found the

original Kentucky blue grass, and on their return gathered and

carried home the seed, which is now an important article of Ken-

tucky commerce.

The old settlers had a tradition that this spot (a quarter of a

mile long up and down the river) was an ancient Indian camping

ground. What reasons they had for so believing I never learned.

But during my frequent surveys and inspections of the work be-

fore mentioned, I had abundant reason to know that such was the

fact. The surface of the ground, however, indicates nothing of

the kind. The place is not overflowed more than once in seven

years on the average. The bottoms are over a mile wide, and

much the lowest back next the hills. The few floods that have

overflowed this high bank during recent years (I mean histori-

cally recent, not geologically) have flowed nearly square across

it, and since ‘the timber has been cut away, has washed small

channels from four to ten feet deep toward the eastern hills. These

channels are deepest next to the river, growing shallower till

they disappear at distances from one-quarter to three-quarters of

a mile from the river. In the bottom of these channels Mr. Sam-

uel D. Hill, drainage commissioner of the county, was the first to

~ Observe little heaps composed of stones about the size of apples

| Or potatoes, and about a bushel in quantity. They were in the

more recently cut channels, the current being sufficient to remove

_ the bottom earth but not enough to disturb the order of the

stones. I said the stones were in heaps; this is not quite cor-

rect. They were about three layers deep and two and a half to

three Jide half feet wide, and slightly oval in shape. They were

1885. ] Traces of Prehistoric Man on the Wabash, 971

underlaid with one to three inches of charcoal, and on top of the

stones, and scattered down streamward from them, were mussel

shells and a few bones of small animals too much decayed and

fractured to be identified ; but the leg of a crane or pelican near

by was so well preserved that every joint of the foot to the nail

was in perfect shape. But on handling it soon crumbled into

lime dust. So it was with the mussel shells, except a half shell,

which was as fresh as if taken recently. The stones were such

as lie at the upper end of the river bars, mostly crystalline, some

gray, others blue. All had originally been smooth, water-worn,

but were broken into angular fragments, segments, cubes and

zones. I put the pieces together in several instances and with

them completed (filled out) smooth, rounded water-worn stones.

All had a dark smoky look as if having been burned in the fire,

I should think that those we examined and those we saw without

special examination would amount to seven cubic yards. One

piece of white limestone, about the size and much the shape of a

brick, when I touched it I found to be slaked into lime.

The charcoal underneath the layers of stones on the coal, their

smoky appearance, their peculiar fractures, all show that they had

been placed on a fire. The mussel shells and bones on and near

these stones indicate that the purpose of that fire was for cooking.

It is very difficult to open the shells of a live mussel (Wabash

oyster), but when baked on hot rocks they easily yield.

I say these stones were found in heaps. Such was true of five

separate piles or heaps, from which I infer that all the stones found

in the largest and oldest channel had been once so piled, as they

were smoked and broken in the same way, and seemed to amount

in quantity to ten wagon loads or about seven cubic yards.

- When were these stones piled and used as above described ? —

“That is the question.” This place or piece of bottom is very

seldom overflowed now, consequently it is building up from sedi-

mentation very slowly. The heaps, or piles of stones were found

about five feet beneath the present surface, and on the present

surface bur oak trees are standing that are two hundred and fifty

years old. These grew from acorns borne by a previous generation

of trees, and the acorns from which they grew, judged by the sur-

face roots of the trees, were not more than two feet beneath the

Present surface of the ground. The under side of the surface

roots would be a little below the position of the acorn when the

972 Editors Table. [October,

tree started. It is my judgment that not less than five hundred

years have elapsed since these stones were covered by sedimen-

tation, and I should think the time would not exceed one thou-

sand.

As stone axes, knives and arrow-heads were searched for

among these stones and not found, I think they were not used by

the people who used the stones for cooking. Among so many

stones of that kind, and in a camp, some tool would have been

dropped. Such tools are found on the present surface in every

neighborhood about here. If this should prove correct (that none

were used by this people), it would prove that the stone axe is

not so old as we have heretofore thought it to be. Or, did these

people take extra care of their tools? Then why did the much

later Indians having equal use for heir tools, drop them all over

the country ? Or, were these suddenly abandoned on the intro-

duction of steel tomahawks, knives and fire arms ?

There are no Indian mounds within fifty miles of this camp.

It was, therefore, hardly the work of the mound-builders. My

ancestors for three generations were pioneers, and well acquainted

with Indian character and customs from 1760 to 1820, and from

Massachusetts to the Wabash, and while I have heard very many

of their Indian stories I have never heard of their seeing any-

thing like what I have described, nor do I remember to have

seen it described in any account I ever read. Is this a new fea-

ture of an ancient subject? or am I illy informed on it?

A’

EDITORS TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

The session of the American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science for 1885 has just adjourned its session at Ann

Arbor, Michigan. The meeting presented many admirable fea-

_ tures. Other things being equal, a university town has superior

advantages for the conduct of scientific gatherings. The spirit of

_ the place is congenial. Facilities for presentation and illustra-

. = are at hand. The university buildings furnish excellent

_ assembly roonis. The social conditions are appropriate and not

stracting. Such were the circumstances which attended the

e Ene and the members experienced their benefits to the

The; mimber of members in attendance (5 10) though smaller

1885. ] Editors’ Table. 973

than at many previous meetings, may be safely asserted to have

embraced a larger percentage of the scientific element than they.

Although the number of papers read (175) was smaller than at

some preceding meetings, the quality, in many of the sections at

least, was exceedingly good. If it were possible we should pre-

fer that the American Association might always meet beneath

the shadow of a university, and in a town like Ann Arbor, whose

raison d'etre consists of the university which it contains. But

such towns are rare in the United States, and we cannot expect

to be always surrounded by the favorable conditions of the meet-

ing which has just closed its sessions.

The controversy over the question whether the human

embryo has a genuine tail like that of the embryo of other mam-

mals, has been nearly set at rest by the painstaking researches of

Professor Fol, of Geneva.

We have translated his article from the reprint in the Journal

de Micrographie for June, and the reader may for himself see how

this skilled histologist has proved the presence for a short period

in embryos in the fifth and” sixth week of their development, of

four embryonic vertebre, which after the sixth week fuse together ;

the tail itself at first elongated and regularly conical, becoming

shorter and more rudimentary. Professor Fol, in closing, simply

contents himself with remarking that the embryo human tail well

deserves the name, and that the organ “evidently deprived of all

physiological utility, should be classed in the number of repre-

sentative organs.”

This temporary, deciduous organ, which appears for only a

brief period and still comparatively early in embryonic life, points

unmistakably to the origin of man from some tailed mammal,

‘whether a monkey, or some less specialized form, possibly allied

to that generalized type, the lemur.

This instance is one of several others in the growth and struc-

ture of the human body which affords so strong circumstantial

evidence of man’s descent from some lower animal form, that it

amounts, in minds trained to embryological, 22 eames and ana-

tomical methods, to the strongest probability.

= —— The death of that veteran French naturalist, Henri Milne-

Edwards, who at the great age of eighty-five passed away July

29, in his house in Rue Cuvier near the Jardin des Plantes, is a

notable event in the history of biological science. Milne-Edwards

974 Editors Table. [October,

will be remembered as a physiologist for his discovery of the

principle of the physiological division of labor, as well as his

laborious and extensive work, in fourteen volumes, on compara-

tive physiology and anatomy. But as a zoologist his fame was

wid e was to France what Owen is in England and Agassiz

was in America. His special anatomical memoirs were conspic-

uous examples of the skill and nicety in injection and dissection

which characterized the Cuvierian school, his treatises on the

organs of circulation of Crustacea being of marked beauty and

value. His general zoölogical works were the Histoire Naturelle

des Crustacés, published with the aid of Audouin, and with

Haime, an extended work on corals. Biologists, being human

beings, have a spice of dogmatism and sectarianism in their

nature, and in a notice of the great French naturalist in an Eng-

lish scientific journal, it is stated that Milne-Edwards did not late

in life change his views as to the origin of species. We never

knew, however, of his publicly attacking champions of the new

biology. In his son, Alphonse Milne-Edwards, the family name

is not now less conspicuous than for the past fifty years as a lead-

ing one in French biological science.

The U. S. Coast Survey, which for so many years under

the direction of Bache and others rendered such signal service to

Science while pursuing its legitimate work, has been clouded by

alleged official misconduct. Charity will be felt for any one who

suffers official punishment after life-long services to science and the

public welfare. Long before the present civil service reform in poli-

tics, the Coast Survey was managed with singular ability and

economy. Its work will go on as long as geological agencies

produce changes, however minute, in our coast lines and harbor

approaches, whether “a thousand years” or more. Our other

scientific bureaus have certainly been conducted with far more

ability and economy than some departments and bureaus filled

by political appointments. Still, rigid economy and business tact

will be demanded of our scientific directors and commissioners,

as they have been in the past.

We have received’ the following :

Editor American Naturatist—Sir:—In the August issue of

the receipt as desired.”

Pardon me if I suggest that the above criticism has been made

ithout due reflection. First, experience demonstrates that the

ceipts sent with the volumes are returned in a much smaller

1885.] Recent Literature. 975

per cent than if sent in special letters at other times. Second, if

the receipt is sent with the book and the book is lost, the receipt

is lost. If the receipt is sent in a separate, special letter, the

author expects the book, watches for its arrival, and if it does not

come informs the office, and usually in time so that the book may

be immediately traced through the mails.

On all accounts it is better to send the receipt by a special let-

ter independent of the book itself, and in advance of the book.

am, yours cordially,

J. W. PowELL.

Our readers row have both sides of the question. Our own

experience as to the ease of returning receipts, differs from that

of the distinguished director of the U. S. Geological Survey. But

if the department is satisfied with the system no one else need

complain.

:0:

RECENT LITERATURE.

FORBES’ A NATURALIST’s WANDERINGS IN THE EASTERN ARCHI-

PELAGO.'—Though inferior in general scientific interest and liter-

ary execution to Wallace’s Malay Archipelago, Mr. Forbes has

produced an excellent book of travels, which we have read with

much interest. Most of the islands visited by Wallace were also

visited by our author, but the routes of the two travelers were in

each island different. The book, as the author modestly states,

is a transcript of the more interesting of the field-notes made

during his wanderings, and is to be “considered” in the light of

an addendum to Wallace’s “ model book of travel.’

Besides his observations on the formation of the Cocos-keeling

islands and numerous entomological and ornithological notes, the

matter largely relates to the botany of these islands, as well as the

manners and customs of the natives and mixed races with whom

Mr. Forbes was in constant contact. No detailed account of the

Timor-laut islands has appeared before that of Mr. Forbes, and

little has been published on the inhabitants of the interior of

Timor ; and, by the way, a residence in Timor, owing to the deadly

fever of the coast and the continual warfare between the different

villages, was not found to be particularly comfortable. Indeed,

Considering coast fevers, insect pests, venomous animals, not to

mention an occasional tiger, thieving natives, the liability of meet-

ing Malays “running a muck,” the jealousy and selfishness of |

Native officials, and tropical heats, rains, earthquakes and an oc-

casional volcanic eruption or cyclone, a naturalist’s life in the East

Indian archipelago has its lights and shades.

14 Naturalists Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago. A narrative of travel and

exploration from 1878 to 1383, By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S., etc. With numer-

„Ous illustrations from the author’s sketches and descriptions, by Mr. Joun B. GIBBS.

New York, Harper & Brothers, 1885. 8vo, pp. 536.

976 Recent Literature. [ October,

Mr. Forbes’ notes and conclusions as to the origin of coral

reefs are of interest, as the subject is now under fresh discussion,

Visiting the Keeling atoll nearly fifty years after Darwin, he found

that the encroachments of the sea on the land “ had not increased

at all; on the contrary, it struck me that the land was gaining on

the lagoon.” Between Direction island and Workhouse island

he observed what seemed to him signs of recent elevation. His

conclusions are in the following words: “I incline to believe,

therefore, that the Keeling-reef foundation has arisen as Murray,

Semper and Agassiz have suggested ; but that its islets have been

the result of the combined action of storms and the slow eleva-

tion of the volcanically-upheaved ocean floor on which the reef

is built.”

Among the notes on mammals is an explanation, new to us, of

the use of the upturned and hooked teeth of the hog-deer (Babi-

rusa). They are used, he was told by the natives, “to hold to

the bottom of ponds by, when hard pressed by hunters.”

The author’s journey by raft, or rakiting, down the Musi river

to Palemberg was remarkably interesting, and the following ex-

tract will convey an idea of our author’s powers of description

when at his best, for at times his style is slovenly and ungainly:

o recall the magnificent flora of the upper reaches of the

river almost makes me retract the statement that the tropics pre-

sent few flowers; for so blossom-spangled a road it would be

difficult to match anywhere ;—it is only in the beginning of the

wet season, however, and along the steep banks of some such

river, wide enough to let in the sunlight and the free breath of

heaven, that one must look for, or indeed expect to be able to

see such a display. The singular trackless streets, roads and

paths of water by which I rambled among the forest avenues are

never-to-be-forgotten reminiscences; nor lower down the slow

majesty of the widening river between its level banks fronted

with tall reeds, dark-foliaged figs, and groves of Eriodendron

trees, with their stiff trifid arms; and at last the broad expanse

of its united affluents, by whose sources I had for so many

months encamped, drawing towards itself the atoms of produce

of two degrees of latitude, and concentrating them into a hot

nucleus of commercial life and activity. Intermingled with all

ble vignettes; minia-

noonday sun, in

e solemn silence

‘in the intervals of

PLATE XXXIV.

(fa Sa

Village of Kenali.

i li a ar a

PLATE XXXV.

PLATE XXXVI.

New species of Brugmansia, of the family of the Rafflesiacee.

7 1885.] Recent Literature. 977

of that exhilarating relief from labor and fatigue) seemed to move

past, my eyes of its own accord, and afforded me a continued and

massive sensation of delight that nothing could disturb, and

which can be but faintly conceived by those who have not

experienced this uncommon mode of travel which is absolutely

different from that by any other water-carriage.”

Unfortunately Mr. Forbes lost large collections of plants, and

the zodlogical novelties he obtained were not of special impor-

tance. Descriptions by various specialists of the new forms dis-

covered are added in fine print, with lists of plants, among them

a new species of Brugmansia of the family Rafflesiacez.

The illustrations of such a book should be attractive, but on

` the contrary all are some sort of process work and are excep-

tionally coarse and unsatisfactory, as samples on Pls. XXXIV- VI.

On the other hand the maps are frequent and well engraved.

THE REPORT OF THE FIFTY-FOURTH MEETING OF THE BRITISH

ASSOCIATION.—One very tangible result of the last meeting of the

British Association, held at Montreal in August and September,

1885, is a volume containing 980 closely-printed pages, besides

more than 200 pages occupied by the table of contents, list of mem-

bers, etc. More than forty reports upon the state of science, by

various committees and individuals, and about 340 papers read in

the various sections make a total too long for review, and the

NATURALIST is therefore compelled to notice only a few of the

papers read upon biological and geological subjects. Among

these the report of Messrs. Etheridge, Woodward and T. R.

Jones, upon the fossil Phyllopoda of the Palzozoic rocks (pp.

75-95), that of Messrs. Sorby and Vine upon the fossil Polyzoa

(pp. 97-219), that upon the Zodlogical Station at Naples (pp.

25 3-263), that on the Archzan rocks of Great Britain, by Profes- :

sor T. G. Bonney (pp. 529-551), and that upon the characteristics

of the North American flora, by Professor Asa Gray (pp. 555-568)

may be especially mentioned. A most thoughtful and pregnant

article is the address of W. T. Blanford, president of the Geologi-

cal Section. It deals with the startling exceptions to the rule

that beds exhibiting “homotaxis,” or similarity of fossil forms, are

in reality contemporaneous. By a comparison with each o

of the faunas of the Pikermi beds, of the Siwaliks, Gondwana

and other fossiliferous strata of Hindostan, and of the Australian

coal measures and associated beds, he proves that homotaxis or

the want of it is not sufficient to prove the synchronism or lack

of synchronism of beds situated in different parts of the world.

No less than forty-eight papers were read in the Geological sec-

tion, and are represented here by abstracts of moderate length.

The address of Professor H. N. Mosely, president of the Bio-

logical section, deals with the phenomena of pelagic and deep-sea

life, the amount of oxygen, nature and quantity of food, zones of

978 Recent Literature. [ October,

depth, derivation of the abyssal fauna and other questions which

the investigations carried on by the various deep-sea exploring

expeditions have brought to the front. Among the remaining

fifty-eight biological papers read, it will suffice to mention those

of C. Spence Bate on the geographical distribution of the macru-

rous Crustacea, of P. H. Carpenter upon the geographical and

bathymetrical distribution of the Crinoidea, and that of E. A.

Schafer on the mechanism of absorption. Many of the papers

which are here given in condensed form have also been published

at full length in scientific periodicals,

Vinine’s “ An InGLorious Cotumsus.”'—This volume of more

than 700 pages is devoted to the task of proving that Hwui Shan

and four other mendicant Buddhist monks, who in 458 A. D

came from Afghanistan to China, and thence proceeded further to

the east, really discovered America. The points brought out in

favor of this idea are certainly very many and their cumulative

force large.

Hwui Shan returned to China in the first year of the Ts’i dyn-

asty, and told many med stories concerning the countries

of “ Marked Bodies,” “Great Han eh “Fu-sang”’ which he

had seen on his journeyings, as eel about a “ country of

inhabited by females with Ba podis and long locks,

who carry their young on their backs and nurse them a hundre

days. From the distances given, the size of the countries and

resemblances in the habits of the natives, Mr. Vining concludes

that the land of “ Marked Bodies ” is identical with the Aleutian

islands, “ Great Han” with Alaska, and “Fu-sang” with Mexico,

while the hairy women are explained away into monkeys.

Many preceding authorities have noticed or translated Hwui

Shan’s recital, and Mr. Vining mercilessly quotes them all in the

first portion of his work. This is very fair, but makes extremely

wearisome reading. After these authorities comes an essay on

the nature of the Chinese language, followed by Hwui Shan’s

text, which is accompanied by eight translations, including that

of the au or, |

After pointing out various resemblances between Buddhism and

the worship of Quetzalcoatl, parallelisms between the represen-

Saon of that god and those of Gautama-Buddha, some curious

-likenesses and certain Mexican traditions which seem to

Be ss intimations of Hwui Shan’s visit, Mr. Vining does not

_ forget to tell his readers that the fifth century was so long ago

— Pg considerable difference between Hwui Shan’s description and

__ the state of things known to us must be expected.

4 ae iets Columbus; or evidence that Hwui Shan and a peny of Buddhist

P vine from Afghanistan discovered America in the fifth century A. D . By EDWARD

Vininc. New York, Appleton & Co.

1885.] Recent Literature. 979

REPORT OF PROGRESS OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL His-

TORY SURVEY OF CANADA FOR 1882-'83-’84.—This bulky volume

is filled largely with matter relating to explorations in Central

and Northeastern British America, particularly the region around

Hudson’s bay. Among the more valuable reports are those by

G. M. Dawson on the region in the vicinity of Bow and Belly

rivers, Northeast Territory ; by Dr. Robert Bell on part of the

basin of the Athabasca river, Northwest Terr., and the report of

his observations on the Labrador coast, Hudson’s strait and bay ;

while Mr. Ells and A. P. Low give the results of their explorations

of the Gaspé peninsula. The geology of portions of New Bruns-

wick is described by Professor L. W. Bailey, while the surface-

geology of Western New Brunswick, especially the St. John val-

ley, is reported on by Mr. R. Chalmers. Northern Cape Breton

has been explored by Hugh Fletcher. Other reports are of eco-

nomic interest, while the maps issued with the report form a

separate atlas.

lections hastily gathered from more or less widely separated

localities by Government exploring parties and field geologists.

“We now possess,” it is claimed in the letter of Mr.

transmitting the present work to the director of the survey, “ the

results of a careful survey of a district with a rich fauna, through

30,000 feet of Palzeozoic strata, representing the Cambrian, Silu-

tian, Devonian and Carboniferous rocks.” By means of these

fossils Mr. Walcott has endeavored to illustrate the stratigraphic

Succession and equivalency of the geological horizon in Central

Nevada with those described elsewhere.

-CURTIS SILVER-LEAD DEPOSITS OF Eureka, Nevapa.— This

volume forms the seventh of the monographs of the U. S. Geo-

logical Survey. It is illustrated by sixteen plates of sections, etc.,

of the Ruby Hill mines, and the work appears to have been care-

fully prepared. The summary at the close of the volume, of results,

will render the report accessible to miners and experts.

i RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Morris, C.—The primary conditions of fossilization. Ext. Proc. Nat. Sci. Phil.,

1885. From the author. :

guereux, L.—The Cretaceous and Tertiary floras. U. S. Geol. Surv. of the Ter-

ritories, Vol. vi11, 1883. From the author.

ith, E. A.—Report on the cotton production of the State of Alabama. Dept. of

the Interior, 1884. From the author. :

Nehring, — —Ueber die Schadelform und dass Gebiss des Canis jubatus Desm., in

Sitz, den Gesell. natur Freunde zu Berlin, 1885, p. 109. From the author.

VOL, xXIX—NO. X. 64

980 Recent Literature. _ (October,

Stokes, A. C.—Notes on some apparently undescribed forms of fresh-water Infusoria,

Ext. Am. Jour. of Sci., Aug., ut From the author

idem.

Some new Infusoria pan American fresh waters. Ext. Ann. and Mag. Nat.

ore June, 1885.

members of the infusorial order Choano Flagellata. Ext. Am, Mo. Mic.

Jontnel, Jan., 1885.

Notices of poki water Infusoria. Ext. idem

Meyer, O.—The genealogy and me oe f the fs in the PNS A tertiary,

Parts z and 11. Ext. Am. Jou Eoi, July, 1885. From the au

Ayers, H. a Se e zur Anatomie siska Ph ysiologie ae or ee Abd. der

Jen. Zeits. fur Naiurwiss, Bd. XVIII, 1885. Fro

Putnam, F. on —Remarks upon snipped stone taiii tes Bull. Essex Inst.,

Salem, Mass., 1885. From the author.

Quick, E. R., Butler, A. W., et al. ae of the Brookville Society of Natural

History, No. 1, 1885. From the s

Whiteaves, F. F.—Laramie and Cretaceous Invertebrata. Ex. Contr. to Canadian

Pa sla cats Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. of Canada, July, 1885. From the

Westbrook, R. B.—In memoriam William Wagner, March 7, 1885. From the

uthor

Gabi, E; Gibuti to meteorology. Ext. Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. xxx, July,

1885. From the author

Libbey, gi and Peters, F. E. —Fourth annual repai = = E. M. Museum of Geol-

and Archeology, June, 1885. From the

Dawson, W.—On the Mesozoic floras of the Rocky Mountain mE of Canada.

Read before Roy. Soc. Canada, May, 1885. From the a

Garret, D. C.—President’s address at the opening of the ii aineen brea

ence of Charities and Correction, Washington, D. C., June 4, 1885. m the

nithan

Lewis, T. H.—Notice of aes recently discovered effigy mounds, Ext. Science,

No, 106, 1885. From the author.

Heilprin, Aug.—Town cise The lesson of the Philadelphia rocks, Phila.,

Te From the author.

Albrecht, P.—Ueber Existenz oder oy sen der Rathke’schen Tasche, aus dem

En Biol. Ciad, Iv Band, Nr

— Ueber die Chorda dorsalis a 7 knöcherne Wirbelcentren im wore ee

asenseptum eines erwachsenen Rindes. Aus idem, v Band, Nr 5 und 6

—La Queuechez Phomme. Ext. du Bull. de la Soc, d’Anthrop. de Bruxelles,

a Tome 111, 1885.

— Ueber den morphologischen Werth des ge jag apse E der Gebdrknéchel-

` chen, und des mittleren und äusseren Ohres der Säugethiere. Sep. Abd. d

Compte-Rendu des otologischen Congress in Base

—— Ueber die im Laufe der seta eats tare Putwickelung eae ange-

borene Spalte des'Brustbeinhandgriffes der Briillaffen. oe = der k. preus.

: Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin, Apr. 16, 1 drar All from the a

Lawrence, G. N. Déscripäons of supposed new species = birds d the families

~= Tyrannidze, Cypselidæ and Columbidæ. From the au

Gentry, A. F.—A review of the gom Phrynosoma. Ext. Proe. Acad. Nat. Sci.

E 2 From the author.

ne , T. G—On the Archzean rocks of Great Britain, Ext. Proc, Brit, Assoc.

Montreal, 1884. From ee

: (ae et “it kee screw-like EATA from the Che-

some peculiar

Ext. Ann. N. y. yii Sci., Vol. 11, No. 7. From the author.

1e of the Australian n ipii Zodphytes. Australian Muse-

_ From the author.

1885.] Recent Literature. 981

Bottger, O.—Materialen zur Fauna des unterere Congo I

sage angela wm zur herpetolischen Fauna von China 1. Frankfort, 1885. Both from

or.

the a

Dobson, E. F.—An nh to ges ee hae the — stages of evolu-

tion of the Mammalia. Ext t. Assoc., 1884. m the author,

White, C. A.—The application a; be, to geological sedan Ext. Proc. Biol.

Soc. Wash., Vol. 111, 1884-5. From the author.

ap TG M. ppe und Berichttigungen zu: die Nagér de europäischen Ter-

tiärs. From the author

White, C. A., Heilprin, A., rad d Ryder, J. A.—A review of the fossil Ostreidæ of

North America Ext. Fourth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., Washington, 1884.

From the author.

“apse F; = oe geological reconnaissance in Southern Oregon. Ext. idem, From

t or,

Call, R. Zz pi Gilbert, C. K.—On the Quaternary and recent Mollusca of the Great

basin, aoei by a east of the o oe lakes of the Great basin, U.

S. Geol. Surv., Washington. Fro uthor

Lapparent, A. de ens es m ý pie Ne des co mig sedimentaires. Ex.

du Traité de Geologie, Part 2, 1865. From the

aareriant, jJ-—An American sities railway mr ‘The Dominion of Canada.

Xis ye & Co., 1885. From the publishers

ur, G.—On the morphology of the caput and tarsus of vertebrates. Amer. Nat.

extra, july, 1885. From the author

Hae O.—Ostdeutsche Arten im Mosbacher Sand. Sep. Abd. aus Nachr, Platt.

d. Malakog., 1885. From the

R L. Rese tee raisonné oe Pants et Batraciens d’Assinie. Ext. du

Bull. de Soc, Zool. de France, 1884.

Remarques complémentaires sur les Tortues gigantiques de Madagascar, Ext.

Compte Rendus de Academie sa Sciences

Remarques sur l'orientation des œufs dan + A chez les poissons Elasmo-

branchs ovipares. Ext. du Bull. de la Sie. Philo. de Paris, 18.

spree ar e sur la disposition des corps vertebraux chez l Anaides ugar Hal-

ll. Ex

——Sur les ani du Cybium sara Bennett. Ext, id.

——Sur quelques particularités des squelette chez le Caranx carangus Bl. Ext. id.

emi ampagnes scientifiques du Travailleur et du Talisman. All from the

uthor.

—Note sur l’alimentation de l Heterodon Se T Ext. dw

Ball: Jah 1a Soe. Philo. de Paris, 1884. From the author

True, F. W. new species age porpoise, Phocena dalli, from Alaska, Ext.

Proc. T ms Nat. Mus., 1885. From the author

geen R. W—Two ali in a man, N.Y. Medical Tana, June`27, 1885.

er, P.—Carbons for arc-lamps. Report of examiners of Section vit Intern.

elect: Exhib., 1884. Phila., 1885. From the author.

Whiteaves, J. F. Peppa a pae Cretaceous Invertebrata of the Northwest Territory,

1885. From the auth

sags C. S.—The Gaa of Bacteria investigation. Explicit directions for the

study of Bacteria. Boston, Cassino & Co., 1885. “From the publishers.

ilo, L.—Premiére note sur le Hainosaure, M en noveau de la craie brune

esosauri

shosphat tée de Mesvin-Ciply, prés Móns: Ext. Bull. du Mus. Rey. d’Hist.

at. de Belg., 1885. From the author.

hs, C.—Catalogue des ee epee ues paléontologiques conchyliolog-

Te et d'archéologie préhistorique du Musée Sgap Maestricht. Liége, 1885.

the author.

982 General Notes. [| October,

Bonney, T. G.—Address delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Geological So-

ciety of London, Feb., 1885.. From the author.

Fordice, M. W.—A review of the American species of Stromateidz. Ext. Proc.

Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1885. From the author.

Vining, E. P,—An inglorious Columbus. Evidence that Hwui Shan and a party

of Buddhist monks from Afghanistan discovered America in the fifth century

A. D. N. Y., 1885. From the author.

Baily, J. L—The constitutional prohibition of the drink traffic, N. Y., 1885.

From the author.

Sanchez, 7—Linguistica de la República Mexicana. En Anales del Museo Nacional

e Mexico, 1885. From the author.

Curtis, J. S.—Silver-lead deposits of Eureka. Monog. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1884.

From the department.

\ Walcott, C. D.—On the Cambrian faunas of North America. Bull. U. S. Geol.

Surv., No. 10. From the department,

—Paleontology of the Eureka district. Mong. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1884, From

the author.

Trouessart, E. L.—Description d’un nouveau genre de la sous-famille des Chyleienis.

rom the author.

——Lies acariens parasites des Calaos. La Nature, 13 Juin, 1885, From the author.

The Theosophical Society —Ext. from minutes of session July 4, 1885, authorizing

Professor E. Coues to act as censor of the American Society of Psychical Re-

Lewis, H. C.—Marginal kames. From the author.

Lydekker, R.—Siwalik and Narbada Chelonia. Ser. x, Vol. 111, Part 6 of Palzeon-

tologica Indica. From the author,

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

Arrica.—African News—The Revs. G. Grenfell and T. J.

Comber have contributed to the Proc. Royal Geog. Society an

account of their explorations on the Congo. The Bochini or

. Kwa river was ascended for about 100 miles, and was proved,

notwithstanding its apparent smallness, to receive the great river.

Qwango and also the Njali Pi, or Black river, coming from Lake

Leopold II. Between Stanley Pool and the mouth of the Boch-

ini the south bank of the Congo seems almost uninhabited. The

journey from Leopoldville to Bolobo was accomplished in four

days, traveling ten hours a day. The mouth of the Bochini is in

lat. 3° 12’, and is almost closed up by rocks, which obstruct the

n first thirty miles of the channel. The Ba-buma of this river are

= regarded by our travelers as the best examples ot the African

= they have met with. They are well-formed, intelligent, friendly,

industrious, and seem to lead a happy domestic life. Their chief

isa woman, Nga-Nkabe. Tall and stalwart, with a dignified air

and queenly pose, Nga-Nkabe evidently knows how to rule.

'he Qwango comes in from S.S.E. with a depth of two fathoms,

. width of 400 or 500 yards and a current of a mile and a half an

ur. The houses upon its banks were round, like those seen by

'h s department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

1885. ] Geography and Travels, 983

Capello and Ivens 200 miles further south, instead of square like

those on the Congo. Women wear a solid brass collar weighing

twenty-five to thirty pounds. Our travelers arrived at Bolobo -

during the saturnalia consequent upon a chief’s death, and state

their impression that the main characteristics of the people are

drunkenness, immorality and cruelty in the most revolting excess.

Mr. H. E. O’Neill draws attention (Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc.,

1885, p. 373) to the neglected port of Nakala, in Fernao Veloso

bay, north of Mozambique. It has numerous good anchorages,

and offers magnificent conditions for the founding of a colony.

Nakala is a deep inlet forming a southern prolongation of Fernao

Veloso bay. Dr. H. Zoller, in his account of Togo land, pub-

lished in the Kolnische Zeitung, states that the streets of the Togo

villages are better swept than those of Berlin. Refuse is thrown

into large holes, which are covered over when full. The rectan-

gular houses are built of huge bricks made of clay, reeds and

straw, the: roof is thatched with straw, and the floor is covered »

with red clay. Sometimes there are two or more apartments,

provided with windows having wooden shutters, and occasionally

there is an upper floor with a kind of staircase. he expedi-

tion of Messrs. F. L. and W. D. James has returned to England.

The Messrs. James intended to cross from Berbera to Magadoxo,

but though accompanied by sixty Somali and with Dualla, one of

Stanley’s best men, for headman, they only succeeded in reaching

Barri, on the Webbe river. The greater part of this journey of

about 400 miles, was over territory before unvisited by Euro-

peans. Barri is 215 miles from Magadoxo. Since the depar-

ture of Mr, Comber, his colleague, the Rev. G. Grenfell, has as-

cended the Mabangi, or Ubangi tributary to 4° 30’ N. lat., the

_ Alkere to 2° 50’ N., the Lubilash, or Lomame, to 1° 50’ N., the

bura to cataracts ten miles from its mouth and the Kelemba,

or Ruki, as far as it was navigable, viz., 100 miles. The Sankuru

Proved an unimportant small stream ; the Albangi is he river,

but the tribes are bad and fierce; and the Ukere is thought to be

the Welle (Proc. Roy. Zodl. Soc., June).——Mr. E. H. pom

an American missionary, has journeyed from Inhambane to

Limpopo, through a region which is at present a blank on our

maps. The Bombom river forms the western boundary of the

Portuguese province, and drains a large area of Western Inham-

e, as well as the eastern slope of the Makwakwa ridge to the

west. The country west of this ridge is semi-deserted in conse-

quence of the raids of Umzila’s soldiers. From the Makwakwa

ridge to the Limpopo is level land. The Ama-gwaza, or people

of Umzila, inhabit or control the country from the Zambesi

to the Limpopo, and with the exception of the Portuguese pos-

Sessions of Chiluan and Inhambane, from the sea in the east to

the Matabele country on the west. It is announced from Lis-

bon that the Portuguese explorers, Capello and Ivens, have dis-

984 General Notes. [October,

covered the sources of the Lualaba, Luapula and Chambese, the

head waters of the Congo.

Asia.—Asiatic News.—Col. Prejevalsky has discovered three

peaks, each over 20,000 feet high, in the middle range of the

Kuen-lun. The plateau skirting the middle Kuen-lun has an

average height of 4000 feet. Dr. Gottsche, who has recently

returned to Europe after a journey of over 2000 miles in Korea,

believes that the population is much underrated. He has visited

all the eight provinces and eighty-four out of the 350 districts,

and has, through influential support which he received, been

enabled to collect much statistical information which is wholly

new. He states that the official census only takes into account

the adults, and that therefore its nine millions must be increased

to over twelve. The geology of Korea seems to be that of the

bordering Manchuria. He found few traces of that early devel-

opment of art and science which made Korea the instructress of

Japan. The labors of Dr. A. Griinwedel and Dr. R. Virchow

with Bengalese and other intruders, and have a yellow complex-

ion. Dr. Virchow is careful to point out that none of these hill

tribes lend any support to the theory of an aboriginal Negrito

population formerly spread over the whole of India and Indo-

China. —— Iturup and Kunashiri, the most southern of the

Kuriles, are also the largest. Iturup, according to a recent num- —

ber of the Japan Gazette, is 113 miles long and seventy-seven 1n

greatest width; Kunashiri is sixty-two miles by seventeen. All

the Kuriles are very desolate, and only sparsely occupied in sum-

mer by Japanese and Ainos, who come to fish. In Iturup there

is an impassable jungle of bamboo grass between the coast and

the mountains. Professor Milne thinks it not unlikely that the

-Iturup bear, which seems to resemble the grizzly, may be new to

- science. Information has been received at the Hague from

Java that the state of Krakatoa was causing some anxiety. Sub-

terranean sounds have been heard, and the rocks which emerged

__ from the sea during the last eruption suddenly disappeared at the

ov end Of April, ~

_ AmERica.— American News.—Asaph Hall writes to Science to

contradict the Encyclopedia Brittanica, Appleton’s American

syclopzedia and Johnson’s Cyclopzdia with regard to the height

and in Connecticut. Against the statement of the Ency.

. that Connecticut has no land “ above a thousand feet in ele-

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 985

vation,” he gives the following table, based on a survey of the

Connecticut Western railroad, made in 1873 by Mr. E. N. Brad

ford :

Joy mount (Goshen), . i 1642 feet.

Haystack: mount (Norfolk): ss cs 26 Sis oh E 16725: *

Bald mount: (Norfolk 085 ase win fas aS 1770 “

Bradford mount (Canaan) Igro “

Bear mount (Salisbury) .... 2100 “

Brace mount (Salisbury) .. CE TTE 2300 “

——F. Gardiner, Jr., in a communication to Science, describes a

natural bridge sixty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide where narrow-

est and two feet thick in the center, situated in a small cañon at

a distance of about twenty miles from the Atlantic and Pacific

railroad, near the boundary of Arizona and New Mexico.

Lieut. Hohm, of the Danish Greenland exploring expedition,

separated from Dr. Eberlin at Tingmiarmint (62° 40' N. lat.)

with the intention of reaching Angmaksalik, in 65° N. lat., where

there is a fixed settlement not hitherto visited by Europeans.

The heathen East Greenlanders are as tall as the peoples of North

Europe, and mostly have dark eyes and hair. They seem to

have nothing in common with the Eskimo, yet their utter absence

of Norse tradition and total want of civilization, is thought to

preclude the possibility that they are descendants of the Norse-

men.

GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY.

Tue RELATIONS OF THE PUERCO AND LARAMIE DEPOSITS.—

Some writers having suspected the identity of the formations

above named, and the consequence which follows, that the Puerco

mammalian fauna was contemporary with the dinosaurian fauna

of the Laramie age, the following observations on their strati-

graphic relations are now given. They are derived from the notes

of several years’ residence and exploration by my correspondent,

David Baldwin, which connect those made by myself in New

Mexico in 1874, published in the Wheeler Survey Report, with

those made by Holmes and Endlich in 1878 in Colorado, and

published in the Hayden Survey Report.

At the locality where best developed, the Puerco beds have a

thickness of about 850 feet, and contain Mammalia to the base

(see Naturauist for April and May, 1885). The Laramie beds

succeed downwards, conformably it is thought by Mr. Baldwin ;

and have a thickness of 2000 feet at Animas City, New Mexico.

They rest on Fox Hills marine Cretaceous of less thickness. A

few fossils sent from time to time by Mr. Baldwin identify the

Laramie. This is especially done by the teeth of the dinosaurian

genus Dysganus Cope,! which is restricted to the Laramie

* Proceedings Academy Philada., Oct., 1876.

986 ‘General Notes, [October,

formation everywhere. Also by the presence of the genera Læ-

laps and Diclonius, which in like manner do not extend upwards

into the Puerco beds. The Lælaps is principally represented by

teeth, which resemble those of the Z. izcrassatus Cope more than

those of any other species, although these parts are not alone

sufficient for the determination of species in this genus. The

Dysganus agrees with the D. encaustus Cope, which, with the Zæ-

laps incrassatus, was described from specimens from the Upper

Missouri. A species of Trionyx and a large crocodile accom-

pany these species. The latter differs in the character of its teeth

from any species known to me. The crown is compressed at the

apex, and there are two well-marked cutting edges, which slope

in such a way as to divide equal faces unsymmetrically, 2. e., the

greatest convexity of one not being opposite to that of the other ;

the transverse section resulting being an oblique oval, or at the

base a regular oval, with cutting edges at points diagonal to each

other. On one side of the tooth thus divided, the surface is

grooved by twenty-five strong sulci, which become very fine at

the obtuse apex of the tooth. The opposite (external ?) side of

the crown is smooth, excepting traces of sulci and silky grooving

towards and at the apex. Diameter of crown where broken off,

It is thus evident that the Puerco formation is quite distinct

from the Laramie, although it is possible that it may be proper to

associate it with the Laramie in the Postcretaceous series.! When

the Cretaceous mammalian fauna comes to be known, it will be

very apt to agree with the Puerco in its leading features. These

are, the absence of Perissodactyla and of Rodentia, and of course

of mammalian orders not found below the Miocenes ; and in the

constitution of the mammalian fauna by Condylarthra, Bunothe-

ria and Marsupialia exclusively. The Postcretaceous series as &

whole may be ultimately distinguished from the tertiary by these

peculiarities, together with the presence of the reptilian genus

Champsosaurus.—Z£. D. Cope.

This has been done in the table of formations in Vol. 111 U. S. Geol. Survey, F.

ayden, Tertiary Vertebrata, p. 42. |

1885.] Geology and Paleontology. 987

water increases the tendency to fusion, it is probable that this plas-

tic zone commences at a depth of about forty miles. The interior

of the earth may have a rigidity exceeding that of steel, but even

if, according to the ideas of Wadsworth and some others, the in-

terior is liquid, this does not affect the action of the surface zone

nents, while the ultimate crushing produced the mountains.

Mr. Crosby does not, therefore, believe in the permanency of

continents, which is held by many geologists as an article of faith.

We have, he argues, certain knowledge of a Paleozoic subsidence

of 40,000 feet in the Alleghanies, a Mesozoic subsidence of 50,-

000 feet in Central Europe, and, according to King, a subsidence

of 60,000 feet in the Rocky mountains. With these facts in mind

how can it be held that any part of the floor of the deep sea ever

has been or will be elevated to form dry land?

GEOLOGICAL News.—General—All the geological formations

occurs everywhere on the edges of the older mountain ranges.

Basalt is rare, the volcanic rocks are mostly trachyte and ande-

site, and granite covers an area only second to that occupied by

e Paleozoic formations. Volcanic tuff, consisting principally of

decomposed silicates, is among the soils of Japan, and forms

_ Most of the uncultivated plains at the foot of the mountains. The

geological and topographical survey of Japan has worked over

an area of about eighty geographical miles square.

Paleozoic—Mr. O. A. Derby states (Geog. Physica do Brazil,

Vol. 1) that the Brazilian tablelands are composed of horizontal

or nearly horizontal beds. The basis of the plateau consists of

ancient metamorphic rocks; these form nearly the whole of the

mountain and mountainous tablelands, and appear whenever later

tocks have been denuded. They thus occur at the bottom of

nearly all river valleys. The older of these rocks are highly

Crystalline, the newer less crystalline. The granites, syenite,

988 General Notes. [October,

gneiss, etc., of the first series is supposed to be Laurentian, while

the quartzite schists and limestones, etc., of the second series are

Huronian. The latter series is the great mineral repository of

Brazil. Here occurs the schistose micaceous quartzite called

iron and extensive beds of hematite and other iron ores, and gold.

Tapanhoacanga, consisting of masses of iron ore cemented by

limonite, is often very rich in gold. The Serra do Espinhaço is

capped with sandstone believed to be Silurian, and probably a

part of the sandstones of the Sao Francisco-Tocantins divide are

also Silurian. The tablelands of the Parana basin, composed of

sandstone and shale with some limestone, are probably Devonian

and Carboniferous. Devonian fossils characterize an extensive

area in the Campos Geraes de Parana, while the Carboniferous

covers a large region farther to the westward in the same province,

and in Sta Catherina, Rio Grande do Sul and Southern and West-

ern Sao Paulo. Coal has been found at various points. Immense

dykes of diorite traverse these two formations, and by their de-

composition afford a dark red soil called zerra rova—O. A.

Derby (Am. Four. of Science, Sept., 1884) shows that the flexi-

bility of itacolumite is only a surface quality. In a cutting upon

the Rio and Minas railroad (Brazi!) a thickness of forty meters of

itacolumite is laid bare. The upper portion consists of massive

beds from one to three meters thick, in which flexible portions

are rarely found. In the lower part the beds readily divide into

thin laminz, most of which are more or less flexible. Exposures

of unweathered itacolumite are rare, and from the study of this

Mr. Derby concludes that flexibility is not an original character-

istic of the rock but a phase of weathering brought about by per-

colating waters.

Stlurian.—Sr. Leon Tourquist has published descriptions of

113 species and varieties of trilobites discovered in the Silurian

basin of Siljan, in Dalecarlia. The descriptions mainly rest on

detached heads and pygidia, as the fossils are fragmentary.

Carboniferous.—S. H. Scudder has described two new Carbon-

iferous insects from England. One of these can with certainty

be referred to Brongniart’s group of Protophasmida. The wing

is broadest in the middle, and from the appearance of the frag-

ment, which is 75™™ long, must have had a length of 130 ™ So |

that the living insect probably possessed an expanse of wing of at

least ten inches.

=~ _ Cambrian.—Mr. W. O. Crosby (Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist.) de-

_ fends his previous conclusions respecting the relations of the

_ conglomerate and slate in the Boston basin. He maintains that

_ the conglomerate underlies the slate, that there is essentially but

one formation of conglomerate and one of slate; that both are

nordial, or at least Cambrian, and that the Boston basin con-

1835.| Geology and Paleontology. 989

tains no Carboniferous beds. He declares that the Carboniferous

shales and sandstones are quite distinct lithologically from the

slates of the Boston basin, which latter, as well as the conglom-

erate, are traversed in all directions by numerous and large dykes

of trap or diabase, while no eruptive rocks have ever been dis-

covered in the adjacent Carboniferous. The rocks are decidedly

omogeneous, passing gradually into each other, and have also

a general agreement in strike and dip. The conglomerate under-

lies the slate, not because it is older than the slate, but because it

was deposited in shallow water, the slate in deeper, and the latter

deposit commenced before the first.was completed. In not a few

instances the conglomerate can be seen to pass beneath the

slate,

Cretaceous—M. Ch. Arnat (Rev. Scientifique) describes the

geological structure of the Saharan district of M? zab. is prin-

cipally consists of an elevated plateau (hamada) of Cretaceous

rocks, rising toward the north-east into a cliff facing the basin of

the Oued Loua, while toward the south-east it is lost beneath the

alluvium of the Oued Rhir. Thus this rocky plateau, which is

entirely desolate and without running water, is bounded east and

west by alluvial deposits. Calcareous concretions mark the pas-

and Malmo. Those of Kristianstad are chiefly gruskalk (a lime-

Stone composed of the fine débris of shells of mollusks and

€chinoderms) with a mixture of quartz sand-grains and occasion-

ally metamorphic boulders. In Ystad the prevailing rocks of the

Cretaceous strata are incoherent calcareous sandstones, with a

variable quantity of green grains; while in Malmo the beds are

Pure white chalk of various degrees of hardness, with abundant

layers and nodules of flint. These Malmo beds are an easterly

Continuation of those of Denmark, and closely resemble those of

990 General Notes. [ October,

Norwich (Eng.). In Malmo the upper chalk is overlaid by the

Danien, or newer chalk, which is without belemnites or Belemni-

tella. From the upper chalk the only new species described is a

Lingula, but from other horizons there are sixteen new forms,

The most prolific brachiopod fauna is the lower division of the

Kristianstad district, characterized by 5 Sasa ventricosus.

_ Tertiary —Ernst Hoken has endeavored to ascertain the groups,

of fishes to which belong the otoliths, which are the most com-

mon remains of bony fishes in the Oligocene of North Germany.

He finds the Gadidz predominate, but identifies also species of

Percide, Sciænidæ, Sparide,. Triglide and Pleuronectide.

Although Professor Marsh’s book on the Dinocerata bears date

1884, the first copy was eresi from the binders rede the

end of February, 1885. ardner, in a lecture upon

the Age of the Basalts of the North. east Atlantic, tte that the

determination of the Antrim basalts as Miocene is not satisfac-

tory; and that the assumption that all floras comprising modern

and temperate-looking genera (such as willow, beech, alder, hazel,

poplar, elm, pine, liquidambar) must be Miocene, while a flora of

palms, Proteacez, figs, Aralias, etc; must be Eocene, is erroneous.

The whole of the American flora with Dicotyledons would have

been absorbed into the Miocene had it not been for stratigraphical

evidence. The so-called Miocene plants of Greenland are, by Mr.

Gardner, referred to the middle Eocene, and the unfossiliferous

beds below their horizon to the base of the Eocene. The basalts

in Ireland restore the upper chalk. In conclusion Mr. Gardner

said—“ I think we may assume that the old land on which this

flora (that of the middle series of the Irish basalts) grew formed a

part of the continent of Europasia, in Eocene times, and further

that it formed or was not ‘distant from its western coast line.” Mr.

rdner believes that the silicified wood and lignites of Lough

One ae may be derived from the basalts. The prevailing conifers

ese Eocene basalts are a cypress, a cryptomeria and a pine. —

Post-Glacial—W. O. Crosby (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist.)

gives what seems a very probable explanation of the gorge

called Purgatory, at Sutton, Mass. The chasm is about 50 feet

wide, with vertical walls, and pierces the micaceous gneiss of the

e region. He suggests that during some disturbance of the earth’s

= Crust, the wedge-shaped mass of rock between two master joints

~. has dropped. This idea is in accord with facts. The chasm is

at parallel to a well-defined system of joints, and its walls are

_ evidently joint-places. There are no evidences of marine erosion

. to support Dr. Hitchcock’s theory. The date of this chasm must

be post-glacial, as, if it lay in the path of the ice-sheet, it would

lave been filled with glacial detritus. The explanation will of

ourse apply to some other similar gorges.

wy.—Prof. A. Nehring (Sitz. Ges. naturf. Freunde,

rts that the horse Dose in ROR during the

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 99I

diluvial age. At that time middle Europe was a land of steppes,

and a strong-kneed, thick headed, medium-sized wild horse existed

there. Later on the steppe became covered with forest, the

moist climate of which was unfavorable to the horse, which be-

came confined to the pasture grounds and thus fell more and

more under the influence of domestication, whilst it degenerated

into the small weak-kneed horse found in the moors of Northern

Germany, in some pile-dwellings, and in the “ Kreisgruben ” of

Oldenburg. The descendants of this European horse can still be

traced in some breeds. This view does not shut out the idea that -

the introduction of the Asiatic horse may have contributed to the

change of type.

Recent—Dr. R. v. Lendenfeld has found undoubted traces of

glaciation throughout an area of 100 sq. miles upon the highest

part of the Australian Alps, at elevations of above 5800 feet.

The rocks showing traces of ice-action are all granite.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY:.!

Tescunite.—Dr. Carl Rohrbach? has made a thorough reéx-

amination of all the occurrences of teschnite of which he could

obtain specimens, and concludes that this rock is not entitled to

the position to which it was assigned by Rosenbusch in his sys-

tem of rock classification published in 1877.

The paper opens with a valuable review of the literature of this

much discussed rock-type. The best known localities are those

in the neighborhood of Teschen, in Moravia, where the rock, as

early as 1821, was described as a diorite. This determination

appears to have been regarded as satisfactory until Hohenegger

„threw doubt on it, and in 1861 proposed to call this in many

respects peculiar group of rocks “teschnite.” This name was

accepted by Tschermak, in 1866, for the lighter colored varieties,

while he designated the darker ones as picrite. Zirkel, in 1868,

and Tschermak, in 1869, first mentioned nepheline as a constitu-

€nt of these rocks. In 1877 Rosenbusch published the results of

his examination of these rocks, which he defined as pre-Tertiary

Plagioclase-nepheline aggregates, and as such assigned them a

_ very important place in his classification. Other masses of a

similar age and mineralogical composition have been described

by Tschermak from the Caucasus, and by McPherson in Portugal.

Analcite, supposed to be an alteration of the nepheline, is a com-

mon constituent at all of these localities. :

__As the principal primary constituents Dr. Rohrbach designates

plagioclase, augite, hornblende, biotite, olivine, magnetite an

apatite. The augite is called “ automorphous ” when it is present

1 Edited by Dr. Gro. H. WILLIAMS, of the Johns Hopkins Univ., ee Ma.

? Ueber die Eruptivgesteine im Gebiet der schlesisch-mährischen K

Tschermak’s Min. u. Petr. Mitth., vit, pp. 1-63.

992 General Notes. [ October,

in well defined crystals, and “ xenomorphous” when it merely

fills the spaces left between the plagioclase crystals, as is common

in rocks of the diabase type. A compact brown hornblende is a

common constituent and presents the most interesting relations

to the augite. These are described at length and admirably illus-

trated in a colored plate. This hornblende which very frequently

makes up the outer portion of a pyroxene crystal, is regarded as

in no way of secondary origin, but as an original crystallization

due either to changes in chemical composition or physical condi-

tions in the magma. The following analyses of the two minerals

illustrate instructive chemical differences: -

Augite. Flornblende.

oS ee ee 44.22 36.91

Beis ks ewes see 10.49 16.30

BR Vics scans Dee peteodabea ks see a aa 11.98 5.28

Te a a be BE ESE E A ERR e R y 5-77 52.27

< DE becuse aed Oe ty erates Gases esees re 7.02 8.83

Ga. ees T caceen ce ¥Oree e¥iein Fire sys 22.54 16.91

102.02 96.50

The hornblende contains 3.5 per cent of alkalies.

The nepheline Dr. Rohrbach was unable to discover in any

-specimens of teschnite from either Moravia, Caucasus or Portu-

gal. He thinks that what has thus far been considered to belong

to this species is in reality apatite, and would hence strike tesch-

nite from its place in Rosenbusch’s system.

[Even in case Dr. Rohrbach’s results regarding the presence of

nepheline in the specimens examined by him are entirely correct,

no account has been taken ọf the dykes of ancient plagio-

- clase rocks occurring in the Silurian limestone near Montreal, in

Canada, which, according.to Drs. Hawes and Harrington, are un-

doubtedly rich in nepheline. This mineral is often present in

large sharply-defined hexagonal crystals closely resembling those

so characteristic of the Katzenbuckel “ nephelinite.” —G. H- W.].

METAMORPHOSIS OF GABBRO.—The widespread origin of horn-

blendic schists by the uralitic alteration of massive pyroxene

rocks receives additional evidence in its favor wherever the atten-

tion of geologists is especially directed to it. The observations

of Lehmann in Saxony, Reusch in Norway, Phillips in Bagreg

Becke.in Austria, Streng and Irving in the region about

Superior in the U. S., all indicate the great geological eri

of molecular changes i in prodocing amphibole schists from pyrox-

~ ene eruptive rocks, The studies of Kloos'in the Black Forest

point to a like relation between the gabbros and diorites of Ehrs-

berg. Mr. Frederick H. Hatch, of London, has contributed a

similar investigation of the gabbro occurring at ’Wildschénan in the

: “coast eri 11, Beil. Bd.

1885. | Mineralogy and Petrography. 993

Tyrol, and of the associated hornblende schists, which he regards

as having undoubtedly been derived by its uralitization! Severa

wood-cuts illustrate the different stages of the alteration as it was

observed under the microscope, The writer finds that the schis-

tose structure is developed in the rock in proportion as the alter-

ation of the pyroxene to hornblende has progressed, and is hence

inclined to attribute both to the action of great pressure.

Two parallel series of alteration which have gone on in the

gabbros of Wildschönau, the writer illustrates in the following

manner : ;

Normal-gabbro

arm aes

Beemer oE.

Uralite-gabbro - Hornblende-gabbro

(“ Gabbro-diorite” of Tornebohm

and Williams)

Actinolite or nephrite-schist Amphibolite

Serpentine Epidote-rock

PETROGRAPHICAL News.—Barrois? and Des Cloizeaux® have re-

cently made important contributions to our knowledge of the phy-

sical characteristics of the minerals of the chloritoid group, which

are becoming more and more generally recognized as widely dis-

tributed rock constituents. Van Werveke* publishes the results

of a new microscopical study of a large amount of petrographical

material in which this class of minerals plays an important rôle.

This consists of the ottrelite schists occurring near Ottré and Viel-

Salm in the Ardennes. These he divides into ottrelite-phyllite

proper, garnetiferous ottrelite-phyllite, magnetiferous ottrelite-

phyllite and ottrelite-bearing quartz-breccia. Professor E.

Cohen, formerly of Strassburg, who has recently been called to

the University of Greifswald, has a Jetter in the Neues Jahrbuch

fiir Mineralogie,’ in which he revises the determination of the

diallage in the Schriesheim picrite, made by him some twelve

years ago. The resemblance of this rock to certain olivine rocks

occurring near Peekskill, on the Hudson river, is very striking.

In them large bronze-like cleavage surfaces of hornblende are

mottled with much smaller grains of olivine and pyroxene. An

almost identical mineral occurs in the Schreisheim rock, which

was formerly considered by Cohen as diallage, but which now,

Ueber den Gabbro aus der Wildschönau in Tirol und die aus ihm hervorgehen-.

oe Gesteine, Tschermak’s Min. und Petrog. Mitth., vil, 1885, pp:

* Bull. soc. min, de France, vit, p. 37, 1884.

*Bull. soc. min, de France, vil, p. 80, 1884.

* Neues Jahrbuch für Min, , etc., 1885, 1, pp. 227-235-

j * 1885, 1, p.

994 Generat Notes. | October,

upon reéxamination, proves to be also hornblende. The writer

proposes to call this type of rock, composed essentially of olivine

and hornblende, “hudsonite,” on account of its being so well

developed at Stony point, on the Hudson river. [The name

“hudsonite” was applied, as early as 1842, by Beck to a variety

of augite occurring near Cornwall, on the Hudson river. It

would therefore seem preferable, if a new name is considered

necessary, to employ some other than that proposed by Cohen.

The present writer has elsewhere suggested “ cortlandtite” as

appropriate, since this rock is such a typical member of Professor

Dana’s “ Cortlandt Series.” —G. H. W.|——-Dr. K. Oebbeke,’ of

Munich, communicates some observations made by him on a

specimen of andesite from the summit of Mt. Tacoma, Washing-

ton Territory. The question of the existence of pleochroic

augite is again discussed and regarded as undecided in spite of

the work of Cross, Hague and Iddings on the western hyper-

sthene-andesites. If the matter is still in doubt it must be con-

fessed that Oebbeke here furnishes but little convincing evidence

in favor of a pleochroic monoclinic pyroxene. M. Ver-

beek’ makes some interesting remarks on the recent ‘lavas re the

East Indian archipelago. These are, for the most part, hyper-

sthene-andesites, or, as this writer prefers to call them on account

of the ‘presence of both hypersthene and augite, “ pyroxene-

andesites.” The hypersthene is almost always in excess of the

augite. Pure augite andesites have not been observed, but such as

contain only hypersthene rarely occur. The complementary roles

played by the hypersthene and olivine in these rocks was noticed _

by Verbeek independently of Hague and Iddings, who discovered

and described the same in their notes on the hypersthene ande-

site and basalt of the Western U. S. in 1883, Mr. G. P. Mer-

rill? of the U. S. National Museum, has published some notes on

the hornblende andesite from the new volcano on Bogosloff

island, in Behring sea. They are quite normal in appearance,

containing lath-shaped plagioclase crystals, brown hornblende and

reen augite imbedded ina microlitic base. Two varieties are

RY tee one light colored with fifty-six per cent of silica

and the other muth darker with fifty-one and a half per cent.

BOTANY.

BoranicAL WORK OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT OF SciENcE.—The Ann Arbor meeting of the

association, just closed, proved of more than usual interest to

: ere was a notable increase in the permanent

: of the papers. They were much more thoughtful, as a rule, oa

i Nen es Jahrbuch für Min., de, 1885, I, p. 222.

ee eet Min, a c., 1885, I, P 243.

of the U. S. iatan al Museum, Vol. vill, 1885, Ep 3t;

; CHARLES E, , Lincoln, Neb

1885. | Botany. 995

those presented at previous meetings, and came up more nearly

to the standard demanded by the science of to-day. Below we

give brief abstracts, which will show the general nature of the

papers.

“An observation on the hybridization and cross-breeding of

plants,” by E. Lewis Sturtevant. This gave in detail the obser-

vations on crossed beans, maize, barley, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce

and peas, made at the New York Agricultural Experiment Sta-

tion. Asa result of.the observations the author concludes that in

our domesticated vegetable plants cross-fertilization shows its

effects at once in the reproduction of the form-species and varie-

ties which are involved in the parentage of the crossed seed, or,

in other words, the effect is atavism rather than a blending of

properties.

“ Germination studies,” by the same author, gave the results of

making numerous duplicate germinations, showing that different

large or small. The influence of various temperatures was also

discussed. These two papers will appear in the NATURALIST.

“ The question of bisexuality in the pond-scums,” by Charles

E. Bessey. It has been held by some botanists that the pond-

scums (Zygnemacez) show a distinct bisexuality, one of the fila-

ments being male, the other female. Certain facts were presented

which render such a view untenable. In many plants the cells of

the same filament fertilize one another, as is notably the case in

the forms which have been described as Rhynchonema. Several

cases of hybridization were cited in which two filaments, both of

which bore resting-spores, united with one another and produced

a hybrid spore. The conclusion was that the pond-scums are

not bisexual, but rather unisexual, that is, that while sexuality un-

doubtedly exists, there is as yet no differentiation into the proper

male and female. Accordingly these plants must take a position

just above the asexual prototypes, but below the clearly bisexual

oophytes. :

“The process of fertilization in Campanula americana,” by

Charles R. Barnes. This species is strongly proterandrous. The

pollen is scraped out of the anthers by the hairy style and brushed

off before the stigmas open, thus securing cross-fertilization. The

development of the pollen is normal. The stigmas are held to-

gether till mature by interlocking papilla. The hairs on the

style become partially introverted, thus freeing the pollen.

The pollen spore contains two nuclei, the larger of which, the

vegetative, becomes disorganized shortly after entering the pollen

tube, while the smaller spindle-shaped generative nucleus persists.

The embryo-sac is cylindrical, with a gradual enlargement near -

the micropylar end, where is located the egg-apparatus, and an

abrupt enlargement at the chalazal end, in which lie the antipodal

cells. There are usually two sac-nuclei.

VOL, xIX.—no. x, 65

996 General Notes. [ October,

The pollen-tubes enter the style de/ween the bases of the papil-

læ of the stigma, pass down in the strands of conducting tissue,

and zot through the central canal, around which this tissue is

arranged. The paper was followed by an account of the methods

used, and illustrated by figures drawn upon a large chart.

“Proof that Bacteria are the direct cause of the disease in

corn-meal juice. After a few days some of the bacteria, which

had increased rapidly in this medium, were transferred (a drop

only) to another sterilized preparation of corn-meal juice. After

a few days another transfer was made, and this was continued

until the sixth culture had been reached, when there was pre-

sumably but an infinitesimal amount of the original diseased juice

present. Inoculations made with the bacteria of the last culture

Saps in producing the blight as certainly and rapidly as in the

- DrSt ca

The EEL experiment was made by filtering a watery solution

containing the bacteria, and then inoculating with the bacteria on

the one hand and the filtration on the other, resulting in blight

in the former and none at all in the latter case.

“The mechanical injury to trees by cold,” by T. J. Burrill.

There are two kinds of mechanical injury due to a low tempera-

ture, viz: (1) The cracking and splitting of the bark and wood in

a longitudinal-radial direction ; and (2) the separation of the con-

centric layers of wood and bark, and especially the rupture of the

cambium, thus destroying the bark and perhaps also killing the

tree.

The first injury is due to the shrinking of the tissues by cold.

The second is due to the growth of ice-crystals in the annual

rings or on the surface of the woo

“Further observations on the adventitious inflorescence of Cus-

cuta glomerata,” by Charles E. Bessey. A further examination

shows that it is the universal rule in this species for the inflores-

cence to develop from lateral adventitious buds, -and that no nor-

mal inflorescence is developed. The adventitious inflorescence

always bears a definite relation to the parasitic roots; that por-

tion of the stem which bears roots produces adventitious inflores-

cence, and the greater the number of roots the greater the mass

of inflorescence. No adventitious Beet iy wae is produced upon

any portion of the stem which does not bear ro

The stem proper (main axis) all dies away a soon, not only

ce en the inflorescences but in the masses of inflorescence

ask The flowering stems soon establish direct structural rela-

a tions Es the root, and thus with the host plant. Of other spe- _

cies examined, Cuscuta arvensis does not produce adven-

Bons aa, while C. chlorocarpa and C. gronovii produce

abundance of both the normal and the adventitious flower

1835, ] Botany. ` 997

clusters, and in both cases the flowers, fruits and seeds appear to

be well developed.

“On the appearance of the relation of ovary and perianth in

the development of dicotyledons,” by John M. Coulter. An ex-

amination of many species of dicotyledons (belonging to the.

orders Ranunculacee, Leguminosz, Rosacez, Saxifragacez,

Onagracez, Rubiacez, Umbellifere, Composite, Borraginacee, -

Scrophulariacez and Labiatæ) shows that in every case the first

character recognized in the development of the flower is that of

inferior or superior ovary, and that a most simple grouping of

the orders upon that basis is possible. Grouping the dicotyle-

dons upon this basis results somewhat as follows: The ompos-

itæ take place at the head of the list, then near them come the

Umbelliferze, Rubiacez, etc., etc. The intermediate orders which

have inferior and superior ovaries, as the Rosaceæ and Saxifra-

gaceze, would occupy a proper intermediate, position, and finally

those with superior ovary or ovaries only, as the Scrophulariace,

Labiate, Leguminose, etc., would be arrayed in a descending

series.

“ The development of the prothallium in ferns,” by Douglass

H. Campbell. The paper gave the details of many observations

upon the development of the prothallia of ferns, accompanied by

figures of the various stages.

“ Notes upon some injurious Fungi of California,” by William

G. Farlow. The author observed Peronospora hyoscyami D.By.

_ growing abundantly upon Nicotiana glauca, a shrubby plant,

native of Buenos Ayres, which is now common in Northern

Mexico and Southern California. As the shrub is a near relative

of the cultivated tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum, there is danger that

the parasite may be transferred from the { »rmer to the latter.

The hollyhocks of California are affec.ed by a rust (Puccinia of

some species) which was at first supposed to be identical with the

hollyhock disease of Europe (Puccin a matvacearum). It is, how-

ever, entirely distinct, being the sam e species as that which occurs

upon species of Malvastrum in some of the Western States.

There is danger that this may become transferred to the cotton

lant.

“A new chromogenous Bacillus,” by D. E. Salmon and

Thomas Smith. A Bacillus, named B. /uteus suis, was found in

the pericardial effusion of hogs affected with swine plague.

Tue BoranicaL CLUB oF THE A. A. A. S.—About seventy

members of the association registered themselves as botanists at

the Ann Arbor meeting. Every member of the club wore a yel-

low ribbon in addition to the regular association badge. Six

sions of the club were held in the university buildings, one of

them occurring in the botanical laboratory. :

During the first session a committee was appointed to take

998 x General Notes. [October, :

into consideration the question of English names for the fungi

the diseases produced by them. The committee is composed .

of J. C. Arthur of Geneva, N. Y., Wm. G. Farlow, Cambridge,

Mass., and Wm. Trelease of St. Louis, Mo., who are to act in

conjunction with F. L. Scribner of Washington, D

A committee was also appointed to take into consideration the

relations of the botanists of the country to the National Her-

barium at Washington. This committee, consisting of John M.

Coulter of Crawfordsville, Ind., and Wm. J. Beal of Lansing,

Mich., reported in favor of ae: that the herbarium prepare a

catalogue of its specimens and books so that the botanists may

know what is to be found in it for consultation, and also in order

that desiderata may be known to those who are able to supply

them,

Professor Beal read a few notes upon laboratory methods.

Pera was followed by Mipciision and a general interchange of

ote

Pestetehe Halsted exhibited specimens of a wild grape from

Iowa completely covered with Peronospora viticola, Near these

specimens were many vines whose leaves were free from the par-

asite but whose berries were badly affected.

D. H. Campbell exhibited an organism from the Detroit river

which he thought to be an alga. Other members doubted its

vegetable nature. It was referred for further examination and

stud

Professor Coulter presented a list, with comments, of the plants .

collected by the Greeley expedition.

Professor Barnes described the peculiar dehiscence of the fruit

of Campanula americana, in which a peculiar little flap opens

and lets the seeds out when the weather is dry, but closes when

it is wet.

Professor Lazenby presented an additional list of plants new to

the Ohio flora

During the session in the botanical laboratory the whole time

was given to the discussion of laboratory methods, and examina-

tion of various microscopes and of ts laboratory books on the

shelves in the room.

Professor Burrill called attention to the grape disease due to

Sphaceloma ampelina D.By. Specimens were exhibited and

passed around among the members of the club.

= Mrs. Wolcott described an abnormal form of Campanula which

had suddenly appeared in her garden, which provoked a discus-

_ sion on weed seeds, in which it was suggested that many weeds

survive in fields and meadows by the yearly pain of depauperate

plants which, though small, produce perfect see

Professor Barnes showed that the iron given in most books

; stomata of Marchantia polymorpha are erroneous in not

1 885.] | Entomology. 999

showing the guard cells, which lie at the bottom of the chimney-

like structure.

F. L. Scribner gave some hints upon the making of drawings

from botanical specimens.

Geo. U. Hays of St. Johns, N. B., sent a paper on the botani-

cal features of New Brunswick, which was read by the secretary.

e low temperature and damp air have affected the flora so that

it is quite peculiar,

Professor Bessey described his herbarium cases which have

doors which are readily removed entirely, and which he uses for

tables by placing them upon trestles or flat backed chairs.

. H. Campbell described the germination of Botrychium

Spores in so far as his observations had progressed. He succeeded

in germinating the spores by constructing a box in such a way

that the spores were under ground.

He also called attention to the crystals in the petiole of Ono-

“elea.

. C. Arthur exhibited specimens of Nepaul barley (Hordeum

trifurcatum) in which the awns take a hood-like development, and

- in this hood additional flowers are found. The structure is very

puzzling, as it appears that here a flowering glume (outer palet of

the older books) bears flowers towards its upper extremity.

r. Walker, of New Orleans, mentioned a case of degeneracy

of Indian corn. Kernels of Nebraska corn were planted in a

pot in New Orleans, and produced perfect fruiting plants only

fifteen inches in height.

The officers for the next meeting are John M. Coulter of

Crawfordsville, Ind., chairman; J. C. Arthur of Geneva, N. Y.,

retary.

The excursion on Monday afternoon to Tamarack swamp was

very enjoyable, and to the younger botanists very profitable.

ENTOMOLOGY.

Dr. BRAUER’s VIEWS ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS.—In a

work entitled “ Systematisch-zoologische Studien,” extracted from

the ninety-first volume of the Proceedings of the Academy of

Sciences at Vienna, Prof. Brauer, after a long introduction on evo-

ution, makes many valuable and suggestive remarks on the fol-

lowing subjects: The insect orders now existing did not originate

om one another but from ancestors closely allied to one another ;

affinities of Eugereon; the forms of insects the earliest and last to

appear in different formations; hypothetical ancestral forms ; no

Primitive forms connecting the existing orders of insects yet found;

hecessity of the dismemberment of some existing orders which

insects into originally wingless, and secondarily winged or wing-

less forms ; relations of the mouth-parts in larve and imagines or

1000 General Notes. [October,

their different changes of form; necessity of the increase in the

number of orders based on the structure of the mouth-parts;

relations of the parts of the thorax; relation of the thorax to

the hind-body (1. Value ‘of the relations of the abdomen to the

thorax and organs of locomotion. 2. Ancestral forms, retrograde

developments); genealogy; deceptive similar adaptive forms of

different orders give the delusive appearance of a common de-

scent or of a union in a single order; basis of the establishment

of a peculiar (eigenen) order; the nymph as the stopping place

(anhaltspunkt) for genealogical researches; the larva and geneal-

ogy ; homologies of the nymph stages; relation and similarities

between the ametabolic and metabolic insects ; registered or artifi-

cial orders ; how valuable the secondary or primitive larval forms

may be to the systematist ; orthognath and hypognath larva and

imago ; -what points are to be considered in the use of the larve

in classification; systematic characters of the same; characters

taken from the structure of the nervous system; relations of

the young form to the grown-up animal within the limits

of a single order which are important for the determination

of the grades of development; Packard’s superorders; posi-

tion of the sixteen series of forms not connected by interme-

diate links; relation of the allied series in different direc-

tions ; view of the groups considered as orders ; supposed greater

allied groups ; and, finally, the characteristics of the subclasses

and orders of insects.

Professor Brauer claims that exact researches on the existing

insécts lead to the establishment of sixteen groups, or orders,

which are not connected by intermediate types. “The path to a

common ancestral form is interrupted in many places. More-.

over, fossil remains do not fill up the gaps.” The fossils yet dis-

covered show, he adds, that our so-called orders of insects have

a high antiquity, for we find in the Paleozoic strata typical repre-

sentatives, and indeed highly developed forms; he adds, emphat-

ically, that there are no connecting types between the orders now

in existence. He regards Dohrn’s Eugereon as a synthetic type,

but not Scudder’s Atocina, Homothetidz, Xenoneuridz, Palzop-

terina, Hemeristina, or Goldenberg’s Palzodictyoptera, which he

considers as belonging to existing orders, remarking that “the

collection of oldest known insects consists of genuine Orthoptera

Sei Phasmide, Mantide); of amphibiotic Orthoptera

Odonata and indeed, perhaps, Gomphidz, which were related to

Stenophlebia, in the Devonian), genuine Neuroptera (Sialide in

- the onian), and Rhynchota (Fulgoridæ), which differ only

generically from the forms now living; or even, taking into

_ account the more general generic characters, belonging to forms

Brauer, after further suggestive remarks on the relations of the

t insects to the existing orders, maintains that there are too

1885. ] Entomology. 1001

1. Orthoptera (in the wider sense of authors and of Gerstaecker).

2. Thysanoptera.

3. Rhynchota,

4. Petanoptera (Neuroptera, Panorpate, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and

Siphonaptera).

5. Coleoptera.

6. Hymenoptera. :

The sixteen orders are as follows, beginning with the lowest :

ata,

4. Plecoptera (Perlariz),

5, Orthoptera (Blattidze, Mantide, Phasmide and Saltatoria),

6. Corrodentia (Mallophaga, Atropina, Psocide and Termitidæ).

7. Thysanoptera (Thripsidz),

8. Rhynchota (Hemiptera).

9. Neuroptera sensu str. (Megaloptera and Sialidz).

Io. Panorpatze.

tr. Trichoptera.

12. Lepidoptera.

13. Diptera,

14. Siphonaptera (Aphaniptera).

15. Coleoptera.

16. Hymenoptera,

Space forbids any farther abstract of Brauer’s important paper,

or offering any criticisms. We are, however, by no no op-

posed to the dismemberment of the Pseudoneuroptera, an vty

inclined, with Brauer, to recognize the Panorpate as a a

€qual importance with the Trichoptera. We are also raspa

with the belief that the orders of insects are more numerous than

usually accepted.—A. S. Packard.

Histotocy anp Emsryotocy oF Insecrs.—The investigations

of M. Weismann upon the changes which take place in the pupa

State of insects are well known. M. Viallan as followed ina

the same path, and a recent issue of the Revue Scientifique

* Saussure’s Hemimerus is regarded as unlike all other insects in possessing four

and not three pairs of jaws, and “ must form a new class,

1002 General Notes. [ October,

given us a résumé of his memoir. He first studied the tissues of

the larva and of the imago, and then followed out the mode of

destruction of the larval tissues and the mode of genesis of those

of the perfect insect. In his researches upon the nervous system

of insects he found that besides the ganglionic chain and the

stomato-gastric system, certain insects possessed nervous ganglia

under the integuments, in some cases distributed without appa-

rent order, but in others grouped symmetrically and connected

with the principal centers. Another discovery was, that the sen-

cells. Thus every part of the tegument has general sensibility.

It has long been recognized that some of the hairs, or hollow

conical outgrowths of the chitinous cuticle secreted by the hypo-

erm, were special organs of touch, and were accompanied by a

nerve which formed a ganglionic bipolar enlargement. M. Vial-

lanes has proved that the hair is secreted by a specially modified

hypodermic cell, and that in the protoplasm of this cell the ter-

minal prolongation of the bipolar nervous cell ends. The dorsal

vessel of an insect is formed of a single layer of cells, but each

cell is contractile through the presence in it of striated muscular

microscopic fibrils. Each of these fibrils begins and ends in a

small disc. A theory, generally admitted, holds that the active

unity of a muscular fibril must be the space between two small

discs, but this is the first verification of the theory.

__ The voluntary muscles of vertebrates exhibit little variety even

in different zodlogical groups, and in any species have the same

structure throughout. But in insects the motor muscles of the

wings differ from those of the legs, and the contractile tissue of

‘the larva from that of the adult. In the muscles of the wings of

a fly the fibers (faisceaux) have no sarcolemma and only a few

fibrils (colonnettes) ; in those of the wing of Dytiscus the fibers.

have no sarcolemma and only a single colonette or fibril, while in

those of the legs the single fiber is enveloped in a sarcolemma.

_ The ultimate elements, however, are the same in all. Previous .

Ahistologists had proved that the motor nerves of the muscles of

the legs of insects separate into their constituent fibrils imme-

diately after penetrating the sarcolemma, but M. Viallanes shows

that in insect muscles consisting of several fibers the nerve

__ branches like a tree, as it does in vertebrates, while it separates at

= es into its constituent fibrils in muscles formed of but one

The second part of the memoir of M. Viallanes treats of the

ruction of the larval tissues. M. Weismann had proved that

muscles, tracheze, adipose bodies and peripheric nerves of the

‘entirely during the metamorphosis. M. Viallanes

1885. ] Entomology. hs te 1003

ing down of vertebrate tissue in the morbid process known as

Mt +

inflammation.

larva contains within its body certain small white bodies disposed

In pairs, and destined to form the head and thorax. The anterior

Each muscular fiber or bundle of fibrils is derived from numer-

ous embryonic cells plunged in a homogeneous intercellular sub-

Stance. The cells become the muscular nuclei, while the inter-

cellular tissue becomes fibrillose and contractile.

The work ends in a detailed account of the development of the

eyes. The eye of an insect consists of three regions : ;

compound external facetted eye; (2) the ganglionic disc which

forms a sort of screen between brain and eye; and (3) the optic

ganglion which is the most external enlargement of the cerebral

ganglion. M. Viallanes has traced the conducting nerve from an

elementary eye or facet of the external eye, through the succes-

sive ganglia to the interior of the brain itself ; and he shows that

the germs of all the parts which enter into the visual apparatus exist

in the young larva, enclosed within the brain, which they after-

wards leave to take on their definitive form and occupy their des-

tined position.

Horn on THE AnisoTomint.—Dr. Horn remarks (Entomologica

Americana, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1885): In the genus Scotocryptus the

tarsi on all the feet are three-jointed. To this character Dr.

Sharp attributes considerable value, and makes it the sole ground-

work for the separation of a tribe which he places between the

Anisotomini and Cholevini. From my own studies this numeri-

cal reduction of the several joints is only another step in the

direction so plainly indicated in the genera already known. In

Order that the idea may be more readily grasped, the genera may

1004 : General Notes. [October,

be disposed in the following order, the numbers referring to the

tarsal joints:

Triarthron 5—5—5, ¢' È. Amphicyllis 5—5—4, g.

Stereus 55, do. 5—4—4, 2.

Hydnobius 5—5—5, ¢ Q. Agathidium 5—5—4, cf

Dietta 5—5, ow ?.. 544, £

Anisotoma 5—5—4, ¢ Q. Agaricophagus 4—3—3, ¢' 9.

‘Colenis —5—4, J Ẹ. Aglyptus a Yaar $:

Cyrtusa —5—4, d Ẹ. r Sak E,

Isoplastus 5—5—4, @. Scotocryptus 3—3—3, co! Q-

—4—4, '

Liodes —5—4, a

—4—4, 2.

In a study of the above arrangement it will be seen that Scoto-

cryptus follows naturally the course indicated by the genera which

precede it. In order that the numerical combinations shall be

complete, several new genera will have to be discovered, and the

missing genera may be hypothetically indicated, as far as the tar-

sal structures, by any one whose inclinations run that way.

n the tribe Clambini the tarsi are 4-4-4 in both sexes in the

genera known to me.

he antenne of the Anisotomini exhibit a somewhat similar

tendency to numerical modifications: First, by having nine or ten

joints ; second, by the variation of the number of joints com-

posing the club, being either three, four or five.

ENTOMOLOGICAL News.—Entomologische Nachrichten for Au-

gust is mainly devoted to an article, by J. Schilde, on the secon-

ary causes and relations in the markings of butterflies. The

structure of the halteres of Diptera has been studied by Mr. A.

B. Lee. These organs were believed by Leydig to be organs of

hearing. It appears, according to the abstract in the Journal of

the Royal Microscopical Society for August, that there are two

distinct organs contained in each of these structures, one an

auditory organ, the other an organ of problematical function,

egos ) y e po

ores Handbuch der Palzontologie relating to fossil

has been prepared by Mr. S. H. Scudder.

1885. | Zoölogy. T005

ZOOLOGY.

E. Ray LANKESTER’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO A KNOWLEDGE OF

RHABDOPLEURA.!— The tube is secreted by the disk or epistome,

is wholly external to the animal shut off into chambers, one for

each polypide. ;

The polypides present a body with the disk beneath it, mouth on

either side under the disk, an arm with tentacles in a double row

upon it, upon the opposite side of the body from the mouth the

anus, body shaped like a sack with the intestine coiled and sur-

mounted upon a stalk placed upon the mouth side. All this

was known before. Lankester, by sections, demonstrates a space

between the body wall and the gut wall partially filled with tis-

sues, probably muscular and connective, which he calls the body

cavity. The existence of a body cavity had not before been

shown. Also upon the lower side of the main stack of the arms,

near their base, L. finds a small ciliated pupilla which he thinks

may be an osphradium. The lophophoral arms he considers the

genetic equivalents uf the ctenidia of Mollusca.

He demonstrates for the first time a sort of cartilaginous meso-

blastic skeleton supporting the arms and the contractile cord.

Finds the testis, not found by Allman or Sars, a blind sack open-

ing by a special pore; this gonad belongs to Lankester’s idiodinic

gonads, and is not at all a modified nephridium. Allman’s stat-

oblasts are considered by Lankester to be undeveloped buds ;

buds which from some debility failed to burst through the chitin-

ous tube and mature. In the absence of information upon the

embryology, the affinities of Rhabdopleura cannot be definitely

spoken upon. If the disk is the homologue of the epistome of

Bryozoa, then it cannot be the homologue of the molluscan foot,

since its position is dorsal, not ventral, and we may consider it

‘homologous with the mantle, as suggested. by Allman.—Henry

Leslie Osborn

THE LARGE IGUANAS OF THE GREATER ANTILLES—The Jguana

e M. cornutus is said to be from the same island, but the

- authors of the Erpetologie Generale consider this uncertain. It

IS certain that some large lizards having a horny tuberosity on

the muzzle inhabit that island. : —

Cyclura, as hitherto defined, does not, in the writer’s opinion,

differ from Ctenosaura, thé species of which inhabit Mexico

1 Quart. Journ. Mic, Soc., 1884, p. 622.

1006 General Notes. [ October,

and Central America. But a character hitherto not recognized

does separate the two genera nevertheless. That is the posses-

sion, by Cyclura, of corneous combs on some of the posterior

digits, specialized from the ordinary lateral scales, which have

also comb-like free edges in both genera. The species of this

genus known to me are thus defined:

I. Scales of muzzle all small; combs on third toe only.

— rows of infralabial scuta; five scales on canthus rostralis; crest interrupted

t TUM One. oo og ATAT EE E T PERE ERA Des ea kG C. carinata Harl.

IE eei scuta on muzzle; combs on third toe only; one row of large infra-

labi :

renais ad fi scuta in contact with each other and with labials; two scales

nthus rostralis; crest much interrupted at nape and r rump; color uniform;

gegen ym ‘and other scuta separated from each other and hie labials by small

; four scales on canthus rostralis; green, with ban ..C. nubila Gray.

II. Large scuta on muzzle; n middle line a combs on

second and third toes; Beal pi rows of large infralabials.

Scales regular, distinct on front s body: apuy spinous wie on tail; Sake:

high, interrupted at nape and rump; bla C. nigerrima Cope.

Scales very irregular, minutely granular on ds regions ; no trace of whorls on

tail; crest very low, much interrupted. C. onchiopsis Cope.

The C. carinata inhabits the Turks island, whence a specimen

was brought to Philadelphia by Professor A J. Ebell in 1868.

The C. nubila is Cuban. It is the C. harlani of De la Sagra’s

history of that island. The.C. ġæolopha is/from Andros island

of the Bahama group (see Proceedings of Academy Philada.,

1861, p. 123). The C nigerrima is a new species from Navassa,

On the summit of the muzzle are two pairs of large scuta in

front of the median tuberosity, separated by granular scales.

oi Metopocerus cornutus there are said to be three pairs of

these scales. This animal also differs from the M. cornutus

asa porcupine, and skii bÉ fruits. —Ē. D. Cope.

; aut . Acpascut's Ipentiricatfons—M. Paul Albrecht, in

articlés. > makes so some suriing identifications of homol-

1885.] Zoölogy. 1007

ogy between parts of the mammalian skull and elements present

in the lower vertebrates.

By a course of reasoning based upon the examination of skulls

in which ossification was defective at some point or other, this

anatomist has found the quadrate bone of reptiles to be present

in mammals in its normal position, but to synostose with the

squamosal early in life; he has found the symplectic of the fish in

the malleus of the mammal; he identifies the piscean hyoman-

dibular with the incus, os orbiculare and stapes, basing his identi-

fication on an actual division of the columella which is known to

occur; he finds the metapterygoid transformed into the squamo-

sal; while he sees the ectopterygoid of the fish in the mam-

malian alisphenoid, the entopterygoid in the pterygoid and the

preoperculum in the tympanic bones.

MM. Serres, Rambaad, Renault and Ihering agree in homolo-

gizing the postfrontal with the external orbital hypophysis of

mammals, and M. Albrecht agrees in the identification.

a communication relating to the “epipituitary spondylo-

centers of the skull” he traces the remains of the primitive pas-

sage of the dorsal chord through the series of vertebrae which

form the basicranium. After leaving the basiotic part of the

occipital, the passage, according to M. Albrecht, continues adove

the hypophysis in the clivus (dorsum sella) of the basipost-

sphenoid, and thence through the basipresphenoid, basiethmoid

and basirhinoid or cartilage of the nose. M. Albrecht speaks of

an adult mammal in which this basirhinoid was traversed

throughout its whole length by the chorda dorsalis. In some

cases (Rhinoceros tichorhinus) it may ossify as one bone, in others

as a series of centers of vertebrae. Between these bones (cranio-

the meta- and ectopterygoid bones with the alisphenoid and

Squamosal, and of the quadrate with the lower part of the same

temporal. The symplectic and hyomandibular have, according

to our author (Sur la valeur morphologique de la trompe Eus-

tache) nothing to do with the hyoid arch. The mere fact that the

1008 General Notes. | October,

symplectic gives origin to the cartilage of Meckel shows that it

must belong to the mandibular arch. Besides this, the hyoid

arch, in the rays, is attached behind these bones. The relations

of the hyoid and mandibular arches to each other are trace

through the various classes, and M. Albrecht maintains that the

metapterygoid (squamosal), quadrate (quadrate part of temporal),

ectopterygoid (alisphenoid), entopterygoid (pterygoid) and pala-

tines form a premandibular visceral arch or rib. From this it fol-

lows that the spiracles (of selachians) and the eustachean tube are

morphologically a premandibular branchial sac. Such branchie,

in fact, exist in the spiracles of selachians.

M. Albrecht has recently returned to the attack in the Bio-

logischen Centralblatt, in which (iv Band, Nr 23) he endeavors to

prove from Fig. 308 of Kolliker’s Entwicklungsgeschichte des

Menschen und der hoheren Thiere, the correctness of his belief

in the non-existence of Rathke’s pouch. In the same periodical,

(v Band, Nr 5 and 6) he records the discovery of seven bony ver-

tebral centers in the cartilaginous nasal septum of a full-grown

cow. His figures certainly shows seven small bones, in so far

approximating an anterior tail.

In some observations recently made by our author before the

Brussels Anthropological Society he treats of the posterior termina-

tion of man’s vertebral column. Man, he says, is a tailless lower ape

orlemur. Atavisms going back to the lemurs are more common in

man than in any monkey. Through want of use he has lost

“that registrar of the state of the mind,” the tail. Yet man has

really six or seven caudal vertebrz, two anchylosed with the

three sacral vertebre which enter into the sacro-iliac articulation,

and four or five (in woman often five) coccygeal vertebra. M. Al-

brecht maintains that post-coccygeal proto-vertebrz exist in some

cases, and even believes in the occurrence of bone in the same

region.

In another article our author gives figures of the manubria of

six examples of Mycetes. In one only is the manubrium entire,

and M. Albrecht correlates the fissured manubrium with the .

howling habit of this genus, necessitating space for the larynx.

_ when this is not the case they are replaced by di- and par-apoph-

= yses. Any adjacent pairs of ribs or costoids upon the same side

may be conceived to unite while still cartilaginous. These two

osite pairs may unite. Osseous tissue may develop in each

1885.| Zoölogy. f 1000

copula. This finally results in a sternebra which is intercostal,

or intermediate between two successive pairs of ribs. A succes-

sion of these intercostal copulæ between the true ribs form a

sternum. Just as the true ribs are linked by copulæ that are in-

termediate between two adjacent pairs, so are the costoids linked

by intermediate copulæ, which may thus be distinguished as-

intercostoidal paracopulæ and diacopulæ. These par- and dia-

copulæ may develop between par- and diapophyses as well as-

between par- and diacostoids.

The views of M. Albrecht with regard to the evolution of what

may be termed rib-junctions appear very plausible, but he coins

some terrific polysyllables to explain their co-relations, as witness

“ diparatetradiacopulaire.” This is worthy of organic chemistry,

PRESENCE OF A TAIL IN THE HUMAN Empryo.—Does the human

embryo ever present at the posterior extremity of its body any-

thing which deserves the name of a fail? This question has

given rise to a debate which has not failed to be a lively one be-

cause necessary distinctions had not been made by the disputants,.

and because they did not confine themselves to a strict definition

of terms.

_It is at the outset necessary to distinguish between teratologi-

cal cases and normal embryological phenomena ; then it is neces-

sary to agree as to the meaning of the word zai. Is this term

applicable to any conical or cylindro-conical appendage of the

posterior extremity of the back, formed of the tissues composing

- it, or should we reserve it for an organ containing a prolongation

of the vertebral column? It is this last definition which shou

prevail; an appendage deprived of vertebrz is not a true tail in

the anatomical sense of the word, but a simple caudal prolonga-

ion

In the teratological cases described by MM. L. Gerlach, Bar-

tels and Ornstein, the appendage, sometimes filiform, sometimes

voluminous, does not contain an incontestible vertebra, and the

total number of these osseous pieces does not pass beyond the

regular number of normal man.

As regards young embryos it is impossible to decide the ques-

tion if at the outset we do not determine the point where the

caudal vertebra begin. Should we place the limit at the point

where the tail leaves the body ? or should we be guided by the

Position of the anus ? or better still should we call caudals all the

vertebræ situated behind the sacrum? It is this last view which

has prevailed in comparative anatomy, and we can say from this,

point of view that adult man possesses a tail, since it presents

four or five coccygeal vertebre situated behind the sacrum. The

minimum, in this relation, is attained by the chimpanzee, which

only two or three coccygeal vertebre.

Should we wish to apply the name of tail to the portion of the

IOIO $ General Notes. [October,

vertebral column situated behind the trunk, it would be necessary

o bear in mind that from the age of three weeks and up to that

of two months and onwards, the human embryo is fortified with

this organ, because at this epoch the coccygeal vertebræ occupy

the axis of a very distinct cylindrico-conical appendage, and

which arises from the posterior extremity of the trunk. If, with

M. His, we take for our guide the position of the anus, the tail

will be shorter, but it will not cease to be very apparent, espe-

cially at the age of five or six weeks.

However, it is admitted as absolutely demonstrated, that this

caudal appendage of the human embryo never contains any other

vertebræ than those which are found in the coccyx of the adult.

Ecker, who has given, with conviction, the name of tail to the

posterior extremity of the human embryo, has declared that he has

never met with supernumerary vertebrz. This authcr has him-

self studied the tail, very well formed, of a human embryo of

9™™ in length, and he describes and figures all the terminal part

as constituted of an unformed blastema. M. His found there,

however, a prolongation of the dorsal cord and spinal marrow,

but no segmentation. Both admit that beyond the thirty-third

or thirty-fourth vertebra there is no other portion of the skele-

ton. On this capital point my researches have led me to a result

diametrically opposed to that of my predecessors. The errors of

M. His arose from the fact that the embryos, the more advanced

of which he made the reconstruction, those of 7™ and a fraction,

have precisely thirty-four myomeres, viz., thirty-three vertebra,

and he admits, without any other proof, that he was wordog over

a definite stage.

I have had the honor of presenting to the eae a résumé

of my anatomical study of a human embryo of 5,8," viz., one

twenty-five days old. This embryo had no more > than thirty-

three somites, representing thirty-two vertebre. There is then

an increase of the number during the fourth week. This fact led

me to seek whether this number might not increase still more

during the fifth week, and my attempt did not fail! The human.

embryo of 9™™ to ro™ the age when the tail reaches its maxi-

tie adil possesses a number of vertebre greater than that of

the

ALY m each other, since all three give the same result,

n embryo of 8 to 9™™ has thirty-eight vertebræ.

1885.) Zoölogy. IOII

This result is also confirmed by the examination of photo-

graphs of fresh pieces, for then can be easily distinguished thir-

ty-five myomeres and, besides, a region occupying the outer

fourth of the tail, where the limits are no more- visible across the

skin. But the sections prove to us that in this last quarter, con-

trary to the opinion of Ecker and of M. His, the mesoderm is

divided with the greatest clearness into a double series of somites

which extend to the last extremity of the tail, but presenting, it

is true, dimensions regularly decreasing up to the thirty-eighth

somite, which does not measure more than thirty-seven microns

in diameter.

This fact is in no way teratological; it is plainly confirmed by

several other embryos which I possess, all perfectly normal and

of ages slightly different.

ith the exception of the two last, all the caudal vertebrz

have a blastema of a cartilaginous body similar, except in its

dimensions, to that of any other vertebra of the series. The two

last are only indicated by myomeres, perfectly distinct from the

rest. The extremity even of the tail is formed by the termination

of the medullary tube, only covered by the skin, The dorsal

cord also extends very near this éxtremity.

The last caudal vertebrze have only a very ephemeral existence ;

already in embryos of 12™™ in length, viz., six weeks old, the

thirth-eighth, thirty-seventh and thirty-sixth vertebre become

confounded in a single mass, and the thirty-fifth itself is not per-

fectly limited. An embryo 19™™ in length has no more than

thirty-four vertebra, the thirty-fourth evidently resulting from

the fusion of the last four; at this period the tail as a whole is

already much less prominent. ;

It results from these facts that the human embryo during the

fifth and sixth week of its development, is provided with an un-

doubted normal tail which in form is regularly conical, elongated

and which deserves, under all relations, the name which I have

given it. This organ, evidently deprived of all physiological

utility, should be classed in the number of representative organs.

—Professor H. Fol, in Comptes Rendus de l Acad. Francaise, Pune

an Echinanthus. As the ambulacral pores are arranged in rows

which are not closed or quite parallel, and which show a tendency

to spread at their distal end, and as the under surface, though

with the ambulacral sutures of Echinanthus, has not those sutures

converted into conspicuous grooves, Professor Bell makes it the

type of a new genus. It is found upon the eastern coast of Aus-

tralia ——As one of a series of contributions to the systematic

arrangement of the Asteroidea, Professor F. J. Bell (Proc. Zool.

VOL. XIX.—NO. x, 66

IO12 General Notes, [October,

Soc. London, 1884) gives a monograph of the genus Oreaster.

He allows twenty-seven species, including Nidorellia armata of

Gray, and gives a full description of each, with habitat, etc.

Mollusks—Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys (P. Z. S) describes seventy-four

species of Littorinidz, Scalaride, etc., gathered by the Lightning

and Porcupine expeditions. large proportion are new

Professor B. Sharp, in an address before the Biological section of

the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, gives the fol-

lowing as the development of the molluscan eye: (1) A pigmen-

tal surface of epithelial cells, as in Ostrea; (2) pigmented invagi-

nated grooves for protection at centralized points of the body,

each visual, all having a cuticular body, as in Solen vagina and S.

ensis ; (3) a sphere made of pigmented cells, the sphere formed

by the contraction of the groove, as in Patella; (4) a cuticular

lens formed by the centralization of the refractive bodies of each

Mr. Chas. E. Beecher (36th report N. Y. State Mus.

Nat. Hist.) describes some abnormal and pathologic forms of

fresh-water shells. He figures a sinistral Planorbis exacutus,

Fishes —Mr. W. R. O. Grant (Proc. Zodl. Soc., 1884), contrib-

utes a revision of the fishes of the genera Sicydium and Lentipes.

The first genus occurs throughout the torrid zone in fresh waters

near the sea, and contains twenty-four species, five of them new

to science. Lentipes occurs in the rivers of the Sandwich islands,

and equals Sicyogaster Gill. Two species are known.

Reptiles—Professor W. K. Parker (Trans. Zod]. Soc. London,

1883), in his account of the structure and development of the skull

_in the Crocodilia, remarks that the skull of the Sauropsida is a mere

specialization of the underlying ichthyic type. He considers that

-in some very important things the skull of the anurous Amphibia

_ forms a better leading step to the mammal than that of the Sau-

ropsida. e Crocodilia show in the earliest stage a compound

nasal labyrinth. Only three of the visceral arches are developed,

ad only the first attains full size. In embryos from one and five-

een ye ea E ga ie Ea PRR eg eee ee Py

re REM À

1885.] Embryology. 1013-

sixths to three and one-half inches long the whole of the chon-

drocranium, with its visceral arches, has become sauropsidan,

and the investing bones are quite crocodilian in number and rela-

tion. The chondrocranium is better developed than in any

existing reptile or bird. The mandibular arch in the crocodile is

the culmination of the oviparous type. In the early stages the

mandibular suspensorium is extremely like that of the more gen-

eralized selachians. There is a distinct suprastapedial element in

the hyoid arch.

Birds.—The “cape wigeon ” of Latham, and Anas capensis of

Gmelin, is noted by T. Salvadori as occurring in Shoa. It is re-

described as Querguedula capensis —Mr. R. B. Sharpe describes

an apparently new nuthatch (Sz¢/a whiteheadi) from the mountains

of Corsica.

EMBRYOLOGY.!

ON THE GENESIS OF THE EXTRA TERMINAL PHALANGES IN THE

Creracea.?—In what manner the extra terminal phalanges of the

second, third and fourth digits of the manus of such a type as

Globiocephalus amongst Cetaceans, was evolved, has been a

question which my studies gave little hope of satisfactorily an-

swering until I had noticed that the bony digits of both the

manus and pes in the pinnipeds are prolonged into the flat ter-

minal integuments of the limbs far beyond the nails as unseg-

mented bars of cartilage, which are really unossified extensions

of the ungual phalanges. The nails are borne upon the dorsal

aspect of the ungual phalanges in pinnipeds, the ossified shafts of

these phalanges usually ending abruptly to be continued into the

terminal bars of cartilage. In Histriophoca the terminal cartilag-

inous extension of the last joints of the digits are quite rudimen-

tary, but the point where the ungual phalanges abut distally upon

the terminal cartilages is still visibly marked in this species. In

the walrus, the fur-seal and sea-lion the terminal cartilages of the

igits are more developed, and articulate directly with the ab-

ruptly truncated ends of the ungual phalanges, In the manatee

the ungual phalanges of the manus terminate abruptly ; that they

support cartilaginous extensions of notable length seems improb-

able. The terminal cartilages of the digit apparently reach their

greatest or strongest development in the walrus.

The foregoing data when interpreted by the aid of embryolog-

ical theory, as actually observed to hold in other forms, and linked

with the explanations afforded by other facts which will be given

later on, will, it seems to the writer, gives us a rational hypothe- —

sis of the origin of the extra-terminal digits in the manus of the

whales.

Edited by Joun A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. ;

This note presents the substance of conclusions reached by me in my memoir en-

titled, «On the development of the Cetacea, together with a consideration of the

Probable homologies of the flukes of cetaceans and sirenians,’’ now in press

IOI4 General Notes. [October,

That the digits of the Cetacea develop as part of the continu-

ous blastema of the embryonic appendicular skeleton as in other

vertebrated animals, there can be no doubt. That the joints and

segments of their limbs also become gradually defined in serial

order from the shoulder and hip girdles outward, also admits of

no doubt, as may be seen upon studying sections of the manus,

a quarter inch in length, of a foetal Globiocephalus two inches in

total length. In like manner there can be no doubt of the fact

that the cartilaginous extensions of the ungual phalanges of pin-

nipeds are a part of the original blastema from which the ossified

portions of the skeleton of the limbs of these animals has de-

veloped.

In man ,the shafts of the three phalangeal segments of the

digits of the manus ossify almost contemporaneously. In Globio-

cephalus, on the other hand, in a specimen one-third grown, it is

found that the proximal segments of the second and third digits

ossify apparently at about the same time as their isomeres in the

first, fourth and fifth digits, whereas the distal or extra peripheral

segments develop ossific centers enchrondrally much later. These

development and ossification of the extra terminal digits of the

existing whales. In fact, in some of the existing seals these car-

tilaginous prolongations of the ungual phalanges are long enough

in the pes to afford the basis for three new and additional seg-

_ ments to each digit, as long as the three normally developed in

each toe. .

__ The proof that the extra terminal segments of the digits of

he cetacean manus have been added distally, is the fact that the

structure of the carpus is not, in any essential feature, different

ure from that of other mammals so far as the presence or

1885.] Embryology. IO15

absence of elements normally formed is concerned. I am there-

fore constrained to believe that it has been through a seal-like

ancestry with prolonged integuments to the manus, in which the

nails were not terminal but dorsal, beyond which the ungual pha-

langes were extended as bars of cartilage, which gave rise, by

transverse segmentation and subsequent ossification to extra ter-

minal digital segments as found in existing Cetacea.

The second fact of importance to be considered as lending

probability to the foregoing view is the circumstance that when

a limb is in its primitive cartilaginous condition it always devel-

ops its segments from its axial end toward its peripheral end in

serial order. The basis for the extra terminal segments was first

developed through the influence of functional adaptation, as car-

tilaginous bars or extensions of the primitive cartilage of the

ungual elements of the digits in response to the demands made

upon the limb in swimming. The segmentation of these terminal

cartilaginous bars then followed through the influence of mechan-

ical strains acting upon the cartilaginous terminal bars as these

were alternately bent in opposite directions. These conclusions

might be still further illustrated by data obtained from the obser-

vation of the development of the limbs of other animals.

These views, very forcibly it seems to me, sustain the hypoth-

esis that the Cetacea are the off-shoots of land forms which were

at first terrestrial, or at least amphibious, as are the pinnipeds.

Such views do not at least run counter to any morphological

facts, but in reality are sustained by them.— Fohn A. Ryder.

ON THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CAVITY OF THE HEART IS

FORMED IN CERTAIN TELEOsTS.— Balfour (Comp. Embryol., 1,

523) states that “ in Teleostei the heart is formed as in birds and

mammals by the coalescence of two tubes, and it arises before

the formation of the throat.” I would now point out that this is

not universally true of all teleostean forms, in fact it seems not

to be the mode of cardiac development in any species of this

group so far investigated.

My own observations on this point have been made upon the

embryo cod-fish and indicate very conclusively, so far as trans-

parent views are of value in deciding such a difficult matter, that

the lumen of the heart arises asa single and not as a double

cavity which afterwards blends to form a single one, as in birds

and Mammalia. Moreover, this cavity is from the first open

below, and is present in the cod embryo, on the fifteenth day, as

a round opening limited all round by mesoblastic cells. Its

transverse diameter at this stage is .043™™ and is probably half as

cep. It has the appearance of a round perforation in the meso-

blastic plate of cells which probably gives rise to the endothel-

lum of the cardiac cavity, the lining of the pericardial cavity and

* Contrib. Embryog. Oss. Fishes, pp. 82-86.

1016 General Notes. [October,

muscular wall of the heart, and which underlies the fore-gut as a

transverse band of tissue. The cardiac lumen, as observed by

myself to appear in the living embryo, occupies, ad initio, such a

position that the median vertical plane passing through the em-

bryo lengthwise would divide it.

Its floor, which corresponds to its future venous end, seems to

be devoid of cells, and is formed apparently by the periblast cov-

ering the yolk. In the later stages of cardiac development in

forms which have no complete circulation at the time of hatching,

this is invariably the case, the venous end of the heart opening

directly upon the surface of the periblast, as is shown in longi-

tudinal sections of such stages.

As elsewhere stated, the yolk is here absolutely excluded from

the intestine, and the arrangement above described then provides

the passage-way for yolk material into the general circulation as

it is segmented off from the periblast, as shown by Kupffer,

Gensch and myself. This also bring the segmentation cavity and

the blood vascular channels into actual continuity.

The investigations of Hoffmann! upon the development of the

heart in Salmo are based entirely on sections, and begin with a

stage long prior to the time when the organ begins to pulsate,

and corresponds pretty closely to the stage of development seen

in the cod embryo described above, which was observed about

two days before pulsation began, when the heart became for the

first time distinctly tubular, its lumen in the early stage here con-

sidered, being a mere flat, discoidal vacuole with vertical side-

walls formed of cells. At a later stage of development the axis

of the lumen of the cardiac cavity is horizontal instead of

vertical.

Hoffman concludes that the endothelium of the heart is derived

from the hypoblast, in which a short tubular cavity at once ap-

pears, the long axis of this endothelial tube coinciding in direc-

tion with the axis of the embryo. The myocardium or muscular

outer wall of the heart is derived from the splanchnopleural

_ plates which grow on either side of the embryo from above down-

wards and inward under the fore-gut, below which they approxi-

mate, their free ends finally investing the endothelial vesicle or

tube, which represents in the salmon the vacuole above described

in the cod embryo, which is the first trace of the cardiac lumen.

After the muscular layer of the heart is supplied by the splanch-

nopleural plates, the foundation of the structure of the adult

_ heart has been laid. :

= — In neither of the foregoing accounts is there anything which

_ Suggests very much similarity between the mode of development

_ of the first traces of the unpaired rudiment of the teleostean

heart and that of Aves or Mammalia which arises by the fusion

the median line of a pair of cavities on either side of the lat-

enie der Knochenfische, Pts. vir, viii. Amsterdam, 1882.

1885. ] Psy chology. _ I0I7

ter, which are ‘or a time shut off from each other by a septum.—

John A. Ryder.

PSYCHOLOGY.

Currosity oF Monkeys.—“ Do monkeys learn by experience?”

is asked in your last number by Mr. W. H. Frost, who cites cats

as learning in regard to their reflection in a mirror, and further

states that it is claimed, on tolerable good authority, that mon-

keys never do, which statement he does not attempt to answer.

It seems to me that the probable explanation of the difference

of action of the two animals in the matter is due, not to the su-

perior powers of discernment, and capacity of learning by expe-

rience possessed by the cat, as one would infer from the article

mentioned, but just the reverse.

I should doubt very much but that the monkey realizes in

time that there is no other individual behind the glass, and think

that its actions are simply due to the greater mental development

which it possesses, and which is largely manifested by its investi-

gative turn of mind, and could we understand the monkey lan-

guage, it would tell us that it was a problem which it was trying

to work out, and that while it felt that it was no genuine or ordi-

nary monkey which appeared in the glass, it was curious to find

out just what it was.

The monkey’s mind, from long experience, has an innate con-

sciousness of power to solve many of the problems presented to

it, and being in a comparatively active state of evolution, is con-

tinually grasping out at new ideas. :

e cat’s mind, on the other hand, is not of such a progressive

type, and consequently it quietly gives up many problems with

“T cannot comprehend,” and ceases to “ bother its head about it,

simply accepting the problem as it appears to it—a harmless, un-

oT phenomenon.—Lugene N. S. Ringueberg, Lockport,

-E

Tue Inverness Doc “CLYDE.” —Further letters respecting the

Inverness dog “Clyde” tend to increase our respect for the sagac-

ity of that individual. Its owner asserts that he taught himself

looking at him as if to say, “ Don’t you see what I want ?”

1018 General Notes. [ October,

ANTHROPOLOGY .!

Tue EIGHTH VOLUME OF THE TENTH CENsus.—In this ponder-

ous quarto are four papers with different pagination, to wit:

Newspapers and periodicals; Alaska; Fur Seal islands, and Ship-

building. We are here concerned with the third, which bears the

title, Report on the population, industries and resources o

Alaska, by Ivan Petroff, special agent, pp. 190. The following

named maps interest the ethnologist: Ethnological map o

Six colored plates illustrate the social life of the people.

For the purpose of enumeration and description the Territory

is considered in the following six divisions:

1. The Arctic division. Arctic watershed east of C. Prince of Wales.

2. Yukon division, Valley of the Yukon river.

3. The Kuskokvim division. Valleys of the Kuskokvim, Togiak and Nushegak

rivers,

4. The aster Ains Aliaska peninsula west of the isthmus, between Moller

and Zakharof bays = the chain from Shumagrin to Attor, including the Pri-

bs ylof, or Ent Seal islands.

5. The Kadiak PE a South coast of Aliaska to Zakharof bay, Kadiak group,

Cook’s inlet, Kenai peninsula and Pr. Wm. sound

6. South-eastern division. From Mt. St. Elias to Portland canal, in lat. 54° 407.

Each one of these divisions is taken up separately, the people

mentioned and located by settlements, and the population given.

In the Arctic division the people are all Eskimo, or Innuit.

In the Yukon division 4276 enumerated are Eskimo, and 2557,

living on the river basin away from the sea, are of the great Tinné,

or Athapaskan stock.

In the Kuskokvim division 8036 are Eskimo, 506 Athapaskan,

255 Aléut and 114 whites and creoles.

In the Aleutian division 1890 belong to the Aleutian, or Unun-

gan stock, 561 are whites and creoles. No Eskimo exist in this

area.

In the Kadiak division 321 Thlinkit, or Kolosh Indians, 864

Athapaskans, 2211 Eskimo and 951 whites and creoles

In the South-eastern division 788 are Haida, or Queen Char-

lotte stock, 6437 Thlinkit, 523 whites and creoles. The Thlinkit

stock of this division includes the tribes called Chilkhat, Hun-

yah, Khutz-na-hu, Kehk, Auk, Taku, Stakhin, Prince of Wales

Tongas, Sitka, akutat. The Haida tribes of this division all

_ Although the author has a chapter on Alaskan ethnology

{ 123-177) replete with information upon the social life and arts of

the people, every other portion of the monograph abounds with

‘invaluable matter. Indeed, there would be no hesitation in say-

ing that this chapter of the census will remain for along time

an logic t text-book on Alaska.

by Prof. ons E oe National Museum, Washington, D. C.

1885.] Anthropology. IOIQ

Texan Movunps.—Mr. Pierce, Episcopalian bishop of Little

Rock, Ark., states that in the old bottom of Red river, south of

its present course, between Rocky Comfort, Ark., and De Kalb}

Texas, an extensive series of unexplored mounds can be: found.

When he saw these mounds, while riding by in a carriage, they

appeared to him of almost uniform size and flat on the top, about

sixty feet wide and eighty long, with a height varying from eight

to twelve feet. They were oval with the long sides lying parallel

to each other, and a portion of them projected into the brush-

wood, so as to be only partially visible. To state the number of

these artificial structures is impossible, but it took an hours’ ride

before he had passed the last of them.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL COLLECTORS.—In every department of sci-

ence one of the most valuable requisites is the collector. When

his material is assorted and put away for research or put on exhi-

bition for educational purposes, almost the only value which the

specimens have is the little piece of papet he attaches to them.

It is well known that specimens are assorted and arranged by

certain classific concepts, such as locality, tribe, structure, func-

tion, and evolution. Now, suppose a collector is going over the

eastern, or the western coast of North America, and from one

place brings a large quantity of mortars and pestles, from an-

other, basket work in the greatest profusion, from another, pot-

tery, and from a fourth, bows and arrows of a pattern which he

regards as unique. These are brought home and laid on tables

according to the locality concept. We see at once what a chap-

ter in human history we can write. Tribe A grinds its food,

tribe B does nothing but make baskets, tribe C has no other ves-

sels but pots, and tribe D is altogether addicted to the chase.

It is impossible to say beforehand to a collector, get this or that,

for we do not know what he is going to find. If we say, get

everything, or at least a sample of everything, he is at a loss to

decide which to select. One very good rule for a collector to

follow is, Perfect each observation, It is better to know all about

something than to know a little about everything. “Blessed is

the man that’s well smattered,” does not apply to collections. In

the case of any human art whatever, it is essential to have the

raw material, together with accurate descriptions of all the cus-

toms and superstitions connected with its procurement and prep-

aration. The next thing is to find out who are the agents, men

or women? all or some? always or sometimes? everywhere or

somewhere? This should be followed by the scrupulous pro-

curement of all the tools used in all the steps from exploitation

exchange or consumption. Nor would these be very useful

without photographs, models, and descriptions of all the pro-

cesses involved, without, in short, exhaustively answering the

1 Bowie county, Texas.

1020 General Notes. [October,

question “ow. Finally, the finished product of each art should

be procured in all the types of its manifestation. I know one

man who collects only the rudest products of each art. I know

many more who are wasting fortunes on chef d'œuvres, and, I am

proud to say, there are very many private collectors who are en-

gaged in exhausting a special theme up to the limit of their

means. In 1875 I prepared a little pamphlet for Centennial col-

lectors in which I dwelt particularly upon this point. Some of

the material procured for that great exhibit was gathered by the

rule that we must have all of a thing or none. Lately some of

the mound-explorers have proceeded on the same plan. But,

alas, the old raking-in process is also largely in vogue, and future

museum students will have a happy time in guessing what man-

ner of people those ancients were. I have lately opened a large

lot of relics from old Peruvian cemeteries, in which the transmit-

ter says, “ You will doubtless know all about these things.” In

emptying some of the pots and gourds I came across a large

beetle, nearly two inches long, transfixed with an entomologist’s

pin, the latter very much rusted. Now, can any body tell me

whether the Incas were so advanced in culture as to make collec-

tions of insects and to preserve them on pins exactly like those

in use forty years ago?

~ Anthropology is fast becoming an exact science, thanks to the

noble army of collectors who have known how to see, delineate,

collect and describe ; but there is still room for improvement. I

o not mean that we must become the victims of professional

collectors, The much better way is for every lover and student

of this science to exercise the greatest wisdom on his own behalf,

to do his own collecting as far as possible, and to submit other

material to the most rigid scrutiny.

Puyaus In SuTLEJ VALLEY.—In nearly every Himalayan village

there is a house for the representation of the local divinity. In

front is a shed formed of four pillars, and a roof of wood orna-

mented in the style of the temple. This is both a resting place

The ceremony was a pecu-

dance in the porch of the temple, during which the devi was

ied round by two men facing each other. The villagers faced

litter in a semicircle, their arms intertwined. The end man

1885,] Microscopy. - 1021

had his right hand free, and in it he held a chowrie (brush of

yak’s tails) with which he kept time. At another ceremony an

old man in the red robe of a lama approached the devi, and

fruit, and bread. A number of birds, some black, some white,

were killed, and the blood sprinkled on the devi, afterwards the

rest was dashed over the building. A part of the service was a

mock battle with walnuts and pine cones, between the priest and

his attendants from the balcony of the temple, and the people be-

low. Meanwhile the birds were cooked, and they are now served,

the women eating first. The devis have a way of intimating

when they wish to go visiting. The reception of one devi by

another is like two rajahs meeting. There is a great amount of

bowing and shaking which terminates in the host getting behind

and the procession marching to the village temple. When the

visitor returns home the host accompanies it to the borders of

the village. Mr. Simpson, who describes the pujah ceremonies

first draws attention to the ark and sacrifices of the Jews and the

Egyptians, and then views with more favor the car-festival as the

parent of these primitive services. To most people unacquainted

with India the rath yatra, or car-festival, is associated only with

Jagganath, at Puri, but this is not so; cars are kept in the tem-

ples over the whole of Southern India. Although not connected

with Hinduism, the Buddhists also had a similar festival. If it

was common to the whole of India, it is easy to see that where

there were no roads for a car on wheels, the god would have to

be carried on men’s shoulders, and the size would be reduced to

Suit circumstances. At one of the pujahs a Brahmin walked

barefooted thirty steps on the sharp edges of hatchets—% R. A.

Soc., XVI, 13-30.

Tue Kansas City Review.—One of our best sources of infor-

mation respecting the archæology of the Missouri region, is the

Kansas City Review. The editor, Mr. Theo. S. Case, has con-

ducted this journal for seven years, at considerable expense to

himself, in order to contribute his share towards the intellectual

improvement of his section. There is a rumor that the Review

is in danger of stopping through want of patronage. We regret

to hear this very much. The late Dr. Ruggles said to the writer

On one occasion, “I do not read half the books and magazines I

buy. I take them because I am afraid the authors would suffer

without my little help.” Now this is one motive, and there are

many more why we should not let good scientific literature lan-

guish through lack of our aid.

MICROSCOPY.

TREATMENT oF THE Ecos OF THE SPIDER (Agalena nevia).—

The eggs of our common grass spider (Agalena nevia) are de-

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

1022 General Notes. [October,

posited in white silky cocoons, which are attached to the under

side of loosened bark, fence boards, and other sheltered places.

They are very abundant in September and October, and during

the entire winter cocoons may be found with eggs in early stages

of development. This species thrives well in captivity, so that

there is no difficulty in obtaining eggs freshly laid.

For studying the egg in a living condition the long-used

method of immersion in oil is excellent. The oil should be per-

fectly clear and odorless. The external features can be studied

to better advantage by mounting the eggs in alcohol after they

have been freed from the chorion and stained. Another valuable

method for surface study consists in clearing the already stained

egg in clove oil. The thickness of the blastoderm is most easily

determined in this way.

The best method of hardening preparatory to sectioning is that

of heating in water to about 80° C., and then, after cooling slowly,

treating with the usual grades of alcohol. Good results were

obtained with Perenyi’s fluid, which rendered the yolk less brit-

tle. Osmic acid does not penetrate the chorion, and chromic

acid or acid alcohol are not easily soaked out on account of the

thickness of the chorion. š

Borax-carmine proved, on the whole, to be the best staining

fluid. It is difficult to make the dye penetrate the chorion, and,

after hatching, the cuticula forms a similar obstacle. This iffi-

culty. may be overcome by prolonged immersion in the staining

fluid. In some cases seventy-two hours were required to obtain

a sufficient depth of color. In order to avoid maceration, which

would result from so long continued immersion in a weak alco-

holic dye, the staining process may be interrupted at the end of

every twenty-four hours, by transferring to seventy per cent alco-

hol for an hour or more.

After most methods of hardening, the yolk becomes very brit-

tle, and the sections crumble. This difficulty may be overcome

by collodionizing the cut surface before making each’ section, in

the manner described by Dr. Mark (Amer. NATURALIST, June,

1885)\— Wm. A. Locy.

Tae Rockine Microtome.\—The Cambridge (Eng.) Scientific

Instrument Company have just introduced a new type of micro-

_tome, in which the sliding movement of parts is replaced by a

=~ Totary one. The ribbon of sections falls by its own weight direct

= trom the razor on to a sheet of paper. The instrument is simple

~ on and is sold at the comparatively moderate price

Of $26.

_ The chief. objection to this microtome is, that it is adapted to

only one mode of section-cutting, namely, that of producing rib-

rn. Roy. Mic. Soc,, June, 1885, p. 549.

sections imbedded in paraffine. It could not be used for-

1885. ] Microscopy. 1023

cutting collodion sections, nor could it be conveniently employed

‘in the Duval-Mason method, where the block of paraffine is col-

The Rocking Microtome.

lodionized before making each section. The position of the ob-

ject is such that it can not be conveniently watched during the

1024 General Notes. [ October,

process. of cutting; and this appears to me to form another se-

rious objection to the instrument.

The construction of the instrument is as follows: Two up-

rights are cast on the base plate of the instrument, and are pro-

vided with slots at the top, into which the razor is placed and

clamped by two screws with milled heads.

The imbedded object is cemented with paraffine into a brass

tube which fits tightly on to the end of a cast-iron lever. This

tube can be made to slide backwards or forwards so as to bring

the imbedded object near to the razor ready for adjusting. The

cast-iron lever is pivoted at about three inches from the end of

the tube. To the other end of this lever is attached a cord by

which the motion is given and the object to be cut brought

across the edge of the razor. The bearings of the pivot are V-

shaped grooves which themselves form part of another pivoted

system.

Immediately under the first pair of V’s is another pair of in-

verted V’s, which rest on a rod fixed to two uprights cast on the

base plate. A horizontal arm projects at right angles to the

plane of the two sets of V’s, the whole being parts of the same

casting. On the end of the horizontal arm is a boss with a hole

in it, through which a screw passes freely. The bottom of the

oss is turned out spherically, and into it fits a spherical nut

working on the screw. The bottom of the screw rests on a pin

fixed in the base plate. :

It will be seen that the effect of turning the screw is to raise

or lower the end of the horizontal arm, and therefore to move

backwards or forwards the upper pair of V’s, and with them the

lever and object to be cut. The top of the screw is provided

with a milled head, which may be used to adjust the object to the

cutting distance. í

- The distance between the centers of the two pivoted systems 15

one inch, and the distance of the screw from the fixed rod is six

and a quarter inches. The thread of the screw is twenty-five to

the inch ; thus if the screw is turned once round, the object to

be cut will be moved forward 3: of 617 or rte of an inch.

1885.] Scientific News. $ 1025

varied from a minimum, depending on the perfection with which

the razor is sharpened, to a maximum of 3% of zg of z or ory

ofa turn. The practical minimum thickness obtainable with a good

razor is approximately 4y}voy of an inch. The value of the teeth

on the milled wheel are as follows :

I tooth of the milled wheel = ṣy4yy of an inch = .000625™m

Ztek- 4 " “ = yko “ ‘* = ,oor250"=

4 6 e « é = Totoo ` “ c = 0025™™

16 “se (13 (3 4 = 1 se “6 z oymm

2500

The movement of the lever which carries the embedded object

is effected by a string attached to the end of the lever. This

string passes under a pulley and is fastened to the arm carryin

the pawl. Attached to the other end of the lever is a spring pull-

ing downwards. ~-

en the arm is moved forwards the feed takes place, the

string is pulled, the embedded object is raised past the razor, and

the string is stretched. When the arm is allowed to move back

the spring draws the imbedded object across the edge of the

razor, and the section is cut. The string is attached to the lever

by a screw which allows the position of the embedded object to

be adjusted so that, at the end of the forward stroke, it is only

Just past the edge of the razor. This is an important adjustment,

as it causes the razor to commence the cut when the object is

traveling slowly, and produces the most favorable conditions for

the sections to adhere to each other.

:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— To the report of the Commissioner of Fisheries of New

York in charge of the oyster investigation is appended Dr. H. J.

Rice’s excellent tract on the propagation and natural history of

e American oyster. An account is first given of experiments

carried on at Cold Spring harbor on the propagation of the oys-

ter, and then follows notes on the distribution of the animal, the

Structure of its shell, the gross anatomy of the animal including

the reproductive organs, succeeded by chapters on seed oysters,

the food of the oyster, its coloration, its artificial propagation,

€ methods of obtaining spat, and the friends and enemies of the

Oyster. Reference is made to the supposed method of extraction

1026 Scientific News, - [October,

of the animal of the oyster by the star-fish; as the result of his

own observations Dr. Rice was not able to decide as to the exact

method or methods; he, however, inclines to the opinion that the

star-fish works in more than one way, sometimes suffocating,

sometimes poisoning and sometimes taking in the oyster bodily.

Due credit is given to the labors of Dr. Brooks and Mr. Ryder.

The report is illustrated by six plates, which add materially to our

knowledge of the structure of the shell, the soft parts and the

rate and mode of growth of the shell.

— An apiculture station has recently been established at Au-

rora, Ills., in connection with the Entomological division of the

Department of Agriculture. Mr, Nelson W. McLain has been

appointed to take charge of the station, and Professor Riley has

‘instructed him to pay particular attention to the following sub-

jects :

ist. To secure the introduction and domestication of such

races of bees as are reported to possess desirable traits and char-

acteristics ; to test the claims of such races of bees as to excel-

lence, and to prove by experiments their value to the apiculturists

of the United States and their adaptation to our climate and

eene AD flora.

2d. make experiments in the crossing and mingling of

races read introduced, and such as may hereafter be imported,

and by proper application of the laws of breeding endeavor to

secure the type or types best adapted by habit and on :

to the uses of practical bee-keepers in the United Stat

3d. To make experiments in the methods of artificial ‘fertiliza-

tion, and if possible demonstrate the best process by which the

same may be accomplishe

4th. To test the various methods of preparing bees for winter

—such as stimulating late breeding, removing the pollen from

the hive in winter, feeding on sugar syrup, watering during long

confinement, the stimulating of early breeding in spring, the con-

trol of the swarming impulse and the prevention of swarming.

5th. To gather statistics concerning the bee-keeping industry

in the United States, and obtain an approximate estimate of the

number of colonies of bees kept, the number of pounds of honey

and wax produced in the several States and in the United States,

and the value of the same.

6th. To make experiments with and “gy aig concerning

_ varieties of honey-producing plants for bee-fo

=~ 7th. To study the true cause or causes of a yet imper-

ated understood, and the best methods of preventing or curing

| wA To obtain incontestible results by intelligent experiments,

upon scientific methods, as to the capacity of bees, under excep-

tional « ne eR to injure fruit, 2. e., to set at rest the ever-

of bees vs. fi ruit.

SS ei ieee

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies, 1027

— We have received from the author, M: A. Vayssiére,

memoire No. 3 of the second volume, zodlogy, of the Annales du

Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Marseille, entitled Recherches

zoologiques et anatomiques sur les Mollusques opisthobranches

du Golfe de Marseilles, 5, première partie, Tectibranches, This

work fills 181 quarto pages, with six well-drawn plates, and is a

product of the zoological laboratory founded by Professor Marion

at Marseilles,

oO.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.—

This body met at Ann Arbor, Mich., Wednesday August 26th,

and terminated its sessions Tuesday September Ist, 1885, under

the presidency of Professor H. A. Newton of New Haven. The

officers of the meeting were as follows: Of Section E, vice presi-

dent, Edw. Orton of Columbus, O.; secretary, H. Carvill Lewis

of Philadelphia. Of Section F, Burt G. Wilder of Ithaca; secre-

tary, J. A. Lintner of Albany. In the absence of Professor Wilder

Professor T. J. Burrill of Champaign, Ill., took the chair. Of

Section H, Wm. H. Dall of Washington, D. C.; secretary, Mrs.

Erminnie A. Smith of Jersey City. In the absence of Mr. Dall,

Mr. J. Owen Dorsey, of Washington, became chairman of the sec-

tion. Section G was united with Section F. Its chairman was

Mr. S. H. Gage of Ithaca; secretary W. H. Walmsley of Philadel-

phia.

The following papers were read :

Thursday, August 27th. Section E—Geology—The geology

of Ann Arbor, Alexander Winchell; Westward extension of rocks

of the Lower Helderberg period in New York, S. G. Williams ;

Lower Silurian fossils in a limestone of Emmons’ original Ta-

Section F—Biology—An observation on the hybridization and | :

Cross-fertilization of plants, E. Lewis Sturtevant; germination

Studies, E. Lewis Sturtevant; Biological deductions from a com-

Parative study of the influence of cocaine and atropine on the

Organs of circulation, Dr. H. G. Berger; On the brain and audi- |

tory organs of a Permian Theromorph Saurian, Edw. D. Cope;

Observations on the musk-rat, Amos. W. Butler; The question

VOL, XIX,—No. x. 67

1028 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, [October,

of bisexuality in the pond-scums (Zygnemacez), Charles E. Bes-

sey ; The process in fertilization in Campanula americana, Charles

R. Barnes; The structure of Glottidea pyramidata (Stim.) Dall,

r. H. G. Berger; Coenostroma and Idiostroma, and the compre-

hensive character of the Stromatoporoids, Alexander Windell;

he song-notes of the periodical Cicada (Cicada septendecim L.),

and the mechanism by which they are produced, C. V. Riley ;

The periodical Cicada in Southeastern Indiana, Amos W. Butler;

Some popular fallacies and some new facts regarding Cicada

septendecim, C. V. Riley ; Proof that Bacteria are the direct cause

of the disease in trees known as pear-blight, J. C. Arthur.

Section G—Histology and Microscopy.—Photo-micrographs on

gelatine plates for lantern projection, W. H. Walmsley; Photo-

Micrography work with high powers, Professor T. J. Burrill; A new,

cheap, useful and quickly constructed adjustable microtome, Chas.

Porter Hart; Optical arrangements for Photo-micrography, and

remarks on magnification, Romyn Hitchcock.

Section H—Anthropology—A visit to the Siletz Agency, Rev.

J. Owen Dorsey ; Permanence of early Iroquois Clans and Sa-

chemships, Rev. W. M. Beauchamp; The remains at San Juan

Teotihuacan, Amos W. Butler; Significance of Flora to the Iro-

quois, Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith; A supposed natural alloy of

copper and silver from the north shore of Lake Superior, in Min-

nesota, N. H. Winchell; Exhibition of copper implements, W. C.

yman.

Friday, August 28th. Section E—Geology and Geography—

On the Classification of the upper Devonian, Henry S. Williams;

The Gas and Oil Wells of Northwestern Ohio, Edward Orton;

The Loess and Drift-clays, Wm. McAdams; Discovery of fossil-

iferous Potsdam Limestone, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., William B.

wig ` :

Section F—Biology—On the parasites of the Hessian fly (Ce-

cidomyia destructor Say), C. V. Riley; The mechanical injury to

trees by cold, T. J. Burrill; Aquatic respiration in soft-shelled

turtles (Aspidonectes and Amyda); A contribution to the physiol-

ogy of respiration in vertebrates, Simon H. Gage and S. S. Phelps

Gage; The presence or absence of underbasals in crinoids can

be ascertained from the columns, Charles Wachsmuth; Further

observations on the adventitious inflorescence of Cuscuta glomer-

ata, Charles E. Bessey; On the phylogeny of the placental mam-

: malia, Edward D. Cope; The structure of Glottidea pyramidata

= (Stim.) Dall, Dr. H. G. Beyer.

AI s in Dakota, William McAdams; Burial

pmp of our aborigines, Henry Gillman; Ancient pictographs

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1029

in Illinois and Missouri, William McAdams; Exhibit of speci-

mens with notes, W. L. Coffinberry; Customs, language, and

legends of the Senecas, J. W. Sanborn.

Monday, August 31st. Section E—Geology and Geography —

A new mass of meteoric iron from Charleston, Kanawha Co., West

Virginia, George F. Kunz; Mineralogical notes: curious form of

beryl from Auburn, Maine, capped garnet from Raymond, Maine,

and an artificially stained turquoise from New Mexico, George F.

Kunz; The tourmaline locality at Rumford, Oxford Co., Maine,

George F. Kunz; A pseudomorph of feldspar after leucite (?) from

Magnet Cove, Arkansas, George F. Kunz; Notes on a remarkable

collection of rough diamonds, George F. Kunz; Native antimony

and its associations at Prince William, York Co., N. B., George

F. Kunz; The record of the deep well of the Cleveland Rolling

Mill Company, Cleveland, Ohio, Edward Orton; The materials

of the Appalachians, E. W. Claypole; Apatite deposits in Lau-

rentian rocks, T. Sterry Hunt; Glaciation of the Lackawanna val-’

ley, John C. Branner.

Section F—Biology—On the appearance of the relation of

ovary and perianth in the development of dicotyledons, John M.

Coulter; A new membrane of the human skin, Charles Sedgwick

Minot; The development of the prothallium of ferns, D. H.

Campbell ; Organization and death, Charles Sedgwick Minot;

Morphology of the supra-renal capsules, Charles Sedgwick Minot;

The importance of individual facts of environment in the forma-

tion of groups of animals, J. B. Steere; Experiments antag-

onizing the view that the serrulz (serrated appendages) of Amia

are accessory organs, Burt G. Wilder; The structure of the

human placenta, Charles Sedgwick Minot; On the structure and

functions of Spheeridia of the Echinide, Howard Ayers ; On the

carapax and sternum of the decapod Crustacea, Howard Ayers ;

otes on some injurious fungi of California, W. G. Farlow; A

new Chromogenous Bacillus (Bacillus luteus suis), D. E. Salmon

and Thomas Smith; Evolution of the lungs, Charles Sedgwick

inot.

Section H—Anthropology—Music in speech, M. L. Rouse;

e stone ax in the Champlain valley, G. H. Perkins; The num-

ber habit, C. S. Minot; Indian personal names, J. Owen Dorsey ;

An average day in camp, Alice C. Fletcher; Are contemporary

phantasms of the dead to be explained partly as folk lore? C. 3

Minot; Ornaments made of pieces of human skulls, from a mound

in Ohio, F. W. Putnam.

Tuesday, September 1st. Section E—Geology and Geogra-

phy.—The Corniferous or Upper Helderberg group of Scott

county, Iowa, and Rock Island, Ill., with a list of its fossils, A. S.

Tiffany; The Chemung group at Burlington, Iowa, with a list of

its fossils, A. S. Tiffany; Notice of Lingula and Paradoxides from

1030 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Oct., 1885.

the red quartzites of Minnesota, M. H. Winchell; On the occur-

rence of trap-rock in eastern Kentucky, A. R. Crandall; Glacia-

tion of the Lackawanna valley, John C. Branner.

Section F—Biology—The structure of the human placenta,

Charles Sedgwick Minot; Notes on some injurious fungi of Cali-

fornia, W. G. Farlow; Evolution of the lungs, Charles Sedgwick

inot.

- Section H—Anthropology.—Extracts from the address of the

vice-president; “ The Native Tribes of Alaska,” W. H. Dall; On

certain singular stone implements from Vermont, G. H. Peran

Explorations in the great Cahokia Done Wm. McAdams:

Proper methods of exploring mounds, etc., F. W. Putnam; Who

made belt wampum? with exhibits, Ermina A. Smith; Pri-

mary classifiers in Dhegiha and cognate languages, J. Owen

Dorsey ; Exhibition of copper implements, W. C. Wyman; The

Degeneracy of Races, Wm. Zimmerman; The Animal Mounds

“of Wisconsin, W. DeHass; Archzological Remarks, W. DeHass.

The place of meeting for 1886 was decided to be Buffalo, New

York. :

The following officers were elected for the year 1886: Presi-

dent, E. S. Morse, of Salem, Mass.; vice-presidents, A—Mathe-

matics and astronomy, J. W. Gibbs, ‘of New Haven, Conn.; B—

Physics, C. F. Brackett, of Princeton, N. J.; C—Chemistry, H.

W. Wiley, of Washington, D- G: D—Mechanical science, O.

Chanute, of ‘Kansas City, Mo. ; E—Geology and geography, T.

C. Chamberlin, of Washington, ee C.; F—Biology, H. P. Bow-

ditch, of Boston, Mass.; H—Anthropology, Horatio Hale, of

Clinton, Ont. ; I—Economic science and statistics, Joseph Cum-

mings, of Evanston, Ill.; permanent secretary, F. W. Putnam, of

Cambridge, Mass. (holding over); general secretary, S. G. Wil-

liams, of Ithaca, N, Y.; assistant general secretary, W. H. Pettee,

of Ann Arbor, Mich. ; secretaries of the sections, A—Mathe-

matics: and astronomy, S C. Chandler, of Cambridge, Mass. ;

` B—Physics, H. S. Carhart, of Evanston, Ill; ; C—Chemistry, Wm.

McMurtrie, of rt ee H.: D—Mechanical science, William

Kent, of Jersey CONI- E—Geology and geography,

Claypole, of Akron, Ohio; F— Biology, J. C. Arthur, of Geneva,

NY; ; H—Anthropology, A. W. Butler, of Brookville, Ind. ;

ae Economic science and statistics, H. E. Alvord, of Mo natainvitte

a” Y.; ; ee William Lilly, of Mauch Chunk, Pa.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vor. x1x.—NOVEMBER, 1885.—No. 11.

EXAMPLES OF ICONOCLASM BY THE CONQUERORS

OF MEXICO.

BY W. H. HOLMES.

an E two great centers of aboriginal American culture, Mexico

and Peru, were the first to feel the shock of the conquest, and

the native peoples, together with their arts and institutions, sank

at once into irretrievable ruin. Temples, sculptures and paint-

ings, the tangible representatives of an idolatrous worship, ex-

cited the hatred of a fanatical priesthood, and were, as nearly as

possible, swept from the face of the land. The fiercely intolerant

Spirit of the representatives of the church is well illustrated by

the language of a letter written by Zumarraga, the chief inquisi-

tor of Mexico, to the Franciscan chapter at Tolosa, in January,

1531. The words are as follows: “ Very reverend Father be it

known to you that we are very busy in the work of converting

the heathen; of whom, by the grace of God, upwards of one

million have been baptized at the hands of the brethren of the

order of our Seraphic Father, Saint Francis; five hundred tem-

ples have been leveled to the ground, and more than twenty

thousand figures of the devils they worshiped have been broken

to pieces and burned.” :

There was, however, a limit to the power of destruction. Many

of the greater monuments have defied the destroyer and stand

to-day and will stand for ages to come as illustrations of the

Power and culture of their builders. There were probably few

_ Works more difficult to destroy or wholly deface than those found

* Quoted by Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. 11, p. 171,

VOL, XIX.~No, XI, 68

1032 Iconoclasm by the Conquerors of Mexico, | November,

upon the summit of the justly famed hill of Texcocingo, a favor-

ite resort of the most enlightened rulers of Texcoco.

This cerro is upwards of 600 feet in height, and is a narrow

ridge, nearly a mile in length, that projects into the valley of

Mexico from the range forming its eastern rim. From Texcoco

it assumes a somewhat conical shape as indicated in the accom-

panying sketch, Fig. 1. The upper part is very steep, exhibiting

cliffs and huge detached masses of a coarse pinkish-gray mod-

erately hard rock, usually called porphyry, that proves, upon ex-

amination under the microscope, to be a variety of andesite.

This hill has been the witness of many important and thrilling

events in pre-Spanish as well as in Spanish times. It gives un-

mistakable evidence of having been at one time literally covered

eel

war! le gi

Fic. 1.—Hill of Texcocingo from Texcoco,

with artificial structures, and numerous recesses, niches, stairways

and cisterns have been hewn in the living rock. It was a sad day

to the despairing Texcocan when he saw his deities tossed over

the cliffs, his shrines desecrated, and at the same time beheld afar

off, across the plain, the smoke rising from the burning of his

sacred records.

At the present time this wonderful hill is almost denuded of —

its artificial features. There remain but traces of walls and floors,

the deep recesses cut in the solid rock and the great battered

boulders that were once the images of gods, to tell imperfectly

_ the story of a blasted culture.

_ Among the most interesting of these remnants is a recess 4

a short distance below the summit on the side facing Texcoco, and

Se ee ee ee aa

1885.] Iconoclasm by the Conquerors of Mexico, 1033

the first place it must be described in detail. In beginning an

edifice or apartment on the face of the hill, it was necessary first

to prepare a floor by cutting a niche into the rock and filling out

the level with masonry and cement! until a proper platform was

secured. The back wall was formed entirely of the living rock

and afforded the opportunity of carving out the deity who was to

preside over the place. The side walls are partially of the rock

in place, and were completed by the addition of heavy masonry,

portions of which are still to be seen.

Fic. 2.—Sketch of fragment of idol.

On the floor of this recess I came upon a large fragment of

rock that exhibited evidence of having been elaborately sculp-

tured, and which at first suggested the figures peculiar to the

calendar stones of the museum at Mexico. The fragment is

nearly four feet long, by about three wide and half that thick.

e sculpture is confined to one face, the sides and back showing

rather fresh irregular fracture.

In making a sketch of the block I observed first that the fig-

ures were not symmetrically arranged and not truly radiate, and

1A common lime-sand cement, as determined by Professor F. W, Clark,

1034 Lconoclasm by the Conquerors of Mexico. [November,

that a number of the features resembled the ornaments and trap-

pings characteristic of the head-dresses commonly seen in Aztec

sculpture. This led to the search for other features, and finally

to the discovery of a partially obliterated eye toward the smaller

end of the fragment. This convinced me that the object was

part of the head of a huge idol. My sketch is reproduced in

Fig. 2, but gives a very imperfect idea of the work, which in pre-

cision of execution and delicacy of finish equals anything of its

class yet brought to my notice. It is a remarkable fact that the

surface of the carving has been finished with a coat of red paint

or enamel, which to this day exhibits a saat polish, and is so

a i X £.

a UG

Se ma / ZW

= A

\ \

)

sien”

Teann

= a e

ay)

i a th TAN

Fic. 3.—Probable position of the idol at the back of the niche.

firmly attached to the rock surface as to be removed with the

greatest difficulty. The other portions of the figure have been

broken up and carried away, or have been rolled down the side

of the cerro. At first I was at a loss to imagine the original

character and position of the figure to which the head belonged,

but after a careful study of the recess I came to the conclusion

that it had originally occupied the back wall of the recess, and

that it had been carved from the rock in place. The proof of this

: was entirely satisfactory.

sl observed first that the central part of the rear wall was not

othly ee. and that the rock surface showed compara

1885.] Lconoclasm by the Conquerors of Mexico. 1035

tively recent fracture. In examining it closely I found at the base,

as shown in the sketch, Fig. 3, an undercut channel, in and in front

of which, after clearing away the earth, I detected a pair of feet

carved in the rock, They were badly mutilated but still showed

traces of the toes and portions of the sandals, These feet had

originally formed part of a complete figure, and the fragment of

head found on the floor had belonged to it.

Another pair of feet at the right, still more completely oblit-

erated, indicated the position of a second figure. The fragment

shown in Fig, 2 lies on the floor at a, Fig. 3, and doubtless

originally occupied nearly the position in the wall indicated in

the sketch. These figures had been wedged or blown off and

broken up by the Spaniards, and the whole shrine dismantled.

There are other recesses of similar character in this hill,

which show like treatment by the conquerors or their descen-

dants. One at the opposite end of the crest, near the terminus

of the great causeway, is said to have hada calendar carved in

the living rock of the rear wall, a spot now exhibiting a deep

irregular excavation thought to have been made by treasure

hunters.!

In this connection it is convenient to mention a remark-

able piece of work, a block of curiously carved andesite that

rests upon the outer extremity of the crest of the hill. Although

in such a prominent place it is partially obscured by trees of

_ Copal, etc., and would escape the attention of the casual ob-

Server; besides, the sledge of the destroyer has obliterated

much of the evidence of art. In order to preserve a memoran-

dum of the work, I stood upon a contiguous rock and made the

sketch presented in Fig. 4, my line of vision being at an angle of

45° with the flat surface of the stone, c c, which is horizontally

placed.

The surface has been cut down, leveled and finished with a

pointed implement, leaving a pecked or granular surface, while

the middle portion of the rock was left in relief and carved into

the curious form indicated in the sketch, but which has been

almost completely obliterated by the hammer of the despoiler.

e query arises, what has this rock been, and what its func-

tion, that the godly missionaries should have endeavored to de-

Stroy it?

* For details see Bancroft’s Native Races and works cited by him.

1036 Iconoclasm by the Conquerors of Mexico, {November,

I was struck at first sight, although without previous thought

of the matter, that here was a stone perfectly suited for the offer-

ing of human sacrifice. I could readily imagine the feet of the

victim placed upon the step 4, while his back rested upon the

highest level, a, giving the ideal position assumed in the pictures

in the blood-curdling narratives of the conquerors. The level

spaces, ¢ c, would afford a perfectly convenient a for the

feet of the officiating priests.

By inverting the picture it will be seen that thé part of the fig-

ure most effectually destroyed by the hammer of the iconoclast

has an outline suggestive of the upper part of a human figure, so

h Pes

AT Hd

| j

Hil}

Anh

tihi

hj $

Fic. 4.—Sculptured rock on the summit of the hill of Texcocingo.

that it is not impossible that this stone was really the figure of

some deity, partly finished, perhaps, as the step-like portion rep-

resenting the knees of the supposed figure is entirely without

suggestions of the limbs. ~

The prostrate position rather tends to discredit this theory,

as such figures are usually carved in place, the mass being too

~ great to be easily adjusted to an upright position. The length of

_ this figure and of the block is about eleven feet. A contigu-

ous block of stone, d, although apparently never a part of it, is

also cut down to the same level as cc, indicating the intention

to make use of the surface in its present position. It is perfe

th Po orate feel a desire to identify one of the sacti-

1885.] Condition of the Yellowstone National Park. 1037

ficial stones of the Aztecs. I present this instance as at least a

plausible case.

The Texcocan monarch is said to have climbed the 500 steps

that led to the summit to worship an idol that stood there, and

it is said that this idol, hewn from the living rock, was the image

of a coyote, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl, the King.

Since, however, human sacrifice is acknowledged to have been

extensively practiced by these people, it strikes me that in no

other locality could we more readily expect to find the material

evidence of the existence of such a practice as on the summit of

this wonderful hill, a point which overlooked the whole valley of

Mexico, and which seems to have been almost wholly devoted to

the service of the gods.

ier n

THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE YELLOWSTONE

NATIONAL PARK.

BY E. D: CQPE.

iew has fully justified the enterprise of Dr. Hayden in

urging upon Congress the project of the creation of the

Yellowstone National Park; and the protection of this and other

especially interesting Serta of our country by the arm of the

National Government has met with almost unanimous approval.

The function of the Yellowstone Park may be looked on as

three-fold: first, as a place of permanent preservation of the gey-

sers and hot springs and their deposits; second, as a place of

protection of the game of the country; and third, as a place of

recreation for tourists. The first of these uses has always been

uppermost. The second has been more and more engaging the

attention of Congress, and the NATURALIST published an editorial

in its issue of July, 1884, pressing on public attention the ne-

cessity of making it a more complete preserve for game than

it had previously been. This article was reprinted; and later,

Our contemporary, Science, took up the subject editorially. As

a probable consequence of this agitation a bill was introduced

into Congress, last winter, providing for a more complete super-

Vision of the territory of the park. Ten men witha gamekeeper

and the superintendent, constitute the present force. As this was

manifestly insufficient to police a territory of such great extent,

the new bill contemplated the addition of fifteen men to the num-

1038 Condition of the Yellowstone National Park. (November,

ber, thus increasing the police to twenty-five men. Their salaries

were fixed by the new bill at $1500 per annum. The sum now

paid is $900, from which the men are expected to feed themselves,

an important consideration in so expensive a region. This bill

was not passed.

Since the attention of Congress and of the press has, been

directed to the park, the protection of its beauties and curiosities

has been more efficient. A number of persons have been fined

for breaking the geyser deposits, including at least one member

of Congress. In this respect the protection may be considered

to be now fairly good. Protection of game has been less suc-

cessful because more difficult, and because of the great inade-

quacy of the force. Bison, elk, moose, deer, etc., are far less

abundant than when the park was first created. The bison have

been, I am informed, reduced to a herd of about sixty individuals,

and the elk have been decimated. The moose are confined to a

small region. From the inaccessible nature of their habitat,

mountain sheep have not been so reduced in numbers. Protec-

tion has, however, become more definite in this direction. During

the past year several persons have been fined from $75 to $100,

and one old hunter, who defied the guards, was caught, fined

$100, and imprisoned for six months.

_These measures of protection can, however, only be carried

into effect by an increase in the force and their proper distribu-

tion throughout the territory. Persons may now hunt undetected

in the park, and may drive game outside of its boundaries with-

out difficulty and kill it. The disposition to kill is not controlled

by any considerations of decency in some men. Thus a party of

English shooters killed, for their amusement, twenty or thirty

from the bison herd without taking any part of the animals for

_ their use, thus reducing their numbers by one-fourth at least, at

one battue. Some persons state that protection is useless because

the game leaves the park in winter. This I ascertained is not

true, for there are numerous well-protected localities where the

game winter safely.

- ohe bin which was brought before Congress last winter for the

- more efficient protection of the park should be passed by the

gress of 1885-6, with some possible amendments. Thus the

> should be increased to twenty-five men, each with a salary

000 per annum exclusive of his food and boarding. The

1885.] Condition of the Yellowstone National Park. 1039

park should be divided into twenty-five parts, each one supervised

by one of the guards with perhaps an assistant or roustabout. A

simple house for the guard should be erected in each one of the

divisions, and the guard should reside there through both winter

and summer, and not be permitted, as is now the case, to come

into the settlements and remain there during the winter. It is well

known that large game may be more readily destroyed in winter

than insummer. Those guards whose districts include the geysers

will naturally be more occupied with the protection of these objects

than the protection of the game, as the one is generally abundant

inversely to the other. Visitors should not be permitted to carry

guns or other hunting apparatus through the park, and should be

required to deposit them with some designated person to be held

during their stay in it.

A project for reducing the size of the park has already been

introduced into Congress. This is in order to permit the con-

struction of a railroad to the Clark’s Fork mining camp, through

the park via the Yellowstone, the East Fork, and Soda Butte

creek, As the law creating the park forbids the passage of

railroads through it, it is sought to alienate a tract of land from

the park, of a triangular shape, of about forty miles in length and

twelve to fifteen miles wide at the widest part. An examination

of the map will show that the direct route from the Clark’s Fork

mines to the Northern Pacific railroad is not more than one-tenth

as long as the one proposed to pass through the park, so that it

is difficult to guess at the motive which prompts the proposition

in view. The project should be subjected to the most rigid

- examination, as any alienation of the territory of the park seems

to be unnecessary. On the other hand much greater security as

a game preserve would be accomplished if the region on the

south-east border of the park, which includes the Hoodoo moun-

tains, were annexed to it. It is the headquarters of the game of

the country, and that of the park frequently resorts to it. It is

excessively rugged, and is nearly useless to man for any other

Purpose.

As regards the entertainment of tourists, the administration of

the new superintendent, Mr. Weare, has been a great improve-

ment over that of his predecessor. The monopoly of transpor-

tation, sought to be established, has been abolished, and compe-

tition is free to guides and hotel-keepers. This has the

1040 An Observation on the Hybridization |November,

effect of reducing rates, and will do so still more, for the charges

have not yet reached bed-rock. When this desirable result ha’

been achieved, the Yellowstone National Park will become one of

the most popular resorts for tourists of all nations, who will be

amply repaid by an inspection of one of the few remaining

regions of the earth where thermal activity still reaches its sur-

face, and of the grand and impressive scenery which surrounds it.

A’

AN OBSERVATION ON THE HYBRIDIZATION AND

CROSS-BREEDING OF PLANTS!

BY E, LEWIS STURTEVANT, M.D.

EORG von Martens, in his Gartenbohnen, Ravensburg, 1869,

p- 35, under Phaseolus Pardus virescens, the graugrune pan-

therbohne, says: “I was very much surprised to obtain not less

than eight varieties of beans, die incarnatbohne, die dottergelbe-

bohne, die weissebohne, die amethystfarbige zebrabohne, die

graugrune pantherbohne, die helle pantherbohne, die gelbge-

fleckte pantherbohne, and the princessinbohne. With more tho-

rough investigation I decided that the zebrabohne was most

likely a neighbor which had overrun the bed, but all the others

came from the bed, and some, the incarnatbohne and the weisse-

bohne had not been planted in the whole garden.” Martens

might have expressed surprise that these varieties from the seed

of the graugrune pantherbohne were all towards named varieties

rather than sports or intermediates, but this fact, which frequently

appears noted in his book, does not receive attention as being of

any importance.

At the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, in 1882, a

few oblong beans, slightly flattened sidewise and mottled in two

shades of brown, were selected from the yield of the golden

cranberry. This selection, planted by itself in 1883, gave eleven

distinct forms, many of which can be referred to named varieties,

and possibly with a greater acquaintance with varieties all might

be so referred; an illustration confirmatory of the results above

noted by Martens, and is strengthened by a list of similar occur-

- rences with other varieties in 1883 numbering a score.

~ This fact of named varieties being produced from seed of other

"varieties i is not confined to the bean family alone. The following

* Read before section F, A. A. A, S. at the Ann Arbor meeting.

1885. | and Cross-Breeding of Plants. 1041

list includes similar occurrences noted at the New York Agricul-

tural Experiment Station during the last three years:

Maize—Seed of one kind sown often produces samples of

other kinds of corn in the crop, and these varieties can usually be

distinctly referred by name to varieties with which the original

seed might have been crossed. Purposely hybridized seed has

produced the original parentage without intermediate types, and

seed exposed to hybridization during two years with many sorts

of corn, has yielded ears of the types of corn with which cross-

breeding or hybridization has been effected, without appearance

of intermediate forms.

Barley —April, 1884, one head of cross-bred awnless barley was

received from Mr. Horsford, a seed-grower in Vermont. The

yield of the twenty-six seed was four distinct sorts of barley; one

beardless black, one beardless white, one bearded black and one

bearded white. One peculiarity was, that the beardless forms

could be referred to Hordeum trifurcatum, There were no inter-

mediates in this crop.

Peppers.—In 1882 eleven varieties of peppers were grown; in

1883, nineteen varieties. The pepper plant is extremely variable.

The fruit on different plants of the same variety often varies

much in shape; on some the fruit is borne erect, on others pen-

dant; certain plants of a variety often mature their fruit much

earlier than do others. These facts, as well as direct observation,

certify to the ready cross-fertilization between varieties. Yet

despite this apparent cross-fertilization, varieties by selection are

kept true to name, and almost all or perhaps all of the various

“sporting” forms noted by us are found illustrated in Hortus

Eystettensis, 1613, a fact which brings the pepper in line with our

other illustrations.

Tomato’—In 1882 the French upright tomato was crossed with

1Some additional observations of a later date than those given in this paper are

as follows

Melom-—The Christiana melon seed used in 1885 was from two sources. The one

Seed pure and the crop all on type; the other seed station-grown in 1883 and sub-

jected to a possible cross-fertilization with other varieties; the produce from this

Seed gave this year fruit mostly of pure Christiana type, but some plants yielded

fruit of the early white Japan, long Persian and Hackensack types, and no interme-

diates. These off-varieties were among the melon varieties of 1883, and by which

there was a possibility of the Christiana being crossed through insect agency.

Tomato,—In 1883 the French upright tomato was crossed by the Livingston’s

favorite, and the crossed seed has been attempted to be grown in purity up to date,

1042 An Observation on the Hybridization [November,

pollen from the alpha and Livingston’s favorite. The produce

from the cross-breds was one plant of the French upright, a hun-

dred or more of the common form, and no intermediates. The

fruit was all clustered, however, and of one type of bearing. The

types of the tomato fruit have not as yet been sufficiently studied

by us to allow of a judgment upon variability in this respect.

Squash. —In 1883 the perfect gem and vegetable marrow

squashes were crossed in both directions. The seed planted in

1884 gave good types of the cocoanut, green-striped bergen and

the courge d'Italie varieties. In 1883, the year the seed was

saved, we had no plants of these varieties upon the station

grounds. There were also some unknown forms, but none that

could be called strictly intermediate between the varieties, and

some which represented each parentage.

Lettuce —In 1883 the green fringed and the deer tongue lettuce

was crossed. In 1884 the crop yielded forms which could be

referred to the Batavian, Silesian and Malta drumhead varieties,

This year is hence the second generation from the cross. The number of plants

under observation have been numerous, occupying three-twentieths of anacre. The

types of the plants are French upright and the common, without intermediate forms.

The types of the fruit are French upright, Livingston’s favorite, common red and

great Chihuahua, and no intermediates that can be recognized. The last-named is

precisely on type both in plant and fruit, but few plants as compared with the others.

French upright crossed by acme. First generation. The types of plant either

French moe or acme. The fruit acme, French upright and common red, and no

interm

French ek crossed by alpha. Second generation, The type of plant both

kinds. The French upright o of plants have all French upright type of fruit.

common type of plants bear fruit of the fig, pear, plum, alpha, common red,

French upright and great Chihuahua type, and no intermediates that can be recog-

nized.

Currant crossed by Livingston’s favorite. First generation. The types of plant

mostly the currant, but some few plants of the common: form, but slightly more up-

right. The fruit is racemed like the currant, but of far larger size, about 114 inch in

diameter. Although I have never seen fruit of this character before, yet the plant

and the fruit correspond very closely with the description of the Solanum racemosum

: forma of Bauhin’s Prodromus, ed. of 1671, p. 90; and we may legitimately

_ Suspect atavism has reproduced this apparently lost variety.

_ Turks cap-crossed by several large varieties in 1882, such as acme, trophy, may-

flower and paragon. The first generation was grown in the greenhouse, and hence

the crop of 1885 is the fourth generation, the selections having been made each year

soundness and smoothness of fruit. ls foliage of the 1885 plants somewhat

able but of the common type. The fruit can be referred to the apple, acme and

r red. One plat from the earliest ad of this class has given constant foliage,

uit small, of SEE variety type, and of constant form,

nay melee) AE alae late tT a ee te ees oe a eR Sl Se ae a

ok eae aay Reece peg

1885. | and Cross-Breeding of Plants. 1043

and there were no intermediates between the parents. In this

case we had the parents of two very distinct types, there being

scarcely a point of resemblance in general appearance.

Pea—In 1883 we had crosses between the sugar pea and the

common pea. The 1884 crop from the crossed seed had the

seed all of the sugar pea type, the pods all of the common type.

The wrinkled pea crossed with the smooth pea gave wrinkled and

smooth peas in the same pod, but no merging of the two forms.

These facts of careful observation and record are only explain-

able by the hypothesis that in certain kinds of cross-fertilizations

and hybridizations the tendency of the crossed seed is to repro-

duce ancestral forms rather than intermediate forms. That there

can be a blending of characters in certain cases is well known or

certainly well asserted; but in the experience gained at the New

York Agricultural Experiment Station, “sports” or blendings

are rare in exact accordance with our familiarity with varieties. -

Thus in the case of the maize, at first we had many cases noted

in our collection as variables; with the increase of varieties

grown, and with increased specimens in our museum collection,

these variables, almost without exception, could be referred to

types or varieties, and the few exceptions to this statement occur

in the little-studied class of pod or husk corns. Two illustrations

will suffice: in New Jersey an excellent farmer there noticed a

few pod ears in his crop of Blount’s prolific dent and forwarded

samples to the station as novelties. The seed from these pod

ears reproduced with us Blount’s prolific of perfect type and pod

corn of the same type of ear which furnished the seed, and no

variables from the two types noted. From the crossing of pod

corn with sweet corn a new variety of sweet corn was produced,

of a distinct type and esteemed by us a novelty in every respect,

the cob being fusiform, the kernels horse tooth and much wrin-

kled, the stalk very small. At a later date this type appeared in

our collections as the banana sugar, and was proven not to be

Original with us,

Darwin, in his Animals and Plants under Domestication, the

New York edition of 1868, Vol. 11, p. 54, has a section entitled,

“ Crossing as a direct cause of Reversion,” and says: “ But that

the act of crossing in itself gives an impulse toward reversion, as

shown by the reappearance of long-lost characters, has never, I

believe, been hitherto proved.” His line of evidence, however,

1044 Observations on the Muskrat. [ November,

is different from that here presented, and embraces a different

series of observations.

The lack of agricultural museums in which domesticated varie-

ties of plants find representation, the general ignorance of the

varieties which were grown by our predecessors, and the in gen-

eral careless descriptions which occur in the writings on agricul-

ture, render a study of this sort embarrassing and difficult. A

careful study, however, of the figures given by the botanists of

the sixteenth century and thereafter, and a careful collation of evi-

dence gleaned from more recent authors on gardening, together

with the fact that the appearance of new form-species of cultivated

vegetables seems to date from the introduction of forms of the

same species from distant regions, and the rarity of appearance of

novelties which cannot be identified with some previously de-

scribed type, all encourage to the belief in the correctness of the

generalization that in our domesticated vegetable plants cross-

fertilization shows its effect at once in the reproduction of the

orm-species and varieties which are involved in the parentage of

the crossed seed, and that when “ pure seed” is crossed interme-

diate forms rarely occur, but the original parents in variable pro-

portions.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MUSKRAT?

BY AMOS W. BUTLER.

HE muskrat (Fiber zibethicus Cuv.) is very abundant in most

localities in Southeastern Indiana. In local distribution it

varies in numbers according to the abundance of water and favor-

able localities for its increase. From all that I can learn, I do

not think it is less common than at the time of the early settle-

ment of this region.

These animals soon became acquainted with man and, from ex-

perience, learned that his presence assured them a great abund-

ance of food at much less labor than formerly, while, at the same

time, their natural enemies decreased in numbers on account of

his necessity and pleasure. In some localities, owing to the perse-

_ lFor instance, the deer tongue lettuce, with lanceolate leaves, which appeared

_ about 1883, is almost identical with the Lactuca folio oblongo acuto figured in Bau-

hin’s Prodromas, edition of 1671, p. 60.

Read before the section of Biology of the American Association for the Advance-

Science at Ann Arbor, Mich., Aug. 27, 1885.

1885.] Observations on the Muskrat. 1045

cution of a neighborhood of farmers, muskrats are few in num-

bers and are very shy. Inthe greater number of places, however,

but little attention is paid to their destruction, and in consequence

they become very tame, being found within the corporate limits

of some of our larger towns. Originally they had their home in

the neighborhood of natural water-courses, but with the system

of State improvements which led to the building of our canals,

there came, in many localities, a change in the life of the musk-

rats. Upon the completion of “ The White Water Valley Canal,”

in 1846, the greater number of muskrats living upon the streams

along which it ran, sought this artificial water-way and there

established homes, No doubt they soon realized the greater

security this canal afforded them from the frequent floods and

from other dangers they had formerly experienced. At the pres-

ent time, along that portion of the canal in existence, but few

muskrats have sought the neighboring streams whence their

ancestors came. When the muskrats changed their residence to

the line of the canal they made new homes in its loamy banks,

similar to the ones they had deserted along the river side. They

are found both in our water-power canal and in the swifer

streams, most numerous where there is a good food supply and

at the same time near by a quiet nook secluded from the prying

eyes of some human enemy and his allies. I have noticed them

to be exceedingly abundant about the estuaries of creeks whose

banks are covered with a luxuriant growth of vegetation.

When the canal through this part of the State was destroyed

in 1866, the rats disappeared from many places where they had

long found a home. Some sought the river where their ances-

tors had dug their holes in times long past; others gathered into

certain parts of the old canal bed which were not permitted to

remain unused. One of these portions is now the property of

“The Brookville and Metamora Hydraulic Company,” and is

used for the purpose of supplying power to several mills along

its banks. This part of the old canal is about fifteen miles long,

extending from Laurel to Brookville. It is here that I have

become best acquainted with this water-loving rodent.

The muskrat prefers its home in banks of loam or light clay,

especially when heavily covered by vegetation. It is very excep-

tional that it occupies gravelly or sandy banks. Advantage has

been taken of this fact by the managers of our water-way and

1046 Observations on the Muskrat. [ November,

by the railroad company. Where they have constructed gravel

banks and kept them free from vegetable growth, it is rarely they

are bothered. Trenching the banks and filling in the trenches

with gravel has proved of considerable value, while some protec-

tion has been afforded by a top-dressing of coarse gravel over an

old bank of loam, provided vegetation is not allowed to grow

thereon. When these precautions have not been taken, great

damage is done each year; the burrows of these animals are con-

tinually being enlarged, and caving in, cause a leak, or undermine

the railroad track, as the case may be.

In early spring the greatest damage is done. With the alter-

nate freezing and thawing at that time of the year, the coverings

of these underground passages drop in, exposing cavities of sur-

prising extent to one who does not know the amount of subter-

ranean work this animal is capable of doing. It requires vigilant

work of eyes and ears to prevent this caving causing great dam-

age to property. The underground homes of the muskrat in the

banks of the canal have each two openings. When the water is

at its usual stage an opening may be found, the upper edge of

which is on a level with the surface of the water; another hole.

may be seen at low-water mark, the top of which is just level

with the surface of the water at that stage. These holes are

generally from eighteen inches to two feet apart. The pas-

sages from these openings lead backward and upward in a very

crooked way, as any one who has attempted to follow them

up can testify. These passages end in a large gallery which is

the home of the animal. From this chamber a small passage

leads to the surface, ending amid a bunch of grass or weeds. By

this means the gallery is ventilated. The holes at the surface are

known as “air holes.” They are not always found, at least I

have not in all instances observed them. In heavy ground an

“air hole” is always found, while in porous ground it is as often

absent as not, These underground burrows extend into the bank

a distance of ten to twenty feet in a straight line, as a rule. In-

stances have been noted where the depth reached was less than

_ the minimum given above, but such are rare. In localities along

= small streams which are subject to sudden rises, the distance

attained occasionally reaches thirty feet, but in all instances the

depth to which these burrows reach depends, in a great measure,

s emg size and SALEN of a bank as well as upon the

of hboring stream to sudden changes of level.

1885. | Observations on the Muskrat. 1047

In the abandoned parts of the old canal before referred to, the

muskrat built houses for the first time in this part of the State.

They were few in number, and were confined to wet tracts, the

source of whose water supply was springs from the neighboring

Silurian hills, or in swamps adjacent to the line of the canal.

Until within the past three years no houses had been built along

the water-power canal between Brookville and Laurel. Each

succeeding year I noticed the erection of a few more houses,

until at this time there are a dozen or more within the fifteen

miles just mentioned. Within ten miles of the northern end of this

artificial water-way, in the old bed of the canal, have been several

houses for a number of years. Whether this house-building

habit is‘caused by some of the house-building muskrats coming

from up the stream, or whether, from some unknown reason, the

animals of our own locality have thus taken upon themselves

this much of the ways of some distant ancestor, we cannot say.

That muskrats do, from force of circumstances, change their

location, is a well-known fact, and such a change would perhaps

be the most logical way to account for the recent house-building

just mentioned.

I have made careful examination of some of these houses, and

herewith present some extracts from my notes on one of them

which I consider typical in construction and arrangement. The

examination of this house was made in January last when the

ground was frozen, but the more rapid streams had little or no

ice upon them. This particular house was built upon the highest

part of a piece of marshy ground on a peninsula extending into

a stream which passed through the marsh. The end of the pen-

insula had been dug off to the level of the bottom of the stream,

leaving a semicircular exposure of land. A part of the base of

the house followed the configuration of the edge of this excava-

tion, while the remainder of the foundation rested upon the bot-

tom of the stream. In consequence of this rather more than half

of the house adjoined the water. The house was composed

chiefly of swamp grass, sedge, coarse weeds and mud, while

fresh-water algze, small pieces of drift, a few pieces of shingles and

two staves were found among the more common material. The

greater part of the mud was in the lower part of the house, and

_Ithink was mostly brought in attached to the roots of grass.

The ground: in the neighborhood of this house was cleared of all

VOL. E E x. 69

1048 Observations on the Muskrat. [ November,

vegetation, even of the roots, for some distance. The house was

thatched very nicely with weeds and sedge. The ground plan

was oval in outline, four feet six inches wide and six feet three

inches long. On the land side the house was two feet six inches

high, and on the water side three feet four inches. The whole

presented the appearance, in miniature, of an oblong hay rick.

The inside was quite irregular. Measurements at the bottom of

the chamber showed the greatest length to be twenty-two inches,

the least sixteen inches, with an average width of twelve inches.

The greatest height, measuring from the bottom of the stream,

was one foot, Six inches from the bottom a shelf was found

running from the left of the entrance and above the top of the

water. This shelf was twelve inches long and eight inches wide,

and ranged from six to eight inches in height. It was arched

over very neatly with drift and coarse weeds. At a point farthest

from the center of the chamber, immediately over the shelf, was

a passage leading upwards toward the side of the house. While

it did not penetrate the wall, it passed through the more compact

portion and enabled the inmates to obtain air. Entrance was had

through a covered way from and beneath the water without to

the center of the house, where it terminated in a mass of fine

grass and mud, through which was a funnel-shaped opening to

the interior. This house was completely destroyed; within a

week after its destruction the muskrats had erected a new home

upon the site of the old one. In securing material for this they

had used the remains of the ruined house, and had cleared a

much larger space of ground of its withered vegetation. In out-

line the new house resembled the old one very much, but it was

of nearly double the size of the ruined structure. There are

peculiarities in the shape of many houses, but that which I have

described appears typical in form and in interior arrangement of

these structures in this vicinity. Some of these houses are built

at a time when the water is low, and as the fall rains swell the

streams the rats are compelled to ,reconstruct their buildings,

raising the top above the highest level of the water. I knew a

muskrat to try this plan last year. It built its house within the

o banks of an ice-pond which was almost dry; as the water was

turned on, late in the fall, the owner tried, by making the house

higher, to keep a portion of the structure above the encroaching

ter. An increase in altitude of six feet was too mych for the

1885. ] Observations on the Muskrat. 1049

industrious animal ; by the time half this height was reached he

gave up the work. Occasionally instead of laying a part of the

foundation out of the water, the house is begun entirely within

the water. At times I have known a hollow stump, which had a

lower opening beneath the water, to be used. The stump being

covered over and some grass and other material placed around

the base, it required close observation to recognize the framework

of the structure. I have known these animals to take possession

of a barrel which stood on its end in the water, and after covering

it over so as to almost hide it, to give up the work and erect a

dwelling without the substantial assistance such an article would

afford.

I find the muskrat lives, the greater part of the year, in its

sinuous galleries in the banks of our streams. Each autumn new

houses are built or old ones repaired, but these are only occupied

when the surrounding streams are locked in a sheet of ice. At

such times it is by no means uncommon to find several represen-

tatives of the species living in harmony within one of these win-

ter homes. I am convinced that in this vicinity one brood of

muskrats is regularly brought forth each year. There are, in all

probability, occasional exceptions to this rule, when perhaps two

and even three broods are born. Mating takes place late in Feb-

ruary or early in March, depending upon the condition of the

weather, and continues about three weeks. This year these animals

were first noted as mating on March roth. At this season the

female utters a hoarse squeal by which the males are attracted.

The period of gestation is about six weeks. In April or early May

the young are brought forth; from four to six helpless and hair-

less little creatures may then be found by the persevering investi-

gator far within the subterranean home within a nest of grass and

other soft vegetable growth. The young remain in the nest until

they are about half grown, unless their home be flooded, when

they often perish, but in some instances are rescued by the

mother. Mr. E. R. Quick relates one instance when, during a

flood July 3d, 1873, he saw a female muskrat swimming along in

the muddy water with five young, about the size of a full-grown

house rat, holding on to tufts of the mother’s hair with. their

mouths, while she made her way slowly and cautiously along the

Shore ; carefully she avoided all obstructions and swift water, .

seeking a shelter for her precious tow. Some boyish enemy, per-

1050 | Observations on the Muskrat. [ November,

ceiving the homeless family, threw a stone which struck the

mother and scattered the young. The latter apparently knew

nothing of diving and but little of swimming; with difficulty

they gained the shore, and while seeking the protection of some

reeds a part of them were caught. I have never found the young

caring for themselves until after the beginning of July. In Sep-

tember, a few years since, a litter of young was taken from a nest

in the canal bank. They were not over one-third grown. This

record I have always considered as referring to a second or per-

haps a third brood, and is my only note that would indicate a

plurality of broods.

During the rutting seasorfthe grunts of the males answer the

squealing of the females, the noise of scuffles between the males,

the continuous splashing made by the animals in the water fill

the air, in the vicinity of one of their favorite ponds, with sounds

which would surprise one who was not familiar with the neigh-

borhood of a muskrat’s home, on a warm night in early spring.

At this time of the year they are seen during daylight more than

at any other, sometimes even deigning to show their love-making

to inquiring eyes.

Muskrats are naturally herbivorous. They feed upon land and

water plants alike, in some instances using roots, stems and fruit.

‘They are noted enemies of the “bottom” farmer. In his fields

it is that corn grows most plentifully, and upon this cereal musk-

rats love to feed. They eat corn at any time after it is planted,

| taking the seed from the ground or the young plant from the fur-

row. The greatest damage is done after the ear is well formed.

“ Roasting ears ” appear to be a favorite article of food with them.

From this time until the corn is gathered, nightly visits are made

to the nighboring cornfield, where the stalks are cut down and

‘sometimes carried to their homes, but more frequently the juicy

ear is the only part taken. At times streams near cornfields seem

‘covered with floating stalks, the result of the muskrat’s nocturnal

forays. As the corn becomes hard it is frequently a difficult

question for them to tell how they will get the grains off the cob

as easily as formerly. They evidently master the question in

some instances, for I have known them to deposit the flinty ears

in a stream for two or three days until the grains become soft, when

ey could be readily removed. It seems strange that an animal

ing teeth al the cutting power those of the muskrat possess, _

1885.] Observations on the Muskrat. 1051

should seek to do this, but in all probability the teeth, from con-

tinued eating of vegetable food throughout the summer, become

tender and are unable to cut hard grains of corn with ease. This

is the case with many domestic animals in autumn when fed on

corn after some months of pasture life. Muskrats are very fond

of parsnips, turnips and apples. They frequent apple orchards

and turnip patches, near their homes, and make use of much of

the farmer's abundant crop of these articles. When snow, which

had lain on the ground for some time, melted, I have observed that

plats of grass near the water’s edge had been eaten bare by these

animals while they were confined to such diet as they could find

beneath the ice. Their food is not entirely vegetable; in winter

and in early spring they subsist, in a great part, upon the flesh of

river mussels. Many a winter morning have I found a number

of well cleaned shells of the more delicate mussels upon the ice

near swift, running water. I have never been able to satisfy my-

self that this food was used by them at any other time of the

year. Neither do I believe that this material was originally so

used. It is very probable that owing to the scarcity of suitable

vegetable food, they have been forced to include the meat of the

mussel among their articles of diet; largely on account of its

abundance near their watery haunts and also on account of the

ease with which it is obtained. Such change of food has not

Occurred in this region within historic time, perhaps, but it is evi-

dent that formerly, when there were few mussels in these rivers,

not so many of them were eaten. With the conditions favorable

to their development produced by our canal, mussels multiplied

very rapidly, and in proportion to their increase in numbers the

muskrat increased his mussel-eating. Records of this are pre-

Served in the banks of the canal; alternate deposits of shells,

cleaned by the muskrat, and of sediment may be seen in many

localities reaching to the depth of two feet below the present bed

of the stream. Upon these same piles of bivalve remains the

muskrat leaves the remains of most of the mussels it eats. I

have never known the muskrat to eat univalve mollusks. I have

identified the following shells as forming the principal part of its

bivalve food in this vicinity: Anodonta plana Lea, A. decora Lea, :

A. imbecillus Say, Unio luteolus Lam., U. parvus Barnes, Margari-

tana rugosa Lea, and M. complanata Lea; all common in pro-

portion to their comparative abundance. In some localities I

1052 Observations on the Muskrat. [ November,

found the young of Unio occidens Lea, but not very common. In

another locality where Unio lachrymosus Lea is the prevailing spe-

cies, I found its shells forming the bulk of the refuse near musk-

rat homes. In this same locality I found examples of Unio pli-

catus LeS. and U. multiplicatus Lea, but they were not common.

The young of heavier shells are to be found as commonly, in

proportion to their abundance in the adjacent water, as are the

remains of the more fragile species. I have estimated that about

one-half the mollusks eaten are of the three species of Anodonta.

I was surprised at the comparative abundance of the remains of

Margaritana rugosa Lea in these piles of shells. This species is

considered to be rather rare, but their shells are found as fre-

quently there as are those of some of our more common species.

From this fact I think the muskrat prefers the flesh of this spe-

cies to that of others which might be more easily taken. I have,

at times, found examples of living Unios among these heaps of

shells; whether these had been brought there by the rats, or

whether they had sought, of their own accord, a dwelling place

`. among the remains of their dead ancestors I cannot say. The

means by which the muskrat secures the body of a mussel has

been frequently discussed of late. I think, from my observations,

there are three ways in which these shells are opened. With

many species I notice that the foot is very slowly withdrawn

within the covering when the shell is handled. When such shells

are taken it is very easy for the muskrat to insert its paws or long

teeth between the valves and tear them asunder. The remains of

some species show evidence of the cutting power of their enemy’s

teeth, the edges are broken; when this is done it would be very

easy for the muskrat to find a sufficient opening to secure the

animal as in the preceding instance. By those two ways the more

fragile shells may be opened; the heavier species which are occa-

sionally found, nicely cleaned, about the opening of the muskrat’s

home, could not be opened in this manner. I have on several

occasions noticed these larger mussels lying on the bank of a

_ stream near a muskrat hole, and within a few days they disap-

~ peared. The only way in which I can see the muskrat could

_ obtain the body of one of these larger mollusks is by leaving the

animal out of the water until it becomes weak or until it dies,

when = cps could be =i ona separated. Muskrats at times

; of dea s. The remains of ducks, geese,

1885.] Observations on the Muskrat, 1053

chickens, fish, and even in one instance a turtle, have been noted

as forming a part of their food. The farmers of the lowlands

ascribe to the muskrat a love for young ducks, but I think the

greater part of their loss in this particular is referable to turtles,

The muskrat is largely nocturnal in its habits. On cloudy

days and occasionally late in the afternoon one may be seen,

along some quiet stretch of water, seeking food or looking for its

mate. It is not much at ease on land, although when pursued it

moves over the ground at an ambling gait with some degree of

rapidity. It is an expert at swimming and diving. Before diving

it appears to inflate its lungs with air,and when it disappears

remains beneath the water for some time, the course it takes being

frequently traceable by rising bubbles of air, When surprised it

- plunges into the water suddenly without the necessary supply of

air, and is forced to come to the surface in a very short time,

When frightened it generally seeks its hole, but such is not

always the case. In open water it dives to a considerable depth,

and I have noticed it passing through shallow water apparently

running upon the bottom. Under the ice it may be noticed, at

times, swimming quite close to the surface of the water. It

appears disiriclined to dive in muddy water. Upon several occa-

sions, when our streams have been swollen, I have attempted

to make one dive by stoning it, but generally without success ;

sometimes it would dive, but would almost immediately reap-

pear. When our water-courses are covered with ice the muskrat

has regular places of egress and ingress, such places being where,

owing to swift water, ice had not formed, or where the ice along

the banks of a stream had become broken.

Several methods are employed to capture or to kill muskrats.

Many of them are caught by means of steel traps. They are

very unsuspicious and regularly become the victims of their self-

assurance. A dead fall is frequently used with some effect. It is

generally placed over a well-worn runway leading to a favorite

feeding ground. Many muskrats are killed by means of poisoned

apples or turnips which are placed in the neighborhood of their

burrows. The latter plan is often tried by the farmers of our up-

lands to kill these animals when they become too numerous in

the ditches and smaller streams. A method used with great suc-

cess by a local water-power company, in winter, is as follows: A

barrel with both ends out is placed upright near the bank with

1054 Observations on the Muskrat. [ November,

about half its length in the water. Upon the water inside the bar-

rel is placed grass and weeds, and on this foundation the bait, gener-

ally a few pieces of parsnip, is put. In a few days the animals will

become familiar with this new object, and thereafter the barrel

may be visited regularly. After a warm night the trapper is rea-

sonably sure of finding some game in his barrel. Sometimes he

will find but one or two rats, but more frequently he will catch

from three to six, and on one occasion I have known ten rats to

be taken in one barrel ina single night. At mating time if a

female be caught several males will be taken prisoners in the same

barrel in their efforts to become her company. When a rat gets

into the barrel it is impossible, owing to the depth of the water,

for it to stand upon its hinder limbs to cut a hole in the staves

above water line, and at the same time impossible for it to get out

at the top of the barrel. When several are taken the same night

a fight generally ensues, resulting in the death of all of the cap-

tives either by the sharp teeth of their companions or by drown-

ing. I have known instances where several of these rats had been

captured and killed, but the trapper did not visit his traps for

some time; upon his arrival, however, he found but a few heads

and bones to tell of the tragedy that had been enacted and of the

feast which the other muskrats had when the water receded

enough for them to enter and leave the barrel. This habit is not

uncommon when more acceptable food is scarce. Last spring a

_ muskrat was caught in a steel trap; when the trapper went to his

trap next morning he found another rat eating the dead one;

upon examination it was found the entire right shoulder had been

eaten off. Spears are rarely used, but they are sometimes brought

into service when the streams are ice bound to kill the inhabitants

of a winter house. Many muskrats are shot in early spring when

the ice breaks up.

Of the enemies of the muskrat man ranks first, and next to

him the dog. Hawks and owls of the larger species, foxes and

minks are all very destructive to this animal. The mink is per-

haps it greatest natural enemy, but fortunately for it minks are

rare. The remains of muskrats have, on several occasions, been

found in the stomachs of large catfish, but the flavor of the food

had. been so thoroughly imparted to the meat of the fish that it

as unfit to eat. The muskrat is at times very ferocious. When

by dogs or man it frequently shows fight, and if pressed

me to dor much execution with its sharp teeth.

OO LL hl

F es

Siege EE SII En i AUU ieee We as eae EN

1885.] The Froblem of the Soaring Bird. 1055

Muskrats have their pleasures as do other animals, but as their

favorite time for sport is after night, we have but little opportunity

to become acquainted with them socially. On a warm quiet

afternoon they appear to enjoy a sunning in some secluded spot.

Their gambols in the water, of a quiet evening, remind me much

of the playing of kittens. They may be seen at times, of a

moonlight night, chasing each other over some sand bar near

their watery home. On the whole a study of their enjoyments is

very unsatisfactory, and much of our knowledge of the life his-

tory of these animals will be but slowly acquired.

THE PROBLEM OF THE SOARING BIRD.

BY I. LANCASTER.

t is now more than two years since I first made known the

results of investigations on the methods of flight of the great

soaring birds, carried on at intervals since 1850. The whooping

cranes of the Northwest, performing their migrations on motion-

less wings, had at that early date fixed my attention, and my

times of leisure down to 1876 were devoted to ransacking the

Scientific and literary world and to observing the birds in the act

whenever it was possible to do so, that I might get an explana-

tion of the phenomenon of more substantial character than mere

guess-work. Plenty of assumed solutions were found scattered

about. Such theologians as I consulted were confident that

the question had reached its lowest terms when it was said that

“ God had created the birds to fly.” Common-sense folks rejected

the idea of fixed wings and held to a slow flapping that could

not be seen, while the scientists were confident of upward slant-

ing currents of air and various atmospheric disturbances which

produced the result. Accounts of travelers as to the facts were

hopelessly confused, with a single exception, that of Charles

Darwin in his Naturalist’s Voyage around the World. His solu-

tion of the matter, that of the surging head, was given provis-

ionally,

I was not prepared to deny aay of the solutions given and not

More ready to admit them, being conscious of very much igno-

rance of the entire matter. Meanwhile my interest in the sub-

ject, constantly increasing, had, in 1876, overshadowed all others,

and being disengaged from business, I devoted the ensuing five

1056 The Problem of the Soaring Bird. [ November,

years to the birds on the Gulf coast of South Florida, where the

soaring varieties were found in abundance, fully intending to un-

ravel the case before leaving it. The task was a hard one, and

the final solution was found in a totally unexpected direction,

The predominant feeling I have since experienced in regard to it

is one of surprise—surprise that in this ceaselessly active age

mechanical possibilities of the most important character could

exist in the atmospheric spaces all about us, with many of the

largest species of existing birds putting them in daily practice

before our eyes, and we still remaining completely ignorant of

them! I propose in this paper to present, first, a few of the most

significant facts exhibited by the soaring birds; next, to offer an

explanation of the phenomenon; and finally, to examine the

bearing of what has been said on the problem of artificial air-

navigation.

I mean by a “soaring bird” one which habitually travels the

air on motionless wings. All birds flap their pinions at times,

and many of the smaller kinds, such as rooks, kestrels, crows and

gulls can maintain flight on fixed wings when the conditions are

favorable. But I would never think of observing them for les-

sons in soaring. They are too light to average the inequalities

in the air current, and there are frequently long intervals of active

wings before the fixed conditions occur. The soaring varieties

are at it all the time. The frigate birds live in the air night and

day for a week at a time without touching a roost. Their con-

geners, the buzzards, spend the day in the same style, The vari-

ous cranes common to the coast often spend hours resting in the

air, while the gannet is an admirable soaring bird with a heavy

body and relatively small expanse of wings.

When I speak of “ fixed” or “ motionless ” wings the meaning

is that no muscular power is used to either overcome weight or

air resistance. It is not meant that the pinions are absolutely

rigid, like a board, for they are moved to accomplish change both

in shape and position. But they do precisely resemble a board

so far as the exertion of motive power is concerned. For instance,

_ if abird floats in a wind of unvarying velocity over any fixed

_ point on the earth, then if a board of the same shape and size

and weight were put in its place, it would remain there just as the

bird does, as long as the conditions were unchanged. If the bird

y changed the shape or position of its surfaces so as to ver-

1885. | The Problem of the Soaring Bird. 1057

tically ascend indefinitely, the board would also ascend in the

same way were it to be changed in a similar manner.

This is seen in the performances of what I have termed

“ effigies.’ They were surfaces of veneer or cardboard fastened

to a frame and balanced by a weighted pendant. They would

simulate the actions of “soaring” perfectly. I have made num-

bers of them. They would leave the hand and travel against the

wind for as much as 500 yards, remaining up for fifteen minutes.

They had no ability to automatically balance themselves in un-

steady currents of air, but they were good illustrations of “ soar-

ing.”

The first thing to be definitely ascertained was whether the

wings of the soaring birds were in fact as motionless as they

seemed. To determine this point demanded close inspection, and

although the creatures were not fearful of man in that remote

country, they preferred a distance of thirty to forty feet away.

The captive bird was useless for any critical test. ’Tis true that

a bird ten feet in alar dimensions, resting horizontally above one’s

head thirty feet away, with the ‘clear sky as a background, could

be pretty well examined; still a closer position was not only

desirable but imperative, and a resort was had to the arts of

mimicry with entire success. Procuring a few square yards of

thin muslin fabric sufficient to completely envelope my person, it

was covered with paint of the green and brown shades so as to

resemble the tree tops of localities in the vicinity of either the

breeding places or the roosts of the soaring birds, and barring

the unpleasant sensation one has when engaged in the arts of

gross deception, I had everything pretty much my own way. Some

trouble was experienced in striking the happy mean of scaring

the great creatures enough to keep them from lighting on my

face, and still not frighten them away, as they were totally oblivi-

_Ous of my presence. Wing movements could now be studied in

every conceivable position at leisure, endwise, sidewise, from

above, from beneath, and at every sort of obliquity. The conclu-

sions of observations made from the ground at thirty feet distance

were confirmed from the tree-top stations at all distances, from

twelve inches upwards. In the first Florida year, observations

were made with good results about 150 times, during which all

the varieties of soaring birds of 100 miles of coast line were

viewed. The trees of the country are short and stunted, and

1058 Lhe Problem of the Soaring Bird. [ November,

easily climbed, and a little search was rewarded by the discovery

of thick sturdy tops in which a secure lodgment could be had.

The birds abounded in prodigious numbers, thousands occupying

a single roosting ground. Not only was it seen that there was

no motion of the wing as a whole, but that there was none of

the individual feathers. There was no tremor, no slow nor fast

waving ; the entire bird moved when the wing did. When the

wing was flapped there was no doubt about it, and the flapping

could be seen as far almost as the bird was visible. Both the

“soaring” and flapping were discoverable when they occurred

beyond any doubt whatever. To determine horizontality of the

sea breezes of the coast, a radial arm, feathered and balanced

level, was used. It is evident that somewhere in the interior of

the peninsula there must be an upward trend of the meeting

winds from the Atlantic and Gulf, but there is none discovera-

ble on the western coast. The wind, twenty-five feet above tide,

moves uniformly on level lines, and ten feet above the forest tree

tops no upward flow can be found. The lantern of Egmont

light, 150 feet high, at the entrance of Tampa bay, was frequently

used for these atmospheric observations.

There is a wide range in the relation between weight of bird

and wing surface in the different species. It varies from less than

one, to more than two feet for each pound weight. Uniformly

the longer the wing to a given weight the greater the power of

translation possessed by the bird, the man-of-war hawks in this

respect surpassing all others. Wide, short wings were coupled

with heavy bodies, as in the gannets, and these exhibited slower

but steadier flight. The heavier the bird the steadier and easier

seemed its movements, and a hungry vulture, which was very

shaky in the breeze, could ride serenely when gorged with carrion.

The only peculiarities discoverable in the atmospheric condi-

tion required for soaring, was that the wind in all cases should

move against the bird. The maximum velocity of this meeting

of bird and air is unknown to me. I have timed the flight of.

frigate birds through calm air on fixed wings at 100 miles per

hour, and their velocity seems to depend on their wishes more

than on any limitation of the powers of translation. The mini-

mum speed, however, can be approximated. For the frigate bird

= it is about two miles per hour, three for the buzzards and five for

_ the gannets. The heavier the bird the greater is the minimum |

_ velocity required, and a gorged vulture cannot range itself with

flock of hungry ones, which are sporting in their minimum,

repeatedly flapping its

r its wings.

(Zo be continued.)

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter, 1059

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

( Continued from p. 953, October number.)

VI. THe MENTAL ORGANISM.

WE have now to consider a question of very great importance,

that of the relations of the mind and its energies to the

universe of matter and energy without. A review of the condi-

tions of mental energy leads to conclusions of much significance.

These, however, can only be given very briefly, but we will en-

deavor to point out their leading features and show the direction

in which they tend and the remote possibilities of mental devel-

opment which they indicate,

In the lowest animals, in which psychical powers are yet very

feebly developed, if they exist at all, the inflowing energy makes

its way at once to the muscular or contractile regions, and motion

takes place in response. The action of external nature upon the

body is immediately followed by a reaction of the body upon ex-

ternal nature. Where this action and reaction are in harmony,

the body is a well-adapted reflex organism. As already said,

however, with every new condition in the action the reaction

becomes general, and new special adaptation is only slowly gained.

And where there exists the rudiment of a psychical organism

€very sensory action of a new character probably always disturbs

its conditions, yields a conscious sensation and affects its motor

relations. By a long continuance of this process the mental

Organism becomes greatly developed. Of the external energies

which crowd into the body during this increase in sensory and

mental powers a constantly smaller percentage goes directly to

the muscles, and a larger percentage to the mind, into which they

enter as organizing or otherwise affecting agencies. Thus the

energies which are checked in their flow through the body are

never lost, but are employed in building up a reservoir of ener-

gies within. Instead of producing an immediate and direct reac-

tion upon outer nature, they now produce a retarded and indirect

reaction. The condition of affairs is vitally changed by this new

Condition of the organism. The body is at first an instrument of

€xternal nature alone. It is set in motion by the energies of cer-

tain external substances, and exerts energy on other external sub-

stances, But in its advanced condition the force of the external

1060 The Relations of Mind and Matter. (November,

energies is mainly exerted upon a fixed region of the organism,

in which they become definitely centered and organized. And

this reservoir of energies in its turn reacts upon outer nature,

Instead of a single agent of action, with the body for its instru-

ment, we have now two agents, an internal and an external one,

with the body for their instrument. The nervous organism serves

as the channel of intercommunication between these two active

agents. And the high-atomed chemical molecules of the nerve

cells or terminations, whether those of the outer surface, the

muscles or the cerebrum, serve as sources of intermediate energy,

which add to the vigor of the slight motor impulses from without

or from within. In this view the mind is as little a necessary

constituent part of the body as is outer nature. The body can

perform its ordinary duties without the mind or its organ, and

needs it only for its extraordinary duties.

In its primary relation this new condition of the organism only

acts as a check on the rapidity of motor reaction. The mental

affections retain their original form, and their reaction, when it

takes place, will be of the same character as the immediate reac-

tion would have been. But the mental organism soon begins to

act as an independent agent. From the conditions impressed on

it, new conditions are produced. There is an internal reaction

and new combination of the mental energies. Memories com-

bine to form thoughts or ideas, and motor relations are gained

within the mind which have no counterpart without. These, in

their turn, react on outer nature and yield peculiar results, nO

longer in consonance with external conditions. The microcosm

without has built up a microcosm within, with powers and condi-

tions of its own, and the body now becomes the intermedium be-

tween two independent and dissimilar acting agents. These may

act only within themselves, or they may act upon each other

through the medium of the body, each producing special modifi-

cations in the condition of the other.

_ These general considerations lead to more special ones. What

is the character of the impressions produced by external energy

` upon the mental organism? These external energies are yielded

__ by the substances of external nature, and in some way represe?

. the conditions of these substances. As such they enter the body

l impress the mind. Though all sensations may be conv

the nerve fibers as vibratory impulses, yet there must be some

1885.| The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1061

difference in the character of these vibrations with every new kind of

sensation, since the mind receives a peculiar impression from every

peculiar sensory impulse. The memories thus implanted in the

mind represent to us the conditions which exist without us. This

tepresentation very possibly may not be an exact one. Possibly

it is only analogically similar. But it is all we know of external

nature, and although each impression may not truly reproduce

the condition from which it arose, there can be no doubt that the

relations between these impressions are correct. The picture

must be correct as an analogical reproduction if not as an actual

one. It must be borne in mind also that the impressions received

indicate the motor conditions of external substances, and that

they become motor conditions of the psychical substance, so that

their exactness of representation may be much closer than is

usually surmised.

The mental organism thus acts as a mirror, in which the uni-

verse becomes more or less fully reflected. Its memories are

reproductions, more or less exact, of external conditions, and it

exists as, in a partial. measure, a counterpart of external nature.

But it is much more than this. Its powers are not confined to

the reception and storage of external energy and the reflective

reproduction of the forms and forces which emitted these ener-

gies, but it has a reorganizing power of its own. Its energies

Combine and produce new conditions, which may or may not

have a counterpart in external nature. If these new productions

are the outcome of reason they may represent conditions or

forces in nature which are not apparent to our senses, as, for in-

stance, the attraction of gravitation, or the vibrations of heat and

light. If they are the outcome of imagination they may repre-

sent conditions which do not exist in nature and which are new

Creations of the mind. ;

The vision of a cathedral, for example, gives us a mental im-

Pression which becomes persistent. The mind has henceforth

among its stores the image or representation of the external com-

pound of matter which we call cathedral. A picture or a descrip-

tion of a cathedral may produce the same image. Close observa-

tion gives minute knowledge of the constituent parts of this

edifice, and reasoning yields what the senses cannot convey, a

conception of the architectural principles involved and of the

forces at work in binding the parts of this structure together

1062 The Relations of Mind and Matter. _[November,

down to its very chemical atoms. Thus by sensation and reason-

ing the mind gains a very minute and complete image of the

edifice, which it may review in part or in the whole, as it will.

The building seems to be erected in the mind, by the ease with

which it can be mentally taken apart and put together, and each

of its parts called up as a separate and distinct image.

But the mental powers can go much further than this. They

can make different combinations of the separate parts of such an

edifice and work out different results of the principles of archi-

tecture, and thus produce a compound not existent in external

nature. This is the work of the imaginative or constructive

faculty. In both these cases we seem to have but varied combi-

nations of the mental images or energies. But the new form of

building thus mentally constructed need not be confined to the

mind. It can be erected in outer nature by the aid of the hands,

or of other minds and hands. Thus as the mind mirrors exter-

nal nature, the external may be made to mirror the mind, After

beholding the cathedral there exists an image in the mind corre-

sponding to a condition of external nature. After erecting the

new edifice there exists a form in external nature corresponding

to an image or condition of the mind. Mind and nature act and

react upon, and each molds and modifies the other. The illustra-

tion here given might be endlessly paralleled, since it represents

the general character of all the mental operations,

Evidently, then, the process of development is two-fold. The

mind is being developed under influences derived from without,

and the outer world under influences derived from within the body-

The mind and the universe are becoming counterparts of each

other, the one in external matter, the other in that unknown sub-

stance which is the basis of mind. Thus every mind is becoming

a partial counterpart of the universe. At first this mirroring of

the universe is very slight and imperfect. The mirror is of

minute surface and very clouded in texture. But with the growth

of knowledge it widens and grows clearer, and a continually

greater breadth of the universe is reflected within it. If devel-

oped to its utmost conceivable extent, it might take in the whole

universe and constitute a reproduction, in its special and localized

conditions, of all the conditions existing in the broad range of

_ external nature. Like the monads of Leibnitz, each of which

was conceived to mirror all others, and each from its own special

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1063

point of view, each mind might come to mirror all things, physi-

cal or mental, and each from its own special point of reflection.

Such a duplication of the conditions of the universe would be the

necessary result of the infinite Rees of the relations of the

mind of man to external nature. |

The mode in which the thought constituents of the eid pre-

sent themselves to consciousness strongly point to the above con~»

clusion. We seem to become conscious of the existence of a

caunterpart, within our minds, of the universe, so far as we have

come into rapport with it. There lie the forms surrounding us,

the trees, houses, plains, mountains, &c., down to their smallest

details, and each in its appropriate relation, alike of force and of

position, to the others, With extended knowledge we gaina

mental picture of the whole earth, with its diversity-of natural

Scenery, its continents and oceans, its empires, cities and inhabi-

tants, human and brute. The geological conditions of its surface

are similarly apparent to us, and the deeper regions, so far as we

are aware of their conditions. The intermotions and connecting

forces and principles of these objects also form part of the men-

tal reproduction.. None of us have ever seen the whole of this

picture. It has been mainly.conveyed to our minds as a reflec-

tion from images present to other minds. Yet if we wish to see

the earth we have but to look into the depths of our minds, and

there we behold it, with all its parts arranged in their due order and

telation. The mental universe of man is far more extensive than

this. It stretches downward to include the minutest forms. We

can even perceive the excessively minute atoms going through

their endless.dance, and the vibrations of the ether as radiations.

of light and heat run swiftly through it. It stretches upward to

include the mightiest forms, the revolving planets and shining

Suns, each with its peculiar motions and attractive vigor. To see

all this we do not need to look around us. We have but to look

into our minds, into which it has entered and organized itself.

The whole or a part may be seen at will, often falsely perhaps,

from imperfect conceptions, but there lies our visible universe as

it appears to our eyes, has arisen through the exercise of our rea-

Son, ar has come to us at second hand from the eyes and minds

of others,

- We may, for instance, call up the memory of atree. If we

campare this image with- = visual image of an actual tree there

VOL. XIX,—No, XI,

1064 The Relations of Mind and Matter; (November;

will be no apparent difference, except in the greater vividness and

sharpness of the latter. And it is remarkable how new impres-

sions of an object annex themselves to those previously received,

and thus fill out the original image. Our first idea of the human

body is a mere outline. To this are gradually added impressions

of its distinctive surface parts, its internal organs, its tissues, cir-

culation, &c., its motions, and its general principles of formation

and physiological functions. Each of these falls into its proper

relation with the others, building up a full ideal image of the

body. But this image retains the character of a manikin. It can

be taken apart at will, and each part considered separately from

the rest. This essential peculiarity pertains to all ideal concep-

tions. They have none of the necessary coherence of natural

organisms. The conception never becomes an indissoluble men-

tal image. It may be anatomized, as the body may, but without

need of the slow process of dissection.

As to the part taken by the different senses in building up this

mental picture there are important distinctions. Some yield us

impressions of form and some of quality. The senses of smell,

taste and hearing simply advise us of certain qualities or condi-

tions of external things. Touch and sight also yield impressions

of quality, but of form as well. They acquaint us with the space

extension of objects, and also with their space relations and

motions. It appears strange how the mind can gain a permanent

record of the motions of one body in relation to others. We

can only comprehend it as a record of form relations with time

extension, the sensory impression of a very rapidly succeeding

series of pictures on the mind, in each of which the relation ot

position of objects is changed. On recalling to consciousness

this series of pictures the idea of movement must arise with it,

precisely as occurs in the optical toy where a series of gradually

pictures are blended by rapid succession on a moving

disk, and the figures made to appear as if in actual motion. The

impression of a musical air on the mind is probably of analogous

character to the above, a time succession of differing sensations.

The reason has much to do with the correctness of our impres-

sions of form. The eye receives its picture as a flat one, and it

_ must t affect the mind as such. The blind restored to sight s¢¢

idity of pea Yet the inept on the retina of the eye

es as flat pictures. Touch is necessary to make sure of

ee eT

AS = Sa eE See

1885. ] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1065

differ from those on canvas in the perfection of their perspective

and of their arrangement of light and shade, The effect on the

mind may be that which any picture that was absolutely perfect

in these respects would produce on the eye.

If we continue to view the mind as a substantial organism, and

its conditions as due to the motor relations of the parts of this

organism, the mode of impression of a formal image on it may

bear some relation to photography.

It may seem inexplicable that the same nerve fiber in convey-

ing currents of energy can yield such different impressions as

these currents vary in their source. It might be argued that such

currents could only differ in degree and not in kind. And yet

the eye receives its pictures from currents of energy conveyed

through a single medium, that of the vibrating ether. The varia-

tions in light and shade, color, &c., are due to variations in the

conditions of this energy, and similar variations may exist in the

nerve current. As an object photographs itself, through the

effects of these variations in the energy of light, on a sensitive

tablet, so the retinal picture of such an object, through similar

variations in the energy of the nerve current, may produce an

analogous effect on the sensitive mental tablet.

The idea of photography, of course, is offered but as an illus-

tration of a sensitiveness of inorganic substance which imitates,

though remotely, that of the mind. In the instantaneous pho-

tography of recent years plates are made of such exquisite sen-

Sitiveness as to take a good picture in a very minute fraction

of a second. While these plates are kept from the light no

change is produced in them. The instant the light falls upon

them an exact surface copy of the object from which it emanates

is produced on the sensitive plate. And this picture becomes a

permanent condition of the plate. Some change has been pro-

duced in its motor or chemical organization, and the picture

remains an indissoluble characteristic of its subsequent organiza-

tion! The parallel this presents to the mind, viewed as a sensi-

1In illustration of the sensitiveness of material surfaces we may quote from Pro-

of the wafer comes into view, and this may be done again and again. Nay, —

more, if the polished metal be carefully put aside, and be so kept for many months

1066 The Relations of Mind and Matter. _[November,

tive organism, is strikingly complete. We may, as an analogy,

view this organism as having a delicately sensitive surface, which

remains unaffected while it is kept from the influence of the nerve

current, like the photographic plate when kept from the light.

But the instant the energy of this current touches it a pictured

image is produced which closely represents the object which

instigated the nerve current. -And this picture becomes a per-

manent condition of the mind. It indicates a fixed change in its

motor organization. In this respect, however, the mind repre-

sents a photographic plate of extraordinary sensitiveness, one in

which we might imagine that each picture sinks below the sur-

face, or a new sensitive surface is immediately formed over it.

We may pursue this analogy of the organism of the mind to

conceivable photographic conditions somewhat further, and reach

other interesting conclusions. In .this connection the relations

which our mental impressions bear to each other form an impor-

tant subject of. inquiry. These relations are of two kinds, one of

similarity, either direct or analogous, and the other of contiguity

in time of reception. Each new impression seems to’ connect

itself with all preceding similar impressions in such a manner that

consciousness of the one tends to recall the other to conscious-

ness, this effect being the more marked the greater the

As intimate a relation exists between i i ived together,

although they may be very unlike. Their’ connection in time serves

as a link of combination. They elbow each other in the mind, as

it were, .

_ These are the two distinguishing features of remembrance, and

seem to point to two distinct conditions under which the mind re-

tains its images. In regard to contiguity in time the recall of 4

mental image seems to recall the whole surface condition of the

(I have witnessed it even after a year), on breathing again upon it the shadowy

- form emerges. Or if a sheet of paper, on which a key ôr other object is laid, be

carried for a few moments into the sunshine and then instantaneously viewed in the

dark, the key being simultaneously removed, a fading ‘spectre of the key on the

paper will be seen; and if the paper be put away where nothing can disturb it, and

so kept for many months, at the end thereof, if it be carried into a dark place

a paea hot metal, the spécire of the key will come forth, In the cas¢

t than paper, the spectres ot many different ob-

; pria may pTi isai in succession laid originally thereupon, will, upon

arming, emerge in their proper order. Indeed, I believe that a shadow never falls

a wall without leaving thereupon its permanent trace—a trace _ pat san

jle by resort to proper measyres ” (Physiology, p. 288),

yg a Sey Ppa a ig rtd rae RS Mane ae N

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1067

mind as it existed at the time of reception of thatimage. It is as

if, as above said, the mental organism at each period presented a

clear surface for the photographing of impressions, which was

immediately covered by a new-formed surface. In this view the

mind seems to present itself as an unlimited series of overlapping

Jaminz, on each of which is photographed the thoughts and

events of one period of life, while the touching of any special

lamina by consciousness calls up to the mental vision all the

contiguous impressions on that lamina. And the fixed hereditary

constitution of the mind may be a deep-laid foundation, overlaid

by these succeeding formations and far beneath the reach of

consciousness, yet exercising a vigorous influence over the later

developmental processes of the-organism. Another point neces-

sary to mention is that physical impressions and mental concep-

tions appear to affect the mind in the same manner, so that it

becomes sometimes difficult to distinguish between a sensation, a

memory or an idea. In states of hallucination no line of demar-

kation remains, and at any time the principal distinction seems

that of vividness. The mind apparently retains its images in but

a single mode. ;

The relation of similarity adds another structural feature to this

conception of the mind. If we see a fine view to-day it may call

up to our mental vision a somewhat similar one seen ten or

twenty years ago. We have reason to believe that identical im-

pressions flow together and strengthen their resultant, until the

mind may very feebly respond to an incessant repetition of the

same image. The motor conditions of the mind are so in har-

mony with the sensation that it produces a hardly appreciable

disturbance. This would indicate that identical impressions affect

a fixed locality in the mental organism, and the same may be the

case, in a less exact degree, with all similar impressions. In such

a case the relation would not be one of surface contiguity, but of

vertical contiguity, the localized impression being in close rela-

tion of position to all similar ones lying below it in the depths of

the organism. All this, of course, is pure hypothesis, yet it is of

interest in connection with the phenomena of the association of

ideas, if we consider the mental conditions to be the organizing

relations of a substantial organism. Yet one further resultant of

this analogical conception of the mind may not be amiss. The

sinking of an impression below the sensitive surface of the mind

1068 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [November,

might have some relation to the frequent difficulty of recalling

an old memory, and the general disappearance of memories from

the grasp of consciousness, until recalled by some association.

For consciousness may be looked upon as a superficial affection

of the mental organism, aroused only when this surface is acted

upon by cerebral energy. But present sensations might be able

to connect themselves with old memories in the manner just

described. And in so doing they might rouse a whole sheet of

memories, spread over some deep mental lamina. The energy

which produces a surface consciousness, through rapport between

the mind and the cerebrum, might through this rapport of the

mental laminz make its way to deeper regions, and awake long

dormant impressions of the mind.

The hypothetical idea of the constitution and development of

the mental organism just given, while perhaps very remotely

analogous to the reality, yet answers to the conditions of sensory

reception and memory with sufficient exactness to be worthy of

a clearer delineation. In this view, then, each man derives hered-

itarily a firmly-constituted germ of the mental organism, destitute

of ancestral experiences, yet, like every part of the body, pos-

sessed of its innate habits, capable of exercising more or less

control over all subsequent mental activities, and also limiting by

its conditions the degree and direction of the subsequent devel-

opment. This is the hereditary mind, the granite rock basis of

its future formation. It has no power in itself to develop beyond

this. All the other organs of the body may fully unfold from

their innate forces while the mind remains in the germ. Its

development is a purely individual process, and the results are

not transmissible to offspring.

Still considering it as a substantial organism we seem to behold

layer after layer of new substance laid down upon it, as strata are

laid upon the granite basis of the geologic formation, and taking

form from the form of this basic organism. Each of these lamina

is delicately sensitive to the impress of external energy, and be-

comes covered with a series of pictured images, the fossils of the

= memory. With the formation of each new lamina all preceding

__ ones are buried below the immediate contact of energy and the

direct reach of consciousness, But as the impressed images on

ach lamina are in horizontal contact with each other, so each new

à seems to be drawn to a locality of the organism which

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1069

has been the seat of similar impressions. It is as if, in seeking

entrance to the mind, it found its easiest channel at the point

where impressions of some degree of similarity had already en-

tered. Thus impressions of similar character become vertically

in contact or in close contiguity.

This idea certainly offers some explanation of the phenomena

of recollection, or the recall of memories. Consciousness is a

resultant of the immediate relations of the cerebrum with the

surface conditions of the mental organism. It has little or no

penetrative power in itself. To receive an impression on a fixed

mental locality does not of itself cause disturbance of the impres-

sions which may lie below that locality. But when an impression

is added to a vertical series of similar impressions, consciousness

seems to make its way downward and to arouse the whole or any

Specially harmonious part of the series. And on thus reaching

any mental lamina it may spread itself widely over that lamina

and arouse to our attention a broad sheet of its impressions,

Such seems the character of conscious association. No memory

is recalled except through direct or indirect links of association

with some present phase of surface activity. And no memory

remote in time reappears until consciousness first establishes a

rapport between some present impress or idea and a somewhat

similar one received at that period of time.

The conditions thus impressed on the mental organism from

without never remain separate conceptions, like the successive

Pictures in an album. They combine with each other and es-

tablish relations resembling those that exist between the originals.

All we perceive are forms, qualities or conditions, and motions.

Any deeper knowledge of nature must be attained through the

innate operations of the mind. The received motor conditions do

not lie passive in the mind, but spread under the influence of

Consciousness, or the energy which consciousness represents.

They gradually exercise their native affinities and establish con-

nections and relations similar to those which they possessed

externally. The forces and principles which exist between ex-

ternal forms and conditions become evident between their mental

counterparts as memories combine into ideas, and these forces

and principles become in their turn objects of conscious concep-

tion. The universe tends to repeat itself fully in the mind.

But mental activity does not stop here. Forms and forces also

1070 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [ November,

enter into relations which might possibly exist in outer nature,

but which have never existed. Thus the mind erects an ideal

world of its own, which it has the power partly to reproduce ex-

ternally.. This power of ideal formation is practically unlimited.

The world within to some extent cuts loose from the world with-

out, grows beyond immediate dependence upon it, reproduces the

possible as well as the actual, becomes a self-centered and special-

ized compound of energies, and reacts as a modifying agent on

that external world which has so long and so powerfully acted

upon it. |

As already said, the mind as a developed organism is not, like

the remainder of the body structure, transmitted to offspring as

a constituent feature of the germ. It must grow up in each indi-

vidual anew. The most fully developed cerebrum has no power

in itself to unfold the mind beyond its embryo stage, the seed of

psychic existence which is derived from a long line of ancestors.

‘The fundamental psychic conditions of our ancestors persist in

our minds, not as experiences, but as strongly influencing tenden-

cies. We cannot relegate these innate tendencies to any personal

experiences, but they have the force of a large body of expe-

riences. They form the fundamental state of ‘our mental or-

ganism, over which are laid all its more individual states. They

are a collocation of tendencies, inclinations, attributes, emotional

strains, &c., which compose the original stuff of the psychic germ,

the framework upon which all its later material is molded. From

this original strain and the variations produced in itby subsequent

experiences, proceeds our mental character, which is thus a com-

bination of heredity and experience. Our own course of thought

adds nothing to it, but the shades of change in mental character

‘which are produced during our life may be transmitted to our

offspring, and thus evolution take place in the hereditary basis of

mind. This mental character forms our great moving power.

It may occasionally be overcome by vigorously concentrated

thoughts, yet it exercises control over the action’ of nearly all

‘our mental motive powers, and forms the great restraining agent

_ Of the mind, the concentrated wisdom of a thousand generations:

-But for it our actions might be very erratic, without a rudder to

_ guide the movements of our headstrong and vagrant thoughts. 5

_ Judgment is not a passive, but an active quality. It is the

name we give to the concentered vigor of all the thoughts active

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1071

in our mind in its calm state, and the sublimate of ancient thought

that forms its hereditary strain. The actions we perform, the

resolutions we take, are greatly subordinated to this compound

of influences, They exerta force which we call will. In emo-

tional states, on the contrary, when a few thoughts, or a single

thought, perhaps, are abnormally active and the general sum of

thoughts driven deep into unconsciousness, the will is differently

conditioned. Vigorous and often abnormal action takes place in

response to these active mental energies, and in spite of a dull

protest from the nearly banished judgment. The active thought

takes the bit between its teeth and runs away with us. The indi:

cations are that each conscious thought becomes an agent of

control in accordance with its degree of activity, that the force

resultant of all the thought activities present to. consciousness at

any one period constitutes the will-power, and that the action of

this will be normal or abnormal i in accordance with the ae

or the narrowness of the agencies active in it.

As for the control of the body by the mind, it seems almost as

if the latter possessed an exact transcript of the muscular appa-

ratus of the former. Desire to move a certain limb is accom-

panied by thought of that limb. Does a representation of the

desired motion take place in the mind ere action is exerted on

the motor nerves? Is there conscious excitation of a region of

the mind which is in direct cerebral connection with the limb?

We do not think of the muscles, but of the limb to be moved.

As the mind contains a conscious transcript of external nature,

does it also contain a complete transcript of the body, and does its

self. -performance of the action desired, upon its image of the phys-

ical frame, call into activity that region of the mental organism

which communicates with the desired muscle? If every portion

of the body is in direct connection with a fixed portion of the

cerebrum, as is probably the case, then each portion of the mental

organism may possess a similar connection, and to think of a

limb is to rouse that part of this organism which is in immediate

Motor connection with the muscles governing that limb. Much

of this connection must be hereditary, and its action a mentally

reflex activity. Butcontrol of the body by the mind is in con

siderable part acquired. It seems almost as if the mind sought

out the body, and only gradually completed its picture of it, or

brought itself into complete motor relations with it. -

1072 The Relations of Mind and Matter, (November,

The usually entertained idea that our mental picture of nature

is only analogically correct, which has by some writers been car-

ried to such an extreme as to deny that the external world exists

at all, but that the mind and its images constitute the universe,

calls for some attention here. The extreme view may be at once

dismissed as not consistent with what we know of the laws of

energy, which forbids evolutionary changes in a concrete or-

ganism except under the influence of energies received from

without. And a strong argument may be brought in favor ot

the view that our conceptions of the external are not illusory, but

that the image received by the mind is a close reproduction of

the conditions actually existing in external nature.

Bodies’ are composed of matter, but it is matter molded by

force and energy, and all form and quality are due to the inter-

relations of this energy. Color is due to a special action which

is exerted upon the waves of light ; sound to an action upon the

molecules of the air. Colors and sounds, therefore, while not

belonging to the body which seems to emit them, indicate special

conditions or qualities of that body. By the study of these special

emissions of energy we arrive at deeper conceptions of the true

character of the body. Our first conception of any object is

very crude and inexact. Exactitude can only be gained by a

close scientific study of all these special characteristics and influ-

ences of the object. Our senses do not advise us of the real

character of matter, but only of its combinations and their proper-

ties. Nor are we aware of absolute, but only of relative condi-

tions. Our body, with its conditions, is the standard by which

the universe is ordinarily measured. If our body was colder

what we now call cold would become warmth, If it was firmer

hardness would become softness. If it was larger largeness

would become smallness, But science is rapidly ceasing to make

the body the test of nature, and has made some steps from the

relative towards the absolute. It declares that a certain tempera-

ture arises from a certain vigor of vibration, a certain color from

a fixed rapidity of vibration, that degrees of hardness arise from

_ fixed degrees of resistance in bodies, &c. It is true that these

= results are expressed in terms of space and time, and space and

=~ time extension must remain to us relative conceptions. Yet

nothing else need be relative. If the apparent dimensions of

s are truly related to our conception of space and the dura-

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1073

tion of events to our conception of time, they are true to this .

extent, and within this limitation we may arrive at correct con-

ceptions of existence,

Objects emit energies. These energies are external expressions

of the conditions of the object emitting them. So they are acted

upon by energies which they partly repel, and which are modified

by their momentary connection with the object. On the other

hand the energies which penetrate the object from outside act to

modify its conditions. In other words, all energies exert a power

of leverage. The energies emitted by any object on flowing into

another forcibly impress some of their peculiar characteristics

upon it. The receiving body is brought into a certain con-

formity of condition with the emitting body. This leverage is

in constant operation, and every body is seeking to change every

other body within the range of its influence into an image of

itself. These emitted energies vary. Some are general, like those of

heat. Others are characteristic. The degree of leverage exerted

depends upon the degree of special modification in the emitted

energies. Through this assimilating influence, and the counter

influence of opposing energies, and of innate forces, bodies are

organized.

But the influence produced by this leverage depends upon the

mobility of the body acted upon. Some are rigidly centralized

and vigorously resist change. Others readily yield. Some are

peculiarly mobile, and may vary in condition under every impress

of special energy from without, assuming some degree of simi-

larity to the emitting bodies. In this mobility, or sensitiveness,

the mental organism impresses us as far beyond any other condi-

tion of substance in nature, and therefore as peculiarly adapted

to respond and vary into conditions of organization in conformity

with those of the bodies acting upon it. And its power of re-

taining these impressions is so excessive that it is capable of

receiving them in countless numbers, with little or no obliteration

of those formerly received.

But this conception of the leverage of energies upon the mind

and its faint resistance, leads directly to the conclusion that the

Mental organism is becoming, in an exact sense, a reproduced

Copy of external nature. The conditions of all bodies are merely

arrangements of matter under the influence of innate energies.

The energy is the essential constituent of condition, the matter

only its inessential basis. Any substance which accepts these

1074 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [ November,

modes of energy necessarily assumes similar conditions. The

combination of energy without produces an equivalent combina-

tion of energy within, and the mind takes on characteristics of

organization resembling those of the bodies acting upon it, pre-

cisely as the photographic plate may be said to assume surface

characteristics resembling those of the bodies to whose emitted

‘energies it has been exposed.

And this modifying influence is not exerted solely during the

life of the individual, but is also an element in the hereditary

conditions of the organism. It has been exerted throughout the

‘whole phylogenetic development of the individual. The leverage

‘of external energy is not exerted upon each mind separately to

the production of changes in an original rigid substratum, but

this substratum itself has been organized under the influence of

such energies, from its origin in the earliest germ of psychical

existence, becoming steadily more complex under the incessant

play upon it of the energies of the universe. It seems to follow

as a necessary consequence that our conceptions of nature must

‘represent actual conditions, and that the whole mental organism,

down to its: inmost center, has been molded by external nature,

and is an exact reproduction of nature to the extent that it has

‘come into contact with it.

But this only represents the mental conditions in part. The

mind has some directive control of its own forces. These inter-

‘act, combination of mental conditions takes place, and results

‘arise which have no counterpart in external nature. These, in

‘their turn, exert a leverage on external substance, and forms are

produced which exactly represent the ideal — of the mind.

The mind molds nature into its own image? This mental com-

1 The molding influence of the mind upon outer nature, through the wpa

“in matter of its ideal images, has a parallel in the influence exerted by th e mind

-upon the body. We are all aware how the facial expression comes to indicate the

character of the mind, and varies in accordance with mental variations. axe: mind

have had any influence, simply through mental faith in their efficacy, and deat

followed a mental image of mortal i injury, as in the celebrated case of the fictitious

‘bleeding of a French criminal. Very marked instances are those of the appearance

_ „Of the stigmata, or the wounds of the crucifixion, in the case of St. Francis eras

and oe zealots, apparently through long mental dwelling upon the idea 0

the on. The credibility of these is accepted as probable by good authorities,

‘anil the ulcecous effect ascribed to mental influence on the capillary ci circulation

the vaso-motor centers. See “Influence of the mind upon the body '™

disease i pere M. D.

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1075

bination of energies is a process which has its analogue in the outer

world. Similar combinations take place in objects, and the ener-

gies received from without combine with those within to produce:

new conditions. If the mind has a substantial basis it must con-

form, in every respect, to the principles which display themselves

in external compounds of substance. Yet in this respect the

mind seems to be -peculiarly active. The objects of the outer

world consist of a dense aggregate of matter affected by a limited

volume of energy. As all change is due to the interaction of

this energy, external objects vary but slowly and slightly, slug-

gishly resisting its action. In the case of the mind we may con-

ceive its substance to be reduced to a minimum and its energy

enhanced to a maximum. Thus its mobility is extreme, its sen-

Sitiveness excessive, its interactions of energy rapid and incessant. .

Its powers of change and of new formation of conditions are vast

as compared with those of physical objects.

And the molding of the mind of man by nature is but slightly

due to its direct sensations from external objects. It is:very’

largely produced through the medium of other minds, since a

leverage exists between mind and mind as between mind and

Matter in producing conformity of conditions. In this indirect

way a single mind may have been brought into conformity with

` outer nature through the intermediate influence of millions of

other minds, exercised through the preservation of their ideas in

books, or through their effects‘upon human society.

' We may close here with a brief consideration of the status of

the human mind if its development could be continued to infinity.

In such a case it would necessarily become an infinitely complete

reproduction or representation of the universe, and infinitely sen-

sitive and mobile to any modifications taking place in the vast

domain of space. In the second place, it would be infinitely

capable of producing within itself new combinations of energy.”

It would thus be far more than an image of the universe, since to

this it would add a second universe of self-formed ideas. In the

third place, it would be infinitely capable of reproducing these

ideas in outer nature, and thus bringing the universe into con-

formity with itself. Man’s powers in this respect are limited, yet

without changing place he has, by availing himself of the motor

Principles and physical conditions of nature, a very extended

Teach. As one example, by making the telegraph wire a virtual

1076 Lhe Relations of Mind and Matter. | November,

extension of his body, he may exert a physical influence many

thousand miles away. An infinite mind might possess infinite

command of these conditions and principles, and produce effects

reaching to the limits of the universe. Fourthly, consciousness

would become extraordinarily developed in such a mind, and its

whole vast range of memories be present at will. Prevision

would have a like extraordinary development. In short, in such

a mind all that we include in the name Deity would exist. It

would not be the deity of pantheism, the soul of the world, any

more than man’s mind is the soul of the machine he has devised,

and whose motion he controls. The energies of nature would

exist separately from those of the deific mind, but they would be `

mirrored in this mind, and would be infinitely and endlessly sub-

ject to its control.

That any developing mind could reach infinity of development

is, of course, impossible. If such a being as the one here con-

sidered exists, it must be as a co-eternal existence with the uni-

verse, a primordial equivalent in conscious of the physical uni-

verse in unconscious conditions. Yet consciousness and varying

activity could not exist, even in such a deific mind, except through

the impulse of energy received from without. Between sucha

mind and the universe there must be an incessant interchange of

energies, with consequent modifications in the condition of each.

But the mobility of mental, as compared with the sluggishness of

inorganic change, must necessarily make the former the ruling

agent. Once in harmonious agreement with external conditions,

it would subsequently, by its rapidity of ideal combination oF

construction, impose constant new conditions upon external

nature, and become the sole active moving force in evolution,

thinking out the universe, as it were, and embodying all its

thoughts in substance. This idea is offered as a curious specula-

tion only, a corollary from the view of the mental constitution

above taken, and as a hypothetical contribution to the somewhat

extended list of theistical theories extant.

(To be continued.)

1885.] Editors Table. 1077

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS; A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

While regard for human life distinguishes the European

branches of the Aryan race, it can learn a good deal from some

of the other branches and races in the matter of similar humanity

to the lower animals. The destruction of harmless reptiles, al-

most universal among the less educated members of the white

race, is not practiced by some of the others, notably by the Hin-

doos, who might be readily excused for wholesale extermination,

such is the number of venomous species in their country. The

kindness of this and other races to the wild Mammalia is well

known. In few countries would be practiced, except by boys and

Savages, the wanton firing on bison from railroad trains, such as

was common in this country while that fine animal was still

abundant. Few civilized people would disgrace themselves as

some of our English visitors formerly did by shooting scores of

buffalo which would only walk away from them. It is still a

favorite pastime for equally thoughtless “ sportsmen” to shoot

from steamers in Southern waters that last representative of the

great saurians, the alligator.

The destruction of animal life for useful purposes is of course

necessary, but here the greatest folly goes hand in hand with the

greatest inhumanity. When it is a question of the natural pro-

ducts of the earth, bison, alligators, and in fact almost all wild

animals have important economic values, and the intelligent

€conomist will preserve them on this account alone. But it is the

Custom, in this country at least, to kill the goose that lays the

golden egg, and to let the proprietor of sheol take the hindmost.

Such is the destruction of fishes by dynamite cartridges, a prac-

tice in which none but an idiot could indulge, and which is for-

tunately punished by severe penalties. The latest case of wanton

destruction is the sweeping of our Atlantic coast of surface fishes

by the nets towed by the steamers of the U. S. Menhaden Oil

and Guano Association. According to the statistics gathered by

the investigating committee of the Senate of New Jersey, 450,-

000,000 of menhaden were captured during the year 1881, and

350,000,000 during 1882, and so on, and with them an enormous

number of mackerel, blue-fish, weak-fish, etc. From one of the

Steamers 70,000 lbs. of food fishes were purchased in thirty days.

1078 Editors’ Table. [ November,

The testimony of all classes of fishermen shows that nearly all

species of food fishes have been more than decimated by the

operations of this company during a very few years. Here isa

case where legislation is needed on behalf of the economic inter-

ests of fish consumers, and it is to be hoped that Senator Sewell’s

bill will receive due attention from Congress, and that the United

States Fish Commission may become the executors of a strin-

gent law. The destruction of menhaden alone should also be

restricted, since that means the extinction of a large number of

marine animals which live on them, mediately or immediately.

There is a surprising shortsightedness in all these methods of

destroying animal life which is not characteristic of the best

representatives of our race. In general, animal products stored

in the earth will be found to be more extensive and more inex-

haustible sources of supply than the bodies of the existing ani-

mals themselves. It would be better to let animals live and con-

ee a

1885. ] Recent Literature, 1079

cestral form of historic man, whose skeleton has not yet been

discovered, but who has made himself known to us in the clear-

est manner by his works. A number of flints were exhibited

from the strata in question which had been intentionally chipped

and exposed to fire.

It appears that M. Mortillet carried his audience along with

him, for after a long discussion the almost unanimous opinion

was expressed, “that after this meeting and discussion at Greno-

ble, there can no longer be a doubt of the existence in the Ter-

tiary period of an ancestral form of man!”

It is to be doubted, however, whether the slight amount of evi-

dence which jeaves no doubt in the minds of the French anthro-

pologists will be altogether satisfactory to some of the doubting

Thomases in this line of study. We shall want to examine the

skull and bones, and other more conclusive evidences of human

or semihuman art than those as yet discovered. Until then the

truly cautious and scientific mind will hold itself in suspense.

Sustaining its educational interests and progress. It is well-

known that some branches of scientific research are too expen-

Sive to be carried on by private individuals, excepting those

of the greatest wealth, and that such persons are very rarely in-

terested in science. Our neighbors of the Republic of Mexico are

following in our own footsteps, in this respect, in the establishment

of a Comision Cientifica. This body is composed of the most

learned men selected from all parts of the country, and is under

the presidency of Dr. Fernando Ferrari-Perez of Puebla. Its

object is research in every department of human knowledge. It

is making extensive collections of all the natural products of the

country, and will be, as we anticipate, of great advantage to the

best interests of Mexico.

— o

RECENT LITERATURE.

WHITE'S REVIEW OF THE FossiL OYSTERS OF NORTH AMERICA,"

l Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, J. W. Powell, Director. A

Review of the fossil Ostreidæ of North America, and a comparison of the fossil with

the living forms. By CHARLES A. WHITE, M.D., with appendices by Professor

NGELO HEILPRIN and Mr. JoHN A. RYDER

of the Director, 1882-1883. Washington, 1884. Large Svo, pp. 279-333, Pls. 34-82.

VOL, XIX.—NO. XI.

1080 Recent Literature. | November,

the Tertiary than the present age. It is melancholy to think

what multitudes of these delicious bivalves lived and died, from a

gastronomical point of view, in vain, with no human beings to

appreciate them, unless Mortillet’s Tertiary ape-man preferred

oysters to tender roasts of his own species, for Dr. White assures

us that the Mesozoic oyster was as good eating as those of the

present day.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.

ithe et Be S., Cope, E. D., Bumpus, H. C., Wright, R. Ramsay.—The Sane

ral History. Vol, 1. Lower vertebrates. Boston, Cassino & Co., 1885.

From the publishers

Packard, A. S—On the Structure of the Brain of the Sessile-eyed Crustacea.

(From memoirs of Nas ational Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111.) September, 1885.

Trautschold, H.—Die depi permischer Reptilien des Paläontologischen Kabinets

de Uni —— Kasan. Nouveau mem. de la Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes de Mos-

Tome xv, liv. 1, 1884.

Woodward, A.—Foraminifera from Bermuda. Rep, N. Y. Micro. Soc., 11885.

From the author

T 0.—The genealogy and the age of the species in the So n npa Tertiary.

oi. Ext. on of Science, July, 1885. From the a

Hensal l, J. A —Louis Ear Ext. Journ. ‘ie "See. Nat.

Hist. July, ane Fom the author

Ryder, Z A.—On the development of viviparous osseous aaa and of the Atlantic

salmon. Ext. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885. From the author.

ase M.—Ueber das geologische alter der Faunen von E sitchin und Ronzon.

Sep-abd. aus kegin Neuen Jahrbuch für Min. Geol. and Palæon., 1885. Bd. 1.

From the au

Traquair, R. Paaa of a fossil shark (Ctenacanthus costellatus) from the

Lower Carboniferous. Ext. Geol. Mag., Jan., 1884.

——On a specimen of des odus a, Agassiz from Carboniferous limestone:

Ext, Trans. Geol, Soc. Glasgow, May, 1883.

re on the SIE Megalich thys (Agassiz) with descriptions of a new spē-

From Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, 1883-4. All from the author.

Fi. ser, F G. Stabe eine Kollektion von Amphibien und Reptilien aus Siid- Ost-

Sep-abd, aus d. Arch. fur Natur., V. LI, Heft 1, 1885.

se cine Kollektion Reptilien und Amphibien von dér Insel Nias. Sep-

abd. a. d. x; Bande d. Abh. d. Naturwis. Verein in Hamburg, 1885. Both from

uthor

Rau, C. .—Prehis toric fishing in Europe and North America. Smith. Contrib. to

Know wledge, 18

, A. R. C., director.—Geological and natural history survey of Canada. A

series of twenty-four geological maps of Nova Scotia and ten of New Bruns-

wick and Quebec. From the survey. ‘

~ McGee, W. 7—Map of the United States, exhibiting the present status of ee

edge relating to the areal distribution of geologic groups. 1884. From the

partntent.

_Corttrell, E. L.—The pecan ores problem and its scientific solution. Read before

A.A. A. S., Aug. 26,

Se — The radical Saa ieia of w Erie canal. Read before Amer. Soc. Civ. Eng-

_ June 25, 1885. Both from the author.

orkey, B.—Birds in the Bush. Houghton; Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1885. From

cd _— The Missouri coteau and its moraines. Ext. Proc. A. A. A. S.

er Sed et re hes = TRA

1885. | Recent Literature. 1081

Becker, G. F—Notes on the stratigraphy of California. Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv.,

No. 19, 1885.

——Impact friction and faulting. Ext. Amer. Jour. of Sci., Sept., 1

—The os os the mineral beds of the Pacific slope to the waa upheavals,

Ext. Amer, Jour. Sci., Sept., 1884. All from the author.

Hector, liai —Nin REI aa report on the Colonial Museum and Observatory.

Wellington, N. “esl 1885. From the author.

Villa, G. B- Riv gr beers dei terreni a Brianba. Est. d.: Atti. d. Soc,

Ital. d. ia. Milano, 1885. From the author

Shufeldt, R. pe —0On the coloration in life of t Galii skin-tracts on the head of

eococcyx. 1885. From the author

Nikitin, S.—Allgemeine ia Karte - von Russland. Blatt 71, 1885; also

Blatt 56. From the geol. surv. of Rus

Tar J.—Aperçu popem du äisuict te an et des sources minerales

a ville de Lipetzk. 18 Fro

aia 1A. E aa e zur , Kenntniss ‘dec Derana Ablagerungen in

Russland. 1884. From the

Lahnsen, T.—Die Fauna oa FESEM Bildungen des Rjasanchen Gouvernements.

1883. From thes

ar of the Rüslän Geological Survey, 1882; Nos. 1 to 7, 1883; Nos, I to

4; Nos. I to 2 1885.

Bis: S. F., and Becker, G. F.—Geological ear of the precious metal de-

posits of the Western United States, with notes on lead smelting at Leadville

Ext. tenth census U. S. 1885. From the au E

Boulenger, G. A.—Etude des Grenouilles Ronsses. Ext du Bull, d.1. Soc. Zool.

de F rance, 1879.

— Description @une vai nouvelle d’Agame. Est. dagli Annali del Mus. Civ.

di Stor, Nat. di Genova. Both from the author

teh a: J —Parasitio fungi of Illinois. Bull. Ill. State Lab. of Nat. Hist., 1885.

rom the a

Knowlton, F. H. y of sien Ser toeiy by Mr. Chas. L. McKay at Nirshagak,

Alaska. Ext. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. From the author

tera k Sota a the SST of Fisheries of the State of New York,

5. From the author.

oe C. G.—Notes on Alueen earthquakes. Ext. Amer. Jour. Sci., 1885.

——An account of the progress of vulcanology and seismology in 1883 and 1884.

From Smithsonian report for 1884. Both from the author.

Peters, J. E—Fourth annual report from the E. M. Museum of Geology and Archæ-

ology, 1885. From the author.

O ae S. H.—The se history of Myriapods and Arachnids. Ext. Psyche,

1885. From the author. É

Boehm, G.—Ueber Siidalpiné Kitide Ablagerangen. Sep-abd, a. d. Zeit. d.

> deut. geol. Ges., a

is, H. C.—A great trap PA across anini Pennsylvania. Read before Am.

Phil. Soc., May, 138e From the author.

Clarke, mar M.—On the higher paote fuia of Ho ong county, New York.

Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., No. 16, 1885. From the a

Baur, G.—* Zum Tarsus der bs ” and “ Zur Morphologi des Carpus und Tar-

sus der Wirbelthiere.” Sep.-Abd. a. d. Zool. Anz., 1885.

— Das Trapezium der Cameliden, 1885. All from the author.

Whitaker, W.—Guide to the geology of London and the neighborhood. Mem.

Geol. Surv vey, 188.

—Geology of the district visited during the Whitsuntide excursion, 1883. Rep.

.ssoc., Vol. vil.

Proc. Geol. Ass :

Address at the anniv, meeting of the Norwich Geological Society, Nov., 1883.

1082 Recent Literature. | November,

Whitaker, W.—Note on the Red crag. Ext. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., Feb., 1877.

n the area of chalk as a source of water-supply, 1884. All from the author,

Winchell, A.—Provisional analysis of Stromatoporoids. From the author.

Boettger, O.— Liste von Reptilien und Batrachien aus — Sep-abd. d.

Zeitsch. fiir Naturwiss. Bd. LVIII, 1885. From the author

Ueber Bg ig ss Unterschiede der fünf- diih Rani arten. Ext. Zool.

Garte

ee iiber die Re ee in der Herpetologie während des Jahres, 1883.

h from the a

in i V.—The period Cicada. U.S. Dep. of Agriculture, Bull. No. 8, 1885.

From the author

s e S. LL Cahien pdosciinchias ign a living Dene = claãodont shark.

Bull. Mus s. Comp: Geol., Vol. x11, No. r. From the

` Whiteaves, Y. F.—Contributions to kaak nib ogy. has . on inv

of Laramie eng Cretaceous rocks of the Bow and Belly rivers, “1880 From the

author

D Achiardi, A.—Della Trachite e del Porfido Quarziferi di Donoratico Sie 1885.

Tormalinolite del cre nelle Alpe ae Both from the aut

vate tee Amer. A rogramme of the thirty-fourth meeting of ‘tie Amer,

o. for the Mit, seine in Ann Arbor, ‘Michigan , 1885.

Sartor list of meetings, etc., of the Amer. Kiss, Adv. Science, 1885.

Von Klein, C. H.—Voice in singers. From the author

Sampson, F. A.—The shells of Pettis ee ai From Bull. No. 1, Sedalia

Nat. Hist. Soc., 1885. From the a

Lydekker, R.—Indian pre-Tertiary Vinet ni: Vol. 1, Pt. 5. The Reptilia and

Amphibia of the Maleri and Demwa groups, 1885.

Note on the generic identity of the genus Esthonyx. Ext. Geol. Mag., Aug.»

1885.

Note on the second species of Siwalik camel. Ext. Records Geol, Surv. India,

Vol. XVIII, aes

sete Acad. Sci.—Transactions of the XVI and XVII annual meetings of the Kan-

as Acad. of Science , 1883-4

bie E. D.—Twelfth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Read

before Amer. Philos. Soc., Dec. 19, 1884. 1885.

Dollo, M. L.—Sur l'identité des genres Champsosaurus et Simoedosaurus. Ext. d.

l. Rev. des quest. scient. "Juillet, 1885.

Wi cae wd S. W.—On the North American Asilide. - Ext. Trans. Amer, Ent. Soc-,

——On the ace inte hg of the North American Diptera, Syrphide. Ext. Bull.

Brooklyn Ent , 1885.

—— North American ae Ext. Trans. Conn. Acad., July, 1883.

——9n the classification of the North American Diptera. From Entom. Amer.,

n 1885. All from the author

W. W.— Our recent debts = vivisection. Rep. from Popular Soe

Wibi, May, ei 5. From the author.

sone lige of Ene mineral resources of the United States 1883 and

1884.

1885. ] Geography and Travels, 1083

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

GENERAL.—The Royal Geographical Society have adopted in

the spelling of geographical names a set of rules, the general use

of which will do much to avoid the present confusion. Familiar

names, such as Calcutta, Celebes, Mecca, etc., will be retained in

their present form, but with these exceptions foreign names in

countries which use Roman letters will be spelled as by the re-

spective nations. The true sound of the word as locally pro-

nounced will be taken as the basis of the spelling, but only an

approximation will be aimed at, no attempt will be made to rep-

resent the more delicate inflections of sound and accent. The

vowels will be pronounced as in Italian, and the consonants as in

English; every letter will be pronounced, and the only accent

used will be the acute, placed upon the syllable on which stress

| is laid. Indian names (East Indian) are accepted as spelled in

| Hunter’s Gazetteer. Thus: Fiji and Zulu are accepted spellings,

. not Feejee and Zooloo. All vowels are shortened in sound by

| doubling the following consonant, and the doubling of a vowel

| is only necessary when there is a distinct repetition of the single

; sound, as in Oosima. Au is to be pronounced ow as in how,

not Corea; the oriental gutturals kh and gh will be used; kw

will be used for qu (Kwangtung), and y is always a consonant,

and should therefore never be used at the end of a word.

Arrica— M. Foucauld’s Travels in Morocco.—M. Charles de Fou-

| months among people who, had they unmasked him, would have

| killed him as they have others. Little was known of the geog-

raphy of Morocco before his journey. The first map of the

Country on the scale of 1 : 2,000,000 was drawn up in 1845 by

M. Emilien Renou. Three years afterwards this was revised by

Capt. Baudouin, and the scale increased to I: 1,500,000. To the

7600 miles of roads marked out, with but few determinations of

latitude and still fewer of longitude, M. de Foucauld had added

1400 miles of new ground, besides revising and perfecting the

| This department is edited by W. N. LocKINGTON, Philadelphia,

1084 : General Notes. [November,

work of his predecessors. From Cape Guir or Ghir to the Al-

gerian frontier the length of the great Atlas range was known to

be 435 miles, but only four points had been determined by pre-

vious itineraries. . de Foucauld crossed the chain at several

new points, of which he determined the altitude, besides journey-

ing 185 miles along the base of the range, studying the orography

of the country. The main range is flanked by parallel lines of

elevation. There is in the north a chain of mountains 185 miles

long, which bears the names of Djebel-Ait-Seri and Djebel-Beni-

Uaghain, and in the south there is first of all the Little Atlas,

and further south the strange outline of the Djebel-Bani range.

In Dec., 1883, M. Foucauld touched the Wady Dhra’a to the

south of Tattas. It was dry. Later on he ‘saw it further to the

north-east, in the district of Mezquita, where it flows through

plantations of date-palms. The part of this river indicated on

Dr. Rohlfs’ maps is by M. de Foucauld placed one degree fur-

ther west. M. H. Duveyrier, the writer of the report of M.

Foucauld’s journey, is now traveling in Morocco.

African News.—The Rev. G. Grenfell has contributed to the

Royal Geographical Society a chart of the Mobangi, which proves

to be a great navigable stream, flowing nearly from north to

south across the blank on our present maps of Africa between

the sources of the Benue and Shari to the Congo. Mr. Grenfell

- ascended this river from its junction with the Congo, in a delta

extending from 26 to 42 minutes south of the equator, to 4° 27

N. latitude. Throughout the whole district it is a magnificent

stream, with a mean depth of twenty-five feet, and at the furthest

point it was still an open water-way. The country around is richly

wooded and seems fertile, and the banks are more densely popu-

lated than those of the Congo. Itis full of islands. Professor

Ratzel, in Petermann’s Mitteilungen for July, seeks to show

how misleading it is to color a map of Africa with definite politi-

boundaries. The state of culture in Africa is as varied as th

ethnology, and these stages of culture are the prime element in

the so-called political geography of Africa. Professor Ratzel

divides Africa into twelve “State-forming” peoples, under the

two great sections of North African and Soudan States, and

different to that followed by Mr. Jos. Thomson, via Chagga and

the Masai country, to the eastern shores of Victoria Nyanza.——

_ Some Swedish merchants have purchased a tract of land in the

— Cam ns, and have established a considerable trade with the

natives. Sig. Buonfanti has published a reply to the doubts of

Herr G. A. Krause r ing his journey across the Sahara and

estern Sudan to Guinea. The writer’s letter to the Bolletini

ie Italian Geographical Society is dated May 6th, on board

Ras ee ee ee

1885. ] Geography ana Travels, - 1085

the Corisco at Banana. Documentary proofs of his trip, including

translations of safe-conducts and firmans from the sultans of Bor-

nu and Socoto, etc., are, he says, under lock and key at Brussels,

and will, with the originals, be produced. Herr Krause heard

nothing of his movements, because he did not reach the coast there,

but at Portonuovo, some forty-five miles further west. Nothing

was heard of him in the Yoruba country, because he passed 200

miles to the east of it. The African travelers, Yuncker and

Casati, are, according to a telegram received in Berlin, at Lado,

an Egyptian military post on the Bahr-el-Jebel. M. Cou-

dreau has, as one of the results of his six journeys in Guiana,

brought back materials for two new maps, the one of the region

between the Oyapock, Yari, Amazons, and Atlantic, the other of

Southern Guiana between the Branco and Paru. M. Ballay,

at the meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, on April

25th, gave an account of his journey with two canoes (in sec-

tions) to the Alima from the Upper Ogowé. The intervening

region is an arid steppe strewn with human remains. e estab-

lished a peace with the Apfurus. M. Leon Guiral has sent

to the Geographical Society at Paris, a description of the west

coast of Africa about the mout&s of the San Benito or Eyo and

the Dote, 714 miles further south. The Eyo is a mile in width

at its mouth. Banks of rocks bar the entrance, but the left arm

is navigable for vessels drawing two meters of water. The banks

are marshy. M. Guiral ascended it about thirty kilometers, to Ini-

ger, where there are falls. It has several tributaries, some of

them navigable for canoes. The Dote is a river of little importance,

with marshy banks, and is about a meter deep and forty meters

wide along the lower part of its course. It can be ascended in a

canoe for about twenty-one miles. The commerce of the district

concentrates in the village on the right bank from which it takes

its name. The natives are tall and are good canoe-men, but given

to brandy. The death of Mirambo, in December last, is con-

firmed ; it was followed in January by that of Kapura, his princi-

versary_—Thie International Association has handed over

Karuma and Mpala to the Algerian missionaries, who previously

Possessed five establishments in the region of the Great Lakes.

— The protectorate of France now extends along the whole

north coast of the Gulf of Tadjura as far as Bahr-Assal, and M.

Caspari states that the relations of France with the Danakils are

cordial. Obock is at least a safe and easily accessible harbor,

and the abundance of water renders possible the cultivation of

vegetables. The German East African Expedition, com-

menced five years ago, has now been brought to a close, an

Herr Paul Reichard, its only survivor, has probably by this time

reached Zanzibar. Dr. Bohm and Herr Reichard crossed the

Luapula into Urua, where the former died. After his death his

Companion ascended the Lufira as far as the famous copper

1086 General Notes. [ November,

mines of Katanga. The wide region lying between the Lualaba,

Urna, the Kande Irunde mountains, and Iramba, is governe

by a powerful chief called Msirri. The Lualaba bounds his do-

minions on the west, and is a considerable. river, 400 to 600 yards

wide where Herr Reichard saw it, and navigable as far as Many-

uema This river, which from its volume must be looked upon

as the real head of the Congo, flows through Lake Upemba.

The Lufira, which is tributary to it, flows through the center of

the country. It rises twenty days’ journey to the south of Ka-

tanga. Katanga,the exceedingly rich copper mines of which are at

present unworked, is about 250 miles south-west of Luapula, and

forms part of Msirri’s dominions.

America.—American News—In the August number of the

Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Mr. E. im Thurn

gives a full account of the difficulties incurred in the journey to

and ascent of Roraima, as well as of the botanical rewards ob-

tained. The general aspect of all the plants on the summit 1$

dwarf, almost alpine, but many lovely flowering plants, including

one closely resembling the crown imperial, and a luxuriant pitcher-

plant (Heliamphora) occurred, with a few ferns and one shrub

five or six feet high. The top of the mountain is not flat, but

forms a shallow basin, the edge formed by the rugged edge of

the cliff This basin is divided up into a vast number of smaller

shallow basins, separated by curiously terraced ridges of rock,

often of crescentic or even ring-like shape. These basins hold a

quantity of water, and every shower of rain suffices to swell the

water to such an extent that cascades fall over the cliff. Sir

Robert Schomburgk states that the water seems to flow, not from

the top of the cliff, but from points some distance below. his

is readily explained, for it flows through deep and narrow sloping

channels, often cut parallel with the face of the cliff and hidden

by projecting promontories. The statement of previous travelers

which Mr. Im Thurn found hardest to explain was that the top 15

covered with trees. This has been made with reference to the

southern end, where there are certainly none, and our traveler

believes that the rugged pinnacles and points of rock have been

mistaken for trees. M. Chaffanjon, writing from Ciudad Bolivar,

in May, states that with two Ariqua Indians he passed up the

Caura river to its source, and obtained a mass of curious infor-

mation respecting the manners and religious beliefs of the

Arebatas, Penares and other tribes, He was also able to visit

and study the Yaruras and Mapayes. His explorations on a

Orinoco have enabled him to rectify many errors in the charts Q!

its course. Dr. Finsch is returning to Europe from his recent

exploring expedition along the unknown portions of Kass

Wilhelmsland, which are situated between Astrolabe bay an

mp ldt bay. He reports the discovery of several good har-

nd of a navigable river. The natives were friendly,

N SSS

See ee a ee eee W S SEM ae

1885. ] Geology and Faleontology. 1087

Asia.— Asiatic News.—Sibiriakoff, the friend and patron of Nor-

denskjold, during the summer of 1884 ascended the Petchora to

Oromets, then crossed the Ural to the Sigva or Whitefish river,

which flows in the Sosva affluent of the Obi, and reached Shiku-

rik Sept. 2. The journey demonstrates that a trade route is open

in this direction in summer. Cols. Lockhart and Woodthorpe

have been despatched with a party to Gilghit, and it is intended

that full surveys of the region lying to the north-west of Kashmir

shall be executed. Several passes of no great difficulty here lead

towards the Russian possessions, which approach closely.

Colonel Woodthorpe has just completed a journey through the

Singpho country. He penetrated into the land of the Bor

Khamptis on the northern Irawadi, where no traveler is believed

to have been since Lieutenant Wilcox’s tour in 1828. Several

mines lie north-east of Pedan, the capital, and are worked by an

inferior and half-subject race called Khanungs. The Irawadi is

unnavigable at Pedan. The journeys of Dr. Neis in Central

aos (more than 3000 miles) have resulted in a vast amount of

information regarding the commercial routes of the western

basin of the Mekong, the anthropology and ethnology of the

Laos and the Khas, and the social, commercial and political con-

dition of the regions visited.

Europe.—- European News.— Recent examination of bench

marks made in 1851 along the Swedish coast of the Baltic show

that the movement of elevation was continued in the north, and

that of depression in the south of the Scandinavian peninsula.

Compared with previous observations, the results prove that since

1750 the head of the Gulf of Bothnia has risen 2.10 meters.

About Calmar and Carlscrona no change of level could be detect-

ed, but the general result is an elevation of the Swedish coast at

e mean rate of 1.60 meter per century. Four arctic expedi-

tions are said to be projected for next year. Holland will send

one, Denmark one and Portugal, newly awakened, it would

appear, to the love of discovery, will send two. All propose to

Visit the Russian islands of the glacial ocean, but the Danish

expedition will specially explore the Kara sea, to define as far

as possible the unknown region which is supposed to lie to the

north-east of Novaya Zemlya.—The captains of several Norwe-

gian steamers despatched to Greenland for seal-hunting, report

that the east and south coasts are so obstructed by ice that no

Seals have been killed. The population of Iceland in 1880 was

72,445, all of whom were Lutherans, except 3 Mormons, 1 Catho-

lic, 1 Unitarian, 1 Methodist and 3 of no religion in particular.

GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY.

ON THE PRESENCE OF ZONES OF CERTAIN SILICATES ABOUT

THE OLIVINE OCCURRING IN ANORTHOSITE ROCKS FROM THE

River Sacuenay.—While engaged during the summer of 1884

1088 General Notes. [ November,

in making a geological examination of a portion of what has proved

to be a very extensive area of anorthosite rocks, which belong to

what has been called the Norian or Labrador series, occurring

about Lake St. John and the Upper Saguenay, and which from

thence strikes far away to the north, I noticed in many of these

rocks a mineral which weathered to an orange color and which,

when the weathered surface of a specimen containing it was care-

fully examined, was invariably seen to be surrounded by a nar-

row light green border. On my return to Ottawa in the fall a

large number of thin sections of these rocks were prepared and

were found on examination to exhibit a most interesting phenom-

enon, which I propose here to describe briefly.

The mineral olivine has never heretofore been mentioned as

occurring in the Norian series in Canada, although Dr. Hunt, I

believe, has mentioned it as a constituent of certain boulders of

anorthosite rock, referable to this series, which were found in

New Hampshire, but which were probably carried thither from

Canada during the glacial age. The mineral, however, occurs

abundantly in the anorthosite of many parts of the Saguenay

area, and I have also found it in a specimen from a little area of

rocks which has been referred to this series, and which occurs

near Dolin’s lake, in New Brunswick.

en thin sections of the massive or nearly massive dark

violet anorthosite from the shore of Lake St. John, near the Little

Discharge of the Saguenay, is examined with the microscope, the

rock is found to be composed of plagioclase, olivine and iron ore.

The plagioclase occurs in large well twinned individuals, which

are seldom broken or twisted, and which between crossed trichols

show nothing of the peculiar, wavy appearance so often seen in

the feldspar of the Laurentian gneiss. The iron ore which is pres-

ent only in small amount is probably titaniferous, as in one slide a

grain of it is seen partially altered to leucoxene. The olivine, of

which the rock usually contains a large quantity, occurs either 1n

single individuals, or especially in the larger grains, as several in-

dividuals united to form one grain. They seldom have any re-

semblance to proper crystalline forms, but one usually irregular

in shape, a single individual sometimes forming a very irregular

elongated string. It is recognized by its bianial character, high

index of refraction and imperfect cleavage, and although like the

plagioclase very fresh, by the presence of a little serpentine which

here and there may be detected along the cracks which traverse

it. The olivine, as is usually the case in eruptive rocks, crystal-

lized before the plagioclase and therefore lies imbedded in it; but

_ although I have examined a very large number of thin sections

of this rock, I have never been able to find these two minerals in

contact, there being invariably two zones of certain other silicates

urrounding - olivine and intervening between it and the

€, so that since the rock consists almost entirely of these

1885. ] Geology and Paleontology. 1089

two minerals, every grain of olivine is seen to be completely sur-

rounded by this double zone.

The zone, next to the olivine, is colorless, or nearly so, but

often shows a slight pleochroism with reddish andegreenish tints.

It is formed of small individuals, grown compactly together and

considerably elongated in a direction at right angles to the sur-

face of the olivine. When examined with a high power the min-

eral is seen to possess two sets of imperfect cleavages, and when

these cross one another at right angles, the direction of extinction

bisects the right angle. When cut perpendicular to an optic axis,

it shows the revolving bar of a biaxial crystal.

The second zone, or that next to the plagioclase, forms a fringe

about the zone just described and consists of minute needles of

a light green fibrous mineral arranged at right angles to the sur-

face of the inner zone and penetrating into the plagioclase, so

that their examination is attended with considerable difficulty.

They are, however, seen to be slightly pleochroic with different

Shades of green and to have an extinction which makes a small

angle with the length of the fibers. It has exactly the appear-

ance of actinolite, as that mineral is generally seen in thin sec-

tions, and that it is really a variety of hornblende is proved by

the fact that in another specimen of the same rock collected a

few miles away, in which the zones are still seen in all their per-

fection, the outer one is no longer fibrous, but shows the cleavage

and absorption characteristic of hornblende.

The olivine and the minerals composing the two zones are en-

tirely differently orientated, and the breadth of the zones does not

bear any absolutely constant relation to the size of the olivine

grain as seen inthe slide, since this latter would vary greatly, accord-

ing to the direction in which the section passed through it. Th

inner zone, however, is always smaller than the outer one.

Although the mineral forming the inner zone has the char-

acters of a pyroxene, no conclusive evidence as to its nature

could be obtained from the sections of this rock. Similar double

zones are, however, found about the olivine in rocks from other

Parts of the area having the individuals of the inner zone better

developed. In these the pleochroism and rude cleavage are very

distinct. Ina section of one of these rocks a grain of pyroxene

exactly resembling the mineral of the inner zone, but not asso-

Ciated with the olivine, was so cut that it could be proved to be a

rhombic pyroxene, in that on a basal section known by the cleav-

ages being at right angles a bisectrix could be seen. It may there-

fore be said that the inner zone is probably composed ofa rhombic

obtained. This I propose to attempt, and will make known the

1090 General Notes. [ November,

result in a paper on these rocks which is now in course of prepa-

ration.

Although these zones have been mentioned by three or four

writers, Dr. Tornebohm, who first observed them in certain

gabbros from Sweden (Neues Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie, &c., 1877,

p. 383), is, so far as I am aware, the only one who has described

them. Owing to the kindness of that gentleman I have had an

opportunity of examining thin sections of a number of these

wedish rocks. The double zone is well seen in them, but is

much smaller than in the Canadian rocks, and the minerals com-

posing it accordingly more difficult to determine. Dr. Tornebohm,

although unable from kis sections to determine the nature of the

inner zone, rightly regarded the outer one as hornblende.

The chief interest attached to these zones arises from the fact

that, as Tornebohm remarks, they appear to have originated from

a mutual reaction between the olivine and the plagioclase. An

examination of the thin sections of the Saguenay rock impresses

one strongly with the conviction that they have resulted from the

action of the molten plagioclase magma on the olivine grains,

which in eruptive rocks always separate out before the plagioclase,

thus having an origin similar to the kelyphite zones about pyrope

described by Schrauf, and somewhat analagous to the zones about

olivine and hornblende in volcanic rocks, which have recently

attracted so much attention. The subject is one of importance

as indicative of the processes at work in the genesis of rocks, and

also as throwing some light on the much discussed question of —

the origin of these anorthosite rocks.—Frank D. Adams, Geological

Survey of Canada.

EocENE PADDLE-FISH AND GONORHYNCHID#.—The Polyodon-

tide or paddle-fish are only known from the American and Chi-

nese rivers, and no trace of them has been found hitherto in the

records of earlier periods of time. It is therefore of much interest

to zodlogy that I am able to announce the existence of remains of

a species of this family in the Eocene Green River shales of Wyo-

ming Territory. This determination is based on a skull, of which

one side is fairly well preserved, of an individual of the size of a

middle-aged specimen of the common paddle-fish (Polyodon folium).

The long snout is somewhat damaged, but was less dilated than

in that species, being intermediate in character between the snouts

of the American and Chinese forms (Psephurus gladius). The

stellate bones are smaller and more attenuated than in the F-

_ folium, and the gape of the mouth is not quite so wide. , The

symphyseal bone, enclosing Meckel’s cartilage behind, is much

smaller. There isa bone in contact with the front of the oper-

culum below, which may be one of two or three elements, which

pparently not present in Polyodon, at least not in that posi-

reason I propose to distinguish th

ic fish cenerically

1885.] Geology and Fateontology. ” TOQI

from Polyodon. The probable body of this species was described

in the NATURALIST, 1883, p. 1152, under the name of Crossopholis

magnicaudatus Cope.

parts of Africa, and to Australia. The species, which is repre-

sented in my collection by two fine specimens, is about as large

as a fully grown pickerel, but of more slender proportions. The

head is short and the mouth small and edentulous. In its gene-

ric characters it agrees generally with Gonorhynchus, but differs

in the absence of prominent hyoid and pterygoid teeth. The

scales are broadly fringed at the margin, like those of the cotem-

porary genus of Aphredodiridæ, Amphiplaga, and the Tricho-

phanes of the Amyzon beds. The dorsal and anal fins are poste-

rior and opposite. Radii, D.I. 13; V. 8; A. II. 8. Vertebræ Ab.

34 C. 1434. Depth six and three-quarters times in length ; head

six and a half times in length. The genus and species may be

called Notogoneus osculus.

_ _ A survey of the fish-fauna of the Green River shales yields the

following results: Of North American existing fresh-water types

we now have represented Lepidosteidz, Polyodontide, Aphodo-

diride and Percidze. Of southern hemisphere types, Gonorhyn-

chide and Osteoglosside—BEZ. D. Cope.

A Crizique oF Crott’s GractaL THEoRY.—A paper before

the Geological section of the British Association, by W. F. Stan-

ley, F.G.S., had the following points: The theory of Dr. Croll,

accepted by many geologists, is that former glacial periods in the

` Northern hemisphere were due to greater eccentricity of the

earth’s orbit and to this hemisphere being at the time of glacia-

tion in winter perihelion. This theory is supported upon condi-

tions that are stated to rule approximately at the present time in the

Southern hemisphere, which is assumed to be the colder. Recent

researches by Ferrel and Dr. Hann, with the aid of temperature

observations taken by the recent transit of Venus expeditions,

have shown that the mean temperature of the southern hemi-

sphere is equal to, if not higher, than the northern, the propor-

i The conditions that

tude, whereas in the north frozen ground in certain districts, as

in Siberia and Northwestern Canada, extends beyond the fiftieth

parallel; therefore, by comparison, the north, as regards the lati-

tude in which Great Britain is situated, is at present the most

1092 - General Notes. [ November,

glaciated hemisphere. As it is very difficult to conceive that the

earth had at any former period a lower initial temperature, or that

the sun possessed less heating power, glaciation in the north

could never have depended upon the conditions argued in Dr.

Croll’s theory. The author suggested that glaciation within lati-

tudes between 40° and 60° was probably at all periods a local

phenomenon depending upon the direction taken by aérial and

oceanic currents, as, for instance, Greenland is at present glaciated.

Norway has a mild climate in the same latitude, the one being

situated in the predominating northern Atlantic currents, the

other in the southern. Certain physical changes suggested in

the distribution of land would reverse these conditions and ren-

der Greenland the warmer climate, Norway the colder.

OCCURRENCE OF A DEEP-SEA FoRAMINIFER IN AUSTRALIAN M10:

CENE Rocks.—At the meeting of the Royal Society of South

Australia, on June 2, Mr. W. Howchin, F.G.S., exhibited a speci-

men of Astrorhiza angulosa as a fossil found in the Miocene

strata of Victoria. The specimen was stated to be of more than

ordinary interest, inasmuch as it was the first instance in which

the genus had been found in the fossil condition in the recent

slate. The species submitted was very rare, having been hitherto

known to occur only at two localities, one of these being at a

Challenger station to the east of the Azores, at a depth of 1000

fathoms, and the other at a point in the North Atlantic, dredged

by the Porcupine, at 630 fathoms, where only a single specimen

was taken. There are five species in the genus, but with the ex-

ception of a single specimen of an allied species taken by the

Challenger off the Cape of Good Hope, the genus is only known

as a North Atlantic type. The species discovered in the’ Victorian

rocks is one of the rarest ; its occurrence, therefore in the fossil

condition in the Australian Tertiaries is a matter of some inter-

est. The speaker stated that his researches with regard to the

microzoa of the Australian formation led him to believe that

-many of the rarer arenaceous forms of foraminifera recently dis-

covered in the deep seas, and which have been so beautifully

illustrated by Mr. H. B. Brady in the Scientific Results of the

Challenger Expedition, occurred as fossils in Australian geology

from the Cretaceous formation downwards.—English Mechanic.

GEOLOGICAL News.—General—Prof. P. M. Duncan has con-

1885.] Geology and Palæontology, 1003

more than the opercula of Goniatites. Both agree, however, that

for other forms this explanation is, according to our present

knowledge, inadmissible. W. Dames, however, asserts that none

are phyllopodous in their nature, a dogmatic opinion for which

he is taken to task by the English palæontologist. They are, in

fact, species of Phyllocarida, and not phyllopods.

Carboniferous—Since 1878 no less than 1300 specimens of

fossil insects have been obtained at Commentry, while all other

localities have only furnished about 120 examples. These Com-

mentry insects are remarkably well preserved, many of them

being complete, instead of consisting of the wings only, as is

often the case with insect remains. M. Ch. Brongniart (Revue

Scientifique, 29 Aout, 1885) classifies these carboniferous insects

as Orthoptera, Neurorthoptera, Pseudo-neuroptera, and Hemip-

tera. Among the Orthoptera are fifty specimens of Dasyleptus

lucasi, an ancestral Thysanouran, and numerous Palæoblattariæ

and Palzderidiodea. The Neurorthoptera comprise the order

of that name and the Palezodictyoptera; the first with the

families Protophasmida and Sthenaropterida, and the second

with the families Stenodictyopterida, Hadrobrachypoda, and

Platypterida. The wings of Archeoptilus lucasi are twenty-

five to thirty centimeters long, and those of Eugereon and

other Stenodictyopterida are finely netted like those of

dragonflies. The Hadrobrachypoda are regarded as ancestral

Their wings are broad, generally rounded at the end, and

though morphologically like those of the Protophasmida,

differ greatly in the nervation. The nerves are well sepa-

Tated, and the wings colored. Six familes of Pseudo-neurop-

tera can be distinguished, the Megascopterida, Protodonata,

Homothetida, and three others containing the ancestral types of

the Ephemeridz, Perlide, and Ascalaphus. The Hemiptera are

represented by types of the Fulgoride and Cicadide.

Cretaceous —Mr. J. S. Gardner denies the synchronism of a

large part of the American Cretaceous with that of England.

Whether the former are Cretaceous at all is debatable. The

question whether a Cretaceous fauna extended into the Eocene,

Or an Eocene flora extended back to the Cretaceous is answered

by Mr. Gardner in these words: “ In support of the first propo-

sition we have the innumerable survivals of old. types at the

ence of any distinctly Cretaceous plants. I think all the evi-

dence I have been able to bring forward is in favor of a newer

rather than an older date, and this is decidedly more in harmony .

with the march of evolution.” Mr. J. S. Gardner (Quart. Jour.

1094 General Notes. [ November,

Geol. Soc., Feb., 1884) describes the British Cretaceous Nuculide.

Paleontology bears out the separation of the Nuculæ and Lede

from the Arcide. He recognizes fifteen species of Nucula in the

limits treated, ten of the group of Ovatæ, the remainder of the

group Angulate. The Lede are ten in number. Nucula meyeri,

Nucula gaultina and Leda seeleyi are new species.

as “Pretertiary continental formations”: Vegetable soil (loam

with lignite in its upper bed), flint conglomerate (sand with be-

neath it clay with flints), Pretertiary loam (loam, plastic clay

and sand) and transported Pretertiary deposits. The Eocene is

divided into Montian, Landenian, Ypresian and Parisian, the last

characterized by Rostellaria ampla, Nummulites levigata and

variolaria, Ditrupa strangulata, and its glauconitic zone by Pecten

corneus. In the Eocene of Northern France the only vertebrates

known are Arctocyon primevus and Pachynolophus maldani, but

the Oligocene has yielded Anthracotherium and many birds, also

Crassitherium robustum, allied to Rhytina. M. Gosselet divides

the Oligocene into Tongrian (principally marls and sands) and

Rupelian (Beauce limestone). The Neogene is represented in

Northern France and Belgium only by its upper or Pliocene

beds. The description of chilostomatous Bryozoa from Al-

dinga and the Murray Cliffs, S. Australia, by A. W. Waters, 1S

still continued in the quarterly journal of the Geological Society.

The number of fossil species now known is 220, just about hal

of which have been found living. They are principally from the

Tertiary, but a few are Cretaceous. È. T. Newton (Geo. Mag.,

Aug., 1885,) describes some bones of a gigantic bird obtained

from the Lower Eocene at Croydon, Eng. The most interesting

portions are two large tibiæ-tarsi and parts of a femur. ese

bones very closely resemble the corresponding parts of Gastorms

arisiensis, but present specific differences. The bird, which

must have been as large and heavy in build as the Dinornis

crassus of New Zealand, has been named G. -Al/aasenii in honor

: of its discoverer, Mr. H. M. Klaasen.

Recent.—The two articles of Prof. J, D. Dana (Amer. Journ. of

Science, Aug., Sept., 1885), are an able defence of the until p

cently almost universally accepted theory of the origin of pe

reefs and islands by subsidence. The great number of atolls an

barriers in all stages to be found in the deep belt of the Pacific,

_ are shown to be inexplainable upon any other theory, while

islands like the Marquesas, though without reefs, yield a

able evidence of the wide spread subsidence. The views, P

and Dana are shown to be those of men who had a wi a

ee ee

1885. ] Mineralogy and Petrography. _ 1095

acquaintance with the general phenomena; it is admitted that

local elevations occurred, and some of the widely isolated points

thus elevated are enumerated, and other explanations of the

phenomena are passed under review, but dismissed as either in-

sufficient or actually confirmatory of Darwin’s theory. The

soundings of Mr. Murray off northern Tahita, showing the rapid

increase of depth beyond the forty fathom line until, at a mile

from the shore, the slope of the ocean bottom was nearly that of

the land, are shown to be exactly in accordance with the subsi-

dence theory. The strongest evidence, derived from the writings

of A. Agassiz and the soundings of the Blake, points to a great

subsidence in the Florida region during the coral reef era, and

the elongation of the coral reefs and formation of inner channels

now going on by drifting coral sands is shown to be but a part

of the sand-beach forming process which is in operation along

the entire Atlantic coast of North America, from Long Island

southward, and to in no way vitiate the evidence in favor of pre-

vious subsidence. The abrasion-solution theory of Semper seems

to be negatived by the absence of open channels in the lagoons of

the smaller atolls, moreover, instead of small lagoons having

the purest waters, it is they which are most choked by coral

sands. Almost perfect skeletons of Rhyttna gigas have been

recently mounted in the National Museum, Washington, and in

the British Museum.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.'

New Minerats.—Gerhardite— Messrs. Wells and Penfield?

have described natural crystals of a basic copper nitrate which

‘was first identified by Professor Brush, of New Haven, on speci-

mens of copper ore from the United Verde mines, Jerome, Ari-

zona. The crystals, which belong to the orthorhombic system,

are mainly made up of a large series of pyramids and the basal

Pinacoid, Twelve forms were observed. Color dark green;

hardness 2; specific gravity 3.426. Plane of the optic axes is

the brachypinacoid; double refraction very strong, negative ;

pleochroism distinct.

An analysis gave :

H,O CuO -o N0;

11.26 66.38 22.25

Named after the chemist who first determined the composition

of the same compound made artificially. This is the only insol-

uble nitrate known in nature.

Hanksite—This name was suggested in May of the present

year, by Mr. W. E. Hidden; for an anhydrous sulphato-carbonate

1 Edited by Dr. Gro. H. WILLIAMS, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

* American Journal of Science, July, 1885, p. 50.

*Ib., Aug., 1885, p. 133-

VOL, XIX—NO. xr, 72

1096 General Notes. [ November,

of sodium occurring in San Bernardino county, Cal. This min-

eral was exhibited at the New Orleans exposition as thenardite,

but was proven by both a crystallographic and optical examina-

tion to crystallize in the hexagonal instead of the orthorhombic

system. Chemical analysis by Messrs. Mackintosh and Penfield?

indicate for the formula of this mineral: 4 (Na,SO,) + Na,CO,,

with some admixture of potassium and sodium chlorides. The

name was assigned in honor of Professor Henry G. Hanks, State

mineralogist of California.

Elpasolite is proposed by Messrs. Cross and Hillebrand? for a

variety of cryolite in which about two-thirds of the sodium 1s

replaced by potassium. Their analysis gives:

Al Ca Mg K Na F Total

11.32 072-042 28.93 9.90 46.98 98.08

It was found in small cavities in the massive pachnolite occurring

with other minerals of the cryolite group at El Paso county,

Colorado.

American Minerats.—The last published bulletin of the U. 5.

Geology Survey (No. 20) entitled “Contributions to the Min-

eralogy of the Rocky mountains,” by Messrs. C. W. Cross and

localities. Chapter second deals with the minerals occurring a

Pike’s Peak. These occur in veins and druses of a coarse Te

of Science, Aug., 1885, p. 137.

- Geol. Surv., No. 20, p. 57.

1885. ] Mineralogy and Petrography. 1097

pasoite (no. sp.) ; (7) proposite. Phenacite, zircon, topaz, cassiterite,

uorite and several other species also occur in the granite of Pike's

Peak, in addition to the common microcline and smoky quartz.

Minor investigations on the luster of sanidine in certain rhyolites ;

on the occurrence of topaz in nevadite; short notes on many ob-

served minerals, including the two new species zunyite and guiter-

manite, already mentioned in the Naturatist’s notes, make up

the other chapters.

Bulletin No. 12 of the U. S. Geological Survey contains a ve

interesting study, by Professor E. S. Dana, of “thinolite,” a

name applied by Mr. Clarence King to an enigmatical calcite

pseudomorph which occurs abundantly in the old lake basins of

the far West. This mineral was at first considered a pseudomorph

after gaylussite ; Professor Dana, however, shows that this cannot

be the case as the original form was clearly tetragonal. What the

‘chemical composition of the original mineral was, it is impossible

to state with certainty, but judging from the analogy of well-know n

lead-carbonate pseudomorphs after phosgenite (PbCO; + PbCl,),

the author thinks it quite probable that the original form may

lave been a similar double salt with the composition CaCO; +

NaC? or CaCO, 4 2NaCl.

_ M.S. L. Penfield! has described crystals of the rare selenide of

mercury, tiemanite, from Marysvale, in southern Utah. They

are tetrahedral and closely resemble crystals of sphalerite. Ob-

Served forms are Oœ (a); + (o0); — > (Or 5 555 (w) and

TAT

ea s3 (g) — other indistinct positive hemi-trisoctahedra appear

on some crystals as striations. The crystals measure less than

3™™ in diameter. They are of a black color with a high metallic

luster. Twins parallel to the octahedral face are very common

he same writer? also describes crystals of the allied black

Sulphide of mercury, metacinnabarite, which has heretofore been

generally regarded as amorphous. They come from the Red-

dington mine, Lake Co., California, and measure as much as 4™™

in diameter. This mineral is in all respects isomorphous with

i : o $ 202 209

tlemanite. Observed forms are + -; + agit Por and ae (?),

The intermediate compound, onofrite, Hg (S, Se), is not yet

known in distinct crystals, but is doubtless isomorphous with the

two minerals mentioned above.

_ Mr. Penfield? has likewise described and figured some interest-

ing analcite crystals from the Phcenix mine in the Lake Superior

Copper region. They show the usual trisoctahedron, 202, with

‘American Journal of Science, June 1885, p. 449.

a P. 452.

pe Aug., 1885, p. 112.

1098 General Notes. [ November,

each edge replaced by a reéntrant angle. A microscopic exam-

ination of thin sections of these crystals shows that they are

divided into four secants with a faint irregular action on polarized

light. Very many crystals show a perfect but small trisocta-

hedron in their center, around which the exterior portion appears

to be a secondary growth.

Mr. J. P. Iddings! of the U. S. Geological Survey communi-

cates a very interesting account of minute fayalite crystals which

occur in the lithophyses of the obsidian and rhyolite in the Yel-

lowstone Park. They are less than 2™™ in length, black in

color and tabular in habit. The following forms were deter-

mined by Mr: Penfield: PS; 6 PS; 3 P2, P, Po and ae

An analysis by Dr. Gooch gave:

SiO FeO . MgO

32.41 65.49 i 2.10

Fayalite has heretofore been known only on artificial slags to

which the obsidians of the Yellowstone have a close resemblance.

Messrs. Cross and Iddings? describe the wide-spread distri-

bution of the mineral allanite as a rock constituent. The chem-

ical nature of this mineral was determined by an analysis by

Hillebrand of material isolated from a biotite porphyrite of the

en Mile District, Colorado. Crystals of an exactly similar

nature were discovered in thin sections of all the more acid va-

rieties of massive rocks from many widely separated localities.

Mr. W. G. Brown? gives an account of a quartz-twin found-

in the soil of Albermarle Co., Va., which closely resembles those

long since described by G. Rose from Reichenstein in Silesia.

The twinning-plane is, however, regarded by Mr. Brown notas R,

but as —56R, as suggested by Naumann. The same writer

describes the occurrence and crystallography of the cassiterite

from Irish creek, Rockbridge Co., Va. i

Mr. Geo. F. Kunz’ describes the native antimony and its as-

sociations at Prince William, York Co., New Brunswick. The

antimony most commonly occurs in rounded or elongated mas-

ses having a compact, finely granular texture. More remark =

blades four inches in length and one-eighth of-an inch in width.

Stibnite and kermesite are the only antimony minerals thus far }

observed associated with the native metal, although others doubt-

less occur. ee

2 Ib., Aug., 1885, p. 1

* Tb., Sept., 1885, p. ror.

1 Amer. Jour. of Science, July, 1885, p. 58.

08,

* Amer. Chem. Jour., Vol. v1, No. 3.

Amer. Jour. of Science, Oct., 1885, p. 275.

1885. | Botany. 1099

BOTANY .!

THE GROWTH OF PLANTS WATERED WITH Acip Soxutions.—In

the September and October numbers of the AMERICAN NATURAL-

Ist for 1883, the writer published the results of an examination

of the effects of watering, with acid solutions, growing plants of

the silver-leaf geranium, and he there stated his intention of con-

tinuing his experiments in this direction by growing the same

plant under similar or identical conditions upon siliceous, feld-

spathic and calcareous soils. ese experiments were made in

the summer of 1884, and the results obtained form the substance

of this paper.

The conclusion seemed warranted by my previous experiments

that the acids had a tendency to increase the ash or mineral in-

gredients of the plant, and this inference led me to suppose that

if the soils used were highly mineralized the deleterious action of

the acids upon the plant tissue would be diminished and at the

same time the introduction into the plant of mineral substances

increased. The soils were prepared and the plants potted about

July īst, the proportion of pulverized mineral in all cases being

from twenty-five to thirty per cent of the whole, for the silica

common cement sand was used, and the earth was taken from

garden mold. The strengths of the acid solutions used were as

follows : Of hydrochloric, nitric, sulphuric and carbolic 10° of

the concentrated acid to one liter of water; of oxalic, tartaric,

tannic, citric and formic 20% of the saturated solutions to one

liter of water. Ordinary flesh-colored feldspar from granite veins

in the gneiss rock of Manhattan island was powdered and used

for the feldspathic tests, and dolomitic marble from Westchester

county similarly treated and mixed in thoroughly with the mol

to make a calcareous soil.

_ The tables following show the results obtained in all my exper-

iments, including those of 1882. The first set of tables shows

the state of leafiness of the plants at different times, and the sec-

ond the percentage of ash with the weight of the dried plant at

the end of the experiment.

Experiment of 1882 with garden mold for soil :

: June 25. July 13. Aug. 24.

Hydrochloric . 6 fall leaves 6 full leaves 5 full leaves

itric Sees 5 ee se 2 “oe

Carbolic 4 s 2 “ none

Formic... 4“ 6 “s 5 full leaves

Salicylic ie 6 se 7 g 4 sc

Sulphuri y i 5 (2i 2 e

Tartaric z 7 “ 9 2 9 ‘“

Tannic Chace 6 «t 9 “ 9 c

Citric E EE 5 (73 7 é 7 “6

Water. Sees Il “ 13 e 17 c

Cina ng i 5 a

* Edited by PRorEssor CHARLES E., Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska,

1100 General Notes. [ November,

Experiments of 1883 with siliceous, feldspathic and calcareous

soils :

SILICEOUS.

July 5. July 22. Aug. 16. Sep. I.

Hydrochloric. 5 leaves 5 leaves 5 leaves 4 leaves

Nitric 6 “ 3 « “

4 “ec 3 é: o cé (0) sé

Sulphuric 4 “ 4 “ o “ o F

ormic 5 s 6 « 5 “ce 4 3

Oxalic 5“ 7 a gou 6 *

CRC iii aiuis Eea a 4% D oon 4.4

Tannic E 6 “ü poi gh

Tartaric g 7 a 7 “ iea

Water ii = 7 6 “LLST

FELDSPATHIC. ,

July 5. July 22. Aug. 10. Sep. I

Hydrochlotie... cecasawis sv iniss., S leaves 6 leaves Sleaves 3 psn

itric . a 2 2 “ wie 4

5 (23 4 3 sé p s ;

Sulphuric, 4 * 4 a o “ o *

ited eig 5 “ 5. a“ pus

Oxalic. 3 c 5 “ 6 “ 6 “

Cees. sa 5 “ Pot 8 & po

Tannic g“ 7“ pok pou

Tartaric 4 “ 7“ g “ 6 “

Water . 4 “ p” 6 # e

CALCAREOUS,

Jups Juh 2 Anp- T6 Aug. 2%

Hydrochloric . 4 leaves 5 leaves 3 leaves 2 leaves

Nitric e 5 ë ete e

. Carbolit 5 é 3 ‘é 2 sé 2 s“

Sulphuric. 4 s 2 “ I “ o =

ey 3" 5 * j e 5 r

Quake: 5 7“ s ee Os

Citric 4 « ee ae ieee

Tannic 3“ 5 s got gats

Tartaric 5 3 s “ 7 “ 5 “6

Water . 5“ 7“ z" To

The condition of the plants in these prepared soi ils ae t

materially from that of those grown in 1882 in garden ee wae

_ They were much more stunted and did not in the most favo

a l saili than in iy case of the : same tests in ordi 7

i “The tables show this. In both experiments the inorgans

acid ac oe i e the pnr

1885. | Botany. IIOI

while under the application of the dilute organic acids the plants

maintained a comparatively vigorous growth.

- The relative condition of the plants at the end of the experi-

ment as compared with that at the beginning was nearly the same

in both sets of experiments, viz., with the inorganic and carbolic

acids they underwent a slow devitalization culminating in the

death of the plant, or a very reduced state of health, while with

the other acids they apparently resisted their weakening influence

more successfully, and while not assisted were but slightly in-

jured by their presence in the soil. The mineralized soils proved

uncongenial for the plant, but in this case the plants watered

with organic acids and those treated with water showed a very

similar if not identical state of health.

owever, the conjecture that in the mineralized soils the acid-

Watered plants would show an increase in ash over the water-

plant seems confirmed by the following tables of the results

obtained.

Experiment of 1882 with garden mold for soil:

Wt. dried plant. Percentage ash.

Nitric . .. . 0.536 grammes 16.79

Carbolic . DSi. F 16.60

gs E E 0.5535 ie 18.15

cee ne Fi Sv ales dd 17.00

annic 0.6975 ” 19.80

Tartaric,.; 0.9325 = 14.74

Water... .. L169." 19.11

Experiments of 1883 with siliceous, feldspathic and calcareous

Lis ;

SILICEOUS.

Wt. dried plant. Percentage ash.

Hydrochloric . .904 ? grammes 19.46

eg ae ape 9st? * 17.36

Carbolic . 532 z 17-48

Sulphuric -+391 T 19.60

Formic .683 as 20,05

Oxalic -597 2 21.77

aa ePi > t 20.92

Tannic .729 "e 19.82

779 s 19.77

Water... : .951 « 20.51

FELDSPATHIC.

Wt. dried plant. Percentage ash.

- Hydrochloric . .6395 grammes ago o

Nitric . .510 s 22.15

Carbolic . ..; eS 14.93

Sulphuric .400 s 22.00

OMIC 5... y, as ise eee EST. 20,67

1102 General Notes. [ November,

FELDSPATHIC.

Wt. dried plant. Percentage ash,

RUE 06s Oh bec Cesk sok) ra Se Re Sa E yE -7575 grammes. 19.09

Spe aueesa ct cuvee Suse vebebecsas bane <o KOOR - 19.87

LIOMO E oes oc neck Cee e 1a ee ee 1.233 é 16.22

si TE E S S Jay t 18.62

WE A a N ality a 4 16,01

CALCAREOUS,

Wt. dried plant. Percentage ash.

Hydrochlornit, oy ots te Shenstone’ «.. .677 grammes 19.35

Petrie es a 543 e 22.30

CAE a a aaa oli cd, cok -692 se 16.18

AO SRS EPO a AA -502 e 20.10

Formic "512 “ 22.85

RIMS TCH Ge sais so Cie Dae Fe Sad cask a Bako s 23.41

BP E ons hb eA ca aes Jig “ 20.24

TMC kari -5985 o“ 18.13

A calc T eho ks bus 732 sed 19.26

ope EES OP EO SEES OO apes SR EE 1.33 s 16.39

With the exception of the plants growing in the siliceous soil

the other plants, putting aside the carbolic acid plants whose en-

feebled condition barely permitted them to retain their vitality,

show a markedly higher percentage of ash over that found in the

water plants. It would seem as if the acids had dissolved to

very thing.

5 4 4 f

rye

be aD

1885.] Botany. 1103

ural processes prevalent about us. The plants, though injured in

their growth and their consequent powers of absorption, by the

quite acid solutions used, showed as high and higher percentages

of mineral matter in the ash as did the water-fed plants which were

unimpeded in their nutritive processes by an injurious treatment.

Experiments may now be undertaken upon phosphatic (insoluble

phosphate) soils with the same means.—Z. P. Gratacap, New

ork City.

BoranicaL News,—Papers on the following subjects occur in

the later numbers of Annales des Sciences Naturelles, viz., Charac-

ters of the principal families of Gamopetalz drawn from the anat-

omy of the leaves, by Julien Vesque; The dissemination of the

spores of vascular Cryptogams, by Leclerc du Sablon; Notes on

Some new or little-known parasitic Fungi, by V. Fayod. In the

latter are noticed Endomyces parasiticus F. ayod, a new species par-

asitic on the gills of Agaricus rutilans ; Peziza mycetophila Fayod,

another new species parasitic on Agaricus vellereus; and Hypomy-

ces leotiarum Fayod, parasitic on Leotia lubrica. Late numbers

of Flora contain the following articles, viz.: New Lichens of

Bering’s straits, by W. Nylander; New North American species

of Arthronia, by W. Nylander; The opening and unrolling of

fern sporangia and anthers, by J. Schrodt. In the last Hed-

wigia Professor Oudemans describes a new species of rust, Puc-

cinia veronice-anagalhdis. The September Yournal of Mycology

is devoted wholly to a description of the North American species

of Gloeosporium, forty-seven in all. In Grevillia, M. C. Cooke

describes a large number of new British Fungi; and Cooke and

Plowright describe twenty California Fungi, including one inter-

esting rust, Uromyces puncto-striatum, on twigs of Rhus. e

Fournal of Botany for September contains a valuable paper on

the caulotaxis of British Fumariaceæ, by Thomas Hick; A list

of European Carices (151 species), by Dr. H. Christ; and a

Classification of garden roses, by J. G. Baker, in which sixty-two

Species are recognized. Late numbers of the Botanische Zei-

tung contain papers by Arthur Meyer on the Assimilation-pro-

duct of the leaves of angiospermous plants, and by Solms-Lau-

bach on the Sexual differences of fig trees. The most impor-

tant botanical articles in the September Gardeners’ Monthly are,

The destruction of trees by coal gas, by H. F. Hillenmeyer; The

curl in the peach, and The age of yew trees. Late numbers of

the Gardeners’ Chronicle contain a review of the genus Odontoglos-

sum, by James O’Brien (accompanied with many wood-cuts); a

notice of the Chelsea Botanic Garden; The cross-breeding of

Cereals; Disease and decay in fruit, by W. G. Smith; a notice of

the life of Dr. Regel, the venerable director of the Imperial

Botanic Garden of St. Petersburg ; a description of a new Bra-

zilian species of Aristolochia (A. elegans); figures and descrip-

tions of Peronospora pygmea and its resting spores.

1104 General Notes. [ November,

ENTOMOLOGY.

On THE PARASITES OF THE Hessian Fry1—The paper consists

of a digest of a communication on the same subject now in press

in the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum. It gives the

synonymy of Merisus destructor (Say), showing the difficulty that

has been encountered in the past in properly locating it generi-

cally. It then reviews what was known of the habits of the spe-

cies by earlier authors and, on account of the insufficiency of pre-

vious descriptions, gives a full and detailed description. The

descriptions of Herrick, Fitch and Packard are shown to refer to

this species rather than to any other so far known. The species

never occurs in the apterous condition.

Merisus (Homoporus) subapterus,n. sp., is then described and

separated from destructor, the wingless specimens referred to by

Say and Herrick under this last species being considered as be-

longing to sudapterus. Subapterus is exceptionally winged. De-

structor is, on an average, of smaller size, more uniformly metallic

in color; has a flatter abdomen with yellowish spot at base; has

the antennz similar in both sexes and either pale brown or black-

ish brown; has the coxe metallic black, the femora brown or

black except towards tip, the paler parts of the legs whiter than

in subapterus, and does not, so far as we now know, occur in the

apterous condition.

Subapterus is, on the average, larger; of darker color and less

metallic, with the flagellum of the antennz pale in the male and

black in the female; the abdomen much more rounded and with-

out the pale spot; the coxa, trochanters, femora and basal part

of tibiæ honey-yellow. It occurs mostly in the wingless con-

dition.

The paper next treats of Eupelmus allynii French, showing that

it is parasitic on both Jsosoma hordei and J. tritici, as well as on

the Hessian fly. The polyphagic habit of this genus is then

shown, and the experience of the author is given in breeding

species from Lepidopterous eggs, from Orthopterous eggs, from

Hemipterous eggs, from Cynipid galls, from Lepidopterous larvæ,

from Coleopterous larvz and from free Cecidomyid larve.

| Tetrastichus productus, n. sp., is described and the inference

_drawn from the habits of the genus that it may be a secondary

parasite. tai

Platygaster herrickii Packard is then treated of with the conclu-

sion that P. error Fitch is parasitic on some other insect and not

on the Hessian fly. The statements of both Herrick and Profes-

_ sor A. J. Cook are then considered in reference to the oviposition

of this species in the eggs of the Hessian fly. The author, while

isincli to oppose direct observations when asserted, eve?

tof a paper read before the Am, Ass. Adv, Sci, at Ann Arbor, by C. V.

1885.] Entomology. 1105

when such conflict with all that has before been known or with

previously uniform unity of habit, still feels that the observations

need verification, and that it is probable that both Herrick and

Cook mistook the young Hessian fly larve for the eggs.

Another species of Tetrastichus to which Professor S. A.

Forbes has given the MS. name of carinatus, is briefly referred

to as being in all probability a secondary parasite, and a single

Microgaster is mentioned but not described, as some doubt exists

as to whether it is parasitic on the Hessian fly, although it was

bred from straw infested by this last.

FORBES’ Report on THE Noxious INSECTS OF ILLINOIS FoR 1884.

—Professor Forbes’ third report abounds in new matter of interest

both to the entomologist and the agriculturist. Besides the

new Cram bus feeding on the roots of the corn, two leaf-rolling

moths are described,as well as the corn aphis, with notes on

other corn insects. Among the, wheat insects there are fresh

contributions to our knowledge of the Hessian fly and its parasites,

the facts ascertained strongly suggesting the hypothesis of a

normal completion, before harvest, of the transformation of a con-

siderable part of the destructive spring brood of the larvae. Three

new parasites are described, viz: Pteromalus pallipes, Pt. fulvipes,

and Tetrastichus carinatus: The wheat midge is re-described in

all its stages and new observations on its habits are presented.

Several pages are devoted to the grass worm (Laphygma frugiperda),

some clover insects are described, as well as insects injurious to

the smaller fruits, as the apple and pear, and some shade trees.

Though the report is a somewhat miscellaneous one it contains

Considerable novel matter. Many of the illustrations are unequal

and some are not so good as they should be, probably from lack

of means afforded by the State authorities, and the lack of first-

Class artists. The appendix is exceedingly useful, as it contains

general indices to the first twelve reports of the State entomolo-

gists of Illinois, the plant index being particularly useful.

y ha - .

to San Miguel. The swarms must be quite local, and originate

in the “erra caliente, or tropical zone of Central America, south

of Mexico. ;

From Dr. A. A. Russell, of Cordova, to whom I was indebted

1106 General Notes. [ November,

for much kindness during a short stay at Cordova, I obtained the

following information regarding the destructive locust of that

region. Within the last two or three years locusts have devas-

tated portions of Central America, and for two years past they

have extended over nearly the whole of the States of Vera Cruz,

Oaxaca, Chiapas, Morelia, Michoacan and the intervening coun-

try to Matamoras. Dr. Russell lost perhaps $3000 worth of

coffee trees on his plantation, and in a single year spent nearly

$1000 in fighting locusts.

According to his statements the swarms of locusts arrive from

Central America over a period lasting from April to November,

viz., from seed time to harvest. They deposit their eggs in April

and May, the young hatching in from twenty to thirty days, and

becoming fledged in three months. The young locusts do the

most harm, and travel in dense masses, sometimes six inches

deep, leaving the ground behind them black, as if burned by fire.

They are often so thick in the roads that the horses will slip and

slide over their crushed bodies. They are particularly destruc-

tive to the young coffee plants, gnawing off the bark from the

young trees and from the tender branches of large trees, but they

do not eat the leaves. Oranges, palms, corn, rice and tobacco

plants also greatly suffer from the attacks of this locust. Unfor-

tunately no specimens could be obtained so as to learn which

Species does this wide-spread damage. It is probable that the

insect is Acrydium americanum, as we have received specimens

from Yucatan. For other accounts of the ravages of locusts ‘in

Central America and Mexico, see first report of the U. S. Entomo-

logical Commission, pp. 460-465; also third report, appendix,

p. 60.—A. S. Packard.

across the mountains to Chiating Fu, the habitat of the wax tree.

tree was then described, and details were given of the treat-

nt of the insects, their suspension on the trees, the depositing

x, and of a parasite on the insects. The method of re-

1885.] Zoölogy. IIO7

moving the wax from the branches of the tree and of preparing it

for market was then explained. Thereafter Mr. Hosie detailed

the result of an examination of the insects after the wax had been

fully deposited, and finally passed to the annual quantity of insect

white wax produced, its value and uses.—Anglish Mechanic.

Parri oF Insects.—Examination of above fifty individuals of di-

verse forms of Orthoptera and Coleoptera have caused M. F. Plateau

to reach the following conclusions respecting the use of the palpi:

(1) During the act of eating they remain inactive. (2) Deprivation

of the maxillary palpi does not hinder the insects from eating as

usual. (3) Loss of the labial palpi hasno more effect. (4) Smell

remains the same after the four palpi are taken away. (5) The

amputation of all the palpi does not prevent these insects from

recognizing and seizing their food. (6) Loss of all the palps does

not prevent them from feeding as usual.

ENTOMOLOGICAL Nrews.—We have received from Dr. G. Mayr

a detailed work on fig insects, consisting of 105 closely-printed

pages, with three excellent plates. Dr. J. A. Lintner, the State

entomologist of New York, has issued a lecture on cut-worms,

read before the State Agricultural Society in January last——

One of the most valuable contributions to entomology of the

year is Mr. Poulton’s “ Farther notes on the markings and attitudes

of lepidopterous larve, together with a complete account of the

life-history of Sphinx ligustri and Selenia illunaria,’ in the second

part of the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,

for 1885. Among the topics discussed in this paper are the fol-

lowing: The utilization of the changes in color before pupation for

protective purposes, and an anatomical reason for the special pro-

tection of larvæ, wherein the author shows that the various means

of protection in larvæ are always of a passive kind. When active

(flagella) they seem to be directed against the attacks of ichneu-

mons, which produce fatal results in quite another way. “ Nearly

all the means of defence against other enemies are such as tend

to prevent the larva from being seen or touched, rarely such as to

be of any avail when actually attacked.” This Society has

within a few months obtained a royal charter. The death of

Mr. H. K. Morrison, so well known as a zealous and successful

collector, in May last, was sudden. There is a good opening for

One or more efficient collectors in this country to succeed Bel-

frage, Boll and Morrison.

ZOOLOGY.

_ Recent work on Baranocrossus.—W. Bateson’ has recently

Investigated the morphology of Balanoglossus, and thrown a

great deal of light upon this hitherto obscure and little under-

ani A summary of his results is as follows: There is

Quarterly Journal Mic. Soc. Suppl., 1885-

1108 General Notes. [ November,

a spherical gastrula, large circular blastopore, later the body is

elongated, the blastopore closes completely, a ring of strong cilia

forms about the blastoporic area, the blastopore being placed

eccentrically in the ring. The body becomes constricted by a

transverse ring, a second forms behind it, and the body is thus

cut off into three regions corresponding with the future proboscis,

collar and body portion; the end of the proboscis is furnished

with a tuft of cilia. -A groove forms in the middle line of the

dorsal region of the collar, and at the same time the dorsal nerve

cord is delaminated from this ectoderm. At the same time a pore

perforates the skin behind the collar on either side, placing the

endoderm and the ectoderm in communication, and furnished

with cilia, it is the first pair of gill slits. The mouth forms in

front of the collar at the base of the proboscis, and later the anus

arises at the opposite end of the body. In the species whose life-

history is dealt with in this paper, viz., Balanoglossus kowalevskit,

the development in the external form proceeds by the direct

growth from the form now arrived at to the adult by the elonga-

tion of the body, the addition of the gill slits and the differentia-

tion of the body region into the branchial and digestive portions,

and the disappearance of the ring of cilia and the tuft of cilia

upon the proboscis. There is thus no Tornaria stage included in

the life-history of B. kowalevckit, but the development is direct.

Bateson does not discuss the question of the relations between

the echinoderms and Balanoglossus, reserving it for the fuller

discussion that is promised in a future paper.

The history of the internal changes is briefly as follows: The

endoderm was invaginated, as seen from the surface; from it arises

the mesoblast in three separate masses, one anterior unpaired

mass in the proboscis, two anterior lateral masses, two posterior

lateral masses. These all arise as diverticula of the archenteron,

and their cavity, at first continuous with that of the primitive gut,

! 1es the various portions of the body cavity. A forward pro-

liferation on the dorsal side of the gut wall, with at first an open-

ing into the gut cavity, gives rise to a solid supporting organ

which runs from the collar region into the proboscis, and is the

homologue of the notochord of the Chordata. The walls of the

1885.] Zoology. 1109

Balanoglossus presents resemblances, though with some differ-

ence, to Amphioxus in the following points: Origin and persis-

tence of the notochord and its relation to the alimentary canal,

position of the biood-vessels of the gills and the form of the gill

bars, position and mode of origin of the central nervous system,

origin of the mesoblast and body cavity, the atrial fold' and the

duct from body cavity into the atrium—similar to the excretory

tube of Amphioxus.

The complete discussion of the affinities of Balanoglossus is

reserved for a future paper, but Bateson proposes to associate it

as follows :

Hemichorda as Enteropneusta

Urochorda = Ascidians

Cephalochorda oa Amphioxus

Vertebrata,

— Henry Leslie Osborn.

THE REPRODUCTION OF THE Common MussEL.—Professor W:

C. M'Intosh describes the reproduction of the mussel (Mytilus

edulis), The sexes are distinct in the adult form, but in the unde-

veloped condition the structure of the organs seems to be similar

in both sexes, The shape of the valves gives no reliable distinc-

tion. The reproductive elements are developed in the mantle;

the male presents in January, in the thickened generative region

of the mantle, large pale round sperm-sacs filled with minute .

Spermatozoa, which have minute ovoid bodies with finely fila-

mentous tails. They are lively and tenacious of life. Twenty-

four hours of exposure, however, seems to be fatal to them. The

emales have the same region of their mantle crowded with a pro-

digious number of minute ova. Throughout February the devel-

opment increases, and the whole surface of the mantle becomes

Speckled in both sexes with the reproductive elements. After

full maturity is attained, as in April, the orange mantle is richly

marked in an arborescent manner by racemose sperm-sacs and

ducts, especially towards the margin. In the females this is not

So evident, the ova being grouped in masses and densely packed.

From this time the activity of the spermatozoa and the number

of the ova diminish, till in July neither ova nor spermatozoa can

be distinguished microscopically.—/ournal of the Royal Micro-

Scopical Society, June, 1885.

MANNER IN WHICH THE LAMELLIBRANCHS ATTACH THEMSELVES

To Foretcn Osjects—Dr. J. T. Cattie describes the means by

which the common mussel attaches itself to foreign objects.

When the foot commences to grope about, it may become two

or three times as long as the body of the animal without finding

any object within its vicinity ; it then moves about till it finds some

Point of support, when this is effected there appears from the

transverse cleft which terminates the ventral groove a whitish sub-

IIIO General Notes, [November,

stance which gradually becomes more opaque; sometimes the

slit takes on the form of an equilateral triangle, and then the

quantity of matter which exudes from itis greater; this matter

obviously comes from the cylindrical tubes which are scattered

in the glandular substance of the foot. A terminal plate having

been formed the foot is withdrawn, and the plate and the byssus

are merely connected by a delicate thread. The time necessary

for an animal of average size to form the plate varies between 55

and go seconds; in some cases two connecting threads become

developed. The terminal plate, when studied under the micro-

scope, was found to be formed of thousands of small granules,

irregularly distributed, and varying considerably in size. The

fine threads appear to be formed by the agglutination of granules

of various sizes, but large granules are formed by the fusion of

several smaller ones. :

The formation of the byssus is regarded by the author as being

very simple; the walls and the lamellæ of the byssus-cavity con-

tinually secrete a byssogenous matter ; the lamellæ in the anterior

and narrow part of the cavity unite and fuse with one another,

while the narrow shape of the orifice gives the byssus-threads

their form. Owing to the relations of the ventral groove of the

foot each byssus-thread is immediately fused to the main trunk.

The author doubts the correctness of A. Müller’s view that

there is an agglutinating and a byssogenous substance; and

speaks severely of the artificial character of that author’s classifi-

cation of the species.— Fournal of the Royal Microscopical Society,

August, 1885.

RIT eee ee ee E ee ee ea eee Me

1885. ] Loology. IIII

monate adapted from a terrestrial to an amphibian mode of life.

—Henry Leslie Osborn.

HELIX CANTIANA AT QuEBEc.—Few accessions from abroad to

our lists of land shells having lately been recorded, the discovery

in Canada of a large colony of a foreign species, not previously

nown to occur on this continent, is of more than ordinary in-

terest. When at the ancient capital recently, in ascending the

steps from Dufferin terrace to the citadel, I stopped to recover

breath on a stage considerately provided for such purposes, at a

point at about thirty feet from the summit of the glacis. From

this resting place a path, trodden only by goats and equally sure-

footed Quebec gamins, leads upward in a westerly direction

along the steep and narrow slope between the south walls of the

citadel and the almost perpendicular rock on which it stands.

Noticing a small helix moving on the path, I passed under the

guard-rail and ventured out upon it, not indeed wholly without

fear, as there was danger, in case I slipped, of falling into Cham-

plain street, four hundred feet below. The shell, which proved to

be Helix rufescens Pennant, was found in abundance, in company

with numerous Limax agrestis L., clustering around the roots

and climbing the stems of a tall, rank weed, apparently a species

of Ambrosia. An occasional specimen of a larger shell, which I

Supposed to be immature Æ. hortensis, was also found at intervals

along the path; and directly above where Montgomery fell, it oc-

curred in considerable numbers in scattered clumps of grass

which had obtained a foothold on the shaly cliff. Itseemed strange

concentric line conspicuous on the body whorl of the English

specimens of Æ. cantiana, and is somewhat smaller; but has e

Specimens, if think it worth the trouble. I might add

that it was a kan, moist evening when I found the shells.—

Frank R. Latchford, Ottawa, Ont. :

VOL, XIX.—NO, XI, ; 73

1112 General Notes. [ November,

RATS NESTING IN TREES.—In the neighborhood of New Al-

maden, Santa Clara county, Cal., I observed, during August of

this year (1885), that in many of the small oaks there were masses

of twigs, some of the masses as large as a bushel measure. On

examination I found that each of the twigs showed evidence of

having been gnawed off by some rodent. These nests proved to

be inhabited by a species of rat about the size of the domestic rat,

but finer looking, and with larger ears. They probably belong

to the genus Neotoma of Say and Ord. The rat that builds a

conical nest on the ground, of twigs and branches to the heighth

of two or three feet, is probably of the same species as this living

in the trees, as I found the nests of the two near together, and

sometimes a nest wou'd be half on the ground and half in the tree.

—H. W. Turner, U. S. Geol. Survey.

PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE ORIGIN OF Limps.—From my stud- ;

ies on the limbs of vertebrates I get the following results :

1. There exists no “ homodynamie” between the skeleton of

the gills and the limbs (Thatcher, Mivart, Balfour, v. Rautenfeld, i

Dohrn). |

2. The original form of the paired fin is like that of the un-

paired, and consists of parallel rays vertical to the axis of the

body on a horizontal plane (Thatcher, Mivart, etc.).

3. These rays unite proximally to form the dasiplerygmm,

which turns out, forming the posterior border of the fin, the

metapterygium (Balfour).

4. The extremities of the higher vertebrates have originated

directly from the fin by a rotation of the latter through 180° 10

the direction of the hands of the clock.

5. The extremities of the higher vertebrates have. originated

by reduction of the propterygium and mesopterygium and the

following rays of the metapterygium.

6. A line drawn through humerus, radius, radiale, carpale

me e,, digit, in the urodelous batrachians corresponds to 4

line along the basipterygium, or the first ray of the metaptery”

um. :

7. The oldest known extremities of the higher vertebrates arè

seen in the Menopomidæ, in Salamandrella and Ranodon, among

the batrachians (two central bones), in Plesiosaurus, Pliosaurus,

_ Baptanodon (Sauranodon, rudiments of ulnar rays [“ olecranon ).

fact of great interest is the presence of zwo central bones m É

carpus of the Rhynchocephalia (Hatteria, Proterosaurus) never

observed before.

aa 8. The reduction of radial rays in the higher vertebrates is 2

secondary condition produced by the adaptation to a terre a

life —Dr. G. Baur, Yale College Mus., New Haven, Conn., Oct. 2,

ee VE ee Te ae ee R

eee es oti ee AS NE D

Bie te

1885. | Zvology. 1113

ZOOLOGICAL News.—Fyvotezoans.—Dr. R. Blanchard (Bull. de

la Soc. Zool. de France), in an article modestly entitled, ‘ Note

sur le Sarcosporidies,” gives the history of our knowledge of

these parasites from their first discovery by Miescher in the

muscles of a mouse to the present time, and presents an essay

upon their clasification. These Sporozoa or Sarcosporidia are

intimately related to Coccidium and especially to Klossia. They

have been found in the mouse, the pig, the horse, the ox, the

sheep, the dog, the cat and the rabbit, and more rarely in those

f man. Virchow has noticed that they produce no change in

the muscular tissue. As they occur in the ape, it is clear that

M. Edwards presented a note of M. de Folin, re-

lating a curious form of reticulated rhizopod which inhabits what

seems to be small pebbles in hardness and aspect. The organism

forms a sort of paste of foreign particles and sarcode and covers

the whole with a secretion like that which forms the test of a porcel-

lanous foraminifer, and is not only smooth, polished and shining,

but colored in many tints. These foraminifers form the genus

ithozoa, with numerous species. R. Blanchard has

described a peritrichous infusorian ectoparasite of fresh-water fish.

Apivsoma piscicola is fixed during its whole existence.

Worms.—The thesis of M. J. Porrier for degree of doctor of

the faculty of sciences at Paris, has for its subject the trematodes.

he structure of the skin, and the anatomy of the suckers are

thoroughly treated, and details noted which need figures to be

understood. The most interesting fact in relation to the digestive

tube is the description of the absorbent hairs. The ciliated sac

which surrounds the prostate gland and seminal receptacle seems

to serve only to protect the prostate and plays no part in copula-

tion. The canal of Laurer also, once considered a copulatory

organ, is but a reservoir, so that the only probable and admissible

mode of fecundation is external self-fecundation, such as Sommer

admits for the cestodes. M. Porrier has also collected facts of

author makes two new families. As a rule a parasite seems to

tect a single genus or eyen species. _

III4 General Notes. | November,

Reptiles —M. Le Vaillant has described a new species of land

tortoise, Testudo yniphora, captured in or near the Comoro isles

by some Arab sailors. Its carapace is highly convex, or hemi-

spherical, the anterior and posterior apertures but slightly elevated,

recalling those of 7. radiata. The plastron has a peculiarity

which enables it to be distinguished at sight from all other

tortoises, and is the motive of the name given to it. In color the

back is reddish-yellow with brown on the periphery of the

plates, while the plastron is pale yellow.

Mammals.—An example ot Kogia breviceps, the pigmy sperm

whale, was taken in 1884 at Spring Lake, N. J. This was the

first time that this rare species had been taken in the Atlantic.

The specimen, like the majority of those hitherto taken, was a

female. The Smithsonian Institution has just received a specimen

of a male of this species, taken at Kittyhawk, N. C. Mr. True

states that it is about nine feet long and apparently adult. Near

the anterior end of the upper jaw are four slender curved teeth,

similar to those of the lower jaw, but smaller. Two teeth are

said to occur in a similar position in a specimen from India,

described by Sir R. Owen as Euphysetes simus. The genital

opening is situated anterior to the line of the front margin of

the dorsal fin. The stomach contained only the beaks and eyes

of cuttlefish and a great quantity of nematoid worms. A large

quantity of cestoids, apparently Phyllobothrium, were found

encysted in the integuments of the back, especially about the

dorsal fin——The distribution in height of the mammals around

Kilimanjaro is interesting. Cercopithecus pygerythrus was foun

at an elevation of 5000 feet, and the guereza, which is very com-

mon round the base of the mountain, at 3000 feet; the lion does

1885.] Embryology. III5

(Jour. Anat. and Phys., January, 1881) gives the result of an

examination of the bones, articulations and muscles of the

rudimentary hind-limb of the Greenland right whale. Ten sets

of these parts were dissected. The synovial capsule of the

knee-joint, the acetabular cartilage, a synovial cavity and head

of the femur are present, and an apparatus of strong ligaments

is attached to the femur, permitting and restraining move-

ments in certain directions. But these movements of the fe-

mur are limited, and in two examples the hip-joint was anchy-

losed without trace of disease. The muscles of these bones may

be arranged in four groups, three of which connect them with

other parts: (1) Internally with the genital organs; (2) a poste-

rior or caudal mass; (3) an anterior or trunk mass; while the

fourth connects the bones to each other. According to Mr.

P. L. Sclater, the wild ass of Somaliland is a new species, or at

least subspecies, and is distinguished from that of the Nubian

desert by its generally paler and more grayish color, the entire

absence of the cross stripe over the shoulders, the very slight

indication of the dorsal line, and the numerous black markings

on both front and hind legs. It has also smaller ears and a

larger and more flowing mane. Mr. W. Leche (Proc. Zool.

Soc., 1884) describes some Chiroptera from Australia, including

the new species Wyctinomus petersi and N. albidus. In the latter

Species the ears are much larger than the head, and are united by

a low band. Mr. J. W. Clark describes (in the Proc. Zool. Soc.)

a series of stuffed sea-lions belonging to the Australian Museum,

Sydney, and from a study of these and other examples concludes

that Otaria cinerea is “ one of the four distinct species of Otaria

inhabiting the Australian coast.” M. Fernand Lataste contrib-

utes to the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1884, a description of a new

Species of Meriones, M. longifrons, from Arabia, together with a

full account of its habits, intelligence and sexual relations.

Gestation normally lasts twenty days, and the ovarian period about

ten days.

EMBRYOLOGY.’

Tue ArcuistomE-THrory.—The new doctrine of development,

of which it is proposed to give a brief and partial sketch here, rests

in part on a hypothetical basis and in part upon a well established

theory founded upon observation. It consists further in an expan-

sion and adaptation of the gastreal-theory of Haeckel in the light

of more recent research, and a reconciliation of it with the deduc-

tions of His, Rauber, Whitman and myself, as to the occurrence

of concresence of the lips of the blastophore and the differentia-

tion of the axis of the body of the embryo from behind forwards,

generally of bilateral types with paired mesoblastic sacks derived

Edited by JoHN A. RYDER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

I116 General Notes. [ November,

directly or indirectly from the archenteron. It is also assumed

with Sedgwick! that the most primitive form in which an imper-

fect approach towards the differentiation of a body-cavity is evi-

dent, as paired pouches of the archenteron, still opening into the

latter, is seenin the bilaterally differentiated Actinozoa. Itis

further assumed that this modification of the archigastrula, as the

primitive gastrula may be called as defined by Haeckel, is the first

intimation which we have in any existing type, permanently repre-

sented in the ascending scale of morphological differentiation of

organisms, of the permanent assumption of bilaterality. It is also

assumed with Sedgwick that the mouth of such a form was elon-

gated in an antero-posterior direction, thus leading to the differen-

tiation of a permanent mouth and anusat the opposite ends of the

original slit-like mouth of such a form. The circumoral band

of sensitive tissue is also assumed to have given rise to the

median nervous system of Ghordata and Achordata. In the —

former median concrescence of the originally paired cords has

been complete, and in the latter incomplete, so as to give rise to

circumoral and circumanal nerve rings and a pair of ventral

ganglionated cords. It is thus made obvious that I assume in a

general way that the hypotheses propounded by Sedgwick aresup-

ported by a very large body of evidence and enable us to interpret

and reconcile with great readiness the conclusions of biologists

in reference to the development of other structures, especially the

excretory, generative and appendicular organs. e evolution of

the first two, the trachea of insects, the branchiz of various forms,

the origin of Metameric Segmentation and other morphological questions.

from the Morph. Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, 11, 1884, pt. &

x and xi. Also in Quart. Jour. Mic. Science, 1884.

ic. Science, I

1885.] Embryology. 1117

lower forms been very generally perforated in the median line

anteriorly to form the permanent mouth, and posteriorly to form

the anus. The secondary modifications which have affected this

mode of development of the permanent openings into the enteron

depend, apparently, in large part upon a change in the aspects of

the body, especially in the chordata in which the permanent

mouth and anus are both new developments and do not coincide

with the mouth and anus of primitive Bilateralia.

The primitively elongated mouth of the larve of Bilateralia,

with an extended body-axis, or any derived form of the latter, or

wherever there is formed a well-defined, unpaired median neural

plate, or where a pair of parallel neural plates or cords are devel-

oped, I would call the whole area thus embraced an archistome. In

the higher forms this archistome would be coéxtensive with the

neural groove antero-posteriorly, as far forward as the pineal

body, and as far backward as the true secondary blastopore, and

even beyond it, when a primitive streak was formed by the con-

cresence of the limbs of the blastoderm behind the posterior end

of the axis of the embryo. In other words the archistome would

extend from the pineal body in chordate embryos along

the whole length of the embryonic axis through its blastopore

and on through the primitive streak to the point where the yolk-

blastopore closed. If the archistome were, therefore, to remain

Open, it would present the appearance of a cleft dividing the

embryo into two symmetrical halves through the median line, and

would extend even through the aborted portion of the lips of the

Primitive blastopore when a very long primitive streak was de-

veloped. It is thus rendered evident that I do not regard the

unmodified, round gastrula-mouth, as understood by Haeckel, as

always representing all of the blastopore in higher forms. Ac-

cording to this view the original gastrula-mouth is in fact greatly

elongated as a result of growth in length, in consequente of

which bilaterality becomes established, and of which we have the

first hint in the Actinozoa. This is further intensified by de-

velopment from before backwards, since, without exception, the

elongate Bilateralia differentiate the cephalic end of the body in

advance of the caudal. In confirmation of the foregoing views I

would refer the reader to the existing special memoirs on the de-

velopment of the primitive grooves and blastoderms in the fishes

and arthropods (Tracheates especially). i a

Furthermore, the phylogeny of the mesoblastic somites is abso-

lutely untraceable to any other source except to the gut pouches

of a bilateral type approximating the Actinozoa, and whether the

process has been abbreviated in arthropods or not, we are at least

certain that in some primitive Chordata, the Teleostei, for ex-

ample, the proof that the mesoblastic somites of the body grow

from the concresced lips of the blastopore are so conclusive as to

be incontestible. The way in which the mesenteron arises, and

1118 General Notes. [ November,

the manner in which the primitive cumulus is formed at the

germinal pole of blastodermic vesicle of Arthropoda indicates, it

seems to me, taking into account the fact that the mesoblast is

split off from the lower side of the neural plate, that the meso-

blastic somites are here formed in essentially the same way as in

the Chordata. The invagination or folding in of the germinal

area, in insect embryos to form the amnion, at first posteriorly

and at the sides, or according to the plan just the reverse of what

holds in the formation of the amnion in the endocyemate types of

Chordata, is to me conclusive proof that concrescence of the lips

of the primitive elongated blastopore, or archistome, has taken

place; for, in order to effect this sort of an invagination of the

embryonic area the head end must for a time remain fixed, while

the tail, continuing to grow in length, is thrust into the yolk, as

in Calopteryx, carrying the amniotic limb of the blastoderm be-

fore it. It also seems that paired cavities soon appear in the

mesoblastic somites underlying and derived from the epiblast, as

above described in arthropods. I therefore see no very essential dif-

ference in the method of development in the two types. In boti

it is obvious that a portion of the archenteric walls of the elon-

gated archistome has given rise to the mesoblastic somites, by a

process which differs in no respect from, but agreeing even in its

abbreviation with that which takes place in Branchiostoma directly

from the sides of the archenteron.

We now come to the consideration of the most important part

of the archistome-theory, namely, that portion of it which deals

with the genesis of the limbs and their musculature. The readi-

ness with which the view that the tentacles of an actinozoan

ancestral form gave rise to the integument and musculature of

the paired limbs of the Bilateralia is reconcilable with all the facts

of embryology, is very remarkable. As is well known, the ten-

tacle$ of Actiniz consist of an outer layer of epiblast into which

a hypoblastic lining is thrust from the paired lateral gut-pouches.

If the gut-pouches of the actinian were now shut off from the

archenteron we would have mesoblastic somites developed and

structures formed which are exactly recapitulated in the develop-

ment of the Arthropoda. Thatis, the outer layer in the budding

appendages of the embryos of the latter, which grow out from

a segment, are constituted of the same two layers, the outer

_of which gives rise to the hard, chitinous joints, and the inner to

the muscles which move them.

In the development of bilaterality through the actinozoa the

_ circle of tentacles would be drawn out into an ellipse, or so as to

enclose an oblong space surrounding the archistome. This

would bring the primitive appendages, after a free existence had `

en assumed by the supposed ancestral actinozoan type, into

t the position in which they grow out in arthropod em-

around the archistome or furrow in the neural plate. The

1885.| Embryology. IIIQ

post-anal telson or bristles, and the preoral labrum and one or

two pairs of antennæ may be supposed to have been derived

from. a postanal, and a preoral series of tentacles respectively,

supposing of course that the mouth is formed from the anterior

part of the archistome, while the anus is formed from its posterior

portion, while, as supposed by Sedgwick, the middle portion has

coalesced.

The biramose legs of Crustacea and certain insects may be

supposed to have arisen from a bilateral actinozoan type in

which there were two rows of tentacles encircling the oblong

archistome. When the inner and outer archipodia of one side,

as we may name these primitive limbs, had fused at their bases,

we would have a biramose appendage. As the outer layer be-

came chitinized these appendages would become segmented. A

very primitive type of limb, which may be supposed to have been

derived from the tentacle of an actinozoan ancestry, is found in

Peripatus. The parapodia of worms may also be supposed to

have been derived from two such circles of archipodia which

surrounded the archistome, but which, as the body became

elongated, assumed a more and more lateral position. A new

set of structures are, however, developed in the parapodia of

errant marine worms, the analogues of which are found only in

the fin-folds of the embryos of osseous fishes, or as the rays of

the most primitive and undegenerate types of adult forms,

namely, the Elasmobranchii, Holocephali and Dipnoi. These

structures are the sete which are of epidermal origin in the

worms, or at most subepiblastic; as in embryo fishes and in

Sagitta. In a former number of this journal I have called these

structures in fishes actinotrichia; these are the same as the em-

bryonic fin-rays mentioned by A. Agassiz.

The principal reason why I consider the actinotrichia found in

fish embryos analogous if not homologous with the’setz found in

the appendages of worms, is the fact that in both cases muscular

processes of the mesoblastic somites first become attached to the

inner ends of these fine horny or chitinous filaments, which in

the worms protrude beyond the margins of the soft tissue of the

parapodia, but which in embryo fishes and in Sagitta do not ex-

tend beyond the edges of the fin-folds. It is thus rendered ob-

vious that bundles of muscular fibers derived from the muscular

somites, developed from lateral gut-pouches, pass outward and

are inserted upon the proximal ends of the sete found in the

parapodia of worms as well as the actinotrichia found in the fin-

folds of fish embryos. In fishes these muscular processes are

given off to the actinotrichia of the unpaired as well as to those

of the paired fins. These muscular processes moreover pass

outward into epiblastic folds in both cases metamerically or from

each segment. In the worm toa bunch of sete in a single para-

podium, in the fish to a bunch or longitudinal series of actino-

1120 General Notes. [ November,

trichia to the number of a dozen or so opposite each segment,

In fish embryos the actinotrichia finally have their proximal ends

drawn together out of their original parallel position under the

epiblast of the fin-fold, and radiate more or less markedly from

the point where the muscular process from the mesoblastic somite

is inserted upon them, the same as the diverging setz in the par-

apodia of worms. This divergency gives rise to the dichotomous

character of the bony rays of Teleost fishes, since, as I have

shown in a previous article, the actinotrichia are the rudiments

of the permanent osseous, segmented rays of the malacoptery-

gian type. For these reasons I am very strongly inclined to be-

* lieve that the parapodia of worms and the fin-folds of fishes are

very intimately and probably genetically allied to each other.

Another strong reason for such a belief is that in Sagitta in

which the transverse septa in the body-cavity have been obliterated,

as in Chordata, the setz are found, as in fish embryos, lying par-

allel with each other and in horizontal, lateral, continuous fin-folds.

This would seem to indicate that Sagitta had descended from a

worm in which a lateral row of parapodia had gradually become

fused together serially by their edges so as to form a more OF

less nearly continuous lateral fold. And I see no reason to doubt

that a similar longitudinal or serial concrescence of primitively dis-

tinct metameric finlets may have occurred in the Protochordata,

and given rise to the median and lateral longitudinal fold from

which all of the fins develop. The next strong reason for this

conclusion is that an actual longitudinal concrescence of the

metameric elements of the paired and unpaired fins of fishes

actually occurs. This is especially obvious to any one who has

studied the mode of development of the fins of fishes in which

extensive longitudinal concrescence has taken place, and of which

any one who will examine an adult skate may easily satisfy him-

self. In this form the pelvic and pectoral pairs of fins have been

formed ofa primitively continuous series of metameric elements,

as shown by the development. The anterior part of the lateral

series of metameric elements of the fin-fold in this type are crowd-

ed together at their bases to form a pectoral, the posterior part of

the series of elements are in the same manner crowded together

to form the pelvic fin. In this way it comes about that the rays

and metameric elements lose their original parallel position with

respect to each other and become divergent distally, while the

basal parts of the skeletal series of elements concresce or fuse to

__ form the compound pro-meso and metapterygial pieces.

es The lateral fins of fishes I regard as having arisen from the

serially fused notopodial appendages of a worm-like ancestor,

the unpaired fins in like manner I regard as having arisen from

rapodia ; the dorsal median fold from the two lateral rows of

ia which have concresced on the median line, and the

from the two rows of notopodia which have in like

1885.] Thysiology. . 1121

manner fused together on the median line serially and transversely.

The actinotrichia of all the fins are accordingly represented an-

cestrally in the slender embedded part of the parapodial sete of

worms.

These conclusions seem to support those of Dohrn, but also

receive additional support from a consideration of the segmental

organ and the way these are developed in certain worms, accord-

ing to Hatschek, and in Chordata, according to Semper and Bal-

four. In one other important point the primitive Chordata and

chetopods agree, namely, in the possession of a great number of

segments or mesoblastic somites. I therefore regard the Chor-

data and Chetopoda as representing two divergent series. The

former, upon the concentration of the muscular substance of the

somites on the neural aspect of the body-cavity, and the abortion

of the latter in the caudal region, acquired a new mode of progres-

sion, the tail then became vertically flattened, so that the para-

podia were thrown into two rows dorsally and ventrally, and

finally fused as supposed above; the displacment towards the

middle line of the rows of parapodia being greatly favored by the

lateral movements of the tail of the ancestral form. The presence

of the body-cavity and viscera anteriorly probably prevented the

shifting and median concrescence of the notopodia, so that they

remain near their original position as the rudiments of the paired

fins.

These views may at first seem far-fetched and improbable, but

when I am able to present them more fully with new data and

illustrations in a special memoir’ upon which I am now engaged,

hope to be able to show that they lead to conclusions of the

greatest possible moment in scientific morphology.— ohn A.

Ryder.

PHYSIOLOGY.’

Menica Puysics.3—The time has come when even in America

it is recognized that medical education demands for a foundation

a knowledge of those general chemical and physical laws which

control the history of matter in all its forms. In Germany and

France special courses in physics have long formed a part of the

medical curriculum, and Dr. Draper has undertaken the difficult

but praiseworthy task of preparing for the English-speaking

Medical student a non-mathematical text-book of physics which

shall present with tolerable completeness an account of matter

and its laws, with special reference to their bearing on the physio-

logical processes of the body. There are probably few scientific

subjects in which the selection of material and the method of

1 Studies on the development of the Chordata and Achordata, together with an

exposition of the Archistome-theory.

* This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

3 By J. C. Draper, M.D., LL.D. Lea Bros. & Co., 1885.

1122 General Notes. [ November,

presentation involve so much difficulty as that now considered.

Dr. Draper wisely takes particular pains to expound clearly the

received ideas concerning the structure and properties of matter;

and especially useful, for the most part, are the frequent state-

ments and applications of the facts of molecular mechanics.

The general division of the subject into Matter and Energy is

admirable for purposes of teaching, and perspicuity of treatment

has been attained with marked success.

It is unfortunate, however, that the author should have repeated

from the older text-books so much that is erroneous, in his con-

sideration of the physiology of the subject. There are few physiol-

ogists of to-day who would not read with astonishment the elabo-

rate defense of the chemical attraction theory of the circulation

advanced on p. 308. Again (p. 158), the modern lecturer has annu-

ally to deny the statement, “ when breathed in the unmixed state

it (oxygen) stimulates the nervous system strongly and finally

causes death.”

No physiological worker now considers fibrin, as such, a con-

stituent of blood-plasma (p. 193). ;

e must insist that the whole idea involved in the discussion

of the relation of animal tissues to oxygen (p. 206) is wrong.

We were under the impression that since the labors of Helm-

holtz there was little cause to dispute the conclusion that the

function of the auditory ossicles was to convey vibrations to the

internal ear, though Dr. Draper apparently considers the question

as to their function still open (p. 375).

It is to be hoped that in a subsequent edition of the work, and

such will no doubt be quickly called for, these manifest blots will

be eliminated.

INFLUENCE OF COCAINE, ATROPINE AND CAFFEINE ON THE

_ Heart anp Broop-vessets.—Dr. Beyer’s work was performed

upon the terrapin after the most exact physiological methods.

Cocaine added to calf’s blood supplied to the physiologically

isolated heart first causes a slight quickening in the rhythm of the

t and an increase in the amount of work done as measured by

1885. ] Physiology. 1123

ing blood. Beyer concludes that the elevation of arterial blood-

pressure which follows the administration of cocaine depends

upon its united stimulating effect upon the heart and the blood-

vessels ; a fall of blood-pressure coming on after the rise must be

due to the action of cocaine on the heart alone, because its con-

stricting effect upon the blood-vessels outlasts its stimulating

action on the heart.

Like previous observers, the author found that atropine in cer-

tain doses increases the rate of heart-beat and also the amount of

work done, and moreover it exercises an inhibitory influence over

the contractions of the ventricle. It is argued that the action of

the two drugs upon the heart is almost identical, the main differ-

ence being that the initial stage of stimulation by cocaine is much

shorter and may be produced by smaller doses than is the case

with atropine. The author concludes from the evidence of many

data which cannot be recorded here, that the specific action of

both cocaine and atropine is upon the muscular substance of

the heart.

Caffeine in rather small doses increases the rate and power of

heart-beat and the amount of work done. Supplied directly to

the blood-vessels caffeine produces in all cases a dilatation ; its

total action in the uninjured animal ought, therefore, to cause the

maximal amount of blood to circulate through the system ina

unit of time.—Am. Jl. Med. Sci., July, 1885.

RESTRICTION OF VASO-MOTOR EXCITEMENT IN HYPNOTIZED PA-

TIENTS BY SuUGGESTION.— Hallucinations are readily excited in

hypnotized persons when various ideas are suggested to them,

but M. Dumontpallier finds that the influence of such suggestion

is able also to extend itself definitely over the purely organic pro-

cesses of the bo

Two hysterical patients were hypnotized and a piece of paper-

was held in place by a linen bandage upon the upper inner sur-

face of each of the four limbs of either patient. It was now

the first patient, at the end of forty-eight hours, the skin under

the paper on the left leg showed a temperature elevation of

2.8° C.; in the second patient the temperature of the skin under

the paper on the right leg was raised 3° above the normal at the

end of one, and 2.4° at the end of two days. In the case of each

1124 General Notes. [November, |

patient the area of suggestion had a higher temperature than the

corresponding area of the other leg. It is concluded that by

mere suggestion to a hypnotized person there may be produced

in him vaso-motor dilatation over any area of the skin chosen at

will.— Comptes Rendus, T. ct, p. 228.

Kocn’s CHoLerA BacıLLUs.—M. Pouchet reports the interest-

ing fact that he has. extracted from the broth used as culture-

medium for Koch’s cholera-bacillus an alkaloid which appears to

have all the external characters (odor, chemical instability, toxic

effect upon animals) of a substance which can be isolated from |

choleraic dejections.—Comptes Rendus, T. ci, p. 510.

HEAT CENTER IN THE BRAIN.—A few years since Dr. H. C.

Wood, of Philadelphia, published an extended account of re-

searches, in which experimental support was given to the hypoth-

esis that certain areas in the cerebral cortex act as nerve centers

for the regulation of the production of animal heat. Two Ger-

man students have quite recently partly confirmed these observa-

tions after a much less troublesome method than that employed

by Wood. The operation is performed upon guinea-pig, rabbit

or dog, and consists in passing a needle through the skull at the

place of union of the sagittal and coronal sutures, some millime-

ters to the right or left of the longitudinal sinus. The needle is

pushed in a perpendicular direction as far as the base of the

skull and is then withdrawn. Succeeding this treatment there is

an immediate rise of temperature throughout the body to the

extent of several degrees. At the same time the frequency of

respiration is slightly increased and there is diminution in the

amount of chlorides in the urine, but the animal remains well

and in two or three days the phenomena disappear. The opera-

tion may then be repeated with like results upon the same animal.

- It is not decided whether the effects described are due to the tem-

porary stimulation of a heat-production center or to the paralysis

of a heat-inhibitory center in the part of the brain which is punc-

tured— Arch. f. Anat. a. Phys., 1885, p. 166.

1885.] Fsychology. — 1125

greatest sensibility. Probably all hairs are tactile organs, On

the dorsal side of the left hand the minimal stimulus for a circu-

lar group of pressure points was represented by the figure 0.2 3,

while* on certain intermediate points the force necessary to be

applied in order to evoke sensation was represented by 1.5. The

pressure points on the back of the hand were more sensitive than

those upon the middle of the fore-arm and still more so than

those upon the thigh. The skin appears most sensitive to pres-

sure where the tactile corpuscles of Krause are most numerous.

In true scar tissue neither cold, warm nor pressure points can be

discovered. Many points of the skin are insensitive to pain, as

tested by needle-puncture, while others are extremely susceptible.

It is very probable that sensations of pain depend upon direct

injury of a sensory nerve trunk.—Zeitschr. f. Biologie, Bd. xxi, p.

145.

PSYCHOLOGY.

Minp anD Morion.—The Rede lecture delivered last week in ,

the Senate House, at Cambridge, by Mr. G. J. Romanes, M.A.,

F.R.S., was entitled “ Mind and Motion.” After giving some ac-

count of the teaching of Hobbes, who laid it down, on the one

hand, that all our knowledge of the external world is but a

knowledge of motion, and, on the other, that all our acquisitions

of knowledge and other acts of mind imply some kind of “

tion, agitation, or alteration, which worketh in the brain,” Mr.

-Romanes pointed out, as regards the internal world, that physi-

ology has proved that molecular movements of nervous matter

are concerned in all the processes of reflex action, sensation, per-

ception, instinct, emotion, thought, and volition. The lecturer

detailed the discoveries which of late years have been made by

physiology concerning the rate at which these movements travel

ong nerves, the period of molecular vibrations in nerve centers,

the time required for processes of thought, and the quantitative

relations between brain-action and mind-action. When physi-

ological instruments fail to take cognizance of these relations, we

gain much additional insight touching the movements of nervous

matter by attending to the thoughts and feelings of our own

minds, for these are so many indices of what is going on in our

rains. Proceeding to contemplate the mind, considered thus as

a physiological instrument of the greatest delicacy, he argued

that the association of ideas is but an obverse expression of the

fact that when once a wave of molecular disturbance passes

through any line of nerve structure, it leaves behind it a change

in the structure, such that it is afterwards more easy for a similar

-wave when started from the same point to pursue the same

course. Such being the intimate relation between brain-action

and mind-action, it has become the scientifically orthodox teach-

ing that the two stand to one another in the relation of cause to

1126 General Notes. | November,

effect. He pointed out that the doctrine of conscious automatism

is logically the only possible outcome of the theory that nervous

changes are the causes of bodily changes, and, therefore, it cannot

be fought on grounds of physiology. If we persist in regarding

the relation between brain and thought exclusively from a physi-

ological point of view, we must of necessity be materialists. But

it does not follow from this that the theory of materialism is

true; and other considerations of an extra-physiological kind

conclusively prove that the theory is false. We have, first, the

general fact that all our knowledge of motion, and so of matter,

is merely a knowledge of the modifications of mind. Therefore,

so far as we are concerned, mind is necessarily prior to every-

thing else. Thus the theory of materialism assumes that one

thing is produced by another thing, in spite of an obvious demon-

stration that the alleged effect is necessarily prior to its cause.

But further, “motion produceth nothing but motion,” says

Hobbes, and yet he immediately proceeds to assume that in the

case of the brain it produces not only motion, but mind. Ma-

terialism has to meet the unanswerable question—How is it that

in the machinery of the brain motion produces this something

which is not motion? Science has now definitely proved the

correlation of all the forces, and this means that if any kind of

motion could produce anything else that is not motion, it would

be producing what science would be bound to regard as in the

strictest sense of the word a miracle; causation from brain to

mind is in the strictest sense of the word a physical impossibility.

1885. | Anthropology. 1127

plained, for intelligent volition is shown to bea true cause of

bodily movement, seeing that the cerebration which it involves

would not otherwise be possible. This monistic theory thus

serves to terminate the otherwise interminable controversy on the

freedom of the will; for the theory shows it to be merely a mat-

ter of terminology whether we speak of the mind or of the brain

as the cause of bodily movement. That particular kind of phys-

ical activity which takes place in the brain could not take place

without the occurrence of volition, and vice versa. All the re-

quirements alike of the determinist and of the free-will hypotheses’

are thus satisfied by a synthesis which comprises them both in

one. Mr. Romanes afterwards reviewed the opinions of the late

Professor Clifford upon this subject, and concluded by observing

that if it were true that the voice of science must of necessity

speak the language of agnosticism, at least let them see to it that

the language was pure; let them not tolerate any barbarisms in-

troduced from the side of aggressive dogma. So would they find

that this new grammar of thought did not admit of any con-

structions radically opposed to more venerable ways of thinking,

and that the often-quoted words of its earliest formulator applied

with special force to its latest dialects—that if a little knowledge

of physiology and a little knowledge of psychology incline men

to atheism, a deeper knowledge of both, and still more a deeper

back to some form of religion, which, if it be more vague, will

also be more worthy than that of earlier days.

ANTHROPOLOGY.'

FURTHER CONFIRMATION OF THE POST-MORTEM CHARACTER OF

THE CRANIAL PERFORATIONS FROM MiIcHIGAN Mounps.—In a

paper entitled “ Burial Customs of our Aborigines,” read by the

writer before the Ann Arbor meeting of the American Associa-

tion, August 28, 1885, two fragmentary crania, recently exhumed

from a mound on the Detroit river, Michigan, and presenting

good examples of the peculiar custom of cranial perforation,

were exhibited as illustrations in the anthropological section.

The cephalic index of the first specimen would throw it into the

medium or orthocephalic group, or to follow the nomenclature of

Professor Broca, the mesaticephalic division. The single circular

perforation occupies, as usual, a central position at the vertex of

the skull, being situated on the sagittal suture, about 0.6 of an

inch back of its junction with the coronal suture. The perfora-

tion is 0.4 of an inch in diameter, and was probably made in the

Same manner as were all those I have seen, by a rude stone imple-

ment rotated by hand. r

The second specimen is evidently not of as great antiquity as

1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. MAsoN, National Museum, Washington, D, C,

VOL, XIX,—NO. XI. 74

1128 General Notes. [ November,

the first. Its fragmentary condition, the entire occipital bone and

parts of the parietal bones being wanting, prevents most of the

usual measurements being taken; but though a smaller and nar-

rower skull than the first mentioned, its cephalic index would,

doubtless, place it in the same range, viz., that of the mesati-

cephali. It is, however, most interesting in presenting the unu-

sual feature of having two perforations. The smaller of these,

less than 0.4 of an inch in diameter, is situated on the sagittal

suture, and about 0.1 of an inch back of its junction with the

-coronal suture. The second perforation is over 0.4 of an inch in

diameter, and is placed on the frontal bone, in a straight line with

the direction of the sagittal suture and 0.35 of an inch from its

junction with the coronal suture. The perforations from center

to center are 0.8 of an inch apart.

n my examination of these specimens I have made the impor-

tant discovery that the perforations in both of them are counter-

sunk, or made from both sides—from the inside as well as the

outside of the skull. The beveled edges unquestionably settle

this point, and are a further confirmation, if any such were

required, as to the perforations being post mortem. This is a point

overlooked by me in my previous studies, and, indeed, doubtless

is wanting in the perfect crania, where the perforations could not

well have been made except from the outside of the bone.

These two specimens present many of the characteristics ob-

served by me in other crania I have taken from our mounds. In

Í- PiILLING’S BIBLIOGRAPHY. — The most valuable work as yet

issued by the Bureau of Ethnology is a volume bearing the fol-

ng title: Proof sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of

merican Indians. By James Constantine Pilling, (Dis-

1885.| Anthropology. 1129

tributed only to collaborators.) Washington: Government Print-

ing Office, 1885. [pp. 1135, gr. 8vo.] This work was commenced

by Mr. Pilling several years ago, and with unflagging and sys-

tematic assiduity prosecuted amid the distractions of a laborious

and exacting Government appointment. In the first place the

-sources of information have been exhaustively consulted from

Adelung to Williams, The feeling of security and confidence is

at once awakened on one’s finding that the catalogues of Adelung

and Vater, Alcedo, Andrade, Asher, Bartlett, Berendt, Boturini,

Brinley, Brinton, Clarke, Field, Icazbalceta, Ludewig, Ramirez,

Sabin, Steiger, Trumbull have all been exhausted and their per-

sonal aid in many instances has been secured. The rules of cata-

loguing adopted by the consensus of leading libraries have been

carried out, so that in this case we have an alphabetical list of

persons or societies that have written in or upon the Indian lan-

guages of North America, with full and accurate titles of all

editions of their writings. This is not all. Every page of the

work furnishes brief abstracts of works, the author’s own state-

ment of his purpose in his work, the annotations of distinguished

critics who were conversant with the several languages. Mr.

Pilling has also kept a record of his own difficulties in finding

many of the publications recorded, so as to make the task of

hunting, which :was extremely laborious to him, easy to those

who come after him. Finally, no one is omitted. If he is, it is

because he has been hiding, and it will be necessary only to know

of his existence to drag him into publicity in the final issue. The

error is really on the other side, and many titles are included for

trivial reasons. Major Powell receives from the author and

_ richly deserves the highest commendation for the encouragement

- which he has given. There is, perhaps, a little too much mutual

admiration between patron and author for a work of such magni-

tude. This is carried to a ridiculous extent when over thirty

pages are given to members of the Bureau of Ethnology, one

page to the Smithsonian Institution and three inches to W. W.

Turner. It is to be hoped that all who are interested in Ameri-

can philology will call Mr. Pilling’s attention to works on Ameri-

can Indian languages which are in the least danger of escaping

his observation. i

Tue MOUND-BUILDERS AND THE HISTORIC IĪNDIĄANS.—A ve

remarkable treatise upon this subject appeared last year in Kos-

mos,and now comes to us in a separate pamphlet, from the pen

of Dr. E. Schmidt of Leipzig. The author starts out with the

assumption that most American archeologists see in the builders

of the mounds a definite ethnological unit, differing from the his-

toric Indians in their anatomy but more in their culture. These

mound-builders peopled in compact settlements the Mississippi

valley, ruled by despotic government, worshiping the sun with

uman sacrifices in temples and altar-places, and living upon the

1130 General Notes. | November,

productions of agriculture. They were advanced in the art of

spinning, weaving, metallurgy and keramic. They fortified them-

selves with circumvallation and buried their dead in mounds. A

cataclysm cut off these people from the historic Indians who are

absolutely new-comers upon the soil, as were the whites who

succeeded them. Now Dr. Schmidt holds that the same revolu-

tion of sentiment which has substituted in geology a gentle and

gradual evolution for the preceding notion of sudden breaks in

creation will also take away the theory of mound-cataclysms and

prove the continuity of social history on our continent.

One of the favorable symptoms of this change of opinion is

the substitution of mound-anatomy, ochthotomy, for the older

process of mound-rummaging. The Naturatist defines anthro-

pology to be the application of natural history methods and appa-

ratus to human phenomena. Mound-anatomy is the application

of the methods of the biological laboratory to the examination of

a mound. Dr. Schmidt, after giving a good résumé of the dis-

tribution and classes of mounds, in which he always eliminates

the marvelous, the extraordinary and the mythical, follows

very closely Professor Putnam in his latest researches.

truth,” says he, “the mounds tell us nothing of the political

organization of their builders, the sacrificial mounds are nothing

more than burial tumuli for cremation. We make an absolute |

step in knowledge when we say that we know nothing of the

sociology and religion of the mound-builders.” Furthermore, in

studying the geographical distribution of mounds, it is seen that

i i It is not to be supposed

climatic variation. These types of remains speak of different

peoples who developed their several ideas. The thousand and

one perishable things that have fallen victims to time and fre

more definitely expressed this separation, and the things that

remain are like the few words in common throughout the Aryan

tongues, telling of a common origin further back. The crania of

the mound-builders are, for the most part, artificially deformed,

as are those of many modern tribes of America. The time 0

these peoples extends from many centuries before Columbus far

into the historic period of the continent.

On the other hand, when we seek to compare the mound-

builders with the modern Indians, we find our ignorance almost

as profound respecting the latter. Nothing is more unjust than

to place in opposition an exaggerated view of the former with

the most degraded types of Indians. In New England, New

York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, all through the South, the early

_ Settlers were actually kept from starving by the aboriginal maize

_ fields. In all of these self-same localities were fortifications, Cif-

= lations, fossettes, platforms, as among the mound-builders.

‘mound-builders trace animal forms in earth? the Indians

PARR x

csi ic

1885.] Anthropology. 1131

of New Mexico paint their altars in colored sands to-day. The

terraced mounds, cremation, ossuaries, stone mounds, deposit

burial, art productions for peace or war, traditions of the great

Eastern stocks are all ably examined by Dr. Schmidt, and won-

derful parallelisms pointed out.

Finally, relying greatly upon Mr. Hale’s “ Indian migrations

as evidenced by language,” the author revives the story of the

Allegewi. There’s the rub, The number of American archzol-

ogists who believe that the mound-builders were not Indians at

all is very small. We have never seen one. There are all grades

of believers in the amount and quality of relationship between

the mound-builders and historic Indians; but which mound-

builders and which historic Indians, that is quite a different

thing.

THE Natives oF New Guinea.—lIt is usually stated that two

types of man exist in New Guinea; the one Melanesian, or so-

called Papuan (which prevails from Flores to New Caledonia and

Fiji), occupying the bulk of the country; the other, a fairer,

milder race, having decided affinities with the Polynesian, found

on the south coast of the eastern peninsula. Members of the

former division, however, differ widely in appearance in different

parts of the island. Not only have they in some instances under-

gone great admixture, as, ¢. g., on parts of the north coast, where

the type has been refined by mingling with a superior and possibly

immigrant strain, but elsewhere, in the interior and on the coast,

as at Sorong in the north-west and on the east side of Geelvink

bay very degraded types are found. The fairer race show signs

of great admixture and deviation from the Polynesian type. The

Papuans preserve the heads of enemies and the skulls and jaw-

bones of relatives. The “great house,” many hundred feet long,

and containing several families, is found in New Guinea, as in

Borneo and among the Mishmis and Nagas of Assam; the last-

named having also, like the Papuans, separate houses for bachel-

ors, and, unlike them, others for maidens. The Malay practice of

building on piles is also common throughout New Guinea, even

high up on the mountain sides. In the south-east stockaded vil-

lages are built on the steep spurs of hills, surmounted by a

dobbo, serving as a watch-tower and as a refuge from human and

Spiritual enemies. Houses are also built on the ground with low

walls and projecting eaves. In some places are larger houses, orna-

mented outside with figures of birds, etc., which seem to corre-

Spond to the council-house. The Papuan is a savage of a high

Order. Although still in the stone age the artistic faculty is

Shown in the carvings on canoes, houses, implements and wea-

pons. They are fond of flowers. They trade massoi bark, nut-

Megs, bird skins, pearl- and tortoise-shell, trepang and slaves for

cotton cloth, iron and copper ware, knives, beads, mirrors, indigo

e p

= and arrack.—C. Trotter in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc., vi, 196.

1132 General Notes. | November,

Tue Mart Beps or Kunpa—Professor C. Grewinck, in the

University of Dorpat, has written a pamphlet of seventy-two

pages on the marl beds of Kunda, in Estland, Province of Livo-

nia, on the Gulf of Finland, Russia. The marl beds are three

versts from the sea, between the town and the River Kunda. The

first portion of the pamphlet describes the geologic features of

the locality. From page twenty to the end an account is given

of the bones of vertebrates and the bone implements found in the

marl. The animals include Zguus caballus, Bos taurus, Cervus

alces, Cervus capreolus, Cervus tarandus, Sus scrofa, Canis famil-

aris, The horse and ox are most common, and are found as well

in the marl as in the bog, generally gnawed. The bone imple-

ments are mostly harpoon points and piercers, and the position of

the pieces is accurately described.

ANTHROPOLOGY IN Japan-—[Trans. As. Soc. of Japan, XI,

pts. 1 and 2, xm, pt. 1]—vod-plants in Fapan—Mr. Edward

Kinch, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Japan, vol.

XI., pp. 1-38, presents a tabulated list of the food-plants of Japan.

The systematic name, the Japanese name, and, in many cases,

the English name is given, The author also states the part of

the plant that is useful, the use to which it is put, and any inter-

esting facts known. Dr. Geerts makes some observations on this

ist and draws attention to Siebold’s “Synopsis plantarum cecon-

omicarum universi regni Japonici,” Trans. Batav. Soc. of Arts and

Sc., xii, and to Dr. S. Syrski’s article on Japanese economic

plants, pp. 175-220, in von Scherzer’s Fachmanuische Berichte,

etc., Stuttgart, 1872.

Ainos of Tsuishikari—Tsuishikari is a hamlet in Sapporo,twelve

miles east of the city. The Ainos who people it are a colony from

Sagalin that, in 1875, at the invitation of the Japanese govern-

came and built their straw huts. These Ainos are fishers and

live on fish, rice and pounded lily roots. Hunting the bear 1$

their glory, and they will attack the animal with a bow and a,

‘knife. The men are fine looking, and no hairier than many

Englishmen. The women and girls tattoo the cheek with the

juice of the haba tree. The dress of both sexes is gaudy and not

unlike. The weapons are the bow, sword, and dagger. The

=~ Women smoke more than the men, and are also the musicians,

= playing the Jew’s harp, the harp, and a two-bridged harp (/0”-

are). Their houses are no better than our Indian huts, and in-

teriorly are furnished like them. All their home-made vessels are of

ood. Bear cages are a constant adjunct for raising cubs, whose

mistresses suckle them when they are very young. These

1885.] Anthropology. 1133

one. The medicine man does not differ from the same function-

ary in all other tribes of their gradus—Mr. Y. M. Dixon, in Tr.

As. Soc., Fapan, XI, 39-50.

Japanese Tea—Part 1, vol. xu, pages 1-32, plates 1-xXx1, is de-

voted to a monograph on the preparation of Japan tea. By

Henry Gribble.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — Professor F. W, Putnam draws

Richmond, Wayne county, Ind.: “ A tusk [of the mastodon or

mammoth ] was exhumed from the gravel, fifteen feet below the

surface, while excavating the Whitewater canal near Brookville,

thirty miles south of Richmond; a club-shaped implement,

formed apparently of cliff limestone, was also taken out of the

gravel ten feet below the surface, near the spot where the tusk

was found.” A writer in Science draws attention to the follow-

ing sources of information respecting the aboriginal languages of

S. America:

Professor Friedr, Müller in Grundzüge der Sprachwissenschaft.

Lucien Adam in Examen grammatical de seize langues américaines, Genoa, 1882.

Dr. Julius Platzmann in Glossar der Feuerländischen sprache.

Rate Bove in I Fuegini, secondo Vultimo suo viaggio, Parte prima, Genova,

1883

John Luccok, Grammatical elements and a vocabulary of the Tupi language or

' lingoa geral, of Brazil, Rio Janeiro. H. Laemmert & Co., 1882.

Dr. Julius Platzmann, fac-simile edition of Havestadt’s book of Chilidaqu [see Sci-

ence, II, 550].

R. B. White, A short ethnographic and linguistic study of the Indians of Antioquia

and of the Cauca valley, U. S. Colombia.

J. Anthrop. Inst., &c.. 1884. raion vocabularies of the Noanama and Tadó dia-

lects of the Choco family].

Edwin R. Heath, Vocabularies of Canichana, Cayuaba, Mobima, Moseteria, Paca-

ara, Marépa and Tacana languages of Bolivia.

Braz da Cosia, Vocabulos indigenas e outros introducidos nouzo vulgar. [Foreign

and Indian words introduced into the Portuguese of Brazil.

A. H. Keane, On the Botocudos, also called Aimorés, J. Anthrop. Inst., Nov., 1883.

i t

Botocudos means “ those wearing the lip ornamen

J. J. von Tschudi, Organismus der Kechna sprache, Leipzig. F. A. Brockhaus,

1884, pp. 534. ;

Giovanni pelles, Sulla lingua degli Indiani Mattacchi del Gran Chacco, Frienze,

: 1881.

F. di la Carrera, Arte de la lingua Yunga, Lima, 1880.

1134 General Notes. | November,

S. Carlos von Koseritz has published “ Bosquejos Ethno-

logicos,” a series of papers contributed by him in the last three

years to the Gazeta de Port Alegre on anthropological ‘subjects

in the province of Rio Grande do Sul and other parts of Brazil.

Stone implements of a strictly Palzolithic type appear to be very

rare in von Koseritz’s collection, and as they occur promiscuously

with Neolithic objects, the author infers that it is impossible to

determine a Paleolithic antecedent to a Neolithic age in Brazil.

Many pieces were found associated with the remains of the Me-

gatherium, “ Rhinoceros tichorinus’(/ /) and the cave bear. Buta

skeleton recently found in a shell mound on the banks of a fresh-

water lagoon near Cidreira, three miles from Rio Grande, con-

vinces the writer that the early inhabitants of South Brazil were

of a lower type than the Charruas and others in possession of

that region im the historic period. The Botocudos of the Aimores

mountains have more nearly the features of the Cidreira cranium

(Nature, Aug. 21, 1884). ose who are interested in the sub-

ject of the jus prima noctis will find it thoroughly discussed by

Dr. Karl Schmidt in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xvi (1884), pp.

18-59. The author seems to be familiar with the literature of the

subject, and gives innumerable references to authorities, ancient

and modern. :

MICROSCOPY .!

A Means oF DIFFERENTIATING EmsBryonic Tissugs.—It may

be safely assumed that all hardening and staining fluids possess,

in a higher or lower degree, the power of developing, in the pho-

tographer’s sense, histological distinctions between embryonic

cells, long before these distinctions become manifest in percepti-

ble morphological differences. It is evident, also, that this dif-

ferentiating action varies in strength according to the conditions

under which the reagents are applied. Our knowledge of the

ways and means of controlling this action is still very meager;

but it is sufficient to show that the histological technique of the

future has much to hope for through experimentation in this di-

rection. One of the best ways of intensifying the differential

effects of hardening fluids, is to use several of them in combina-

tion or in sequence. The use of osmic acid, followed by Merkel’s

fluid, is an example of this kind. The advantages of this method

in the study of pelagic fish eggs have already been noticed,? and

‘ I wish now to state briefly what the method will accomplish

=~ when applied to the eggs of Clepsine. The mode of procedure

is as follows:

oS eggs are placed in 1% per cent solution of osmic acid

r ten minutes, then rinsed in clean water and transferred to

: 1 Edited by Dr. Cc. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

: S a anem Nov., 1883, p. 1294, and Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and

1885.] Microscopy. 1135

Merkel’s fluid (platinum chloride, 1% per cent, and chromic acid,

I% per cent, in equal parts), in which they are allowed to remain

one and a half hours. They are next washed in flowing water

for the same length of time, then treated with 50 per cent and

70 per cent alcohol. They need remain only a short time in

the first grade of alcohol (about thirty minutes), but should be

left for twelve to twenty-four hours in the second. For stain-

ing, I have used Grenacher’s alcoholic borax-carmine, adding

to it from one-third to one-half its volume of glycerine. The

glycerine intensifies the action of the dye,so that a moderately

deep stain is taken in the course of twenty-four hours.

It should be mentioned that it is best to stain immediately

after the eggs have remained the required time in alcohol, as

receptivity for the staining fluid diminishes considerably with the

lapse of time. The osmic acid has time to penetrate to all parts

of the embryo, and the blackening is arrested and partially re-

moved by the action of Merkel’s fluid. The differential effects of

the osmic acid are, however, sharpened under the influence of the

chrom-platinum solution.

This method has enabled me to trace out the history of the

entoderm, and the precise origin of the nerve-chord, nephridia,

salivary glands, larval glands, &c. The results of my study will

be published in full later, and I shall here only give the more im-

portant conclusions. Each of the germ-bands,as I have shown

elsewhere, is made up of three distinct layers, namely: (1) an

epidermal layer; (2) a layer consisting of four longitudinal rows

of cells, and (3) a deeper layer, next to the yolk, composed of

larger cells.

The four rows of cells, forming the layer subjacent to the epi-

dermis, are the products of four larger cells at the posterior end

of each germ-band. These four cells are called “wxeurod/aszs” in

the papers referred to. The innermost layer, which is wholly

mesoblastic, is derived from alarge “ mesoblast,” which lies below

the four “ neuroblasts.” Thus the two deeper layers of each germ-

band is made up of the products of five cells.

The main point to be determined was the precise origin of the

nerve-chord. In my first paper dealing with this subject I was —

unable to settle this point satisfactorily. I satisfied myself that

the nerve-chain was formed from the products of the so-called

“ neuroblasts,” but I was mistaken in supposing that aX of these

products entered into its composition.

The method above given has shown that of the eight rows of

these cells (four in each band), only the two median ones give rise

to the nerve-chord. The lateral row of each band probably gives

origin to muscular elements, while the two rows, lying between

the median and the lateral rows, furnish the basis forthe nephridial

1Quart. Jour. Mic. Sc., 1878, and Zool. Anz., No. 1.

1136 General Notes. ' [November,

organs. The two median rows of nerve-cells are faintly browned

with osmic acid, while the four rows of nephridial cells are deeply

browned, forming thus a sharp contrast in color. The two lateral

ward into the fully outlined ganglia. The same has been done

on sections, leaving no doubt as to the origin of the nerve system

of the trunk. Iam not able to say whether the two rows o

nerve-cells extend into the cephalic lobe; but I am certain that

the nerve-collar, including the supra-cesophageal ganglia, is formed

from cells that lie beneath the epidermis, and not from a thick-

ening of the epidermis itself.

The epidermis overlying the nerve-cells destined to form the

four sub-cesophageal ganglia, thickens up at an early date and

eventually becomes from two to three or more cells deep. This

thickened portion of the epidermis has nothing whatever to do

with the formation of any part of the nervous system. The deeper

cells of this thickening form provisional gland-cells, which serve

to sea the embryo, after its escape from the egg-membrane, to

the ventral side of the parent. In this manner the young are

carried ace until the posterior sucker is developed sufficiently

to serve as an organ of attachment. These gland-cells are colored

dark brown, and are thus very easily distinguished from the

lighter-colored nerve-cells lying beneath them

he epithelium of the whole alimentary tract, excluding the

stomodzeum (pharynx) and proctodzum, which are derived from .

the epidermal layer, arises from free nuclei belonging to the three

large blastomeres (a2, 4 andc in my figures). The cells which

form the cesophagus are the firstin order of development, making

their appearance just beneath the stomodzal thickening, in the very

earliest stage of the germ-bands. From the mass of cells formed

at this point arise not only the cesophageal epithelium, but also

the salivary glands. The method employed gives preparations in

which all the embryonic tissues of the head and anterior portion

of the trunk (epidermis, larval gland, salivary glands, nerve-cells,

muscle-cells, and cesophageal epithelium) are distinguishable.

The cells destined to form the epithelial lining of the stomach

arise later than those of the cesophagus. They appear first as

ret cells, on the ventral side, at the anterior end of the future

dorsal line, I find no fully formed endoderm cells (except salivary

ells), but do find free nuclei in the anterior half.

-O of the i arise as bulb-like thickenings of

1885, ] Muroscopy. 1137

the epidermis. At thetime of hatching, long before the eyes and

segmental sense-organs appear, two pairs of these sense-bulbs

are found, symmetrically placed on the surface that is to form the

margin of the lip. The symmetrical arrangement in pairs, the

second pair being a little behind the first and farther apart, sug-

gests that these organs were primarily strictly segmental.—C. O

Whiuman.

REPAIRING BALSAM PREPARATIONS.— When balsam preparations

have been made with a very thin solution, or with a small amount

of fluid, evaporation sometimes causes the balsam to be invaded

by air spaces which it is difficult to refill, even witha thin solution

of balsam. Such spaces may readily be filled with the solvent of

the balsam (benzole), and then a drop of thin balsam placed at

the edge of the cover glass will gradually replace the benzole as

it evaporates, without leaving air spaces. To prevent a too rapid

introduction of the benzole, it is desirable to transfer it with a

glass tube drawn to capillary fineness at one end, rather than with

a glass rod. If the tube is not too large—5 or 10™"—and is

drawn out quite gradually, enough benzole may be sucked into it

to serve for repairing a large number of slides without danger of

loss by its running out or by evaporation when the tube is laid

down. The application of the capillary end of the tube to the

edge of the cover glass induces a steady and even flow of the

fluid, until the space beneath the cover glass is completely filled.

—E£, L. Mark.

Tue Eves oF ANNELIDS.'"—For the study of these small eyes

it is necessary to make very fine sections and to remove the pig-

ment. The decoloration of the eye may be effected by soak-

ing in glycerine, to which a little 35 per cent caustic pot-

ash has been added. When the work of decoloring has been

carried sufficiently far, it should be checked by neutralizing with

dilute hydrochloric acid ; and then the preparation should be care-

fully washed before transferring to a hardening or mounting

fluid. The preparations are best preserved in glycerine.

A New Sotvent oF CuitT1n.—In a previous number of “ Mi-

croscopy ” I have called attention to the use of hypochlorite of

potassium (KCIO), or Eau de Javelle, as an agent for removing the

soft parts of such animals as Spongilla, and for preparing skeletons

of small animals. Dr. Looss? now recommends this fluid and the

corresponding combination with sodium (NaClO) as excellent

‘solvents of chitin. The thickest and hardest chitinous parts of

insects, after soaking long enough to become transparent and per-

fectly colorless, may be quickly dissolved by boiling in one of

these agents.

If the commercial fluid is diluted by adding 4-6 times its volume

1 Graber, Archiv. f. mikr. Anat., XVII., p- 250, 1879.

2 Zool. Anzeiger, VIH, No. 196, p. 333, June, 1885.

1138 General Notes. [November,

of water, and the chitinous parts to be studied immersed (either

fresh or hardened) for twenty-four hours or more, the chitin is

rendered permeable to staining fluids. Nematodes and their eggs

may be successfully treated in the same manner. It is remark-

able that the underlying soft parts do not suffer, the finest struc-

tural conditions being preserved. The potassium compound acts

with more energy than the sodium compound.

WHITE Zinc Cement.—This cement is recommended, by Dr.

Frank L. James, as superior to those in general use for inclosing

preparations mounted in glycerine. The following are his direc-

tions for preparing it:

Dissolve gum damar in pure benzol sufficient to make a solu-

tion of the consistency of a thin syrup, and filter through absorb-

ent cotton. Into a porcelain capsule put a small quantity of

chemically pure oxide of zinc, free from moisture (a precaution

which is best assured by heating the zinc in a muffle for a short

time prior to using it), and, having previously wet it with

a small quantity of benzol, add sufficient of the damar solution to

make a paste the consistency of cream orathick paint. Rub

with the muller or pestle until perfectly smooth, and then pour

into a stock bottle. Repeat the operation until a sufficient

amount of the cement is obtained. The fluid should now be

filtered through absorbent cotton to remove all of the grosser

particles of the zinc which escaped the action of the muller. It

may now be allowed to stand until the zinc subsides to the bot-

tom. If the fluid has been used in proper proportion the zinc

will occupy about half of the entire mass. In other words, the

fluid and zinc should be in about equal proportions. If there be

too much fluid, a portion may be decanted, while if there be too

little the requisite amount may be added from the damar solu-

tion. The operation is finisued by adding sufficient drying oil

(boiled linseed or nut oil) to give the cement a proper toughness.

The cause of the so-called “ creeping ” of hea leakage of

cells, etc., is explained by the same author, as follow

All of the cements which I have enumerated and Jobi in

the preceding chapters, with the exception of gold size, consist of

some solid material or materials dissolved or held in on o wc

SENA principall y upon AE In the process of harden-

ing or Te the bulk or mass of the cement is very materially

altere crease in volume occurring which is proportionate to

the eaten of volatile matter lost in drying. The cement shrinks.

Now, when a cell is properly finished it must be entirely filled

mounting medium. If it is not so filled we are bound

air cere the béte noir of microscopists, which are not

1885.] Scientific News. 1139

only unsightly, but will, in process of time, ruin the mount. If

the cell walls were not entirely dry when the cell was closed, it is

plain that the process of shrinkage had not yet been completed,

and that it is yet to occur to a greater or less extent. What is

the inevitable result? The fluid within the cell is practically in-

compressible, yet pressure is brought upon it.- It has no space

within its container inte which it can retreat, and consequently

it must force its way out of it. This it does slowly and gradu-

ally. It may be some time before it is noticed, but it is bound to

come. The cement gives way at its weakest point, and the fluid

exudes—“ creeps” out. It is discovered, washed off and a fresh

ring of cement applied. This puts off the evil day a while, but

in a few months the process has to be repeated. Meanwhile the

pressure is continuously exerted, and minute quantities of the

mounting medium gradually infiltrate the walls at fresh points;

the cement disintegrates, scales, and splits off. The remedy pro-

posed is—Never use a cell until the cement walls are thoroughly

dry and hard.—Nat. Druggist, April 4, 1885.

EE 4°)

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The two Portuguese explorers, Captain Capello and Com-

mander Ivens, arrived at Cape Town on July 16th, and left again

soon afterwards for Mossamedes, with the intention of returning

to Europe via the Congo. They have traversed a region which

no European had ever set foot in, as leaving Mossamedes in

March, 1884, they reached Quillimane, on the eastern coast to

the south of Mozambique, in May last, having traveled over 4500

miles of territory, 3000 miles of which were previously unex-

plored. They discovered the sources of the Lualaba, an affluent

of the Congo, which has been so frequently referred to at recent

geographical discussions. They also came upon a region which

is extraordinarily rich in copper, this being the district of Yaran-

ganga, situated between the Lualaba and the Luapula. They also

made a discovery which may be of great use to commerce and

science. It has often been remarked that the venomous African

fly, the tsetsé, which did so much mischief to cattle in the south-

east of Africa, and had almost extinguished trade between Dela-

goa bay and the Transvaal, had totally disappeared of late.

Messrs. Capello and Ivens found that this fly was still very abun-

dant further north, and that, as had often been stated before, it

was always to be seen where there were plenty ot elephants.

Stanley, in the course of his travels, had observed the same phe-

nomenon, and it follows, therefore, that the region explored by

the two Portuguese travelers is rich in ivory —Lnglish Me-

chanic,

1140 Scientific News. [ November,

— Editor AMERICAN NATURALIST :—Mr. M. C. Read has called

my attention to the fact that he has been misrepresented by the

text as it stands printed on p. 25 of my report upon petroleum to

the Census office. No one can blame a man of Mr. Read's intel-

ligence for objecting to being made responsible for the following

sentence: “ Mr. Read asserted that there were several bottomless

pits of petroleum beneath an intensely hard, cherty limestone,

very difficult to drill.” If the previous sentence is joined to the

one just quoted and the words “ Mr. Read” replaced by the

word “who,” the text would then stand as it was intended by

myself. So many stupid and blundering changes were made in

my text in Washington, that I am thankful no greater injustice

has been done any of the numerous authors whom I have quoted.

While many of these changes were discovered and the reading

restored as originally written by myself, I am aware that some of

them were overlooked and still remain. Very respectfully,

S. F. PECKHAM.

BRISTOL, R. I; Oct. 5, 1885.

_— The Zoological Garden of Cincinnati is in a flourishing con-

dition, and has some especial points of attraction. It poss€sses

probably the finest mandrill in the world. He is twelve years

— The St. Louis Botanical Garden, or Shaw’s Garden, is a fea-

ture of that city which deserves imitation elsewhere. It was

established and is sustained by the liberality of Mr. Shaw, a pri-

vate citizen. Full representations of the species of several of

the genera peculiar to our south-western regions are to be found

there, ¢. g., yucca and agave. A fine private collection of plants

is that of Mr. Wm. Brown. His palm house and fern house are

highly ornamental, while in another house nearly if not quite all

the species of Nepenthes are represented.

— Charles Wright, of Wethersfield, the well-known botanical

collector, who graduated at Yale College in 1835, died suddenly

of heart disease Aug. 11th, aged seventy-four years. Mr. Wright

_ was one of the leading botanists of the country. He was em-

ployed by the Government in an expedition to Texas and Arizona

had also botanically explored Cuba. Last year Harvard Col-

secured his collection of plants. Several American plants

ed hid oa He was formerly a valued contributor to

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. II4I

— The Geological Magazine is now twenty-one years old, and

in view of the great usefulness of the magazine and the unre-

quited labors of the chief editor, Dr. H. Woodward, in charge of

the palæontological department of the British Museum, his

friends are subscribing funds to present him with a testimonial,

of which a piece of plate will form a part. We should be happy

to receive and forward any subscriptions from friends of the editor

in the United States.

— We are glad to learn, from an article by Dr. C. T. Hudson

in the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, that a mono-

graph of the Rotifera, by Mr. P. H. Gosse and himself, is in

course of preparation. Such a work will be warmly welcoméd

by microscopists in this country.

— Professor W. C. Kerr, State geologist of North Carolina

for eighteen years, and more recently connected with the United

States Geological Survey, died at Asheville, N. C., Aug. oth, of

consumption. Hewas an excellent observer and a most genial,

companionable man.

— Dr. Henry William Reichardt, professor of botany in the

University of Vienna, died while in a fit of temporary insanity

lately. The majority of his,papers were published in the Journal

of the Vienna Academy. He was born at Iglau in 1835.

—Messrs. M. Schlosser and Otto Meyer, of the Yale College

Museum of Paleontology, have returned to Germany. These

gentlemen have made important contributions to geology and

palzontology.

— Professor Worsae, the distinguished Danish archzologist

and curator of the vast museum at Copenhagen, died in August.

:0:

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, June 9.—Mr.

Ford referred to the presence of Lzttortna irrorata at South At-

lantic City, and stated his belief that there were but three genera-

tions of the species at that locality. He also exhibited speci-

mens of Exogyra forniculata from Kansas, the first examples of

the species known to have been collected in the State. ;

Dr. G. A. Koenig described a mineral allied to franklinite, and

found at Franklin, N. J. The zinc of franklinite is replaced by

iron to such an extent as to reduce it from twenty or thirty to

one and a half per cent, the manganese remaining unchanged.

He proposed to name it manganoferrite.

1142 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Nov., 1885.

June 30.—Dr. H. C. McCook gave an account of the life-his-

tory of the seventeen-year locust. .

Professor W. B. Scott presented for publication an article upon

Cervalces americanus, the fossil deer, from the Quaternary of New

Jersey.

July 14.—Mr. Chas. Morris, referring to a criticism upon his

recently published paper on the development of the hard parts of

fossils, stated that the usually received idea of the organic origin

of Archzan limestones was but an opinion. At.the present time

many springs were depositing carbonate of lime mechanically,

and it is possible, and even probable, that the Laurentian seas

contained as great an excess of this salt as do these modern

springs. Professor T. Sterry Hunt is of this opinion, and con-

siders the phosphates as also of mechanical deposition. Inor-

ganic chemistry was probably much more active at that period

than now, and reactions may have taken place of which no trace

remains except in the conditions of these early strata.

July 28.—Mr. G. H. Parker described the anatomy of the Ce-

cropia moth. The proboscis is small and the cesophagus thread-

like, indicating that the imago takes little nourishment. The

speaker stated his conviction that the three glands which pour a

secretion into the oviduct, and the function of which was by a

recent writer said to be unknown, secrete an adhesive material

which serves to secure the eggs to the object on which they are

deposited.

Linn#An Society, Lancaster, Pa., June 27.—There were a

large number of donations to the museum, among them a speci-

men of the nest of the Tarantula, containing the insect, from

California, by Abram Summy ; and the habitaculums of the Cicada

from the Moravian burying-ground, donated by S. M. Sener.

They are not as perfect as those secured in 1868 on the premises

of George Hensel. This is perhaps owing to the character of the

soil. Those of the former year were found in a soil of clay and

sand, whilst those in the burying-ground were in a dark, loamy

soil. This is an interesting confirmation of an observation that

had heretofore never been recorded except in reference to Lan-

caster city,

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xix.—DECEMBER, 1885.—No. 12.

THE STONE AX IN VERMONT.

I. CELTS.

BY PROFESSOR GEO, H. PERKINS,

HOSE specimens usually termed stone axes, for whatever

purpose designed by their makers, may be grouped under the

three heads, celt or ungrooved ax, notched ax and grooved ax.

To the first group, the celts, by far the larger number of our ax-

like implements, must be referred, and of this alone will the fol-

lowing pages treat, other varieties of the ax being deferred

until a second paper. This term celt is convenient rather than

accurately descriptive, embracing, as it usually does, a great

variety of objects which undoubtedly were put to a variety of uses,

We might easily set aside some of our celts as axes, others as chis-

els and still others as skin-dressers, or adzes, or hoes, but in most

cases this definite assignment is wholly theoretical, and hence

very possibly erroneous. Moreover, when we attempt to arrange

a large series of these implements under the various groups, we

soon discover numerous intermediate forms by which all may be

united into a nearly unbroken series. There can be no doubt

that there were certain uses for which some implements were

especially intended, and other uses which others were to serve.

Nor can there be any doubt that when occasion required, the

same implement served for several sorts of work. For our pres-

ent purpose it will be most convenient to call all our ungrooved

axes celts.

As compared with other classes of implements celts are not

uncommon in our Vermont collections, and they exhibit a

VOL, XIX.—NO. XII. 75.

1144 The Stone Ax in Vermont, [December,

remarkable diversity in form, size, material and workmanship.

Scarcely any two of them are precisely alike, and among them

may be found European forms like some of those figured by

Evans, Lubbock, Dawkins and others, as well as forms identical

in all essential respects with specimens from various portions of

the United States. Any one who studies stone implements from

different countries must notice the prevalence of certain common

types which are repeated in locality after locality, and in ancient

and modern work alike.

Very likely the celt had its origin in the hammer stone. This,

at first a well-worn pebble with no wrought surface, was, after a

time, rubbed on another bit of stone until at one end a rude edge

was obtained. When this was accomplished the hammer had

become an ax. The one tool of its kind possessed by early man,

it served many purposes, and gradually took upon itself a great

variety of forms. .

It was a simple and rude beginning, but it was one of the first,

steps in that far-reaching series by which man has risen from

savagery to civilization.

` Very rude celts, such as are sometimes found in other locali-

ties, are not common in Vermont collections. A pebble merely

rubbed at one end until an edge was obtained is not usually the

form found; far more commonly the entire surface is hammered,

and not seldom smoothed and polished. Some of our best celts

are not excelled by our finest specimens of any sort in elegance of

form or finish. Almost all the more common kinds of rock

found in Vermont appear in the celts, but some kinds are more

often found than others, these are trap, greenstone, granite, mica

schist and talcose schist; less common are quartzite, porphyry.

serpentine, slate, etc. The hollow chisel, or gouge, is connected

with the celt by certain peculiar forms which are sharpened like

a chisel at one end while the other is hollowed! So too we find

gouges in which the hollow is very slight, and in some scarcely

noticeable. There is a great diversity in the curvature of the

edge of our celts, a perfectly straight edge being never found,

, and a close approximation to it is not common. In the great

n jority of our specimens the curvature is considerable, much

ore than is seen in a modern ax. As the celt is connected with

g ue by certain specimens, so it passes into the regularly

a1, Vol. xv, +P. 433 Fig. 6.

1885.] The Stone Ax in Vermont. 1145

grooved ax through others. In some specimens there is merely

a notch on each side, in others a very slight groove, and so on

till we have the typical grooved ax. The form of some of the

celts renders the supposition that they were furnished with a han-

dle very improbable, but others undoubtedly were attached, some

in one way some in another, toa wooden handle. Whether the

prehistoric Vermonter ever adopted the Australian custom of -

imbedding the blunt end of his ax in a mass of pitch is not to be

known, but the material for such a handle was at hand and may

have been used.

The average celt of the Champlain valley is about five inches

long or a little more, and half as wide. The extremes are found

in little hand‘axes not more than three inches long, and large

and sometimes clumsy specimens twelve inches long, and rarely

more. In the thickness there is found little relation to other

dimensions; some of the longest celts are thinner than many of

the shorter ones. In most cases the thickness is greatest near

the middle of the length, though sometimes the thickness in-

creases from the edge to the other end. The edge is always

carefully worked, however rude the rest of the specimen, and it

rarely shows the effects of hard usage. Most of the specimens

are hammered over the entire surface, and not seldom they are

smoothed and polished, but some are left just as they were cleft

from a large mass, and show no sign of the workman except at

the edge. In many respects archeological specimens from New

England are greatly surpassed by those from the mounds of the

West and other localities, but some of our Vermont celts will

bear comparison with similar objects from any part of this coun-

try or Europe. A very few copper celts have been found in Ver-

mont, but none of any other material except stone, and of these

latter only will this article treat.

Without pretending to establish a permanent classification of

these objects, but only for present convenience, they will be con-

sidered in several groups, which will be determined chiefly by

form. Our first group will include such as are linear in outline,

the length being several times the, width. Some of these are

of large size and rude in finish, while others are carefully finished,

and in a very few cases there is an attempt at carving in the form.

of one or more knobs or ridges. Fig. 1 illustrates this variety,

and in this as in the other figures, the design is to exhibit an

1146 The Stone Ax in Vermont, [December,

average specimen of each class. The smallest celt of this class

which I have seen is four and a half inches long, but most are

much larger. A few of these linear celts are quite thin, in one

case the material is common roofing slate of nearly uniform

thickness and chisel-like form, and this implement could never

have been intended for use as an ax, since the first blow would

-probably have shattered it. In these celts we find often each of

the wide surfaces flat, but in others, and this is the case with a

majority of all classes, one surface is flat or nearly so, while the

Ps:

Pace

ait:

JA i

e Wa A 7

` 4 A n

é > b, : A k ra ay

A et a à S ARA “ory Goan

+ wv, eh * HS rA 4 -

- B

—

7, z

R au,

LY NN

KAN i

FIG X %

other is more or less strongly convex. The flat surface is usually

more highly polished than the other.

In Fig. 2 we have a very unique example of the linear celt,

both ends being sharpened and one transversely to the,other. It

is not common to find each end ground to an edge, but I have

seen only this specimen in which the line of one edge crossed

that of the other. It is a very finely made implement of com-

pact basalt. It was found several feet below the surface in the

ubsoil, in Weybridge, by Mr. A. J. Stowe. It is nearly six

ong and about one inch in greatest width.

1885. ] The Stone Ax in Vermont, 1147

Still another type of celt is shown in Fig. 3, which was found

in the same locality. The usually flat surfaces are beveled from

a median ridge, as shown in the figure, to the sides. The mate-

rial is a greenish quartzite and the specimen is very well finished,

though not as well as many. It is six anda half inches long,

two and a half wide and rather more than one inch in thickness,

The second class of celts are quadrangular in outline. Some

of these are large and rude, others small and well made, but as a

class they are rude and apparently made for rough work. In

some cases, however, they are not

strong, but, as in case of the speci-

men shown in Fig. 4, the material is

some sort of slate, and too brittle for

other than light work. Much larger

specimens of this sort than that shown

in Fig. 4, which is only four inches

long, occur. One of these is of blu-

ish serpentine, and was polished over

the entire surface, although it was not

worked smooth, and hence retains the

irregularities made by the cleavage,

It is nine inches long and more than

four wide,

On page 433 of Volume xv of this Fig. 4. X %

journal, figure 6, is shown a specimen which illustrates the gen-

eral form of the typical celt of this class, only substituting for the

concave end an edge like the upper one in the figure. Very many

are ground to an edge at each end, and these are much more

_ carefully made than others which have but one edge.

Fig. 5 shows a type of our third class of celts, those which

are quadrangular in outline but narrower at one end than the

other, and the narrow end, if there is but one edge, is always

that which is blunt. Often in celts of this form each end is

brought to an edge, as in the case of Fig. 5, though this

is less common than in celts of the second class. These

celts are mostly very nicely made and of handsome mate-

rial, and often beautifully polished. Some of them resemble

closely the small celts found in the Swiss lakes, For the most

part they are not of large size, averaging, perhaps, three or four

inches in length. In none of our stone implements do we find

1148 The Stone Ax in Vermont, [ December,

more beautiful specimens of ancient workmanship than in these

celts, some of which, made from a compact, fine-grained serpen-

tine of richly shaded green, are most elegant objects.

There are beds of this handsome material in several localities

in the State, and it is remarkable that no objects made from it

have been found except some of the celts. Most of the celts ot

the second and third groups are much wider than thick, but a

few are either cylindrical or quadrangular in cross- -section, The

globular form seen in celts from other localities never appears in

Vermont. Our celts appear to have been mainly worked from

pieces split from larger masses rather than as in some places from

pebbles. A form of celt which may be regarded as a modifica-

Fic.5. X % Fic. 6. X %

tion of that shown in Fig. 5 is shown in Fig.6. This is obvi-

ously a hand ax, and although made from porphyry is finely

smoothed and polished. Possibly this is one of those specimens

of which Lafiteau speaks when he says that they were not finished

during a single lifetime, but were handed down as heirlooms to

be highly valued. Certainly no short time would be sufficient

for the manufacture of so perfect an implement from so hard a

stone. This specimen is four and a half inches in length and

two and a half in width across the edge. In cross-section it is

‘Celts of our fourth class are triangular, as is that shown in

Be >. Some of these are rude, others finely wrought. The

men figured i is a very beautiful example of this type of celt.

made of = brown oo marked by a band of

1885. ] The Stone Ax in Vermont. 1149

lighter shade. It is very smooth, and the edge is unusually

sharp. Both surfaces are quite flat.

It is nearly five inches long and three

across the edge. Celts of this form

are less common than those of the

other classes, and are usually of me-

dium size and of hard, compact mate-

rial, such as quartz, of which several

are made, or porphyry. They are

almost always made with great care,

and even those of granular quartz are

polished about the edge and some-

times over the entire surface. As any

collector of stone implements will

readily believe, there are many celts

in our Vermont collections which do

not clearly come within any one of

the above groups, but are interme-

diate in their character. Nevertheless Fic. 7. X %

there are very few which cannot be

placed in one or another of the four classes with sufficient accu-

racy for a general description. It is rather remarkable that so

few of our celts show broken or worn edges. Some of them do

indeed bear abundant evidence of severe service, but most have

sharp even edges as if only just from the maker’s hand. Either

the larger part of these implements were skin-dressers, fleshers

and the like, as doubtless some of them were, or if used for any

work that broke or defaced the edge, they were very promptly

repaired, and that this was sometimes done is familiar to every col-

lector. The shape or bevel of the edge is by no means uniform. In

some of our specimens the angle inclosing the edge iis very large,

and the bevel abrupt and short, as in many of our modern tools

used by iron workers, while in others it is less abrupt, and in most

quite like the edge of our modern ax, for which at best the celt

could have been only a very indifferent substitute, although as a

flesher or skinning knife or scraper some of the forms may very

well have served most excellently.

1150 The Relations of Mind and Matter. {[December,

THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND MATTER.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

(Continued from p. 1076, November number.)

VII. Tue Puysicar Basis or MIND.

HAT the mind has a substantial basis does not need an

attempt at argument before a scientific audience. The neces-

sity of this is already fully admitted. For those who are not

scientists the arguments we have already given must suffice. The

claim that the brain is the organ of mind is based almost solely

on this necessity. No other substance is perceptible at the appa-

rent seat of thought, and the cerebrum is claimed as this seat in

spite of the insuperable difficulties in the way of such a theory.

Yet there is much substance and much in substance which we

cannot hope to éver perceive. Our senses are very imperfect in-

struments, and make us aware of but a minor portion of what

exists. Our most important sense, that of sight, is blind to the

great realm of gaseous matter. The microscope reveals to us

worlds of existence which the unassisted senses could never have

discovered. By the aid of delicate tests and instruments many

of the less gross and active conditions of matter have been made

apparent. In this way the range of our sensibility has been very

greatly increased. And yet we are but on the threshold of the

universe, Important conditions exist to which the senses of man

have never responded. Important conditions exist to which our

physical senses can never respond. We have the strongest reason

to believe in the existence of substance all around us of which we

can never become sensible.

Some review of the conditions under which substance appears

to exist becomes here requisite. In the science of a century past

matter was but one of several distinct forms of substance. It

was accompanied by a number of ethers, or imponderable es-

sences, one each for heat, electricity, magnetism, &c. Indeed, the

facility with which a new ether could be constructed to meet

_ every new phenomenon of energy threatened in time to produce

_ a condition as cumbrous as the old epicycle theory of astronomy.

_ That was set aside by the discovery that the earth was a moving

instead of a resting body, and the ethers similarly vanished when

was discovered that motion was the distinguishing feature in

em al From this tradiness to manufacture ethers the pendu-

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. TISI

lum of belief swung to its opposite side, and a general incredulity

on the whole subject of ethers succeeded. In more recent times

this incredulity is giving way, and our most skillful physicists are

fully persuaded of the existence of one ether, the medium of light

radiations. To those scientists the universe contains twò distinct

substances, matter and ether, which differ radically in their con-

ditions of existence.

Students of the phenomena of light declare that there is no

possible escape from this conclusion. Interstellar space is prob-

ably occupied by ordinary matter in a state of extreme diffusion,

and it might be conjectured that the rays of light could make

their way through this substance from star to star. Science de-

clares that this is impossible. Matter, under such circumstances,

must be a very rare gas, and no gas can transmit transverse

vibrations like those of light. Its degree of diffusion also would

be far too great and too irregular. To transmit the rays of light

some substance is needed that is very elastic; that, while exceed-

ingly rare, is far more dense than diffused matter would be in

interstellar space ; and that is in the condition of a rigid solid

instead of a free gas. Yet it must be a solid so readily permeable

as to present no resistance whatever to the movement of the

spheres. As a ball will sink with little resistance through a thin

jelly, without leaving a mark of its passage, so must a globe be

able to plunge unopposed through the almost infinitely thin jelly

of the ether. , :

Ether has never been seen, felt, weighed. or measured. It is

absolutely invisible and intangible. No vessel has pores so

minute as to confine it. It has properties seemingly contradic-

tory ; it must be excessively rare yet perfectly elastic ; its physi-

cal state must resemble that of the. solid while its density is im-

mensely less. We have no proof of its existence resembling our

proofs of the existence of matter, yet we are forced to believe in

it because physical science cannot possibly do without it. There

are hundreds of phenomena which cannot be explained without

it, but can readily be explained with it.

Sir William Thomson, in his lecture before the Franklin Insti-

tute during the 1884 meeting of the American Association for

the Advancement of Science, said of this intangible necessity :

“You may regard the existence of a luminiferous ether as a

reality of science.” “One thing we are sure of, and that is the

1152 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [ December,

reality and substantiality of the luminiferous ether.” And he

proceeds to say that it is the only thing we are confident of in

dynamics. This ether he describes as an elastic solid, its rigidity

enormous in proportion to its density. As to whether it pos-

sesses weight or not he declares that there is no evidence for or

against.

J. Clerk Maxwell speaks as strongly on the subject, and finds a

new use for the ether, as the medium of electric and magnetic

energy. He advances a theory, which has met with much favor,

that “light is an electro-magnetic phenomenon.” In other

words, both these modes of traveling energy employ the same

medium and are carried by it with a rapidity extraordinarily

greater than any known movements of vibrations in matter,

such as the waves of sound. Ether; therefore, is supposed to

permeate all substances, however dense. It conveys electricity

through the densest solids, and light through the densest

transparents. -We can reduce air, by the air pump, to one

hundred thousandth of its volume, and yet it is firmly held

in a glass vessel. But light passes through the vessel, and

through its partial vacuum, without a check, The substance

which carries it moves as freely as if no other substance was

present.

There is, however, a seeming relation between matter and

ether, if we accept the latest atomic theory, that of vortex mo-

tion, propounded by Sir William Thomson. It is not necessary

here to explain this theory ; it will suffice to say that it holds

that fragments of the ether possess a vortical motion by which

they become separate and indestructible integers. Each such

vortex atom must have always existed and must always exist.

They are indestructible and unchangeable. No new ones can

arise, and no old ones can vanish. They must be coéternal with

ether. Their substance is the same as the ether itself. They are

simply portions of ether affected with a certain mode of motion.

_ But as thus constituted they are essentialty distinct from ether,

= and the two constitute two unlike conditions of substance. This

conclusion i is probably true whatever the character of atoms, and

' r the vortex atom theory be correct or not.

Teer Oliver Lodge gives the following particulars con-

th this substance The density of ether, though small, is

i aii l its Functions, ae Jan. 25, 1883.

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1153

enormously greater than that of the earth’s atmosphere can be if

the atmosphere extends indefinitely into space, as is highly prob-

able. The rigidity of ether is insignificant as compared with

ordinary solids, yet its transmitting power is enormously greater

than that of steel or glass, on account of its very slight density. The

ether within glass transmits vibrations 40,000 times as rapidly as

the particles of glass itself could do. But the atmospheric ether

carries these vibrations at a speed one-half greater. The speed,

therefore, is checked within glass to two-thirds its normal

amount. Why isthis? Is ether affected by gross matter, and

concentrated by attraction so as to increase its density? Fres-

nel’s hypothesis is, that the ether is really denser inside gross

matter. He thinks that_an attraction exists between ether and

the molecules of matter which results in an agglomeration or —

binding of some ether round each atom, and that this bound

ether belongs to the matter and travels with it. The free ether

may flow without check through the pores of matter, and even

through those of the earth as it dashes onward through space,

Refraction of light from sucha cause is attributed to bound ether,

which seems to act differently on the different colors.

Certain experiments have been tried to prove whether any of

the ether can be bound. If ether is carried along with a moving

stream, as of water, it should hasten the speed of light passing

through that stream, If not carried by the stream there could

be no effect on the speed of light. The results of these experi-

ments have been favorable to the hypothesis. Yet the variation

in the speed of light from such a cause is so slight that it is

difficult to reach any very positive conclusions on this subject.

That ether possesses energy is unquestionable. It moves with

such extreme readiness that it cannot fail to possess a large sum

of normal motions. Its physical condition also is indicative of

conditions of energy. Elasticity, rigidity, solidity are due in

matter to the interactions of attraction and motion, and we have

no warrant to ascribe them to any other cause in ether. But the

motions normal to ether are certainly very different from those

normal to matter, since ether refuses to accept the motions com-

municated to it by matter. This is what we must understand

from radiant light and heat. Matter forces its motions upon

ether, but the latter substance refuses to absorb them, and merely

transfers them, with the utmost rapidity, to some distant mass of

1154 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [ December,

matter. We know that the sun exists because its energy is trans-

mitted to the earth by the ether, and acts upon the matter of the

earth, Were not the ether a perfect transparent to this material

energy we could never become aware of the existence of sun and

stars, since their light and heat-rays would be swallowed up long

before they could reach us.

Ether is, in fact, the most homogeneous body in the universe.

It is in a state of motor equilibrium, its motions probably being

exceedingly more rapid than those of ordinary matter. It has

no direct motor relations with matter, but transmits to distant

matter all motion forced upon it, by aid of the vibrations of its par-

ticles or separate portions, which are localized in position, like

those of the solid. J. Clerk Maxwell speaks of it as follows:

_ “ Whether this vast homogeneous mass of isotropic matter is fitted

not only to be a medium of physical interaction between distant

_ bodies, and to fulfill other physical functions of which, perhaps,

we have as yet no conception, but also, as the authors of the

Unseen Universe seem to suggest, to constitute the material organ-

ism of beings exercising functions of life and mind as high as or

higher than ours at present, is a question far transcending the

limits of physical speculation.”!

Not having read the Unseen Universe, I am unaware of the

: precise character of its speculations, yet I cannot imagine the

luminiferous ether as possessed of such powers. For life and

mind organization seems necessary, and organized ether is dis-

tinct from free ether, and must be some condition analogous to

matter, which is probably one form of organized ether. Bound

ether, or atom atmosphere, may represent such a second state of

organized ether. For all we know to the contrary a second series

of atoms may be formed by this condensing action of matter on

ether, atoms intimately connected with matter and assimilated

with it in motion, yet differing in density of substance and motor

rapidity. It may be possible that several series of such atoms

exist between matter and ether, each sapable, of forming a basis

of life and mind. Whether orig y, or each rarer

series formed by the condensing Aon a denser series, the

1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. IESS

and only be absorbed by substance of the same series. The

range of material vibrations seems to be from about a hundred

million million, or perhaps lower, to sixteen hundred million mil-

lion pulsations per second. The slowest vibration emitted by an

atom of rarer constitution might lie above this speed, and range

upward from this point of rapidity?

It is with the bound ether that we are here concerned, that

which, in the opinion of many able scientists, surrounds material

atoms and molecules like an atmosphere. The existence of such

an ethereal atmosphere carries with it the implication of some

conformity in motion between the atom and its atmosphere on

the same general principle that operates in the case of the earth’s

atmosphere. And the condensing relation between the atom and

its atmosphere can hardly be any other than that of attraction.

Yet it does not necessarily follow that the motions of the bound

ether must be in every respect identical with those of the atom it

surrounds. A motor leverage doubtless exists between them, but

leverage of a different character may act on this bound ether

from without. It may possess special motor conditions of its.

own, as the terrestrial atmosphere while possessing the general

motions of the earth has special motions which are not shared by

the solid matter of the earth’s mass.

These conclusions seem almost necessary deductions from the

widely accepted view, above given, of the relations of matter and

ether. There is another conclusion, at which we have already

hinted, not a necessary yet a conceivable consequence, This is,

that bound ether may, under certain favoring conditions, attain an

organized state not dependent upon that of matter, and be capa-

ble of permanently retaining this condition, If, as is probable,

molecules composed of many atoms possess an ethereal atmos-

phere, then the disruption of the molecule need not necessarily

disrupt its associated ether. Though ether is organizable under

the influence of matter, vet the forces which disrupt gross matter

might, in certain cases, become powerless upon ether. If so,a

mass of ether which had been organized by the influence of a

mass of matter might retain that organization unimpaired after

1 For an able and elaborate treatment of this subject see Professor A. S. Herschel’s

letters in Wature, Vol. 27, pp- 458, 504, and Vol. 28, p. 294.. These were written

in answers to articles by the writer on “ The Matter of Space,” and constitute an

important treatise on the constitution of the ether, its relations to matter, and its

possible atomic variations.

1156 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [December,

the material mass had become disintegrated, and might continue

to exist as a molecule or mass of a constitution much more rare

than that of matter.

Possibly this power of becoming independent does not exist in

the case of atomic or molecular atmospheres of bound ether.

But it may do so in the case of the bound ether of more devel-

oped compounds. We may look upon the crystal, the plant, the

animal, even on the body of man as possessing, in addition to the

free ether that readily permeates them, a mass of condensed or

bound ether which reproduces every detail of their organization

and every specialty of their motion, from that of each atom to

that of the organism asa whole. In sucha case the cerebrum

might possess such an ethereal atmosphere, not only reproducing

it in organization, but affected in its motor relations by every im-

pulse received from without which is not consumed as muscular

motion. There are certain good reasons for believing that such

a psychic substance exists, intermediate in condition between

matter and ether, and sending out vibratory energy like that of

matter. This psychic substance yields no energies which can

affect matter at a distance, and it is not affected by the emitted

energies of distant matter. It can affect matter and be affected by

it only while an intimate connection exists, like that between the

cerebrum and its psychic atmosphere, and only through the

agency of this connection. In this relation the psychic substance

assumes the general motor conditions of the cerebrum, with which

it is so intimately associated, and is also sensitive to special motor

conditions coming from distant matter. It is, therefore, organized

by the conditions of energy in the material universe. It, in

addition, gains special motions through its own interactions,

and impresses these upon the universe. As compared with

matter its substance is excessively rare and its motions exces-

v sively rapid. Its mobility is therefore extreme, and its sus-

_ceptibility to new influences far beyond anything existing in mat-

ter. Finally it may be capable of retaining its organization sepa-

rate from matter, its constitution being such that the disrupting

_ energies which destroy the organization of matter are powerless

to affect the psychic organism, they being repelled from its sur-

ice, Or passing through it as innocuous vibrations. Under some

conditions, and such only, can we comprehend the existence

mss = nda And thus only can we conceive the

Pee ore es eo ce ee am 4

1885.| The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1157

possibility of the existence of the mind after the disruption of

the body, in substance absolutely imperceptible to our senses, yet

forming organisms which may be as evident and substantial to

each other as are our material bodies to each other,

So far all this is pure hypothesis. We have only offered as

evidence for the existence of a psychic substance the seeming in-

capability of the brain to serve as a mental basis. Yet other evi-

dence exists of considerable force and value. We know that a

psychic substance must exist for the same reasons that we know

an ether exists. We cannot see, touch or weigh either, but there

are phenomena in nature which we cannot possibly comprehend

without them. We believe in the ether because there are things

done in the universe which matter could not possibly do. We

may find ourselves forced to believe in a psychic substance for

reasons of the same kind.

If masses of matter send out radiations of light and heat which

affect distant masses of matter, then psychic masses, when actively

excited, should send out parallel radiations which will affect other

psychic masses, but fail to act upon matter. Evidence of the

existence of such a condition is by no means rare. Every mind

seems to send out psychic radiations which flow like light rays

through ether in every direction, weakening with distance. At

least by such a hypothesis we can understand some very remark-

able mental phenomena which now stand as incomprehensible

mysteries. These we can but briefly glance at. One very com-

mon instance of this, which has occurred to most people, is the

tendency to think and speak of a person immediately before he

appears. Some indication of his coming seems to be in the air,

but as an influence that acts not on the senses but directly on

the mind. In certain instances persons declare that they can see

a mental image of every approaching friend. If our hypothesis

be true, it must be that every mind sends out radiations peculiar

to itself, as every physical object does, that this peculiarity is

recognized by the receptive mind, and consciousness directed

thereby to the mental image of the person to whom the emissive

mind belongs, precisely as it would if we saw some physical object

belonging to that person. :

When the emissive mind is actively exercised and is strongly

thinking of the receptive person, this influence may be carried to

much greater distances, and may rouse the consciousness of the

1158 The Relations of Mind and Matter. [ December,

person thought of at thousands of miles away. We shall give,

further on, an instance of this kind. The psychic rays may be

viewed as preserving the record of their source at any distance,

as in the star beams we can read the story of the physical con-

stitution of the star, however enormously distant.

Another less common phase of this action is the tendency for

two persons to speak simultaneously of the same thing. This is

of various strength in various cases. One lady tells me that she

formerly had a girl for companion in whose presence she did not

dare to think of anything she wished kept secret, for the girl was

exceedingly apt to speak of anything the instant she had thought

of it. The power to make a person turn by fixing a steady gaze

upon him is of this same general character. Numerous instances

of these more ordinary phases of psychic intercommunication

might be adduced, but we shall here mention them only in this

brief manner.

One thing is evident, even in these phases of the subject, that

there are great differences between the emissive and receptive

power of different persons. This becomes much more marked in

special cases of psychic influence. It may be to some extent, a

question of transparency and opacity. We know what very

great differences exist in the conductive powers of different sub-

stances for electricity. Psychic radiations may find like varia-

tions in the physical conditions of different individuals. From

one mind they may flow out as through a transparent. In others

they may be more or less resisted by the matter of the body. In

some cases the resistance may be complete. Reception may pre-

sent the same variations, a sensitive or medium being one who is

unusually receptive of these vibrations. Such an idea would

explain the vigorous mesmeric controlling power of some minds

and the ready yielding to mesmeric control of others. And on

the principle that nerve currents flow most easily along a familiar

channel, we may understand the special rapport between cer-

tain operators and sensitives. In this case the body substance

of the sensitive has grown specially transparent to the psychic

_ emanations of the operator, while it may be more or less ‘opaque

to the emanations of other minds. ;

As to the evidence of a more decided character than that

3 e of psychic intercommunication, a vast volume of in-

ıt be offered. the great sum of these lack the

1885.] Floods, their History and Relations. 1159

essential element of scientific precision of investigation. It will

be best, therefore, to confine ourselves to the results attained by

the London Society of Psychic Research, since the experiments

of this society have been conducted under strict test conditions,

and the reputation of its members as working scientists gives a

weight of credibility to their testimony. After the elimination of

every imaginable source of error, results were attained which

seem to prove incontestibly the direct intercommunication, of

mind with mind. These results are given in full detail in the

published Proceedings of the society, but can be only briefly

glanced at here. They consist of what is called thought transfer,

mesmeric experiments, phenomena of apparitions and other

strange conditions of mental manifestation.

In the thought transfer experiments we have striking evidence

of the action of mind on mind without the aid of the senses. In

these experiments objects, numbers, &c., were named, and draw-

ings reproduced with no other guide than the mental concentra-

tion of the persons who alone knew the character of the object

or drawing. The successful results formed so large a percentage

of the whole as to leave chance quite out of the category. There

seemed no room for doubt that the thought in the mind of the

impressing persons had directly acted on the mind of the sensi-

tive, without possible sensory connection. In explanation of

these and other phenomena, Messrs. Gurney and Meyers offer a

theory of telepathy, or direct communication of mind with mind

without sensory aid. But their theory is imperfect in that it lacks

the conception of any physical medium of intercommunication as

here advocated.

(To be continued.)

FLOODS, THEIR HISTORY AND RELATIONS.

BY WILLIAM HOSEA BALLOU,

LOODS vary in their intensity and duration according to

their geographical range. There are two great flood ranges

` in the United States lying nearly at right angles, one of duration

and the other of intensity. The first is the Mississippi river and

its confluents, and the second the Ohio and tributaries.

The Mississippi and Missouri rivers lie in a north and south

line, and their floods are continuous from early spring until the

middle of July, on account of the slow advance of the sun’s heat

VOL, XIX—NO. XII. 76

1160 Floods, their History and Relations. (December,

into the northern mountain and lake sources. While the floods

thus formed are never of great height comparatively, yet their

long continuation and force are means of most potent destruc-

tion.

The Ohio flood range is the most terrible on the earth’s sur-

face. The water waves generated by it surpass in height, size

and power the greatest tidal waves of the ocean. All atmos-

pheric destruction by tornado, simoon, whirlwind and water-

spout, and all the damage done through subterranean upheavals

by volcano and earthquake do not compare with the ravages of

the floods of this river. Here is a stream lying nearly parallel

with the equator, every portion of which is simultaneously

affected by the sun’s heat. When the temperate zone is turned

toward the sun in the spring, the Ohio’s ice, its entire drain-

age area and all its sources are let loose at once, and a sudden

and awful destruction follows. At this time the Ohio is not

a tributary of the Mississippi; the latter is its confluent. Its

gigantic projectile of water, often 100 feet high, 600 feet broad

and 300 miles long, is hurled on its mission of obliteration,

sweeping before it cities, towns, forests, farms, levees, live stock,

shipping and humanity. When it reaches Cairo it is re-enforced

by the gradually forming floods of the Mississippi and Missouri,

and there begins its unlocking of gigantic ice gorges which

greatly increase its destructiveness. To protect the riparian

country from these floods and repair their damages, the United

States has expended $500,000,000. The individual losses sus-

tained probably amount to twice that sum.

There is an intimate connection between floods and business.

High floods and low business go hand in hand. The present finan-

cial depression was directly precipitated and perhaps caused solely

by the last great flood at Cincinnati. That city was then—as in

every spring time—largely in debt to New York, Chicago and

other commercial centers, for merchandise. Owing to the con-

_ dition of the roads and the losses of small riparian and dependent

_ towns and cities from the flood, the Southern merchants could

= not collect on the products supplied by the North. They were

therefore obliged to renew their notes. Then mercantile failures

th the | South precipitated a total loss on these notes, and the

t era began to spread over the country. A large area

soon ceased t to become a market for the North, cut-

1885. ] Floods, their History and Relations. 1161

ting off a part of the business of the latter and projecting a gen-

eral stagnation. Capital, which otherwise would have gone

South (which at that time was almost the sole region of invest-

ment) to aid in its development, was locked up in safe-deposit

vaults and Government bonds, causing a bank scare and many

bank failures, The depression soon spread to England and

other countries. A retrospective glance into American history

shows that great Ohio floods and great financial crises have gone

hand in hand.

It is evident that having spent an entire century in trying, with

no lasting effect, to repair damages done by floods, the country

should turn its attention exclusively to their prevention. The

methods of prevention are simple but expensive. Numerous

reservoirs should be constructed among the springs in the hills,

and little lakes in which to lock up the water. Great forests

should be planted about the sources of the Ohio which will hold

snow and ice unmelted for a long period, and allow it to escape

slowly. In this way the sun will be made powerless to unloose

the entire Ohio flood range at once, and the waters held sub-

ject to national control.

Congress has considered the question in its usual manner. It

overlooked the facts presented above, and empowered the En-

gineer department to make surveys at the headwaters of the Mis-

sissippi for reservoirs. It might as well have gone to the head-

waters of the Ganges, which have about as much to do with the

destructive elements of these floods. It dropped $60,000 into

this project and then dropped the subject. The future battle is

the Ohio, not in Northern Minnesota or the moon. Congress

will find it cheaper to purchase the land sources of the Ohio and

its confluents, plant them with forests and wall them, than to

plaster broken levees.

Professor Swing, of Chicago, has suggested that the high

mounds of the mound-builders were used as protection against

cyclones, He was obviously mistaken. There are no high

mounds in cyclonic areas. We find them exclusively in riparian

connection, where they were evidently intended for use in time of

oods. These mounds were nowhere used to dwell in. None

are found with entrances or hollowed out. When opened they

either contain skeletons, implements, relics, pottery or nothing at

all. Those unoccupied show that the owner fled or was captured

1162 The Problem of the Soaring Bird. [ December,

or was slain before his natural death, so that he could not be

buried in his own tomb. The high mounds in the valleys served

both to protect the dead from floods and as watch-towers in time

of danger.

One of the remarkable aspects of floods is their influence on

the formation of valleys. Nowhere is this more clearly shown

than in the valley of the Mississippi below Cairo, over which the

floods distribute themselves to a width exceeding forty miles in

many places. This valley has a bed of alluvial silt deposited in

past flood times increasing from forty feet at Omaha and Dubuque

to 300 feet at and below New Orleans. In other words, the flood

alluvial deposit of the Mississippi covers 80,000 square miles to

an average depth of 170 feet, a surface equal to Montana. In

this elastic valley the floods annually work out the destiny of

the river’s bed, which is often found miles from its previous course

after high water.

The ice-gorges which dam up the rivers and hold back the

waters for hundreds of miles are another destructive factor of

floods. When they break the resulting destruction is enormous.

Congress has only to supply its existing snag-boats with dynam-

ite in order to destroy these before the damage force is accumu-

lated. The Government signal service along the rivers can give

warning of their formation.

A’.

THE PROBLEM OF THE SOARING BIRD.

BY I. LANCASTER.

( Continued from p. 1058, November number.)

A® soaring is a phenomenon dependent entirely on bird and

air, which are not connected with the earth, to avoid confu-

sion it is best to pay no attention to the latter. For instance, a

bird motionless in regard to a point on the earth facing a five-

~ mile-per-hour breeze ; the same bird moving in calm air at the

~ Tate of five miles per ee or going with the wind at the rate of

_ ten miles per hour, are identical in character so far as soaring is

concerned. In each case the wind is meeting the bird at the rate

> five spp pei hour, and the differences of translation over the

rth a idental, not concerned with the mechanical activities

1885. | The Problem of the Soaring Bird. 1163

A bird resting in a minimum breeze cannot fall to the rear

without descending; neither can it rise vértically nor at any

angle obliquely to the rear. It can draw forward on the air at

any speed, and when the minimum is exceeded, can then fall to

the rear, or rise until the minimum is once more reached. At

the minimum velocity the bird’s wings are stretched to their ex-

treme limit and the angle of inclination is the greatest. As the

breeze stiffens, the bird, if it remains in the same place, flexes its

pinions and reduces its incline. The frigate bird will float ina

storm with not more than one-quarter of its wing surfaces ex-

posed. Sometimes it bends the points of its wings downwards

until they meet underneath.

The positions of the stretched wings in regard to a level with

the body of the bird also varies. Those of the frigate bird will

average level, the buzzards will be above and the gannets below

a level. ,

For at least three hundred days in the year these birds could

be observed in the air, and when the attention was given to their

actions for a considerable time, at all seasons, and in the various

situations found on so varied a coast as that between Tampa bay

and the Capes of Florida, not only the habitual methods common

to ordinary soaring flight, but the unusual ones, incidentally per-

formed to meet some emergency, were witnessed. The birds also

have periodic seasons of feeling which puts them on behavior

that in a man would be thought idiotic. The months of Febru-

ary and March, the time of breeding, are prolific in these singu-

lar air-tumbling performances. They served to emphasize the

complete difference between active and fixed wing flight.

Being informed by parties from Charlotte’s harbor that sand-

hill cranes could be found there, I sat out in search of them. An

outside passage of thirty miles was required, which was safely

made, and at nightfall I was among the Gasparilla keys. The

wind being favorable and the weather fair, 1 kept on the outer

beach, and at length drifted through a pass with the swiftly run-

ning tide in company with innumerable sharks, porpoises and fish,

great and small, all headed for the bay. Rounding the point I

threw over the anchor, and enveloped in a blanket with face to-

wards the stars, slept, as one who manages a small boat for twenty

hours can sleep. About daylight I was awakened by the thump:

ing of the mast against the limb of a stunted cedar tree obliquely

1164 The Problem of the Soaring Bird. [ December,

jutting from the bank, and while adjusting the trouble a well-

known cry sounded far above in the air, which at once banished

all desire to sleep. I knew the note quite well. It denoted the

arrival of sandhill, or whooping, cranes from the north. Twenty-

five years before I had seen them on the western prairies lift

themselves on fixed wings above the clouds, and I had no doubt

but what the call proceeded from birds which had the evening

before been in the region of the great lakes of. our northern

boundary. Before sunrise at least fifty had arrived, and were

greeted by their comrades on the land in the interior of the key.

They came down in great circles from a height of not less than

three miles, on tensely stretched wings, until within 200 feet of

the earth, when they suddenly began a slow flapping which con-

tinued to the ground. I had often seen them begin their migra-

tions, but never before witnessed the ending.. They would aver-

age a weight of ten pounds, with about eight square feet of wing

surface. In rising they slowly beat the air until a suitable eleva-

tion is reached, when they assume a fixed position and continue

their upward flight in great circles to a high altitude, when they

swing off at a tangent for the south. I have never seen one of

these birds move its wings after stopping them in its ascent, until

they had arrived at the same level in alighting.

The buzzards were the best species for observation from the

ground. Their patience was simply inexhaustible. I watched a

small flock of these birds for fourteen consecutive hours while

- they floated in the breeze, waiting my removal from a dead por-

poise stranded on the beach. Nothing could surpass the loveli-

ness of the day nor the bland freshness of the incoming breeze.

The birds would average eight feet in spread of wings, would

weigh six pounds, and have about six square feet of wing surface.

A memorandum book was filled with notes of the day’s expe-

rience. About a score of flaps were made between twelve and

three o’clock in the afternoon when the wind was quite active and

_ filled with flaws. From four to six in the evening they were as

_ motionless as if petrified. As the sun disappeared behind the

waters of the Gulf, I ended the hardest day’s work I ever made,

and was not fifty feet away before every bird had its beak in the

arcass, For several days after this really imprudent exertion of

eni ntion Iwas abed, but on resuming the subject determined

eriment. pistes: my eyes, assisted by a very good

1885.] The Problem of the Soaring Bird. 1165

glass, several bodies, of six pounds weight each, had remained

stationary in free air about thirty feet above the water, absolutely

without any visible support. They had remained in that condition

many hours, facing a breeze of velocity varying from five to

twenty-five miles per hour. In the rear was located my device

for determining horizontality of wind, and it was level the entire

day. Most people would be less surprised at a body resting in

this way in calm air than in wind. They would hold each to be

simply impossible, but more mysterious that both gravity and air-

resistance should be ignored, than simply gravity. So to deter-

mine how much force it would take to keep six pounds in air all

the time unsupported, I provided a billet of wood of that weight,

well rounded, and proceeded to throw it up in still air, and the

moment it came down, catch and return it. The work was hon-

estly done; the moment it descended it was tossed back with all

the activity I was capable of commanding. I prefer that each

one should try this for themselves, and will only say that an hour

of such work was far, very far, beyond my muscular capacity.

These birds were often watched. from a perch in some lonely

tree at the water line. That I could recline at ease in the fragrant

foliage of the pine was easily accounted for; the trunk of the

sturdy tree antagonized the gravitating force of my body, and I

could rest at peace. But what held up the birds? Had gravity

ceased to act upon them? Had they no resistance to offer to

that sea-born breeze ?

After about four years of this kind of work accident favored me.

A summer whirlwind, on a calm morning, issued from among the

lemon trees straggling over the point a few hundred yards below,

and clutching an armful of dead leaves made for the bay obliquely

in front of my station in the tree. A pair of buzzards were return-

ing from the outer beach on fixed wings, and as luck would have

it, were intercepted by the cyclone, and in five seconds were

ducked in the waters of the bay. I hope they possessed a sense

of humor, but they seemed to blame me for the mishap. A

more thoroughly laughable episode I never witnessed, and from

the bottom of my heart forgave the creatures for their seeming

injustice. They abandoned that part of the coast -but left their

secret behind them.

For the purposes of this paper enough has now been said as to

the facts exhibited, It is very evident that a state of things has

1166 The Problem of the Soaring Bird. [ December,

been found to exist which calls for something better than guess-

work in way of explanation. Taking the case of a ten-pound

bird with tensely stretched and motionless wings, facing a breeze

anywhere from two to one hundred miles per hour, and resting

serenely over the same spot of earth, without effort and without

fatigue, we find our habitual notions about the difficulty of keep-

ing unsupported substances in the air at fault. We want a solu-

tion of the matter from the standpoint of the mechanical engineer.

We need not go into the domain of molecular physics for an-

swers, but we wish the bird explained in the same way that a

steam-engine is explained when we examine it as a machine

doing work. To this end we may ask three questions, and satis-

factory answers being found thereto, the phenomenon will be

comprehended.

I. From whence is derived the motive power to balance

gravity ?

. 2. From whence is derived the motive power to hold the bird

against the wind ?

3. How are these forces applied ?

To explain a steam-engine in this same sense but two en

tions demand answer.

1, From whence comes the motive power to drive the piston?

2. How is this force applied ?

When we say that the force which moves the engine comes

from the coal that is burning in the furnace, and is conducted

through pipes by the medium of steam to a movable piston which

it sets in motion, we have, in a general way, given an explanation

to the activities there going on. When we say. that the grind-

stone is operated by the force derived from the muscular organi-

zation of the boy turning it, then its action is also explained

It is in this way that an attempt will be made to explain a

soaring bird. No objection is taken to the view that force cannot

produce motion, held by some recent scientists. Granted that

ee but motion can produce motion, and I am then only con-

ce with the sequence of events; with having it understood

l that the motion of the piston is not the cause of the burning

al, nor that the grindstone turns the boy.

I en the eee tornado struck the birds as above related,

: iv Wes = on between bird and air were

1885.] The Problem of the Soaring Bird. 1167

thrown into confusion, and the gravitating force of the bird’s

mass instantly carried it to the water. It was evident that the

internal adjustments to environing conditions, going on through

a line of ancestry reaching to the reptiles of the secondary age,

omitted summer cyclones. They were too rare to count. It was

also pretty clear that the gravity of the bird’s mass was the source

of the entire motive power concerned in the act of soaring.

Were we dealing with wind-mills, sailing vessels, tornadoes or

any other phenomenon in which the air was one factor anda

body connected with the earth the other, the force would prop-

erly be spoken of as coming from the air. The amount of force

would vary with the velocity of the wind. The work done would

be referred to the mechanical agency which set the air in motion.

But a body suspended in free air is part of the atmosphere, and

at rest with it, unless it employs some activity not derived from

it. The same mechanical agent which moves the air equally

moves the body. The active birds derive the force to move

themselves in the air from their muscular efforts, the soaring

birds from gravity. Gravity gives a// the motive power; that

which antagonizes itself and that which antagonizes air resistance.

he case is analogous to that of a man ona moving train of

cars. He is at rest with the train throughout unless he employs

muscular power to set up motion with it. All activity between

man and car is due to the man’s force and not to the train’s force.

His force works a pair of legs which set up motion. Gravity

works in a different way. It requires a device which compresses

air as found in the soaring birds.

Notice also that the mechanical action known as “soaring”

takes place only between the minimum and maximum velocities

with which body and air meet. An initial impulse is required in

all cases to carry the body within those limits. In'a calm, the

body would have to be pushed on the air until the minimum was

reached. Ina breeze it would be forcibly held to reach the same

result. The first impulse resembles pushing an engine off of

the dead center. It simply starts the machine. It has nothing

whatever to do with its continuous running. Once within the

limits of “soaring,” the gravitating force of the body gives a lib-

eral supply of power for all the purposes of air navigation.

Let us suppose the wing surfaces to be twelve inches in width.

and the bird to weigh ten pounds, with wing expanse sufficient

1168 The Froblem of the Soaring Bird. [ December,

to soar in wind moving at the rate of thirty feet per second hori-

zontally. Why does not the body fall? It is true that there is a

stiff wind moving against it horizontally, but the gravitating force

is vertical and can be in no way influenced by a horizontal force.

The ball shot from a level cannon falls precisely as fast as one

dropped from the mouth of the gun. It is evident that the body

is indifferent to the horizontal air. “This does not act upon it at

all. No particle of air influences it but what is in contact with

its surface, and the instant it is in contact it ceases to be horizon-

tal, being deflected in numberless different directions. In a strict

sense, in a sense which alone represents the true character of this

phenomenon, the air can only be considered as quiescent in every

case of soaring. In every case the air is a dead calm until it

comes in actual contact with the body, and the movement of the

body on the air is a consequence of force derived from the body

and not from the air. It is a parallel case with the boy and grind-

stone. From the reciprocal nature of action and reaction, the

air is doing as much work on the bird as the latter is on the air.

The grindstone is doing as much work on the boy as he is on the

grindstone, still it would never do to say that the latter turned the

boy.

If gravity, then, be the motive power of a soaring bird, how

does it act to produce the results? Vertically downwards to-

wards the center of the earth precisely as it does in all other

cases, and the reason that the body manifesting it does not get

lower, is because something is pushing up, against the under sur-

face, just hard enough to balance the weight. It may be hard to

follow all the peculiarities of the disturbances going on under

the bird, but it is certain that they serve to hold it up. They are

mainly condensations of air upon which the body is falling, and

are equal to ten pounds in each foot of air passing to the rear.

_ This ten pounds of force is moving at the rate of thirty feet per:

=~- Second, as we assumed at the start, and it follows that an amount

capable of holding up 300 pounds each second is passing the

rear edge of the bird’s wings and is wasted in falling to the ten-

sion of the surrounding air,

: Bat this is not all the force of disturbance which passes to the

ear. The reactions against air resistance also go there. These,

the others, consist in condensations, accelerations and deflec-

ig to the: Mr of the composition and EE

1885.] The Problem of the Soaring Bird. T169

of forces they bear the same relation to the vertical disturbances

which the height of, the incline bears to the base, or, in other

words, they are to each other as the angle of inclination of the

resolving planes. Supposing in this case the height to be one-

fifth the base, there would be 360 pounds of force passing the

rear of the bird’s wing each second. Gravity puts in 300 pounds

and gets itself supported in doing it. The weight is thus bal-

anced ; but we are employing an external force of sixty pounds

to push the body on the air. By the law of the action of elastic

fluids under pressure, when the condensed air passes the rear

edge of the wing surfaces it expands in all directions, and conse-

quently upwards and forwards on that edge. If sixty pounds of

the whole 360 expanding is thus thrown forwards, it will balance

air resistance, and the total power to produce the soaring phe-

nomenon will be the weight of the bird? It only requires one-

sixth of the whole force on hand to do it. Ifthis can be utilized

by wasting the other five-sixths the task is accomplished. There

would be waste in eddies and side currents, so that in reality

there would be less than the total force of disturbance passing to

the rear. Allowance may be freely made for all wastage and

sufficient will remain to perform the desired service. Experiment

shows that in very critical tests the result can be attained without

the rear expansion. It may be held that each molecule of air as

it is struck by the plane is, to some extent, carried with it, as

well as condensed, while those below are at rest. Thus a rotary

motion may be supposed to take place on the entire lower sur-

face, when the air-resistance factor would be neutralized by the

excess of gravity in each molecule instead of at the rear edge.

It has been objected that this is a disguised form of “ perpetual

motion.” Remember that there is a great difference between

heaping absurdity on a thing and finding absurdity in it. It is

urged that gravity can only do work by the fall of the body man-

ifesting it, and that in this case it does not fall; that there is no

sacrifice of its energy of position, and hence it cannot do work.

This is true of actions in which the earth, or anything fast

to or supported by it, is a part, and the gravitating body another

part ; and it is true in the sense that the word “fall” means get-

ting nearer the earth. But this is not true with soaring nor with

allied phenomena, and I will illustrate the matter by an example.

Suppose that our hypothetical bird rests in the air in a horizontal

1170 The Problem of the Soaring Bird. { December,

position and that the wind moves vertically upwards against it at

the rate of twenty feet per second. To get the attention on the

significant features of the case, we will suppose the bird to weigh :

the same as the air which it displaces, thus obliterating the

gravity factor. It will then have no motion with respect to the

air, but will move with it. In this condition it is not a falling

body, and is doing no work. It is simply a body resting motion-

less in air. We will now suppose ten pounds of weight to be

added to it. It instantly becomes a gravitating body doing work

on the air, Its motion is accelerated until a velocity is reached

at which the work done on the air is equal to the force doing it,

when its motion becomes uniform. Suppose this to be twenty

feet per second. What have we? A case precisely analogous

to that of a soaring bird, which is a falling body doing work on

the air without losing its energy of position. Its “fall” is prop-

erly related, in a strictly scientific sense, to that upon which it is

moving, and upon which it is doing work. In relation to the

` earth, or the moon, or the seven stars it may be at rest, as they are

not even remotely concerned in the matter.

A soaring bird may therefore be considered a machine for dis-

turbing air. The motive power required for driving the mechan-

ism is its gravitating force. Its effectiveness consists in the

amount of disturbance which returns to the normal condition of

the surrounding atmosphere. ;

There are two peculiarities connected with its action, which

may be considered accidental or rather incidental, which deserve

attention, for they are of the first importance in all questions

relating to artificial air navigation. One of them is, that the ma-

‘ terial upon which the machine does work becomes the frame

which supports it, and which is not connected with the earth in

any way. The other is, that while the motion of the device is in

all cases in two directions on the air upon which it operates, viz.,

in the direction of the gravitating force and at right angles to it,

~ inrespect to the earth’s surface its motion is in any direction what-

_ ever indifferently. These two unique characteristics of soaring

Constitute its value for artifical use. They are the results of the

2 ctio n of an inclined plane driven on air, and meet the require-

ments of atmospheric translation completely, so far as the direc-

n of mee and supply of motive power is concerned. It

es ~ balloons to antagonize gravity, and of

1885. | The Problem of the Soaring Bird. 1171

motors to drive the machine against the air. Two requirements

are still needed. The device must be steered and kept in posi-

tion. When it is remembered that the rear expansion drives the

bird forward, any change in the extent or position of one wing

which is not shared by the other would retard or accelerate the

motion of the changed side relatively to the other, and serve to

determine the direction of motion. A balance still needs to be

preserved. The bird gives significant hints here also. The

heavier it is the steadier is its motion, and a device large enough

to sustain the weight of.a man may be qualified by its inertia to

assist in preserving its own equipoise.

The most important points of this subject have now been

given. Experiments with artificially induced currents of air,

requiring a steam-engine to be transported to the sands of Flor-

ida, were expensive and productive of only negative results.

Much time and means were wasted in this way, and all my efforts

previous to the summer cyclone above recited seemed abortive,

excepting in the settlement of the facts of soaring as shown by

the birds. The moment the idea that gravity was the motive

power and not the air, was entertained, the whole matter became

luminous. No steps subsequently taken have been in the wrong

direction, and I shall return to the prosecution of the subject the

moment prudence permits.

The relation of the soaring birds to artificial air-navigation fills

the whole subject with a sort of pathos. A turkey-buzzard, most

despised of all the birds, employs mechanical activities by using

a device of such simplicity that compared to it a common grind-

stone is a complex machine, for the purposes of air-locomotion

in the search for carrion, with conspicuous and complete success,

itself being a working model of the very thing which man has

worked, and sweated, and died to possess, and he has never seen it!

For a period of time coéval with his own existence on this

planet this thing has been going on, and the world is full of it

now, and still the mature conviction of both common sense and

science is, that it is impossible.

1172 The “Collar Bone” in the Mammalia. [{December,

‘THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “COLLAR BONE” IN .

THE MAMMALIA.

BY SPENCER TROTTER, M.D.

HEN running through a series of forms in animal life a

structure is found fully developed in some and in others

rudimentary or entirely wanting, we are led to consider the

causes acting upon the structure through the life of the animal

which has brought about the condition of development or non-

‘development present. Every fully developed tissue in an organ-

ism is needed or it would not be there; and just so soon as by

increasing change in life and habits, it becomes a factor of less

and less importance to the animal; it fails more and more to

attain its former standard of development, and in time falls back

to the primitive condition from which it arose and finally dis-

appears.

The “collar bone,” or clavicle is an unstable factor in the

shoulder girdle; by this I mean an element not always found

present throughout vertebrates, and its presence, absence or rudi-

mentary condition, is in relation to the life of the animal.

In this article it is my intention to note, principally among the

mammals, the relation which the clavicle bears to the various

modes of life, but before taking up the consideration of individ-

ual forms, reviewing briefly the general anatomy of the part.

The shoulder girdle consists first of the scapula, or “ shoulder

blade,” a more or less irregular plate of bone preformed in car-

tilage and ossifying from two centers, the dorsal or scapular, the

ventral or coracoid, in position against the anterior thoracic ribs,

its long axis varying in inclination.

Its ventral end terminates in the “ glenoid cavity,” a ridge and

process, spinous and acromion, on its outer surface are more of

less developed in different forms, and in all mammals above

_ the Ornithodelphia the coracoid is reduced to a mere process.

Second, the clavicle, when present, preformed in fibrous tissue

extends as a bar of bone from the acromion process above the

-~ glenoid cavity to the manubrium sterni, forming a strong support

to the girdle and an extended surface for ligamentous and mus-

cular attachments. Mechanically considered the shoulder girdle

(by using the term “ girdle” both sides of the body are implied)

nothing more than the fulcrum of which the fore limb is the

of of the aed kind, and its specialization is in direct relation

1885.] The “Collar Bone” in the Mammalia. 1173

to the amount and character of the work done. The clavicle

first appears in the ganoid fishes as a secondary apparatus devel-

oped in connection with the primary cartilaginous scapular arch.

In the teleost or bony fishes it becomes a more important element

in the shoulder girdle, having connection with the skull and the

opposite sides joining in the ventral median line.

It undergoes a reduction and becomes of less significance in

Amphibia and Reptilia, but in birds it assumes an important

position in relation to flight, the entire shoulder girdle in fact

being specialized to meet the conditions incident to aérial loco-

motion. The coracoids—large, strong bones—act as braces ; the

clavicles, peculiarly modified, are united at their sternal ends into

one bone, the furculum, or “ merry thought,” which, as Owen has

pointed out, acts as an elastic, bony arch opposing the force inci-

dent upon the downward stroke of the wing in flight, thus aiding

the humeri, or arm bones, to regain their former position in the

succeeding upward or counter stroke with as little loss of time

and energy as possible. In terrestrial forms (grouse, fowls, etc.),

where flight is sustained for short intervals only, the arch is nar-

rower and the structure more slender and delicate.

Taking up the Mammalia with a view to ascertaining the rela-

tionship existing between the development of the clavicles and

the work done by the fore limbs, let us start with the following

general proposition as a basis for our observations, namely, that

those animals which have the fore limbs specialized over the hind

limbs in relation to work, possess a clavicle, and where the hind

limbs are the most highly specialized, the clavicles are rudiment-

ary or entirely wanting.

Echidna, etc.), with their bird-like shoulder girdle, we note the

presence of more or less well developed clavicles in all the mar-

supials, with the single exception of the “ bandicoots” (Pera-

melidz), where it is wanting, and its absence may be accounted

for from the fact that the bandicoots from their terrestrial mode

of life, nesting in hollow places and feeding on insects, roots

etc., have for along time had their fore limbs subjected to less

complex conditions than the arboreal and predatory families, the

opossums (Didelphide), the Dasyuride, the phalangers (Phalang-

istidæ) and the kangaroos (Macropodidz), which constitute the

rest of the order. In the kangaroos the clavicles, though pres-

1174 The “Collar Bone” in the Mammalia. (December,

ent, are slender and delicate, the weak fore limbs coming into use

in manipulating the “pouch,” etc., thus throwing a variety of

motion into the shoulder joint, which explains the presence of

clavicles in an animal whose locomotion is almost entirely per-

formed by the hind limbs.

Among the Insectivora, a large order of wide geographical

range and rather uniform life, the majority of species being ter-

restrial and fossorial or burrowing, we have the clavicles well

developed with but one exception, that of Potamogale velox, a rare

form from Western Africa, and this is the only insectivore which

is almost entirely aquatic. It measures about two feet in length

with a long cylindrical body, tapering continuously into a thin,

laterally compressed tail, which is the main propulsive power

when swimming, the short legs with their unwebbed feet drifting

back against the body. Another form, Myogale,.from the streams

_of Southeastern Russia, is natatorial and possesses a clavicle, but

the feet are all webbed and come into play along with the tail as

organs of propulsion.

The moles, Talpidæ, are eminently fossorial, their excavations

being everywhere known; an East Indian squirrel-like form is

arboreal ; all the rest are terrestrial and fossorial.

The phe Edentata is divided into two primary groups, the

“leaf-eaters”” (Phytophaga) and the “ insect-eaters ” (Entomoph-

aga). The P Phytophaga comprise the “ sloths,” curious, arboreal

forms inhabiting the South American forests, represented by only

two living genera ; they are entirely arboreal, making character-

istic progression among the tree-tops on the leaves of which they

feed. In the two-toed sloth, or “ nnau ” (Cholcepus), the clavi-

cles are well developed ; in the “ai,” or three-toed variety (Brady-

pus), they are small, rudimentary, having lost their sternal attach-

ments and evidently undergoing a retrogressive change, due

probably to some variation in the animalľ’s life and habits which

brings the part into less active use.

In the Entomophaga (ant-eaters, armadillos, a we find the

7 Fiaeicies fully developed in the climbing two-toed ant-eater Cy-

hurus, a small South American species; also in the Cape ant-

a ester, or “aard-vark,” Orycteropus, a burrowing form from the

ae of Good Hope; while in the great ant-eater, Myrme-

phaga, a strictly terrestrial form but not fossorial, the clavicles

t, m ae ens open the ant hills and termites’

1885.] The “Collar Bone” in the Mammatia. 1175

mounds, and the narrow, flexible tongue securing the food, stand

in place of the burrowing habit, thus bringing the shoulder joint

under much less active conditions. In the South American

armadillos, which are mote omnivorous and are “ diggers,” the

clavicles are developed. The “ pangolins,” scaly covered ani-

mals, mainly terrestrial and rolling themselves in a ball on the

approach ôf danger, have no clavicles.

In the order Rodentia we find all the Sciuromorph group with

fully developed clavicles ; the squirrels are either arboreal or bur-

rowers; the marmots, Arctomyine, are typical burrowers, while

the beaver, though eminently aquatic, brings the fore limbs into

active use in the construction of its dams and lodges.

The Myomorpha (rats, mice, gophers, etc., typical gnawers

and diggers) have well developed clavicles, the gnawing habit

bringing the fore limbs and shoulder girdle actively into use to

steady the head and neck and the object which is being worked

upon.

_ In the Hystricomorpha (porcupines, cavies, etc.) clavicles are

found developed in the climbing tree-porcupines (Sphingurinz), of

which our Canadian species (Erethizon) is a member, and absent

in the large African porcupine and all others of the Hystricine

group, which is strictly terrestrial but not fossorial.

The chinchillas have well developed clavicles, the horse-trip-

ping burrows of the “ Pampas Viscacha” being too well known

to the riders of that region. The agoutis (Dasyproctidz), inhab-

iting the banks of streams in the South American forests, semi-

aquatic and sub-ungulate (¢. e., having the feet partially encased

in a horny sheath or hoof) have rudimentary clavicles. The |

Caviide (guinea pigs) and the “capybara,” the largest living

rodent, semi-aquatic, with webbed. feet, have imperfect clavicles,

« The Lagomorpha consists of two living families, the Lagomyi-

dz, small burrowing animals called “picas,” inhabiting Alpine

regions, and the Leporidz (hares and rabbits) ; the former family

having well developed, the latter rudimentary clavicles. The

hares are typical runners, solitary, never burrowing, depending

for safety in speed and making their characteristic “form”; the

species known as the rabbit, however, differs largely in habits

_ from the other members of the family, being more or less gre-

garious, living in “ warrens” which it burrows out, and having

much less capacity for speed. Clavicles are developed in both;

VOL. XIX.—NO. XIT, 77

1176 The “Collar Bone” in the Mammalia. (December,

very rudimentary in the hares, and in the rabbits existing as a

bone incomplete at the ends, a condition which we would expect

to find from the variation in life habits.

Taking up the large order of “ hoofed” animals, the Ungulata,

we note the complete absence of the clavicles in all the forms,

not a vestige of the bony structure being found in any one of

them. They are the “runners” par excellance, and if we may

use the expression, ive on their legs, the capacity for speed and

endurance being one of the chief factors aimed at by natural

selection in maintaining and perfecting the species.

Here we find the fore limbs subserving the hind limbs in rela-

tion to work; the latter are the main motor power in running,

while the fore limbs act chiefly as supporters and guiders; hence

the entire absence of clavicles. The marine Mammalia, with their

rudimentary limbs, have no clavicles.

In the flesh-eating animals, Carnivora, the clavicles are always

rudimentary, and in many cases entirely wanting. They are bet-

ter developed in the cats, Felidz, than in any other family of the

order (though the articular extremities of the bone are lost), for

the clutch which follows the spring in securing their prey, brings

the fore limbs into more active use than in the dogs and wolves,

Canide, which run their quarry to “ the death,” and then pull it

down by force of numbers. Many of the cats, too, frequent

trees, but they spring from place to place and do not properly

climb. Several species of bears also climb, but the habit is

more acquired than natural, the fore limbs clasp the trunk while

the hind ones secure a foothold and, so to speak, shove the ani-

mal upward, very different from the active movements of a nat-

ural climber.

In the bats, Chiroptera, as we would expect from their mode

of life, the anterior limbs being the main factors in their flight,

clavicles are rappr long, curved and strong.

The arboreal Lemurs also have them developed.

In the order Primates we have the clavicles present in all, from `

arboreal monkeys up through the anthropoid apes to man,

were the anterior limbs attain such perfection, with ball and

The badger (Taxidea) is a striking exception to the general rule, being an emi-

F imal yet devoid of clavicles. The fore feet are armed with ex-

' curved claws, probably bringing greater leverage on the

l thus pnr mary ementing, the absence of clavicles.

' 1885.] Pear Blight and its Cause. 1177

socket shoulder joint capable of such varied and extensive motion,

with a high degree of pronation and supination of the fore arm,

and last, but not least, the wonderfully specialized hand with its

thumb opposable to each of the four digits.

After this brief survey, and with the forementioned proposition

in view, viz., the correlation existing between the development of

the clavicle and the work done by the fore limbs, we are left to

draw the rational conclusion that the subject under consideration

is one of use and disuse of parts, as Darwin has so clearly pointed

out in his chapter on rudimentary organs in the Origin of Spe-

cies. The facts we have noted in our hasty glance at the Mam-

malia confirm this, in the more or less perfect development of

clavicles in arboreal, fossorial, aérial and all other forms where

the fore limbs are the active, aggressive pair in the life of the

animal, and their absence or rudimentary condition in the hoofed

animals, the marine species and all others where the anterior pair

take a secondary place in the work done by the limbs.

As there is, of course, no actual disuse of a part as a whole

(the nearest approach to this being in marine forms), a simple,

uncomplicated motion existing, with little strain at the shoulder

joint, the parts require less support and fewer points for ligament-

ous and muscular attachment than where the movements are

more complicated and the strain more severe. Consequently we

have a greater or less differentiation in the elements of the shoul-

der girdle as the case may be, and the clavicle, holding as it does

a position of secondary importance, is the unstable, variable ele-

ment.

A’.

PEAR BLIGHT AND ITS CAUSE.

BY J. C. ARTHUR.

EAR trees in this country are subject to an endemic disease

that, owing to its malignancy and frequent occurrence, is well

. known to cultivators and fairly well discriminated by them. It is

known both as pear blight and fire blight, and the same disease in

the apple and quince is also called twig blight. The term blight

‘is applied to many kinds of plant diseases, and especially to those

— that eventually kill without rendering the cause conspicuous; it

is also the name of a class of disease-producing fungi. The pear

malady bearing this name is, however, a specific disease, although

1178 Pear Blight and its Cause. [ December,

it would be a matter of considerable difficulty to describe it in

such diagnostic terms that the reader would recognize it under

all conditions and avoid confounding it with the numerous other

blights and incidental maladies which resemble it. Its most

characteristic feature, if one considers only pomaceous trees, such

as the pear, apple, quince, crab, hawthorn, etc., is the complete

dying of the branches subsequent to the appearance of the foli-

age without obvious cause and usually with apparent suddenness.

This involves the limb and its leaves, both of which turn blackish

and usually exhale a peculiar but not very strong odor. From

the softer stems there often exudes a viscid, whitish substance

forming small drops on the surface of the bark and finally becom-

ing hard like an exudation of gum.

The blackening of the dying branches does not differ from that

produced by death from other causes; hence arises the danger of

mistaking other injuries of the tree for the true blight as here

understood. Death may be brought about by the limb being

partly broken off, or it may be punctured and killed by the pear-

blight beetle (Xyleborus pyri), a very small insect which often

escapes detection, or it may result from other mechanical injuries.

There is also the blackening of the ends of young twigs in spring

known as frozen-sap blight, the blackening of the edges of the

leaves later in the season, more common on some varieties, 2. £.,

the Sheldon, than on others, and so on. But the real blight kills

the limb in advance of the leaves, and will usually show the

blackened bark, when raised with a knife, below the lowest dead

leaves; the gummy exudation, when that is to be found, is abun-

dant confirmation. In addition to this, the extent of the malady,

sometimes embracing the larger part of the tree and most of the

trees of the orchard, assures one of its identity. Pear leaves may

at times assume a deeply bronzed appearance and the bark be-

come dark colored, but these appearances need never be mistaken

e _ for blight, as the tissues beneath will be found normally green

_ The disease is most observed during July and August. It may

manifest et upon any part of the tree, but starts rather more

is not coed the disease will eee

e trunk pi: the tree. It is purely a local disease,

1885. ] Pear Blight and its Cause. 1179

and affects no part of the tree but the branches attacked. Some-

times a whole tree is killed, but usually only certain limbs die,

which if early removed will leave the remainder of the tree in

normal condition. The progress of the disease along the limb is

variable, but in general is greatest during the hottest weather ; in

winter it moves slowly, even advancing but six to twelve inches

during a whole cold season. The advent of spring, quite con-

trary to what one would expect, usually checks the disease after

it has defied the rigors of winter, and by the time the tree is well

clothed with leaves is brought to an end, not to be again

revived. `

So extensive and prominent a disease of an important fruit

tree, and one entailing heavy pecuniary losses during epidemic

years, has naturally been the occasion of much discussion. Its

cause being obscure and the manner of its incursions and spread

mysterious, it was variously ascribed to the soil, the weather, the

electrical influences of thunder storms, to undiscovered fungi,

p and many other agents. These attempts at explanation were all

unsatisfactory, failing to account for many of the phenomena

connected with the disease.

The first substantial advance toward a solution of the question

was made by Dr. T. J. Burrill in his memorable announcement in

1880 to the American Association for the Advancement of Sci-

ence that he had discovered bacteria in invariable connection

with the disease. The same discovery was reiterated by the

author in an article in this magazine for July, 1881. He also

proved that the disease is infectious and may be communicated

to healthy limbs by inoculation, using the gummy exudation as

T a virus either with or without dilution with water, and not only

x to pears but to apples and quinces as well.

No additional discoveries of note were made till the investiga-

tion, which is still continued, was taken up by the writer in July,

1884. The subject need not be further treated chronologically,

as a clearer and more concise statement can be made by giving

- the present condition of our knowledge irrespective of the order

of its acquisition.

The term bacteria is a generic one, and covers many forms ex-

hibiting great morphological and physiological differences. The

form causing pear blight does not belong to the genus Bacterium,

as one might infer, but to the genus Micrococcus, and bears the

1180 Pear Blight and its Cause. [December,

full name of M. amyhovorus Burrill. Members of this genus are

globular, or somewhat longer than broad, either single or in

short chains of a few individuals ; they multiply by a transverse

division, each half growing to the size of the original from which

it was derived, and finally becoming an independent cell. The

formation of spores does not occur, or at least has not been dis-

covered, in this genus; no transformation takes place.

The pear blight Micrococcus is oval in outline and measures

1 by 1%», which is .o0004 by .00006 inch. This is extremely small,

so smail, in fact, that it would take more than a thousand placed

end to end to reach around the period at the close of this line.

They are considerably smaller than the bacteria of common

- putrefaction (Bacterium termo), the hay bacteria (Bacillus subtilis)

which usually appear in all sorts of vegetable infusions, and

many others. On the other hand they are by no means so small

as the germs of diphtheria (Streptococcus aiphtheriticus), of small-

pox (S. vaccine), and others. When in active growth they are

single or attached to each other in pairs, dumb-bell form; when _

growing more slowly there is a larger proportion of the dumb-

bells, and in addition chains of four to six cells each.

Although these bacteria are very small, yet there is no diffi-

culty in demonstrating them in the tissues of the pear tree on

account of their extraordinary abundance. The slightest frag-

ment taken in midsummer from a blighted pear limb and placed

in a drop of water will readily enough show the presence of bac-

teria to the unaided eye by the white cloud of them which spreads

from the bit of wood throughout the water. Slice up some

blighted wood into a small quantity of water and it will be ren-

dered milky by the enormous outpouring of the bacteria. Under

the microscope these are found to be all of one kind, and not in-

_ termixed with ordinary putrefactive or other bacteria, a circum-

_ stance which may yet be turned to account in studying problems

-~ _ in which an admixture of forms is detrimental. The exudation

already referred to is found by the microscope to be composed

_ solely of blight bacteria and a soluble substance which holds

m together.

ien in very vigorous growth the blight bacteria are active,

present an animated appearance under the microscope, but

ily pe molecular movement common to all

fluid. Their progress rough the

1885.] Pear Blight and its Cause. 1181

plant is doubtless largely due to simple displacement as multipli-

cation takes place, although aided by the limited activity of the

organism and the movement of the sap.

The change induced in the tissues of the tree partakes of the

nature of a true fermentation. That we do not have to do with

a putrefactive change is patent enough, as no offensive odor is

given off. The disengagement of carbon dioxide may be made

evident by partially filling a test tube with fragments of a freshly

blighted limb and adding water enough to little more than cover

them. In a short time bubbles of gas will be set free, and a

drop of lime water held in the tube will show the presence of

carbon dioxide by the whitening of its surface. It is not so easy

to determine the nature of the other products formed. Careful

and repeated tests give no indication of the occurrence of butyric

acid. The presence of alcohol in very slight amount was shown

by means of the delicate iodoform test. For this a nearly full-

grown Bartlett pear, which was thoroughly permeated with the

blight bacteria from an inoculation made a week before, but the

tissues still undiscolored, was distilled and the distillate used for

the test. The amount of alcohol found was so slight, however,

requiring a microscope to find the crystals produced by the test,

that it did not account for the main bulk of the product of the

organism’s activity. This product is presumed to be mainly gum

of some sort, for the following reasons, tnter alia: the solubility,

adhesiveness, taste or rather tastelessness and the appearance

upon drying. There is much probability, indeed, that this be-

longs to the viscid fermentations, which have been but little inves-

tigated.

The bacteria in the tree first attack the starch of the cells, then

the cellulose of the cell walls, and finally the whole tissue be-

comes a liquid mass. When, however, the cell walls consist of

lignin or other secondary substances they are not broken down,

The action on the cell wall is best seen in the tender, unmodified

tissues of the fruit.

After this survey of the characteristics of the organism and the

chemical changes which it induces, it will be profitable to learn

something of the nature of the disease itself. The usual impres-

sion has been that the disease is like a blast of superheated air

_ passing over an orchard, leaving dead and blackened foliage in

its track, or that it appears suddenly as the result of a thunder

1182 Pear Blight and its Cause. [ December,

storm following hot and damp weather. Its true nature, so differ-

ent from these conceptions, has been learned by inoculating

healthy limbs with germs from an affected tree and closely

watching the progress of the disease through its whole course:

from inception to the death of the limb. The inoculation is made

by puncturing the limb and applying some of the gummy exuda-

tion, or, better, a drop from a watery solution of it, or from water

in which some diseased tissue has been sliced. If this be done

in July and the inoculation be made in a young and tender shoot,

the tissues near the wound will show discoloration in about a

week, and in the course of a-week longer the leaves and end of

the shoot become blackened and dead. Let it be noticed that at

the most favorable season for development it requires some two

weeks from the time of the attack to enable the disease to gather

sufficient headway to be conspicuous; for no observer is likely

to detect the change in the color of the bark before the dying

leaves have fixed his attention, unless he knows an artificial inoc-

ulation has been performed. This sufficiently disposes of the

supposition that the disease is sudden in its action; still more

marked proof will be adduced later, showing that in natural

course it is slower yet. Over two hundred recorded inoculations

have been made, and from these we learn that the disease makes

the most rapid progress in the newest and most succulent tissues ;

and the nearer to a vigorously growing bud an inoculation is

made, the more likely it is to succeed. In fact, it was soon

found that no result was likely to follow an inoculation in wood

a year or more old. This suggested the inoculation of growing

fruit; the results were most surprising, for the tender parenchy-

matous tissues were entirely broken down into a creamy fluid,

-which now and then escaped at the wound made in inoculating

and dripped upon the ground.

| Repeated. attempts to convey dhe doere by lnpculating the

, eaves resulted in failure, except a partial success when very

young leaves were tried. It is noticeable that the leaves are the

ast to succumb to the disease; they will remain green for days

or € en weeks after the bark at that point has become brown and

sad. Bacteria cannot be found swarming in the leaves as in the

ad wood; the conditions do not seem favorable for their

The c clusion i is inevitable that the death of the

ranch is chiefly due to the cutting off of

1885.] Pear Blight and its Cause. 1183

The investigations of Professor Burrill showed that the disease

might be conveyed to the apple and quince trees also. Not only `

was this easily confirmed, but inoculations were successfully per-

formed on the English hawthorn (Crategus oxyacantha), the

evergreen thorn (C. pyracantha), and the service berry (Amedan-

chier canadensis), while they failed on grape, raspberry, mulberry,

peach, etc.; that is, they succeeded on members of the pear

family, but not on other plants. The virus was from the pear,

apple and quince, interchangeably, and showing no perceptible

difference in the results that could be traced to the kind of virus

used. The only differences to be noted were such as were obvi-

ously accounted for by the varying ripeness and solidity of the

tissues. Unsuccessful inoculation was made upon the mountain

ash (Pyrus aucuparia), but as the tissues were already solid when

done, and as branches suffering with the disease have since been

found, there is no doubt that it can be communicated if the inoc-

ulation be properly performed.

In the studies so far detailed the germs were artificially intro-

duced into the branch; the problem of how they gain entrance

naturally seemed for a time well nigh unsolvable. Virus smeared

upon the outside of the branch, leaf or fruit had no effect ; dis-

eased branches tied among healthy ones under the most favora-

ble circumstances for contagion gave no results; apparatus ar-

ranged to draw air across diseased branches upon healthy ones

also failed; copiously watering a potted pear tree for a month

‘with water white with blight bacteria had no deleterious action

- on the tree; and yet the germs must gain entrance some way,

for it is inconceivable that they should originate spontaneously

within the tree.. Finally some light was secured by a series of

partially successful experiments in which water containing blight

‘bacteria was arranged to drip upon pear and apple twigs; the

germs entered the twigs through the moist surface of the young-

est tissues. A fortuitous observation now made the matter clear :

it was noticed toward the end of June that the English haw-

thorns, which blossom very freely about the middle of May, were

seriously affected with blight. At the time of observation the

flowers had long ‘since disappeared and the fruit was well ad-

vanced toward maturity. The blighted branches, however, were

still crowned with dead flowers, and wherever the dead spur or

branch was not terminated with a truss of flowers it showed’

1184 | Pear Blight and its Cause. [ December,

every evidence of having been arrested in the midst of rapid

growth. The conviction was established that the germs enter

the tree in spring through the moist glandular surfaces within

the flower or the tender surfaces of expanding buds, but that the

disease does not make sufficient progress to become conspicuous

till the warm days of June or July. As the flowers drop and the

branches cease extending less and less chance exists for the tree

to take the disease. Insects may now and then transfer the

germs, for two pears were found the present season filled with

blight, in both cases showing the point of entrance, evidently a

puncture made by an insect. It is only in some such exceptional

way that the germs can gain admittance through the well pro-

_ tected surface of fruit.

If the germs pass from the air into the tree, in what manner

do they get out into the air again at the proper time for the next

season's attack ? Manifestly the bacteria within the tree are se-

curely imprisoned by the bark, which as effectually prevents their

escape as it does their entrance; and at any rate, in spring, the

time for attack, there are few bacteria left alive in the tree.

Limbs with tender tissues exude great numbers of germs during

July and August, but so agglutinated that the air cannot dislodge

them, until the rains have washed them to the ground and dissolv-

ed the gum which binds them together. The query now presents

itself whether the germs may not be able to thrive outside the

tree. To test this, cultures were tried in various media, and it

was found that infusions of hay, corn meal, starch and various

other vegetable substances make a nutritive fluid in which the .

_ blight bacteria flourished in varying degrees, no matter whether

the solutions were acid, alkaline or neutral. When transferred

from the culture fluid to the tissues of the tree, the usual form of

blight follows. This plainly indicates that the germs washed

from the tree by rain may find congenial nidus among vegetable

— refuse, thrive and multiply, pass the winter, for cold does not

i injure them, even pass an unfavorable year or two, and at times

: ; swept into the air be brought by gentle rains or an arrest-

of dew into contact with the delicate surfaces of expand-

ot or flower and infection be secured.

hay g shown the | progress of the disease to be coordinat-

Le ent of germs and traced the life cycle of the

still persons who do not believe that

1885.] Pear Blight and its Cause. 1185

germs cause the disease, but that they are merely accompaniments

of it. To meetthis objection, and place the subject upon a logical

and irrefragible basis it is necessary to state the results of still

further studies. In order to determine whether other bacteria

will grow under the same circumstances, various kinds were in-

oculated into pear trees—bacteria from rotting spots in green

tomatoes, from various sorts of putrefactions, those which had

incidentally appeared in various culture experiments—and uni-

formly with negative results. When inoculation was made from

a culture of blight bacteria contaminated with other forms, the

resulting blight contained but the one sort. It is a well-known

fact that most bacteria will not thrive in acid solutions, and

Hartig has supposed that the reason that plants are so free from

parasitic bacteria (only two, or at the most three, true vegetable

parasites being known among them) is that they cannot withstand

the acidity of the sap. Be this as it may, only one form of bac-

teria has yet been found to accompany pear blight.

But this does not dispose of the possibility that the blight is

not caused by the bacteria, but by some deleterious substance

which goes with them or which they produce. It is obvious that

as the blight may be produced by using a drop of water which

has been flowed over blighted tissues, the active agent must be

either the bacteria or the substances which the water dissolves.

. There is a very simple way of separating solutions from bacteria

by filtering through porous earthenware, which permits the fluid

to pass, but not the bacteria. It has been demonstrated by trial

that inoculating from a filtrate prepared in this way will not pro-

duce the blight. Separating the bacteria from all accompanying

substances is accomplished by means of fractional cultures. Such

a drop as used for inoculating is introduced into a suitable steri-

lized culture fluid; after some days, when the bacteria have well

filled it, a drop is removed and used to start another culture, and

so on. In this way the bacteria are kept vigorous by growth and

multiplication, and the unvitalized substances which accompanied

them in the first drop are more and more diluted at each transfer.

Finally a drop from the last culture of the series, in which the

amount of substance derived from the original drop must be so

infinitesimally small as to be inoperative, is used to inoculate with

again. Carefully conducted experiments of this kind have given

as severe blight as in direct inoculation. No stronger proof is

needed that the bacteria are solely responsible for the disease,

1186 | Editors’ Table. [ December,

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE.

There is little difference of- opinion among the scientific

men of this country as to the great value of Government aid to

scientific research. Not only is its importance obvious to them

as craftsmen, but as citizens. It is not worth while to make nice

theoretical distinctions between State and United States rights in

this matter, for the great point is to secure, in the language of

Smithson of illustrious memory, “the increase and diffusion of

knowledge among men,” and especially the men of this country. If

the State governments are too indifferent to their own interests to

foster the work, let the General Government sustain it. Its utility

is two-fold, The one object which is alway obvious, is the ex-

ploration and exposition of the resources of the country. The

other, no less important, but less understood, is the development

and occupation of the intellectual force, activity and thought of

the men of the country. The cultivation of man is the most

important of human enterprises, and a republican form of govern-

ment rests on a basis of such cultivation. The government aid

to the universities of Germany is one of the principal assurances

of progressive, or even continued, civilization which the world

possesses. As the Government of the United States does not

aid the universities of the country, it should not fail to sustain

and develop its own system, which embraces the various scientific

bureaus at Washington.

- It has sometimes been objected that the great power of the

Government treasury constitutes it such a rival, as to seriously

discourage private enterprise in this direction. There are two”

reasons why this reasoning is fallacious. First, the field of sci-

ence is so vast that no organization can cover it; there is always

room for workers, especially at the top. Second, brains are not

produced by money, and ideas are not for sale on demand. The

_ thinker who produces ideas on $1500 a year, will only be too

_ glad to have some one in Government employ to illustrate them

with, larger resources. Moreover there are some departments of

tific work in which the Government can have few or no

These are the — enterprises which eee per-

1885. ] Editors’ Table. 1187

also excavations for fossils on any but a limited scale. The crea-

tion and support of scientific museums and laboratories must

have the assistance of a heavy purse; and finally, governments

have generally been the only medium of publication of results

on any considerable scale.

Official science has, however, no shield of Achilles which shall

protect her from the usual temptations of power and from the

methods of politics. It is true that she more surely stands or

falls on her merits than any other representative of human labor,

yet as she is the teacher of mankind, who is to decide the ques-

tion of merit? That she may become corrupted, so that the love

of fame and power may supplant the love of knowledge, is not

impossible, The man of politics can see and understand this,

and whether true or not, charges against scientific men holding

official position will be preferred, as in the case of other office-

holders. The public press has on various recent occasions applied

the term “ political scientist,” and has attempted to point out per-

sons to whom the expression is appropriate. Although a “ politi-

cal scientist” is a conceivable person, the applications made by

the newspapers have been wide of the mark. The term is not

appropriate to a man because he secures large or small appropria-

tions from Congress to be expended on scientific work. All

honor to such men, whoever they are. Their country and the

world owe them gratitude, not sneers. .

If we were to seek to define a “ political scientist ” we would de-

scribe him as a man who sought the aid of the resources of the

Government to hold an office for its emoluments or honors to

which his abilities and services to science do not entitle him. In

order to do this he will reproduce the ideas of others without ac-

knowledgment ; he will endeavor, through means well known to

men in official position, to suppress criticism of his work, and thus

to reach an eminence of popular reputation which is purely facti-

tious. Such would bea man who might appear to fulfill the duties

of his position by the employment of persons to do his scientific

work for him. A “political scientist ” would spend little time in

his study, and a great deal of time with prominent persons of all

kinds, gaining the “influence” that comes from personal repre-

sentations in the many quarters where the merits of questions of

science are unknown. The “ political scientist” might flourish

for a time in this country, and his existence would be a constant

menace to the prosperity of Government scientific enterprises,

and would react disastrously on the men of real merit.

—— The Legislature of Michigan has done itself discredit in

the treatment of the last Geological Survey of that State. It re-

moved Professor Rominger, a most competent man, and put in his

` place a man less known, who, however, has his future in his own

hands, It refuses to publish the report of Professor Rominger, |

1188 Recent Literature. [ December,

although the money for this purpose is in the hands of the State

treasurer. This money was saved from his meager appropriation

by Professor Rominger, who thus offers to the Legislature a rare

example of economy. The governing body of Michigan should

recognize this fact by returning the money to their ex-State-

geologist, and publishing the report without delay by a new

appropriation. Professor Rominger has the endorsement of the

geologists of the country.

“re

RECENT LITERATURE.

ROMANES’ RESEARCHES ON THE Nervous SYSTEMS OF JELLY

AND StTar-FIsH.'—The beautiful researches and discovery by

Haeckel of a nervous system in Geryonia, consisting of true

ganglion cells and true nerve-fibers, and the extension by the

Hertwig brothers of our knowledge of the nervous system of

Medusz in general, especially the naked-eyed forms, marked a

most important step in animal morphology.

These microscopical observations were, except Haeckel’s dis-

covery, forestalled by the physiological experiments of Professor

Eimer and Dr. Romanes, who, however, worked independently

of each other. In the present work Dr. Romanes gives a popu-

lar account of his own researches, with due mention of and credit

to Dr. Eimer’s researches in the same direction.

After having some account of the structure of the Medusz, we

are afforded the results of fundamental experiments. The author

proved that excision of the extreme margin of a nectocalyx (or

umbrella) of the naked-eyed Medusz causes immediate, total and

permanent paralysis of the entire organ. This result is striking

and decided. Indeed, adds the author, “I do not know of any

case in the animal kingdom where the removal of a center of |

muscular system, there being no subsequent movements or

_ twitchings of a reflex kind to disturb the absolute quiescence of

_ the mutilated organism. The experiment is particularly beauti-

ful if performed on Sarsia; for the members of this genus being-

remarkably active, the death-like stillness which results from the

1885. ] Recent Literature, 1189

vast majority of cases it was found that excision of the margin

impairs or destroys the spontaneity of the animal for a time, the

paralysis so produced was very seldom permanent, After a vari-

able period occasional contractions are usually given, and in some

cases they were resumed with but little apparent detriment.

Light was found a most marked and unfailing stimulus, and

light ger se, rather than a sudden transition from darkness to

light. Hence it was satisfactorily proved that the “eyes” of

these animals are really such, as the following experiment with

others, proves:

“ Having put two or three hundred Sarsiz into a large bell jar,

I completely shut out the daylight from the room in which the

SAN

GAL)

ae)

Aves RAMAN

Aisne”

Fic. 1.—Aurelia aurita.

jar was placed. By means of a dark lantern and a concentrating

lens, I then cast a beam of light through the water in which the

Sarsiz were swimming. The effect upon the latter was most

decided. From all parts of the bell-jar they crowded into the

path of the beam, and were most numerous at that side of the

jar which was nearest to the light. Indeed, close against the glass

they formed an almost solid mass, which followed the light

wherever it was moved. The individuals composing this mass

dashed themselves against the glass nearest the light with a vigor

and determination closely resembling the behavior of moths

1190 Recent Literature. [ December,

under similar circumstances. There can thus be no doubt about

Sarsia possessing a visual sense.

Dr. Romanes then describes his experiments on the covered-

eyed Medusz to ascertain the amount of section which their

neuro-muscular tissues will endure without suffering loss of their

physiological continuity. In Aurela aurita (Fig. 1) the nervous

system is compared to a disk of muslin, the fibers and mesh of

which are finer than those of the finest and closest cobweb, and

if we imagine the mesh of these fibers to start from these mar-

ginal ganglia, we shall gain “a tolerably correct idea of the low-

est nervous system in the animal kingdom.” Now if seven of

these eight ganglia are cut out, and the disk mutilated as in Fig.

2, yet the contraction waves, starting from the single ganglion

Ni ANY vf ot

ee So Joe

—= n y

- Fic. 2.—Aurelia, with its disk cut radially.

= left, “continued to zigzag round and round the entire series of

_ sections,”

n raction waves, emanating om /, passed’ in the direction rep-

ted by the arrows without undergoing any appreciable loss

completing the circular cut at z, the ring

1885. Recent Literature. IIQI

tissue (yz) became totally paralyzed, while the outer circle, of

course, continued its contractions as before.

Lastly a third mode of section was made (Fig. 4); a long strip

removed, with the eye and its ganglion at one end and the rest of

the swimming-bell at the other, the latter contracting, and such a

strip may be made a yard long, but still the portion of the swim-

ming-bell continues to contract. From these experiments and

the histological studies of Professor Shafer, it is seen that the

“ nerve fibers which so thickly overspread the muscular sheet of

Aurelia do not constitute a true’ plexus, but that each fiber is

Ww \

. We

È: He €

= x & X GM

P Roe 2s

=p ; Ap À, Ze

=; a ae Al tak

Say LA, i ‘wD I<

i ae

—fiSs= AR A

ANN LAA

= AN j E)! =

f A s yy . ss

: WY

$ > ' Y a

ys ds tg a h OCR a s N NS

il RES JANSA k

ALA TRL N NS

a \) << A WZ f| D Se SN

in LI ANAN AH AN

bi Vaio So ND SAN iS

FIG. 3.—Aurelia with a circular cut z.

comparatively short and nowhere joins with any of the other

fibers ; that is to say, although the constituent fibers of the net-

work cross and recross one another in all directions—sometimes,

indeed, twisting round one another like the strands of a rope—

they can never be actually seen to join, but remain anatomically

insulated throughout their length. So that the simile by which

I have represented this nervous network—the simile, namely, of

a sheet of muslin overspreading the whole of the muscular sheet

—is, as a simile, even more accurate than has hitherto appeared ;

for just as in a piece of muslin the constituent threads, although

frequently meeting one another, never actually coalesce, so. in the

VOL, XIX.—NO. XII.

1192 Recent Literature. [ December,

nervous network of Aurelia, the constituent fibers, although fre-

quently in contact, never actually unite.”

Space forbids farther abstracts of the book. The author dis-

cusses the regeneration of tissues, the excitable tissues of these

animals regenerating themselves after injury with astonishing

rapidity. Experiments were mace in section of naked-eyed Me-

dusz ; on the coordination of movements, and on the natural and

QD ae

Qin i U

SANTINI

Sw» 3

Fic. 4.—Third mode of section in Aurelia.

artificial rhythm in the pulsations of Meduse. The effect of poi-

‘sons is discussed at length, particularly the effects of a change

from salt water to fresh, as illustrated by the fresh-water Medusa,

_ Limnocodium sowerbii (printed sorbii), of the tank in Regents

_ Park (Fig. 5). It appears that a much less profound physiologi-

cal change would be required to transmute a marine jelly-fish into

jelly-fish adapted to inhabit brine, than would be required to

1885.] Recent Literature. 1193

enable it to inhabit fresh water, and it is concluded: “If an ani-

mal so exceedingly intolerant of fresh water as is a marine jelly-

fish may yet have all its tissues changed so as to adapt them to

thrive in fresh water, and even die after an exposure of one

minuté to their ancestral element, assuredly we can see no reason

why any animal in earth or sea, or anywhere else, may not in

time become fitted to change its element.”

The book closes with an interesting chapter on the movements

Fic. 5.—The fresh-water Medusa. Enlarged.

of star-fishes. And here it may be said that at the time this por-

tion was written the later discoveries as to the nature of the ner-

vous system of crinoids had not been published. It is now

known, by the experiments of Marshall and Jickeli, as well asthe

histological investigations of the two Carpenters, that the visible

nerves in crinoids belong to a general subcutaneous nervous

sheet.

The well-known movements of the star-fish are then described

and well illustrated (Fig. 6), as well as the natural movements of.

1194 Recent Literature. [December,

a brittle-star when proceeding along a solid horizontal surface

(Fig. 7), All echinoderms when placed on their backs can right

themselves, but different types have different ways of accom-

plishing this. The common star-fish does this by means of its

< Fic. 6,—Natural movements of a star-fish on reaching the surface of water.

suckers (Fig. 8) in half a minute.

The Astropecten rights itself

in the way here figured (Fig. 9).

It stands on the tips of four of

its rays, while the fifth one is thrown upwards and over the others,

in order to carry with it the two adjacent rays, “and so eventu-

ally to overbalance the system round the fulcrum supplied by the

Sa,

-a

sss.”

See

be Sunat

Tren,

Fic, 7.—Natural movements of a brittle-star when proceeding along a solid hori-

seas r zontal surface.

of the other two rays, and thus bring the animal down upon

i Ns a d : fi e7 ë

ovements are more difficult to perform in the sea-

orous specimens can right them-

1885.| Recent Literature. 1195

selves at all, owing to the heavy round body and feebler suckers.

Fig. 10 represents one on its back with as many feet as possible

r Az

Fic. 8,—Natural righting movements of the common star-fish.

protruded downwards and fastened firmly to the floor, “their

combined action then serves to tilt the globe slightly over in

their own direction, the anchoring feet on the other or opposite

Fic. 9.—Righting movements of Astropecten.

rows meanwhile releasing their hold of the tank to admit of this

tilting. The effect of this tilting is to enable the next feet in the

1196 Recent Literature. [ December,

active ambulacral rows to touch the floor of the tank, and when

they have established their hold they assist in increasing the tilt;

then the next feet in the series lay hold, and so on till the globe

slowly but steadily rises upon its equator.” Finally it lets itself

3j JES

Fic, 10.—Echinus beginning to right itself.

down very slowly and carefully, the feet on one side preventing

its too rapid descent (Fig. 11).

Experiments on stimulation were made with the result of

vous plexus.” Accordingly the author and Professor Ewarts

went to work to see if they could obtain any microscopical evi-

Fic. 11.—Echinus nearly righted.

dence of such a plexus. This they succeeded in doing, and

afterwards found that Professor Loven had already briefly men-

tioned such a plexus as having been observed by him. ‘The

_* plexus consists of cells and fibers closely distributed all over the

_ Surface of the shell, immediately under the epidermal layer of

cells (Figs. 12, 13), and it sends fibers al! the way up the feet,

nes and pedicellariz. This important discovery led to i

er experiments on sections. It appears that single rays, when

of from the body, crawl as Se ad in as Meanie a direc-

1885.] Recent Literature. L197

tion as do the entire animals. They also crawl up perpendicular

surfaces, and sometimes away from injuries, though not generally

seeking to escape the latter as do the entire animals. By sever-

ing the nerves at the base of each of the five rays, or by dividing

the nerve-ring between all the rays, the animal loses all power of

coordination among its rays (Figs. 14, 15). If a continuous cir-

cular section of the external surface of the sea-urchin was made,

it was invariably found that the spines and pedicellariaz within

Fic. 12.—External nerve-plexus of Echinus.

the circular area immediately respond to stimulation, while none

outside the circle are affected. “ These facts prove that the func-

tion which is manifested by these appendages of localizing and

gathering round a seat of stimulation, is exclusively dependent

upon the external nerve-plexus.” From these and other experi-

ments, and the histological studies of Professor Ewarts, it is con-

cluded that the nervous system of an Echinus consists (1) of an

1198 Recent Literature. [ December,

mainly gathered round the mouth, and there presides exclusively

over the codrdinated action of the spines, and in large part also

over the coordinated action of the feet, but which is further in

part distributed along the courses of the main nerve-trunks, and

Fic. 14.—Uncodrdinated grepe ofa tnd tah in which the nerves of all the mi

e been divided.

so secures coordination of feet even in separated segments of the

animal,

it was also determined that the so-called eyes of star-fish and

i 7 i ' Ki

À; y z A E Í Ie

‘Fis. I parave aa sented when treated as in Fig. 14.

ins were really such, as if a large tank be completely

z d except at one end where a narrow slit of light is admit-

> fee hess

1885.] Recent Literature. 1199

ted, and a number of star-fish and Echini be scattered over the

floor of the tank, in a few hours almost the whole number will

be found congregated in the narrow slit of light.

“On removing with a pointed scalpel the eye-spots from a

number of star-fish and Echini without otherwise injuring the

animals, the latter no longer crawled towards the light, even

though this were admitted to the tank in abundance, but they

crawled promiscuously in all directions. On the other hand, if only

one out of the five eye-spots were left intact, the animals crawled

towards the light as before. It may be added that single detached

rays of star-fish and fifth-part segments of Echini crawl towards

the light in the same manner as entire animals, provided, cf

course, that the eye-spot is not injured.”

Finally, the presence of a sense of smell in star-fish which had

been kept fasting for several days, was proved by presenting them

with small pieces of shell fish. They immediately crawled to the

food, and “if a small piece of the food were held in a pair of

forceps and gently withdrawn as the star-fish approached it, the

animal could be led about the floor of the tank in any direction.”

By progressively cutting off the rays and other experiments,

it was found that the olfactory sense was equally distributed

throughout their length, but along the lower surface.

These researches are certainly of much interest, and' are posi-

tive additions to our knowledge of the nervous system and of the

physiology of these types of life.

Jorpan’s CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF NORTH America.'—This

catalogue will be a sxe gua non of the ichthyologist. It is not

only an index to the subject, but a good illustration of a generally

rational nomenclature. The number of species now known is

1683. This number will be increased to a moderate extent from

fresh and coast waters, and to a greater degree from deep-sea ex-

plorations. Thus the take of the Fish Commission steamer A/-

_batross, for the past season includes seventy-five species which

are not yet described. Wa

Professor Jordan’s efforts to do justice to honest work have

been in the main successful. While employing such of the names

of Rafinesque as are accompanied by recognizable indications ;

others formerly adopted are rejected, as resting on no sufficient

evidence. We think, however, that in a few instances the author >

has gone a little further in favorable consideration of slip-shod

work than justice to good work demands. Thus he adopts the

two names Hypsoblennius and Reinhardtius, which were proposed

without diagnosis or explanation, in preference to Isesthes and

_Platysomatichthys, which were defined when proposed. Professor

Jordan has not previously taken this position, and he now informs

Ca the Fishes known to inhabit the waters of North America north of the

Wie: atte : By D. S. JorpAN (Extracted from the Annual Report of the.

Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1884). 1885, p. 185.

1200 Recent Literature. | December,

us that it is opposed to his preferences and convictions, as it is to

all the rules of nomenclature in existence.

A characteristic which it would be well for American nat-

uralists to imitate, is the classical form and derivation of most of

Professor Jordan’s names. They display a refreshing contrast to

the poverty of invention and barbarous constitution of the handi-

work of too many of our countrymen of earlier years. Moreover

we do not find the extravagant use of personal names, which has

so prevailed of recent years in England and France. The dedi-

cation of a species to men of desert, still remains a compliment in

this country, whatever it may have become elsewhere.

We append the following special notes apropos of one which

appeared in the NATURALIST for 1885, page 814. In this note we

did unintentional injustice to Mr. Meek in criticising determina-

tions which we are informed, were mostly made by Professor

Jordan. With regard to the Pantosteus platyrhynchus, whose

characters were said to be due to “ shriveling” of the specimen,

our objections were well taken; as Professor Jordan intorms us

that this word is due to aslip of memory, and should be replaced

by “soft and limp,” the words used in his private notes. Further,

Professor Jordan states that he cannot find barbels in either

Meda fulgida Gir. or M. argentissima Cope,as I have described them

in the latter, and as Girard failed to observe in the former. The

former is very abundant in the San Francisco river, one of the

heads of the Gila in New Mexico, where it is the small minnow

of the stream. Like Jordan, I find no barbel in any specimen.

I have reason to suspect the correctness of the locality given me as

that of the M. argentissima, i. ¢., the head waters of the Rio Grande.

I suspect it comes from the waters of the Great Colorado. The

locality given me for the Pantosteus guzmaniensis Caress

“Arkansas river,” I have long suspected to be erroneous.

have now reason to believe that it comes from the head waters of

the San Juan river, a branch of the Colorado.

_ Professor Jordan adopts very properly Gill’s new order of

Lyomeri, for the remarkable Eurypharyngide. -5 DC,

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

an, C. O.—Methods of research in microscopical er and embryology-

ede S, PE ES 1885. From the publisher

Packard, A. S—On the Structure of the Brain of the ole eyed Crustacea.

Nat. Acad. Sci., Vol. III, September, 1885. From the author.

Smith, E. A.—A general description of gh climate and i etc., features of

the cotton-producing States. Ext. 4th Rep. Entomol. Comm , 1884,

aera the ores and minerals of industrial importance sorang in Alabama.

— Remarks on a paper of Dr. Otto Meyer on “ Species in the southern old Ter-

ch Ame, ys » Sci., Oct. » 1885, All from the author.

1885.] Recent Literature. 1201

Powell, “he si ee annual report of the U. S. Geological Survey, 1884. From

the su

Wright, K. po the hyomandibular clefts and pseudobranchs of at ig

Amia, From the Journ. Anat. and Physiol., 1885. From the author

Struthers, F—On the bones, articulations and muscles of the rudimentary hind-limb

= the Greenland right whale. Ext. Jour. Anat. and Phys., 1881. From the

uthor

Whisfeld, R. P.—On a fossil scorpion from the Silurian of America.

Notice of a new Cephalopod from the Niagara rocks of Indiana.

Notice of a large sp. of Ho pega sof from the Oriskany. Bull. Mus. Nat.

Hist. N: Y; u: All from the au

Garrett, P. C.—President’s address at ‘he inh Nat. Conference of Charities and

Correction, on 1885. From the author

Horn, G. H.—A note on Pae jours: Entomol, Amer., 1885. From the

author.

gels Sa . 4,—First and second lists of reptiles ae Sie from Rio

ande do Sul. Amer. Mag. Nat. Hist., March and Aug., 1885.

Bonide on the geog. distribution of the Lacertilia. Ta ae -, 1885.

—— Descriptions of new sp. of reptiles and batrachians in the Brit. Mus. Pt. x1.

May, 1884,

Id.,

coc Repon on a collection of reptiles and Batrachia from Timor Laut. Ext. Proc.

Zool. Soc., June, 1883.

Description of a new species of lizard of the genus Enyalius. Proc. Zool.

Soc., Feb. 6, 1883.

Suor of the families of existing Lacertilia. Ext. Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist.,

Aug., 1884.

Remarks on the variations of E/apomorphus lemniscatus, Ann. and Mag. Nat.

Hist., April, 1885.

——On a collection of frogs from Yurimaguas, Huallaga river, Northern Peru. P.

Z. S., Dec., 1883.

—_New soiig and batrachians from the Solomon islands. P. Z. S., April, 1884.

On the Geckos of New Caledonia. P. Z. S., March 6, 1883.

Description of a new sp. of frog from Asia Minor. P. Z. S., Jan., 1885. All

from the author.

Kiprianow, B. A.—Palæontological notes (Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, etc.).

De te notes,

Canby, W. M.—An autobiography and some Spp orgs of the late August Fend-

ler, Tofa n Gazette, e 1885. From the e

Breckenridge, C. R—Speech of Hon. C. R. ae acelin House of Representa-

tives, Feb, 3, 1885. From the author.

Woodward, A., and Thom Wa the phg of the beulder clay.

Ext. 13th la Geol. aa Nat. Hist. Survey of Minn

Packard, A. §.—The Syncarida, a group of hosts oun Ext. Amer,

Nat., July, 1885.

——Origin of the American "n of the dog. Ext. idem., Sept.,

——On the Gampsonychidæ, an un escribed meng of fossil rei sear oe

Ext. Id., August, 1885. All ‘a the author,

rer: oe s Assoc.—Seventh Annual Hirai of the Michigan Sportsmen’s

1884.

PA K oe peeniefi of a new species of Amblystoma (4. copeianum) from In-

diana. Ext. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., June, 1885.

Hulke, J. W.—Note on the sternal Tem in Iguanodon. Ext, Quart. Journ.

Geol. Soc., 8

, 1885, From the au

1202 General Notes. (December,

Shufeldt, R. W.—Zuñi as itis. Forest and Stream, July 2, 1875. From the author.

Riley, C. V.—The influence of climate on Cicada septendecim.

——On the parasites of the Hessian fly. Both from the Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.,

1885.

——The song-notes of the nmap Cicada. Science, Sept. 25, 1885.

Notes on joint-worms. Rural New Yorker, June 20

Premature appearance of the serigateal Cicada, ‘Scientific Amer., June, 1885.

All from the author.

Certes, A.—DeYemploi des peii Colorantes. Ext. Comptes Rendus de la Soc.

de Biologie. Tn uthor.

ape 4-—Anthromorpbism. Ext. Methodist Review, July, 1885. From the

uthor.

Meyer Otto ~Suecessional relations of the species in the French old Tertiary. Ext.

er. Jour. Sci., Aug., 1885. From the author

ue. A. ome comparative longevity of the sexes. Read bef. Amer. Ass.

Adv. Sci., Phil., 1884. From the a

Schlosser, M.—Ueber das geologische alter der Faunen v. fexpetstielin und Ronzon,

etc., a. d. Neuen Jahrb. fiir Min. Geol. and Palzon., 1885. Bd. 1. From the

eather.

Scott, W. B.—Cervalces americanus, a fossil moose or elk from the Quaternary of -

N. J. Rep. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1885. From the author.

Hall, sie — 6th ann. rep. on the N. Y. State Mus, Nat. Hist., 1884. From the

ee a .—Notice sur un Crustace de la craie brune amb environs de Mons. Bull.

du Mus. Roy, d’ Hist. Nat. de Belg., 1885. From the author

Nehring, — —Ueber a. bei ee Inca-Hunden v. pi Todtenfelde bei An-

con in Peru. Ges. naturf. Freunde, Jan. 20, 1885. From the author.

Weekly Drug News.—Cocaine hydrochloride. N. Y.

.» 1885.

Woodward, H.—List of casts of fossils in the Dept, of Geology, British ape

1885. From the author

Brinton, D. G. — The Taensh grammar and dictionary. A deception aj

Amer. ia 1885.

——The chief god of the Algonkins. Ext. Idem, Both from the author.,

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY oe TRAVELS.!

Pe ee ET A

1885. ] Geography and Travels. 1203

so soon as they touch a salt deposit which crops up ten to fifteen

miles from the range.

Kustik, in a valley about fourteen miles long and three-fourths

of a mile wide, is a Jamshidi town; but twenty miles to the east

of it commences the Hazara country, a vast plain stretching to-

ward the north, and eroded into a chaos of steep hillocks and

hollows by the Murghab drainage. Kala-nau, the chief town of the

Hazaras, is a prosperous one. The soil of the Hazara country is

excellent—only the manual labor is needed. The Hazaras have

enormous flocks of sheep and cattle.

As far back as the earliest periods of Arabic history, Badghis

has been connected with Herat. It comprises the land watered

by the Murghab and its tributaries. Its principal valley is

Penjdeh. The Afghan forts of Bala Murghab and Meruchak are

the only modern buildings north of the debouch of the river from

the gorge in the Tirband-i-Turkistan, for the Jamshidi and Saryk

. Turkoman population live entirely in kibiskas or felt tents.

About twenty-eight years ago the Saryks, driven from Merv

by the Tekkes, received the sanction of the Jamshidi chief, and

located themselves at Penjdeh. These Saryks were once, togeth-

er with Tekke, Salar and other Turkomans, the scourge of north-

era Persia, but since Russia has closed the slave marts, they seek

for a stable government, and are giving their attention to agri-

culture. The Saryks own nearly 200,000 sheep.

North of the Badghis, a tract of country between the Mur-

ghab and the Heri-rud is called Chol, which is simply Turkoman

for a desert that is not a sand desert. The light soil bears short

grass almost everywhere until the dry season, and where there is

less grass there are usually more bushes, the latter marking a

more sandy soil. :

The salt lakes of Yar-oilan are situated in depressions, the west-

ern one about 950 feet below the surrounding country, and 1430

feet above sea-level, while the eastern one is about 800. feet above

sea-level. The beds of these lakes are a mass of hard salt, cover-

ed with a very little water. The western lake is the source from

which the Tekkes get their salt, while the Saryks tse the eastern

lak

In the discussion which followed the reading of Sir Peter

Lumsden’s paper, Sir Hy. Rawlinson gave his reasons for the

identification of Meruchak with the upper Merv or Merv-el-Rud,

said to have been founded in the fifth century by Kesra Anushir-

wan. The larger Merv, now in Russian possession, Balkh and

Herat are the three oldest cities of Aryan civilization. The Paro-

pamisus of the Greeks extended no further westward than Herat,

the westward continuation being called Sariphe.

At Penjdeh, in a sandstone cliff 200 feet above the river, are

some artificial caves, evidently once inhabited. The largest has a

central passage 150 feet long, nine wide, and nine high to the top

1204 General Notes. [ December,

of the vaulted ceiling. Doorways on each side lead to rooms

fifteen to nineteen feet long, and of the same width and height

as the passage. Doors were once placed in the entrances, as is

proved by the holes for the fastenings. Narrow staircases lead

to upper rooms, probably store rooms. Places for lamps remain,

and there are traces of soot, but no carvings or inscriptions exist.

Many other similar but smaller caves are found all along the

valley.

The Carolines—The Caroline islands were first discovered by a

Portuguese navigator in 1526, and during the rest of the six-

teenth century were frequently visited by Spanish and Portuguese

explorers. They were first named the Carolines by a pilot named

Lezcano, about 1686, in honor of Charles II of Spain. Towards

the end of the seventeenth century the Spaniards in the Philip-

pines and Mariannes learned something about the Carolines, and

an imperfect map of the group was sent to Pope Clement XI in

1705. In 1710 the Jesuits of Manila sent missionaries there, but

these, with a few soldiers who accompanied them, were massacred

at the Pelews. Though navigators of all nations visited these

islands, their number and exact position, as well as the hydrog-

raphy of the seas in which they were situated, remained unknown

until 1817, when they were visited by Kotzebue. After him came

Freycinet in 1819, Duperrez in 1824, Dumont d’ Urville in 1826,

and others, and from these came the first accurate accounts. The

group, situated west of the Marshalls, and north of New Guinea,

contains about 500 islands, most of which are atolls. The number

. Of real islands is only forty-eight, but as each has a certain num-

ber of islets around it, there may be said to be forty-eight groups;

forty-three of these are low coral islands, while five are basalt

with coral at the base. There are three main groups, separated

by two large channels ; the principal island of the eastern group

is Ponape or Ascension, that of the western Eap, Jap or Yap.

Ponape is sixty miles round and has in its centre a peak 2860 feet

high. Upon it are some curious ruins, apparently the remains of a

large building made of blocks of basalt. There are two rainy seasons,

January and August, and the climate is comparatively temperate.

The population is from 18,000 to 20,000. The principal elements

are Malay and Maori, but there is also a mixture of Negrito and

Papuan, and in later times a Japanese and Chinese element was

added. The language is also mixed. In some islands there are

two languages—the vulgar and the polished. Zz abu is practised.

wach group of islands has its chief, whose power in time of peace

is nominal, but in time of war is unbounded.

_ The Pelews, the most western isles of Micronesia, about 600

_ miles east of the Philippines, are a group of ten principal islands

and a number of islets. The largest island, Babelthuap, is about

uirty miles long. All the islands are covered with thick forests.

population is about 3500, and is probably the result of a

1385. ] Geography and Travels 1205

mixture of Malays with an inferior race of aborigines. The kin

has instituted an order, the insignia of which is the first cervical

vertebra of a dugong.

An interesting account of these islands will be found in the

* Animal Life” of Semper, who spent some time upon them.

M. E. Planchut, in a recent issue of the Revue Scientifique,

states that the people of the Carolines are in continual relations

with those of the Mariannes, which undoubtedly belong to Spain,

that the Caroline natives are treated as compatriots when cast

upon the Philippines, and that in the eyes of a Spaniard the par-

tition made by Alexander IV is still in force. The entire area of

the Carolines, Ualam, Panope, and Kong excepted, would not

cover more than.200 miles in length by 200 meters in width.

` Thus the population is about 500 to the square mile. The same

writer states that the people believe in a supreme being, whom

they call Machi-machi. heir temples are pyramidal huts

with a rough-hewn stone in front, and it is believed that were

this stone to be raised by a chief who wished to chastize a mutin-

ous people, the earth would tremble and the sea leave its bed to

drown the rebels. M. Planchut states that the Palaos or Pelews

have only 1200 inhabitants.

Corea.—Beyond the granite mountains which surround Siril, Mr.

Carles has come upon extensive lava sheets covering a large por-

tion of Corea. “There are three great oval fields of lava passing

almost in a straight line through the mountain chain which runs

from the north to the south of Corea, at a height of about 1500 feet

above the sea near the divide, and of 500 feet on the lower levels.

There is also another plain about four miles wide and twelve miles

long to the east of the Kaun-Song district, the direction of which

is not so well defined, but in which the depth of lava is apparently

greater than that in the others.” No crater is visible to account

for the enormous mass of lava; which must have welled up from

extensive fissures.

Asiatic and Oceanic News—Mr. Gardner, British Consul of

Newchwang, estimates the population of Manchuria at 15,000,000,

Its three provinces are Heh-lung-Kiang, Kirin, and Féngtien,

The port of Newchwang was opened to trade in 1861. The

Sakeis of Selangore, in the Malay peninsula, seem to have no

form of religious worship, but believe in omens. They kill small

game with a blow-pipe and dart poisoned with Upas-juice, and

large game with a kind of cross-bow formed of a bamboo spear

placed in a grooved log, and a bent sapling held back by a rattan

cord. This is stretched across a path inthe woods. The Sakeis

live in bamboo huts thatched with palm-leaves. They area shy,

harmless people, similar in appearance to the Malays, but smaller

in statue and with wavy hair. The Geographical Society of

Hamburg, in a recent publication, gives the area of Kaiser Wil-

helm’s Land or German New Guinea at 34,508 square miles,

1206 General Notes. | December,

The other German annexations in the Pacific are New Ireland,

3398.8 square miles, New Britain, 9348.8 square miles, and the

Bismarck archipelago 15,261.6 square miles, in all about 65,512

English geographical square miles. The same authority gives

twice the size of Ireland. Arminius Vambery contributes to

the September issue of the Proc. Roy. Geog. Society a list of

the names of towns, rivers, etc., in the disputed country between

Merv and Herat. Russian geographical exploration of the

Caucasus has begun. MM. Iljin and Dimick have traveled

among its glaciers, climbed its passes and given an account of

their travels in Petermann’s Mittheilungen. Ushba is estimated

at 16,500 feet, Tetuuld at15,500 or thereabouts. The Swanetians,

to whose brutality Russian officers fell victims a few years ago,

are now quiet. M. Dimick has explored the glaciers of Elbruz.

From the resumé of these explorations given by D. W. Freshfield,

it does not appear that they add greatly to the work done by

Mr. Grove, Captain Telfer, Mr. Phillips-Wolley and Mr. Fresh-

field.

Arrica.—African News,—Notwithstanding the comparative fail-

ure of M. Giraud’s expedition, he has added much to our knowl-

edge of Lake Bangweolo and its neighborhood. The form of the

lake, as given by him, differs widely from that given by Living-

stone, and the Luapula head of the Congo issues from its south-

ern prolongation. M. Giraud has traced it as far as Lake Mcero.

or Mero Mkata. It may yet be proven that the Lualuba, may

be the true head-stream of the Congo, as, where it issues from

1000 to 1500 feet. Mr. Grenfell reports that Tippo Tib, the

well-known Arab slaver, is evidently preparing for a permanent

occupation of Stanley falls. He is making large plantations and

is expecting 2000 more men. From the collections made by

M. Humblot during a stay of several months on Great Comoro,

it appears that no indigenous mammal is found there. Thirty-

four species of birds were found. After an examination of the

collections MM. Milne-Edwards and Oustalet came to the con-

clusion that the fauna has no relation with that of Madagascar,

but has been imported from neighboring regions,

_ AMERiIcA—American News—Mr. Glaisher has ascended the

Berbice river and Wieroonie creek from Georgetown. The banks

e thickly populated. After passing someislands the river opens

into wide lake-like expanses of water, the land becoming high.

e the first rapids Mr. Glaisher left the river for its tributary,

leroonie creek, which he ascended to within a day’s journey

ra river——M. Violet d’ Aouest has discovered in

flanks of the most elevated mountains, argilla-

1885. ] Geology and Paleontology. 1207

ceous deposits which could not be attributed to decomposition of

the rocks in situ, or to the alluvium deposited by the rivers, or

to rain. He attributed them to atmospheric currents. The winds

by day raise the particles from the plains, and carry them at night

to the hills,

EUROPE.— European News.—Sulitjelma, in 671/° north latitude,

and belonging as much to Norway as to Sweden, has hitherto

been believed to be the highest Swedish mountain. Last year

the topographical surveyor of Norrland found that Sarjekjakko,

in Swedish Lapland, is quite 1000 feet higher than Sulitjelma,

that is, about 7000 feet. Dr. Svenonius now states that Kebne-

kaisse, also in Lapland, has been ascertained to be 7300 feet

above sea-level —--The rocky islet. Munken, three and a half

miles south of Surhbd, has completely subsided. The rock is

well-known in history. It is mentioned in 1673 by Pastor Lucas

Jacobson Debes, and plays a conspicuous part in geographical

literature, especially with reference to the Zeni narrative. The

islet was formerly seventy feet high, but is now no higher than

the surrounding rocks, so that the sea covers it even in fine

The shoals around are dangerous, and will now be

more so. In 1800 the rock was described as like a ship under

full sail when seen from seaward, while from the/land it resembled

the figure of a monk.

GEOLOGY AND PALAZONTOLOGY.

PoLeMics IN PaLt#onTotocy.—The present activity in verte-

brate paleontology is accompanied by considerable controversy

in various directions.. M. Lemoine and M. L. Dollo are at issue

regarding the identity or non-identity of the genus Champso-

saurus Cope and Simcedosaurus Gervais; M. Dollo maintaining

their identity and referring to the Champsosaurus, a skeleton found

at Erquelines. M. Lemoine states that the Erquelines example

comes from an horizon different from that which yielded Simcedo-

saurus, and that, in order to force an identification, M. Dollo has

accused him (M. Lemoine) of errors which he did not commit.

On the identity of the American and Cernaysien forms M. Le-

moine reserves his opinion. M. Dollo answers by asserting the

identity of horizon of the French and Belgian specimens, and

giving reasons for considering the remains as belonging to the

same species. Passing in review the cranium, atlas and axis, ver-

tebrz, scapula and coracoid, and other parts, he not only denies

the existence- of any proved divergence between the American,

Cernaysien and Belgian examples, but declares that the bones

described by M. Lemoine as scapula and coracoid are really not

those bones, since they are shown as placed one over the other,

whereas there is a true articulation between the actual scapula

and the coracoid. He suggests that the scapula of M. Lemoine

may be a part of the coracoid.

VOL. XIX.—NO, XII, 79

1208 General Notes. [ December,

Dr. Schlosser, of Munich, endeavors to show that Dr. Lydek-

ker is in error in proposing, in the catalogue of the vertebrate

fossils in the British Museum, to combine certain species of, Ro-

dentia, described by him in his monograph of the Tertiary Roden-

tia of Europe. .

Dr. Lydekker, in the London Geological Magazine, reviews

the illustrated papers published by Professor Cope in the AMERI-

can NATURALIST on American fossil Vertebrata. He differs gen-

tity of Hyopsodus Leidy with Microchcerus Wood; and of

Esthonyx Cope with Miolophus Owen. Professor Cope, in a

note to the Geological Magazine, shows that there is not sufficient

ground for the latter identification.

Dr. Baur believes that the bone in Iguanodon supposed by

Marsh to be clavicle, is really sternum, as indicated by Dollo.

THE ANKLE AND SKIN OF THE DINOSAUR, DICLONIUS MIRABILIS.

—The fibula of this saurian lies at its distal end in a groove of

the external part of the front of the tibia. It is compréssed so

as to be anteroposterior. It terminates in an epiphysis-like cal-

caneum. The astragalus has the usual form, and embraces the

tibia closely. Its anterior ascending process is rather short and

thin. Posteriorly the tibia rests on the astragalus and is not

overlapped by it. A portion of the extremity descends and fills

an angular space which enters between the astragalus and cal-

caneum behind, and takes part in the ankle-joint. This does not

_ occur in the Oruithotarsus immanis. ;

portion of the integument from the pelvic region of this

dinosaurian is preserved. It is indicated by a thin brown layer

like the remains of corneous teeth, which I have described as

existing in the premaxillary region.! It is in the form of small

sub-pentagonal disk-like scales, each with a beveled and coarsely

crenate margin. They do not fit closely except at the interior or

basal part of their edges. The scales resemble considerably the

divisions of the skin of Rhinocerus sondaicus, The scales are

about a centimeter in diameter.—£. D. Cope.

PLiocene Horses oF SouTHWESTERN TExAS.—The pliocene

beds of Southwestern Texas have yielded several interesting

species of Mammalia. Among these may be mentioned Mastodon

~ americanus Cuy. and M. serridens Cope? and Cistudo marnockit

_ Cope. But horses of the genus Equus are the most numerous in

species and individuals. The following identifications are base

| specimens received from Messrs. Wm. Taylor and G. W. Mar-

whom I hereby express my acknowledgments.

ings Academy Philadelphia, 1883, p. 104.

PLATE XXXVII.

atural size-

ze; 2 from

4. —

r As, astragalus; Ca, calcaneum, FIG.

H Ope > l pri ace of superior molar tooth, nat. size. Fic. 5.—

molar tooth of right side of ium peninsilatum Cope; grinding sur-

ral size. Fic, 6.—The same of Protohippus castilli Cope; same

rete a

1885. ] Geology and Paleontology. 1209

cage aay E I Cope. Proceeds. Amer. Philos. Society, 1884, pp. 10-15. One

superior molar. Hitherto only known from the valley of Mexico. From Mr.

Marker

EQUUS FRATERNUS Leidy, 1858. Æ. zau and? conversidens Owen, 1869. From Mr.

Marnock.

Equus ExcELsus Leidy. Approaches the last named species. From Mr. Taylor.

EQUUS OCCIDENTALIS inih he most southern and eastern locality for this species,

which has not hitherto been found away from posek and the Great Basin.

One very eapi ain superior molar, from Mr. T

EQUUS ? CRENIDENS Cope. Proceedings Amer. Philoeoph, ae 1884, p. 10-12,

This or a nearly allied species is represented by a single, and

the largest, superior molar tooth of a horse which I have seen or

find recorded. The .measurements exceed those of the typical

£. crenidens (which has not, so far, been found out of the Valley

of Mexico), and there are some other differences in the distribu-

tion of the enamel-folds. It is distinguished from the other species

of Equus by the small diameters and concaved inner border of

the anterior internal column, by the simplicity of the enamel-folds,

and the crenate character of the margins of the lakes, together

with the large dimensions. The crenation is less obvious in

some specimens than in others, and in the one here noticed is

almost confined to the borders of the posterior lake. The diame-

ters of the crown measure: anteroposterior, 41™™: transverse,

37mm: length; 120m

Fig. 4, Plate xxxvul, represents the grinding face in outline.

Of the five species of Equus of Southwestern Texas, four have

been found in the pliocene of the Valley of Mexico, and one is

peculiar to the Pacific coast and basin of North America. Of the

characteristic species of the Eastern United States, Æ. fraternus

and £. major, the former only has been found. (For. comparison I

introduce Figs. 5 and 6, Pl. xxxvu, of three toed horses from the

Loup Fork bed of Mexico. See Proceeds. Amer. Philos. Soc.,

Oct., 1885.)—£. D. Cope.

List OF THE GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS OF SPITZBERGEN.'—-Qua-

ternary system.— —Beds of sand and clay with remains of terrestrial

plants, marine shells and weeds (some species not living at pres-

ent on Spitzbergen, ¢. g7., Littorina littorea, Mytilus edulis, and

Fucus canaliculatus), . pinana beds,” “ beds of the Reindeer

valley,” et

Miocene system —Sandstones, schists, etc., at King’s bay, Cape

Staratschin, Cape Heer, Heer’s mount, Cape Lyell, Scott’s gla-

cier, with more than 200 sp. of fossil plants, e. gr., Equisetum,

Sequoia, Taxodium, Glyptostrobus, Pinus, Acorus, Iris, Acer,

Platanus, Tilia, Corylus, Populus, Grevia, Hedera, e

Cretaceous system.—Sandstone at “ the Ps" 4 ' (ice fiord)

1 is Arctica, and the discoveries of the Swed-

ish ay a K E. Nordenskol, C. W. Blomstrand, A. Nether.

oP, Oberg and G. Nauckhoff.

1210 General Notes. [December,

with about twenty sp. fossil plants, among which Seguota reichen-

bachi.

Jurassic system-—1. Upper beds: The beds at Cape Boheman

with fossil plants, e. gr., Ginko digitata, Pinus, Podozamites,

Scleropteris, etc. 2. Lower beds: The marine beds of Cape

Staratschin, Green harbor, Advent bay, Sassen bay, Cape Agardh,

with Ammonites, Belemnites, Cardium, Leda, Inoceramus, Au-

cella, Pecten, Ophiura, etc.

Triassic system—Bituminous limestones and schists of Cape

Thordsen, Saurie hook, Cape Staratschin, Cape Lee, Whales

point, with bones of Reptilia, e. gr., Ichthyosaurus, Acrodus, etc. ;

and Mollusca, e. gr., Ammonites, Ceratites, Daonella, Halobia,

Pecten, Lingula, etc., and with beds of phosphates of lime.

Carboniferous system —t1. Upper beds: Sandstones, schists, etc.,

at Recherche bay, with vegetable fossils, e. gr., Lepidodendron,

Lepidostrobus, Stigmaria, Cordaites, Rhabdocarpus, Adiantites,

Sphenopteris, etc. 2. Calcareous beds with Productus, Spirifer,

Rhynchonella, Chonetes, Euomphalus, etc.; limestones, sand-

stones, schists, gypsum and silex of Beeren island, South cape,

Horn sound, Bell sound, Ice fjord, King’s bay, Henloopen strait,

Stansforeland, etc. 3. Lower beds (“ palzanthracitic beds,’

“ ursastuffe””): Schists, sandstones and coals of Beeren eiland,

Klaas Billen bay and Bell sound, with Lepidodendron, Stigmaria,

Calamites, Cyclostigma, Knorria, Cardiopteris.

Devonian system ? (“The Liefde bay formation ”)—Green and

red schists, red sandstones and limestones at Liefde bay, Wijde

bay, Dickson bay, Klaas Billen bay and Beeren eiland, with inde-

terminable fish-scales and bivalves.

Silurian system ? (“ The Hecla Hook formation ”).—Quartzites,

dolomites and black schists from different localities, and contain-

ing indeterminable bivalves. The whole western part of Spitz-

bergen and the Northeastland. :

rimitive system. — Gneiss, mica schists, quartzites, marbles,

dioritic schists, granites, etc, of the N. E. part of Spitzbergen,

North cape, Seven islands, etc.—¥. Lindahl,

Grotocicat News.— General —G. F. Becker (Amer. Fourn. of

Science, Sept., 1884) has a note upon the relations of the mineral `

belts of the Pacific slope to the great upheavals. A great majority

of all the profitable ore deposits west of the crest of the Wasatch

occur in belts a few miles in width which follow the western

edges of distinct geological areas. Thus the lead-silver belt of.

= Utah follows the Cretaceous, the belts of Nevada and Arizona

he Paleozoic, and usually the Carboniferous; the gold belt of

‘astern California the Jura-trias, and the quicksilver belt of East-

1 California the Tertiary —— Psyche contains a contribution to

geological history of myriopods and arachnids, by S. H.

der. The group Archipolypoda resemble the Diplopoda in

of legs on every segment; while in the Proto-

1885. | Geology and Paleontology. I21I

sygnatha only a single pair of legs is borne by each segment,

and the group thus resembles the Chilopoda. For a brief period

after leaving the egg, modern diplopods and pauropods have a

shorter body than in after life, and the first three segments bear

but a single pair of legs. In adult life these first three segments

still bear but a single pair of limbs, while all the other segments,

both those which exist in the larval state and those which develop

afterwards, bear two pairs. The Chilopoda have these same three

anterior pairs of limbs eariy and permanently developed as

organs of manducation, while all other segments have but a sin-

gle pair. Paleontological evidence is in favor of the view that

the dorsal scutes of Diplopoda are compound. The archipolypo-

dous type is the oldest, and there is evidence that some of the

Carboniferous forms were amphibious. The group culminated in the

Carboniferous, and does not appear, to occur later than the Dyas,

while, with one doubtful exception, no true diplopod is known to

be older than the Oligocene. According to S. H. Scudder be-

tween twenty and thirty species of pre-Tertiary Arachnida are

now known, and the earlier forms, chiefly of Carboniferous age,

belong either to the scorpionides or to the Anthracomarti, a

group which is not known later than Paleozoic times, the only

Mesozoic arachnids yet known being true spiders. In the amber

deposits of Prussia all the suborders of Arachnida occur except

the Pedipalpi and the already extinct Anthracomarti. rG

B. Villa (Atti. d. Soc. di Sci. Nat.) gives a review of the rocks of

Brianza (Italy) with a list of the principal fossils of each horizon

rom the Trias to the most recent strata.

Mesozoic. —Bulletin No. 19 of. the U. S. Geological Survey

consists of notes on the stratigraphy of California, by G. F.

Becker. The metamorphic rocks of the coast ranges often show

' proof that plication was not effected by flexure but by innumer-

afterwards re-cemented by silica. The Knoxville beds, the age

of which is near the limits of the Jurassic and Cretaceous, are

the youngest beds of the coast ranges which are known to have

experienced the peculiar magnesian and siliceous metamorphism

of these ranges. The overlying Chico beds are shown to be non-

conformable with the Knoxville beds, and over wide areas the

Chico, Tejon and Miocene strata seem to be perfectly conforma-

ble with each other. The upheaval and metamorphosis of the

Knoxville strata is referred to the close of the period of their

deposition. The auriferous beds of Mariposa are referred to the

same horizon as the Knoxville beds. It is maintained that there

has been a great east and west compression of the country, con-

nected with the great faults in the Wasatch and the Sierra, while

a land barrier existed in the position of the Sierras from a time

prior to the Cretaceous onward, and accounts for the difference

1212 General Notes. | December,

in the faunas of the Pacific Coast waters and those eastward of

them. The Sierras and Coast ranges are referred to a single

mountain system. . D. Achiardi gives the particulars of an

examination into the macroscopical and microscopical characters

of the trachyte and quartziferous porphyry of Donoratice, near

Pisa, Italy. The trachyte is covered, here and there only, with

Eocene sediments which seem to have been disturbed by the

eruption. The porphyry traverses the parti-colored schists of

the Upper Lias and also the marbles of the Lower Lias, and is

only about 400 meters distant from the trachyte, the space be-

tween being occupied by Eocene sediments. D’Achiardi finds

the materials of these two rocks to be chemically the same, and

the mineral species contained in them, for the most part, identi-

cal, but while the trachyte has cooled rapidly upon the surface of

the rocks, the porphyry was intruded through them, and cooled

slowly. The same mineralogist notes the presence in the Apuan

Alps of tormalinolite.

more pronounced, consisting of loops, convex usually toward the

west and south, but in rare cases toward the north-west. Traces

of four great lobes of the ice-sheet, pushing through from the

James to the Missouri, can be found.

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.'

METEORITES.—A number of very important contributions to

the literature of these interesting bodies, which reach our globe

directly from the regions of space, have recently been published.

_ Papers relating to meteorites have heretofore been largely con-

_ fined to detailed descriptions of particular falls. With the ex-

eption of Rose’s essay on the classification of these bodies, little

of a general nature regarding them has been produced until

ithin the past year or two. Now, however, we have at least four

by Dr. Geo. H. WittaMs, of the Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md.

(OD RR Re Pee ae Teoma ea ere ee Td

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 1213

extensive works dealing with their classification and the results of

their microscopical and chemical study. These are, moreover,

quite se in their aim and scope.

First may be mentioned Dr. M. E. Wadsworth’s Lithological

Studies! the frst part of which, published in October, 1884, con-

tains much useful information regarding meteorites. The results

of the microscopical study of thin sections of these bodies by

many investigators, as well as by Dr. Wadsworth himself, are

properly classified with terrestrial rocks as a part of the same

series, in which they also represent certain members more basic

than any found in the earth’s crust near its surface.

Probably the work which will do most to spread abroad just

and accurate ideas of the exact nature and mineralogical com-

position of the meteorites, is the series of microphotographs re-

cently published by Professor G. Tschermak, of Vienna.? There is

scarcely any one to whom a richer collection of this rare material

was accessible, nor any one better fitted by his own researches for

successfully preparing such a volume. Thin sections, one hundred

in number, illustrating every phase of structure and composition

met with among meteoric stones, have been reproduced so ad-

mirably by photography as to afford the best possible substitute

for the originals. When it is remembered how few can ever hope

to thoroughly study sections of meteorites themselves under the_

microscope, the value of these photographs, which necessarily

far exceed any possible descriptions, will be appreciated. Each

plate is accompanied by a full explanatory text. The work was

executed by J. Grimm, of Offenburg, who is already well known

for his superb microphotographs of rock sections, edited by Pro-

fessor E. Cohen. The same firm promises a similar set to illus-

trate the structure of meteoric irons, the appearance of which

will be awaited with interest.

Professor Staislas Meunier, of Paris, has recently published an

elaborate work entitled “ Les Météorites.”3 In this he presents a

new classification, as well as his views respecting the origin of

these bodies. The latter agree with those of Reichenbach,

Haidinger and Tschermak in considering meteorites, at least such

as possess a breccia-like appearance, as aggregations of much

smaller bodies of matter distributed through space, which have

been brought together by their mutual attraction.

Another extremely important paper on meteorites is that b

Dr. Aristides Brezina, curator of the royal mineralogical cabinet

1 Memoirs a Comp, Zool. at Harvard Col. Vol. x1, pt. 1, Oct., 1884.

1 Die mikroskopische Bona der Meteoriten, erläutert durch photo-

graphische Abbildungen. Stuttgart

3 Les Météorites. Paris, 1884. ee to Vol, 11 of Fremy’s Encyclopédie

Chimique.

1214 ` General Notes. ‘ : [December,

of Vienna? This is ostensibly a report on the condition of the

meteoric collection belonging to the cabinet, but really contains

much matter of very general interest. Brezina can find nothing

in the structure of the meteorites to indicate a secondary or con-

glomerate nature. He regards them as the product of a very

rapid crystallization from a homogeneous magma. Respecting

their origin, he considers the old theory of Chladni (1818) and

von Hoff (1835) as the most probable. According to this the

meteorites reach the external atmosphere of the earth as dust-

like or gaseous agglomerations, which, by the sudden diminution

of their cosmic velocity, are enormously heated and at the same

time condensed into solid bodies. The classification adopted is

in the main a petrographical one, following in the principal groups

those of Rose and Tschermak. Many new subdivisions are,

however, introduced to cover the results of the more thorough

and elaborate study. The meteoritic collection in Vienna is the

largest in the world, representing 358 localities, while that of

London has 350 and that of Paris 300.

Short notices have recently appeared by Professor C. U.

‘Shepard, on the Fomatlan, Jalisco, Mexico meteorite (which fell

August, 1879), which is composed largely of olivine and octahedral

crystals of nickeliferous iron;? also by the same writer on the

meteoric iron of Trinity county, California Meteoric irons have

also been described and analyzed by N. T. Lupton from Santa

Rosa, Mexico ;* by George F. Kunz, from Glorietta Mt., Santa

Fé county,’ New Mexico; and by R. B. Riggs, from Grand

Rapids, Michigan.®

MINERALOGICAL News.—All mineralogists will be glad to wel-

come the new and enlarged edition of Professor P. Groth’s inval-

uable treatise on physical crystallography.” This work, which

has done such good service ever since its appearance in 1876, has

been partially rewritten and considerably extended, especially by

its descriptions of all the newest methods and apparatus for min-

eralogical investigation. The admirable text book of mineral-

ogy by Professor G. Tschermak, published in 1884, has become

so popular that a second enlarged edition of it has already

peared.’ ——Professor J. Hirschwald, of Berlin, has issued a

_ systematic description of the mineral collection of the Royal

_ Technical High School, which will be of service to all mineral-

-_ 1Die Meteoritensammlung des k. k. mineralogischen Hofkabinets in Wien am I

_ Mai, 1885. Jahrbuch der k. k. Geol. Reichsanstalt, XXXV, p. 126, 1885

? Am. Jour. Science, Aug., 1885.

Ib, June, 1885.

*Ib., March, 1885.

Ib., September, 1885. ;

Physikaliscl ee. Zweite auflage. Leipzig, 1885.

puch der Mineralogie. 2te Auflage. Wien, 1885. pp. 598.

1885.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 1215

ogists and collectors.! F. Rinne concludes that crystals of

milarite, which are apparently hexagonal, were really so at the

time of their formation, and that their molecular disturbance is

due to a subsequent change of conditions, as is true in the case

of leucite and boracite.?

PETROGRAPHICAL News.—The second part of the second vol-

ume of Professor J. Roth’s Allgemeine Chemische Geologie

has just appeared. This treats of the younger eruptive rocks,

and especially on account of the wonderful completeness of its

literature references, will form, as do the other parts of the same

work, a most valuable addition to the library of every working

geologist and mineralogist. A very concise elementary text-

book of microscopical petrography has recently appeared, by

Professor A. von Lasaulx, of Bonn. In spite of its small size it

brings the essential points of this rapidly developing science down

to date, and is especially to be recommended for its full bibli-

ography.—In his recent exhaustive optical study of the mineral

leucite, Professor C. Klein, of Göttingen, describes in some detail

a new and very complete mineralogical and petrographical micro-

scope, which is constructed by the well-known firm of Voigt &

Hochgesang, of Gottingen.‘ This instrument, of which a cut is

ee given in their latest catalogue (1885), may be had for 800 marks

- ($200), andis undoubtedly the most satisfactory microscope in

the market for the especial uses for which it is intended.

Becke, of the University of Czernowitz, contributes a paper o

the twinning of rock-forming pyroxene and amphibole.’ He

finds in certain Hungarian pyroxene andesites that the bronzite

crystals are frequently grouped i in radiating groups, in accordance

with three anng laws, viz: twinning planes I, Pa (vom

Rath); 2, 2P%, and 3, iF o The first of these is the most

common and corresponds. very closely to the twinning law for

augite, twinning plane P2. The frequently mentioned twins of

augite and hornblende in rocks, with a composition—face apparent-

ly inclined to the vertical axis, the writer follows Mr. George F.

Becker® in considering merely ordinary twins, parallel to œ P 3,

which are cut in the section parallel to some pyramidal face.

J. H. Kloss, of Karlsruhe, has made some interesting contribu-

tions to the subject of secondary hornblende in rocks.” He finds

abundant evidence of compact as well as fibrous hornblende

(uralite) originating from the paramorphosis of pyroxene, and can

1 Das mineralogische Museum sap? Kaal. ie eee Berlin, 1885.

3N hrbuch für Min., etc., 1555.

3 noel en è in dii Geste sieme: Ein. Leitte für den akademischen Unter-

215. 5-

| 1835.

= 6 Geology of the Comstock Lode. Monographs U.S. G S., Vol. 11, p. 113, pl.

2 dd aoe Jahrbuch fiir Min., etc., 1885. 1, p. 82. Versammlung deutscher Natur-

forscher und Airtze in Strassburg. Sept. 18-23, 1885.

1216 General Notes. [ December,

see no reason why a single, homogeneous individual of the former

mineral should not replace one of the latter. He furthermore

thinks that such secondary hornblende (which cannot be regarded

as an alteration product in the common sense), should be used

for purposes of rock classification, and suggests names as

uralitite, uralite-diabase, uralite-gabbro, etc., to be employed, of

course, only where the secondary nature of the hornblende was

beyond doubt.

culated to throw light upon the original form of the minerals

of the more basic massive rocks. Many of these, like labra-

dorite, olivine, hypersthene and diallage, are well known to

often possess a peculiar luster on cleavage surfaces due to the

_ presence of inclusions, These are generally regarded as original

in their nature, but Professor Judd considers them as secondary.

He thinks that at great depths, under the action of pressure, cir-

culating waters would have such an increased solvent effect that

in certain planes a portion of the crystalline substance would be

dissolved, leaving cavities of regular shape, resembling in their

nature the “etched figures” which are produced in crystalline

_ planes by the action of certain reagents. Into these cavities, or

negative crystals, foreign matter is infiltrated, thus producing the

so-called inclusions of indeterminable microlites. This process

is designated as “ schillerization”’Messrs. Hague and Iddings

contribute a most important paper on the development of crystal-

lization in the igneous rocks of Washoe, Nevada,’ to which no

Justice can be done here. Their main point is the convincing

mass may solidify in a glassy form at the surface, and with a holo-

_ Crystalline structure—even a coarsely crystalline structure—at

_ greatdepths. The two forms are connected by every transitional

2 Bulleti eS freer: S. lerap Ko. 8.

y Journal uf the Geol. Soc., Aug., 1

885.

ger Survey, No. 17. Washington, 1885.

taat

1885.] Botany. a,

BOTANY.!

THE Grasses OF Matne.—Under this title Professor Fernald,

of the Maine State College, has brought out a neat pamphlet of

* seventy pages and forty plates. It is designed for the use of

the author’s students, as well as for the farmers of the State. In

the introduction is given a general description of the structure of

grasses, with a pretty complete list of the technica) terms used in

ordinary descriptive works, and acouple of pages on the composition

of grasses. An analytical key precedes the descriptive portion of

the book, the latter occupying about fifty pages. Common names

and the pronunciation of the scientific names are given in

every case. The descriptions are much simplified, and appear

to be fairly accurate. Short notes upon their agricultural value

follow each species. Eighty-one species belonging to thirty-

eight genera are described, and of these forty-two species are

figured in the plates borrowed from the department of agriculture

at Washington.

SPECTRUM OF CHLOROPHYLL.—When a ray of white

light which has passed through a coloring-matter, for instance, a

solution of one of the coal-tar dyes, red wine, or a solution of

chlorophyll, is examined by means of a spectroscope, certain dark

bands, known as absorption-bands, are observed at definite places

in its spectrum. For convenience in examining the spectra of

small amounts of coloring matters, a direct vision spectroscope

attached to the tube of a microscope is employed, and the color-

ing-matter in question is placed in a flat-walled bottle or a glass

cell on the stage of the microscope. The ray of light which is

reflected from the mirror under the stage passes first through the

colored matter, next through the objective, and lastly through

the prisms which compose the microspectroscopic attachment to

the tube.

In order to compare the spectra of different substances, a sec-

ond prism or set of prisms is often used, by which the spectrum

of a second liquid can be projected by the side of that of the first.

The spectra of chlorophyll solutions from two different sources

- can thus be at once compared. One of the combinations can

also be employed to project the solar spectrum (unchanged by

passing through any color whatever), and its constant lines

(Fraunhofer’s lines) can be used for the determination of position

of the bands seen in the spectrum of the liquid by its side.

The spectra of many substances, among which chlorophyll oc-

cupies a prominent place, have absorption-bands of such con-

stancy in position and appearance that they are justly regarded

-as characteristic. The spectrum of an alcoholic solution of

chlorophyll has been shown to be essentially the same as that of

the chlorophyll granule itself. In order, however, to obtain all

1 Edited by PROFESSOR CHARLES E. BESSEY, Lincoln, Nebraska. *

1218 General Notes. [ December,

the absorption-bands characteristic of chlorophyll, it is necessary

to examine successively solutions of different degrees of strength,

some of the bands appearing only in dilute, and others only in

strong solutions.—G. L. Goodale, in Bot. Text-Book.

THE TREATMENT OF SETS OF BoTANICAL SpEeciMENS —In this

day, when so many sets of plants are distributed by the many

collectors and elaborators of groups, it becomes a serious ques-

tion what to do with them in the herbarium. A single set, or

even a few sets may be kept in the original form and consulted

in this way, but when one has to ransack a dozen or more fas-

cicles, in as many different sets, in order to make a comparison of

the species of a particular genus, the trouble is entirely too much

for a busy man. One dislikes to tear up his sets of Ellis’ North

American Fungi, Thuemen’s Mycotheca Universalis, Linhart’s

Ungarns Pilze, Wittrock and Nordstedt’s Algæ aque dulcis ex-

siccate, Rabenhorst’s Algz Sachsens and Algz Europas, etc.,

etc., but really the labor of running over the numerous fascicles

makes any other course impracticable. In the herbarium of the

University of Nebraska, all sets of plants, of whatever groups, are

cut up and distributed. The labels in all cases are distinctive,

indicating with certainty the set to which each specimen belongs,

and its serial number. Any specimen can thus be as readily re-

ferred to as if it were retained in the original fascicle, while the

ease of consultation and comparison is greatly enhanced.

Botanica Nores.—-The botanical portion of the second an-

nual report of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station,

by Professor Trelease, is mainly devoted to the spot-disease of

strawberry leaves (Ramularia tulasnet), Three figures serve to

make the descriptions much more easily understood, although

the text is admirably clear.’ A paper of this kind is worth more

scores of pages of so-called “experiments,” which too often

constitute the bulk of the reports from American experiment

stations. : er’s synopsis of the genus Selaginella, which

has been running through the Journal of Botany for many months,

is brought to a close in the October number. The whole num-

ber of species described is 312, of which 105 are here described

for the first time. B. M. Everhart, of West Chester, Pa., has

compiled an alphabetical index to the species of the first fifteen

centuries of Ellis’ North American Fungi. It will prove of great

service to all who have occasion to refer to Ellis’ spetimens.

From it we find that there are in the fifteen centuries thus far

_ published twenty-five species of Peronospora, eighty of Puccinia,

twenty-eight of Uromyces, fourteen of Ustilago, forty-seven of

Polyporus, eighty of Peziza, etc., etc. Professor Beal has pub-

he: d in Bulletin No. 5, of the Michigan Agricultural College,

the results of experiments made upon the vitality of seeds, from

eal s that of seeds enclosed in sand in bottles and

—

1885. | Botany. I219

buried twenty inches below the surface of the soil, at the end of

five years the following per cents grew, viz: Of Amarantus retro-

flexus, forty-two; Ambrosia artemisiefolia, none; Brassica nigra,

none; Bromus secalinus, none; Capsella bursa-pastoris, one

hundred; Lepidium virginicum, ninety-four; Erechthites hiera-

cifolia, none; Euphorbia maculata, none; Lychnis githago, none ;

Anthemis cotula, fifty-two; Maiva rotunaifolia, two (?); Cno-

thera biennis, eighty-two; Hlantago major, none; Ffolygonum

hydropiper, six; Portulaca oleracea, thirty-eight; Quercus rubra,

none; Rumex crispus, ninety ; Sefaria glauca, sixty-eight; Stel-

laria media, seventy-two; Thuja occidentalis, none; Trifolium

repens, four; Verbascum thapsus, eighty-four——From the pro-

ceedings of the U. S. National Museum, we have a list, by Frank

H. Knowlton, of the plants collected by C. L. McKay in Alaska,

in 1881. In all 122 species are enumerated, distributed as fol-

lows, viz: Dicotyledons, eighty-seven ; Monocotyledons, twenty-

four; Conifers, one; Pteridophytes, five (one Equisetum, one Ly-

copodium, three ferns); mosses, four; lichens, one. No new

species are described. Professor Penhallow published, in the

Canadian Record of Science for October, a paper upon the distri-

bution of the reserve-material of plants in relation to disease, from

which it appears that an abnormal storage of starch in the pith,

wood and bark of the peach is associated with a deficiency of

potash and chlorine and an excess of lime. This abnormal stor-

age is accompanied apparently by imperfect nutrition, due to the

loss of power of the tissues to dissolve the starch, which accord-

ingly accumulates——The July Torrey Bulletin contains a paper

by Professor Trelease showing that the fungus parasitic on Jun-

cus tenuis, and hitherto known as Ustilago junct Schweinitz, is

properly not an Ustilago at all, but a species of Cintractia. Ac-

cordingly it must hereafter be known under the name of Cn-

wactia junci (Schwein.) Trelease. The only other known species

of the genus is C. aaicola (B) Cornu, from the southern United

States and the West Indies. From a study of the develop-

ment of the leaves of Pinus monophylla and P. edulis upon young

trees growing upon his grounds in Germantown, Pa., Thomas

Meehan concludes that the former is a depauperate state of the

latter. His paper appears in the August Torrey Bulletin. The

«Association Number” of the Botanical Gazette (Sept. and Oct.)

contains forty-six pages of interesting matter, We are much

pleased to read the announcement that beginning with the new

year the size of this indispensable journal will be increased to at

least twenty-four pages per month. An exhaustive index to vol-

umes I to x will be published at the close of the present year.

Professor John M. Coulter's Rocky Mountain Flora is in

press, and will soon appear. It is to be uniform with Gray’s and

Chapman’s Manuals, and will include descriptions of the plants

from about the 100th meridian westward, and extending from

British America southward through Colorado.

1220 General Notes. [ December,

ENTOMOLOGY.

OCCURRENCE OF COLIAS NASTES IN THE PAMIR MOUNTAINS.—In

the Investia of the Russian Geographical Society is a paper by

M. Grum-Grzimailo, who has journeyed, says Nadure, in the

mountains north of the Alay region of the Pamir, in Central

Asia.’ Ona rich Alpine pasturage, where Kirghizes are in the

habit of staying, he found Colas eogene, Arctia erschoffi, etc.,

which are common almost exclusively to the Himalayas and the

Southwest Thian-Shan. On the plateau between the Kara-Su and

the Aram, with other rare Lepidoptera were species of Colias and

Parnassius. On the Dje Kaindy pass, the Lycaenz were numer-

ous, so that in the space of three meters the author found fifteen

species of them, of which three were unknown to him. Another

find of great interest was that of C. mastes: The late Mr. Fed-

chenko had alrec dy caught one female butterfly, which was de-

termined by M. Erschoff as Colias nastes. This species having

been found formerly only in Labrador and Northern Lapland, the

determination remained doubtful, the individual having been but

a female. M. Grzimailo has caught a number of both males and

females, which really proved both to belong to C. xastes. The

writer says it remains now to explain the strange extension of

this species. He does not seem to be aware that several (nine

species) other Labrador Lepidoptera occur in the Altai mountains

of Northeastern Asia.

Tue Eye anp Optic Tract or Insects.—In his essay on this

subject Dr. S. J. Hickson (Quart. Journ. Micr. Science, April)

describes in detail the eye and optic tract of the flesh fly (Musca

vomitoria). The pseudo-cones he has found to be composed of

four cells, with their nuclei situated internally, each one contain-

ing a large watery or albuminous vacuole, which serves the same

purpose, and is morphologically homologous with the crystalline

cone of the “eucone” eyes. There are six retinule cells, each

possessing a nucleus situated in that part of it which lies imme-

diately behind the pseudo-cones, and in some cases an additional

nucleus, situated about half-way down. He has figured for the

first time the interommatidial tracheal vesicles which have been

previously observed by several investigators. In the optic tract

he has described three ganglia—the opticon, epi-opticon and peri-

opticon. The last of these is composed of a number of small

cylindrical elements of a tissue composed of a sponge-work of

_nerve-fibrilla, which he has called a “neurospongium.” The

_ Opticon and epi-opticon are present in all insects, and in most of

the higher Crustacea. The peri-opticon appears comparatively

ate in development, but is never found even in the adults of

eri-opticon, when present, is usually composed of a num-

| | elements, which- partially fuse in Æschna and

1885.] Entomology. 1221

completely in Eristalis, Bombyx and the Crustacea. In Eristalis the

peri-opticon is traversed by a number of delicate tracheal vessels.

The terminal optic anastomosis of Nepa is more complicated

than it is in Periplaneta, and seems to be an intermediate stage

between the simple anastomosis, the true peri-opticon of Musca.

A similar series of intermediate stages between the simple

anastomosis and a true peri-opticon has been traced in the devel-

opment of these parts in the bee.

The development and comparative anatomy of the peri-opticon

of insects is interesting, as it may indicate the mode in which

central ganglia were first formed from primitive nerve-fibrils and

cells. :

His investigations seem to him to corroborate the opinion of

the majority of previous investigators, that the retinule are the

true nerve-end cells.

How INSECTS ADHERE TO FLAT VERTICAL SuRFACES.—Herr

H. Dewitz gives an account of some further observations on this

subject, tending to prove that the secretion by which, e. g., flies

adhere to window panes, is not a thin fluid of a fatty nature, but

much more consistent. He adduces experiments to controvert

Rombout’s view that a fly can maintain itself on a glass surface

by one leg only, if that surface be vertical and if the body of the

fly be in contact with the glass—/ournal Royal Microscopical So-

ciety, October, 1885.

is stated by Dr. F. Dahl to occur in spiders. In an earlier com-

munication this author had pointed out the fact that Micrommeta

virescens and M. ornata were simply two broods of the same

species. He now advances another instance in Meta segmentata

and M. menger, stating his reasons for believing them to be respec-

tively spring and summer broods of the same species.—/ournal

Royal Microscopical Society, October, 1885.

Entomotocicat News.—In the twenty-eighth volume of the

Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique, we notice de-

scriptions of the metamorphosis of Leptinotarsa d lineata Stál

and Tropisternus lateralis Fabr., by Dr. Eug. Dugès of Mexico. In

the first part of Vol. xxıx of the same Annales C. Van den Branden

publishes a catalogue of the aquatic carnivorous beetles. The

family Dytiscidæ numbered, according to the Munich catalogue,

893 species; to-day the present catalogue enumerates over 1500

species. C. Kerremans also enumerates the Buprestidæ described

since the publication of Gemminger and Harold’s catalogue.

In the Comptes-rendus of the same Society Mr. S. H. Scudder shows

that the Brachypyge carbonis, described by Dr. H. Woodward as

1222 Generar Notes. | December,

the abdomen of a crab, is in reality the abdomen of an arachnid,

of which six species are now known, one from the coal measures

of Arkansas. In A. Walter’s article on the morphology of

Lepidoptera in the Jenaische Zeitschrit for May, we have an ac-

count of the mouth-parts of Acentropus. The transformations

of Paraponyx oryzals, an insect pest of the rice- plant in Burma,

are described and well figured by J. Wood-Mason, in a pamphlet

printed in Calcutta. Its larva is aquatic and breathes by tracheal

gills. We wish the author had given more detailed sketches of

the gills and their relation to the body. We omitted to note

Kowalevsky’s contribution to the post-embryonal development of

the Muscide in the Zoologischer Anzeiger for Feb. 23, 1885.

ZOOLOGY.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELL NUCLEUS TO THE PROBLEM OF

HeErepi1y.—The results of the later researches upon fertilization

and cell division, have tended to make biologists view the cell

nucleus as of pre-eminent inportance for the life of the cell. In

1884, Kolliker, in his Entwickelungsgeschichte, stated, that

since fertilization consists essentially in the fusion of a male with

a female pronucleus into one segmentation nucleus which entails

its hermaphrodite character upon its offspring of cell generations

during ontogenetic development, this fact gives us the true reason

why, and how every organism resembles its parents. The last

two years have been fruitful in discussions of the problem of

heredity in the light of nuclear investigations and have stimulated

Kolliker to expand the above statement with more completeness

and detail in the paper? of which this article is an abstract.

From our present knowledge of the biology of the cell nucleus

we may draw certain conclusions of great value as a basis for the

discussion of the problem of heredity, as follows :

The nucleus, and it alone, contains a substance which possesses the

power of building up an organism according to specific characters,

making it resemble the parents from whieh the nucleus origi-

nally came—in other words, possesses the hereditary power.

This follows from:

(a) The nature of the spermatozoin:

We know that but one spermatozoon is needed in the fertiliza-

tion of one egg; we know that this must carry the hereditary

traits of the father which he received from his ancestors both male

and female; each spermatozoon is a nucleus.

Kölliker, in 1844, held the spermatozo6n to be the equivalent

of a cell, but later came to the conclusion that it represents a nu-

cleus., Other Other biologists agreed with Kölliker so far as the dody

of the Fptrmatosoòn is concerned ; but the fagellum, they said

ts the cell protoplasm ; and hence a spermatozoon may

ig der Zellenkerne fiir die Vorgänge der EAR r? Zeitschrift

Zoologie. eee RAH, erstes erstes hqft. July, 183.

ake bs er ae a oe TE es OEN ee

1885.] Zoölogy. TA

still be the equivalent of a cell. This may be true, for instance,

says Kölliker, for trematodes ; but he has shown that for the higher

vertebrates the spermatozoa are, in toto, nuclei. It therefore

follows that in the spermatozoa of lower animals the nucleus i is

the necessary fertilizing part, the flagellum serving merely as a

locomotor organ, being later absorbed by the yolk. The pollen

grains of phanerogams are also nuclei.

(6) The phenomena of fertilization :

Since Bütschli, in 1872 discovered the two pronuclei in the

newly fertilized egg, the phenomena of nuclear conjugation have

been carefully studied, especially by O. Hertwig, Fol, and Van

Beneden. It is agreed that the male element penetrates the yolk

and unites with a portion of the egg-nucleus; but in some im-

portant details there is disagreement. The most complete obser-

vations have been made on Ascaris megalocephala by Van Beneden

and by Nussbaum. These observers agree that only the nucleus

of the zoosperm forms the male pronucleus ; though Van Beneden,

even here, finds a “ perinuclear zone” which takes no part in the

fertilization. It is also agreed that before being fertilized, or con-

jugating with the male pronucleus, the egg-nucleus throws offa

portion of itself in the polar globules, by a complex | process re-

sembling indirect cell division. In this process it is generally

agreed that the nuclear figure is divided equatorially; but Van

Beneden strongly insists that the division is meridional. He

further thinks the germinal vesicle is not an ordinary cell nucleus

because a% the chromatin is in the nucleolus

Minot, Balfour and Van Beneden think all cells are herma-

phrodite; and that before conjugation can take place the male.

cell must lose its female nuclein, and the female cell its male nu-

clein which is passed over into the polar globules. But against

such an hypothesis there are grave objections.

(1) It is known that in the processes of spermatogenesis in many

animals, no part of the spermatogonia is lost. (2) Usually two

polar globules are successively formed by the repeated halving

of the egg nucleus. Now to get rid of the male nuclein this sub-

stance must be so distributed as to be separated by the plane of

division from the remaining or female nuclein; and then, the

male nuclein would be lost in the first globule and there would

be no need of a second. (3) We know that the spermatozodn

confers hereditary traits from both father and mother upon off-

spring ; and likewise for the female pronucleus. Therefore we con-

clude, the pronuclei are essentially tn their nature hermaphrodite.

Kolliker plausibly suggests that the function of the polar glob-

ules is simply to reduce the size of the egg-nucleus comparable to

that of the male pronucleus.

1 This word, h: rodite, means pami that hereditary powers from two pies

of ancestry, indefinitely dichotomously: co unded, are combined, and not what w

popularly understand by the term.— oats :

VOL. XIX,—NO, XII. 80

1224 General Notes. [ December,

The general law of fertilization, stated by Strasburger for plants,

and which we see from the above holds also for animals, is:

Fertilization consists essentially in the conjugation of male with

female nuclei ; these are ordinary cell nuclei; and the cytoplasm

takes no part in the process.

It is therefore erroneous to speak in a general way of the cell

protoplasm as carrying the hereditary powers. Of the many

writers who have treated this subject, only three or four have

given more definite statements. Nageli calls that substance zdo-

plasm, which controls or determines the specific characters of the

cell, but does not limit it to the nucleus as does Kolliker and

Born. Strasburger distinguishes between two sorts of idioplasm,

that of the cell (cyto-idioplasm), and that of the nucleus (karyo-

idioplasm).

In the nucleus exists a substance of definite morphological and

chemical character, known as nuclein or chromatin. With this sub-

stance the idioplasm must be conceived as connected. (1) The chro-

matin of the male pronucleus unites with that of the female pro-

nucleus to form the chromatic figure’ of the segmentation nucleus.

According to Van Beneden there is no union, but the chromatin

loops of the pronuclei remain separate so as to give the segmen-

tation nucleus a double character, morphologically, one-half being

distinctly male and the opposite, female ; and this holds true of all

its offspring. But Nussbaum found that before segmenting, the

nucleus has a stage in which the chromatin forms a single fila-

ment. Furthermore Van Beneden’s own figures do not seem to

Kolliker, to support his view. (2) The processes of karyokinesis

show how important it is that the chromatin should be divided

between the daughter nuclei in a definite way. It is natural to

suppose that to distribute the hermaphrodite idioplasm to the

daughter cells, so that each shall get its proper amount, must be a

delicate process.

We have now to inquire how the idioplasm effects the work of

heredi

In the development of an egg into an adult there are two mo-

ments at work, First, the cells multiply until a Saran pres number

of cells needed by the organ is produced; second, these cells

are separated into groups and are differentiated into the various

| tissues. We may refer to the cambium zone of plants for a

' familiar illustration.

2 The structural characters of any organism depend o

_ factors: (1) cell division, and (2) cell growth; both as a a

quantity, a lity.

Cell: multiplication, if great, will produce a large organ; if less,

Tas The multiplication may be uniform or may be more

certain |

A ts. Thus in the arm rudiment, five points of

id cel Cater opr with points of rest, and the five fingers

cell division ~~, take place in one,

1885.] Zoology. 1225

two, or three planes, and give rise accordingly to very different

aggregates,

As to cell growth, the size will depend directly on it; but like

multiplication, growth may affect some cells and not others;

again, like multiplication, cell growth may take place in one, two,

or three dimensions.

W now readily see that the guantity and quality of cell

multiplication and cell growth, according to a specific type of com-

bination for the different organs and thus for the whole organism,

builds up the individual with its specific characters,

ow, the nucleus governs cell multiplication. (1) Division of

the nucleus leads in cell division. (The author here shows that

certain apparent exceptions are not really so.) (2) The position

of the nuclear spindle determines the plane of division.

The nucleus also governs cell growth. `

(1) Young and active cells have conspicuous nuclei, while cells

that have done their work are without them. (2) The size of the

nucleus increases as the cell increases (cf. Actinospherium).

The nucleus in large cells may separate into many parts so that

every portion of protoplasm shall have a nucleus to preside in it.

In protozoa these nuclei fuse again before division of the cell,

while cases where the mass breaks up without this union are

where the nuclei have become independent cells, viz: swarm

spores. (3) Artificial division of Protozoa, shows that pieces

without a nucleus do not grow. (4) Free cell formation may be

considered as due to the fusion of minute nuclei (vid. Berthold,

Mitth. der Zool. Stat. Neapel, ii, p. 78) and around the nucleus

thus arising a cell is formed. (5) As several of Haeckel’s innu-

cleate monera have shown nuclei, when treated with appropriate

reagents, Kolliker expects that all will do so when investigated

by the methods of an advanced staining technique. (6) The

activity of the nucleus is shown by the rays that stream from it

in the protoplasm, and by the active manner in which it reacts

towards stains.

From this we conclude, that the nucleus has great and con-

trolling significance for the cell, being in active relation to the

protoplasm.! Some authors have given it the function of manu-

facturing albumen, chlorophyll, etc. The structure of the cell, in

fact its life history, ts conceived to depen on the nucleus, whose

idioplasm has a minute structure of a definite type for each species ;

and on this structure will depend the method of its work and

how it shall react towards external influences. Modifying forces

trix of achromatin; and that modern cytologists have generally applied the

pert ereid, to only the chromatic portion, wholly ignoring the achromatic.— Y. W.

1226 General Notes. [December,

to influence heredity must affect this structure and thus only, can

produce variation.

We have finally to inquire, what are the changes which the

idioplasm suffers during the ontogenetic development of an or-

ganism ? Lach cell which results from the segmentation of the first

embryo nucleus must be the equivalent, in all respects, of this nucleus,

and, theoretically, capable of reproducing the individual. Weis-

mann has a theory opposed to this view. According to this

author, only the very earliest cells produced in segmentation are

set apart as germinal cells; all others have lost the power to be

germinal cells, but must invariably differentiate into the organs

of the body. Thus we really have no death, but only a series of

germinal cells which gives off, by cell multiplication, from the

fertilized egg, a mass of cells which differentiates into the indi-

vidual. This aggregate alone is dissolved in the process known

as death.

Kölliker cannot accept this theory. Every organ begins in a

mass of embryonic cells, from which parts may be renewed if lost.

Cells that have differentiated may, under proper circumstances,

regain their germinal power. The buds that appear at various

points of a mass of embryonic vegetable tissue, essentially repro-

duce the structure of the individual. In plants, the germinal

cells can not be said to be set apart early in life. (Compare also

adventitious buds.) Even in the adult animal organism, occur

embryonic cells, such as osteoblasts and odontoblasts, the deep

cells of the epidermis, cells of many glands, lymph, cells, and

germinal cells. The last are themselves, like other cells, differ-

entiated in a particular direction, some forming eggs and some

spermatozoa. All asexual reproduction, such as fission, budding,

parthenogenesis, shows that other cells besides germinal cells, can

reproduce the organism. It would be an interesting inquiry to

ascertain what circumstances cause the cells to reproduce the

whole body or only a part. It is not necessary to hold the early

differentiation of germinal cells, nor to locate them for all animals

in the same embryonic layer, since all cells are primarily germi-

nal cells like the fertilized egg; and according to the function

they are to serve in the adult, they differentiate into the appro-

priate tissues.— F. Nelson.

Tue RETROGRADE METAMORPHOSIS OF SIREN.—I have already

_ pointed out (NATURALIST, 1885, p. 245) that palaontology shows

oS _ that the Batrachian order of Trachystomata, which embraces the

ount for the curious condition which

rved in the branchiz of the Sirens. The

1885.] Zovlogy. 1227

fringes are frequently in a state of apparent partial atrophy, and

enclosed in a common dermal investment of the branchial ramus,

or all the rami are covered by a common investment, so as to be

absolutely functionless and immovable. This character, observed

in the Pseudvbranchus striatus, gave Origin to its separation from

the genus Siren. The character is, however, common to the

Siren lacertina at a certain age, and the real difference between

the genera depends on the different number of the digits in the

two.

I have been more than ever surprised on discovering that the

functionless condition of the branchiz is universal in young indi-

viduals of Siren lacertina of five and six inches in length; and

lately I have observed that in a specimen of a little over three

inches they are entirely rudimentary and subepidermal. I have,

in fact, noticed that it is only in large adult specimens that the

branchia are fully developed in structure and function. The infer-

ence from the specimens certainly is that the branchiz are in the

Sirens, not a larval character, as in other perennibrachiate Ba-

trachia, but a character of maturity. Of course, only direct ob-

servation can show whether Sirens have branchiz on exclusion

from the egg; but it is not probable that they differ so much from

other members of their class as to be without them. Neverthe-

less, it is evident that the branchiz soon become functionless, so

that the animal is almost, if not exclusively, an air-breather, and

that functional activity is not resumed till a more advanced age.

That Sirens may be exclusively air breathers I have shown by

observations on a specimen in an aquarium which for a time had

no branchiz at all. (See Jowrnal Academy Phila., 1866, p. 98.)

In explanation of this fact it may be remarked that this

atrophy cannot be accounted for on the supposition that it is

seasonal and due to the drying up of the aquatic habitat of the

Sirens, The countries they inhabit are humid, receiving the

heaviest rainfall of our Eastern States, and there is no dry season.

The only explanation appears to me to be that the present Sirens

are the descendants of a terrestrial type of Batrachia which passed

through a metamorphosis like other members of their class, but

that more recently they have adopted a permanent aquatic life,

and have resumed their branchie by reversion —E£. D. Cope.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE Museum OF Brown UNIVERSITY.—

Of late there has been made at this institution considerable effort

to secure indigenous representatives of the animals which occur

in the neighborhood of the college, and especially of such as are

likely soon to be exterminated from the narrow bounds of Rhode

Island, the most thickly settled State of the Union. Within a

few weeks there has been secured a local representative of Bland-

ing’s box tortoise (Amys meleagris), an animal well deserving a

position in the cabinet, as both an early describer, Dr. John E.

1228 General Notes. { December,

Holbrook, and the person to whom he dedicated the species, Dr.

William Blanding, were graduates of this college. A representa-

tive of the musk turtle (Avomochelys odoratus) is interesting in

that it is a giant of its species, the carapax measuring four and

one-half inches in length. An otter (Lutra canadensis) is also

worthy of note, as it is an animal extremely rare in this region.

This specimen was shot on the island of Rhode Island, and was

large and in excellent condition, a state of health somewhat dif-

ferent from that presented by an emaciated wild cat (Lynx rufus),

captured in the more southern portion of the State, and probably

the last Narragansett representative of its species,

Perhaps the most interesting acquisition is that of a hoary bat

(Atalapha cinereus). This animal, a beautiful female, was found a

few miles from Providence, ona pine tree which had been recently

felled. Dr.C. Hart Merriam, in writing of this species, says:

“From its almost boreal distribution, and extreme rarity in col-

lections, the capture of a specimen. of the hoary bat must, for

some time to come, be regarded as an event worthy of congratu-

lation and record. Although I have been fortunate enough to

shoot fourteen, I would rather kill another to-day than slay a

dozen deer.”—H. C. Bumpus.

ZOOLOGICAL News.—Echinoderms.—Twenty species of Echini

were, according to Mr. R. Rathbun, collected during the expedi-

tion of the Alsatross in 1884. They include Homolampas fra-

gilis and Aceste bellidifera, The latter species was only ob-

tained by the Challenger in the vicinity of the Canaries, and was

not found by the Blake in the Gulf of Mexico. The A/datross

obtained it off the east coast of the United States, in 1497 fathoms. _

_ Crustaceans.—S. J. Smith describes Eunephrops bairdii, n. gen.

and sp., a relative of Homarus (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1885, 167).

The writer compares the species throughout with Wephrops nor-

vegicus. The genus agrees with Homarus in the number and

-water shells, with a revision of the Auriculacea of

stern United States. Hydrobia wetherbyi and Pupilla

: described as new, also Sayella crosseana and Onchi-

1885.] Zoölogy. 1229

Fishes —D. S. Jordan and S. E. Meek (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.,

April 20, 1885) give a list of fishes collected in Iowa and Mis-

souri, with descriptions of the new species, Motropis gilberti and

Ammocrypta clara. S. Garman (l. c., April 23) describes as new

Mylobatis goodei, from Central America; Dasybatus kuhli; D.

varidens, from Hong-kong; Urolophus nebulosus, from Colima,

Mexico; U. fuscus, from Niphon n Raya fusca, aiso from Japan;

Raja senta, from deep water off the coast of Massachusetts, and

R. jordani, from San Francisco, California. . S. Jordan

and S. E. Meek (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885, 44) give the

synonymy and an analytical key of the American species of

Exoccetus. The authors admit seventeen species, fourteen of

which they place in Exoccetus, while the remaining three are

placed in three other sub-genera. Most of the species have a

very wide range. Æ. californicus is probably the largest species,

A study of the skulls and vertebrz of twenty species of Ethe-

ostomatinz or darters, made by D. S. Jordan and Carl H. Eigen-

man, has induced the former to replace these little fishes in the

Percide. “The Etheostomatine are near allies of the Percide,

and should not form a separate family.” T. H. Bean (1. c. 73)

describes Plectromus crassiceps, a single example of which was

taken by the Adsatross at the greatest depth explored, viz., 2949

fathoms, and three other examples at lesser depths. The same

ichthyologist describes Aspidophorides giintheri,from Alaska.

A writer in the Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission states

that he has been a witness to the destruction of just-hatched

trout by mosquitoes. When a young fish came to the surface in

the sunshine, a mosquito immediately transfixed its brain with its

proboscis, and held on until the life juices were sucked away,

when the dead trout floated down stream. The locality was

the Gunnison valley, Col. Mr. J. A. Ryder has contributed

to the Proceedings (U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885), a most valuable

paper upon the development of viviparous osseous fishes. He

quotes the observations of Girard and Blake upon the Em-

biotocidz of the Pacific coast, and adding observations of his

own upon the gravid females of three species, arrives at the

conclusion that: (1) the hypertrophied hind gut of embiotocid

embryos, clothed internally with crowded villi of great length,

has probably a digestive function, enabling the young fish

to assimilate the nutriment contained in the abundant fluid

given out by the walls of the ovarian sac; and (2) that the

great development of the interradial membrane of all the ver-

tical fins, and the abundance and size of the blood vessels which

supply that membrane, are mainly for the purpose of effecting

respiration through the skin. In the later stages of development

the protruding hind gut commences to diminish in size. In

Gambusia patruelis each egg and egg-sac has its own indepen-

dent supply of blood from the mother’s arterial system. The

12 30 General Notes. [December,

male is scarcely one-sixth the weight of the female. There is no

trace whatever in the egg follicles of Gambusia of an independent

egg membrane. The developing young of Gambusia obtains no

nutrition from its parent. The same ichthyologist contributes a

paper on certain features of the development of the salmon.

Dr. Bean describes Stathmonotus hemphillii, a small fish from

Key West, Fla., related to Murenoides.

Batrachians—O, P. Hay (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1885, p. 209),

describes as new <Amblystoma copeianum, from Indiana. It is

without the yellow spots of A. tigrinum, has a lateral brown

band, a broader and more depressed head, a more compressed

tail, and longer limbs than A. #grinum. The brothers P. B.

and C. F. Sarascn show that the genus Epicrium is not

viviparous, as is Cecilia, but ovipatous. In the most advanced

stage before hatching, the embryo is provided with very long

blood-red external gill-filaments, and has also a distinct tail

with a strong fin. The gill-filaments are shed previous to

hatching, after which the young Cacilians make their way to

the neighboring stream, in which they breathe by means of

gill-slits. After they leave the water their gill-slits close up,

and they breathe by lungs. There is a fourth gill-arch, from

which the pulmonary artery is given off. The spermatozoon has

a spiral filament. The last two facts tend to show that the Cæci-

lians are nearer to the Urodela than to the Anura. It has been

shown that the old species Rana temporaria contains many

specific forms that have been confounded because of great resem-

blance in coloration and habits. M.G. A. Boulenger distinguishes

eight species of red frogs or Rane temporaria, viz., R. fusca,

arvalis, sylvatica, iberica, latastei, japonica, agilis, and pennsylva-

nica. Exteriorly these forms differ in the greater or less length

of the pelvic members, the shape of the head, the size of the

tympanum, the greater or less development of the tubercle of the

first cuneiform bone, the presence or absence of the vocal sacs in

the male, etc. The vomerine teeth differ as do also the genital

organs of the males. In the species with vocal sacs, or at least

in fusca and arvalis, the throat of the males becomes blue in spring,

and a bluish tint invades the skin. The arms of the males, always

more robust than those of the females, become thicker still in the

rutting period, and the thumb then becomes covered with rugos-

ities. Copulation takes place at the end of winter or in early

spring, when the males may be seen firmly seated on the females,

_ with their arms around them and their hands joined over the

breast. R. sylvatica and R. pennsylvanica are American, R. japon-

ica is found in China and Japan and the others are European.

. fusca is found in most of Europe, except Southwest France

d Spain; R. arvalıs is found in the Northeast of Europe and

ly in Northern Asia; R. erica is limited to Spain and

3 R. datastei is found in Northern Italy, and R. agilis in

1885.| Zvilogy. 1231

France, Switzerland and Northern Italy. G. A. Boulenger calls

attention, in the Zodlogist to the existence of two kinds of aqua-

tic frogs in North Germany. Though included as sub-species of

R. esculenta, they can be distinguished from each other at first

sight, and breed at different times of the year. In the typical

R. esculenta, the inner metatarsal tubercle is compressed and

large, and the black marbling of the flanks and hinder side of the

thighs encloses more or less of bright yellow ; while in the larger

variety, R. fortis, the inner metatarsal tubercle is small, elongate,

and feebly prominent, and there is no yellow on flanks or thighs.

The whole physiognomy is different and the fact that the larger

kind breeds earlier keeps the breeds pure.

Reptiles—G. A. Boulenger describes Agama dorie, a new lizard

from Bogos in Northern Abyssinia. In proportions and characters

of the scales it is similar to A. colonorum, between which and

A. bibronii it is intermediate. Dr. O. Boettger’s list of the rep-

tiles and Batrachia of Paraguay, comprises sixty-three species

collected by H. Rohde, of which nineteen are lizards and twenty-

four snakes. The new lacertilian genus Micrablepharus, is insti-

tuted for M. glaucurus, and other new species are Amphisbaena

albocingulata, Lepidosternum boulengeri, strauchi, affine and onycho-

_cephalum, Mabuia tetratenia, Liophis genimaculata, Rhinaspis

rohdei, Leptognathus cisticeps, and the batrachians Engystoma

albopunctatum and mulleri and Leptodactylus diptyx.

Birds.—The collection of “ Birds of the British Asian Empire,”

recently donated to the British Museum by Mr. O. O. Hume of

Simla, contains 63,000 skins of birds, 300 nests, and 18,500 eggs.

It contains about 2000 species, each represented by some thirty

examples, mostly representing different stages of growth or degrees |

of variation. Mr. Hume has been the best authority on Indian

ornithology, and intended to publish a work on the “ Birds of the

British Asian Empire,” but other duties, and the loss by theft of

his manuscripts, determined him to donate his collections to the

British Museum, that they might be worked up by Mr. Sharpe.

R. Ridgway (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., April 20, 1885) describes a

new more brightly colored variety of /eterus cucullatus from

Yucatan; Centopus pileatus from some part of Tropical America;

Cyanocorax cucullatus and a variety of Vireolanius pulchellus from

Costa Rica, and Certhiola finschiand C. sundevalli from the Lesser

Antilles! Mr. Ridgway also gives a key to the species of Certhi-

ola (honey creepers) and gives the name of Branta minima to a

very small form of barnacle goose which breeds in Western Alaska

and migrates south to California in winter. Onychotes (Buteo)

gruberi Ridgway, formerly thought to be a Californian bird, is now

by its original describer, on the faith of a plate published in the

report upon the birds of the Challenger Expedition, considered a

synonym of Buteo solitarius, from the Sandwich islands. Mr.

1232 General Notes. | December,

Ridgway also describes Cancroma zeledont, from Central America,

and Rupornis gracilis, from Yucatan Steyneger describes

(2. c.) a new species of tree-sparrow (Passer saturatus) from the

Liu-kiu islands, José C. Zeledon contributes tothe Proc. U. S,

Nat. Mus.,a list of the birds of Costa Rica, 692 species in all.

L. M. Turner gives (} c., 233) a list ofthe birds of Labrador from

Hudson strait to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and west to 82° W.

long., 764 species in all.

Mammals—F.W. True (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885, 95) de-

scribes as new Phocena dalli, and reduces the previously describ-

ed species of porpoise to three, viz: P. communis, P. lineata, and P.

spinipinnis. In coloration, in the form of the head, and in the

much larger number of vertebra, P. dalli approximates Lagen-

orhynchus. A cordate area of white occupies the belly and lower

half of the sides; the beak is shorter and the temporal -fossz

smaller than in P. communis; the vertebræ are ninety-seven

or ninety-eight in number, instead of sixty-six, as in communis,

and the dorsal fin is concave on its posterior margin.

Aleuts, according to W. H. Dall, recognize this species as distinct

from the smaller P, vomerina (= communis ?).

EMBRYOLOGY.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURE OF MICROHYDRA RYDERI

Potts.—The discovery and prolonged observation in the living

state of this remarkable fresh-water ccelenterate, which is ob-

viously allied to Hydra, is due to the painstaking care of Mr.

_ tions, prepared by Mr. Harold Wingate, from three individuals.

Fortunately two of these series of sections, one a slide containing

forty-two transverse, and another nine longitudinal sections, ena-

bles me to make a very thorough comparison with the structure

of Hydra as displayed in a series of sections of H. viridis and H.

fusca, from both of which Microhydra differs not only in size

but also in histological details as well as in its mode of devel-

- opment. This singular organism also differs widely from the

_ marine Protohydra leuckartii Greef, in being very much smaller,

wen being an inhabitant of fresh water ; it also differs from Pro-

2 erie in in its method of reproduction by gemmation from the

side We body instead of fe transverse fission. In this last

ey Vol. v, 1885, No. 123, in the accompanying cover sheets, called the Sci-

lletin Pe om mader Se aS head of Recen po lesa el of Societies, the name

ef we ot Eaei ons together with a brief gems of its structure

| communication made by Mr. Potts at the meeting

ences of Philadelphia, held ra 19, 1885.

1885.] Embryology. 1233

now state.

Its minuteness might very readily lead to its being overlooked,

It measures alive .5™™ in height; the longitudinal sections in my

possession are somewhat shorter, or about .475™™ in length, a

difference probably due to contraction. Its diameter at the oral

end is somewhat greater than at the base, and ranges from about

.15 to.175™™ In fractions of inches its dimensions are: height zy

inch, diameter of body +45 inch, constituting it the most diminutive

adult hydroid or ccelenterate type yet known, so that its generic

name is especially appropriate. In life the animal is very much

less contractile than Hydra, and is without the well-defined pedal

disk of the latter or of Protohydra.

No sexually mature individuals of Microhydra have been

found by Mr. Potts, who has, however, most laboriously and care-

fully studied the gemmiparous or asexual reproduction of the

species in the living animal, he having been able, in fact, to watch

this process in several successive generations, The asexual re-

production of Microhydra is, however, so very different from that

of Hydra that there can again be no doubt of the absolute dis-

tinctness of the two forms in question. In Hydra the gemmipa-

rously produced young animal, which is budded from the sides of

the body, soon becomes pyriform, buds out tentacles and is con-

stricted off from the parent by transverse fission around its base

or pedal disk. In Microhydra a very different method of lateral

gemmation occurs, since the bud very soon becomes sausage-

shaped instead of pyriform, but it grows out from a swelling

or thickening at the side of the parent the same as in Hydra.

In Microhydra a constriction or furrow appears at either end of

the young bud as soon as it is well defined as such. The gradual

aaa ane

_ progress of the development of a bud is shown in Figs. a, 4, c, d,

e,f and g. The last shows the young Microhydra in the act |

1234 General Notes, [December,

of being detached from the parent. These figures are from

sketches by Mr. Potts as the process was watched by him at dif-

ferent stages. It is clear from these figures that the process of

gemmation in Microhydra is very different from that seen in

other hydroids; it is, in fact, as if both ends of the young polyp

were being budded out of the side of the parent simultaneously,

final separation of the bud occurring at one of its sides instead of

at its base. The process thus actually makes something of an

approach toward longitudinal instead of transverse fission.

he bud after detachment drops down upon an adjacent surface

and for a time lies quite prone upon its side. It is entirely with-

out cilia, in this respect resembling the larve of Hydra. It, how-

ever, seems possessed of slight powers of locomotion, which is

effected probably by the contractions of the body. After lying in

its prone position for a time, the vermiform body of the polype

becomes fixed to the foreign object upon which it rests, by one

end, while the other end is slowly raised into the erect position,

when it may be said that the creature is adult. The history of

the internal changes which the larva undergoes while budding

are not known, but it is probable that the bud has the oral open-

ing developed at. its free end by the time it assumes the erect

position.

Colonies of two fave been observed by Mr. Potts, appearing

somewhat as in the sketch in Fig. Æ. This indicates that Micro-

hydra in common with all other Coelenterata has a tendency to

form compound individuals or corms. Whether the stomachs of

such compound individuals open into one another has not been

ascertained, but it is extremely probable that they do. The pre-

ceding evidence, taken as a whole, it seems to me, leaves abso-

lutely no doubt respecting the distinctness of the OR

n 4 5

nder the ectoderm of both there is a thin layer consisting

of contractile processes of the ectodermal cells. The endoderm

consists in both of large vacuolated cells, containing excentrically

_ placed nuclei and great numbers of granules at their inner ends.

These (ae vacuolated, endodermic cells seem to line the whole

= isa barely discernible thin stratum consisting very probably

the contractile processes of the outer layer cells. Around and

withi the lips of the oral aperture the endodermic cells are

st below the oral eernine and for about one-third the -

ee A

1885.] Embryology. 1236

length of the animal, the endodermic cells are large and vacuola-

ted as in Hydra, but the excentrically placed nuclei are absolutely

and relatively very much smaller than in Hydra. There is a

gastric cavity extending down from the mouth for about the same

distance, below which the alimentary cavity becomes less apparent

and is surrounded by solid endodermic cells. These details are

shown in both the longitudinal and transverse sections. In the

cross-sections evidences of slight irregular foldings of the endo-

derm are present as in Hydra.

Greef has described a homogeneous cuticula covering the basal

part of the ectoderm of Protohydra. A similar homogeneous

cuticula seems to loosely invest the ectoderm in the sections of

Microhydra, Mr. Potts, however, is not disposed to agree with

me on this point, as he informs me by letter that he was unable to

detect any such envelope in the living larvz studied by him.

There is a distinct but small oral opening at the upper end of

Microhydra, which is cleft-like or irregular, through which food

is taken in, as observed by Mr. Potts. The gastric cavity is small

and only the upper end of it appears to possess a specially devel-

oped digestive function. The digestive cavity of Microhydra is,

in fact, but little more developed than in the later planula-stage

of such a form as Eucope. In fact, if the planula of the latter

were to lose its cilia, become fixed and acquire a mouth, the

morphological complexity of Microhydra would be realized. We

have then in Microhydra an adult type which represents prac-

tically a planula which has acquired a mouth. In other words,

the new type is not only the simplest of Hydroids, but is also the

simplest of all true polypes or Coelenterata. It is, in fact, a much

more rudimentary form than even Protohydra, and represents

perfectly a permanent gastrula which reproduces itself by lateral

gemmation instead of by transverse fission.

It has been contended by some that Hydra is a degenerate

form, and that Protohydra and Microhydra must be considered in

the same light. As no very cogent reasons have ever been ad-

duced in support of such a conclusion, I shall leave the Onus

probandi to be produced in favor of that view by those with whom

it originated. The very simplicity of the type in question, it seems

to me, must ever remain a serious bar to arriving at any very cer-

tain conclusions on this head. It seems as impossible to me to

prove that Microhydra has been developed by the degeneration

of a higher type, as it does to prove that it is a form which has

advanced but very little beyond the planula stage of the Ccelen-

terata. The latter view seems to me to be by far the most prob-

able, since it is a free-living form, which is no more likely to have

been adversely affected than would hundreds of others living in

the same environment. The significance of this singularly inter-

esting type in relation to the question of the possible origin of

the Ccelenterata is very great, and the interest which attaches to

1236 General Notes. [December,

it from the standpoint of the embryologist, it seems to me, fully

warrants its discussion in this department.

With the help of Mr. Potts, who has generously given me per-

mission to do so, I propose at an early date to prepare a more

extended paper on this organism, with good illustrations. As it

is, I must express my great obligations to its discoverer for the

free use of many of the facts detailed above.—/ohn A. Ryder.

[As this note on Microhydra goes to press, I have met with a

paper’, published in the Proceedings Royal Society, London, Vol.

XXXVIII, No. 235, Dec. 11th, 1884, pp. 9-14. According to this

account, the supposed hydroid phase of Limnocodium is without

tentacles; it was found attached to roots of Pontederia in the

tanks of the Royal Botanic Society, Regent’s park. The figures

given by Bourne of the suspected hydroid phase of the singular

fresh-water Medusa known as Limnocodium, are certainly very

similar to Microhydra, but the former is larger than the latter and

measures from ;;th to }th of an inch long. Colonies of three or

four individual zodids were frequently met with. No true perisarc

or cuticula was observed as in Microhydra, but the surface is cov-

ered with particles of mud and other débris, which becomes glued

together by some secretion of the animal, and forms a sort of

tubular casing. In internal structure this hydroid stage of Lim-

nocodium differs considerably from Microhydra, however, judg-

ing from Bourne’s description and figures. Is it possible after all

that Microhydra is only the hydriform stage of fresh-water

Medusa? If so, it is very probable that it may be allied to Lim-

nocodium, the latter of South American origin, has in all proba-

bility a very different life-history from the North American

Microhydra, if we may go so far as to assume that the latter has

a medusiform adult stage. No lateral budding and dehiscence has

been observed to occur in the supposed hydroid phase of Limno-

codium, such as takes place in Microhydra, besides the larger

zooids of the former were over six times as long as those of the

latter, otherwise there are many striking similarities. _Notwith-

standing the existence of these resemblances, I think we may

‘assume that if Microhydra should turn out to be only the hydroid

Stage of a mature medusa-form the latter will be found to be

generically distinct from Limnocodium, in which case it might be

called Pottsia—/f. A. R.] ;

PHYSIOLOGY.”

_ _ RECENT BELIEFS CONCERNING CELL-sTRUCTURE?—Probably no

_ branch of biology has been so richly developed during the last five

years as that which concerns the intimate physical and chemical

chen by Alfed Giobe asawa phase of Limnocodium sowerbii Allman and

is edited | y Professor Henry SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

waire, par le Chanoine J. B. Carnoy, Lierre, 1884.

1885.] Fhystology. 1237

up of minute “cells and pores.” For more than a century after,

cells were regarded as tiny vesicles filled with an homogeneous

fluid; then, in 1781, Fontana, discovered the cell-nucleus. In

1836, just about the time when the great generalization of the

cell doctrine was receiving its first impulse, Valentin described

the nucleolus. The work of Carnoy is an interesting account of

all that the most refined methods of investigation have been able

to discover in the morphology and chemistry of the cell. Car-

noy’s Gescription is so minute, and goes so much beyond the

statements of some of the most trustworthy observers, that' the

careful reader who has not repeated his demonstrations is apt

to view it with suspicion.

But, judged by internal evidence, the work has been performed

with skill and conscience; the author describes minutely his

methods and the nature of the material employed, relying chiefly

upon the examination of fresh tissues. The illustrations are all

new and uncommonly well executed, but the reader has a right

to complain at the complete omission of an index to the contents

of the book.

In 1859 Stilling discovered a fibrillar structure in ganglionic

cells, and in 1864 Leydig described a similar appearance in the

intestinal cells of certain small crustaceans. In 1865 Frommann

announced that the fibrillar structure was a general character of

living cells and in 1873 Heitzmann arrived at the same conclusion.

The existence of fibrils in the cell may be considered established

as a general property of living tissue, but authors are by no

means agreed as to the distribution and character of the fibrillar

structure. Carnoy considers that all cell structure has been grad-

ually differentiated from original formless, homogeneous proto-

plasm; the typical cell, however, is a very complex apparatus.

Taking as an example an epithelium cell from the intestine of the

wood-louse, Carnoy describes the cell as composed of hyaline

protoplasm inclosed in a membrane, and including a greater or

less number of granules. Imbedded in the protoplasm is a nu-

cleus with a membrane of its own, i

The cell protoplasm is not homogeneous but is traversed in all

directions by a dense reticulum of fibrils, which is attached to the

membrane of the nucleus on one hand and to the cell wall on the

other. The nucleus exists like a small cell within the substance

of the larger. But in the nucleus the fibrillar structure is two-fold

in nature. The most evident of these is a convoluted filarnent of

very striking presence and complex internal structure. It stains

= deeply with coloring reagents, dissolves in dilute alkalies and in

strong acids; it forms a gelatinous mass with sodium chloride

ten per cent, but dilute acids have no effect upon it; it is not di-

gested by artificial gastric juice, but with iodine, and with Millon’s

1238 General Notes. [December,

reagent it acts like an albuminoid. This filament appears to have

the chemical characters of nuclein; it is identical with the chro- _

matin of Flemming, and is the structure which takes so character-

istic a share in the process of cell division. Carnoy insists, in

contradiction of Flemming, that the nuclein or chromatin sub-

stance is not characteristically in the form of a net-work, but con-

sists of a single complexly convoluted fibril. The filament may

occasionally form a true reticulum, but this is an unimportant

modification of the typical single thread structure. The nuclein

filament may alter and undergo a retrograde metamorphosis with

age, and in cases completely disappear; in this process the fila-

ment breaks up into irregular pieces which may be gradually

absorbed. The presence of the nuclein filament is the only thing

which distinguishes the nucleus either chemically or structurally

from the rest of the cell. After solution of the nuclein or chro-

matin filament, a second structure is discovered in the nucleus,

namely, a fine reticulum which has all the characters of that

previously described as existing in the extra-nuclear protoplasm.

n his later work, Flemming is said also to have admitted the

existence of this intra-nuclear net-work. The wall of the nu-

cleus is imperforate and, in contradistinction to Klein, there is no

direct union between the nuclear and extra-nuclear reticulum of

fibrils. The reticula are much more resistant towards solvents

than are most albuminous substances. The fibrils of the nucleus

and contractile it becomes much the most resistant part of the

_ cell toward reagents, even more so than the substance of the re-

ticulum itself. The membrane, like the cell matter, is made up

of a close reticulum of fibrils whose interstices are filled by a

: more fluid substance. By a series of insensible gradations the

protoplasmic membrane may be differentiated into a rigid, inert

cell envelope. The various markings which are so striking a

ature in the walls of many cells, both animal and vegetable,

aD. owe their foundation to this complicated structure of the

distinct kinds have been confused together by

Steerer. MF MERE Rie At) ite Soe tet

1885.] Fhystology: 1239

authors. The first of these consists merely of detached pieces of

the nuclein or chromatin filament. The second kind of nucleolus

is only a nucleus in miniature, and is quite independent (Stras-

burger to the contrary) of the chromatin filament. This nucleolus

is a reserve fund for the use of the nuclear protoplasm and true

nucleoli disappear during the process of cell-division. The

membranes of cell and of nucleus are identical in their general

characters,

The peculiar parallel streaks which are found connecting the

two rosettes of chromatin substance after these have separated

during cell-division, Carnoy declares to be formed by the fibrils `

of the reticula found in the membrane and protoplasm of the

mother nucleus, the parallelism being caused when the mother

nucleus pulls itself apart. fter complete formation of the

daughter nuclei, the parallel fibrils become again transformed

into the protoplasmic reticulum of the new cells. A rather full

list of references to work on this subject may be obtained by

consulting Carnoy, of. cit.; Flemming, Virchow’s Archiv, 1879,

Bd. 77, p. 1; Arnold, same volume, p. 181. The English reader

may find a good general review of the subject in Quart. Fourn.

Mic. Sci., 1882, p. 35.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY OF THE KIDNEY.—It has been

made almost certain by the various labors of Ludwig, of Heiden-

hain and of Nussbaum, that the kidney tubules where lined by

cells containing considerable protoplasm are differentiated in their

function from the thin walled Malpighian capsules at the ex-

tremities of the tubules, The commonly received opinion is that

the wall of the capsule serves simply as a diffusion and filtration

membrane through which pass water and inorganic salts which

make up the bulk of the urine; while the large-bodied cells of

the tubules, particularly of the convoluted portions, may be

looked on as true secretory mechanisms which have the power of

actively selecting certain substances, as urea and urates, from the

lymph, and probably also of manufacturing specific products.

Dr. Dreser comes forward to extend the evidences for a differen-

tiation of function between the two parts of the secretory mechan- -

ism of the kidney. Dreser, experimenting on frogs, thinks he

has shown that the fluid passed through the capsules of the kid-

ney is alkaline, while that secreted by the convoluted portions of

the tubules is acid in reaction.

The results of the work depended upon the peculiar behavior

of “acid fuchsin” toward alkalies and acids respectively; the

former render it colorless, while the latter restore its red tint.

five per cent to ten per cent solution of acid fuchsin is injected

into the lymph sac of a frog and in half an hour the urine, drawn

by a catheter, is distinctly red. If sufficient material be injected

the red tint of the fluid becomes less deep, but still is immediately —

VOL, XIxX.—NO. XII, 8r

1240 General Notes. | December,

intensified by the addition of acid; this indicates that the kidney

still secretes the injected fuchsin, but that its power of forming

acid is diminished, probably due to fatigue of the secretory pro-

toplasm. The kidney, examined microscopically early in the

experiment, offers nothing peculiar in its appearance, all parts

are equally colorless; but when fuchsin has been continuously

eliminated during some hours the cells of the convoluted por-

tions of the tubules are found stained deeply red, while the cap-

sules are quite without color.

Heidenhain found in his researches on the elimination of indi-

go-carmine by. the kidney that the nuclei of the cells were always

deeply stained; but Dreser could, in his experiments, scarcely

ever make out a reddening of the nuclei, though the cells were

often so deeply stained that their outlines were indistinguishable.

The author’s lengthy discussion of the chemical-physiological

bearings of his results cannot be given here.—Zeitsch. f. Biol., Bd.

X41, p: Al.

A VALUABLE SERIES OF PHYSIOLOGICAL JOURNALS.—The library

of the University of Michigan has recently been enriched by the

addition of a series of German journals of anatomy and physiol-

ogy which represents the current progress of those sciences

almost continuously from 1796 up to the present time. Reil’s

Archiv f. d. Physiologie was first published in 1796 and contin-

ued until 1815. Meckel’s Archiv f. d. Physiologie extended from

1815 to 1823, and was succeeded in 1826 by Meckel’s Archiv f.

Anat. u. Physiol., which was given up in 1832. Müller's Archiv

f. Anat. Physiol. u. Wiss. Med., continued from 1834 till 1858,

and was succeeded by Reichert and DuBois Reymond’s Archiv f.

Anat. Physiol, u. Wiss. Med., which was published from 1859 till `

1876. This in turn was succeeded in 1876 by the Archiv f. Anat.

u. Physiol., at present edited by Professor DuBois Reymond.

No physiologist can contemplate this splendid series of works

without thoughtful and affectionate interest, for it forms the log-

book of the progress of modern physiology. Reil, in the open-

ing pages of his first volume written in 1795, strikes the key-note

' of modern physiological research, and some of his words seem

like a prophecy which the history of ninety years has fulfilled.

Says he, “ It is indeed remarkable that physiology, if I exclude

anatomy from it, has made relatively less progress than almost

_ any other science and is, for the most part, but a waste of un-

_ founded or senseless hypotheses. * * * We seek the ex-

planation of the phenomena of animal life in a supersensuous

_ substratum, in a soul, in an universal spirit of nature, in a princi-

ple of vitality, which we picture as something uncorporeal, and

we are thereby either hampered in our investigation or actually

astray. * * * * We must no longer regard the animal

ething of wholly mysterious and unthinkable’ prop-

1885.] Psychology. 1241

erties, but, if we except the mental side, as a merely physical

object included in the category of natural bodies; an object which

is subject to the same laws of nature as are wood and iron, but

which, nevertheless, like wood and iron, has its own peculiar

qualities.”

Tue HisroLocy oF STRIPED Muscve-Fiser.—Mr. B. Melland

makes an important contribution to the literature treating of the

structure of muscular tissue. His view is a confirmation and ex-

tension of that long since announced by Schafer (Quain’s Anat-

omy, 2d vol.). The following isa summary of the author’s main

results: “ There is an intra-cellular net-work present in the mus-

cle-fiber of Dytiscus, the bee, frog, lobster, crayfish and rat,

which may be most clearly demonstrated by certain methods of

gold staining. The net-work alone is stained by the reduced

gold, and, owing to this differentiation, is plainly visible with

comparatively low powers. This net-work may be demonstrated,

though not so completely, in the living fiber, and in acetic and

osmic acid preparations. Crossing the fiber transversely, united

to the sarcolemma, and more or less separating the muscle-fiber

into compartments, are net-work partitions—the transverse net-

works. Running longitudinally down each compartment, and

joining the dots at the intersections of the fibers of the transverse

net-work, are a series of fine rods. This net-work consists of an

isotropous material, and is more highly refractile than the rest of

the muscle substance, which is anisotropous. This net-work

serves to explain the transverse striation and other complicated

appearances presented by the muscle-fiber, and brings into har-

mony many of the conflicting statements of histologists on this

subject.” — Quart. Fourn. Mic. Sci., 1885, p. 371.

PSYCHOLOGY.

INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT.—In his interesting Two

Years in the Jungle, Mr. Hornaday, gives us these impressions

of the intelligence of the elephant:

The elephant is the most patient and obedient of all animals,

and by far the most intelligent. He has more ability to reason

from cause to effect than most other animals of docile tempera-

ment, and he is, beyond all question, the most capable of being

taught, and the most willing to obey after he has been taught.

To me it is a matter of surprise that Mr. Sanderson, who has, I

presume, more personal knowledge of the animal, both tame and

wild, than any European living, should place so low an estimate

upon his mind. He declares that m its sagacity is of a very

mediocre description,” and also that “its reasoning faculties are

far below those of the dog, and possibly other animals.”

From this view, which I think is due to the fact that “ famil-

iarity breeds contempt,” I differ very widely. My acquaintance

_ with tame elephants has created in my mind a respect for their

1242 General Notes. [ December,

intellectual qualities which I never could have acquired in any

other way. A trained dog or horse is such a rarity, even among

the thousands of their species, that it is considered a proper ob-

ject to exhibit ata circus. A horse which will promptly back at

the word of command, or a dog that will bark or stand on its

hind’ legs when told to do so, is considered quite accomplished ;

but in India any well-trained elephant, at a word or touch from

his driver, who sits astride his neck, will “hand up,” “ kneel,”

“speak” (trumpet), “salaam” (salute with his trunk), stop,

back, lie down, pull down an obstructing branch, gather fodder

and “hand up” to his attendant, turn or lift a log, or drag it by

taking its drag-rope between its teeth. He will also protect his

attendants, or attack a common enemy with fury. I think I am

safe in asserting that there are in India to-day scores of captive

elephants who are capable of performing all the services enumer-

ated above; but of course there are many which are not so intelli-

gent.

Contrast with this the performances of our most intelligent

breed of dogs, the pointer. Even when young and trained under

the most favorable circumstances, they are at best but capable of

being taught only a few things, as to “ go on,” to “ charge,” to go

in a given direction, and retrieve. The extreme difficulty of

teaching a dog anything after he has passed his puppyhood is so

universally acknowledged as to have given rise to the familiar

proverb, “It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” What a

strong contrast is seen in the wild “ koomeriah” elephant, caught

when he was about sixty years old (by Mr. Sanderson), who “ was

easily managed a few days after his capture.” Of all animals in

the world what other would have so quickly learned that mind

is superior to matter, that man is master of the dumb brute, or

would have succumbed so gracefully to the inevitable ?

INTELLIGENCE OF THE OrANG.—We will not.say anything about

the place the orang has in the long chain of evolution ; but while

abstract argument leads hither and thither, according as this or

that writer is most ably gifted for the same, there is still one argu-

ment or influence to which every true naturalist is amenable and

1885. | ~ Anthropology. 1243

ANTHROPOLOGY.’

Dr. Rav’s Preuistoric FisHinc.—No. 599 of the Smithsonia

Contributions to Knowledge, is entitled “ Prehistoric Fishing in

Europe and North America.” By Charles Rau. Washington:

Published by the Smithsonian Institution. 342 p., 405 ills., 4to.

This is an attempt at constructive anthropology. The author has

sedulously examined archzological literature for accounts and

illustrations of discoveries bearing on the fisherman’s art. Placing

these objects side by side with similar modern forms whose uses

are known, the author has been able successfully to bring before

us in his true attitudes the ancient artisans of the class under con-

sideration. Access to the immense collections of the National

Museum, and familiarity with the staff of the United States Fish

Commission during many years, as well as the codperation of

archzologists at home and abroad, have strengthened Dr. Rau

for his work and enabled him to prepare a monograph upon pre-

historic fishing which will remain the standard authority upon

that subject. .

he volume is divided into two parts, that relating to Europe,

I12 pages, and that relating to America, 224 pages. In the ac-

count of European fishery the chronological order is followed.

Discarding the Tertiary, Dr. Rau discusses the implements of the

drift, caves and rock-shelters, shell-deposits, lake-dwellings and

bronze age which may have been associated with fishing. In the

account of American fishing a different plan is pursued, each

genus or species of apparatus related to fishing receiving atten-

tion in the following order: Fishing implements, utensils, boats

and appurtenances, prehistoric structures connected with fishing,

representations of fishes, aquatic mammals, etc., artificial shell-

deposits. This portion closes with a large number of extracts

from the old writers upon aboriginal fishing in North America, and

an appendix on prehistoric fishing in South America.

There are many classific concepts according to which the

anthropological objects in a museum may be arranged and their _

significance discussed,’ and each one of these is of great im-

portance. Principal among them are race, nation, material,

geographic distribution, chronology, evolution, structure and

craft or function. These concepts are not antagonistic, but

mutually supplementary, the only question in the curator’s mind

being which of them to place first, and in what order the others

shall be placed. In the archzological department of the National

Museum Dr. Rau places the concept structure at the head of the

list. By all odds this is the best for archzological materials, be-

cause it not only enables the curator to have a sure place for

every object, but it enables him or the student visitor to take up

each craft exhaustively. There is no doubt that the immense

_ 1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C.

1244 General Notes. [December,

treasures under Dr. Rau’s charge will enable him, now that the

material is arranged, to give many more contributions as inter-

esting as “ Prehistoric Fishing.”

A New Craniar Race CHARACTER.— Dr. Lissauer, of Dantzig?

has recently published an important work with the following title :

Untersnchungen über die sagittale Krümmung des Schadels be!

den Anthropoiden und den verschiedenen Menschenrassen. Von

Dr. Lissauer in Dantzig. Mit sieben lithographirten Tafeln.

Separat-Abdruck aus dem “ Archiv für Anthropologie.” xv

Band, Supplement. Braunschweig, 1885. pp. 112.

The author of this treatise introduces his subject with these

words: “ By sawing a skull through the sagittal median plane,

and drawing, as exactly as possible, the outer contour of the sec-

tion thus obtained, we get the sagittal aspect of the skull, the

norma sagittalis. It presents a very irregular curve.” * * ¥*

“ A careful study of this curve in the different skull-forms of an-

thropoids and man will therefore be the cbject of this treatise.”

Although, for the purpose of definition, the author speaks of

sawing the skulls, in practice he does not consider it necessary ;

but describes an ingenious apparatus by means of which the

sagittal curve may be traced without injury to the skull. His

promise of a “ careful study ” has been well fulfilled. Every point

of importance seems to have been thoroughly considered and

clearly set forth. Dr. Lissauer has been obliged to invent a num-

er of new terms, and as these will, no doubt, take a permanent

place in the nomenclature of craniometry, it is fortunate that ‘they

hews. ;

are terms well devised:-—W. Matthew.

Erunotocy oF Ancient Iraty.—The ethnology and history

of the populations of ancient Italy present problems of high in-

terest, but these are just as perplexing through their intricacy as

they are insolvable through the remoteness of the periods. Re-

cent archzological finds have added new problems, but on the

_ other hand have helped in clearing up doubtful points. Dr.

Fligier, in his “ Urzeit von Hellas und Italien,” has given

very strong reasons for supposing that the Japygians and

iddl y o

. _ Ausonians, as well as other aborigines of Middle Italy wh

1885. | Anthropology. 1245

Dr. Fligier and by Baron Charles von Czcernig, a high functionary

of the Austrian government, who in a recent octavo volume of

311 pages has published his researches upon Upper Italian nations

of ancient, medizval and modern times’ The people of the

Euganeans, whose name is preserved in the territorial names of

Valsugana (Vallis Euganea) and Palugana, the author considers

spoke an Aryan or a non-Aryan language, he prefers to await.

developments than to give a definite opinion, but considers the

Reti as a people originally identical with the Etruskans. They

remained in the Alpine mountains, while the latter moved south

into the plains of the Po river and settled there after subjugating

the aboriginal people called Umbri. The Venetians, or Henetoi,

a comparatively pure-blooded race, seem to have been Thracians,'

and the ancient authors almost unanimously proclaim their

descent from Paphlagonia. The Celtic origin of some local names

is distinctly traceable, on the western part of the Lombardic

plain especially (p. 219). The sketchy biographies given of

medieval princes in Lombardy are very spicy bits of reading,

and give us very graphic ideas of the arbitrary and cruel des-

potism in those dark ages. A short apergu of the country’s con-

dition during the Napoleonic and recent period, mainly based on

statistics, concludes the volume.— A. S. Gatschet. `

GEOGRAPHICAL Names IN Mexico.—Antonio Penafeil, super-

intendent of the department of statistics in the Mexican Republic,

has published in Mexico an alphabetical catalogue of the places

in Mexico whose names are related to the Nahuatl language. In

the catalogue of municipalities are many names so mutilated in

orthography that it is difficult{to recognize their origin and signifi-

cation. Signor Penafeil has undertaken to reconstruct this

nomenclature, forming an alphabetic index of American names

of places existing in the latest part of the empire of Montezuma

II, drawing his information from historic documents and from the

hieroglyphic writings of the Nahuas, which are rightly considered

to be the purest fountain of the ancient history of the Mexicans,

. Each word in this quarto volume of 220 pages is accompanied

with the hieroglyphic symbol of the place, and with its equivalent

in old and in modern Mexico.

Tue Kansas City Review.—This standard periodical, whose

death was prematurely announced in the NATURALIST, has put on

a new dress and appeared in its ninth volume as number one of a

new series. The editorial chiefs will r. Theo. S. Case and

Mr. Warren Watson. It is with sincere pleasure that we recall

our obituary and give notice of the reorganization of the Review,

with a shorter title and a brighter face.

1246 General Notes. [ December,

MICROSCOPY :!

THE ALIMENTARY CANAL OF THE CRUSTACEA —1. Hardening.—

For the river cray fish, Frenzel? recommends Kleinenberg’s picro-

sulphuric acid diluted with only two times its volume of water. The

preparation is left fifteen minutes in the fluid, then treated with

the usual grades of alcohol. Osmic acid and the various chro-

mic solutions proved worthless. Perenyi’s fluid caused a slight

swelling, but was of some service in the study of the liver and

the nuclei of the middle gut. Corrosive sublimate (saturated

aqueous’ solution) proved an excellent means of isolating the

epithelium of the middle gut in the lobster. In preparations

hardened in this fluid the epithelium becomes loosened from the

wall of the canal, so that it can be stripped off in sheets and pre-

pared for surface examination,

2. Imbedding —Paraffine is preferred to celloidin. Precaution

should always be taken to prevent the formation of large crys-

. tals, which not only render the paraffine brittle, but also injure

the finer structure of the preparation, by immersing it in cold

water and cutting soon afterward. If the paraffine block is

allowed to stand for weeks crystallization sets in.

3. Staining—The sections are fixed on the cs with chrome

mucilage, then stained with alum carmine, alcohol carmine

(Grenacher), aqueous hematoxylin (Bohmer) ad sahin. For

the epithelium of the middle gut a double stain with acid car-

mine and hæmatoxylin offers some advantages.

FRENZEL’S CHROME MuciILacE As A Fixative.2—Make a thin

solution of gum arabic in water and add to this an aqueous solu-

tion of chrome alum. An excess of the latter does no harm.

little glycerine is added to the mixture to prevent it from drying

too rapidly when painted on the slide.

‘After painting the slide with a small brush the sections are

placed in order and the slide left for a few minutes (not over fif-

teen minutes) in the oven of a water-bath kept at 30-45° C. The

gum is thus rendered insoluble. The paraffine is next removed

in the ordinary way and the sections stained according to

desire. Fuchsin and safranin are the only analine dyes which

cannot be used, as they stain the film of gum deeply and thus

injure the preparation.

. Tae RETRACTILE TENTACLES OF THE PuLMONATA.—The retrac-

organs, as is well known, are hollow cylinders,

. C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

inat., XXV, p. 141-143, e 1885.

nal e ty eg 188

h 4405 5 Zeitschr, f. wiss. Zool., 1872, XXII, p. 366.

1885, ] Microscopy. 1247

which can be rolled in like the finger of a glove by the action of

a retractor muscle. The eversion is effected by forcing blood

from the body-cavity into the lumen of the tentacle. If, when

the tentacle is fully extended, a thread be quickly tied around its

base so as to prevent the escape of the blood, the infolding pro-

cess cannot take place, and the hardening fluid may then be safely

applied. Flemming recommends treatment with bichromate of

potassium (4 p. c.) This method enables one to obtain sections

of the eye in the extended condition of the tentacle.

IMBEDDING IN PARAFFINE.— Clarifying media—Cedar-wood oil

is recommended by Lee’ as a clarifying medium on various

grounds, the more important of which are the following:

I. It clarifies as rapidly as clove oil.

2. It does not render the object brittle or excessively hard.

3. It is a much better solvent of paraffine than clove oil; and

hence only a short paraffine bath is required.

4. The penetration of the paraffine is not only more rapid, but

also more thorough.

Holl? recommends toluol, which he finds can be used to greater

advantage than chloroform, especially with large objects. The

largest objects should be left one day in toluol, and one day in

the paraffine bath ; small objects require correspondingly shorter

times.

Imbedding Box.—A convenient box, introduced by Dimmock,

may be made of two pieces of type metal (or better of brass).

As will be seen from the accompanying diagram, each piece of

casi ee

—

metal has the form of a carpenter’s square. A convenient size

will be found in pieces measuring 5™ (long arm) by 3 (short

arm) and 7™ high. With such pieces a box may be constructed

at any moment by simply placing them together on a plate of

glass which has previously been wet with glycerine, and gently

warmed. The area of the box will evidently vary according to

the position given to the pieces, but the height can be varied

only by using different sets of pieces.

It is well to imbed in a thin layer of paraffine, so that the

object, after cooling, may be cut out in small cubical or pyramidal

1 Zool. Anz., No. 205, p. 563, Oct., 1885.

2Zool. Anz., No. 192, p. 223, April, 1885.

1248 General Notes. [December,

blocks, which may be easily fixed, for cutting, to a larger block

of hard paraffine, or better, to a block of wood saturated with

paraffine.

ORIENTATION WITH SMALL ObsjectTs.—Orientation becomes

difficult only with objects so small that their position can be con-

trolled only by the aid of a microscope. Spherical objects, less

than one millimeter in diameter, z. g., many ova and embryos,

are the most difficult to manage. Such objects may usually be

successfully oriented in the following manner :

I. Prepare the box; for this it will be necessary to use the two

triangular pieces of metal, a rectangular glass plate (2 in. x 2%

in.). The plate should be cleaned and then smeared with glycer-

ine, and the pieces of metal so adjusted, that the arms are parallel

with the edges of the plate.

2. Having warmed the box over a spirit inin lift the object .

from the basin of paraffine by the aid of a small, flat, thin spatula

(first starting it from the bottom by shaking the paraffine a little), `

and allow it to flow with the paraffine carried on the spatula into

e box.

3. Then fill the box (5-6"™ deep) with the melted paraffine, and

warm it a little over a spirit lamp, just enough to keep a// of the

paraffine in a liquid condition for a few moments. Now place the

box on the warm table of a dissecting microscope, and by the aid

of a hot needle proceed to place the object in the desired position.

As the object is illuminated from below, it can be easily seen,

turned over, and moved about at pleasure. If the paraffine freezes

before orientation is effected, it should be melted again as before,

and the needle va be kept hot by repeatedly holding it in the

flame of the lam

The difficulty ‘of finding very small objects in a basin of paraf-

fine will be very much lessened by keeping the paraffine free from

dust, and the bottom of the basin (tin) scoured bright. A piece

of emery cloth serves for polishi

e necessity of re-warming the box of paraffine, which often

arises in the above method, may be removed by using a hot bath

on the table of the microscope. This bath should be a box of -

convenient size (not over 2™ high), with top and bottom of glass,

with an opening at one end for filling with hot water, and another

s at the opposite end provided with a rubber tube and clamp, for

<3 drawing off the water as soon as the object has been arrange

__ PREVENTION oF BupBLes.—After the imbedding process has

een carried thus far, there is still another danger to be carefully

against. If the box is left to cool slowly in the air,

sles are very likely to appear in the paraffine, which will

s s obstacle in cutting. Profiting by Caldwell’s sug-

| the box in water, one may avoid all such incon-

p ffine a Poos around the object, so

1885.] Microscopy, 1249

that its position is secured, the box should be held in a vessel o

cold water, first at the surface (until the paraffine has set), then

fully submerged. In this way the paraffine is quickly cooled

sufficiently for removal from the box, which may then be used for

imbedding a second object. A dozen objects may be thus im-

bedded in a very short time. If the box is plunged below the

surface of the water, before the paraffine has become rigid, holes

will arise in the mass and fill with water.

Box AND WARM BATH ComBINED.—Selenka! has recently de-

scribed a simple apparatus for imbedding small objects in a definite

position. It is made by taking a thin glass tube, and heating

one side at the middle until it becomes soft enough to bend easily.

en the mouth is applied to one end while stopping the other

with the finger, and the air sucked out, causing the softened por-

tion to bend inward and thus forming a shallow trough, a.

section of the trough is shown in B. In order to make the bottom

of the trough flat, it is only necessary to place in the tube, before

a Dd

Selenka’s Imbedding Box (reduced ¥%).

heating, a strip of glass, against which the infolding portion of

the tube will flatten.

One end of the cylinder is joined by rubber tubing with a

T-shaped tube, one arm of which connects with a somewhat

elevated liter glass of cold water, and the other arm with the hot

water of the water-bath. The connection with the water reser-

voirs is through rubber tubing, which can be closed by pinch-

corks. The other end of the glass cylinder is also provided with

a rubber tube through which the water flows into a vessel stand-

ing on the floor.

The cylinder is fastened (by string or clamp) to the table of a

_dissecting microscope, with the trough at the centre. The hot

water is then turned on and allowed to flow slowly. The trough

is next filled with melted paraffine by the aid of a hot pipette, and

the object dropped in and oriented with a needle. As soon as

the object is placed in the desired position, the cold water is

turned on, which causes an immediate stiffening of the paraffine.

The hot water is shut off, and after a few moments, the paraffine

with the imbedded object can be removed from the trough. The

trough should be washed with absolute alcohol before imbedding.

1 Zool. Anz., No. 199, p. 419, July, 1885. ;

l o to Scientific News. [December,

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Henry P. Bowditch, Francis A. Walker, William Minot, Jr,

and Charles S. Minot, have signed a declaration of trust for the

Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund. Mrs. Thompson has pre

sented $25,000 in trust to these gentlemen “to be the means of

ennobling and promoting investigation and the study of science for

the sake of science and the benefit of mankind.” This endow-

ment is not for the benefit of any one department of science, but

it is the intention of the trustees to give the preference to those

investigations, xot already otherwise, provided for, which have for

their object the advancement of human knowledge, or the benefit

of mankind in general, rather than to researches. directed to the

solution of questions of merely local importance.

Applications for assistance from this fund should be accom-

panied by a full statement of the nature of the investigation, of

the conditions under which it is to be prosecuted, and of the

manner in which the appropriation asked for is to be expended.

The applications should be forwarded to the secretary of the

Board of Trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, 25 Mt. Vernon street, Boston,

Mass., U. S, A.

The first grant will be made early in January, 1886.

— Dr. William Benjamin Carpenter, LL.D., F.R.S., an eminent

English physiologist, died in London, Nov. r1. He published an

important work entitled, Principles of General and Comparative

Physiology. His reputation was widely extended by an excellent

work called, Principles of Human Physiology. For many years

he edited the British and Foreign Medico- Chirurgical Review.

He will also be remembered for his work on the physics of the

ocean, on Foraminifera and crinoids, as well as for his treatise on

the microscope. Dr. Carpenter died from the effects of terrible

burns caused by the upsetting of a lamp while he was taking a

vapor bath for rheumatism.

— A telegram from Memphis says that “millions of squirrels

are emigrating from the Mississippi side over to the Arkansas

ore at a point commencing about five miles below Memphis

and extending down for twenty miles, They are swimming the

Mississippi river and evidently making for more elevated grounds

in Ar - Thousands are being killed by farmers, who, by

reason of their great numbers, use sticks instead of guns. A

_ Similar emigration of squirrels occurred in 1872.”

— We willingly correct an error into which we fell in our

‘number. Besides the Comision Cientifica of Mexico, there

a Comision Geographico-Exploradora, of which the director is

ñor Augustin Diaz. Professor Ferrari-Perez is the chief of the

de Historia Natural of the latter. This gentleman is at

the United States engaged in identifying the natural

1885.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1251

products of his country as represented in our museums and

libraries.

— Thomas Davidson, the English scientist, is dead, at the age

of 68. His researches were principally connected with geology

and paleontology. His large work on British Fossil Brachiopoda,

in five quarto volumes, will be, when published, one of the most

complete palzontological monographs ever published. He has

also published eighty scientific papers. His collection was be-

queathed to the British Museum.

— The board of regents of Kansas State University, at a re-

cent meeting unanimously resolved to name the new museum

ldguinib in process of erection, “ Snow Hall of Natural History.”

This is a deserved compliment to Professor F. H. Snow, whose

connection with the institution has been one of the mainsprings

of its success.

— The death of M. Charles Robin, the eminent histologist, is

announced from Paris. He had been professor of histology at

the Faculty of Medicine since 1832, and was in his 65th year. In

1871 he worked with Littré in founding the Society of Sociology,

and by his death the Senate loses all but the last of its scientific

men.

— The October number of the Johns Hopkins University

Circular embraces a résumé of the work done in the Chesapeake

Zoological Laboratory, under the direction of Professor Brooks,

from May to September, 1885. It shows that much successful

work was done during the season.

— At the meeting of the Linnean Society of New South

Wales, for May 27, Dr. Lendenfeld announced the discovery of

sensitive and ganglion nerve-cells in the horny sponges, similar —

to those which he had observed as occurring in calcareous sponges,

but much larger. j

— Dr. William Wood, of East Windsor Hill, Conn., died

August 9, 63 years old. He was an excellent local ornithologist,

several of his papers appearing in the early volumes of this maga-

zine, i

— The Annales des Sciences Naturelles, xıx, No. 1, contains

discourses by Professors Quatrefages, Blanchard and Lacaze-

Duthiers, pronounced at the funeral of Milne-Edwards.

— The Kansas City Review comes to us in a new dress and

with additional interest in its contents. The labor of years de-

voted to it by Col. Case is evidently meeting its just reward.

— James Macfarlane, author of Geological Railway Guide and

Geologists’ Traveling Hand-Book, died October 12, at Towanda,

Penna., aged 66.

1252 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Dec., 1885.

— Dr. H. A. Atkins, of Locke, Mich., also a good local ornith-

ologist, died May 1g, aged 63.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Brotocica Society oF WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 1885.—Commu-

nications: Col. Marshall McDonald, Fish-culture a necessity. for

the maintenance of the shad fishery ; Mr. Wm. H. Dall, Deep-sea -

mollusks and the laws illustrated in their development; Mr.

Richard Rathbun, Remarks on the Woods Holl station of the

U. S. Fish Commission; Mr. Romyn Hitchcock, Notes on the

ed snow, with exhibition of specimens.

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, Oct. 5, 1885.—The follow-

ing papers were presented: On the agatized woods and the

malachite, azurite, etc., from Arizona (illustrated with specimens

of all, and with microscopical sections of the fossil woods); also,

Some notes on the new meteorite that feil in Western Pennsyl-

vania, by Mr. Geo. F. Kunz.

ct. 19.—The following paper was presented: On a phospho-

rescent flagellate infusorian, probably a new species of Noctiluca,

from the surf at Ocean Beach, N. J. (with an exhibition of the

phosphorescence, and of preparations under the microscope), by

Dr. Alexis A. Julien.

Nov. 2.—Dr. J. S. Newberry addressed the academy upon the

recent Geological Congress at Berlin, its objects, its results and’

its men.

Boston Society or Naturav History, Oct. 7:—Dr. S. Knee-

land described the family-life of the Norwegian Lapps, and the

habits of the reindeer. : .

Oct. 21.—Dr. S. Kneeland exhibited models of two memorial

gravestones of the iron age, from Central Sweden, bearing Runic

inscriptions and other symbols.

ov. 4.—Professor F. W. Putnam related the circumstances

under which the skulls of a mastodon and of a man were found

together at Worcester, Mass.; Mr. Wm. M. Davis spoke of the

rift-formations in which the skulls were buried,

INDEX TO VOLUME XIX.

Abbat C sa use of copper by the Delaware

Absolute aik aa method of makin ng, 429.

Academy , National, of Subic: proceedings of,

133+

A kotalii: 700.

gi 5 K

Aceste

phanodon insolens, $e.

robustus,

Adams, Frank D., rsat e of zones of igen

gg about the olivine occurring in ano

hosite rocks from the River Saguenay, x pox

Æcidium ae 886.

Atghanista:

Africa, 63, pii ie 696, 698, 789, 874, 882, 1083,

1084, 1139. 1206,

— alveolatus, 75.

nos, 1132.

Sl, 444.

\llen’s human anatomy, 61.

\mazons, 27.

ma copeianum, 1230,

60, 90, 875, 984, 1086.

PP PP pp} >)

eat T ot

aa atr y 432, 531, 634.

Paloweric Society, 636.

Microscopists, proceedings

Socie en of at bie meni 223.

America, South, Ap animals of, 924

` Amia, spiet

moeba,

Apion

Anaptom us -zem| 465.

a omunculus, 465, ¢

Anatomy of fishes, some preliminary notes on,

Ander, J. Fe Cipe é: X ad Miller, exhalation iz

lants, 858.

Soe i

Andrews, ke affinities of annelids to verte-

brates, 767.

pam aair cat,

Animals, do the lower, suffer pain, 910.

Anisotomini 103.

Ankle of Dikas mirabilis, 1208.

ids, affini affinities of, to vertebrates, s

Antimony, 1098.

iscus i

Aph nsidiosus, ee

_ Aphides, embryology of, 172.

Aphodius ec eign 716.

sro aes à, 1007.

Piggy opie oat 401.

Arachnida,

Aralia quiquetli, 30,

pie

JRE Taat iscri, IIIS.

Archzopteryx, 92.

192.

Aromochelys odoratus, 38, 1228.

Arthur, J. C., bacteria as mo parasites

hi ay

pear

Arvicola cine agp 4g 5, 895.

spay

use, 1177.

uste ae. eid

Asellus Pigano 85.

= rust, 886.

Asia, 66, 285, 381, 483, 589, 784, 872, 984, 1262.

Askonema, 8r.

ee filix-fæmina, change in development

II5.

Katod arenaceus, 116,

Atkins, H. A., obituary of, 1251.}

Atoph irii, 896.

PEREA PE A tortuosa, 435.

iation = 991.:

Bacillus, 92

Koch" Method, 1124,

- Bacteria, "s pe i

Badger, Mex

Badghis, r

see 613, 1107.

Ni Ë., m a ropliek national park,

foods, heed — and rela-

Balsam

r M. de i oe remains found near the

y bat Mexico, 739.

Poutanen he measuring separately the weight

oe the air, 337.

Batrachians, 814.

‘of = Bir pea beds of Pishewita

Baur, G., morphology ot the tarsus- in the Mam-

on the centrale carpi of mammals, e,

1254

Birds, 513, spi 1013, 1231.

age of,

= soaring, z, problem of, ot

n W. Virginia, side

Bii ght t, pear, 1177.

Boke, collar, 1172.

Boron minerals, 299.

Boston Society of Natural History, proceedings

Bothrioce bain cestus, 929.

Botwendes, 1134.

Boulders of decomposition at Washington, 113.

se ce me o a

warm Co Cig

eae, common, 37.

Brach arr

Brain, heat pe in,

Branner J: Gy e en Lot the lantern fly, 835.

of, 9

Breeding hab í the ‘Libellulidze, 306.

British Associa

Buenos Ayres, fossil mammals of, 789.

—— , H. C., recent additions to the museum

of Buh Üniversity, 122

Butler, A. W., hibernation of the 1ower verte-

brates, 37

observations on the muskrat.

44.

Butterflies, 1004.

Californ i ee? E of, I211.

Cambrian È beds, 9

sien ae:

Campbell Pe Oe ove o! of forest trees, 838.

prehistoric man on the

EE Be È abash, 969.

A ean et a oy certain kinds f timber

Ti alte $ peia ities,

pen otal survey, 486.

Capromys, n myology of, 199

- Carbonic aci shellac, 3

a oe insects, aaa

of in a ee T aig TOT:

of Tonkin, any

_ Xiphosura, types new to America,

29.

es iiae ul ole 1204.

ae, g end W. B., obituary of, 1250,

— my

Caton LD D., Blin fishes i sin a 8r.

4 mestication, 831.

Index to Vol. XTX.

Chilognath myriopods, 176.

Chilian Andes, the, 153.

himera monstrosa, 91,95

CCO

oo. pa

Chlor: rophyll, spectrum of, 1217.

Chordata

mbryological characters of, 903.

pe iraient 38

Cicada, 17-dec

C elementary see beck: of zoology, 374,

Clavic is

Cyan E. W., pio coat hee before ope cond

Pde tion of the

Tachia _2

pas i range of certain fossil

in og sre and

New A Yor

Clematis sibfer sy fertilization of, a

Clevenger, S. V., comparative Physiology and

hol

evolution ot thie’ and body

and animals, 99.

Cobra, 924.

Cc ælenterata, ebei system of, 1188.

s nas 20.

Golodion C He

Color sense, 809.

Columbus inglonious, 978.

ges

congo, oe

sa A. ArT.

vAlbreche s rier E 1006,

mblypoda, 40.

ypo

s asin, Sa p sex, 820.

Batrachia of Bohem and India,

592. ; ;

Clevenger on ro of mind,

the dim ons of matte:

on the evolution of the Soci,

140, 234, 34

arman on Diaymodus, 878.

large iguanas of the Greater Antil-

les, 1005.

Mammalia of the Oligocene of

Marsh on the tet Ec PENE

ertiary ‘Mammalia, 385.

research, its motives and

dicate critici 7.

-the Lemu roidea a an

the

Index to Vol. XIX.

Cretaceous peron 1093.

t Pyrenees, 167.

Criblinin a monocerus, 312:

Crow ĉr: lams, 407

Crozier, A. A. , branching wal yee annan 799.

Crustacea 813, 902, 1 113, 1

rinary organs A ae

EPES ticks, the, 389.

Cucumis os data 455

Cunningham the T ligament

of the fetlock« of the horse, 127.

Cuvierian organ < ue cotton-spinner, 510.

an parini

Cyclura onchiopsis, gee

ears 798.

Darlin meen 571.

arters

Dav ison, Kia obituary of, 1250.

banat s seor anatomy of vegetable

Deka deposits, of the east coast U. S., 69.

Rr rations by U.S. Fish Commission,

eolon of the ‘* Talisman,” 182.

82.

s A

Deer, mule

a Nadaillac’ s ‘prehistoric i aa 273-

ental index, 6

Denudation, 92 92 z

epth to which sunlight penetrates water, 84.

Desmodium sessilifolium, 711.

Develop eng of unpaired fins of fishes, outline of `

a thi » 99.

vonian ka ical: 170.

Diatoms, ! structure of, ony

Diclonius mirabilis, 1208.

Dinocerata, 40, 42, 703.

Dinornis,

Dinosauria, rsh on American Jurassic, 67. _

Dipeltis di Giodiocws, 293.

Diphycercy, 93.

a halteres

of, 1004.

Dispersion of spores in a toadstool, 503

Distribution of color in the animal be, 609,

Ditetrodon,

Dodo, feathers of the, 192.

Dog, American, 896.

caste r Indian, 897.

Fskim 5, os

Hare Indian, 896.

intelligence of, 204, 621, 909, 1117.

Draai, to

Ear, morphology of,

Farthqua ein Soan, ‘he theater of, 390.

Earth — cape

Eastern

Echidna, ie neat ne ‘of the eggs of, 193.

Echini, deep-sea, 1228.

Echinoderms, 311, IOII.

ae mie Mia

Milne-, obituary of, 973-

1255

Eyeless eel, 405.

Effects of li seb on ta of beetles, 80.

een: 1241.

Endlichite, 7

Eobasileus aa oeras 45.

icornis, 44, 51."

Eobaslide, 43-

Eocene of North S 619.

Ephemeride, 178

cri

Equisetum, the ua of, 502.

Equus, plio 12

" prejevalskyi, 408.

Eethe:

p abee er ag

Euglena torta, 18.

Eunephrops bairdii, ees

Euplotes carinata,

» 544; 745.

Rrani| L; nad a, 8rr.

Sete grees 599.

tory of discovery in, 303.

Ferret, black- footed, 720, 922. ix

Fertiiity of hybri ds, 173

Fertilization - Pew viscosissima, 503,

wild onicn, shacks

phen benke of, 12

T at , J. W., on larval focus F, Spirorbis bore-

a mya 7-

Firefly li e ey

>d Italy, E TENE

Fisher, A. K., = mouse at Sing Cing, 896.

r-nosed mole amphibious, 895.

Fish, 4.

f bring, 8r.

embryo, 6r4.

Fishes, a, 737. h IOI2, 1229.

f the blood, 320.

origin of cavity of kati in, rors,

Pang, prehistoric, 1243.

Flea

Flight of robber flies, 305

zoic, 699.

of Minnesota, Uphai am’s, 585,

o monntains, 1219.

Flowers, 301.

Foerste, À. F., fertilization ka the wild bean, 887.

Foot, Greek and modern:

Foraminifera, recent a eek in Australian Eo-

Formosa, 380.

Fossil algz, are there any? 165.

reezing apparatus, 73

Frigate b age soaring md 1056.

Ader W.H » do monkeys invariably learn by

xperience ? aac

Fuchste sa ildens

§35-

Fulgu rpervers

Saeni of the p im body, 415.

Fungi, 803,

rb pnb beds, ds, 793.

es of N. American, 76.

1256 Index to

Gabbro, 992.

Gaitermanite, a

Gam chidæ

Cat coat of,

comer zoolog ual Taia and St.

Louis,

Gastornis 8 Fae A

Gatschet, A. S. gra:

ustoms, I.

Gazella thomsoni, 614

T sempervirens, the internal cambium

Gane” of ite ie cephalopods, Hyatt on, 153.

Genera of the Dinocerata, 594.

aapi and natural history survey of Minne-

a raen 96.

Gerhardite, 1095.

Gillman, H., further confirmation of the post

; t cranial perforations

mortem ee de of the c

fro: unds,

(he

Glyptonotus sabin , 89.

gone 6. s physiological botany, 376.

h A pa EEA,

recat 2 ee bone ri eg? 3 1244.

’ Kra

0572

Goose, least bamacle, z

flori

Gras:

Gratacap, L. P, pork of an watered by

acid solutions,

Guinea, yaa 1131.

Gutta percha plant, 926.

Hair, SRA wal study of, 924.

Halesia tetra

‘Herrick’? Clad $ Cioca and n, or Minne-

Hessian Ay, 76.

ea aceite ae

Vol. XTX.

Hydrophobia, nn of, 98.

Hiyopeseas Steere

vicar veh g

sm, 1123.

Hypersthene-basalt, 661.

Hyrax capensis, 195.

Ice, organisms in, 8

Identity z hunger aod sexual appetite, 7.

a a, 1005.

Indian inscriptions, 654.

Infusoria, 717.

artificial divis jmi

Ingersoll’s country cousin

Inger: pos TD. glacial ahs of Presque isle,

rie, 865.

Insects, Brauer

dible “Méi ican, 893.

2 s fi

how they ai to flat, vertical surfaces,

I221.

of Illinois, 1105.

of the Ca si Soke period, 595.

Palzozoic

Intelligence ina ny 418,

wiki pe eee itin. 103.

: Irrawadi,

Besma ton ts

Italy, ancient et ar of, 1244.

James, J. F., how the pitcher plant got its leaves,

ja nclus ‘australis,

apan, anthropology i in, 1132.

eology of,

, nervous aa of, 1188, i

artichoke, 542.

~ 277

T aaa 77, 882.

plant bed, 167. ; l

j reptiles, 789. id

Kansas es aae survey of, g2r.

ey ae rning and war customs the,

Karstein os

Ka —, figures, Rabt’s method of diate

Kern, W Ae oie Sey of, 1141,

Kidney, 1239 :

: Kilimanjaro: 5

ee pose 73:8 Fag) the inter-relationships of arthro-

FE ing Ue it E

Kohm, sara E By Pelis ouR at New Orleans, 896.

ondoo, 8151

Kunde, marl beds of, ni

Labrador, Baz, £ 876. a

birds of, 1232. 2

Lagoa, 714.

= aces 160, 491. ; ui =

Superior, c Bhie Xen OO rocks, 694.

ise 2, aL

Neumayr’s classification of, Ot

‘a ee a 67.

Index to

Latchford, F. R., m eyan Quebec, 1111,

Lateral line of fishes

Lawson, A. C., pare ig Zock inscriptions on the

La ke of the pabaro. 6

Lower

Uettuce, 1042.

Leucite, 886.

] poral oad cae coeruleus, 610.

Limbs, ©:

Limpet,

Limulh _ ae 722.

Lindahl, J., geological formati f Spitzbergen,

1208,

Liskeardite,

Lithodes ml

Littorina irrorata, r

Lizard running with fore-feet a "n kis ground, 192.

Lockwood, S , the clam-w

in an, 893

Locy, W. A., pees of tke eggs of the spider,

IO2I

Lophius, 9

Lophocercy, 92.

Lophyrus pini, 180.

Loup Fork Miocene in Mexico, 494.

Loxolophodon, 42, 44.

cornutus, 45, 46, 47, 48.

gale eatus, 45, 46, 47, m

spierianus, 45, 46, 4

— adapinus, 386.

a, 720.

sre urces of, 1139.

Macfarlane, J., obituary of, 1251.

Macroscincus, go.

Macrotoma aver 716.

Macrurus,

Maine, grass pi 1217.

Maize, 104

Malay peck lago, 975.

e panpana ossil, 789.

Mammals z II 14.

rimy, 797-

AREE i cin

Mammoth, and hum n remains, 1133. _

Man, antiquity of, an, 1133, 1134.

precursor of, 1

prehistoric nance in Mexico, 739-

prehistoric, 969.

tail in embryo, 973.

ome ee . American inverte- |

progress of

ontology for 884, 353-

balsam orrn 1137-

; ,

ot f a dui

Marsipobranchii, pagad 896.

Marsupials, — e Lower Eocene of New

Mexico

Warts R study of the mite gall of the black

rae 136, 14

one

to a 1

Matthews i Faai dry painting of the Nava-

» 931.

in mi race characters, 1244

Maya Quichie, pehi

Meade river, 159.

Medusa, nervous spa of, 1188.

Megadomia g

198

o j ni, 83

Merisus soir Sten 1104.

Vol. XIX.

1257

Merriam, C. H., iridescence in the Oregón mole,

895. i

pine mouse in Northern New

York, 895

Merriam’s oe of the p A 57.

Mesocarpus, 800.

Miniu 707.

Mesostoma viridatum, 310.

Meteorites, 1212.

Mexico, E sje

of, 1

ists es fn i 885, 11

ps the Sobik States, 794.

otom: 5 830.

pede 734.

rocking, 1022.

Migration of birds, 90.

Miller, G. B. M., and Anders, exhalation

of ozone e by odo orous plants, 85

ne. —— ‘plesk: 485.

micry in insects

Mind ce —, Bas 94°, 1059, 1150.

Miner alogy F 5 F gi Vv ks iy

392.

Mineralogical notes, 500.

toate synthesis, 208.

t, C. sts histolo ogical methods, 916.

om Fatt ia methods, 828.

Mixodec!

Mississisippy the ptt of the, 384.

Mites, life histories of, 507.

Mole cricket, oa

Oregon, 5.

» 895

star-nos

structure of, 58.

- Mollusks, a, 1012.

of, 1012.

pulmona 246,

pulmonate, once tenia apparatus of,

Monkeys, ror

iaiia of, 909.

Morris, a les, relations of mind and matter,

533, 680, 754, 845, 940, rap ahi De

Mosquitoes, destroying 1229.

Mucilage, chrome, 1246.

Mullain fox glove, ‘eration of, 71.

Muszles of man and apes, 99.

mexicana, 810.

oo metisiencis, con

Myriopoda,

“great

of Ai Podis, hoy:

Nachtrieb, H. F., new water bath, 917.

Penaas mes, geographical, spelling of 1083.

Navas, mythic i Sg of, 931.

lemur antiquus, 464.

ematocarcini, 82.

Nematodes, 89.

ne aay er americanus, 493.

oma floridana, nest ot, 193.

Roca te limbata, 363.

Nerve, conduction, 819.

1258

Nerves, akin 1124.

ympathetic

Sciences, 8 Biotin of,

III, 224, 335, 432, 531, 634, 738, 1

New York Microscopical Society, journal, y

New Zeala

Niger,

Norse’ paai es in N. America, 383.

Notes on section- ene, 628.

S, 401

nd, 786.

geology of, 88r.

N Notharctus tene bro

Oat

omata,

> 986.

"at

aticeps, 52.

Olen a

Grae how li, 358.

Olivine, 10i

Onchidia, : abinities of, i

eis iP

sulca

ao ai 26.

Opisthotomus fla agrans, 46r.

Optical anomalies i maal 296.

,'1242.

ns of ance and smell in spiders, 402.

Onan of fresh-water faunas, 590 re :

noco,

Ornithology, econ

o ra > s simple’ method of injecting the

20.

Obea H aL, abstract of Lankester’s vak on

—_ wins leura

n Balanoglossus,

peo oe

Otaria, =n

Otter, 122

Ovularia basiodd, P)

and — = eai effects of, 97.

Oyster, 317, 1

Oysters, fossil, =

Ozone, 858.

Packard, A. S., brain of Asellus and zCecidotea,

~ edible Mexican insects, 893.

embryology of Limulus, 722.

life and nature = Southern Lab- -

: rador, 2

: ani in lexico i in 1885, dred

aad on-the Labrador Eskimo

ao $52:

obituary of H. tee teats

Index to Vol. XTX.

Palzophones oe 391.

Palæontology, 97

Palmer, E ani burnt eae in the mounds, 825.

Pa Imonis lalandii,

Pamir, 873.

Pampas, 505.

Pantodonta, 40, 41.

Pantolambda bathmodon

Par: i

mir,

113.

Parasitic fungi, the ea of, 170.

te bli ight,

Peltogaster, nervous pgm in, 721.

erca americana, ssberrations in, 192.

Peridolite, 707

Perkins C H. po ax in Verm 1143.

e m r Wakefield marble ot

Vermo

Pescadores, alesi

i 76.

Petanop

Petrographical n notes, , 395-

Phacus anaccelus

p euronectes, 19.

tri 19.

Phallus collars, 399.

Phaseolus 3

‘mate at 452.

aa.

Philadelphia. Academy of Nat, Sciences, porren:

» 222, 336, 432, 531, 635, 833, 9

ce ic zoology before Darwin, 435.

Phoczena dalli, 1232,

Physic agit 0 26 596.

Physics, medica

Physostegia virginiana, fertilization of, 163.

Picrocarmine, Pergen S, 428.

Pinnoite , 708.

of, Catered b b Sai solutions. mag

zation and cross-breeding of, 99

ozone from, am

tions, 398.

973. Platygaster herrickii, 1104, .

on the Gampsonychidæ, ene Platyenicta: columbia, 809.

oat Coane family of — schizo Soci Pdotherium, 296.

, Toor,

origin of ie Ae Vad varieties Poison oF j cobra, 9

at the dog, 896. Polydes mus ovellates, ass, Romie position of, 400.

Be ont en Hagar sa

: e ais.

a family of Pol By a

2 Pond seas, z , 800.

4 Bir, 1232,

Potato, a

legs in the ë

I4. ottery, yi nt, s

áa Prehistorie ma a > 933

; PERAIRE OA of

1884, Presq: ue isle, Mocs Bee

Stra bg sang igin of -

Protoplas

ovement of, in wild t bean, 888.

Piet sear ves or 207, 620, grr.

gh ae ae of, 289.

Index to

terygogen oor,

Prilodus trouessartianus, 493.

Puerco deposits, 985.

Quaternary geology,

ueensland, Fbaton ta, 66.

uick and Butler on Arvicolinz, $13,

Raccoon, 823

ogee tuiasnet, 1218.

Rana,

hert, H. W., obituary of, 1141.

dies, Side Pleeg

P haceros: fossil Floridan, 834.

Rhipi bhona Era. 180.

Rhizopods, 926.

Rhoads, S.

Riyas ‘unator, 3

Rhyth f the capillaries, 319.

Riley” s entomological report for a 607.

V., pari fh - Hessian fly, 1104.

eee in the raccoon, 823.

rope ae Tenian, 67.

Roraima, 65, 7

Ryder, J. A., archistome theory

beroming a f embryological char-

classıfication of the

ire er

cheap bell glass, 920.

development and s pene of Mi-

crohydra ryderi, 1232.

embryological characters in the

classification of the Chordata,

815.

genesis of the extra terminal pha-

langes in Cetacea, 1013.

manner in which the a of the

heart is formed in certain Tele-

Sahara, 696.

Saliva, 727.

Sarcothraustes coryphæus, 386.

Sarracenia purpurea, 569. i

variolaris, 570.

Saskatchewan region, 787,

Savages, m

Scorpion’s poison apparatus p poison, 177.

a at a Bp 706. St

Sea-mite ean d sea-bug, 18r.

d alertan aaa go

Secon: survey

logical gg cy 483.

Penn., recent geo-

vital ity rice ane

Shells o! of bivalves, 6rz.

Shepa AEST record, 156.

Shrew

Silicates it om 88.

Silurian t 3:

2 ver-lead pa fg 979:

Vol. XIX. 1259

riue y

: Slavic « clistoms, 81.

Sloths, extinct, 833.

f fieldand garden c

Smith, Š notes on the physical eecraphy of

the Amazons valley, 27.

Snake dance of the Moquis, 104.

Snake, green, 922.

Socie ro ge of naturalists of N. Americz, proceedings

ARTA

Souk anatomical aed histological methods, 527.

South re ter > 78

Geo p162

Southwort a ‘Effie .„ stomata of the oat, 711.

Specific energy of ne nerves of the skin, 417.

Spheerella platani, 97.

Sp “swage bombi. 7

Spiders

htt of, 1021.

seasonal dim rphis

Spines "3 the antėrior dorsal ,devčlopment i in Gas-

terosteus and Lophius

Spirogyr.

n edor of, 1208.

rvous system of, 1251.

Sponge, Meilaa fresh-water, 810.

Sporocyst, a, 310.

Stelechopo da, 31

A, Cy some coi undescribed Infu-

some n new Pinata

tomataof oat, 710.

Strassburger’ s Botanische Practicum, 505.

Strawberry leaves, spot disease of, 1218.

Struthers, J. M., finger muscles > Megaptera

ongimana, 12

n hind limb of

' Study of the liverworts i in rN. Aia a

604.

hybridization and cross-breed-

ing of plants, e

— corn and th

Sturtevant, E.

e Indian,

kitchen garden esculents

444, sess

Sugar in

n the blood, Pes of, 98.

Su ed new island off rind ge 159. !

Surinam, natives

oa ne, rise of land i ae ar

ynaptomys cooperi

Syncarida, 700

a flies, occurrence in trachez of insects,

Talisman, o deep-sea explorations of, 80.

ger

n the mammals, morphology of the, 86

Teapecins and ani Mbareasion, 405.

e, 313-

Tertiary fossils, 79 794, 882.

Teschnite, gor.

Testacella, gor.

1260

_ Texan mounds, ror9.

- Thomson, Jas. results of the j mer of, 286.

34.

Toad, common, 139.

Tomato, 667, 1141.

‘To cage um rostratum,’ 461.

mae S ka aesensis

Translocation forwards ‘of the _rudiments of ithe

315» :

Tete in ai diaa 196.0 °F

Trees, forest, of, 8 wi $

= Trouessart and Megnin’s sarcoptid mites, 608.

be fate

ia, 11

eP. be , blackfooted ferret from Titan: 720.

Tsere ihe!

er, H. Wis ts nesting intrees, 1112,

Turkey buted by me Ne in Pennsylvania, 407.

` Turner’s Sumoa, r

Uintatherium, 43, 594-

leidyanum, 53.

emer le, er

ace a Saber pio in nthe body 416.

niia the ‘

pei of Tana tages by i jumping asians 509.

2.592.

ation i in BN SP plants, x

arying hare, change of color o pA

in, io

esozoic flora

ry acceleration of the heart-beat, 321.

Vorticella, another with two contractile gig

Fe Lc 5 j

Trotter, S., rpp of the collar- bone i in the

Index to Vol. XIX. Eoo

Vorticella pacana, 20,

striata,

telescopica, al.

utriculus, 22

Wadsworth’s lithological studies, 497.

Wa Pre cae i volutioa in the veuctable oa nee

Ware? iy

Wax, pieg : . ;

Western abal rat local names, 327.

Gs OF tiver,

tman, C.

onic a 113

Williams, G. H. , amphibole-anthophyllite, 784.

planes on hornblende crys-

Willkom’s Setanta of the vegetable king-

Woodchuck, » another swimming, 192.

Wood, ai uary of, 1251,

-Worms E oon !

tps,

tode, Z

Wors a of, 1141.

Wrig ht, is; poena Hu 1149.

Wright, R. R, suggestions as to the preparation

et use of series of sections in zootomical in-

struction, 9.

Xingu, 788.

Yellowstone national park, 1037.

Ygapo, 31.

Yolk-biastopore, aliases y determined by the

e of the vitellus

Zincite, 798.

Zoological Record for z883, Er

- Zoothamnium “simple,

Zunyite, 709.

a OF cate Sick :