CONTENTS.

The History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. Speman RS Lippiscott: c e 8

The Development of the Male Prothallium of the Field Horseta

paea GRE ei 4s a a kasy paari Campbell... 10

On the Geological Effects of a Vary Kotava of ih Ea rth. a Mes FORMA Se be Paien: 25

On the Bite of the North Kikian Coil nakes (genus Elaps) . need W. True. Pee

chenial Hairs and Fibers of Composit. [ Illustrated.]. . 5 ACO EEO

Instinct and Memory exhibited by the Flying Squirrel in Conid

ment, with a thought on the Origin of Wings in Bats . ols GTN see ia S208 7 gO

The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [Illustrated.]. .... Dei Di. Copt oe nie e TOS SATO

The Eroro Of Maat is 20 soe e See ae . .. Arthur Erwin Brown... z

Indigg tone Graves i a a oe ERS i aa at: wees wey Charles? RAW ss Ss

Organic Physics. aae tp 863, Vol ahkera MOT aa aaa 9

The Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. [Illustrated.]. . F. M. Endlich ,

Recent Discoveries of Fossil Fishes in the Devonian Rocks of

Canada: isl u reece oS aie a ee A ee ae ed ane Pe Re MAUT a e n ee TSE

n thẹ Extinct Dogs of North America, _[Mstated ieee S SEN 8 AE See ae ee eae 5

“The Plains” of Michigan. . +See CEE & leah ema ee eee oon oa

Indian Music. dn ‘win A. Barber Fa aby

n the O nce of Pouitifagas: Strata i in a pire Plt

eCarntiit} Group of Middle Pesueyhenains ieee eae aus eee COMMON a i ea OTE

be Phn at ae ee see ee A ete ee) oe eee uaa F Jori.. taS e SPs

he Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. iaoe I.—From Rio de

Janeiro to Porto Alegre.)....... aw . Herbert H. Smith .. . . 351, 467

Unnatural Attachments among Animals. ........ ee Joha dean Catok; i ciec 359

severity Hunting in the Tee ee ee es 1E C Woi., SS 363

a a acts Dipti. ior yi WE L E OFFER Sos SSBF, 409

A Study of me Paimature Tiange of the North American

‘Shrikes, to C goroet < thomas T Sirects. e . a e 389

Wampum and is Histo AEE AS RES . Ernest arera E E T

Tre PAL Eo canisation of Ani R CE ee ae ee 6 od ip eee Charles Morris. e sa o o 46

Fiske Ge fg Classification of Moths. . . ene R. ae oie ee

on the Ea of pe especially Sule: of the

{Illustrated.].. . Swale coh eek ee + s a POGUE BERET ss so o rs . 505

Upekee e p on e ee Sele ee eve ye tes cA Ge Van Akin... o 4 tt

Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. Pani.: ano a GO o, T A EEA . 579

rries—Soapstone Bowls and the Tools ied in

inir ies ete oaa te es E era A araa ple etd

i putes with a Coral 6. foie ee ace aA .J. Walter Fewkes . je oo WS

Progress of nen Paleontology in in ithe United Šut ‘ee

the year 4002. 5560. ee ee Viale wee Charles A. White... . «+ 598

Note on the abe Campeloma of ee ie ee a ev eihene R. Ellsworth Call... ... 603

Mosses. a get hte RR aS ee ae ose We P Deos ee ore 68

PGiG tee ae MUTCSSION gs iso E see eee le La we ee ee os OS

Seay ee TA COR eS i OS

EDITORS’ Tarv

The American Naturalist, 58; Nature in the Field, 58; The National Academy of Sciences,

59; Dates of issue of the Naturalist for 1882, 6o ; Spencer and Darwin, 174; The tiarians,

175; Home Credit, 176; Credit and Ag ed ah 293; The Origin of the Fittest, 294; Time

in Biological work, 295; Ph ae Diagrams, 391; Scientific Publications of the United

vernment, 515; Bismarck as PERESA 516; The National Academy’s meeting,

627.

Recent LITERATURE.

Contents.

A new edition of Sachs’ Botany, 60 ; , eats A the cervical Vertebræ in Chelonians, 6r;

n the Noxious enefici

Summer Birds RO me Catskill, Pe ; Faiet s Notes on some Fossil Mammals, 183; Nicholson’s

Synopsis of th e Ani ph 5 Kingdon 184; Recent Books and Pamphlets, 184 ;

. cal Yearly Record, 394; ssn ice of LeCont 's Geology. 39 5; Zittell’s Mand-book of Pal-

zontology, 396; Davis’ Glacial Erosion, e Lyman’s expedition,

397; Miller’s American Palzozoic Fossils, Remik 6 n the Systematic Aaa ement of the

American Turdidæ, 398 ; The Unite ao y came Repi for 1881 and 1882 [Illustrated],

phlets, 401; Lieut. Symonds’ Report on the Upper Columbia

Mosie’s How to Dissecta Bird. as ; aes ea of nee Caprellidz, 633; The Ge logical

a. od 1878, 634; Geological Survey of Ohio, 634; King’s Economic Relatio is aes Wiscons

Bi 6; The Zoological Record for 1881, 637; Recent Books and Pamphlets,

GENERALI NOTES.,

Geography and Sins Tompi Stations, 185 ; Danish Arctic Expedition, mi; Arctic

Items, 176; Scientific Results of the Jeannette Expedition, 187; Geographical Notes, 188; Africa,

301; aye i, 302; Geogra ae Notes, 304; nn: 402; The Oasis of Ouargla, 403; i graphi-

cal N 404; Arctic Items, 527; Cape Horn Pedia, 528; Asia, 528; Salt and

Ivens’ poes in Central and West Africa, 530; Asia, 641; Africa, 642; Geographical

Notes, 644.

G i Palæontol On Uintath d Bathmodon, 68; The Nevada Biped Tracks

urate 68; The Ploy of Chester county, Penna., 72 ; Kowalevsky on Elasmotherium, 72;

wo new Genera of Pythonomorpha, 72, Scudder on Triassic Insects, 73; Some Tertiary Neu-

bottom under the . 305; The Tertiary sits o lope, 308 ;

A new fossil Sirenian, 309 ; The Geological Structure of South America, 309; Geological News

genus aces (Mcrae, 535; Geological Notes, 535; The Decay of Rocks Geologically

Considere Annual

, 645: Geology of the Chester valley of Dees oe a

Report of the State Geologist = “New Senay pa 1882, 648; The Tides on the

f49; A New Iguanodon, 650; Geological News, 65

Mineralogy —The Mechanical Separation of Minerals, 74; Axinite from Bethlehem, 75;

Samarskite from Canada, 76; The Cryolite group of Minerals, 76; Heating oe. for the

Microscope, 76; Mineralogical Notes, 76 ; Analyses of some Virginia minerals, 312 ; Analyses o

e North Ca Carolina minerals, 313; A new variety of Bournonite, 314 ; Native Gold alloys, 314;

Contents, v

Some Greenland minerals, 314; Tin in Alabama, 315; Telluriferous Copper, 315; The Nomen-

latu:

ro ; Charo

Precipitant for Gold, 652 ; Crystallized Serpentine from Delaware, 653; The Fluorine Uidon.

53; orwegian Dust Shower, 654; Microlite from Elba, 654; Amelia County, Va., min-

erals, 654; The Wm. S. Vaux Collection, 654.

ty.—The In pa of Schweinitzian and other early descriptions, 77; Watson’s

s= E to Am n Botany, X,’ 78; Bot ppa in HEARS 79; Sylloge Fun-

gorum omnium SPAR pit in 79; Dr. Gray’s R f Echi um,

80 ; New species of North American Fungi, 192, 316; New species Ps Micrococcus (Bacteria) ;

5 New rm G 655

boards as to the Compass Plant, 656; apie of the rll hg cy A ie on

Tradescantia virginica, 658 ; Influence PP s Moonligh n Plants, 658 : SPUR rkable fall of Pine

Pollen, ka! Pie AER of Plant and Animal Cells, ea ; of REV 659.

S A lists of North American Lepidoptera, 80; The “ rani nie 82; ei

thaline C came. 83; Alternation of Crops versus the Wheat-stalk Isosoma, 84 ofa

colytid beetle in the sugar maples of -Northeastern New York Dindi. ii: i aes is

stinct in a Butterfly, 196; Observations on the fertilization of Yucca and on structural and ana-

tomical Ton in Piosaba and Prodoxus, 197; Natural Sugaring, 197 ; Epilachna corrupta

as an injurious Insect, 198 ; Saa a the Twelve-punctured Asparagus beetle, 199 ; Trogoderma

tarsal M E I i lifornia, 199 ; Hearing in Insects, 200; Instinct of the

ut)

Seventeen-yea’ (Ci d ; Food-habits mmen maculata, 322; Clothes

;. ah ie ;

Relations of the Carabidæ ze Coccinellidæ to Birds, 419; Phylloxera ae 9; Fostering the

study of nomic Entomology, 420;Viviparity in a Moth, ; Damage to Silver Plate by In-

sects, 420; The Hibernation pA Aletia xylina Say, in prs United States a a settled fa ct, 420; Pos-

at i

» 549 ew Cl eC ica,

660; A pretty and unique mae Tosia [lustre ted], a ; Simulium feeding on other

Padi as saree in a Beetle, ; Synopsis of the N. A. Heliothinz, 662; Stylopised

; Death of pdt Bele ith 663; Fig Caprificators, 663; Protection of Insect

aa 2 ie The Chigoe in Africa, 664; Cocoon of Telea polyphemus, 664: The sucki

rgans of Bees, Bugs and Flies » 664; The “ Pine Moth of Nantucket,” k: Entomolog-

Zool th l , 86; New and rare Fishes in the Mediterranean, 88 ;

A Dt inis Flat-w worm, 89; Meta misëphosts of Penzeus, 90; The growth of the Molluscan

‘shell, e: he ir dai bathe o

ze by cut cuttings , and the

identi ak certain species, ; On the eastern n range of Unio pressus (Lea), 204; Bythinia

Limax maxi Copepod of

tentaculata ( Linn.)

the family Harpacticidæ, 206; The sucker on ae fin of the Heteropods is not a sexual

characteristic.

rotary organs,

A curious Nudibranch Mollusk, 214; Zoological Notes, ~ ; Transactions of the Linnzan

Society of New York, 324; Remarks on the Piriha of argaritana margaritifera (Linn.),

Contents.

324; The COANE ME position vas ie Archipolypdcs, a + group oi RN ppd Misrata

326; The Vogmar o

banksii), 330; Hia on Floridian and ‘Texan Fishes, sats ; Shufelde’: s Contributions to the Anat-

omy of Birds. 437° * pnie FaFa 3325 i Anatomy of the Chiroptera, 332; Zoological

Notes, 333; taken off the southern coast of New England

in 1882, 425; Migration of Animals naar the Suez — 435; Sg ley of the Sponges, 426 ;

The Affinities of Tetraplatia volitans, n New England Waters, 426:

Limax maximus in Central Mas sachin, k Tullberg on the structureof the Shell of Crus-

tacea and Mollusks, 427; Wright’ s Am n Parasitic ae aes 427; Supposed D of the

species of Ocypoda from the Bon n islands, 427; heres ae Uni o, 428; ate species of

Polydesmus with Eyes Paidtcatant, as 428; The P: of Verte bra es as seen inthe

and th

ts, 4 A ma: $

an Whale ba; The Repetition of oe Hydrozoa, 432; Distribution of Unio pressus

T i + Sa i

33;

Animals, 550; Desiccation a Pauk 551; The cause rof" ‘R t” in Sheep, 551; Chromato-

i rg Be

Web, 669; The St a,

the Mouth Structure of Tadpoles, 670; Hybridization of Brook Trout and Grayling, 671;

Effect a page on Insect Life, 671; The Hairy Woodpecker, a correction, 673; Zoological

Notes

Physiology. —Beneke on spe coe tt 98; A Correction, 98; Sense of Color in Cephalopoda,

99; Physiological News, e recent accessions to our knowledge of the Physiology of the

th mbryo f Disease

terial Organisms, 442; The Origin and Destiny of Fat Cells, 444; Recent Embryological papers

t j i

the Blood, 5

Action of Saliva, 562; Varying the os 1 Background se Reflex aer 562; ‘denon

i el

Plants and Animals, 563; A Text-book of Physiology, 677 ; Comparisons of Strength between

large and small Animals, 677; The direct influence of gradual variations of temperature upon

the rate of beat of the Dog’s Heart, 680; Skin vision, 680; Phosphorescence and Respiration in

Annelid Worms, 681.

Psychology.—Teaching Para Mie use of EE 100; The Habits of a caged Robin, 102;

The Nesting of the black and , 103; A bewildered Snow-bird, 105; A Toad’s Cun-

ning, to5; Anecdote about Cats, 220; Th e odi Diiis of a blind eo 220; Additional

remarks relative to teaching Brutes the use of Letters, 212; Dreams, 338; z Mulleron the

Inheritance of Traditions among social agra ” Animal Docters, 445; gar icide of Scor-

pions, 446; Exhibition of Reasoning Powe r Bear, 448; The Se of Bees 448;

The Frontiers of Insanity, 449; Romanes” pee Sete 564 ; Intelligence in Protozoa,

ate age Anxiety in a horned Toad, ; Bufo americanus at Play, 683; Intelli-

; Mat

gence in the Elephant, 684; A Story of a Dog, 684; The Mocking Bird, 685; Maski

rabs, 636. .

Anthropology.—Discovery of Mound Relics at Devil river, Lake Huron, 106 ; Stone Im

ean Miami county, Ohio, 107; Cup-shaped Stones in a 107; har of as

we language neri Aa ono ology in Europe, 108; ee nology of the Vega, 223; The Manu-

pa Troano, 225; Archæological Lectures, 226; Music of North American paia 226;

an; es of A Alia. 34! ; The Antiquity of Man, 343; Bittiothers Americana, 345: Ravana

of Miklukho- Maclay, 449; Revue d’Ethnographie, 450; Legends of the Iroquois, 451

American Copper Artefacts; 452; Babylonian Oils ao: 452; White Indians in South Amer-

ica, 453; Cann balism in New England, 453; The Brookville Society of Natural History, 453 ;

Contents. vii

Mexican Archæology, 453; ee in France, 453: Report of the Peabody Museum,

g 3:

454; The-American Antiquarian, 454 ; Popular Ethnology, 454; Dawkins on the Antiquity of

i e He

Man, ; The Carson Fania, 567; Corea: mit Nation, 563; Contributions to

North American Et ’ ; A new African Sgi $ ; Peabody demy of

Science, 570; Archæology of Illinois, 570; The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society,

d Asiria ot eae Ws o Germany in 1881-:882,

n Her 687; Anthropometry,

ast, Dialects of Bolivian Indians Big Race eae at N ani of ore Oh 691.

Microscopy.—Orientation in Microtomic Sections, 109; The Reconstruction of Objects from

peat 110; Method of Reconstruction, tır ; The Diffusion of Bacteria, 112 ; Proceedings of

estruction of Microscopical Organisms in Potable

; The Microbe of “ Red Evil” a Pig

se. their Photographs, 572; Hertwig’s Method of Preparing and Cutting eener

Eggs, 572

tr News, 114, 229, 346, 458, 575, 692.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, 116, 232, 3 an ews 577 695.

societies mentioned and the page of each reference

„Next volume we will have the

ee ee ee a a O OEN?

’

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL xvu. — JANUARY, 1883. — No. I.

THE HISTORY OF ANTHRACITE COAL IN NA-

TURE AND ART.

BY JAMES S. LIPPINCOTT.

HAT our anthracite has been debituminized is evident, but

whence the heat that has thus changed its character is not so

clear. It appears, says Dana, that the change has arisen from

some cause connected with the uplifting of the rocks which con-

tain the coal. In the anthracite fields the coal beds have been

violently contorted, and the angles of dip are frequently vertical, ©

and in some instances the beds have been entirely inverted. This

is doubtless due to the corrugations of the coating crust of the

earth which, from some cause, has operated more violently in the

eastern than in the western section of the coal basins. The an-

thracite beds lie in closer proximity to the granite and gneissic

bases of the Silurian rocks which form the lower substratum of

the base of the coal rocks and thus were more fully exposed to

the heating action of the earth’s nucleus, and more completely

debituminized. The pressure of the vast accumulation of super-

incumbent rocks must not be disregarded as a probable source of

heat, and consequent chemical change. Under the influence of

the elevated temperature and the great pressure which prevail at

considerable depths, sedimentary rocks which have been long

accumulating, would acquire a certain degree of fluidity and ap-

proach a temperature nearly equal to that of redness, and thus

we may find a cause adequate to debituminize the bituminous

coals into the hardest anthracites.

The more closely the coal strata are studied, the more forcible

‘becomes the evidence that they aai in the manner of mod-

VOL, XVII.—NO,. I.

2 History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. (January,

ern deltas. That the wood and fine sand exist without pebbles,

and are stratified with the leaves and roots of terrestrial plants,

free in most part from any intermixture of marine remains, im-

ply the persistence in the same region of a vast body of fresh

water. This water was also charged, as is a great river, with an

inexhaustible supply of sediment, and such as would drain a con-

tinent having within it one or more ranges of mountains. A bed

of coal, even when purest, consists of distinct layers, though not

usually separable unless quite impure from the presence of clay.

These layers may,be distinctly seen as alternating shades of black,

even in almost any of the hardest specimens of anthracite. The

researches of chemists have proved’ that wood burned in the

earth and exposed to moisture and partially or entirely excluded

from the air, is converted into lignite or brown-coal. A long

period of decomposition finally changes this lignite into bitumin-

ous, and subsequent decarbonization through the increased heat

of pressure or proximity to the heated earth, converts this finally

into anthracite. The gases that result are the fire damp so de-

structive to incautious miners.

The processes through which the beds of anthracite has passed

may be outlined as follows;

The coal was formed at the level of the sea and afterwards

lifted to a vast height, but the shrinking and crumpling of the

crust has flexed these beds and the many sand and clay and lime-

stone beds beneath them; the frost and rains have broken them

down and the waves of the ancient sea have repeatedly rolled

over them as they have many times subsided to be again raised

and again acted upon by agencies above the water. But a small

part of these coal beds, and of the great masses of rock which

once towered to such vast heights, remain, and the greater the

elevation the greater has been the destruction. Our beds of an-

thracite are now found only where the subsidence was very great

—in troughs caught in foldings of the underlying rocks, being

often nearly vertical and doubled and re-doubled upon each other.

The old rocks were worn down, after the once horizontal deposits

had been made to stand on edge at various angles to the horizon;

the soft clays and limestones and sands were then washed into

the ocean, or gathered into the deeper depressions in the con-

torted strata.

The Carboniferous ead opened with a marked change over

1983.] History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. 3

the continent. The red shales became covered with extensive

beds of gravel or deposits of sand, which, hardening into a gritty

rock, form the millstone grit and sandstone, which underly the

coal measures. These fragments are the veins of some quartzose

formations of former ages, which have again and again been

cemented and re-broken, to repose at last a barrier against further

destruction of the beds of coal. Forbidding as these barrier

mountains may appear whence no valuable return could reward

the cultivator, they may be regarded as proofs of the wisdom of

the great architect who has provided that they should preserve,

by their enormous eastward thickening, the secure basins har-

dened and toughened to resist further denudation, to become the

strong storehouse of treasures more truly golden than all the

glittering mines of Colorado and California.

“ Coal,” says Professor Newberry, “is entitled to be considered

the mainspring of our [material] civilization. Wealth with its

comforts, the luxuries and triumphs it brings, are its gifts, and its

possession is. therefore the highest material boon that can be

craved by a community or nation.” Coal is to the world of in-

dustry what the sun is to the natural world, the great source of

light and heat, with their innumerable benefits. It is not only

the principal generator of steam, but steam is also dependent

upon iron, and the manufacture of iron is dependent upon coal,

therefore these three most powerful among physical agents of

modern advancement have their basis in the coal mine. “ The

exclusive possession of vast mines of anthracite within short dis-

tances from the seaboard, is one of inestimable value, and places-

Pennsylvania in an enviable position.” “ And it is difficult to say

what vast populations its production alone will hereafter sus-

tain, and to what height of power and importance it may ulti-

mately elevate the State.”

From Bethlehem we have followed the beautiful Lehigh, whose

waters have been drawn largely into the canal,the massive walls and

locks of which are a fitting measurement of the enterprise and in-

domitable energy of the father of the Lehigh coal business, and

whose name is commemorative of the town which stands at the

upper extremity of his noble work. The story of the efforts of

Josiah White, of Philadelphia, and his indomitable pluck, deserves

to be again and again rehearsed, conveying as it does a lesson of

instruction to new men of new generations. It has been well told

4 History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. į January,

by his son-in-law, from whose work we extract one short notice

of the labors of this extraordinary man.!

To the sagacity and perseverance of Josiah White, we are in-

debted for the planting of the seed that has grown to such gigan-

tic proportions in the anthracite coal.trade of Pennsylvania.

Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, his partner in the manufacture

of wire at the Falls of Schuylkill, early learned that they needed

a liberal supply of fuel, such as would alone be found in mineral

coal. Having obtained a small quantity from the Lehigh in 1812,

the earliest brought to market, one of the first experiments in

having it for manufacturing purposes was made at their works.

“Incredible as it may seem at this day, great difficulty was found

in causing it to ignite, mainly from want of patience and from the

deficient draft of the furnace in which the effort was made to burn

it. An entire night was spent in the vain attempt, when in des-

pair the workmen shut the furnace door and retired and left the coal

to its fate. Fortunately one of them had left his jacket in the

mill, and on returning for it in half an hour later noticed that the

door was red hot, and upon opening the furnace was surprised

to find the mass at a glowing heat. The other workmen were

summoned and four separated pieces of iron were heated by the —

same fire and rolled, before it required to be renewed.” The

secret of kindling anthracite had been discovered. In 1814 a few

ark loads were brought down the Delaware, but the public was

very unwilling to purchase, for said many “the black stones will

not burn.” Bryant records the distrust with which it was viewed

in “ A meditation on Rhode Island coal”’

“ Dark anthracite! that reddenest on my hearth,

Thou in those island mines dost slumber long,

But now thou art come forth to warm the earth

And put to shame the men that mean thee wrong ;

Thou shalt be coals of fire to those that hate thee,

And warm the shins of all that underrate thee.

Yea, they did wrong thee foully, they who mocked

Thy konest face, and said thou would’st not burn,

Of leaving thee to chimney-pieces talked

And grew profane, and swore, in bitter scorn

That men might to thy inner caves retire,

And there, unsinged, abide the day of fire.’’

1 Memoir of Josiah White, showing his connection with the introduction and use of

anthracite coal and iron, and the construction of some of the canals and railroads of

Pennsylvania, etc. By Richard Richardson. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

1873. 12mo, pp. 135.

1883.] History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. 5

White and Hazard procured a new supply from the head-waters

of the Schuylkill, paying forty dollars a ton delivered in wagons

at their works. Believing they could supply the needs at a

cheaper rate by making the Schuylkill navigable, they applied to

the Legislature for the privilege. But through the ignorant mis-

representations of the member from Schuylkill county, who as-

sured the Legislature that “ the black stone would not burn,” they

were unsuccessful. They were not the men to be thus thwarted,

and we find them soon active in organizing an association for the

improvement of the Schuylkill, which resulted in the present

Schuylkill Navigation Company, incorporated in 1815.

Having failed to obtain coal from the Schuyikill region, either

by law for the improvement of the river or afterwards from the

Navigation Company, White and Hazard turned their attention to

the Lehigh region. Coal had been discovered on the Lehigh as

early as 1792 and a Lehigh coal company had been formed, but

without a charter, which had sent a small quantity to Philadel-

phia, but owing to the difficulties of navigation it early abandoned

the business. Some of the coal it is said, was tried under the

boiler of the engine at Centre Square, in the first Philadelphia

water works, but only served to put the fire out, and the remainder

was broken up and spread on the walks as gravel.

Josiah White visited the Lehigh region in 1817, and returned

home favorably impressed with the practicability of improving the

river and mining coal. In company with his co-partners he ob-

tained a lease of the coal company’s lands for an ear of corn a

year, if demanded ; obtained a charter for the improvement of the

Lehigh, and soon in person sat about leveling it from Stoddarts-

ville to Easton upon the ice, with the only leveling instrument to

be found in Philadelphia. They at first constructed a turnpike

road descending 1000 feet in the eight miles from the mines to

the river. The road was superseded by the gravity railroad in

1827. Josiah White, in the construction of the dams and walls

_ labored with untiring assiduity, dressed oftentimes in a red flannel

shirt, roundabout coat, cap and strong shoes with a hole cut in

Uie toe, to let out the water. “In the summer I was,” says he,

“as much in the water as out of it for three seasons and slept for

the first two without a bed, in the same manner as the work-

men.”

In 1820, they sent the first anthracite to market by their arti-

6 History of Anthractte Coal in Nature and Art. [January,

ficial navigation, the whole quantity being 365 tons, which was

more than enough to supply the families who would use it,

although they never asked more than eight dollars and forty cents

aton. To overcome the objection many found owing to the diffi-

culties found in igniting the coal, Josiah White made many ex-

periments with different kinds of grates, fixtures in his office and

at his house in Philadelphia, and had a fire in operation for the

inspection of the public, which showed the complete practicability

of using anthracite for household warming, cooking, etc.

Though the company was mining or rather quarrying the finest

mass of coal yet known to exist, the difficulties in the way of

selling the stock or extending the works seemed to increase;

but “there is no difficulty to him that wills,’ and by allowing

new subscribers extraordinary advantages, the company obtained

means to continue the improvements. In January, 1823, they

` were declared finished, and in this year, 5800 tons were sent

down the Lehigh, and but about 1000 tons were left on hand un-

sold in the following spring. Josiah White had, about this time,

contrived the present plan of weighing coal in wagons, with a

scale, the dish resting on four knife-edged fulcrums and com-

pound levers. His genius seemed equal to any emergency. In

1824, they sent down 9540 tons. The public had begun to be-

lieve in the permanency of the supply, and new forms of grates

and stoves having been introduced and the price kept steadily at

eight dollars and forty cents per ton, the demand increased.

Several patriotic ladies exhibited sample-fires, and their glowing

grates warmed the indifferent to a zeal for anthracite, making it

popular, so that, in 1825, the company sent 28,393 tons to mar-

ket. In 1827 the railroad from Mauch Chunk to the mines was

made, mainly upon the old wagon route laid out by Josiah White

and Erskine Hazard, in 1818. This was the first railroad in this

country constructed for the transportation of coal, and, with one

or two trifling exceptions, the first constructed for any purpose.

This was a gravity road, having a descent of 100 feet per mile for

upwards of nine miles. After the mules, which had hauled back

the trains, had ridden down with the coal in a car made for the

purpose of carrying them, they could not be forced to walk down

again, being ever ready to enjoy the luxury of a ride.

Josiah White thus divides with another enterprising Friend,

or Quaker, Edward Pease, of Darlington, England, the honor of

;

1883.] History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. 7

having been a pioneer of railway enterprise. Edward Pease was

the father of British railway enterprise; and was, like Josiah

White, “a man who could see a hundred miles ahead.” He was

a man of excellent business abilities, energetic, and of most per-

sistent stuff. Having been placed upon a committee to devise

improved modes of conveyance from Stockton to Darlington,

thenceforth his heart was in the project of a railway, till the act

was passed in 1823, and the first railway was opened for traffic

Sept. 27th, 1825, thirteen months prior to the opening of that be-

tween Liverpool and Manchester. The road built through the

influence of Edward Pease was intended to aid in developing the

vast mineral resources of his district, and but for his exertions

and that of his sons, another generation might have passed away

before the people of the region benefited could have enjoyed the

marvelous prosperity with which they have been favored. The

enterprise, courage and pertinacious genius of one man has

tamed the uncouth savagery of nature, changed the dashing tor-

rent into a placid canal, turned the wilderness into a busy abode

of happy industries, opened to day the treasures hidden for ages,

and poured them out to bless his fellows and advance more rapidly

the ever progressing course of human development. When

from the summit of Mount Pisgah the admiring tourist gazes

upon the wonderful scene spread before him, and regards the

railroads with their immense trains of coal, the canal bearing its

burdened boats, the activity everywhere visible in this hive of

industry, let him turn to the memory of Josiah White, and apply

to him the words as aptly written of another, Si ejus monumentum

requiris circumspice.

Arrived at White Haven, we leave the Lehigh Valley road and

take the Nescopeck branch. This carries us for nine miles up an

incline which, at some places, rises upwards of 147 feet to the

mile, while it follows seemingly every curve that could be readily

devised in its winding track. Mountains are around us and above

us, and red rocks and gray rocks and white sandstone—pebble

rocks succeed in order piled in endless variety of attitudes—until

we at length are deposited at the simple station at Upper Lehigh,

and we have reached a height of 1850 feet above the sea. We

are in the midst of a coal basin, small, it is true, but of immense

value. The Green Mountain basin is but about two and a quar-

ter miles in extent, and is worked at five slopes which supply

8 History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. [January,

three immense coal-breakers and turn out annually 300,000 tons

of.superior coal. This basin exhibits the manner in which the

beds have been laid down and corrugated very satisfactorily. Its

twelve feet vein is the lowest workable bed, and is known as the

Buck Mountain seam, one of the most valuable for furnace use.

The blocks of white quartzose conglomerate lie in wild confusion

around, a white sandy soil prevails, and a wilderness of whortle-

berry bushes, overtopped by sorrowing pines, are among the un-

attractive features of the landscape. We are compelled to look

far away for beauty, and we find it in the long green masses of

the Buck mountain, towering in the distance in the south, and in

the hazy Pokono, sixty miles away to the east, in the dim dis-

tance. A pleasant walk of half a mile will bring us to a mass of

giant rocks, from which we may look down into the wide and

deep ravine bearing the repelling name of “ Hell Kitchen,” from

the blasts of hot air that at times arise from its depths. From

this pleasant outlook we may extend our gaze over and beyond

the Butler valley, or Nescopeck, as it is also termed, to find our

view bounded on the north by the mountains of that name which

arrests our otherwise extended range of vision; even to the Wy-

oming mountain, the southern border of that valley long known

to fame, and sung by Campbell as ;

“ Once the loveliest land of all

That see the Atlantic wave the morn restore.”

We will leave the scenery around us near and far, and devote

ourselves for the remainder of this too extended paper to the un-

romantic but deeply interesting facts of coal mining. In wan-

dering about the wilderness we came upon great sink-holes, which

marked the places where the underpinning had broken and per-

mitted the superincumbent mass of rock to descend. In these

places there appeared a mixture of broken coal and sand, indi-

cating the outcrop of the great coal seam. At a point near our

hotel this has been opened, and a slope and steam engines and

coal breaker, and all the busy industries of coal mining are vig-

orously in action. At the No. 1 slope the coal seam descends at

an angle of about 30° until it has reached the perpendicular

depth of 180 feet. The bed then rises nearly vertical, and ap-

proaching the surface, sinks again at nearly the same angle to the

depth of 240 feet, and thence lies, as it extends southward, be-

neath and across the valley at an angle of 10°, more or less, being

1883.] History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art.

Lower A seam.

Upper A seam.

(R) Buck mountain seam.

1880

SECTION THROUGH SLOPE 2 UPPER LEHIGH COLLIERY.

Counter gangway.

Scale 400 feet to the inch,

Tide elevation 1547 feet.

Main gangway.

Slope No: 2.

Tide elevation 1787 feet 4 inches-

Buck mountain seam,

(B.

s10

Lower seam, approximate position-

10 The Development of the Male Prothallium [January,

somewhat flexed from the level until it runs out on the southern

edge of the basin. At the summit of the second dip another

slope has been opened, and between these two slopes stands the

giant coal-breaker, supplied with coal by the action of immense

engines which draw, by means of wire rope, the loaded cars to

its lofty height. The coal is drawn, in the second slope, up an

incline of 424 feet by means of a wire rope 4300 feet in length,

and nearly two inches indiameter. About 600 cars are daily

hoisted by this rope, and the cars are drawn 174 feet up the in-

cline within the breaker alone. This anticlinal, flexure, or saddle,

brings into near proximity to the breaker a vertical mass of coal

twelve feet in thickness and nearly 200 feet in height, and extend-

ing eastward and westward up and down the valley, to thin out

as the conglomerate rises, basin-like, to its outcropping edge.

During 1880 there were three breakers in the basin, employing

389 men inside and 215 outside the mines. To open the mine

-and break up the coal from its beds. 1514 kegs of powder, weigh-

ing twenty-five pounds each, were used, and the product of

330,444 tons of coal of 2240 lbs. each were sent to market. This

valley and its plant for mining is the property of one family, and

has proved, under their enterprise and energy, a princely domain.

A’

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MALE PROTHALLIUM

OF THE FIELD HORSETAIL.

BY PROFESSOR DOUGLASS H. CAMPBELL.

lepers the vascular cryptogams, perhaps none can be more

satisfactorily studied than Eguisetum arvense, both as regards

the structure of the mature plant and that of the prothallium; the

plant being a common one, and readily obtained for study. The

growth of the fertile plant is very rapid, so that the cells are

large and distinct, and being comparatively free from the silicious

deposit so noticeable in most of the other species, it is much less

difficult toexamine. Finally, and what is of chief interest here,

the spores germinate very readily if sown immediately after ma-

turing, and offer a most interesting example, in their development,

of the growth and division of cells. Within a few weeks of sow-

ing, the antheridia are. produced abundantly, containing anthero-

zoids of extraordinary size, much larger than those of the mosses

-and ferns.

1883. | of the Field Horsetail.. rI

This paper contains the results of some observations upon the

development of the male prothallium of Egutisetum arvense, made

in the botanical laboratory of the University of Michigan, in the

‘spring of the present year.

Mature fertile plants were gathered on the 28th of April, and

the following day the spores (Pl. 1, Fig. 1) were sown under glass,

some in water and the remainder in damp earth. The second

day after, while some were already divided into two cells, (Fig.

3), others had just begun to throw out the root hair (Fig. 2).

Usually the first sign of active germination was the protrusion of

a nearly colorless tube, the root hair (Fig. 2), followed very soon

by a division of the body of the spore into two cells by a longi-

tudinal septum (Fig. 3 a). Sometimes the second cell seems to

be formed by a kind of budding (Fig. 3 4), but this, though not

uncommon, is not the ordinary method. The root-hair grows

with extreme rapidity, especially where the spores were growing

in water (Fig. 4), and is destitute of chlorophyll, while in the

body of the spore the chlorophyll is abundant. Almost imme-

diately on the germination of the spore a very perceptible change

occurs in the chlorophyll. While in the spore before germination

‘the chlorophyll is evenly distributed throughout, as soon as ger-

mination begins there is a tendency in it to collect in distinct

masses or chlorophyll bodies, which at an early stage in the

‘development of the prothallium become very sharply marked.

It is a difficult matter to give any definite rule for the method of

cell division, as it differs so much in different individuals. Some-

times, though rarely, no root-hair is given off, the spore develop-

ing otherwise in a normal manner; again, in other cases there is

a great enlargement of the spore without the formation of septa

for a long time after germination commences (Fig. 8), (this was

specially noticeable in the spores grown in water)—forming elon-

gated flask-shaped cells.

On May 3d the spores presented the appearance shown in Figs.

4-6. Some were divided into four cells by longitudinal septa

dividing the cells already formed, and in others (Fig. 5), the lower

cell remained undivided, while the upper was divided into two,

the cells having considerably grown in the meantime. No fur-

ther change of importance was noted for several days, except a

constant increase in the size of the cells. Figs. 7 æ ġc shows

forms observed May 5th, the first showing a spore that seem

12 The Development of the Male Prothallium [January,

to have divided into three cells at first, instead of two, as was

ordinarily the case.

Many of the prothallia show a tendency to branch quite early,

as is shown in Figs. 9 and 10, drawn May 8th. In these the

basal cell remains undivided, and increases but little in length,

while the others become elongated and divided by a longitudinal

septum, forming two parallel rows of cells that finally develop into

the two main branches of the older prothallium. This tendency

is more plainly seen in Figs. 11 and 12, drawn at the same time

from specimens that had developed further. In both of these the

rows of cells have separated at the ends so as to plainly show the

beginnings of the branches.

Sometimes, as in Fig. 14, there is considerable growth before

any tendency to branching is shown; in this case the branch

seeming to be formed by budding rather than by a division of

the terminal cell. In contrast to this elongated form, there were

numbers having the short thick form seen in Fig. 13.

Observations, made May soth, showed that many of the larger

prothallia had sent out a second root-hair from one of the lower

celis. In some of the prothallia the branches also seemed in-

clined to divide again, thus forming four nearly equal branches

instead of the two ordinarily present. This was more especially

noticed in the case of spores growing in water, probably on ac-

count of the more nearly equal pressure on all sides, those grow-

ing on earth being flatter and having usually but two main

branches. At this stage the chlorophyll bodies are remarkably

distinct, being large and bright colored.

For some time after these observations were made, probably

largely due to the unusually cold and dark weather, growth pro-

ceeded quite slowly, no noticeable change being remarked for

almost a week; by the end of this time some of the more for-

ward prothallia had assumed a distinctly two-branched form (Fig.

15), the branches being long and slender; from this point growth

proceeded more rapidly, both laterally and longitudinally, the

branches becoming flatter on account of the lateral growth of the

cells and their division into new ones by longitudinal septa. The

prothallia now begin to assume the irregular form that they have

when mature, by giving off side branches at irregular intervals

in which, as in the rapidly growing main branches, the protoplasm

is strongly condensed at the ends (Fig. 16). `

1883.] of the Field Horsetail. 13

From this time on, the growth is very capricious; branches are

given off, apparently without any definite order, the cells already

formed also dividing, so as to make the prothallium broader and

thicker. This growth continues until antheridia are to be

formed. ;

For two or three weeks the spores grown in water and in

moist earth, develop in much the same manner, but finally those

in water grow much less rapidly, though seeming to retain their

vitality to some extent. Their growth is more erratic, many

growing fora long time without dividing, forming single cells

that are very much elongated; others develop without sending

“out any root-hair, and nearly all, after three or four weeks, stop

growing, or grow very feebly. When sown in water the spores

soon sink and form a filmy green mass closely resembling a

small alga. Those grown on earth form bright green, velvety

masses that might readily be taken for a small moss. In both

cases the long root-hairs, becoming entangled, make the pro-

thallia cling together in great numbers where the spores are

thickly sown. The abnormal development in water is probably

Owing to the lack of proper nutriment as well as to the different

physical conditions to which the spores are subjected.

For a considerable time before antheridia were formed, the

prothallia increased but little in length, but became noticeably

broader and thicker, the ends of the main branches growing

blunter and dividing up into short branches, so as to become

somewhat club-shaped (Fig. 17). This process was slow at

first, but after the first antherozoids were formed, there was a

rapid increase in the size of the prothallium.

The first mature antherozoids were observed June 7th, nearly

six weeks from the time the spores were sown ; Fig. 20 gives the

appearance presented by the prothallium at the time that the first

antheridia are formed. Hofmeister gives five weeks as the time

requisite for the production of the first antherozoids, but this dif-

ference of a few days in the time, may be readily accounted for

by the extraordinary lateness of the past spring.

From the very great simplicity of the structure of the anther-

idium, it is very difficult to say just when it begins to be formed,

for it is merely an excavation or cavity in the end of a branch of

the prothallium that becomes filled with protoplasm more dense

than that in the body of the prothallium. After the mature an-

14 Development of the Male Prothallium, etc. []anuary,.

theridia were formed, it was an easy matter to trace the develop-.

ment back, but it was impossible to determine just where it

began. The process was as follows: After the branch in which

the antheridium was to be formed had attained sufficient size,

there was a concentration of protoplasm at this point (Fig. 18), a

cavity being gradually formed, at first indistinct, but finally

assuming a nearly regular oval shape (Fig. 19). This mass of

protoplasm soon breaks up into small round bodies that are dis-

charged as antherozoids. The first antheridia are formed singly,

but later (Fig. 19) two or three are formed almost simultaneously

at the end of a single branch. When the antherozoids are ma-

ture, the cells surrounding the interior cavity of the antheridium

separate, leaving an opening by which they escape. Usually the

whole mass of antherozoids is discharged in a few minutes, but

sometimes the discharge is more gradual. Each antherezoid is

enclosed in, and lies coiled up within,a membrane. After resting

for a few moments this sac bursts, freeing the enclosed anthero-

zoid, which immediately swims rapidly away with a peculiar un-

dulatory movement due to its spiral form. The most noticeable

thing about them is their great size, for while most antherozoids

are so minute as to look like mere specks, even when a high

power is employed, these are readily studied with an ordinary %

objective. They are quickly killed by the application of iodine

by means of which the cilia are made rigid, standing out in all

directions from the thicker end of the antherozoid, and plainly

visible with the low power. The body is long and slender, taper-

ing to a point at one end and bearing the remains of the envelop-

ing sac in the inner side. The body is contracted, becoming

shorter and blunter after iodine is applied.

In germinating the spores, the only precaution necessary is to

keep the atmosphere around them moderately damp. In making —

the foregoing observations, this was done by sowing the spores

on damp earth in unglazed earthen saucers which were placed

under bell jars. By giving water every two or three days no-

difficulty was experienced in keeping the prothallia in a healthy

condition.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE I.

Fic. 1.—Two spores, one with the elaters coiled around it, the other with the elater>

expande

Fics, 2 and 3. —Germinating spores on sich

* 4,5 and 6.—G g spores o aien 34, showing variations in mode of

ion

PES OSS ee ee ae eo eee ea

PLATE II.

SE NNa

= =

‘DEVELOPMENT OF THE MALE PROTHALLIUM OF THE HorsETAIL.

13A Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. x 5

Fics. 7 and 8.—Germinating spores on May 5th, showing variations in mode of

division,

“ 9 and 10.—Young prothallia on May 8th.

“ 11 and 12.—Young prothallia on May 8th, ene early branching.

Fic, 13.—Short, thick prothallium (May 8th),

“ 14.—Young prothallium, much elongated (May 8th).

All the figures magnified 125 diameters.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE II.

ag 15. —Branching prothallium, May 18th

16,— ‘giv: Map cue prothallium, showing protoplasm condensed in the ends of the

cells

“ 17,.—End of branch of older prothallium.

“ 18.—Young antheridium.

“ 19.—Antheridia; æ, unopened; 4, opened, with escaping antherozoid cells,

June 13t

Oi a + Prothalfias with antheridia and antherozoids, June roth.

“ 21,—Antherozoids, mag.

All the figures excepting Fig. 21 magnified 125 diameters.

:0:

ON THE GEOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF A VARYING

ROTATION OF THE EARTH.

BY PROFESSOR J. E. TODD.

HE fact of variation in the velocity of the earth’s rotation,

seems so nearly established as to call for a consideration of

its effects on geology. One can scarcely read Professor New-

comb’s masterly paper on the acceleration of the moon without

feeling that the ability of astronomers to state the exact times of

eclipses, especially of those in past time, has been, greatly over-

rated. As he himself says in conclusion, “If Hansen is right,

then Ptolemaic eclipses might be harmonized, but the Arabian

would be ten to fifteen minutes out of the way, which to my

mind seems very improbable. Apparently, therefore, we can

hardly avoid accepting one of these propositions: Either the

recently accepted value of the acceleration, and the usual inter-

pretations of the ancient solar eclipses are to be radically altered,

the eclipse of — 556 not having been total at Larissa, and that re)

— 584 not having been total in Asia Minor ; or the mean motion of

the moon is, in the course of centuries, subject to changes so

wide that it is not possible to assign any definite value to the

acceleration.”

We learn from this same paper reasons for believing that the

Newcomb. Observations on the moon before 1750, p. 278. (Washington Ast.

and Met. Observations, Vol. xx, App. U.)

16 Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. [ January,

earth lost seventeen seconds in its rotation between 1750 and

1800, and has gained thirty-one seconds since 1800 A.D.’ Also,

that much greater variations may have taken place in the past,

and yet escaped the observation of astronomers:

Mr. G. H. Darwin, in his paper on the Precession of the Vis-

cous Spheroid, and on the remote history of the earth, shows

that if we assume a viscosity for the earth, such that a cubic inch,

when subjected to a force of 1314 tons, would be distorted ġ of

an inch in twenty-four hours, and that such viscosity has remained

constant, the retardation of the rotation of the earth has been

such that 46,300,000 years ago a sidereal day was fifteen hours

thirty minutes, and a sidereal month 18.62 days. As Mr. Darwin

remarks: “It seems that we have only to postulate that the up-

per and cooler surface of the earth presents such a difference’

from the interior, that it yields with extreme slowness, if at all, —

to the weight of continents and mountains, to admit the possibil-

ity that the globe on which we live may be like that here treated

of.” Hence we may start with the assumption that not only is

the rotation of the earth variable, but this variation is con-

-siderable.

It is proposed to present, in the treatment of our subject, first,

a theoretical discussion of the case, secondly, a survey of related

facts, and finally, suggestions to direct further investigation of the .

matter. ne

I. The rotation of the earth may be considered as the result of —

gravitation condensing it from its original nebulous or gaseous —

‘condition, The check to condensation we may consider to have —

been originally the expansive power of heat and the centrifugal —

component of its force of rotation. Now, however, we find the f

equilibrium of rotation lying between the following forces : i

Forces affecting the rotation of the Earth. Those tending

to accelerate are:

First. The contraction of the earth, especially in low latitudes.

This, now, as in all past ages, is doubtless the main force on this 5

side.

Second. The transfer of matter of any kind, from lower to ~

higher latitudes. This may be (1) either by the transfer of liquid 5

matter in the interior, attending a local depression of the earth's —

crust in lower latitudes, or (2) a transfer of water, either as vapO%

1 See also Am. Fourn. of Sci: (111), XIV, p: 408.

? Phil. Trans., Vol. 170, Part 11,

1883. ] Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. 17

water or ice, by some secular change in the earth. For example,

the accumulation of ice at the poles during the glacial period. It

should be noted here, that the circulation of ocean currents and

aérial currents have no effect, so long as the sea-level remains

constant. Every current, however strong, or whatever its direc-

tion, is counteracted by others. (3) A third case under this head,

is the transfer of sediment, either by river or ocean currents. All

streams flowing toward the poles conspire to this effect. The

higher the latitude the more efficient the stream, other things be-

ing equal, but as the erosion is diminished by the cold, those in

middle latitudes are probably the most efficient.

On the other hand, retarding influences are as follows:

First, and most unquestioned—the friction of the tides. The

conditions in which this force would be most efficient have not, so

far as the writer is‘aware, been satisfactorily stated. An alterna-

tion of oceans broad enough to accumulate the wave to its utmost,

and of narrow continents, with shores adapted to raise the water to

its highest point, and wholly check its flow, would seem perhaps

the most, favorable.

Second. The transfer of matter of any kind from higher to

lower latitudes. The remarks made under the head correspond-

ing, above, will apply equally well in this case.

Third. Any elevation of the earth’s crust, either local or gen-

eral, in lower latitudes, resulting either from increased heat, as near

volcanoes, or from any bending of the earth’s crust. If in the lat-

ter case, both the anticlinal and synclinal folds of the crust are in

the same latitude, no change in rotation would result.

Fourth, and last, but by no means least, we would rather say

greatest, a distortion of the earth’s body by the attraction of the

sun and moon. The degree of viscosity assumed by Mr. Darwin

would seem to be little enough to satisfy the most ultra rigida-

tian or uniformitarian, and if a more yielding condition be predi-

cated of the earth, certainly its effect will be indefinitely magni-

fied. Whether instruments will ever be invented delicate enough

to measure its amount is doubtful.

1 That this force is really efficient at the present time is attested by the influence

of a variation in distance of these bodies on the occurrence of earthquakes. Fron»

the researches of Perrey, Volger and others, we learn that earthquakes are much

more numerous when the earth is near perihelion than when near aphelion, and

that they occur more frequently and with more violence when the moon is in perigee

than a: other periods,

VOL. XVII.—no. I. 2

18 Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. | January,

To illustrate the efficiency of these different forces, we may re-

fer briefly to the following calculations: The sinking of the

equator 110 feet would shorten the time of rotation of the earth

one minute, or if it was retarded one minute per day, it would

produce eventually a depression of the equator 110 feet.’ Erich-

son estimated that if the center of the Mississippi basin were 45°

55’, and its mouth 29° 8’, the sediment brought down by it

would retard the earth .00036 of a second in a century. Fer-

rel, in 1853, assuming that the tide caused by the moon in the

open sea is two feet in height, and that it is highest two hours

after the culmination of the moon, showed that it would retard

the earth at the equator fifty miles in a century.” For the retard-

ing effect of the sun and moon on a viscous earth, see reference

above to Darwin’s paper.

2. A Theoretical View of the Action of these Forces—-We may

conceive, therefore, the earth rotating in unstable equilibrium

between these sets of forces. As will be seen presently, any

change produces effects which tend to counteract the forces

causing it. If the earth were wholly fluid, only two of the influ-

ences enumerated would remain, and they are those conceived to

‘be most efficient now, viz., contraction from loss of heat, and dis-

‘turbance from the effect of the moon and sun. A varying ellip-

-ticity would exist, because of the varying distances of the sun and

moon on the one hand, and the cooling on the other, and there

would be more or less regularity in this variation of ellipticity as _

‘the earth approached or receded from the sun or moon, in the

movements of revolution. As soon, however, as the earth be-

came a’solid and rigid mass, as at present, either a decrease Of

increase of ellipticity would first show itself in the shifting of the

waters of the ocean, so that the sea-level only would describe the 7

resulting figure.

That is, if the earth were nearly perfectly rigid, and the rota-

tion diminished continually, the sea-level would be continually

lowering at the equator, and rising at the poles. If, on the other

hand, by some cause the velocity of rotation were accelerated, the

waters would rise at the equator and sink at the poles. By a lit

tle calculation, it will be found that the regions where the sea-

1 Compare Am, Four. of Sci. (111), XII, p. 353-

2Newcomb, Reduction and Di:cussions of Observations on the Moon before ns.

p Il. ae

1883. | Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. 19

level would remain approximately stationary, would be near thirty

degrees of latitude. It would describe a see-saw movement, as

it were, around those parallels. The variation in altitude at the

equator would be about one-half as much as at the poles, in any

change in which the volume of the earth remained the same.

A decrease of velocity of rotation would, in this way, eventu-

ally lift the tropical lands so high above the sea, that their weight

would become a force sufficient to cause their depression, which,

in time, would either lift the tropical sea-beds, or the higher lati-

tudes of both land and sea-bottom.

The former would have little effect to accelerate the earth’s

rotation, because the average altitude of equatorial continents and

seas would remain the same. It would, however, have the effect

to drive the waters still more toward the poles. Eventually, how-

ever, if not at first, equatorial lands would sink, at the expense of

raising higher latitudes, and acceleration would result. This de-

. pression, when begun, would probably go beyond the point just

sufficient to establish equilibrium in the earth’s crust, and would

continue, even while the rotation was being accelerated by the

depressions. For momentum, in all known cases of vibration,

carries the vibratory body beyond the point of rest. Any increase

of acceleration would be closely followed by a rise of the sea-

level, within the tropics, and a lowering of the sea-level outside,

increasing in amount toward the poles. This, with the extra fall

of the tropical crust, would turn the tide, eventually, to such an

acceleration, that the polar regions would be much elevated above

the sea, and in time they would begin-to sink from their weight.

This would become a retarding influence, which, with the con-

tinued retarding influence of the sun and moon, would produce a

transfer of water to the higher latitudes, and so the cycle of one

vibration would be complete. Now, if these two forces alone

should act upon sea and land, there would be, on the whole, a run-

ning down, a graduation of vibrations into rest, only to be occa-

sionally broken, perhaps, by varying astronomical relations; but

| -another feature comes in to keep the great double pendulum

swinging. The contraction of the earth will accelerate, by the

depression of the tropical regions, and retard by depression of

higher latitudes. This, therefore, would be a force to keep this

vibration continued. The efficiency of this force can scarcely be

questioned, at least for the earlier geological epochs, when we

20 Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth, | January,

think of the folds and faults of ancient strata. Thus far, we g

have not considered the effect of the movement of the waters,

transfer of sediment, etc. The latter would be of comparatively

slight efficiency, as before stated. The former would be con-

siderable, and might act as a counter check, and in this way

produce slight vibrations, superimposed, as it were, on those of

more importance, which we have just considered.

These general movements of land and water need not conflict

materially with the various local movements, which have been so

clearly defined by various geologists. For example, the local

folding of strata, and the elevation of mountains and continental

plateaus; areas rising from local heating in the vicinity of vol-

canoes, and, on the other hand, depressions resulting from the ac-

cumulation of sediment.

These, in all ages, must have been numerous. Over areas

where both the general and the local influences were acting, of

course the result would be the algebraic sum of the two. Per-

haps further investigations may discover that certain so-called

local movements are indirectly the result of the general influence

supposed. For example, in the downward movement of either

high or low latitudes, we have supposed that it was attended with

and partially the result of, contraction of the earth. This would

be likely to be attended with an elevation of mountain ranges.

The elevations along the lines of volcanoes crossing the tropical

regions at the present time may, perhaps, be considered examples

of such action. Another point should be added before we attempt

a practical application of our theory. The neutral belts, as they

may be called, between the areas of apparent elevation and de-

DE S NES

seik

pression, with respect to the sea-level, will be very variable. Some |

reasons for the variability will be, (1) The different ellipticity of

the earth, at different ages; (2) The amount of contraction of the

earth in any vibration; (3) The different capacities of ocean beds-

in different latitudes, pee the consequent varying rate of change

` in the sea-level. This would affect especially the sea-level at the

neutral belts.

II. So much for the theory. Let us proceed to compare it

with recorded facts.

I. Changes during the present Epoch.

The first attempt to map the areas of depression and elevation

was made by Darwin, soon after his interesting observations O%

1883.] Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. 21

coral islands. His map has been often copied. From this, and

the statements of numerous recent observers, we may establish

the following generalizations :

I. Areas closely adjacent to active volcanoes, with very few

exceptions, are rising. For example, Sunda islands, Sandwich

islands, Philippines, West Indies, Central America, etc.

2. Extensive alluvial, and marine plains, rapidly formed, seem

frequently to be areas of subsidence. For exdmple, deltas of

the Po, Indus, Ganges and Mississippi, Holland (?), New Jersey (?),

North Carolina (?).

3. All islands, not volcanic, between the parallels of 30° lati-

tude, bear signs of recent sinking; except Ceylon, of which some,

however, report evidences of sinking, and Madagascar, which

shows evidence of recent extinction of volcanic action.

4. The continents, within the same boundaries, not infrequently

show signs of sinking. The Great Barrier reef testifies to the

sinking of Northern Australia. From tropical Africa little is re-

ported which bears upon our case.

South America is reported as sinking at the mouth of the

Amazon, by Agassiz; as being bordered with barrier coral reefs,

‘from Abrolhos islands to the equator, by C. F. Hartt. A sunken

sandstone reef at Pernambuco, underneath the present one, is re-

ported by J. C. Hawkshaw. Demerara is protected by dikes from

the encroaching sea (F. M. Endlich). Upon the west side of the

continent, although it may be considered a volcanic area, Von

Tschudi reports a subsidence of the coast, at Peru, since its dis-

covery. Bousingault, Proctor and Orton consider that there is

strong evidence that the Peruvian and Columbian Andes have

sunk considerably since the visit of Humboldt. Darwin reports

-a depression of Callao, by the earthquake of 1746.

Some exceptions should be noted under this head. Texas is

reported to be rapidly rising. This may be due to its nearness to

the probably rising axis of the Rocky mountains, which en-

roaches upon the tropical area. India seems to be S at

several points, as at Bombay, Sinde, Orissa, &c.

5. Areas outside of about 30° latitude are very generally rising.

Avoiding, for the present, those near volcanoes, we enumerate:

In the northern hemisphere: Scandinavia, Scotland, France,

Spain, North Africa (Reclus), Russia (Murchison), Spitzbergen

(Lamont), Franz-Joseph-Land (Howorth), Siberia (Wrangell),

22 Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. [January, —

Saghalien and Manchooria (Smidt), North China and Japan

(Pumpelly) Alaska (Dal!), British Columbia (G. M. Dawson),

California (Newberry), Hudson’s Bay region (Bell), North Green-

land (Kane), Labrador (Packard), Nova Scotia (Hind), New Eng-

land! (Shaler).

In the southern hemisphere: Southern New Zealand (Haast),

Southern Australia, Melbourne (Becker), Natal (Griesbach), Chili,

Southern La Plata, and Patagonia (Darwin).

Some exceptional regions may be mentioned. A few have al-

ready been noted under a previous head, which may explain their

occurrence. But the sinking of South Greenland, Southern Sweden,

and others can scarcely be so explained. Itseems better to refer them

to local foldings of the earth’s crust, which are progressing rapidly

enough to neutralize the general elevation of higher latitudes.

From this survey we come very readily to the conclusion, that

the facts confirm our theory, for an acceleration of the earth’s

rotation. Such, it will be remembered, is indicated by recent

astronomical observations. And if it is objected, that it is believed

that there has been a retardation for ages previous, we may reply,

that the evidence is wanting, or at best, indecisive,? except for a

very short time preceding this century. A brief counter- move=

ment in a period of prevalent acceleration, would be no more than ©

our theory would provide for. :

We may therefore glance backward through the ages to further

test our theory.

Sas =: OL hh ee ee ER PE Sr Sie ee ee ee ee ali

ies Sas

2. Changes in the Early Quaternary.

Preceding the present epoch, most geologists find abundant

evidence of a depression, in high latitudes, at least in the North- —

ern hemisphere, and far below the present altitude. The evidence

from the southern hemisphere, for obvious reasons, is not so

abundant. Yet Darwin gives very clear evidence for this point,

from Patagonia, and Haast reports a similiar movement in New —

Zealand, and probably in southern Australia. There is equally :

abundant and reliable evidence, of a period of elevation of the —

$ a $ z = ee D wi EEA E A T TEA i

PLA EL OT NOA EI S Be E A EAE O LASINEN E S A E E RA SI D a ee a Y E a), TSEN Sieg IES A a A AE OEE EE A SS ES SA E EAE A E E ENS A Oe Mee ee TSS A

1 New England is stationary according to observations of the Coast Survey for q |

1877. (Am. Purn. of Sci. (111), XXI, p. 77.) Therising of afew of the other coun- _

ports as at present rising or pipari (vide Corals and Coral islands) are to be re-

ferred to such a case.

1883.] Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. 23

same regions, in the age preceding the depression just mentioned,

and to an altitude far exceeding the present. As to relations of

these periods to the prevalence of glaciers, there is not so com-

plete harmony among geologists, but that need not affect our

theory. Moreover this vast vibration seems to have had greater

amplitude, in general, in proportion to nearness to the poles.

This is well shown in the discussion of the matter by Professor

Dana, in his Manual of Geology, pp. 552-558.

For the tropical regions in the same periods we cannot say as

much, Comparatively few observations are reported which have

any decisive bearing on their movements. It will be readily seen

that we should expect a general elevation immediately preceding

the present epoch.

Wallace, from his profound studies of the fauna and flora of

Java, Sumatra and Borneo, concludes that they were submerged

during the Miocene, but “at some later period a gradual eleva-

tion occurred, which ultimately united them with the continent.

This may have continued till the glacial period in the northern

hemisphere, during the severest part of which a few Himalayan

species of birds and mammals may have been driven southward.

Java was first separated by subsidence, then a little later Sumatra

and Borneo.”! He, from similar data, judges Celebes to be a

fragment of the great eastern continent in perhaps Miocene

times. This suffices to show a vibration in tropical areas, such as

our theory demands, except that its time is not definitely deter-

mined. It seems not improbable that they may have been ele-

vated through the Pliocene, been depressed during the Glacial

epoch, then partially elevated during the Champlain, and again

depressed, perhaps to a greater extent, which movement continues

to the present, except where counteracted by volcanic influences.

From New Guinea and Australia we find nothing recorded

which will throw any light on their movements, in the epoch

preceding the present. Nor can we hope, perhaps, to find any-

thing in the coral islands bearing on this stage of our case. It is

barely possible that some of them which are much elevated, as

Elizabeth island, Metia, Rurutu and others (vide Dana’s Coral

islands), may ultimately prove to be monuments of such an eleva-

tion as well as of a still earlier depression, deeper than that of the

present. And if it be incredulously asked, What, then, has be-

1 Island Life, p. 353.

24 Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth, | January,

come of the former tops of other islands, which certainly must d

have been in existence, to form the bases of many of the presents t

atolls, and for a connecting stage between the successive depres-

sions according to our theory? it may be replied, that they `

may have been carried away by the waves in the period of up-

heaval. We may, perhaps, see some evidence of this, where some

atolls are themselves arranged in a ring-like form, as though an

older atoll had been shattered, and each remnant became the cen-

ter ofa smaller one, as is the case in Atoll Ari, and in the Mal- :

dives generally.

Falling into the same line of argument is Darwin's observation

of the terraces, on the Island of San Lorenzo, opposite Callao.

EAE e Pain

He found there evidence of three terraces, and on the lowest, at —

an altitude of eighty-five feet, recent shells, but they were deeply

corroded, and had “a much older and more decayed appear-

ance, thon those at a height of 500-600 feet on the coast one

Chili.’

Professor Dana, in his work on coral islands, argues strongly —

aaa ipa

in favor of recent tropical depressions, in not only the Pacific and ‘

Indian oceans, but in the Atlantic also, even including many areas

which Darwin considers to have been elevated. He also con- —

siders them as being compensated by elevations in higher lati- _

tudes preceding or during the Glacial period.

As before suggested, it does not seem to the writer necessary

to assume a continuous subsidence from that time, perhaps inter-

rupted with periods of stability, but rather that there may have ~

been at least one time of considerable elevation intervening. Our

hypothesis may assist in explaining certain problematic questions

of this age, viz.: The occurrence of European plants in Australia,

by the elevation of the tropical regions, at the proper time to form —

a bridge between the Palearctic and Australian provinces, and

the occurrence of numerous edentates in North America towards

the end of the Glacial period, by the elevation of the regions be-

tween North and South America.

3. Changes in Earlier Ages,

It is quite generally recognized by geologists, that in earlier —

times the land and sea were subject to oscillations of continental —

extent. Indeed, Europe and North America seem to have risen ©

and subsided contemporaneously. Considering that conglomer-

ates indicate recent elevation of the land, and perhaps a culmina- —

1883.] Geological Effects of a Varying Rotation of the Earth. 25

tion of elevation, and that heavy deposits of limestone, on the

other hand, mark a continued submergence, we may note nine

great vibrations, to say nothing of several minor ones. We may

enumerate the periods of depression, as the Huronian, Trenton,

Niagara, Lower Helderberg (?), Corniferous, Sub-Carboniferous,

Permian (?), Cretaceous, Later Eocene, and the Champlain already

mentioned? When we remember that these formations have

been studied almost exclusively in the higher latitudes, and

that we have seen reason, from later epochs, to believe motions

of opposite phase, in lower latitudes, we may find it, as far as we

now know, strong corroboration in our theory.

Before leaving this point, the writer would say, that after elab-

rating the theory as given above, he was pleased to find an

almost identical view expressed by Dr. Dawson,’ as follows:

“We have seen, in the progress of our inquiries, that the move-

ments of the continents seem to have occurred with accelerated

rapidity in the more modern periods. We have also seen that

these movements might depend on the slow contraction of the

earth’s crust, due to cooling, but that the effects of this contraction

might manifest themselves only at intervals. We have further

seen that the gradual retardation of the rotation of the earth fur-

-nishes a cause capable of producing elevation and subsidence of

the land, and that this also must be manifested at longer or

shorter intervals, according to the strength and resisting power

of the crust. Under the influence of this retardation, so long as

the crust of the earth does not give way, the waters would be

driven toward the poles, and the northern land would be sub-

merged, but as soon as the tension became so great as to rupture

the solid shell, the equatorial regions would collapse, and the

northern land would be again raised.” This corroborating view,

from so experienced a geologist, guarantees that the ideas pre-

sented above are not wholly visionary.

III. We pass on to indicate briefly certain important lines of

investigation in connection with our subject.

(1.) A re-examination, from a mathematical and physical stand-

point, of the possibility of such contraction of the earth, and

_ such variation of its ellipticity, as this theory requires. Sir Wil-

1 Compare Dawson, Story of Earth and Man, p. 178; Shaler, chapter on Ancient

Glacial Periods, in his recent work on Glaciers; also, Dana’s Manual. ;

2Story of Earth and Man, p. 291.

26 Bite of the North American Coral Snakes. [ January,

liam Thompson thinks any considerable change of ellipticity in

geological ages impossible. G. H. Darwin thinks the diminution

of ellipticity in recent times not impossible! Fisher, Dutton and

others? considering the matter from different standpoints, declare

against any considerable amount of contraction since the forma-

tion of the first crust. Mallet has estimated it at probably as

great a figure as any one.

(2.) A more careful noting of the height of marine terraces in

all parts of the world, and an accurate determining of their rela-

tive ages, as indicated by their fossils and degree of preserva-

tion. The common remark, “containing recent shells,” is of little

value.

(3.) A more careful study of the geological formations in trop-

ical regions, and an especial noting of any signs of their alter-

nating with similar formations outside. This, probably, may as”

readily be told, as in any way, by the comparative development

of their forms of life.

(4.) A special study of the areas occupying the neutral ground,

to discover, if possible, the over-lapping of formations, alternately

from the higher and lower latitudes. Such areas should be chosen

as have been as little disturbed by local causes as any. Those —

presumably the more favorable are Texas and Eastern Mexico.

The Pampas and Australia. India, North and South Africa, are

less favorable, at least, for the recent formations. The great vari-

ability of the neutral belts should be remembered, and the con-

sequent extensive overlapping of strata. These areas may be —

found especially instructive, not only in determining the succes-

sion of strata, but in filling up the gaps in the series, both in the

-geological strata and the forms of life.

"ry

ON THE BITE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CORAL

SNAKES (GENUS ELAPS)3

BY FREDERICK W. TRUE.

1. The facts presented below indicate clearly, I believe, that :

the North American coral snakes possess the poisonous charac- a

teristics of the family to a considerable Gores; rendering their —

1 Vid. Nature, Jan. sth, 1882.

2 Vid. Fisher’s Physics of the Earth’s Crust, p. 75.

3 Read before the Biologicil Society of Washington, Oct. 13, 1882.

1883.] Bite of the North American Coral Snakes. 27

bite dangerous or fatal in its effects. The somewhat general

notion that they are harmless is erroneous. Incidentally it ap-

pears that the popular belief that certain serpents sting with their

tail extends to the coral snakes.

2. On the afternoon of June 1, 1882, Mr. William Shindler,

artist in the U. S. National Museum, was bitten in the index fin-

ger of the left hand by a specimen of coral snake, Zlaps fulvius,

received from Gainesville, Florida, which he had placed in his

room that he might sketch it. The wound was inflicted be-

tween 2 and 3 o'clock, p.m. The serpent had not been fed for

two months previously. It clung so firmly to the finger that it

had to be pulled off. The first symptoms, which appeared imme-

diately after the bite, consisted of violent pain at the wound, and

extending up the arm to the left breast. The wound was cauter-

ized by Dr. J. M. Flint. The symptoms continued without ma-

terial change to half past four in the afternoon. At that hour,

according to Mr. Shindler, the first symptoms of drowsiness or

unconsciousness made their appearance, and remained until the

morning of the 3d inst.

At 7.30 P. M. on the day of the bite, Mr. Shindler felt so ill that

he deemed it prudent to call upon his physician, Dr. L. M. Tay-

lor, of Washington. Dr. Taylor has kindly furnished me with

a summary of the symptoms which he observed from the time

the case came into his hands at the hour stated, until signs of

recovery appeared, and of the treatment employed. The notes.

are as follows:

June 1, 1882, Case of William Shindler. Bite of coral snake; index finger, left

hand.

Symptoms.—Finger swollen. Complains of acute pain extending up arm and

down to region of heart. Partial delirium. Pulse at wrist of injured hand almost

imperceptible; on other side weak, irregular, compressible. Skin cool, clammy.

Tongue tremulous, cool, white. Nervous, excitable, garrulous. Eyes dull, stupid in

expression; pupils contracted. Jactation, nausea, persistent vomiting.

Treatment —Saturated bandage with strong ammonia water, and applied to

woun

Prescription. —Bicarbonate of soda 4 drachms.

Sub-nitrate of bismuth cometh

Water sufficient to dissolve soda. Teaspoonful every five min-

utes. Administered six doses.

Symptoms.—Nausea returned; vomiting ceased.

Prescription,—Aromatic arie of ammonia...........++...1 ounce.

‘French br:

Teaspoonful every Ans minutes until six or ie Pel had

been given. Left patient comfortable. Tablespoonful

every hour during the night. .

28 Bite of the North American Coral Snakes, | January,

e 2,8 A.M. Symptoms.—Patient free from pain, pulse feeble, STI. still

ae on ae side. General condition much improved. Recovery certain

Continue use of recipe every two or three hours.

In three days after treatment the patient felt in good health

again. About two mionths after the event, however, pain set in

once more at the bitten finger, extending to the knuckles, and

after a few days an ulcer made its appearance above the latter.

At this date Mr. Shindler informs me that he is in good

health, but that pain is felt from time to time in the bitten finger.

3. Desirous of learning whether cases like the preceding were

common, I called upon Dr. Taylor, who referred me to several

physicians in Texas. I received extended communications from

Dr. Thomas Kearney and Dr. J. Herff, of San Antonio, which I

append. I also caused search for parallel cases to be made in the

catalogues of the library of the Surgeon-General’s office, to which

I gained access through the kindness of Dr. Robert Fletcher.

The search proved fruitless, showing that few or no such cases —

have been hitherto recorded,

The following letter of Dr. Kearney, mentioned above, gives in- 4

formation of some cases of coral snake bite occurring in Texas,

as well as allusions to the popular belief in serpent’s stings and :

the treatment of rattlesnake bite :

SAN HNN TEXAS, Fuly ro, 1882.

_ Mr. Fredk. W. True, National Museum, Washin

EAR SIR :—Your letter of June rgth, was ret is weuitig on my return tothis

city. You wish me to give you whatever information’ I possess relative to the effects of

‘the bite ot the coral snake, treatment, &c., and whether any of such wounds have come

under my immediate notice, In reply I must say that I have never seen or treated

a case of coral snake bite. The snake is classed here as among the poisonous rep- —

tiles, and its bite is considered about as fatal as the bite of the rattlesnake.

are seldom met within this portion of Texas. During my long residence in this

State and in Mexico bordering on the Rio Grande, a period of nearly thirty years, I

may have seen one or two dozen, and most of these, with few exceptions, I have met —

with in shady nooks or in thickly shaded thickets, out of which they seldom ven-

ture. This perhaps is one cause why they are not so often met with as the rattle- _

snake, whose liabits lead him to seek open glades and prairies where he can enjoy —

his sunshine bath. From all the information that I have received as to the charac-

‘ter of the coral snake, I have no doubt as to its poisonous nature, and it is the com- _

mon belief among the people, that like the scorpion he is armed with a sting in his —

ail.

The following case of a bite of a coral snake, followed by death, occurred neat —

— Christi, Texas, during the last year of the “ late unpleasantness.” An infant

child of Mr. Alexander Stringer was playing in the yard, and being attracted by the ~

bright colors of a coral snake, grasped it near the middle. The screams of the child

brought its parents to its relief, but too late, the snake had done its work. The —

1883.] Bite of the North American Coral Snakes. 29

child lingered in great agony until the following morning and died as above stated.

The snake, as described to me, was about eighteen inches long, and it is a matter of

doubt with me whether the bite of so smal) a snake would have proved fatal to an

adult, The year following this unfortunate occurrence I became a resident of Cor-

pus Christi, and resided for several years within a hundred yards of Mr. Stringer,

and he, as also many of the citizens, often told me of the sufferings and death of

that child, and I will here add, that Stringer always contended that the snake did

not bite the child, but inflicted the fatal wounds with the sting of its tail, and in

this opinion he was not alone, About two years after this I was ona visit to my

friend, Capt. R. King, the proprietor of a great stock ranch, Santa Gertrudes, forty

miles from Corpus Christi. Walking across the court-yard one evening in company

with Mr. R. Holbien, the book-keeper, I saw in the grass a small coral snake of six-

teen or eighteen inches in length; I commenced annoying it with my cane to satisfy

myself as to whether it had a sting or not; Holbien remarked, * be careful, that is

the same kind of a snake that killed Stringer’s child.” Holbien was living in Corpus

Christi when the child died. I pinned the snake to the ground with my cane, but

could not induce Holbien to make close examination, he was afraid of it. My eyesight

was very defective. I called Mr. Greer, the superintendent of the ranch, who hap-

pened to be passing at the time, and requested him to notice closely as to whether he

could see a sting or not; he assured me he could see the sting very plainly ae

I pressed upon the snake sufficiently hard to cause it to strike with its tail.

motions of its tail indicated that it was used as a means of defence, tine it had

a sting or not. I killed the snake and cut off an inch or more of its tail. The fol-

lowing morning I examined it as closely as I could; I found the terminal tip was

constituted of bone of extreme hardness—almost flinty, in dividing it I had to force

e knife through with a hammer. I found in the center a dark substance about

the size of a hog-bristle attached only at its upper part, about one-half an inch

from the apex of the tail. This limited examination gave me no MERET results,

as my sight was defective and I had no magnifying glass to aid me; and notwith-

standing Mr. Greer’s assertion that he had seen the sting, I came to aS conclusion

that the black, thread-like matter I had noticed in the center of the bony case was

probably the caudal terminus of the spinal cord. Since then no Opportunity has

presented itself to me for further investigation. I believe I have now given you all

the information I possess relative to the coral snake, and regret that it is out of my

power to give you anria more satisfactory. I will add that the coral snake, as-

met with in Southwestern Texas and in Mexico bordering on the Lower Rio

oe ae Bins pern inches in length ; all that I have seen, with few excep-

tions, ranged in length from twelve inches to twenty-four.

In the treatment of the bite of the coral-snake, I would adopt the same course of

treatment as in case of the rattlesnake bite or that of any other poisonous reptile. I

have noticed the same train of symptoms follow the sting and bite of the centipede, the

bite of a diminutive spider found occasionally here and in Mexico, which is fol-

lowed by an alarming train of symptoms if not soon arrested, and the bite of ee cop-

perhead, moccasin and rattlesnake. I have seen an infant die in ten hours after be-

ing stung by a centipede, but have never heard of a death of an adult from the

same cause, though I have had many come under my notice. When my attention

has been called in time, I have never failed to cure a snake bite (rattlesnake) with

Bibron’s mixture, bandaging the limb above the wound, scarifying freely, and bath-

ing i it for several hours with tincture of iodine, alcoholic paesa being freely ad=

ministered when the temperature and pulse indicated its use

: \

30 Bite of the North American Coral Snakes. | January,

I have treated cases successfully when no other antidote was at hand, by giving

internally and externally tincture of iodine, and using. whisky, ad Zidétem, to keep `

up temperature and pulse.

Remedies to be successful in such cases must be applied very soon after the

wound is received. When delayed too long the vital forces sink rapidly, and when

the patient ceases to complain of pain, death is close at hand.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

HOMAS KEARNEY.

Dr. Herff’s letter contains information of two additional cases,

one proving fatal, the other having the most serious consequences.

He writes as following.

I know two cases where persons were bitten in the finger, where the back-

teeth of the serpent could come into action, and one died in twenty-four hours, while

the other one recovered after an almost fatal prostration of thirty-six hour’s duration.

Different from our common poisonous snakes me scion tes a neither swell

nor become discolored, but the poison acte a-serpents (hy-

drophis and platurus) is described to act. For jóia nothing is felt but a glow-

ing heat over the body, which is soon followed by total prostration, very smali and

slow pulse and absolute suppression of urine. The fatal case I know of came under

my observation a as minutes before death occurred under the symptoms of paralysis

of the heart. The second case was brought soon enough for me to try stimulants,

whisky, hypodermic rates of ammonia and fomentations of digitalis leaves over

the region of the kidneys. The man, a strong young Scotchman, recovered in three

days and felt only a feeling of tingling in his extremities for some time after. n

In neither case unconsciousness, vomiting, or bleeding from nose or mouth oc- , q

curred, nor could anything be observed on the wound, except the small impression

caused by the teeth of the serpent. Both men kept the snakes as pets and the last one ;

used to put his finger in the animal’s mouth very often to show how tame he was. —

One day he put it in a little deeper than usual and while trying to extricate it the ©

teeth bit him. ey

I may add that before I had these experiences I used to handle snakes of that spe-

cies myself frequently and had no hesitation to catch them with my hands, although a

I never tried the experiment for which the poor Scotchman paid so dearly. Different

from other snakes, it does not try to bite, but when you handle it winds around your

hand with considerable force and for such a thin animal with a very firm grip.

4. A recent letter from Mr. James Beel, of Gainesville, Florida;

to Professor Baird, and by him kindly transmitted to me, con-

tains some matters of interest relative to coral snake bites. ba

quote from it as follows:

“ I have known for some time that the coral snake was poisonous, quite as much

so as the rattlesnake, but I did not know but what there were two kinds, one poison-

ous and the other not. A gentleman and a little child were killed in West Florida, -

where I formerly lived, by snakes bite, and, ’tis said, by this kind of snake. The

poison, however, was not so rapid in its effects. I once put a grass snake and one

of these coral snakes into a large glass pickle-jar, and the coral snake bit the other,

which died in a few minutes thereafter, Mrs. Bell was watching them at the time,

and thinks it did not live over five minutes after being bitten. I have tried fre-

1883] Achenial Hairs and Fibers of Composite. 3I

quently to get them to bite or to find their fangs, but have never succeeded, although

I did not examine very closely.”

Mr. Shindler informs me that he tried a similar experiment

with the snake which wounded him, with a like result.

Mr. Swartz, of Washington, related to me another case which

occurred in Crescent City, Florida, in which the poison did not

seems of a very virulent nature, the bad effects yielding readily

to such remedies as the person bitten was able to apply.

5. That coral snake bites are of quite rare occurrence seems

due (1) to the lack of abundance of these serpents, especially

about towns; (2) to their sluggish disposition, and (3), as Duméril

- has remarked, to the small size of the mouth, which prevents

them from fastening upon any but a sharply curved surface. Elap-

soid serpents are not so little obnoxious in all countries as in

North America. They are the scourge of India.

_ 6. Numerous writers of the first half of the present century, and

later authors as well, refer to the habits and characteristics of the

North American and smaller South American coral snakes. The

majority, while alluding to their close relations to the very ven-

omous sections of the family E/apide, regard them as the inno-

cent members of the group.

7. I am indebted to Mr. Shindler for permission to publish the

case in which he was the principal; to Dr. Taylor for the medital

summary of the same; and to Dr. Kearney, Dr. J. Herff and Mr.

Schwartz for information of the other cases cited. Also in an

especial manner to Professor Baird, and indirectly to Mr. Bell, for

the use of the communication of the latter observer.

Ta t

ACHENIAL HAIRS AND FIBERS OF COMPOSITÆ.

BY PROFESSOR G. MACLOSKIE.

HE large order of Composite plants has so much unity of struc-

ture, that characters scarcely of specific value elsewhere, are

here used for the separation of genera and for limiting sub-orders.

Any attempt towards the discovery of additional tribal character-

istics is therefore excusable. I have been examining the surface

of the achenes, the hairs growing from them and their internal

structure, and have found characters scarcely noticed by previous

1 Duméril and Bibron : Erpétologie générale. Holbrook: North American Her-

petology, iii, 1842, pp. 50-51. Jordan : Manual of the Vertebrates, 1878, p. 183.

' q

S20 Achenial Hairs and Fibers of Composite. | January, i

writers, and running on the lines of the general affinities of the —

groups. =

The achenial hairs of Seneczo vulgaris and of Doria (Othonna}

long ago attracted interest; they are double, each having two —

tubes with a partition between, like the two flues of a double =

chimney, and they contain within their interior spiral fibers or

elaters which are rapidly unwound on the access of moisture, ~

swelling and escaping by the tips of the ~

tubes, as by the lifting of a pair of trap- |

doors (Fig. 1). l

I have found that other species of the

genus Senecio have similar hairs. S. vis-

cosus L., is represented by De Candolle and —

by Hooker and Arnott as having glabrous —

J achenes ; and S. żriangularis of Colorado is 4

Le similarly described by Porter and Coulter.

But both these species have duplex achenial ~

Fic. 1. — Duplex hair s 4

froin aes of Senecio vul]. hairs with elaters, though less conspicuous —

afa: the elaters pro- than in S. vułgaris; and the same is true of —

the two varieties of S. aureus, balsamita 7

and borealis. The duplex hairs abound most on the angles of the :

achenes, and are mounted on a pedestal consisting of a pair ot 4

cells apposed like the guard-cells of a stomate. :

The achenial hairs of Ruckeria, belonging to the sub-order_

Calendulaceze, were shown nearly half a century ago, by Decaisne,

to agree with those of Senecio. In examining other genera of the

Calendulacez, I find that in some cases the achenes are glabrous, -

and that Calendula arvensis has multicellular hairs on its achenes

like those of the perianth. This I take to be a case of the ens |

croaching of perianth hairs on a neighboring region, which occurs —

in a number of genera; there being still room for an intermediate _

set of duplex hairs. I believe that I have found

these in Calendula, though not so clearly as to

make out its affinity with Senecionide (Fig. 2).

In the sub-order Inuloideæ the achenial hairs are —

—Mul duplex and obtuse, and mounted on pedestal-cells, —

like those of Senecio, but devoid of elaters. They

manifestly represent the elater-bearing hairs already

described, and one is tempted to think that they

must have shed the elaters, but we have found no traces of such

structures even in young flow ars (Fig. $)

1883.] Achenial Hairs and Fibers of Composite. 33

The Asteroidez and several other sub-orders have duplex hairs

without elaters, the two divisions being acute at their tips, more or

less divergent, generally unequal in length, one of them being

sometimes very short (Fig. 5). These are a further modification ot

the Inuloid pattern, and some Asteroidex (as the English daisy

(Fig. 4) and Baccharis tvefotia) are of the Inuloid type, whilst

Pluchea fetida, placed by Bentham and Hooker among the Inu-

loids, agrees in this respect with the Asteroids, where DeCandolle

placed it in the Prodromus.

In many instances achenes represented by authors as smooth,

have some of these duplex hairs indicating their real affinities; and

in other instances (as Chrysopsis villosa and Sericocarpus,) the

duplex hairs are very long and fine, as if they were simple hairs ;

but still their Asteroid character is easily seen (Fig. 6 B). They

are sometimes confined to the achenial angles, the intermediate

areas bearing glands. Archer refers to such achenial hairs being

bifid at the apex as existing very extensively among the Compos-

itæ (Proc. Linn. Soc., 1861, p. 17), and Kraus briefly speaks of

them (Pringsheim’s Jahrbücher fiir Botanik, 1866-7). In Town-

sendia they diverge at the tips so muchas to become recurved

(Fig. 7). As some species of this genus have glabrous achenes

Professor Asa Gray has made the presence or absence of such

hooked hairs the ground of splitting the genus into sections. We

now see that such distinction depends on the greater or less devel-

opment of a structure mages ee to all the Asteroids and to

VOL. XVII.~—No. i

34 Achenial Hairs and Fibers of Composite. [January,

other tribes of Composite. It is not improbable that we may find

rudiments of the hooked hairs even in such of the species as are

described as having glabrous achenes. Descriptive botanists may

fairly characterize parts as “smooth” when hairs, if present, are

not prominent; but in seeking to find the affinities of tribes and

genera, we must do our utmost to detect hidden marks, and thus

the structure of these hairs has a higher significancy than the de-

gree of their development. :

Duplex hairs are general in Asteroideæ, Eupatorieæ, Ver- :

noniez, Helianthoidex, Helenioidee, Arctotidez, and Mutisiez,

but we have found no trace of them in Anthemidez or in Cicha-

riee, The Cynaroidez appear to me to present two types of -

structure ; some genera (as Carlina and Xeranthemum) agree a

A evides; whilst the true thistles agree with Cichorieæ. Cen-

taurea (C. nigra, C. scabiosa, C. terniflora) has the achene covered

in some cases (as Callistephus chinensis, the China-aster) man

jointed hairs like those of the perianth are intermingled with d

plex hairs on the fruit. Engelmannia (of Helianthoidez) is said

is true of the aberrant Ambrosia. 7% agetes erecta (the large

can marigold, of Melenioidez) has the achenial hairs short

lanceolate, but its congener, 7. patula, shows that this is a mer

variation of the duplex type. In some cases where we sho

expect to find duplex hairs, a cursory examination will sugg

that they are simple; but here a closer view is apt to show

rudiment of the missing half, like a small twin brother, at base ®

the larger part (as Liatris scariosa, Fig. 6, D.). It is always th

basal division of the cell which is less fully developed. Th

_ tition between the chambers of the duplex hair is usually p

and sometimes we could chase air-bubbles up and down

tubes.

The genera of Anthemidex have, nearly all of them, glabr

Leucanthemum. (Fig. 8.) Achillea mille cfolium seems

have these, but its pericarp has internal glands within its cel

1883.] Achental Hairs and Fibers of Composite. 35

The achenial surface of the sub-order, Cichoriex, is de-

void of hairs, and is covered by imbricating

flat denticulate cells. The inner cells of the peri-

carp develop fibers, enclosing crystalloids, which

aid in the dehiscence of the fruit, much after the

manner of the fibrous layer of pollen-sacs. Thus A

I found the so-called indehiscent fruit of dande- inai

i ; ea : ‘ Fic. 8.—Epiderm-

lion in the act of dehiscing, by the aid of its of peticarp of A,

fibers, when moistened, pressing out the seed, and Eten cotula and

of its crystalloids serving as props and wedges, vx wiper

the tapering form of the seed being well fitted for ri 3 Is enclosing spi-

the process. ine

Krigia virginica has simple red-brown spines over its fruit, and

chicory has elegant multicellular hairs, corresponding with the

perianth surface. The thistle group of the Cynaroidez agree as

Fic, jii FiG.10.

Fic, 9.—Denticulate epidermal cells of pericarp of Lactuca scariola (Cichoriez).

Fic. 10.—Endocarpal fibrils and crystalloids of Cirsium lanceolatum (Cynaroi-

dez).

to absence of ‘double hairs, and as to the fibers and crystalloids

with the Cichariacez.

Professor Asa Gray suggests that the mucilaginous filaments

of Senecio are probably of service by gluing the achene to the

soil, its pappus being thrown off. There is much mucilage in

and about the filaments of the Cichoriez, and it will be an inter-

esting question to determine what are the functions of these and

the crystalloids, —

The consideration of the facts stated above suggests a some-

what different line of affinities from that usually adopted, and a

. reéxamination of the tribal unity of Cynaroidez. We give the

orders in the subjoined table, according to the arrangement of

Bentham and Hooker. But it is manifest that Anthemidez and

Arctotidez and Mutisiez are misplaced, and that other readjust-

ments are to be made, if we are to marshal the groups according

to the character here discussed. Yet the parallelism between the

structure of the hairs and the affinities of the groupe, as founded

on other characters, is singularly complete.

36 f; nstinct and Memory exhibited by the [January,

, In many. instances apparent exceptions turned: out on reëxami- _

nation not to be exceptional; and although our work has been

only tentative, enough has been found to demand the.attention

of synantherologists.

TABLES OF ,ACHENIAL HAIRS, &C,,,OF COMPOSITAE.

I. Vernoniez: as in Asteroidez.

11. Eupatorieze :

Ill. Asteroideze. D uplex miis) pe bifurcate, and often unequal, acute at tips.

i irs sometimes: few or obsolete’! sometimes asin Inuloidex, No elaters.

Iv. Inuloidex. Duplex hairs, iiol obtuse and equal; No.elaters.

v. Helenioidez: as in Asteroidee, Crystalloids in endocarp.

VI. Anthemidex. Achenes ‘usually glabrous; but having Se cells with

"spiral filaments, (Glands in Achillea within pericarp ce

vit. Senecionidexz. Duplex hairs, having divisions equal, with as or filaments,

ae which e escape when moistened.

“VILL. Uxiendines probably as in Senecionideve (with multicellular hairs interposed

in some).

DO Arctotideze, as in’ Asteroides.

x. Cynaroidex. . Some as in Asteroideæ (Carlina, Xeranthemum). Some as in

‘Cichoriacez (Cnicus, &c.). Ar retium, Centaurea, Echinops, &c., have sim-

le hairs on achene like those of periant

xi, Mutisieze, as in Asteroide.

XI. Cichorieæ. Achenes glabrous, with denticulate epidermal cells. Endocarp

having filaments, — erystalloids,

nh Rees

“Ty

INSTINCT AND MEMORY EXHIBITED BY THE FLY- |

ING SQUIRREL IN CONFINEMENT, WITH oi

A THOUGHT ON THE ORIGIN OF |

“WINGS IN RARS, 2

BY F. H. KING,

I’ June, Bye, I obtained a litter of three flying arate Scitt- :

ropterus volucella (Pall.) Geoff., from a nest built of small twigs

and oak leaves, lined with grass, which was situated about ten

feet from the ground ina small red oak standing in a grove of ©

the same kind. The nest was a complete ball, from which the —

inmates escaped without any specially provided opening. No

large trees of any kind exist within two miles of the grove, the

locality, in its topography and vegetation, being an extension of —

the Minnesota prairies into Wisconsin. |

The squirrels, so small when taken as to escape very readily

between the wires of an ordinary canary-bird cage, became

very tame and playful at once, they grew rapidly upon cow's

1883.] Flying Squirrel in Confinement. 37

milk, which they lapped from the dish in the manner of a cat,

except that the nose was held closer to the milk, so close, indeed,

that it was with difficulty that the movements of the tongue

could be observed.

They were-strictly nocturnal and, at first, had regularly: two

frolics each night, beginning at! 10.45 P. Mi, and at 3:30 A, My,

which’ lasted from an hour to an hour and a half. During the

whole of the first week of their captivity, the beginning of these

frolics did not vary. five: minutes from the'time stated, but after

this they became more irregular in their beginning and ‘more fre-

quent.) Their play consisted in running, jumping and gnawing

simply, with nothing whatever of that rollicking roll-tumble-and+

pull of the kitten. A favorite sport, out of the cage, consisted

in climbing to some elevated’ point and then leaping and sailing

to some: distant lower level. . Their early efforts in this direction

were truly amusing; when the point of departure was reached,

all fours were brought very near together and the head dropped

with the nose pointing forward; in this attitude 'a number of

quick vibrations of the body to and fro upon ‘the fect, were made;

which always suggested. to me the act of winding themselves up

preparatory to the leap, and. the number and: intensity of these

vibrations was usually, proportionate to the distance to be cov-

ered, They were not very accurate marksmen in the beginning,

and oftener shot over the mark than underiit. Twas glad. of this,

too, for a favorite leap. of theirs during their early efforts, iwas

from the books on my secretary to the top of my head when sit-

ting at the desk reading or writing. Not once did one of them

alight on my nose or slide down my face, but. very often they

shot past, my head, sliding. down my back and. even) plunging

through the back of the chair to the floor without touching me,

to return by way of my legs to the station pcan! resolved to

make a better record next time.

Tn their flight-liké leaps, the four limbs were “extended i in such

a manner as to throw them all into very nearly the same plane,

thus: stretching ‘the patachute-like expansion ' ‘of the. skin tense

and wide. It is “interesting to observe, in this ‘connection,

that while’ on the flight, and espécially just before alighting, the

fore limbs are made to make a series of rapid and short vibra-

tions not wholly ‘unlike the ‘ movement in true ‘Hight. ‘The fact

y have been noted, ‘and the’ eS which follows uttered by

38 Instinct and Memory exhibited by the [ January,

others, but I have not observed it in my reading. Have we not

in the modified structure of the flying squirrel, and in the tremor

of its fore legs while sailing, the true key to that further modifi-

cation in the bat which gives it the power of flight?

The common squirrels when they jump from any considerable

height to the ground, have the habit of extending the legs in the

manner of the flying squirrel, and at the same time of broadening

the body very much horizontally; this is of manifest account in

reducing the energy of impact due to the fall, and suggests pos-

sibly both the method and the occasion for the modification now

possessed by the flying squirrels. The traction brought to bear

upon the integument between the limbs in the effort to spread

the legs, must stretch it, and may be supposed to have begun a

modification which was perpetuated and intensified by natural

selection until the modification in the flying squirrel was reached.

The habit of spreading the legs may have had its origin partly in

the mere effort to balance the body and maintain the desired atti-

tude for alighting, and partly in the knowledge obtained experi-

mentally in repeated acts of jumping.

It does not seem improbable that the development of wings in

the bat may have been initiated in the same manner and have

passed along essentially the same road, that is, the earlier ances-

tors of the bats may have had a dermal modification nearly iden-

tical with that of the flying squirrels, and which may have been

used in much the same way for similar purposes. The next step,

probably, in the development of the bat’s wings, was the forming

of the habit of vibrating the fore limbs together in a vertical

plane, and the embryonic phase of that movement, it seems to

me, may be represented in the tremor of the limbs mentioned as

occurring in the flying squirrel under consideration.

In the effort to maintain the proper attitude of the body, we

may have had the initiating factor; for if they were originally

provided with parachute-like appendages, and used them as the

flying squirrels do, it is probable that a similar vibratory move-

ment would have been a necessity in order to keep the body in

the attitude which would present the greatest surface to the air in

falling. With the vibratory habit fixed, increased skill in execut-

ing it would of necessity prolong the leaps, and this is another

step towards flying; and increased use.and greater advantage

Se ee:

De eee Nee Pe ey ees Ty SS

eee

Hews

REAA eg S E A

1883. | Flying Squirrel in Confinement. 39

would operate, through natural selection, to bring about the final

modifications.

I have never known wild animals that became so perfectly

familiar and confiding as these young squirrels’ did; and they

seemed to get far more enjoyment from playing upon my person

than in any other place, running in and out of pockets, and be-

tween my coat and vest. After the frolic was over they always

esteemed it a great favor if I would allow them to crawl into my

vest in front and go to sleep there, where they felt the warmth of

my body, and it was very rare indeed, during the first six months,

that they failed to ask the privilege; indeed they came to con-

sider themselves abused if turned out, When forced to go to

sleep by themselves, the attitude taken was amusing, the nose

was placed upon the table or other object it happened to be upon,

and then it would walk forward oyer it, rolling itself up until the

nose almost protruded from between the hind legs; the tail was

then wrapped in a horizontal coil about the feet, and the result

was an exquisite little ball of life in soft fur which it seemed

almost sacrilegious to touch. If they escaped from the cage

during the night, I was sure to be warned of the fact by their

coming into the bed to roll themselves up close to my face or

neck. They would very rarely return to the nest in the cage to

sleep when the play was over. One of them found its way, while

clambering about on the bed, between a pair of flannel blankets

where it went to sleep near the foot, and always after that, if left

to himself, he would find that spot to sleep.

So far as I observed, they exhibited no lonesomeness when

left without a playmate, nor did I ever observe them play with

one another, neither did they quarrel.

Before I procured a suitable cage, one of the three squirrels

escaped. The other two derived great enjoyment running in the

wheel, and in this sport the two would very often participate at

the same time, but not, apparently, because the enjoyment was

greater. In this sport one of them was so unfortunate as to

break one of his hind legs above the heel; I splinted it care-

fully for him, securing the splints with thread. To this treatment

he objected emphatically, scolding and pinching much during the

operation, and when I returned at noon he had cut the threads

and removed the splints. I could not replace them until evening;

when I could attend to the little patient he was placed in my

40 Instinct and Memory exhibited by the [January, 4

hand, where he lay upon his back without a struggle, nor offering d

to bite, except once when the pain seemed greater than he could

Sp i ae, ee

endure, and then he only pressed his nose against my finger with

his mouth closed... During the whole operation those keen, full,

black, eyes gazed steadily into my own without following, so far, S

as. 1 could; observe, the movements ,about him. , He. did not,

remove the splints a second time, nor did I see him make any,

effort to.do.so, .When.the bones had knit together sufficiently, 1 4

removed .the splints, and he used: his leg well but it was.a little

stiff.

Did this |squirrel, after wearing the splints for a short time, find :

that the pain was more intense without them. than with them?

Did he discover on removing the splints an increase of pain, and

connect that increase as an effect with itsicause ? Did, he com;

nect the présence of the splints upon -his leg for the first time

with the treatment he had) received in the morning? . Had he a

reached the conclusion that the first treatment was for his relief

and, therefore, would submit to a second treatment? Had he

learned through | his experience with the first splint on and off,

that it was, for the time, the right thing in the right place?

And did that’ experience lead to a decision not to remove. the, :

splints a second time? If these questions are answered in the

affirmative, this little in ane manifested no low degree of intelliz A

gence.

thrée squirrels, two! of them had escaped, Skip’ alone remained

and in regard 'to his preferences jas, to kinds of food, it may be

said that he preferred nuts to anything) else, but would also eat

apples, cakes of various kinds and bread with apparent relish.

Occasionally he. would take a little fresh meat, both raw and

cooked, but the amount was. always small. While the three

squirrels were. together and quite young, I introduced a large

moth, Saturnia io, into the cages this resulted in a frantic eer

gle on the part of ithe squirrels, each struggling for the moth ;

was soon captured, the wings torn from the body, and the pie:

abdomen, charged with eggs, eaten by one of them. They would

also capture and:kill any beetles placed in the cage, but would

Before the onth of October following: the capii of these :

Seen

rarely eat them. I, once introduced a young chipping sparrow. —

alive, not yet feathered ; it was seized instantly and killed, but nọ |

part of it was eaten. Two NY of the same species which Le

1883.] Flying Squirrel in Confinement. åI

now have in confinement eat. birds’ eggs with great satisfaction,

even when plenty of nuts of three kinds are before them.

After the weather began to grow cold I placed, one evening, on

the floor a handful of acorns before Skip was let out, He began his

frolic as usual, and finally ran upon them.

The circumstances were such, that the acorns awakened in him

a new: and intense emotion which,in.an instant. seemed to fill his

whole being to overflowing... For;a few minutes | he appeared

transformed into,a wild -squirrel and, went bounding about the

reom shying from objects with which. he was’ perfectly familiar,

and Sstarting)at-the slightest noise, He soon returned to the pile

of nuts and took one of them) in his mouth, running. with it to.a

corner.of the room, where he made a hurried, eager effort to.bury

it, thumping the acorn upon the floor as if he was endeavoring to

push it beneath the surface.: After from three. to) five thrusts,

made.as rapidly as one can count without, separating the words,

he made as, many strokes with. his fore, feet upon, the carpet,

scratching asif- to cover) the acorn up. This. done’ he hurried

back to the pile of acorns, seized another, rushed) back. to, the

same corner again; going through the same motions as before. I

kept his pile supplied, and,he worked during a full half hour, dey

positing a few nuts incall corners of the room, behind table legs,:

behind the books in my secretary, and in the pits made. by the

tie-buttons in all the upholstered chairs. | The next evening. be-

fore letting him, into the room, I placed an assortment of nuts.

upon the floor, among which were acorns, hazel-nuts, hickory-

nuts, pecans and English walnuts, all of which he had been fed

upon frequently, exhibiting but dijtle preference for either, so far

as I observed. -

On discovering the pile, Sie did, aot: appear agitated as. on po

previous evening, but set at once to carrying off the acorns and.

hazel-nuts, hiding them with the same motions as before; but to

my surprise he touched. none of the, other nuts. I tried. him on.

succeeding nights with the same, and to me strange results, for

acorns and hazel-nuts are the only ones.that grow in the vicinity

where the squirrels were taken, The piget hirkorga is. founds An

abundance not more than ten miles distant.. ;

Have we here inherited mental attributes so ines: as not are

to originate the generic act of storing up nuts on the approach of

cold weather, but so specific a form of it as a selection of the two

42 Instinct and Memory exhibited, etc. [ January,

kinds of nuts from among three others which, beyond much

question, were the only ones of the five named with which his

near ancestors had anything to do? It should be stated in this

connection that the squirrel had eaten of the other nuts during

at least two months prior to the selection in question, with as

much apparent relish as he evinced for either the hazel-nuts or

acorns. This particular squirrel, only about five months old, had

had no experience whatever with nuts except in confinement, and

of course had never before attempted to bury them. Have we in

this instance and in similar ones, evidence that an act, executed

repeatedly during particular seasonal conditions, and under cer-

tain sense-impressions, as sight and smell, may impart so definite

a set to the organization as that it shall be transmitted to an off-

spring? Is this set a molecular one and located in the nervous

tissue? Is it so sensitive that if, when the body is experiencing

those seasonal changes due to the change of seasons in the earth

during which the original set had its origin, a combination of vibra-

tions (those accompanying the sight and smell of an acorn, for ex-

ample) like those which were instrumental in producing the set, are

again imposed upon the nervous tissues, similar feelings will be

- awakened which tend to culminate in a desire like the ones which

had prompted former generations to the act in question? And

in this way to a repetition of that act? Did not Skip on the

night in question experience a true recollection in which the

memory he had inherited was jogged by the combination of the

sight and smell of acorns and the systemic feeling of approach-

ing winter ? : é

On the 27th of June, 1880, I left Skip with a little girl to be

cared for during my absence, which lasted through the summer ;

when we met again, about the middle of September, Skip showed

unmistakable signs of a distinct remembrance of me by playing

. upon my person, in his usual manner, with great freedom. The

most decided test, however, of his keen memory, was exhibited

when he was allowed to play in the closet where Mrs. King’s —

wardrobe hung beside my own. He played with unusual vigor and

for a long time upon my garments, running in and out of pockets,

but exhibited great caution in touching hers, only alighting upon

them to jump to some of mine. He had never seen Mrs. King

before the evening on which this frolic occurred.

Saas

ee Dre iil Sc a a a

aha abe OR a E ae ak ae EA YM OLE Rae

1883. ] The Extinct Rodentia of North America, 43

THE EXTINCT RODENTIA OF NORTH AMERICA.

BY PROFESSOR E. D. COPE,

tae order of Rodentia appeared in the Wasatch' Eocene epoch

in North America, and has continued to the present time in

gradually increasing numbers. No species of the order is yet

known from the Puerco or lowest Eocene, nor are any known

from older formations. The Wasatch Eocene has given us but

few species, and these are members of a single genus. In the

Bridger epoch the number of species was larger, and they be-

longed to several genera. The order displays a sudden expan-

sion in the White River or Oligocene epoch. We know from

this formation ten species of seven genera. From the John Day

River formation we have twenty-one species of nine genera. The

Upper Miocene Loup Fork epoch has yielded remains of nine

species of seven genera. Four existing genera are represented

by extinct species in the Miocene beds; two of these begin in the

White River and two in the John Day epochs.

The four primary divisions of the order Rodentia are thus de-

fined, principally after Brandt and Alston:

I. Incisor teeth 3. Fibula not articulating with the superior condyle of the calca-

m. No intertrochlear crest of humerus. .-

1. Mandible with the angular portion springing from the outer side of the

my covering of the lower incisor. Fibula distinct from tibia.

s Malar bone not supported below by a continuation of the maxillary

i ess.” An interpterygoid fissure. .. HYSTRICOMORPHA.

rio

less rounded ; coronoid process high, falcate. Fibula distinct from

tibia. No interpterygoi SUFE., cee essesceevasees ScIUROMORPHA,.

3. Mandible with the angular portion springing from the inferior edge of the

sheath of the inferior incisor (except Bathyerginz). Fibula coéssified

with the tibia, Malar short, usually supported on a maxillary process.

No interpterygoid fissure (except in Bathyergine)...... MYOMORPHA,

II. Incisor teeth $. Fibula articulating with the condyle of the calcaneum, An

intertrochlear crest umerus.

4 No true alisphenoid canal ; fibula ankylosed to tibia below ; angle of man-

fth 3 ci swe alvenins

dible in the plane o AGOMORPHA.

These groups, as is well known, include families and genera

which display adaptations to various modes of life. Some are

exclusively subterranean, others are arboreal, and some live on

the surface of the ground. Of the latter, some are provided with

formidable spines as a protection against enemies, while others

depend for their safety on their speed. Of the latter character are

1 For the positions of the American Tertiary epochs, see AMERICAN NATURALIST,

1882, March.

44 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [ January,

the Rabbits of the Lagomorpha, and I have noted! how that they

have superadded to the ordinary rodent structure certain points

which also characterize, the most specialized. Perissodactyla and

pati

Artiodactyla among ungulates. The fusion of the inferior part of :

the fibula with the tibia (found also in the Myomorpha) belongs t to

the higher types of these orders. The strong intertrochlear ridge

of the humerus is an especial feature of the groups mentioned, dis-

tinguishing them from the lower types in all the orders. The

articulation of the fibula with the calcaneum, mentioned by Mr,

Alston, is a character of the Artiodactyla. Associated with these i is

the elongation of the bones of the limbs, especially, the posterior

one. The modification of the tarsus. in Dipus (the jerboas) evi-

dently has a direct relation’ to the projectile force transmitted

through the hind legs in rapid progression by leaping. Here the

metatarsals are coossified into a cannon bone, though, as there are

three bones, involved, the result is somewhat different from the

cannon bone of the Ruminantia.

| es ee ohn «) Loup

Wasateli Bridger | Ridel Day. | 1 Fork.,

pete

IAE ne E (porcapinesj. |

Hystric |

Hystrix L. eevee h arhe gestr ss eee | iaaa rails $ I

SCIUROMORPHA (squirrels). |

Mylagaulide i |

Mylagaulus Cope, wile deala of ge eee mebinidele sees >| 2

|| Fam. ? a

Heliscomys Cope. ....+.. vhs begun wees b onl arora siepi) T eth se Kee eee

_ Castorida: i wri i | z |

Eucastor Leidy - s... - ee ee ee ee ee ls wee eee ee ecee I

Gaston Joa sad ss paves e hiera pees I 2 I

Lehyramyide.: | | |

Plesiarctomys Brav,, 3 ee ee eee

Syllophodus Co ladak 2 agen Gee ljeeee

There r | | ane keere

iride ef $ if d | i

Meniscomys Co i RE GN ane oe 4 joes

Gymppiyohos Gs. ; l ke aaa bemp egei

Sciu "i eeeeee b$ dd | I | 2 i I

p ESTA ( rats): | | | |

r MNE oh alan Ho Li TRE A E | Fae

Eumys Leidy. asters ml Hoy gi enj, I h cheer Page

Hesperumys Waterh. ju. evalin.. pi. asolteient algei i idw

Paciculus CARE: hikes» sia ees. ea La, base ba 6,01 Teda

" Geomyidee. Mann | Dect kere

Pleurolicus Cope......:. B JQ. Dita. bed ba) oo Shules eit

Entoppychys Go PE eve ecereccee reese ee ges ranees te eeee enn | 5 sess ee

LAGOMORPHA HE i | R | 4

i | el oe p

ji j iodi sot biagan

Paleolagas Leidy. bei E P | ents ban caps | 4 | Io fe

Panolax Co ope... Eere ps | Gus! ja tek i”

Bes Bane. gone oss wee A ernie, eee ee dJa. sie

1 Bulletin U. S. Geological Survey Terrs. tv, 362, 1881.

eae team en

1883.] ., The Extinct Rodentia af North America. 45

After a general view. of the species and genera, some deduc-

tions as to the course of evolution of the order will be presented.

Eocene RODENTIA.

PLESIARCTOMYs Bravard.

This is the prevalent genus ofi Rodentia ofi the Eocene period

in- North America, Specimens were _ first. discovered, by Dr,

Hayden in Bridger, beds of Wyoming, and were described by

Dr. Leidy; I subsequently detected them in the Wasatch forma-

tion of New Mexico: ` Their remains are rather abundant in both

formations, but display but little variety of form.

The teeth have short crowns and long roots, and have the gen-

eral characters as well as numbers as the existing species of squir-

rels.. There are, however, cranial characters which distinguish it

from the existing forms of that family. The crowns of the infe-

Fic. «Parts of twocrania and the ulna and radius of e ie delicatissi-

mus pede natural Bite, from a-block of the Wasatch bed of the Big Horn river,

Wyoming. Original, from Vol. 1v, Report U. S. Geol. Surv. ‘Senden

_ ior molars support four rather small and strictly TREG tuber-

cles. There are five superior molars, of which the anterior is of

nal! size. They resemble those of Sciurus, but the transverse

46 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. (January, |

crests are obsolete or wanting. The positions corresponding to :

their external extremities are marked by more or less distinct

cusps. There is a single internal tubercle of the crown. In the

third and fourth molar of P. delcatissimus I observe rudiments of —

a second internal tubercle. The incisor teeth are compressed, —

with narrow anterior face. The enamel is not grooved, and is —

little or not at all inflected on the inner side of the shaft, while it l

is entirely so on the external face. 4

There is a large round foramen infraorbitale exterius, like that

of Ischyromys and Fiber, and entirely unlike that of Gymnopty- _

chus and Sciurus, conforming in this respect to the forms of the ;

extinct group of the Protomyidz of Pomel.

The cast of the brain indicates smooth oval hemispheres, which

leave the cerebellum and olfactory lobes entirely exposed. The

latter are ovoid and expand

ed laterally.

The species from whicli

most of the characters of the

genus as above stated have

been derived are the P. deli-

catior and P. delicatissimus.

They further display the fol-

lowing general characters:

The anterior limbs are rela-

| tively longer than in recent

species of squirrels.

posteriorlimbislarger. These —

points indicate approximation —

to the cotemporary Me

_ don rs.

—Bones of the specimens of Plesi- sn ne cement )

altas delicatissimus Leidy, represented in No characters have

Fig. 1. Fig. a, humerus, front view ; 4, prox- i dis

mal e of ulna and radius. Fig. ¢ 5 Risti eee rs Tey MoT g i

cart oF tibia posterior side; d, same Pad be- tinguish the American

low; e, astragalus from above ; , astragalus „nu!

and calcaneum, distal ends. ciel trata cies as representing a gen

Vol. Iv, Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs. distinct from the Plesiar

Pie. 2.

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 47

mys gervaisi of the French Eocene. Bravard briefly dis-

tinguishes the genus as distinct from Arctomys in the greater

thickness of the angles of the molars, which thus become tuber-

cles. Only the mandible and mandibular teeth of the P. ger-

vatsu are known. It has been found in the Upper Eocene, near

Perreal, Apt, France.

I have seen six species of this genus, of which two, P. hians

Cope, and P. undans Marsh, belong to the Bridger beds only;

one P. leptodus Cope, to the Washakie; one P. duccatus Cope,

to the Wasatch and Wind river, and two, P. delicatior Leidy, and

P. delicatissimus, Leidy, to all the Eocenes except the Washakie.

The following comparison of the P. delicatissimus with the Sciurus

niger, or common gray squirrel, may be made. The pelvis is longer

as compared with the bones of the fore leg. The humerus is longer

as compared with the length of the ulna and radius. The species

exceeds the S. ziger in size, one-fourth linear.

It is then probable that the species of this, the oldest known

genus of Rodentia, were arboreal, like the squirrels‘’of the present

geological period.

SYLLOPHODus Cope.

This genus is much like Theridomys of the European Upper

Eocene and Lower Miocene, and may be the same. The species

were smaller than those of the last described, and are only known

from lower jaws. These contain teeth which differ from those

of Plesiarctomys in having cross-crests which are slightly con-

nected at one side. They look like the unworn condition of

Ischyromys, of which genus they may be the ancestor. Two

species, S. minimus and S. fraternus have been described by Leidy.

Both are from the Bridger horizon.

MIocENE RODENTIA.

Iscuyromys Leidy.

The essential features are, dentition, I.,; C., $8; M., į; the molars

with two crescents on the inner side above, each of which gives

rise to a cross-ridge to the outer margin. In the mandibular

series the crests and crescent have a reversed relation. No

cementum.

To the above characters given by Dr. Leidy, I have added the

absence of postfrontal processes, and the superior position of the

infraorbital foramen. Also that the pterygoid fossa is large, and

48 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [January,

that its inner and outer plates are well developed, and sub-

equal,

The bones of the limbs are generally similar to those of the

Sciuridz. In this family the genus Gymnoptychus nearly resem-

bles Ischyromys in dental characters. But besides the important

difference in the former and position of the infra-orbital foramen,

-Ischyromys has an excavated posterior palatal border.

Fic. 3.—Zschyromys pus Leidy, natural size, from the White river beds of Color-

ado, original, from the Report U. S. Geol. Surv. Terrs. a; 4, c, cranium; g, mandi oe

from above.

Dr. Leidy remarks that this genus belongs to the family of the _

Sciuridz. This is indicated by the dental characters ; but in some —

other respects there is a greater divergence from the squirrels and _

marmots than is the case with the genus Gymnoptychus. Thus,

the large foranien infraorbitale anterius occupies the elevated

position at the origin of the zygomatic arch seen in the porcupines

and cavies. There is no superciliary ridge nor post-orbital pro- 7

cess as in most Sciuridæ, but the front is contracted between the

orbits in the same manner as, but to a less degree than, in Fiber,

and the Eocene Plesiarctomys Brav. Both the last named and

Ischyromys present many points of Aiet epa to Pomel’s tribe

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 49

of Protomyide, but differ from any of the genera he has included

in it, .

This family is thus defined by Pomel 2 “ Infraorbital foramen

as large as in the Hystricidz, and by the position of the angular

apophysis of the mandible almost in the general plane of the hori-

zontal ramus. The jugal bone, at least in those species where we

have observed it, is very much enlarged at its anterior portion,

and the orbit is almost superior.”

These characters apply to Ischyromys, excepting as regards

malar bone, which is principally unknown in the latter. |

Another family, the Ischyromyidz, has been proposed by

E. R. Alston, for the reception of this genus, to which he thinks

with me? Plesiarctomys (=Pseudotomus) should be referred.

He thus defines the family :* “ Dentition as in Sciuridz ; skull re-

sembling Castoridz, but with the infra-orbital opening large, a

sagittal crest; no post-orbital processes ; palate broad ; basioccipi- -

tal keeled.”

Doubtless Ischyromys belongs to an extinct family, but which

of the above names is available for it I do not yet know. I would

characterize it as follows:

-Dentition as in Sciuridæ, infraorbital foramen large, superior ;

pterygoid fossa large, with well-developed exterior as well as in-

‘ ferior walls; a sagittal crest.

The superior position of the infraorbital foramen and the well-

Pi ay pterygoid lamine are characteristics found in the

Murid

Bats one species of this genus is known, the /schyromys pe

Leidy. The skull is as large as that of a prairie marmot.

limbs are comparatively small, so that the animal was not sakes

arboreal in its habits.

Sciurus Linn. (true squirrels).

In this genus the molars are § or j, the first superior small

when present. The grinding surfaces of the crowns when unworn

present in the superior series a single internal cusp, which is low -

and anteroposterior. From this there extend to the external

border of the crown two low transverse ridges, whose exterior

1 Catalogue Method. et Descr. de Vertebres Foss. de le Bass. de la Loire, 1853, p-

w :

* Annual Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., 1873 (1874), P. 477-

3 Proceed. Zool. Society London, E p 78.

VOL. XVIIL.—NO, 1,

a siete

50 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [January,

terminations are somewhat enlarged, In the lower jaw the trans-

verse ridges are not visible, and there is a low tubercule at’each

angle of the crown, between which there may be others on the

border of the crown. Attrition gives the grinding surface of the

latter a basin-like character. The foramen wfraorbitale is a short,

narrow fissure, situated in the inferior part of the maxillary bone

in front of its tooth-bearing portion, but descending to the level

of the alveolar border.

The well-known characters of this genus are found in the man-

dibles of species which I ob-

tained from the White River —

Miocene beds of Colorado

and the John Day of Oregon. —

The teeth display the sub-

quadrate form of this genus,

without any tendency to the ©

Spermophilus. Two of the —

species, S. vortmani Cope and ~

S. relictu$ Cope are as large as |

z our gray and red squirrels, |

Fic, 4.—Skuil and jaws of species of Sci- TTF ectively , and the third, 5. ;

urus; original, from Vol. rv Report U. S. Ge- bal/ovianus Cope; is about the :

er eiea igs aM, S. ballovionus: size of the Tamias quadrivi-

larged. Figs. e-f, S. relictus, enlarged one- fatus or Western chip-munk. i

half. g-h, S. vortmani, natural size. ke S rie Gs kon ia 4

White River formation, and the two other species from the John |

Day. . i

GYMNOPTYCHUS Cope. :

In dentition this genus is much like Ischyromys. There arè

only four superior molars,

As compared with the existing genera of squirrels, it differs in —

the structure of the molar teeth. The arrangement of the tuber- —

cles and crests is more complex than in any of them, excepting —

Pteromys. Thus in all of them there is but one internal crescent —

of the superior molars, and but two or three cross-crests; while in —

the inferior molars the arrangement is unlike that of the superior

teeth, the cross-crests being marginal only. In Pteromys (F. .

- Cav.) the transverse valleys of the inferior series of Gymnopty- —

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 5I

chus are represented by numerous iso-

lated fossettes. The structure of the

molars in the fossil genus is exactly

like that which I have described as

found in Eumys, extending even to the

details. This is curious, as that genus

is probably a Myomorph.

The protrusion of the posterior ex-

tremity of the alveolor sheath of the in-

ferior incisor on the outer side of the

ascending ramus is not exhibited by the

North American Sciuridæ which I have

examined, nor by any of the extinct gen-

era herein described, excepting Castor

and the Geomyidæ. Itis seen in a lesser

degree i in the house and wood mice, the ~%

jumping mouse and meadow mouse, all ig, 52-2, Gymnoptychus

Muride. Agee Cope, from the White

d of Colorado. a,

Two species of this genus are certainly eh size; d-d, enlarged,

e, lower jaw of Gymnoptychus

known. They belong to the White $- ebhus: Copey eas DÈ

River horizon of Colorado. They dif- oad same locality. Orig-

„fer, so far as known, chiefly in size, and '™*"

in the proportions of the inferior premolar tooth. See Fig. 5.

Mensıscomys Cope.

This genus is readily distinguished from all the others here

treated of, by the complexity of the structure of its molar teeth,

and the curious resemblances that some of them present to the

molars of the hoofed mammalia. They are without enamel inflec-

tions, and the triturating surface exhibits two external and one

internal crescentic sections of the investing enamel. On the sec-

ond superior molar there are three external crescents, and the

first molar is simply conic. Between the inner and external cres-

cents there are the curved edges of enamel plates directed ob-

liquely and transversely. The grinding surfaces of the inferior

molars display; in the unworn condition, curved transverse crests,

connected longitudinally on the median line; on wearing, the

lateral emarginations of the enamel become shallower, disap-

pearing from the inner side, but remaining on the outer. Incisor

teeth not grooved. Foramen infraorbitale anterius small inferior,

52 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. | January,

‘and near the orbit. Postorbital processes; no sagittal crest.

Fic. 6,—Cranium, jaws and

teeth of Meniscomys Be bal

Cope, from the John D

f Oregon; natural Sie aad

enlarged

The characters of the dentition of this

genus resembles those of the genus

Pteromys, which includes the large fly-

ing squirrels of Asia and the Malaysian

archipelago, to which region they are

confined. The superior molars differ

from those of Pteromys in wanting all

re-entrant enamel inflection.

The general characters of the skeleton

are unknown. A femur is rather slen-

der, and a tibia rather elongate, showing

that the limbs are not short.

Four species of this genus are known

to me, all from the John Day Miocene

of Oregon. They differ considerably in

the details of the structure of the mo-

lar teeth. Those of the Meniscomys

hippodus are more prismatic than those

of the other species, and the external

face is not inflected at the grinding sur-

face as in them. Nevertheless the molars

have short roots. The arrangement of the crests of the crown of

Fic. < == pern cavatus

Caper P of cranium and lo

‘aw of one e individual from the Joh nitens Marsh, they are complex and

much wrinkled, whiletperowers molars —

Day river, ih a nat. size

enlarged, Origina

the superior molars is a good deal

like that to be seen in the molars of

some of the later three-toed horses,

if the cementum be removed. (Fig.

6.)

In the M. cavatus Cope (Fig. Z%

the constitution of the superior molars

is more complex, while that of the —

inferior molars is more simple. The

bulla of the ear is set with simple

transverse septa within, while in the

M. hippodus their internal face has —

a reticulate structure like tripe. The —

superior molars of the M. Holophus .

Cope (Fig. 8, a, 6) have their crests —

ower and cusps unwrinkled. In. the

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 53

are most complex with reticulate

ridges. (Fig. 8, c.)

There is a suggestive resemblance

“between the forms of the molar teeth

of the Meniscomys hippodus and those

of the Haplodontia rufa now living

in Oregon. The two genera have

doubtless had a common origin, but

the present. differences are consider-

able. Thus the Haplodontia has an

extended osseous cavum tympani,

which does not exist in Menisco-

"mys,

CASTOR Linn,

G. 8.—a-é, superior molars af

The beaver is the largest rodent Memscomy iolophus, — é,

inferior mola M. nitens from

of the northern hemisphere, and has iey ska aes a. skull of the Af.

the widest distribution. It was ZA hippodus, nat. size. oes from

ceded in the Miocene pried by he John Day river, Oregon

Fic. 9.—Skull of Castor peninsulatus Cope, nat. size. From the John Day epoch,

Oregon. Original.

54 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. (January, d

number ot species in both the eastern and western continents,

of inferior size and more restricted distribution. The greater

number of these belong, I believe, to the same genus as

the Castor fiber, though

they have been separated

under the name of Steneo-

fiber Geoffr. There is no

essential difference in the

dentition, and it is probable

that. the extinct species had

the peculiar flat tail of the

dal vertebrz of the C. pan-

sus, from Nebraska, have

exactly the character of

those of the beaver.

The family of the Castor-

ide differs from the Sciuri-

dz in the absence of post-

orbital angles or processes,

and the presence of a pro-

auditorius externus. In

both ofthese points it agrees

with the Haplodontiide, a

distinguished from the Cas-

toridæ on various grounds.

I do not think any of his

characters are tenable, ex-

cepting that drawn from

the form of the mandible,

which is expressed thus in

Fic. 10.—Skull and bones of cane pore ed ul i f mandi-

sulatus Cope, represented in S P S .

Fig. 9. occi- :

pital view; 4, c, right ramus of pact Bet d, ble much twisted.” This —

right femur. Natural size. character will be better de-

scribed as follows: Angle of mandible with a transverse edge 4

due to inflection on the one hand, and production into an ie ; 1

externally; the inflection bounding a large interno-posterior fossa.

modern beaver. The cau:

family which Mr. Alston has ~

Mr. Alston’s diagnosis:

longed tube of the meatus j

2i 3 E E E E EEA à

EF SE E E ey O ES E R EAEE a E ATA E E

E aa

i oe aa

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 55

The Haplodonta rufa is a curious burrowing rodent found in

the Cascade mountains of Oregon, and is known as showtl or

sewellel. It has no tail.

The longest known species of this genus is the C. viciacensis,

which is common in the Miocenes in several parts of Europe.

In North America the C. nebrascensis Leidy, is stated by Hay-

den and Leidy to be found in the White River formation. It is

of about the same dimensions as the European species. So are the

C. peninsulatus Cope, from the John Day River epoch of Oregon,

and the C. pansus of the Loup Fork horizon of

New Mexico and Nebraska (see Fig. 11). The

smallest species is the C. gradatus Cope, a

contemporary of the C. peninsulatus in Ore-

gon. None of these species are nearly so large

as the recent beaver.

Eucastor Allen.

Besides the preceding, there are some other

forms of beavers in the late Tertiaries of North

America and Europe.

The Castor tortus was described by Leidy

from the Loup Fork formation of Nebraska.

He coined the subgeneric name Eucastor for

it without corresponding definition. In his-

monograph of the Castoride, J. A. Allen re-

ferred this species! to a genus distinct from €

Castor, and defined it, using for it Leidy’s aed seman ie ee

name Eucastor, This genus appears to me to Shock va b, 30 4 pi

be valid. The three genera of Castoridz will ge ee ee

m Sherry Nat

then be defined as follows: size. Origina

Molars and premolars with one inner and two or three outer folds. ETE Castor,

“ Inferior premolar and third superior molar elongate, with four enamel folds; the

rest with only two” . . Diobroticus

Superior premolar enlarged, with one inner fold; inferior dii a with two

lakes... s o o Eucastor.

1 Monographs of North American Rodentia, Coues and Allen, U. S. Geol. Surv.

Terrs., 1877, Xt, p. 450.

` ? 3

56 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. (January,

‘The Eucastor tortus was larger than any of the extinct species

_ of Castor, but was considerably smaller than the beaver. The

Diobroticus trogontherium of Europe was a still larger species, one-

fifth larger than the beaver in dimensions.

MYLAGAULUs Cope. Be

The reduction of the posterior molars, seen in Eucastor, is —

carried to a still higher degree in —

this genus. The last or fourth mo- —

lar has disappeared, and the indica- `

tions from the specimens are, that —

the third was early shed. The sec- —

ond is a small tooth, while the first —

“is enormous, and performed the —

greater part of the function of mas- ‘

tication. :

The characters of the genus are: |

Inferior molars three, rootless; the —

first much larger than the others. —

Enamel inclosing the first molar not ~

` inflected ; but numerous fossettes on —

Fic. 12.—a, b,c, Mylagaulus mon

odon Cope, lower j jaw and a separate

tooth, natural size; d, M. sesquipe- the grinding surface of the crown, —

dalis, first inferior molar, nat. si

Original, From the Loup Fork epoch whose long diameter is anteroposte-

of Nebraska. rior. 4

The only lower jaw ofa species of this genus in my pòsses 4

presents a small part of the base of the angle and of the coronoid —

‘process. These parts are so nearly in the plane of the incisive

alveolus as to lead to the belief that the genus Mylagaulus

longs to the sub-order Sciuromorpha. The rootless teeth with

deep enamel fossettes approximates it to the Castoridz, but it

pears to me that a new family group must be established for its

reception. Such characters are the presence of only three in-

of the external sheathing enamel.

-whether the Hystrix refossa Gerv, has any relation to this famil

Two species of this genus are known: a larger M. monodi

Cope, and a smaller, M. sesquipedalis Cope. Both are from the

Loup Fork epoch of Nebraska. The former was about the size

of the wood-chuck (Arctomys monax), to judge by the dimensions i

of its lower jaw. Itis larger than the M. sesquipedalis, and has

different arrangement of the enamel fossettes. In that species, i

pes

1883. ] The Extinct. Rodentia of North America. 57

stead of being in three parallel lines, the middle line is only repre-

sented by its extremities. At the middle of the crown the fos-

settes of the internal line are incurved so as to be nearly in con-

tact with the fossettes of the external line.

HE Iiscomys Cope.

Inferior molars four-rooted, the crowns supporting four cusps

in transverse pairs. A broad ledge or cingulum projecting on the

external side from base of the cusps. The inferior incisor com-

pressed, not grooved, and with the enamel, without sculpture.

Fic. 13.—a-d, lower jaws of Heliscomys vetus Cope; a, natural size p 4, c, d, €n-

larged ; ¢, f, Eumys elegans Leidy, natural size ; e, cranium from above; J, left ramus

of lower jaw, external side. All from the White River epoch of Colorado; ‘Original.

This genus is only represented by a small number of speci-

mens, which are mandibular rami exclusively. Its special affini-

ties therefore cannot be ascertained, and even its general position

remains somewhat doubtful. There is some probability, however,

that it belongs to the Myomorpha, as the type of dentition is much

more like that of the genera of that group than those of the Sci-

uromorpha. To the Hystricomorpha it does not belong.

As compared with known genera of Myomorpha, it is at once

separated from many of them by the presence of a premolar tooth.

Among recent genera of this sub-order, Sminthus possesses this

tooth in both jaws, and Meriones in the upper jaw only. It is

present in both jaws in the Sciuromorpha generally. The tuber-

cles of the teeth resemble those of the Muridz, but their disposi-

tion is unlike that of any existing North American genus. re-

mote approximation to it is seen in the genus Syllophodus of the

Bridger Eocene formation, where there are four subquadrate

molars with tubercles; but the latter form two transverse crests,

with an additional small intermediate tubercle, and the wide cin-

gulum is absent.

But one species of Heliscomys is known, the H. vetus, from the

White River epoch of Colorado. It is not larger than the domestic

mouse (Mus musculus).

(To be continued.)

58 Editors Table. (January, a

EDITORS’ TABLE. :

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE,

With 1883 the AmERIcAN NATURALIST commences the —

seventeenth year of its existence. It enters this period with a —

larger constituency of readers and contributors than it has had

at any time in the past. It is, however, not only on the numbers —

but on the quality of its patrons that the management feels dis-

posed to congratulate itself. It appears to be the most favored

medium of publication of the naturalists and biologists of the

United States, when they wish to bring the results of their inves-

tigations before the general public in a more or less popular form.

We hope to continue to deserve the favors of our friends, and |

present them this month with solid evidence of our intentions in —

this respect. :

The present number contains thirty pages more than the —

standard number heretofore published, and it is intended that

this increased amount shall be permanent. We add two new de-

partments, those of physiology and psychology, which supply a

need we have long felt. These give us a total of ten depart- —

ments, the greater number of which are separately sub-edited by

able scientific men. It is especially our aim to preserve the well-

known national character of the NATuRALIsT. Our editors repre-

sent different regions ; one resides in Boston, one in Providence, |

three in Philadelphia, two in Washington, one in Ann Arbor, —

Michigan, and one in Iowa. For our new departments we hope —

to secure the services of representative men in other sections.

An especial feature of the NATURALIST is the preference which —

it gives to American work and workers. Zt is the only magazine —

in the world to-day which keeps its readers en rapport with the work —

of Americans in the field of the natural sciences, To do this more —

perfectly in the future will be the object of its managers and —

editors. 7

The zoôlogy of the future is to be more and more the ©

study of living beings, rather than of museum-preserved skin —

and bones. The best schools in Europe for the zodlogist are the ©

sea-side laboratories at Naples, at Roscoff and Paukson ie m a

In England and this country museum-t :

best results and have most advanced biology by deep-sea dredging —

and marine exploration, for the sea has been the source of all life. _

It is refreshing to read of Haeckel’s journey to Ceylon. Like an old- _

1883. ] Editors’ Table. 59

time naturalist he goes into raptures over the beauties and won-

ders of tropical scenery, the luxuriant equatorial vegetation, the

interesting human races of Ceylon—all this, while pursuing his

special researches. It is a refreshing sign of the times that as

histologists, embryologists and anatomists, we can do without

museums, elaborate and costly piles of brick and mortar, but can

by the ever resounding sea, the flowing river, the quiet lake, com-

mune with living nature. The paleontologist even, leaving his

boxes of bones, his drawers of disjointed skeletons and fossil

shells, while digging in the cemeteries of departed life forms, gets

his meed of inspiration, as ennobling in its way as Gray’s “ Elegy

written in a Country Churchyard.”

There is little doubt but that the zodlogical student, after a year

or more spent in Germany, returns. with new ideas, new fields of

research and new methods. Incomparably the best school, how-

ever, for the advanced American student, would be a year or

more spent at the Zodlogical Laboratory at Naples. It is hoped

that the means may be found in the United States to engage a

table and send a promising working naturalist to Naples.

In this connection the proposed permanent zoological laboratory

in connection with the work of the U.S. Fish Commission, at Wood's

Holl, is of interest. It is designed to erect a permanent building,

with work-rooms, large tanks and all the apparatus for studying

the habits and development of marine animals, from s arks and

the food-fishes down to the minutest forms of life. A steamer of

1000 tons is now building especially designed for deep-sea dredg-

ing in the Atlantic ocean. She is to be fitted with electric lights

which can be lowered 500 fathoms, so as to light up the sea-bot-

tom. With these appliances and means for investigation, it only

remains to furnish the men who can make the best use of such

grand facilities, and produce work like that which has emanated

from Naples and Roscoff.

The National Academy of Sciences has, at present, ninety-

six members and four honorary members. The possible number

of members is one hundred. There are nine foreign associates.

The principal localities which furnish the members and honorary

members are as follows: Washington, 15; Philadelphia, 13; Bos-

ton and neighborhood, 13; New York and neighborhood, 12;

New Haven, 12; San Francisco and neighborhood, 4; Princeton,

; Baltimore and St. Louis each 2. The condition of election to

the National Academy is original work done, as in the academies

of sciences of Europe. A much more rigid scrutiny is now given

to the claims of candidates than was the case at the time of the

organization of the Academy. No person can now be elected to

membership who cannot show a record of original work of a high

standard. A few of our ablest scientists are, however, not yet

members, but their election is only a question of time. . By the

60 Recent Literature, [January, —

death of Professor W. B. Rogers the office of president is now :

vacant. The candidates for the position most spoken of, are Pro- —

fessor J. D. Dana, Professor F. A. P. Barnard and Professor James

Hall.

—— The numbers of the AMERICAN NATURALIST for 1882 were —

issued on the following dates: January, Dec. 30, 1881; February,

January 25, 1882; March, Feb. 24, 1882; April, March, 22, 1882;

May, April 24, 1882; June, May 20, 1882; July, June 22, 1882;

August, July 28, 1882; September, Aug. 24, 1882; October,

Sept. 28, 1882; November, Oct. 28, 1882; December, Dec. 2,

1882. :

RECENT LITERATURE.

A New Eprrion oF Sacus’ Borany.' It is now more than

seven years since the English-speaking and reading botanists were —

laid under great obligations to Macmillan & Co., for bringing out —

the translation of the third edition of Sachs’ Lehrbuch, made by —

Bennett and Dyer. During this period it is safe to say that no |

single book on morphological and physiological botany has been —

more studied and consulted by advanced students, and it is

not too much to affirm that few books have ever exerted a more —

beneficial effect upon a science, than it has in England and Amer-

ica. We have now a new English edition of this important work, ©

based upon the fourth German edition of the Lehrbuch, but with —

many additions, corrections and modifications by Dr. Vines, who, —

for some years has been well known as a careful student and in-

vestigator. re

It would be impossible within the limits of an ordinary review

to notice the peculiarities of the new edition, containing as it does —

over one hundred pages more matter than the old one. New para-

Se ake (Mere ys AE

E die rhe ee

occur here and there in the body of the book, and especially in

the appendix. We note with pleasure the remark [Appendix, p-

955], that as the nuclei of the coalescing myxoamcebe remain

distinct, “the plasmodium can no longer be regarded as the

equivalent of a zygospore, and the position of the Myxomycetes

among the Zygomycetes is untenable.” This relegates the Myxo-

mycetes to the Protophytes, where they were first placed by

Fischer, and subsequently by us in our “ Botany.’?

1 Text-Book of Botany, Morphological and Physiological. By Jurus SACHS, Pro-

fessor of Botany in the University of Wurzburg. Edited, with an Appendix, by

Sipney H.V , M. A., D. Sc., F. L. S., Fellow and Lecturer of Christ College,

Cambridge. Second Edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882, New York:

i o.

2 Botany for High Schools and Colleges, New York, 1880.

1883.] Recent Literature. 61

The proposition is made [Appendix, p. 956], to unite the Zygo-

sporez and the Oosporee, because of the apparent extension of the

Fucoidez and Siphonez into these two groups. Another suggest-

ive paragraph on p. 956, gives a short account of DeBary's views

respecting the affinities of the groups of the higher Fungi, as ex-

pressed in his Beitrage (No. 4, 1881). After giving other appa-

rent relationship, it is stated that “the Uredinez form one of the

more highly developed groups of the Ascomycetous series,” ex-

actly the position which we have assigned them. (Botany, p. 310,

et seq.)

The mechanical execution of the volume is similar to that of

the first edition, there being the same clear type, and excellently

printed figures. Of the latter there are thirty-one more than in the

previous edition. To say that there are no errors or inconsist-

encies of translation or editing, would be to claim a perfection im-

possible in so large a volume. The.work has been so well done

that every botanist-in this country may well thank the editor for

his labor. However, a few things might have been avoided; for

example, on p. 62, the term “metabolism” is used instead of

“metastasis,” and it is there stated that it “ will be adopted in the

following pages,” but upon turning to page 703, one finds “As-

similation and Metastasis” as in the old edition. There is, more-

over, a great difficulty in distinguishing between the foot-notes

added by the editors of the first and second editions. These, how-

pai are but small blemishes in a great and valuable work.—

VEAB:

DISPOSITION OF THE CERVICAL VERTEBR OF CHELONIANS.'—

M. Vaillant has here given to the world the results of his studies

of the cervical vertebra of nearly fifty species of Chelonians, in-

cluding Emys ornata, Testudo sulcata, Cinosternum pennsylvanicum,

Thalassochelys caretta, Chelodina longicollis, Sternotherus cas-

taneus, and Trionyx javanicus, and thus ranging through all the

principal groups of the order.

is portion of the skeleton has heretofore been but little stu-

died, and our author reviews all previous notices of it in the most

thorough manner, The variations in structure are greater than

would be expected in so homogeneous an order, yet are correlated

with the habits of the various species, dependant in all cases upon

their mobile neck for the power of seizing their food. Notwith-

standing this diversity, M. Vaillant states that the eight cervical

vertebre can always be readily distinguished from those of other

parts of the vertebral column. f

The greater portion of the article is taken up by technical

description and comparison of these bones in the various species

xamined, but a resume, with a diagrammatic tableau, brings

‘Memoirs sur la Disposition des Vertebres Cervicales chez les Chelonians. Par

M. LEON VAILLANT. (Présentéa l’ Academie des Sciences le 15 Nov. 1880, Annales

Sci. Nat. Zool., Art. No. 7.)

62 3 Recent Literature. (January,

Ginglymoid articulations vary also from three to none, but

their position is always between the hindermost vertebrz. sé

ginglymoid articulations have direct relation to the mode it

which the neck is retracted, since they permit only movements

of flexion and extension; thus it is easy to comprehend their

absence among the pleuroderes, in which the retraction of the

neck is performed by a deduction. The marine turtles have only —

one ginglymoid articulation, and thus in this respect stand —

between the pleuroderes and the true cryptoderes, which have

two or three. 4

The Trionychidæ have only one or two ginglymoid articulations,

but their fewness is more than counter-balanced by the perfecti

supplementary ginglymus presented by the dorso-cervical articu- :

lation. From the possession of this peculiarity the Trionychidæ —

constitute a type apart from other Chelonians. :

The variations in the double-convex vertebrz in forms, evidently i

nearly related, renders their physiological function less easy to

determine, yet it is evident they play an important part in the re- a

traction of the neck. The marine turtles possess but one of i

these vertebræ, and this has but slight convexities. a

The Chelydras, Cinosternes and Staurotypes have also but one,

with convexities more prominent than in the marine turtles (Tha-

lassians), and in these tortoises, especially the ftrst group, the re-

traction of the neck is incomplete, although more perfect than in

the marine turtles. The true cryptoderes, Testudo, Emys, Cistudo,

Terrapene, etc., have two such vertebræ ; while the pleuroderes with

long necks have two; those with shorter necks one. M. Vaillant

does not venture to assign a reason for the variable position occu-

pied by these double-convex vertebra, since it is not constant

even in the same genus.

M. Vaillant promises to follow up his valuable researches upon

the hard parts by a study of the actual mode of articulation and

of the muscles. Not only is the mode of articulation very vari-

varieties. _ :

In most cases the atlas is distinct from the odontoid process,

whick is united by a close amphiarthrosis to the second vertebra,

and movements are effected by articulations which unite it to the

three portions of the atlas, which in very old individuals is a sin-

gle bone. In most pleuroderes the odontoid apophysis is firmly

1883. ] Recent Literature. 63

united to the atlas, and movement is limited to that possible be-

tween the adjoining facets of the odontoid and atlas, but in E/seya

latisternum the odontoid process is distinct. On the other hand,

Cycloderma aubryi among the Trionychidz has these parts united

to that any extended movement seems impossible.

M. Vaillant does not consider the retraction or non-retraction

of the neck a leading character, and prefers to keep the usual

classification into the three great families of Cheloniida, Triony-

chide, and Testudinide. The first of these includes the Thalassi-

ans and the Chelodinz (pleuroderes), the second the Trionychide

only; the third the Chelydina (pleuroderes) and Chersemydina,

which last group embraces the incompletely cryptodere Chely-

dre and the truly cryptodere Testudinez.

Whatever difference of opinion there may be upon the value

of certain characters in classification, we will not deny the force

of M. Vaillant’s argument, which is as follows:

“ When we consider that animals as intimately related as are

Testudo pusilla and Pyxis arachnoides present really important dif-

ferences in the constitution of the cervical part of the back bone,

we cannot but place a great distinction between genera established

from the elements at the disposal of the palzontologist and those

established by the more complete study of the whole structure

of living animals.”

ALLEN’s Human Anatomy.'—The object of the author of this

work is to present the facts of human anatomy in the manner

best suited to the requirements of the student and practitioner of

medicine. It is, in fact, intended to be a physician’s human an-

atomy, not one for the use of the scientist or the surgeon, for one

or the other of whom most works upon anatomy have been writ-

ten. As surgical and general medical practice are not separated

from each other in this country to the same extent that they are

in Europe, the author believes rightly that there is room for a

work which shall accurately and concisely express the present

state of anatomical science, including every application thereof

needed by the physician.

; e form and construction of the human body, the variations

in the condition of the various organs within the limits of health,

the relations of the parts to each other, both topographically and

clinically ; the uses of the organs, and the nature and general be-

havior of morbid processes with the manner in which they are

modified by locality, should all be known to the physician, and

will obtain ample treatment in this work. Aware that some of

these desiderata trench upon physiology, Dr. Allen engages only

to treat of them from an anatomical point of view. Those scien-

tists who are not physicians will be pleased to find that the work

z | System of Human Anatomy, including its medical and surgical relations. By

Harrison Allen, M.D. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea’s Son & Ce., 1882.

64 Recent Literature. [January, `

contains an elaborate description of the tissues; an accountof —

the normal development of the body, and a section upon, mon-

strosities ; while not the least useful part to those engaged in the ©

medical profession will be that devoted to the method of conduct- _

ing post-mortem examinations, and to medico-legal matters gen-

erally. a

The work will appear in six sections, two of which, that on

Histology, by E. O. Shakespeare, M.D., and that on Bones and —

joints, by Dr. Allen, are already issued. . ee

The other sections are as follows: m1. Muscles and fascia; |

Iv. Arteries, veins and lymphatics; v., Nervous system; VL 1

Organs of sense, of digestion, and genito-urinary organs. The |

section upon histology contains twelve delicately executed plates

and numerous woodcuts, and treats fully and. clearly upon the

lymph, blood, connective tissue, epithelium, cartilage, bone, mus- |

ele, nervous tissue; etc. a

In the second section, which is illustrated with thirty plates, —

an-innovation is introduced which ought to be extensively fol- —

lowed. Each bone ‘figured is drawn to a scale sufficiently large —

to enable the names of all the parts, processes, foramina, etc., to

be printed upon or around them, thus obviating the waste of time

and lack of precision caused by literal or numbered references. —

Nothing more complete than the figures and descriptions given —

of both bones and joints can well be desired, and if the rest of thé

work is equal to the parts before us, Dr. Allen may be congratu-

lated upon having to a great extent attained the goal aimed at. —

The greatest drawback to the work is its high price; small >

enough, probably, to the well-established physician, but very —

large to the student and commencing practitioner, to both of —

whom its acquisition would bea boon. i

TuHomas’s REPORT ON THE Noxious AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS

oF Ixi1no1s.—This report is principally composed of that of D.

W. Coquillet, on the insects of Northern Illinois, and of that of

Professor G. H. French. The former notes the occurrence 1

destructive numbers, in the year 1881, of the corn or boll worm

(Heliothis armigera), the imported currant worm (ematus ventri

cosus), the gooseberry worm, and the larva of Eupilhecta iter

rupto-fasciata Packard, the latter of which devours the interior ¢

the currant berry. Descriptions of the principal injurious insects

and their methods of destruction, with an account of their insect

enemies, and mention of such remedies as have been found use-

1883.) 3 Recent Literature. 65

be protected, and then to apply more tar. Mr. Coquillet has

proved that the army worm produces three broods in a season,

and hibernates in the larva state: Some army worms live as cut

worms, never migrating, while others migrate in large armies

from field to field, and the writer argues cogently that the migrat-

ing worms are a distinct race, the progeny of moths, the cater-

pillars of which lived in marshes, and acquired the habit of mi-

grating before the annual overflows; while the sedentary worms

are bred from moths that for many generations have lived in the

same locality. Professor French describes a new wheat-straw

worm (/sosoma allynit), and gives a most interesting history of

the depredations of the boll worms.

THE GEOLOGY oF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, ETC.'—This is among

the latest contributions of the Geologi¢al Survey and is introduced

by a preface of sixteen pages (entitled a letter of transmittal) by

Professor Lesley and ninety-four pages of Mr. Hall’s report. The

first fourteen pages of this latter contain the general remarks of Mr.

Hall, with a table of the order of the formations as he conceives

them to be, and a condensed summary of his reasons for believing

the South Valley Hill rocks and the Philadelphia and Chestnut

Hill schists superior to the Chester Valley limestone. The suc-

ceeding thirty-three pages are devoted to general descriptions of

the formations and contain numerous sketches, small maps and

sections. Following these are forty-three pages of township geol-

ogy, which complete Mr. Hall’s part of the volume. The remain-

ing forty-three pages are devoted to the chemical work of Dr.

Genth and Mr. F. A. Genth, Jr.

_ This work is an exceedingly important one because it brings to

a head in the work of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania a

difference of theory which has already come to the surface in other

parts of this country and indeed in Europe as to the relative ages

of various groups of Palzozoic and Eozoic rocks. Professor Les-

ey in his introduction pays a justly merited tribute to the saga-

city of Professor John F. Frazer, of the first Geological Survey of

Pennsylvania. ;

e states, on what ground does not appear in the volume, that

the serpentine which Mr. Hall traces to Bryn Mawr, does not con-

tinue its south-westwardly course through Delaware and Chester

counties, and asserts, that ‘we can accept the palæozoic age of

the Philadelphia rocks with a moderately reserved confidence.”

Mr. Hall's argument may be condensed somewhat as follows:

er ThE Philadelphia, Manayunk and Chestnut Hill beds or

South Valley Hill, which is equivalent to part of them, cannot be

older than the Laurentian.” (Roger's third Belt). This will be

generally admitted, © Aaii ,

* The ( Phil: [a co ontgomery and

Bucks, by Chants Br Hates with analne of mocks BE. A. Gerth and FA

Genth, Jr. Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, C. 6.

VOL. XVII.—wNo, I. 5

66 Recent Literature. _ [January,

2. “It is clear that the Potsdam sandstone was deposited on

the third belt.” l

This is not in conformity with numberless observations made

in Adams, York, Lancaster and Chester counties as may be seen

by consulting the maps and text of reports, C, CC, and CCC and

of Chester county when it is published, as well as notes made b;

Dr. Frazer in the company of Mr. Hall at Harper’s Ferry. i3

3. “ But it is equally clear that the mica schists and gneisses

are not found between the Primal and the rocks of the third belt.”

This statement is inconsistent with a whole host of observations

on the South mountain and in the counties named above as well

as in Cumberland and Franklin. f

4. “If the mica schists were older than the Potsdam, they must

have been deposited up to a geographical line.” Not if there was

a fault along the South Valley hill which diverged to the south

slightly before reaching the eastern extremity of that valley.

5. “ Even supposing a fault * * there would still be some

remnants of these rocks in their normal position * * and |

fragments * * entombed in the Potsdam,” &c. ae

As to the first, abundant demonstration of it exists in the |

counties above named, and that the second proposition is in ač-

cordance with Mr. Hall’s observations is clear from the fact, that

out of six specimens of his Potsdam or Edge Hill rock sent to |

the laboratory for analysis, four were named by Dr. Genth and

his son “ hydro-mica schist ;” which proves an abundance of that

material in the rock. ee

Space will not here permit a presentation of the reasons for the —

opposite view, z. e., that the South Valley Hill rocks belong ġelow —

the limestone. This one consideration may be, however, pre —

sented that he who can, may accommodate it to Mr. Hall’s theory.

In at least two places in Chester county limited areas of Lauren-

tian rocks are observed to be in contact with the South Valley Hill ve

schists (on this point Mr. Hall and Dr. Frazer are in accord). One —

of these areas, near West Chester, is completely surrounded by

them. The other forms a narrow tongue or peninsula in contact

with them on three sides. Yet there is not a sign of any of thê

thousands of feet of the Huronian, Potsdam or Limestone which | :

ought to appear between them, according to Mr. Hall’s view. |

The color scale on the large geological map which accompanies —

Mr. Hall’s report, seems to the stranger not to agree with the —

color as used on the map. On the former the intermediate

Manayunk belt is designated by dark red, whereas on the map —

this color seems to be given to the northerly Chestnut Hill group,

and vice versa. ie

The last forty pages contain the report of Dr. Genth on the |

dolerites, mica schists, gneisses, granites and other rocks of the

district, and constitutes a very valuable leaf in the still small bo

of chemical lithology.—P. F. (tie tbo la

1883. ] Recent Literature. 67

. Jackson’s VEGETABLE TECHNOLOGY.'—The purpose of this work

is to supply, in compact form, references to the many botanical pa-

pers and books of economic interest, and which, in many cases, were

so published as not to be catalogued in the ordinary book lists.

As stated in the title page, the book is founded upon a catalogue

of works on applied botany, prepared by Mr, G. J. Symons. To

that list large additions and many corrections and modifications

were made. Books or papers of purely local value were stricken

out, as were also those on silk and cochineal culture, as well as

those relating to the vine, the latter “ simply on the ground of its

enormous extent.”

The plan of the work is to give first an author’s catalogue of

books, that is, the books, papers, etc., are arranged alphabetically

by the author’s names. The place and date of publication are

given in each case, along with the full title. A catalogue of serials,

and one of anonymous publications follow, the first notable for its

shortness. No serial is entered for the United States.

The index of subjects fills about one hundred pages, and is suf-

ficiently classified as to enable one to readily find any book

or paper in the author's catalogue. The volume cannot fail to be

. Of great use to librarians and others who wish to know the extent

- ~ literature of the department of botany of which it treats —

. D.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—Ext. Note sur l’Osteologie des Mosasauride.

Par M. L. Dollo. Ext. du Bulletin du Musée Royal, d'Histoire Naturelle de Bel-

gique. Tomes, 1882. From the author.

Synopsis of the Classification of the Animal Kingdom, by H. Alleyne Nicholson.

Messrs. Blackwood & Co., Edinburgh and London, 1882. From the author.

__ The Quarterly Journal of the Boston Zoological Society. Vol. 1. October, 1882.

No. 4. From the society.

` Prospectus of the second edition of the American Palzozoic Fossils. By S. A.

Miller. From the author.

The Geological Record for 1878, with supplements for 1874-1877. Edited by

_ Wm. Whitaker and W. H. Dalton. London, 1882. From the editors.

Sitzungberichte der Gesellschaft zur Beforderung der gesammten Naturwissen-

schaften zu Marburg 881. From the society.

_ Etude Carcinologique sur les genres Pemphix, Glyphea et Araeosternus. Par

T. C. Winkler. Ext. des Archives du Musée Teyler. T. 1, sér. 11, par. 11. Haar-

t, 1882. From the author. i

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Central Park, New York.

Vol. t, No. 3. On the Fauna of the Lower Carboniferous Limestone of Spergen

Hill, Indiana, with a revision of the descriptions of its fossils hitherto published,

and illustrations of the species from the original type series. By R. P. Whitfield.

From the author.

_Tryon’s Manual of Conchology. Von W. Kobelt. Diagnosen neuer Arten

(Helices). By the same, From the author.

_ Notes on some of the Tertiary Neuroptera of Florissant, Col., and Green river,

Wyoming Territory. By S. H. Scudder. From the author.

! Vegetable Technology. A contribution towards a bibliography of economic

sotany, with a comprehensive subject-index. By Benjamin Daydon Jackson, Secre-

taryof the Linnean Society. Founded upon the collections of George James Symons,

F. R. S. London: Published for the Index Society. Dulan & Co. 1882.

68 General Notes. [January —

Annual Report of the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, N. Y.

Feb. 15, 1882. |

A sketch of the progres of American mineralogy, an address delivered before $

in Amer. Assoc. for the Adv. cf Science, at ennea, Aug. 25, 1882, by Professor

Geo. J. Brush, pretident: Salem. F t

On the Cranium of a new species of Hype heen fee the Australian seas. By W.

H. Flower. From the Proc. Zool. Soc. of merle May, 1882. Fro pert author,

An die eee r und Freunde des “ Kosmos.” By Professor Dr. B. V po

notice of the ss cates of the editorship af. te above magazine fromm De Ee

Krause to the Lather

Humboldt Linney. No. 38. Geological Sketches. By Archibald Geikie. Parti. —

Kant. By William Wallace, M. A. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co, From ~

the publisher :

Nature relics. Charles Darwin. London, Macmillan & Co., 1882. Contains no- —

tices z ia life and character, work in zodlogy and work in psychology, by

Rom ; his work in botany, by W. T. Thiselton Dyer; his work geology, ‘eo

A. Geikie, and an intro ponro notice by T. H..Huxley. -AIl AOAIE from “ Na-

ture,” From the publisher

The oe Roll and E LETAR of Systematized Notes. Climate. Vol. 1, Part

z. „Sven vapor, Conducted by Alex. Ramsay, F.G.S. London. From Rt rab

lisher,

Some Observations on ostriches and ostrich farming

Sur fas copenucrien s turriformes des Vers de terre fe France. Par M. E. L. Trou-

essart. Paris.. From thes uthor.

Dencatpeion. Labologiqke® des Récifs de St. Paul. Par s Renard. Bruxelles.

Ext. des Ann, de la Soc. belge de Microscopie. From the author.

Les Roches pear nic et ae) EEE eo de la Rison: de Bastogne, Par A

Renard, Ext. du Bulletin du Mus. Roy. d’Hist. Nat de Belgique. From the author

Notes on the Barth ram oak Span, terkorpa Michx.). i Isaac C. Martindale

From the au i

Com ee ndu des Seances de la Commission Internationale de Nomenclatu:

Géologique et du Comité de'la Carte Géologique de l’ Europe, tenues a Foix (F vance i

Sept., 1882.

Dr.

HHG ws Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierrichs.

it Abtheilung. eles. Leipzig und Spreng From A e pub A

i Rm tas Mammalia in the Indian Museum, Calcut By john kidas ,

M.D. Part mates, Prosimiæ, Chiroptera pk aiara Calcutta.

by the idese pe the Indian Museu

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

On UINTATHERIUM ANÐ BATHMoDoN.—At a recent meeting of

the Philadelphia Academy, Professor Cope exhibited a mandible

of Uintatherium robustum of Leidy, which includes the symphy

sis. This region supports but two teeth, probably incisors on

each side, which distinguishes the genus from Bathyopsis Cope,

where there are four on each side. Its structure in this point had

been previously unknown. ` He then exhibited some bones of

its internal side not found in Coryphodon. -It may be an e a

face for a produced entocuneiform, or for a distinct bone or spine

The specimens exhibited represent the Bathmodon radians eS

new and much larger species, to which the name of Bashmos

pachypus w was given.

1883. ] Geology and Paleontolog /. 69

Tue NevaDA Bipep Tracks.—It is probable that the contem-

poraneity of man with the horse and other extinct Pliocene

mammals in Western North America will soon be satisfactorily

demonstrated. The first evidence on the subject was furnished

by J. D. Whitney, chief of the Geological Survey of California,

in the case of the Calaveras skull, which was said to be taken

from the gold-bearing gravel; and in several other cases subse-

quently added. From the fact that scientific observers were

never present at the unearthing of the remains of man and his

The Carson Mammoth Tracks.

works from this formation, the evidence has been generally re-

garded as inconclusive. ‘(he gold-bearing gravel of California is,

_ however, a very peculiar formation, and an object once buried in

_ it, would carry such marks of its origin as to be quite recogniza-

_ble. This was the case with the Calaveras skull when first dis-

covered, as I am informed by Professor Verrill of Yale College.

This gentleman states that the skull was partially filled and cov-

ered with the hard, adhesive “cement ” so characteristic of the

_ formation.

I here refer to two observations of my own made in 1879, in

70 General Notes. [January,

Oregon?! and California? which were confirmatory of the exist-

ence of man in the Upper Pliocene of both those States, but the

evidence is in neither case absolutely conclusive.

The discovery that the tracks of several species of Pliocene

Mammalia? in the argillaceous sandstones of the quarry of the

Nevada State Prison at Carson, are accompanied by those of a

biped resembling man, is a further confirmation of these views.

The tracks are clearly those of a biped, and are not those of a

member of the Simiidz, but must be referred to the Hominidz.

Whether they belong toa species of the genus Homo or not,

The Carson Footprints. 2

cannot be ascertained from the tracks alone, but can be deter-

mined on the discovery of the bones and teeth. In any case the —

animal was probably the ancestor of existing man, and was à-

contemporary of the Llephas primigenius and a species at

Egu

We give two cuts of these tracks, extracted from a paper read

by Dr. Harkness of San ran before the California Acad-

emy of Sciences.—E. D. Coj

1 AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1878, p. 125. i

1 Loc. cit., 1880, p. 62. 3 Loc. cit., 1882, pp. 195 and 921.

Geology and Paleontology

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72 General Notes, [ January, :

THE GEOLOGY oF CHESTER County, PENNSYLVANIA.—Some

points in the geology of this region of considerable complexity

have been recently worked out by Dr. Persifor Frazer, of the

State Geological survey. The results are published in his These

Premiére presented to the University of France, 1882. The -

structure of the limestone valley of Chester has long been under

discussion. The northern hill is composed of sandstone and

quartzite, the bottom of the valley of limestone, and the south

hill of hydromica-and chlorite schists and slates. The first two

formations are the primordial and auroral, Nos. 1 and 2 of Rogers,

or the Potsdam and Calciferous of Hall. The dip of these beds

is south-east, and there is no reversed dip and no synclinal.

Professor Fraser believes that a fault extends along the northern

base of the south hill for forty miles, and that the oldest beds -

have been thrust up to form the south hill. The schists then are

older than the Potsdam beds. Their dip is like the latter, south-

east. South of this hill the schists descend and are succeeded by

another limestone, which is in place between the former and the

Potsdam beds. This formation is then considerably older than —

the limestone of the valley. Fraser calls it the Doe-run lime-

stone. This is succeeded by the Potsdam again, and it in turn

by the valley limestone, as in the valley itself. This latter bedi

appears in the region of Avondale and London Grove.

KOWALEVSKY ON ELASMOTHERIUM.—Dr. W. Kowalevsky bas

pees It is proven that Srorecires Duv. is identical with mek

motherium. The genus stands at the top of the family. next t

A The £. żypus was as large as the Indian rhinocert

ope.

Two New Genera oF PyrHonomorpHa.—M. L. Dollo, in. th

Bull. du Mus. Roy. d’Hist. Nat. de Belgique, describes the Mo-

sasaurian remains in the Museum of Brussels. He forms from cl

He also proposes the genus Plioplatecarpus for the reception

a Mosasaurian resembling a Liodon, but which in the structure

its coracoid and maxillary teeth differs widely from that gef

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 73

approaching more nearly to Platecarpus, Cope. The species, the

remains of which were found near Maestricht, is named P. marshit.

Mr. Dollo thinks that this animal possesses a sacrum of two

vertebrae. It has also sclerotic bones. The genera of this order

or sub-order are, then, eight in number, viz.: Baptosaurus Marsh ;

Pterycollosaurus Dollo; Mosasaurus Conyb.; Platecarpus Cope

(Lestosaurus Marsh); Plioplatecarpus Dollo; Liodon Owen

(Rhinosaurus and Tylosaurus Marsh); Sironectes Cope (//olo-

saurus Marsh); Clidastes Cope (Edestosaurus Marsh).—E&. D. Cope.

ScupDER on Triassic InsEcts.—At a late meeting of the Na-

later date than the vertebrata. In the present case they indicate

an earlier age than the insects.—£. D. Cope.

Some TERTIARY NEUROPTERA OF FLORISSANT, CoLorapo.—Mr.

S. H. Scudder’ states that the Florissant strata, which are by

Lesquereux and Cope placed immediately above the Green River

shales, have yielded seven genera and twelve species.of Planipen-

nian Neuroptera, including five Raphidiide, four Chrysopide, one

Hemerobiid, and one Panorpid.

The number of tertiary Planipennia known is already nearly

doubled by the discoveries made in the American tertiaries. The

Florissant beds have furnished six species of Odonata besides two

Jarve. Two of these, and one larval form, belong to Aischna,

the rest are Agrionina. The four species from the Green River

shales are all Agriones. The resemblance of the faunas of the

two localities is very apparent, though the species and even the

genera are wholly distinct. The facies of both is decidedly sub-

tropical.

_ Grotocicat Norrs.—Recent numbers of the Annals and Mag-

azine of Natural History contain the following articles: Notes on

the Trochammine of the Lower Malm of Aargau (Switzerland),

by Dr. R. Haeusler; Notes on fossil Calcispongiz, by G- J. Hinde.

is paper is devoted especially to those sponges which have

been grouped by Professor Zittel in the family of “ Pharetones,”

3 Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, Vol. KXI, p. 407, 1882. n o

a." General Notes. [ January, —

and embodies some fresh facts regarding their spicular structure, _

as well as descriptions of five new species, From the close simi- _

larity between the minute spicular characters of these species and

those of existing Calcisponges, the writer believes that the origis _

nally calcareous composition of the fossil forms can no longer be

disputed. He also believes that the majority of the Pharetones. —

possessed a “dermal layer of quadriradiate (?) spicules.” The

affinities of Paleocampa, Meek and Worthen, as evidence of

wide diversity of type in the earliest known Myriopods, by S.H.

Scudder. In the October number of the Geological Magazine

H. H. Howorth continues his argument in favor of the occurrence _

of a great Post glacial flood by examining the evidence of the

Angular drift which overlies much of the land on either side of —

the English channel. The unrolled surface of these stones, the

presence among them of land-shells and quadrupedal bones, the —

want of stratification, and the lack of marine beaches and of

marine organisms throughout this layer, are to the author eloa f

quent evidence of their deposition by a sudden and violent flood.

The absence of river shells, and the lack, throughout the section |

of the English channel, of any smooth trough such as a river F

would form, are against the fluviatile origin of this drift, as is also _

the character of the drift itself, so widely different from the fine

mud of the deltas. Mr. Howorth promises a farther argument, —

but hints that the flood he postulates is not a universal or Nowy

achian deluge; H. Woodward has a note on El/ipsccaris dewalquet, —

a new Phyllopod crustacean shield from the Upper Devonian

of Belgium; N. Flight continues his history of meteorites ; T:E

Jamieson continues his enquiry into the causes of the depression

and re-elevation of the land during the Glacial period; and J. S.

Gardner gives suggestions for a revised classification of the Brit-

ish Eocenes. Mr. Gardner believes that the separation of a part

of the series as Oligocene is artificial as regards England. The

Oligocene strata of England are the Fluvio-marine series of

Isle of Wight. The United States Geological Survey is pro

cuting work in the old States as well as in the Territories of

West. Three parties are now surveying in the Southern Ap

lachians. Many of the employés are local geologists.

MINERALOGY:.'

THE MECHANICAL SEPARATION OF MiNERALS.— Mechani

methods for separating the minerals composing a rock are 0

great value in lithological investigations, and, where possible,

should be employed in advance of chemical analyses. The

method is the now well-known one of using a liquid of gre

density, such as a solution of mercuric iodide, in which the pub

1 Edited by Professor H. CARVILL Lewis, Academy of Natural Sciences,

delphia, to whom communications, papers for review, etc., should be sent.

1883.] Mineralogy. * 75

verized rock is suspended, and its constituents separated succes-

sively according to their specific gravity.

Another method, recently employed with success, depends

upon the attractability of ferruginous minerals by an electro-mag-

net. The poles of a horseshoe electro-magnet are moved about

through the pulverized substances, the strength of the magnet

being increased at each succeeding experiment by the ad-

dition of greater battery power. Thus magnetite and hematite

may be first extracted by a weak current, then follow ferruginous

augites, hornblendes and garnets, while a stronger magnet attracts

tourmaline, idocrase, bronzite, actinolite, etc., and, finally, by a

still more powerful magnet, biotite, chlorite, muscovite, and even

dolomite may be extracted. Minerals containing very minute

percentages of iron may be attracted if tne magnet is powerful

enough. The gray powder of syenites and diabases may thus be

separated in a few minutes into a white powder containing the

non-feldspathic minerals, and a dark-colored one composed of the

other constituents.

By employing the former method in conjunction with this, very

accurate results may be reached. ~ j

A fhonolite, for example, consisting of orthoclase, nephelite,

augite and magnetite, was first freed from magnetite by a weak

magnet, then, the strength of the current being increased, a mix-

ture of augite and nephelite was extracted, which was finally

separated into its constituents by the specific gravity method,

mercuric iodide of proper density being employed. The com-

position of the rock was thus fourd to be, magnetite 4 p. c., augite

Il p. c., nephelite 48.5 p.c., orthoclase 25.5 p. c., impure feldspar,

etc. i Lip c: i

AXINITE FROM BETHLEHEM.—Through the medium of the late

Professor W, T. Roepper, Pennsylvania mineralogists have been

Bethlehem, Pa., the locality having been discovered by Professor

suggested the name of the species. They occur with asbestos in

a hornblendic rock, and, while devoid of the beauty possessed by

Specimens of the same mineral from other localities, are of some

crystallograthic interest, as lately shown by B. W. Frazier, of

Bethlehem. A close relationship has been found to exist between

the crystallograthic characters of axinite and those of datolite.

The axial lengths closely correspond, and a comparison of the

angles between similar planes shows a remarkable agreement.

They. are found, moreover, to correspond in habit as well as in

angles. Both minerals are silicates of lime and contain boracic

acid, and it is very probable that the morphological resemblance

is consequent upon a resemblance in chemical composition. _

76 ni General Notes. (January,

SAMARSKITE FROM CaANADA.—Mr. G. C. Hoffman has found

irregular fragments of samarskite in Berthier county, Canada.

The mineral is massive, has a sub-metallic lustre, brownish-black ~

color, grayish-brown streak, hardness of about 6, fusing between —

4 and 4.5, and specific gravity of 4.947. Its composition, accord- —

ing to an analysis given in the Amer. Jour. Science, Dec., 1882,

is as follows: e

Cb,0,,Ta,0, SnO, YO CeO UO, MnO FO

55-41 10 14.34 4.78 10.75 51 4

CaO _ MgO K,O Na,O F H,O

5.38- Il -39 23 (trace) 2.21

Tue Cryotire Group oF Minerats.—J. Brandl has investigated

the chemical composition of the minerals of the Cryolite grou

and derives several new formula. Pachnolite is shown to ha

the composition, AIF;, CaF, NaF. Thomsenolite, often c

founded with pachnolite, differs from it in composition by com

taining one molecule of water. New formule are also assign

Al,(F,OH)s The rare mineral, Fluellite, has probably the for-

mula, AIF, + H,O. Bi

HEATING APPARATUS FOR THE Microscope.—Thoulet descri

in the Bulletin de la Société Mineralogie de France, a new meth

of heating objects upon the stage of the microscope. He

constructed a small “stove,” or chamber, to rest upon the sta

and to contain the object and the thermometer. It consists of.

glass tube fitting into a copper cylinder which rests upon a ©

of copper, furnished with lateral prolongations, whic can

heated by a gas jet. The whole is insulated by resting upon

disk of cork. The temperature of the chamber can be raised ‘

heating the prolongations, of copper and lowered by introd

a current of fresh air through a small tube fixed in the side.

exact measurements can be taken with this simple apparatu

well adapted for determining the temperature of the disap

ance of bubbles in liquid inclusions, for studying the form

of crystals at various temperatures, or for other micro-che

investigations.

MINERALOGICAL Notrs.—Descloiseaux has described som

nute crystals which occur in Pegmatite near Nantes, France, í

which probably are new. They are transparent, rectangular

bles, less than a millimeter in length, which become white but ¢@

not fuse when heated, and are insoluble in acids. They are pror

ably composed of a silicate of alumina, iron and lime, and af

identical with some similar crystals previously described by 4

trand from another locality in the same region ard

just published a paper upon the action of heat upon cryst

1833. | Botany. ` #7

substances, in which his former conclusions regarding pseudo-

symmetry appear to be confirmed. Hintze reports the discovery

of Danburite in Switzerland, on the Scopi.. The crystals were at

first thought to be topaz, which they closely resemble. The angles

measured corresponded closely with those of the American min-

eral—_—A nugget of gold, weighing forty-four pounds, has been

found in the Ural district. This is the largest nugget ever found

in Russia. It is reported that natural sulphuric acid has been

found in large quantity in Sweetwater county, Wyoming. The

ground for a space of one hundred acres or more is impregnated

with the acid, which is said to be of pure quality.

BOTANY.

THE INTERPRETATION OF SCHWEINITZIAN AND OTHER EARLY

Descriptions.—In working up the flora of Iowa, it has been

necessary in a number of instances to identify Schweinitzian spe-

cies of microscopic fuagi. I have had in the Herb. Curtis and

Ravenel’s Exsiccati, specimens upon the same species of host

recorded by Schweinitz, and from the same immediate locality, to

compare with his descriptions. In several cases I have been

cates of the originals from which the descriptions were taken.

The following instances, which have probably puzzled many other

botanists, will serve as illustrations:

The uredineous fungus, abundant on various species of Lespe-

dezz, forming blackish spots on the leaves, and now known as

Uromyces lespedeze, is quite fully described by Schweinitz, under

the genus Puccinia. He makes two species, one of which has

spores that are distinctly two-celled or bilocular, and the other

those that are sub-bilocular. In the former he says the “ septum

is situated exactly in the middle of the spore,” while in the latter

it is barely conspicuous (Syn. Fung. Car., p.73). A glance under

a common microscope, however, reveals the incongruous fact that

the spores are but one-celled, and that there is not even a shadow

of a septum. How is-such an egregious blunder to be reconciled

with the accuracy characteristic of science and scientific men?

This cannot be a slip of the pen, for in his Synopsis of North

American Fungi, published nine years later, there is no correc-

tion, and the species still remain in the genus Puccinia, which

‘would not be the case if he had ascertained in the meantime that

“the spores were unicellular. ; ae

©- Another equally remarkable instance is that of the common

Uromyces on Desmodium. In the earlier work the spores are

‘said to be obscurely. septate with very long pellucid pedicels (I. c.,

P-74). ‘In the later work he describes the species at greater

+ "Edited by PROF. C: E. Bessey, Ames, Towa. |

78 General Notes. (January, `

length and adds that the pellucid pedicels are jointed (\.c., p: 297).

As these spores have considerable resemblance to those of many f

Puccini, and although but one-celled are quite opaque, we caf

almost make ourselves believe that, assuming the relationship

from their general appearance, he easily persuaded himself that a

septum must be present although not readily demonstrated, . But

this explanation will not do in the preceding instance, or in the

case of the jointed pedicel, for both are transparent, and the latter —

perfectly colorless. ”

These are selected from plenty of such discrepancies between

Schweinitz’s descriptions and the objects described. It will not an- |

swer to throw such works aside and refuse to take trouble with —

an author who describes so carelessly, or, as it would seem, de-

liberately falsifies, for the law of priority in synomymy is inexor-

able, and early descriptions must be identified so far as possible. —

Upon reflection, however, it does not appear probable that any

one would falsify a scientific description, for there is no assignable

motive for doing so, Let us rather look for a solution of the

problem to the facilities possessed in the author's time for minute

observations. Microscopes were then much inferior to our pres =

ent instruments, and methods of manipulation not so well known.

This was a suggestive idea, and I at once acted upon it by putting —

some of the ary spores under a low-power to see whether they |

looked the same, except in size, as when mounted in the usu

way in water, and viewed under 350 diameters. A few spores —

scraped from the surface of the leaf were scattered on a glass

slide, a half-inch objective used, magnifying about 75 diameters, _

and the key to the whole mystery was discovered. uB |

The spores of Uromyces lespedeze are much thickened at the

apex, this thickening often occupying half the length of the spore,

and it gives every appearance, under the conditions named, of @ i

two-celled spore with a septum at or near the middle. 4% T

instance of tke jointed pedicel is equally simple. The pedicels

being delicate cylinders collapse when dry, and twist like a rib:

bon, and what appear to be three or four joints in each ice

are very distinctly shown. i

-I have narrated this experience of mine chiefly for two reasons:

(t) to give others this important key with which to interpret the

writings of Schweinitz and other early systematists, and (2 to

show the importance of noting very carefully the kind of instr

ment used and the methods employed in all microscopic otk.

— F. C. Arthur, Ames, lowa.

as a pamphlet of 66 pp., extracted from Vol, xvir of the Proc. ®

the Am. Academy of Arts and Sciences. It consists of, 1, A’

of plants from Southwestern Texas and Northern Mexico, ©

lected chiefly by Dr. E. Palmer in 1879-80; and, 11, Descriptit

1883.| Botany. 79

of new species of plants, chiefly from our Western Territories.

The first includes the “ Polypetala” only, and is much more than

a list, containing descriptions of many species, and notes upon

many others.

all uncomfortably warm.

The botanical part of the course, under Mr. J. C. Arthur, con-

sisted of lectures, laboratory work, and collecting excursions.

The botanical laboratory, supplied with simple and compound

microscopes, was open from 9.30 A. M. to 6 P.M. Forty students

availed themselves of its privileges.

A small part of the time was given to the study of plants with

no other aid than the gommon hand lens. Besides illustrating a

method of careful observation, it was designed to show that in-

struction need not be confined to flowering plants because a com-

pound microscope is not obtainable. For this purpose four plants

were used: dark green scum (Oscillatoria), large tree lichen (Par-

melia), common liverwort (Marchantia), and milkweed (Asclepias

cornuti). ;

The work with the compound microscope covered in the main

the same ground as the lectures, which were as follows: 1. A sur-

vey of the science; 2. Protoplasm; 3. The cell, and cell-structures :

4. Protophyta, the sexless plants; 5. Zygosporez, the unisexual

plants; 6. Oosporez, the egg-sporé plants; 7 and 8. Carposporee,

the red sea-weeds and their allies; 9. Bryophyta, the mosses and

liverworts ; Pteridophyta, the ferns and their allies; 11: Phanero-

gamia, the seed-bearing plants, (1) the conifers and their allies ;

12. Same, (11) the flowering plants proper; 13. General histology

Of tissues ; 14. Movement of water and gases in the plant; 15.

Assimilation and metastasis; 16. Movements of plants; 17. Modes

of fertilization; 18. Dissemination of seeds; 19. Insectivorous

plants.

_ SYLLOGE FUNGORUM OMNIUM HUCUSQUE COGNITORUM. By Profes-

sor P. A. Saccardo, Padova, Italy.—The first volume of this long

expected work has at length appeared and will help to satisfy a

want that has long been felt by the students of mycology. The

volume forms a large octavo of 768 pages, with descriptions of

nearly 2900 species of Sphzriceous Fungi. Adding greatly to

the practical value of the work are the haditat lists inserted after

each of the different families or sub-divisions and giving in alpha-

grow, with numbers referring to the descriptions of the species

found on each. The low price (49 francs) at which the volume is

. year 1882 three different lists or catalogues of Lepidoptera ha

80 General Notes. (January,

Dr. Gray’s REVISION OF THE SPECIES OF ECHINOSPERMUM.—In ~

the recently received ‘‘ Contributions to North American Botany” —

by Dr. Gray in Vol. xvir of the Proc. of Am. Acad. of Arts and ©

Sciences, the following corrections are made in the disposition —

of the species of Echinospermum, as given in Gray’s Synoptical —

Flora of N. A., pp. 188 and 189. ia

E. virginicum Lehm.

Æ. pinetorum Greene; a new species trom New Mexico.

E. deflexum Lehm,

E. ursinum Greene ; a new species from New Mexico. a

£, floribundum Lehm ; “ the synonym Æ. subdecurrens Parry is to be suppressed, asit ;

belongs to the next.”

E. diffusum Lehm; this is not the Æ. diffusum of the Synoptical Flora. (See be:

low).

E. ciliatum Gray; this is the the Cynoglossum ciliatum Dougl. of the Syn. Flora. H

also includes C. howerdi Gray. : :

Æ. californicum Gray; this includes the large flowered specimens which in the Syn.

| “Flora were described under Æ. diffusum. The true Æ. diffusum is the small- —

flowered species, specimens of which were mixed e with those of Æ. californi- —

cum.

The remaining species were unchanged.

ENTOMOLOGY .!

New Lists oF NORTH AMERICAN LeEpipopTrERA.—During the

been published. The first, issued in January, is “ A check-list of

the Macrolepidoptera of America, north of Mexico,” published

by the Brooklyn Entomological Society. In the preface the

eric combination being given. The list has proved very useful

lepidopterists, and will be followed, we hope, with suppleme!

rom time to time, or, what were better, new ‘and impro

editions. Jae ts

The second publication we would call attention to, is somet!

more than a list. It is very properly called “ A Syponymical

alogue of the described Tortricidae of America, north of Mexict

by C. H. Fernald, A.M., professor of natural history in the M

State College. It was issued by the American Entomolo

i Thi: ent is edited by Professor C. V. RILEY, Washington, D.C.,to

Marani CER wa etc., should be sent. es p

1883.] Entomology. 81

Society in July. Working, as did the author, at this single family

for many years before issuing the catalogue, this is, as might

have been expected from Professor Fernald’s well-known caution

and ability, a work of exceptional value, and puts the study of

the Tortricidæ in this country, at once upon a basis which it never

had before. Not only are synonyms given with full references,

but also the localities and food-plants, when known, though a

number of these last which we have communicated to him are, for

some reason, omitted.

We may have.occasion to refer to this admirable catalogue in

future, more to add some facts from our own experience than to

offer any criticisms or suggestions ; for the work is so admirable

in every respect that it leaves little to be desired. Like every

other cataloguer, Professor Fernald has found some difficulty in

deciding what to do with many of Hiibner’s names, most of which,

for the good of science, ought to be entirely ignored. Professor

Fernald, after fully discussing the matter in his own mind, has de-

cided to adopt the uniform specific termination of ava, and not to

make it correspond in gender to the generic name. Although we

have adopted the opposite course (Trans. St. Louis Ac. Sci., Iv, p.

317 ff.) it was rather against our judgment as stated at the time,

and we think Professor Fernald has acted wisely.

The third work is entitled a “ New Check-list of North Ameri-

can Moths,” by Aug. R. Grote, president New York: Entomologi-

cal Club. We wish we could speak as approvingly of this work as

of the preceding, a condensed edition of which is included from ad-

vanced sheets furnished by Professor Fernald. Mr. Grote’s list is

more presumptuous than the Brooklyn list. The names are

arranged in double column somewhat after the form of -Crotch’s

list, already referred to, but without the advantage in this last of

including the authority in parenthesis whenever the species was

described under another genus than that with which it is now con-

nected. The species in each family are independently numbered.

While the typography and general make-up _of Mr. Grote’s

list are all that could be desired (there is no indication as to

publisher), it is marred by the author's accustomed looseness

of statement and assertion. Within the space of a single page

of the preface, we are treated to rambling thought anent eter-

‘ities, deities, nature, matter, evolution, the universe, stars and

suns, and to other matter in no way germane to a check-list of

moths. Asserting on p. 7 his courtesy and fairness toward others,

the list ends with a series of notes consisting chiefly of tirades

i ae other entomologists, many of them including statements

Which are unjust and untrue. _ ;

. There are a number of errors of commission or omission which

it would be tedious in this connection to point out. New genera

are made with a few- words; some, hitherto abandoned, revived,

VOL, XVII_—wNo. 1, 6

82 General Notes. [Janua

and others subdivided, without reason or explanation. There is,

in short, too much arbitrary opinion that is not unbiased.

Yet with all these blemishes the list is an improvement

names, as he now unwillingly adopts one that does not rést on

“real structural characters.’ We think that many more, on t

hard Gerhard (Systematisches Verzeichniss der

von Nord-Amerika, Leipzig, 1878) which was really the first

lished general list of the Macrolepidoptera of North America,

which, considering that it is by a foreigner by whom some omi

sions and defects are excusable, has much to commend it. Mi

Grote’s list was not printed and issued till August (as ack

ledged in a postscript) though on the cover, which is usually

aoe printed part of any work, “ May, 1882,” appears in

etters !

Tue “ Ciusrer Fry.’—At a recent meeting of the Biol

Society of Washington, D. C., Professor W. H. Dall ex

terror to

Dr. Frank Baker stated that he knew of the congregat

this fly in houses in Maine in the same manner as descri

Professor Dall. One of their peculiarities, he said, was tO

1833.] Entomology. 83

and work into woolen stuff and yarn, apparently trying to suck up

and extract the oily or fatty matter contained therein.

The flies received by these gentlemen were referred to us for

determination. They proved to be the Musca rudis Fabricius, a

species common to Europe and America, and redescribed by Har-

ris (Entom. Corresp. of T. W. Harris, p. 336) as Musca familiaris.

Musca obscura Fabr., and Pollenia autumnalis R-D., are also syno-

nyms. Robineau Desvoidy, in dividing up the old genus Musca

made rudis the type of his genus Pollenia, and enumerated about

forty species. Although most of these species are very numerous

in individuals, nothing definite is known in regard to their larval

habits and development, though the last named author remarks

that the eggs are laid in decomposing animal and vegetable

matter.

The general habit of the species of entering dwelling houses in

the fall.of the year has been noted by both Harris and Robineau-

Desvoidy, but we recall nothing in print that records their being

such a nuisance to housekeepers. Enormous swarms of certain Dip-

tera have occasionally been observed,! but no satisfactory explan-

ation has so far been given for their formation. In the case of our

Pollenia it seems to seek shelter in houses against the cold of

winter; but the flies do not enter the houses in a single swarm as

certain species of Chlorops have been observed to do; they grad-

ually accumulate. The reasons why certain houses prove so

attractive to the flies year after year, are difficult to explain. Wy-

enbergh (l. c.) records the swarming of Pollenia atramentaria and

P. vespillo in the same building for seven successive . His

explanation that in this instance certain conditions facilitated the

entrance of the flies but rendered their exit difficult, appears quite

plausible.— C. V. Riley. i

NAPHTHALINE Coxes.—Mr. C. Blake, of Philadelphia, has writ-

repellants will deter no one from giving the cones a trial. We

would add that we have never attributed to the cones the power

of causing the greasing of cabinet specimens, but simply of en-

couraging, in a similar way as does camphor, the tendency already

existing. We have found that the glazed and relaxed appearance

of our Lepidoptera which followed their use, was but transient,

and due, doubtless, to the first rapid evaporation of the material

which is often deposited on the insects in minute crystals. Mr.

Blake claims further that the cones do not stain. Our experiences

1 Vide H. Weyenbergh’s Dipterous swarms in Verh. Zool.-bot, Ver.,

Wien, 1871, Vor, ven n et a: A -

84 General Notes. [Janu

differ. We find that they not only leave an unsightly brown

mark wherever they touch the paper, but that by the time they

have entirely evaporated and left only a sooty residuum, there i

generally discoloration of the paper in the immediate neighbor

hood even where there has been ro contact.

Our experience would indicate that the cones destroy mites and

Psoci very soon, but have little effect on Dermestide.

ALTERNATION OF CROPS VERSUS THE WHEAT-STALK IsosOMA

Professor G. H. French, of Carbondale, Ills., recently wrote us the

lowing note: “I was in three wheat-fields yesterday, two that wer

in wheat last year and one in clover. The first two had about

ninety-three per cent. of the stalks containing from one to thr

worms each; the other not more than 5 per cent. where examined —

—a good proof of the efficacy of the alternation of crops. Th

season was very favorable for the growth of the wheat, but the

heads were short and not well filled at the ends.”

RAVAGES OF A RARE Scortytip BEETLE IN THE SUGAR MAPLES

OF NORTHEASTERN NEw York.—About the first of last August |

(1882) I noticed that a large percentage of the undergrowth of

sugar maple (Acer saccharinum) in Lewis county, N

was somewhat surprised to discover that fully ten per cent. of the

were infested with the same beetles, though the excavations

not as yet been sufficiently extensive to affect the outward apf

ance of the bush. They must all die during the coming w

and next spring will show that, in Lewis county alone, hu

of thousands of young sugar maples perished from the rava

this Scolytid during the summer of 1882, f

Dr. George H. Horn, of Philadelphia, to whom I sent specime

for identification, writes me that the beetle is Corthylus pune

mus Zim., and that nothing is known of its habits. I take P

ure, therefore, in contributing the present account, meagre as-

1883. ] Entomology. 85

of its operations, and have illustrated it with a few rough sketches

that are all of the natural size excepting those of the insects them-

selves, which are magnified about nine diameters.

The hole which constitutes the entrance to the excavation is,

without exception, at or very near the surface of the ground, and

is invariably beneath the layer of dead and decaying leaves that

everywhere covers the soil in our northern deciduous forests. Each

burrow consists of a primary, more or less horizontal, circular

canal, that passes completely around the bush but does not perfo-

rate into the entrance hole, for it generally takes a slightly spiral

course so that when back to the starting point it falls either a little

above or a little below it—commonly the latter (see figs. 1 and 2).

Fics. 1 and 2.—Mines of Corthylus punctatissimus.

It follows the periphery so closely that the outer layer of growing

wood, separating it from the bark, does not average .25 mm. in

thickness, and yet I have never known it to‘ cut entirely through

this so as to lie in contact with the bark.

Fics. 3 and 4.—Mines of Corthylus punctatissimus,

From this primary circular excavation issue, at right angles, and

86 General Notes. (January,

generally in both directions (up and down), a varying number of

straight tubes, parallel to the axis of the plant (see figs. 1, 2 and 3)

They average five or six millimetres in length and commonly ter

minate blindly, a mature beetle being usually found in the end of

each. Sometimes, but rarely, one or more of these vertical exc |

vations is found to extend farther and, bending at a right angle, to ©

take a turn around the circumference of the bush, thus constitut

ing a second horizontal circular canal from which, as from the |

primary one, a varying number of short vertical tubes branch off. —

And in very exceptional cases these excavations extend ‘still

deeper, and there may be three, or even four, more or less complete

circular canals. Such an unusual state of things exists in the

specimen from which figure 3 is taken. |

It will be seen that with few exceptions, the most important of

which is shown in figure 4, all the excavations (including both the

horizontal canals and their vertical offshoots) are made in the sap-

wood, immediately under the bark, and not in the hard and com

paratively dry central portion. This i$

doubtless because the outer layers of the i

wood are softer and more juicy ant

therefore more easily cut, besides com —

taining more nutriment and being, doubt- q

less, better relished, than the dryer 1-

terior. :

Fi, 5.-Corthylus punctatissimus. sent of each vertical tube may be taket

animal has been at work; and the number of these tubes gen

ally tells how man

individual makes but one ho

1883.| Zevilogy. 87

way as O. edulis and O. angulata of the Tagus, which I have been

able to learn from fresh material from Liverpool, obtained for me

through the efforts of Professor Baird. Additional investigations

recently made have served to convince me that the coloration -is

unquestionably due to a tinction or staining of the blood cells of

the animal, and that the coloring matter is either derived from

without or else may be a hepatic coloring principle, which through

some derangement of the normal metabolic processes of the ani-

mal, has been dissolved in the lympho-haemal fluids and so been

taken up by the blood cells or hamatoblasts and given them their

peculiar color. The blood cell of the oyster measures about

suo th of an inch in diameter, but varies somewhat in size. It is

amcebal in behavior to a surprising degree, throwing out pseudo-

podal prolongations which may even be branched. In a tempera-

ture abnormal to them at this season, I have had them live ina

-compressorium, bathed in their own serum, for four hours, during

which time they exhibited the most surprising activity of move-

ment, even becoming confluent with one another. The corpuscles

which have been most deeply tinged appear to have lost their

amcebal disposition, and when large quantities of green corpuscles

have been freed from the meshes of the muscular trabeculz of the

ventricle, they exhibit a rounded form with no disposition to throw

out pseudopods or to migrate. To this may be due the fact that they

accumulate in the trabecular meshes on the inner surface of the

heart and in cyst-like spaces in the mantle. They differ in no re-

spect from a quiescent, normal, colorless blood cell of the oyster,

except in color. The hypothesis of tinction which I have pro-

posed, in no way disposes me to assign a less value to the influ-

ence of the food as the primary initiatory agency in effecting a

staining of the internal ends of the cells which form the walls of

the hepatic follicles. In fact, in certain lots of oysters most affected,

the hepatic follicles are most deeply stained internally. I have

aled to prove by spectroscopic research that this substance is

chlorophyll, and my belief that it is chlorophyll at all, has

recently been weakened by the fact that specimens which had

the liver dyed deep green and were affected in other parts

have shown no disposition to part with their coloring matter

although immersed in strong alcohol for months, during which

time it has been changed two or three times. Chlorophyll,

So eminently soluble in alcohol during all this time, would also not

be likely to retain its color, as its bright green tint slowly fades

when in the form of an alcoholic solution. Wide differences are

observable in the color of the liver of oysters; in some the folli-

cles are reddish-brown, in others dark-brown, and in “ greened”

oysters they may be of a brownish-green. In sections these dif-

erences are very conspicuous.

. The hypothesis of vegetable parasites, and a most airy one at

that, seems to me in this case to have no foundation whatever.

88 General Notes.

The study of Stentor polymorphus and Vorticella chlorostigma have

fs ;

also served to convince me that so

The detection of vegetal parasites of a wholly different character

in a fresh-water mussel, by Leidy, is a case of an entirely different

animal by means of sections in both the living and dead con

tion. The most conclusive evidence as to the relations of t

green blood-cells to the heart may be obtained from transve

sections of hardened affected specimens of the latter organ,

trabecular meshes of the walls of which have served to retain t

abnormal cells in large masses or even as a thick adherent le

covering the whole of the internal parietes of the ventricles.

even extending down behind the auriculo-ventricular valves

to impede their action. Contrasting this state of affairs with

is seen in a normal heart in which no such inter-trabecular dep?

its are discoverable, we find that the whole organ differs, too, Iof

one which is affected, the former being translucent-whitish in

the other of an opaque pea-green hue on account of the thick

posit of “tinged” corpuscles.— F. A. Ryder. :

New AND Rare FISHES IN THE MEDI ANEAN.—P

1883. | Zoölogy 89

rorchus Val., at Messina. Also, in November last, Malacocephalus

@vis, and a species that is probably new, and may be allied to

Malacosteus. This fish is deep black, with small eyes, and skin

free from scales, and is evidently abyssal. A specimen of Nota-

canthus, perhaps the rarest of fishes, was also found. It is evi-

dently nearly allied to N. rissoanus De Fillippi, yet differs from

the description of that species. The harbor of Messina is a most

favorable spot for obtaining deep-sea fishes, in stormy weather such

forms as Chauliodus, Stomias, Argyropelecus, Microstoma, Coecia,

Maurolicus, and ten or twelve kinds of Scopelus are thrown up

in hundreds.

A CAVE INHABITING FLat-Worm.—In May, 1874, while inves-

tigating the cave-life of the Carter caves in Eastern Kentucky under

the auspices of the Geological Survey of Kentucky, Professor N.

S. Shaler, director, I discovered in a brook in X cave, a Planarian

which belongs to the Rhabdoccela, while the Planarian found by

us in the brook in Mammoth cave is a Turbellarian. This is

figured in our “ Zodlogy” p. 141 under the name of Dendrocelum

percecum. The Rhabdoccelous worm found in the Carter caves

belongs near Vortex, and it may provisionally

be called Vortea cavicolens. The body is flat,

elongated, narrow, lanceolate oval, contracting

in width much more than is usual in Vortex.

The pharynx is situated much farther back from

the anterior end of the body than usual in Vor-

tex, being placed a little in front of the middle i -

of the body ; it is moderately long, being oval ,.P/3n"!2" bales sare

in outline. The body behind suddenly con- 4, ventral; 6 x mag-

tracts just before the somewhat pointed end. nified; c, nat. size, ven-

The genital outlet is about one-half as wide as "!} 4 proboscis.

the pharynx and orbicular in outline. Though described from

two alchoholic specimens I can discover no eyes, nor do I remem-

r seeing any when it was living, it was, when alive, white and

apparently eyeless. Length 4™™; breadth 1.5™™. Found in X

cave, one of the Carter caves, Eastern Kentucky.

This w not prove to be a genuine Vortex, the species

of which are broad and blunt in front, with the pharynx much

nearer the front end than in the present species, which is therefore

only provisionally placed in the genus Vortex. In Vortex cacus

Œrsted the eyes, as the specific name implies, are wanting, but most

of the species have eyes. As our species occurred in a brook in

a dark cave, it would naturally, as in the case of the Mammoth cave

eyeless white Planarian,, be eyeless, and as a consequence of los-

ing its eyes become white. Schultze in his Naturgeschichte der

Turbellarien states that Vortex viridis in winter was generally

without chlorophyll bodies and wholly white, but that in April the

white individuals are rare. He then adds. “Kept fora consider-

le time in darkness the green animals become through bleach-

90 General Notes. | January,

ing and the disappearance of the chlorophyll almost colorless i

A. S. Packard, Fr.

November, 1882, the discovery that Penæus, a Decapod, passes €

through a Nauplius stage. Those familiar with the literature af |

the subject will recollect that Fritz Miiller kept under observation

until it changed into a Protozoéa, a Nauplius which he captured at

complete series of larvae, through which he identified the Proto

zoéa with a young Macrouran with the characteristics of the genus

Penzus. During the past summer, at the marine labratory of Johns _

C., Protessor

stage which Müller actually reared from the Nauplius.” p nave

had the good fortune to rear this larva in the house, and to witness

in isolated captive specimens every one of the five molts between

the first Protozoéa and the young Penzus. a

“Our boat is too small for work outside during the windy |

months of June and July, and as the ripe females do not come into

o M

coal

the inlets and sounds, I have not been able to obtain the eggs 0f

the newly hatched young; but this is the less important, as Fritz

Müller reared his first Protozoëa from a Nauplius, so that we

have the entire metamophosis from actual observation.”

[In 1871 we visited Charleston, S. C., partly for the purp

of working upon the development of Penzus. Unfortunately 9

visit, which was early in April, was too soon to enable us to AMY

the prawn with eggs. None of those brought to the Charlest

markets in April were spawning. We were informed that-

prawn does not have eggs until May, probably the latter

the month. The negroes catch them with sweep-nets.—4.

Packard, Fr.) “i

THE GROWTH OF THE MoLLuscAN SHELL.—The structure oft

wey

only by study of the first steps. To this end, edges of the 5?

were snipped away and a thin glass circle thrust between the 4

mal and its shell, care being taken to prevent injury to the manir

After the lapse of twenty-four hours the shell was opened and

glass circle carefully examined, others were allowed to remain t

days, or three days, or for periods of weeks. 3

_ In twenty-four hours it was found that a film had been left

the circle ; in forty-eight hours, this film was plainly stony.

1883. | . Zoölogy. , gl

earliest traces of this film when treated with coloring reageants,

stain, but, when treated with acids, show no traces of lime, nor

any evidences of structure; it is simply a structureless membrane.

Later films, when treated with acetic acid, present the appearance

of a tesselated pavement, and when examined with the polariscope

and not treated with acetic acid show beautifully the presence of

lime.

It would thus appear that the epithelium ofthe mantle pours out

a secretion of horny matter which forms the epidermis; that this

secretion holds lime in solution ; and that from this the stony inter-

nal portion of the shell is formed. Experiments were successfully

made upon the shells of the oyster and pinna and several other

lamellibranchs, and some gasteropods were tried, but thus far in

vain.—H. L. Osborne in Johns Hopkins University Circular, No.

19, Nov., 1882.

Tue FRESHLY HATCHED YOUNG OF THE HORSE-SHOE CraB—

On the second of last August, while Professor Dwight, of Vassar

College, and myself, were collecting shells at Martha’s Vineyard,

he had the good fortune to discover a newly-hatched colony of

Limuli. They were under the mat of seaweed lining the shore of

one of the inlets. There must have been nearly a pint of them,

and although out of water at the time were moving in a lively

manner. The individuals were about four millimetres in length.

—T. T. Battey.

SCOLOPENDRELLA IN ILLINoIs.—While searching the earth about

the roots of corn to-day, for eggs of Diabrotica longicornis, I foun

a single Scolopendrella, which, on examination, proved to be so

closely like the figures of S. immaculata, published in the

Nartura.ist for September, 1881, that I have no doubt that it be-

longs to that species, especially as it lacks the lateral bristles to

Tooran, and the angular outline of the head of S. grate

yder.

Since this specimen occurred in a cultivated field, careful search

would probably discover the species almost everywhere in proper

situations.— S. A. Forbes.

Notes on Fısnes.—The fish described by Messrs. Goode and

Bean as Lopholatilus chameleonticeps, and also punningly called

“tile-fish”” by the same naturalists, has made itself celebrated by

dying in great numbers in the spring of this year.

great number of dead fish, mostly of a kind unknown to the

fishermen, were strewn upon the surface between the Grand

Banks and Barnegat, New Jersey, and on examination, were proved

to be this fish. The dead fish formed a belt thirty to fifty miles

wide, in which area they were strewn so thickly that it was

estimated that fully fifty lay in the area of a bark’s cabin.

When first reported they were in good condition, and proved

excellent food. The cause of the mortality is unknown, but Pro-

92 | General Notes. (January, |

fessor Baird is of opinion that concussion, caused by terrific =

storms, which raged off the banks, might probably account for it.

The tile-fish was first discovered in 1879, was afterwards proved _

by the United States Fish Commission to occur in incredible ~

quantities along the western edge of the Gulf stream at a depth —

of from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty fathoms, and was _

hoped to be a valuable addition to our food-fishes, as the quality of

the flesh is excellent. It is to be feared that the mortality will for €

a long time prove a check upon the supply, as diligent search this

summer failed to find the tile-fish in their accustomed haunts. In-

stead of it a few beautiful red fish, with very large and broad pec- —

torals, afterwards found to be Scorpena dactylopterus, were met i

with. The tile-fish belongs to the Latilidæ, but differs from

Latilus in the presence of a large adipose appendage upon the

nape, a little in advance of the dorsal fin, as well as in having 4

fleshy prolongation of the Jabial folds beyond the angle of

mouth. The upper parts of the body are dotted with yello

spots. It attains a weight of fifty pounds.

A singular flat-headed goby (Dormitator maculatus), known

be common in the tropics, has, during the last five years become

abundant in some bayous of the Mississippi, where they were —

previously unknown.

ee he)

THE WORK OF THE “ TRAVAILLEUR.” —The French have not!

the work of deep-sea exploration, but they are following 10

to gather honors. The Mediterranean and the Bay of Bi

offered an ample field, untrodden by the tracks of the English

American exploring ships, and therefore these were chosen as &

dredging-ground of the despatch-boat Travailleur, which

French government lent for the service of science. In July,

the Travailleur did good work in the Bay of Biscay, while int

same month of 1881 she dredged in the Mediterranean aro"

Corsica, across to Oran, and thence to Tangiers, whence she

ceéded over the deep waters off the west coasts of Portugal @

Spain into the Bay of Biscay. The number of new species €

countered is probably less than have been obtained by other ex

ditions, but the short cruise, extending only from July, 3d

to that of the Atlantic. pie X

The Travailleur was provided with sounding apparatus SIM

1883. ] Zoblogy. 93

to that employed in the English expeditions ; with dredges of the

usual pattern, to which the commander, M. Richards, added two

bouteilles a eau,” ingen-

ious bottles invented by M. Richards for taking samples’ of water

at any determined depth.

The scientific work was thus apportioned: A. Milne Edwards,

crustacea ; M. de Follin, editor of “ Les Fonds du Mer,” rhizopoda ;

Professor Le Vaillant, fishes; Professor E. Perrier, echinoderms ;

Professor Marion ccelenterates and worms; and M. Fischer, mol-

lusks and worms.

The depths of the Mediterranean, often 2600 metres below the

surface, are covered entirely with a homogeneous, sticky mud,

without so much asa pebble, but in certain places this mud is

strewn over with an enormous quantity of the delicate shells of

such pelagic mollusks as Hyalea, Carinaria, etc. This homoge-

neous mud, the result of the immense amount of sediment con-

tinually carried into this inland sea by the numerous rivers that

flow into it, does not appear to offer favorable conditions for the

development of animal life, since what most struck the attention of

all the naturalists was the rarity of the organisms inhabiting the

depths, when compared with the astonishing riches of the surround-

ing coasts. Throughout these depths, not only is there a monotony

of muddy surface, but no currents change and agitate the water,

and the temperature, beyond a depth of 200 metres, appears to be

always 13° centigrade. The discovery in the Mediterranean of

many forms believed to be peculiar to the Atlantic, and in the latter

of those believed to be confined to the Mediterranean, has proved

that the fauna of that sea had its origin in the ocean by way of the

Straits of Gibraltar. |

In this connection we cannot do better than translate the words

of A. Milne Edwards, at the conclusion of his address to the

Academy of Science, Paris :

“Tt results from our researches, that the Mediterranean ought

not to be considered a distinct zodlogical province; the more its

Species are studied, the more it becomes evident that those forms

believed to be limited to it can be found elsewhere.

_ “ The observations made by the Travailleur lend a new force to

this opinion. We believe that the Mediterranean is peopled by

animals from the ocean. These finding in this recently opened

‘sin conditions favorable to their existence, have established them-

selves there definitely; in many cases they have reproduced and

developed themselves more actively than in their first habitat, and,

especially near the coasts, the fauna shows a richness that the other

uropean coasts rarely show. Some animals, placed in new bio-

logical conditions, are slightly modified in form or in other exte-

nior characters, which explains the slight differences which may be

observ between certain oceanic forms and the corresponding

94 General Notes. (January, :

Mediterranean form. The principal cause of the beliefin the pri- ~

mordial distinctness of the two faunze has been the comparison of |

the productions of the Mediterranean with those of the North sea, —

British channel or Brittany ; instead of,as should have been the case, ~

with those of Portugal, Southern Spain, Morocco and Senegal,

The animals of these regions are those that first migrated to the ©

Mediterranean, and as we become acquainted with the fauna of |

these regions, we shall see the differences zodlogists have noticed

between them gradually disappear.”

When once fairly outside of the Straits of Gibraltar, the monot: —

ony of the sea-bottom disappeared, sandy, pebbly and rocky areas”

were met with; the nets, which in the Mediterranean prevented

the dredge from filling instantly with mud at the spot where 1t-

struck the bottom, became useless; and the temperature of the —

depths, owing to sub-marine currents, lost the uniformity so chat-

acteristic of those of the Mediterranean. oo

As a consequence of these varied conditions the forms of ant

mal life increased in individuals and numbers, but among them, —

along the Portuguese coast, were found species heretofore con-

sidered exclusively Mediterranean. r

t the entrance of the Bay of Biscay from the south, a remark-

able inequality in the ocean bed was met with. A few miles be |

yond a sounding of 560 metres the astonishing depth of 4557 —

EME EEIE eee TRE ee ee Pa ee A See Ne eT

metres was found, and only thirteen miles further on bottom was —

reached at 400 metres—an irregularity scarcely to be paralleled by —

the highest chain of mountains. ay

The greatest depth sounded in the Bay of Biscay was 5100

metres, or about three and a quarter miles, and it was resolved to .

attempt to use the dredge at this depth. The operation a |

Desfosses, are destitute of a crystalline lens, although they ar

vided with a retina. The blind subterranean fishes may

followed by two arms on each side, the anterior largest of a

The bell is transparent, its walls and lobes very contractile, ati

its outer and inner surfaces covered with cilia, which are long 5

_on the margins of the lateral lobes. The young Nemertines *

eveloped in a folded position, within the lower and poste

part of the larval envelope, and are distinctly segmented

~LOPCO

1883. ] Zoology. 95

iorly.——M. F. Lataste (Buil. Soc. Zool. de France, Nov., 1881),

describes a new species of Ctenodactylus, C. mzaéi,a rodent of the

Algerian Sahara. The remaining species are C. massoni, from

S. Africa, and C. gundi, also from the Sahara. The toes of C

gundi are furnished on their inner face with horny tubercles, and

probably similar tubercles were mistaken by Gray, in the Cape

species for the “ pectinated osseous appendages,” that he insists

on in characterizing the genus. In the same volume, M. A.

Certes narrates his experience with infusorian, and other germs.

Water from Chott Timrit (Algiers), was evaporated in the sun in

March, 1878. In April, 1881, the sediment was placed in boiled

and filtered water, protected carefully from outside germs. Next

day infusorians appeared, and in the beginning of June the nauplii

of Artemia salina were visible, and rapidly grew. In the Bulle

tin of the same Society for 1882, Dr. Dybowski brings together

some interesting particulars respecting the family Mormonide

(puffins). Eight species are known, one, Fratercula arctica, with

two distinct races. The last species is peculiar to the N. Atlantic,

while the other seven inhabit the N. Pacific, Kamtschatka, and

the neighboring isles. Most nest in the crevices of rocks, but

Lunda cirrhata prefer the plateaux on the margins of rocky islets.

They leave Kamtschatka in October, and return at the end of

May; a single egg is laid, and both sexes sit upon it——lIn the

Annals and Magazine of Natural History, the Rev. T. Hincks

gives proofs of the homology of the vibraculum of the polyzoa,

with the avicularium. The vibratile portion of the latter is an

extension of the mandible, while the rest of the beak supplies a

Support and terminal notch in which the seta plays. Specimens

of Microperella ciliata from various parts of the world, exhibit

Stages from the beak to the long seta, with its support, while in

others it is modified into a flapper. In view of this instability of

avicularian structure, the writer is disposed to differ from those

Who assign it a high value in classification. The same writer,

in the ninth of a series of contributions towards a general history

of the Polyzoa, describes five new species of that group. Mr.

S. O. Ridley describes three new species of Gorgoniidz, two from

the Mauritius, and one from Burmah. H. J. Carter describes a

llepora of asteroid form, clustered around an empty shell, and

a Palythoa of branched form, also on a shell, both from Senegam-

bia——The same naturalist describes twenty species of sponges,

from the West Indies, and Acapulco, with valuable notices on

other species. Among other facts, the author states that Chon-

ta nucula, though nearly as hard as wood when dry, imbibes

Moisture and swells like the common sponge, becoming tough

and elastic like India-rubber; and that. Spongia officinalis of the

West is identical with that of the Mediterranean, the Ca

the world generally, coarser and finer forms occuring together.

——Prof. W. I. Sollas gives an exhaustive description of three

96 General Notes.

Tetractinellid sponges of Norway, with numerous figur

of structure. In the Morphologisches Yahrbuch bd.

The Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist. contains a prelimina

notice by Professor McIntosh of a remarkable new type of

rant Polyzoa allied to Rhabdopleura. It was dredged i

“house” ——The Annals also has the conclusion of Barros

general theory of the embryology of the Bryozoa. His conclu

are too long to reproduce here. The Archives de Zoolo

Experimentale, No. 2, concludes Apostolide’s elaborate anato

and development of the Ophiurans, and publishes, with elabor

plates, Laffuie’s work on the organization and development

A fresh-water sit

has been collected in ponds and ditches in Japan, by Dr. C.

Whitman; it has been determined by E. J. Miers to be proba

Atyephyra compressa De Hann sp. It is allied to Trogloc

shrimp which inhabits caves in Carinthia. The Transactt

tions of new species of bird mites, by J. B. Tyrrell, as

of birds found near Ottawa. In his seventh noti

sale destruction of invertebrate life took place. This was t

sult, probably, of avery severe storm, which occurred in this

“which by agitating the bottom-water, forced outward th

cold water that, even in summer, occupies the great 4

shallower sea, in less than sixty fathoms along the coast,

caused a sudden lowering of the temperature along th

zone, where the tile-fish and the crustacea referred to were 19

found. As the warm belt is here narrow even in summer,

not only bordered on its inner edge, but is also underlaid by

colder water, it is evident that even a moderate agitation

mixing up of the warm and cold water might, in winter, T

the temperature so much as to practically obliterate the

belt, at the bottom. But a severe storm, such as the one

to, might even cause such a variation in the position and

1833. | Zoblogy. 97

the tidal and other currents as to cause a direct flow of the cold

inshore waters to temporarily occupy this area, pushing outward

the Gulf stream water.”——M. A. Milne Edwards, in the course

of a summary of the work done by the Travailleur in the Medi-

terranean, mentions the capture of some Gobies, Phycis mediter-

raneæ, and Plagusiu lactea, at depths not exceeding 450 meters,

and of Argyropelecus hemigymnus at 1068 metres; many crustacea

which were known only from the Atlantic, inhabit the abysses of

the Mediterranean, and a new species of Galathodes (G. marionis)

blind (like its congeners of the West Indian seas and the Bay of

Biscay), and having eyes devoid of pigment, was found. Among

the Bryozoa many remarkable species establish a passage between

those of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, while some were pre-

viously represented only by forms regarded as peculiar to the

Cretaceous deposits. The three rare species of sharks taken at

Cape Espichel (Portugal) in 1200 metres ( Centrophorus squamosus,

C. crepidalbus, and Centroscymnus celolepis), seem never to quit

the abysses of the ocean. Mr. B. Wright describes three Sty-

lasterial and two Madreporian corals from the South seas.

r. A, Gruber describes two forms of Amceba in which the body

is surrounded by a fine layer of clear protoplasm, which must be

roken through before a pseudopodium can be protruded.

r. A. Günther, in a ninth contribution to the knowledge of the

fauna of Madagascar, describes five new reptiles. Dr. L. Orley

, "

scopic thread-worms leading a free existence in mould or waters

without complex metamorphosis, and producing large eggs.

Professor F. W. Hutton gives particulars of the structure and de-

velopment of Siphonaria australis, states that it is a true pulmo-

nate, and remarks that in their reproductive organs and dentition

the pulmonates approach more nearly to the Opisthobranchs

than to the Prosobranchs. Mr. O. Thomas describes two new

Muride (long-haired rats), of rather large size, from Tasmania.

~—G. A. Boulenger gives an account of the reptiles and batrachia

collected by Mr. Whymper in Ecuador. The list includes a

Cinosternon, an Amphisbzena, a new Coronella, and two species

of Bothrops; in all twenty-seven reptiles, with twelve batrachia,

three of them new.——F. D’Arruda Furtado notices a case o

complete abortion of the reproductive organs in ten specimens of

Vitrina from St. Michael’s, one of the Azores.

VoL xvn- yo i 7

98 General Notes. [Janua

' PHYSIOLOGY.’

BENEKE ON CHOLESTERIN.—In the Proceedings of the Soci

for the Promotion of the Natural Sciences of Marburg, Prussia, for

the years 1880 and 1881, Professor Beneke writes upon the role

played by cholesterin in the brain of man. In the brain of a boy

of fifteen, who died of phthisis, he found cholesterin to the ext

of 2.34 per cent. of the fresh substance, and in that of a girl

nineteen who died of puerperal fever he found 2.13 per cent.

The presence of the substance in so large a quantity, militate:

in the writer’s belief, against its excrementitious nature, and tends

rather to prove that it is “essential to the constitution of the pro:

toplasmic matter of the structure of the tissues.” It is present in

both cerebrum and cerebellum.

In a second article, Professor Beneke gives further particular:

of his investigations into the nature of cholesterin, and states his

belief that the cilia of epithelium and of spermatozoa, the “

zoa” of Dr. Gaule, the “ spirilla” of Arndtfand the myelin threads

(myelin-faden) which he found to be procurable from carcinoma

cells treated with alcohol, and form an alcoholic extract of blood

corpuscles, constitute a connected series of similar objects havi

a common origin, and that in their production cholesterin ple

an important part.

A Correction.—In the September number of the NATURAI Ist

. 744, seventh line from the bottom, I am credited with the s

neath the head of teleostean embryos is converted into the

This statement I repudiate; never having made it. What sho

have been said, by one familiar with my work on Tylosuru

Cybium, is as follows: The heart at first descends into this sp4

and in those forms in which the development of the heart may

opens directly into the segmentation cavity through a wide

ration in the septum itself. In this wise it results that the

cavity is placed in direct communication with the serous Sp?

segmentation cavity surrounding the yelk, and from the

* This department is edited by Professor Henry SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, ™

1883. ] Physiology. 99

of the ye/k hypoblast (a thick structureless membrane with

scattered proliferating nuclei embedded in it), the blood cells are

directly budded off and pumped up by the heart into the circulation.

This yelk hypoblast enters into the formation of no structures

which can be discovered except blood cells. It is, in fact, the ap-

paratus by which the yelk is broken down into*corpuscles, and

cannot enter into the development of the intestine, liver, pancreas,

segmental organs or other viscera, as these have, at the stage Iam

discussing, already appeared. The only office it therefore has is a

yelk-elaborating function, the yelk substance being incorporated

into the body of the nascent fish by the ordinary metabolic pro-

cesses of growth; the circulation only functionating, as the carrier

of the material, the yelk hypoblast is therefore also an evanescent

structure. These facts I have mainly observed in living material,

afterwards studying the yelk hypoblast more carefully in sections.

Kupffer and Gensch have noticed similar phenomena in teleosts,

but have not apparently had the good fortune to witness the actual

process of germination of the colorless primitive blood cells in the

living embryo, as has been done by the writer. As might have

been anticipated these early blood cells are colorless. This is in ac-

cord with what has been noted in the development of the blood

of vertebrates much higher in the scale of organization. No

writer on development, as far as I can discover, has hitherto re-

corded the fact that he has observed this communication of the

heart with the segmentation cavity, such as may be seen in the

just-hatched embryos of Alosa.—F. A. Ryder.

SENSE oF Coror IN CEPHALOPODA.—C. Keller brings forward

evidence, states the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society,

that the cuttle-fish manifests in a high degree the power of adapt-

ing the color of their skin to that of the environment. He was

able to observe this adaptation of color in Eledone. In the Naples

aquarium, a specimen of this octopod was under the necessity of

escaping from a powerful lobster; during its flight, it appeared

pale red; but subsequently, resting on a tuft of yellow rock cov-

ered with brown spots, resembled. it so closely that it became

almost invisible to the observer. In this case the conditions were

decidedly very favorable for the occurrence, for yellow and dark-

brown color cells occur in Eledone in large numbers. It should

be added that the eye of the cuttle-fish shows an unusually high

development.

PuystoLocicat News.—Professor Wagener contributes? his re-

Searches upon the origin of the transverse striæ of muscles.-

Professor Lieberkuhn gives a notice of the results of his studies of

e germinal layers in the mammals, especially the mole and

the porpoise (Meerschwein). The yelk-cells enter into the struc-

cure of the ectoderm, as well as of the endoderm.——Dr. Strahl

‘Proc. Soc. Promotion of Natural Sciences, Merburg.

100 General Notcs. [ January,

writes upon the myloënteric canal of lizards, confirming

existence of a communication between the nerve canal and int

tinal tract. The cells of the wall of the former pass directly i

tion is obliterated in more advanced ones. i _ Lieb

kuhn treats of metaplastic and neoplastic ossification, as exhibi

in the limb-bones of Chelonia midas.

PSYCHOLOGY.

TEACHING BRUTES THE USE OF LETTERS.—The purpose of

article is to set forth briefly some thoughts upon a subject whet

appears to'me to have been unaccountably neglected, considering

the promise it presents of remarkable, and possibly practical,

results. !

It is manifest to all who are conversant with the subject, that m

stinct cooperates with reason in man to a far greater degree t

was heretofore supposed, and that in early infancy it domina

for it is impossible to deny the absolute automatism of the act

the child in obtaining nourishment in the natural manner.

Nor do I believe that the thoughtful and observing can @

that the brutes are capable of reasoning; that is, the appre!

sion of a logical sequence.

Candor, therefore, compels an admission of the truth that,

difference between the mind of man and that of brutes is sim

one of degree. It is also admitted that there is no reas

believe that the senses of their higher orders differ mat

from those of man, save in some superadded refinements, t

ture of which we can only conjecture.

Any investigation into the scope of their mental action,”

ever, is emb sed by the fact that the most intelligent and &

able are restricted in their power of communicating their ideas

difficulties, yet I have never heard of it having been

i ean.

a scientific spirit. I have seen some surprising feats of

confederate, by some trick indicated to the animal the €

YB Wak or Tek eae i fea ss cs y ai

_ about two years of age. ie who lost sight and hearing y dis

1883. | Psychology. IOI

less the brain full of inherited capacity for apprehension, yet

when we close the avenues of sight and hearing, how inaccessible

it becomes.

When we consider the immense variety that exists among our

domestic animals, a large proportion of which is undoubtedly due

to the application by man of the laws of heredity in breeding;

and that too in an unenlightened manner; can it be doubted that

the application of these laws, as now understood, to a race of dogs,

for example, with the view of increasing their general intelligence,

would result in something far more wonderful than a retriever or

blood-hound.

It cannot be doubted that an intelligent dog is capable of dis-

tinguishing between the letters of the alphabet if of a good size

and printed upon separate cards. The step between the recogni-

_ tion of the individual characteristics of a number of symbols and

the ability to associate them with their respective sounds is not a

great one. Then come words; certain symbols set in a certain

order.

Having arrived at this stage, which, in view of the facts, would

seem by no means impossible, the next task would be to establish

the connection between familiar objects with short names, and their

names spelled with the cards. The cards being arranged in alpha-

betical order, the dog would be taught to select the proper letters

and place them in the proper order to spell the name of an object

shown, without it being spoken. To save time, the word method

might be adopted, a word being printed upon each card and taught

as a simple, and not composite, symbol of the thing it represents.

_ From this point onward the investigation would become absorb-

ingly interesting; how far the brute mind could understand and

express a relationship between two or more objects, as a ball un-

der a hat; a shoe on a box under a table, &c., would come next,

_ and would lead the way to the qualifying function of adjectives.

_ This much accomplished, it would then be the province of an

Mgenious investigator to devise plans for bringing to the notice

of his pupils abstract ideas; first simple ones, as heat and cold;

then more complex, as kindness, friendship, &c. This might be

impossible even with the most ingenious methods, yet it would be

presumptuous to pronounce it so with our present knowledge of

brute intelligence.

_ Lhen, too, it would be most interesting to note the operation of

heredity upon the function of the brain in a race of creatures not

Subject to the vicissitudes of human life, and ruled by an intelli-

gent hand.

I cannot but believe that ere long such an inquiry will be de-

manded, to throw light upon this important subject, and if possi-

_ Dl, ascertain the limits of the capabilities of our dumb compan-

102 General Notes. [ Januaty, |

Tue Hasirs oF A cAGED Rosin.—I have a pet robin nearly P

eleven years old which fell from his nest before he was fledged, —

and so happy is he in his confinement, that he has never been f

known to beat against the wires of his cage. At first he was fed )

upon earthworms, spiders and such larve as we could obtain, but : |

one day, such fare being scarce, we tried beefsteak, and found he

relished it well, then bread, crackers, bread and milk, cake, &€, f

till for the last ten years his “living” has been anything usually f

found on the family table. Indeed, he has come to scorn common

robins’ food, save meal and cut-worms, spiders and flies. During ©

his first winter, when the cook would be frying doughnuts, as soon ~

as the heating lard began to smell, we noticed a peculiar teasmg

note, uttered only when wishing some new food. This led us to |

offer him a bit of hot doughnut, which he relished greatly, and

the hotter the better, he eating it whilst quite too warm to hold it

one’s hand. As a farther test of his power of scent, we found i

that as soon as a paper of raisins, citron, or such fruits was

brought into the dining-room, he began to tease, detecting the

fruits as a cat detects the arrival of steak, while it is still wrapped —

in the paper. For any kind of cooked meat, save mutton, whether |

‘fresh or corned, he has a manifest relish. e

In the hot summer days, when his food becomes too dry to suit

him, it is his habit to carry it to the opposite end of the cage and

dip it repeatedly in his bathing dish. As a result of this soft diet,

and little or no gravel, his bill has a projection upon it fully threè

sixteenths of an inch long, giving him quite a rapacious Jook, ano

his toe-nails have repeatedly become so long that he has hung

himself on his perch, thus necessitating frequent clippings; now

the nails of his hind toes, if straightened, would be more than att

_ In the summer he bathes five or six times daily, indeed it a

times seems as though we could keep him in the water most 0

and musical, becoming louder and louder as the season advances

_ Never having been with other robins, and frequently hearing

the piano, his notes were a jargon of almost everything, till thé |

usual inquiry of passers-by was: “ What kind of a bird is that,

parrot, mocking-bird, or what >” And they were greatly surp”

1883.] Psychology. 103

to know it was only a common red-breast. The last three years

the piano has been silent much of the fime, and he has quite for-

gotten the songs he once followed, though still his notes are by

no means those of the ordinary robin.

For his wild congeners-he has never manifested any regard, and

though when hanging out of doors they would sometimes perch

upon his cage, especially the female robins, he never seemed to

notice them. For persons he has always manifested an unques-

tionable preference, seldom changing his first impressions even

upon acquaintance, and after being courted to do so by tempting

morsels. To those he likes he will bring any loose thing at hand,

but to others he utters a peculiarly sharp guzp, quip / runs into the

opposite corner of his cage, turns his back and looks decidedly

indignant. Further, when singing, if such an one enters, he stops

immediately. His memory of persons is perhaps the most remark-

able thing about him. We had a servant girl some four years ago

for whom he formed a very strong attachment, replying to her

voice whenever he heard it, near or far, by another particular note,

and when she came to him by going through with a great many

funny antics. He had not seen her for three years, and had

not made those sounds nor motions. Recently she called and

said she wondered if “ Fred” would remember her; sure enough,

the first sound of her voice and glimpse of her presence revived

his former habit, and he could not do enough for her. Is there

anything beyond instinct in this ?

Occasionally we let him out with a number of other birds in

the sitting-room, and though so wise and so old, he has no cour-

age to defend himself, being driven by even a little canary ; indeed, ~

he is miserable when out of his cage.

During the molting period there are usually many days when

there is no appearance of tail or wing feathers and not more than

a half dozen feathers still clinging to his head and neck. Whether

this shedding of so many at once is the result of his peculiar food

and life, I cannot say, but it is almost always so. He does not

seem to be more delicate about his food, drink and bathing at

these times than others. ;

He has never indicated any disposition to migrate, or even an

uneasiness in the fall months; indeed, almost the only wild instinct

manifested has been nest-building, tearing his paper into shreds

and carrying them about, but not depositing them in any one

place; nor does he incline to carry about bits of moist earth

when they are put in his cage, as wild robins dof Though nearly

eleven years old his feathers are as glossy as ever, and deeper in

tint than those of his wild mates—Mary E. Holmes. ;

Tue NESTING OF THE BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER.—Birds, as

well as men, are strongly affected by exterior circumstances and

surroundings. Thus their habits, numbers or even, individual

presence in any specified district are not constant, but subject to

104 General Notes. { January, 2

variation. In whatever sphere the scientist may direct his inves- —

tigations he finds the word change engraven upon each object.

This is especially marked in animate nature, and so reveals its

presence in the feathered creation by readily observed effects.

The agents through whose operation, either singly or collectively,

this is traceable, are both numerous and varied. Civilization has

modified or entirely changed the architectural structure of the —

nests of the barn and cliff swallow, &c. Peculiar surroundings”

leave their impress in certain departures from the general charac ~

teristics of any species, e. g., purple grackles inland construct —

their nests of weeds, sticks, &c., whereas their relatives near the

sea shore confine themselves almost entirely to eel grass in

building their homes. But again, it sometimes occurs that mem- —

bers of the same species under almost identical exterior surround- —

ings will still evince great inconstancy with no tenable explana-

tion to account for the fact. The black and white creeper (Mnio- —

tilta varia) affords an illustration of this. There has been mote —

or less controversy regarding the nest of this species. A plain, —

careful statement of facts alone are of value in all such cases.

Many writers who are the theoretical exponents of the erratic of

-capricious habits of various members of the ornithological king-

dom practically ignore all this and farther statements so positive

and sweeping in their nature as to exclude the recognition of

actual conditions of adverse nature, which obtain in anothers

ments of Drs. Coues and Brewer, quoted on page 98, of the Lane

and Game Birds of New England, and also Mr. Minot's owt

observations on the same page. The statements of Mr. Maynar

im Birds of Eastern North America,” and Mr. Samuels #

Birds of. New England and adjacent States,” may be also con

sulted at leisure. During the past season, 2. e., in the latter pan

of April, 1882, the writer detected a pair of black and white

creepers busily engaged in excavating fora nest in a white birc!

stump about five feet from the ground. The location was a clump

of trees in a rE swamp in Middlesex county, New Jerse)

After having carefully and with much interest watched their moe

1883. | Psychology. 105

storm occurred in the interval, which elapsed ere our last visit.

We now found much to our chagrin and disappointment that the

nest was deserted. The spongy wood had absorbed so much

water that the floor or lower part of the cavity was flooded, while

the walls or sides were wet and soggy. But for this unlooked for

severe storm, we should have had the pleasure of beholding a set

of black and white creepers’ eggs in a hole in a birch stump.

Another nest also in a decayed stump contained young birds, when

discovered in the latter part of May. In the spring of 1873. a

friend, then attendant at the Blairstown Academy, situated in the

north of New Jersey, while passing a ledge of rocks, was attracted

by a long strip of bark depending from a crevice or chink in the

rock. Curiosity to know what had carried this piece of bark in-

duced him to examine the spot, the result was the discovery that

the piece of bark was a portion of the material used in the con-

struction of the nest of a pair of black and white creepers, the

presence of whose home was thus betrayed. Eggs taken from

this nest, now in cabinet, have been oft inspected by the writer.

In Indiana, Illinois, &c., persons there residing during visits to

friends in New Jersey, have stated that in the West the black and

white creeper not unfrequently nests in holes in fence rails, posts

and like places, and by request have kindly expressed eggs taken

from these situations. While, therefore, we do not say that this

species does not nest upon the ground very often, we do state that

we have as yet not so found the nest, though many others have.

We also state that we have known them to nest in holes in trees,

crevices in rocks, cavities in stakes, posts, &c. And finally we

surmise that were it practicable, personal investigation is the bet-

ter criterion in all mooted questions.—A. G. Van Aken.

A BEWILDERED Snow-Birp.—The night of the roth instant was

cold and rainy, with a high wind—a bad night for man, or bird, or

beast, to be abroad. About g o'clock, as I sat by the table read-

ing, with my back to the window, I heard a strange muffle

rattling on the glass. Looking in the direction whence the sound

proceeded, I saw a little bird fluttering up and down, evidently

trying to get to the light. Going outside, I readily caught it.

The little creature proved to be a snow-bird (Junco hyemalis).

ese birds are quite numerous in this vicinity, but this is the

first instance of the kind that has come to my knowledge. I kept

the little bird till morning, when I let it go. It flew off to the

north, rising at an angle of about forty-five degrees, until it finally

disappeared— Charles Aldrich, Webster City, Iowa, Nov. 12, 1882,

A Toav’s Cunninc.—Charles White, of New Castle, has a brood

of chickens which have the run of a portion of the yard, the old.

hen being kept shut up. The chickens are fed with moistened

meal, in saucers, and when the dough gets a little sour, it attracts

large numbers of flies. An observant toad has evidently noticed

- this, and every day, along toward evening, he makes his appear-

106 General Notes. [Januar

ance in the yard, hops to a saucer, climbs in, and rolls over and €

over until he is covered with meal, having done which, he awaits _

developments. The flies enticed by the smell, soon swarm around

the scheming batrachian, and whenever one passes within two |

inches or so of his nose, his tongue darts out and the fly disap t

pears ; and this plan works so well that the toad has taken it up €

as a regular business. The chickens do not manifest the least ~

alarm at their clumsy and big-mouthed playmate, but seem to i

consider it quite a lark to gather around him and peck off his E

stolen meal, even when they have plenty more of the same sort in

the saucers— New Hampshire Gazette. 4

ANTHROPOLOGY.’ T

Discovery oF Mounp Retics AT DEVIL RIVER, LAKE HURON |

—Excavations made by me, last summer, in mounds at Devita

(chiefly developed at the popliteal space), such as have been i

ready described as found by me in the mounds of the Detr

river. Associated with these were humeri in which the lamina

from the mounds near Detroit. In all of them the occipital

men is situated decidedly backwards. Most of the bones we

the more advanced stages of decay, and generally crumbled

pieces in the effort to secure them. But few stone implem'

were exhumed, and those were mostly of flint. Pottery was

large quantities, and though in fragments, evidently pres

a great variety of shapes, being ornamented with indented ¢

signs, among which the cord pattern, as usual, predominated.

part.of the perforated stem of a pipe, formed of clay, was ame

the relics. On the mounds originally stood pine trees (Pinus

bus L.), which must have been at least two hundred years ©

The stumps of these, in numerous instances, remained, the

growth long subsequently to the burials.

_ On the low ground, toward the mouth of the river, is @

cient Manitou rock. It isa granite boulder and is deeply

in the earth; the part protruding being an angle rising

bee tribe) came annually in the autumn, in considerable num™

to offer their votive gifts, which were deposited upon the f

! Edited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington:

1883.) Anthropology. 107

with great ceremony. The following year, at the same season,

such of these offerings as remained were removed and preserved

as charms or talismans, while similar gifts were put in their places.

The offerings consisted chiefly of beads and the flowers of the

pearly everlasting (Immortelles), known botanically as Antennaria

margaritacea R. Br. It is noteworthy that similar flowers, prob-

ably from the same motive—their enduring character—are made

use of by us to adorn the graves of our departed friends. The

Indians buried their dead in the vicinity of the rock, which they

regarded with the greatest veneration — Henry Gillman, Detroit,

Michigan.

STONE IMAGE FROM MIAMI county, On10o.—This object was

found in Miami county, Ohio, near an ancient mound, in the

spring of 1881. This mound is situated about two miles west of

Stillwater river, at a point where the river hills gently melt away

into a slightly rolling country. The mound presents the general

appearance of most mounds in Western Ohio; the land having been

cleared for some years, and the mound is now being farmed over ;

as a result the plow turned to the surface the turtle here men-

tioned. It is about four inches long and nearly two inches wide

at the widest part of the body. The top part of the body ter-

minates in a tolerably sharp ridge that extends from the center of

the head to the tip of the tail. This ridge is slightly. curved up-

ward along the back, the head is accurately cut, and the eyes are

knob-like protuberances and extend from the head about one-sixth

of.an inch. The tail is about three-quarters of an inch long, the

bottom is flat and at either end is a hole drilled. One is bored

turtle’s back. We also have in our collection a sculptured alli-

gator and duck.

Cup-SHAPED STONES IN PENNSYLVANIA.—Mr. William Kite, re-

ferring to a collection of hollowed stones brought from California

by Mr. R. E. C. Stearns, writes that he has two in his possession

found in Chester, Penna., and one from the outskirts of German-

town, Philadelphia. The latter is the more curious since it has

€ saucer-like cavity worked on both sides of the stone. There

was found near it a celt much worn.

PHONETICS OF THE Kavowe LancuaGe—Mr. Albert S. Gat-

et reproduces in the Avtiguarian, Vol. 1v, Part 4, his paper

read at the Cincinnati meeting of the A. A. A. S., upon the pho-

108 General Notes. (January, —

similar to the color bitlidness of certain persons; 2. The effort to

restrict a language to the compass of types already in use among

printers, whereby many fine shades of sound are slighted ; 3. Ig- |

norance of the physiological laws of speech.

KAYOWE SOUNDS.

Surds. Sonant. Aspirated. Spirants. Nasals. „Trills. Vowels,

Gutturals k g x h,’ ng eji |

alatals Af

Linguals k g sh l ro

Dentals t d gt n, nd, dl

Labials Pp b f w m, mb u

In the consonant series the absences will strike any observer,

and the two peculiar sounds are and g; the two last being

linguo-dentals produced by holding the r tp of the tongue ;

against the hard palate and pronouncing k a

In the vocalic series the author e Lee has elaborated

from the five English vowels, a, e, i, o, u, fifteen sounds without:

indicating what they are equivalent to in English.

The chapter on alternation of sounds is a very important one, n

and leads to a comprehension of the different Beare? frequently —

adopted by different authors for the same wor

the remaining papers of the Antiquarian are of the first rank

and are well worthy of perusal.

ANTHROPOLOGY IN EuroPE.—For general information on an-

thropology no other journal can compare with the Revue d An-

thropologie of Paris, and ae 3 of Vol. v certainly sustains its

enviable reputation. The reviews are even more valuable than

the original papers. Of the latter there are five, to wit:

The ig et of ar capacity of the skull according to the registers of Broca

By Paul Topinard

Essay r the origin, the evolution and the actual condition of the sedentary Ber :

Contato to the study of i ease haa classification of the age of rade

By Philip Salm y

The MES of the iea penbrela. By William Lejean. n

T re aoe a of human bones belonging to the stone age in Norway. By -

M. Topinard devotes twenty-five pages to the explanation e

M. Broca’s methods of craniometry, with all the precision ofa

text-book. Our readers engaged in craniometric researches :

should carefully examine this |

aures, or sedenta Berbers are divided into

branches, the Getules, “mountaineers,” and the Mazigues, or “eik

tivators.” To these people, living in Algiers and Morocco,

distinguished from the wild Berbers, M. Sabatier devotes thirty

pages. In their institutions we retrace the past, and are able

observe the evolution of a ik e. Inasmuch as they are of Cel-

ree

1883. ] Microscopy. 109

tic origin, the subject becomes of more than -passing interest for

the. French anthropologists.

r. Salmon outstrips all competitors in the fizesse of his chart

of archeology, in that region of guesswork where six blind men

of Hindustan went out to see the elephant. Here it_is:

I. Age of stone, Period 1. Stone flaked by fire, Tertiary.

Period 11. Chipped stone, Quaternary,

a. Epoque Chelleénne or Acheuléen, Ay

4, Epoque moustérienne, P

c. Epoque solutreènne,

d. Epoque magdalenienne,

Period 111. Polished stone, Recent.

II. Age of bronze, T

UI. Age of iron, p

Age 1, Period 1, is then elaborated, p. 451, into thirteen stages

extending from the Lower Miocene to the Upper Pliocene.

. Lejean’s paper is continued from pp. 201-259 of this vol-

ume, and is indispensable to the ethnologist.

The purport of Dr. Arno’s paper is sufficiently explained by

the title.

On p. 520 M. Manouvrier reviews Hovelacque’s “ Les Races

Humaines,” The author divides our race primarily into Austra-

lians, Papuans, Melanesians, Bushmen, Hottentots, Guinea and

Soudan Negroes, Akkas, Kaffirs, Peuls and Nubians, Negritoes,

Veddahs, Dravidians, Moundas (savages of Indo-China), Siamese,

Birmans, Himalayans, Indo-Chinese (east and south), Chinese,

Japanese, Ainos, Hyperboreans, Mongolians, Malays, Polynesians,

Americans, Caucasians, Berbers, Semites, Aryans (Asiatic and

uropean).

On p. 527 is a short sketth of M. Emile Houzé’s studies on

the crania of Flamands and Wallons. The prehistoric Belgians

are neatly set forth in the following scheme:

té

E Ageo Race of Engis, Dolicocephalic.

Jenene the mammoth «o « Naulette, -

Age of stone — do. of reindeer ‘“ “ Furfooz, Sub-brachyceph’c.

Neolithic « Sclaigneaux, Brachyceph’c.

se Chauvaux, Dolicocephalic.

Eygenbilsen, limit of the bronze and the iron age.

of metal,

ou algae | Louette-Saint- Pierre?

` archeeologi

æologically by Lustin, province of Namur ?

MICROSCOPY.’

ORIENTATION IN Microtomic Sections.—If-any organic object

h en cut (“microtomized”) into serial sections and mounted,

e ston through which a section passes; we must have the means

‘Edited by Dr. C. O. Warman, Newton Highlands, Mass. |

110 General Notes. [January |

of ascertaining to within a very small fraction of a millimeter, the

exact path of the knife. Such precise orientation can only be |

arrived at in an indirect way; but the improved instruments and |

methods of section-cutting make its attainment a no very diff- |

cult task. To determine the /ocus of sections with accuracy,

Blastoderm of the chick, 5™™ long.

urface view magnified 20 diameters. ae

Thickness of each section .o5™™, a |

Plane of section at right angles to the long axis of the blastoderm. ce

From these data we know that there should be just 100 S67

tions, and that each section must correspond to 1™™ of the wg

face view. Sy A

Now if we draw a line at one side of the surface view, parallel i

to, and of equal length with, its long axis, and divide this line into :

100 equal parts, the number of the section will correspond to e-

same number on the scale, and the exact position of the section i

be recognized at a glance. =

Of the conditions above named as essential to an exact kno

edge of the locus of any given section, the only one likely tof

sent any serious difficulties is that of obtaining sections of unif

‘nee

the gentlemen who are now associated in the management of

Zoological Station of Naples. ` |

Tue Reconstruction or Osjecrs rrom Secrions.—The _

portance of attending to all available means of orientati

1 This microtome may be obtained fi Peas ba andl mechanic :

Heidelberg. z rom Rudolph Jung, opticia

1883.] Microscopy. III

structure may be obtained? One might be tempted to lock it up

as a cabinet rarity, if he did not know how to make a single series

of sections tell the whole story. If the preliminary steps have

been correctly taken, it is possible to construct from serial trans-

verse sections, a median sagittal (longitudinal and vertical) or

frontal section, or a section in any desired plane. From the same

series may be constructed also surface views of internal organs,

which are inaccessible to, or unmanageable by, any of the ordi-

nary methods of dissection.

It frequently happens that sections can be obtained by construc-

tion that could not be obtained by any direct .means, For

example, we may desire a frontal section of a vertebrate embryo

that will show all the parts that lie in the same level with the

chorda, or a sagittal section that will represent a median plane.

It is evident that no such sections can be directly obtained, owing

to the axial curvature of the embryo; but they can easily be con-

structed from transverse sections. It is here that we see some of

the great advantages to be derived from the use of the microtome.

It not only overcomes the opacity of objects, but it also enables us

to represent curved and twisted surfaces in plane surfaces. The

ability to construct sections at right angles to the actual planes of

section is the key to the next and final step—‘ the plastic synthe-

sis” of the sectioned object.

METHOD oF RECONSTRUCTION.—Professor His was the first to

' His. “ Untersuchungen ü. d. erste Anlage des Wirbelthierleibes,” p. 182, 1868

t ‘Neu Untersuchungen ü. d. Bildung des Hühnerembryo, in Arch. f. Anat. u

hysiol., anat. Abth.,”’ p. 122, 1877.

s Seessel “Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., anat., Abth.,” p. 449, 1877.

, Foree. Morph. Jahrb. Vol. 1, p. 108, 1875.

_ Krieger. Zeits: hrift f. wiss. Zool. Vol. XXXIII, p. 531, 1880, and Zool. Anzeiger»

P. 369, 1878. er

112 General Notcs. i [ January,

of paper, each zone corresponding in thickness to a single see

tion (1™™). a

A median line would then be drawn at right angles to these

zones; this line would represent the length of the disc magnified

20 diameters (100™"). We should next make an outline drawing

of the first section enlarged the same number of diameters as be

fore. The width of this drawing and its parts (primitive streak,

embryonic rim, &c.), could then be indicated in the first zone by

dots placed at the proper distance on the right and left side of the

median line. The dots for each succeeding section having beet

placed in their corresponding zones, nothing further would remait

to be done, except to connect the dots of corresponding parts it

the several zones, and shade according to the requirements of the

se. f

If the plane of section is not quite perpendicular to the axis ob

the object, one has only to determine the angle which the axis

makes with the plane of section, and draw the median line so that |

it forms the same angle with the parallel zones. Such a cas

been clearly illustrated by Krieger. :

In the construction of sagittal sections, a profi

: le line (d

line, &c.), will serve as the ground line. {

_ roe progress 1 donl

_ of cilia (or minute hairs) in the air-passages, and the

line tion of the nasal mucus may (it is also sugge

1883.] Microscopy. 113

favorable to some of them. Cohn has proved that bacteria

producing acid fermentation, perish in liquids with alkaline reac-

tion. Infectious bacteria may, however, multiply to a formidable

extent on living mucous surfaces; witness the growth of the

micrococcus of diphtheria, brought by the air into the air-passages ;

also the bacterium of anthrax. The bacillus of tubercle, as Koch

has lately shown, may be transmitted from one person to another

by the air-passages. Professor Schnetzler thinks hay fever may

also be due to bacteria entering the nose. While the development

of bacteria on normal mucous surfaces is usually limited, millions

of them are found in the dejections of healthy children.—£xg/ish

Mechanic.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MICROSCOPISTS,

1882,—This is a welleprinted volume of 300 pages, containing

valuable papers on improvements in the microscopes and in his-

tological, botanical and zoological topics. Among the micro-

scopical papers are the excellent address of the president, G. E.

Blackham on the Evolution of the Modern Microscope ; an inter-

esting memoir of Charles A. Spencer, by H. L. Smith, with arti-

cles on light and illumination, by E. Gundlach; stereoscopic

effects obtained by the high power binocular arrangement of

Powell and Lealand, by A. C. Mercer; the improved Griffith

Club microscope, by E. H. Griffith; A new freezing microtome,

by T.. Taylor ; Modification of the Wenham half-disc illuminator,

with an improved mounting, by R. Dayton; Micro-photography

with dry-plates and lamp-iight, and its application to making

lantern positives, by W. H. Walmsley; The Fasoldt stage micro-

meter, by T. C. Mendenhall; Osmic acid, its uses and advantages

in microscopical investigations, by T. B. Redding. On the con-

ditions of success in the construction and the comparison of stand-

ards of length, by W. A. Rogers.

The botanical and general biological papers are: Microscopi-

cal contribution; The vegetable nature of croup, by E. Cutter;

Micro-organisms in the blood in a case of tetanus, by L. Curtis;

Microscopic organisms in the Buffalo water-supply and in Niagara

river, by H. Mills; Rhzsosolenia gracilis, n. sp., by H. L. Smith;

Microscopic forms observed in water of Lake Erie, by C. M.

Vorce; Sporadic growth of certain diatoms, and the relation

_ thereof to impurities in the water-supply of cities, by J. D. Hyatt.

The zodlogical, histological and physiological papers are on

certain crustaceous parasites of fresh-water fishes, by D. S. Kell-

icott—The termination of the nerves in the liver, by M. L. Hol-

brook; Observations on the fat cells and connective-tissue cor-

puscles of Necturus (Menobranchus), by S. H. Gage; The

structure of the muscle of the lobster, by M. L. Holbrook; The

wheel-like and other spicula of the Chirodota of Bermuda, by F.

M. Hamlin; Fresh-water sponge by H. Mills; Polyzoa —Obser-

VOL. XVIL—NO. 1.

114 Scientific News. (January,

vations on species detected near Buffalo, N. Y., by D. S, Kell- i

cott |

tt. ae |

It would have been a convenience if the papers had beet”

classified.

DESTRUCTION OF MICROSCOPICAL ORGANISMS IN POTABLE WATER

—Langfeldt, in seeking for a substance which would kill the living |

organisms without injuring the water for drinking purposes, found €

that citric acid (% gram per litre of the water), killed all except €

yclops and those with a thick epidermis, within two minutes. |

:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— In his interesting sketch of the progress of American min |

' eralogy, delivered before the American Association for the Ad f

. vancement of Science, at Montreal, Professor G. J. Brush, after

speaking of the survey of the country adjacent to the Erie canal :

in 1820-24 by Professor Amos Eaton, who was placed in charge ©

of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, says: “ It may

be interesting here, in these days of summer schools, to recall, |

although parenthetically, that what was probably the first sum-

mer school of science in the United States, was established more

than fifty years ago in connection with this institution. The

school consisted of a flotilla of towed canal boats, and the route

was from Troy to Lake Erie. It took two months for the trop,

and all important points on the way were visited. Instruction bý

lectures and examinations was given in mineralogy, geology, 90

also scientific books for reference. The students were taught the:

method of procuring specimens, and were required to make col

lections of wh . a

— The Agassiz Associatio izati the $t

; n, an organization started by the < —

Nicholas m i 8 A re by

w ) uss inthe meetings of their chapters

objects they discover, and to find out about them in accessi

Mass., the founder of the

book of the St. Nicholas’ Agassi

to the study of natural objects, with directions for collecting and

preserving specimens,” oh

— The last Congress ordered the publicati following,

T ed th on of the tolom

entomological works which are ah in an advanced ee

1883. ] Scientific News. 115

preparation: 2000 copies of the fifth report of the U. S. Entomo-

logical Commission, with the necessary illustrations. This will

be an enlarged, revised edition of Bulletin No. 7, on forest and

shade insects, with many additional illustrations. There was also

ordered for the Department of Agriculture, 1000 copies of a

Bibliography of Economic Entomology. This is in preparation

by Mr. B. P. Mann. Of a report on orange insects §C00 copies

were ordered for the use of the Department of Agriculture.

The agricultural report, containing a lengthy report of the ento-

mologist, is nearly ready for distribution.

— A steamer of 1090 tons, called the A/éatros, has been built

by government for the use of the U.S. Fish Commission, and is now,

according to Professor Verrill, being fitted up expressly for deep-

sea service, for which she will be, in every respect, well adapted,

and will have the best equipment possible for all such investiga-

tions, and at all depths. During the past year improvements

have been made in apparatus for deep-sea explorations, especially

in deep-sea thermometers. New forms of traps for capturing

bottom animals have also been devised. The “ trawl-wings,” first

introduced by the commission last year, have been used the past

season with great success, bringing up numerous free-swimming

forms, from close to the bottom, which could not otherwise have

been taken. The use of steel wire for sounding and of wire-rop

for dredging has also greatly facilitated the work. :

_— Henry Chapman, for several years a member of the Califor-

nia Academy of Sciences, and recently curator of mammals and

birds in that Institution, died on the 2d of December at the age

of 55 years, from the effect of poison inhaled or absorbed in the

course of his business as a taxidermist. Mr. Chapman was an

enthusiastic naturalist, possessed of great energy and intelligence,

exceedingly skillful in his special work, an efficient officer and

member of the Academy, an excellent citizen and estimable in all

the relations of life. His death is greatly lamented.—X. Eb. 5.

— The Zehama (Cal.) Tocsin of recent date reports that an oak

tree was cut down on Shelton’s ranch, near Newville, Colusa

county, that measured seven feet and four inches through at the

stump. There was cut and split 400 posts, seven and a half feet

long, and 75 cords (two-ties to the cord) of two-foot wood, out of

it. One man worked forty-two days continuously and two men

ten days. The posts are worth twenty cents apiece, and the wood

two dollars per cord. It therefore yielded $230 —R. E. C. S.

— In a letter to Vature, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys reports that Pro-

fessor Giglioli made a few hauls with the dredge the past season

in the Mediterranean in depths ranging from 389 to 857 fathoms.

A rare and peculiar abyssal fish (Paralepis cuvriert) was procured.

A new water-bottle was tested, and also Capt. Magnaghi’s n-w

currentometer, “a most valuable discovery, by means of which

116 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [January,

the direction and force of submarine currents can be accurately

determined at any depth.”

— Says the late Chauncy Wright in one of his essays: “At

cording to Mr. Spencer's views, the first strata, had they been P

preserved, would have contained the remains of protozoa and pro

tophytes ; but, for aught we dare guess, they might have con-

tained the foot-prints of archangels.” Truth is stranger than fit f

tion. What else can be the Carson footprints ? i |

and has been a healthy stimulus to scientific progress. :

— We learn that Mr. R. E. C. Stearns has resigned his posi-

tion ash curator of mollusca in the U. S. National Muse

on account of ill health, by the advice of his physician.

— Aristotle’s “ History of Animals” has been translated by

Monsieur Bartholemy St. Hilaire, and the work will soon be pu

lished with preface, notes, and commentary.

he was professor of zodlogy in the University of Cope

— Dr. F. H. Troschel, professor of zodlogy at Bonn, and

many years one of the editors of the Archiv fiir Naturgeschi¢

author of a treatise on zodlogy and of many papers, as well

zoOlogical artist of distinction, recently died at Bonn.

—Correction. On page 742, volume 16, eighteenth lin

“ sub-connate”’ read sub-carinate.

Ss :0:—— ;

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. |

_ BiorocicaL Socrety oF Wasuincton, Nov. 10.—Comm

tions were made by Professor J. W. Chickering, Jr., on the “

of the southern mountains; by Professor C. V. Riley on the “ Cl

fly,” Pollenia rudis; by Dr. Geo. Vasey on the pines of

America; and by Dr. John A. Ryder on the rationale of the

tening process employed by oyster planters.

Nov. 24..—Communications were made by Dr. Elliott Coue

the present status of the avifauna of the District of Columbia:

—_

1883. } Preceedings of Scientific Societies. tty

Professor C. V. Riley on jumping seeds and galls, with exhibition

of specimens; by Dr. Thomas Taylor on the pear-tree blight, with

illustrations ; by Professor L. F. Ward on additions made to the

Flora Columbiana during the season of 1882; and by Professor

Theo. Gill on the Stromateide.

New York Acapemy OF ScIENCcEs, Nov. 27.—A lecture on

recent archeological discoveries relating to the mound-builders

was delivered by Dr. J. S. Phené, of London, Eng.

ec. 4.—The following papers were read: On the deposits of

earth-wax (ozokerite) in Europe and America, by Mr. William L.

Lay; The physical conditions under which coal was formed, by

Dr. John S. Newberry.

Boston Society or Natura History, Nov. 15.—Dr. William

B. Carpenter, F.R.S., of London, gave the result of his researches

on Eosoön canadense,

Dec. 6—Dr. Wadsworth read a paper by Dr. Alexis A. Julien,

of Columbia College, on the Dunyte-beds of North Carolina ; and

the president (Mr. Scudder) gave an account of his explorations

last summer in Colorado, and especially of the fossil insects found

in some of the older rocks.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Dec. 4.—There was a discus-

sion respecting the authenticity of the various portraits of Colum-

bus, in which the president, Chief Justice Daly, and Mr. Nestor

Ponce de Leon took part.

Tue PurLaneLPHIA Acapemy oF NaruraL Scrences, May 16.

—Mr. Meehan called attention to the fact that in England the

male flowers of the hazelnut had been perfected this year before

any sign of the female flowers appeared. This was in accordance

with his observations in this State. Mr. Canby remarked upon an

exudation of moisture from the tips of the leaflets in Akebia

quinata. An examination by Professor Rothrock disclosed an

arrangement of the tissue at the apex of each leaflet, evidently

adapted to such an exudation. Mr. Meehan said that the liquid

globules of this plant appeared indifferently in the day or even-

ing, in dry or moist weather. Mahonia aquifolia had on its flower

buds, similar globules, which collected until they formed drops as

rge as peas among the dense head of flowers. An exudation

Occurs also in coniferz, and probably the pollen grain is carried

to the nucleus as the moisture is absorbed within the vesicle.

r. Meehan also exhibited a series of cones from different trees

of Pinus rigida, showing a change of forms from the typical P.

rigida to a cone that could scarcely be distinguished from P.

a. .

sSerotin

-+ May 23.—Dr. Léidy spoke of Bacillus anthracis in the blood of

a cow that had suddenly died. The Bacilli were more numerous

than the blood corpuscles. Dr. Leidy also described a small

118 _ Proceedings. of Scientific Societies.’ (Jan. 1883

worm found by him under stones at Media, Delaware county, £

Extremely like the common white worm, Euchytreus vermiculans,

common in damp places, in flower-pots, under decaying leaves, i

or in marshy meadows, it differs from that species generically

by the possession of two rows of setapeds instead of four,

He proposed to name it Distichopus sylvestris. The intestine

of Distichopus contained a Monocystis (M. mitis). The En

chytrzeus, instead of a gregarine, was infested, in different speci-

mens, with two infusorians of the genus Anoplophrya (A. modesta

and A. funiculus Leidy), and an undetermined Lumbricus yielded i

a third species (A. melo Leidy). .

May 30.—Professor Leidy called attention to the abundance of

the ant Lasius interjectus in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. It

is habitual with this ant to care for an Aphis and a Coccus, both of

which it guards in flocks. -He described a particular nest under

a flat stone, containing six distinct and closely crowded groups of j

the pale yellowish Aphis, and five of the red Coccus. Dr. Leidy ]

also exhibited some transparent yellowish garnets and a colorless

brilliant of tourmaline from St. Lawrence county, N. Y. big

June 27.—Dr. H. Allen remarked that the pterylar tracts of

gists apnea

deep muscles were supplied by long nerves, while the supe bal

muscles were supplied by short nerves. In Menopoma he et

found a branch of the ulna nerve passing into the natatorial fold 4

of skin upon the ulnar border of the forearm. In Menopoma tt

ulnar and musculo-spiral nerve arose from the same trunk, and

he suggested as probable, that the deep connections of these

nerves in the brachial plexus of man would be found to be coh

stant, The ulnar nerve is distributed entirely to the hand andt

muscles moving it, and is well developed in forms which lack th

median, so that may be called the manual nerve. The muscles

- of the forearm that are supplied by this nerve, are singularly Oo”

stant, are.the most effective muscles in the backward movement

of the manus in swimming and walking, and one, the feror ci

ulnaris, makes tense that part of the bat’s wing-membraneé which

lies between the manus and the body. i

- July 18.—Mr. Mehan exhibited a nest of the Chaetura pela

made of cherry twigs fastened y e

gum was probably cherry gum, and not, as stated by Audubon, 4

salivaceous secretion of the bird. i

Miss Lewis said that she had, through a pipe-hole, watched 2

chimney-swallow at work, had seen it use its bill as a trowey

rea vait for a further secretion, and then again work at adjusting

IC SUCKS. à D

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvii. — FEBRUARY, 1883. — No. 2.

THE KINDRED OF MAN.

BY ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN.

Me A. R. Wallace once called attention to the similarity in

color existing between the orang and chimpanzee and the

human natives of their respective countries. It would indeed

seem as if but half the truth had-been told, and that the compari-

son might be carried also into the region of mind; the quick,

vivacious chimpanzee partaking of.the mercurial disposition of

negro races, while the apathetic, slow orang would pass for a dis-

ciple of the sullen fatalism of the Malay. Such, at least, was the

impression left by careful observation of several specimens of

each species which have been exhibited in the Philadelphia Zóö-

logical Garden. :

A curious study are the moral qualities of the chimpanzee—

for he has morals—not altogether such as would serve for the

ordering of a human community, but very well adapted, seeming-

ly, for his own needs. Watching them closely, in all their moods,

all their passions, it was impossible’to avoid the feeling that here

_ Was man in his primitive stage of moral development—“ nature’s

ground plan” only—self-love predominant, the brute mainly, `

with but an occasional flash of the possibilities which the hand

of nature was yet to shape.

“Adam” and “ Eve” were both young, probably not more

than three or four years old, and not half grown, as the chim-

panzee is believed to require some twelve or fifteen years for the

completion of that stage of existence. They were about the same

Size—perhaps they were twins—they had no family Bible to

settle the question, but the extraordinary likeness between them

was strongly in favor of the supposition; indeed, if Adam had

VOL, XVIIL—nNo, i.

120 The Kindred of Man. [Feb

not been ornamented with a black smudge across the nose, ti

could hardly have been told apart; but twins or not, they loved 3

other with a most devoted affection, or, at least, so it seeme

subsequent events cast a doubt on the real depth of

feelings. i

Being young they were eminently social, for it may be sai

with age. When they were first coaxed out of their t

cage they were visibly embarrassed, and retired into the ni

- corner, locked tightly in each other’s arms, which, as\

wards learned, was a universal refuge in time of doubt, bu

not long before they began to feel at héme, and thence

were always ready to make friends with anybody who ma

approaches in due form. As has been said, they were vé

of each other, and it was on rare occasions only that they

not clasped in a fond embrace, and not once during their

the garden was anything but the most perfect accord

between them. No pretence of partiality in feeding, no

of one to the exclusion of the other, could excite .

jealousy; the slighted one would simply retire to a con

sulk, but their mutual relations were undisturbed; f

was all towards the giver, not to the one who received

was at all times ready to stand by the other; probably th

has not yet forgotten the ferocious assult Eve once made

from the rear, while he was engaged in pouring a dose

cine down the throat of her companion.

_ Their anger was something ludicrous ; the male espe“

liable to paroxysms of rage, during which he would tear

with both hands, hurl himself down on the floor with

tempest of yells and roars, but in a moment it was all o

Was ready to make peace and accept any small atten

of amende. But his masculinity asserted itself more P

when danger seemed to threaten—then he was grand;

inch by inch, brandishing his arms, stopping after each $

a stern frown, to emit a terrifying roar, he seemed an

_ tion of resolution and defiance—a very Ajax—but after

only a Thersites, a more arrant little coward than he, al

never lived, and if his appearance did not have the ¢

beamne eg le stood his aie the oo approach

ee an ae OS Pe ee

1883.] The Kindred of Man. 121

was a final stop, a hasty turn and an ignominious flight into the

corner—generally, it is painful to say, behind Eve. We could

only blush, we dared not blame him ; one nearer to us far than he,

his namesake, under circumstances which brings the action home

to each of us, had done the same.

Many experiments were made to test the mental capacity of

these animals, with quite fruitful results; the primary mental

» . . .

operations, and even some which involved a greater or less com-

bination of ideas, were performed by them with facility ; indéed,

it may be doubted if the undirected efforts of a human child of

the same age, ignorant of language, could produce results of a

much higher grade.

A mirror being placed in the cage, the male, after cautiously

investigating the figure reflected, turned it over, and finding

nothing but bare boards, he placed it face downwards on the floor

and executed a sort of war dance on the back. Having repeated

this a number of times, the glass was held firmly before him; he

then gave it more attention, at first attempting to drive away the

figure he saw; at last a resemblance seemed to strike him, and

after performing a variety of antics, seemingly for the purpose of

comparison, it was quite evident that he became aware of his

own identity—and in this, perhaps, afforded a trace of that self

Consciousness which conservative philosophy allows only to the

lordly intellect of man. In this case it is probable that he had

“come accustomed to see a faint image of himself reflected from

the glass front of his cage.

Perhaps, though, the most striking evidence of their power of

reasoning was given when a dead snakewas taken into the room

and shown to them. As is well known, monkeys have an intol-

erable dread of snakes, and these were terrified beyond measure.

They fled at once to the highest point of the cage, uttering their

expressive cry of fear, and there they remained for hours, refusing

to come down even at sight of their accustomed dish of food,

and when at last they did so, it was with the greatest caution ; a

slight movement in the straw covering the floor, was enough to

_ Cause a panic, and it was some hours before they fully recovered

equilibrium. Finally, when both were sitting quietly near the

Blass front, the snake was suddenly shown to them on the out

Side, but there, the object which had caused such terror in the

Same room, was powerless; the glass which they themselves could

122 The Kindred of Man. [ February,

not pass, was a barrier as well to their enemy, and they simply sat

still, pointing at it with their fingers and uttering the /oo-hoo which

expressed doubt, dislike and disgust. It was suspected that they |

had only become accustomed to the sight, and to complete the ,

experiment the snake was again thrown in through the back 4

door, when the terror of the two animals was as great as on the l

previous occasion. l

It was quite clear that they possessed a limited means o|

vocal communication. Sounds, to the number of three or foun

were uttered by one, which met with a different response from the

other, either by voice or action, and in which it was quite posti

ble for the human ear to detect a difference. i

The imitative habits common to the whole tribe of monkeys

were strongly marked in them, and made it relatively easy to 7

teach them to use a spoon or drink out of a cup, and to perform i

various small tricks. In cleaning the glass in front of the cagt

with paper, the keeper generally threw two pieces on the floor

beside him, when each chimpanzee would take one of them and

set to work polishing the glass in like manner, deriving, app! |

rently, great satisfaction from the performance. The deli l

their taste became developed to an extraordinary degree by

varied diet afferded them ; both were fond of the taste of s

brandy, whisky and rum were substituted, they stuck out Me

under lip in disgust and refused to eat it.

For music they had no ear whatever; the notes of an T

ity prompted only efforts to find out what was inside.

For many months Adam and Eve were the pets of the “ Zoo

few days there were when they were not surrounded by a Cf

of interested spectators, some of whom, to a critical ey®

fully as amusing as the animals they came to see.

It is learned from African travelers that the native tribes

habiting the range of the gorilla and chimpanzee believe them!

be human beings who have degenerated from their original st

and that out of pure laziness they refuse to speak, in the fear t

if their possession of the faculty should become known,

will be set to work in the fields; indeed, the native aroko

chimpanzee, Enge-e-co, means “hold your tongue, ” and ¢

1883. ] The Kindred of Man. ' 123

originated in this belief. It frequently seemed as if similar ideas

prevailed among a certain part of the visitors, and that class espe-

cially whose acquaintance with the forms of orthography had not

reached a familiar stage, seemed to find in the scientific name of

the animal, Anthropopithecus niger, indications of a relationship to

the humble man and brother whose ancestors sprang from the

same soil.

But at last, in spite of tender care and attention, Eve became

sick—poor little thing, how she did suffer. Of course she ought

to have been a good and grateful patient and have known that

everything done for her was for her ultimate benefit—they always

do in the animal literature of the day—but she had read little,

and so was hardly to blame in following out the instincts of her

nature. She might have been expected to look appealingly into

the eyes that bent over her, but she did not; she ought to have

pressed affectionately the hand that cut the hair from off the

region of her little stomach and gently applied a mustard plaster

to the affected part, but instead, she bit it savagely ; and to crown

all, she was so little sensible of the soothing influence of that

mustard plaster that it took the united efforts of three men to

keep it in place until its work was done.

Alas for all the works of fancy ! a long experience of sick and

suffering animals compels the conclusion that one of the things

which is beyond the grasp of mind to be found among the lower

animals, is surgery. ;

d so Eve passed out from the familiar places of the “Zoo.”

Her funeral urn stands ranged on a shelf in that universal mau-

soleum of nature, the Academy of Natural Sciences, and her

“In Memoriam,” by Professor Chapman, was published in the

Proceedings of that venerable institution.

Adam was left alone to mourn, but to his shame be it said that

although he was inconsolable at first, so long as the dead body

of his late companion was in sight, he soon got over it, and in

forty-eight hours not a trace of her seemed to exist in memory,

excepting that to the day of his death, some months later, he was

afraid to sleep alone on the floor, where the two had always slept

together, and with the shades of night he followed out his ances-

tral habit, climbed as high as he could get towards the roof, and

there composed himself to peaceful slumbers.

‘or some time the garden was without any specimen of the

124 . The Kindred of Man. [Fe

higher apes, until in the autumn of 1879 a young orang-utan’

safely received.

There is something about the orang that irresistibly S

a spider—one of those red, hairy, long-legged spiders which 0

sees with an instinctive feeling of repulsion. At no age €

the animal be called handsome, and the old males, covered

coarse, reddish-brown hair six or eight inches long, W

huge protruding jaw and a mass of hardened skin on

cheek, are about as unprepossessing as anything that natur

produced. “ Topsey,” however, as is sufficiently indicate

her baptismal name, belongs to the fairer sex; her age—prove

for that reason, is unknown. When she arrived she was Supp?

to be about two or three years old, but as the lapse of time”

made hardly any change in her personal appearance, save in

way of embonpoint, it is probable that she was older, altho

she is certainly not half grown; if, indeed, as has been sugg

she may not be a dwarf—a sort of feminine Tom Thumb 4

orangs ; and in this, possibly is the explanation of the un

good health which she has enjoyed through a lifetime

longer than is common to her species in captivity. The 4

of nutrition required to simply maintain the existing COn

of body, would of course be less than if the processes of g

were in full activity, and the assimilation of food, which is

ably defective in most caged animals, would, as has been ti

here, be sufficient to keep her in good condition. ,

Between the orang and chimpanzee there is a on

ence in moral qualities. The latter is full of life, vigor,

lively and child-like in disposition, enjoying life to the ful

taking interest in all that goes on about it. Quite th re

with the orang—it is slow, sluggish and calculating ; ph

cally indifferent to everything but its immediate wants—V!

ary and stoic in one—life is only for the means of living, am

itself is hardly worth the pain of an exertion. It is exasper ti

the apathy of the orang; for hours it will lie wrapped in a

close to the front of the cage, lazily following with its eye

motions of any person who comes within its wange of vi

slowly blinking at a straggling fly upon the glass, moving

it must Le A with the greatest deliberation. If left}

by l ! i to a rope or Ł } , there it will. hang, perk

ann minutes; before a ki g upits nid to take holc

1883. ] The Kindred of Man. 125

other or let go altogether. Latterly the contrast in the disposition

of these animals has been made very striking by the presence in

one cage of specimens of each species. A second pair of chim-

panzees, about the same size as the orang, were placed with her,

and with their natural liveliness at once made overtures of ac-

quaintance, which were as promptly repulsed, and during the first

week she suffered so much fright and uneasiness from their per-

fectly good-natured attempts to induce her to join in their play,

that it became necessary to partition off with wire screens a cor-

ner of the apartment, and there, hour after hour, while the two

chimpanzees are climbing, swinging and tumbling about the cage,

never at rest except to plan some new scheme of amusement, the

orang lies flat on her back, fingers and toes closely interlocked in

the air, enjoying a dolce far niente, the relish of which she seems

to intensify by quiet wonder at the reckless prodigality of force

indulged in by her neighbors.

This stolidity is characteristic of the species in a wild state;

there they live mostly in the tree tops, cautiously crawling from

branch to branch, testing every limb before resting their weight

upon it, moving only to satisfy the demands of hunger, and when

that stimulus to action céases, subsiding into a half-sitting posi-

tion with the trunk or branch of a tree to hold up the back, head

bowed on the breast, hands hanging down—not asleep—it can

be nothing but laborious thought that produces such perfect

bodily repose. Who can tell how deeply the meditative orang

has penetrated into the mysteries of the cosmogony of which

he is a part? how many systems of philosophy have dawned,

-after hours of reflection, into his weary brain ? how deeply he

has pondered on the origin and destiny of his race, and to how

many metaphysical final causes has his speculative career traced

Its way ?

The Orang is really not so stupid as appearances would have it,

and it is an interesting fact that the actions of the one in ques-

tion once gave evidence—and the only evidence the writer has

ever observed among the lower animals—of what seemed to be

some understanding of death. Another orang had been pro-

cured as a mate, and arrived in bad health; it was exceedingly

irritable, and though weak from disease, managed to appro-

Priate the only blanket in the cage, and fought off the rightful

Propri etor whenever she approached. This, with other grie-

yg The Kindred of Man. [February

vances, caused Topsey to regard the intruder with marked dislike i

and fear. She watched it from a distance all through the severdl f

days of illness, and the more attentively as the last moments det i

near and pain and weakness were showing plainly their ravages |

until finally, after a hard struggle, the little sufferer lay motion l

less and dead, then, for the first time, she drew near, looked at i

the body for a moment, pushed it with one hand, and then alt

putting her nose close down against its face, as if to listen for |

breath or any sign of life, she began pulling from under it the 4

coveted blanket which it was no longer able to defend, and

the most satisfied manner wrapped herself up and laid on

peace. ;

Much less opportunity has been afforded for critical obser rs

of the remaining anthropoids—the gorilla and the gibbons

few of either have been kept in captivity ; but the former ®

fairly be considered as not presenting marked mental differ pea,

from the chimpanzee, and the latter seem in all respects to bes ia

low the level of the others.

In considering the proper station of man and these anim:

the zoological system, a brief glance must be given at th

members of the order to which they belong.

Beside these are usually included in the order, the Lem

large and ill-assorted group known also as Prosimie or h

no tails at all; in this group, too, the nostrils are close tos

and look downward. The number and arrangement of tec

1883 | | The Kindred of Man. 127

respond to that of man, while the greater part of American mon-

keys have two more teeth in each jaw, and in those which do

possess the same number the arrangement is unlike. Geographi-

cally and structurally the apes we have been describing belong to

the old-world group, and geographically and structurally, too,

man’s alliances make it necessary to consider him a member of

the same family.

But though it is assuredly no part of the writer’s purpose to

belittle the evidences of this genetic connection, the candid ac-

knowledgment must be made, that a somewhat undue prominence

has been given to the anthropoid apes in this respect—although

probably more in popular misconception of what men of science

have writt¢n than in anything which the writers themselves have

intendéd to convey.

The points of resemblance are many and close, but the cate-

gory contains many in which each ape stands closer to man than

do any of the others, and there are as many more, perhaps, in

which similarity is found, not among the higher, but in some of

the lowest of the monkey tribe.

A full list of the points of close alliance would be far longer

than the purpose of this paper demands, and it will be sufficient

to mention a few cases of resemblance and of difference, simply

to indicate the complex nature of the relationship. :

The gorilla resembles man most in actual bulk, in size of the

brain, in proportional length of the hand, and of the thumband great

toe to the spine, of the two segments of the arm to each other,

and in the presence of the transversus pedis muscle; but he has

no flexor longus pollicis in the hand, no plantaris and no flexor

accessorius in the foot, both of which are found in man and most

of the lower monkeys.

The chimpanzee is man-like in shortness of arms compared

With thespine and with the leg, in many details of brain struc-

ture and in the possession of a palmaris longus muscle, but the-

plantaris, the transversus pedis, and sometimes the flexor accesso-

_ Hus are absent, and the flexor longus pollicis is variable.

n The orang excels in the proportion of hand to foot, in some

details of the pelvis, and in general brain development is, per-

7 haps, higher than either of the others; it also has the palmaris

“ongus and a part only of the flexor accessorius, but the flexor

longus pollicis, the plantaris and transversus pedis are absent, and

128 The Kindred of Man. [Fe

the flexor longus hallucis belies its name by giving no tendonto |

the great toe. os

In the form of the larynx, one of the gibbons comes quite neat |

man, but in other respects is less like him than the other apes. P

The chimpanzee and gorilla, like man, have eight bones in the

wrist and ankle, while the orang has one additional in each; the

human number of twelve ribs is found only in the orang, but!

more than offset this, it has in the foot a special muscle, tl

The orang and gorilla have the same number of spinal v i

bra as man, but in the curves of the backbone which they forn

and which are vitally important to his habitual attitude,

baboons bear a closer resemblance. So, too, with the positio

the occipital foramen in the base of

1883.] ` The Kindred of Man. 129

bellum from view, when looked at from above, as is the case in

man—an almost steady progression from the lowest types of brain

towards this arrangement, being found throughout the mammalian

series. It must be said, however, that in three chimpanzees from

which the brains were removed a few hours after death, by Pro-

fessor H. C. Chapman and the writer, in spite of preconceived

notions, this was found to be clearly not the case, and in the orang,

the cerebellum was covered to a very slight extent only, postero-

laterally. There are few of the lower monkeys, however, in which

_ the man-like relation of these parts does not exist, and in one, at

least, the squirrel monkey (Chrysothrix) of South America, this

posterior projection is even greater than in man himself.

Observation renders it quite probable that mental capacity in

these animals has, to a considerable degree, maintained a relation

to the complexity of detail in brain structure, although undoubt-

edly, from a mere comparison of human and anthropoid brains, a

far greater degree of intellectual power than that which really

exists, might be expected from the latter; it should be remem-

bered, however, in favor of the ape, that the specimens from which

our ideas of their intelligence have been derived, have for the

most part, been very young, and it is possible that more ma-

ture age may bring with it a higher degree of mental faculty.

On the whole, however, it is quite certain that the intelligence

of the lower animals has been greatly overestimated. All expe-

rienced observers of their actions know how easy it is to place

a motive and an understanding where none probably exist. It

is difficult, except after long training, to withstand the influence

of the subjective tendencies of the mind, which lead the observer

to translate into the terms.of his own intelligence, those actions

which seemingly correspond to his own desires, and there are few

works on this subject in which constant evidence is not given of

its pr esence. In experimenting with the animals which form the

Subject of this paper, the difficulty was constantly met with, and

a large proportion of the phenomena observed were set aside,

reluctantly in many cases, because of the doubt.

In the slow development of anatomical structure, the presence

Or absence of a single bone or muscle must be of vast im-

Portance in working out the pedigree of an organism, and enough

as been said to show how varied are the directions in which

‘Man's alliances seem to point. t

130 Indian Stone Graves, [ February,

It is held generally, in popular misconceptions of the doctrine

of evolution, that man is a direct descendant of the higher apes,

and the gorilla is commonly looked on as being his nearest pro-

genitor. From the standpoint of science, however, no student of

biology will maintain that the ancestry of man has yet been fully

traced, but will limit himself to the conviction that at some period |

of the prehistoric world, the forces of nature, acting from with-

out, on the plastic materials of life, have brought down from an f

unknown point of departure—perhaps among the lemurs—two

diverging lines of development, one of which finds its present

type in man, the other in the Catarrhine monkeys and their

highest form—the anthropoids. :

Perhaps the future of science may unfold the details of devel

opment, but to do this it is probable that ages of geological up

heaval will be required, to bring above the ocean continents long i

buried, in which the process took place and in which the records

Manlike as are the apes, there is a contrast which the resem:

blance serves, in great part, but to intensify—anatomy finds sio

larity throughout and takes note of little that is unlike, whi :

function, based upon these structures, has become so special ‘

and elevated during progress from the lower to the higher, a

become almost difference, and man and ape are in fact as in oF

separated by a gulf so vast that the furthest reach of science “i

catch, as yet, but shadowy outlines of the other side.

A’,

INDIAN STONE GRAVES."

‘practice of constructing them had not yet ceased in the pre"

century. I purpose to furnish that evidence in this paper:

` TRead at the Montreal Meeting of the American Assuciation for the Ad

ment of Science, August 25, 1882. |

: ae

5 #

are contained. E

1883.] Indian Stone Graves. 131

A very good account of an exploration of stone graves in the

neighborhood of Prairie du Rocher, in Randolph county, Illinois,

was given, many years ago, by Dr. A. Wislizenus, of St Louis."

He examined eleven of these graves, which he describes in

proper succession, closing with a résumé of his investigation.

“The general construction of these graves,” he says, “is coffin-

like, their side-walls, top and bottom, being formed by flat lime-

stohes, joined together without cement. The size of the graves

was adapted to that of the persons to be buried in them. We find

them, therefore, in length, from 1% to 7 feet; in width, from I

to 11% feet; and, in depth, from 1 to 1% feet. The top-layer of

stones is seldom deeper than half a foot below the ground.” -The

graves are always close together, but there is no apparent order

in their position or direction. He counted from twenty to a hun-

dred graves in different burying-grounds, which are always situ-

ated on some elevation, slight as it may be. The bluff-formation:

of that region facilitated the selection of proper sites. In graves

which had not been disturbed he found the skeletons stretched

out at their natural length and lying on the back. The artefacts

accompanying the human remains were pointed flints, stone toma-

awks, bone implements, marine shells (Pyrula, Marginella), fluvi-

atile shells, and pottery, which, he thinks, “ shows more expert-

ness in that art than the present Indians possess.” No metallic

. object was met with by Dr. Wislizenus.

He obtained but four well-preserved skulls, which he presented

to the late Dr. Samuel George Morton, of Philadelphia, for his

craniological collection. “ All of them,” he says, “ bear the un-

mistakable signs of the American race, to wit: the broad massive

lower jaw, high cheek-bones, salient nose, full superciliary ridge,

low forehead, prominent vertex, and flattened occiput.”

Dr. Morton, it is well known, divides the American race into

two families, according to cranial formation, namely, the Toltecan,

comprising the formerly half-civilized peoples of America, such

es the Mexicans, Central Americans, Peruvians, Muyscas of Bo-

7 as, and others, and the much more numerous American, in-

cluding all barbarous tribes of the new world, excepting the

inhabitants of the polar regions, to whom he ascribes a Mongo-

Peige; t Indian Stone Graves in Illinois, in : Transactions of the Academy

Go 1843, on : 2 Louis, Vol. I (1857), p- 66, etc. —The exploration had taken place

132 Indian Stone Graves. [Feb

lian origin. The mound-builders’ skulls which he had oc

to examine are referred by him to the Toltecan family.

Following this classification, Dr. Wislizenus discovered in

of the skulls exhumed by him the characteristics which

Morton attributes to the American family, while the others

hibit what he regards as the Toltecan conformation.’ These!

skulls were found in graves of the same construction, and h

Dr. Wislizenus infers “that persons of both families of

American race have lived, and were buried here. together.”

then expresses his belief in the former occupancy of Florid

disappeared before the intrusion of the white man.”

It is quite natural that Dr. Wislizenus should have arti

such a conclusion, no recent case of a stone-grave burial

known to him; and the circumstance that he had discovet

objects ef the white man’s handicraft in the graves examin

him, went far to strengthen him in his convictions. Yet he

at the beginning of his article, that many of the graven

already, out of. mere curiosity, been opened, and their va

contents been carried off or destroyed, without throwing

light upon their mysterious origin.” This fully agrees with

own experience. I have seen quite a number of stone 8%

but the majority of them, if I remember correctly, had

es 5 eR ole his |

ae generally acknowledged,

os regarding American cranial formation no deuce find strict oo

a investigators, F

1883.] Indian Stone Graves. 133

obsolete after the contact with the whites. Yet, supposing such

articles had been exhumed by ignorant relic-hunters, their signifi-

cance would not have been appreciated by them, and the very

fact of their existence would soon have been forgotten.

I have seen many stone graves in Illinois and Missouri, and have

opened a few of them. A short account of my rather limited ex-

perience in this kind of exploration was communicated to Colonel

Charles C. Jones, who published it in his well-known work on

the antiquities of the Southern Indians.’ I therefore will not

repeat in this place what is already in print ; but I will draw spe-

cial attention to a fact, which, though isolated, is of some im-

portance in its bearing upon the question of the continuance of

stone-grave burial in recent times. i

In 1861, while engaged in the investigations referred to, I vis-

ited the farm of Dr. Hammond Shoemaker, situated near Colum-

bia, in Monroe county, Illinois. After some conversation, the

Doctor invited me to follow him to one of his maize-fields, and

there he showed me an empty stone grave, until lately the last

resting-place of a Kickapoo Indian, who, the Doctor informed

me, had been murdered many years ago, by one of his own tribe.

The incident and the victim’s interment by his people were then

(1861) still in the recollection of old farmers of the county. As

for the grave, I can assert that it differed in no way from others

seen by me in the neighborhood. Several years before my visit,

the Doctor had opened it and taken out the well-preserved skele-

ton, being in need of a skull for instructing a young man then

studying the medical art under his guidance. Dr. Shoemaker

was afterward induced to remove the skull, his wife not liking

the aspect of that grim object, and, in order to put it altogether

out of sight, he buried it in a piece of ground near his farm-

house. I was very desirous of obtaining the skull, and the Doc-

tor kindly expressed his willingness to part with it, provided it

Could be found. He took a spade and we went in search of the

skull. But unfortunately the area was covered with a dense

growth of grass, and as the Doctor could not identify the spot

where he had interred the skull, our efforts to recover it proved

fruitless, _

At that time Dr. Shoemaker was a white-haired, hale old gen-

_ ‘Jones (Charles C.) : Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the

Georgia Tribes. New York, 1873, p. 218, etc.

134 Indian Stone Graves. [Februa

tleman, and in order to learn whether he still dwelled among {

living, I addressed, a short time ago,a note of inquiry to

trict to which Monroe county belongs. In his reply of June 2 }

1882, he states as follows: “He still resides on his farm where l

you saw him, and has attained to the advanced age of f eighty-t

years. Strange as it may seem, he still has his little old wagot 4

or gig with two wheels, in which he drives about, practisi

medicine in his neighborhood,” |

In the early part of this century the Kickapoos inhabited the te i

country bordering on the central waters of the Illinois, andt

head waters of the Kaskaskia and Embarras rivers in Illi 0

but they roamed over the whole territory now forming that stat,

and far beyond it. The last of these audacious and enterprising j

Indians were removed in 1833 from Illinois to a reservation noth

of Fort Leavenworth, and they are still located in that neig

hood. A large number of Kickapoos had gone to Mem

many of them have returned to the United States.

I have not met with any account in which stone-grave b

proper is mentioned as being practised by modern Indians;

something similar was observed by John D, Hunter, who

many years among the Kickapoos, Kansas, Osages, and

Indians of the West. He says: “This ceremony [the burial

performed differently, not only by different tribes, but by the

dividuals of the same tribe. The body is sometimes placed

the surface of the ground, between flat stones set edge up

and then covered over, first by similar stones, and then |

earth brought a short distance ; occasionally this stone ca

only applied to the head, and en again, it is altogether omi

Others excavate the earth to the depth of two or three feet,

deposit their dead below tits surface.”

It appears to me most probable that the stone graves owe ©

origin to the race inhabiting within historical times, Or %

earlier, the districts where they are found. The method of bt

very simple itself, was suggested by the facility of obtainit

stones suitable for the construction of these primitive CO

which protected the dead most effectually from the attac

wild beasts. If, finally, due consideration is given to the

-l Hunter; Manners and Customs of several Indian Tribes located wel

Mississippi. yer chile

- 1883.} Organic Physics. 135

stance that the articles found in the graves in question evince no

higher skill than that attained by the more advanced of the his-

torically known tribes of North American Indians, there hardly

remains any reasonable ground for not ascribing to such tribes

the humble mortuary receptacles treated in this hasty sketch.

ORGANIC PHYSICS.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

(Continued from page 563, Vol. X VI.)

2. Tak OrGANIC FUNCTION OF OXYGEN.

The subject here proposed is one to which considerable atten-

tion has been paid by inductive science, with the result of conclu-

sively demonstrating that organic activity is strictly dependent

upon the presence of oxygen, and that every animal, and each

organ of every animal, displays an activity in close accordance

with its supply of oxygen. This is about all that has been de-

duced from the facts observed, but is certainly not all that they

indicate. Much wider deductions may be made; some, perhaps,

only conjectural, yet others apparently unavoidable, and by their

aid a fuller conception of the motor power of the animal kingdom

"o7 be gained. Such deductions must also include the vegetable

kingdom, since it is now known that plants breathe oxygen as

persistently as animals, and that they continue active only during

their period of active oxygenation.

ut to persistent vital activity nutrition is as essential as oxy-

genation. The one is the key that winds up the clock of life;

the other is the spring that sets its wheels in motion, and frees its

restrained energies. Oxygen eats into and breaks down the com-

plex molecules of protoplasm. Nutrition rebuilds these mole-

cules. Thus life forever swings, between limits of chemical

analysis and synthesis. In the downward swing it bursts into

~ full activity, and beats against the barriers of the outer world. In

the upward swing it relapses into inactivity, and all its energies

Are employed in the chemical labor of forming new molecules of

protoplasm

These processes can hardly be simultaneous. The reduction

4 of protoplasm by oxidation, and its reproduction in the opposite

inot take place at once in the same cell. —

he y in every limited portion of tissue oxidation and repro-

136 | Organic Physics, [Feo

duction of protoplasm take place successively. They may occur

simultaneously in different regions of the same body, yet there is

reason to believe that now the one, now the other, is the ruling

agency in the body, as a whole, each having its period of spe

activity.

This conception has been vaguely approached by some aa

ologists, but does not seem to have been definitely laid down

a fixed principle of organic action. It is very evident that du i

the waking or active period oxygen is far more vigorously at

work than during the sleeping or passive period. It eats its

into the tissues; it chemically reduces the complex molecules

their cells ; it sets at liberty their locked-up energies, and it lea

these energies to be employed in the various modes of organic

motion. The mind, the nerves and the muscles are now partic

rya active. The me oota functions are also Wee acti

cal modifications. It exudes from the vessels as a nu

plasma, and is laid up for subsequent use in immediate cont

to the cells of the tissues. ;

During this period it is highly improbable that theres i

active nutrition. Nutrition needs free energy, and locks up

energy in the molecules produced. But. the free energy of

body is now otherwise engaged, and there can be little or?

left for the needs of organic synthesis. Moreover, m much o!

free energy is used up in the selection and preparation of n 5

molecules, and their conveyance to the localities where they

active, but not the final one. There is little or no assimilati

nutriment, The waking period is, therefore the one in which!

dation is in excess; in which the stored- -up energies of >

are being set free, and used as animal activity, and in W

body is, as it were, dropping down hill, falling back a

towards the mineral world.

This phase of life-action limits itself. The affinity for

is largely satisfied, and loses vigor. The cells exposed t

tion have had many of their complex molecules reduc

have grown less susceptible to thisform of chemism. Their

Poe

SRE oa ce ae AR MIE TERN, aR SES gee a Se be oy eR EF

hag en A z j 2

cies ads A

1883.] | Organic Physics. 137

for nutriment has correspondingly increased, while new nutrient

molecules have been stored up in their vicinity. The tide of life

turns. From running down it begins to run up. The process of

assimilation gains the supremacy, and oxidation of the tissues in

great part ceases. During this period there is a marked change

in the conditions of life. Assimilation consumes energy. The

chemical synthesis cannot go on unless energy be supplied. That

which was yielded during the period of oxidation no longer re-

mains in the body. It has been used up in various methods.

Temperature energy remains, but that must be kept up, and can-

hot be reduced in aid of other purposes. It is evident, then, that

while assimilation is specially active animal activity must decline

orcease. Not only is there no store of energy for mental and

muscular action, but there is none for chemical action. Energy

must be provided for this purpose, and much of the oxygen

which now enters the body is necessarily engaged in this new

duty. Oxidation continues, but it is oxidation of the hydrocar-

bons of the blood or of other low-atomed molecules, to supply

the energy required for the rebuilding of the tissues. The sleep-

ing succeeds the waking state, and animal is replaced by vegeta-

ble activity.

It will be perceived, by the terms of this hypothesis, that there

is required no actual cessation of the two life-processes. Each,

in fact, has two separate phases. During the waking period oxy-

gen is busy in the tissues, while nutriment is being actively ab-

sorbed, prepared and stored up for future use. During the slee T

ing period nutrition is busy in the tissues, while oxygen is partly

engaged in reducing the innutritious ingredients of the blood and

the tissues, and yielding energy for temperature and assimilation,

and is partly stored up for future use. Thus each process aids

the other, and each succeeds the other in its work upon the tis-

Sues. Now oxygen gains the mastery, life thrills in every nerve

and muscle, the chemical molecules drop to a lower level of in-

tricacy and the body springs into its active, waking state. Now

nutrient affinity gains the mastery, vital activity ceases, the body

is being lifted up hill preparatory to another fall, and the passive,

sleeping state supervenes.

Hest at ares life there is only one process, instead of two, as in

Us. _ Plants always sleep. Oxidation is active, but itis sim-

char zi pe to the oxidation that takes-place in animals

138 Organic Physics. [ February,

during sleep. It is oxidation of the combustible materials of the

sap current, and yields energy to assist in chemical synthesis,

Thus plants display only one of the life processes. Their whole

life is passed in the sleeping, assimilative state. They fail to

attain the waking, active state. i

This distinction is, indeed, not an absolute one. To a limited

extent oxidation of the protoplasmic tissues takes place in plants,

and to that extent motive energy is possible. In those organs of

plants which are specially rich in protoplasm, the leaves and

flowers, motor activity is frequently displayed; and in the meat

eating plants, in which chemical synthesis is less exhaustive of

energy, there occur at times rapid and well-defined motions, with

marked indications of nervous and muscular functions. As@

animals. They are periodical, but the periods rapidly succ

each other, so that there is little or no visible indication ofa

may contain, it certainly contains highly complex, albumi

mplecules, which are its active principles. And the activity °

these molecules appears to be strictly chemical in character,

to consist of the following double process. They have an affinity

for oxygen. which removes some of their elements, reduces t

complexity of composition, and yields free energy. In this t

duced state their affinity for oxygen weakens, they acquire #

affinity for nutrient molecules, combine with the latter, lock 4

energy in doing so, and regain their molecular complexity. 4

life consists in the periodical succession of these two process

In all the higher phases of life there are mechanical appliant

for the utilization of the energy set free in the first of these ]

cesses; but the basis of all life, its fandamental condition, 13

chemical activity of albuminoid molecules. To comprehend.

then, we must first comprehend protoplasm; and some fuller

sideration of the characteristics above given is desirable.

Dila a A,

NERES ES ME E VEI NEEE MIENO IEE a a el NG A E a tie eee dete

1883.] Organic Physics. 139

The life processes are not due to the single fact that oxidation

of protoplasm yields unemployed energy. There is needed the

secondary fact that protoplasm is so constituted as to make special

use of this energy, by converting it into mass motion. Did it

take only the general form of heat vibration, none of the phe-

nomena of life could arise. We may reasonably ask, then, how

does this conversion of free energy into mass motion take place,

and what are its special conditions ?

Fortunately we are not confined to the organic world for in-

stances of this conversion. Similar phenomena occur in the in-

organic world, and possibly the principle of action is in both

cases the same. Parellels may readily be drawn between inor-

ganic and organic motor activities, and a consideration of certain

results of inorganic chemism may throw light on the phenomena

of protoplasmic action.

In considering the motor energies of protoplasm they appear

partly indefinite and partly definite ; the former consisting of such

motions as the streaming of protoplasm in plant cells, and the

vague changes of form in the Rhizopods ; the latter of the higher

animal “modes of motion.” The former is continuous, indefi-

- Nite, general and seemingly purposeless; the latter is temporary,

definite, local and with an evident purpose, Yeta close consid-

eration of organic motions shows a connected series of steps be-

tween the two phases indicated, and evidences of similarity in their

instigating causes, which go to show that they are alike in origin

and character.

_ What is the source of the energy displayed in these motions?

There is only one physical source apparent; namely, chemical

change, In many instances chemical change evidently attends

the Motions of protoplasm. This chemical change is an oxida-

tion, and no such movement ever takes place unless oxygen be

Ent Hence there is warrant for the assertion that all motion

x protoplasm results from the action of motive force set free by

Oxidation, and that for such motion to long continue there must

be periods of rest from physical action, during which nutrient

molecules can be assimilated, and a condition of ready suscepti-

bility to oxidation reproduced.

But there is an influencing cause of these motions, of essential

'Mportance. This is the contact of external substance with the

‘face of the protoplasmic mass. In nearly every case of animal

140 Organic Physics. [Fe

motion contact (or its mental resultant) is evidently necessary.

Solid substance, or vibratory energy, touches the surface of

cell, or the extremity of conducting lines leading to the p

plasmic cell. An immediate, definite motion occurs in response

We call this sensitiveness, but a mere word explains nothin l

The contact of external matter does not provide the motor

displayed, but it in some way sets it free. The force is yielt

instigated by some outward pressure or irritation.

motion which results is related in position and direction to

source of irritation. If this affect the whole cell the motio

be general andindefinite. If it affect a limited region of the :

the motion will be local and definite.

‘In ascribing organic motions to chemical change we are 1

giving unknown powers tochemism. Inorganic chemical s i

yields numerous illustrative instances. Mass motion is a

mon result of chemical action. When a substance changi

of its molecules frequently takes place, causing visible mo

and an eventual change of form in the mass. So the moven

of cell protoplasm may arise from molecular rearrange!

caused by chemical change ; and the so-called contraction of !

cular fibers is really but a change of form possibly due to

same cause, a

In like manner the influence of external irritation over

motion is far from being peculiar. It has many parallels 1

inorganic world, of which a few may be here mentioned.

ganic substances which combine but slowly, or not at all,

mixed and undisturbed, often combine rapidly and even

sively when exposed to external irritation. The cause

sudden manifestation of chemical affinity is probably a vi

which flings the molecules together, and thus aids their afii

In the case of gunpowder, vigorous heat vibration causes

and explosive combination of molecules. In other mixt

vibration produced by a blow yield a like result. In lik

bined in the dark, combines explosively if exposed to the vib

| inlluence of sunlight. In all these cases mass motions:

fined. Ayet mòre significant instance of sensitiveness t

1883 | Organic Physics. 141

tory influence is that of photographic compounds. , These can be

made so exquisitely sensitive that the faintest touch of the rays

of light produces instantaneous chemical change. The responses

of protoplasm to touch are even less delicate than those of some

of these inorganic substances.

We have considerable warrant for ascribing protoplasmic action

to a like result of contact influence. It never takes place except

oxygen be present. Probably it is necessary that oxygen should

permeate, or be stored up in the protoplasmic mass, the molecules

of oxygen and protoplasm being intimately mixed, like those of

hydrogen and chlorine in the mixture above referred to. Andin

both cases the commingled molecules seem to resist the energy

of chemical affinity until a vibratory motion, originating without,

is sent through the mass, and flings them into closer contiguity.

The mixture of oxygen and protoplasm, however, appears much

more sensitive than that of hydrogen and chlorine. In the latter

case only the vigorous vibrations of sunlight seem sufficient to

induce combination. In the former case every source of vibra-

tion yields this effect, as might be expected from the high insta-

bility of protoplasm molecules, and the strong affinity of some of

their elements for oxygen.

Various sources of vibratory influence exist in nature. First

are the radiant vibrations of sound, heat, light and electricity, to

all of which protoplasm seems susceptible. Next come several

forms of direct contact, as of gaseous, liquid and solid substance,

each of which may produce a vibratory thrill, Then there are

the vibrations of inflowing or outflowing temperature. Perhaps

still other sources of vibration exist, and to all alike protoplasm

seems susceptible. Every vibration, even the slightest, from

Whatever source, which enters into and acts upon protoplasm, ap-

parently induces combination with oxygen (if this element be

present), with a consequent freeing of motor energy, and produc-

tion of some physical change.

3 Yet, as it would prove destructive to all high animal life should

the protoplasin of the cells be exposed to every vibratory thrill of

outer nature, and forced to respond thereto, the body generally is

Covered with a protective coating, through which only the more

vigorous vibrations produced by contact pressure and heat energy

can pass, and is provided with nerve terminations specially adapted

— receive | Toos of such character. There are only two

142 Organic Physics. [Fe i a N

channels through which the more specialized radiant vibrati

can reach naked protoplasm ; that of the eyes, which suffer o

radiations of very high pitch to enter ; and that of the ears, wh

admit only low pitch vibrations. There are two other orgi

the nose and the tongue, through whose agency the finer cont

of gaseous and liquid matter reach the naked cell protopla

Hence the bodies of the higher animals are susceptible to evé

mode of contact of external moving energy, but of each

limited region. It is not that all protoplasm is not equally

ceptible to contact of every kind, but that the body protoplasm

is shielded at every point from more than a limited range #7

contacts, aan

Such is not the case with the protoplasm of the lowest animal

It is exposed to every form of contact, and moves in resp

thereto. There are no arrangements to limit special contacts 0 |

special regions of the mass. The streaming of protoplasm 1i

the plant cells very probably results from the action ofl

within these cells. We know that it becomes more energeti

the light grows stronger, and there is no evidence that it

consider them closely certain significant indications

These creatures are surrounded by water, and their less 4

, that of food particles upon the ps

Immediately a limited and localized motion,

188 3] Organic Physics. 143

Sensitiveness seems confined to special protrusions of the proto-

plasmic mass, while the remaining surface has lost its irritability.

Possibly it has become sheathed in insensitive substance. Cilia

are perhaps composed of naked protoplasm, and adapted to per-

form at once nervous and muscular duties. They may represent

in the Protozoa the separate nerves and muscles of the Metazoa ;

and may also represent, in ciliated epithelial cells, the individual

life function of all cells. Everywhere that cells are exposed to

external contact they display receptive adaptations ; but fail to do

so when shielded from contact. The cilia must constantly feel

the fine currents which can scarcely ever be absent from liquids.

Thrills of vibration may thence be sent down into the protoplas-

mic mass, and oxidation induced. The energy arising may be

reflected back into the cilia, as the most motile portions of the

mass, As for their specially directed motions it is quite possible

that they may be specially related to the mass, and free to move

only in certain directions.

If the motor and sensory functions of single-celled animals are

thus confined to minute filaments, the similar functions in the

many-celled animals are likewise confined to cellular filaments or

fibers, arranged to conduct vibratory energy in certain directions,

and to yield motion to certain limbs and organs. The bodies ot

the higher animals are permeated by lines of conductive material,

Insulated from the surrounding tissue, and with their surface ex-

tremities consisting of naked protoplasm. These conducting

lines Jead to peculiarly arranged masses of fibers, into which are

discharged the vibratory influences which they carry inward.

Motor changes take place in these muscular fibers in response,

and these changes are always accompanied by oxidation. Quite

possibly the motor impulse which the nerve has received from

external contact or pressure, is carried inward and delivered to

the muscle as a vibratory energy, which induces chemical com-

bination between the commingled oxygen and protoplasm mole-

cules. :

All the motor functions of the highest animals are unquestion-

ably results of the physical character of protoplasm, and of its

Special arrangements. The principles of motor activity which

= find in the Rhizopod exist in the man, and no others. Proto-.

plasm, wherever found, is subject to fapid oxidation when exter-

* motor influence sends a vibratory thrill through it. This

144 Organic Physics. [Febru

oxidation yields an energy which manifests itself as mass motion,

In the Rhizopod the whole celi is at once nerve and muscle,

the Ciliata these functions are confined to a differentiated portion

of the cell. In the Hydra cells appear with nervous functions ©

exteriorly and muscular interiorly. In the higher animals these

functions are distributed to separate cells. But there is no evi 3

dence that the mode of motion in protoplasm anywhere differs |

In all cases alike external impact causes internal vibration, rapid |

oxidation and quick change of form. The results of yese |

changes depend on special conditions, combinations and att

ments of cell masses. There is perhaps nothing peculiar in the

muscle cell except its elongated shape. Variation from this sha

towards a spherical one must considerably reduce the length

the mass, and produce the effect known as muscular contrac

The true inorganic parallel to nerve conduction may not be r

telegraph wire, as ordinarily assumed. It may have a clost f

analogy to a train of gunpowder, arranged in successive SMi

masses, and so disposed that the explosion of each shall set 2

to the next in the line. If we imagine at the end of the traint |

larger mass of confined gunpowder, its explosion would syt

ize the action of the muscle. Contact with the nerve extre

yields a vibratory impulse, which is confined to the narrow

minute masses of protoplasm, inducing oxidation and ay

of fresh energy.: Such would seem to be the case from thet

served invigoration of the nerve current in its flow. When

vibratory energy is discharged into the muscle it causes

cess of induction. But this belief is now abandoned |

„anatomists, and it is held that the nerves penetrate the:

Jemma of the muscle fibers, while the nerve sheath beco”

1883. ]. Organic Physics. 145

tinuous with the muscle sheath. Thus the naked axis cylinder

of the nerve comes into direct contact with the muscle substance,

and divides until every muscle fiber has its distinct nerve. The

nerve extremities spread out on the surface of the fiber into a

peculiar plate-like mass. But Professor Gerlach asserts that this

is not the true extremity pf the nerve, but that it sends minute

fibrils onward, which penetrate the muscle fiber, so that there is

a most intimate union of nerve and muscle. In the unstriped

muscles the nerves form delicate plexuses, and subdivide until a

highly delicate intra-muscular network is produced. Franken-

hauser traced minute fibrils from this network into the substance

of the fiber, ending, as he believed, in the nucleolus of the cell.

But Arnold asserts that a filament is continued through the cell,

and rejoins the network without. Thus the nuclear fibril seems

to be the nodal point of a fine intra-muscular network of

nerves.

What should we deduce from these facts? The sarcolemma

of the muscle fibers—by whose aid their separate motions are

. combined and communicated to the limbs or otherwise distrib-

uted—is but a continuation of the elastic sheath of the nerves.

The nerves divide into minute fibrils in the muscles, and each

muscle fiber appears to be but a mass of contractile matter aggre-

gated around a delicate nerve extremity. The richly protoplas-

mic nerve plate may be an arrangement for a final invigoration of

the nerve current, before entering the fiber. It is not found on

the slow-moving unstriped muscles, and its purpose may be to

aid the vigor and rapidity of movement of the voluntary muscles.

From this point of view a muscle is simply a special aggregation

of nerve extremities, each of which is surrounded by matter sus-

ceptible of rapid oxidation, while their sheaths are so combined

and arranged as to be capable of exerting a powerful strain on

the limbs or other organs. We may with some reason conclude,

therefore, that the method of action in all protoplasm is but one;

While the results are as many as there are diverse arrangements

Of cells...

aH There is a third constituent of the sensory and motor organ-

ism which it is important to here consider—the nerve cell or,

mass of cells; the ganglion. Under the hypothesis here ad-

vanced it might, at first thought, be looked upon as an aid in the

Process of nerve conduction; as a mass of protoplasm intended

146 Organic Physics. [Febi |

by its oxidation to invigorate the nerve currents. Yet inal |

probability its purpose is the exact opposite of this; it acts t f

resist instead of to invigorate the current. The physiologyo f

-the nerve system yields evidences of this. One function of the |

brain cells is, perhaps, to resist the currents over the nerves,

prevent all sensory currents from producing reflex motions.

another portion of the nervous system—the sympathetic—ga

are interposed in great numbers. There is reason to believe that

they act to hinder the outflow of nerve currents. A slight acti

upon a sympathetic nerve fiber causes motion only in adja

muscles. A more powerful action causes a wider series of mo

brain when the impulse is so energetic as to indicate dangef

the economy. When thus called upon the mind is able to directly

respond, through the cerebro-spinal fibers, of probably m

function, which accompany the sympathetic.

The anatomy of the nerve cell yields confirmation of this.

It presents, indeed, a singular analogy to the expedient adopt

in telegraphy for the same purpose. It is a “ resistance coil” i

terposed in the nerve circuit. For the recent delicate m

Scopic investigation of the nerve cell has demonstrated that

really a congeries of excessively fine fibrils. These pene

every portion of the cell and its nucleus, and are continued

ward by delicate rootlets, or by fibers. The rootlets probab

form a network termination to the sensory nerves, and the fib

are the origin of the motor nerves.

As the fine wires in the resistance coil of the electric c

rent check the flow, and permit the operator to control

quantity of electricity passing, or to completely prevent its Pê

sage, so may the cell fibrils interposed in the line of the cond

ing nerve, perform a like duty. Possibly, to a certain exte

result is the same. The checked current of energy becomes ©

verted into heat. But in one of the ganglia, the brain, it becom

consciousness, or mental energy, a process with which we ®

not here concerned. In regard to the apparent differen

gangliar termination in sensory and motor nerves, the netW9

inat

1883. ] Organic Physics. 147

the former may aid in checking the current, the direct fiber of

the latter may assist its subsequent flow.

This hypothesis greatly simplifies the conditions of the motor

organism of animals. It consists fundamentally of fibers which

permeate the body, and convey motor energy from without in-

ward. At their extremities, and at intervals on their course,

these fibers are reduced: to minute fibrils, which check the flow

of the current, and cause its lateral distribution as heat or vibra-

tory energy. Cellular masses of protoplasm surround these

fibrils, constituting the nerve and the muscle cells. The checked

energy outflows into this protoplasm, and instigates chemical

change there. In one relation of these cells the energy set free

by the chemical action is locked up in the mental organism,—

how we know not. In another relation it yields muscular con-

traction, and animal motion. In still other relations it may yield

other effects, as above indicated in the sympathetic ganglia. But

the fundamenta! principle is the same throughout. The flow of

force is checked, wholly or partly tapped off from the fiber, and

employed to instigate chemical action, from which important effects

arise. Similarly in an electric circuit fine wires interposed check

the current, and part of it outflows as heat which may be used to

producé various effects, as the fine wires are surrounded by ma-

terial differently acted on by heat, and differently arranged. The

analogy is a singularly exact one.

If, as is undeniable, all animal activity is a utilization of the

normal motions and changes of form in cell protoplasm, and if

all these motions arise from oxidation induced by superficial con-

tact with foreign matter, then all active life must depend upon

contact influence, and any animal so situated.as to feel at no part

of, its surface any force of pressure from foreign matter could not

display the attributes of life. All life is a response to the finger

touches of the world without, which set free the dormant ener-

gies within, and call them into responsive action. This may

seem only partially true, since in the higher animals the mind in-

stigates the greater part of the voluntary motions. Yet the

mind has been built up under influences received from without.

Whatever its innate character, its energies are resultants of for-

meee physical contact. Thus all our motions arise as results of

a ene or of former contacts with the sensory nerve extremi-

Bee! And it is doubtful if even the mind would arouse of itself

the operations of digestion. The contact of food with the

148 Organic Physics.

from sleep, and if all wakening is not due to external influence |

acting on the body, and through it affecting the mind. |

The most simplified mode of activity in the higher animals is :

that of the ciliated epithelial cells, which seem to respond to the |

touch of mucus or other liquid substance. Their pe

animal economy is, except in a few instances, very evident. E

the principal mode of animal activity is that due to excitation 0

nerve extremities, and the consequent effect upon the muse

What is known as voluntary motion is obviously due to com

of foreign matter with the external surface, its effects being P

duced through the intermediate agency of the mind. It has:

been fully perceived, however, that all involuntary motion is!

toa like cause. This is, indeed, acknowledged to be the casei

face of the digestive cavities is the influencing cause of all

takes place. There are two distinct results of this contact. °

is the peristaltic motion of the cesophagus, stomach and intestines,

by which the food is kept in motion, and is gradually pa

downward. The other is the action on the glands that aid di

tion. This is also largely muscular, being principally an

on the walls of the blood vessels, which permits a free fl

blood to the gland, and thus renders secretion more active.

quantity of action in these two directions seems closely f

to the vigor of food pressure, and all action ceases when the

is empty of food, so that this principle of action keeps an

harmony between the needs and the supply of motive ener

digestion.

A similar result of contact influence has been traced m

teriorly, as in the action of the kidney ducts. Here every

of the secreted liquid which exudes from the kidney cause

staltic motions in the walls of the duct, which act to produce +

ward movement of the liquid. |

From these considerations it becomes probable that <

„very important function is due to the same cause, althou

thio mucin

of the current i ses, the muscular

vigorous, so that a close harmony I `I se and

tablished, pens! between cause :

tation of nerve extremities by blood pressure. As the p! |

1883. | Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. 149

THE MINING REGIONS OF SOUTHERN NEW

MEXICO.

BY F. M. ENDLICH.,

EW regions, perhaps, attract so much attention at present as

the southern portion of New Mexico. Three factors com-

bine to render this section of country interesting to the inhabi-

tants of more civilized domains. Within the past year large

areas have been rendered accessible to travelers and investors by

the completion of an overland railroad ; the discovery of mineral

wealth in regions where heretofore it was barely suspected, has

imparted the usual energy to the influx of labor and capital, and,

lastly, the sporadic appearance of raiding Apaches and their allies

has called special attention to the region containing their battle-

fields.

Upon leaving the railroad traveling assumes a somewhat prim-

itive aspect. Coaches or “jerkies,” which latter fully justify their

name, are substituted for palace-cars, and “ natural roads” supply

the place of carefully-ballasted tracks. As a rule the country is

well adapted for travel, but little work being required in con-

structing good roads. All points of prominence can be reached

by stage from the railroad. On one of the routes a representa-

tive of the immortal “ forty-niners” handles the ribbons with

consummate skill. “Jim” is a well-known character ; the ease

with which he guides his team on its daily trip of sixty-five miles,

the accuracy with which he steers the coach through anarrow, rocky

cañon after nightfall, and his efforts in behalf of the comfort of his

passengers, render the drive with him an agreeable recollection.

Along the road small, circular or straight walls, hastily thrown

together, may often be seen; they mark the spots where unfor-

tunate travelers fought their last, desperate fight against raiding

Indians. Even to-day, although danger is rapidly diminishing,

. tle. interior of a stage-coach full of passengers emulates the

= racter of an arsenal. However cumbersome the transporta-

i of murderous weapons may be, it is well not to forget the

frontier maxim : “ Look out for Indians when you don’t expect

therm.” : ;

_ In days gone by mining was carried on in the copper-bearing

~ Ocahties, and active operations were long ago pursued in the

O ies Silver City and Georgetown. Argentiferous strata

“

as duced to about fifty men. Implacable to the last breath,

ledge, was a born strategician, and in more than one in

150 Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. (February,

and veins, decomposed near the surface, afforded ample yield

the precious metal. Mexican labor first separated the silver fr

its base surroundings until the difficulties of deep mining pro

too formidable for the indolence of native inhabitants. “W

man’s ” energy and perseverance readily overcame such

cles until, to-day, the two old-established silver camps are if

thriving condition. Works have been erected for the extracti

of silver on the Rio Mimbres and at Silver City,.so that the ores.

are treated within a few miles of their original occurrence. A

Santa Rita the copper mines still lie idle, waiting, perhaps, fi

the magical wand of capital to rouse them from their long period

speak of great masses of removed material, while ruins of st

ing works testify to the extraction of copper from its ore. No

the surroundings of these mines are desolate, be the causé

want of confidence in their productiveness, or be it but one of th

many accidents which caused desirable deposits persistently

be mismanaged and neglected.

Indian troubles, to use a standard expression, have somew.

retarded the development of Southern New Mexico withi

last few years. Victorio, with his great topographical kr

brought about the defeat of his enemies by superb leadership.

seems almost ridiculous to the passive spectator, that a

handful of soldiers, however brave, should be expected to

with an outnumbering force of savages who have every ad

tage on their side, and who are fighting with fanatical fero

under capable superiors. They are well armed, held in §'

discipline and never strike unless fully prepared to maintai

field. In the Black Range and in adjacent mountains the ble

still hold out, reinforced, no doubt, at convenient points, bY 4

> ite Indians of other tribes, who quietly return to their 4

p gaar having gained plunder and satisfied their warlike i

nations. Running southward from the Ojo Caliente, the

traveling trail of the Indians passes sse: through a part of the c

« : i

1883.] Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. 151

try which now is gradually developing into a series of mining

districts. In the spring and fall, as the grass grows and as it

withers, the restless bands follow this trail, murdering whomever

they can surprise, fighting when safely concealed behind boulders

and rocks, running away when pushed into open country. In-

creasing settlement and the present distribution of military forces

under the command of General McKenzie, will have the effect of

speedily quieting any further disturbance. Everything is so

arranged that a raid can be speedily intercepted, and it is scarcely

probable that the scenes of last year will be reénacted.

Within the past year especial attention has been directed to-

wards the mining developments of the Black Range and several

of the subsidiary mountain ranges. The Cuchillo mountains,

the San Andrea, San Mateo, Caballo, Organ and other isolated

groups, have been prospected with more or less success, and

work is being prosecuted at many points. At the very borders

of a Sierra system which culminates in the Black Range, the

mining region of the Lake valley has made the most marked

progress. The extent of its deposits, the richness of certain

occurrences and the accessibility of the district have directed

general notice towards the young camp.

Topographically the entire region is very simple; great areas

of plateau land, reaching an altitude of 4000 to 5500 feet above

sea-level, are traversed by narrow, monoclinal ranges which

trend approximately north and south. They generally owe their

most elevated portions to the existence of erupted material.

Broad expanses of rolling plains or mesa-like highlands separate

the ranges from each other. Water asa rule, is scarce. Within

the mountains small streams and springs are abundant, but the

Majority of them sink upon reaching the open country. Long,

narrow valleys, enclosed by undulating hills or steep bluffs, fre-

quentky contain lakes or marshy places where water can be ob-

tained by sinking but a short distance. These ctenegas afford

admirable ground for cattle-raising, being supplied with luxu-

Tious grass and plenty of shelter. Oak, cedar, piñon and yellow

rie are distributed in conformity with elevation and supply of `

moisture. —

Along those streams which attain sufficient volume to with-

stand the absorbent qualities of the valley-soil, notably the Mim-

bres and the Cuchillo Negro, Mexican settlements eke out their

152 Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. |February, f

lazy existence. In the hands of an enterprising people all val-

leys thus supplied with water might be rendered highly produc

tive. A little corn, plenty of red pepper, the national chili cal

rado, a few sheep or goats and pigs comprise the worldly ambi |

tion of the swarthy inhabitant, Cutting ditches ‘for irrigating L

purposes, planting and reaping more grain or corn than is needed i

for individual wants, require labor, and life seems too short t |

the Mexican to waste it in so uncongenial a manner. Now ani j

returns for their thrift and industry. a

A Mexican town presents a very forlorn appearance: Gray

mud composes the buildings, brown mud the streets and bl

mud the fields or gardens. Lazy, dirty, wretchedly poor, the! F

habitants manage to procure from day to day the means of keep i

ing body and soul together. Few of them can be persuaded ® q

-work unless it be in connection with horses or cattle. Squalling 4

children and lean, sharp-backed pigs wallow in mud, alike

almost, in appearance as in intellect. Even one of the chid 7

amusements of our own more civilized backwoods, ‘siteng

fence-rails of a Sunday and whittling, is denied these unfort ‘

creatures. Whenever an attempt at fencing is made, our po

and rails are supplied by a wall of sun-dried brick, on the

which are planted dense rows of aggressive cactus. Small as

-intelligence of the average Mexican farmer may be, it sult

teach him that cactus are not pleasant to sit upon for 9¥

recreation. Only their graveyards are in good condition; *

are carefully tended, embellished with numerous white €

and protected by massive walls against the interferen

coyotes.

Since the discovery of metalliferous veins, coinciding ee!

~ with the advent of a railroad, large numbers of prosp

miners, mechanics and a fair percentage of professional |

_ drels have flocked into the country. Small “ American k

ments have sprung up in the mining regions, notably '

Hillsboro and Daly (Lake valley), so that the extraction

is gradually assuming the character of a legitimate busti

terprise throughout the Black Range and its adjoining O°

_ Prospectors are daily covering more’ ground, and ere long

more distant ranges will be drawn within the circle of

1883.] Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. 153

operation. Reports, vague as yet, fill remote mountains with

untold wealth, but a short time only may elapse before definite

knowledge and practical demonstration will separate truth from

fiction.

Geologically speaking the structure of Southern New Mexico

is not complicated when viewed on a large scale, although a thor-

ough recognition of details would require careful study. Taking

the general character of the ranges it may be said that they ex-

hibit a large mass of erupted material which forms their highest

peaks. Flanking the latter are sedimentary beds, referable mainly

to the Paleozoic groups. These follow essentially a monoclinal

arrangement more or less complicated by faults. Sharply defined,

the ranges trend north and south, end more or less abruptly, and,

though orographically disconnected, belong to one general period

of geological disturbance. In elaborating the geognostic details,

however, a wide field for observation is encountered. Without

attempting to enter minutely upon a subject which would carry

us far beyond the limits assigned to this paper, it may be well to

sketch, in brief outlines, the distinctive features of the region un-

der discussion.

Keeping in view the presence of eruptives which form the bulk

of the mountain ranges, we find the adjacent sedimentary beds

traversed or covered by the volcanic material in every direction.

Trachyte, resembling that of the San Juan region in Colorado,

predominate. Dolerites, in part sanidinitic, are not wanting, but

subordinate. Dikes of trachyte set across either dip or strike of

Sedimentary strata, and intrusive wedges of the same material are

held between the latter. From the main points or lines of issue

the trachytes have spread in the form of flows, wherever their

quantity and the surface of the locality permitted. Arranged in

nearly. horizontal layers, they now cover unconformable sedimen-

tary beds. Erosion has carried away large portions of erupted

Material, leaving isolated remnants of flows and again exposing

the underlying formations.

pe Among the sedimentary beds those belonging to the Carbon-

‘fous period are most fully represented, although Silurian

Parite and the characteristic “ red beds” of Mesozoic age are

also found. Wherever contact has been established with the

trachytes, the traces are plainly visible in the limestones predomi-

"oae ii the Carboniferous series. The influence of heat has

154 Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. [February |

caused a certain amount of fritting, a characteristic discoloratiot)

and the formation of numerous, irregular fissures, cracks ai £

seams. Even where the overlying volcanics have been removel |

by erosive agents, their former position can often be establishel £

by the record they have indelibly stamped upon the strata whic f

were exposed to their altering influence. A large percentage d 1

the total area is covered with heavy deposits of drift, sometims |

several hundred feet in thickness, whereby all recognition of wi

derlying beds is rendered impossible.

Considering the relations between sedimentary and volcan |

material as exhibited in this region, it is but natural that the wg

istence of extensive veins should be expected. In truth, sud i

veins are found,and by virtue of surrounding rocks they aty

metalliferous. In the heart of the Black range, at and n®i

Grafton, well-defined veins traverse the limestones as well as Ù :

trachytes, bearing definitely characterized gangue and ore. Ls

quently they lie in contact between the two. Their gangue®

mainly quartz in this region. As quartz resists decomposili® |

more successfully than the enclosing walls, the veins can often l

traced for long distances. Generally they cut the edges of tH

limestone strata, 7. e., their strike coincides with that of the be 7

they traverse. Occasional faults and cross veins are produced T i

the occurrence of dikes, which, in turn, are almost as perst" i

"in course and continuity as the veins themselves. Near ™

working. While these latter carry gold as the paying M°

ver usually predominates, and gold in excess of a few ounc®

ton enters only sporadically. At Hillsboro’ the auriferous

acter of deposits has given rise to the formation of gold-p

Located within accessible distance from water, they have

turned to account and are now yielding their precious

under the persuasive influence of hydraulic mining. o

On the waters of the Pirches, above Hillsboro’, and at

valley, the ore deposits show a totally different geogn?

mineralogical character, although their associations af

tially the same. While the more northerly mountains hide t

metallic treasures in well-defined veins which cut throu: :

across the country rock ; while these veins carry a spec! gs:

gue with the argentiferous and auriferous minerals dme

therein ; in short, while they promise to develop into 0”

PLATE II,

` Monument Pk.

1833. ] Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. 155

old-fashioned mines, we here meet with ore bodies of totally dif-

ferent genesis, different relative position and different minerals.

Instead of barren gangue and paying ore, we find a deposited

accumulation of ore varying in value; instead of argentiferous

veins we have argentiferous deds.

At Lake valley active work has been going on since the spring

of 1881. As this district shows more prominent development

than others of a similar character, it may be well to enter into

some detail concerning genetic and stratigraphical conditions,

both of which are of exceptional interest. For the purpose of

presenting the subject in a more comprehensible manner, a sec-

tion may serve which has been taken across the strike of the

ore-body."

Beginning at the western end of the section we find a portion

of the trachyte (A), belonging to the range which has broken

through and partly overflowed heavy beds of quartzite (a). The

latter are probably of Silurian age. They dip steeply away from

the mountains until hidden from sight by a series of dark gray

shales (4). A narrow valley, in which the old camp was located,

is eroded into the shales, readily yielding, as they do, to disinte-

grating and transporting agents. So far as could be determined,

the argentiferous shales of Silver City belong to this horizon.

Above them light gray and yellow calcareous shales (c) form the

steep approach to the summit of the first outlying “ hog-back”

or ridge. The latter is protected by a capping of massive blue,

silicious limestones (g). This limestone forms the floor, or, using

mining parlance, “ foot-wall” of the ore-bed (D). Conformable

in every way to over and underlying beds, this deposit of argen-

tiferous ore must be regarded as an integral member of the

series of strata which compose the two parallel ridges or hog-

backs. Overlying the ore-bed we find a more or less compact,

whitish limestone, the “ hanging-wall” (e), followed by a succes-

sion of fossiliferous, argillaceous limestone (fand g), which, in

_ turn, are hidden by drift (i). About thirty species of fossils were

here collected, the identification of which refers the series to the

ower Carbonifercus formation.

Both limestones which form the walls of the interstratified ore-

bed, are traversed by ore-bearing veins and seams. Usually these

1 It must be stated that the section is not made on scale, as no accurate contour.

i surveys of the surface have been-made thus far—E,

156 Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. [ February,

are of comparatively small dimensions, stand nearly vertical, and

show ore of a higher grade than the bulk of the main deposit

It is a noticeable feature that no such veins have been found in

the shales (c) underlying the foot-wall strata (d). Mineralogi-

cally the ore of this locality must be considered as an aggregate

of manganese and ferric oxides with but a slight admixture of

gangue rocks. The silver is distributed throughout the mass

ore in the form of cerargyrite (chloride), embolite (chloro-bro-

mide) and a small percentage of argentite (sulphide). It is well

known how the first two of these minerals were struck in large:

quantities, of great purity, at various points in the ore-bed, far-

nishing ore worth from five to ten dollars a pound.

Near the crest of the first ridge the ore-bed has been removed

by erosion, together with the overlying strata. On its easterly

slope mining is essentially reduced to open quarry work, because |

the hanging-wall (e) has been broken away at many places. Fore

lowing the dip of enclosing strata, the ore sinks out of sight un

der the second hog-back, directly east of the new camp. Along.

the strike of the strata, 7. e., approximately north and south, the

ore-bed either crops out or fas been struck in its normal position

for a distance of more than 2000 feet, always bearing the same

relations to adjoining strata. Towards the east it may extend

indefinitely. No disturbing action has turned up the strata in

that direction, so that the point could be demonstrated. Defining, :

then, in a few words this occurrence, we find it to be: a mangatr

ese and iron bed, conformably interstratified with carboniferous

limestones, impregnated and associated with specific pe

minerals.

Beyond the establishment of this ore-body as a well- define :

stratum, a highly interesting question is propounded in the exist oe

ence of the transverse veins and seams above alluded to. Primar,

rily we may take for granted the formation of a manganese ari

iron bed, synchronously with the deposition of the entire | is

mentary series. From evidence obtained in the vicinity of

Valley, it appears that the trachyte flowed from the more fer :

regions in an easterly direction. Subsequent disturbances and

erosion affected the removal of the larger portion of the volcanic |

material. Monument peak, in close proximity to the mines, ci)

remnant of a flow from the westward. There seems no room 10

doubt but that the ridges now containing the ore-bed were at one

1883.] Mining Regions of Southern New Mexico. 157

time covered by the trachytic flows, It is further found that the

hard, unyielding strata of limestone and quartzite are fissured

and cracked to a very great extent, while the more pliable shales

are not so affected. The argillaceous limestones (/) show fis-

sures of only small dimensions. It seems highly probable, there-

fore, that the combined pressure and heat of the superincumbent

trachytes should have been instrumental in causing the extensive

system of fissuring now observed more particularly in the lime-

stone walls. Wherever cracks thus formed were in connection

with the original ore-bed, they would have been filled from the

latter, by some process, probably, which could derive material

aid from the presence of heated masses overlying. One hypoth-

esis of this kind might also account for the high average grade

of ore found in the transverse veins as compared with the main

ore-body.

The treatment of ores from the districts above described has.

met with no obstacle thus far. By milling process the lower

grades can be utilized, while smelting is advisable for the higher.

For a long time the Mexicans have smelted a limited quantity of

certain classes of ore. They are, no doubt, very skillful in man-

ipulating ores with which they are familiar, but their crude

methods and their conservatism, born of constitutional laziness,

Prevent their harvesting the riches of the country they inhabit.

It is Surprising, sometimes, to see the results obtained by them in

their small adobe furnaces. Capable of smelting perhaps 500

pounds of ore a day, the construction closely resembles that of

an ordinary silver-lead furnace. By means of cupellation, all

blast being supplied by hand-power bellows, they produce silver

of 930 fineness. Their entire plant seems almost like a play-

thing, but it is constructed upon sound principles and handled

with enviable skill. Until the arrival of Eastern machinery these

miniature smelters afforded the only means of extracting the pre-

cious metals from their ores. Now they have had their day, and

are rapidly falling into disuse.

r $ K

158 Recent Discoveries of Fossil Fishes in [| Februaty,

RECENT DISCOVERIES OF FOSSIL FISHES IN THE

DEVONIAN ROCKS OF CANADA.

BY J. F. WHITEAVES. i

Doo containing remains of fishes remarkably like those À

of the old red sandstone of Scotland and Russia were discov: f

ered by Mr. R. W. Ells, M.A., of the Geological Survey of Canada,

in 1879, at Scaumenac bay, on the north shore of the mouth of

the Restigouche river, almost immediately opposite Dalhousie. To

a certain extent, however, this discovery had been anticipated by

Dr. Abraham Gesner, who, in a report on the Geological Survey

of New Brunswick, published in 1843, states that in the previous |

year he found “ remains of fish and a small species of tortoise,

with fossil foot-prints,” in the shales and sandstones of Scaumenat,

or as he calls it, of Escuminac bay. Prior to 1879 all the rocks f

which skirt this bay were regarded as belonging to the Bonavet-

ture division of the Lower Carboniferous, but we now know that =

at this locality the conglomerates and red sandstones of the Bona-

venture series are underlaid, perhaps unconformably, by shales and

sandstones of Devonian, and most probably of Upper Devonian

age. E

On behalf of the Canadian survey, Mr. A. H, Foord has de

voted the whole of the summer seasons of 1880 and 1881 and

part of the present summer to a systematic exploration of these A

_fish-bearing beds, and has obtained from them an extensive and

instructive series of specimens. ig

other members of the survey at Scaumenac bay may be thus

briefly indicated. =.

1. Pterichthys canadensis. By far the most abundant fossil #

this locality is a fine species of Pterichthys which has been Hal

visionally described, under the name Z. canadensis, in the “ Amet

can Journal of Science” for August, 1880. The specimens

lected show nearly all the characters of the helmet, buckler, plas

tron and pectoral spines in great perfection, but no vestige of e

tail has yet been detected, nor of any of the fins other than the

pectorals. In the number, contour and disposition of the p'a

on the upper and under surface of the head and body, and in the

shape and mode of articulation of the pectoral spines, the

dian species agrees precisely with Pander’s well known T

tion of Pterichthys, but its sculpture is exactly like that of Botheie d

"i:

1883. | the Devonian Rocks of Canada. ' 159

lepis. The genera Asterolepis and Bothriolepis of Eichwald,

it should be premised, were both based upon detached bony

plates of fishes from the old red sandstone of Russia, in 1840, and

the distinctions between them were founded on peculiarities in

their surface ornamentation. In Asterolepis the sculpture of the

exterior consists of numerous, minute, isolated, conical tubercles,

with radiating striz around their bases and in the interstices be-

tween them, while in Bothriolepis the markings of the same sur-

face consist of shallow pits, perforated by vertical canals and en-

circled by a more or less complete network of raised ridges. All

the species of Pterichthys described and figured by Agassiz in

his monograph of the fishes of the old red sandstone have the

sculpture of Asterolepis (Eichwald), but the Canadian form which

in every other respect is a true Pterichthys, has the pitted orna-

mentation of Bothriolepis. Pander, however, in his memoir on

the placoderms, has maintained that Bothriolepis and Pterichthys

are both synonyms of Asterolepis, and the Scaumenac bay speci-

mens certainly show that there is no essential difference between

Pterichthys and Bothriolepis. Moreover it is exceedingly likely

that the Canadian Pterichthys is specifically as well as generically

identical with the Bothriolepis ornata of Eichwald, though the

latter species has never been described nor figured with sufficient

accuracy to be recognized with any degree of certainty.

There are two other points of interest in connection with

this species of Pterichthys. In the monograph of the fishes of

the old red sandstone already referred to, Agassiz gives an ideal

Tesforation of the genus, In this restoration the front margin of

the head is represented as bearing a pair of divergent and slightly

curved labial appendages or barbels, which the author in the text

; claims to have seen in specimens of his P. /atus, but which he

indicates in the diagram by dotted lines, as if in some doubt of

their actual existence. These barbels are omitted altogether in

Pander’s more recent restoration of the same genus, reduced

figures of which are reproduced in several of the geological man-

„uals of the day. Yet in one of the specimens collected by Mr.

Foord the barbels are plainly visible and do not differ either in

shape or position from those indicated in Agassiz’s diagram, ex-

Cept that they are a little closer together at their bases or points

Of attachment. The flattened conic al, dermal processes on the

‘Upper side of the helmet, one on each side of the orbit, as repre-

160 Recent Discoveries of Fossil Fishesin [February,

sented in Pander’s restoration, are also well seen in two.of Mr,

Foord’s specimens, though in these they are directed forwards as_

well as outwards, whereas in Pander’s figures they are depicted

as though they were bent backwards. a

2. Diplacantius, sp. undt—An apparently undescribed spe-

cies, of which only a few imperfect examples have been collected.

It appears to be remarkable chiefly for the comparatively small

size of its fin spines in proportion to that of the head and body,

3. Acanthodes mitchelli? Egerton —Ten or twelve specimens of

a diminutive acanthodean which seem to be barely distinguish-

able from the Scotch species named above. The largest perfect”

individual is not more than an inch and three-quarters in length, —

and the scales, when examined under the microscope, are seen to —

be perfectly smooth.

4. Phaneropleuron curtum—This remarkable genus was first”

described by Professor Huxley, in 1871, in the tenth decade of

organic remains issued by the Geological Survey of Great Britain. | f

Its principal characters are as follows: scales thin, cycloidal, dor

sal fin extremely long, single and confluent with the upper lobe

of the tail, pectorals and ventrals acutely lobate, jaws armed with» |

a single series of short conical teeth, vertebral centers not ossified

The only species previously known was the P. andersoni of Hux

an individual found by Mr. Foord at the same locality in 1881"

fifteen inches long. 2.

Professor Cope has shown that of all the Devonian fishes, Phan®

ropleuron comes nearest to the living Ceratodus forsteri, of Queens

land, both in its internal and external characters, but the dentitio?

of Phaneropleuron was only partially known, Last summer MF

Foord was fortunate enough to obtain specimens, showing that®

addition to the simple conical teeth with which the dentary bom

is armed, the Canadian species is furnished with triangular palatt

1883.] the Devonian Rocks of Canada. 161

teeth, each furnished with rows of conical denticles, These pala-

tal teeth are precisely like those of Dipterus as figured by Hugh

Miller in the “Footprints of the Creator,” and the affinities of

Phaneropleuron with the living Ceratodus and with the Dipnoi

generally are thus rendered still more apparent.

Eusthenopteron Foordi—In the same paper as that in which the

preceding species was described, the above provisional name was

suggested for a number of large fragments of a fish, which, when

perfect, must have attained to a length of fully three feet. The

largest specimen consists of a portion of the posterior end of the

fish about a foot in length, which shows the external characters

tolerably well, though the caudal, anal and second dorsal fins are

imperfect. The bony supports of each of these fins and about five

inches of the vertebral column, or rather of its lateral elements,

are beautifully preserved in another specimen. The only parts of

e head then recognized were fragments of a dentary bone, with

teeth, and some isolated cranial plates, ne of which is evidently

the operculum. ;

In the sculpture of the cranial plates, in the shape and orna-

mentation of the scales of the body, and in the fact that the fin

rays of the second dorsal and anal are both supported by three

osselets articulated to a broadly dilated spinous apophysis, this

supposed new genus very closely resembles the Tristichopterus of

Sir Philip Egerton. But it is well known that in many Devonian

fishes the notochord was persistent, and Sir P. Egerton calls spe-

cial attention to the fact that Tristichopterus is an exception to

this rule, its vertebral centers being completely ossified. Further,

-the osselets of tke lower lobe of the tail of Tristichopterus are de-

scribed as “ springing from eight or nine interspinous bones.” In

* Eusthenopteron, on the other hand, the vertebral centers do not

appear to have been ossified at all, and the osselets of the lower.

lobe of the tail are articulated to the swollen outer extremities of

the heemal spines.

More recently, in 1871, a number of additional specimens of

Eusthenopteron have been collected by Mr. Foord, which throw

. ch new light on its structure. Small specimens show that the

peculiar central and accessory lobe developed between the upper

and lower lobes of the tail, which suggested to Sir P. Egerton the

name Tristichopterus, is common to that genus and to Eusthe-

feron.: The general shape and position of the fins, too, ap-

162 Recent Discoveries of Fossil Fishes in |February,

pear to be sufficiently alike in both genera. The jaws of Eus-

thenopteron, like those of Tristichopterus, are each armed with an

outer row of small teeth, and an inner row of large ones, but the

teeth of Tristichopterus are simply conical and circular in trans-

verse section, whereas those of Eusthenopteron are flattened coni-

cal with lateral cutting edges. The jaw of Eusthenopteron is

remarkably like that of the Asterolepis of Hugh Miller, but not

of Eichwald, as figured in the “ Footprints.”

Glyptolepis, Compare G. microlepidotus Ag.—A single badly

preserved example of a species of Glyptolepis which resembles

the G. microlepidotus of Agassiz in the small size of its scales.

These scales, which are for the most part exfoliated, and

which in no case show the sculpture characteristic of the genus,

average less than two lines in diameter. The fins of the side ex-

posed to view are tolerably well defined, and the outline of one of

the slender, elongated and acute, lobate pectorals. is somewhat

clearly shown. The specimen agrees perfectly with Huxley's

restoration of Glyptolepis, in the’ shape and position of its fins, and

in the contour of its tail.

~ Glyptolepis. Compare G. leptopterus Ag—A second species of

ee ablapis, apparently of the type of G. /eptopterus, appears to be

indicated in Mr. Foord’s 1880 collections by two or three large

isolated scales. These scales, which are nearly an inch in length,

are ornamented with the wavy costz and semilunar or crescentic

area of backwardly directed points peculiar to the genus.

Cheirolepis canadensis —Four fine and well preserved specimens

of a large species of Cheirolepis, nearly, related to the C mmk

mingie of Agassiz, of which it may prove to be only a :

variety. According to Hugh Miller, the large pectorals of E |

cummingi@ “ almost encroach upon the ventrals, and the ventra

upon the anal,” but this is by no means the case with the C ye H

densis. In the latter species, or variety, the ventra] fins att

rated from the pectorals by a short interval. The anal fn i

placed much farther forwards than the dorsal, and is sé

from the ventrals by a space slightly exceeding in length thè

height of the body at the commencement of the anal.

The analogies between the fossil fauna of the Upper Devo!

oe at Scaumenac, and that of the old red sandstone of $

land and Russia are very striking. With the exception of I

1883. ] the Devonian Rocks of Canada. 163

thenopteron, all the genera yet found at Scaumenac, are those

with which the readers of Hugh Miller will be familiar. Of the

seven genera of fishes found so far at Scaumenac, six occur also

in Europe, and of the eight species collected by Mr. Foord, proba-

bly one-half will yet prove to be mere varietal forms of European

species. The Prerichthys canadensis is most likely the same as the

Bothriolepis ornata of Russia and Scotland; the Acanthodes ap-

pears to be referable to the A. mitchelli of Egerton; one of the

species of Glyptolepis may be identical with the G. microlepidotus

of Agassiz and the Chetvolepis canadensis is probably a variety of

the C. cummingie.

The existence of fossil plants, as well as of fish remains, in the

shales and sandstones of Scaumenac bay was noticed by Dr.

Gesner in 1842, and from these rocks Mr, Foord also obtained a

series of specimens of four species of ferns which have recently

been described by Principal Dawson. These Devonian deposits

at Scaumenac may have been of fresh water or estuarine origin;

for no traces of any marine invertebrata have yet been detected in

them, and the fossil fishes which they contain are invariably found

associated with land plants.

On the south bank of the Restigouche, about half a mile above

Campbellton, another series of fish-bearing strata was discovered

by Mr. Ells in 1871. These deposits have also been carefully ex-

plored by Mr. Foord, and a preliminary description of the species

collected by him has been published in Vol. x, No. 2, of the

Canadian Naturalist. At this locality the remains: of fishes

Occur in brecciated limestones of Lower Devonian age, which

latter are much disturbed by trappean outbursts and overflows.

The specimens, though sometimes well preserved, are generally

fragmentary, and the species recognized so far are as follows:

_ Coccosteus acadicus—Cranial shields and detached post-dorsome-

dian, ventromedian and preventrolateral plates of a species of Coc-

Castes whose characters appear to be intermediate between those

of the C. cuspidatus and C. decipiens of Agassiz. The dorso-

‘Median plate of C. acadicus is precisely like that of C. cuspidatus,

but the superficial grooves on the cranial shields of the Campbell-

n. specimens correspond perfectly with those represented in

Hugh Miller's diagram of the head shield of C. decipiens. It is

not at all unlikely that C. decipiens, C. cuspidatus and C. acadicus `

| a ing much the larger of the two.

164 Recent Discoveries of Fossil Fishes, etc. [Fe

. May eventually be found to be mere varietal forms of one.

what variable species. So far all attempts at tracing out t

sutures on the cranial shields of the Campbellton Coccoste us

entirely failed, although one specimen has been ground doy

e manner suggested by Professor Huxley.

Cephalaspis campbelltonensis —Large head-shield of a Ce

pis, probably belonging to the section Eucephalaspis of

Lankester, with the orbits well defined and the prominen

` depressions of the central region very clearly shown.

specimens are very much crushed and distorted and nearly a

exfoliated. Portions of the true outer layer of the test

seen only on the central portion of the outer margin of

hand side of one large fragment, and on the extremit

cornua in two or three other specimens. The enamel j

outer surface appears polished and nearly smooth to the 1 s

eye, but under a lens it is seen to be minutely and densely |

the pits being very irregular in their shape, size and.

arrangement. Where the enamel is removed the surface

into numerous well-marked polygonal areas.

Including the C. dawsoni of Lankester, from Gaspé, all

cies of Cephalaspis hitherto described are said to be che

_by a surface ornamented by raised tubercles, usually of

size, so that the C. campbelltonensis may be readily distin

by its minutely pitted sculpture. ae

_ Ctenacanthus latispinosus. —This species is represe

-Foord’s collection by a few fin-spines about two inches

in length, which are = even for the regularly

structure of their radiating

Homacanthus, sp. undt AN single imperfect and ba

served spine of a species of Homacanthus, which, as far

ascertained at present, resembles the Æ. arcuatus of -

- almost ev ery respect but that of size, the Canro sp

-~ ~ The fossil plants as well as fishes found at Ca

a to be entirely different to those of Scaumenac bay, ana i

o lity entomostraca, Spirorbis erianus, fragments of al

a. gotus, and two new species of Cyclora are asso

1883.] The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 165

ON THE EXTINCT RODENTIA OF NORTH AMERICA.

BY PROFESSOR E, D. COPE.

Miocene RODENTIA.

(Continued from page 57.)

Eumys (Leidy) Cope.

With this genus we commence an account of the mice of Mio-

` cene times. Representatives of this primary division were not as

numerous during this period in North America as they are at the

present epoch, and very few of them sag the apne type of

molar teeth, as do the Arvicola or

meadow mouse, and muskrat, genera

of later periods. In Eumys we have

the predecessor of our wood-rats and

mice, but which unites with some den-

tal characters of these animals, the

cranial form of Fiber or the muskrat.

The molar teeth are tubercular, with

alternating lobes as in Hesperomys

(wood-mouse), but there are interme-

diate cross-crests on the inner side of

the lower, and outer side of the upper

jaws, so that when worn, the _crowns

present exactly the pattern of Gym-

noptychus. There are no ridges

bounding the orbits above, and there Y

i i 5 ore -

PSR ce STENCIL Scan cee ote

ittle worn molars. Twice natural

entia, retained in the Arvicoles and ee From rete White Rive aot oe ated

muskrats, U.S. Gablagien) Surv. Terrs

But one species is known, the Eumys elegans Leidy. It is only

found in the White River beds of Nebraska and Colorado. It was

as large as a Pennsylvania meadow-mouse, and must have been

exceedingly abundant. See Figs. 13-14.

HEsPERomys Waterhouse.

This existing genus is represented by a species (H. nematodon

Fic. 15.—@ maxillary; 5 mandibular teeth of Paciculus

insolitus Cope, twice natural size. Figs. =d, Hesperomys

of Oregon.

todon ; c, frontal region from above, nat. size; 6

maxillary teeth, a nat. size.

Origina

From the John Day beds

in the Loup Fo

formation of N

Mexico ad Ne e

braska (A. die f

don Cope). A

gon, and 0

have been pee

tan. It was intermediate in size between the recent wood

and mice,

PacicuLus Cope. '

This genus is probably one of the Muridæ, anda near ally:

recent Sigmodon and Neotoma. It differs from these genera in hav-

ing three external inflections of the enamel in the superior mola

instead of two. It differs from Hesperomys as these two ger

viz., in having deep enamel inflections instead of tubercles

valleys. It is true that the deepening and narrowing

valleys of the molars of Hesperomys would result after w

a pattern like that of Neotoma. The same process in Buí

would produce a pattern much the same as that of Paciculus,

that genus is further characterized by the contraction of the

orbital region and the production of a sagittal crest, which

found in Paciculus.

Two species of this genus are known to me, P. ins

smaller (Fig. 15 æ 4), and P. lockingtonianus, a larger one,

is about the size of the wood-rat. Both are from the Jo

beds of Oregon. They demonstrate an early origin for the /

type of Neotoma, as contemporaries of the first of the He:

mys. (Fig. 15.)

PLEUROLICUS Cope,

The exclusively American family of the subterranean -

or Saccomyidz, was well represented in Orego™

probably in other regions, eins the John Day, ak

phers,”

The Æ. loxodon was smaller,

See Fig. 15.

1883.] The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 167

they have not been found in the Loup Fork formation, but

they occur in the :

Pliocene Equus

beds. Two genera

are known, the one

above named, and

Entoptychus Cope.

They are very nearly

allied to existing

genera. In the

former the molars € $ r

are rooted and have ra. tiad, Piirit leptophrys Cope; skull, a

Dnt aaan, and a or aet a ae ae a RE t

fold of enamel on From the John Day epoch, Oregon. Original. From Volg

oneside ofthecrown ™ Report U.S. Geol. Surv. Terrs.

is always open. In the latter, the molars are prismatic and rootless,

and the lateral enamel fold becomes on wearing an isolated lake.

Pleurolicus is curiously near to the existing Heteromys and

Perognathus, the two genera of Saccomyidæ with rooted molars.

The former differs in having the molars divided into two columns,

each of which is sheathed in enamel, while Perognathus only differs,

šo faras I am aware, in having the superior incisors grooved. It is

also very nearly related to Entoptychus, and two of the species

correspond in various respects with two of those of that genus. In

view of the fact that most of the specimens of the P. sulcifrons

are old individuals with well worn molars, the idea occurred to

me that the rooted character of the molars might be common to

the species of Entoptychus, but that it might not appear until

long use had worn away most of the crown, and the protrusion

had ceased. Examination of the bases of the long molars of £.

Planifrons did not reveal any roots. It is also opposed to this

view that the maxillary bone in the Pleurolici has little depth be-

low the orbital fossa, appropriately to the short-rooted molars,

while the depth is considerable in the typical Entoptychi, though

is a complete gradation in this respect. But I have demon-

ted satisfactorily that Pleurolicus is a distinct genus by obser-

vations on the P. leptophrys. Some of my individuals of this spe-

cles are young, with the crowns of the molars little worn, yet the

Toots diverge immediately on entering the alveolus, on all the

_ ‘Molars. In the species of Pleurolicus the lateral fissure of the

168 The Extinct Rodentia of North America, (February,

crown descends to its base, and hence persists longer than in the

typical Entoptychi. ine

I am acquainted with two species of this genus. The posterior i

part of the skull of an individual represents a third species, which

I refer provisionally to this genus. See Fig. 16. i

ENTOPTYCHUS Cope. |

Molars 4-4, rootless, and identical in structure. The crowns att

prismatic, and in the young stage present a deep inflection of

enamel from one side, the external in the superior teeth, the intet

nal'in the inferior. Aftera

little attrition, the conneč

tion with the external en-

amel layer disappears, and

there remains a mediat

transverse fossette, entirely :

inclosed by enamel.

tooth then consists of

dentinal columns in oie

cylinder of enamel, sepr

rated by a transverse enat

ere =a el-bordered tube.

- i. not sulcate: Ty

The teeth of this

differ from those of Feros

nathus in being without

tinct roots, and in hat

the enamel loop cut o

inclosed. In Dipoael

bye f=

Fic. 17.— Entoptychus crassiramis Cope ;

a, “ gp from side and a ve; c, mandi-

€ irom above. Natural size. From the Toh i i

Day epoch, Oregon. Original. From aea simple PEREN i

U: S. Geol. Survey Ters. F. V. Hayden. The skull is com

2 l K does not display th

ties or large foramina seen in some genera of Rodentia.

gh deep pterygoid fossze, whose inner bounding laminæ uni

middle of the palatine border and whose external lamine

latter looks like a continuation of the former, as in Tho

and occupies considerable Space between the exoccipital an

Squamosal. The latter sends downwards a process just.

J03

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 169

to the auricular meatus, which forms the handle to a hammer-

shaped laminar bone. This is, no doubt, a dismemberment of the

” squamosal, as a similar process is continuous with that bone in

Thomomys, and one somewhat different is seen in Neotoma,

Hesperomys, &c. Supraoccipital distinct on superior face of

skull. Paroccipital process small or.none. Mastoid elongate,

adherent to the otic tube. No postfrontal process. .

A well-marked character which distinguishes the skull of this

genus from Thomomys, Dipodomys, &c., is the separation of the

meatal tube of the otic bulla from the zygomatic process of the

Squamosal bone by an interspace. There is no postsquamosal

_Fic, 18.—Entoptychus planifrons Cope; skull, side, top, bottom, and posterior

views. Nat. size. In fig. æ the roots of two molars are exposed, From John Day

epoch, Oregon. Original.

foramen in the recent genera. In Dipodomys the otic bulla is

more largely developed, but it has the anterior bottle-neck pro-

longation seen in Entoptychus.

Individuals of this genus were very abundant in Oregon during

the middle Miocene epoch. They represent several species, but

how many it is difficult to determine. The most noteworthy

Variations are found in the development of superciliary ridges;

then there are modifications in the forms of the premolar teeth,

differences in the length and width of the muzzle, and some range

in dimensions. In Æ. crassiramis Cope (Fig. 17), there is a deep-

ntal groove which is closed posteriorly. In Z cavifrons there

are strong and in Æ Jambdoideus there are weak, superciliary

170

ridges. In £.

PaL@®oxacus Leidy.

With this genus we enter the Lagomorpha, or rabbits, and theit

19.—Palzolagus prae Leidy,

rest size, from ss White — beds of

Colorado, a anter rt of cranium from

below; 4 mandi ble poe pet c do.

from external side; d tibia; e distal end

of do. from below. igi äl

external side in the known species.

The Extinct Rodentia of North America, [Feb

. minor and E. planifrons (Fig. 18), the frontal bone

is flat, and Æ. minor is smaller than the other species.

hae

allies. It is probable that rabbits

were as numerous in species in

Miocene times in North Ami

ca as they are at present, butthè :

number of extinct species yet

known is smaller than the recent :

The characters of Palzole

approximate nearly those of he A

existing genus Lepus. The only

distinction between them signal: |

ized by Dr. Leidy, is the mabye.

simple first inferior molar of the

extinct genus, which aai

one column more or less divided.

In Lepus this tooth consists

two columns, the anterior of

which is grooved again on ©

I am able to reinforce

distinction by a strong character, viz., the absence of the po%

frontal process in Palzolagus

genus Titanomys of Meyer, the difference is well marked, Se

that genus has the molar teeth 4

molar is cylindric, consisting of Hü one siini.

rior molar consists of two cylinders broadly united, as in

responding tooth of Palzolagus. be

Cope,’ which is only known from superior molar teeth, this gem

may be at once recognized by the simplicity of ji last tooth. i

Panolax it consists of two columns. (See Fig. 19.)

Dr. Leidy’s descriptions and figures, Köik a are aisit

definition of this genus, relate exclusively to the dentition.

acters drawn from the skeleton give some available indi

The condyles of the humerus are more primitive than je

the species of Lepus, in having a less developed intertré

crest. The tibiotarsal, or ankle joint, is, on the other

1 Amphilagus. Catal. Méth. et Deser. Vertebés Fossiles de la Bassin de

3853, P- 42.

? Report Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, 4to, 1v, p. 296.

As compared with the €

instead of Ê.

As compared with

band

1883. | The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 171

mechanically perfect as in Lepus. The extremity of the fibula is

coéssified, and the astragalar grooves are deep. This is a contri-

bution to the evidence that the posterior feet of the Mammalia

have advanced more rapidly in advancing evolution than the an-

terior. As the posterior limbs furnish most of the energy, and

therefore sustain most of the shocks in progression, there is

doubtless a connection between the two facts, of cause and

effect.

A cast of the cranial chamber of a specimen of Paleolagus

haydeni displays the superficial characters of the dram. As in

the order generally, the hemispheres are small and are contracted

anteriorly. The greater part of the cast of the cerebellum is lost,

but enough remains to show that it was large. The olfactory lobes

are large; they are not gradually contracted to the hemispheres, but

expand abruptly in front of them, being separated by a constriction

only. They are wider than long and than the exterior part of the

hemispheres. Their cribriform surface is wide, and extends backwards

on the outer sides. Traces of the three longitudinal convolutions

can be observed on the hemispheres above the lobus hippocampi.

The internal and median are continuous at both extremities, and

extend with the external to the base of the olfactory lobes. There

is no definite indication of the Sylvian fissure. The lobus hippo-

campi protrudes laterally a little beyond the border of the exter-

nal convolution. Its form is depressed.

As compared with the brain of the rabbit (Lepus cuniculus) fig-

ured by Leuret and Gratiolet, that of the Paleolagus haydent is

distinguished by the absolutely much smaller size of the hemis-

pheres, and by the absolutely larger olfactory lobes, the excess

being in transverse dimensions and not in the longitudinal. An

important difference is also the absence of the median posterior

Production of the hemispheres seen in the rabbit, the prolongation

in the extinct species being lateral, and extending little behind the

lobus hippocampi. The indications of the convolutions of the

Superior surface are similar in the two.

_ As observed by Leidy, this genus presents the same number of

teeth as in the existing rabbits, viz, I. ł; C. $; M: $; and that the

difference consists in the fact that the first molar possesses two

columns, while in Lepus there are three. Having collected a

~*See On the effects of Impacts and Strains on the feet of Mammalia, AMER.

PRALIST, 1881, p. 543. eae

172 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. (February, |

great number of remains of this genus, I am able to show that it |

is only in the immature state of the first molar that it exhibitsa |

double column, and that in the fully adult animal it consists of a |

single column with a groove on its external face. The dentition ;

undergoes. other still more important changes with progressing —

age, so as to present the appearance of difference of species at ai

ferent periods. T

The succession of teeth in the Palæolagus haydeni is as fol-

lows (Fig 20): e

The earliest dentition of this species known to me is the pres- i

ence of the two deciduous molars, the first and second in position, |

before the appearance of any of the permanent series. Each of

these has two roots, and the crown is composed of three lobes. )

In the first, the first lbe is a simple cusp; the two following at

divided into two cusps each; the second is similar, excepting that

the simple cusp is at the pittior end of the tooth. The grooves

separating the lobes descend into the alveolus on the outer sd

but stop above it on the inner. o

In the next stage, the third permanent molar is projected, and

has, like the second deciduous, a posterior simple column, yer :

section forms an odd cusp or lobe. The fourth true molar thet

follows, also with an odd fifth lobe behind. This lobed form & |

the molars is so different from that of the adult as to have led me

to describe it as indicating peculiar species under the name T

Tricium avunculus and T. anne. i

In the next stage, the fifth small molar appears in view, and th r

second permanent molar lifts its milk-predecessor out of the vay

In a very short time, the posterior, or odd, columns entirely ‘ dix

appear, sinking into the shaft, and the permanent molars asst

the form characteristic of the species. The last stage prior $ a

of a posterior lobe at this time, and that speedily disappears. — er

anterior lobe is subconical, and is entirely surrounded with enats

for a time the tooth presents an 8-shaped section, which was 5H

posed to be characteristic of the genus. Further protrusion! D

to the surface the bottom of the groove of the inner side ¢

shaft, so that its section remains in adult age something lik¢

The oe haydeni was dedicated by Dr. Le a

1883.] The Extinct Rodentia of North America, 173

Hayden who discovered it. It was an ex-

tremely abundant species, and no doubt fur-

nished much food for the Carnivora of the

Lower Miocene period. There are two other

species found in the same horizon, the P. tur-

gidus Cope (Fig. 20), and P. triplex Cope, both

larger than the P. haydeni. The former is as

large as the northern hare, Lepus glacialis, and

had the teeth much like those of the P. tay-

deni, The P. triplex is of similar dimensions,

and has the third column to the permanent @

molars which characterize the immature stage _ =

Fic. 20.—Pa/leolagus

of the other species. haydeni Leidy, tempo-

A species of the size and appearance of the at Sig wren, P ety

P. haydeni is found in the John Day beds of 2 two temporary and

one permanent tie

Oregon, and a similar one occurs in the Loup molars; tw

Fork beds of New Mexico. As nothing but POY inferior molar

teeth of these animals are known, nothing can sage ene molars

yet be finally determined as to their specific F From ae ees ea

affinities, l ot s of Colorado. Orig-

: inal.

PanoLax Cope.

In this genus the last

Superior molar consists of

two columns; otherwise

the superior teeth are as in

the last genus. The single

Species known, FPanolax

Sanctefidei Cope, was as

large as the northern hare.

Itis found in the Loup Fork

formation of New Mexico.

Lepus Linn.

„_ Dental formula: I.}; C.

03 P-m.§ CM 3 First pe

parior. cnt sani, first

inferior molar with two ex-

ternal grooves ; last inferior

molars consisting of two Fic —Lepus ennisianus Cope; cra

cylinders. Postorbital pro- Nat sae Trond the To, Day Eo ren

cesses ginal. From the U., S. ata 1 Survey

Present. Toes FY. ‘Hayden, Vol. 1v.

174 Editors’ Table.

I am acquainted with but one extinct species of this genus, and

this is from the John Day Middle Miocene period. It proves the

ancient origin of this genus, now so widely distributed over the

earth. Species of Lepus are reported by M. Gervais from the”

Miocene (Montabuzard) and Pliocene (Montpelier) of France. :

The Oregon species is Lepus ennisianus Cope, an animal abot

the size of the “cotton tail,” Lepus sylvaticus. (Fig.21.) T

(To be continued.) AF

EDITORS TABLE. ae

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE. o o|

The excellent after-dinner speeches at the farewell bate

quet given to Herbert Spencer, Nov. 9, 1882, have been published

by D. Appleton & Co., under the title “ Herbert Spencer on the

Americans, and the Aintnidsns on Herbert Spencer.” Our r

would do well to read the brochure. One of the speakers, 1

ever, besides assuring Mr. Spencer that he stood at the head

the philosophers of his time, an opinion which we heartily êt f

dorse, also unequivocally asserted (see p. 75) that Spencer's

ings on evolution (his “ Psychology” published in 1854

anonymous articles published in 1882) has an “ incontestible å

ority to all other promulgations of recent evolutionary

and that the theory of evolution was elaborated “ before

Charles Darwin had ever published a word upon the subject:

Now we feel so cordially and sympathetically towards ^

Spencer that we hope his last resting place (though be the re

far distant!) may be in Westminster Abbey, by the side of

win. Buta philosopher as such has not brought about the

ent attitude of the scientific and lay mind towards the doch

evolution. This was reserved for a naturalist, the author

“ Origin of Species,” who began, as he tells us, in 1837 t0?

mulate his facts and to draw his inductions from observed

corded facts, his theory of derivation having previously been ™™

gested during his voyage along the coast of South America:

is the triumph not of an a priori, synthetic, or “cosmical”

ophy, but of the inductive method of natural science,

scientific and popular thought has been a e

Spencer evolved his general theory of evolution, broad, ©

hensive and all-embracing as it is, in his study, Darwin

1883.] - Editors’ Table. 175

navigated the earth, constantly observing wherever he went; and

at home observed, always observed, out-of-doors. Compare Her-

bert Spencer’s Biology (1866-71) and Darwin’s “Origin of Spe-

cies ” a 859) and the very essence and methods of the two works

are fundamentally unlike. The “Biology” is a collection of gen-

eral principles in very general and often vague language, with a

few facts gleaned from the writings of naturalists, while the “ Ori-

gin of Species,” whether or not we adopt the author’s view of

natural selection as a vera causa, is the leaven which has leavened

the whole lump of modern thought. Among philosophers and

metaphysicians we hear of Spencerism ; among working natural-

ists we hear of Darwinism. In short, the general acceptance of

the doctrine of evolution has been due to causes acting from

—— It is not consistent with the genius of the American peo-

ple to restrict the progress of scientific knowledge by legislation

or otherwise. The anti-vivisectionists, or beastiarians, succee

in seriously hampering physiological research in England, and en-

deavored to stultify their intelligence by driving it entirely out of

the ki In this they happily failed. It is not unlikely that

similar attempts may be made in this country, especially in locali-

ties where physiological research has its few and poorly rewarded

votaries. Frightful stories will be circulated as to the cruelties of

the vivisectors, and the statements of (?) able scientists will be ad-

duced to the effect that vivisection is of no benefit to science.

But the discussion, though opened in the realm of sentiment, has

animals destroyed for the adornment of ladies’ hats, bonnets

and hands, is an unnecessary waste of animal life; and the sports

of the chase are by no means free from cruelty. There is also

bb bably a great deal too much meat eaten by many people. If

tas = of benevolent inclinations would devote themselves to

teaching the laws of nature to the ignorant, they would probably

diminish human suffering more than by any other method.

176 Recent Literature. [ February,

A French committee for the propagation of the doctrines

of evolution, is hesitating whether they shall call the subject of

their teaching Darwinism or not. We are not surprised at their

hesitation. Lamarck knew a good deal about evolution, but was

not as well treated by his countrymen as Darwin has been by his.

It is much better to be distinguished in England than in any other

country. It isan amiable quality of the people of that fast little

Isle to elevate well the angle of observation of their leading men,

and to use good lenses in looking at them. This is an example

which other nations should not be slow to follow, in scanning

their own particular tract of the heavens. i

RECENT LITERATURE.

GEIKIE’S Text-Boox or Grotocy.'—Aside from the immediat

€conomic importance of the study of geology, the ultimate facts

nebular hypothesis is only a guess; while the lowest platform it

life lies only as far down as the Cambro-Silurian horizon, when,

iris

This volume of 971 pages is somewhat in the same vein, if

| Text Book of Geology. By ARCHIBALD G LL.D., F. R. S., Director-Gor g

nien Peological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, eto. With Iiestrations, A

n: Macmillan & Co., 1882.. 8vo, pp. 971, $7.50.

1883. ] Recent Literature. 177

may use a geological simile, as De la Beche’s Geological Ob-

server and Juke’s Manual, but is naturally rather more comprehen-

sive. It isan expansion of the author’s article, “ Geology,” in the

“Encyclopedia Brittanica.”’

e comprehensive nature of the work will be seen by the ti-

tles of the books and parts into which it is divided. Book 1.

Cosmical aspects of geology. 11. Geognosy—An investigation

of the materials of the earth’s substance. Part1. A general de-

scription of the parts of the earth. Part 2. An account of the

composition of the earth’s crust—Minerals and rocks. 1. Dy-

namical geology. Part 1. Hypogene action—An inquiry into

the geological changes in progress beneath the surface of the

earth. Part 2. Epigene or surface action. 1v. Geotectonic (struc-

tural) geology; or the architecture of the earth’s crust. Part 1.

Stratification and its accompaniments. 2. Joints. 3. Inclina-

tion ofrocks. 4.Curvature. 5. Cleavage. 6. Dislocation. 7. Erup-

tive (igneous) rocks as part of the structure of the earth’s

crust. 8, The crystalline schists as part of the architecture

of the earth’s crust. 9. Ore deposits. 10. Unconformability.

v. Paleontological geology. vi. Stratigraphical geology. Part

I. Archean. 2. Paleozoic. 3. Mesozoic or secondary. 4. Caino-

zoic, or Tertiary. 3. Quaternary, or Post-tertiary. vil. Physio-

ie geology.

ra ough Commander Bartlett’s paper in the

Journal of the Americ n Geographical Society appeared about a

year ago. Dr. Croll’s hypothetical stoppage of the Gulf stream

to account for the glacial climate of Northern Europe is not war-

tatleston, S. C., and hence the Gulf stream must have existed

roughout the quaternary period; besides this, according to Dr.

Carpenter, there is a general movement of warm surface-water

BLN in the Atlantic ocean, the Gulf stream not being the

agent of the transfer northward of tropical heated water.

178 Recent Literature. [Febr aiy,

So extremely hypothetical, from paleontological considerations, |

is the evidence of so-called “interglacial periods,” referred to on

p. 29, that we wonder that our author should endorse Dr. Croll’.

speculations without stating some of the facts supposed to sustain

such a view. 4

The age of the earth is, from facts relating to erosion, set down

as “not much less than 100,000,000 years since the earliest form

of life appeared upon the earth, andthe oldest stratified roc

began to be laid down;” this length of time, from the standi

point of physics, as advocated by Sir William Thompson, is tie

same, while Tait’s estimate of fifteen or twenty millions is give

although based on “results confessedly less emphatic than

derived from the facts of erosion, of physics and of tidal re

tion.”

- The author treats of the upheaval of land under dynam

geology, but reserves his brief discussion of the mode of

tion of mountain chains and of continents for the sect

physiography; we should think all these subjects would

under the head of dynamical geology. Neither has he

ently availed himself of Darwin’s and Mr. A. Agassiz’s fac

cerning the secular rise of the South American continen

devotes less than a page to the grand theme of the evolu

e American continent; and in this part of the book we !

Professor Geikie has not risen to the grandeur of the subject.

_- The care and elegance of the author’s style; the genera

cellent and apt illustrations; the typographical appearance

book, allow little or no room for criticism. One geogra

Wyoming.” =

_ While this Text

t Knocking round Aree a: Di i H

; : Ries. By ERNEST INGERSOLL. Illustrated.

Harper & Brothers, 1883. Large 8vo, pp. 220. $2. |

1883. ] Recent Literature. 179

periodicals and newspapers. These he has gathered into this

volume, adding a number of excellent illustrations which add

—

-—

əyvusənvy Y:

materially to the interest of the book, making an admirable holi-

et Present to a boy of sixteen. For here we have the romance

well as the stern realities of wild life in the West; traveling

180 Recent Literature. [February

and hunting on the plains, seeking for gold in the cafions, bear

hunting and exploring on the mountains, and glimpses of Indiat

and of military life at reservations and army posts. The sketches

are true to life, and are.much better reading for youth than the

ordinary hunting romances which are written by the successors

of Captain Mayne Reid, The illustrations are capital, particl

larly those engraved on wood. The accompanying engraving of

pronghorns killing a rattlesnake by jumping upon it, is a faire

ample of the illustrations. The author refers to it without, how

ever, describing the incident. Particularly good also are the

sketches entitled “shooting the bighorns,”’ that representing @

fight between an elk and a buffalo, and another depicting the

tragic result; the full-page illustration of a group of mule deet |

is good, while all the illustrations, as well as the press-wofk,

are excellent. Mr. Ingersoll is an ornithologist, and scatters

through the book sketches of his feathered friends.

Frower's Fasuion 1N Derormty'—That some of the fashion

of the highest civilization of the present day are dependent ot-

grave deformities of the body, almost goes without saying. | The

hideous fact is only relieved by the knowledge that most if not

all savage and barbarous peoples have their fashions, which at

only more exacting and unaccountable than those of the ure

pean races. The wearing of earrings has descended to us

our savage ancestors. The bandaging and strange deform

highest civilization and for the feminine leaders of soci

refer to the wearing of tight corsets. Tie effects of this

are too well known, but a glance at Harper's Bazar for >

ber, teaches us that tight-lacing was never more dema

fashion than now. The admirable and judicious little

ee REN ish of ladies and the symmetrically P“

hoes of men of fashion, “ we are opposing our judg

of the Maker of our bodies; we Rs map ed the cri

1883. | Recent Literature. 181

classical antiquity ; we are simply putting ourselves on a level in

point of taste with the Australians, Botocudos, and Negroes.

We are taking fashion and nothing better, higher or truer, for

our guide.”

CATALOGUE OF THE BATRACHIA SALIENTIA OF THE BRITISH

Museum. Seconp Epition.'—This most recent of the series of

catalogues of the collection in the British Museum will prove in-

valuable to batrachologists, who have long felt great need of such

a condensation of their united labors. Since the issue of the

first edition of this work,a great number of new forms have been

discovered, and the British Museum collection has tripled in the

number of specimens during the last twenty years. The classifi-

cation followed is principally that of Cope—the Phaneroglossa

are divided by their sternal characters into Firmisternia and

Arcifera with their families, while the Aglossa are separated into

the families Dactylethridz and Pipide.

The Firmisternia include both the toothless and toothed forms

with firmly united sternum, whilst the Arcifera are also made up

of toothed and toothless forms, the presence or absence of teeth

being considered subordinate to the characters drawn from the

sternum. The group of Bufoniformia is thus not recognized.

- The families adopted are almost entirely those of Cope, with the

exception that the Scaphiopide and Pelodytidz are united with the

Pelobatidæ. Two new families, the Dyscophidz and Amphignath-

odontidge are defined by Mr. Boulenger,

This is undoubtedly the best systematic work on the Batrachia

anura yet published. We think the author, if a second edition

is called for, will modify his work in the following respects:

Firstly by the adoption of the genera characterized by the degree

of ossification of the cranial bones. This will divide his Hyla into

r genera, viz.: Hyla, Scytopis, Osteocephalus and Trachy-

cephalus. It will introduce a number of genera of Cystignathide,

and Strengthen the definitions of those already adopted. There

'$ no sound reason for neglecting these characters, as they are

quite as constant as any of those adopted by Mr. Boulenger, such

as the palmation of the fingers and toes, the parotoid glands, etc.

Secondly, he will robably adopt as a genus that form of Hylide

Which has the pollex presént and represented by a sharp spine,

which has been named by Brocchi, Ptectrohyla, but which is equi-

_ Valent to Wagler’s long prior Hypsiboas, which name was use

for it by Cope, who first defined the genus,

ti ATERIAUX POUR L'HISTOIRE PRIMITIVE ET NATURELLE DE

= +0MME.—This anthropological journal, published at Toulouse,

Fance, under the direction of M. Emile Cartailhac, has now

\Catalogue ae ri S e

; Batrachia Salientia, s, Ecaudata, in the collection of the British

Museum, ed iti ; í ‘ i 5 i s Pri ted

order of the Tr ng GEORGE oer BOULENGER. London, n

182 Recent Literature. (February,

reached its sixteenth year. In it appear the discoveries made in

various parts of western Europe, especially those of southem

France, and among its list of contributors are the well know

names of Mortillet, Saporta, Daubree, Perot, Ribeiro, and Desor.

As an example of the ground covered by this monthly journal,

the perusal of which is essential to every American anthropolo-

gist who truly intends to be in the forefront of the army of

advance, some of the contents of the issue for November, 1881,

are here given. ~

Historical Review of the Working of Metallic Mines in Gaul

A. Daubree; Grouping of the populations of America according

to the termination of the names of the towns, Comte Regis dè

l Estourbillon; Notice of some prehistoric stations and moni

ments of Portugal (twenty-two figures), Carlos Ribiero; Antique

sepulchre of Ceretolo near Bologna, Italy, H. A. Hazard; Earliet

numbers contain accounts of the existence of an age of bronze it

southern Russia, especially in the Caucasus, and of some prenisi

toric necropoli of the Caucasus containing microcephalic crani,

ies? by Ernest Chantre. Thirty-one engravings illustrate thes

articles. z

KıncsLEY’s NATURALIST’S Assısrant!— Beginning with rather a

brief instructions for collecting and preserving mammals, birds,

reptiles, batrachians and fishes, terse directions are then given &

to the preparation of skeletons. The directions for collecting

preserving insects are good, but could in some respects P

proved. In killing moths either in the net or when at rest

is very useful; both the insect-nets (Figs. 4 and 5) are ¢

too shallow; the breeding cage (Fig. 11) does not seem to beh

ing specimens. Chapter third relates to the plans for @ pe

museum and the arrangement of rooms and cases, and the sugg

tions are excellent; especially the suggestions for the 2

and

dissecting, injecting, section cutting, but no directions &f®

The Naturalist’s Assistant, A Hand-book for the collector and students "g

works ni for the systematic z0dlogi

pe :

Bibliography of fifteen hundred wor necessary

S. KincsLey, Boston, 1882, S. E. Cassino. “12mo, pp. 228, $1.5%

1383. ] Recent Literature. 183,

for mounting the microscopic preparations when made; rather an

omission, The list of 1500 works and articles on systematic

zoology is well classified and selected, and we do not notice any

omissions of importance. This naturalist’s assistant is on the

whole a timely and useful work, and we can recommend it to be-

ginners, students, teachers and curators of museums as a very

handy book. There is no book of the sort in the market.

BICKNELL’S SUMMER BIRDS OF THE CATskIL1s.'—In the preface

to this work, the author remarks that many important facts rela-

ting to the ornithology of the Appalachians generally rest solely

upon the authority of Audubon and Wilson. To aid in working

up this important region, Mr. Bicknell spent three successive

summers in the southern Catskills in the neighborhood of Slide

mountain (4205 feet), the highest of the range. The list includes

ninety species, among which are the whip-poor-will and eight out

ofthe ten thrushes which belong to theeastern faunal province. The

summits have a Canadian fauna, but the true Alleghanian fauna

predominates, passing into the Carolinian at the lower part of the

Hudson valley.

mong mammals, the porcupine (Erethizon) is abundant and

stupidly tame about the highest mountain summits. No tortoises

were noted, and only three species of serpents were seen. The

memoir is carefully written, and is an able contribution to distri-

butional zodlogy.

Fitnor’s Nores on Some Fossi Mammats2—The exploitation

iia £5. eed chalk of Quercy continually brings to light new

cts, n A . . .

previously described forms, and describes several new species of

Carnivora and Ungulata. Among the new forms are a species of

€ genus Oxyæna, furnishing another link between the tertiary

fauna of Europe and America, a species of Cephalogale, one of

Cynodon, and three of Galecynus ( Cynodictis). Stenoplesictis, a

doubtful genus with so hat musteline characters, furnishes two

Species, Among the un; late forms, Mizxiothert spidatum is per-

haps the most remarkable. Others are Mixocherus primevu

‘li ble. BUNS,

Amphimeryx parvulus, Deilotherium simplex, and Spantotherium

oat... it some remarks upon the humerus, femur, tibia, and astra-

Pe fig A escriptions are as usual, excellent. We cannot

Rai Wof the Summer Birds of a part of the Catskill mcuntains. By E: P.

iféres fossiles c jorites du Quercy. Par'M.

184 Recent Literature.

where he uses the names of French localities in conjunction)

ever, is represented under the name of Holtenia carpenteri.

; irds of

Recent BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.—A Review of the Summer P

the Catskill mountains, with prefatory remarks on the faunal an Soc. of Ns

the region, By E. P. Bicknell. Ext. from the Trans. Linnean Soc. of

From the author, ui

Development of the planula of Clava leptostyla Ag, By J. H. Pillsowy.

the author. i ig :

Memoires sur quelques Mammiferés Fossiles, des Phosphorites du Qu me

M. H. Filhol. Toulouse. From the author. “Fie.

à H.

Etude des Mammiferés fossiles de Ronzon (Haute Loire). Par M.

From the author.

Contributions to the Anatomy of Birds, By R. W. Shufeldt, M.D <

the 12th annual report of Hayden’s Survey. From the author.

Congrès Geologique International. Compte Rendu de la 2d session.

1881,

Ueber Flugsaurier aus dem lithographischen schiefer Bayerns. , es

Zittel. From the author, : Beat st 7

Fossiles de la Pampa. Amerique du Sud. 2 Catalogue de Santiago

Nicolas. From the author. - eS

Catalogue and Index of the publications of the Smithsonian meo

1882. From the institution. Ban

Notes on Fishes observed about Pensacola, Florida, and Galveston, Ti

description of new species. By David S. Jordan and Chas. H. Gilbert. :

Proc. U. S. National Museum. From the author. Ley

Phonetics of the Kayowe langnage. By Albert S. Gatschet. Reat

Amer. Assoc. Adv, Sci., Aug. Sd 1381. From the author. Also by and M

same— ; ;

Linguistic Notes, :

Footprints found at the Carson State Prison. By H. W. Harkness, a

from the Proc, Cal. Acad. Sci. From the author, :

On certain remarkable Tracks found in the rocks of Carson quarry

LeConte.. Ext. from the Proc. Cal. Ac. Sc., 1882, From the author.

_ Observations on the fat-cells and connective tissue corpuscles of Ni

Simon H. Gage. Rep. from the Proc. Amer. Soc. Micros., Vol. 1¥.

a ane Ta geo t eee RE Sag

» g! ndon, 8vo, pp. 13% r

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 185

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

Circumpolar STATIONS.—The Swedish expedition, after two

unsuccessful attempts to land at Mussel bay, Spitzbergen, reached

the shore with great difficulty at Cape Thordsen, in Ice fiord,

and erected magazines and an observatory there. Observations

began August 15, 1882. The state of the ice during the summer

was unusually bad, and no vessels could get higher than Amster-

dam island.

The Finnish party at Sodankylia, in the north of Finland, also

began to make observations on August 15.

The Austrian expedition was also at first unsuccessful in its at-

tempt to reach Jan Mayen, and the Pola had to put back to

Tromsö, but made a second attempt, and anchored in Mary bay

on July 13th. Besides the buildings brought out in the ship, two

others were erected from driftwood, which was found in large

quantities. There was little snow upon the island, but much ice

outside, so that the Po/a was compelled to go out to sea three

island, forming a valley through which flows a glacier stream. Its

ul ea position is in 71° N. lat., 3° 26’ E. long. The valley

Bee 1881-82 comfortably, and the observations were taken regu-

7 The Neptune failed to reach the Greeley Scientific Expedition

_ Stationed in Lady Franklin bay, 31° N. lat., and has returned to

s, Newfoundland.

penetrable barrier of ice prevented her from reaching a

‘age tude than 79° 20’, but she landed supplies at several

ports, including Pandora harbor, where a record left by Sir Allen

| ae dl olay dge, to which spot st

been washed down from a cairn above. Upon Brevoort

186 General Notes. (February,

that there is no danger of the U. S. observing party being in straits

for want of food. ie

The Polar Committee of the Berlin Geographical Society have

sent Dr. Koch to establish meteorological observations among the

missions of the Moravians in Labrador, along the coast of which

the line of minimum of depression passes. He arrived August 10

When the Germania left Kingawa, in Cumberland sound, on

September 6th, the observatory was completéd, and observations

had been commenced. A meteorological station has also beet

established in the Falkland islands, as an intermediary between

the stations on the South American continent and that on South

Georgia. Capt. Seeman reports that work has begun. ee

The meteorological expedition to the mouth of the Lena (Rus

sian) has started on board large boats provided with all necessaries

for building and wintering. “ ie

The Norwegian station at Bornekop, on the Alten fiord, com

menced operations on August Ist. L

Danis Arctic Expepition.—The Dyizzpha, with the Danish

expedition under Lieut. Hovgaard, left Tromsé on the 2d of August

Lieut. Hovgaard’s theory is that two large continents or BeN

of islands extend from Franz Josef land across the North P ne

in the direction of Wrangell island, and that they are separated

by one or more straits which connect the Siberian and Palaocrystt

seas, the principal opening being probably between Cape GAM

yuskin and the New Siberian islands. The principal objects

, he Varna and Djimpha were ice-bound eighty miles to

east of Waigatz island before September 21st, and this, toS

with the experience of the Neptune, appears to indicate anw

usually severe arctic winter. 1

Arctic ITems.—The Italian antarctic expedition, under

w arri

their vessel was wrecked before very much had been

plished.-

-The land on the shores of the Gulf of Be

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 187

gradually rising. One point, which in 1755 was only two inches

above the level of the sea, is now six feet five inches.

Swedish geologists have undertaken a thorough geological ex-

amination of Bjorné and the southern part of Spitzbergen. Zoo-

logical and botanical observations have also been made. The

Swedish Geological Expedition returned to Tromso on Sept.

16th. It was found impossible to land on Beeren island, as

was intended, owing to tremendous seas. Snow had covered

Spitzbergen as early ; as August 30th, and forced them to discon-

tinue their researches. Observations were commenced at Smith’s

observatory, by the Swedish Meteorological Expedition, on Au-

gust 15th. Owing to the enormous quantities of drift-ice in

the Kara sea, the A. E. Nordenskiöld, bound for the Jenisei, has

put back to Vard6, after narrowly escaping being frozen in near

Waigatz island. An expedition under Lieut. Andreyew, sent

out by the Russian Geographical Society, has reached Novaya

Zembla, where it will winter.

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE JEANNETTE EXPEDITION. —A history

of the Jeannette expedition is in preparation, under the care of

Mr. Raymond L. Newcomb.

The extensive collections of birds and deep-sea fauna were

lost with the ship, but the observations of the aurora and mag-

netism, about 2000 measurements, were preserved. The depth

of the ocean north of Wrangell island, where the Jeannette spent

e first winter, was every where very small—thirty fathoms on an

average, with a maximum of sixty and a minimum of seventeen

ioms. The bottom was usually a blue ooze, with a few shells,

and sometimes with stones which seemed to be of meteoric

origin.

On n May 17, 1881, the small ay called ae was reached

in 76° 47’ 28” N. lat, and 157° A E. long. It consisted of

a rocky hill, covered 'with snow, ig 25 king the eastern side of a

high mountain. Two days later, another island was discovered

towards the west, and was named pupei Mr. Melville m3

iberian coast. It i is in 76° at

an ind is a high mass of basalt mae with

: wd are several Valicys Ci l

188 General Notes. [ February, |

where reindeer bones and driftwood were found. Lignite,amethysts

and opals were obtained, and fossils collected, but afterwards lost 7

The tides were regular, but very small—about two or three feet |

The sea was free of ice to the west and south, and in the north

west a water-way was seen. The fauna and flora of the New

Siberian islands, which were never before explored in the sum-

mer, promises interesting results. The observations made by the |

search expeditions may also be expected to furnish important |

corrections of the maps of the Siberian coast between the Olenek :

and Yana rivers. - E

GEOGRAPHICAL Nores.—The well-known French explorer ot

South America, Dr. Jules Crevaux, who was recently killed by

Indians in the Gran Chico, had just begun the exploration of the

Pilcomayo, that great tributary of the Paraguay, which, it is hoped,

will afford an important means of communication between Bolivia

and La Plata. Mr. Colquhoun, of whose proposed journey

from Canton to the Irawadi mention has previously been made,

reached Bhamo, by way of Western Yunnan, but was unable to :

carry out his original plan of crossing the southern part of me

nan and the Shau States to Rangoon. He has, howevth

explored a long and heretofore unknown route in Sou

China.

cano called. Api, has been recently ascended by two

naturalists, and ascertained to be 10,824 feet above the Seale"

From operations with the spirit-level, in connection Wit} © | —

Indian tidal observations, it has been deduced that the ocean | oad

at Madras is three feet higher than at Bombay, an anomaly WP”

has been found to be caused by an accumulation of minute ¢

due to the fact that, when the general direction of the lines

levels is towards the sun, or opposite to it, the observer %7

side view of the bubble refracted obliquely through the t

o me

ness of the glass tube, and is thus inclined to regard the om

the inner edge of the rim at the other end, as the bubble 1

Thus the instrument is assumed to be level, when in reality

end towards the light is depressed. This error, when meas

from its source to its mouth, is 336 feet; for the Kama,

feet; for the Duna, 25.2 feet, and for the Don, 23.1 feet _

at Astrakhan the Volga has a range of 12 feet, and the Dow

merly, and recent investigations of the superficial drift ha

1883. ] Geology and Paleontology. 189

Dr. Otto Finsch has returned to Berlin, after two

and a half years in Polynesia and Australia. He has visited the

Sandwich, Marshall, and Caroline islands, also New Britain, New

Zealand, Australia and Tasmania, as well as the islands in Torres

straits and the south coast of New Guinea, where he stayed six

months, and instituted compariscns between the Papuans and

Eastern Melavesians. He brings a rich collection, and is ac-

companied by a native of New Britain, aged 15.

GEOLOGY AND PALAZZONTOLOGY.

_ THE SEDIMENTS OF THE GULF STREAM SLopE.—Professor Ver-

rill states that the bottom of this slope, in from 70 to 300 fathoms,

to 120 miles from land, is mainly formed of very fine quartz

sand, intermixed with feldspar, mica, magnetite, etc., and with a

considerable percentage of foraminiferous shells. Spherical, rod-

like and stellate sand-covered rhizopods also often occur in large

quantities. The sand is often so fine as to resemble mud, and in

he deeper localities true clayey mud may be met with, yet as a

Whole the region is characterized by the prevalence of fine sand,

inche; Jong, fourteen wide and six thick, were dredged up. Pro-

: fesso: r Verrill believes these to be of deep-sea origin. They differ

Bi ceous sand cemented together by lime in greater or less abun-

No rocks of this kind are found on the coast, and it is scarcely

si te that marine currents sufficiently powerful to erode them

these depths, but Professor Verrill thinks it possible that

achment may be due to the habits of certain fishes and

The hakes (Phycis) root in the mud like pigs for anne-

other mud-dwelling invertebrates; the Macruri burrow

bottom tail fir ; the eels are all burrowers, and so are

s. The action of these creatures would enable the cur-

the finer materials, and leave the coarser. _

190 General Notes. [February, $

Shells, broken and unbroken, are very abundant in many places, |

The broken shells have probably been preyed upon by such Cant $

roids as C. borealis or Geryon, or the larger Paguridae; and many |

fishes break the shells of the mollusks they devour. On the other)

hand many fishes, as the cod, haddock, hake, etc., swallow shels q

entire, digest their contents, and discharge the shells uninjured, =

and the same is the case with star fishes. Sponges and boring |

annelids prevent the great accumulatién of molluscan remains. f

Vertebrate bones, whether fish or cetacean, are very rare,’

it is probable that the bones as well as the flesh of all vertebrates |

that die are speedily consumed by the life at the bottom. few

clinkers, fragments of coal and ashes from the steamers, ate

only traces of man. :

FıLnor’s Fossi Mammats oF Ronzon.\—The calcareous mats ;

of Ronzon, near Puy, have during the last thirty years furt shel

numerous mammalian remains. The beds belong to the eat

miocene, and are not only rich in mammals, but contain species

birds, reptiles and fishes, as well as of insects, crustacea, anai

lusks. Notwithstanding this diversity, M. Aymard, who was ©

first to describe these mammals, remarks that, since few te

terrestrial species occur in these palustral beds, and since the

` cies found must have been accompanied by other forms sufi

for their food, it may safely be said that the remains disco

aquatilis, Hyenodon leptorhynchns, Elotherium magnum ang Ve

found seem to indicate the existence of more and larger ca

With the exception of two species of Hyzenodon, the carii

are small. The coprolites of Cynodon show it fed principally.

small vertebrates, while bones belonging to animals of th® }

don appears to have been an habitual swimmer in the P

have furnished the deposits. The marsupials are repre

_ some small species, most of which belong to the genus

rium. These strata are the latest in which the genus -

rium occurs.

r -

mains, he has principally used materials collected by °

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. IQI

New MAMMALIA FROM THE Puerco Eocene.— Professor E. D.

Cope recently read a paper before the American Philosophical So-

ciety, in which he described nine new species of vertebrates from

the above horizon, and extended the characters of several species

previously little known. All are Mammalia excepting one spe-

cies of serpent, which was named Helagras prisciformis. Its ver-

tebrz present the peculiarity of having the zygantrum open on

each side of the middle line so as to expose the angles of the zy-

gosphen. The projecting median part of the roof of the zygan-

trum remaining, forms a process which Professor Cope named an

episphen, This character represents an incompleteness of the

zygantrum appropriate to the antiquity of the species, which is the

oldest known snake from North America. A new genus of Mam-

malia was named Mirodectes. It was regarded as intermediate be-

tween Cynodontomys,and the Eocene half-lemurs. Two species, M.

pungens, and M. crassiusculus were named. The other new spe-

cies are, Triisodon levisianus, Phenacodus calceolatus, Mioclenus

meniscus, M. bucculentus and M. ferox. The last species is the

largest of the genus, probably equaling a wolf in size. Both

are represented by considerable parts of the skeleton, and these

possess the general characters of the Creodonta. The dental

characters would refer the genus to the Arctocyonide. Two

Species, (M. brachystomus and M. etsagicus), from the Wa-

Satch Eocene, have been referred to this genus, on account

of the technical identity of the dental characters. These char-

acters are also the same in the genus Pantolestes, which has been

referred to the Mesodonta, but without knowledge of the skel-

eton. Now it has been demonstrated that the Mioclænus brachy-

Stomus is an artiodactyle. It can therefore no longer be referred

to Mioclænus, and as the dentition is identical with that of Pan-

tolestes, it may, with the M. etsagicus be placed in the latter

pp Pantolestes must then be provisionally arranged with the

rtiodacty la, although the skeleton of the type, P. longicaudus of

the Bridger epoch, is unknown. This case illustrates the impos-

sibility of deciding on the affinities of some Eocene mammalia by

the dentition alone —Z. D. Cope.

cept by the

^ tne heart of the glacier. On the other hand, Professor Hagen-

_ S8ch-Bischoff thinks M. Forel’s theory inapplicable to the com-

o Pa of the glacier proper (though it may explain the change

Of pulverulent snow into that of the névé, and the change of the

ʻa

192 General Notes. [ February, i

névé into ice). He considers the cause of the increase to lie in the

overcrystallizing (Uebercrystallisiren) of one grain at the expense —

of its neighbor. The known fact that the melting temperature of :

ice is lowered by excessive pressure and raised by extension, at: ~

counts for the plasticity of a crystalline mass; water produced by

fusion at points where the pressure is greater is transported and —

frozen at points of less pressure. It is further supposed that the

crystals of ice present differences of compressibility in their differ;

ent axes; hence crystals differently directed will have unequal i

power of raising or lowering the temperature of fusion under presi

sure, and some will tend to grow at the expense of others less

favorably directed.—English Mechanic. ee

GEOLoGIcAL News.—Professor Zittel in the Palontographics l

for 1882, describes and figures a number of species of the ordet

Pterosauria from the Solenhofen slate of Bavaria. He corrects ant

increases our knowledge of the species Pterodactylus elegans

Kochi and brevirostris, and of the species of Rham hyne

He distinguishes three of the latter, R. longicaudus, R. gemmmgi ‘,

and R. muensteri (— R. phyllurus Marsh). 7

BOTANY. ee)

New Species or Norta AMERICAN Funot.—itrula luteola=

nucleate, yellow, when discharged on paper: 6-7 X 2/72

Solitary or subcespitose. On the ground among fallen pine lea

Peziza ( Mollisia) incrustata—Gregarious and often Sumi

fluent, sessile or contracted below into a very short stipes S

immarginate convex, scarcely becoming concave, when sd

of Funiperus virginiana lying on the ground. Newfield, ™©

June, 1882. ae

Dermatea juniperina—Erumpent sessile, orbicular, sooty 7.

disk slightly paler when moist, margin obsolete, about 4" achi

contracted below when dry, so as to appear substipitate, m,

clavate, cylindrical, 100-114 x 15-18 ».; paraphyses "W

scarcely thickened above ; sporidia subbiseriate, elliptical, nea

hyaline, with a large central nucleus, 18-20 x 7-12 +- |

1Edited by ProF. C. E. Bessey, Ames, Iowa.

1883.] Botany. 193

or dying leaves of Funiperus communis. Decorah, Iowa, May,

1882. Holway.

Bulgaria Ophiobolus.—Cespitose, obconic, subinfundibuliform,

3-3% of a centimeter high and broad, composed of two layers,

separated by a gelatinous stratum, pruinose and dark olivaceous

outside, disk nearly black, margin obtuse, entire; asci cylindsical,

150 X 10-12». paraphyses filiform; sporidia vermiform-cylin-

drical, multinucleate, curved or bent, rather narrower at one end,

40-75 X 34. When dry, scarcely distinguishable, externally

from B. inquinans Fr. On a decaying log. Decorah, Iowa,

Sept., 1882. E. W. Holway, No. 280.

stout, not distinctly enlarged above ; sporidia, mostly uniseriate,

oblong-elliptical, often narrower at one end, 2-4 nucleate, yellow-

ish, 13-15 X 3%—4n. Nearly allied to T. acerina, Pk. On dead

pats of (maple?) Decorah, Iowa, Aug., 1882. E. W. Holway,

05220:

rather thin, orbicular, black within, surface covered with a

-stro

eum. On dead trunks or limbs of Populus.

E. W. Holway, No. 145

194 General Notes. [F ebruary,

spreads over the surface of the wood adjacent, and consists of

-short rudimentary irregularly branched hyphæ, which are thickly

covered with the minute, dust-like conidia; perithecia, in two

or three layers, densely crowded and angular by compression, the

lower layer much elongated, ostiola minute scarcely visible:

asci —-? sporidia navicular brown, 11—12 4. The stromata —

resemble blotches of black pitch dusted over with yellow meal,

and are of about the consistence of beeswax. On rotten wood

Decorah, Iowa, Oct., 1832. E. W. Holway, No. 287. (Allied to

Hypoxylon crocatum Mont.) ie

Nectria lasioderma.—Perithecia mostly single, subamorphous, _

obtuse-conic, broadly perforated above, 1mm high, shagged with

short, septate, obtuse, imperfectly developed hairs, dull red when

ry, pale orange when moist; asci cylindrical, 75-90 X 1%.

sporidia uniseriate, elliptical hyaline, uniseptate, scarcely con

stricted, 11-12 X 4-5 #. Parasitic on old Vadsa lutescens Ell. On

dead limbs of Quercus coccinea lying on the ground. Newheld X

J., June, 1882. On account of its small size and dull color easily

overlooked. a4

Nectria Rexiana—Perithecia minute, not over 14mm in diam,

flesh color, becoming black, slightly compressed laterally. Solitary

or 2-3 together, enveloped in white down which forms little tufts |

appearing under the lens like some minute, tufted mucedinows

growth; asci linear, 35-40 ~. long, evanescent; sporidia U

Seriate, oblong, hyaline, 1-2 nucleate (becoming uniseptaten

X 144-24. Parasitic on Chondrioderma spumarioidès. *

rondack mountains, N. Y., Aug. 1882. Dr. Geo. A. Rex. am

„Nectria truncata—Perithecia gregarious, minute, io 7 y

diameter; flesh color, subglobose, the apex flattened into a Ci

lar, granular roughened disk with the edge slightly projecting

ostiolum in the centre of the disk, minute, papilliform, brott

asci sublanceolate, 35 X 5 ; sporidia biseriate, oblong-fustiorm

sub-hyaline, slightly constricted across the middle and unt

tate, II—I3 x 21⁄4 — 3u. Under the pocket lens resembles +4%

1883. | Botany. 195

Melanconis ( Melanconiella) Decoraensis—Perithecias ubglobose,

coriaceous, %™" diam. 8—12 circinating in a cortical stroma cov-

ered by the thick epidermis; ostiola scarcely prominent, united

in an elliptical, erumpent, dirty gray disk ; asci cylindrical, briefly

stipitate, spore-bearing part 95-115 X 8-11,; sporidia uniseriate,

elliptical, and obtuse olivaceous, uniseptate,1 5-20 x 8-104. The

accompanying Melanconium mostly in a separate stroma with

abundant pip-shaped olive black spores of about the same size as

the ascospores On dead limbs of birch. Decorah. Iowa, Aug.,

1882.

Cryptosporella lentaginis Rehm (in literis.)}—Perithecia globose,

¥%™ diam. membranaceous, mostly 3-4 together in a cortical

stroma, their bases sunk into the subjacent wood ; ostiola short,

barely piercing the epidermis, which is raised into numerous little

tuberculiform pustules ; asci clavate-cylindrical, 45 x 7-8; spo-

ridia biseriate, cylindrical, hyaline, straight or slightly curved, 11-

12 X 2-2%y, with 2 or 3 minute nuclei. The substance of the

bark is blackened by the mycelium. On dead Viburnum lentago.

! Decorah, Iowa, June, 1882. E. W. Holway, No. Ir, partly.

h. _ Diatrype tiliacea.—?Perithecia subelongated (14 x %™) buried

in the scarcely altered substance of the inner bark, in clusters of

5-10 or more, their rough, conic or cylindric-conic ostiola burst-

: ing through the epidermis in compact clusters, but scarcely united

in a disk; asci. broad, oblong, 80-90 x 18-22n; paraphyses?

i Sporidia in 2 or 3 series or lying obliquely, 8 in an ascus,

obiong-cylindrical, slightly curved, obtuse, hyaline, becoming

uniseptate, slightly constricted in the middle with a single large _

nucleus in each cell, 22-30 x 7-8». The clusters of perithecia

often longitudinally confluent, are surrounded by a faint circum-

scribing line visible only near the surface. The ostiola (14-1""

long), are at length ruptured at their tips with a broad, irregular

opening. The ascigerous nucleus is white. On bark of dead

Tilia americana. Ames, Iowa, Oct. 1882. J. C. Arthur, No. 86,

Diatrype phaeosperma.—Stroma small (1™™ diam.) tuberculiform,

osely embraced by the imperfectly laciniate-cleft epidermis ;

a cia 6-8, %4™" diam. with thick coriaceous walls, lying in a

Single layer under the white stroma, which is circumscribed by a

black line that scarcely penetrates to the wood beneath; asci

‘Spore bearing part) about 55 x 7»; sporidia imperfectly biseri-

ate, cylindrical, curved, continuous, brown, 10-12 X 3-3 4p, ends

ee iola obtuse, black, not prominent, dotting the pale

1 Or wood-colored disk. On dead limbs. Decorah, lowa,

ey . 1882. E. W. Holway, No. 228. Tee

Shot ybe radiata —Perithecia membranaceous, 8-15, bedded in

2 light-colored tuberculiform stroma, which splits the epidermis

ee ‘ciniate manner, and is circumscribed by a black line, which

96S not, however, penetrate to the wood; ostiola obtuse, scarcely

= + minent; asci clavate, 75-80 x 6; sporidia cylindrical, yel-

196 General Notes. i |

lowish, curved, continuous, 9-12 x 2». The perithecia have'thick

walls, which are pale olivaceous at first, and at length black. On

dead elm branches. Decorah, Iowa, Sept., 1882. E. W. Holway,

No. 266.—F. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. F. a

ENTOMOLOGY.! hie |

MISTAKEN INSTINCT IN A ButrerFLy.—I believe I have anım p

stance in illustration of your remark in the NaTuratist for July, |

1882, that “the sense of sight, touch and taste play a more im |

portant part in insect economy than the sense of smell.” p

In June I observed that a plant of Artemisia ludovcand t

our garden was covered with the hollow, spherical, leafy retreats

of the larvæ of Pyrameis huntera: Never before having touit

this caterpillar on any plant except Antennaria, I thought that

the very different qualities of the new food might possibi aa

duce some variation in the butterfly, and so transferred a doxa

or more of the skeletonized coverts to the rearing cage.

In so doing, I noticed that the larvae seemed very small in p

portion to the quantity of foliage gnawed. In the cage, although ;

constantly supplied with fresh food and light and air, they did not |

thrive, and lingered along from day to day without any perceph

growth. Nor did those left on the plant in the garden develop

much more satisfactorily, and one after another disappeared long

before attaining full size. Of those in confinement but two >

ceeded in passing the third molt, and all died in about two We

from lingering starvation, except a couple that I transferre

Antennaria, which began at once to feed with avidity and

completed their transformations. oe

_ Asa rule, we can depend upon the botanical determination |

insects. I have repeatedly had the species of a plant, about

I was in doubt, decided for me by the peculiar gallor ™

which it bore, and which I knew to occur only on a certain ®

cies. In this case, however, the instinct of the parent bu

was evidently at fault. ..

Antennaria being rather rare in this immediate locality aves

was misled by the surface resemblance of the white, cottony ae

of the Artemisia to those of the accustomed food-plant © ne

by Professor C. V, RiLEy, Washington, D.

books for notice, etc., should be sent. eea

1883.] Entomology. 197

OBSERVATIONS ON THE FERTILIZATION OF YUCCA AND ON

STRUCTURAL AND ANATOMICAL PECULIARITIES IN PRONUBA AND

Propoxus.\—This paper records some recent experiments and

observations which establish fully and conclusively the fact that

Pronuba is necessary to the fertilization of the capsular Yuccas.

It describes for the first time how the pollen is gathered and col-

lected by the female Pronuba. The act is as deliberate and won-

derful as that of pollination. Going to the top of the stamen she

stretches her tentacles to the utmost on the opposite side of the

anther, presses the head down upon the pollen and scrapes it to-

gether by a horizontal motion of her maxilla. The head is then

raised and the front legs are used to shape the grains into a pellet,

the tentacles coiling and uncoiling meanwhile. She thus goes

from one anther to another until she has a sufficiency.

My observations confirm the accuracy of Dr. Geo. Engelmann’s

conclusion as to the impotence of the stigmatic apices in some of

the Yuccas, and show how the apparently contradictory expe-

rience of Mr. Meehan can be reconciled on variation in this re-

Spect in the species of the same genus. :

The exceptional self-fertilization in Yucca aloifolia—the only

Species in which it is recorded—is shown to be due to the fact

that in the fruit of these species there is no style, the stigma be-

ing sessile, and the nectar abundant, filling and even bulging out

of the shallow opening or tube. The flowers are always pendu-

lous and the pollen falling from anthers can, under favorable cir-

‘cumstances, readily lodge on the nectar.

_ The irregularity in the shape of the fruit of the Yuccas—con-

sidered a characteristic by botanists—is proved by experiment to

be due to the punctures of Pronuba.

~- the egg of Pronuba, which averages 1.5™™ long, having a

Swollen apical end, anda long and variable pedicel, is passed into

the ovarian cavity of the fruit. The puncture is made usually

just below the middle of the pistil on the deeper depression

which marks the true dissepiment, or through the thinnest part

of the wall. The horny part of the ovipositor reaches the longi-

tudinal Cavity at the external base of the ovule near the funicu-

us, without, as a rule, penetrating or touching the ovule itself;

and the delicate and extensile oviduct then conveys the egg for

Some distance (the length of six or eight seeds) along the cavity,

g terminal portion of the oviduct being furnished with retrorse

hairs which help to hold it in place during the act.

< p e paper concludes with some studies of the internal anatomy

of Pronuba and Prodoxus.

~ Natura Sucarinc.—Lepidopterists have long found sugaring,

on the besmearing of tree trunks with various, more or less in-

_ toxicating, Sweets one of the best means of obtaining night-fly-

es the ch rel paper, by Professor C. V. Riley, read at the Montreal Meeting of

198 General Notes. [February,

ing moths, but we do not recollect of seeing any record of what —

may be called natural sugaring. The year 1882 has been remark-

able for the excessive abundance of a yet undescribed species of

Lachnus, which we have called Lachuus platanicola, infesting the

. sycamore. We have received accounts of its excessive abundance. :

from widely different sections of the country, as far northas

Michigan and as far southwest as Missouri; while on trees inthe

grounds of the Department of Agriculture, it has prevailed to

such an extent that whole trees, including leaves, branches :

and trunks, were heavily blackened by the growth of the fungus

(Fumago salicina) which developed on the saccharine exudation”

from the Lachnus. Hosts of sweet-loving insects, including all

sorts of Hymenoptera during the day and chiefly Lepidoptera w

EPILACHNA CORRUPTA AS AN INJURIOUS Insecr.— The

feeding habits of our common Epfilachua borealis are well ki

but nothing has hitherto been recorded of the food-habits'

Western congener, which, originally described by Mulsant in

Mexico, extends to Colorado and Western Kansas. The :

first notice we receive of the habits of this species shows u

` 1 Capnodium citri, ete. See W. G. Farlow, on Diseases of Olive and

trees. Bulletin Bussey Inst. and Monthly anir earar, 1876

1883.] Entomology. 199

capable of doing serious injury, as will be seen from the following

letter of Professor Geo. H. Stone, Colorado Springs, Col., dated

Aug. 26th, and accompanied by numerous specimens of Epz/achna

corrupta :

“ By this mail I send you a tin box containing larvæ and per-

fect beetles which promise to have almost as unenviable a reputa-

tion as Doryphora ro-lineata. From the egg to the grave they are

voracious: They are good judges of food. With me they have

confined their attacks to black wax beans, and the enclosed leaves

appeared in my garden a few days ago. Within that time they

have eaten almost every leaf on a good-sized patch of wax beans,

and to-day I have made arrangements to have them all picked by

hand so they shall not have a chance to hibernate.”

' SPREAD OF THE TWELVE-PUNCTURED ASPARAGUS BEETLE.—Mr.

B € larva and pupa of this beetle so destructive to our insect col-

ymenoptera that store their cells with spiders or other insects.

T HYLLOXERA IN CALIFORNIA.— [In a report made by Mr. John H.

etary of the Viticultural Commission of California,

200 Gencral Notes. [ Febru

on the result of the examinations made by the commission we

find the following facts clearly set forth:

1. In California, as elsewhere, Phylloxera vastatrix hibernates

the apterous female state on the roots; 2. The winter egg,

exists at all, is as in the Eastern States, extremely rare on |

experience on the Pacific coast seems to differ from ours om wi

moisture the Phylloxera thrives best during dry summers.

opposite result in California is doubtless due to the fact that the

getting its head uppermost. Beetles also were readily affect

Of a

insects various kinds of Corixa were tried. These would =

remain quite quiet for several minutes, but on tapping the

Mechanic.

aS ZOOLOGY. |

. PROPAGATION or Sponce BY Curtines.—The Journal of t

ciety of Arts contains an abstract of an account given DY

V. Marenzeller of the efforts made by the Austrian gové

1883. ] Zoology. 201

to improve sponge culture in the Adriatic, from which the follow-

ing is condensed :—Professor O. Schmidt expressed a conviction

that if a perfectly fresh sponge were cut into suitable pieces, and

these were again placed in the sea, they would grow, and in time

bécome perfect sponges. This was put to the test by an experi-

ment conducted in the Bay Socolizza, commenced in 1863, and

concludedsin 1872. Though success was rendered impossible by

the determined opposition of the local populace, it did not prevent

the accumulation of a mass of valuable information. The most

suitable season for commencing the propagation is the winter.

The growth of the sponge, and the healing of the cut surfaces,

proceed much more slowly in winter than in summer, but a high

temperature is dangerous, by reason of the great tendency of the

sponge to undergo rapid putrefaction. As to locality, choice

should be made of bays sheltered from strong waves and currents ;

but not quite still; the bottom should be rocky, and clothed with

living alge ; and there should be a moderate ebb and flow of the

tide. In all cases, the neighborhood of the mouths of rivers and

subterranean springs must be avoided.

The freshness and liveliness of color of the marine alge are

sure indications of a suitable spot. The worst enemy of sponge

this is laid upon the support-wood, stone, &c. Cae

During perfect calm, for at least twenty-four hours, it is pos-

Tichn® Perfect calm, attached themselves and grow. Thus en-

ghtened as to the natural habits of the sponge, Buccich prepared

202 General Notes. [ February,

stone slabs, 53™™ thick, as a foundation. These he perforated

with holes, and fastened the cuttings to them by wooden pegs

driven into the holes; but it became evident that the mud and

sand of the sea-bottom, perhaps also excess of light, were inimi-

cal to further growth. Lattice frames having the form of floating

- tables above, and with the sponges attached beneath, were tried.

Professor O. Schmidt also suggested merely tying the cuttings to

strong suitable strings. By the first plan there was too much

shade; by the second, too much light. Buccich first constructed

an apparatus composed of two planks crossing each other at right

angles, with a third as a cover. This was so far successful that

the cuttings were exposed on all sides to the sea, and assum

the desirable round form. He then made a modification, consist

ing of two boards 63°" by 40™; one forms the bottom an

other the lid, and they are held parallel one over the other ata —

distance of 42™ by two short stays, some 11™ apart. In the space

between these stays stones can be placedas ballast. On the top

of the cover isa handle. In both planks holes are bored at 127

apart. Buccich fastened the cuttings not simply on the apparatus,

but on sticks which were driven into the holes of both boards. —

As material for the sticks, the common Spanish cane was used,

whose siliceous rind is proof against the attacks of the pile-worm™

The sticks were 42™ long, and bored through at a distance of

12™, the lower end being split. On each stick three sponge cute

tings were fastened in such a manner that they should lie over the

bore-holes; through these, wooden sticks were thrust, and each -

cutting was thus fixed. :

sg > ae i

stick is filled with cuttings, its split end is thrust into one of th :

niently let down and pulled up by coats of a small anchor. 7

1883. } Zoblogy 203

If the cuttings hold fast after three or four weeks, the propaga-

tion is secure. A characteristic feature of the cuttings is their ten-

dency to assume a round form. To facilitate this on every side is

the chief aim of Buccich’s system of supporting on sticks. As to

the rate of growth of the cuttings within a certain period no rule

can be given, on account of the varying conditions.

Buccich remarked that the cuttings in the first year were two

or three times as large as they were originally ; he further re-

marked that the cuttings grew better in the first and fourth years

than in the second and third, a point evidently regarded as doubt-

ful by Dr. Marenzeller; and it would seem that though some spe-

cimens may have attained a considerable size in the fifth year of

transplantation, still a term of seven years is necessary to produce

a marketable and profitable article.

Dr. Marenzeller also mentions the fact that besides being beau-

tifully formed and rounded, the cuttings retain these qualities, and

perfect health, with increasing size.

In conclusion, Buccich proposes the question whether the un-

dertaking can be made profitable, and answers it in the affirma-

tiv

Dr. Marenzeller concludes that the propagation of sponge by

cuttings is not to be recommended to people without capital, but

is more suited to the attention of a capitalist, or an association of

capitalists, and to be conducted on a large scale.— Fournal Royal

Microscopical Society.

THE CIRCUMPOLAR DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN FRFSH-WATER

MUSSELS, AND THE IDENTITY OF CERTAIN SpEcrEs.—In a recent

paper’ suggested by the occurrence of the remains of fresh-wa'‘er

mussels (Anodons) associated with other fossils in the sedimentary

Strata of the Carson City prison yard, read by Dr. Stearns before

the California Academy of Sciences, the author in an elaborate re-

view of the subject, expresses the opinion that the European

Ano donta cygnea + Anatina, should be added to the circumboreal

list with other fresh-water mollusks, including Margaritana mar-

garttifera, among the lamellibranchs, and Linnea stagnalis, L.

ustris, and L. auricularia (as represented by L. ampla); Fhysa

hypnorum and P. fontinalis (by Physa heterostropha), among the

gasteropods.

With the exception of A. cygnea, the above species have long

been regarded by the most conservative authors as circumboreal

in their geographical range. :

-The author also considers the Eastern American species, Ano-

donta imbecilis Say and A. fluviatilis Lea, from New England

Waters, inclusive also of A. implicata, from the same region as

identical with A. axatina or some of the numerous varieties of

es On the History and Distribution of the Fresh-water Mussels and the Identity ot —

. ic” By Robert E, C. Stearns. Proc. California Acad. Sciences,

204 General Notes. [ February,

A. cygnea, of which Dr. Lea has listed no less than one hun-

dred and six synonyms. As A, anatina is shown to be buta

varietal or conditional aspect of A. cyguea, therefore these alleged

American species are regarded as belonging to A. cygnea.

Dr. Stearns also includes in this identity with A. cygnea, the

West American forms known heretofore as A. nuttallana, A.

qwahlamatensis, A. oregonensis, and A. californiensis ; these ate

traceable to Cygnea, through its Anatina aspect or condition, a

well as through others of the many varieties of Cygnea, which

_have led to the extensive synonymy above referred to.

Specimens of A. anatina, from Regent’s park, London, laid

upon valves of A. californiensis, so-called, from Owen’s river, Cali-

fornia, he found to agree exactly in incremental lines and in final

or peripheral outline.

He further shows how specimens of A. cygnea, at a certain stage

of growth, would, if collected at the time when the shell had

reached said stage, have been called Anatina, but not having been

collected until said stage of growth had passed, became by sub

. sequent growth Cygnea. The absurdity of regarding species thus —

made as valid, is self-evident. ine

The fresh-water mussels of the Colorado desert are associa ed

with contemporaneous molluscan forms like Physa, Planorbls,

Tryonia and Amnicola in the Carson City prison-yard, the same :

form (of mussel) is found with evidences of higher but extinct

cygnea. . a

_ The paper presents also reviews past and present geologicalant :

physico-geographical conditions, and assigns the Carson footprint

beds to the uppermost tertiary. in

The general tenor of the paper, which is quite lengthy, oust ;

Professor Weatherby’s view as to the earliest fresh-water M

lusca being lacustrine. ©

On THE Eastern Rance or Unio pressus (Lea).— This sf

was originally described by Dr. Lea, and figured (in Trans?

Phil. Soc., Vol. 11, 1830, pp. 450~451, plate x1.) under the name

of Symphynota compressa, from Ohio, and also from Norm

Kill, near Albany, where it was found by Dr. Eights. It has smi

been found in the northern canal at Troy, N. Y., by T. H. Aldrich;

at the outlet of Owasco lake, by Dr. Jas. Lewis; and ina ma

1883. ] Zvilogy. 205

lake in Herkimer Co., N. Y., which empties over a rocky bed,

with numerous falls into Mohawk river (May, 1877), by R. E.

Call (vide Am. Nat. for July, 1878, p. 473). DeKay in his Mol-

lusca of New York (p. 191), mentions receiving it from Sandy

creek in Jefferson county, and from Oak-orchard creek in Orleans

county. Professor C. B. Adams in his Fresh water and land Shells of

Vermont (vide Thonipson’s History of Vermont, 1842, p. 166),

says: “The species * * * has its eastern limit in the streams

west of the Green mountains.” He also describes under the name

plebius Adams, a variety found in a small brook near Middlebury

in that State. Mr. F. R. Latchford of Ottawa, Canada, informs

me that the species has been found quite recently in the Rideau

river by Mr. Tyrrell, of the Canadian Geological Survey; this is I

think the most northerly point from which it has been obtained.

I have just received it from Winooski river, at Winooski, Ver-

mont, where it was found by Mr. Geo. H. Hudson. As Winooski

is situated near the outlet of Winooski river, where it falls into

county lake in which Mr. Call found it, by the agency of water fowls,

from some of the sources here mentioned, two of which lie within

, bythe late Dr. Jas. Lewis, the species has become very abundant, it

_ 8 More frequent in the bends of the river, where the water

| MOVES: ves slowly —A. F. Gray.

206 General Notes. (February,

now in possession of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. —

The species was first discovered in this country by Mr. Samud

Powel in a garden at Newport, R. I., in 1868; it has also been found -

at Philadelphia and Brooklyn.—A. F. Gray.

A Buinp Copepop oF THE FamiLy Harpacricip&.— The interest -

now centering upon these animals, which through peculiarities in

their habitat have dispensed with important organs, may warrant

the mention of a case of the disappearance of the eyes in an order

of Crustacea in which it has not been hitherto noticed so far as 1

now.

While collecting marine Copepoda in the Gulf of Mexico a

gathering was taken from a very slightly saline marsh, a ditch

passing through the marsh affording the only water of sufficient

depth in which to use the net. This ditch is about eighteen inches _

in breadth, but of moderate depth, and extends continuously for |

some distance; it is so shaded by high salt sedge grass as not to

be found save by accident. The gathering here secured proved |

to contain a new species of the sub-family Longipediine and :

closely allied to the genus Bradya established by Boeck in 1872

a a marine Copepod dredged in rather deep waters about |

urope. Bee

_ The American species, which has been named Bradya Linc i

in allusion to its muddy habitat, was found to lack in both sexe

_the pigmented eyes which in other Harpacticide are $0 ae:

spicuous in the center of the forehead or on either side. It be

be regretted that lack of opportunity to repeatedly collect B |

interesting species, and to endeavor to ascertain if truly pelagic

species also inhabit our waters, robs this discovery of much off

interest — C., L. Herrick.

THE SUCKER ON THE FIN OF THE HETEROPODS IS NOT AS |

CHARACTERISTIC_—The posterior margin of the “ fin” of the |

genera of Heteropoda, Pterotrachza, Firoloides and Carina

Gasteropoda from which the Heterop. of gre

3 leteropods sprung was O' > ii

portance. The free-swimming habits which these active M°

PLATE IV.

Forms OF Ocypopa or SAND-CRABS.

1883.] Zoology. 207

have, caused its reduction to a rudimentary organ—% Walter

Fewkes, Cambridge, Mass.

ON THE ORIGIN.OF THE SPECIES OF Ocypopa, OR SAND-CRABS,

FROM THE BONIN ISLANDS.—The species on which the following

observations are made was obtained from the Bonin islands in the

year 1880, It seems to be closely allied to Ocypoda arenaria

Latr., described and figured by M. Edwards, in the Hist. Crust.,

Vol. u, Pl. xix, Figs. 13 and 14,

mong numbers of specimens obtained, we can at once dis-

tinguish two widely different forms; the one with the eye-stalk

enormously produced beyond the edge of the carapace, and the

other with the normal eye-stalk. The former has the anterior

border of the carapace wavy ; the wave beginning with its high-

est point on the exterior angle of the orbit descends gradually

outwards till it ends, with its lowest point, on the external angle,

which is about g0°. The lateral edge forms a concave face ex-

ternally for a short distance. The anterior gastric groove has its

concave face internally :

In the short-eyed form on the contrary, the same anterior bor-

der of the carapace is deeply concave anteriorly, the two forming

an acute angle, which censequently points anteriorly. The anterior

gastric groove has its convex face externally. Again a deep

notch on the border of the orbit below, and near to the external

angle of the carapace is found to be entirely wanting in the

former, Lastly the .st abdominal somite but one is narrower in

the former, and in the male, widened near the middle, but little

posteriorly. The measurement of the whole abdominal somite

shows similar proportions.

I will here annex the measurement of the somite from a female

crab, in which the eye measures 11™™, and the stalk beyond

‘hes 8™" side by side with the normal or the short-eyed

m. ’

Long-eyed. Short-eyed.

20. t ea

The greatest width of the somite, last but one...... katis pors

t o De Teast widh ol the same... 0: cs O T 8.5 “ 9-5 *

The greatest konb do OE ee er 11.0 “ 10.0 “

PNM do. E 9.0 8.1

a following is the measurement taken from the entire

mite :

: : Long-eyed. Short-eyed.

| ie yg a Me ya lice Pe i me

scion eee eee eS

the male,

ale milar differences of measurement occur also in

r need not cite here. ah hee

- ra o great differences are, I think, enough to distinguish t ae

a forms as two distinct species, had there not been a series o

-OMS standing as stepping stones between them. F :

the Comparison of a number of specimens we detect a form

208 General Notes. [Fe

in which the eye-stalk is but slightly produced, appearing

form. Sometimes, i in others, we find a slight notch in tł

in place of the deep one found in the short-eyed form, dep

thus somewhat from the long-eyed form and approach”

to the short-eyed.

_Of these various features, the eyes form the most impor

beginning with the long-eyed to the short, The extraordi

Jength of the eye-stalk beyond the eye proper, is to be accou

for either *as representing an embryonic form or as the fu

differentiation of the normal eye. Viewed in the former ligh

may be supposed to have originated as an appendage upon)

basipodite the ocular differentiation has taken place. Int

spect it accords with Professor Huxley’s view, in so far that

eye is considered as an appendage, while it differs from the

of Claus and F. Miller, who deny the appendicular cha

it. Whatever the views may be, we are quite certain that h

these forms we see the specific differentiation going on before

eyes. We do not ete a the specimens before us W

all these various for ome from a single parent, or W

Ws had a parent like itself —C. Ishikawa, University of

apan.

HETEROGENESIS IN THE COPEPOD CRUSTACEA.—Ina font

Cyclopoiclea, with the view to discover if similar condi

The standard books upon the non-parasitic forms of t

_ poda by Claus! and Brady? enumerate many species, b

agree entirely in synonymy, nor does it seem probable

who alone has done most of the anatomical and emb y

work in this section, has followed the egret of any’

a si proportion of the species name

It _ he been nee aati that the marine forms of Copep ep

occur in the Mediterranean on North seas, over all

the British Isles. Certain ra, as Calanus and

seem to extend through all Te of latitude from the

the most northern seas. 3

A confirmation of these facts may be sought in the}

1C. Claus : _ Frei Lebenden Copepoden 86

opepoden. Leipsig, 1803.

1G, S. Brady: € eg pi of British islands, Roy. Soc, 1878-9.

* Claus ; pei cit., pp. 83-86,

1883. ] . Zoology. 209

Claus, Dana, Leydig, Jurine, Baird, Fischer, Miller, Lubbock,

Boeck, Brady, Heller, Lilljeborg, Sars, Uljanin,etc. As yet, how-

ever, it is too soon to say how far this similarity may extend.

Confining ourselves, for the present, to fresh-water forms, a recent

opportunity for comparison of American with European Copepoda

has confirmed our impression that a large number of species will

be found identical". It seems, indeed, somewhat astonishing at first

A Diaptomus, believed to be identical with D. castor in typical

as well as several varietal forms, occurs throughout Minnesota from

the shores of Lake Superior to near its southern boundary and in

Ulinois. Another species believed to be nearly allied to a Scandi-

navian species is known from Minnesota, Wisconsin and the neigh-

borhood of East St. Louis, Illinois. Cylops serrulatus Cls., with

similar variations to those noticed by Claus (Op. cit., p. 85) and

Brady (Op. cit., vol. 1, plate 22) occurs as our most abundant

species,

It may be observed that Brady’s work is so strictly systematic

that his figures are frequently little more than schematic, and lack

the life-like character of those in the earlier work of Claus. It

_ Would seem that some of the species of Cyclops described by Dana?

are identical with the above, although details are wanting to identify

positively. Without delaying to discuss the question opened as to

‘ whether these widely separated forms have all diverged from a

-Primitive geographical center or have arisen independently from

; original marine prototypes, as suggested to the writer by Professor

=~ 4#uckart, we may remark that the former theory is rendered pos-

_ sible by the fact that the feathers of water-fowl often form a vehicle

l the transportation of even larger crustacea. ;

; the Phipods, for example, are transported hundreds of miles under

) feathers of geese. While it is unlikely that these larger crus- .

fans or their eggs would survive a long aerial journey, it is

quite certain that the eggs of Cyclops would pass many hours or

‘ven days without being destroyed. On the other hand, it seems

wena : :

ae Copepoda of Minnesota. Rep. Geol. Surv. Minn. 1881.

Ga. fe Wilke’s Exploring Exp. Crustacea.

*Siel and Kdlliker, Zeitschrift. 1872, p- 293. Packard; synopsis of Phyllo-

Pod crust = N. A. U.S. Geol. and Geng. Surv. of Col. 1873. p- 614, etc.

210 General Notes.

species of Cyclops, say C. signatus (= C. coronatus Cls), we

a form not at all rare but less abundant than C. fenuicor,

which it seems to be constantly associated. In our investi

we found Signatus almost constantly larger, 2” the same gathe

than Tenuicornis. The only distinction, among those given

either Claus or Brady, which is constant is the following; in

natus the last joint of the antennz has a longitudinal ridge:

like a pruning knife-blade extending beyond the end ini

with the proximal two-thirds of its length strongly toothed.

allied to C. parcus Her. found in Alabama, but this has no k

like ridge.) The two species agree in having the ridge which

tends nearly to the base of the antenna; they both have ce

series of spines arranged upon definite parts of the antenna; boi

have the circular series of spines on the basal joint of the fifth foi

-in short there is a complete agreement even to the micro

tails—aside from the teeth above mentioned.

of but few joints ina similar condition. This fact alters

is the last form, in exceptional cases of the common spí

but a step further to show that as C. tenuicornis isa more!

xamine,

and somewhat altered forms. These large, or post-l

appear to be dependent upon abundance of food and

warm habitat.

The species considered identical with Diaptomus castor

ot.

1883. ] Zoblogy. 211

dant and varies in size and particularly in color. So marked are

these differences that it would be difficult to believe at first sight

that they are not indications of specific distinction but these changes

are dependent upon food, light and other similar circumstances.

The typical form is found oftenest in rather large pools with no

outlet, but which do not actually dry up in summer. In length

the female is often ,°™- sometimes less and not seldom more. In

the smaller females the eggs are observed to be usually fewer, but

of the same size ,4™ to ;4°™ Recently, however in a small and

very shallow marsh which is frequently entirely dry, but which lies

near a less shallow pool swarming: with the common Diapto-

mus (both being half a mile distant from any other water) we found

a new species of dimensions considerably exceeding those given

by Brady for var. Westwoodii!. Closer examination showed that

the size and color were the only marked differences, antenna and

first pair of feet being identical, while the fifth pair of feet were but

little different and these differences were seemingly but the inten-

sifying of the characters of the smaller species to form the larger.

Here there were two pools, which within our personal recollection

formed but a single body of water and were now separated but by

a dozen steps, only differing as to depth and muddiness, in the one

of which flourished a// stages of the ordinary form, while in the lat-

ter the oze enlarged form alone existed. The conclusion is almost

forced upon us that the second pool needed only similar conditions

to bring forth this final stage of twice the usual size (but with eggs

but little larger—,¥,e™). “Shortly afterward the more shallow

pond pini up entirely so that no more of the larger form could be

ned.

_It is not necessary to emphasize the fact that just such insignifi-

cant variations furnish the data upon which the generalizations of

Modern science must stand or fall. A most interesting field is

open to any one with the opportunity to rear such forms as these

under conditions which can be altered at will in order to discover

what farther structural changes can be artificially induced.

_ The practical value of the fresh-water copepods can hardly be

overstated since they are scavengers and almost entirely feeders

upon animal matter. The aggregate amount of putrid flesh which

the Cyclops fauna of a quart of water will consume is quite remark-

te, aS any one may satisfy himself by watching the decay of such

a creature as a polliwog in a jar of stagnant water.—C. L. Herrick.

THE SEGMENTATION OF THE VERTEBRATE Heap.—In a paper

entitled “The segmental value of the cranial nerves,” published in

ka Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, by A. Milnes Marshall,

Me author gives a clear statement as to the theory of the segmen-

Whon of the vertebrate skull, which was proposed by Gegenbaur,

and is now generally accepted. While Oken, Goethe, Owen and

Op. cit. p. 60, : ve

212 General Notes. [Februar

others taught that the skull consisted of a certain number of mod-

ified vertebrae; and Miller and others investigated the cranial

nerves in the light of this theory. Gegenbaur has more recent

shown that the method of these anatomists was wrong, and that

the segmental nerves and visceral arches are the factors. In M

Marshall’s own words: “ While the school of morphologists ¥

first dealt with, determined the number of the segmental nerves

by that of the skull-segments, Stannius showed conclusively that

there was no relation whatever between the two, but that there

was a very definite and remarkable one .between the segmental

nerves and the visceral arches.” Gegenbaur went a step further —

and, starting with the segmental nerves and visceral arches, de -

Balfour and Mr. Marshall. After giving a clear summary of

evidence of the segmental value of the cranial nerves, Mars

then considers these nerves in order. The paper closes with

a convenient tabular view, while the illustrations aid the learner

very materially in understanding this difficult subject.

an interesting case of reversion to an ancestral form.

was that of an adult male, and the anomaly consisted of a stri

tendinous connection, about an inch in length, between the |

dons of the flexor longus digitorum and flexor longus po! cls

the region where they cross each other on the instep. This

-is a permanent feature in the foot of the gorilla, where the.

of the great toe sends on a branch, which, after uniting W

long flexor tendons of the second and fifth toes, divides mto

perforatory tendons of the third and fourth toes. In the oram

man the big toe can be flexed to a considerable extent ine

acteristic of this class of animals is the possession of rotary

yet it appears that species of Rotifera exist that have 4

characters of the class, but are devoid of vibratile cil

first to notice this was Dujardin, who, in 1841, gave the nal

Lindia torulosa to his discovery. Gosse, in 1851, described @

with similar characters. Doubt was thrown upon these 0

tions, but Dr. Joseph Leidy has recently (Proc. Phil. Acad,

1883. | Zoology. 21 3

243) added to the list of non-ciliated rotiners,and brought together

the scattered information upon the subject. In the Proc. Phil. Acad.,

1857, page 204, Dr. Leidy described a rotifer-like creature quite

different from those before mentioned, and having a large pro-

tractile pouch or cap in lieu of the usual rotary disks. This he

named Dictyophora vorax. Still another species was described by

Mecznichow in 1866; and, another, parasitic upon worms, was ob-

served by Claparéde in 1867. In 1882, Mr. S. A. Forbes de-

scribed a form which Dr. Leidy suspects to be identical with

Dictyophora voraa. The last discovery of Dr. Leidy is a rotifer

in which a sort of head, in the form of a cup prolonged at the

mouth into an incurved beak, takes the place of the rotary disk

of ordinary rotifers. This creature, which is named Aryctus

inguietus was found occupying a central position among a grou

of the rotifer, Megalot:ocha alba, both parasitic upon a Plumatella

from Fairmount dam, upon the Schuylkill.

THE VERTEBRATES OF THE ADIRONDACK ReGIoN.—Dr. C. Hart

Merriam has published in the Transactions of the Linnzan So-

ciety of New York, the first part (Mammals) of an interesting

work on the Vertebrates of the Adirondack region. The obser-

vations are fresh and authentic, the results of about twenty years

exploration in winter, as well as summer, in those wilds. Few

mammals, says Dr. Merriam, are commonly seen by those who

traverse the forests of the Adirondacks. ‘ This is in part due to

the nature of their haunts, partly because they do not roam about

much in broad daylight, but chiefly because of their shy disposi-

tions and wary habits. The experienced hunter, more familiar

with their haunts and ways, falls in with a larger number; still,

by far the greater portions go unobserved. Of the forty-two

kinds found here, I have myseif seen living, and in the wild state,

all but three; therefore the remarks upon their habits, in the fol-

lowing biographies are, when the contrary is not stated, drawn

argely from the results of personal observation.”

n After discussing the geological history, topography, climate,

eneral features, botany and faunal position of this interest-

mg region, Dr. Merriam begins his account of the forty-two

mammals of the Adirondacks, beginning with the Carnivora. In

the introduction he describes a “ mixed flock” observed during

the fall migrations. “ At this season one may hunt for hours and

scarcely see a bird, when suddenly he finds himself surrounded

by a host of individuals, representing many species and pertain-

_ ing to widely different families.” In one such flock there were

_ at least fifty robins, all very noisy, several blue jays, large num-

bers of slate-colored snow birds, a few white-throated, song and

fox-colored Sparrows, a couple of winter wrens, and one Nashville

espi beside these. near at hand, were a dozen chickadees,

EAE EP eee a

Stee T E

an equal number of yellow birds, and a few golden-crowned

21 4 General Notes. [F ebuary,

kinglets, with several red-bellied nuthatches and a pair of brown

creepers, “I have seen the purple finch in some of these mixed

flocks, and a few hairy and downy woodpeckers, and_ hermit

thrushes sometimes hang about their outskirts, but the latter are

more commonly seen by themselves in groups of half a dozenor.

thereabouts.” ~~

The account of the panther contains considerable new matter —

Dr. Merriam insists that it never climbs trees unless very young, —

or when pursued by dogs. iG

It is stated that a panther can leap an almost incredible dis- —

tance. “On level ground a single spring of twenty feet is by no |

means uncommon, and on one occasion Mr. Sheppard measured —

a leap, over snow, of nearly forty feet.’ Important notes ints —

breeding habits are added. Some fallacies regarding the alleged

fierceness of the panther, its mode of capturing its prey, its size

and its mode of carrying its prey, are exposed, and the statement —

made that the panther cries and screams is called in question,

those who have had to do with panthers being the most skeptical

in regard to their cries. The Canada lynx, wild cat, wolf, fox,

wolverine and the fur animals, and the raccoon and bear a

described with many new facts or corrections of popular errors; and

common notion that it is due to temperature, and sug

that it is due to falls of snow,the change sometimes ta

place within forty-eight hours after the ground becomes COV

with snow. The series, when completed, will be a fresh an

uable contribution to our knowledge of the wild animals

birds of the Eastern United States. a

A Curious Nuprprancu Mottusx.—A very singular am

which lives in green ulvz, on the shores of the Mediter

and which was regarded as a flat-worm by Schultze, has!

lately shown by L. Graff in the Morphologisches Yahrbuch, t

be really not a Turbellarian worm, but “the very lowest

known Nudibranchs,” and identical with what Kölliker lo

the present specialized Dendroccela, but from a group of

doccelida. Professor Graff does not suggest that this

degraded Nudibranch, which has lost its gills, buccal 1

radula, but may this not be the case? In that event it

be a stem-form. This could be readily tested by a study ©

embryology. The ordinary Nudibranchs seem rather tO

1883.] Physiology. 215

descended from shelled mollusks, as the embryos are provided with

a temporary shell and vellum. At the same time we grant that

mollusks and Turbellarian worms may have arisen from the same

stem-form.

ZootocicaL Notrs.—Dr. C. F. Holder is authority for the state-

ment he makes in the Scientific American that a basking shark

(Cetorhinus maximus) about seventy feet long was caught off

Block island. Sir Charles Lyell records one nearly fifty-five feet

ong that came ashore at Rathesholm Head, at Stronsa, parts of

which are now in the British museum. ——Mr. W.A. Stearns on his

return from histripto Labrador, wrote us that the polarbear had not,

so far as he could ascertain, been seen this year below Rigoulet.

“Year before last (1880) a walrus was killed at Fox harbor,

St. Lewis sound. One of our young men secured the tusks, and

has them now in his possession. The people there say that they

see them frequently, but rarely get them. One was caught three

years ago (1879) also at the same place.” An apparently new

species of dog, supposed to have been received from the Upper

Amazons, has been described in the Proceedings of the Zodlogi-

cal Society of London under the name Canis microtis. Profes-

sor Flower also exhibited and remarked on the skull of a young

chimpanzee from Lado, in the Soudan, which exhibited the de-

formity called acrocephaly, associated with the premature closure

of the fronto-parietal suture —-Mr. Dobson maintains that the

Dipodide belong with the hystricine, and not to the murine ro-

ts———The genus Psolus has been divided into three sub-

genera by Professor Bell——M. Jourdain, of Marseilles, has re-

cently published in the Comptes Rendus of the French Academy,

an abstract of his studies on the finer structure of the male sexual

organs and the Cuvierian organs of Holothurians, also on the his-

tology of the digestive canal, nervous system and polar vesicles

of these Echinoderms; his researches, made at the marine z06-

$ i culatory apparatus of these animals. A crinoid was

G ined emg the voyage of H. M. S. Alert, which was referred

by Professor ell to a new variety of Antedon eschrichtii of the

arctic seas, ;

| Se PHYSIOLOGY.'!

on Tue RECENT ACCESSIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE Puys!-

: OLOGY OF THE Heart.—The heart in its final function is simply a

- ic 0 it would no doubt be possible to remove this organ

woe -in the ci culation of the blood. As the circulation of the

-c +> every instant necessary to vital activity, and as, other

remaining the same, any change in the force or frequency

"This depariment is edited by Professor Henry SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

YOL. Xv11,—no. 11,

216 General Notes. [February

of the heart-beat must make itself felt in changing the character

of the circulation, physiologists have recognized as of fundamental _

importance to the understanding of this subject, the clear com

prehension of every physiological factor which can in any way

modify the action of the heart. Of the reality of such modifying

influences any one who compares his pulse rate, oberved ina

standing and a sitting position, may be convinced. re

searches in which he declared that when the pneumogastricnerveot |

the nervous centers in the medulla oblongata, are electrically stimt

lated, the pulse is slowed or the heart even brought to a complete

standstill. Itis now one of the settled theorems of physi

that there is in the medulla a “ cardio-inhibitory center”

disappears so soon as both pneumogastric nerves are i

the peck: '

V. Bezold and his pupils more than ten years ago demons?

that when certain nerve branches reaching the heart from

spinal cord through the last cervical and first thoracic

thetic ganglia, are stimulated, the beat of the heart is quise

Until within a few months these changes of thé rhythm o

heart-beat were the only ones which could be definitely St

carry from the brain to the heart of the frog impulses

cause weakening of the contractions of the heart witho

their rate. These relaxing fibers being bound in the så

1883.} Physiology. 217

bundle with the cardio-inhibitory branches, their action is, in or-

dinary cases of stimulation, obscured by that of the latter. All

physiological analogy suggests the existence of nerve fibers of

similar function in the higher animals.

Gaskell (Journ. Physiology Vol. 111, Nos. 5 and 6), has gone

farther than this, and shown that. stimulation of the pneumo-

gastric causes, under certain conditions, strengthening, instead of

weakening, of the heart-beat without alteration of its rhythm;

and in the tortoise he has actually dissected out a nerve twig, run-

ning over the surface of the heart, the stimulation of which causes

simple strengthening of the heart-beat uncomplicated by any other

modification.

It is, then, to-day clear that all the variations of force and fre-

quency of action to which we know the heart-beat is subject, may

be brought about by the excitement of certain nervous centers in

the brain; and as nature is not in the habit of letting her powers

lie idle, it is pretty certain that nervous impulses with the four

distinct missions that have been indicated do, in the living body,

descend from the brain to modify the action of the heart.

In the living animal the arteries are overfull, and the elastic

arterial wall straining upon the blood inclosed by it, forces the

fluid with a definite pressure onward on its path of circulation. It

is this pressure of the blood in the aorta which the heart must

Overcome in emptying its ventricles ; and it is a question of fun-

damental physiological importance whether in the mammal varia-

tions in arterial pressure, that is the resistance which the heart has

to overcome, cause corresponding variations in the pulse rate.

This problem, whose solution is apparently so simple, has been

answered in every possible way by different and equally compe-

tent experimenters. With the heart in the body, and in physio-

‘ogical connection with the vascular apparatus, the conditions of

experimentation are hopelessly complicated.

qi little more than a year ago, Professor Martin at Baltimore

_ (Studies Biol. Lab. Johns Hopkins Univ. Vol. 11, No. 1), hit upon

an ingenious and simple method of isolating completely the living

‘Mammalian heart from the rest of the body. Martin’s method con-

_ -Sists, essentially, in opening the chest of a completely narcotized

_ Gg; all the arteries arising near the heart are tied, except two ;

_ one of these is connected with a mercury manometer, by means of

: ` which the amount of blood pressure and the pulse rate are re-

_ Corded; the other open artery has inserted in it a tube through

| Which blood may flow from the heart. All the great veins enter-

: “me the heart are tied, except one, and into this is allowed to flow

: ‘Wake defibrinated blood from a flask. When the proper temperature

: Pe site respiration are maintained, the heart may continue to

vad S

normally for hours, On the heart thus severed from its

_ P’¥siological connection with every other organ, a most import-

: NaON, interesting series of studies has been made by Professor

218 General Notes. (February,

Martin and his pupils (Stud. Biol. Lab. J. H. Univ. Vol. 1, No.2,

Trans. Med. Chirurg. Fact. Md. 1882). It has been found that

variations of enormous extent of either arterial pressure, the re

sistance to the outflow of blood from the heart, or of venous

pressure, that under which blood enters the heart, have no effect

whatever upon the pulse rate. The work has furthermore sug

gested to its author some simple explanations of the causes of the

conflicting results of previous experimenters. But Martin has

found, as was to be expected, that, though the pulse rate is unaltered

by great changes in the mechanical conditions under which the

heart acts, the organ. is extremely susceptible to changes of tet-

perature, and beats uniformly quicker or slower as the temperature

of the blood entering it rises or falls the fraction of a degree. The

application of this new method of studying the mammalian heart

opens the way for a series of researches that promises rich results ;

for physiology. T

In connection with this subject, the recent work of Ludwig and

Luchsinger is of considerable interest (Pfliger’s Archiv. Bd. XXV).

These authors showed.that the inhibitory power which the pneu-

mogastric nerve when stimulated, exercises over the heart-beat of

the frog, is diminished or altogether overcome by increasing intras

cardiac pressure. Later, Sewall and Donaldson taking up the :

same line of work (loc cit.), have found that it is only the Mt

pressure within the venous chambers of the heart which has at

effect in modifying the power of pneumogastric inhibition; thus

showing that changes in the hydrostatic conditions under whieh

the heart works may affect the action of that organ „indirect

“1. 3

A o] RY

while the muscular servant, the heart, has enough to do 10°

on its work of prime importance, and is blind and deaf to?

all occurrences except those messages that reach it from:

quarters. i ae

1883.] Physiology. 219

_ THE POISON oF THE ScorPion.—The poison and poisoning-ap-

paratus of the scorpion have been recently made an object of study

by M. Joyeux-Laffuie. The former, he finds, is very active,

though not so powerful as some have represented. A drop of it,

either pure or mixed with a little distilled water, rapidly kills a

rabbit, when injected into the cellular tissue. Birds are as easily

killed with itas mammals. One drop suffices to kill seven or

eight frogs. Fishes, and, above all, mollusks, are much more re-

fractory. But, on the other hand, the articulata are wonderfully

susceptible; the hundredth part of a drop will immediately kill a

large crab. Flies, spiders and insects on which the scorpion feeds,

are quickly affected by its sting. The poison soon paralyzes the

striated muscles, suppressing spontaneous and reflex movements.

In all animals there is first excitation, then paralysis. The author

regards the scorpion’s venom as a poison of the nervous system,

not a poison of the blood, as M. Joussel de Bellesme asserts.

ELECTRIC ORGANS OF GyMNotus.—In the appendices to Sachs

and Du Bois Reymond’s work on the electric eel, G. Fritsch

gives an account of his histological and morphological investiga-

tions on the nervous and electric apparatus. He finds, says the

Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, support for the doc-

trine that the electric organs of Gymnotus have been developed

from transversely striated muscle; a portion, the lowest lateral

muscles, having been separated from the rest to form the so-called

intermediate muscular layer, while a superior mass of muscle was

converted into the great electric organ.

_ SENSE OF SMELL IN AcTINLE.—It has been discovered by Mr.

W. H. Pollock and Dr. G. J. Romanes, that the common sea-an-

mone is conscious of the presence of any kind of food (pieces

of cockle, mussel, &c.), placed near them. If the food was held

within a span’s breadth of an anemone it opened; if it was held inthe

centre of a circle of anemones they gradually opened in succession.

hey were found, however, to be unable to localize the direction

m which the food was lying. Dr. Romanes considers that the

)Sense which is thus shown to be possessed by these animals may

_ Most properly be called a sense of smell, and they are the lowest .

animals in which any such sense has hitherto been noticed.—

Feurnal of the Royal Microscopical Society. .

n Satine ELEMENTS IN THE Broop or Marine Crusracea.—It

has been observed by M. Fredericq (Bull. Belg. Acad.) that the

ood of crabs and other Crustaceans at Ostend has the same

‘Strong and bitter taste as the sea water, and proves to have the same

Pes Constitution. Crabs in brackish water, on the other hand,

rors a less salt blood, and the crayfish of rivers have very little of

Soluble salts in their blood. An exchange of salts seems to take

place in these animals between the blood and the outer medium, pro-

ang approximate equilibrium of chemical composition. This

220 General Notes. [ February, —

probably occurs through the respiratory organ, and is according

to the simple laws of diffusion. On the other hand, the blood of

sea-fishes, has an entirely different saline composition from that

of the water; it is more or less isolated, presenting herein an evi-

dent superiority over the invertebrates referred to—ature,

PSYCHOLOGY.

ANECDOTE ABOUT Cats.—Incidents showing some power of-

reason are often related of animals, especially those domesticated;

but I do not think the following have ever appeared in print:

Near Vineland, N. J., some boys discovered a woodchuck’s bur

row (Arctomys monax L.), containing both adults and four young.

The father and two of the young were killed; the mether andthe

other two young were taken home, and imprisoned. During the

night the mother made her escape. Asa matter of experiment

the young were placed with a cat, at that time suckling her two

kittens. - Shortly after the cat came into the house somewhat un-

easy. One of the boys went out with her to the noyel family, and

finally succeeded in pacifying her to such an extent that sie

allowed the strangers to suckle. But now a new difficulty arose

There were but two teats sufficiently developed to afford nourish:

ment. A struggle ensued as to who should obtain possession:

The woodchucks being the stronger, came off victorious. Fhe

kittens showed their dislike to this arrangement by scratching

and pushing, and as it was evident that two of the four must o%

removed, a decision was given in favor of the woodchucks .

Shortly after, one of them died; whether the other ever reached

maturity or not, I do not know, but understood that it continued

to suck the cat for some time. That cats are not always

accommodating as the above individual, I know from the fact,

once when I endeavored to have a cat with three kittens ass0" "

charge of two more, I was obliged to hastily withdraw them to

prevent their being killed. In another case one kitten was be

ished by two cats. As to whether either was the parent or or :

cannot say: Once when the mothers desired to remove their GH”

from the mill where it was then located, to a neighboring ho

they found their infant, corpulent with the abundant nourishmen

too heavy for either alone, and consequently were obliged to catf i

it between them.—Heury Turner. a

Tue Mopiriep Instincts oF A Buinp Cat.—Mr. H. C. Hove :

contributes to the Scientific American the following interesting

article on the modified instincts of a blind cat. The family favor

whose misfortunes have afforded an opportunity to observe

workings of instinct under difficulties, is a noble specimen of

genus Felis. “Dido” is his name—given for simple eUp™

without regard to gender. During the four years of his life he

never been known to do anything wrong, unless it be to Be

i 883.] Psychology. 221

most desperately against all feline intruders. In some one of his

many encounters, Dido met with an injury to one of his feet that

made a surgical operation necessary, from which he recovered, but

shortly afterward went totally blind. A cataract was formed over

each eye, by which, as repeated experiments proved, vision was

thoroughly obscured.

This calamity came on suddenly, and placed the cat in circum-

stances not provided for by the ordinary gifts of instinct. What

to do with himself was plainly a problem hard to be solved. He

would sit and mew most piteously, as if bemoaning his condition ;

and when he attempted to move about, he met with all the mis-

haps that the reader will be likely to imagine. He ran against

walls, fell down stairs, stumbled over sticks, and when once on the

top rail of the fence, he would traverse its entire length seeking

in vain for a safe jumping off place. On being called, he would

run about bewildered, as if not knowing whence the voice came

nor whither he should go to find the one calling. In short, Dido's

life seemed hardly worth living, and we were seriously plotting

his death, when the cat himself clearly concluded that he must

make his other senses atone for the loss of sight.

It was very curious to watch his experiments. One of the first

of these was concerning the art of going down stairs. Instead of

pawing the air,as he had been doing on reaching the top step, he

went to one side till he felt the banisters touch his whiskers, and

then, guided thus, he would descend safely and at full speed, turn-

ing into the hall on gaining the last step. One by one he made

each familiar path a study, determined the exact location of each

door, explored anew all his old haunts, and seemed bravely re-

solved to begin life over again. The result was so unexpectedly

successful that we were decéived into the notion that sight had

been restored. But by placing any obstacle in the path, and then

calling him eagerly to his customary feeding place, it was evident

that he was entirely blind, for he would run with full force against

the box or other obstruction, and then, for some time afterward,

he would proceed with renewed caution.

_Dido’s “ voice is still for war,” and liis blindness does not make

him any less successful in his duels with intruders. He even goes

Jad in quest of adventures, and comes safely home again.

His value as a mouser does not seem to be in the least dimin-

ished. One of my experiments as to his capacity in this direction

came near costing me dear. I had heard the gnawing ofa rat in

an old closet where there lay a quantity of newspapers. Here it

was decided to leave Dido over night, and while arranging the

ees: for that purpose, my hand was suddenly caught by the

eh and teeth of what at the moment seemed like a small tiger.

‘or Dido! He really looked ashamed of his blunder in mis-

“xing my hand for his anticipated victim. Fortunately the papers

Bis ed as a shield, or the injury inflicted might have been more

222 General Notes. (February,

serious. I may add that, on opening the closet next morning,

there was Dido mounting guard over a slain rat as big as ever

spoiled good provisions or tried a housekeeper’s temper. HY

It is well known that the house-cat will find its way back from

distant places to which it has been carried blindfolded; and how

it performs such feats naturalists have never satisfactorily ex-

plained. The theory accepted by some of them is that the animal

takes note of the successive odors encountered on the way, that

_ these leave as distinct a series of images as those we should re-

ceive by the sense of sight, and that, by taking them in them —

verse order from that in which they were received, he traces his —

homeward route. ae

But, in the cat now described, the sense of smell is by no means

acute, as has been proved by a variety of methods; and more —

over, although, as one might say, perpetually blindfolded, he quite

uniformly chooses the shortest road home without reference to —

the path he may have taken on leaving the house. Curious to Set

how far this homing instinct would extend, I took advantage ofa :

fall of snow that wrapped under its mantle every familiar object

concealed all the paths, and deadened every odor and soune

aking Dido to a considerable distance from the house, and

_ making a number of turns to bewilder him, I tossed him upona

drift and quietly awaited results. The poor creature turned his

sightless orbs this way and that, and mewed piteously for nep.

Finding, at length, that he was thrown entirely on his own tè

sources, he stood motionless for about one minute, and then, to

my amazement, made his way directly through the untrodden :

_ snow to the house door—which, it is needless to add, was promptly

opened for the shivering martyr to scientific investigation, to whom

consolation was forthwith offered. in a brimming bowl of i

m $

_ My conclusion, therefore, is that Wallace’s ingenious theory of

accounting for orientation by what he calls “ brain registration,

will not explain what has been described ; but that the mysterious

homing faculty is probably independent of such methods ot gaii

_ ing knowledge as have been ordinarily observed, and is analog'

to the migratory instinct controlling the long flights of some 3

cies of birds,

ADDITIONAL REMARKS RELATIVE TO TEACHING BRUTES THE!

or Lerrers.—In the article published in the January numo

the NATURALIST, I endeavored to indicate very briefly the m

to be pursued in a suggested investigation into the limitations =

the mental action of brutes. From some comments upor i

article I have been led to believe that it would be accepta?

some of your readers to add a brief supplement relating to +

details. : es

_ If dogs were the subjects chosen for experiments as sugs®

1883.} Anthropology. 223

they being best adapted to the purpose from several points of

view—a number of both sexes would be secured; the most intel-

ligent individuals of the most intelligent species being selected;

probably that known as “French poodle.” They would be taught

in classes in order to profit by ambition and example; and a

judicious system of rewards and punishments adopted. The in-

telligent and healthy would be mated; the stupid or weakly

would be discarded.

In each generation the standard of ability being raised as the

circumstances justified, the law of adaptation would be brought

to bear in conjunction with artificial selection.

Then the laws of heredity would be so followed as to render

probable the production of exceptional individuals in the direc-

tion desired; thus profiting by the tendency to radical variation

to secure a new variety of exceptional capabilities.

Is it not possible that inquiries into the operation of the lower

orders of mind may suggest improvements in the training of the

higher grades ?— Wm. B. Cooper.

[Nore BY THE Eprrors.—A valuable article on this subject ap-

peared in the number of the London Journal of Science, corre-

sponding to the number of the Natura ist in which Mr. Cooper's

article was published, viz. Jan. 1883. Mr. Cooper’s present note

expresses recommendations contained in the Journal of Science

article, which, however, prefers parrots to dogs as the best ani-

mals for experiment. ]

ANTHROPOLOGY.

224 General Notes. [ February,

coast of Northeastern Asia, from the southern extremity of Nova

Zembla to the mouth of the Ob-Irtisch river, principally through-

out the Yalmal or Samoyed peninsula. The relatidns of this

branch to their neighbors and to their environment are described,

as well as their dress and dwellings, their customs and modes of

burial, their status in culture compared with that of other boreal

races, and their place in ethnography assigned (pp. 60-83). |

The Chukches—In the whole stretch from Yugor Schar, south —

of Nova Zembla to Cape Chiiagskoi the Vega party saw neither

men nor human habitations. At the latter place (172° E.) they —

came suddenly upon the Chukches. “Every man, with the ex

ception of the cook, rushed on deck. Their boats were of skin

built in the same way as the ‘ umiaks,’ or women’s boats of the

Eskimo.” From this point to Konyam bay, south of Behring

strait, they were constantly in the company of this race. On the

28th September the Vega was caught in the ice at the mouth of

the Kolyutschin bay, and remained there until the 18th July fok:

lowing, when, decked with flags, she sailed again on the way to

her destination. In this long and lonesome winter they had

most abundant opportunities of getting acquainted with this race.

The Chukches are divided sharply by their domestic animals it-

to Dog-Chukches and Reindeer-Chukches. In point of rank i

culture they stand between the Samoyeds and the Eskimo. Lieut

Nordquist drew up an extensive vocabulary of the language and

a sketch of the grammar, but they are only briefly mentioned M

the preliminary volume. So far as observed there seemed to be é

very little social organization beyond the family, no religious

ceremony beside the customs in the presence 0 death, and

fs ae ae a a a

reindeers and whatever else is connected with the house an k

the chase. In the minutest manner Professor Nordenskjöld 4

1883. | Anthropology. 225

which he passed. The title of his preliminary volume is as fol-

lows: “The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, with

a historical review of previous journeys along the north coast of

the old world,” by A. E. Nordenskjöld. Translated by Alexan-

der Leslie, with five steel portraits, numerous maps and illustra-

tions. New York, Macmillan & Co., 1882, pp. XXVI, 756, 8vo.

Tre Manxuscripr TROANO.—Professor Cyrus Thomas has sent

us the advanced sheets of a work bearing the following title: “A

study of the Manuscript Troano,” by Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D., with

~ Euan by D. G. Brinton, M. D. [From contributions to

h American aiy. Vol. vi] Washington, Government

Printing Office, 1882, pp. 233, 4to, with 100 figures and XXXIV

plates.

Dr. Brinton’s introduction relates to graphic methods in gen-

eral and the ancient Maya records in particular. He introduces

Dr. Friedrich Miiller’s neat distinction of thought-writing and

sound-writing. We have an ascending scale of pictures, picto-

Ida , hieroglyphics, syllabic signs aad alphabets proper. - The

ndians of t e U. S. had only pictures; the Aztecs, picture-

essay by a short history of the various efforts at laterro.

Professor Thomas, after a preface, apologetic and historical,

proceeds to elaborate with great minuteness what has been given

to the readers of the NarukaLisr and the members of the Amer-

ican Association in outline. As it is the purpose of this notice

ysis to call attention and not to criticise, the contents of the

‘ume are given below:

The graphic system and records a the ancient Mayas: Introduction Te sagen Lange!

presi bible Daag ces from native sources.—The existing codices.—.

Chapter A he Ni aie its characters.

11, The Maya calendar

“It. Explanation of figures, &c , on the manuscript and the Dresden Codex.

4, Ws Probable abe of other ‘figures

ae res

ok oe Inscriptions on the Pantie tablet.

oe I. Extract from Landa’s “ Relacion, &c.”

_ 2. Quotations from Senor Melgar.

_ 3. Translation of fers s p aA of festivals.

_ 4. Mode of building houses, froin Landa,

: 5. Manner of baptism in Yucatan. Landa.

ad will be admitted by all who read this work that Dr. Thomas

fas made a solid contribution to E

226 General Notes. [February,

_ArcHmorocicaL Lectures.—Glancing over the Boston Even.

ing Transcript for November 25th, our eyes were attracted toa

column headed “ Archzological Explorations in Ohio.” If on

should read on he would discover that: “ The third lecture of the

course complimentary to the subscribers to the exploring fund of

the Peabody Museum, expended during the past summer, was”

given on Thursday last at the museum, by the curator, F. W.

Putnam. The ancient cemetery, with its singular ash pits near

Madisonville, Ohio, formed the subject of the lecture. he

“The next lecture will be given on Thursday afternoon, Dec.

14, instead of Dec. 7, as formerly announced, and will be upon

aoe Ancient,’ which is the largest earthwork in the United

tate istik

“ These lectures are free to all interested, but cards of admis-

sion must be applied for.” Be

othing would give the editor of this department more plea-

sure than to play Captain Cuttle for all the arch@ologists, anthre

po-biologists, comparative-psychologists, glossologists, ethnologists,

technologists, sociologists and comparative-mythologists of our cout-

try, in order to put intelligent students of anthropology on the

track of the good things that are being accomplished and the

good words that are being spoken with reference to the mat

history of man. Pica

OF THE Music or NortH AMERICAN INDIANS we possess Of

an imperfect and scattering knowledge, for among the authors ot

the subject a small minority only could boast of any acquire-

ments in theoretical music. Now a recent writer, Theodot

Baker, has in 1880 examined personally the songs and tunes%

several of our Indian tribes, and has brought to bear on thi

fair knowledge of musical theory, obtaining thereby many

ous results. From forty-two songs and tunes, obtained ft

representatives of at least twelve tribes, and appended to his

lication: “Ueber die Musik der nordamerikanischen Wik

common idea that Indian melodies cannot be expressed by

musical scales and notes (p. 22 sg.). A large majority of

tunes show a purely diatonic progress in their notes, and

gamuts or scales, in which they move, are compat

few in number. The majority of the melodies examined

belong to the Lydian scale (cdefgahc’) and to the

phrygian (ga hc’ d' e’ f g’)) but in very few of them.

found a// the seven notes of the diatonic scale. Every!

has the quint or fifth with its key note; one-half of them

the major third or diatone, while the flat or minor third 0¢

a few only ; the fourth and the sixth frequently occut, '

seventh note is rather scarce. Although the Indian us

1 Equivalent to our ¢ sharp and g sharp gamut-scale.

1883. } Microscepy. 227

seven notes of our musical scales, he avoids many of our melo-

dial sequences ; the majority of his tunes follow the dur or sharp

scales and the two-eighth or two-fourth measure. The instru-

ments accompanying Indian song are the flageolet, flute, pan-

flute, whistle, and various kinds of tambourins, drums and kettle-

drums. See Baker, Theodor: Ueber die Musik der nordameri-

kanischen Wilden; Leipzig, Verlag von Breitkopf und Hartel

(Haertel), 1882, 8vo, pp. 82, 2 plates, of which one is colored—

Albert S. Gatschet.

MICROSCOPY.!

DRAWING APPARATUS OF Professor His.—In part first of his

“Anatomie menschlicher Embryonen,” pp. 8-9, Professor His

has described a drawing apparatus altogether similar to the one

here represented.

For anatomical and embryological work, an apparatus of this

kind is simply indispensable.

As every working naturalist

knows, an apparatus that ad-

mits the use of the camera luci-

ment, one is compelied to draw

by measurement and “by the

3 a process which at best is

Stow and tedious, and liable to d =)

i o

tion of every thorough embry-

= Qlogical work consists, as Pro-

a fessor His remarks, of exact

P :

228 General Notes. [ February,

the exact topographical relations of a complicated object withlow |

magnifying powers that the microscope affords with higher pow- —

urther, only a single plano-convex lens 2.5°™ in diameter,

is required for an enlargement varying at pleasure from five to

fifty diameters. Professor His employs as an objective a stereo- |

scope-head (of Dallmeyer), or a small Steinheil aplanat (No, 1),

The instrument consists of a heavy circular iron base, from

the center of which rises a brass rod, marked to centimeters, half

centimeters, and millimeters. On this rod are seen the mirror

M), the object-table (7), the objective (O), and the camera |

lucida (), all supported by horizontal bars that move on sliding

ferrules, The mirror is placed as near the base as conveniente |

will allow, and its supporting bar is 7.5°™ long. The bars bearing |

the other pieces are all of corresponding length, and the sliding —

ferrules can be fixed at any point by the aid of set-screws. The

ferrules of the mirror and the object-table are made of such

length that when in contact with each other and resting on the

highest part of the base, they are in the position required for the

lowest magnifying power. In this position the object-table has-

an elevation of 11™, the objective 18.5, and the camera 2

above the lower face of the base, or what may be called”

drawing plane. +e

Thus placed the focal distance is 7.5°™, and the camera 15!

the normal position of the drawing plane, and endeavors:

made to provide the instrument with such a lens.

The magnifying power may be increased in several

-cm

p] .

Wig form has been found more convenient than the rectangu!ar form g

1883.] Scientific News. 229

tained, they may be tabulated and kept for subsequent use. To

ascertain these positions for any given magnification, a millimeter

scale may be placed on the object-table, and the camera and ob-

jective moved until the picture projected on the drawing plane

has the desired enlargement. When the scale is replaced by the

object, care must be taken to have the surface, which is to be out-

lined, in the plane previously occupied by the scale. To this end

it may be necessary to move the object-table a very little, in

order to give a sharply defined picture, the positions of the cam-

era and objective being left unaltered.

The object-table measures 8 X 10°", and has a central perfora-

tion 2.5 in diam. The whole apparatus is completed by a

movable shade, designed to cut off the light falling on the lens

and on the drawing plane.

It is hardly necessary to remark that opaque objects require

direct sunlight or light from a lamp supplied with a bull’s eye

condenser. j

This instrument, including lens, and Oberhauser’s camera

lucida, may be obtained from Geo. A. Smith & Co., 7 Park street,

Boston, for thirty dollars. For everything except the camera,

the price is fifteen dollars.

Tue Microse oF “ Rep Evit,” a Pic Disease.—A disease of

Pigs, known in France as rouget or mal rouge (red evil), has of

late, says the Anglish Mechanic, wrought terrible ravages in the

hone valley, 20,000 pigs having succumbed in a year. M. Pas-

teur has detected the microbe to which the disease is due. It is

Something like that of chicken cholera, but much smaller and

different in physiological properties. Its form is that of the figure

8. It has no action on fowls, but rapidly kills rabbits and sheep.

Injected in almost inappreciable quantity into pigs, it suffices to

Cause mortal disease. M. Pasteur has succeeded in producing

_ an attenuated form of this virus, wherewith healthy pigs may be

. Vaccinated and rendered refractory to the contagion.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

= „ — Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, is about to publish an

‘Important work entitled LIBRARY OF ABORIGINAL AMERICAN LiT-

ERATURE, The following are some of the works which it is pro-

_ posed to issue in this series: No. 1. THE CHRONICLES OF THE

Mayas, edited by D. G. Brinton, M.D. This volume will contain

Se brief chronicles in the Maya language of Yucatan, written

shortly after the conquest, and carrying the history of that ang

ple ack many centuries. Four of these have never been put

k hed, nor even translated into any European tongue., Each will

RAT in the original, with a literal translation and grammati-

and historical notes. To these will be added a history of the |

230 Scientific News. [ February, i

conquest, written in his native tongue by a Maya chief, in 1562.

This also is from an unpublished MSS. The texts will be pre-

ceded by an introduction on the history of the Mayas ; their lan-

guage, calendar, numeral system, etc., and a vocabulary will be

added at the close. No. 11. CENTRAL AMERICAN CALENDARS, A

number of native calendars and “ wheels,” used by the Mayas,

Kiches, Cakchiquels, and neighboring tribes, in reckoning time —

and forecasting the future, will be published for the first time, with

explanations. From lack of sufficient material, this important

point in American archeology has remained extremely obscure.

The collection which it is intended to embrace in this volumeis

unquestionably unique of its kind. No. 1m. THe ANNALS OF

UAUHTITLAN. ‘The original Aztec text, with a new translation.

This is also known as the Codex Chimalpopoca. It is one of the —

most curious and valuable documents in Mexican archeology. —

educated native; (4.) Its translation in the Hitchiti, a dial

cognate to the Creek; (5.) Glossaries and ethnographic notes —

No. v. THE CHRONICLES oF THE CAKcHIQUELS, These chroni

cles are the celebrated Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan so often quot

by the late Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg. They are invaluable

for the ancient history and mythology of Guatemalan nations, —

and are of undoubted authenticity and antiquity. Each of these

works will be printed in the original tongue, with an English

translation and notes. Every work admitted to the series will be

the production of a native, and each will have some intrinsic 1t-

portance, either historical or ethnological, in addition to its w

as a linguistic monument. Most of them will be from unpu —

lished manuscripts, and every effort wiil be made to secure purity

of text and competent editorship. A subscription to the M

number will not bind the subscriber to future volumes. tnea

dress of the publisher is D. G. Brinton, M.D., 115 South Seventh

street, Philadelphia.

— Belgian Prize Essays.—From the Belgian Academy comes i

which, mixing with the waters of small rivers, render them i

compatible with the existence of fishes, unfit for public SUE

and hurtful to cattle? 2. A list of the rivers of Belgium ™

are now “ depopulated” by reason of impurities produced OF

tories, with an enumeration also of the fishes useful for food gi

in the various streams before industrial institutions had sent ' a

products into the waters. 3. Investigation and indication

(883.] Scientific News. 231

practical means regarding the purification of the waters as they

came from the works so as to render the streams suitable for fish

life without crippling the industry, and taking into consideration

such resources as may be offered by the construction of basins

for deposition, of filtration apparatus, and of the recourse to

chemical reagents. 4. Separate experiments on the matters

which, in each special industry, cause the death of fishes, and on

the degree of the resistance of each edible fish to destruction.

All the memoirs must be sent in before October 1, 1884, to re-

ceive any attention.

— The general regret and sense of the great loss to biological

science in the death of Professor Balfour, has led to the establish:

ment of a memorial fund, the proceeds of which are to go to

establish a studentship of $1000 annually, to be open to any one,

in any country, for original research in animal morphology. A

committee has been constituted in this country of which: Profes-

sor H. Newell Martin of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,

Md., is the secretary. It is hoped that contributions, even if in

small sums, will be sent by biologists in this country, so as to give

an international support to the movement. The student appointed

to fill the place must reside at Cambridge, England, but will be

entitled to grants for aid in research, or in traveling or exploring

with a view to furthering the science.

— A private letter received in Detroit announces the death of

aged 82 years. ` Dr. Coan was a veteran missionary of the Amer-

ican Board, and had been known for years as the apostle of the

Sandwich islands, having been there for over fifty years. For

nearly forty years he has contributed able accounts to the Ameri-

ka Fournal of Science, of the eruptions of Mount Loa and

auea,

— The Buffalo Society of Sciences has had a bequest from Dr.

Hayes, Said to amount to $150,000, which however will not be

available at present, The society has just completed arrange-

ments for printing its Bulletin for a year or more in advance.

pate: first of a series of free lectures under the auspices of

of EN shu York Academy of Sciences was given in the new hall

Phil e Academy of Medicine, by Professor Edward D. Cope, of

Wadel phia, on “ The Evolution of the Vertebrata”

Be the will of the late Augustus Story $10,000 is left to the

Eliza dnstitute, Salem, Mass., the income to be given to his sister

g RE mg her life.

— Some forty eminent Germans have founded, says Nature, a

- German Botanical Society. E

auth, ad: on the 24th of November, Mr. Andrew Pritchard,

“aor of “A History of Infusoria,” the fourth edition of which

WO SYO — 4o. ji. k

ovale

252 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [ February,

was published in 1861, numbering nearly 1000 pages. He was

also the author of “ Microscopic Illustrations,” t Micrographia”

and the “ Microscopic Cabinet,’ but he will be chiefly held in

remembrance in this country as the author of the useful and

laborious work first mentioned. He was born in London in

1804.

— Casimir-Joseph Davaine, who first suggested, says the Four-

nal de Micrographie, the germ disease theory, and who discovered

the bacterium of carbuncle, died at Garches, near Paris, Oct. 15,

1882.

— Dr. Thwaites, for many years director of the Royal Botanic

Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon, died, Sept. 11, at Kandy.

"ny"

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

BroLocicat Society or Wasuincron, Dec. 8.—Communice

tions were presented by Professor Theo. Gill on the Stromateidæ;

Professor D. W. Prentiss on changes produced in the bird fauna

of the District of Columbia by modifications of its topography.

ec. 22.—Communications were made by Dr. Elliott Coues |

on zodlogical nomenclature applied to histology ; Dr. M. G. pE-

zey on hybrid sterility; Dr, T. H. Bean on the occurrence of tit”

alewife in Lake Ontario; and by Professor C. V. Riley on u

lignified snake of Brazil, with exhibition of specimen. |

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, Dec. 18.—A paper Loge

read on the language, beliefs and superstitions of the Iroquois I

dians (illustrated with early and remarkable manuscripts diction

aries, etc., etc.), by Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. oO

Boston Society or Naturat History, Dec. 20.— ii

A. Fletcher gave an account of the sun dance of the Sioux ! <

dians; and Dr. Charles S. Minot spoke on the rate of growth! &

man.

Jan. 3, 1883.—Professor C. O. Whitman described a rare {0

of the blastoderm of the chick, and discussed its bearing igh

question of the formation of the vertebrate embryo ; oft

Kneeland presented some notes on the natural history

Philippines, etc., showing specimens. 2

AMERICAN GroGrapHicaL Society, Dec. 20. — Andrew a

_ White, LL.D., delivered a lecture on the New Germany- g

Jan. 9, 1883.—Daniel C. Gilman, LL.D., delivered the #

address, entitled the North American continent, four Cent

iscovery.

APPALACHIAN Mountain Cup, Dec. 15.—Mr. W. O. a

read a paper on the mountains of Eastern Cuba. ;

1883.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 233

CuicaGco BIOLOGICAL Society, Oct. 2, 1882—Dr. H. Valin read

a paper on experiments in artificial production of organic forms.’

In January of the present year the French chemists, D. Monnier

and C. Vogt, presented, through M. Robin, to the French Acad-

emy of Sciences, the results of some experiments showing

that the forms peculiar to plants and animals also appear under

certain circumstances in purely inorganic things (Comptes Rendus,

Jan. 2, 1882). This is their language: “ Objects endowed with

well-defined shapes, exhibiting all the characteristics of the forms

met in organic bodies, such as simple cells, cells with porous

tubes attached, tubes with walls or with partitions, filled with

hetereogeneous and granular contents, etc., can be artificially pro-

duced in an appropriate liquid by the reactions of two salts, form-

ing, by double decomposition, either two, or one insoluble salt.

One of the salts must be dissolved in the liquid, while the other

must be solid inform. * * * * The forms met in organic

bodies (cells and tubes) being produced just as well in a liquid

with an organic or semi-organic (sucrate of calcium) origin as in

a liquid of a purely inorganic origin (silicate of sodium), there

cannot be henceforth any characteristic forms by which to distin-

guish inorganic bodies on the one hand, from organic bodies on

the other. * * * It is likely that the inorganic substances

met in organic protoplasm have some function in determining the

forms which living organisms assume.”

Dr. Valin had repeated these experiments a number of times in

the last six months, and made the following observations: In a

flask full of soluble glass, were placed fragments of sulphate of iron,

ten grains in weight, which immediately began to assume a col-

loid condition on the outside, and shot tubular prolongations, col-

loidal and cellular, which grew at the rate of half an inch in twenty-

four hours. Some attained to two inches in length, and were

about } of an inch in diameter. All these prolongations. shot a

number of slender filaments from various points of their surface,

and these attained a length of a few inches in a few hours. After

a few days or weeks all these organisms assume a crystalline con-

dition and become empty inside. Some of them rise to the sur-

face of the liquid. They are insoluble in water, they remain in-

tact when exposed to air, and when introduced in a newly pre-

pared flask at the same time with fresh fragments, they hasten the

metamorphosis of these. The addition of water to the soluble

glass renders the experiments more easy and saves time.

. Watched under the microscope, the fragments of sulphate of

iron are seen to swell all around. An unctuous, colloid mass is

~med, which consists of fine granules perfectly similar to animal

tissues is mass stretches into prolongations, and fluid con-

= tnts are seen to flow inside these. When the surface of some

Prolongations was opened into, a semi-solid substance grew out

ete i

- “See AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1882, p. 509, “ On the Nature of Life.”

234 | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. | Feb., 1883,

of the opening into new prolongations. One of these mineral

organisms, when placed on a fresh fragment, shot some new pro-

longations, as if real grafting had taken place. i

Organisms of sulphate of copper, sulphate of zinc, alum, phos-

phate of iron, etc., were similarly obtained, each possessing a form’

peculiar to itself and distinct from the others. Analogous forms

grew in saccharated lime-water. Cellular bodies of the same

minerals formed in solutions of alkaline carbonates.

These experiments relate to the almost unknown department of

chemistry which treats of colloids, and as crystalline solutions

grow into symmetrical crystals, so a colloid substance in process

of formation assumes a typical form, and must be the start of all

forms in animals and plants. These so-called mineral organisms,”

viewed with the naked eye, under the microscope, or chemically _

tested, come as near to the.lower animals and plants, as these are

from one another, and form a new field of investigation for the

biologist. We can no longer say that only living things grow,

unless we reckon these as living. 3

Among the conclusions of Dr. Valin’s paper were these: “That

the vitality or growth of these mineral organisms consists in the

passage of a crystal into a colloid, and is thus correlated, but not

identical, with the kinetic process known as crystallization. That :

the molecule of the bodies consists of many elements, and Wt

acid and alkaline polarities are always concerned in their growth,

for only acid minerals in alkaline solutions gave rise to them

That we have a right to suppose that living protoplasm is nothing

but a highly complex mineral organism in favorable media (water

and air).” l

This would tend to confirm the growing belief among yee

plasm, when they pass from the crystalline or soluble i

colloid state in the proper media. : Ke

In the brief discussion which followed, Dr. Clevenger asks ae

writer whether he believed that the growth of these minea

might not be dependent on the action of some micro-organist

Dr. Valin answered that some micrococci had been seen ee he

solutions used, and that a large fungus at one time covered tf

surface of the water in one flask with its mycelium, visible to thë

naked eye. But as the minerals referred to grow instantaneo i

in any kind of water, and as this water remains transparent px

cluded the possibility of any bacterial action. i

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvii. — MARCH, 1883. — No. 3.

pe ewe

Vo poh haha ta

ON THE EXTINCT DOGS OF NORTH AMERICA.

L BY PROFESSOR E. D. COPE. |

ope

i HE family of thé Canidæ occupies in the order of the Car-

~ 'nivora, a position intermediate between the generalized forms,

as the raccoons, and the highest or specialized forms, as the cats.

While its sectorial or flesh teeth are well developed, the primitive

tuberculars remain in the jaws behind them, frequently to the full

‘number in the superior jaw, and in rarely less than the full num-

ber in the lower jaw. The sectorials themselves are of inferior

type, for the superior generally lacks the anterior lobe, and the

inferior has a large heel, which is frequently tubercular. The

: number of the toes, generally 5-4, is smaller than in the lower

types, but not so much reduced as in the hyænas, where they are

but four on all the feet. In spite of the intermediate position

of the Canidæ in general structure, they display superiority to all

_ of the other families in the character of the brain. There are four .

_ longitudinal convolutions of the cerebral hemispheres, while the

_ other families have but three; though in some of them (civets,

Cats), the inferior (Sylvian) convolution is fissured at the ends!

is character of the dogs is in some degree parallel to that of

man, whose great brain superiority is associated with general in-

ae feriority in the osseous and digestive systems. oy,

sors The range of variation in the family Canidæ, is found in th

-Nambe

r of the tubercular teeth, and of the tubercles of the sec-

: _. ‘riak, and in an occasional reduction in the number of the pre-

o For the charac

~ 1882, p. 471,

VOL. XVIL —N0. ui.

ters of the families of Carnivora, see Proceed. Amer. Philos. Soc.,

236 On the Extinct Dogs of North America, [March, :

molars! Thus in Megalotis the true molars number 3, and in Icti-

cyon, at the other end of the series, 3. The genus which adds to

this reduction a further diminution in the number of premolars,

Dysodus,” is only known in a domesticated condition.

The Canidz probably first appeared in the Upper Eocene

epoch. Cuvier described a Canis parisiensis from the Gypsum of ©

Montmartre, but it is not as yet known whether it belongs to —

the restricted genus Canis or not. From the Phosphorites of —

Central France come the Canis filholi Mun. Chal., and Brachyeyon ?

gaudryi Filhol. The phosphatic deposit in which these species —

than Oligocene or oldest Miocene; that is below the White

River formation. aed are most abundant in the a

fauna everywhere.

I give the following analysis of the extinct genera found

North America:

I, Molar formula a $ i.

Humeras with epitrochl¢ar foramen. auu. oao cee vice eons

11. Molar formula ¢ 2.

a, No anterior lobe of, superior sectorial.

- B. Humerus with epitrochlear foramen.

Inferior menei with heel wisai, R weer ces fiver eben eee

Inferior sectorial with heel basin-shaped....... T E oouwe st

fB. Humerus without epitrochlear foramen,

Inferior sectorial with heel basin-shaped.............+++- is cee

aa, An anterior lobe of superior sectorial.

Heel of lower sectorial basin-shaped ; no epitrochlear foramen . ...+++++ Æl

tit. Molar formula $ 3. :

Heel of inferior sectorial trenchant; premolars lobed posteriorly. ...- Eahyd '

Heel of inferior sectorial hédinshaped : ; Superior molars unknown, .-++ To

v. Molar formula

Heel x inferior sectorial Meter kipci ; internal cusp present...+--++*

v. Molar formula 4 4.

Premolars lobed; first inferior two-rooted a E

To these genera I refer twenty-five species of the An

Miocenes.

1! For the genera of Canidæ, see Proceeds, Pe Nat. Sci, Philada., Jae

7 See on this genus AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1881, p. 233, and July, t

1883. | ` On the Extinct Dogs of North America. 237

Ampuicyon Lartet.

Much is yet to be desired in the elucidation of the characters

of this genus, especially of the American forms, which are less

abundant and of smaller size than those of Europe. The typical

species, Amphicyon major Blv., was the largest, equaling a bear in

size. It is derived from the i —_

Miocene of Sansan, France, =

and a smaller form of it is

found, according to Pomel,

at San Gerand-le-Puy. Other

species are derived from the

latter locality, and all are

typical of the Miocene forma-

tion in Europe. In the “ Mio-

pliocene” of India, a single

species has been discovered,

the A. paleindicus of Lydek-

ker. The species occur in

the Lower and Middle Mio-

cene of North America, the

largest of which about equals

the wolf in size. On account

of the large development of

the inferior tubercular teeth, F1s.1.—Amphicyon cuspigerus Cope, with the

I have suspected that the Taree views of skull; ‘From the Joho Day

Canis ursinus Cope, from the beds of Oregon. Original.

Loup Fork group of New Mexico, would prove to be an Amphi-

cyon. If so, it is the only representative of this genus in our

Upper Miocene.

The three American species differ as follows: The A. cuspi-

gerus! is small, not exceeding the kit-fox in dimensions. The A.

rtshornianus is about the size of the coyote, and has rather

small tubercular molars, especially of the lower series. The A.

vetus Leidy, is a little larger, but has the tubercular molars dis-

Proportionately larger than those of the A. hartshornianus.

TEmNocyon Cope.

The characters on which I rely at present for the discrimination

of this genus from Canis are two. The first is the presence of

a cutting edge on the superior face of the heel of the inferior sec-

Amphicyon entoplychi is the same,

238 On the Extinct Dogs of North America, [ March, .

torial, in place of a double‘row of tubercles surrounding a basin,

When well developed these characters present a broad contrast,

but indications of transitional forms are not wanting. Thus, in —

some extinct Canes the internal crest of the heel is less elevated

than the external, which is the homologue of the single crestof

Fic. 2 f F

John Day epoch of Oregon; 2. Amphicyon hartshornianus Cope, superi

rigat afs ; from White River epoch of Colorado. Both figures one-half natural

riginal. :

wal aa viewed om won elated Saal Foon Reale

Geol. Survey Terrs., Vol. 1v. ;

Temnocyon, and in some specimens of TZemunocyon coryphars :

there is a cingulum on the inner side of the median keel, which

represents the internal crest of Canis. Secondly, the epitrochlet

foramen of the humerus, a character common to all of our 40

Miocene Canide yet known. nae

The keel of the sectorial, which defines this genus, is 5!

repetition on that tooth of the keel which belongs to the

rior premolar teeth of many Carnivora. I find resemblances

such Eocene forms as Mesonyx and Palzonyctis. Among

Canidz it is apparently known only in the genus Icticyo™

very rare in other groups. The Cynodictis crassirostris

from the French Phosphorites, strongly resembles the §

Temnoecyon in generic characters, and the Amphicyon

also French, may turn out to belong to this genus.

1883. | On the Extinct Dogs of North America. 239

Three American species certainly belong to Temnocyon. These

differ in size, proportions and the forms of the superior tubercular

molars. The largest, and type of the genus, the T. altigenis (Fig.

3), is as large as a wolf. T. wadlovianus Cope, has a shorter and

wider head. T. corypheus (Fig. 4) is as large as the coyote, and

was very abundant during the John Day epochin Oregon, 7,

josephi Cope, provisionally referred to this genus, is still smaller,

and has a narrower muzzle and wider face. All the species differ

from the true dogs in their shorter muzzle and longer and nar-

E> 4.—Temnocyon corypheus Cope, more than one-half natural size. From

my n Day epoch, Oregon. Original. From Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., F. V.

ee Vol. iv. The numbers indicate the premolars and molars. No. 4 is the

tower brain-case, in these points resembling the civets. They

some from the John Day epoch, and probably also the White

River beds of Nebraska.

Garecyxus Owen.

This senus, which is abundantly represented by species and

individuals, existed during the Upper Eocene (the Phosphorites),

and Miocene epochs in Europe, and also during the White River,

or Oligocene, in North America. As the structure of the feet of

240 On the Extinct Dogs of North America. [March,

the numerous species from these epochs is not yet known, and,

therefore some doubt as to their correct generic reference may

still exist, I only regard the genus as a certain inhabitant of North

America during the John Day, or Middle Miocene, epoch. This

is indicated by the Galecynus geismarianus, where the number of

the toes on the posterior foot has been ascertained (Fig. 6).

All the species of the genus from Eocene and Lower Miocene

beds, as well as most of

those of the Loup Fork

epoch, are characterized by

the relatively small size of

their sectorial teeth? In —

this they resemble the Am —

phicyons, Temnocyons and

other forms of Canidae of

the same period, and differ —

from such Canes as C ür-

Fic. 5.—Galecynus geismarianus Cope,one- , whi

half nat. size, skull from side and below, sinus and C. haydent, which l

From John Day beds,. Oregon, Original. display the enlarged sec- :

torial teeth of the existing species of the genus. Of cours

there is every gradation in this respect between the two typ

In the older species the internal tubercle of the inferior sectorial

tooth is more largely developed than in the latter ones, thus ;

Professor Owen proposed to distinguish the genus Galecy

account of the greater length of the pollex as compar

that found in the existing species of Canis. This charac H

pears to me to be of an unsatisfactory nature, owing tO the

1 See Bulletin U. S. Geol. Survey of the Terrs., F. V. Hayden, Vol. Vh sei

180.

eee en ee

See ee a

1883. | On the Extinct Dogs of North America. 241

that gradations in the length of a digit are difficult to express

with precision in other than a specific sense; and the gradations

may certainly be expected to occur.

I find in the G. getsmarianus a character which separates the

genus from Canis, viz., the presence of the epitrochlear foramen

of the humerus. In this point it agrees with Amphicyon and

Temnocyon. I arrange cotemporary and generally similar spe-

cies under the same generic head, as the most reasonable course

in the absence of direct evidence.

I know four species of Galecynus from American localities.

These are, in the order of size, beginning with the largest. G.

Fic. 6.—Part of skeleton of one individual of Galecynus geismarianus, one-half

hal. size; from the John Day bed of Oregon; a, vertebral column with pelvis; 4,

axis vertebra; c, elbow, showing epitrochlear foramen ; d, metatarsus and phalanges ;

¢, tarsus, showing grooved astragalus. Original.

geismarianus Cope (Figs. 5-6), G. latidens Cope, G. gregarius

Ope, and G. /emur Cope (Fig. 7). Threé of these are confined

to the John Day Miocene, while the G. gregarius is abundant in

the White River formation of Colorado and Dakota. The G.

é*smarianus (Figs. 5-6), is a little smaller than the gray fox

(Vi ulpes virginianus), and had a more civet-like form. That is,

the body was relatively longer and the limbs shorter. The G.

lems (Fig. 7) is remarkable for its very large orbits and otic bul-

æ. These indicate large eyes and large ears, and render it prob-

able that the animal was nocturnal in its habits. These, with its

242 On the Extinct Dogs of North America. [March, |

short, sharp nose, must have given it a physiognomy something l

like that of the existing fennec o

Nubia. :

Filhol has described seventeen

species of this genus from the |

Phosphorites of France, and has

given several generic names to

groups which do not seem to be

distinct from it.

Canis Linn.

The oldest species of true dog”

known to me from American forme —

tions is the C. brachypus Cope, from

Fic. qi Galecynus lemur Cope, 5 ;

skull and mandibular ramus (Fig. d), the coyote, but has the small se

. the torial teeth of all primitive Canide.

one half natural size. From

John Day epoch of Oregon, Original.

the coyote, and the sagittal crest of the skull more elevated. P

True dogs are more numerous in the Loup Fork beds. Le

“i describes C. vafer and C. temerarius, the first B:

large as the kit-fox; and the second between

the red fox and the coyote in dimensions, both

with small sectorials. He also describes a i E

species, with large sectorials, under the name ©

haydeni, which may be an AZlurodon, je

superior teeth are not known. These $p A

are from Nebraska. Another large species '

the C. ursinus Cope, from New Mexico. ™

not only large sectorials but large nee F

berculars below, which arouses the § pr

that when the superior dentition is obtain’

will prove to be an Amphicyon. The

the mandible is very peculiar. ee.

- Canis lupus (the wolf) and C. latrans (i

i er, TA jsd coyote) are found in the Pliocene i : à

pus; b, right astraga- beds. From these species many of the

sane papes ” ticated dogs have been derived.

three left metatarsals i

do: all three. LOMARCTuS Cope.

of «

eighths nat.size. Ori-

ginal.

One species known from the Loup F one

1883.] On the Extinct Dogs of North America. 243

of Colorado. It is uncertain whether this genus has two or

three premolars. Should it have three it must be compared with

the Brachycyon of Filhol. But the inferior sectorial tooth of that

genus is as yet unknown. In Tomarctus it is like that of Canis

and AZlurodon. The T. drevirosiris has teeth as large as those of

a coyote, but has the lower jaw shorter and more slender.

AELURODON Leidy.

Dr. Leidy described an 4lurodon ferox, whose affinities he did

not determine, but which he thought to combine characters of

Fic. 9 —lurodon sev i i i

us Leidy, skull three-eighths nat. size. From the Loup

Fork beds of Nebraska. Original. r

lo Ss and cats. I have proven! by material in my possession, that

xe Elurodon ferox and the Canis sevus Leidy, are the same spe- -

“es. The genus Ælurodon must be referred to the Canidz, and

E ES

Bulletin U.S, Geolog. Survey Terrs., v1, 1881, p. 387-

244 On the Extinct Dogs of North America. [ March,

distinguished from Canis proper, only by the presence of an anterior _

cutting lobe of the superior sectorial tooth, the character on

which Dr. Leidy originally proposed it. There are three species _

of the genus known to me, the Æ. sevus, Æ. wheelertanus (Cams

Cope) and a smaller one which I called Æ. hyenoides, The

character of the superior sectorial tooth above mentioned is as

much like that of Hyzna as Felis, and the entire sectorial tooth

in the Æ. hyenoides is much like that of the former genus. It $

all three species the premolars are very robust, as though to aid |

the sectorials in crushing bones, as they do in the hyenas. The

second metacarpal bone has on its inner surface a rough area of

insertion, such as is present in the dogs and absent in the hyenas, :

and which may indicate five digits in the anterior foot, the general

character of the Canidz, and not as in the Hyzenidz. I nevertheless _

suspect that this genus is the ancestor of the Hyænidæ, through |

the intermediate forms, Ictitherium and Hyznictis. According

to Gaudry, Ictitherium has the same number of digits as the Cat-

ide, and the same dental characters as Ælurodon, excepting 1 |

the absence of the last inferior molar. He shows a successit

reduction inthe dimet-

sions of the superior

true molars in the three 7

species of Ictitheriut

followed by the loss

— the second in Hyen

re ne acre Cs, T

Pikermi, Greece. After Gaudry. Gaudry in placing | o]

former genus in the series of Epimycterous Carnivora nar z

Viverridæ ; but that division was largely derived from the Hyp%

mycterous division, to which the Canidæ belong. se

The 4lurodon wheelerianus Cope (Fig. 11), was abundi

Nebraska, though originally discovered in New Mex io

Loup Fork beds. It is a more robust animal than Æ. sevis,

differs in various details. The skull was of about the same”

viz., rather shorter, but stouter than that of the Canis (pus. |

<E. sævus was equally abundant in Nebraska (Fig. 9). With

Æ. wheelerianus it probably performed the function of as

ger, devouring the remains of the antelopes and small caste

the Loup Fork epoch, The Æ. hyencides is a-smalee ME

cies with some peculiarities of its own, from Southern N

the

1883. ] On the Extinct Dogs of North America. 245

—Jaws of <a Bae three-

a-b, Æ

tetes aal size.

anus Cope, upper and aap dental series,

lacking t the last me anlar. All three-

oup Fork beds

of Koata Neea ka

of the otters, cannot yet be

Fic

From: the John Day bed

gests an a

the $k

Hy2ocyon Cope.

BPRS

g IL

Original.

ENHYDROCYON Cope.

This genus is represented by

a single rather large species, the

E. stenocephalus Cope. The gen-

eral form of the skull is that of

Temnocyon, but the shortening

of the muzzle is carried so far as

to leave space for only three

Superior premolars. These have

posterior lobes as in Canis, and

the first is two-rooted. The

muzzle is broad and flat above,

and the brain-case is long and

narrow. The general form of

_ the skull would be that of an ot-

ter, but for the presence of a high

sagittal crest (Fig. 12). Whether

or not it is the ancestral source

ascertained. Its appearance sug-

——

n stenocephalus, skali two views, one-half natural size.

sof Oregon. Origin al.

quatic habit. Were the muzzle of similar proportions,

ull would be as large as that of a wolf.

The dental Series is still more reduced in this genus than in the

246 On the Extinct Dogs of North America. | March,

last, for with three premolars above and below, there is but one

true molar above. The premolars are like those of Enhydro-

We cyon. The flesh teeth are much mor

developed, equaling those of the most

specialized Canide. The family loca

tion of this genus is indeed not as-

sured, but the superior true molar isa

good deal like that of the Canida, so

far as known. The type is H. sectorius

Cope (Fig. 13), a species the size of a

coyote, but more robust. A second

species, Æ. dasilatus (Fig. 13) is larger,

and is only known from lower jaws

These species, are from the John Day

13.2, Enhydrocyon sten- beds of Oregon, and are the most

sepa part of mandible from |

art of maxillary formidable Canidze of that period,

pesa Eo A Hyanocyon basi- though they do not appear to have

dıble fro

above; d, Hyenocyon sectorius, been abundant.

s .

three-eighths nat. size, and from E yi

the John Day bed. Oreo. OxicoBuNis Cop

Orig This genus has the dental formula

of the existing neotropical genus Icticyon, but differs from it ia

nasil

Fic — Oligobunis penesioutins Cope, one-half natural size. i right mat Fron *

bone “a teeth from below; 4, right mandibular ramus from debe

John Day river of Oregon. ’ Origi

the

the form of the inferior sectorial tooth. In Oligobunis it es E

primitive form seen in most of the Miocene species, ai

cording to Flower, in Icticyon there is no internal cusp»

i |

1883] On the Extinct Dogs of North America. 247

there is a cutting heel. The number of true molars, }, is the

smallest in the family. A single species is known, the O. crassi-

vultus Cope, from the John Day bed of Oregon. The skull is

about the size of that of the wolverene (Gulo luscus), and is of

robust form. The canine teeth are powerfully developed, and in-

dicate an animal of strong predaceous instincts.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

The succession of these genera, as indicated by their structure,

is as follows:

Dysodus Icticyon Hyzenocyon

Elurodon \ Oligobunis eanyarseren

; rf et

: Canis Fy cshesrcet

Galcconiis

Marna

Mepalotis

This order is not entirely that of succession in time. Thus

Megalotis, which represents the primitive type of all Canidae, is

only known as living, and the Mega/otis zerda is African. We

anticipate its discovery in a fossil state. Amphicyon and Ga-

__lecynus are the oldest known Canidz, as they characterize the

lowest Miocene, and probably the Upper Eocene epochs, Canis

appears next in time in Europe, probably in the Middle Miocene.

In America the genera of the John Day Middle Miocene pre-

cede Canis. I refer to Temnocyon, Enhydrocyon, Hyznocyon

and Oligobunis, which were contemporaries. Ælurodon appeared

later than Canis in the Upper Miocene and Loup Fork, and Dy-

_ Sodus and Icticyon with various other genera not here enumerated,

_ are recent. Canis is the prevalent genus in the present period, as

‘ Galecynus was during the Miocenes. That the last named genus,

Za its numerous species, has given origin to the existing spe-

_ “es of Canis, as suggested by Filhol, is altogether probable.

a As already mentioned, the successional change in the Canidz

“2 has been exhibited in the reduction of the numbers of the tuber-

T cular teeth, To this may be added a successive increase in the

Size of the Sectorials and canines. In these points the Canidze

248 On the Extinct Dogs of North America. [ March, |

epitomize the history of the evolution of the dentition of the

order of Carnivora. This I stated as follows, at a meeting of the

Philadelphia Academy of Feb. 16, 1875: “The important

change [in the Carnivora] which is clearly indicated, is the pro-

gressive extinction of the genera with numerous sectorial teeth,

accompanying the increasing specialization of those which

remain. In other words the numerous types of digitigrade Car-

nivora which have survived, are those developing one sectorial

tooth (whose earliest representative is Didymictis). The increased

perfection of the sectorial has been associated with a reduction in

the number of the other molars, first posterior, then anterior to

it, which reduction has been accompanied by an increased rela- :

tive size of the sectorial.’”’ These views were extended in a paper |

on “ The Origin of the Specialized Teeth of the Carnivora,’ it

the American NATURALIST for March, 1879. Ina paper p a

lished in the Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society of London

August, 1880, Professor Huxley comes to the same conclusion 1

that I have stated in the above papers, in apparent ignorance of '

their prior publication.

As regards the origin of the Canidæ, it is doubtless to be

found among the forms of the Creodonta? The Creodonta a

flesh-eaters of various degrees of power, without scapholunat

bone; with well defined canine teeth; with a low type of brat,

and generally imperfect ankle-joint. They stand in nearest ce

tion to the Insectivora, but have points of resemblance 0

the Marsupialia. I originally included them as a sub-divisit

of the Insectivora,? but subsequently placed them with e

- Insectivora and several other sub-orders in a comprehensive onde

which I termed the Bunotheria‘ This view of the origin of #

Carnivora was subsequently reaffirmed by Huxley in his P

of 1880, above cited. He reproduces all my evidence, and i

the Canidz among the Creodonta® They are the only ™ 3

1 Proceedings; p 22. 4

32See Report U. S. Geol. Survey W. of rooth mer. G. M. Wheeler, 1877)

282,

3 Proceedings Academy Philada., 1875, Nov., p. 447-

t See Report Capt. Wheeler, 1877, 1v,

P. 95. :

$ On the genera of the Creodonta, Proceed. Amer. Philcs. Scc. 1880, p. 5

1883.] “ The Plains” of Michigan. 249

of the sub-order which exhibit the true sectorial tooth of the

upper series, as it exists in the Carnivora, and the genus Didymic-

tis has the dental formula of Canis above. Miacis has the formula

of Canis below, but that of the superior series is unknown. It

would not be surprising if it should turn out to be that of Am-

phicyon. These animals are abundant inthe Middle and Lower

Eocenes of North America.

10:

“THE PLAINS” OF MICHIGAN.

BY PROFESSOR V. M. SPALDING,

F the northern central portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan

there extend through several counties large tracts designated

on some of the maps as “barrens,” but uniformly spoken of as

“the plains” by people living upon them or in their vicinity. One

of these tracts, perhaps the most extensive, lies along the line of

the Mackinaw division of the Michigan Central railroad and oc-

cupies a large portion of Crawford county, extending into the

adjacent counties on the east side and south, and including an area

of over a thousand square miles. A similar, though somewhat

less extensive, region of barrens or plains is intersected by the

Flint and Pere Marquette railroad, having its center in Lake

county, extending southward into Newaygo and northward as far

as the Manistee river. Similar plains, of greater or less extent, are

s to be found in this part of the State and in the northern peninsula,

-but the two tracts already mentioned may be taken as fair repre-

tatives. `

These plains lie in what is known as the “ pine belt” of Michi-

: = and include the poorest portions of this extensive region.

4 ir soil is a light sand, so fine that it penetrates one’s

4 shoes as he walks over it, and when a handful is closely examined

_ tls seen to consist almost wholly of fine grains of silica, “ good

_ make glass of,” as is remarked by those of the inhabitants who

- do not believe in its agricultural capabilities. Nevertheless, these

Plains are by no means a desert. They support quite a variety of

Vegetable life, and one experiences no feeling of loneliness as he

travels over them. On the contrary, wherever they have escaped

destructive action of fire, the smooth, gently undulating

groves of scrub pine, through which the eye has

extended range in every direction, produces a pleasing impres-

O l with its

250 — “The Plains” of Michigan.

sion and we are constantly half-inclined to the delusion that we

are walking through an artificial grove, and that just over the

knoll or beyond the hollow the buildings of the proprietor will

be seen. This is, however, a most unsubstantial feeling and can-

not betrusted in the least, for one may wander about for miles with-

out coming upon any trace of human life except the wagon track

he is following and occasional blazes on the trees that indicate the

path followed by hunters and land-lookers who have gone before

him. Indeed there is sometimes real danger of losing one’s way,

unless he is something of a woodsman, and accounts are not want-

ing of those who have been lost and have perished from fatigue

and hunger on these barrens. 4

)

The thing that attracts the attention at the outset and continues

to do so, until its constant repetition ceases to produce the imp

sion of anything unusual, is the fact that a large portion of

region has been swept over time and again by fire. Here the

has passed over within a year, and remnants of the black

stems of young trees and shrubs that had sprung up afters

earlier fire are still standing and the ground itself is bare.

blackened. There the conflagration took place a few yeatsé

and the ground is thickly covered with a new growth several .

in height, the path of the fire being indicated by the tall, charred

trunks of larger trees that overtop as complete a picture of

lation as can well be imagined. In the midst of this ruin

ritory, and often extending for considerable distances, are 5"

and even good-sized forests, that in some way have escaped

struction and still remain, waiting the equally certain fate of

lumberman’s axe or another fire.

like uses if only its wood were less subject to decay.

fences it lasts only a few years, and by common consent

unused, except for fuel, enjoying the distinction of be

sidered the most miserable production of this miserable

great abundance constantly suggests the query as Hr

good for. If the manufacturers of wood pulp can succeed

1883.] “ The Plains” of Michigan. 251

izing it they will find an almost unlimited supply on the barrens of

northern Michigan.

Among the scrub pines, and still more in the openings where

they are less numerous, oak grubs are distributed far and wide,

sometimes rather thinly, as is the case on the lightest sand, while

in other places, and generally on the western barrens of the State,

they stand more closely together and their rapidly growing sprouts

are fast becoming a new forest. There is a story among the In-

dians living in Lake county that the plains were formerly covered

with a forest of oak and pine (presumably white and red pine),

but not far from the beginning of the present century a great wind

Swept over them, prostrating the oaks and leaving the pines, after

which a fire destroyed them both, and Jack pines grew up in their

place. Whatever significance may or may not be attached to this

account, it is certain that the young oaks that are now growing so

rapidly on the plains have come from stumps of old trees and not

from acorns. The stumps are hardly ever to be seen at the sur-

face, but upon removing a little of the earth or mold from the

midst of the group of young trees they are found, often in a fair

Mte of preservation, and of such dimensions as to show that a

i fair-sized oak tree formerly stood on the spot. The prevailing spe-

cies are the white and black oaks (Quercus alba and Q. tinctoria),

though in certain localities the red oak (Q. rubra) is of common oc-

currence. Many of these are six to eight or even ten feet high, and,

a over wide areas, are thick enough together to constitute a perfect

; In a few years these oaks, if protected from the ravages of

. fire and the browsing of domestic animals, would furnish a consid-

- rable amount of valuabletimber. Even now suchas have escaped

“ese accidents and have grown to a suitable size are eagerly

; sought after by mechanics for parts of wagons and like uses, and

— ry n go long distances to get them for pieces of timber.

| Proper oversight of these young forests, that are already planted

a ar on their way to useful dimensions, would well repay the

State or other owners of the land, although the oak trees that

SY Compose them cannot be expected to attain very large di-

“sions on lands of such inferior quality.

: cogs to the scrub pine and oaks, two kinds of poplar are the

J so z tremuloides), and the large-toothed aspen (P. grandiden-

Cah In low places they cover the ground, and often on higher

4 Vou, SVII.—no, tit. a ;

252 “The Plains” of Michigan. (March, a

land are even more abundant than the pines and oaks, Like them, i

too, they are making an exceedingly rapid growth, and in a very

few years after a fire they have covered the ground with anew

forest and are stretching upwards with marvelous haste, as if to

cover in the shortest possible time the blackened deformity ofthe

charred remains about them. Like the scrub pine they are wait:

ing for the demands of some great industry to turn their immense

growth of material to profitable account. ‘J

Besides the scrub pines, oaks and poplars, which constitute the _

most prominent and almost universal arboreal feature of the

plains, various other trees and shrubs are scattered here and there.

The wild cherry, both black and red, the choke-cherry and sande

cherry are all here, and the prairie willow (Salix humilis), is always

to be found, though seldom very thickly distributed. Sweet-fera

(Comptonia asplenifolia),and brakes (Pieris aquilina), grow in gre

abundance over the entire region, and with them, spread like

carpet over the sands, are the bear-berry and winter-green

trailing arbutus, all uniting, by the extension of roots and

cay of stems and leaves, in the grand effort made by nature to

claim the soil, Then, as if to relieve the monotony of this ¢

stant and rather somber background, there are thrown in patei

of bright bluebells, the wild orange-red lily, here and there a ha

weed or Solidago, or the bright umbels of a stray pleurisy-

and, once in a while, one of the rarer northern plants, Suc’ ast

three-toothed cinquefoil, serving to keep the traveler, if he l

to be a botanist, on a constant and expectant lookout for 5

thing new. — !

The species that have been mentioned by no means com p

list, but they serve to show what are the constant and che

istic features of the vegetation of the plains. Although very™

more species will be found in a “flora” of these regio

constantly impressed with the uniformity and lack ©

which characterize their vegetable productions. Wi

Nature’s most persistent efforts to clothe the barest

earth with a living mantle, it has been found, ap

only certain kinds of plants can be made to do duty ©

barren spots, and, accordingly, those have been chosen that

ish in places the most uncongenial and hopeless.

- Two most valuable species have been reserved tor

mention, partly because they do not strictly belong t

1883.] “ The Plains” of Michigan. 253

at least in the narrower sense of the term. Over considerable

portions of their surface it is impossible to find a single white or

even “ Norway” pine, but wherever the soil changes from the

light sand already described to one containing a slight admixture

of gravel or loam, and often even when no such change is dis-

tinctly obvious, the scrub pine is replaced by the red or “ Norway”

pine (Pinus resinosa). With this, or scattered through hardwood

timber, and indicating a soil still somewhat further improved in

quality, is the white pine (Pinus strobus). Both of these are dis-

tributed in tracts of greater or less extent through the plains, but

attain a larger development on the better lands beyond them. Itis

these two species that have given their great value to the pine lands

of Michigan, and for the last quarter of a century have furnished

such immense quantities of lumber to the markets of the world.

Their rapid destruction, with no attempt on the part of any one to

replace them or to provide for a future supply, is looked upon

with alarm by those who take an intelligent interest in the

financial prosperity of the State. It has become a question of

immediate and pressing importance, what can be done with these

large areas that have already been stripped of their most valuable

timber and, abandoned by their owners, are now run over by fires

from year to year that exhaust the soil of what little fertility it may

have had and leave the whole region a blackened scene of deso-

lation,

=~ The “pine belt,” within which these lands Jie, is bounded

i nearly enough for practical purposes by the 43d parallel of

latitude on the south and the 45th on the north. As a whole, it

is by no means the worthless region that it is still quite generally

regarded, but contains extensive areas of hardwood lands, valu-

able for farming purposes, that are passing into the hands of

settlers whose crops of wheat and oats and fruits of various kinds

rival those of the older and more favored portions of the State.

2 The future of these better parts of the pine region is already

: determined. The well-fenced farms, with good buildings and

beautiful fields of grain, that are already found in the very midst

col $ i oe that a few years ago was reported to be “one great

: AES are a sufficient guaranty that these lands will be

Permanently and profitably devoted to agricultural purposes.

eo or

not this may be less profitable to the State at large

si continued production of timber will not affect the case.

254 “ The Plains” of Michigan. | March,

When there are lands of such value for farming they will be pur

chased and held for this purpose and the interests of the State

will in the end have to be adapted to those of the individual.

But however excellent certain portions of the pine belt maybe

for grain and fruit raising, the fact remains that there are some

hundreds of thousands of acres, including the plains already

described and considerable areas beyond them, that, so far a

present evidence goes, are utterly worthless for agricultural

purposes. It is with the future of these sandy plains and deserted ;

and burned pine “slashings” that we are now concerned. A-

scanty population has already taken possession of certain portions

of this territory, and here and there attempts have been made atiti

cultivation. The settlers have turned over, or dragged over, the j

light sand and have put in here a piece of rye and there a fw

potatoes and have attempted in other places to get a field covered

with clover or timothy. The results attained are by no means

satisfactory. Rye, their best crop, is thin and light, — Potatos

are small and few in a hill. A really good piece of wheat or oats

was not seen in a journey of forty miles through the plains, and,

_ with perhaps one or two exceptions, the same is true of grass am

clover. Whatever may develop, in the future, it is perfectly si

to say that as yet the agricultural capabilities of these plains arè

not apparent. ae

In many instances the lands that have been sold to eo

viduals or to corporations, after having been stripped of the

worth the taxes. This result has hitherto been consi

fortunate, from the fact that the State government is oblige?

sume the responsibility and expense of ownership, and the :

recently been changed so as to more fully protect indivi

chasers of tax titles, largely for the purpose of relieving the»!

this burden. In addition to this the atténtion of the public 15

to these and other lands in the possession of the State, Y

pamphlet issued by the Commissioner of Immigration (a

the way, full of valuable information), and the three |

peninsula are offering special inducements to purchasers

As a result, the current is now setting strongly in tht

direction and sales of land lying within the pine

1883.] “ The Plains” of Michigan. 255

farming purposes are constantly made. The sales at the State

Land Office alone, according to information given at the office at

Lansing, have averaged about twenty thousand to twenty-five

thousand acres per month during the summer of 1882.

But whatever present advantages may be gained by this rapid

transfer from the possession of the State and the railroad com-

panies to that of individuals,a careful study of the facts of the case

inevitably leads to the conclusion that undue inducements for the

purchase and settlement of lands that cannot sustain a permanent

population are greatly to be regretted. It may yet be found, it is

true, that the plains are capable of sustaining such a population

by the products of the soil. Some crop, yet untried, may flourish

there, orsome method of fertilization may transform them into

fruitful fields, but, from all that is known of the conditions of

successful agriculture, there is no reason to expect such a future

for them

There is one way, however, and at present there seems to be but

one way, in which these and other waste lands in the same part of

the State may be made permanently remunerative. They may be

made to produce forests of valuable timber and a product of this

sort, judging from the present demand, is likely to be worth many

times as much as thin crops of grain that might be gathered from

the soil during the entire period of its growth. From what has

been stated already it is evident that, however unpromising the

outlook may be for the growth of other vegetation, the plains are

capable of producing several valuable kinds of timber trees, while

the better lands around them have produced one of the finest

_ hatural forests that ever clothed the earth.

Over a large portion of this extensive region there is every

reason to believe that the policy now pursued in the State of

Maine, according to the forestry bulletins of the last census, of

cutting only the large trees and carefully protecting the re-

_ Mander,” would give at jntervals a very profitable growth of

: S pine and other timber, and it is to be earnestly hoped that before

many years such a system may be inaugurated in Michigan. It

ie Will require a radical change from the present wasteful method of

F — everything that can profitably be turned into lumber and

oe then leaving the ground to the destructive action cf fire, but it is

2 ird practicable when once both State and people have come

to realize its necessity and the profits to be derived from such a

256 “The Plains” of Michigan. be

system. Still, in order to attain the best results, by whichis

meant the greatest return of timber in the shortest time, it willbe

found necessary, over much of this territory, to resort to planting.

This is especially true of the plains where most of the species now l

growing cannot be expected to yield a timber product nearlyas

valuable as would be derived from the planting of other and better |

kinds of trees. As soon, therefore, as any serious attempt is made _

to rehabilitate the denuded pine regions of the State, it will be

necessary to know what species can be successfully grown there

that will, at the same time, produce most rapidly, and witha ‘

minimum of expense, the most profitable returns. At present

very few sources of information upon this important practical

part of the subject are avallable. With the exception of what has

been done on the grounds of the State Agricultural College #

Lansing, no provision has been made for determining by actual trial q

what species are most available for planting, and conclusions —

based upon the results of experiments there may prove entirely

misleading when applied to regions situated from one to two-

degrees farther north, with widely different conditions not only of

climate but also of soil. :

In carrying out a purpose to gather all the information now {0 |

be obtained on this subject, a visit was made by the writer, in he

summer of 1882, to the experimental plantations of Messrs:

Douglass & Sons; on the beach sands of Lake Michigan,

Waukegan, Ill. At this place the climatic conditions are deci¢

less favorable than those prevailing over a large part of the

peninsula of Michigan, the burning heat of summer and

severe cold of winter reach greater extremes, and the soil Is

the poorest quality, yet, under these most unfavorable condit

a young forest of valuable timber trees has been created

under the intelligent management of the proprietors, there ao

reason to expect most favorable results from the experiment.

The trees that have been planted most extensively are the while

pine, Scotch pine, European larch, hardy Catalpa and Au

pine. A few other kinds have been planted but without

factory results further than to prove that they are not adapted .

_ the situation. The Scotch and white pines have made ah

growth and, though in many cases when set out they ™

E take this opportunity to acknowledge the courtesy of Messrs. Douglass

and the information kindly given me while at their nurseries last summet.

1883.] “ The Plains” of Michigan. 257

“culls” unfit for sale, they are developing into fair-shaped, vigorous

trees. The European larch, though frequently blistered by the

intense heat reflected from the bare sands, when once started

makes a vigorous growth, and the Catalpa, which has been tried,

however, only two or three years, appears to be entirely hardy

and to make a rapid and healthy growth. The Austrian pine

often becomes diseased and is evidently inferior to either of the

other pines for planting in such a situation. These plantations

have been made only for the last eight years, but the results, thus

far, are in the highest degree encouraging.

Without attempting to draw conclusions that perhaps can be

fully established only after the continuance of such experiments

for a quarter of a century or more, it seems safe to gather the

following suggestions for our own guidance from the experiments

at Waukegan :

1. The species to be particularly recommended for cultivation

on the pine barrens of Michigan are the white pine, Scotch pine,

European larch and Western Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa). Every

one of these grows rapidly and produces excellent timber on land

of the most inferior quality and in regions exposed to great vicis-

situdes of temperature.

2. Many kinds of trees, otherwise valuable, will not thrive under `

these unfavorable conditions, and it will prove a waste of time and

money to plant them. The white ash and black walnut, for ex-

ample, two of our best timber trees, require a better soil; the black

cherry will grow, but, like the oak, will not attain full size on such

light sand, and still others, such as the Ailanthus, that has else-

where proven a useful species for cultivation, is not sufficiently

hardy for our higher latitudes.

Po To obtain satisfactory results, planting rather than sowing,

will have to be practiced. Sowing seeds on the burning sands and

leaving them to take care of themselves results only in failure.

Where the land is soft and can be marked readily by a wagon

track, to aid the planters in distributing the trees rapidly and

their planting can be undertaken at a minimum of expense.

4. The trees that have been recommended for cultivation grow

more rapidly and attain dimensions suitable for use sooner than is

generally understood. Specimens of white pine ten inches or a

eof in diameter, that have been planted only twenty-five years,

are not uncommon, and there are well authenticated instances of

een

irae

258 “The Plains” of Michigan. (March,

the Catalpa having made an average annual increase of an inch in

diameter, trees twenty-five years from planting having attained a

diameter of two feet. Still it is to be borne in mind that these are

cases of exceptionally vigorous growth, and at the best, the plant-

ing of trees must be considered a wise and liberal policy for the

future, and not a source of immediate gain.

The facts, then, appear to entirely justify the conclusion thatit

is altogether practicable to rehabilitate the denuded pine regions

of Michigan with valuable pine and other timber trees whenever

the owners of the land, whether individuals, railroad companies

or the State government, are ready to assume the responsibility

and expense of the undertaking.

It would seem that the initiative in this great enterprise should

be taken by the State. The traditional and distinctive spirit of our

National and State institutions favors such intelligent provision

for the future, and the example of such a State, in taking timely

measures to provide for the future timber supply and instituting

suitable experiments for determining the problems of practical

forestry that are so soon to be thrust upon us, is a matter of no

small moment. The experience of European governments, though

in many respects not applicable in our own country, has conclu-

_ sively established the desirability and necessity of a right position

on the part of the government relative to this importantinterest It

is only through the decided and persistent intervention of the gor

ernment of France that the fatal consequences of denuding

her mountain regions have been in a measure averted, and

practical operations of great magnitude and expense, which :

it is perfectly understood will require scores of years ©

their accomplishment, have been undertaken for the Pu

pose of reforesting the denuded regions referred to. In tE

same country an extensive territory along the coast has bee? oota

verted from drifting sands and unwholesome marshes into YA

uable forests, from which the government derives a considerad®

annual revenue, and a large population find their homes and nat

of living at the mills and other industrial establishments that zi

grown up there. Prussia is growing trees at a profit on exten

areas of sandy soil, described as being quite as worthless as that

of the pine barrens of Michigan, and the government of Norway,

with its extensive forests, from which the countries of the wy

World have so long drawn immense quantities of lumber, is al ;

purchasing land for the purpose of growing timber.

1883.] Organic Physics. 259

It is still to be seen whether any such providential measures

will be adopted by the State of Michigan, the State that at pres-

ent has more extensive lumber interests than any other in the

Union. Should the subject receive serious attention at the hands

of our legislators, there are two things that deserve special con-

sideration—First, the fact that it is possible now, at slight expense,

to retain under the direct control of the State, extensive areas of

land, valuable for the purposes of forestry, that, so far as can now

seen, are worthless for anything else ; second, the exact facts

that we must have in order to determine what to plant on the pine

barrens of this State will have to be ascertained by actual experimental

planting on those barrens,and the sooner such experiments are in-

stituted the sooner we may hope for the restoration, in part at

least, of the forest wealth of the State.

:0:

ORGANIC PHYSICS.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

(Continued from page 148.)

HE difference in character between different muscles becomes

here a matter of importance, since each muscle is thus

adapted to its special duty. In the striated voluntary muscles

only those fibers respond which are directly acted upon by nerve

energy. But their response is rapid and vigorous, so as to pro-

duce quick, energetic and localized motions. Inthe smooth mus-

cles of the intestinal canal irritation yields a less vigorous result.

But in them the energy is gradually communicated from fiber to

fiber, so that a progressive muscular action arises, yielding the

peculiar motion known as peristaltic. In the former case the

fibers are energetic, but are insulated. In the latter they are less

vigorous, but are in a degree uninsulated. In the muscles of the

heart both these conditions exist. Its muscles are of the striped

_ Variety, and are very energetic. They are also completely unin-

sulated, The fibers are destitute, or nearly so, of sarcolemma,

and inosculate with each other, so as to form an intricate fibrous

network, This seems the most effective of all muscular arrange-

R r vigoroùs action. There is not only quick, but general

a pouse to every nerve excitation, though brought by but a

sc fiber. A slight impulse brought to a single muscle fiber is

“mediately disseminated throughout the heart, causing general

260 Organic Physics.

and powerful contraction. The chemical action is explosive, as

in gunpowder touched by fire. It seems a special arrangement

for the production of energetic action from slight contact ir

fluence. :

There are other interesting features in this action of the heart

Each of its divisions is insulated from the others. The contrac-

tion of the auricles cannot be communicated to the ventricles,

since they have no nervous or muscular connection. Each acts

singly and successively. When the blood rushes from the vena

cava into the auricle the muscles of the latter are relaxed, and the

cavity readily receives the current. But the pressure of this it-

flowing blood affects the nerves in the walls of the cavity, quick

and powerful muscular contraction ensues, and the blood is driven

onward into the ventricle. The auricle, emptied of its blood and

relieved from pressure, immediately relaxes. At the same time

the ventricle similarly affected, contracts in like manner, and

drives the blood into the arteries. The ventricle relaxes as the

arteries contract, in response to a like influence. Thus by sut-

cessive contractions and relaxations, induced by pressure of the

blood current upon the nerve extremities, it is driven in successWè

pulses throughout the body.! hess:

The heart has no opportunity for the long intervals of repos

enjoyed by the remainder of the body. It, in company with the |

respiratory muscles, must be continually active. And yet it g

have its intervals of sleep, however brief they be. If repair cannot

accompany waste, it must have an opportunity to succeed T

The muscles of the heart have a sleeping and a waking ap

with every successive pulse. Contact with the blood current

awakes them to action, rapid oxidation takes place, and at the |

same time nutrient molecules may exude from theif blood

capillaries into the tissues. With the cessation of the blood pres-

sure the muscle cells sink again into repose, rapid nutrition -i

and ev

‘ee ert o

by a slight touch, thus showing the long continued sensitiveness of its MY”

1883.] Organic Physics. 261

place, while the products of previous oxidation are carried away,

and new oxygen stored up within the cells.

Such is the systole and diastole of the whole system. Life has

its instigating and governing agency in the contact of foreign

matter with nerve extremities, the consequent oxidation of muscle

tissue, and the resulting motor activity. It rests and repairs when

contact ceases, or the exhausted nerves grow irresponsive. With-

out contact there could be no life. The body of man is a delicate

instrument, played upon by the fingers of the universe, and re-

sponding in harmonious motions to the finest touch. But it must

have its intervals of rest, in which its relaxed strings can be keyed

up again to the concert pitch of active vitality. Could a sleeping

body be so situated that no influence, either physical or mental,

could act upon it, it could never waken. But it cannot be so

situated. In the deepest slumber fine touches of exterior matter

constantly seek the nerve extremities. In time the repaired

frame grows again responsive. Nowa touch calls a muscle into

action. Now an impression makes its way through the brain to

the mind. The heart, which had lost vitality through an excess

of oxidation, during the day, has regained it by an excess of

nutrition during the night. The blood current pours rapidly

through the body, the animal energies break into full play, and

the daily flow of the tide of life succeeds its nightly ebb.

Protoplasm, whenever so situated as to expose it to external

contact, displays the general results above considered. The pro-

toplasm of plants is as sensitive as that of animals, but ordinarily

IS Covered with a more impervious coating, which hinders the

communication of vibrations from cell to cell. It is also, prob-

ably, less freely permeated by oxygen. Yet leaves have general

motions which are instigated, in most cases at least, by external

contact. Many leaves move in response to the vibrations of

light, and many othersin response to touch. Possibly the seemingly

anite motions of climbing plants may be thus instigated. In

the meat-eating plants the contact influence is often conveyed to

Considerable distances, but these movements are usually deliberate,

as if the partial insulation of the cells hindered their progress. The

Motor energy is propagated most rapidly in the line of the long

_ meter of the cells, in which direction there are fewer interrup-

re to its

Movement. Many plant motions are known to be

to a peculiar action of elastic cell membranes, and a forcing

262 Organic Physics. [March,

out of previously absorbed water. This process, which is quite un-

like muscular action, it is not necessary to here describe. Itis —

sufficient to know that it results froma change in the character —

of the cell protoplasm, which is instigated by external irritation —

The final subject to be here examined is the chemical result of

this continued oxidation. Degraded organic products must be

continually formed. In the gland cells these take the character

of special secretions. In the muscles urea is a marked product.

But in all cells protoplasm must be reduced, and the most general

products of this reduction seem to be the fats, and possibly the

starches. Animal fat is doubtless partly derived from plants, but |

must also be largely of animal origin. In efforts to explain its

appearance most anatomists incline to the opinion that clear pro- —

toplasm contains invisible or dissolved fat, and that this fat sub —

sequently loses its solubility, and becomes visible as granules or

globules. Such is the opinion of Sachs, Kolliker, Rindfleisch

and others. But this does not explain its origin. It simply in-

dicates the fact that fat granules constantly appear, with no evident —

source. Rindfleisch declares that there is no question but that

this fat originates in the interior of the cells. Voit shows thet

fatand milk are formed from albuminous matters, and not from

non-nitrogenous principles. Beale describes “ milk as a dissolved

organ of the body, and not a simple filtration from the blood.

He elsewhere ascribes the fatty granules of the cell to death of the 3

protoplasm. Other authors might be quoted if necessary, but the

is an intimate mixture of albumen and fats, as some aut

ieve. l

In all active animal cells minute granules appear. If nutrition

be checked these increase in size, and plainly indicate their fatty

nature. In cases of fatty degeneration, or the production of HE

ordinary fat cells, the conversion of protoplasm into fat continue

Finally the nucleus disappears, and only a spherical mass of se

remains in the cells. The sebaceous glands are constantly ee

pied in excreting it from the body. Occasionally the milk glands :

act similarly. Their function is a sort of temporary fatty y

generation of tissue. :

ertain interesting experiments on starvation in plants a

1883.] Organic Physics. 263

animals, made by Dr. D. D. Cunningham of India, may be of in-

terest in this connection. He shows that the result of starvation

in fungoid plants is principally the conversion of protoplasm into

fats, it being ultimately all thus converted. Starvation in animals

causes a rapid increase of fat granules in the cells. These cells

eventually break up, and discharge their oil globules into the

blood serum. The change occurs with least rapidity in connective

tissue cells, and most rapidly in active epithelial and blood cells.

The protoplasm is converted into oil, at first granules, then glob-

ules. Then the cells disappear. Finally the intestinal epithelium

disappears, and nutrition becomes impossible.!

In old age, when nutrition decreases, fatty degeneration is very

frequent, This takes place most particularly in the non-vascular

tissues, But it may effect all the tissues of the body, and even

the walls of the blood vessels. Fatty metamorphosis always

Occurs in cases of disproportion between the means of nutrition

and the parenchyma to be nourished, and may arise either from

decrease of nutrition or increase of parenchyma. Whena part is,

from any cause, imperfectly nourished, fatty degeneration always

occurs.”

It would seem, then, as if this was one of the normal results of

animal activity. Oxygen incessantly attacks the tissues, reduces

their albuminoid molecules, yields animal energy, and leaves fat

as the general, and other substances as special, results of its

action. Whether the decline from the albuminoid to the fatty

Stage of chemical condition is made at a single step, or by several

__ Successive steps of oxidation, at each of which it may be arrested

by nutrition, is a question not easily settled. It is very certain,

however, that a synthetic phase of chemical action opposes, or

_ Succeeds, this analytic phase. The molecules have been reduced

chemically by oxidation. They are rebuilt by nutrition. But at

t stage of reduction the combination with nutrient molecules

takes place, whether at the fatty, or some earlier stage, is an open’

estion, So far as indications go it would appear that proto-

ae Plasm is directly converted by oxidation into a denitrogenized

oe compound, Oxidation seems to take away its nitrogen radical,

and nutrition to replace it.

*2€ processes of plant activity become of interest in this con-

1H. :

’ ope Journal of Microscopical Science, January, 1880.

Rindfleisch, Manual of Pathological Histology, p. 40.

264 Organic Physics. [March,

nection. Fats frequently appear in the plant cells, but starch,

which occurs in limited quantities in animal cells, is the most

abundant constituent of those of plants, and the mode of its

occurrence is specially interesting. Whatever be the true process

of carbon assimilation in the leaves, the fact that the starch pro-

duct makes its appearance in the interior of cells, and that there

is a chemical reduction of the cell protoplasm, is very important,

Starch is not directly produced by the union of carbon with some

sap molecule, but is apparently the result of some special cell

metamorphosis, and on the character of this metamorphosis much

light is thrown by Pringsheim’s late researches into the nature

and changes of chlorophyll.

The fact that assimilation takes place only in sunlight is pat-

ticularly interesting in its bearing on the preceding hypothesis.

We seein to have here a special case of contact influence. It is

known that plants respire oxygen day and ‘night. This oxygen

is mainly employed in the plant interior in yielding force in aid of

nutrition. But in the leaves it is otherwise employed, and here

we have distinctive waking and sleeping periods. In the dark the |

whole plant sleeps; nutrition alone goes on. In the light the

leaves awake ; tissue oxidation is setup. It would appear, then,

as if the contact or vibratory influence of the light rays was the

agency which set up this special oxidation of protoplasm.

Pringsheim has shown that if the light be very intense the i

oxidation grows so vigorous as to destroy the cells. If there be

no light there are no oxidation products. The admission of

light yields chlorophyll as its first resultant, this green coloring

matter henceforth acting as a protective screen to the cell against

the too vigorous action of the light rays. A somewhat later m :

duct is the readily oxidizable substance which he names hyp%

chlorin. oa

These changes are appearently preliminary to the assimilation

of carbon. The character of the subsequent changes is not Y d

evident. The respired oxygen apparently effects a reduction

the hypochlorin to a lower stage, and may possibly set

molecule having a vigorous affinity for carbon, sufficient tow

come its affinity for oxygen, and thus to decompose the pee :

acid molecule. However this be, one thing is certain: the 0

dation that takes place yields a quantity of free energy. +% a

light which instigates oxidation, also yields, perhaps as VO"

1883.] ! Organic Physics. 265

of the cell contents, a quantity of free energy. The energy thus

set free does not manifest itself as mass motion or as temperature.

It is undoubtedly consumed in the formation of the starch mole-

cules, and is one of the most important requisites to carbon

assimilation. Thus, though the leaves possess the conditions

which in animals result in motor activity, the energy set free by

the oxidation of their protoplasm is but slightly thus employed,

but is locked up in the starch product of assimilation.

In the economy of plant life starch and sugar (its soluble form)

are the contributions of the leaf to the growth of the tree. The

: most important contribution of the root is ammonia, or some re-

sultant nitrogen molecule. The result of the meeting of those two

contributions we can but conjecture. There may be something

analogous to animal nutrition, in which latter there is a degree of

evidence that a nitrogen and a denitrogenized radical unite to

form the albuminoid molecule. To this nutritive process ox-

idation is constantly necessary. The formation ofthe protoplasm

molecule cannot take place except motor energy is supplied, and

this energy is furnished by oxidation of some constituent of the

Sap current,

A rapid résumé of a portion of the argument here developed is

desirable. This is in relation to the successive periods of rest and

activity which affect all animal life, and which have been re-

cently traced in the life of each separate cell. Each cell has its

active and its resting periods. During activity changes rapidly

occur, and division takes place. This is always followed bya.

period of quiescence; in which, perhaps, nutritive assimilation re-

Places the active oxidation of the preceding period. We may

"e trace more fully the true relations of the sleeping to the

waking condition in animals. It is very probable that oxidation

of organic substance never ceases within the animal body; but

uS oxidation takes two distinct phases, which may be termed pri-

_ ‘Mary and secondary oxidation, the former being the reduction of.

Protoplasm, and requiring surface irritation, or its mental resultant,

for its active operation; the latter being the reduction of hydro-

carbons and other denitrogenized compounds, and acting under

other conditions,

Py is not used up in the body immediately upon its intro-

‘ere is some storage process by which it is laid away

“ntil required. It has been shown by the experiments of Petten-

266 Organic Physics. [ March,

koffer and Voit that the expired carbonic acid is no measure of

the oxygen simultaneously inspired. During the day the expired

carbonic acid is considerably in excess of that due to the oxygen

. inspired. During the night the opposite is the case, more oxygen

is breathed in than is expired. Thus a portion of the oxygen re-

ceived during sleep seems to be retained in the body, for use

during the waking period. It probably partly lies in the blood

corpuscles, but it must also be largely laid up in the muscles, from

their power of contraction long after removal from the body,

Perhaps it is stored in all the protoplasmic tissues.

These facts lead to definite views concerning organic action

Nutrition and oxidation constantly go on, yet each has its two dis-

tinct phases. The primary phase of oxidation is accompanied by

a secondary phase of nutrition. Protoplasm is oxidized and re-

duced. Part of the energy yielded is employed in the capture,

` mastication and digestion of food, its absorption and carriage by

the blood, and its storage in the tissues, or in the cells.

During the resting or nutritive period these operations cease

Primary nutrition comes into play, and is aided by secondary oxF

dation. The products of primary oxidation are again attacked by |

oxygen, and some of their molecules still further reduced. But

this chemical action yields an energy which aids others of their

molecules to combine with the stored nutrient molecules, to the

reproduction of protoplasm. This is the primary nutritive p%

cess. It isa process of double decomposition which is in lo

accordance with many inorganic chemical actions. There 8*

splitting asunder of one substance, whose sundered molecules

combine with two other attracting substances, to the formation

two new compounds. In this process only a portion of the yei

- gen received during sleep is employed. The remainder is or

up in the protoplasmic tissues, for use during the waking P&™

The true process of organic action may possibly be something

like the following: The activity of protoplasm arises from w

affinity of oxygen for its nitrogenized element. Oxygen p

ates the protoplasm, but its affinity is resisted until vibratio®, a

duced by some external irritation, aids its attractive energy: we

the nitrogen molecule is attacked, and nitrogenized waste f a

Urea is a constant product of muscle oxidation, and fe

all oxidation of protoplasm, The denitrogenized remnant of —

protoplasm remains in the cell. There are stored up, in © p

1883.] Indian Music. 267

with it nutrient molecules which possess nitrogen, but which need

some slight change in condition to give them vital activity. This

change is effected by the further decomposition of the denitrogen-

ized product of the previous oxidation. Acted on at once by the

affinities of oxygen and of nutriment, it breaks up into two new

molecules, one of which combines with oxygen, the other with

the nutrient molecule. The energy set free by the oxidation suf-

à fices for the purposes of the nutrition process, As a final result

we have protoplasm on the one hand, and degradation products,

of no further use to the body, on the other. Like urea—the ni-

trogen waste—this carbon waste is now removed from the body,

and the tissues are once more free and in condition for a repeti-

| tion of the active vital process.

. Such, or something not greatly unlike this, seems to be the or-

ganic Process. Life appears to result from the play of the affini-

| ties of oxygen for nitrogen and carbon. Combination of oxygen

with nitrogen compounds sets the wheels of life in motion, yield-

; ing energy which is free to produce organic motion. Combina-

tion with carbon compounds winds up again the clock of life, and

prepares for a new period of activity. But the affinity of oxygen

| for the organic molecules is resisted, and cannot take place effec-

tively except when assisted. Vibratory impulse, resulting from

external irritation, aids its affinity for the nitrogen molecule, and

induces the active state. Double chemical action aids its affinity

for the carbon molecule, which it can attack only by aiding in the

_Teformation of protoplasm. Possibly it may have slight powers

_ © attack when unassisted, but its vigorous action seems to require

these aids. And in this fact we have a possible solution of the

mystery of life, for it is to some such play of affinities that sensory

and Motor activities, and the production of new protoplasm, are

due, and in this sense organic life is a result of oxygen affinities.

“ry

INDIAN MUSIC.

BY EDWIN A. BARBER. |

TH Indian tribes of America possess to-day but a limited

* eee of the art of music, though the Chippewas are

pis ‘to have employed, to a limited extent, some years ago, a

_ “od of notation which was, at least, familiar to the medicine

men of the tribe, A manuscript, which the traveler Catlin pro-

268 | Indian Music. [March,

cured from the Indians themselves, is composed of pictorial de-

vices painted on birch-bark, and was produced on certain occa

sions to suggest to the mind of the performer the particular song

which it represented. It is stated that some of “The North

American Indians also use rude little pictures, rough writing we

may call it, to help them to remember songs and charms, Each

verse of a song is concentrated into a little picture, the sight of

which recalls the words to one who has once learned it. y ae

A picture of a circle, with a figure in the middle represents a

verse of a love song, and says to the initiated, ‘ Were she ona

distant island I could make her swim over.’ ”

The musical instruments of the savage tribes of North Amer-

ica, however, were, and still are, of the most primitive sort, com —

sisting of rattles made of wood, gourds, tortoise shells and the

hoofs of deer, of bone whistles and of square or cylindrical skin- |

covered drums. Some of the savages of South America made —

flutes of the bones of wild animals, some of wood carved in the

semblance of human heads, drums covered with the skin of mot- —

keys and nondescript instruments made of variously-colored sea

shells. One of the latter, which was exhibited at the last meet-

ing of the Congress of Americanistes in Madrid, in the summer of

1881, was made of two parallel rods held together by eighteen

shells, one end being ornamented with the jaw-bone of a man of

monkey. The Indians inhabiting the interior of British Guiana:

still use rattles to accompany. the music of the dance. In the

Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia are a number :

interesting things from that country, in the valuable collection s

the late Professor S. S. Haldeman. Several rattles are

matting with black and white decoration. A conjuror’s rattle

consists of a large gourd with feather embellishments, and å |

painted and ornamented drum is covered at one end with the SSP

of a jaguar, the drum sticks resembling long lead pencils < :

large balls attached at one end. .

It is necessary to look elsewhere for a higher development of the :

musical instinct in the Western continent. The ancient graves",

the California coast have yielded a numberof primitive flageolets®

bone, possessing, in some instances, four or five finger-h 7

which, doubtless, were capable of producing a variety of ogee

+The Dawn of History. Edited by C. F, Keary, M.A., of the British —

London, 1878, p. 186.

1883.] Indian Music. 269

In the cemeteries of Chiriqui, on the Isthmus of Panama, a large

number of these unpretentious instruments have also been found,

many of which have been elaborately molded from clay into rep-

resentations of birds and animals.

F —

nals in the Poi Mexican Wind Instruments: (clarionets and whi istles) — the origi-

nsett & Keating Collection, Academy of Natural Scienc

The ancient Mexicans used flutes, trumpets of sea shells and

270 Indian Musie. [March,

other wind instruments. Several of these, now deposited in pub-

lic museums, can be made to produce a series of notes in which

the fourth and seventh are omitted, and certain authors have,

therefore, reached the somewhat hasty conclusion that the Aztecs,

Peruvians and other American peoples employed a peculiar scale

of only five tones, to which they have given the name pentatonic,

Instruments of percussion figured prominently in the religious

ceremonies of the Aztecs, and the Auchued/, or huge drum, which

was covered with the skins of serpents, could be heard fora dis-

tance of several miles when sounded on the great temple of Mex-

ico. The Aztecs also made creditable wind instruments of clay.

In the excellent collection of Mexican antiquities gathered to-

gether by the Hon. J. R. Poinsett and Mr. W. H. Keating in

1830, and now deposited in the Academy of Natural Sciences at

Philadelphia, are a number of earthenware flageolets measuring

wb Yamin Instrument from Ometkepec.

from six to nine inches in length and ornamented with brown ®

red paint. The majority of these are furnished with four, =

some with five holes. There are also in the same coll

many small clay whistles, some of them being wrought ™

form of birds, serpents, heads of monsters and imaginary ie <

tures of unsurpassable ugliness, They emit, in most 7

clear, shrill sound when blown, though a few yield a pecul p :

noise like that made by the sudden escape of steam. yer

composed of two tubes placed side by side, and gives w

distinct sounds. / os u

Dr. Daniel G. Brinton has kindly furnished for this article!”

From a drawing furnished by Dr

1883. ] Indian Music. 271

drawing and description of a curious antique musical instrument,

somewhat resembling a turtle in form, which was procured from

the Island of Ometepec in the great lake of Nicaragua, by the

late Dr. Berendt, during his recent excavations in Central Amer-

ica. It was found in connection with a shoe-shaped burial urn,

with a quantity of roasted maize, is made of black clay, polished

and ornamented with incised lines on the upper side, and pos-

sesses four holes arranged in a square on the lower. It was in

all probability used by suspending it from the neck of the ancient

musician by means of the two rings which project from either

side near one end. When held in both hands, the lower part up-

ward, the four holes being covered with the fingers, a variety of

sounds can be produced by blowing into the neck or mouth. By

a certain manipulation, a number of simple airs may be played,

such, for instance, as the first part of “ Yankee Doodle,” and the

following melody :

SS eee

a SURO FAA PTE ART TASER ETS CYTE FR) De me" Nd S|

ans Eere a]

p É AU LARN,

This unique relic is the first of the kind found amongst the

remains of the old Nahuatl races which evinces any particular

advancement in the art of music.

_ The Peruvians seem to have reached the greatest musical pro-

ficiency of any of the American races, and were also somewhat

skilled in the mimetic arts. They were possessed of considerable

histrionic ability,and combining their national songs with the drama,

for the edification of their Incas, they produced rude operas, for

which the Principal actors were regularly educated. They made

trumpets of baked clay resembling our modern bugle in form and

which, possibly, were capable of being played in the same man-

ner. They also had an instrument called the huayra-puhura,

: “omewhat like the syrinx of the ancients, or Pandean pipes, which

consisted of a number of hollow reeds or canes of varying

lengths, fastened side by side, handled in the same manner as a

Mouth organ. One of these graceful instruments is preserved in

272 Indian Music. | [March,

the British Museum, and consists of a double row of pipes which

yield the following tones:

a) 2 ba ae

Z 2 8 2 eed

TS 8 = r] iiss

ANT prs p I

e eae ps g pr:

in which, it will be observed, the fourth and seventh are wanting;

but another example in the extensive Peruvian collection of H.

G. Clay, Esq., of Philadelphia, is made of four delicate reeds

attached to a necklace of wampum, which emit the notes:

——

ir. g AIER |

ye e

including the fourth, but omitting the seventh. Dr. Tschudi, in

his great work on Peru, figures a syrinx composed of eight

pipes, with a highly ornamented base and extra stops in the side.

Some of the modern Indians of Peru (the Qguichua and Aymara

use a musical instrument somewhat resembling a flageolet (gque )

with which they make most melancholy music. Their yaravis, o

tunes, are generally in the minor key, and when heard at a dis-

tance, or in the rarified atmosphere of the mountains in the

night, are exceedingly impressive. Another instrument (the

chirimia), a sort of clarionet, produces an even more melancholy |

music than the gguena and is generally played in concert of many |

instruments, while the latter is played in pairs. “The melodies

played by these Indians,” writes Sefi. Don Frederico Blume, -e

very peculiar and sentimental. It seems the performers are Wee?

ing over past glories. I was running the preliminary line for the

Arequipa R. R., in 1861, and stopped over night at Quishuarani —

a place (or rather the name of no place except a few huts a

tered here and there among fig trees) some leagues below the

village called Uchumayo, on the Arequipa or Chiri river. All at

once I started in the midst of my sleep, roused by a terrific SiN"

ing. After a considerable yelling which ended ina melanchoy

sigh, there followed a long yaravi, of course in the minor keys

and then came another long, loud exclamation and then at

distressing yaravi again, and so on during the entire night of

news had just arrived by horse from Arequipa that the brother

the wife of Lecaros (in whose hut we were staying) was

1883.] Indian Music. 273

The announcement came, it seems, unexpectedly, and the explo-

sion was that of a volcano of grief—terrible jets from time to

time, then a quiet interval, and then again a great outburst, and

soon. I have heard in Germany and elsewhere many master-

pieces of music, but nothing to be compared with this dramatic

and spontaneous opera. The exclamations were exclamations of

grief, of pain, and the more quiet intervals were recitals of the

whole life of the departed, by the sister, narrating how they had

grown up together as children, how they had played and some-

times quarreled, and so on through later periods to the moment

of receiving the news. His virtues and other qualities were

reviewed and then grief overcame the woman and she cried out

again, singing most distressfully:

“Thus I came to understand how their ‘ operas’ originated

and how natural a mode of expression they are.”

Mr. Blume also states that the musical compositions of Peru

may be classed under three heads: yaravis, catchuas and catchar-

parts, the two latter being used for dancing. “I saw at Totora,”

he writes me, “a grand procession at the funeral of a dead child.

They had it adorned and tied to a shingle like a crucifix, but not

with arms outstretched ; and an Indian, holding the child high

above his head in a vertical position, led the procession, which

danced to the music of a weird song, from one village to

another.”

This ceremony and the accompanying music were said to be

very ancient. In the north of Peru the Indians have an instru-

ment made of a flute and a bladder—a primitive bag-pipe—and

another, a sort of xylophone, made of a series of pieces of hard,

Sonorous wood

The historian Garcilasso quaintly writes of the ancient Peru-

vans: “In Musick they arrived to a certain harmony, in which

the Indians of Colla did more particularly excell, having been

the Inventors of a certain Pipe made of Canes glued together,

every one of which having a different Note of higher and lower,

in the manner of Organs, made a pleasing Musick by the disso-

DNF Ot sounds, the Treble, Tenor and Basse, exactly corre-

sponding and answering each to other; with these Pipes they

often plaid in consort, and made tolerable Musick, though they

Wanted the Quavers, Semiquavers, Aires, and many voices which

Perfect the Harmony amongst us. They had also other Pipes,

274 On the occurrence of Fossiliferous Strata in the (Match, ?

which were Flutes with four or five stops, like the Pipes of Shep —

herds; with these they played not in consort, but singly, and

tuned them to Sonnets, which they composed in meetre, the sub —

ject of which was love, and the Passions which arise from the

Favours or Displeasures of a Mistress. These Musicians were

Indians trained up in that art for divertisement of the Jncas, and

the Curacas, who were his Nobles, which, as rustical and bar-

barous as it was, it was not common, but acquired with great

Industry and Study.

“Every Song was set to its proper Tune; for two Songs of

different subjects could not correspond with the same Aire, by

reason that the Musick which the Gallant made on his Flute, was —

designed to express the satisfaction or discontent of his Mind,

which were not so intelligible perhaps by the words as by the

melancholy or chearfulness of the Tune which he plaid.” i

The Bureau of Ethnology at Washington is now making

preparations for the collection of data relating to the music and

musical instruments of the various peoples of the new world,

and many facts of an interesting nature will doubtless shortly be |

given to the scientific world in the hitherto comparatively untroè :

den field of native American music. i

ON THE OCCURRENCE OF FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA

IN THE LOWER PONENT (CATSKILL) GROUP

OF MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIA! |

BY E. W. CLAYPOLE. a

ipe Catskill group of New York has been hitherto e

palæontological desert in American geology. Though ™ e

time and labor have been spent upon it by different geologist

little, I may almost say nothing, has thus far rewarded oe :

abor. Here and there a few traces of life have been discov™ |

but these traces, faint and few as they were, have in many 1

stances ended in disappointment, and now forty years after co

establishment of the group by Professor Hall, the Cats

remains, even more than it was then, a great desert. The .

dant life-remains that continue in New York to the veiy A

the Chemung there cease altogether. The abounding wealth

the Lower Carboniferous, especially in the West, sets in aS?

1 Abstract of a paper read before the American ‘Association for the Advance

of Science at Montreal, in August, 1882.

1883.] Lower Ponent ( Catskill) Group of Middle Pennsylvania. 275

as the Catskill group is passed. But the Catskill group itself is

a lifeless waste forming a complete break in New York and

Pennsylvania between the Devonian and Carboniferous systems.

Not a species, I believe, is known on both sides of it. The life

of the Chemung in Pennsylvania died out and the life of the

Lower Carboniferous came in, but the two faunas are distinct.

All the Devonian groups are connected by numerous species

passing up from the lower to the higher, and often forming a high

percentage of their total contents. But at the top of the Che--

mung this passing upward ceases. Even the two or three species

of Testacea, formerly supposed to belong to the group, have

been removed from it by the reference of the beds in which they

lie to the Chemung or Portage.

It is worthy of notice that the equivalent beds in Great Britain

have shown an almost equal poverty of organic remains. The

Old Red Sandstone, or more properly speaking the Upper Old

Red Sandstone (for it is incorrect to speak of the American Cats-

kill as an equivalent of the whole of the Old Red Sandstone of

England and Scotland), was for many years regarded as a desert, a

and so remained until by the labors of Hugh Miller, Charles

Peach, Thomas Dick, Louis Agassiz and others, it was peopled

with a fauna of its own—a fish fauna—of immense size and

unique character. Sir Charles Lyell in his Elements says (p.

520): “For many years this formation was regarded as very

barren of organic remains, and such is undoubtedly its character

over very wide areas where calcareous matter is wanting, and

Where its color is determined by red oxide of iron.” Even now

the fauna of the Upper Old Red Sandstone is but scanty except

in fish and plants; the few Testacea from the beds at Kiltorcan in

Ireland, forming but a slight exception to the general rule.

In regard to the poverty of the American Catskill, Professor

all remarks in the Geology of N. York (4th district, p. 283):

“Thus far we know little of the fossils of the Old Red.”

_ And Mr. Vanuxem, speaking on the same subject says (Geol.

of 3d district, p. 188) :

aoe Sys which have been observed in this group, in this

and ates s A are but few in number, the group being very barren,

ennsylvania where the rock has considerable surface

na And great thickness” ;

leas : “Though shells and bones are rare in this group,

appear to be much more numerous, accumulations existing

276 On the occurrence of Fossiliferous Strata in the {Match

similar to those of the Ithaca and Chemung groups but in greater

number and frequency, and giving rise to thin seams of coal,

none of which, however, exceed a foot in length and breadth and

an inch in thickness.”

Professor H. D. Rogers (Geol. of Penna., Vol. 1, p. 108) says of

these same beds:

“This is a mass of very thick alternating red shales and gray

and red argillaceous sandstones. It has very few organic remains.

mong these is the Holoptychius and one or two other remarkable

fossil fishes of genera distinctive of the Old Red Sandstone.”

Professor Dana (Manual, 1874, p. 278) says: |

“ The rocks (Catskill) afford but few relics of life.” |

“ Among animals, no corals, crinoids, brachiopods or trilobites

are yet known. The coarse character of the beds accounts for

their absence. There are some lamellibranchs and a Euomphalus!

these with fragments of fishes make up about all that is ye

known respecting the fossil contents of the beds.”

Mr. S. A. Miller, in his catalogue of the American Palzeozoit

Fossils, gives the following members from the Catskill or its

- equivalent groups: |

a Plants

d a

. 7 species. Gastrupods , s.e «s sap» e «0 PEOR

Proti «“

SYOUSEY:, co es Mieco: N Serio: 3 cower o x

FODS, ani eair. Dos Lamellibranchs....++-2 S

era Tooo “ dend ON o p

vies E Nes - Crustaceans.....++ « M i i

Ne beset ree es os Fishes: sisie «1 ua .

Assuming for the OA the above list to be ae it gives :

a total of eleven species in the animal and vegetable <a :

recognized up to that date (1877) in the Catskill group.

A careful review of the above list of species with the n

corrections to date will make a few changes both of additi

subtraction.

In the first place if we consider the plants, we find the

ing list of species attributed by different writers to the

group:

Cyclopteris p eai Dn., Me., N. Y.

aris a Dn., N. Y.

vey tN Penna.

usa Lsqx., oo

aa rst Dn.

Sphenopteris laxa Hall, N. y,

Rachi 1 fp ta Dn. ye Ys

punctata Dn., N. Y,

Lepidodendron ays iia Dn., N. Y., Me.

Sigillaria simplicitas Van., N. Y

1 This statement appears to be erroneous so far as panier oom ee ‘pbe

? Atrypa inflata Con., given as a Sp species, is so entered by

longs to the Catskill shaly limesto

aid

“ec

1883.] Lower Ponent ( Catskill) Group of Middle Pennsylvania. 277

This is scarcely the place for a technical dissertation on the

identity or distinctness of the species here represented by the

names given above. But it may be briefly remarked that to C.

Jacksoni is attributed the specimen figured in the Geological Re-

port of the fourth district of N. York. It is also reported by Dr.

Dawson from Perry, Me. Of C. kallana the very existence is yet

in doubt. Mr. Lesquereux considers it a synonym of the pre-

ceding, while Dr. Dawson makes it distinct. Cyclopteris minor

and C. obtusa are the best known forms from the Pennsylvania

Red Sandstone. C. rogersi rests, so far as Pennsylvania is con-

cerned, on a doubtful fragment in the collection of Professor

Hall, and Sphenopteris laxa Hall, is a synonym for C. hallana

Goep., or C. jacksoni Dn. (if these are distinct). In this way we find

there are only three species of the six named above, concerning

which little doubt of their identity remains :

Cyclopteris jacksoni Dn. = Sphen. laxa Hall = ? C. hallara Goep.

i minor Lsqx.

obtusa Lsqx.

“

Add for the present to these, Rachiopteris pinnata Dn., and

Rachiopteris punctata Dn., figured in the Geology of New York

(3d dist, p. 191), and we have a total so far of five species re-

Ported from the Catskill group of Northeast America.

The Catskill Lepidodendron, of which a figure is given in the

Geology of the Third District of N. York (p. 191), belongs, as

sund as can be determined from the engraving, to L. gaspianum

| To these six species if we add the Sigi/aria simplicitas of Van-

: sia aces of 3d Dist. of N. Y., p. —), admitting it, to avoid

‘ discussion, to be a plant, we have a total of seven species in all of

Vegetable remains from that part of the Devonian which has been

considered to belong to the Catskill group.

| P see i the plants there are a few relics of Testacea reported

% Le this group, which we must notice. Two species only with

eh merous specimens have been assigned to it:

= Modiomorpha augustata Vanuxem.

(Cypricardites catskillensis,)

oe figured, but without description, in the Geology of the

thes istrict of N. York (p. 186). But as the beds in which

Y Were found have since been referred to the Chemung or even

298 On the occurrence of Fossiliferous Strata in the (Maré,

to a lower group, there is no need to consider them farther. Thy

must be cancelled from the Catskill fauna. ‘i

The only other fossils derived from any part of the Catskl if

group are fish remains, and these are the most important ofal

From N. York and Northern Pennsylvania have been reporte

‘two or perhaps three species identified chiefly by scales. Thy

ae Floloptychius americanus Leidy.

. Bothriolepis taylori Hall.

Sauripteris taylori Hall. |

The first of these species rests solely on scales, and perhap

teeth; the second on similar evidence, the third upon a fossil fit

It is, however, more than probable that the second and third be

long to the same species. In that case there are two well-matie!

forms of fish which compose the whole Catskill fauna of this

country. These fossils have a special importance from thè

that both in Europe and America they are the characteristic if

of the Upper Devonian. The various.“ fish beds” form the "E

plane of the Catskill group of rocks. According to present Knot:

edge all above the lowest bed containing Holoptychius is Casi

all below it is not Catskill. Here is a clear sharp line, at PI”

marking off the uppermost beds of the Devonian from all ben a

them—a floor, as it were, for the group. a

Five plants then are all the vegetable remains that have b

thus far reported on tolerably good evidence from the ~a

group, and even of this small number it is quite prope”

critical study will eliminate some. Two species of fish im

manner constitute the whole animal kingdom of the (©

rocks. ce

ft is right to add here that Professor J. F. Wana

Canadian Geological Survey has recently described some Pi

the Upper Devonian of Scaumenac bay, which may proi

of equivalent age to the Catskill of New York and ee

“ These fish-bearing beds,” he says, “ are immediately 0V%

e sandstones and conglomerates of the Bonaventure 10

of the Lower Carboniferous,”? Po

The following species have been mentioned by Mre

from these beds :

Pterichthys canadensis Glyptolepis mierolepidotit

Phaneropleuron curtum Cheirolepis canadenst

Eusthenopteron foordi. —

1\Canadian NaturalistVol, X, No. 2; also AMERICAN NATURALIST for Fe» :

1883. | Lower Ponent ( Catskill) Group of Middle Pennsylvania. 279

From the same beds Dr. J. W. Dawson has mentioned (Q. J. G.

S., May, 1881, p. 301) three species of ferns, viz:

Archeopteris magnacensis

a obtusa

Cyclopteris brownii.

Should these beds prove to be of Catskill age, the five species

of fish and two of the three ferns above named must be added to

the organic remains of the group.

Lastly I must mention that quite recently the well-known Irish

fern Cyclopteris or Archeopteris hibernica has been found and iden-

tified beyond doubt by Mr. Lesquereux from Susquehanna county,

Pennsylvania.

In the district now under consideration the upper part of the

Chemung group consists of greenish and yellowish shales, for the

most part unfossiliferous or very scantily fossiliferous. Beds of

red shale are occasionally met with but they are not thick. The

passage to the Catskill group is somewhat abrupt. Red shale

and brown sandstone suddenly form the mass of the rock, and

afford a clear lithological base for these uppermost Devonian beds.

€y are apparently unfossiliferous for about 200 feet.

Above this occur two remarkable beds of brown sandstone

charged with fish-scales. The lower of these two is about three

inches thick and consists almost entirely of a mass of fish remains,

chiefly scales, embedded in shaly sandstone rather harder than

the SVOI and underlying beds. The scales themselves are distinct

4 Be the rock but very difficult to extract on account of the crumb-

3 ling nature of thé stone. Their well-known impressions may be

_ “en and often obtained, and so far as yet determined consist of

ale wrinkled scale of Holoptychius americanus, and the pitted

‘Scales of Bothriolepis taylori.

a The upper bed lies about ten feet above the lower, is rather

PO but abounds to an equal degree with the same organic

_Temains,

These two beds—fish beds—afford us, so far as they extend, an

“isputable paleontological base for the Catskill group in Perry

ened : €se two species, as shown above, constitute nearly all

_ 1S yet known of the Catskill fauna, indeed it is scarcely too

_ uch to say that they may be regarded as the sole characteristic

- enor thee group in America!

: ue Holoptychius passes up into the Lower Carboniferous, but the spe-

SNS (wo systems are different,

280 On the occurrence of Fossiliferous Strata in the (Mad,

If, therefore, we assume these fish-beds as the life base, and the

commencement of the red shale as the mineral base of the Cats-

kill, the two are only about 200 feet from one another, and in the

immense thickness of the group in Perry county—about 600

feet—this difference is quite insignificant. We are then supplied

with a clear horizon to which we can refer all that is found abort

these limits. '

About 200 feet above the fish-beds occurs a thin bed filled witi

Spirifers of a species as yet undetermined but very much reset-

bling the Sf. mesastrialis of Hall. The specimens are as is usta

in the shale beds, much distorted, and consequently difficult ot

recognition. This bed is only a few inches in thickness, and the

200 feet intervening between it and the fish-beds is made up of

red shale with a few layers of yellow sandy shale.

About 300 feet of red and yellow shales and brown sandstone

follow, somewhere in which interval, though not yet detected along

the line of section, is a bed of red sandstone containing remains

of Brachiopods. This bed is indicated by abundant loose blocks

lying about on the surface of the ground. 2

The most remarkable bed in the whole section comes nes,

lying about 500 feet above the fish-beds. It is a bed of light y

low sandstone not more than ten or twelve feet thick where

posed. Most of it is unfossiliferous, but it contains one or

irregular lenticular layers which were once crammed with shel

and other organic remains. These have been entirely remo

solution, and there now remains a honeycombed mass 9

stone containing excellent casts of the relics formerly em?

there. The most abundant of these—and it occurs in i

is a lamellibranch shell closely resembling, if not identical

one described by Professor Hall in the Geol. of New t“

Cypricardia rhombea (Cypricardites rhombeus). ‘Another

abundant species in the same bed as closely resembles Cypr

contracta ( Cypricardites contractus) of the same author.

these occur in less abundance remains of other lamellibr

crinoids and gasteropods which have not yet been worked ot

extent of country, and forms wherever it occurs a very ©

secondary horizon to which other beds can be referred.

The ground is in part concealed for a short distance abo |

point but where visible shows the same succession of 1®

1883.] Lower Ponent ( Catskill) Group of Middle Pennsylvania. 281

and brown sandstone beds as already described. At about 300

feet higher—measuring at right angles to the bedding—occur two

other fish beds, small when compared with those already men-

tioned, but equally distinct. The largest of them is only about

half an inch in thickness, and the lower and smaller is a mere

flake. They both show, however, the scales of the same genera,

Holoptychius and Bothriolepis. These beds are useful as show-

ing that these characteristic forms of the Catskill continued to live,

and thus the beds already described, with their fossils, are hedged

in above and below by remains of whose geological date no doubt

Continuing above these second fish-beds, which are about two

t apart, we meet with a succession of beds of red shale and

brown sandstone with a few greenish shaly layers until nearly 150

feet above them come in two or three thin green shales and blue

limestone bands full of brachiopods and lamellibranchs of small

size and species not yet determined. Another fossiliferous bed

follows about twenty feet higher up. About 120 feet above this

na thin, soft, green shale full of a small Beyrichia and other fos-

sils, and the section ends a hundred feet higher with a massive

green sandstone containing a bed of vegetable remains almost

forming a thin seam of coal.

We have, therefore, here a mass of strata, some of which are

iliferous, extending nearly 1200 feet above the lowest Holop-

tychius bed, and nearly 1400 feet above the base of the red shale.

This mass equals about one-fourth of the total thickness of the

Catskill group inthe county. It is right to add here that through-

Out this paper the terms Catskill and Ponent are used synony-

mously. The latter is, however, in Pennsylvania, the more defi-

nite of the two. Professor Rogers included in it all the mass of

_ Ted sandstones and shales between the green Vergent (Chemung)

and the Vespertine (Pocono) sandstone. In that sense the terms

oh here, without prejudice of future and further con-

oe atever opinions may be entertained regarding the facts here

SEB they evidently guide us to one of the following conclu-

@. That the lower portion of the Ponent red sandstone‘and shale

: (Catskitt) is less barren of organic remains than has been sup-

=> OF,

282 On the occurrence of Fossiliferous Strata, etc. (Marh,

b. That Holoptychus and Bothriolepis are not exclusively Cats-

kill forms ;} or, l

c. That an immense mass of the Ponent group must be rè-

moved from its present position and relations. i

The fossils they contain belong apparently in part to the Che —

mung group below and the Lower Carboniferous group above.

Another part is seemingly peculiar. -

This is not the place to enter upon any discussion of the signif-

cance of the facts here presented. The following summary maj,

however, be useful and not without interest.

The Catskill group—that is, the rocks ying between pee

of the lowest bed containing Holoptychius and the Lower Car

boniferous or Vespertine conglomerate—have hitherto been known

to contain only the following fossils :

Plants REEE S E E ear Gastropods. sosoo ota topea seve

POU eg ou a sie oc o Cephalopods .. i nt

ROR enses PE E P E O EN o Tanelin RET Ne son

a ANE A stad o Annelids :.z. e. -cse A

EDOR TI Sis S BR res o Crustaceans ..... ed

inches SEENE ere eae o Esus diseka 2 zot 3

The beds here described of indisputable Catskill age supply

following results :

Plants Gastropods. ... ..+++* preset

Protista o Ce phalo opods NE of

Polyps.. i oe sess present * Lamellibranchs . .. -ese PERE

nas Sala nin a even pmesent T Annelids .....se2 2208" ? ot

Vee hae ane = Crustaceans Se

BRADA EUD 3 Fishes s.. e ji T

petap the eases of Cephalopods wid Ankaii remain u

sented in the Catskill group.

1. Polyps are oT by the genus NEN

2. Echin “« ~~ Crinoidal remain:

3- Siathiite: “ i the genera Spirifera, dingslt and Rhy

4. Gasteropods «© « the mma Pleurotomaria, &c.

5. Lamellibranchs“ n Cypricardites, &c.

6. Crustaceans * “ " Beyrichia.

1 See Proc. Am, Phil. Soc., 1883, “On the occurrence of Folopiycbius

base of the Catskill.” E. W, Claypole, :

1883.] Pitcher Plants. 233

PITCHER PLANTS.

BY JOSEPH F. JAMES. |

j lisek are two widely separated orders of plants known by

the common name of pitcher plants, and they are perhaps, as

widely separated in a natural classification as they are in their

habitats. While one order is placed near the poppies and isa .

native of America, the other is allied to the birthworts or the

Aristolochias, and lives in the swamps of Southeastern Asia, and

the islands of the Malay archipelago. The first of these orders is

known scientifically as Sarraceniaceze, and includes but three

‘genera; the other is Nepenthacez, with but one genus. Both of

_ them are more or less familiar to persons interested in plants, and

~ the latter always attracts attention by the peculiar appendage, like

= abird’s nest to the eyes of some, which is suspended from the

tip of the leaf. It is to the first of these orders, the members of

which are, with a solitary exception, natives of the United States,

that this paper is devoted.

The genus Sarracenia, named in honor of Dr. Sarrazin, of

Quebec, who first sent the plant and an account of it to Europe,

comprises eight species, all but one of them being confined to the

outhern States of our country. The one with the widest dis-

= tribution, the well-known side-saddle flower, extends from near

Florida, through the Atlantic Coast States to New England, and

thence westward along the northern boundary of the country and

in Canada, into British America. It lives in the cold swamps and

bogs of the North, and its peculiar leaves and flowers have always

been remarked by those who have collected or have seen them.

inside of the hood of the leaf is covered with a closely set

_ Mass of hairs, in all cases pointing downwards into the tube. In

Astate of nature these aptly named pitchers are often half filled

9 Water; and the water is generally so crowded with insects,

ngor dead, and decaying, that the air in a swamp where

numbers of the plants are growing is very offensive.

< At the junction of the hood to the main portion of the leaf, the

aes end abruptly, and the inside becomes very smooth and

se This continues to about the middle of the pitcher,

the another set of hairs is met with, this time not so stiff as at

a top, but all of them still pointing downward toward the

284 Pitcher Plants. (March, }

This peculiar arrangement of a set of hairs at the apex of the

leaf, ofa smooth portion near the middle, and another set of hairs

near the base, obviously serves some use in the economy of the

plant. When the young leaves first open, there is no water found

in them, but'as they are so open and, exposed to all rains and

storms, they readily become partially filled with water. Now

this soon becomes a mass of decayed animal matter. Insects fy,

or fall into the tube, and once in, there is no egress. The fringe |

of hairs at the base hinders their walking, and even if this be sur

mounted, and the smooth stretch passed, the hairson the hood, a ,

veritable chevauz-de-frize, stops his onward and upward progres

He loses his foot-hold among the many hairs and falls hope

lessly back to the bottom, to be eventually either drowned of

starved. z

It has often been a matter of surprise to see the number of it-

sects in these pitchers, and it is more notably so because ber

seems to be so little to take them there; so little to induce then

to tumble into the trap spread for them. But in thinking the

matter over and taking into consideration one or two Cum :

coincidences, it has occurred to me that this may be explained &

follows: The flower is of a peculiar structure, is nodding sid

naked scape, and the stamens with their mass of pollen are oe

cealed behind the broad, peltate stigma, which forms, in facta sot

of reversed table, An observer, Mr. J. Jackson, Jr., has Te}

(Bot. Gaz. vi, p. 242) that in examining a number of ja

has found the cavity between the inner surface of the stigu |

the stamens, to be filled with flies, apparently eating the pa

Fourteen flies were counted on one flower, and were, ane

“in no hurry to vacate the premises.” The suggestion o

ing 1 T

y any means, and then imagine a smart wind shaking

vigorously, would not the tendency be to shake the flies iro? ei

hold, partially stupefied as they are? They would drop © A

ground, or else into the pitchers opened below them. T

their turn are admirably adapted to catch falling insects, fOr ;

hood is upright, and the cavity of the leaf fully i a

leaves too are spread out in a sort of rosette, quite close sees

and all so inclined as to bring the openirtg in the most fà

EEVEE

a IN if

1883.] Pitcher Plants. 285

position to catch any falling object. What then is to prevent the

leaf from securing its prey? And should it be so, it would be

strange to find the flower used asa lure to bring food to the plant.

` Ttis said that a slight secretion has been detected about the

orifice of the pitcher of this species, but Dr. Gray considers it to

possess but little efficiency in securing the multitudes of flies some-

times found in the pitchers. The suggestion here made is, I

think, worthy of consideration, and will not appear so very im-

probable when we come to other facts in relation to our subject.

Turning now to another species let us see what other facts can

be learned, and see, too, what bearing they may have on the facts

ascertained in regard to Sarracenia purpurea. The- Sarracenia

flava is a Southern species, extending from Virginia to Florida,

and inhabiting the same swampy places which are the favorites

with S. purpurea, The flava differs ina marked manner from the

purpurea, The pitchers are much taller, stand more upright, and

the lobe at the top is wider and more spreading. The inner sur-

face of the hood has much smaller hairs, so small that it might

be called a fine pubescence. But a still greater difference is found

inthe fact that there is a saccharine secretion found on the inner

Side of the hood, just above the junction of the lid with the rim.

But there is something in regard to this secretion which is quite

interesting. It has been stated by some observers, and it is

thought with truth, that the secretion possesses intoxicating or

stupefying qualities. As the insect feeds upon the matter it be-

comes dizzy, loses its hold on the surface of the hood, and falls

to the bottom of the tube. Dr. Gray says in regard to this

Secretion at the orifice of the pitcher (Am. Four. Sci. and Arts, ser.

MU, vol. 6; p. 149-50) that “ This made its appearance at first in the

' of minute drops, distinctly visible only under a lens; at length

it forms flattened drops and even patches, distinctly sweetish to

the taste and viscid to the touch.” Mr. Brady, who observed the

: oe in North Carolina, says in regard to some pitchers of this

_ “Pecies, “These, brought into the house, and kept fresh by the

immersion of the base in water, showed the saccharine secretion

4 most abundantly about a quarter of an inch above the junction of

- ap lid with the rim, * * * * Many flies settled on the lids,

and feasted on the saccharine narcotic. Evident signs of intoxi-

n Were manifested in each case, by their breaking loose re-

pea before tumbling into the gulfs.” (Am. Four., ibid, p.

286 Pitcher Plants. [March,

It is well known, as has been already noted, that the insects

found in the leaves of the S. purpurea, meet their death by drown-

ing, but with the S. flava the case is different. In regard to this

Dr. Gray says (Am. F., ibid, p. 149-50): “That the insects which

abundantly fall or find their way into Sarracenia pitchers do nt

generally escape, but die and decompose there, is obvious. That

more commonly they do not perish by drowning in $. flamis

equally clear. While all the lower and gradually attenuated pat

of the tube is filled with dead flies in our plants growing inthe

house, there is only a little moisture at the very bottom. UI

would hardly think that the fine and sharp-deflexed bristles, which

line the lower half of the tube only in S. fava, would greatly

impede the return of a fly, they lie so closely against the wall of

the tube. But I find that a house-fly, either large or small, whe

thrown into this lower part of the tube, is quite unable to get out,

and there it perishes. Probably the advantage derived by te

plant is equally secured, whether their prey decomposes 1n%

moist air of the cavity or in the water in which they are often

immersed.” ae

This water, which is in the lower portion of the tube of S. flat |

is also a secretion of the plants, for Dr. Gray and Mr. tam i

found that “it distils in drops from the inner surface of the yours

pitcher, before the orifice is open.” (Ibid, p. 149). The pe

becomes afterward greatly increased by the rain which falls wit

out difficulty into it. Se

There is, in a third species, this same sort of a secretion,

apparently the same stupefying effects, This is the 3%%

drummondii; it has upright leaves which sometimes grow

three feet in length, and they are peculiarly mottled with a

spots. The hood has much larger and more conspicuous

than in the former species, and it is on this hood that ther

tion is formed. Dr. Chapman, in writing to Mr. Canby, ™

“On the inside of the hood, above its junction with th

there is a very faintly sweetish secretion scarcely Pf

ble to the taste, which is very attractive to insects; ®

I do not detect any of this within the tube, I wonder

it happens that so Many insects are entrapped, since

could easily fly away from the open hood” (Am. Jor.

p. 468). Here again the stupefying qualities of this se™

manifested, for it is after the insects have partaken of it that :

are unable to fly away, and so fall into the trap.

1883.] Pitcher Plants. 287

Is there not good reason then for the theory I have advanced

in regard to some stupefying matter in the flowers of S. purpu-

rea? If the secretions of two species have poisonous properties,

why should not that of a third have the same power? especially

when it probably serves the same end in the economy of the plant,

namely, that of providing insect food for it.

We come now to another species of the curious genus, the facts

in regard to which are still more wonderful than those already

given. This species is the Sarracenia variolaris, an inhabitant of

the “damp pine lands,” flourishing best on the edges of “ pine-

barren ponds” of Carolina and other Southern States. Tt differs

in a marked manner from the other species noticed, inasmuch as

the hood, instead of standing upright and leaving the orifice of

the pitcher exposed, is bent over and shuts out most effectually

any rain that may happen to fall. According to an excellent ob-

server Dr. Mellichamp, of South Carolina (Pro. A. A. Adv. Sci.,

vol. 23, 1874), the leaf may be divided into three portions:

“First, the inner surface of the hood or upper lid, marked cn the

posterior portion by white translucent spots and purple recticula-

tions, which last extend forward and upward, and again downward

on each side of the rim, for [supposing the leaf to be a foot long]

a halfan inch, or sometimes an inch.” This embraces the internal

honey-bearing portion. “Immediately below this, and extending

for the space of three inches, there is an exquisitely soft and vel-

vety pubescence, which under the glass is seen to be composed

of very fine and thickly disposed retrorse hairs. This may be

termed the second belt, and is so smooth as to afford no foothold

for most insects. Below this again, the eye may detect a deeper

Colored pubescence, of a pale yellow or straw color, still smooth,

s composed of coarse hairs, which became longer and more

bristly as the tube narrows. At the base of this tube a watery

fluid is secreted, into which insects are precipitated. This is the

o third belt and about five inches in length.”

SS Examination of numbers of the young leaves, into which it

Was possible for the rain to have found its way, revealed the

o fact that almost invariably there was some liquid to be found.

iS Was sometimes but a féw drops and at others as much as a

Srachm or even more. Experiments with this fluid brought to

ty * Some interesting facts. By great care, the experimenter col-

Scted about a half ounce of the liquid and experimented chiefly

288 Pitcher Plants. (March,

with house flies. I give the results in his own words: “ About

a half drachm to a drachm of the liquid was placed in a small re —

ceptacle, and the flies thrown in from time to time, the liquor not

being deep enough to immerse them completely, but enabling —

them to walk about in it without the risk of being drowned. Per

haps twenty flies were experimented with. At first the fly makes _

an effort to escape, though apparently he never uses his wingsin

doing so; the fluid though not very tenacious, seems quickly to

saturate them, and so clings to them and clogs them as to render

flight impossible. A fly when thrown into pure water is very apt

to escape, as the fluid will ‘run’ from its wings, but none of these

escape from the bath of the Sarracenia secretions. In their efforts

to escape, they soon get unsteady in their movements, and tum :

ble, sometimes, on their backs; recovering, they make more at

tive and frantic efforts, but very quickly stupor seems to overtake

them, and they turn on their sides, either dead (as I at first sup-

posed) or in profound anesthesia. |

“I had no doubt from the complete cessation of motion, and

from their soaked and saturated condition, that they were ceai |

and like dead men they were‘ laid out,’ from time to time, as they |

succumbed to the powerful liquor ; but to my great surprise, afte

a longer or shorter interval, from a half hour to an hour of ms

they indicated signs of returning life, by slight motions of thè

legs and body. Their recovery was very gradual, and eventually, 4

when they crawled away, they seemed badly crippled and g

by their Circean bath. After contact with the liquid, the fies fis

thrown in became still, seemingly dead, in about a half nia

but whether from exposure to the air or exhausted by action 0

these insects, the liquor did not seem to be so intoxicating 4

those last exposed to its influence. Anæsthesia or intoxic® —

did not occur so quickly; it took from three to five minutes g

erally, and in one rebellious ‘subject’ it was at least ten M

before he received his coup de grâce. A cockroach thrown IP?

cumbed almost immediately, as did also a small moth, pr

more slowly a common house-spider. On the recovery 0

latter it was almost painful to witness his unsteady ™”

Without doubt, therefore, the secretion found in the tubes of ;

racenia variolaris is intoxicating, or narcotic, or anæsthetic, 0f

whatever word we may prefer to indicate that condition ta mii

these small insects succumb.”

1883.] Pitcher Plants. 289

To still further test the qualities of this fluid, Dr. Mellichamp

placed bits of venison in some of the Sarracenia secretion and

some in pure water, and he found that in the former at the end of

fifteen hours the meat was much more decomposed and gave out

amuch more offensive odor than in the latter; thus proving that

the secretion possessed powers of decomposition.

Turning his attention then to the secretion on the hood of the

pitchers, the observer found that it was best developed in warm

weather, covering from a half to an inch of the surface. But he

also found, what has not been found on any of the other species,

“a continuation of the sugary exudation * * * glistening and

somewhat viscid along the whole border or edging of the ‘wing’

—extending from the cleft in the lower lip even to the ground.

There is, therefore, a honey-baited pathway leading directly from

the ground itself up to the mouth, where it extends on each side

as far as the ‘commissures’ of the lips, from which it. runs within

and downward, as before stated, for at least half an inch.”

This exudation is not, it must be understood, an exceptional

thing, but it is invariably found on leaves which are sufficiently

mature and favorably placed in regard to the sunlight and

moisture. And as showing the extensive use of this baited path-

Way, it is stated that ants, those prowling insects ever on the

search for prey, are most frequently to be found in the pitchers.

Further, it should be stated that this honey pathway does not

seem at all to possess the anesthetic qualities of the secretion at

the bottom of the tube, but it simply acts as a lure. The flies

would eat along the pathway and then enter the tube, either along

the inner face of the hood or at the lower side. “ After entering

(which they usually do with great caution and circumspection

appearently), they begin again to feed, but their foothold for some

reason or other seems insecure, and they occasionally slip * * *

upon this exquisitely soft and velvety ‘declining pubescence.

> * I have seen them,” he continues, “regain their foot-

hold after slipping, and continue to sip, but always moving slowly,

and with appearent caution, as if aware that they were treading

on wangerous ground.” When attempting to fly they either strike

against the hood, or. the sides of the tube and keep falling lower

and lower until they reach the liquid at the bottom where they

“come asphyxiated and at last take the form of the liquid manure

which is utilized by the plant. Other experiments seem to show

290 Pitcher Plants. [March,

conclusively that the honey of the lure possesses no intoxicating

qualities, and that it is owing to the peculiar pubescence on the

inside of the tube which prevents the insect from making its way

out by crawling. l

For instance, some of the tubes were split open their whole —

length and smeared with the honey. Then they were placed flat

on the table, and a fly which had been smeared with the secretion

so it could not fly, was placed upon the pubescent part of the

tube. Mark the result: “The fly immediately made an effort to

advance, but to my great surprise its most vigorous and persistent

efforts availed nothing, as it slowly but steadily retrograded tothe —

lower extremity of the tube! The experiment was repeated fre |

quently, but always with the same result. It was as ifa boat with

insufficient propulsive power were steadily drifted back by a strong |

tide, only in this instance the tide seemed to be the polished 4

retrorse hairs, made still more slippery by the fluid, with which 1

also the insect was covered.” :

But while the large majority of the insects which are found in |

the pitchers of S. variolaris are there to die, there are two, a moth

and a fly which live there almost altcgether. These have some

peculiar modification of the hairs on the legs which enable them —

to surmount the peculiarly pubescent surface. These insects aft —

of course, there only for the purpose of rearing their young, for 2

they deposit their eggs, and the larvz of one feeds on the deca a

matter in the pitcher, and of the other upon the tissues of the leaf

itself. aa

We have seen in the contrivances of these four species of Sarra- s

cenia a great diversity in order to secure the same end. That end 4

will be evident with but little consideration. It must be for thè

nutriment of the plant insome way. When we study the veal .

fly-trap, or the sun dew, we know that there is some pes

derived from the insect prey they capture. When we see the many

marvelous contrivances in the flowers of the orchids, machi

arranged for the sole purpose of producing seed, we do not!

moment consider it chance, but know there is an adaptati r

means to an end. And so, when we find in the pitchers of

species of this genus, such obvious traps for insects, we ma

assured that they are for some use, They can only be to

transmitted through the cells at the base of the leaf, or else Wy

1883. ] Pitcher Plants. 291

some absorbent glands, which takes the matter directly into the

tissues of the plant. The probabilities are in favor of the former,

or while large tubular cells have been noticed passing down

through the base of the petiole into the root (Pro. A. A. A. S., vol.

23, 1874, Nat. Hist., p. 25), there have not been found, I believe,

any absorbent glands on the interior surface of the leaf. It is very

likely, as has been suggested, that as we find the leaves of Dioncea

become less sensitive after a time, and cease to absorb matter, so the

leaves of Sarracenia contain much more decaying matter than

suffices for their use. This is made use of by various insects, for

larvae of different kinds are found in old pitchers, especially those

of the S. purpurea. And birds are known to split open many of

the pitchers and devour the insects inclosed, Finally, as Dr.

Hooker says (Address before Brit. A. A. S., 1874, Nature, vol. x,

P. 370), “ the pitchers decay, and part, at any rate, of their contents

must supply some nutriment to the plant by fertilizing the ground

in which it grows.”

Taking leave now of the genus Sarracenia, let us turn to another

genus of the same family, the Darlingtonia, of a still more curious

structure. This plant inhabits the bogs of California at an eleva-

tion of from 6000 to 7000 feet, and is limited to a very few localities.

It was discovered as long ago ago as 1842, but it is so scarce and

so few people have had an opportunity of observing it in a state

of nature, that we know comparatively little about its structure .

and habits. What we do know is due to the observations of Mr.

J: G. Lemmon and Mrs. R. M. Austin, of California, and to Mr.

Canby, who has published an account of the plant. The tubular

leaf 's quite long, stands nearly upright, and has a peculiar twist,

which no other species has.. The hood, instead of being open as

a S. Purpurea, or simply covering the opening, is a vaulted arch,

Projecting over so far that the only entrance to the tube, in the

largest leaves about an inch in diameter, is immediately beneath.

In Font of this opening are two very peculiar appendages, spread-

ug out On each side, and likened to a fish-tail or a butterfly’s

wing; The top of the arch and the upper part of the tube is

ia 1n a peculiar manner with white spots.

| a plant, like the others, secretes a sugary matter on the inside

- Aga Peculiar projections, which are also covered with bristles.

the Mis Sugary secretion, as in the S. variolaris, extends from

one orifice, down the wing to the ground. The insects which are

292 Pitcher Plants. [March .

principally found in these.tubes are flyers, moths, etc., and in at

tracting these the peculiar fish-like projections are doubtless of

great use. Besides being conspicuous from their size, they are

brightly colored and peculiarly mottled. The moth, attracted by

the conspicuous appendages, alights and feeds on the honey. En

tering the tube, as it is almost sure to do, and afterward attempt

ing to escape, it is prevented by the over-arching hood and falls

into the tube. Here it finds the same sort of hairs described in

Sarracenia, and is wedged deeper and deeper into the tube, to be

finally drowned in the fluid secreted at the bottom. The peculiar

twist is probably to wedge the insect more firmly into the tube,

and make it more impossible than ever for it to find its way tothe

top. The peculiar white spots on the arch, and at the back,

are supposed to be for the purpose of misleading the insect

The sun-light striking through them would make it appear a more ;

conspicuous opening than the real one below, and by striking theit

heads against these simulated skylights they would be more likely

to be knocked into the tube. :

The flowers are solitary at the top of a bracted scape, of the

color of the flap of the pitcher, and the organs are arranged it

such a manner as to entirely prevent it being fertilized except by

the aid of insects. Dr. Hooker, in speaking of these flowers, 1

marks that he was struck “with a remarkable analogy betwee?

. the arrangement and coloring of the parts of the leaf and of the ;

flower. The petals are of the same color as the flap of the pitches ,

and between each pair of petals is a hole (formed by 4 notch

the opposed margins of each), leading to the stamens and shee :

Turning to the pitcher, the relation of its flap to its entrance 8

somewhat similar. Now, we know that colored petals are SF

cially attractive organs, and that the object of their color is ®

bring insects to feed on the pollen or nectar, and in this ar ;

means of the hole to fertilize the flower; and that the object f

the flap and its sugar is also to attract insects, but witha very ™

entresult, cannot be doubted. Itis hence conceivable thatthis pii

lures insects to its flowers for one object, and feeds them Wi 1

uses them to fertilize itself, and that, this accomplished, S90" Pe

its benefactors are thereafter lured to its pitchers for the sak

feeding itself!” (Nature, vol. x., 1874, p. 370). o

Who can deny now that we have not to deal here with ee da

ous order of plants? Every member of it has some Pe" =

1883. ] Editors’ Table. 293

feature, and the means used to accomplish the same end is a

striking instance of the diversity in nature. While in one species

it is a poisonous honey which intoxicates the insect and causes it

to fall into the tube; in another it is, perhaps, a poisonous secre-

tion of the flower, which answers the same purpose; ina third, it

is a baited pathway which lures the insect to destruction and a

stupefying liquid which decomposes the bodies of the same ; and

ina fourth, it is the simulation of the wings of an insect, as wellas

honey and a baited pathway which attracts the prey. What

doubt can there be, but that all these contrivances subserve the

same end? And when, too, we consider the curious relation

between the flower and the leaf in Darlingtonia, and the very

different shape of the flower in Sarracenia, we see there must be

still other facts to be discovered. Such an abnormal stigma as is

possessed by the Sarracenia can not but be of some use. With

its broad, flat table like expansion, most effectually concealing the

stamens behind it, it is utterly incapable of self fertilization.

There must be some relation between it and the leaves, but what

this is, is at present a mystery. Then to trace the evolution of

the leaves from the normal shape to the present peculiar one,

would be of interest, but space forbids, and leaving this matter for

some future time we take leave of this fascinating subject.

EDITORS TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE.

—— Owing to the almost isolated position of the United States

as a nation, there is less stimulus to the development of a senti-

ment of nationality here than in the case of the European nations.

Emulation and rivalry have had a great deal to do with progress

in Europe. It has been asserted that the absence of such compe-

tition on this continent will work to the injury of the advance-

ment of the United States, in matters intellectual at least. It is

true that the character of our institutions is such as to stimulate the

energetic prosecution of enterprises in all directions ; but success

here will only meet with financial rewards, unless there be some senti-

ment of national pride in the results of intellectual success, ite

is not directly connected with the making of money. For

Successful discoverer in the field of pure science, Europe E

greater rewards than America.

294 Editors’ Table, [March,

The recognition of work of merit, judged from the intellectual

standpoint, must however begin with the votaries of such pursuits,

for the general public cannot be expected of themselves to appre-

ciate the situation. And here it is that American scientists are

largely behind their European colleagues. It is true that our

transatlantic friends are often, either through neglect or design, —

unjust in their preferences in giving credit to their own men, where

it is due to those of other nations. But where but in America do wè

see the situation reversed, and credit given to foreigners when itis

due to American brains and American thought? This is not now —

so much the case. as it was formerly, but a serious defect still

exists. American writers in the field of biology at least (wedo |

not know how it is in the other departments), are by no means up —

leagues and countrymen with their work. The perusal of a Get

man monograph is rendered doubly pleasing, from the constant

the literature of the subject. The same feature is usual in @

works by first-class European authors. A

pee It of social

greater number of scientists necessarily produced =

sonal intercourse ; and also from the sentiment of nationality ee

leads every one to desire to bring to light the best products

his country to the view of others. spe

—— The question of the “origin of the fittest” 1

more attention in Europe than it did during the purely 1%

period. We had occasion in the April, 1882, number of the

ALIST to refer to the remarks of Professor DuBois Raym

his lecture on Exercise, in which he traced the origin 0!

nates structures on the basis of antecedent organizati

: Py paper read before the Science Society of Kings’ College, Londoh 7

1883. ] Editors’ Table. 295

Professor Grant Allen, in his book on the Colors of Flowers,

in the Nature series, goes behind the law of natural selection in

the following words:1 “ Not only can we say why such a color,

once happening to appear, has been favored in the struggle for

existence, but why that color should ever make its appearance in

e first place, which is a condition precedent to its being favored

or selected at all.” * * . “ May we not say that it ought always

to be the object of naturalists in this manner to show not only

why such and such a spontaneous variation should have been

favored wherever it occurred, but also to show why and how it

could ever have occurred at all ?”

As if to contribute to this view of evolution, Dr. Hubrecht, of

Leyden, endeavors to show in a recent lecture, published in Wa-

ture, the importance of Acceleration as a factor in the development

of organic forms.

—— The best advice to the biologist of the present day is

that he should work as though time were eternity. The

best work in art or literature is done by those who have a

genius for patient, careful, thoughtful labor, expended on methods

and minor details as well as in elaborating the central idea before

them. The motto of the biologist should be Festina lente, and the

charge on the field of his shield should be a turtle. Undoubtedly

e Germans, whether botanists or zodlogists, are at the head of

the world’s workers in biological science. This is not so much

because of their superior talent or genius, but because of their lack

of nervousness and impulsiveness, which induces an admirable

patience and a commendable slowness and calmness, and yet well

if not quite, gained a place beside mathematical and allied studies

_ 48 an exact science.

1 Page 119.

296 Recent Literature. [March

RECENT LITERATURE.

Inpiana. Georocy and Natura History.'—The report of

in the above locality since its discovery in 1860, and descriptions

of most of which have previously been published by Professor

Hall in vol. 1v of the Transaction of the Albany Institute, andit

the report of the New York State Museum for 1870. ;

This is followed by a report upon the fossils of the Indiana

rocks, by Dr. C. A. White, illustrated by nineteen plates, and in-

cluding descriptions of three new species, Pabella levettei, Beller- ;

ophon gibsoni and Agaricocrinus springeri. ht

Mr. Collett has commenced this work energetically, and o

together results which will cause his next report to be looked

with great interest.

SmırH’s Deer-Sea Crustacea or THE East Coast OF TE

Unitep States.—This important report, published in the ey

of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, Cambridge, describes 7

decapod Crustacea taken mostly at great depths off caste ;

coast from Martha’s Vineyard to the West Indies. The Be ‘

tions are elaborate and detailed and the illustrations draw? 1

great care. The author gives no general results of his st :

number of new genera and species are described. i

_ WHITMAN ON THE Dicyemins.2—The Dicyemids are very a

liar organisms which inhabit the renal organs of cuttlefish a

liker first discovered that these parasites produce two ker i

embryos, and for this reason gave them the name of Dicy Er

Heretofore the most elaborate account of their embryology% f

classification has been that of Professor E. Van Beneden, @™

lIndiana. Department of Geology and Natural History, Eleventh Annual Rep 2

John Collett, State Geologist. 1881. Indianapolis, 1882. pige ;

* A Contribution to the Embryology, Life History and Classification y ee

mids. : By C. O. WHITMAN. Reprint from the Mittheilungen aus gvo, Pe

area Napels. Iv. Band. 1 Heft. Leipzig. W. Engelmann, 1882

1883.] Recent Literature. 297

however, he established for these strange beings a distinct sub-

kingdom, the Mesozoa. It has been the general opinion, how-

ever, that they are degraded Platyelminth worms.

After an elaborate study of different species of this group, Pro-

fessor Whitman considers their reproduction, embracing the phe-

nomena of transition from the rhombogenic to the nematogenic

condition, a comparison of the Dicyemidæ with the Orthonectidæ,

and a general survey of their evolutionary cycle, so far as at present

known. He then examines the development of the vermiform

embryo, and the origin of the germ-cells, with remarks on endo-

geous cell-formation. Finally he discusses the systematic affini-

ties of the Dicyemids. Whitman sees “no reasons for doubting

the general opinion that they are Platyhelminths degraded by para-

sitism. Whether they and their allies, the Orthonectidæ, have de-

ded from ancestors represented now by such forms as Dino-

philus (Metschnikoff ), or from the Trematoda (Leuckart), is a ques-

tion which further investigations must decide,” also remarking

that “when we find an animal in the form of a simple sack, filled

with reproductive elements, secured by position against enemies,

supplied with food in abundance and combining parasitism with

immobility, we have strong reasons for believing that the simplicity

of its structure is more or less the result of the luxurious conditions

of life which it enjoys, even if its development furnishes no posi-

tive evidence of degeneration.”

VERRILL’S CATALOGUE oF New ENGLAND MARINE Mottusks!—

This is intended to include all the mollusca now known to inhabit

England region that are not included in Binney’s edition

of Gould's Invertebrata ‘of Massachusetts, published in 1870. The

illustrations are noteworthy, not only from the beauty and evident

accuracy of the drawings which have been made by Mr. Emerton,

but from the perfection and cheapness of cost of the photo-litho-

graphic work,

BARRANDE’S SILURIAN AcEPHALoUs Moxiusks2—In a thick

octavo volume with ten plates, M. Barrande has given the results

of his exhaustive studies of the genera of Silurian Acephala of

Bohemia, of the vertical distribution of the hore ~ ies,

variations and the specific connections establis tween

the Bohemian forms and those of other countries.

Butteti OF THE AMERICAN Museum oF NATURAL History.

—With the purchase of the Hall collection of New York fossils,

and the accumulation or deposit of other material, and the ac-

oes of working scientists to its force, the American Museum

past gitlegue of Marine Mollusca added to the Fauna of New England during the

Males Yay 2 P VERRILL.

298 Recent Literature, [ March, | |

of Natural History occupies a more substantial basis than before —

as an active scientific institution, advancing as well as diffusing $

natural knowledge. The numbers thus far published are sll

additions to biology and would do credit to any institution. The

articles are thus far all by Mr. R. P. Whitfield, the able curator of

palzontology, and refer to the palzozoic fossils of New York,

Iowa, Indiana and Illinois, besides his “ Description of Limes

by unfavorable conditions of life.” The partly colored plate

illustrating this essay, is a beautiful one. The most valuable

palzontological paper is Mr. Whitfield’s observations on the pur-

pose of the embryonic sheaths of Endoceras, and their bearing

on the origin of the siphon in the Orthocerata.

Emerton’s New Encianp Spipers'.—This brochure contains |

descriptions of the New England species of the family Theridida,

and is illustrated with twenty-four excellent photo-lithographi¢ :

plates. These spiders are small and slender, spinning webs, otten

of large size, and living in them, hanging by their claws, back

downward, and catching and eating the insects which become &

tangled among the threads. In many species the colors afè

: b

red coral and other important types. The illustrations ARE

by the author, whose facile use of the pencil is only equaled by

shaped and covered over by a growth of polyps of the a

rian coral Gerardia. The body of the crustacean is COV s

1From the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, ©

vi. 1882. 8vo, p. 86. H DE

2? Histoire de la Laura gerardia, type nouveau de Crustacé parasite. Par BT

caze-D uTHIERS. Institute de France, Memoires de 1’ Academie des ee:

Extrait du Tome XLII., Paris, 1882, 4to, p. 160, 8 plates. E

ee Ae

1883.] ` Recent Literature. 269

membrane or carapace, formed of two scales soldered on the me-

dian line. Externally the animal resembles a root, or sausage-

barnacle. Within this singular membrane is situated the body

of the crustacean, which is about a centimeter in length, the test

or carapace being from two to four centimeters long. Laura is

referred by the author to a new sub-order of barnacles which

stands between the Rhizocephala and the true barnacles, though

the Nauplius is very different from that of Cirripides, having no

carapace.

Tae Muncoose tn THE West Inptes.'—In all the West In-

dian Islands the black and brown rats are cause of great loss to

the sugar-planters, spite of rat-catchers, with the bow-string traps,

and their aids in the shape of dogs and poison. Jamaica has also

become possessed of the formidable and destructive Mus sac-

charivorus, an animal with a body ten inches long. To combat

these pests, various animals were introduced, but the ferret suc-

cumbed before the attacks of the chigo; the Cuban ant (Formica

omnivora), though it maintained itself and remains one of the

planter’s best friends, destroying the young of the rapacious ro-

dents, also attacks kittens, puppies and calves, and the agua

toad, devours young ducks, depopulates bee-hives and drives

away sleep by its croaking, but does not eat rats. In 1872, nine

mungoooses were brought direct from India and turned loose. In

ten years these have so multiplied that they are abundant all over

the island, and are now found even at elevations of 5009 feet.

Cuba, Porto Rico, Barbadoes and Santa Cruz have also been sup-

plied with these animals, and their first patron, Mr. Espent, has

undertaken to ship some to Australia and New Zealand to com-

bat the rabbit pests. As a rat-catcher this animal has proved

itself worthy of its reputation, as it has reduced the expenses of

fat-catching fully 90 per cent., and has reduced the quantity of

Tat-eaten canes to one fourth or one-fifth of what it was previously,

esenting an annual saving to the island of nearly £45,000.

3 Nothwithstanding this benefit, the short history of the mungoose

i island goes to prove that the introduction of a new spe-

| _ ies into a district should not be done rashly. The mungoose is

now too common, and is’ making itself felt in other ways beside

ne It to some extent preys upon eggs and chickens

_ ever dogs are not kept, and quail, wild guinea-fowl, game-

ea Senerally, as well as sea and water-fowl, are rapidly diminish-

ng before its attacks, as are also the yellow snakes, themselves

ie a erttchers (Chilgbothrus inornatus), and the ground lizard

especi: areala): s the mungoose cannot climb a tree, the rats,

Pecially the black species, take refuge in cocoa-nut plantations,

Pe Pi Prove more destructive than formerly, but, on the other hand,

€ coffee and cocoa plantations profit greatly by its introduction.

The Mungoose on Sugar Estates in the West Indies, By D. MORRIS.

Vou, XVIL—no, m. L

300 Recent Literature. [ March, l

Witson’s Witp Animats AND Bırps.!—The boys and girlsof —

this day as regards natural history literature, are, compared with

their grandfathers and grandmothers, highly favored. The best

zoological artists and engravers and naturalists of distinction vie

in setting forth in word and picture the wonders of the animal

world, and in retailing for the benefit of the rising generation of

naturalists the latest views and discoveries in biological science,

The young will never cease to read with eagerness anecdotes

about or to study pictures of animals. They do not want to

shiver over pictures of skeletons, or get sleepy over dry anatom-

ical descriptions. The interest in living animals, the human-like

countenance of the monkey, the ferocity of the tiger, the lion

standing over his victim, the giraffe with his painfully long neck,

the giant, clumsy form of behemoth, the mammoth proportions

of the elephant, the horse in motion, birds in flight, fish swimming

and snakes gliding—it is living, moving nature which captivates

the child’s imagination, and lends the study of nature unceasing

delight—hence, zoological writers are among the children’s best

and life-long friends, and the annual visit of menageries are white )

days in his calendar. mn

What a contrast are the zoological pictures and books of this

day to those we were brought up upon! Compare Oliver Gold: |

smiths’ often apochryphal though pleasantly written natural history

and Peter Parley’s anecdotes of the animal kingdom, Wi) |)

elaborate specimens of true art and faithfulness to nature, which

the publishers of this day offer to the young. The child of three

years, the urchin of ten summers, and the boy in his teens, all are

offered books which for beauty of illustration and presswork atè

marvels of art. or

An excellent example of what is excellent in artistic delineation

of animals and in pleasant narration is Dr. Wilson’s Wi d Anne

and Birds. The text is well and pleasantly written, and the ge :

authorities are cited or levied upon for material. Darw ¢

Wallace are often quoted ; and Brehm’s Animal Life and simila

works are the sources of inspiration. e

RECENT KS AND PAMPHLETS.—Annales du Musée Royal g’ Histoire ne :

de Belgique Série Paleontulogique. Tome vit. Description des Ossements Cétacés,

des Environs vers, Par M. P-J. Van Beneden. Troisieme parti® =

Brussels, 1882. From the author. foe

The New Zealand Journal of Science, Nov., 1882. Re

ied Quarterly Journal of the Boston Zoological Society, Jan., 1883

- f . i te

P rg and Literary Gossip, Dec., 1882. S. E. Cassino, Boston. From!

isher.

Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 1882, pp. 433-448. shied

Yarrow. pe.

of 1882. From’ 3

1 Wild Animals and Birds: thei ts. B song gs

> irds » their Haunts and Habits. By Ne Yoik, 1882

Ilustrated, ell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris, and

410, pp. 192. $3.00, -

Preliminary Rej í ; ee

fessor A. Guyot. port upon the Princeton Scientific Expedition

1883.] : Geography and Travels. 301

Surface Geology of the region about the western end of Lake Ontario. By J. W.

Spencer, M.A. From the author.

On the Plumage of the Waxwing. By H. Stevenson, F.L.S. Ext. from the

Trans, Norfolk Naturalists Soc., Vol. 111. From the author.

Fifteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum of American

Archeology and Ethnology. Vol. 11, No. 2. From the museum,

On the Loess and associated deposits of Des Moines. By W. J. McGee and R.

Ellsworth Call. Read before the lowa Academy of Sciences, May 31,1882, From

the junior author.

The colors of Flowers as illustrated in the British flora. By Grant Allen. Lon-

don, MacMillan & Co. From the publishers.

Gardening for young and old. The cultivation of garden vegetables in the farm

pa. By Jos. Harris. N. Y., Orange Judd Co. From the publishers. Also,

e same—

ae as an agricultural State, its farms, fields and garden lands. By W. E.

abor.

_ The American Palzeozoic Fossils. A catalogue of the genera and species and an

introduction devoted to the stratigraphical geology of the Paleozoic rocks. By S.

A. Mil rom the author.

The horizon of the SouthValley Hill rocks in Pennsylvania. By Dr. Persifor Frazer.

UEpiplasme des Ascomycétes et le Glycogene des Vegetaux. Thèse presentée

pour l'obtention du grade de docteur agrégé pres la faculté des sciences de l'Uni-

versité de Bruxelles. Par Léo Errera. From the author.

The Indiana Student, Jan., 1883.

The history of the Skull. By Professor H. G. Seeley. From the anthor.

Note sur des Ossements de la Baleine de Biscaye au Musée de la Rochelle. Par

M. P.-J. Van Beneden From the author.

kra Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Dec., 1882. From the

Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio. Vol. 1v. Zoology and Botany. From

the survey,

“ry

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

Arrica.—Mr. Stanley has published a full report of the address

he recently gave in Paris. From this we learn that he left his station

at Vivi, below the Yellala falls, for a journey into the interior

which occupied three years, and yielded splendid results. After

unching his steamer above the cataracts of the Congo, he pro-

ceeded upwards to its great southern tributary, the Kwango, which

he ascended for a considerable distance, establishing five stations.

At one hundred miles from the mouth of the Kwango, two large

“hinges ye with grayish-white water, coming from south by east,

302 General Notes, [ March,

of cataracts to Stanley pool, about 150 miles lower down, hasbeen

constructed. e stations established on the Kwango are super-

intended by Europeans, who have all the apparatus for taking

meteorological and other observations.

ajor Von Meechow has returned to Berlin from the Congo,

which hereached July 19th, 1880. After a visit to the grand-Succam-

bondu waterfall, under the guidance of the great chief Tembo

Aluma, he paid his respects to the great Muene Putu Kassongo,

and returning, followed the river to longitude 5° 5/ at which

point he was compelled to return on account of the fears his fol

lowers entertained of the cannibals. He then stayed some time

with Kassongo, and on February 20, 1881, arrived at Malange.

r. Wissmann, of the German African Society, has reached

Zanzibar from Loando. Leaving the latter place in company with

Dr. Pogge, he crossed to Mukenge (about 6° S. and 22° E.), and

thence set out for Nyangwe on the Lualaba, whence Wissman pro-

ceeded to Zanzibar, while Pogge returned to Mukenge to plant a

station there. ci

There are now four German expeditions in Africa, two proceeding

from the east, and two from the west. Dr. Stecker, after visiting

King John of Abyssinia, in company with Dr. Rohlfs continued

onwards through the Soudan; Dr. Bohrnand Dr. Kayser reportupot

athree months’ journey to Lake Tanganyika; Herr Paul Reichard

is at Gondo, and in company with Dr. Bohrn, has explore Of

Wala river to its mouth; and Capt. V. Scholer, after founding @

station at Kakama, proceeded to Zanzibar.

Robert Flegel has made a minute cartographical survey of the

hitherto unknown part of the Niger, between Muri and Shay. At

= beginning of December he reached Keffi on his way © the

inne. Ae

Dr. Junker has cleared up the hydrography of the Welle, which 7

he believes to be the upper course of the Shari, while the we

the great tributary of the Congo, rises further to the east |

Asia.—In the course of his late journey from Canton through

information regarding Yunnan, which is a great uneven P ie

the main ranges of which bend north and south, reaching |e

while gold is beaten out into leaf in Tali, and sent | ope

quantities to Birma. Mines of coal, iron, silver, tin A oded

were repeatedly seen. The temperature in the south 18M%

1883.] Geography and Travels. 303

without excessive rains, but to the north the country becomes

sterile, and the population sparse, until in the extreme north fogs

and rain are perpetually present. The people chiefly belong to

aboriginal tribes, the Lolo Pai, and Maio, the Chinese being chiefly

of the official class and resident in the towns.

The natives are frank, genial, and hospitable, and have a more

distinct physiognomy than the Chinese. The women do not

crush their feet, dress in a costume not unlike that worn of old

by Swiss and Tyrolese maidens, and catch their husbands by

throwing balls to the young men, who range themselves on the

opposite side of a gully. Whoever catches the ball wins its

thrower, but she always throws it so that the right man can

catch it. The couvade is still practised in some parts, as in Marco

Polo’s time. When a child is born, the husband goes to bed for

thirty days, while the wife looks after the work.

Mr. Colquhoun’s journey was chiefly inspired by the desire to

penetrate through the Shan States as far as Zimmé, a resolve in

which he was unfortunately thwarted by the mandarin of the

Chinese frontier town of Sstimao. He learned, however, that the

Shan States are now entirely independent, since the Chinese with-

drew their resident mandarin from iang-Hung six years ago,

and the Burmese residents in this and other states were forced to

retire within the last year or two. No tribute is now paid to

either China or Burma. The most highly prized tea comes from

the Shan States, especially from l-Bang, and is forwarded by

Caravan to the Yang-tzse, and thence by river to Shanghai, so that

it 1s too dear to be exported.

The narrative of the travels of Count Szechenzi’s party, which

Spent three years in Japan and China, and reached Rangoon in

March, 1880, has been published. Little is added to geographical

knowledge except altitudes taken in the Chung-tien plateau, with-

in the great bend of the Kinsha-kiang. A map of the watershed

of the great rivers is given. Upon it the Great and Little Irawadi

are carried through the unexplored Pomi country to 32° N.; while

the Lu-Kiang ( Salwen) and Lantsan-Kiang (Me-Khong) are traced

to 34° N. and 92° E., within a short distance of the valley of the

angtze-Kiang. The basins of five great streams (including the

Sanpu Or upper Brahmaputra) are at one point crowded together

into a space of 280 miles, and the water-partings are formed bya

sertes of lofty ridges between Se-chuen and East Assam.

t The Journey of M. P. M. Lassar from Askabad to Sarakhs and

hence to Herat, the capital of western Afghanistan, has proved

t the supposed great mountain chain of Paropamisas is nothing

_ More than a line of sand hills less than 1000 feet in height. Con-

os. there is no obstacle in the road of the projected Russian

Tallway from the Caspian to Askabad, and from thence to Herat.

P ekia - A Bourne has visited the Imperial Mausolea, east of

in, forbidden ground to all. The great wall forms the northern

304 General Notes. [March,

boundary of the enclosure, which occupies some 25 square miles,

Outside of this an outer wall is carried, except where there is no

natural boundary, around a still larger area of ground within which

none may build a dwelllng and none be buried save the emperors

of China. The tombs are much alike, and contain several stone

buildings. ;

GEOGRAPHICAL Norrs.—A “Carpathian Club,” for the study

of the mountains of the country, has been formed at Hermann-

stadt (Transylvania) and already numbers 1200 members—

“Die Adria,” a work in twenty-five parts, gives most valuable

information relative to the geography, commerce, fisheries, ete,

of the eastern shore of the Adriatic———M. Miklukho Maclay

has recently given a lecture before the Russian Geographical

Society on his stay in New Guinea. The natives of the north-

west coast, where he resided for a long time, were in the lowest

stage of culture. They did not know how to rekindle a fire, and

were compelled to borrow from another hut or another village

when their fire went out- They place their dead in a sitting

position, covered with cocoa-nut leaves, while for three weeks @ )

M. Maclay be

the same race. Both brachycephalic and dolichocephalic skulls

occur everywhere, so that this feature affords no ground iori

separation. The hair does not grow in clusters, as has the

stated, and the size of the curls does not exceed that of a

Negritos. On parts of the coast traces of Malay blood ar

dent. The Malays of Celebes bring with them Malay girls y

wives to the Papuans, and take back Papuan girls in exc^a 9

Lake Kamaka-Vallar is a lake of warm water without an 0 |

but when the waters rise fifteen or twenty feet above the des

level a temporary outlet is formed by the giving way of th “ae

The Papuans of the Koviay coast live in covered boats, IN fear oF

they cruise in search of food, landing only at night for eel

the highlanders, whose enmity they have incurred by their ° g

slave-making habits. The disease, drunkenness and firearms

troduced by traders, and even by the missionaries of w

societies, more than counterbalance the good done by p

ligious and secular teachings of the missionaries. —— z mouth

steamer Djimphna is reported safe, and will winter at the a

of the Petchora. All on board are well, provisions ample, aigat 7

vessel uninjured by the ice while drifting about in it meat” sith

Island ——Dr. Riebeck, after exploring Socotra in compa”), at

Dr. Schweinfurth, has travelled through the Himalayas gT

ous parts of India, and has taken many photographs and “iaag

- iñ Chin rey

he accuses England and other European nations of 207 pig

territory by the three steps of “stealthily beguiling,” “ €26 -

ON eS eee See ee ee a et os lie

eo ee ee

ELE PSSA ME Bh ee et LD RE MOR ER LS RN Le Ee

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 305

by degrees” and finally “swallowing up,” yet shows a high

appreciation of English rule in India———Dr. Arthur Krause has

returned to Germany from a journey to the Chukchi Peninsula

and Alaska. ——The ordnance survey of Scotland is completed.

——Easter Island is now almost entirely owned by the “ Maison

Brander” of Tahiti. It is a large grazing farm, and there are now

about 10,000 sheep and 400 cattle upon it. Half wild poultry

are abundant, and potatoes, bananas, and plantains grow readily.

The natives left are only about 150 in number, as 500 were

shipped to Tahiti about eight years ago, and the missionaries re-

moved 300. The few left are thieves, without any religion.

The extinct crater Te Kama Kao contains a lake covered with a

carpet of decayed vegetation, and with no bottom at 50 fathoms

in the centre,

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF THE SEA-BOTTOM

UNDER THE GULF StreamM.—The longest and most interesting

paper read at the late meeting of the National Academy of Sci-

ences, was by Professor A. E. Verrill, discussing the physical and

geological character of the sea-bottom off our coast, especially

beneath the Gulf stream.

_ The paper embodied the general results of observations cover-

ing a period of eleven years, including dredgings by the United

- States Fish Commission, taken from over 2000 stations between

Chesapeake bay and Labrador, and out as far as 150 to 200 miles

offshore. Professor Verrill and his associates of the commission

found in these observations that from the shore to a point about

sixty miles out the water is inhabited by animals representing

arctic life, similar to those found off the coast of Greenland, Spitz-

bergen and Siberia. Beyond this lies a warm belt of water

which is inhabited by tropical or sub-tropical animals. This

warm belt varies with the shore-line of the coast, and while its

fastern edge is within sixty miles of Nantucket and Martha’s

Vineyard, it is much further off from the coast of Massachusetts

and Maine; as what is known as the Gulf of Maine is a cold body

of water, outside of which lies the warm belt, This warm belt is

about twenty-five miles in width. In this the temperature from a

depth of 65 fathoms out to the limits where the soundings show

a depth of 1000 fathoms, is from 46° to 52° Fahrenheit near the

Surface, decreasing in temperature in the lower soundings, until

at 700 fathoms it is 39°. In the cold belt the temperature of the

Pater ranges from 35° to 45° in August below the surface water,

which is in the autumn warmer than that underneath. The tem-

Eare at 40 fathoms in the cold belt averages from 35° to 37°.

the warm belt the temperature at 65 fathoms is 46°; at 100

aon nS, 50° to 52°; at 200 fathoms, 48°; at 300, 40°; and at

799, 39°. As a result of the soundings, measurement of tempera-

306 General Notes.

tures, etc., it was discovered that an error exists in our maps and

charts in placing the warm belt, or Gulf stream, too far from the

shore by thirty or forty miles. It was also found that the sound-

ings even on the coast survey charts were inaccurate by hund

of fathoms in many instances, which are now, however, corrected

by the coast survey soundings made during the past summer,

The general accepted theory has been that the 100-fathom line

marked the line of the Gulf stream, but this was found to be in-

correct, as the line would be more nearly correct if placed at 65

or 70 fathoms line. The charts are also incorrect in that they

make out a difference in the line of the Gulf stream in summet

and in winter. Professor Verrill held that there was no variation

in the body of the stream, though there is in the surface water

an apparent variation, due to the sweeping in of the warm surface

water in the summer and the diffusion of the cold surface water

over the stream from the shore during the cold months. th

proof of his theory is the fact that the sub-tropical life exists im

the Gulf stream in winter as well as in summer, while the charac-

ter of the inhabitants of the cold belt remains unchanged the year

through, and the line of separation between the two kinds of lif

is well and distinctly marked on the bottom. If there was a và-

riation in the bottom of the stream there would be death to the

sub-tropical life of the warm belt.

n the portion of the warm belt south of the New England

coast, from 70 to 120 miles from the coast, there was discoveret,

in 1880, the most valuable ground for the sub-tropical animal

life, as prolific in invertebrate animals as any in the world

From this ground the dredges have taken and brought toe

surface 800 species of animals, over one-third of which were et-

tirely new and unknown to science, including 17 kinds of f r a i

270 of mollusks, and go of crustacea. The recent observations%

the Fish Commission have been made in a warm belt ext H

about 160 miles from the north-east to the south-west, and aba :

20 miles in width. Over 130 dredgings were made in this oe

a depth of 100 fathoms. At about the 100 fathom point the i0

mation of the sea bottom is peculiar in many respects. 40.

point there is a gradual descent from the shore. Then there §

precipitous descent to soundings of 1000 fathoms or mon

sudden precipitous descent corresponding to about the height

Mount Washington along the territory that has been exp’ ne

The warm belt seems to extend down this precipice om) He

depth of about 125 fathoms, judging from the evidence % |

brought up in the dredges as well as the thermometrical rec a

A trawl had brought to the surface in several instances 4 fg

animal life, which included crabs, shrimps, starfish, and siema

various kinds, among them shells which had hitherto age

only on the shores of the West Indies, but which are now ‘the

to be inhabitants of the warm belt of water running alon ©

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 307

Atlantic coast. The surface inhabitants are also tropical in their

nature, as is shown by the capture of argonautas, Portuguese

men-of-war, varieties of the jelly-fish, and pteropods in large

quantities. A peculiarity in the weather was noticed by the peo-

ple engaged in dredging, for while it was pleasant out on the

warm belt, they had found, on their return to the shore, that a

storm had been raging, which had caused their associates on shore

anxiety as to the safety of their steamer, the /zsk Hawk, and the

people on board.

The quality and quantity of the light in the depths had not yet

been ascertained, but some marked peculiarities have been no-

which live at greater depths, have been found to be without eyes,

presumably a useless organ in the great depths. Another pecu-

liarity observed about the animals found at great depths is that

their color is either red or an orange yellow, this being the case

with the corals, anemones, fish, and such animals as are exposed

to attack from voracious enemies. It is therefore inferred that

the color is a mode of defence, in that it renders the animal in-

visible in the greenish-blue water, and the similarly colored rays

of light which can only reach to those depths, and so render a

red coat a means for its wearer to keep out of sight of its enemies.

The bottom of the Gulf stream is very peculiar. That of the

Arctic belt is a coarse gravel or sand. That of the great depths

a sticky mud. Under the Gulf stream the bottom is of sand of

so fine a grain that the grains can only be distinguished from one

another under the microscope. This packs together so compactly

that the sailors who find it clinging to the sounding leads call it

mud. Yet it is the finest grade of sand, very cohesive in its na-

ture. Mixed with it in great quantity are masses of the most

minute shells. The two seem to form a bed as level and hard as

any floor, and, judging from the results of dredging, this floor is

carpeted thickly and densely with masses of vegetable and animal

life. Boulders are occasionally found on this bottom, and these,

the professor thought, had dropped from cakes of ice that had

floated out from the shore. ` There are also brought out by the

dredges occasionally a different form of rock, which seems to be

indigenous to the bottom and filled with fossil shells, many of

which are exactly like the shells now found on the bottoms.

“Aese rocks, he thought, might possibly date back to the Pliocene

Yl but possibly only to the Post-pliocene. Their appearance in

a edges he presumed to be due to the fact that they bad

en loosened from their beds by the burrowing fishes and ani-

mals and then caught up by the dredges.

In connection with the character of these fossil rocks, he had

cS the absence of all vertebrate fossils. The dredges, too,

sae never brought up any evidence of the existence of dead ver-

308 General Notes. [Mare

tebrates, though the water swarmed with myriads of sharks,

dolphins, and other vertebrates, nor had any evidence of the ex-

istence of man been brought up in these dredges, and nothing of -

consequence of man’s work except an India-rubber doll, that had

been dropped overboard from some vessel. Yet the territory

dredged was in the track of the European vessels, and where ships

have gone down and lives been lost, but everything of this char

acter is destroyed by the voracious animal life of the tract. These

facts led him to doubt the negative evidence in geology, and the

absence of vertebrates among the early fossil remains found does not |

lead him to conclude that the mammals did not exist at that time,

eat the bivalves and univalves alike, cracking up and throwing |

away the shells. He also stated that the bivalves were food fot

the cod, which digests out the meat and then spits out the shells

— Scientific American.

THe Tertiary Deposits oF THE ATLANTIC SrLope.—The a

volume of the proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy 0

Natural Sciences contains a valuable paper by Professor A. Heil

prin, upon the relative ages and classification of the Post

tertiary deposits of the Atlantic Slope, particularly of Mary’

Virginia and North and South Carolina. These were considerei

regard

nt of the

Contat

aoee LER

concluded that his Miocene strata represented “ one contemp

but did not institute a comparison. Professor Heilprin n

full faunal lists of the mollusca, from which he obtains thé! gp

ing results; The deposits of South Carolina contain 35 1037

“fli

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 309

forms, are doubtless Miocene, but these of North and South Caro-

lina are more difficult to pronounce upon, yet, on the whole, Pro-

fessor Heilprin is of opinion that they should be classed as upper

Miocene rather than as Pliocene.

The Atlantic Miocene may therefore be considered to form

three groups: First, the Upper Atlantic Miocene or Carolinian, of

the North and South Carolina deposits ; second, the Middle Atlan-

tic Miocene or Virginian, and the newer group of Maryland ; and

third, the older group of Maryland, and possibly the lower Mio-

cene beds of Virginia.

A NEW FOSSIL SIRENIAN.—At a recent meeting of the Philadel-

phia Academy, Professor Cope read a paper on Dioplotherium, a

a new genus of Sirenia from the Miocene beds of South Carolina.

The form is allied to Halicore and Halitherium, but differs from

both in the possession of two incisive tusks in each premaxillary

bone. The anterior tusk is large and compressed towards the

apex; the second is not much smaller than the first. The pre-

maxillary bone preserved indicates an animal not smaller than the

dugong. It was named Déoplotherium manigaulti in honor of Mr.

Gabriel Manigault, director of the Charleston Museum.

the Amazon region was represented by two gulfs, the one opening

to the east and the other to the west, and connected by a wide

strait at the point of closest approach of the terre firme above

mentioned. These islands were, according to Professor Hartt,

tofessor Derby’s predecessor, elevated during the early part of

e Silurian period. Their materials represent three periods, the

urentian, Huronian and Lower Silurian.

n the Palzozoic sea were deposited successively formations of

Upper Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous ages. They are all

well represented by fossils, of which many are identical with spe-

cies of corresponding periods of North America. The Upper

Silurian is about 1000 feet in thickness, the Devonian has not

over 800, and the Carboniferous 2000 feet, according to Mr. H.

H. Smith of the survey. They are exhibited on both sides of the

"Proceedings American Philosoph. Society, 1879, p. 155.

310 General Notes. (March, :

fossils, more than one hundred species having been obtained upt | |

1879. More than half the species are identical with those of the

Western United States. During the Paleozic periods enormous

At Ereré they are only three hundred feet thick. Towards the

close of the Cretaceous period the great ranges and plateaux of

the Andes were elevated, closing the mouth of the western gii

. the Upper or Marañon basin, as observed at Pebas Equador, we

of Laramie or Upper Cretaceous age, and contain the invertebrate

genera characteristic of the Bear River group of North Am re

The immediate valley of the Amazon is filled by a fvit

posit, the “ varzea,” which undergoes constant changes, dena

movements of the river and its tributaries. i a

Plutonic phenomena were especially frequent during the ph

zoic periods. This is attested by numerous masses of diont =

trap which traverse those beds, and by the elevation of the wr

tains of Ereré, in the lower Amazonas, already mentioned.

Journal of Science, J. W. Dawson notes recent discoveries in! :

Devonian Flora of the United States, discusses the nature a

finities of Psilophyton, a lycopodiaceous genus, and meni” i

occurrence of five species of conifers in the Middle Devonian: ,

In the same number W. Earl Hidden contributes notes 0n aa :

ous North Carolina minerals, and Professor Silliman writes A De

the Martite of the Cerro do Mercado, or Iron mountain, ° k |

tions are that the deposit extends far beneath the plain rai maid

it projects. The near approach of the railway system ©’ ice

promises to give this mass of ore a commercial imp%

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 311

—tThe previously noticed paper upon Earth Movements, by

Professor J. Milne, of Tokio, Japan, appears in the Geological

Magazine for November, and the same number contains the fol-

lowing: Remarks on some remains of plants, Foraminifera and An-

nelida, in the the Silurian rocks of Central Wales, by W. Keep-

ing: six new plants, and Myrianites lapworthii, an annelid, are

described. The Rev. A. Irving continues his notes on the Dy-

assic and Triassic rocks, and Professor E. Hull answers some of his

previous statements. The evidence of the angular drift in fa-

vor of a great post-glacial flood is continued by Mr. H. H. Howorth,

who asserts that the marine drift will lend him further support:

— The December issue of the Geological Magazine contains:

Notes on Oreaster bulbiferus, from the Upper Chalk of Kent, by

P. Herbert Carpenter. A notice, the third in order, of fish re-

mains from the Blackband Ironstone of Borough Lee, near Edin-

burgh, by Dr. R. H. Traquair. Four selachians, a dipnoan and

three ganoids, are described.—— The fallacy of the theory of the

" Permanence of Continents,” by J. S. Gardner. Mr. Gardner main-

tains that Mr. Wallace’s supposition that the chalk is a shallow wa-

ter deposit, is untenable. In it no allowance was made for the loss

of iron from the body of the chalk by crystallization, nor for the se-

gregation of the silica into flints. The absence of Globigerina and

almost all the cretaceous fossils from the decomposed coral mud

of Oahù, shows that they were not deposited under the same con-

ditions, It is also argued that oceanic islands could not have re-

ceived their peculiar land-shells by an oceanic route. Mr. H.H.

Howorth continues his voluminous argument uponthe “ Traces of

a Great Post-glacial Flood.” C. Lapworth writes upon the iden- `

tification of certain beds near Birmingham, England, hitherto sup-

Posed to be Upper Silurian, with the Cambrian era. W. Dames

Sives some new facts upon the skull ot Archeopteryx. The open-

mg called nasal, by Marsh, is preceded by a third opening, en-

tirely surrounded by the premaxillary, and this opening is affirmed

to be the true nasal aperture. The clearing away of the matrix

from the skull examined (that in the Royal Mineralogical Museum

of Prussia) showed the dentition, and proved that Marsh was in

error in considering that the teeth were limited to the premaxillary,

e they occur at least upon the anterior portion of the maxillary.

| r. Dames also states that appearances are in favor of a separate

kag for each tooth, rather. than of a groove, as stated by

b a - The shoulder-girdle is not yet cleared from the matrix,

gon to be different from anything known elsewhere. At

Hi e meeting of the Geological Society of London Dr. R.

ausler communicated the results of his researches on the arena-

Sous fordminifera of the upper Jura of the Aargau—about sixty

= are determined. r. J. E. Taylor gives proofs of the

n Ance, along the shores of Norfolk and Suffolk, of an ex-

~ YE sub-marine peat-bed, full of bones and teeth of elephant,

312 General Notes. [ March, ;

ox, deer, etc. This part was nine feet thick in the course of the |

new channel cut for the Orwell river. Fishermen frequently bring _

up lumps of peat. Trunks of trees stand at Helm Searf, Norfolk

This confirms the theory of the marshy conditions prevalent pre

vious to the submergence that converted Britain into an island

Professor T.R. Jones, in the fifteenth of a series of articles upon

the Paleozoic bivalved Entomostraca, in the Annals and Mage

zine of Natural History, describes a carboniferous Primitia, In

the same magazine (Sept.1882), Dr. J. C. Hinde describes several

fossil Calcispongie. n

MINERALOGY.!

ANALYSES OF SOME VIRGINIA MINERALS.— Professor J. W. Mal

let has communicated to the Chemical News some notes of work

done by students at the University of Virginia upon Americal

minerals. i

W. T. Page has analyzed an allanite of unusual chemical cot-

position from Bedford county, Va. It occurred as a compat

black mass, with pitch-like luster, spec. grav. 4.32, and the unt |

sual hardness of nearly 7. Its composition is as follows:

‘SiO, AIO, C0, DLO, 1a,0, FeO, FeO n MENE

2670 - 6.34. 3476 16:34 -103 3.21 4.76: SS

wo MgO CaO Na,O_ K,O H,O i

0.52 0.54 2,80 0.49 0.55 1.99 i

The very large proportion of the cerium metals present e

50 per cent., or double the usual amount), and the large exce®

.didymium over lanthanum are peculiarities which may J A

being considered as a new variety of allanite. u

B. E. Sloan has reëxamined the helvite of Amelia C. H, ™

already refered to in the NaruraLıst. Having at his comms a

larger amount of pure material than Mr. Haines possessed A ii

analysis was made which conforms more closely to the 10mm

adopted by Rammelsberg. The analysis gave :

SiO, NO MnO FeO AO Ma. S i

31.42 10.97 40.56 2.99 0.36 8.59 49 = 99.88. =

W. H. Seaman analyzed a pale hyacinth-red garnet ro

same locality, which, like the other recorded analyses An

variety of garnet—spessartite, or aluminum-manganes¢ yal

shows an anomalous deficiency of triad as compared with e

metals. ality,

m the same ee ey

the analysis closely corresponding to the tri-silicate "el

> b a A

! Edited by Professor H. CaRvILL Lewis, Academy of Natural Scien ; :

Id be sent-

ia, to whom communications, papers for review, etc., shou

1883.] Mineralogy. 313

shaped mass of iron covered with an oxidized crust—was exam-

ined by the same analyst found to be of terrestrial and artificial

origin.

On the other hand, some rough, flattened scales of iron, with

jagged edges and often twisted as though made by a lathe, which

were found in the sand accompanying native gold in the bed of

Brush creek, Montgomery county, and which W. T. Page has

analyzed, are regarded as specimens of native iron. The largest

grains weighed as much as 60-80 milligrammes, while the smallest

were almost dust. Analysis showed traces of copper, sulphur

and quartz. The scales were but slightly oxidized. The method

of occurrence rendered it improbable that these scales could have

been detached from the picks and shovels used at the washings.

ANALYSES OF SOME NoRTH CAROLINA Minerats.—In the same

laboratory several North Carolina minerals have been examined.

. I. Page examined the auriferous sand from Burke county,

N. C., and found in addition to zircon, monazite, magnetite, etc., a

number of malleable metallic grains, which, like those of the Vir-

ginia sand, referred to above, were often irregular, twisted and

Jagged. They were almost pure iron, mere traces of cobalt and

quartz being present. The extended distribution of native terres-

trial iron, thus shown, is of great interest.

Mr. Seaman has analyzed fergusonite from Brindletown, Burke

county. It occurs in small reddish-brown crystals of tetragonal

habit, and was first noticed by Mr. W. E. Hidden. Some four

per cent. of tantalic acid was shown to accompany the columbium,

the presence of didymium and lanthanum also being proved.

Metals of the yttrium group, but of higher atomic weight (erbium,

ytterbium, etc.) occur in small proportion with the yttrium. Count-

ing the water as basic the ortho-columbate formula is deduced:

M’” Nb Oy.

Mr. Seaman has also analyzed a columbate from the Wiseman

mica mine of Mitchell county, which had formerly been regarded

as euxenite, but which is shown to agree neither in physical char-

acters nor in chemical composition with that species. The sub-

stance is compact, reddish-brown in color, with luster between

resinous and adamantine, and with pale yellowish-brown streak,

“ardness = 5.5. Spec. grav. = 4.33. The analysis gave

A WO, oO, UO; YVO; C&O; DLO, LaO, . FeO

SH Vranica inj

47.09 "eee

G0 Ho

"53 9.55 = 99.67.

Unlike euxenite, no titanium is present, and the deduced form-

ee that of an ortho-columbate, M”, Cb, Og, while euxenite is a

ity and lumbate. The percentage of water, the low specific grav-

the appearance of the mineral, with its external crust of

15.15 £3.46 1.40 4.00 7-09

314 General Notes. — [March,

yellowish material which sometimes penetrates the interior, ind-

cate that it is a product of the alteration of samarskite or some

allied species.

At the same locality a mineral allied to allanite occurs as flat-

tened crystals of pitch-black color, brownish-gray streak and with —

an imperfect conchoidal fracture. H: = 6. Sp. gr. = 3.15. |

alysis gave:

* SIO, o ALOG -Y,O, GSO FeO, FeO .MgO CaO RD

39.03" 94.33. °S.208 2.53 97.10 5.22 4.29 17.47 2.78 = aoe

gray in color, with metallic luster and dark-red streak, witha

crystalline structure and brittle, uneven fracture, having a hart: :

ness of about 4, and specific gravity of 4.89. It fuses and gives

antimonal fumes before the blowpipe. Analysis gave: =

He oh Sb Cu Zn Fe Pb siliceous residue

26.88 34.47 23.20 yee 1.38 1.19 RE

_ The copper exists one-half as cuprous and one-half as cupit

sulphide. It is as distinct a species as stylotypite, but in order t0

avoid multiplication of names it is suggested that both stylotypi

and the species here described be considered as varieties of bout :

nonite. ty

number of grains, which, picked out by the aid of a lens ee

the platinum grains of Colombia, S. A., are shown to coms i |

* Another alloy. obtained from Taguaril, Brazil, contained Oe

per cent. of palladium, and corresponded with the ion

Pd Au, The palladium gave it a bronze-like color. oe

‘Some GREENLAND Minerars.—In a paper on some a

from the sodalite-syenite of South Greenland, Mr. Joh. stale’

gives a number of analyses of interest. Among the supe.

analyzed were microcline, arfvedsonite, ægirite, nephelite, &

ite, lievrite and lepidolite. It is interesting to observe thal Not

of these substances occur similarly associated in Southern

way. The rock, composed principally of microcline, arf i

and sodalite has frequently a reddish-brown color, due 10°

ee ee ae ee ee a oe ee T

——

ye ee

1883.] Mineralogy. 315

mixture of garnet-colored eudialite. The lepidolite was shown

to have a composition differing from that usually ascribed to that

species in having a larger percentage of silica, less than half the

quantity of alumina, and unusually large quantities of alkalies

and of water, while no fluorine was present. It is fusible in a

candle-flame. This may be a new species of the mica group.

Another mineral of interest occurs in curved, irregular crystals

inthe same rock. It has a hardness of 4, specific gravity 3.38,

and has a brown color and white streak. It fuses readily before

the blowpipe to a gray, dull bead.

The following composition was obtained :

SiO, TaOQ, FeO, Al,O, ThO MnO CeO LaO . DIO

ee ere |

` o. 9 . < j .

‘an Naw Ho 2.41 7.09 4.20 10.66 17.04

309 7.98 7.28 = 98.38

The substance appearing to be a new species, the author has

sit it Steenstrupine, after Mr. Steenstrup, the discoverer of the

mineral.

Tin iy ALaBaMA.—It is reported that valuable loads of tin-

bearing rocks have been discovered at the Broad Arrow mines,

near Ashland, Clay county, Alabama. The tin occurs as cassi-

terite finely disseminated in gneiss. The ore is being crushed

and reduced to the metallic state on the spot, works having been

erected for the purpose. A bar of tin thus made has already

been received in New York.

TELLURIFEROUS CoppEer.—Professor T. Egleston, of N. Y., has

reported to the American Institute of Mining Engineers an in-

teresting case of the presence of tellurium in copper and of its

effect upon the latter metal.

me copper ore from Colorado had been sent to him to exam-

ine for arsenic and antimony. Finding neither metal present, a

large quantity of the ore was purchased by a metallurgical firm,

wao, however, reported that they were unable to refine it, the

urnaces having been “ poisoned” by arsenic or antimony. n

a re-examination of a larger quantity of material a trace of tellu-

Henia discovered, the quantity being less than one-tenth of a

aigh present in such minute quantity, the tellurium ren-

thro the copper “ red-shot.” When the refined copper was passed

x nee the rollers cracks showed themselves, which became

Ser the more the copper was rolled, until finally the cake of

pe, 3 fell to pieces. When heated repeatedly the „copper be-

pee e quality of the copper. The influence of such a minute

ty of tellurium upon the copper is surprising.

You, XVIL—Nọ. i, ae

BO o General Notes.

BOTANY.

pears thickly dotted with little circular openings; asci clavate:

cylindrical, 40-45 x 5-6»; sporidia biseriate, fusiform, at first 4

nucleate, the endochrome is soon once and at length 3 oF:

divided, 11-15 x 114-2”, There is the appearance of a tait

bristle-like appendage at each end of the young spore. On

shoots of Quercus coccinea. Newfield, N. J., May, 1882. a

upper part of the dead shoots, for a foot or more, is entirely 0

cupied by the fungus, which is definitely limited, but scarti

marked on the border by any black circumscribing line.

iaporthe Conradit—Perithecia scattered, minute, Oep! Bh

spherical, barely covered by the epidermis, not penetrating 5i

wood nor circumscribed by any black line; ostiolum cylinant

straight, rough, black, abruptly pointed above; asc! subcyl Shee

cal, 35-40 X 6-74; sporidia biseriate, ovate-elliptical, umseP

hyaline, scarcely constricted, 6-8 x 214-34. On dead stem

branches of Corema Conradii. Willow Grove, N. J., May,

hyaline, 11-13 x 4-414». On dead limbs of Amelane

densis. Decorah, lowa, July, 1882. E. W. Holway.

Leptosphæria Xerophylli—Perithecia scattered, SU

150-190 diam., sunk about half way into the substance ©

leaf; ostiolum, obtuse, with a rather large opening, elevating,“

splitting the cuticle by which it remains partly covera

1883.] Botany. Ree,

at first with 4 large nuclei becoming, 3 septate and slightly con-

stricted at the septa, 19-25 x 5-6%p (and brown)? On dead

leaves of Xerophyllum asphodeloides. * Willow Grove, N. J., May,

1882. Accompanied by Hendersonia Xerophylii Ell. (Bull. Torr.

Bot. Club, vol. 9, p. 74),and by a Pestalozzia. On the same leaves

are also minute superficial perithecia, containing oblong-elliptical

brownish spores (4 x 2,).

Leptospheria stereicolan—Perithecia erumpent, hemispheric,

cylindrical, 57 x 714-8 (paraphyses)? Sporidia biseriate, ob-

long-fusiform, 3-septate, brownish, 11-13 x 3-3%4. Oa hy-

menium of Stereum bicolor Pers. Decorah, Iowa, July, 1882. E.

W. Holway. No. 142.

Spheria (Didymospheria) cupula—Perithecia membranaceous,

scattered, convex-hemispheric when fresh, collapsed when dry;

has the same fruit, but the perithecia do not collapse.

_Spheria (Physalospora) Arthuriana, Sacc (in literis)—Perithe-

Cia amphigenous, erumpent, hemispheric (}™™ diam.), black,

rough ; ostiolum papilliform, with a rather large opening ; asci

clavate-cylindrical, 55 \ 82; sporidia elliptical, granular, yellow-

ish, slightly constricted around the middle, 11-13 X 7-9“. On

aded, yellowish indeterminate spots. On living leaves of Jva

*anthifolia. Charles City, Iowa, August, 1882. J. C. Arthur.

Spherella juniperina—Perithecia at first covered by the epi-

dermis, but soon bare, scattered or oftener subconfluent in the di-

rection of the longitudinal axis of the leaf,so as to appear hys-

erillorm ; asci fasciculate, 35-40 x 7-8; sporidia crowded or

biseriate clavate-oblong granular (uniseptate)? subhyaline, 9-11

X 3¥%u. The perithecia are minute and conic-globose. On

fading ee of Funiperus communis. Decorah, Iowa, May, 1882.

. Holw

Spherella Ilicis—Amphigenous,’ on roundish spots (%-34

cent. diam.) white above and brown below, with a distinct, slightly

d,dark purplish border, the purple color more distinct on

_ the under surface of the leaf, Perithecia mostly in the central

_ Portion of the spots, punctiform, subglobose, the upper half pro-

cüng, about 3™" diam. and with a rather large opening; asci

oblong-cylindrical, 40-55 X 734-11 #; sporidia biseriate, clavate-

oblong, subhyaline, uniseptate and slightly constricted at the

Pipa, 13-15 X 34. On living leaves of Merx glabra, Newfield,

-~ Ja June, 1882. ` Differs from S. Gaultheria Č. and E. in its

rather smaller more symmetrically shaped perithecia, not con-

entrically arranged, and its rather smaller sporidia.

. Spherella Muhlenbeygie—Perithecia erumpent, minute, mostly

im elongated series ; asci oblong, 35 X 9344; sporidia elliptical,

318 General Notes.

uniseptate, 11-15 X 3-3%. Stylospores in larger perithecia,

oblong-fusiform, 15-19 X 4 e, mostly 2nucleate. On leaves of

Muhlenbergia, cut about ten days ago and left lying on the

ground, Newfield, N. J., July, 1882. The Spherella made its

appearance and came to maturity after the grass was cut. Possibly

this is not sufficiently distinct from S. graminicola Fckl.

Gnomonia clavulata—Perithecia membranaceous, globose,

11mm. diam, rough, bedded in the substance of the leaf, their

bases projecting on the lower surface and their cylindrical, obtuse

subclavate ostiola about equal in length to the diameter of the pet

thecia, projecting from the ypper surface ; asci oblong cylindrical,

sporebearing part, 35-40 x 5-6#; paraphyses none; sporda

biseriate, oblong-fusiform, acute and 4 nucleate at first, becoming

unequally uniseptate and obtuse, 714-9 x 2 », yellowish. The

tips of the ostiola are generally abruptly enlarged into a knob l

like swelling, and are somewhat cup-shaped with a rather large

opening. On fallen leaves of Quercus (nigra)? Newfeld, N. fı

May, 1882. eee

Gnomonia Magnolie—Perithecia rather large, buried in te

parenchyma of the leaf, the short, rufous, subulate-comic 05% ;

alone visible ; asci oblong-elliptical, 40 + 7-8 r», sporidia fusiform, 3

acute, pale straw color, obscurely nucleate, 11-19 X |

fallen leaves of Magnolia glauca. Newfield, N. J., July, 1882,

eratostoma subulatum.—Perithecia subulate, 4™ high, ap

septate submuriform, pedicellate spores about 35 X 15”

living leaf of Asclepias cornuti. Ee City, Iowa, Septy

J. C. Arthur,

1883. | Botany. 319

Asterina Xerophylli—Perithecia on a scanty mycelium, entirely

_, Superficial, orbicular or subelongated, slightly depressed in the

| center, }™™ diam. asci obovate, contracted into a thick stipe-like

e, 35x 15 æ, sporidia hyaline, fusiform or clavate fusiform,

faintly 3 septate, 18-20 x 3-314 ». On fading leaves of Xerophyl-

lum asphodeloides. Willow Grove, N. J., May, 1882.

Asterina Ilicis—Perithecia superficial, flat, punctiform, minute,

mycelium nearly obsolete ; asci globose-ovate, 22 x 15 #; sporidia

` oblong, uniseptate, yellowish, 11 x 4 #. On living leaves of //ex

` glabra, Newfield, N. J, June, 1882.— F. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. F.

New Species oF Micrococcus (Bacterta.)—Micrococcus amyli-

vorus. Cells oval, single or united in pairs, rarely in fours, never in

elongated chains, imbedded in an abundant mucilage which is very

soluble in water ; movements oscillatory ; length of a separate cell

00004 to .000056 in.; width, .000028 in.; length of a pair, .00008 in. ;

of four united, about .oo0o12 in.

q In the tissues of plants causing the so-called “fire blight” of

the pear tree and similar phenomena in many other plants. Through

the action of the organism the stored starch is destroyed by fer-

-~ mentation, and carbonic acid, butyric acid and hydrogen is given

off (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1880;

= Tenth Report Illinois Industrial University, 1880).

This species was at first referred to the genus Bacterium, but

this came from too exclusive attention having been given to its

S It is only found in the tissues of affected plants or o0z-

| ing from their cells and smearing the surface. It may, however,

be cultivated in pure starch in water maintained at the temperature

of ordi summer weather. No doubt other nutritive ingredi-

ents would make the culture easier and more prompt. ;

4. toxicatus—Cells globular, single and in pairs, rarely in

chains of several articles ; .co002 in. in diameter, movement oscil-

latory only,

fe species of Rhus, and believed to be the peculiar “poison ”

a r which these plants are noted. They may be found in the in-

biden: tissues of the stem as well as upon the leaves. Transferred -

eiye human skin they multiply rapidly in number and penetrating

a So well known, If again transferred to healthy skin the same

: menon follows. (American Association for the Advance-

r Nos a TS 1882; American Monthly Microscopic Fournal,

Be msectorum.—Cell obtusely oval, isolated or in pairs, rarely

chains of several articles; .000022 in. wide and .000027 to

- paisa in. long (usually about .000032 in. long); movements

; la Bo. only ; forming zooglæa (?).

|a the digestive organs of chinch bugs (Blissus leucopterus).

Ga ne. by Professor S. A. Forbes (AMERICAN NATURALIST,

» 1882). I have myself, in common with many others, ob-

320 General Notes.

served that these insects sometimes die off in great numbers du-

- ing apparently favorable weather in summer. Sometimes indeed

all infesting a given area seem to perish, so that the following st

son a collector can scarcely find one for his cabinet where there

have been millions of them to the acre twelve months befor

There is every appearance of a contagious disease by which they

are thus swept away, and it is quite probable that the organism

herein named is the true element of the contagion. It does, how-

ever, appear to be less virulent in its usual effects. It may be cul .

tivated in meat broth. p

M. gallicidus—Cells globular, single or united in pairs; .0000

to .000029 in. in diameter; movements oscillatory only. :

In the blood of the domestic fowl suffering with “chicken

cholera.” :

gious element consists of minute, globular granules, capable df

self-multiplication, it appears no one has named the organism nor

given a description of it as a species. Dr. Salmon (Report US

.000028 to .000032 in. in diameter (Detmers). ge

In the blood and other fluids of pigs, sick with swine pate

“hog cholera,” described by Dr. H. J. Detmers (Report Us

Department of Agriculture, 1878), under the name of Barili

The author, however soon after, recognizing more cle d

generic characteristics of these minute crganisms, disclaimed OF

propriety of the classification first adopted by him. Ba

have also been made in this country by Drs. Law and » a

but no name has been heretofore formally proposed ao

stated. My own studies upon the organism, as such, aco

the descriptions published by the authois named and WERTET

of Méguin of France.—T. ¥. Burrill, Champaign, I. cd

_ ENTOMOLOGY.’ oe

especially tough wood he cut down this oak tree very 7

ground in order to get as much of the butt as possible.

; Ea ; tom

1 This department is edited by Prog, C. V. RILEY, Washington, DO

communications, books for notice, etc., may be sent.

PEE ee

ys E E LUE

z Pa

TAE E RA

1883.] Entomology. 321

home one evening he took his path across this clearing where the

June grass then stood knee-high, and while passing the stump of

the oak tree he was astonished to find the whole place alive with

some insect which, on examination, proved to be the seventeen-

year Cicada, They were well down among the roots of the grass,

but what struck him as very singular was the fact that in all this

host the head of every one was directed toward the stump which

not one of them could see or ever had seen. Returning next

swim across the Atlantic. Was it also instinct that impelled these

seventeen-year Cicadas towards the invisible trunk of the tree

under which they had made for so many years their subterranean

home? Did the “sense of direction” lie dormant in that mite of

a nervous chord through its egg-existence, and for seventeen

years afterwards? I know this phenomenon is not without

The faculty that carries the lemming to destruction, and the

nervous system of this insect is susceptible to outside impres-

Sions, to retain them and transmit them for the use of gen-

erations yet unborn, for their guidance; is as wonderful as any

act of reason, if not more so. The young insect may be said to

see with its parents’ eyes, and consequently sees things as they

Were in its parents’ lifetime. Are the impressions made upon the

. Nerves of the parent handed down to the offspring, as some of the

cal or chemical properties of the proteine compound which

forms the basis of their life ?

er’

322 General Notes. [March, :

In connection with the above narrative I should like to askif

Jarvae of the seventeen-year Cicada living on the roots of a tres,

would be destroyed by cutting down the tree and killing its roots,

especially during the earlier stages of their existence—Z W

Claypole. |

[The facts narrated are not so wonderful as they at first appear

The trees generally haying been felled only a few years prior to

the previous appearance of the Cicadas, seventeen years before,

these, doubtless, came out all over the piece of cleared ground, —

and congregated on the isolated tree that had been left, filling its

branches with eggs which supplied the ground beneath the tree

with an unusual quantity of young Cicadas. This isolated tree was

_ also cut down after the new generation had nearly acquired full |

growth. These insects had, doubtless, during the later years o!

growth fed on the roots of said tree, always with the head toward

the butt, or in the direction of the increasing size of the

They had, probably, for nearly seventeen years been directed 10

the same point which they made for upon issuing from the ground

as pupe. This is one explanation of the facts, though we fully

recognize that there is much to us inexplicable about the sense of :

direction in insects. Dr. H. A. Hagen recently mentions

(Wature, Dec. 21, 1882) a singular case of the pupa of Ophio-

gomphus making direct tracks over the sand from the waten,

whence it issued to a solitary willow tree 100 feet away. We

. believe that the destruction of the roots of the tree would prow

fatal to the Cicada larvze except where it occurred after they had

reached within two or three years of their full growth.—C y. R]

FooD-HABITS OF MEGILLA MACULATA.—In his investigations

on the food of Carabidæ and Coccinellidæ, Professor S. A. F orbs

records his observations, among others, on the above-named sp? 5

cies, of which he dissected fourteen specimens. In eleven T

mens, collected at various times around Normal, Ill, the 1%

i Aphids)

_ While these investigations tend to show that our T

more phytophagous than entomophagous, at least im Cere dos

calities, yet the fact of its food consisting of fungi and para

not renders the species injurious to agriculture. What wê rested

on this last subject in the Naturatist for April, 1881, P. 326,1 “a

solely on a communication from one of our correspondent ii

George B. P. Taylor, of St. Inigoes, Md. Our efforts t° tiie

Mr. Taylor’s statement by experiments in vivaria gave ” grape

results, the beetles refusing to eat tender leaves of COM>”

1883.] . Entomology. 323

vine, melon, morning-glory and clover. From these experiments

and from Professor Forbes’s investigations, we might feel inclined

to doubt the correctness of Mr. Taylor’s statement were it not for

some field observations made last year by Mr. Theodore Pergande

which tend to confirm those made by Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Pergande, while searching for injurious insects on corn in

the vicinity of Washington, on August 22d, saw several imagos

and larvz of this species, actually eating into the soft kernels of

the ears. The beetles were almost entirely within the nearly

empty kernels, and it could plainly be observed that they were

eating. Upon removing them the most careful examination failed

to discover any other insect in the kernel. The larve were found

in similar situations actively engaged in eating the substance of

the soft seeds.

Crornes Motus OBSERVED IN THE UNITED Srares.— There

has always been confusion and uncertainty in referring to the cor-

rect names of the clothes moths found in this country, and we

are glad to note the fact that Professor C. H. Fernald, in the Cana-

dian Entomologist for September, 1882, pp. 166-169, has given us

a concise account of our: species based upon a large collection

brought together from all parts of the country and sent to Lord

Walsingham for comparison with European species. It appears

that we have no native clothes moths, the three species observed

in this country being identical with European species. They are

as follows: st. Tinea pellionella Linn., the case-making and most

destructive species; 2nd., Tinea tapetzella L.; the gallery-making

Species, rare in this country ; 3rd., Tinea biselliella Hummel, which

is also not a case-making species. The intricate synonymy of the

first and third species which have been redescribed by American

authors under several names is given in full by Professor Fernald

who also describes the imagos and gives some biological notes

on the species,

Lepipoprerous Larva AND YeLLow Fiowers.—The larve

of Heliothis armigera seems to have a partiality for yellow flowers. I

found some feeding on the flowers of the evening primrose at Biarritz

in October, last year; failing that, they readily took to honey-

suckle flowers. When I brought them to England and offeredthem

a choice of chrysanthemums (the only flower I had at the time),

preferred the yellow ones, andthrove upon them. One day

be ve them a red chrysanthemum, and they would not eat that,

t ate one of their number; they had shown no tendency to

eng alism on the journey when the honeysuckle was not

8. M1. S. Fenkyns, in the Entomologist (London), Fanuary,

7983 (vol. xvi., p. 23).

rohit on Muritra (occidentalis L.)—From early boyhood I

“ave Occasionally seen this insect, but perhaps in all—in over fifty

yfars—not more than fifteen or twenty of those of large size.

are known as “cow-killers” or “cow-stingers,” and in

Pay;

324 General Notes. [March,

children excite more or less fear. I have often wondered why —

they were called “ cow-killers ;” having till the past summer never

heard of any animal or person being injured by them. A cow,

however, eating grass, and with the nose pressing one of them

would probably be stung very severely. The sting, iong, black

and sharp, can be protruded almost the length of the whole body.

Last summer I met with two persons who had been stung by the

Mutilla—one, a negro man, who was stung when a cow-boy in

Virginia; the other, now owner of Rallew’s Creek Mills, in For-

syth Co., when a boy was riding under a dogwood bush, and

knocked off one which fell into his shoe. The pain from the

sting was great, the foot swelled, and he was lamed for a few

days; but in neither of the cases were the symptoms alarming.

This insect is remarkably tough—difficult to kill. Unless the _

ground is very hard, it may be trodden upon with the boot, and

rubbed and scrubbed into the earth, and yet when the foot is re-

moved it will work itself out and run off apparently unhurt. Its

whole envelope has the toughness of leather. The specimens sent

are evidently larger than the M. ewropea.—Nereus Mend

M. D., Westminster, Guilford Co., N. C.

ZOOLOGY.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE Linnæan Soctety or New York—Ihs

Society, which has been in existence for several years, issued It

December, 1882, its first volume of Transactions in royal octal!

form of 168 pages, and is unexceptienable as regards papel *

presswork. The spirit of the papers making up the text 15 €X

cellent, as they are based on extensive and painstaking field work

The first article is the longest, it is devoted to a fresh and vale

account of the mammals of the Adirondack region, a work Wir

Wm. Dutcher, is entitled “Is not the fish crow (Corvus ossifrages

Wilson) a winter as well as a summer resident at the northera oe

evidence tending strongly to show that the bird is a perc :

winter resident in its northern. habitat, instead of a rare “ma

visitor. The third and last article is “A review of the ae |

birds of a part of the Catskill mountains, with prefata g knell

on the faunal and floral features of the region.” By E.F.

Some of the mammals and all the batrachians and reptiles . te

in the Catskills are enumerated. The author does not acc?

claim that two efts, Diemyctylus miniatus and viridescens The ide -

tical, as claimed by a writer in this journal (xii, 399). val histor :

is an interesting and comprehensive sketch of the na

of a beautiful mountain region.

REMARKS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MARGARITANA MAR

ERA (Linn).—Already much has been said in the P

NATURALIST in regardto this species, yet a fuller expose

1883.] Zoblogy. 325

ern distribution may not be without interest. Mighels in his

Catalogue of the Shells of Maine (Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., vol. 1v.,

p. 325, 1843), says: “ This species is plentiful all over the State.

* * * Jt occurs plentifully at Cape Elizabeth, near the sea”

“Specimens from different localities differ much among them-

selves, being more or less curved, or elongated, and some are

perfectly straight, differing in no respect from U. sinuosa and elon-

gata of Lamarck, from Germany and France. With Mr. Lea I

believe them identical.” E. S. Morse, in his “ Observations on

the Terrestrial Pulmonifera of Maine” (Journ. Portland, Soc.

Nat. Hist., 1864, pp. 47 and 52), refers to the species as

common and “found in great numbers in several rocky,

muddy brooks, near Portland. Have rarely found it in the in-

terior.” The species is by no means rare in Massachusetts. It

occurs in Charles river, at Newton, Mass., the shells are here well

developed; at Lunenburg the shell is found in small brooks and

the specimens are diminutive in size, scarcely attaining a length of

2% inches; it is also found at Leominster, an adjoining town,

and under similar conditions. At the village of Haydenville, a

part of Williamsburg, in Hampshire county, it is found in the

greatest abundance, very perfect, and of large size, in the tributaries

of Mill river ; it is doubtless found in the streams of Worcester

county, in the central portion of the State. Gould, in his “Inver-

large and fine in St. Charles river, near Quebec; J. F. W. Green ,

and Rimouski rivers; both of the Matapedia lakes; Lake St.

the > collections for the Agassiz Museum, at Cambridge, and

‘tough the fresh waters of the islands were then diligently

326 General Notes. [March, i

searched no Unionidæ were found. It is not improbable that —

the Margaritana margaritifera made its advent during that —

interval ; its occurrence upon this sea-girt and isolated island —

separated from the main land by at least twenty miles of —

open water, is an interesting fact, and presents a problem in |

the distribution of fresh-water shells, which only the methods of

Darwin can surmount. The occurrence of the form falcataof —

Gould in the waters of Oregon, the occurrence in the streams

emptying into Columbia, and into Puget sound, as recorded

by Cooper; the localities recorded by Carpenter, east of the Rocky |

mountains ; and the known high range of the species in Europe,

make its occurrence in the intermediate portions of the

possessions not improbable, and I confidently look for it in these |

waters, when they are more fully examined.—A. F. Gray.

valuable material for this work, and has with great evident pains

and throughness worked out the characters of these Myriopods, :

the remains of which belong to four genera and twelve species. |

He regards the Myriopods as an “ order,” and the Chilopoda and

Diplopoda as“ suborders,” and proposes for the group of Carbon

ferous Myriopods under consideration the term Archipolypott

considering them as constituting a group equivalent in rank to

the Diplopods (or Chilognaths). r Be

The Archipolypoda are thus characterized ; “ Paleozoic Myr =

apods, with a fusiform body, largest near the middle of the at a

terior half or third, the head appendages borne upon a single a

segment; each segment behind the head composed of a ae

dorsal and two ventral plates, the dorsal of nearly uniform lengh

superiorly and inferiorly, occupying most of the sides as | a :

the top of the body; destitute of foramina repugnatora ©

divided into ridged anterior and flat posterior portion, the - natal :

provided with longitudinal rows of spines or tubercles; thee

plates occupying the entire ventral portion, each having gr

long jointed legs, and furnished outside of them wit} © —

spiracles, the mouth transversely disposed.” é rather

Having been recently studying the Lysiopetalide, 4 afte

aberrant and synthetic family of Chilognaths, we hara ay

; reading Mr. Scudder’s memoir in order to ascertain pee

lation to his Archipolypoda, felt obliged to dissent from *

his conclusions, though not doubting the evident igre

clearness of his descriptions of the remains upon which his 8°”

and species are based. eo

`The above quoted definition will apply in some points ©

1883.] Lvblogy. 327

Lysiopetalide and the characters are those, it appears to us, which

indicate a group of Chilognaths (Diplopoda), standing below but

equivalent in rank, perhaps, to the existing forms taken together.

In his comparisons with the Chilognaths, the author seems to

have had the Julidz in view, and not to have mentioned the Poly-

desmidz or Lysiopetalidz ; for some of these and other Chilognaths

have a “fusiform body.”. That the “ head appendages “are borne

upon “a simple segment” is an assertion which Mr. Scudder's

figures do not apparently indicate. The head is swollen on the

rows of spines or tubercles,” will apply to i

the Lysiopetalidæ as well as to the group

under consideration. The nature of the

spines of the Archipolypoda forms a re-

markable feature. They are often large,

stiff and spined in certain genera—in one n | :

genus (Eilecticus) they form simple warts. 3

he singular spinulate spines give an outré,

zarre appearance to these fossils; but an ;

approach to them, we think (contrary to

the author’s opinion, see p. 144, foot note

3) is seen in the barbed setz on the seg-

ments of the embryo Strongylosoma. The

author does not refer to the spinulose or

: Spined setz of Polyxenus,

A, M. Edwards del.

328 General Notes. [March,

Chilognaths, że. the Julide. They appear, in reality, in length to

be intermediate between those of the Julidz and Lysiopetalide;

the terminal joint is long and free, and seem, as seen in: Pl. 13, |

figs. 7 and 18 to be 7-jointed as in all Chilognaths, the terminal

or seventh joint being rather long and slender, as in the Lysiope »

talidæ.

The most. striking character of the. Archipolypoda appears

to be the presence of a large spiracle on each segment instead

ofalternate segments, as in Chilognaths and Chilopoda. In position

the spiracles are as in other Myriopods* Another important

features is the great development of the sterna, which are broad,

so that the insertion of the legs. are wide apart; the scuta do not

of course descend so far down on the sides as in the Julidæ; but

an approach to the form of a section of the body, is seen in the 3

Polydesmidæ,and particularly in Polyxenus; in this genus,as in the i

Archipolypoda, the sternites or “ ventral plates” also“ occupying

the entire ventral portion.” With the exception of the fact that the

spiracles are apparently developed upon each segment instead of

alternate, we do not find in the author’s diagnosis any $M

Lysiopetalidæ, but standing below them. We would agree ©

Mr. Scudder that the Archipolypoda are an ancient type and n

precursors of the modern Chilognaths. This is suggested bys |

retention and enlargement of the spiny sete which occur

embryo and larval Chilognaths,and ther ofa pair ot SP

on each segment. In Hexapoda each segment behind pe

in the embryo bears a pair of spiracles, and when as erap

known of the development of Myriopods as of that of He

and Arachnids, this may be the case with Myriopo®

essential characters of the Chilognaths are that all the

phalic segments behind the three first, bear each two pails <

The Archipolypoda do not differ from them in this respec

other essential feature is that they possess one pair 0%

appendages less than the Chilopods; and from the form

head, the eyes, the antennz and especially the swollen =

Scudder’s figs. 16, 18, pl. 13, which recalls the peculianly

Lysiopetalidz, we have good reason for inferring that ' ie

polypoda had a pair of mandibles and a pair of maxill@,

under lip. j

The legs of some of the Archipolypoda appear to r

pressed and slightly expanded, strengthened also on je

surface by longitudinal ridges, and have in every respect ™

o minute paifs

almost wholly diplopodoas, We are almost inclined to regard t order. a

Chilognaths, but at present should retain them as types of a distin

E +h a eR +

ms the Archi

a ee eae eT ee a

sh pee PE TRE E ie So cei S S AEE A VEE E E y

1883.1] Zoölogy. 329

of swimming legs in those specimens in which the appearance of

the legs is most clear.” In some of the figures the legs appear to

be much in form and length as in the Lysiopetalidz. In speaking

of the legs, Mr. Scudder seems to have in mind only the even-

jointed legs of the Julidæ; but those of the Lysiopetalide resem-

ble the legs of the Archipolypoda in having the joints very un-

even ; the third joint being about one-third as long as the entire

g. Moreover, the legs of certain existing Myriopods are, if we

mistake not, more or less flattened. Besides the second pair of

legs in Sphzropceus, which are flattened, adapting them for

clasping ; those of certain Ceylonese Julidz, figured by Humbert

(pl. 1v., fig. 19% and 21g), have broad expansions on some of the

joints, though the legs end in claws. The legs of Euphorberia

and all the other Archipolypoda end, apparently, in sharp points,

and this indicates that they must have had sharp claws, We

do not see that the form of the feet indicates aquatic habits; had

they been adapted for swimming we should have expected that

=e form would have been more or less spatulate and without

claws,

_A singular feature of the Archipolypoda are “ peculiar organs,

situated one on either side of the median line, at the very front

edge of the ventral plate; to these it seems to be impossible to

assign any other function than that of support for branchiz ; they

consist of little tringular cups or craters, projecting from the under

surface, through which I believe the branchial appendages pro-

ed; so far as I am aware, no other organs than branchiz have

been found in any Arthropoda situated within the legs, and re-

Peated in segment after segment.” These structuresare certainly

remarkable, and suggestive of branchial supports, and it is to be

hoped that fossils will be discovered, with remains of the branchize

themselves. Whether an aquatic, swimming branchiate Myriopod

would have such large spiræles may be questioned. But at any

rate the Archipolypoda are a most interesting group, whatever be

our views as to their position and nature; they. may be regarded

as larval forms, and in some degree as synthetic forms, with no

modern representatives, Still, we should not exclude the type

from the Chilognaths, though, perhaps, forming a suborder of the

ilognaths, assuming that the Myriopods should rank as sub-

class. Thus the order of Chilognaths might be divided into two

suborders, the lower and more larval and extinct group being the

Archipolypoda, and the higher the genuine Chilognaths. In

has connection it may be observed that. the embryo Chilognaths

ient stages new segments are added, from each of which

wo pairs of legsarise. The possession of two pairs of legs, then,

ain Secondary and acquired character. We have a parallel to it

en ty of F hyllopod Crustacea, the Apodidz, in which from

ee SIX pairs of legs in post-larval life arise from a single seg-

—A. S. Packard, Fr, a.

330 General Notes.

Tue VOGMAR OR VAAGM#R (TRACHYPTERUS ARCTICUS) AND

THE KING OF THE HERRINGS (GYMNETRUS BANKSIIL.)—Dr. Lüt

ken has recently published some valuable additions to our knowl-

edge of these two deep sea fishes, based upon material that has

accumulated in the museum of Copenhagen. a

Thirteen examples, varying from 830 to 2200 (about 2 t9

in. to 7 ft. 4 in.), of the former fish gave sufficient material toena:

ble Dr, Lütken to decide that, spite of great variations in the pt

portional length of the head, height of the body, size of the ee

profile of head, number of rays in dorsal and caudal, position at

the lateral line, and position of the anus, which exceptionally isin :

advance of the middle of the length, there is but one valid species

of Trachypterus in the northern seas. z

After the study of this northern form, the author unhesitatingiy

declares his conviction that all the “ speciés” described from thè

Mediterranean belong also to one species ( 7. iris) which can, how

ever, be distinguished from T, arcticus by its longer

gradually tapering tail and less elevated body. Rudiments of vet

tral fins, consisting of a broken prismatic exterior ray and

of five other rays, were found in two examples; and the smallest

of the series had distinct remnants of the five separate anterior

dorsal rays, which in ail the others were broken down to st

hidden beneath the skin. Dr. Lütken believes that this los0

the nuchal and ventral fins is natural rather than accidental, es%

cially as the dorsal fin itself is usually well preserved. ee!

ber of dorsal rays varies from 154 to 186 (without then

rays), they are rough in the young, but in adults smoot, ©

for the basal spine. The length of the fin-rays generally 18 8"

in the young, and the spines of the lateral line, the :

fourteen of which are large and sharp, are in the young ©”

to the origin of the lateral line.

The King of the Herrings is a much rarer fish, so rare hs

thirty are on record from the coasts of Norway and England T

140 years. The Copenhagen museum possesses an exami e h

feet long from the Faroe islands. This was muc

other examples of fishes of this genus, Dr. Lütken con op

the former is but an unusually large state of R. bani 1 of

latter is at best an uncertain Species, During the 8 :

1883.] Zoology. : 331

fish the tail appears to lengthen and increase in number of rays,

while the relative height of the body and length of the head di-

minishes in proportion to the total length.

e dimensions of this fish are in Danish feet. Curiously Trachyp-

terus, though found upon the coast of Norway, Iréland, Faroe and

celand, has not yet occurred upon that of North America.

The principal distinctions between the two genera are the pro-

longation almost to the extremity of the tail, of the cul-de-sac of

the stomach; and the greater feebleness of the skeleton and

greater elongation of the vertebra in Regalecus. In both genera

there are about 100 vertebrae. The vogmar has no ribs, while

the eighth to the twenty-fourth vertebre of the King of the

Herrings have true ribs.

Nores on FLoripiaAn AND TEXAN FisuEs.—During a short stay

at Pensacola and Galveston Prof. Jordan collected 129 species of

marine fishes, of which sixteen were previously undescribed.

There are apparently seven species of Carcharias in the waters

of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including one which may prove

_ to be new. The cyprinodonts taken were nine in number, includ-

ing two new Funduli. The Spariodz are represented by ten spe-

cies, among which is the red snapper or Pargo colorado (Lutjanus

blacfordi) the most important food-fish of the Gulf coast. This is

taken with hook and lines on the “ Snapper Banks,” some five to

thirty miles off shore. It reaches a weight of about 35 pounds.

Mullus barbatus, the famous European surmullet, was represented

by a specimen taken from the stomach of the red snapper. This

is the first authentic record of the occurrence of this species on

our coast, =

Among the new species were a Prionotus (P. scitulus), Porich-

thys plectrodon, a Gobiesox (G. virgatulus), four blennioids, and

two flat fishes of the genus Paralichthys.

of Hayden’s Su

ae wo

nnual Report of the U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey,

F. V. Hayden U. S. Geologist-in-Charge, and has been published

(Oct. I4th, 1882) in advance of the report itself. Dr. Shufeldt’s

work beginni

Op beotyto cunicularia hypogea), next treats of the osteology

~*Pter on the osteology of the Tetraonide, as here we are treated

332 General Notes.

to new matter on the habits and distribution of some of tht

_western members of this family. In this, as in former monographs,

the author omits any detailed description of the osseous elements

of the ear, or the respiratory tube, small sesamoids, or sudi

tendons as may ossify in the extremities. It would be impossible,

even if we had the requisite knowledge, to make any abstract ú

this interesting comparative sketch of a group belonging to tht

Gallinaceous birds, concerning whose osteology so much has beet

written. We pause to notice that Dr. Shufeldt applies the name

pentosteon to what in the first edition of this monograph he cated

the pisiform bone, and which is the fifth bonelet in the avian wrist

The chapter on the skeleton of the Lanius or shrike is succeeded by

an interesting comparative essay on that of the vultures. Më

publication of these papers should exert a most healthy influence |

on the scientific study of the birds of this country, as the tendency

is in systematic ornithology too much towards a reliance on supe

ficial, external characters.

A Waite Ravey.—A milk white raven, with pale pink tă

and red legs, is now being exhibited in the Berlin Aquarium, 0

material augmentation of that admirable institution’s daily recep?

It received admission to the great central aviary in which scot

of beautiful birds flutter and chirp and build their nests beets

parative freedom, but his presence there spread such gen patil

among the remaining inmates of the vo/iere that it has been

they as yellow as burnished gold. He was found his

black brood ofsbrothers and sisters, in a nest built by M5

nch of

“lions ” of the German capital—Forest and Stream. per ;

THE Anatomy or THe Cutroprera—M. A. Robin of E

cently devoted much study to the anatomy of those PY pa

ts which are not employed in locomotion, and yee

neglected by most naturalists, who have mainly i

1883.] Zoology. 333

selves to the skeleton and muscular system. The examination of

one or more genera of all the important types proves the

Chiroptera to be a very homogeneous group, one of the most

omogeneous of the mammalian orders. The genus Harpyia links

together the two suborders usually admitted, since its skeleton

is that of a roussette, and its viscera those of a bat. The digestive

apparatus varies in accordance with the habits of the sections of

the order, but these variations are only those which are physi-

ologically necessary, such as differences in the shape of the teeth,

the capacity of the stomach, the length of the intestine, and the

development of the glands. Apart from variations in relation to

alimentation, the stomach is constructed according to two types,

simple and compound. The pancreas is compact in the rousettes,

diffused in ordinary bats. Among the constant characters of the

digestive system are the presence of peculiar tridentate tooth-

like processes (odontoides) near the tip of the tongue, and the

very general existence of two entirely distinct pairs of sub-max-

illary glands. The relations of the glottis with the palate are

similar to those found in the horse and the elephant, and enable

the bats to keep the mouth open while flying without deranging

respiration, The larynx is simple and normal, but in some forms

vocal boxes (caisses) are formed by the modification of the superior

tracheal rings. There are considerable variations in the structure

of the accessory glands of the male genital apparatus. All the

forms of uterus known among mammals can be found in this order.

In some species the uterus is a single vessel like that of the

highest primates ; but more generally it is bicornate, with very

in classification, and this is strengthened by the fact that, since M.

obin published his first researches, Mr. Watson has shown that

he Indian elephant has not only two distinct uteri, but two dis-

tinct vaginæ also. M. Robin has proved that the umbilical

wi tani though attached to the chorion during all foetal life takes

T Part in its vascularization, which is entirely of allantoid origin,

hus all the embryogenital characters show their relation to the

Primates.— Condensed from Revue Scientifique, 22 Apr., 1882.

à ZoðrosicaL NoTEs.—Archiv fir Naturgeschichte Jahrg. 49, Heft.

wot 1883, but received in November or December, 1882), con-

“ins a lengthy article by Dr. C. Bülow on division and regenera-

Tar in the worms (Lumbriculus variegatus Gr.). Bonnet cut a

‘umbriculus into twenty-six pieces, several of which became

lete animals. Of a Lumbriculus which Bülow cut into four-

334 General Notes. M

teen pieces, only one piece died, the rest developed a head and

tail. Worms which had been operated upon occurred with two

very well formed tails———Dr. Bertkau in the same Archi dè

scribes a case of sexual dimorphism in the Psocidae——The be

ginning of an important paper by Dr. Bedriagra, on the Amphi-

bians and reptiles of Corsica also appéars in this heft of tit

Archiv, The three plates representing the anatomy and osteology

as well as the sexual apparatus, and the mode of sexual congres

of a Corsican salamander are useful. The hibernation of thè

jumping mouse has been described by C. J. Maynard in the Quar.

terly Journal of the Boston Zodlogical Society, Jan. 1883. t

enters the ground before the frosts set in, and makes a burrow from

five to seven feet in depth, usually in sandy soil. At the end ofthis

burrow it constructs a nest of dried grass, in the middle of o

it lies curled up, in an unconscious state. Those which eis

moved, appeared as if dead, except that they were limp. Pk

peculiar stupor they exhibited is their normal state durimgt

winter. No food is ever found in the nest or burrow ——Mr. a

A. Allen recorded in the third volume (p. 645), of the NATURALS

that the swallow-tailed hawk was seen at Wately, Mass.

. Chadbourne records in the above journal, the fact that this n

was shot in Amesbury, Mass., Sept. 25.——In a communicate”

the Scientific American, Mr. Robertson states that bees do ern

jure grapes or other fruits that are in a healthy condition; *

will suck at them the moment a wound has been made PY

or other insects, or by putrefaction. This he has pr

placing bunches of grapes close to a hive. No bee touch

side, and the Syllidz on the other. a

Am. Four. of Science, Mr. J. F. Whiteaves notices the ‘

by Mr. J. Richardson, then of the Geological Survey

of a recent polyzoon which cannot be distinguished ext

ble character from the Japanese and New Zealand H

Heteropora described by Messrs. Waters and Busk. — ?

nese form was described in 1879 as H. pelliculata, and

first recent example of a genus before supposed to be §

and Tertiary. Mr, F. A. Lucas, in Ward's Nat. ies

notices and figures some singular osteological abnormali an

as the skull of a fowl, the frontal region of which 18" y

developed; a seventh cervical vertebra of a pig, prov!

rib; a human foot and hand with the fifth digit dupi

some biped cats, with atrophied pelvis. These cats ©

walked on their front legs, carrying the body almost E

larly. He also figures a deer’s head with a third antler

from a separate pedicel_— In the Monatsbericht, Ks

1883. | ee Zoology. 335

Berlin, Professor Peters describes a new species of his Chiropteran

genus Mormopterus, from Amboina, and gives a synopsis of the

i ised in that S

scribes in the Sztz. Gesellschaft. Natur. Freunde, four species of

fishes and four of snakes, the latter including two of Typhlops

from Africa, and two of Elaps from Ecuador; gives a review of

the species of the families Typhlopidz and Stenostomide; a de-

scription of a new Tachydromus from Amurland; a list of the

seven Scincoids and Geckoes found by Herr Finsch in the Mar-

shall, Carolina, and Gilbert groups (probably introduced from

ships); anote upont developed during the breeding

season on the male of Rana gigas, an East Indian (Sikkim) spe-

cies; and a description of two new species of snakes of the genus

Psammophis. Professor Peters also describes three Scincoids,

one from New Guinea, and two from South Australia, a Callophis

from the Phillipines, and several annelids from various quarters.

He also notices an example of the remarkable genus Potamogale

from the interior of Angola. The insectivorous nature of the ani-

mal was fully proved by the contents of the stomach. In the same

series of proceedings, Professor Von Martens describes several

mollusks from the collection obtained by the corvette Gazelle;

two Squillide, Lysiosquilla polydactyla from Chili, and Gonodac-

tylus trachurus from the Mauritius, and some pulmonates from

Central Asia; Herr Karsch describes several Coleoptera from the

islands off the Guinea coast; Herr Hartmann gives some inter-

esting particulars relative to the pectoral-muscles of certain fishes,

especially those of a Periopthalmus from Madagascar, and Herr

K. Brandt writes upon the mutual life of animals and alge, de-

scribing certain genera and species of unicellular alge which in-

habit protozoa, sponges, hydrozoa, actinozoa, and turbellaria, and

are the source of the chlorophyll found in those animals. I

the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences is a de-

scription of a new Tortricid, by C. H. Fernald, and notes upon the

Spongillze, by H. Mills. Mr, Mills adds to Mr. Potts’ genus Car-

terella, so well characterized by the tendril-like prolongations of

its statoblasts, a new species, C. tubisperma—wW. A. Forbes,

Prosector to the Zool. Society of London, has examined the struc-

ture of the palate in several trogons, and finds that the maxillo-

Palatines neither unite with -each other, nor with any median

ossification, so that the Trogonide are not desmognathous, but

schizognathus, As their nearest allies, the Bucconide, Galbulide,

Sractidee, Podargus, etc., are desmognathous, Mr. Forbes believes

nat the importance of the palate in classification has been over-

€stimated. Careful observations conducted upon an incubating

Python molurus in the Zodlogical Gardens of London prove that

the temperature of the female rises, on an average, 3° F. above the

tes temperature—an increase nearly identical with that which

sults in cases of fever. .

336 General Notes. [March, |

PHYSIOLOGY.

THE SIxTH SENSE.—At a recent meeting of the Anthropologi-

cal Institute, London, Mr. Francis Galton, F. R. S., exhibited and

explained some apparatus contrived by himself, with a view of

testing the muscular and other senses. This apparatus consisted

of a box, something like a backgammon board, containing trays

of weights arranged for measuring the relative delicacy of the

muscular sense (the sixth added by modern psychological science

to the five recognized by the ancients) as existing in different per

sons.

The principle Mr. Galton claimed as a new one. It established,

he said, a graded scale of sensitivity, and was applicable, by means

of analogous methods, to testing the delicacy of other senses, such

as taste and smell. He employed small weights arranged in se

quence, which were numbered in succession 1, 2, 3, ete., 4 '

fered by equally perceptible variations, as calculated by Weber's _

law. Hence if a person, A, could just distinguish, say, 1 and $

he could also distinguish between any two weights two grades |

apart, as 2 and 4, 3 and 5, etc. Again, if another person, B, were ;

twice as obtuse as A, he would be able to distinguish one grade

only where A could distinguish two. In other words, he eri

be only just able to distinguish between weights 1 and 5,2 andó,

and so on. ot

Generally, the number of grades between the weights that any

person could distinguish had to be found by trials, and that nut

ber became the measure of the coarseness of his sensitivity. The i

weights used were blank cartridges, filled with shot and W re

care being taken that the shot should be equally distri 1

hey were arranged in trays, each tray holding_a sega

1883. | Physiology. 337

projector of the series, Mr. Agassiz, the curator of the museum,

these selections “will give to the student, in an easily accessible

form, a more or less complete iconography of the embryology of

each important group of the animal kingdom. This selection is

not intended to be a hand-book, but rather an atlas to accompany

any general work on the subject.”

The Crustacea appeared last year, the bibliography having been

prepared, and the plates selected by Professor W. Faxon. The

lithographic work is well done, and considerable new matter by

oth Mr. Agassiz and Professor Faxon has been added in the

plates; the most noteworthy being the early stages of the hermit

crabs, and the barnacles. The phenomena connected with the

fecundation and maturation of the egg, and the history of the for-

mation of the embryonic layers, will be treated of in a separate

part. The parts devoted to Echinoderms, Acalephs, and Polyps

are in an advanced stage of preparation. We have detected no

omissions of importance in the part already issued.

A Myriopop wuicu Prouces Prussic Acip.—In several of the

hothouses in Holland, a Myriopod is frequently met with which

(according to Herr Weber, of Utrecht), is a foreign species of the

genus Fontaria, and has the remarkable property of producing

prussic acid (HCy). Attention was called to this on finding that

the animal, when excited, gave out a strong smell of oil of bitter

almonds. The phenomenon is still more pronounced on bruising.

me specimens having been distilled with water, prussic acid was

found in the distillate. Herr Egeling has lately made a series of

experiments to test the view that this Myriopod prepares a sub-

stance which, under certain conditions, is decomposed, giving

Prussic acid as one of the products of decomposition. This was

fully confirmed. By action of various reagents, a substance was

detected, which is split up by water, yielding HCy. It further

seemed probable that, besides this substance, the animals possess

one which acts as a ferment, and which the author hopes to be

le to separate.— English Mechanic—[Note. The Fontaria vir-

gmica, a common Myriopod in Pennsylvania, has long been

known to emit a powerful smell of Prussic acid.—E. D. Cope.]

THE Trachea AND THE Source OF LIGHT IN FirEe-FLIES.—

Nature gives an abstract of Wielowiejski’s account in the %ert-

schrift für Viissenschaftliche Zoölogie, of the light-producing or-

_ in Lampyris Splendidula and noctiluca. He sums up the

ost ‘important results as follows: .1. The “ tracheal terminal

respiratory tubes ; for these branch out further on into brush-like

Masses of much: finer capillaries, which are without the chitinous

Spiral ; they are very attenuated, and making their way in to the

Peritoneal layer, are numerously distributed to phosphorescent

338 General Notes.

tissue. 2. The tracheal capillaries very. rarely end a

(blind) in the phosphorescent organs, but most frequently anasto-

mose with one another, forming an irregular meshwork. 3. The

capillaries do not seem to enter into the structure of the paren-

chymatous cells, but rather course along their surface, often irreg-

ularly winding around and enveloping these. 4. The tracheal

terminal cells are nothing more than the outer elements of the

peritoneal layer at the base of tracheal capillaries, which radiate

in a brush-like fashion from a chitinous spiral trachea. 5. The

tracheal terminal cells are not the seat or point of departure of

the light development. If this appears first in their vicinity itis

only a consequence of the fact that these structures have, owing

to their affinity for oxygen, stored up in themselves a supply of

this gas, and give it off in greater quantity to the neighboritg

tissues. 6. The light-producing function is peculiar to the parèt-

chyma cells of the light-producing organs. It results from a slow

oxydation of a substance formed by them under the controlor

the nervous system. 7. The ventral light-organ was found to

consist of two layers, the parenchyma-cells of which are quit

similar to one another in their morphological characters, but they

differ from one another in the chemical nature.of their ope

8. The parenchymatous cells (is this the case with all ?) see

nected with fine nerve-endings. 9. The light-organs arè m

morphological equivalents of the fatty bodies. :

PSYCHOLOGY. ae

DREAMS.—

“ We are such stuff

l As dreams are made on.’’— The Tempest. =

Shakespeare's lines may serve as the expression of a curious bs

important psychological truth. We may truly and philosophie p

be said to think and perceive, and therefore to exist easi

dreams are made. For the only existence which we know 18 nich

presented to us in consciousness according to certain be

prescribe precisely how we are to be conscious, not only tee

outside world which comes to consciousness through the: ee

but also of the internal world of our own mind. |

For example, it is impossible for the mind to think inte 1s.

anything entirely by itself independent of all cause oF effect

impossible to think a sensation such as coolness of @ ri

blue by themselves without any substance which is 699

that is blue. ae

Tt is to this law of thought that dreams owe their p ;

which in their turn they serve to illustrate and explain as =

mental phenomenon can. i l

Let us take for example one of the commonest ©

dreams. It is a warm night, and a man is sleeping ‘te Jeep

- window. At first all the senses are unexcited,

1883. ] Psychology. 339

dreamlessly. Now let a sudden strong wind spring up as some-

times happens; the air strikes the sleeper and chills him. The

sensitive nerves of the skin are excited, and transmit their excite-

war, had deserted, had been captured, and was about to be shot.

The discharge of the guns that were to kill him, wakened him,

and was the sound of the door that had actually been slammed.

His dream had occupied the space of time between hearing the

sound and his awakening.

Dreams, then, in their philosophical aspect may be defined as

the attempt of the understanding’ to think a sensation by placing

it in connection with other sensations which it invents for the

usual

think,

Of course when the dreamer awakes, his understanding at once

P a or eag the liberty of using the terms employed by Kant in his Kritik of

nig at.

€ most perfect, as I believe it is the only complete treatise on these

- Important processes o i

340 . General Notes.

and almost mechanically sets to work to form a new conception

out of the real sensations which are then presented to conscious

ness, and discards the old conception which it had made outol

place occasionally in our waking hours, when, for example, in hear-

ing a sudden noise, we exclaim, “I cannot understand that!

sensation out of which to make as conception. But being fully

awake, the understanding of the man does not go on to invent

sensations, but it waits and makes no attempt to think the noise

until it receives sufficient real sensations out of which to make a

conception.

As for example, the noise is heard as the man is walking ina

forest, and not having sufficient sensations for a conception, he

turns around and looks and sees a man with a gun smoking oe

tree just fallen or a wagon, and thus having with his eyes a"

other sensations his understanding is enabled out of the material

gathered to make an intelligent conception. —T. B. Stork.

Fritz MÜLLER on THE INHERITANCE OF TRADITIONS AMON

SociaL Insects.—In a letter to Mature, Fritz Miller, referring t0

Mr. C. Lloyd Morgan's excellent paper on animal intelligent

(Nature, vol. XXVI., p. 523), quotes from him as follows:

brute has to be contented with the experience he inherits or indi

vidually acquires. Man, through language, spoken or WRT)

profits by the experience of his fellows. Even the most saute |

tribe has traditions extending back to the father’s father. May

Müller then adds: “ As is well known, the stingless honeybees

[Mah

there not be, in social animals also, traditions from generation t0 z

generation, certain habits prevailing in certain communities 1

consequence neither of inherited instincts nor of individual n

rience, but simply because the young ones imitate what they

(Melipona and Trigona) build horizontal combs consisting pe i

single layer of celis, which, if there is plenty of space, 0)

same distance from the first built central one. Now, on _—

4, 1874, I met with a nest of a small Trigona (Abelha pee of

1875), when, perhaps, not a single bee survived of those 7 yet

had |

_come from the canella-tree; but notwithstanding ne

continued to build irregular combs, while quite regular ones

put fd several other communities of the same species, W

ave had.

nicht

1883. | Anthropology. ; 341

“ The following case is still more striking. In the construction

of the combs, for the raising of the young, as well as of the large

attributed to inherited instinct, as both belonged to the same

species ; nor to individual experience about the usefulness of the

several resins (which seemed to serve equally well), but only, as

far as I can judge, to tradition, each subsequent generation of

young bees following the habits of their elder sisters.”

ANTHROPOLOGY."

LANGUAGES or Arrica.—In the Journal of the Royal Asiatic

Society, Vol. xiv, p. 160 (April, 1882), Mr. R. N. Cust gives us

a paper with the following title: “ Notice of the scholars who

have contributed to the extension of our knowledge of the lan-

guages of Africa.” 2

The continent is thus divided :

North of the Equator. 1. Semitic group.

[as

(g)

I. Nuba-Fulah group,

Iv. Negro group.

South of the Equator, v. Bantu.

vi. Hottentot-Bushman group. ` :

I. SEMITIC Group = Ethiopic, Old Ethiopic or Geez, Amharic, Tigre and Harari.

u. Hamiric Group == Berber (Old Mauritanian or Numidian), Kabyle (Showiah

and Zowiah dialects), Tuaricks, Zenagas (S. of Sahara), Suvah, and the

group of Somali, Galla, Beja-Bishari, Falasha (Abyssinian

Jews), Wogos, Dankali, Agau, Barea, Saho, Kunama.

Mt. NuBA-FULA GROUP — Nubi sub-group of Nubian or Barabra, Tumale, Ma-

sai, Kwafi, Monbutto, and Niam-Niam, and the sub-group of Fulahs,

IV. NEGRO Group.—

A. Western Negro-land, Atlantic side, Senegambia and Guinea coast : Man-

dingo, rawale, Vei, Susu, Mende, Wolof, Sereres, Bullom, Temne,

Sherbro—Bullom, Hausa, Sourhai (Timbuctoo), Kru, Grebo, Basa,

A x

B. Central Negro-land, Basins of the Niger and the Tchad, Ibo, Efik, Nupe,

Kanuri (Bornu), Baghirmi, Budduma, Logone, Wandala, Maba, Sara,

Badi Baele, Kuka-Lisi. :

C. Upper Nile Basin: Dinka, Shilluk, Bari, Bongo.

“Edited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

342 -General Notes. [March, ?

v. BANTU GROUP.—

ganga, Makua, Yao, Nyassa, Makoude, Nyamwezi, Shambala, Gindo,

Zaramo, Angazidja, Gogo, Boondei, Ruganda, Pokomo, ami

Chaga, Teita, Nyoro, Sena, Quilimane, Maravi, Inhanbane.

C. West Bantu, from Cameron mountains to Tropic of Capricorn : Kongoese,

Bunda, Herero (Damara land), Loango, Kongo, Mpwongwe, Bakule,

Benga, Dualla, Jsubu, Fernandian,

vi. HOTTENTOT-BUSHMAN GROUP.—

A. Hottentot. Namaqua only surviving dialect,

B. Bushmen, including Central African pigmies.

Of course, Mr. Cust does not propose this as an exhaustive

classification of African tribes or languages. The title of the

article is sufficiently definite. Each tribal name is accompanl

with the name of the author who has compiled a vocabuarly,

grammar or dictionary.

In afew months Mr. Cust will publish a language map of

Africa with a bibliographical appendix showing where the lan-

guage is spoken with reference to the map.

In the same number of the Journal is a discussion of the words

Tartar and Tatar, with a decided leaning to the former.

ANTHROPOLOGY IN Great Britain.—The November number of

the Anthropological Institute Journal gives us the following

original papers: >

On the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman islands (Part 11). By E. H. Msn,

On the relation of Stone Circles to outlying stones or Tumili, or neighboring hills,

some inferences thereon. By A. L. Lewis. Bs

The Papuans and the Polynesians. By C. Staniland Wake.

On some rites and customs of Old Japan. By C. Pfoundes.

English surnames from an ethnological point of view. By Dr. John Beddoe.

On the survival of certain racial features in the population of the British Isles. By J.

Park Harrison,

Inverting the order, Mr. Harrison looks for the evidence o |

race survivals in a large collection of photographs collecte? a

which he has brought into comparison a large series of ob

tions in the continental areas from which the English race

lieved to have come. a

Mr. Beddoe has collected the names of peers, baronets, oo

trates, M. P’s, F. R. S's, College of Physicians, University M

mayors, Knights of Bath, sergeants-at-law, subscribers tO a 2

and pauper lists. From these he has deduced the per CEN i

Normans, Saxons, local names, occupations, nicknames, pare

ics, Welsh, Scotch, Irish and foreign names. e

Mr. Pfoundes has succeeded in rescuing from oblivion >

remarkable old legends and survivals in Japan. re classe

The paper by Mr. Wake is an attack upon Mr. Keate 3 ere

1883. ] Anthropology. 343

have just enough of plausibility in them to give them effectiveness.

But surely half a loaf is better than no bread, and the best possi-

ble arrangement under the circumstances is infinitely better than

hopeless confusion.

Of the archeological papers it is scarcely worth while to speak,

further than to say that archzologists should always scrupulously

mark the relation of permanent remains to their environment.

ith Mr. Man’s papers we are always delighted, He has such

a happy way of laughing out of countenance the vagaries of

scientific guesses. It is related of a certain celebrated American

general, who was making the tour of the world, that he said the

French found great difficulty in speaking their own language so

as to be understood by Americans. Mr. Man finds the Anda-

manese profoundly ignorant of many of the most fascinating

ideas and customs that have been attributed to them. Guess,

gentle reader, who is to blame, the Andamese or the lunatics who

have reported them.

Tue Antiquity or May.—In the “ Bibliotheque des Sciences

Contemporaines ” is to be found the matured thought of the great-

est specialists in France. Already we have Biology, by Letourneau ;

Linguistique, by Hovelacque ; Anthropologie, by Topinard; So-

ciology, by Letourneau; L’Espece Humaine, by De Quatrefages ;

and now Le Préhistorique Antiquité de l>hommé, by Gabriel de

Mortillet, professor of prehistoric anthropology in the School of

Anthropology, Paris. The volume contains 642 pages 12mo, and

has sixty four figures in the text. Ina general sense, the work

represents the views of the majority of working archeologists of

France, and it will not be amiss, therefore, to give an epitome of

ts contents. The introductory portion is chiefly historical, and

Well done; the science is divided into three parts:

1. Tertiary man, or the origin of humanity.

2. Quaternary man, or the development of humanity.

3, L'homme actuel, first horizon, prolegomena of history proper.

The evidences and data of the first part are marks on bones,

crushed bones, pierced and engraved bones, human remains, evi-

dences of fire, flaked flint, with closing chapters on the fossil apes.

€ second era is divided into different epochs, as follows:

Chelléen, Moustérien, Solutréen and Magdalénien.

e third part, or era, is similarly treated as the Robenhausien

on of these partitions of archeology is treated with the finesse

full, skilled workman and the confidence of an adept. It is pain-

d true, however, that much hay, straw and stubble are built

N this stately edifice that the fires of afterthought will burn out.

i Evertheless, if we do not make first efforts and failures, we shall

“ver Progress to second efforts and success. The following table

iting the Tertiary and Quaternary superposition in the

344

scheme of M. de Mortillet will show how elaborately the -e i

as been treated in' the wor

General Notes. [March,

Upper.

Inferior

Tertiary

Eocene,

Middle

Tertiary.

Miocene.

mee

Sree eee

Secondary.

— ndon

isien,

ateena

Ligurien.

Tongrien

Aaen.

Mayencien.

Helvetien.

Tortonien.

Astien,

Chelléen.

Mousté:

Solutréen.

Magdalenien,

Derai of balænotus Monte-Aperto;

India; silicified forests, with cuttings (Marchesetti).

Lignite of Montaign, boule en Craie (Melleville),

Siderolite of Délémont ; human skeleton (Quiquerer).

——————————

Fontainbleau sandstone ; petrified man over his horse 3

Limestone of Bea uce, Thenay ; flaked and broken |

flint (Bourgeoi 5: q

Gravels of Orleans ; ae bones (Nouel).

Fresh-water foaie of Gannat; gashed bones

(Pomel).

Fresh- water chalk of Billy; gashed Rae (Laussedal).

n hill; broken bones (Garrigou q

Marl. of Anjou Pikesce: incised bones (Delaunay, a

ourno a

Marl ai Anjou, Chavagne-les-Eaux; incised ap

Miocene of Dardanelles; chipped Mint, sete :

bones (Calvert a

Mollasse of Central France; human skeleton (e

rigou).

chap are diggings of Pikermi; broken bones (DE ?

Duce

Trachytic LE P of Cantel; chipped finte :

dy, Rames). A

ag Ot a

oe ro Aaa deposits of Portugal ; :

Deposits of San Valentino; wrought bone Fe ;

Ossiferous ee of Val d’Arno

of Sar an Toi iovanni; pao bone (R

bones (Capel lini ni). '

Blue marl ot Savone; human bones (Issel). sid.

Piedmont ; pines scapula of mastodon don hn (Chader

Red crag of Suffolk; pierced sharks

worth).

Alluvium of California; implements

(Whitney). -

Autry. Issard ; pe wood cut (chara chipp

Saint Prest. ; s tched bones (Desnoyers), “a

flint n.

Alluvium; human bones and objects of nt a

(L sé iE

Grottoes s e e =

se “cc

1883.] Microscopy. 345

BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA.—Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati,

have issued a catalogue of books and pamphlets relating to Amer-

ica, containing 6589 titles, with prices. Many of these works are

rare and some of them almost out of the market. A reprint of

John Leith’s travels and captivity among the Indians, covering a

period of eighteen years (1774-1792), in a limited edition, is an-

nounced. The same firm advertises Shea’s Mississippi series in

three volumes, and Dr. Brinton’s Library of Aboriginal American

Literature, the first number of which is now rea y.

MICROSCOPY.!

THE USE OF CHLOROFORM PREPARATORY TO IMBEDDING IN PAR-

AFFINE.—As is well known to all who are familiar with the use of

the microtome, objects to be imbedded in paraffine must be satu-

rated with some solvent of paraffine. It has been found that the

different solvents do not all give equally good results. The use

of chloroform, which is now coming into general use, was first

Proposed by Dr. Giesbrecht? of the Zodlogical Station at Naples;

but was soon afterwards recommended by Professor Biitschli,> to

whom the Journal of the Royal Mic. Society (Oct., 1882, p. 708)

has inadvertently given the credit of the discovery. Chloroform

is unquestionably superior, in certain important respects, to oil

ot cloves, creosote or turpentine. Jt is particularly to be recom-

mended where there is danger of shrinking and brittleness. The

od of using it has been briefly stated in the October number

of this journal (p. 783).

In the Zoologischer Anzeiger, No. 129, p. 20, Professor Koss-

mann, of Heidelberg, says that chloroform is the only solvent

that can be successfully used in the case of objects with thick

chitinous membranes.

n paraffine, and the complete evaporation of the chloroform before

the object is finally imbedded. If the first point is not secured, of

Course the paraffine will not penetrate the object thoroughly ; and

if the chloroform does not wholly escape before the process of

| g begins, the paraffine will be spongy, and consequently

unfit for section-cutting. The evaporation of the chloroform may

be effected in two or more ways. In all cases the object must lie

je = loroform until thoroughly saturated. Then paraffine may be

i gradually, as recommended by Dr. Giesbrecht; or the

form, as object may be placed in a solution of paraffine in chloro-

aS recommended by Professor Bütschli. After remaining

here unti

l it is thoroughly impregnated (an hour or less), it may

1Edit it

tp: by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Newton Highlands, Mass.

” 'esbrecht, t, “ Zur Schneide-Technik.” Zool. Anzeiger, 1881, No. 92.

' Bütschli + Biol. Centralblatt, vol. 1, p. 591 (1881).

346 Scientific News. [March,

be placed in a watch-glass with a little of the solution, and kept

at a temperature of about 50° C. until the chloroform has escaped

In case of larger objects they may be transferred directly from

the solution to pure paraffine, without undergoing the slow pro-

cess of evaporation.

Kossmann transfers the object directly from pure chloroform

to pure paraffine, and allows it to remain in the paraffine (keptat

a constant temperature of 50° C.) for several hours—sometims

for two or three days.

Dr. SCHULGIN’S MIXTURE FOR Impeppinc—Instead of H

paraffine, Dr. Schulgin uses a mixture of paraffine with ceresna —

substance somewhat similar to wax, but firmer and much ae

brittle. Paraffine which melts at 55° C. is recommended;

the amount of ceresin to be added to a given amount ol pa f this

may be determined by experiment. The finest sections 0° j

substance are not brittle, and herein lies the chief excellence

the mixture. If this mixture proves too hard, it may bea

by adding a little vaseline.

EAU DE JAVELLE AS AN AGENT FOR REMOVING THE ore

FROM MicroscopicaL PreparATions.—Perls,? Altmann an per

recommend Lau de Javelle (KCIO,) as an excellent fluid w

ing the soft parts of animal and vegetable tissues. If 4 re a

Spongilla, for example, is placed on a slide and a drop oft ai the

added, all the soft parts are destroyed in 20-30 nines beet

spicula are left čz situ. After the protoplasmic parts en |

thus removed, the preparation is carefully treated with ace a

in order to remove any cloudy precipitates ; then oe finally

weak, strong and absolute alcohol successively; 99° = <

eee in oil of cloves and balsam. be obit his

ery neat preparations of diatoms may be oĐtain“ sestroyet

fluid. The ieda part of shells thus treated is not mounted

Sections of plant buds were successfully treated and tho

in Meyer’s fluid (10 volumes glycerine, 20 dist. water mi.

cyl-methyl acetate). : prepared by

The skeletons of small animals may be easily the skit,

placing the bodies in Eau de Javelle, which removes a

muscles, &c., without injuring the bones.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS. a

Balfour Me

— The Balfour Memorial—The form which the val interes

morial has taken makes it a subject of far more gene ya

than could have been the case had the testimonial a ee

personal tribute to the man, great as he was. An Amer

1 Zoologischer Anzeiger, v1, No. 129, p. 21, 1883.

? Arch. f. micr Anat., vol. or, Brg, ,

* Zoolog. Anzeiger, V, No, 122, p. 528.

1883. ] Scientific News. 347

mittee has been formed with the object of increasing the fund on

this side of the water. Mr. Alexander Agassiz, of Harvard Uni-

versity, is chairman, and Professor H. N. Martin, of Johns Hop-

kins University, is secretary and treasurer of the committee, which

is made up of scientific men representing widely separate regions.

The following extracts from the statement of the secretary of the

American committee, invoke the aid of every one to whom the

advancement of biological knowledge is not a matter of indif-

ference :

“The Balfour Memorial first took definite form at a public

meeting held in the lecture-room of comparative anatomy in the

University of Cambridge, England, on the 21st of last October.

“At this meeting it was determined to found a memorial to

Professor Balfour, and that this memorial should take the form of

a fund, to be called the Balfour fund, for the promotion of research

in biology; especially animal morphology. It was further decided

that the proceeds of the fund be applied :

on (1) To establish a studentship, the holder of which shall devote

himself to oviginal research, especially in animal morphology.

_“(2) To further, by occasional grants of money, original research

in the same subject.

* = * * * * * x

“(1) That the value of the studentship be not less than £200 a

ear,

“(2) That while it is desirable that the studentship should be in

some way closely connected with this university, persons other than

members of this university shall be eligible to it

“(3) That it shall not be given away by competitive examination.

“(4) That in Jraming regulations both for the conduct of the stu-

dent and the award of occasional grants, the primary object of the

T5 namely, the furtherance of original research, be closely ad-

ed to.

estimated ;.and the larger it is the greater will be its usefulness.

_ At the Cambridge meeting referred to, subscriptions were

Promised sufficient to endow the Balfour studentship. All that is

: VOL XVII —no. i. 24

s":

348 ; Scientific News, : (March,

in future contributed will go to increase the power to make addi-

tional grants for special researches. What the American com-

mittee hope for, is not to raise a large sum of money but to obtain

some small contribution from the majority of American biologists,

whether investigators, professors or students. Some subscription,

however small, from the members of each college and university

in the United States where biological studies are carried on, would

be a far more pleasing tribute to Balfour's, memory than larger

gifts from fewer persons.” .

— The Scientific American quotes from the Suz an account of the

occurrence of a Filaria inthe eye of ahorsein Jersey City. The writer

of the article says, “I do not believe that this parasite 1s ever found

in human beings.” Filaria oculi is stated however in Moquin-

Tandon’s Medical Zoology to be not uncommon in the negros

on the Angola coast; “ itis also met with at Guadeloupe; it has '

been seen by Mongin at Cayenne, and by Blot at Martinique.

“The /ilaria oculi resides in the lachyrmal gland and in the globe

of the eye. In 1768, Bajou extracted one of these worms iro

eye ofa young negress about. six or seven years of age. ~f

Guyon extracted another from the eye of a negress IN Guiana.

The worm is seen winding about and moving around the globe of !

the eye, in the cellular tissue which unites the conjunctiva w

sclerotic. Sometimes its presence does not occasion any

stant watering of the eye.” The Filaria of the erys ar

(F. lentis) Diesing is found in that part of the eye. M. Norm

detected the Filariæ coiled up together, by means of the yen

cope, half an hour after the operation for cataract. vog |

at one time, received nearly as much of the solar light yi

The extensie

coal-beds found in polar regions appear to show that her ne ‘

-c emity in Of

as to heat and light the two poles, there was great uniformity ® dde

planet’s vegetation, but about the Cenomanian epoch u a

1883. ] Scientific News. 349

— It appears by Gen. Sheridan's report to the War Department

that the National Yellowstone park is rented out to private

parties who are using it for money-making purposes. While:it

was the original intention to make it a game preserve, since its

discovery as many as 4000 elk have been killed by “ skin-hunters,”

2000 having been destroyed last winter alone, together with deer,

mountain-sheep, etc. Gen. Sheridan recommended, says the

Nation, that the park be extended in an easterly direction about

40 miles, so as to add 3344 square miles to its area, and “ make

a preserve for the large game of the West now so rapidly decreas-

ing,”

— Atarecent meeting of some members of the general com-

mittee of the British Association, says the English Mechanic, it

was determined to memorialize the council with reference to the

proposed visit to Canada. The question has been under consid-

eration for some time; and it is probable that the meeting will be

held as usual in this country forthe transaction of formal business,

and will then be adjourned to Montreal. A suggestion is, that

the meeting should be held in England, and a deputation be sent

to Canada—the deputation, presumably, including all who wish

to go. See Naruratist for 1882, page 896.

_— The French Minister of Agriculture has lately placed at the

disposal of M. Pasteur a new sum of 50,000 fr. ($10,000), in order

to continue his admirable investigations upon the contagious dis-

Cases of animals. The government had already granted to the

illustrious savant, for the same object, 50,000 fr. in 1880 and

40,000 in 1881. The minister consulted a special committee,

who, in view of the brilliant success obtained by Pasteur in his

Previous investigations, unanimously recommended a renewal of

the Stant.— Scientific American.

— The Saturday lectures under the auspices of the Biological

and the Anthropological Societies of Washington are in course

of delivery in the lecture-room of the U. S. National Museum, Sat-

ay afternoons. The programme for the first six lectures is as

jae Capt. Clarence E. Dutton, U.S.A., on rivers; Professor

owa on mesmerism in animals (with experiments); Professor

vent Gill on mythical animals; and Dr. John S. Billings,

t- OR germs and epidemics.

D The VSS. Enterprise, Commander A. S. Barker, sailed

Ca. 27 for the Cape Verde islands and the China station via

pam Town. The Enterprise has the outfit necessary for a

ey e cruise, and will take deep-sea soundings every hundred

from the United States to Cape Town.

35° Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [March, t

— Prof. von Bischoff, the distinguished biologist, died in Munich,

Dec. 5. He was born at Hanover in 1807, and having studied

medicine, he became a lecturer on pathological anatomy a

Heidelberg, whence he migrated to Giessen as professor of physi-

ology. He was, however, attracted in 1854 to Munich by the Kin

of Bavaria, and remained until his death. He was the author

important memoirs on the development of the vertebrates,

especially of the dog, guinea pig, and the roebuck.

“ne

eV.

New York Acapemy or Sciences, Jan. 22.—The follo

papers were read: On the treatment of sea-sickness by the trant

state, by Professor Edward P. Thwing; Notes on the botany, J

geology and resources of Southern Texas and Chihuahua, by

Dr. John S. Newberry.

Jan. 29.—The following paper was presented: The de

the building-stones of New York City (with lantern illust

from American and foreign architecture), by Dr. Alexis A. ie

Feb. 5.—-The following papers were read: On a large 1

Cretaceous amber, from the marl of Gloucester county, +^:

Mr. George F. Kunz; Remarks concerning the rece y

ered reticulated structure of living matter, and the “ þiop!

doctrine,” by Mr. Romyn Hitchcock. j

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN Crus, Boston, Jan. 10.—Mr. Wo

Bates read a paper on Jamaica mountain scenery. :

Boston Socrety or Naturat History, Jan. a

land spoke of the native races of the Philippines and $n

ocean.

Feb. 7—Dr. M. E. Wadsworth gave some instances oe

pheric action on sandstone. Mr. Lucien Carr discu

social and political position of woman among the Huron-r

Meer Ps and Mr. John A. Jeffries spoke of the dermal app”

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvit. — APRIL, 1883. — No. 4.

THE NATURALIST BRAZILIAN EXPEDITION.

‘Paper I—From Rio DE JANEIRO TO PORTO ALEGRE.

BY HERBERT H. SMITH.

Te coasting steamers from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo

keep almost constantly within sight of land—rugged gneiss

mountains of the Brazilian coast range, giving place, beyond

Santa Catharina, to lower hills. Finally, near S. lat. 29°, the

rocks disappear altogether; in their stead appear rows of sand-

dunes, often a hundred feet high, and extending inland as far as

the eye can distinguish them. These dunes, stretching inter-

minably along the shore, produce a curious mingled feeling of

Picturesqueness and desolation; piled and massed like snow-

drifts, broken and repiled by the winds in strange forms, they

have an almost mountainous outline. But the eternal still white

is a fatigue to the eye; in most places one looks in vain even for

the dusty-bushes which usually grow in such places. Now and

then a lonely fisherman’s hut is descried or a half-buried wreck—

tim relic of the dreaded ampero, or of the north-east “ Carpenter

wind,” so-called because it strews the beach with planks and spars.

All this coast is regarded as dangerous. It is entirely without

arbors or shelter of any kind, and there are several shoals and

Sunken rocks, dreaded by mariners,

The sand-dunes form the seaward limits of Rio Grande do Sul,

| Southernmost province of Brazil. But they are not continu-

mp with the mainland; a few miles back there are two great

~ Water lakes, parallel with the coast, and together extending

thang nearly the whole length of the province. The larger and

p 25 :

oo VOR avm —so. rv

352 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [April,

more northerly of these is. called Zagoa dos Patos (Lake of the

Ducks); the Lagoa-mirim (Smaller Lake) empties into this through

the River Sao Gongalo. Between the lakes and the ocean the

dunes form two long peninsulas, varying in width from fiveto

twenty miles. These peninsulas are entirely composed of sand,

the drifted masses varied only with mangrove swamps and brack-

ish or fresh-water lakes. They are perfectly barren, and almost

without inhabitants. :

The Rio Grande is the only passage through this sand-wall,

and with some trifling exceptions the only outlet of the rich and

populous province of Rio Grande do Sul. It is a shallow chan- ,

nel, twelve or fourteen miles long, half a mile wide at the oceat

end, and gradually broadening towards the lakes. Unfortunately

a very dangerous sand-bar has been formed before the mouth

which is yearly growing worse, and of late has caused serious

apprehensions for commerce. In its formation this bar is aw ‘

gether different from the shallows commonly found at the mouths

of rivers. It has been built up, in great part, by the ocean currents

and the north and north-west winds. The winds take up great |

clouds of sand from the dunes, scattering them broadcast before

the channel; the currents sweeping south-westward along the ens i

catch up the sands as they fall, piling them in great banks e

the shallows. The slight outflow from the Rio Grande sea 4 i“

keep the detritus from accumulating directly in its mouth, ane" i

bar forms a great semicircle around it. The Rio Gra pe

brings very little sand or mud to the sea; I question, \""

whether the tides are not washing the sea-coast sands throug 3

channel into the lakes, vue

The condition of the bar varies greatly, more with the

than with the tides; a long-continued south or south-west

piles up the water, but even at the most favorable times ae

is seldom more than ten or eleven feet, and with a north g a

banks are almost dry. With a gale or even a strong eas

the bar becomes impassable on account of the surf; witha

it is apt to shallow rapidly. Worst feature of all, these that

take place very suddenly and at irregular intervals, 50 © Grande

bar is the very emblem of fickleness among the Re

sailors. Old residents say that during the early yas è tl

„century the bar was even worse than it now is; 200% so

was broken by a heavy storm, and after that, for forty? x

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 353

more, it gave little trouble. Since 1860 it has been constantly

growing worse; two of the three channels are now impassable

and the other threatens to become so. The Brazilian govern-

ment has several times sent engineeers to study the obstruction,

and many schemes have been proposed for its removal, but all

have been more or less visionary and the expense involved by

carrying them out would be enormous. Yet the importance of the

question is very great. A region as large as New England and

with a thriving population of over 700,000 is threatened with

complete commercial isolation. For if the Rio Grande channel

is closed, all the lake ports will be shut off from communication

with the ocean; the sea-coast itself is without harbors, and the

nearest ports of Santa Catharina could only be reached by long

and expensive railroads. It has been proposed to cut a ship canal

from one of the lakes to the ocean, at some favorable point, and

perhaps this would be feasible, but it would be necessary to make

an artificial port at the ocean end of the canal, and even if the

works were successfully completed, their utility might soon be de-

stroyed by the formation of new sand-bars. In the midst of these

conflicting schemes the Rio Grandenses are anxiously looking

for another great storm which shall once more open their ports

to the world.

As we approached this doughty bar we counted a dozen vessels

lying outside, Waiting for an opportunity to enter; some of them,

we were told, had been there for six months. Inside of the bar

at least an equal number were waiting for an exit. When the

Weather permits it a small boat is anchored over the bar, and

Soundings are constantly taken from it with poles; the depth is

indicated by signal flags from the boat and from a tower on the

ore. Owing to the sudden changes ship-masters are obliged to

watch these signals very closely, so as to profit instantly by a

favorable indication. We heard of one poor fellow, an American

skipper, I believe, who had fretted and fumed for four months in-

Side of the imprisoning bar; his small fortune was dependent on

the Success of a voyage for which he had contracted, and which

the bar threatened to prevent. One day the signals suddenly

Went up to twelve feet, the depth which his ship required. Over-

ga he at once weighed anchor and ordered all sails to be set;

"5 m he approached the bar the flags came down again, and he

Was obliged to turn back. The chagrin and disappointment were

354 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [Apri

so great that some brain trouble ensued, and the man died that

night. Other ship-captains under similar circumstances have

pushed on in spite of the risk, trusting to good luck to scrap

through the obstruction; half a dozen wrecks lying on the shal.

lows show the results of such hardihood.

Luckily for us the signals marked eight feet and three inches,

just our draught, and we were able to pass without stopping.

Led by the little pilot-steamer, ycleped Manoel o Diabo (Emanuel

the Devil) we threaded the crooked channel, scraping a little in :

the shallowest part, where the surf was lively enough. In

Rio Grande the navigation is still somewhat difficult, and the |

deeper portions are marked out with buoys. |

Eight or nine miles from the sea, on the western side of the |

channel, is the city of Rio Grande, the commercial metropolis ú

the province. Itis built on a peninsula of the sand-dune region,

but the main streets are well paved, and some attempts have bees

made at arborization ; there is a fine public garden where willows

and palm-trees are intermingled, and roses and dahlias grow sidt

by side with splendid tropical camellias. Hedges neat thee!

are formed of large shrubby mimosas, or of candelabra ar |

(Cereus). In one place a grove of Eucalypti has been pl

and the trees appear to thrive well. The only plants that ee :

naturally on the peninsula are the marsh grasses and oe

mangrove bushes and a few inconspicuous herbs. Yeur™ |

that with the addition of a small amount of fertilizing ;

the land may be made very productive ; in fact, the Rio '

market is abundantly supplied with vegetables which atè =

grown on sand-islands near the city. ; i

Rio Grande contains about 14,000 inhabitants, mostly s n

Portuguese descent, though there are a good many foreig® b

chants. The city is exclusively dependent on commerce

existence, the country immediately around it pine a

nothing. The principal articles of export are jerked P

ides, with much tallow, horns, wool, tobacco and rice, wota

fee, sugar or cotton. Rows of warehouses front the mee

fine wide quay has been built; here large ships may oli

their cargoes directly on the land. There are some good garl;

buildings, including one of the finest custom-houses 1 arch

this is covered with cement, in imitation of marble, and “an |

tecture is much superior to that of most public works

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 355

pire. The market, like most of those in this province, consists of

two rows of stalls, with a passage between, running around a great

open court, in which are other stalls for the sale of fruit, vegeta-

bles and small wares. Fine grapes, grown in the province, were

plenty here, and cheaper than in New York; pears, apples,

peaches, tomatoes and so on were also native, but those we saw

were high priced and not very good. Oranges, at this season

(January), were scarce and dear, but from May to September they

ae very plenty, and hardly inferior to those of Bahia and Pernam-

uco.

Opposite Rio Grande, on the eastern side of the channel, is the

village Sao Josédo Norte. Formerly this was the main port, and

it is still used for coal, lumber and marine stores.

We stopped but a few hours in Rio Grande, our objective point

being Porto Alegre, the capital of the province, which lies at the

northern end of the Lagoa dos Patos. Communication between

the two places is kept up by means of excellent small steamers,

which leave Rio Grande once or twice every week. Our own

voyage was somewhat uncomfortable and crowded, for in addition

to the large number of first-class passengers, the decks were en-

tirely occupied by nearly three hundred Italian immigrants who

had just arrived. These were lively, and picturesque, and dirty,

as the manner is with their race; as a class they appeared to be

much superior to the average Italian immigrant of Castle Garden.

The river at Rio Grande is about two miles wide; generally

fresh, but sometimes brackish or salt, with irregular and varying

tides. Above this point it rapidly widens, but is much obstructed

by sand-islands and shoals; the channel, a narrow and very

crooked one, is indicated by rows of stakes. The river is simply

à straitened continuation of the Lagoa dos Patos, but the southern

end of the lake proper is considered to be at the island or shoal

z Sarangonha, about fifteen miles above the city, and twenty-five

rom the sea. Just opposite this island, on the western side, is the

— of the Rio de Sao Gonçalo, the outlet of the Lagoa Mirim.

ers plying on the Lagoa dos Patos enter this river for a few

Miles to touch at the important little city of Pelotas, where

cattle-killing industry centers. The shores of the

Gongilo are flat and reedy, with lines or clumps of low

., N€ar the water's edge; ranges of hills appear a little

inland, on the north-western side, but to the south a great sandy

356 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [Apri

or swampy plain extends to the ocean. The plain and the sandy

islands in the lake are the resorts of many water-birds, white

herons and ducks being particularly abundant. One species, called

the pato ermino, or ermine duck, sometimes occurs in vast num-

bers, completely covering the small islands; from this bird the

_ lake has taken its name. The skins of the pato erminho, with the

larger feathers rubbed or pulled out, furnish a substance resem-

bling swans’ down; this is occasionally preserved by the Brazilians;

but more as a curiosity than for use. It might be made a valua-

ble article of export. t

From Pelotas the steamers run directly to Porto Alegre, about

twenty hours being occupied in the passage. The Lagoa dos

Patos, through which our route lay, is the largest lake in Brazil,

its length being over 130 miles, while its breadth varies from twee

ty to thirty-five miles. On the western side it is very shallow,

and the shores are there bordered by swamps, which extend i

inland ; the only navigable channel is along the eastern side, sit

ing the sandy peninsula which separates the lake from the ea

The winds sweep in freely over these low sand-hills, and in stormy

weather the lake is very rough; navigation is then decide

gerous even for steamers. During the night we had a little taste r

this in a heavy thunder-storm which broke over us, causing ©

small vessel to roll heavily; beyond this we suffered g: me j

venience, and the storm soon passed; but to the immigrants í

deck the night must have seemed a sorry introducti

newly adopted country.

At its northern end the lake is split into two parts; the pU

one, bordering on the sand-dune region, receives sw

streams ; the western is a wide, deep estuary, called the Rio’

hyba. The mouth of the Guahyba is marked by rocky pr

either side, but the lake may be looked upon as a continuatio

the river. More broadly speaking, the lake is a ge0 e

has been formed by the joint action of the Guahyba andt et

currents, probably during a period of subsidence. meee |

of the lake is therefore similar to that of the sounds se |

process has been carried farther ; the lake has become ©" wane

pletely separated from the ocean, and its waters are we at

have not personally examined the Lagoa Mirim, but there”

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 357

little doubt that it was formed in the same manner ; after existing

for some time as. an estuary of the small rivers which now flow

into it, it was closed by the sand-banks, and its waters emp-

tied into the ocean by the Rio de Sao Gonçalo ; the Guahyba es-

tuary subsequently overlapped the mouth of the Sao Gongalo, and

when this estuary became a lake the Lagoa Mirim was reduced

to the form of a tributary.

Owing to the shallowness of the lakes an immense evaporation

takes place from them, and at certain seasons this nearly or quite

balances the inflow from the rivers; salt water may then pass in

from the ocean to the southern part of the Lagoa dos Patos, fill-

ing the Sao Gonçalo channel, and even extending far up the

Lagoa Mirim. The yearly outflow from the lakes, owing to the

same cause, is very slight. This fact explains the irregular and

feeble currents of the Rio Grande channel, and it is the real cause

of the heavy bar at its mouth. If the outflow were strong and

regular, or only influenced by the tides, the bar would have at

least one permanent and deep passage through it, or at worst the

question of removing the obstruction might be solved by means

of jetties,

. The Guahyba is very picturesque. High granite hills skirt

the eastern shore, sometimes bare and precipitous, oftener with

grassy slopes and forest-lined ravines. A few rocky islets are

Scattered over the channel; one of them is used for a powder

Magazine and signal station, but there are no fortifications. For

twenty miles above the lake the channel has an average width of

five or six miles, but at Porto Alegre it is suddenly narrowed to

less than a mile by two opposite projecting points. The southern

Point is low and bordered by swampy forest; the northern, on

which the city is built, is a granitic promontory about 150 feet

high. This elevation, slight as it is, adds greatly to the pic-

turesqueness of the place; white and yellow-washed houses,

with red tile roofs, are seen rising one above another, the public

buildings crowning the hill with fine effect.

Of all Brazilian cities this is the least tropical in appearance,

architecture shows some traces of that degraded Roman type

commonly seen in Spanish and Portuguese America, but even

this 'S not very noticeable, and on landing we might have ima-

Sined ourselves in a seaport town of the United States. The

Streets are wide and well paved with porphyry from the surround-

358 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. April,

ing hilis, but they are badly drained and dirty—another reminder,

perhaps, of New York and Philadelphia. Fora wonder we found

the hotels excellent and very reasonable in their charges; they

all have French or Italian names, with what purpose it would be

hard to say, for these nationalities are hardly represented in the

city. There are about 35,000 inhabitants, mostly white Brazil-

ians and Germans.

Standing on the summit of the promontory, near the presi-

dent’s palace, one may obtain a very close idea of the topography

of the surrounding country. To the west and south, sweeping

around the point, is the broad Guahyba; just above the city It's

divided by many islands, receiving several branches which,

spreading out like the fingers of a hand, have given to this part ;

of the river the local name of Viamao (handway). Flat lands

stretch away to the south-west, beyond the river; these -e

meadows and swamps, continuous with those which skirt the ;

western side of the Lagoa dos Patos. To the east and north arè :

beautiful rolling lands, once covered with forest but now occupt®

by pastures and farms; beyond these are other more ru

hills, forest or prairie-covered ; and far to the north-west a bli?

flat-topped range can be descried, the edge of the interior ae :

land. Gee

We made several short excursions around the city, noting OF

physical peculiarities of the region and getting our first gee

of its fauna and flora. Lines of street cars run in various pa :

tions, affording very pleasant little excursions, and bey ond Ae :

there are good roads and paths by the river-shore or among he E

and ravines. The country reminded us much of the Middle i

Southern United States, yet there was a certain mingling of tP

cal features everywhere. The roads are broad and lint pe

hedgerows of mimosas and cacti; the houses, as asm

washed and tile-roofed, often with neat kitchen-gardens mor

_ (To be continued.)

1883.] Unnatural Attachments among Animals, 359

UNNATURAL ATTACHMENTS AMONG ANIMALS.

BY JOHN DEAN CATON, LL.D.

“THERE is no accounting for tastes” is an aphorism as appli-

cable to the lower orders of animals as to the genus Homo.

It had reference to exceptional incidents in connection with the

affections, the inclinations, or social relations.

I propose to make a few observations on abnormal exhibitions

of these as occasionally exhibited in the lower animals. I should

not refer to the devotion of the dog to his master or the attach-

ment the canary bird manifests to its mistress who feeds and

caresses it, for the first is so common as to suggest that it arises

from a natural impulse in our nature, while the other may be an

acknowledgment of benefits received. These, like the attach-

ments of individuals for each other among the various species,

being common, we may consider them as natural, or the result of

some natural law; but it is the abnormal or unnatural attach-

ments, those which seem to violate some natural law which at-

tract our attention.

A remarkable instance of this unnatural attachment occurred

under my own observation in my acclimatization grounds at Otta-

wa, Ill, between a male wapiti deer and a heifer. I will quote

the account I gave of the occurrence in “The Antelope and Deer

of America,” p. 315: “ When I had but one male elk with several

females, a strong attachment grew up between the buck and a

two-year-old Durham heifer, so that he abandoned the society of

the female elk as the. heifer did that of the cows in the same in-

closure with which she had been reared, and devoted themselves

exclusively to each other. When they laid down in the shade fo

ruminate they were always found close together, and when one

§ot up to feed, the other would immediately follow. They kept

SEF by themselves, always avoiding the society of all the other

animals, Whenever the heifer was in season, which occurred

Te regularly once a month; she accepted the embraces of the

elk without showing an inclination to seek the other cattle; nor

this seem to be the result of any constraint. This intercourse

continued throughout the summer, during the entire season of the

Srowth of the antlers of the elk, but unfortunately he was killed

before the rut commenced with the female elk. It is hardly nec-

sssary to state that no impregnation ever occurred from her

360 Unnatural Attachments among Animals. [April

intercourse with the elk. As far as this instance may go to estab-

lish it, we may conclude that the constitutional differences be-

tween the elk and the cow are so great that they cannot success-

fully interbreed.”

Here we find a double anomaly of a very pronounced charac-

ter. It was not enough that one of these animals should have an

unnatural inclination which might not occur in one individual in

many thousands of either species, but both must be possessed of

this extraordinary inclination or affection, and these two unnat- —

ral animals must happen to meet together under favorable cit

cumstances before this phenomenon could occur. |

We may find some excuse for the wapiti in the fact of which!

was informed when I bought him in St. Louis; that he had been

taken when very young and brought up by hand bya farmer it

Western Missouri, where hé had no doubt associated with the cat :

tle on the farm and had never seen one of his own species u

turned into my grounds. Several years’ intimate association with :

cattle would strongly tend to reconcile him to their society, itt

did not create a real attachment to them, and so was the way :

paved, to a certain extent, which led to this unnatural association i

but it must be added that he never paid the least attention to the

ather cows in the grounds when they manifested the same condi- -

tion which no doubt first attracted his attention to the heifer. M

for the heifer, I can only say that there was no bull in the grounds,

nor had she ever seen one, so far as I know. :

These are poor apologies, I confess, for such strange and ee

natural conduct. a

I was presented with a couple of sand-hill cranes, and as they

differed in voice and gait, I supposed they were a pair, but wht :

both began to lay eggs I found my mistake. Till they yer

three or four years old they associated together, and sect ie

on friendly terms at least, after that they separated and wer ane:

found together as associates. One of these, for a whole sui i

attached herself to the pigs which ran in an adjoining pa% e

which she managed to escape. She was their faithful ata

the whole day. When they went to the spring for water

went with them, and when they laid down to cool themselves :

the rivulet, she would sit down close to them and patiently ie,

till they chose to getup and go to grazing. She never pe

lead them or control their action, but seemed only too P%

1883.] Unnatural Attachments among Animals. 361

be their humble attendant. As for the pigs, I never saw any evi-

dence to show that they cared anything for the bird. If her

society was tolerated without rudeness, I could see nothing to

indicate that it was desired or even agreeable. Several times

during the summer the bird was put into her own enclosure,

when she seemed to spend her whole time wandering up and

down the dividing fence looking for the pigs, and if they wan-

dered around near the fence, she manifested the greatest satisfac-

tion, while if they approached the fence, it seemed rather acci-

dental, or to lay down in its shade, where they could find a dirtier

bed than they could on the grass under the trees, At any rate

the presence of the crane on the opposite side did not appear to

be the least attractive to them.

This was clearly a case of unrequited love, but it only lasted

for that one season. .

Four years ago last spring, I brought from Honolulu two pairs

of Hawaiian geese (Bernicla sandvicensis). These are small,

pretty geese, easily domesticated, semi-aquatic in their habits, and

of rather social disposition. They are only natives of the Island

of Hawaii. They live in the high mountains among the lava

beds, and never go to the sea though they are of strong flight

and fly to considerable distances over the ocean. They are first

mentioned in the account of Cook’s first voyage at the time he

discovered Hawaii, when he procured a specimen for the table.

They become much attached to a person who pets them. When

the gentleman in Honolulu presented me with one of the ganders

which I brought home, he expressed great regret at parting with

him, because, he said, every evening when he went home the bird

met him at the gate, and accompanying him on the walk to the

house, told him all that had transpired during his absence. They

talk in a low, soft and winning way as if desirous of communica-

ting something in the utmost confidence.

These birds are not as habitually gregarious as the common

S0ose, still two or more were generally found together, and fre-

quently all four were found associated, and it was quite common

to find one away by itself.

The foot is not more than half webbed, and it was rare that

they stayed in the water more than a few minutes, and they did

not visit the pond frequently, sometimes not taking a bath for

S. They are not good swimmers. .I once saw one with

362 Unnatural Attachments among Animals, [ April,

the tail depressed in the water, and soaking wet like that ofa hen

when she is thrown into the pond.

I never saw them eat an ounce of food ; they would sometimes

pick a few crumbs of bread when thrown to them, but more fre-

quently would drop them without swallowing. I never saw them

eat grass or insects, or seek for food in the water, Indeed, what

they live on has always been an unsatisfied question with me.

One pair of these birds was killed by a mink two years since,

The male of the other pair disappeared last fall, and I could gt

no trace of him since; the goose passed a lonely winter. In the

spring she made her way to the pig-stye and attached herself toa

brood sow which occupied a separate pen ; she never left her new-

found friend for more than a few minutes at a time, and has never

been known to go to the pond since, which is about one hundred —

yards distant. When the pigs were dropped, she seemed to take |

a great interest in the new family. But two survived. Of thee —

she seemed to assume the entire charge by the time they were

two weeks old. When she thought they needed an airing, we ?

would drive them out of the pen on to the grass plat adjoining,

and when they laid down together for a sun bath, she would get

on to them and spread her wings over them as if to brood them ]

If a deer came near, she would chase it away with great resol A

tion, and if a person approached, she would arouse her charg?

and drive them into the stye as quickly as possible. A t

black-and-tan terrier is allowed to follow me into the park, an

he followed me up to the pen which adjoins the sty, ae :

go at him like a very fury, till he soon learned to avoid th 1

neighborhood. E’

When the sow was removed and the pigs and the g005° ie

sole charge of the premises, she still continued in charge of! |

pigs, now grown to be good sized shoats, and so does ap q

and they obey her orders without a moment’s hesitation ;

most commendable discipline is maintained in that family.

I look upon this as a very remarkable case of unnatural <

ment, and have been much interested in observing it.

doubt it will continue till the pigs go to the shambles. ashe

the goose do then? For the goose I can say that $0 long ê “e

had a mate of her own species with whom she could a9% e

never observed her to form any unnatural attachments. ofthe

she did not seek consolation in her loneliness among saar oS

1883.] Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. 363

other geese in the grounds, of which there are four distinct spe-

cies, of course I cannot explain. We should certainly think it

would have been more respectable and more natural. I hope the

arrangements I have made will provide her associates of her own

species, and if they arrive before the present attachment is broken

off, I shall watch the effect with interest.

In former numbers of this journal have appeared accounts of

unnatural attachments as extraordinary as those I have above de-

scribed, but should I go beyond those within my own observa-

tion, I should not know where to stop, and could add nothing of

value to my observations,

:0:

BUTTERFLY HUNTING IN THE DESERT.

BY W. G. WRIGHT.

PORE the first whisk of daylight in the east we “pull out” for

a trip of an hundred miles in the desert, on butterflies intent.

The first twenty-two miles are a continual ascent, at first very

easy, and later exceedingly steep, for this range of mountains bor-

dering the fertile coast valleys of the three southern counties of

California and separating them from the interior arid deserts, is,

like all rocky and Andean ranges, precipitous on its western and

gradual on its eastern slopes; so after we pass over the nearly

level plain of the valley, the rise becomes more and more pro-

nounced as we follow up the cañon forming the pass, and cross

from Side to side of its now meager run of water, through gul-

lies, over ridges, around promontories and between cliffs, till on

reaching the backbone of the range we find a formidable ascent

of a thousand feet looming before us. Near here we pause to

examine a cavity that was once a mammoth bee-hive; it is arti-

ficial, simply a bottle-shaped excavation in the solid rock some

Six feet in average diameter, and. was intended for a cellar, but was

closed up by a door and deserted when the settler’s claim was event-

ually abandoned ; then it was taken possession of by an ambitious

skip of bees, and tons of honey stored in the cool recess, but the

became so numerous and aggressive as to become a terror,

ang they were therefore exterminated by regular siege. The

cabin of the settler still stands, and is used as a school-house,

nag the cool cave is appropriated by the children for a play

364 Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. [April,

Here, also, at the foot of the steep ascent, is the last water of

the day’s journey, and as the next twenty-five miles must be mate

without water or rest, we halt here and take lunch and breathe

the team.

The morning is now well advanced, and the sunshine is vey

warm in the close cafion; there should be butterflies about

Growing in the dry washes that furrow the mountain side are some

Eriogonums with showy yellow blossoms, and feeding on these we

see two yellow Argynnides, A. callippe, still in good feather at this _

‘late date (Sept. t1). Taking them to make sure that whatever ill -

success may betide, we will not return empty,and adding a few Pam

philas found about the water to keep them company, we resume

the journey, climbing laboriously up the steep road, occasionally

seeing a dark-brown Satyrus, but no other flying thing. At length

the crest is reached, and with a parting glance behind us at ai :

precipitous descent and the forest-covered mountain slopes, with the :

distant valleys and hills winking in the sunshine and the Pacii

ocean glimmering in the background eighty miles away, We a

the desert and see before us a vast extent of nearly level desolate :

plain, extending hundreds of miles, broken here and there by i

still more desolate, dry, rocky hills, sharp cones and vont

peaks and upheavals of uncouth and indescribable shapes, wae

utterly desolate and barren, and without shrub or tree upon "i. 7

forbidding sides. Mines galore, of copper, silver and gold, le

hidden in these rocky excrescences, but for other uses the a

region seems to be a world incomplete—not yet fitted for :

abode of man. This, then, is the desert, with a new forsa H

fauna,lapped in an atmosphere robbed by occult causes of m n

particle of moisture, and heated by a blazing sun, and pe i ,

everybody except gold hunters and other lunatics; § me |

promising field? We look forward over it with just @ yea

for several men of our acquaintance, and braver than we," : |

laid their bones to bleach in its sands. :

Soon after passing the wind-swept crest of the pass, ae

‘several Satyrus boopis settled, one in a place upon paces o

pings ; the insects rise as we approach, flutter off behind a

bush, and alight upon the ground, but are wary, and only git :

tious pursuit and a cast just as they resettle, can they s poti —

Some miles further on a few Lemoinas are seen wen |

without any apparent object, and upon stopping they 50%"

1883.] Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. 365

come up to the horse and fly about his legs with great curiosity,

and suffer capture thereby. At another place they are seen feed-

ing on blossoms of Friogonum capitatum, a few bunches of

which are not yet quite dead. No more Lepidoptera are seen

during the day’s journey, indeed the paucity of animal life is

remarkable; no squirrels except rarely a little white-tailed desert

chipmunk, no birds except a few linnets, no flies, gnats or mos-

quitoes, no lizards or snakes, not even the ubiquitous rabbit. On

account of the altitude at this place (5000 ft.), the temperature is

not extreme and the winds are usually not hot, yet the sun shines

with fervid power, and the reflection of its rays by the sand is,

still more oppressive, as no shade can be interposed. A thousand

feet of descent tells, however, and by the time the river is reached

the climate is rather torrid. Just at the close of the day, stop-

ping fora moment to make collection of a plant, we see at a

distance a large butterfly—a black Papilio—floating as only a

Papilio can, over the low shrubs and within easy reach. To say

that the net is seized and instant chase given, would be but a

tame expression. A rapid pursuit, cautious approach, an alterna-

tion of hope, fear, anticipation, despair—a quick cast and he is

mine ! And as his strong wings beat vainly against the net, send-

ing thrills of pitying exultation through the captor’s fingers, the

entomological mind is already exercised, ejaculating “ Not Indra,

for it has long tails; not Asteroides, for it has not yellow spots

enough ; not anything I ever saw; what can it be?” Vain looks

mm avery direction for a mate are made, as with hands trembling

with excitement the prize is stowed away, and then a glance at

the now setting sun shows that it is time to be making camp.

Going rapidly on down the dusty grade to the river, splashing

noisily through its shallow waters, and then over the firm grassy

Sward between the large cottonwood and willow trees whose

Steen shade is inexpressibly refreshing, a home for the night is

quickly fixed upon and the tired and thirsty horse is freed from his

s and allowed to refresh himself as he pleases ; while wood

“e the fire is obtained, supper cooked and eaten, and all the or-

thodox arrangements made for the night, before thick darkness

shuts down ; shuts up, I ought to say, for the darkness seems to

pea from the ground and to thicken in the lower air, while above,

a 'S not yet fully darkened, though the stars are coming out

EA ee

i ee

366 Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. [April

And as we sit about the camp-fire in the grateful coolness of

gathering darkness, noting the subsidence of the breeze till per-

fect stillness surrounds us like a second atmosphere; utterly alone,

yet desiring no other company, the soft-flowing swirl of the water

invites us to think a moment about this strange stream upon

whose banks we rest. Fifty miles from here it begins existence

in springs high up among breezy pines and oaks and cedars ot

the range of mountains over which we have to-day come, and at

an altitude that brings frost every month of the year, and dash

ing down dark cañons lined by alder and dogwood, at length

, emerges upon the desert and thenceforth knows only a sandy bed |

over a plain so level that its current is always gentle, changug

and shifting over its sandy shallows from side to side forevèt :

Large cottonwoods and willows line its banks or grow upon Its |

damp islands throughout its entire course. In many places wide

savannahs and islands of grassy margin feed herds of cattle. The

size of the river is only that of a good-sized mill-stream, bit

though not a large river it is of a good deal of use, for, like

Paddy’s moon that shined in the night when there was no sih

this river waters a torrid desert where is no other water. A hut ;

dred miles of desert wandering, however, makes it tired es ue

tence, and it gradually diminishes in volume, and after a while

tirely sinks in the sand, afterward to reappear again, and ae a

several times sinks and rises, till finally it sinks and is see 3

more; the place of its final exit being laid down on the maps

“Sink of the Mojave,” about 150 miles from its source

As during all this fluviatile monologue no nocturnal Lepil

tera have come to visit our light, we can safely say xe >

is done, and we lie down and rest, for “ God giveth P

loved sleep.” Ere dawn, however, we hear a song:

yow yow yow!” ’Tis the melody of the lovely coyotè ay

the dogs of the near-by cattle ranch forthwith rush out

bays both loud and deep, and as the lupine sea pe .

in- one direction, they approach in another, but he : a

the advance or retreat sleep is equally out of the que

all the left-handed things we say of them do no 800%" ad

rising becomes a relief, and before sunrise breakfast isot =

we stray about botanizing till the sun can warm the air $ gai

out the butterflies. Then, with net in hand, we walk s te

banks, and beat the sandy mesa, but captures are geil

1883. ] Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. 367

next stage of the journey is eighteen miles, when a watering

place is reached, and it being the only water for thirty-six miles,

and limited in quantity, it is sold like any other necessity. Not

a lepidopterous insect is seen on the route or about this watering

place. It is a most desolate and barren spot, no shade except the

roof of the whisky-seller’s cabin, no green thing about the spot

except three little cottonwood trees planted at the horse trough,

and all the wretched desert bushes look utterly dejected at the

prospect of staying in that miserable place, and altogether it

seems impossible to stay over night here, so another stage of

eighteen miles is made.

This brings us to a mountain, the highest for many miles around.

Upon its side, at an altitude of 7000 feet, is a gold mine, and this

must be reached to get food and water for man and beast. The

foot of the mountain is reached at dark, but the miles of steep

ascent to the mine are so long and tiresome that it is late when at

length the haven is reached. But the superintendent in charge

has been long listening to the unwonted sound of wheels coming

over the rocks in the still night; his little dog has come part way

down to interview'us, and as the expedition halts in front of the

premises, tired out and done up, it is greeted with welcoming shout

by the hospitable inmates, who, coming out, find a stranger and

forthwith do take him in. And when the horse is fed, and when

the expedition has washed a little dust from its face and hands

and begins to feel a little more like a man than a bundle of

dusty bones, the superintendent turns to his cook—* Bring on the

doves—let ‘em fly!” And two dozen fat doves sail in from the

kitchen, done up in a generous hot stew, with potatoes and onions

and tomatoes, and with all the other accompaniments, flanked by

fresh bread, strong tea, honey white as water, and such a lot cf

other fixin’s that the butterfly-hunter concludes that entomology is

: E pursuit if it brings him to such hospitality as this. And

when at length the visitor’s hunger and thirst are appeased, and

zo: thirst for news is in part satisfied in return, the stranger

tak wn to his bed-place (for the traveler in these regions always

es his bed along with him), the bed-place in this case being a

Cosy corner of the room, on the ground floor, no other floor of

Re ‘sed being allowed on the premises, and given good-night

moun To bed, to bed, to sleep’’ and the guest replies—

piy

lo shi

~~ Meep, perchance to dream ;?’ and sleep comes, so sound and

VOL, xvi,

NO. Iv, 26

368 Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. [Apri

so restful that even the flutter of a moth on the window would

not be heard. In the morning, after breakfast, we all go to see

the dove-trap. It is an old mining tunnel that serves as a drain,

but in times like the present the stream of water gradually dimin-

ishes till it at length runs not out of the tunnel at all, but inside :

in the darkness there is always water; and the wild doves have

learned to follow up the shortening stream as day by day tt

flows less and less further out, until they fly into the dark tut

nel for it, as it is the only water for many miles, and are there

. caught in nets. But as for insects, none are seen about here, ab

though there are damp spots well suited to their use, so that here

where we hoped to capture fine things our nets are idle and out

boxes full of emptiness. 7

So we ask and receive instructions as to the route for the net

point, and receive them with the comforting assurance that if wè

go to the right, it is forty miles to water ; if to the left, it is asfar;

and that if we fail tó turn to the east at the proper place, near the

two volcanic peaks, we shall go utterly astray, and the only way

save our horse’s life would be to retrace our own track. ban l

we go: ten miles out we see a lone Lemonias sitting in grief ot

a dry stick; we had no wish to relieve him in his misery, but t

him for seed; it was the only butterfly seen during the day.

In due time the tracks to the right and to the left are a

the two black volcanic peaks are recognized and left behind, .

a long, weary descent of many miles made into a low-lying

near some mountains at present quiet enough, yet which were?

alive with volcanic fires, and here, in one of the warmest Spo

ever saw, our camp for the night is to be. The air is

mellow and soft, from what local cause we know not, for

vent was after sundown, but at any rate, the people

other cover than that so freely given by darkness. y

pedition, it searched out a spot as far removed as p% i

prowling visits of individuals of the genus Sus, peo

most intolerable nuisances about a camp within bounds a

tion; cooking a little tea with dry mesquite twigs, yore s

the darkness, and then spreading the bedding On te p

kicked off all covering, knowing no more trouble or g ds

dawn brought forth a bright new day. An early por wi

on the way across the bed of a dry lake, whose eee

1883.] Butterfly Hunting in the Desert. 369

and smooth as plank, and the ringing tramp of the horse’s hoofs

make merry music after so long a toiling over sandy waste, while

those few miles are so quickly sped that it is discussed whether it

will not be best to retrace them, and so get another ten miles of

good road, but the motion is lost by a majority of one. To con-

sole the minority for its defeat, a pretty Terias is seen speeding its

rapid, erratic flight over the bushes and defying capture, as it

never alights, The day passes as do all days of desert travel, in

tiresome dragging through sandy wastes and over dusty hills, and

with tedious straining of the eyes to catch the first possible glimpse,

though miles away, of the green tree tops of the oasis, where is

to be the night's camping-place. And when in due time our weary

feet step upon the soft, green grass of the river side, the feeling of

relief from a straining anxiety and of comfort as if at home, is in-

expressible, and we set about the work of camp-making with light

hearts and with joyous songs. The grove rings with our badin-

age and we imagine that the cottonwoods clap their leaves in ap-

plause at our jokes. Here, with this day’s journey, our expedi-

tion reaches its objective point, and the journal thereof finds its

legitimate conclusion. And here on an oasis, in the middle of

the dreaded desert, we raise our hat and take leave of its sandy

majesty with great respect, for forbidding and perilous as it is, it

has compensating charms. If our noses have been skinned by its

burning heats, two-edged appetites repay us for the loss of epi-

dermis, and the fear ofits terrors is counterbalanced by the satis-

action of having overcome them. We leave it, thankful for our

lives, yet with regret, for we feel its attractions, and we begin to un-

derstand the delight of the Arab in his desert, and the attachment

that leads captive any man for a pursuit in itself perilous; while

to fitly crown the whole, we find that our travels have not been in

Ten, for examination shows that we have accumulated several nice

things; one of which, a new Copæodes, is published contempo-

raneously herewith ; aiso a supply of another prize, Ancyloxypha

ya Scud., and other treasures that to the butterfly hunter are

treasures indeed. —

370 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [Apri

THE EXTINCT RODENTIA OF NORTH AMERICA.

BY PROFESSOR E. D. COPE.

( Continued from page 174.)

PLIOCENE AND POST-PLIOCENE RODENTIA.

CASTOROIDES Foster.

The only known species of this genus, the C. ohioensis Fost, 15

the largest of the order. It is found in the post-glacial deposi

with the Mastodon ohioticus, in rather limited numbers.

Mr, J. A. Allen, of Cambridge, has studied the affinities of this

genus, and states them as follows: “ Castoroides presents asi

~ -

eee sie on agi

roris

FIG. 22.—Castoroides ohioensis Fost., two-fifths natural size. > m

attachment of masseter muscle; 4, Deep fossa below sigmoid note ramen

cy External auditory meatus; g, Superior and inferior incisors; ¢ Fo

bitale. From Hail and Wyman. .

oe one ne hand,” |

gular combination of characters, allying it, on the © Vis

the beaver, and, on the other, to the chinchillas and É parate

and also to the muskrat, but which at the same time 5

widely from either group.” m tho® ©

. > . . o! |

“ The molars differ strikingly in structure not only p che |

of Castor, but from those of all other rodents except Ad

1883.] The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 371

chillidæ, a near resemblance being met with elsewhere only in the

last molar of the Capybara. They consist of a series of laminæ

of dentine completely inclosed by enamel, held together by a thin

coating of cement. The circumference of the triturating surface

of the tooth is thus devoid of the continuous plate of enamel

that forms an uninterrupted border in the molar teeth of ordinary

rodents, and is deeply serrated. The dentinal lamin, with their

iR 23.—Castoroides ohioensis Fost., two fifths nat. size. a, Incisive foramen ;

Sihi pe fossa; c, Internal pterygoid plates; d, Fossa in basioccipital; e, Ex-

dana J; Mastoid process; g, Condyles; 4, Tympanic bulla. After

nclosing plate of enamel, are three in number in ali the molars,

we the last upper and first lower, which have each four.

lami the teeth are exposed to disintegrating influences, the

in of dentine and enamel readily fall apart, as is the case in

molars of the Chinchillidz, in the last molar of the Hydro-

» and in the molars of the elephant. In structure the

372 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [Apri

molar teeth of Castoroides are strictly comparable with those of

the Chinchillide, and with the posterior portion of the last molar

of Hydrochzrus, and thereby differ not only radically from that

seen in Castor, but from that of all other rodents.

“The resemblance of Castoroides to Castor is mainly in the

general outline of the skull, in its having an imperforate ante

orbital wall, and in its presenting a similar curvature of the de

scending ramus of the lower jaw, the latter a character shared

also by Fiber. The differences consist in the remarkable struc

ture of the pterygoid processes, the double orifices of the posterior

nares being entirely exceptional ; in the flattened and relatively

small cranium, and in the compound nature of the molar teeth.

These differences ally it on the one hand to the Chinchillas, from

which it differs mainly through those points in which it resem-

bles Castor. In view of tĦese wide differences from its nearest |

well-known allies, it seems to constitute the type of a distinct and |

hitherto unrecognized family. To the same group are, howev®

probably referable the genus Amblyrhiza, described by Professor

Cope, from the bone caverns of Anguilla island, West Indies.

These forms are thus far known only from the detached teeth and |

fragments of the limbs. The molars as described and figured by

Professor Cope, greatly resemble those of Castoroides, having ?

act the same structure, differing mainly in being 50%

smaller, and in possessing a greater number of lamin@. (

are also other differences, see below under Amblyrhiza.) |

“ The Castoroides ohioensis was of about the size of a eee

ing in size the Capybara, the largest of existing ro mee

of a skull has a length of over twelve inches. The spea b

known only from a few cranial and dental remains, it 15 " pabis.

ble to say much respecting its general form or probable reet

It may have been aquatic like the beaver; but of he

no evidence. The form of the occipital condyles and the vobably

for the attachment of the cranial muscles show that it PE

differed greatly in habits from the beaver.” we egth

The sculpture of the incisor teeth of this species * =

and distinguishes it readily from all other Rodentia.

SCIURIDÆ.

i t Teol

Squirrels were probably abundant during the — a

1883. ] The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 373

periods inthe United States. I have described a true squirrel,

Sciurus panolius, and a chipmunk, Tamias levidens, from Virginian

cave deposits, and have found indisputable remains of the ground

marmot, Arctomys monax, associated with them. In the Port

Kennedy bone cave in Pennsylvania, Mr, Wheatley found Sciu-

rus calycinus Cope, associated with Megalonyx, etc.

Remains of the beaver are common in the latest Tertiary

beds,

Morip2.

Jaws undistinguishable from those of the jumping mouse,

Meriones hudsonius, were found in the Port Kennedy bone cave.

A large wood-rat, Neotoma magister, was found by Professor

Baird in the Carlisle, Pa., bone cave. The meadow-mice (Arvi-

cola), left numerous remains in the Port Kennedy cave, which

represent no less than six species.! Four of these are related to the

G. 24 —Diagrams of molar teeth of Arvicola, from the Port Kennedy bone cave,

Pennsylvania, enlarged. No.1 3, A. speothen Cope; No. 14, A. tetradelta Cope;

No. 15, A. didelia Cope. From Proc. Am. Philos, Soc. 1870.

recent smaller meadow-mouse, Arvicola pinetorum ; while two, the

A. speothenand A. hiatidens Cope, represent special divisions of the

genus. These I have called Isodelta and Anaptogonia respectively.

€ A. hiatidens is one of the largest species of the genus, and

the columns of the first inferior molar are more numerous than

in the species found with it. The inflected angles between the

columns do not touch the sides of the opposite columns as in

Most species of the genus. Arvicolas also occur in the Pliocene

of Fossil lake, Oregon. :

Saccomyipz:.

I found an almost perfect skeleton of a “ gopher” in the won-

1 oe

See Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1871, p- 87-

3 74 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [April

derful bone deposit known as “ fossil lake ” in the Oregon desert

I cannot distinguish it from that of the Zhomomys bulbivorus, now

living on the borders of that region.

Professor B. F. Mudge discovered the skull of a large species

of the genus Geomys in the sands of the Blue river, Kansis,

which I cannot distinguish from a living form.

CAS. | oiae

ANN ”

™

b .

c WAS Mo’

Fic. 25.—Diagrams of molars of Arvicolæ, from the bone cave at Port i !

Penna., enlarged. 0. 16, A. involuta Cope; No, 17, A. sigmodus Cope;

A. hiatidens Cope. From Proceed. Am. Philos. Soc. 1870.

AMBLYRHIZA Cope.

This remarkable genus of rodents was. first detected by me

found in the West Indian island of Anguilla. I have since p

molars of a species of the genus in a collection in Charleston, 5

Carolina, showing that it extended its range to the continent, @

must be included in our Pliocene fauna.

In the year 1868 a quantity of cave earth, limestone ce 2

and bone breccia were brought to the port of Philadelphia E

a cave in the small Antillean island of Anguilla, which 0° >. :

to Denmark. Through the attention of Mr. Waters I leant

the existence of fossil bones in the cargo, and proc rather

examine them. Remains of long bones lying irregularly ee

hard but cavernous red cave deposit of limestone, Wer walls é

mingled with fragments of lighter limestone from the E

the cave in irregular masses, the whole being penetrated $

mixed with a yellow stalagmitic deposit of arragonite. a

From a block of the breccia I dressed three molar e |

partially complete, and two much broken incisors, frag™ a

maxillary and pelvic bones, shafts of various long bones, ae

1883.j The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 375

distal extremity of a femur with a patella. These were the

first evidences of the existence of

the large rodent Amélyrhiza inun-

data, which was described in the

Proceedings of the American

Philosophical Society for 1868.

Other bones were found in other

breccia masses, which I could not

clearly refer to any other animal.

With them occurred a shell of Tur-

bo pica.

Having learned that Dr. E. van

Rigjersma, colonial physician of

the Danish island of Saint Martins,

was interested in the natural sci-

ences, I wrote, asking him to make

an examination of the deposit in

question, and to secure, if possible,

all fossils discovered in excavating

it. He accordingly very kindly went

to Anguilla and ,was rewarded by

the possession of numerous addi-

tional teeth and bones of Ambly-

rhiza. Subsequent visits added

two species of this genus, together

with the bones of a species of g T

A verda uncertain genus ; bones ; Fic. a = dg: o

à probable rodent of smaller size '0™ Anguna, imo-

of two species of birds, of a lizard are Psa ga mS A

and a shell chisel of human man- ep ee tye i a

ture,

rom above.

* . ` mandible of A. datidens Cope, show-

pe Maree Species are A. inun- ing molar and lateral coronoid pro-

data: A. quadrans and A. latidens °°

Cope. The first named is the smallest species, and the teeth

= Charleston are perhaps referable to it. All the species

agree in Presenting the following characters :

an Premaxillary bones and the symphysis mandibuli are

much produced and narrowed, and were probably enclosed

™ fur-bearing integument, as in the existing Chinchillas. The

: -

an Loxomylus longidens was probably based on inferior molars of this or of a

y allied species,

376 The Extinct Rodentia of North America, {April

mandibular rami are completely coossified. They are united at

their lower borders poste-

rior to the divergence of

their dental ridges, by the

expansion of the stout mb

of their inner face which

encloses the’ incisive alve-

olus.

The dental formula is

1.1; Co: My i

cisors have a moderately

thick enamel layer whichis

wrapped round the exter

nal angle a short distance

Their sculpture is not deep

ly cut. The molars a

composed of vertical col-

umns of dentine enclosed

in and separated by lamine

of enamel. The columm

are more or less transvers,

and are neither confluent

nor divided in any of '

teeth. They number a

ior teeth, excePr

the superior t mer

thin

Fic. 27.—Jaws of Amblyrhiza latidens Cope,

two-thirds nat, size, from Anguilla, W. I. Orig-

ig. a, superior incisors from above; enamel plates are

on the

di Jengi

‘ddle of their leth

be middle at

4, lateral view; Fig. c, inferior inci fi

helow; d, do. hve aa, Woh aari o rected backwards ja

grinding faces. The extremities of the roots are simple ere) p

tracted to an obtuse termination. The inferior molars ;

their form, being straight and directed obliquely pi? es ast

the jaw. From this it results that their triturating SY rior 0

oblique to the axis of the teeth, while those of the sup®°

1883.] The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 377

lars are transverse to the axis of the middle portion of the shaft.

There are but three columns in all of the inferior molars.

The only caudal vertebra preserved: is short and wide, has

short diapophyses, and no facets for chevron bones. As there

is no trace of neurapophyses on the centrum, I infer that the

tail is short.

The fore-limb is of smalier proportions than the posterior one.

The humeral condyles have the ulnar and radial portions about

equal, and the intertrochlear ridge is repre-

sented by an obscure angle. Both ulna and

radius are slender.

The femur has several marked peculiari-

ties. One of these is the great development

of the great trochanter, which is really an

undiminished continuation of the shaft for

some distance beyond the head. The head

is relatively small.

The distal extremity of the tibia is ex-

panded inwards, The astragalar facets are

oblique ; the external is larger than the inter-

nal, and they are well separated by an obtuse

ridge. There are two processes on the inter-

nal border, which are separated by a dee

‘ : rtion of femur of Am-

tendinous groove, which is, in most of the blyrhiza latidens, two-

. > i e ize. From

Specimens, bridged over by a lamina connect- thirds natural size. «fo

= , Anguilla, W. I. Orig-

ing the processes. The posterior of the two inal.

processes is the most elongate. It corre- ae

sponds to a process of the astragalus which extends backwards

and inwards from the internal trochlear face. When extension of

the foot is attempted, the processes come into contact, and pe:

vent further movement. The amount of extension from the hori-

zontal which this arrangement permits is 45°. When the foot is

extended the processes constitute a support to the weight of the

animal in addition to that furnished by the usual astragalar apan

The metatarsal bones are distinct from each other and are quite

short. There were certainly four toes, and the hallux may have

been rudimentary. The foot was clearly plantigrade. Whether

the digits terminate in hoofs or claws, is unknown.

The lack of tibial crest indicates that the knee was not constantly

maintained in a flexed position. The immense trochanter indi-

378 The Extinct Rodentia of North America. [April,

cates great power of extension of the femur, but whether this ex-

tension was effective in running or

kicking is uncertain. The absence of

tibial crest, and the shortness of the

foot militate against the supposition

that these animals possessed powers

of leaping, and their swimming pow-

ers would be impaired by the same

structural characters. These chat-

acters of the posterior limb in Am-

blyrhiza are very peculiar, and arè

no doubt connected with some

_ peculiarity of habits which we have

yet to ascertain.

This genus clearly enters Pro-

fessor Brandt’s division of the Ro-

dentia, which he terms the Hystri-

paR The evidence is seen

primarily in the free fibula and in

the development of the angular por-

tion of the mandible on the ex

side of the incisive alveoli; the |

Fic. 29.—Posterior foot of Ambly- small coronoid process and

thiza, “two thirds nat. size, Fig. a

tibio-tarsal articulation of A. Zatidens generic characters add to the weig!

nats Pc FA a Fisa ae A sat as- of the evidence. Mr. E. E. R. ee!

external side; é, second row of tar- has recently published a very

A ats out ics able resumé of the, Steg

er side. From Anguilla. Original. of the subdivisions, including

genera of the Rodentia. He of

vides the Hystricomorpha into numerous families, some 0

which, at least, appear to the writer to rest on rather slender base

In the comparison with Amblyrhiza, the Hystricide and Day”

proctidæ may be dismissed, from the fact that their molars bi

not divided transversely by laminz of enamel. The compart an

is with the Chinchillide and Caviide, The molar dentition *

that of the former family, but the absence of a masseteric fi

separates it from the genera arranged by Mr. Alston ni

Caviide, although I cannot perceive that such a character sh pent :

define a family group. The incisors of both these groups

called by Mr, Alston “short.” I have shown those of Ambi

1883.] The Extinct Rodentia of North America. 379

rhiza to be very long, as in the Dasyproctidez ; nevertheless their

transverse section and sculpture are much as in the genus Lagid-

ium. The affinities of this form are, then, near to types now

existing on the South American continent, but it presents charac-

ters which show that it cannot be referred to any existing genus.

The Amblyrhiza inundata may be described as frequently sup-

porting itself on its hinder legs, with the entire hinder foot applied

to the ground, and its smaller fore-legs hanging by its side. Its

general bulk could not have been less than that of a doe Virgin-

ian deer, What its habits could have been, cannot readily be in-

ferred, but its food was doubtless of the general vegetable char-

acter of other members of the order. The A. /atidens must have

been larger than the male Virginian deer.

Hyprocua:rus Briss.

The only existing species of this genus, the Capybara, is the

largest of Rodentia living, and is con- ee b

fined to South America. Leidy has de-

scribed a species from the Ashley river

deposits near Charleston, South Caro-

lina, under the name of H. @sopt. Its a

teeth, the only portions known, are simi- {|

lar to those of the Capybara, but accord- f}

ing to Leidy, the inferior incisor tooth is fi}

watt strongly ridged than in the living |i} a)

Species, |

Eriruizon F. Cuv.

The existing American porcupine was `

represented in the Megalonyx beds by a

Species, the Æ. cloacinum Cope, of which

à Single tooth was found in the Port

Kennedy bone cave.

LAGOMORPHA,

A rabbit-like animal, probably of the

ecus Lagomys, was found in the Pott

Ken : portions represent parts 0

nedy bone cave, It is rather larger inferior molars found.

rg the Lagomys brinceps of the Sierra :

: da. It is of interest, because no species now inhabits the

Part of the American continent. I have called it Lago

The Extinct Rodentia of North America. (Aprl,

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RODENTIA.

The Rodentia, like other divisions of Mammalia, present a suc-

cession of changes of structure in time, in the feet and in the

teeth. The earliest known forms, as above pointed out, are the

allies of the squirrels, members of the sub-order Sciuromor

pha. These have the most generalized foot structure because:

first, the trochlear structures of the humerus and tibia are notat

all or but little developed; second, because they have five digits

on the feet, and are plantigrade ; and third, because the fibula is not

` coössified with the tibia. They are similarly primitive in the forms

of the teeth, because they are rarely prismatic, and nearly always

have long roots and short crowns. The cavy division, or sub- order

Hystri pha, must claim the next place, but many of its

members show a decided advance in having a limited number of

toes, and prismatic dentition. In the third sub-order, Myomor —

pha, the mice, etc., we first meet with the codssification of the

fibula with the tibia. A good many genera have prismatic teeth,

and some of them a restricted number of digits; and a few%

them (the jerboas) even metatarsal bones codssified into a cannon |

bone. The rabbits have the most specialized characters in all th :

points mentioned, but they add another character which is most .

primitive, viz., the presence of four superior incisor teeth. Ths |

is probably a remnant of the primitive group from which all the

Rodentia have been derived. By the law of homologous 8 ee

it is not probable that the divisions of Rodentia were |

from each other, but from corresponding groups of the pui"

P g group This divisit

order from which they were derived as a whole. e

may have been the sub-order Tillodonta of the Eocenes, 0f

Rodentia may be the descendants of the Marsupialia with or

out the intervention of that group. o ad

The differentiation of the sub-orders of the Rodentia € k

dates from a period at least as early as the lowest- Miocen® has

is an important fact that the Lower Eocene (Wasatch epoch) It :

as yet produced nothing but the lowest type (Sciuromorpha) g ,

is also true that the Puer@o Eocene epoch has, in sixty spec! aad i

Mammalia, disclosed no Rodentia at all, while Tillodom# ©

Tzniodonta are abundant. oligo

The Myomorpha first appear in the White River beds (978

cene), but none with prismatic teeth occur below the J a

epoch. The Lagomorpha, on the other hand, pr esent n : .

1883.] Fleterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 381

almost all their special characters at once, in the White river.

The Hystricomorpha, whose honfe is in South America, are un-

known in North America below the Loup Fork or highest Mio-

cene, where Leidy identified a true porcupine, Hystrix venustus,

Many of the extinct genera stand in evident genetic connection

with existing forms. The Miocene Castors doubtless include the

ancestor of the modern beaver. The Ischyromys is a primitive

type of the Sciuridz, and Gymnoptychus connects it directly

with the existing forms by the character of its molar teeth.

Eumys is the primitive form of Hesperomys, as Paciculus is of

Sigmodon. Entoptychus and Pleurolicus are the near ancestors

of the Geomyidze of the Pliocene and present periods. Palæo-

lagus, Panolax and Lepus form a direct genetic line. The ancient

genera all differ from their modern representatives in the same

Way ; that is, in the greater constriction of the skull just posterior

to the orbits and accompanying absence of postorbital processes.

This relation may be displayed in tabular. form, as follows:

Skull wider behind orbits. Skull narrower behind orbits.

Postorbital No postorbital Postorbital No postorbital

processes, processes, processes. processes.

MOONS ee Sek adc. c ‘Castor fiber, Bi (eT rah se ; BS E j [Castor peninsulatus.

nea ie ee ES ` « soies as oe | chromis.

AE teeees ....|Hesperomys. sven duksvse naat epee

ge Paleolagus.

None of the species of this fauna are of larger size than their

modern representatives. In the cases of the beaver, squirrels and

rabbits, the ancient species are the smaller?

‘a e d

HETEROGENETIC DEVELOPMENT IN DIAPTOMUS.

BY C. L. HERRICK.

[2 Paper in the Report of the Geological and Natural History

Survey of Minnesota, the writer suggested that this genus 1S

aoe affected by changes in the environment, and an exam-

i 'S given in the case of D. castor. The form called giganteus

pas shown to be probably an enlarged variety of the above. In

Paper in the Narurauisr this matter was expanded and an

~—mpt made to parallelize the two forms with the two

a O '

mie Conclusions see Bulletin U. S. Geolog. Survey Terrs., VI, 1881, 362-3.

382 Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus, [April,

stages in adult Cyclopidæ. I am now able to set the matterat

rest with reference to these two forms at least. Having had —

occasion to collect fresh-water animals through the entire length

of the Mississippi valley from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mex-

ico, many hundreds of specimens of Diaptomus have been exam-

ined in the most diverse localities. If it were permissible to

establish a species upon slight variations in structure, numbers of

them might be distinguished. However the following facts debar

me from attempting it: At Decatur, Ky., a series of small pools :

in various stages of stagnation, furnished an opportunity for study-

ing the variations due to age and conditions of the water. |

It is remarkable that in such small bodies of water only one :

stage may be present in one, while the next, a few feet away, may :

offer another. i :

In the same localities the various stages of a Phyllopod could !

be studied in the same way. ie

The normal D. castor, like Minnesota specimens in its various :

stages, occurs in some pools, in others, a few steps away, 0%% she :

a larger form, at a glance distinguishable from the above by i |

short antennz and stylets, and the structure of the fifth ee i

was, however, struck by the fact that all these specimens xe =

mature (though nearly as large as D. giganteus), and w

panied by the adult stages. Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 9, Plate V a

some of the peculiarities of the normal D. castor; 14 and 9% 6 and |

the effect of senility on fifth feet and antenne. Figs 4, 50°"

9 show the corresponding parts in the enlarged form. a n

Further study showed me that the difference distinguish W a

second from the first forms, saving the compact build of hes

mer, are just those found in young of castor. It pe he

remained to find the specimens in the process of molting ™ *

combined characters of both (Fig. 8) to convince one w

larged form is really identical with casior, but by favorable one

stances enormously developed. ; veacheh

Differentiation takes place before the mature stage !S argel

the same way that tadpoles wintered over are greatly enl Alabame

I have found the typical D. sanguineus of Forbes ™ the com |

This form has some peculiarities to distinguish it fou

mon var. of D. castor.. d

In view of the facts now known regarding the develop!

Diaptomus, we may safely say that D. stagnalis Forbes,

js an |

of the inner

1883. ] | FHeterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 383

larged variety or age form of D. sanguincus, but the writer must

still express his decided belief that these must all be referred to

the European D. castor.

It must be admitted that the intensity of coloration does not

depend upon season but upon the conditions of the water which

may or may not be influenced by the time of year. In the same

month I have found the same species of all colors, from colorless

to deep crimson-red or variegated red, yellow and blue or purple.

Weissmann seems to have neglected these facts in referring the

coloration of many species of Cladocera to sexual selection. I

have found in every case where the Diaptomus was intensely red,

the species of Cyclops, usually green or bluish, would be more

or less red; also. In Swan lake, near Decatur, nearly all the

Cladocera were brilliantly marked, sida and stmocephalus (?) be-

ing most so; in the neighboring lakes these species were pale

as usual.

With respect to the identity of our species. 1st. The armature

of the last segment of thorax is usually obscured by doubling

over. Fig. 12, Plate vi of Brady gives the large thorn but omits

the lower process. 2d. Fig. 7, Plate vı of Brady figures the pro-

cess on the antenna of male. (Claus gives the best figures.) 3d.

Fig. 5, Plate 1 of Cyclopide of Minn., Herrick shows that the

mner branch of the male fifth foot is armed by three spines (as

figured by Brady) in Minnesota specimens, It must be remarked

this applies to young forms only, and that the later forms lose

them and become shorter. Brady has probably transposed his

_ humbers as regards the female feet of fifth pair.

The serrature of the spines differs between different age forms.

Diaptomus pallidus Herrick (Plate vu, Figs. 1-6) is quite rare

ce veered with the foregoing. The peculiarities mentioned in

the original notice suffice to distinguish it from any other known

"9 Me, D. sicilis Forbes, seems to sustain the same relation to

pallidus that giganteus does to castor. The two-jointed character

branch of female feet in sici/is confirms this. view.

oss are several differences however.

. nar shee-—Extremely slender head separate from thorax by

fifth fo. » antenne longer than the caudal sete; sete very long ;

eee of female very short, inner branch with only one ter-

ao at end; the male fifth feet long; the jaw is like that of

384 Fleterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. (Api, |

Diaptomus leptodus has not been recognized in the South

Fig. 4 of Plate vii in the NATURALIST, July, 1882, represents the

process or inner branch of fifth foot reversed, probably by pre

sure; Fig. 6 of the same plate omits one of the seta on the lat |

joint. Now comparing these figures with others, we see less dk

ference than as given. :

EPISCHURA‘FLUVIATILIS, sp. nov. (Figs. 10-20, Plate v).

The genus Epischura, which was founded by S. A. Forbes l

upon a species of Copepod, E. /acustris, inhabiting Lake Michigat,

is one of the most interesting as well as anomalous of the = l

of Calanidæ. The typical family likeness is preserved, but thereat

several peculiarities which have no parallel in Copepoda, if e

where. ; ; 3

The animal for which the name Epischura fluviatilis is propose l

is undoubtedly extremely near the above, but in several :

disagrees with the points in Forbes’ description which he nye i

to rely upon as of generic importance. It might be assot

these differences have generic value, and I should be inclined ©

so regard them except that there seems a possibilty a

Forbes has slightly mistaken the homologies of the ano 4

organs as indicated below. x

As no generic characters were given, this second species E

warrant an attempt, as follows : i

EPISCHURA Forbes, 1882. aa

Char. gen.—Cephalothorax slender, 5-6-jointed ; abdomen 4-jointed a

jointed in female; second antennæ as in Diaptomus ; mandibular palp < bot

swimming feet all biramose; inner ramus 1-jointed; left foot of be gye

or obsolete, right foot in female slender, last feet of male, greatly modified ott

foot biramose, inner ramus short, lamellate, 1-jointed with claw-like —

branch nearly like female, left foot coalesced with the first two joints of

-extremity alone free; set of caudal stylets three.

Forbes says of Æ. /acustris that the female has a proces

the abdomen and in both sexes the latter is curved and iil

In Æ. fluviatilis the abdomen of the female appeared i ý

jointed, and differs in no way from Diaptomus except He |

number of setz. It is to be remarked that Epischura offers wd |

treme example of the tendency noticed in all Cope ip

frequently in higher Crustacea, to diminish or abort Poe

branch of biramose organs on either side the median lin®

1S. A. Forbes. On some Entomostraca of Lake Michigan. AM “oil

July, 1882, .

E EAA. E i hc oH a.

1883.] Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 385

This may be observed in the abdominal feet of Palæmon, the

mouth parts of Cyclopidæ, but extends to the first pair of swim-

ming feet in Diaptomus, and in this case involves all of them.

The advantage of this arrangement, as well as its cause in the law

of adaptation, is evident in the case of such animals as rely much

upon a current below the body for food or the aeration of the

blood. In Epischura the antennules rotate and create such a cur-

rent past the mouth as is seen in other Copepods.

Char. spec.—Cephalothorax imperfectly 6-jointed ; antennæ 25-jointed, in the male

6 joints follow the hinge, the enlarged portion is not greatly thickened, the antenna

reach somewhat beyond the thorax ; mandibles with about nine teeth, the frst of

which is large and divaricate, more or fewer of the following ones are emarginate;

mandibular palp biramose, inner branch I-jointed, outer branch 3-jointed; maxilli-

peds not unlike Diaptomus but shorter and more strongly armed with curved spines;

(last feet of female 1-branched with a straight claw terminating the distal segments,

or) left foot obsolete and the other 2-branched, each branch 3-jointed, the right male

of last pair is much more modified, its inner ramus is lamellate and curved in

upon itself so as to make a grasping organ of curious form, in this office it is aided

by two or more curved movable hooks which may probably be regarded as modified

m the second joint of the abdomen bears on its left side an appendage of two

Joints, the basal joint being flat and extending into a strong curved claw reaching to

the base of the furca, while the second is slender and has two small sete at the end,

thus is formed a powerful hand, j

I regard this appendage as perhaps the terminal joint of the

left of the last pair of feet ; indeed there seems to be some internal

connection with the last thoracic segment, although externally

none remains, the abdomen is otherwise quite normal and

straight,

These Suggestions with regard to the homologies of the organ .

ane offered with some hesitation, as such a coalescing of a limb

the abdomen has never been described. However I believe

i. st thing takes place, though to a less degree, in Cyclops.

| &. mulleri, for example, the fifth foot entirely disappears, leav-

mg only two separate spines to indicate its position. It is sug-

gested : that certain spines adorning the first segment of the abdo-

Men in most Species of Cyclops may be rudiments of the missing

— d Famitig of the fifth foot. By comparing Figs. 11 and 12 of

re with I and 3, representing the corresponding parts im

“aptomus, it will be seen that the theory advanced places all the

rae in the place demanded by the schema of the limbs in

Comparing the fifth leg of the female, Figs. 12-13, with the

"8 One, Fig. 20, it appears to correspond with one leg only,

386 Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus.

(Apri,

but both rami are 3-jointed as in the swimming legs of other

Calanide. On the other hand, regarding both legs as present, the —

“hand” of the male does not homologize with the left limb, and

we have besides to account for a supernumerary 2-jointed limb on

the second joint of the abdomen..

The present species was found in large numbers in Mulbeny

creek, Cullman county, Alabama; the color is bluish-green, and

the length about ,f in. |

ENTOZOIC PARASITES IN ENTOMOSTRACA (Fig. 15, Pl. vi).

We have discussed the relation of the minute fresh-water Crus-

tacea to sanitary science in a paragraph in a recent article in the

NATURALIST, but it remains to touch upon another phase of the -

subject. It may be thought unnecessary to trouble ourselves

about the pathological conditions prevailing among such lowly

animals, but it can be shown that these same causes of disease

may not be unimportant in connection with human diseases.

It is a fact constantly receiving new exemplification, that the

parasites infesting small animals, particularly water animals, aid.

frequently but the immature forms of parasites of animals higher

in the scales. These alterating generations are exceedingly

cult to study, so that while all stages may be separately

only a fortunate combination of circumstances or patient accum

lation of facts can connect the individual factors into the complet |

cyclus.

Thus, for example, Professor Leuckart has but recently worked |

out the full life-history of Diéstomum hepaticum, although ~

adult has been a stock example in helminthological study i

laboratory for years. ome

_ The importance of such parasites, even in a commercial a :

needs but a reference to trichinosis to illustrate. I am not pe

that endo-parasites are known in Entomostraca except in er

of Cyclops. Embryos of Cucullanus elegans, a nematoid ee

enter the body-cavity of Cyclops and undergo two molts ar

are transferred to the intestinal canal of food-fishes:" | 5g

Taken in connection with the recent discoveries n p :

Forbes, showing how dependent our own food-fishes €? $

1Claus. Kleines Lehrbuch d. Zoologie, p. 368. pALisT> jem

3 Forbes. On some Entomostraca of Lake Michigan, AM. NATU. a :

1882. .

Cf. Ryder on Food Fishes, Bul. U. S. Fish. Com.

PLATE V.

—

=. =. Q

x y

FRESH-WATER ENTOMOSTRACA-

1883.] Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 387

Entomostraca, the significance of these facts cannot fail to appear.

A similar parasite of Cyclops is Filaria medinensis}

The Cladocera are generally quite free from parasites, but I

have found in several instances young nematoids in the blood

sinus in front of the heart in Daphnia magna.: These are mouth-

less but very active round worms, subsisting upon the nutriment

in the blood which constantly bathes the animal. True cysts

could not be formed in the cobweb-like tissues of the hosts.

This is, so far as I can learn, the first publication of Entozoa

from Cladocera. The animals were from “Schimels Teich,

Leipzig. While collecting Copepods near Tuscaloosa, Ala., I

gathered a number of specimens of Cyclops tenuicornis and nearly

all were unusally pale and feeble. On examination they proved

to be infested with a worm of the sub-order’Distomex. This

sub-order includes many distressing parasites and forms which are

adapted to be widely distributed by a long period of adolescence

and the number of Stages passed through before maturity is at-

tained.

The larvæ live frequently in Mollusca, and in maturity the ani-

mal inhabits the intestine of vertebrates.

Upon €xamination the Cyclops individuals collected were nearly

all found affected, some having as many as five parasites of vari-

F sizes about the alimentary canal, in the common vascular

“ity which corresponds to the entire arterial and venus system

ed the more highly organized Calanidz. The Cercarian or tailed

TS Was not found. Were the life-history known it would prob-

Y appear that the larval stage is passed within some young

mollusks, and that the adult infests some vertebrate, probably fish,

A ~~ Would thus be perhaps transferred either in food or drink to

Stem.

on i Worthy of notice that the host was soon destroyed by the

the i T TE post-imago or Coronatus form being absent; most of

; val oes thus infested possessed abnormally persistent lar-

“aracters in antenne, etc,

om EXPLANATION OF PLATE V.

i pa r Diaptomus castor (?

te ?), fifth pair of legs of adult male. N

: 3 same (older specimen) showing a greater retrogra

Oy es metamorphosis of inner ramus. - :

> : caudal stylets of adult.

ee, ee

ae rt Ueber d. Bau. u. d, Entwicklung d. Faria medinensts, Moscow.

388

Fic. 3 anget castor (?) ae legs of adult female.

fifth legs

Fic. 1. Daphnia longispina,

“ si

Se Ue

4. " =

5. Daphnia dubia,

6. “

Ti tia

8. “ `

9. f

ia s adii

Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus.

of male of exaggerated or sion

* (immature).

5: " * fifth legs of female.

6. “ caudal stylets of same.

T, “ margin of last thoracic segment of same,

8. v leg of immature specimen of ordinary form just

to molt. i

9. “3 antenna of male, giganteus form Gimmatare).

9a. n antennæ of male, castor adult.

b. €

antenna of male, castor, older form.

10, Epischura Aaii, sp. nov., abdomen and fiith feet of male.

right foot of he'd

12; ” right foot of fem

13. u right foot of anii {yong

14. sf mandible.

15. Nd labrum, mandibles sd palpi.

16. we end of maxilliped.

iT: i globular pot part of testis.

18, n end of antennules

19, va antenna a pee

20. mming foot,

21. Cyclops modestus, ee nov., fifth foot,

: stylets.

Ea “ end of antenna.

24. Geia, tenuissimus, sp. nov., fifth foot.

25. terminal joint of antenna.

26. ie, E A angulata, mae rs ee antenna.

28. wer Bit of shell.

29. bccn ea ae of posterior portion of shell in old

spines.

30. Simocephalus daphnoides.

31. : lower angle of shell,

EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI.

10. Daphnia longispina.

iz, es Platanensis sp. nov., end of postabdomen. —

12, head

a reticulations of shell.

PLATE VI.

FRESH WATER ENTOMOSTRACA.

1883.] immature Plumage of the North American Shrikes. 389

Fic. 15. Cyclops tenuicornis infested with Distoma sp. ?

“ 16. Simocephalus daphnotdes, sp. nov., head,

“ 17. Ceriodaphnia reticulata, abdomen.

"13 = head.

“ 19. Léiliocryptus Sp., abdomen.

“ 20. Cyclops tenuissimus, sp. nov., abdomen.

21. - caudal stylet.

“ 22. Cyclops tenuicornis (“ coronatus ”), end of antenna,

“ 23. Scapholeberis armata Herrick, front view.

n upper angle of abdomen.

(To be continued.)

to:

A STUDY OF THE IMMATURE PLUMAGE OF THE

NORTH AMERICAN SHRIKES, TO SHOW

THEIR DESCENT FROM A COM-

MON PROGENITOR.

BY THOMAS H. STREETS, M.D.

E is seldom that we find a group where the variations can be

traced from the progenitors in an unbroken line through the

whole series. Such a group we have in the shrikes of North

America.

Several years ago, before I had read the “ Descent of Man,”

while studying the young of Suda cyanops, 1 was struck with. its

close resemblance to the adult plumage of Sula leucogastra. I

brought this fact to the notice of Mr. Robert Ridgway, the or-

nithologist, and he showed me as a parallel case the young of the

white-rumped and the adult of the great northern shrikes. I was

Strongly impressed by these cases, with the importance of the

study of the changes of the plumages of birds, as bearing the

Same relation to their descent as the embryological changes of

Structure which certain animals exhibit. Some years afterwards

I found out that Mr. Darwin had fully investigated the subject. In

the beginning of the chapter! where he discusses the immediate

plumage of birds he makes the following statement :

“When the young differs in color from the adult, and the colors

of the former are not, as far as we can see, of any special service,

they may generally be attributed, like various embryological

structures, to the retention by the young of the characters of an

early progenitor.” He states, in reference to the importance of

“Descent of Man. Chap. XXI., p. 175. Amer. ed.

390 Immature Plumage of the North American Shrikes. [Apri

the subject, that “a full essay by some competent ornithologistis

much needed.” Neither did the color variations of the shrikes

escape the patient search of this rigid investigator, but I am

not aware that our own group has ever been studied to show

their descent from a common progenitor. In this imperfect at-

tempt I will select the marks of coloration of but one portion of

the body; namely, the transverse wavy lines or bars and other

masses of color on the under surface of the body. It is well

known that spots and stripes are more apt to fade away or change

than larger masses of coloration in the sexual variations of ani-

mals. All the facts here presented are taken from that excellent

work, “A History of North American Birds, by Baird, Brewer

and Ridgway.”

Collurio borealis“ Breast and belly always with ` distinct

transverse waved lines of dusky.” “In an immature bird, in

winter, the dull white beneath is everywhere—sometimes even on

the lower tail-coverts—covered with numerous bars of dusky, more

sharply-defined, and darker than in the adult.” Here we have, as

far as this one character is concerned, the male, female and young

jsn, each other—“ beneath with wavy bars of dusky in all

stages.”

C. ludovicianus—This species carries us a step in advance:

“Under parts often with very obscure faint waved lines (in the

female?). Beneath, very strongly tinged with plumbaccous, later-

ally and across breast.” The variation here has been transmitted

through the female to the male, and in a modifed degree to

female offspring. Our authors still further tell us that “ the young :

bird is quite different from the adult, differing as does that of exci

bitoroides, but the colors are all darker than in the oon

age of that species.” Referring to C. ludovicianus vat. excubitorom>

we are told that the young bird is marked on the “ breast

sides with obsolete bars of dusky.” In the case of sik

therefore, we have the young and female resembling each fd :

but differing from the adult male, and resembling, in 4 modi .

manner, both sexes and young of borealis. i

C. ludovicianus var. ex-ubitoroides,—“ Beneath entirely W ie

without ashy tinge laterally or across breast.” “ No we ae

beneath.” We have already seen that the young of this bi

obsolete bars of dusky on the breast and sides. It wer BS

both the male and female, and resembles the adult female ot

1883.] Editors’ Table, 391

vicianus, Here the male and female resemble each other, the

sexual character being transmitted in an equal degree to both

sexes, The only trace of the bars beneath is noticed in the win-

ter dress of the male. According to Darwin, when the variation

is sexual, and the adult male molts twice in a season, the winter

dress resembles the primitive or immature plumage.

C. ludovicianus var. robustus—The account of the plumage of

this bird in its different stages is too meagre to serve our purpose.

It is said to be without wavy bars beneath, and is “tinged with

ashy laterally and across breast,” in the adult stage. It is probably

intermediate between /udovicianus and var. excubitoroides.

It is interesting to note in this connection the range of this

genus spreading over half a continent.

The progenitor, dorealis, inhabits “ Arctic America; in winter

South into the United States, especially into the northern por-

tions.” Ludovicianus, “ South Atlantic and Gulf States.” Rodustus,

“ California and fur countries.” xcubitoroides, “ Western North

America from Pacific coast east a little beyond the Mississippi,

and to Texas. Nearly all of Mexico.”

I am aware that this genus has also been modified in other

ways by natural selection, but only those parts have been chosen

which serve the purpose of showing their descent through sexual

selection.

:0: ——

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D: COPE.

—— There is still a disposition in certain quarters to disparage

and even to ridicule attempts at the construction of genealogical

trees. One criticism made is that they are nothing less than sys-

tems of classification. To this we would reply that of course

: are. Our systems of classifications are efforts to display

M à graphic way our conceptions of the affinities of natural groups.

fir more generalized forms are placed lowest and the more spe-

cialized higher, and the aberrant forms are placed at a distance from

the more typical. Some naturalists arrange natural groups in the

form of constellations; but the greater number, irrespective of any

theory, Copy, simply for i , the form of a tree with branches

of unequal sizeand length. Unconsciously every systematic biolo-

Sist thus constructs a genealogical tree. If now, he be an evolu-

392 Recent Literature. [April, i

tionist, believing that there is a blood relationship between the

branches, twigs, and trunk and roots of his tree-like system, he

acknowledges the fact that his graphic presentation of his system-

atic views really approximately represents what has actually

taken place in nature. The branches of his genealogical tree are

approximative to what practically are lines of descent or ascent

Certain twigs may be bent backward or downward, and they rep-

resent degradational paths, along which retrograde forms have

traveled. eg

The historian of families or of nations constructs genealogical f

trees, and is it illogical that the naturalist should? Errors creep

into historical genealogical trees. No two naturalists may construct

the same form of genealogical tree for the same order or class; 59 |

no two observers agree as regards the classification of amy group. —

Because our attempts at expressing our conceptions as to the els

gin and descent of certain groups are imperfect and provisional, it

does not follow that the attempt should be ridiculed by those r

naturalists who are excellent as systematists and anatomists, but

who do not work with their thinking caps on. :

RECENT LITERATURE.

Sexvey’s HISTORY or THE SKULL.—This pamphlet isa

the various relations between the skull and the other structu |

a vertebrate, with a view “ to stimulate some other fellow-w0 ie a

to seek for the meaning” of the unknown points in the pr ene

Professor Seeley shows: (1) That comparative ana ae |

an increasing simplification and approximation to the hat en- :

plan as we ascend the scale from fishes to mammals; yett t have

bryology shows that the skull originates in structures tM a

little in common with the vertebre, (2) That a skull 1s of the 2

to define, for the branchial arches appear to be survivals 0! T A

somatic clefts of Amphioxus, and the visceral clefts of pre fa)

mammal are homologous with the branchial arches of a BSA 5.

That a skull, as usually understood, consists of, first, a Drar i

second, of jaws, and third, of structures connected a sep-

_ tion, which parts may, as in the sharks, have been origt®® d ar |

rate. (4) That the bones surrounding the nasal, opte ott

aitory Cap les kat ly constant, especially the latter, about -

it would appear that a brain-case “ is a union of ossification i his

sense-capsules that have come to surround the brain, 7

will not explain either the number or arrangement of the pata

(5) That the cartilaginous cranium originates from © suggest

chordals and trabeculz, which primitive elements do aii ddt

that tri-partite segmentation of the skull which 1s finally ©

‘The History of the Skull, by Professor H. G. Seeley, F.R.S» F.LS. i

on. . 2

view of

eth

Ait

fore the Science Society, of King’s College, Lond

1883.] Recent Literature. 393

oped. (6) That although the cartilaginous cranium (as that of

the shark) becomes segmented in higher animals, that segmenta-

tion follows some law, which law may probably be found in a

repetition in the skull of the manner in which, when the vertebral

column becomes segmented, the lines of division pass through the

middle of each protovertebra—thus their parachordals and trabec-

ulz would, by median division after the union, form three portions.

(7) That of the median bones of the base of the skull, the pre-

sphenoid, which is a median vertebral element formed by the paired

trabecular cartilages, that theoretically ought not to form such an

ossification, can only be explained by the law that “the longer a

type endures in time the more perfectly is the vertebral plan of

that type superimposed upon the skull.” (8) That the distinction

of “membrane bones” and cartilage bones is not one of great im-

portance, the former arising simply from the fact that the nervous

substance of the brain “ grows up so rapidly that the cartilage

elements are unable to cover it.” (9) That the face originates in

the jaws, which in elasmobranchs are separate from the skull.

The jaws are developments of the mandibulary cartilages, so that

embryologically the lower jaw is the most important. The facial

bones seem, as suggested by Balfour, to form two series, the inner

consisting of vomer, palatine and pterygoid, the outer of maxil-

lary, inter-maxillary and jugal. *“ It is quite possible that the six

bones of the lower jaw, which in the lower vertebrates may be

ranged into an outer and inner series of three each, correspond to

the inner and outer bars of the palato-maxillary region? If the

segmentation is not carried downwards from the brain-case, It 1S

difficult to account for it.” Yet whatever explains the segmenta-

tion of the hyoid and branchial arches will also account for that

of the face. Professor Seeley thinks it possible that the nasals,

the labial cartilages of the elasmobranchs, are the basis of the

nasals and premaxillaries.

Why any of these cartilages, including the branchial cartilages,

should first come into existence as they do, without any obvious

relation to skull structure, and yet finally become the framework

of the skull is beyond the limits of knowledge, and the only key

(here Professor Seeley exhibits Lamarckianism equal to that of

x X

ag tag vanish when “ embryology becomes the servant instead of

Grarr’s MONOGRAPH OF THE TURBELLARIANS.'—The two vol-

par folio of text and plates (all from the author's own drawings)

= devoted to the Rhabdoccelida, of which Professor Graff has

Monographie der Turbellarien. 1. Rhabdoceelida, Dr. LUDWIG VON GRAFF.

Leipzig, W. Englemann, 1882.

394 Recent Literature. [ April,

examined seventy species out of a hundred and sixty-eight that

are certainly known. The author considers Rhodope varani to

be a nudibranch, and excepts the Microstomida and the,Nemer-

tines from the Turbellaria. The former differ from other Turbel-

laria in having a complete peri-cesophageal nerve-ring, as well as

in being dicecious, and in their power of multiplying by budding.

Thus the Turbellaria consist only of the Rhabdoccelida and Den-

droceelida, the former of which Professor Graff divides into (1)

Accela, forms without nervous system, or excretory organs; as

well as without a digestive tract and parenchym tissue, but withan |

otolith ; (2) Rhabdoccela, with all the foregoing except (usually) —

the otolith, and (3) Alloioccela.

Tux ZooLocicaL RECORD FOR 1881.1—This Record is aboutas

bulky as its predecessors, in fact numbering thirty-six pages more

than that for 1880, showing that the literature for 1881 was not

less in extent than in previous years. The volume appeals

promptly, within a year from the close of the year recorded. The —

staff of recorders is eleven, not including the editor, Mr. Rye. It a

appears that the year 1881 was, as far as work on mammals |S

concerned, rather a dull one, no fresh, separate works of impor

he number —

work which may already have been done by some one py

with the exception of the part on Vertebrates, promptly ee =|

appearance the first of January. It is nearly twice as b s aland

nglish Record, and fuller abstracts are given of morphol on f

embryological papers and works, as well as the characte e e

genera. The list of recorders amounts to thirty-four- P. Mayet |

eral editor is Professor J. Victor Carus, assisted by De. pm 4

1 The Zoblogical Record for 1881; being volume eighteenth of the Ra gro. o

logical Literature. Edited by E. C. Rye. London, John van E ge i

, *Loblogischer Fahresberich für 188r. Herausgegeben von der Zoölogische? E

tion zu Neapel. Abtheilung i-iii. 1882. Leipzig, W. Engleman™

1883.] Recent Literature. 395

The arrangement is comprehensive and convenient. It gives the

titles and brief abstracts of articles and works under the following

heads: 1. History of zodlogy and comparative anatomy, biogra-

phies, necrology for 1881; 2. Literature of zodlogy and compara-

tive anatomy; 3. General principles—nomenclature; 4. Hand-

books, atlases and other literary aids ; 5. Meansof research and

observation, including microscopy and miscroscopic apparatus, sec-

tion-cutting, staining, etc., and histological work; zodlogical gar-

dens, aquaria, zodlogical stations, dredging, etc.; 6. Zoogeography,

faune ; 7. Theories of descent and phylogenies ; 8. Biology in gen-

eral; 9. General ontogeny, egg-fertilization, sexes; 10, Specia

groups of animals, beginning with protozoa and ending with verte-

Comparing the British Zodlogical Record with the present one,

we find, under Spongia, that the former gives the titles of eighteen

works and papers, while the German Record has forty-two. The

British Record does not mention the writings of M. Braun, R.

O. Cunningham, J. W. Dawson, W. Dybowski, A. Giard, C. W.

Gümpel, T. Mayer, C. Mereschkowsky, P. Pavesi, W. J. Sollas,

Wallich, E. P. Wright, as well as some by Sollas, Carter and Wal-

cott. Hence,as regards the literature of Sponges the student would

= the English Record imperfect. The English Record, in ae

epartm tc e + F. ae Het | pgp t:t s

a s t > EOL ’ , yc die

under Brachiopoda only two papers, one by Dall and the other by

ehlert are enumerated, while the German list of titles numbers

twenty-three. Under Echinodermata the German Record gives

derms are mentioned in one which are not referred to in the other

So as to render them more perfect; meanwhile the student needs

both works, :

Revisep Epition or Leconre’s Grotocy.—The valuable fea-

tures of this work, and which have given it wide usefulness and

popularity, is the simple, compact and agreeable style in which

the subject is presented: For the general reader also the book is

well proportioned, as the general bearings of the subject upon bio-

logical problems, the antiquity of man, the evolution of our conti-

nent and of the assemblages of life which have successively peopled

> Surface are clearly indicated. It is designed and adapted rather

for the beginner or general reader than for the field geologist or

advanced student. .

‘Elements o Gee ; -l or the General Reader.

By Joseph Le Conte, “Revised peat ntact yet ai eo York, D. Appleton &

vo, :

396 Recent Literature. [April

The revisions and additions bring the work down to the present

date. In dynamical geology, Croll’s and Thompson’s theories of

glacier motion have been added. In the part on structural geolo-

gy the chapter on igneous rocks has been entirely rewritten and

greatly enlarged. Under vertebrate paleontology the author has

failed to notice the greater number of modern additions to the

science, and has apparently confined himself to but one source a

information, and that not the best. He says “‘I have added the

most important results of the investigations of King in regard :

to the tertiary and quaternary lakes of the Rocky Mountain 1è |

gion; and of Chamberlain, Upham and others, in regard to the —

ice-sheet moraine. 1 have also given somewhat fully Croll’s theory

of the climate of the glacial epoch, and Wallace’s modification ]

the same. These changes have involved the addition of many

new figures.” Among them is a wood-cut of the Berlin Archæop

eryx

which needs

We meet with the following statement on p. 324, ¥ E

ssiz, us pe

livin

iving a |

revision at the present date. “ According to Aga

ZITTEL’S HAND-BOOK OF PALÆONTOLOGY.'—As we etre i

in noticing the earlier parts of this work, it is the mo me

hensive, compact and valuable manual of the subject to a

and has sufficiently frequent references to an fot

fossils. This embraces the univalves or Cephaloptor we

which the author prefers the name Glossophora. — of this iat i

call them, this will prove one of the most useful parts O°” fod

portant work, which we are purchasing for ee owi w

so thoroughly well prepared and illustrated that we €^ feren

ommend it to our readers as an indispensible book of o

The wood-cuts are excellent. a

| d cot

Davis’ GractaAL Erosion?—This is a very readable ” actual

venient summary of the opinions of geologists as p ji ould a

effects of glaciers in remolding the earth’s surface. ~ exacts ®

pear: that this department of geology is peculiarly ce

‘Handbuch der Paleontologie, Herausgegeben von Kart A. zera y

2 Abtheilung, 11 Lieferung mit 265 original-holzschnitten. Preis ™ s

chen u. Leipzig, 1882. gvo. of he

society of

2Glacial Erosion, By W. M, Davis, Read before'the Boston

ural History,etc. Boston, 1882. 8vo., pp. 37.

1883.] Recent Literature. 397

science. Summarizing geological opinions, Mr. Davis thus con-

cludes, in a way which seems to us to be reasonable and sound:

“The amount of glacial erosion in the central districts has been

very considerable, but not greatly in excess of preglacial soils and

old talus and alluvial deposits. Most of the solid rock that was

carried away came from ledges rather than from valleys; and gla-

ciers had in general a smoothing rather than roughening effect.

In the outer areas on which the ice advanced it only rubbed down

the projecting points; here it acted more frequently as a deposit-

ing than as an eroding agent.

“No large lakes have been produced by glacial erosion ; the

number of true rock-basins of erosion has been greatly exagger-

ated. The most considerable topographic effect produced by gla-

ciers is the heaping of various morainal deposits on an area

smaller than their source, and in this way very often forming hills

of considerable size. A similar indirect result of glacial erosion

is seen in the very numerous lakes made by drift obstructions in

preglacial valleys.”

Lymay’s OPHIUROIDEA OF THE CHALLENGER EXPEDITION- -

This sumptuous quarto is in fact a monograph of the sand-stars

of the world. In reporting on the twenty new genera and one

morous, satirical and critical, regarding genealogical trees, which

he humorously styles “ a sort of zoological herald’s college.” He

‘then pays his respects to the “jargon in which zoology is now

Smothering,” and gocs on to say that “in addition to a gigantic

classification, to form which the dead languages have been torn

up and recomposed, there is an ever-growing crop of anatomical

and embryological terms.” It is time, we think, that criticism

Should be directed against the tendency to increase an already su-

a nomenclature, however useful or judicious a limited one

MILLER’S AMERICAN PaLæozoic Fossits.2—Every American

"Report on the Scientific Re e 3 of,

sults of the Voyage of H. M. S. “ Challenger,” etc.

aeey —Vol. V, part XIV. Published. by order of her Majesty’s Government. Lon-

A 2. 4to, pp. 386 plates. 38s.

American Paleozoic Fossils. A catalogue of the genera and species, with

raai of authors, dates, places of publication, pei of rocks in which found, and

ati On ey and signification of the words. By S. A. MILLER. pp. 334- Cincin-

©. Published by the author;

Ohi

398 Recent Literature. [Ape 7

geologist, and, in a scarcely less degree, every European one

whose geology is sufficiently comprehensive, must welcome such

a work as the present, and thank Mr. Miller for the patient care

with which he has arranged nine thousand valid generic and spe

cific names, besides more than two thousand italicized synonyms.

The author does not claim perfection, but has taken care to come

as near to it as can reasonably be expected. With the exception —

of three names in the Echinodermata, no families have been ad-

mitted except such as have been already defined. The etymol -

ogy has received, in great part, the revision of Professor E. W.

Claypole, who contributes a preface upon the construction ofsys-

tematic names in paleontology. This is followed by an introdue |

tion to stratigraphical geology; in which Mr. Miller clearly states |

his belief in the fossiliferous nature of Eozoon ; gives the approxi-

mate thicknesses of the groups of strata and states at what hori-

zon the various animal groups first made their appearance, B®

total thickness of the palzeozoic beds is given at about twenty-eight :

miles, The classification is not up to the present standard. Allthe |

plants enumerated are given under the caption “ Plante; ’ Hacc

name, “ Protista,” is used to include the Rhizopoda and Porifera,

among which Nullipora has in some way become intercala ae

the sub-kingdom, Radiata, is retained, and its species are A

betically arranged under the heads “ Polypi” and “ Echino |

mata ;” and the Bryozoa and Brachiopoda are classed '

but are separately catalogued. No attempt is made

characters of any family or larger group, excepting In the a

some new groups of Echinodermata, which we will refer to age

There are, as might be expected in so exhaustive a wor ee

The work is a valuable one, and will lose none of its va ue by Be

demonstration of a few shortcomings which a third edition’

easily correct.

the family of the Turdidz or thrushes. We find this 7

more intelligible than the systematic writings of omma

usually are, and commend it as a valuable monograP” ine 7

nominal family of the Saxicolida is abolished ; the pei mi

are included, while the Miminæ are dismissed to the WM ago

and much more comes from relying on structure |

physiognomy, and abandoning “instinct” in . ae ae

Under criticism like that of Me Ridgway and Dr. Stejneg’?

thology will soon rank among the exact sciences.

1 Proceedings of the U, S. National Museum, 1883, p- 449°

1883.] Recent Literature. 399

Tue UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL REPORT FOR I88I AND

1882.—In former years the agricultural reports were scarcel

worth the paper on which they were printed. Compiled state-

ments and unsafe statistics, with hundreds of pages of “padding”

filled out the pages. In the bulky report before us we see the

evidence of a new state of things. A large proportion of the

volume gives to the people the results of field and laboratory

work by scientific experts who are thoroughly competent and

have the confidence of scientists as well as of the public. The re-

port of the entomologist, Professor Riley, follows that of the

commissioner, Hon. George B. Loring, and occupies upwards of

150 pages, considerable original matter having been excluded for

want of space. Professor Riley was assisted during the year

1881, in the office work and in the preparation of reports, by Pro-

fessor W. S. Barnard, Messrs, L. Ô. Howard, E. A. Schwarz, T.

Pergande, B. Pickman Mann, with a number of other agents and

observers in different parts of the country, while Mr, Riley’s

predecessor, Professor J. H. Comstock, was engaged at Ithaca,

» On a special report upon fruit and other insects which

appears in the present report. From the many life-histories of in-

sects published in the present report, and the unpublished notes

which have accumulated, as well as the- character of the ento-

mologists engaged in the work, both in Washington and in differ-

ent parts of the Union, North and South, East-and West, it will

seen that from a purely scientific point of view, we have here

an amount of biological work accomplished which is most grati-

ng; and while science is advanced, the most practical results

are given to the people. We have not space to enumerate the

insects treated of, but they are those most injurious to crops, with

many whose habits have been worked out for the first time. As

a sample of the excellent illustrations, of which there are twenty

plates, some of which are colored, we are allowed to reproduce

l. x11, which illustrates the life-history of Sphinx catalpa, which

ds on the catalpa and is of exceptionable interest because it

lays its eggs in a mass (4) instead of singly, and for the reason

that the caterpillars are at first gregarious (4). It also gives an

idea of the skill of the artist, Mr. Marx. The chromo plates

ustrating the entire life-history of the boll worm and the army

Worm are excellent,

.+» Prominent feature of the report is the space given to insecti-

ides, and the means of applying them. Here American inven-

aa Teport of the botanist, Professor G. Vasey, is on the wild

Cultivated grasses of the United States. It is succeeded by

Eo TE XVIL—NO, Iv, 28 b i

“Pe

PLATE VII.

188 3] Recent Literature. 401

lengthy and fully illustrated reports of the veterinary division,

followed by that of the chemist, Professor P. Collier, on sorghum,

a voluminous and able report.

The report certainly does credit to the management of the de-

partment, which has not spent its strength in visionary schemes,

but is grappling with problems directly involving the public in-

terests,

ECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.—Reports of Geological Explorations aaay

M with maps and sections, Wellin ngton, New Zealand. J. rai ask M.D., et

director. -From the colonial museum and geological or departm

and-book of prona dissection, Part 11. How to dissect a po By H.

Newell ee M.D., and W. A Moale, M.D. New York, Macmillan & Co. From

the pa sher:

The e of the Postal Microscopical Society, a miscellany of natural and

microscopics science, Edited by A. Allen. Vol. 1. London, England. From the

ito

Report of an Exploration of parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana in Au

ade b

: oa September, 1881, m Lieut.-Gen, P. H. Sheridan. With the pitera a of

Fort

l. J. F. Gregory and a a pegs oy. and _Botanical Report by Major W. H.

wood, surgeon U. S. army. ood,

Premiere note sur iei aan s de vows sart. Par M. L. Dollo. Ext. du

Bulletin du pres Soe g Histoire “Matealls de Belgique. From the author. Also

by and from the

pCa seks sur les Dinosauriens de Bernissart. ="

Dr. H. G. Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs. Sechster band.

ju Akalos Reptilien.

. Synopsis of the Mu apis of North amne By Chas. A. Blake. Phila.

American Entomolo ogical Society. From the author

ee der Gesellschaf AREPA Freunde zu Berlin, 1881.

3 si Rom D Viambó Pk g Juliui-Szeptember): Irta Dr. Szabó Jósef. Bids Pest,

r.J.S eer}.

=e its ison and future prosperity. With a supplement. By D. M:

MaA Detroit. From the author : p CE

ore to the late Professor Balfour: Forwarded with the ie Poa: of the

“ie, rane and Lower Palzeozoic in South Wales, and their comparison with their

Piva ganna analogues. By Dr. Persifor tease a Erom the author.

cont eae me the geology of the Low ons, By Orville A. Derby, M.S.

sb from th Proc. Amer, Philosophical Seay. From the author,

aito of the Diamantiferous region of the province of Parana, Brazil,

Boe 0. A. Derby. permission of the director of the Brazilian Museum,

be Amer. Philosphical Sec. From the author.

m the autho Vertebrates aga Lepidoptera of Wisconsin. By ~ P, R. Hoy.

author.

gy wat ciere dell’ Yacht “ Conese > del ano armatore En nrico d Albertis.

Capit

Yer Pew besten D e descrizione di una nuova specie di Lacerta delle Isole Sangre.

ria, From the authors. .

tain te der K „Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wisechsshahing! zu

XXVI. Ueber eine neue Art und Gattung der Appana. xi. Ueber

dér Viperna SELV.:

a eine neue C ur a ttern. XLV, eber hzeronycteris loxa-

Seis cine neue Gattung und Art de F Taitoa ‘eden, ‘Lu. Ueber Opis-

a Poa ttung und Art der ér Schlangen. All by W. Peters. From

e New Zealand Diptera, Ortkoptera, Hemet with descrip-

By Fredk. W, Hutton, F.G.S. From the auth

‘402 General Notes.

. Petersbourg. From the author.

_tion appears to be in about lat. 2° N., long. 25° E. or Wi g

the river.

tween the Mákua and Bomokandi is inhabited by 4 negr?

Les petits. Mammifères de la France. Par Dr. E. L. Trouessart. From the

author. g

Sur les construction turriformes des Vers de terre de France. Par M, E. L.

Trouessart. From the au E

Memoires de la Société Géologique de France. Troisieme série, Tome second, i

Iv. Recherches sur les Reptiles trouvés dans le Gault de l’est du bassin de Pans

Par M. H. E. Sauvage. From the author. j

Nachträge zur Dyas 11. Von Dr. H. : c

Ext. from Mittheilungen aus dem Königlichen mineralogisch-geologischen und prat-

n the results of recent explorations of erect Trees containing animal remains

the Coal formation of Nova Scotia. By J. W. Dawson. Ext. Philosophical

Royal Society. From the author. i

len’s Human Anatomy. Section 111, Muscles and Fasciæ, By Dr. Harisa

Allen. From the author. i E

A’

GENERAL NOTES,

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

- AFRIcA—Commander Gallini, gives, in the last Bulletin of

Paris Geographical Society, a map and illustrations of the scet

of the Upper Niger and Segou, showing formations that some

resemble the buttes of North America. a

Mr. J. Thomson has left for Zanzibar, and trusts, about the ‘

dle of March to start upon a journey of exploration along

east coast of the Victoria Nyanza. He will also penetrate 1i

the Masai country. The expedition is at the expense

Royal Geographical Society, and will probably be absent

two years.

and the “vast lake” heard of by Heuglin and Miani. biel

o ~eograph

_ The January issue of the proceedings of the Royal Geog”

cal Society contains an account of Dr. Junker's € De

the region of the Welle, near the Monbutta country. 7°

accompanied the Egyptian detachment sent in purstt

an .

is but the native name for river. In about Jat. 4°N. 1

the Makua receives a considerable tributary from f

named the Bomokándi, but on Dr. Schweinfurth’s map try he

Nemayo, komed name signifyin The oti

+ This department is edited by ELtis H, YARNALL, Philadelphia.

EEEN ae

1883.] Geography and Travels. 403

governed by Zanileh chiefs. Beyond the Bomokandi live the

A-Babua, who speak a tongue akin tothe Monbutta. From the

A-Mezima country, Dr. Junker went south, to visit the chief

Bakangar; thence ten days east to Kanna’s, and thence north-

ward to Tangasi, near Munza’s old residence.

From thence he went three days east to the Zeriba Kabba, and

thence to Gango and the head of the Gadda river in the Momvi

country. On March 26th, last, he left Kabbi to visit Munza’s two

brothers, who live beyond the upper Bomokandi. “If native in-

formation can be trusted,” says Dr. Junker, “ the Makua is the

head stream of the Shari, whilst the Nepoko, a river rising far to

the east and flowing south, is Stanley’s Aruwimi,” and thus a

a tributary of the Congo.

The French are rapidly advancing their hold upon the Niger.

Ahmada, King of Sego, signed in March, 1881, a treaty by which

he placed his kingdom under French protection. A force of about

1000 men is now organized upon the Upper Senegal, destined for

Bamaku, on the Niger, and a railway which was commenced last

year, is to connect Kai, at the head of navigation on the Senegal,

with the Kila and the Niger.

The Ancobra River and Axim Gold District, upon the Gold

Coast, have been roughly surveyed, with a view to the construction

of a road to Targuah, the center of the mining district. Western

Akim and Aguna are rich in gold.

Way, is that of Ouargla. This oasis is situated in a large valley

which, according to tradition, was formerly one vast garden, con-

ung 125 villages and 1055 artesian wells. Even now the

Oasis of Ouargla, with the adjoining smaller ones, contains more

1 450,000 palm trees. Artesian water is found at thirty-five

meters (about 115 ft.), and the soil, like that of the schotts and

~ Sebkhas ” around is quartz sand, more or less charged with gyp-

sum and sea-salt. These salts are more abundant in the unculti-

vated region, yet a certain quantity is needed for the prosperous

Srowth of the palm.

The strata around the depression are Quaternary, while those

of the Water-bearing area itself are modern or recent alluvium.

‘ver, abundant near the mouths of rivers and in lagoons.

Rolland’s conclusion is, that the Quaternary deposits of the Sa-

are those of a vast closed sea or lake.— Revue Scientifique.

404 General Notes. ipri

GEOGRAPHICAL Nores.—M. Desiré Charnay has returned to —

France from his travels in Yucatan, where he has studied the —

ruins of Aké, Chichenitza and other cities. Aké is one of the

oldest centers of the peninsula, and contains from eighteen to

twenty pyramids, which, with what remains of their superstie —

ture, belong to the early “cement” epoch of Toltec architecture —

M. Charnay does not credit the great age some attribute to pi

tec remains, but believes those of Yucatan not to ant K

commencement of the fifteenth century. Chichenitza 1

of his third journey, which is promised to appear before he sets

out upon his fourth expedition, which will be in March of ths

year. The Swedish expedition to Spitzbergen, under the leader

ship of Baron G. de Geer and Herr Nathorst, has furnished maps

which give the outlines of the fjords and valleys of the southern

part of that island, and the relative depths of the sea arom

and Scandinavia. A comparatively level plateau extends joa k

e ocean The

present.

GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY.

INTERMITTENT WELLS IN NeEBRASKA.—In the neighbor

Shelby, Polk county, Nebraska, are many wells wmo

peculiar phenomena of intermittence. The wells of the

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 405

of the winds. When the wind blows from the south, south-east

or south-west, the phenomena of flow occur, while the ebb is

synchronous with a north, north-east, or north-west wind. The

roaring sound before mentioned, is observed to occur some time

before the wind commences to blow. One of these intermittent

wells, 113 feet in depth, is situated upon the farm of George Bull,

at Shelby, seventy miles from Lincoln. Similar wells occur in the

adjoining county of Butler.

We, the undersigned, certify that the above statements are

correct ;

JAMES MACKIE, Lev: CUNNINGHAM,

J. D. Corry, STEPHEN CUNNINGHAM,

R. Sizer, Joun H. ANDERSON,

T. Coway, J. P. Kinney,

Jacon Scumip, Amos BULL.

GEORGE BULL,

Address any of the above at Shelby, Polk county, Neb.

[It is further stated that the wells above mentioned only pass

through “ soil” (probably the loess) and reach water at its bottom,

which rests on a bed of gravel. The farmers of the region in

question think that this water-bearing level is identical with that

of the water of the Platte river, which bounds those counties on

e —£ds. NATURALIST. ]}

LYDEKKER on INDIAN MamMatia.—Two new parts of the Palæon-

tology of the Geological Survey of India have come to hand. These

include synopses of the extinct Rhinoceroses and horses, and addi-

tions to the Proboscidia. The descriptions and figures are wel-

come, and indicate again the richness of the tertiary Indian

fauna, and the large size of many of the species. We must take

the absence and presence of the nasal dermal horns, a character

no better or more constant than various others, which he ignores.

Aphelops is united with Aceratherium, although it has three digits

in the Manus while Aceratherium has four, because the “ num-

= digits can rarely be ascertained!” He objects to Cope’s

ental formula for incisor teeth of the restricted genus Acerathe-

an as being inaccurate. Had Dr, Lydekker been acquainted with

bee American species referred to that genus at the time of writing,

to them. The American forms, 4. mite and A. nebrascense, have

dek EOSen Separated under the generic head Cœnopus. Dr. Ly-

“xer Cannot discuss the American species of Aphelops, “ be-

aes oe figures of the crania have been given.” Good figures of

Nein Vue of the species will be found in the NATURALIST, 1879, P.

Te et seq. T

406 General Notes.

In the horses, Hippotherium is placed in the Equida, Dr.

Lydekker evidently attaching more importance to the presenco! —

` cementum on the molars, than to the number of toes. Protohip —

pus is not referred to. Hippidium is united with Equus, a course

which future discovery may sustain.—&. D. Cope. ta Pe

THE ANCESTOR OF CorypHopon.—In describing the genus Par —

tolambda I remarked that it was “ founded on a mandibular ramus, —

which supports the first true molar, and the last two premolars. —

The characters of these teeth remarkably resemble those of Cory-

phodon. * * * It willbe for additional material to demonstrate

whether this genus belongs to the Amblypoda or Perissodactyla,

A. considerable part of the skeleton of Pantolambda bathmodon

having been recently sent me by Mr. D. Baldwin, I am able to

throw much light on the affinities of tnis curious animal,

In the first place, the phalanges (with ungual), show that the

genus is ungulate. Secondly, the astragalus has a large dsw

facet for the cuboid bone. This proves that the genus aan

referred to the Taxeopod order. The question as to witii

belongs to the Amblypoda or the Diplarthra would be decided by

the carpus, but that part is unfortunately not pres

Apart from the astragalus, the characters are those of the Con a

larthra rather than of the Perissodactyla, and it is therefore to 9°

ilium is narrow. The humerus has an epitrochlear canal: — ;

blances to the Pantodonta are these: The cervical vertebræ are

plane and short. The femur has a third trochantti nr

I propose to place this genus in the Amblypoda for pele T

next to the Pantodonta, but it cannot enter that sub-orde! |

ace > baa a E ee a a a p, F

Astragalus without head; distal facets subinferior. s. ees. c eere t N H

In the sub-order Taligrada, the single family 7 antol gee

presents the following characters into

Superior and inferior molars with the cusps developed

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 407

Postglenoid process present; posttympanic and paroccipital not

distinct. All the vertebre with plane articulations. Humeral

condyles without intertrochlear ridge. Femur with third trochan-

ter. Digits of posterior foot probably five. Metapodial keels

small and posterior.

Of this family Pantolambda is as yet the only known genus.

Its leading cranial characters are as follows:

anine teeth large; dental series continuous. Superior mo-

lars all triangular, that is with a single internal cusp. External

cusps of premolars unknown; of molars two. Internal cusp V-

shaped, sending its horns externally as cingula to the anterior

and posterior bases of the external side of the crown, without in-

termediate tubercles, Inferior true molars with a crown of two

Vs, the anterior the more elevated. Premolars consisting of one

open V, with a short creston a short heel, as in Coryphodon. Den-

tal formula I'3; C.1; P-m. 2%; M: 3; the last inferior with a heel.

A strong sagittal crest. Auricular meatus widely open below.

Large postparietal, postsquamosal and mastoid foramina.

The brain case indicates small and nearly smooth hemispheres,

extending with little contraction into a rather large cerebellum.

The olfactory lobes are produced anteriorly at the extremity of

a rather long isthmus.

If we consider the dentition alone, Pantolambda is the an-

cestor of Coryphodon. The history of the feet requires further

elucidation. ,

The Pantolambda bathmodon is about as large as a sheep, and

comes from the upper beds of the Puerco.——E. D. Cope.

NOTE ON THE TRITUBERCULATE TYPE OF SUPERIOR MOLAR AND

THE ORIGIN OF THE QUADRITUBERCULATE.—It is now apparent that

the type of superior molar tooth which predominated during

the Puerco epoch was triangular or tritubercular; that is, with

two external, and one internal tubercules. Thus of forty-one

Species of Mammalia of which the superior molars are known,

all but four have three tubercles of the crown, and of the remain-

ing thirty-eight all are triangular excepting those of three species

t Periptychus, which have a small supplementary lobe on eac

w of the median principal inner tubercle.

_This fact is important as indicating the mode of development

of the various types of superior molar teeth, on which we have

not heretofore had clear light. In the first place, this type of

noar exists to-day only in the insectivorous and carnivorous

C arsupialia ; in the Insectivora, and the tubercular molars of suc

Maka lig as possess them (excepting the plantigrades). In the

c gulates its persistence is to be found in the molars of the

E oo of the Wasatch, and Dinocerata ol the iy

Superior n later e it is chiefly seen only in

superior mola pochs it i iefly y

10r molar, i s

= It is also evident that the quadritubercular molar is derived

‘

408 General Notes.

from the tritubercular by the addition of a lobe of the inner part

of a cingulum of the posterior base of the crown. Transitional

' states are seen in some of the Periptychidee ( Amisonchus) andit

the sectorials of the Procyonide.—£. D. Cope. :

GeotocicaL RELATIONS OF CAMPBELL IsLanp.—M. H. Filhol,

in a note read before the Academy of Sciences, Paris, February,

1882, takes occasion to doubt whether this island at any timè —

formed part of New Zealand, as is supposed by some of thos

who believe in the great extension of the last-named land in rè

cent geological times. M. Filhol does not call in question the :

existence of a continental New Zealand, but states that Campbel

island consists chiefly of a limestone containing Globigerina, and

of lavas containing anorthite, and that neither of these rocks occur

in New Zealand. The limestone is of deep-sea formation, andi

the Java must, from the presence of anorthite, be Post a

The lava was therefore erupted, and the island elevated, aL

period when New Zealand possessed its least geographical exten ie

sion. Moreover, neither moas nor lizards have been foundo r

Campbell island. ee

THE PRINCETON SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION OF 1882—This &

pedition, consisting of some professors and six students of ee

ton College, left Princeton June 26 and remained in the ee na

September 6th. The object of the excursion was a el

one, and the fields operated in were Chalk bluffs, Colo ge

and Bad lands of Dakota. A thousand miles of riding was oe

complished, many photographs were taken, and nearly a gr

half of fossils, including more than twenty-six genera 0

mals and reptiles, were collected for the museum. l

deof

A ils, but for th | is of the depre

ossils, bu | ; sick press

uk are lor the most part oe y = ens ae ies vi

J. E. Marr describes ae hy

and Silurian rocks of Scandinavia. Thereisa most im valle

ical break, as indicated by the absence of several DE

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 409

summit of the Cambrian; and there is a paleontological break,

most. marked in the deep-water beds. Professor

writes upon the geological age of the “ Taconic system” of the

Taconic mountains of New England, and maintains that the

Stockbridge limestones are conformable with the central schists.

Carboniferous—M. Brongniart (Comptes Rendus) describes a

remarkable Orthopteron of gigantic size, found in blackish

shales of Coventry, France. The insect is nine and a-half inches

long, and is well furnished with spines. It was probably apter-

ous. Until 1882 only 110 species of insects were known from the

Carboniferous rocks of the whole world, none ot them from France,

but since that date 430 impressions have been obtained from Cov-

entry.——In the Quarterly Journal of the London Geological So-

ciety, E. W. Binney writes upon aseries of red barren beds overlying

the profitable beds of the Fifeshire coal-measures. These beds are

higher than any on the east coast of England, and may be the en-

tire or partial equivalents of the upper coal-measures of the west-

ern districts.” Fish, crustacea, calamites, alge, etc., occur.

“ Philadelphia Academy, crania more or less complete, of four

Tas buccatus, E. phaseolinus,

- “ae Arst named approaches the genus Chilonyx in the presence

Me swollen aree on the top of the skull. The others form a series >;

t sinning with Æ. phaseolinus with more numerous, narrower

eeth, to £ Jissus with fewer, wider teeth.

saa —Joaqui i nicated to the

Beers quin Gonzalo y Xavier has communicated to

liferg on Geological Society the discovery of fossils in the metal-

Peat us limestone of the Sierra de Gador, Spain, hitherto a puzzle

Seologists. The fossils prove the strata to be Triassic.

Cretaceous—\W Whi : ; ; ‘tas of the Red

Chalk or . Whitaker (Geological Magazine) writes of the

y = Norfolk, which has been variously supposed to belong to

410 General Notes. [l

the Chalk, Upper greensand or Gault, or to some combination of

these. His conclusion, from paleontological evidence, is thatit

represents the lowest part of the Chalk, the Upper greensand and _

the upper part of the Gault. Mr. Woodward describes a Cala:

mary (Dorateuthis syriaca) from the cretaceous of Sahel Alma, neat

Beirut, Lebanon, Syria. The limestone in which this was found —

has yielded many other interesting forms, including a Squilla, a

Limulus, and several undescribed Crustacea. The pen; arms, shot

and long; the outlines of the fins, position of the imk-bag, itmi

pression of the horny mandibles, and the eyes, can be well ce

in the fossil. Professor Seeley also describes a dinosauriam cota-

coid found at Brook, Isle of Wight. If this bone pertains to a dè

scribed genus, it must be to Pelorosaurus or Ornithopsis. Its

17% inches long, and 14% wide. |

Tertiary—Dr. Manzoni has published a memoir upon thesiliceou :

sponges of the Middle Miocene of Bologna and Modena. bi

Lithistid and Hexactinellid sponges of some layers are so

ous that these may be regarded as sponge-beds. A remarkable

fact is that these sponges occur in a stratum which, from its stri

ture and the included Echinoderms and Mollusca, is proved tobe

f P ti ely shallow water origin. Professor Owen describes

the femur of Nototherium mitchelli, an extinct Australian marsupil,

probably in some respects intermediate between the wo bat ane

the kangaroo. :

Quaternary—Professor Nordenskiöld, on his return from: a

the extreme south at the sea-level, the climate must 34" iow

colder than now. By far the greater number of the ge

occur in this country, and from eighty to ninety per C&M im

leaves cannot be distinguished from those of Fagus A

to which an existing Japanese beech is very close.

late communication to the Geological Society,

_ Irving brings many arguments against the supposed at most

powers of glaciers. He asserts that the facts show pp ac

the energy developed is expended within the mass ae osiot,

in overcoming cohesion, having only a small residuu p

This is borne out also by the absence of ductility and lac £ ad

tinuity shown by crevasses. Much of the erosion at ireal

glaciers is really caused by the direct action of p jets;

Some basin-like hollows may have been formed by Sents ont?

many lakelets occupy hollows formed by earth-move™® cing

mountain-slopes or by moraines. Arhong the causes F

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 411

valley-lakes Mr. Irving enumerates alterations in the relative levels

of different parts of the floor of a valley; wpthrust of the more

yielding strata by the resolution of forces due to pressure of the

mountain-masses, and the crushing in of the floor by the dead

weight of the huge glaciers piled upon it. Faults and chemical

solution also played their parts. The writer thought that the

greater abundance of lakes in glacial countries was largely due to

e better preservation of their basins from silting. In some gla-

ciated regions lakes are wanting. In the Geological Magazine

for January, Mr. H. H. Howorth continues his perennial argu-

ment in favor of a great Post-glacial flood. He asserts that the

number of purely Arctic shells found in the marine drift is com-

paratively small, while several shells of a southern origin occur,

and both are often broken, and clearly not i situ. This is the case

in Norway and Sweden, as well as in England and Ireland.

——E. L. Jones gives the results of the exploration of two

_ Caves near Tenby, Wales. One of these contained remains of the

mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyzena, elk, Irish elk, Bos

Priscus, cave lion and cave bear, while ‘all these palzolithic

animals were wanting from the other, which yielded the reindeer,

ted-deer, horse, hog, Bos longifrons, and dog or wolf. In the

second the remains of a hearth were also found, The first was a

palzeolithic hyzena-den, the second a neolithic human residence.

General—The long-delayed Geological Record for 1878 has at

length appeared. Its editor explains the delay by the non-arrival

of the sections on America and the Arctic regions, without which

important portions the work has finally been issued. Supplements

for 1874-1877 follow each of the main divisions. ——Mr. R. P. Whit-

Id contributes to the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural

History, illustrations of the species previously described in the

rans. Albany Institute, by Professor James Hall, with a revision

of the descriptions hitherto published and diagnosis of three new

species.— A. M. Waters describes fossil chilostomatous Bryozoa

from. Mount Gambier, S. Australia, giving notes of sixty-eight

mg Particulars as to the effect of earthquakes upon buildings.

Three hundred and seventy earthquakes, occurring from 1872 to

Be inclusive, gave ample opportunity for such observations.

ck houses in streets running S. W. to N. E. have been mu

More cracked than those in streets at right angles to this direc-

Cracl The most and more intense shocks traveled S. E. to N. W.

~Tacks in buildings which did not lengthen, were yet found by

cha ors to open and shut, and Mr. Milne discusses the pos-

‘ibility of erecting buildings with joints ready made, so that

Portions of a structure likely to have different periods of vibra-

tion may oscillate independently. Chimneys are, in Yokohama,

often built free fi

rom the roof for this reason. Arches which

412 General Notes.

curve into their abutments are less likely to crack than such a

join them at an angle. The majority (213) of the shocks came

in the winter. qa

BOTANY! Aap

eT ues Pn

THE Movements oF Roots oF INDIAN Corn IN GERMINE

fION.*—In the recent work of the late Charles Darwin on the

movements of plants, he says that roots, stems and leaves bendto

all points of the compass successively with a sort of rolling mo ;

geotropism guides it perpendicularly downwards. me

I have carefully studied the movements of some 400 or moe

kernels of sprouting Indian corn of seven or more varieties,and, 0

far as they are concerned, Darwin’s statement is much too P

in regard to geotropism guiding the radicles perpendiculay :

downwards. If allowed to germinate on a flat, smooth plate, S0 ‘a

of the roots will risé and fall as they move along a

making a series of curves, others continue to run flat on th ae

face, others bend the tip of the root against the plate and ¢ i

with so much force that the kernel is tipped over. tap that

thick, wet paper, the root is often slightly obstructed so mat

makes a coil and proceeds forward again. Pe entsby

One of my students repeated some of Darwin's expa a

pinning kernels of gerininating corn on a cork, over water ne w

set in a dark place. Pieces of gum-paper were placed on trifle dè

of the tips of the roots. In some cases the root was 4H.

flexed from the paper, in others it was not in the least ne

its course. In some cases single coils were made; ne

a figure 8 was made anda single coil after that, by whic a

paper was shoved off, when the root went straight on to the

It was not sensitive to another paper on the tip. An

almost tied itself into a knot. Young roots were the i

sitive. small

I pinned over 300 kernels of germinating corn pe

which were placed over water in a deep pan, and all close}

In all of the sorts, one or more coils were very

root went off without support in a horizontal-di

"Edited by Pror. C, E. Bessey, Ames, Iowa. | me

? Notes from papers presented at the Cincinnati and the Montre®

the American Association for the Advancement of Science. e

rection for Ë

(883.] Botany. 413

inches, some went obliquely upwards; a few went straight up;

some making curves, some one, two or even three coils.

For experiments made in 1882 and reported below, I used good,

sound yellow-dent corn, one year old, of one variety. I observed

nearly 700 germinating kernels in sandy soil, in various situa-

tions, The primary and secondary roots, from one to six for each

kernel, about 3000 in ail, were examined, and nota single instance

was found of a coil in the root. The roots in loose sand generally

went onward in one direction without abrupt turns, sometimes

wavy, sometimes turning by some obstruction.

I placed some clean, damp sand four inches deep in a cellar

facing the north, with the temperature about 65° to 75° F., where

the surface of the soil remained slightly moist, without supplying

water, The surface of the sand was left loose and level.

Three hundred kernels were planted one-half to three-fourths

of an inch deep, all with the tips or embryo end down, When

most of the plants were showing green leaves above the sand,

none over half an inch, I counted 33 roots out of the sand, mostly

Secondary roots, I suppose. The tips-of these were generally

curved down, as if sick of the element they were in, and trying to

get back into the sand. Mice and squirrels interrupted this ex-

periment. However, afterthe plumule was twoto four inches high,

150 kernels were examined. At this time, some 200 roots were

above the ground, three of which were primary roots. The latter

had grown three, four and six inches respectively before coming

Out to the surface. I examined the shape of the tip of 88 of these

primary roots for one inch as they were seen below the surface.

Twenty-five were straight, 23 were slightly wavy in two planes,

the other 40 were more or less curved near the end.

e roots above the sand were somewhat red. Most of them

re-entered the soil after coming out on the surface for one to four

inches or more. Some never could get back, although the sand

was very loose. `

Nearly all the roots grew well on the surface and produced and

retained trichomes without any trouble. The roots in the sand

usually ran downward obliquely, often about 10° to 30° with the

Surface, very rarely straight down.

‘ A second lot of 150 kernels acted just about like the first, only

hey were not disturbed by mice or squirrels.

bs aioa roots out of the sand. Seventy-five sent the primary

times

Where the primary root came above the sand in these cases, it

414, General Notes.

generally came out very soon after germination. In onet

rew four inches before coming out. Eight roots were sonearthe

surface, still below it, that they were red for a foot or more, — :

primary roots in the experiments had reached the length of t :

to fourteen inches, and at that length they were always longer than

the secondary roots, even if the primaries had run out of the

ground. The roots apparently grew about as well outof the sand

as in the sand. Mon

about three-fourths of an inch below the surface. The soil

gently patted down. By the side of these, in a similar manner,

planted 92 kernels with the tips uppermost. The weather during.

this experiment was clear for most of the time, excepting the

previous to examining the corn. Of the 118 kernels planted

obliquely upward, one secondary root each, very neat the sur

where it died; one thrust up two secondaries, which died.

the perpendicular. They certainly went more directly down

did those tested in the sand in the cellar. Of the 92 kernels

the tips up, nine sent primary roots out of the ground where t

died. Thisis nearly 10 per cent, The growth of the kernel, how

was maintained by the secondary roots. One kernel omy

lot of corn thrust one secondary above the ground, where m

Beal, Lansing, Mich. wo

A SINGULAR HABIT OF PSORALEA ARGOPHYLLA P i

extended trip in Dakota the past summer, this plant was 4

companion. So abundant is it that it gives large arse" i

prairie a silvery whiteness. In the latter part of August:

starting on their journey are very different. In the g

1883.] Botany, 415

It cuts through all the tissues so that when the top dries up and

begins to sway in the wind, it is broken off very readily and

evenly. One might perhaps think that the wrenching of the

stem was the only cause of the separation, but I satisfied my-

self that a real joint is formed, by examining plants still green.

The bushy top of the Psoralea is higher relatively from the ground

than that of the Amarantus, so that it is roughly spherical without

the root—/. E. Todd, Beloit, Wis.

WHENCE CAME THE WILD POTATOES OF ARIZONA.— Several years

ago August Fendler collected near El Paso, New Mexico, a kind

of potato used largely by the Navajo Indians, and which resem-

bled the cultivated potato, except in size ; the tubers,are not larger

than filberts. Dr, Gray named the species for the discoverer—

Solanum Fendleri. The tubers have been heard of but once since,

and that was in 1879, when Dr. Palmer collected a handful that,

being sent to the Agricultural Department at Washington, found

their way at last into the hands of Prof. Meehan, who planted

them, and cultivated them for a few years, when, for no apparent

reason, they were lost.

uring the summer just past (1882), we discovered a new

locality for this species in the Huachuca, New Mexico; also of

another species, formerly known from the mountains of Colorado—

S. Famesti Torr. The latter, we believe, has never been tested in

cultivation, yet it is very promising, for its short stolons and readily

improved size of tuber. Both species we found invading the few

gardens of the region, seemingly rejoicing in being able to escape

the attacks of the gardener by reason of their close resemblance

to the genuine S$. tuberosum. Though found also on the high

slopes in the shade, yet they were larger in the gardens. Hum-

) Idt shows us that the potato was not known in Mexico at the

time of the Incas, while it is now found in various parts of the

republic, in a wild, neglected condition.

Now whence came it? Did an immigration subsequent to that

of the Aztecs bring this esculent and plant it along the Rio

cludes (in his latest works) that the so-called distinct species of

Solanum Fendleri is only a form of the original S. tuberosum, and

Peg Famesii—that although “ it appears on the whole to be

rung and why is their source lost? Humboldt argued, in 1812,

itginia, it must have been derived from a plant indigenous to the

a half hemisphere, and thus he pointed out this discovery nearly

™ century afterward. But Dr, Gray argues that the potato

Vou, XVIL—NO, iv. 29

416 General Notes.

of Virginia must have recently been imported there by Spaniards,

for it was not a small, half-sized potato that grew in Sir Walters _

garden, but evidently large, attractive tubers, already brought up

to size by long cultivation. >

Was the potato carried across from the Rio Grande to the foot

of the Alleghenies in an early day ? and if so, by whom?—7.6

Lemmon, Oakland, Cal., Jan, 23, 1883. ie

P. S.—Tubers of these native potatoes were collected, an

when the spring opens, will be sent out in securely packed pat

cels of a dozen each, to applicants, addressing J. G. Lemmon

Lemmon Herbarium, Oakland, Cal. .

Tue NUMBER oF Species or NORTH American F ING

PLants.—In a paper read last year to the botanists at the Mor-

treal meeting of the American Association for the Advancement

of Science, Dr. Gray gave some interesting facts as to the num:

ber of species of flowering plants in North America, me

Mexico. According to it, in 1878, the Polypetale num

3038, and the Gamopetala after Composita 1656 species. A

the increase of four years, Dr. Gray estimates that the

alone must reach “about 5000 species.” He further €s

that these “must make up half our phanogamous botan;

that upon this basis we should have for the whole at least |

species. The great increase in the number of Coe

probably carry the number somewhat higher than this; and W

down November Ist, and is now growing vigor

earth. The other branch left undisturbed remaine

tion of it, till about New Years. The room was use

gosporee); half a page to the egg-spore plants (Q0sP

pages to the mushrooms and their allies (Carpospore#)

1883.] Entomology. 417

graph to the mosses and liverworts (Bryophyta), and another to

the ferns and their allies (Pteridophyta); with four pages to the

seed-bearing plants (Phanerogamia). Forestry Bulletin, No. 18,

gives the fuel values of fifty-five of the more important woods of

the United States. The first five on the list are (1) Cercocarpus

ledifolius, (2) Pinus australis, (3) Carya alba, (4) Quercus prinos,

(5) Pinus rigida. restry Bulletins, 19, 20 and 21, contain

maps showing the forest areas of California, Oregon and Wash-

ington Territory. Ot the latter the remark is made that “ west

of the Cascade mountains it is covered by the heaviest contin-

uous belt of forest growth in the United States.” Of this the

“red or yellow fir” (Pseudotsuga douglasii) known in the East as the

Douglas spruce, forms “ about seven-eighths of the forest growth.”

——Henry Trimen in the Dec. number of the Journal of Botany

announces his withdrawal from that periodical, declining “ to

risk any further loss,” James Britten, the well-known editor, has

bravely “determined to carry on the journal” at his own risk

“for at least another year,” and appeals to its friends for aid in

obtaining additional subscribers. Cannot American botanists do

somewhat towards aiding Mr. Britten in his laudable attempt to

keep alive this old and valuable journal. Subscriptions (twelve

shillings) should be sent to the publishers, West, Newman & Co.,

54 Hatton Garden, London, E. C., England. In contrast with

the foregoing, it is gratifying to note the steady growth of the

Botanical Gazette, now entered upon its eighth year, enlarged

cess of his undertaking. The addition of Professor C. R.

Barnes and Mr. J. C. Arthur to the editorial force will doubtless

enable the Gazette to make still further improvement. Davis

L. James has republished in the Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist., the

descriptions of new species of Fungi collected in the vicinity of

Cincinnati, by Thomas G. Lea, and described by Rev. M. J. Berke-

ley. The original, published in 1849, has long been so rare as to

be Practically inaccessible to all but a very few students. Descrip-

tions are given of fifty-three species; of these twenty-three are

as having been described also in Hooker's Four. Bot., Vol.

V.——Dr. Goodale, of Harvard University, has recently imported

a Sermany a large quantity of apparatus for making experi-

ments and investigations in vegetable physiology. A new labora-

tory for physiological work is to be erected just back of the pres-

Ent row of buildings at the Botanic Gardens.

i ENTOMOLOGY.!

one FOOD RELATIONS OF THE CARABIDE AND COCCINELLIDE.—

ine li or S. A. Forbes, State entomologist of Illinois, has just

i mR a valuable paper entitled, “ The food relations of the

department is edited by Professor C. V. RILey, Washington, D. C., to whom

Communications, books for notice, etc., should be sent.

418 General Notes. [Apt

Carabidz and Coccinellide,” in Bulletin No. 6, Illinois State

Laboratory of Natural History, Jan., 1883. He correctly remarks

that “ observations of the food of these beetles have hitherto been

left almost wholly to chance, and have nowhere been systemati-

cally pursued—from which it has resulted that we know their

habits only in the most conspicuous situations, and have nota

fair idea of the general average of their food.” ‘

uch systematic observations based on microscopic examina-

tions of the contents of the alimentary canal, have been pursued

by Professor Forbes since 1880, and we have already alluded to

some of the results (see American NATURALIST for April, 1881,

pp. 325-326). This latest contribution contains interesting, sug-

gestive and carefully arranged facts, and we have room only t0

indicate the chief results. |

As to the Coccinellidz, of which thirty-nine specimens Wet

dissected, representing four genera and seven species, the results

show that considering the different conditions under which the i

specimens were obtained, the food seems to be remarkably simple :

and uniform. It varies but little in the different genera, and OF

sists almost wholly of spores of lower cryptogams, pollen e

and plant-lice, Treating the thirty-nine specimens as a whole, :

was found that their food was thirty-seven per cent. ani “ n

* per cent. of which consists of insects) and sixty-three per i

vegetable (fourteen per cent. of this consisting of pollen of a

and Compositæ, four per cent. of spores of lichens, and not

than forty-five per cent. of spores of fungi). ‘ the

- Professor Forbes concludes “that the data derived se

thirty-nine specimens here discussed, will be found sufficient ;

correct general food of the family under ordinary circumstance

The similarity in structure of the mouth-parts throughout T

whole family, seems to be a proof of this generalization. A The

The food question in the Carabidæ is more complicate adi

general table shows that the food of Calosoma, a mpost

are long and curved, and are destitute of basal molar Pse with p

are provided at or near the middle of the cutting © pa substa

cesses relatively long and sharp, the beetle seems to °°" oe

_ 1 Amphasia, which has the lowest percentage of animal food, viz.» kadi a .

is now included in Anisodactylus, 3

1833.] Entomology. 419

tially upon soft or liquid animal food [e. g., Calosoma]. If they

are of medium length, somewhat slender, broad at base and taper-

ing distally, with the tip acute, and provided with basal processes

which are not especially prominent or sharp, the food is chiefly

animal, but solid structures are masticated and swallowed, and

some vegetation appears in the alimentary canal [e. g., Chlænius];

while finally, if they are short and quadrate, blunt at the tips, and

provided either with strong basal processes or broad opposed sur-

ah vegetable food is found to predominate” [¢. g., Anisodac-

us}.

The nature of the food taken by the Carabidæ is also much

more varied than in the Coccinellidæ, the animal food including

mollusks (slugs) and insects of all orders, while the vegetable

food is composed of seeds (the graminaceous plants furnishing by

far the greatest percentage), pollen and spores of lichens and

fungi. Considering the 117 specimens which were dissected we

find that, as a whole, their food consisted of fifty-seven per cent.

of animal food and forty-three per cent. of vegetable food.

but masticate and swallow it], and fifty-seven had taken those be-

longing to the third group, or phytophagous Carabide. The

by eleven ; numbers which represent fairly well the relative abun-

dance of individuals taking the entire season through. We note,

however, a remarkable deficiency of the highly-colored genera,

ert as Galerita, Brachynus, Lebia, Platynus, Chlænius, etc.,

Evidently these more showy beetles are protected by some more

-ave means than obscurity of color.

PHYLLOXeRA Laws.— Belgium has lately entered the list of

kanig which have adopted the rules of the International Conven-

“on of Berne relative to the prevention of Phylloxera ravages.

420 General Notes. [Apri

These rules prohibit the importation and transit, through Belgium,

of vines, cuttings, etc., from infested districts, but allow their im-

portation from non-infested districts subject to special authoris-

tion from the Minister ‘of the Interior. Importation of garden

produce, cereals, fruit and cut-flowers is not affected by these

rules, but all other plants, shrubs and vegetables can only beat

mitted through the custom-houses and upon very stringent spec

fied conditions. A

FOSTERING THE STUDY OF Economic ENTOMOLOGY. — France

does more for the promotion of economic entomology than ay

other country in Europe, as might be expected from a county

whose main source of revenue, the grape vine, is so dangerously i

threatened by the Phylloxera, and which derives so much wealth |

from the cultivation of the silk-worm. The latest step ae

we learn, the donation of a plot of land by the city authorities

Paris for a school of “ insectology ” (to literally translate the

tard term that has of late come into use there) to be founded

the Société Centrale d’Agriculture et d’Insectologie. An ae

mental apiary, a silk nursery, and a mulberry plantation es

already or are to be constructed in connection with this $

while a museum of useful and noxious insects, of insective

animals, etc., will help to illustrate the lectures to be held in He

new school—C. V. R., in Rural New Yorker. =

VIVIPARITY IN A Mora.—At a recent meeting of the Londot =

(Eng.) Entomological Society, a small moth was exhibited W

had been received, from Dr. Fritz Müller, from Brazil, ©

sessed an exceptional interest from the fact that it was v!

having been seen by Dr. Müller to deposit living larve-

DAMAGE To SILVER PLATE BY Ivsects—Specimens of AE

hololeucus have been received by Lord Walsingham ee

land, said to have damaged silver plate, there being holes a

plate on which the insects were found. The corrosive pi

probably existed in the foeces. :

States. I have always contended that the moth

within the limits of the United States, and in ie rank wit

fact of its hibernation, principally under the shelter 0 mee

! Abstract of a paper read by C. V. Riley before the American Associat

Adv. of Science, at the Montreal meeting. a

1883.] Entomology. 421 |

grass, is established from observations and experiments made

during the winter and spring of 1881-2. The moth has been

taken at Archer, Fla., during every winter month until the early

part of March, when it began to disappear, but not until eggs

were found deposited. The first brood of worms was found of all

sizes during the latter part of the same month on rattoon cotton,

while chrysalides and fresh moths were obtained during the early

exotic country there was no incentive to winter or spring work

looking to the destruction of the moths, there is now every in-

during mild winter weather by sweets, or by burning the grass

under which it shelters. It should also bea warning to cotton-

growers to abandon the slovenly method of cultivation which

leaves the old cotton-stalks standing either until the next crop is

planted or long after that event; for many planters have the habit

of planting the seed in a furrow between the old rows of stalks.

e most careful recent researches all tend to confirm the belief

that Gossypium is the only plant upon which the worm can feed

in.the South ; so that in the light of the facts presented there is

all the greater incentive to that mode of culture which will pre-

vent the growth of rattoon cotton, since it is questionable

whether the moth will survive long enough to perpetuate itself

a newly sown cotton except for the intervention of the ratton

cotton.”

Possiste Foop-pLants OF THE Corton-worM.—lIn connection

with the above abstract we are prompted to return once more to

the subject of the food-plants of Aletia, by a very interesting

note from Dr. J. S. Bailey in Papilio for December, 1882. He

7th and 8th, 1882, near Karner, N. Y. On the first evening a

pled specimen was observed crawling up the sugared tree,

while on the following evening one specimen appeared which

evidently had just hatched from the chrysalis, and was shaking

out its wings while ascending the tree. The other specimens of

Aletia attracted by the bait were all of them bright and fresh.

“se tacts observed by such a careful and trustworthy lepidop-

ist as Dr. Bailey, accord with the conclusions we arrived at in

discussing the subject in the April (1882) number of this maga-

sae (P. 327), and seem to us to conclusively prove that Aletia

a passed at least one generation outside of the cotton belt, and

that the larva must have fed upon some yet unknown plant dif-

piia from Gossypium. It is to be regretted that Dr. Bailey

led to ascertain this food-plant of Aletia in the Northern States,

it use from the facts given by him, there can be little doubt that

"Was only a few steps away from the sugared tree. Traces of

422 General Notes. ;

the work of the larva or the empty chrysalis wrapped up in the

leaves might perhaps even yet be found.—C. V. Kiley.

Grote properly makes

repentis a synonym

cochranii, though he had

previously given the

: former precedence. 10B

ate last is, however, still re

Agrotis messoria, a. larva; b. moth. (After Riley.) tained as distinct from

of N. A. Moths,” Mn

messoria, the types of which have confessedly never been

examined by him. Yet, the identification of messona@ 13 Í

lished by careful examination of Harris’s types, bo

d Mr. H. K. Morri

Grote’s work,

We introduce a figure of the species.

Entomological Report, it was shown to grea peat

larva state, the buds of fruit trees, and especially of apple, pa

and grape-vines. We also reproduce from the sa s

figures of Agrotis scandens, which i

what si

gray, with brown pee”

marks and shadings; H

-Agrotis scan

normal form; ¢ "i i}

ter Riley.) easily

AN INTERNAL Mire 1x Fowrs.—Professor Th

microscopist of the Department of Agriculture

recently to dissect a sick chicken, and he found

1883.] Entomology. 423

inal cavities were covered more or less thickly with a mite. An

examination we were requested to make showed it to be in all

respects identical with Cydoleichus sarcoptoides Mégnin. This

parasite is known in Europe to inhabit the air passages of galli-

naceous birds, giving the transparent and membranous linings of

these passages the appearance of gold-beater’s skin speckled with

flour. It is likewise found in the bronchial tubes and their divis-

ions, and even in the bones with which the air sacs communi-

cate. Mégnin believes that while the mite may be extremely

humerous, so as to cause mucous irritation and induce asphyxia

and congestion by obstruction of the bronchia, and that birds

may thus die, yet it is incapable of causing, as Gerlach and Zun-

del believe, enteritis or inflammation of the peritoneum.

PREVALENCE OF THE SCREW-WoRM IN CENTRAL AMERICA—AI-

though not containing anything new the following portion of a

letter from Mr. Jose Č. Zeledon of San Jose, Costa Rica, recently

addressed to Professor S. F. Baird, will be found of some inter-

est: “I have mailed to you, to-day, a little box containing a

good many specimens of Lucilia (perhaps two or three different

species), which I hope will be of some service to Professor Riley

in studying your species. Flies of this group are abundant

throughout this country at all seasons of the year, but it is on

the coast regions where they are particularly common, and there

they constitute a very serious annoyance to cattle raisers, the

‘arve becoming active in a few hours, owing to the high temper-

ature of the lowlands.”

The box contained several hundred flies, the large majority of

which proved to be Lucilia macellaria, which is also the parent of

the screw-worm in the United States.

DRIED LEAVES AS FOOD FOR LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVÆ.— Lepidop-

terists engaged in raising larvæ will be interested in a note by Mr.

A, H. Mundt, of F. airbury, Ill., published in Papilio for January, 1883,

order to preserve the green color and the flavor. This experi-

ence with preserved food may prove equally useful for other spe-

cies, and promises to be of great advantage in raising larve on

hs € obtained from distant sections. We have never tried

'S Method of curing leaves, though we have successfully used .

d larvae for weeks, in Washington, on food ob-

“hay-making” should prove as successful

424 , General Notes.

as Mr. Mundt’s experience would indicate, we would recommend as

a possible improvement in the curing and retention of the t

tive properties, the chopping of the leaves, which will permit

more rapid curing and more convenient packing —C. UR ~

LEPIDOPTEROLOGICAL Nores.—The activity lately displayed

our lepidopterists in making known through the columnso

entomological periodicals the earlier states of Lepidoptera,

can be nothing gained by such duplication, especially where

subsequent description is less accurate than the original one=—

Mrs. C. H. Fernald has published in Papilio for January, 1883,

list of the Noctuide taken in Orono, Me., and vicinity. 34

lists, when, as in this case, they are sufficiently complete to

cate the character of the fauna, and reliable as to the deter

tion, are very useful.

Oxituary.—The entomologists of this country, as well a i

Europe, will regret to learn of the death of Mr. G. W. Hiri

on December 7, 1882, at Clifton, Bosque county, Tex. a

sect fauna of Texas is, at the present time, better known man”

of most of the other Western States of this continent, It 15 i;

due to the skill and industry of Mr. Belfrage and the -

Jacob Boll, who were foremost among the few really ci

conscientious collectors in the country. The number of

interesting species discovered by Mr. Belfrage 1s reall a

ing, considering that they were collected in a very limited

the State, and several of his discoveries were named alter i

our most prominent entomologists. The care and :

exhibited in preserving and preparing his specimens,

the honesty with which he filled the orders of his

correspondents, deservedly procured him a reputation

tor which extended far beyond the limits of this country.

to American coleopterists by his papers on Strongy™

translated into German by F. von Sacken in

mologische Zeitung for 1857.

1883.] ; Zoblogy. 425

ZOOLOGY.

Tue Most REMARKABLE MoLiuscaN FORMS TAKEN OFF THE

SouTHERN Coast oF New EnGLanp IN 1882,—Professor A. E,

Verrill notes the discovery of a cephalopod of the genus Abralia,

a genus not before known to occur upon the American coast.

Other interesting Cephalopoda were a living example of Argonau-

fa argo, taken with a dip-net while on the surface; Eledone verru-

cosa at 700 fath., and the second known specimen of the large

Rossia megaptera V. in 640 fath.

mong the gastropods added to our fauna were the new 77o-

phon lintoni V. and Sm., from seventy fathoms; and four Chitonidæ.

Of these Placophona atlantica V. and Sm., belongs to a genus be-

fore supposed to be exclusively Australian. Choristes elegans was

found in old skates’ eggs, and in the same situation occurred Coc-

culira banii and Addisonia paradoxa, the latter of which was

taken several times in from 8ọ to 640 fathoms.

_ Dolium bairdii was taken in 192 fath., and at 349 fathoms two

living examples of Mytilimeria flexuosa were brought up, asso-

ciated with Pecchiola gemma V., also living. Axinopsis orbiculata

Sars., was taken in 202 fath.; Modiolavia polita V. and S., in 321

fath., and Cavolina longirostris in 321 fathoms. ;

Pteropods were comparatively scarce, and the large Salpa, so

abundant in former seasons, was only met with on one occasion.

The smaller Salpa cabotii occurred in large numbers.

n the sands of Naushon, Hadley harbor, were procured sev-

eral living examples of Tellimya ferruginosa, a European shell not

before found on our coast, associated at low-water mark with liv-

ing T. (Montacuta) bidentata, Corbula contracta, etc. :

From work with surface nets, in Vineyard sound, the veligers

of Anachis avara, Astyris lunata, Triforis nigrocincta, etc., were

identified.

About twenty forms of gastropod veligers were taken in all.

MIGRATION OF ANIMALS THROUGH THE SUEZ CANAL.—NVature

states that Professer Keller, of Zurich, during a stay at the Suez

ast winter, studied the animal migrations of which it has

_ been the Cause, and found that, since 1870, Umbrina cirrhosa and

Labrax lupus have Passed from the Mediterranean to the Red sea,

accompanied by Balanus miser, Solen vulgaris and Ascidia ntes-

beeko Sphæroma, and the mollusks Solen vagina and Car-

dium edule are on their way through. ;

On the « ther hand, several fishes, including Pristipoma stridens

We Cenidens forskali, with the mollusks Cerithium scabridum,

Mactra oloring and Mytilus variabilis, have passed from the Red

W the Mediterranean, and quite a “ caravan” of other forms

'S resting in the basins of the great Bitter lakes.

The fauna of the canal is as yet too poor to tempt rays, cuttle-

fishes and other carnivorous animals. ts

426 General Notes, — [Apri

All this has taken place in spite of the lakes, of the sandy

nature of the ground, of the currents, of the disturbance of the

ova and larve caused by the passage of ships, and of the too

great saltness of the canal water. :

MANUAL OF THE SPoNGES.—It will be remembered that a get-

eral work on the sponges appeared in 1859, as the first volumeo!

Bronn’s Thierreich. It included the Protozoa and sponges. t

is now announced that a new work on the sponges for this series

is to be prepared by Dr. Vosmaer, and the first number on the

Porifera has lately appeared. Our knowledge of the sponges has

been revolutionized within a decade and such a work is much |

needed. i

THE AFFINITIES OF TETRAPLATIA vVOLITANS.— Tetraplatia voli |

tans Busch, has been shown by Krohn (Arch. f. Naturg., 1865, and

Claus., Arch. f. Mikros, Anat., 1878) to be related to animals place!”

among the Hydrozoa, but its closer relationships are problema

cal. Its affinities with certain craspedote Meduse are p

(Leuckart, Arch. f. Naturg. 1878; Haeckel, Das System der Me

dusen). Are there not also structural features of the Ctenophora?

The wings of Tetraplatia, although four in number, "E

homologized with the lobes of Ocyroë. The diverticula from n

stomach occupy a relationship to the other organs in some”

spects similar to those of the young Mnémiopsis. The otoy

of Tetraplatia have no resemblance either in character or p i

to the otocysts of the Ctenophores. It seems possible that :

platia, if an adult, as there is probably no doubt is the a

an intermediate form between the craspedote Medusæ

Ctenophores, and has affinities with both. The Cte

tentaculata” have as close relationships with it throu

genus Ocyroé as with the hydroid Medusa, Ctenaria, from

they are supposed by some authors to have been dert

Walter Fewkes.

OCCURRENCE OF ALAURINAIN NEW ENGLAND Watersi

18 it

every summer by those working in the laboratory st

The absence of this highly interesting genus from ™ The

discovered, viz: Malaga. The resemblance of my

the Newport Alaurina to the figures of this genus by =

Metschnikoff was pointed out to me by Mr. W. 4e =.

J. Walter Fewkes.

1883.] Zeblogy. 427

LIMAX MAXIMUS IN CENTRAL MAssacuuseEtTTs.—In the February

number of the NATURALIST, I see some interesting notes in Limax

maximus L. Springfield, Mass., must be added to the localities

there given. You will find a note by me in Vol. 11. of Science,

page 278, giving an account of a specimen found in the city

aqueduct— F. H. Pillsbury.

TULLBERG ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE SHELL OF CRUSTACEA AND

Mottusks.-—This is an elaborate treatise on the structure and mode

of growth of the lobster’s shell, and of the shells of the mussels

Mytilus, Modiolus, the pearl mussel and the oyster, as well as

chitinous parts and epidermis, Dr. Tullberg then extended his

examination to the shell-structure itself. The treatise is exhaus-

tive, and the twelve plates are carefully drawn. It was published

in German at Stockholm in 1882, in the Transactions of the Royal

Swedish Academy. It is too lengthy for abstract.

Wricut’s American Parasitic CopepopA—This brochure, with

two plates, is the first of a series of notes on the parasites of some of

our fresh water fishes which appears in the Proceedings of the

Canadian Institute, Vol. 1, No. 3. The new forms are described

and figured in detail. Several European forms are identified.

SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES OF OCYPODA FROM THE BONIN

to be wanting in the very young of O. ceratophihalma, to vary

greatly with the size of the individual, and to be subject to much

iidividual and sexual variation. The form, figured by Mr. Ishi-

nae with very long ocular stylets, is the adult of this species,

and those with shorter stylets are apparently young individuals of

ages,

Ps Species of Ocypoda and their variations have been recently

erua by De Man, Kingsley and Miers, and familiarity with

-1 Papers, or any well directed attempt to discover real specific

(Api,

differences, would undoubtedly have saved Mr. Ishikawa from

useless speculation. His want of familiarity with the subjects of

of his speculation is further shown in the description of the sixt

somite of the abdomen, and of the “ entire ” and “ whole abdom-

nal somite ” (by which apparently he intends to indicate thea

domen itself).—S. Z. Smith, Yale College.

CHELYDRA VERSUS Unto.—One day last June I came upon

428 General Notes.

snapping turtle in a peculiar predicament. There was clinging toit

lower jaw a clam, which, though they were several rods from thè

river, was still apparently alive. Without disengaging them 1

brought them home and put them in a small box, intending tose

how the contest would end. I kept them between two ang Mil =

days, and they remained in the same condition. The turtles fre

quent and vigorous attempts to push off the clam with its for

legs proved unavailing. At length the turtle, by some misplacing i

of the box, made good his escape, carrying off the clam with .

him. The turtle was about a foot in length and the clam about

three inches. The clam could not be expected to live very long

out of the water, and the turtle would not be very com sec

the water, with the water forcing its way down his eka

occasional attempts of the turtle to go into the water would git

the clam from time to time a new lease of life. «Fb

probably Unio complanatus—¥. E. Todd, Beloit, Wis, 2e 4i

188}.

A New Species or Potypesmus wiru Eves.—The spect i

Polydesmus, a genus embracing some of our most common

riopods, are, as a rule, eyeless. We know of no

species except the one under consideration, W

Gervais (Aptéres) says of the family Polydesmidæ: 4°) o

manquent presque constamment;” Wood in his i ae :

North America speaks ot the “absence of eyes 1M re fail)

Humbert in his “ Myriapodes de Ceylon,” remarks . hile of ve

Polydesmidz : “ Yeux manquant le plus souvent, mre esett

genus Polydesmus he says “ Pas de yeax ” Hence i generi!

species is an exceptionable form, though the characters re eat

are such as not perhaps to warrant a separation from 4 Oregot

The specimens were collected by the writer at Potti i body 8

The species may be called Polydesmus ocellatus, T ually cyi

small, rather short, somewhat spindle-shaped, and e - the scut

drical. There are twenty-nine segments behind the hea: There 8?

are provided with the usual prominent lateral ridges. uci

row of dorsal setæ on each side of the median line ob the he

of the scutes is finely granulated. The sides (gen Jor sat abom

are full and swollen, somewhat wider than the first icuots

as wide as the body behind. Ocelli 12-13 in number

and black. Antennæ with joint 4 half as long

markably thick, increasing in thickness to the €n%

1883.) Zoölogy. 429

joint 6 and 7 taken together. Joint 6 not quite so long as

thick; joint 7 small, conical ; broad at base where it is nearly as

thick as the 6th; the joints rather setose; there are two terminal

flattened sense-sete on the tip of the 7th joint. The end of the

body is moderately blunt, with four setæ on each side of the last

segment (anal valves). It is of a pale horn color. Length 4™™.

is aberrant form would not at first be regarded as a Polydes-

mus, but would be easily mistaken for a Trichepetalus. The

individuals were mature, or nearly so, as they were horn-brown,

In the cylindrical body and thick antennz it approaches Polydes-

mus cavicola Pack., from a cave on the shores of the Great Salt

lake. It differs from that species, which is eyeless, in the fusiform

body, much thicker antennz, and the finer granulations as well

as the larger number of segments.

Polydesmus ocellatus > a, head i ts; 4, the ocelli; c, five ter-

aat jon of the antennæ; d, Uae r scutes; ¢, dorsal view of

“ee segments ; f, seven terminal segments. Highly magnified.

THE PRIMORDIAL CONDITION OF VERTEBRATES AS SEEN IN THE

KELETON oF THE Hoc FISH AND THE Lamprey.—A striking

aper on the morphology of the Marsipobranchs, read by W. K.

. before the Royal Society, is given in abstract by Nature.

430 General Notes. [April,

In seeking light upon the primordial condition of the Vertebrata,

says the author, one naturally looks to such forms as the Myxi-

noids. For in these types, even in the adult state, there are

neither limbs nor vertebra, and no distinction between head and

body, except the beginning in the head, of a cartilaginous skull;

a continuous structure—not showing the least sign of se

segmentation, and by far the greater part of which is in front of

the notochord, or axis of the organism. But here our gr

work agrees with the developmental, for the continuous skull-bats

constantly arise before the secondary cartilaginous that are found

between the myotomes behind the head. Evidently, therefore

the early “ Craniata” grew supports to the enlarged and subd

vided front end of their neural axis, long before anything beyond

strong fibrous septa developed between the muscular segments

of the body. As for the linear growth, the greater or less extet-

sion backwards of the main organs—circulatory, respirator

digestive, urogenital—that, in the evolution of the primary form,

was a thing to be determined by the *“ surroundings” of the bh:

“ Thereafter as sey may be” was the tentative idea in ane

“Certainly in the Marsipobranchs and in their relations, 8°

larval ‘ Anura; we have the most archaic ‘ Craniata’ now en

in these the organs may be extended far backwards in a vermi i

creature, as in these low fishes, or kept well swung bea

head—the body and tail together forming merely a ee J

organ, as is seen in tadpoles, especially the gigantic tadpo

Pseudis. ‘t

necessity

vesicular brain, the suctorial lips, the branchial epi a

special organs of sense—these all call for soppa be M yé

noids we find that four special modifications of the p

tissue series are developed for the support of the propery putare

organs, and for them only; thus these fishes are Crane i

not Vertebrata ; that is, if we stick to the letter, whi

we do not. ful study o

“At first some disappointment is felt, after Oe ht y fe

these types, for, notwithstanding the low w m hes e sate

main, they are mere specialized Ammocætes, we their gms

nsformation,

theip

4 wi esi

habits of Jife as any Vertebrates whatever, the highest we

“ Yet, on the whole, the Myxinoides are a sort of Am o es

type, whilst the transformed Ammoccete, the larval lamprey But thè

nearest to the untransformed frog or toad—the ta he Joses th

mere putting of this show (suggests at any rate) wa

fauna of the world has sustained during the evolution

1883.] Zoölogy. 431

Craniate forms; zow, the Myxinoids, Petromyzoids, and anurous

Amphibia, must all be kept within call of each other; but the

types that have been culled out between them cannot be num-

bered. Some other kind of fish are evidently the descendants of

primordial Marsipobranchs, notably Lepidosteus.”

In the second part on the lamprey, the author thus closes after

comparing the lamprey with the tadpole. “ These things show

how this ¢emporary Petromyzoid, the tadpole, blossoms out into

unthought of specializations ; it becomes a guasi-reptile, worthy of

a place far above the lamprey, and even far above all other

Ichthyopsida.”

Tue ELECTRICAL ORGANS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE TORPE-

DINIDZ.—Professor Du Bois Reymond, in a late address to the

British Association, referred tothe researches of Professor Babu-

chin, of Moscow, on the development of the electrical organs of

Torpedo, and stated his conviction that the average number of

columns and septa should henceforth be considered an important

character in the diagnosis of the species of the family, Accord-

ing to the researches referred to, the electrical organs are formed

by the metamorphosis of striated muscle, and as they grow in-

crease in size by the growth of the columns and septa, not byead-

ditions to their number.

T. occidentalis Storer, occurs upon the British coasts.

Importations oF INDIAN Paeasants——M. W. Jamrach, in a

communication to the director of the Jardin d’Acclimation, gives

some interesting particulars relative to the importations of various

pheasants made by him since 1864. The total number of birds

forwarded was 2936, of which 1662 arrived salely. The first at-

tempts to bring these birds, via the Cape of Good Hope, resulted

in almost total loss, and land transit via Suez proved no better.

ince the opening of the Suez canal, by far the greater portion,

and, upon some occasions, all the birds forwarded arrived safely.

The gr eater portion of the birds were Lophophones refulgens

and Argus giganteus, were also brought over. In consequence of

the prohibition of the chase during five years in the countries sub-

tc ee rule, it has been exceedingly difficult to procure

notwithstanding the high prices obtained, reaching five hundred

J or more for a single Lophophore, is estimated by Mr.

amrach to exceed the receipts by about $15,000.

A MANY-NAMED Birp.—The great American bittern has his

whic T manners and sayings only equaled by the strange epithets

uch have been conferred upon him. In a still evening we may

amA calling out to his fellows in neighboring sloughs, “ Too

“, too goód,” in a slow, soliloquizing manner, but with a deep

Eo VOL, XVI—NO, Iv. 3

432 General Notes.

guttural emphasis on the last syllable, which leads us to fancy he

- has found some uncommonly fat frog for his supper. Ifthe bittem

of the Old World has a similar note, as is not improbable, weds

cover another reason for believing the “kippod” of Isaiah tobe

the bittern ; a point about which there has been much discussion

We may suppose the name an imitation of such a note. Our bird

gives at other times as a burden of his revery, “ Co-che-lúnk,

co-che-lúnk-ca-chúnk,” with variations. These notes are much

like a blow upon wood, hence the name “ stake driver.” Others

“water belcher.” From some of his fuller notes, which have à

resemblance to the bellowing of a bull, comes the expressive name

“bog bull,’ “bog bumper,” “ mire drum” and the Latin

The name “poke” may refer to the same thing, but more

bly to its slow, awkward movements, Other names less

cant, are “ Indian hen” and “ Indian pullet.’—7. E. Todd. ;

ains of this

whal

species on their own coasts.

Tue REPRODUCTION or THE Hyprozoa.—M. de Varenne

recently studied the development of the ova and her spei

odocoryne cavnea, Plumularia echinulata and some ieat

and has conclusively shown that in these forms at p% du

and parent-cells of the spermatozoa are develo ee jima

from the endoderm, as stated by Kölliker, Haeckel er 2

e has also shown that in the species examined udd

ments invariably form within the stem, and that the hore

the gonophore follows their formation. As the go al Sch

the accumulated ova and sperm-cells enter its inten Vi

in 1873,and afterwards Allmann had noticed the prese and

in the stem of hydroids, and Ed. van Beneden, ‘ pee

man had shown that ovules were formed before the

‘Sporosacs,

1883.] Zoology. 433

This origin of the sexual products independently of and pre-

vious to the formation of the sporosacs, appears at first sight to

militate against the theory of the alternation of generations, and to

reduce the sporosacs, demi-meduse and medusa of the fixed hy-

drosomes to the rank of reproductive apparatuses. But,to say noth-

ing of the fact that the observations only refer to a few forms, and

must be greatly extended before the facts proved can be accepted

as general, there remains the other fact that the limits of the

meaning of such words as “reproductive apparatus,” “ organ”

and “individual” are not definitively settled. Even a young

mammal is in a sense a “ reproductive apparatus” specialized for

the purpose of carrying on the species, and in the hydroid sporo-

Sac we simply have one of the lowest terms of a series that cul-

minates in an independent organism.

. de Varenne finds that the ova and parent-cells of the sper-

matozoa come to occupy in the gonophore a position apparently .

above the endoderm, because their accumulation divides the endo-

derm into two portions, allowing their escape. Subsequently the

break in the endoderm is made good beneath the sexual products,

but is always surrounded by a thin lamella secreted by this new

formation, and the intermediate lameila found in the stem of the

hydroid covers also the ova in the sporosac, although in the lat-

ter it is so compressed that it is hard to perceive.

M. de Varenne has traced the complete series of changes by

which, in one hydrozoan, the cell becomes an ovule. The first

Step is the suppression of the flagellum of the endodermic cell,

then follow great increase in size, augmentation of the nucleus

(which becomes highly refractive) and the assumption of the

cells endowed with power of spontaneous oscillation.

Huxley, Keferstein, Kleinenberg, Schulze and others have stated

ar the sexual products of animals proceed from the ectoderm,

while others derive the ova from the endoderm and the sperma-

tozoa from the ectoderm, and still others reverse ne Š i

e interesting query is—Does the development of these ele-

ments follow ie kame Tok throughout the sahal series

DısTRIBUTION oF Unto pressus (Lea).—Mr. A. F. Gray’s notes

hee species in Amer. Naturatist (Feb., 1883) recall my own

‘vations on it. Dr. James Lewis found it in the outlet of

Owasco lake, a tributary of the Seneca river, but in extensive

collecting in that river I have obtained but one specimen. In

“ome small streams flowing into it, however, it is abundant, and

Sometimes of very large size. I have also observed it sparingly

434 General Notes. [Api

in the Erie canal at Syracuse, but never in lakes. It seemsto

prefer small streams with muddy bottoms, and there to form is

lated colonies. But one sometimes meets species in unexpected.

localities. Margaritana rugosa Barnes, is a river species, butis

abundant in Onondaga lake, and Unio rosaceus De Kay, generally

restricted to Seneca lake, I have collected in Cayuga lake. Ui

pressus is still obtained at Norman’s Kill, and Coleman T. Robin- |

son collected it near Buffalo, N. Y—W. M. Beauchamp. i

Tur American Horse.—lIt is generally understood, and tht

fact (if it is a fact) has been almost universally accepted, that the

horse was unknown in the new world previous to the advent o

Spaniards in North and South America. Late discoveries a

investigations, extending from Bering’s straits to Patagonia, hat

revealed the fact (see Professor Marsh in Encyclopedia), thatit

North and South America we have twelve fossil species of the

genus Equus, and thirty more species allied to them. Y

Having had occasion to send to Paris to purchase some rat

maps of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, I received among

them the map of Sebastian Cabot, “ Piloto Mayer’ of E

the Fifth, King of Spain. This map, drawn ina circular projection

by Cabot himself, on which he has delineated his own and $

discoveries of John Cabot, is of singular value as repre pi +

sixteenth century, and was drawn u prior to the a A

Sebastian Cabot having left for England, to take service

1547, this map was drawn by him while h i

service previous to that date. i

Now it is an incontestable fact that Cabot went 1n

distance inland, returning to Spain in 1530.

pon examining that map I find that tne

explored up to the 25th parallel of north latit

names given to its branches and all prominent pol”

addition he has marked on the map pictures O

inent animals, and some trees, and that at t

Plata. with the puma and parrot, or perhaps the cone

given the horse as apparently a quadruped that ~~

those vast plains of the Gran Chaco, where to day oa i

countless herds. It may be claimed that this is not pr"

native origin; but we claim that it is a fair pres

neither Spaniards in Peru or other parts of Americ’

explorers. The period was too short, and the distant

from the Spanish possessions in Peru across the v

1883.] Zoology. 435

Andes, for such a rapid increase. We can reconcile this dis-

introduced by the conquerors. Not twenty years had passed

between the discovery of Peru and the discovery of the Rio La

Plata.— E. L. Berthoud in Kansas City Review.

ZOOLOGICAL Nores.—Protozcans—Kiinstler'’s article on the

flagellate infusoria, in which, like Ehrenberg of old, he discovers

a stomach, intestine, uterus, etc., has been severely criticized by

Bütschli, who also claims that the author’s new form Kiinckelia

gyrans is neither more or less than a Cercaria! The “ cor-

puscles” or psorosperms of the silk worms are by Balbiani

termed Microsporidia, with affinities to the Sporozoa of Leuckart,

which includes the Gregarinida, the oviform Psorosperms, the

tubuliform psorosperms, and those of fishes.

Worms.—The Brachipoda, especially Terebratula and Waldhei-

mia, have been carefully studied anatomically and histologically by

Van Bemmelen (Jenaischer Zeitschrift, December 27, 1882), who

fully confirms Morse’s view as to their Vermian affinities. He

however insists that the agreement between the Brachiopoda and

Cheetognaths (Sagitta) is so close that “ they must be regarded as

branches of one and the same animal stem.” he same Zeits-

chrift, contains an anatomical and histological research, by J. Steen,

on a sea-worm, Terebrellides stremii, with three plates. The

tower-like construction made, as Darwin supposed, by an exotic

worm (Perichzta) from Eastern Asia and naturalized near Nice,

ave been found by Trouessart, who surprised the worms at work,

to be a common earth worm, Lumbricus agricola, The anterior

part of the body was lodged in the tower. After a long period

of rain these towers are built probably to protect the galleries

m rain, and to afford a breathing place for the worms, where

they are not seen by birds. Perhaps similar “towers” made in

ay country in low, wet localities by crayfish and the pupal Cicada

17 -decim, are for a nearly similar purpose. new species of

Branchiobdella from the river crayfish of Leipzig, is described by

Dr. C. O. Whitman in the Zod/. Anzeiger for Nov.27. It appears

also from Dr. Whitman's explorations in Japan that Astacus japoni-

cus, like the Eu ropean Astacus fluviatilis, has three parasitic species

of Branchiobdella — At a late meeting of the Linnean Society of

ill Seo Mr. A. P. W. Thomas exhibited a series of specimens

Heare of the life-history of the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica).

A experiments show that the embryos of the fluke as free cer-

"ee to act as a prophylactic.

Several animals, new to science, were described at a recent

436 General Notes. (Apri,

meeting of the French Academy. One is a strange fish brought

up from a great depth off the Morocco coast; it is about a foot

and a half long, and of deep black color; but its most striking

feature is its very large and capacious mouth with elastic mem-

branes, much resembling a pelican’s. Probably, food is partly

digested in this cavity. The fish (which M. Vaillant calls Buy

pharynx pelecanoides) has very little power of locomotion.

Brongniart described a new fossil insect of the order of Orthop-

tera from the coal formation of Commentry (Allier). Insects

are rare in the carboniferous strata; hitherto only 110 specimens

have been obtained in the whole world. That now found is of

remarkable size—about 10 in. long, and the family of Phasmide,

or “ walking-stick insects,” is that which comes nearest to tt >

Brongniart names it 7itanophasma fayoli (M. Fayol sent it), The

upper part of the thorax not being preserved, it is impossible to

M. de Merejkowsky dè-

a sort of connecting link between Ciliates, which are

ized by small vibratory hairs, and Acinetians, which have no

hairs, but have suckers. :

Echinodermata.—Professor Jeffrey Bell, in his notes on hele :

oderm fauna of Ceylon (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.) menn

Antedon of unidentified species. Professor Bell concludes m

tendency to fission under extenal irritation became in the Opi

rids the parent of a habit of fission or simple reproduction%

the of $00

irregular Echinoidea. There are two peri-cesophag al, afford

vessels in each ambulacral zone, and a double sand-canal, pon

ing a communication between the excretory organ an > net

at Marseilles upon the hybridization of Echinoidea, ao 9 and

perfectly developed plutei from Strongylocentrotus p 3. The

Spherechinus granularis and Psammechinus puletrellis ©: the

Same species, crossed with Spatangus Petar cus, T a regul

Echinid, formed perfect plutei when crossed with female mia

but

both should be suppressed and the species included in So

Mollusca —M. Bouchon Braudely (Comptes Rendus

mie des Science) states that the Portuguese °Y*

1883. | Zoology. 437

angulata) which has been introduced into the Gironde by dis-

charge from a damaged Portuguese vessel, is certainly unisexual,

as he has opened numbers at all stages of the reproductive period,

and found only the elements of one sex in all. O. edulis is ad-

mitted on all hands to be hermaphrodite, but as the genital gland

rarely presents the two sexes equally matured, it is probably not

self-fertilizing. Artificial fecundation has been practiced with suc-

cess by this naturalist with the Portuguese oyster in the waters of

the Gironde, A colossal cuttle-fish, named Architeuthis verrillii,

was found stranded at Island bay, Cook's straits, New Zealand ; the

longer arms measured 25 feet. Another large cuttle with a body

nine feet two inches in length belongs to a new genus, called by

Mr. Kirk, Steenstrupia.

British Museum, by Prof. T. Rupert Jones. Only the first part

of the former work is yet issued, and treats of the Silurian species.

One hundred and forty-three species are recorded, about seventy

of which are straight or curved Orthoceratites.

Gastropoda—Mr. E. A. Smith (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.)

adds more than sixty names to the genus Pleurotoma, which he

states now contains nearly ¢hirteen hundred recent species! and

adds “many of these have proved identical with others, and a

ood many more will no doubt, on further investigation, fall into

2€ same category of bad species.” Few will doubt this conclu-

0n.-——D. J. Gwyn Jeffreys gives (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.) a

list of seven species of shells dredged in the Black sea—none of

these, except Mytilus edulis, had been previously enumerated, and

one, Trophon breviatus is new. The Italian surveying ship

ashington, which made an exploration around Sardinia and the

western coast of Sicily in 188r, procured some mollusca and

brachiopods at considerable depths. Terebratula vitrea was taken

Sur fathoms, two species of Nucula at about 1500 fathoms,

on agile at various depths from 86 to 1953 fathoms,

‘Francia tenella at 1963 fathoms, and Scaphander librarius at

about 1500 fathoms.

Crustacea —In the Archives du Musée Teyler (Haarlem, Hol-

land) T. C. Winkler compares the recent crustacean genus,

Areosternus, lately described by Dr. J. G. De Man, of Leyden,

pag consid to mark a new sub-family of the Astacidæ, equal

to the Palinuridæ or the Seyllaridæ, with the fossil genera Pem-

phix and Glyphea. The result of this comparison is that Aræos-

pot weneeki De Man, the only known example of which was

fought from a small island near Sumatra, is the representative of

a long line of extinct genera, extending backwards in an uninter-

438 General Notes.

rupted series to the lower Lias, and that the ancestor of the liassie

Glypheas may be recognized in the triassic species described |

under the name of Pemphix sucuri. In the Annals and Magi-

sine of Natural History, C. Spence Bate describes Eryonicus caais,

a blind transparent abyssal crustacean allied to Willemeesia, and

dredged by the Challenger in 1675 fms. off the Canaries, The

first pair of pereiopoda are long, with a narrow slender chela, the

dorsal surface is elevated, and the pleon folded against the ventral :

surface of the pereion. . It has a well-developed fan-tail, and it

life the alimentary canal is bright red and the hepatic lobes yt

low. Mr. E. J. Miers writes on the genus Ocypoda. He ae

mits ten-well-established species. Zhe Annals and Magazine f

Natural History, contains a valuable article upon the Entomisciee,

by Dr. R. Kossman. This writer asserts that, notwithstanding

the statements of Fraisse and Giard, all the Entoniscide m

separate sexes, and the females carry their ova in paired brood

females reside in a sac upon the crustacean they infest, and

only after a separation of this sac that their structure can be

out. The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Se for J

be the larva of Lzmulus mollucanus (See NATUR

292.) It is sufficiently evident from the drawing am

that this is more probably, as the author finally believed,

pede larva. The colors of /dotea tricuspidata are dest

figured by C. Matzdorff in the Jenaische Zeitschrift für

of blind subterranean Isopod and Amphipod Crustacea

obtained from a well in New Zealand; the Isopod is re

for having only six pairs of appendages to the seven tho

ments, seven being the normal number.

smail, so that it cannot climb a glass. Habitat Mexico.

Mag. Nat. Hist.—A number of communications reS

sea-serpents have appeared in Nature, and also in Fo

and we have heard privately of other cases.

they becoming that we wonder that the bones of so o a

animal do not turn up on the sea-shore either of t * skeptic i

World. Until these be forthcoming we shall be a w gents

the existence of this shadowy organism——4 "eY ©

Ceecilians or blind snakes has been discovered ea of

ganyika, East Africa, and described by G. A- Bou

1883.] Zoology. 439

the name Scolecomorphus kirku. In the same number of the

Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Boulanger gives his

reasons for regarding Rana circulosa of Rice and Davis in Jordan's

Manual of Vertebrates as a synonym of Baird’s Rana septentrio-

nalis——We have received through B. Westermann & Co., New

York, the seventeen chromo-plates of Volume I., “Birds of

Brehm’s Thierleben. They surpass anything of the sort which

we have ever seen. The artist is Olof Winkler. The price, five

marks for seventeen plates, is reasonable enough. The hovering

of birds is discussed by several contributors to Nature of February

1and 8. The general opinion seems to be that the bird while hov-

ering is supported by an upward current of air; one writer, how-

ever, maintains “ that, given a steady wind blowing with a velocity

which lies somewhere between certain possible calculable limits,

a hawk can remain fora time apparently motionless above a point;

he is, in reality, descending a slightly inclined plane, and requires

to recover vertically lost ground by the occasional use of his

Wwings."——A new bird of paradise collected on the D’Entrecas-

teaux island, south-east of New Guinea is described in the Zbis as

Paradisea decora. To the same society Dr. F. Day showed

examples of trout, viz., of the American “Brook trout,” reared

in an aquarium; another reared at Howietoun, near Stirling,

and a hybrid between the American and common English trout,

all in illustration of his paper on variations in form and hybridism

in Salmo fontinalis. The bower birds, regarded by Elliott and

Salvadori as connected with the birds of Paradise, have recently

šope of the islands. The entrance to its chamber is generally

four or five inches in diameter, and the passage leading to it often

two or three feet long, first descending and then ascending again.

he chamber itself is about one foot and a half long, by one foot

wide and six inches high, and is lined with grass and leaves. The

ging and tuataras have their nests separately, one on each side

440 General Notes. | [Api

and Capt. Shepley’s “ Sun-birds,” forming one of the series of

illustrated ornithological monographs prepared by different mem- |

bers of the British Ornithologists’ Union. A companion volume

by Mr. Dresser, on the “ Bee-eaters,” is in a forward state, and

similar works are already projected. Another subarctic mam-

mal, Spermophilus rufescens, which lives in the Orenburg steppes

of Asia, has been found fossil in the loess and caves of Germany,

as reported by Blasius in the Z0d/. Anzeiger——C. J. Mayna

states that the ivory-billed woodpecker ( Campephilus principalis)

which in Audobon’s time inhabited the Atlantic coast as far noti

as Maryland, was common in the lower parts of the Carolina,

in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, and occurred as

far north as the mouth of the Ohio, and westward of the Missout i

throughout the forests along the rivers to the base of the Rocky

mountains ; is now, unless it lingers in the heavily wooded pafi

of the state of Mississippi, confined to a small belt of “hummock”

or “ cypress ” timber land, about a hundred miles long by fiy

width, in the northern part of Florida, and is rare even

PHYSIOLOGQY.!

THE ELECTROMOTIVE PROPERTIES OF THE LEAF OF Diotti

Professor G. B. Sanderson (Trans. Roy. Soc., Part 1, 1882), gC l

an account of his researches on the electrical relations of pe

ferent parts of the leaf of Dionæa in its resting and in 1G

condition, together with a résumé of similar work of other it i

tigators. AE

The leaf of Dionæa contains two or three layers of S a

matous cells whose protoplasm has great attraction 1 ‘orga

The leaf owes its expanded condition while at rest to

of the parenchyma cells whose protoplasm coa

bibed water. But when the leaf is excited, as DY eee pa

It OF ee

that different points upon the surface of the leaf äre Um

probably accidentally, in different electrical on e00

upper, becomes to a marked degree more wie trend ah |

This negative change begins about one-twentieth 04°" pidde”

the application of the stimulus, and ceases at mere wf the ee

the first second; that is, in that time the under SUTIN’ | -eedife

has returned to its former electrical condition. In ™

1 This department is edited by Professor Henry SEWALL, of Ann

1883.] Physiology. 441

second the electrical relations of the two surfaces of the leaf are

reversed, the lower surface becoming now positive to the upper.

“A voltaic current directed from the upper to the under sur-

face, which is too weak to invoke an excitatory res e, pro-

duces an increase of the positivity of the under surface, limited to

the part of the lobe through which the current passes, which lasts

several seconds after the current is broken. * * * Whena

leaf is subjected to series of inadequate induction shocks at short

intervals (e. g., one-twentieth of a second), the response may occur

after a greater or less number of excitations, according to the tem-

perature at which the experiment is made and the strength of the

current. * * * Tna series of mechanical excitations, each of

which is just adequate to produce an electrical response, those

which occur earliest are followed by no change of form. Of the

later members of the series each produces a measureable move-

ment, the extent of which becomes greater each time that the

excitation is repeated until eventually the leaf closes.”

he first electrical change which the leaf of Dionza undergoes

after excitation (the increased negativity of the under surface of

the leaf) is probably a physiological change which is the outcome

of some functional explosion in the cell protoplasm, and is closely

analogous to the “action current” which is a sign of functional

excitement in an animal nerve or muscle. The second electrical

condition, which is more slowly brought about and is more lasting,

in which the under surface of the leaf becomes positive to the

upper, is probably due simply to the transference of water from

the cells to the intercellular spaces.

THE INFLUENCES WHICH DETERMINE SEX IN THE EMBrvo.—Pro-

sor E. Pflüger publishes at length an account of experiments,

<tiormed with the greatest care, with the object of throwing

light upon some of the most prominent of the obscure problems

of the physiology of generation (Pfliger’s Archiv., Bd. XXIX,

Heft 1 and 2). Professor Pflüger made use of frogs in his experi-

; Many hundreds of the creatures were obtained from vari-

Sus neighborhoods, and were maintained while under observation

under conditions made as nearly normal as possible.

irst question attacked is: Does the concentration of the

spermatic fluid of the male influence the sex of the offspring ?

Much care is necessary in handling frogs’ eggs, for they are ex-

eee Susceptible of mechanical injury. The pair of frogs are

442 General Notes. [April,

crystal was often further diluted from ten to twenty volumes and

from these new mixtures fresh quantities of water in watch crys-

tals were impregnated by the transference of a film of fluid cling-

ing to the scissors’ tips. Into these watch crystals filled with the

fluid of a single male in different states of concentration, there

were allowed to glide some of the eggs of the female taken from

the right uterus. The outcome of the experiments established

two facts: First, the fertilizing power of the spermatic fluid was

not diminished by dilution, all the ova were fertilized in each obser-

vation; second, dilution of the male fluid had no effect on the

sex of the frogs which came to maturity after the artificial fertili-

zation. ti

In young frogs there are three varieties of sexual character,

male, female and hermaphrodite. The hermaphrodites become

finally either male or female, but in their earlier stages they have

the sexual organs of the female only; in those which are finally

to become males, the testicles gradually develop round the ove

ries and the latter are resorbed. This apparent numerical pre-

dominance of the female in early stages of the fuller formed frog

has led some investigators astray. i l

The author finds that no batrachian egg segments without pre-

vious fertilization.

The fertilizing power of the male fluid diminishes greatly

progressively after the season for sexual union.

It is impossible to produce offspring by the union of t

and female products of two different batrachian species, tho

segmentation of the egg, frequently of abnormal type, may

started by this artificial union.

and

he male

ugh

bė

_-One

THE PRODUCTION OF DISEASE BY BACTERIAL Oreanisas “0%

; : iolog!

of the most remarkable chapters in the history of ne Re devel-

etween the

the nature

very which

ts of bacter'@

life, and the apparent ease with which d-finite results es ae

haps, little qualified for the task undertaken, to enter upa gen

vestigation of a subject which has proved itself one of tae find

bio jai

consequently, even in a single aspect of bacteria }

to infectious diseases, the most contradictory opinions. rning

- Ever and anon is announced a brilliant discovery pege

the causal relation of bacteria to some malignant aus sination

rently opening a way to the rational treatment or exterm

of the distemper; but after a time counter experiments p? conclu-

after other methods throw doubt upon or disprove me

ogy. $

he its relatioa

1883.] Physiology. 443

sions before considered so logical, until the inexpert looker-on is

inclined to despair of ever seeing certainty finally arrived at.

Some investigators in our own country, well fitted by talent

and education to enter this field of research, have arrayed them-

seives in the opposition against views concerning the action of

bacteria in certain diseases, which have found among other workers

general acceptance.

The Bacillus tuberculosis of Koch has gained a world-wide rep-

utation. But Dr. Formad (Phil. Med. Times, Nov., 1883), has

come to the conclusion that the Bacillus is not the cause of the

disease, but is found in abundance in tubercular tissue simply be-

cause it finds there its most agreeable food. Formad regards

tuberculosis as primarily due to an anatomical defect, namely, a

superabundant development of connective tissue and a conse-

quent narrowing of the lymph spaces of the tissue, thus making

the latter much more subject to pathological change than is nor-

mally the case. The artificial production of tuberculosis brought

about by Koch through the injection into living animals of mat-

ter infected with Bacilli, Formad does not regard as of great

Weight, for it was found during the researches on diphtheria, car-

ned out by Drs. Wood and Formad, that the placing of an in-

€micrococcus which I have found in a certain number of

Pus cells in eve

'S an accidental parasite which has nothing to do with the special

aia

revealed the presen

than this, Micrococcus

Means of

Ned to

characte, ats, which make it possible to establish species having -

inthe aeaa as well defined as have many plants much higher

- Dr. Schmidt is heretical upon the whole subject of the occur-

444 General Notes, [April,

rence of bacteria in certain pathological tissues (Chicago Med. I,

Dec.. 1882). Schmidt believes that the forms described as Bacil

lus tuberculosis are nothing more than slender colored crystals of

fat which have been produced by the reagents which it is neces-

sary to use in preparing the tissue sections for examination. Itis

very doubtful, however, whether this view will ever receive worthy

confirmation.

THe Oricin AND Destiny oF Fat Cerrts.—Some light is

thrown upon the problem of the origin and destiny of fat-cells by

the observations of Mr. S. H. Gage upon those of Necturus. In

the subcutaneous connective tissue of this creature the microscope

revealed the presence of fat-cells in all stages of growth; large

branched cells with one or more fat drops; cells containing one

or two small fat drops and a large one; and some large unbranched

cells entirely gorged with fat. The pigment cells were some-

times partly gorged with fat, and some small round or oval cells

also contained fat.

Thus it would appear that, as maintained by Virchow, Frey,

Klein and others, fixed or branched connective tissue Cor-

puscles may become modified into fat-cells, and also, as asserted

by Czajewicz, Rollett and others, migratory corpuscles may

become quiescent and turn into reservoirs of fat. After a Sec-

turus has been kept upon sparse diet for some time, the adipose

tissue shows but few gorged cells, many trasitional forms, at

greater proportion of branched cells without fat, thus proving tha

the fat-cell is simply a store of food, and that, when their me

is used, the cells revert to their primitive condition of branche

or unbranched cells.

RECENT EMBRYOLOGICAL PAPERS ON VERTEBRATES.—The —

is being discu

by O: Hertwig in the ¥enaischer Zeitschrift, with numerous age

taini i i i different classes. 1

containing views of this layer in the he cover

early development of the kidney. È

EMBRYOLOGY OF THE SILK-worm.—This has been studied PY.

Salvatico, who finds that the amnion appears as a nesta D

large nucleated cells like those of the serous membrans AE

out pigment. The malphigian vessels originate in the ss of ve

He did not note the early appearance of the rudi nips „elia.

genital glands, which was observed by Balbiani in Tinea

DEVELOPMENT OF BITHYNIA, A FRESH-WATER ere? 2

After discussing the origin of the larval and adult organs,

)

Sarasin (Arbeiten Zool. Zoot. Institut zu Warzburg, Vi !

1883.] Psychology. 445

claims that all the organs are formed either directly or indirectly

it; the mesodermal elements do not arise at any definite and

ingle. point, and there is no evidence of any cleavage in it, and

still less of the formation of a true ccelom. As the endoderm,

so-called, does not give rise to the enteron, its homology with

the similarly named layer in the chick is to be doubted.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE SALP&.—F. Todaro in his second

preliminary paper, published in the Italian Biological Archives,

states that he has observed the entrance of a single zoosperm into

the egg, its conversion into a male pronucleus, and its fusion with

the female pronucleus to form the segmentation-nucleus, while

the yolk is derived from the epithelial cells of the ovarian sac.

The origin of the embryos of the solitary and compound Salpe

isalso described.— Journal Royal Microscopical Society, Feb., 1883.

ETO eet eee

PSYCHOLOGY.

ANIMAL Doctors.—In a recent communication to the Biologi-

cal Society, M. G. Delaunay observed that medicine, as practiced

by animals, is thoroughly empirical; but the same may be said of

PENS) es Ste SE ee a

(7)

> gs

(©)

“~

pate

($)

le ni

ro)

i ML. Delaunay lays down as a general rule that there is not any

, *pecies of animal which voluntarily runs the risk of inhaling ema-

from their habitations; others bury their excrement; others

__ Garry to a distance the excrement of their young. In this respect

- er more foresight than man, who retains for years excre-

i in stationary cesspools, thus originating epidemics. If we

a petr attention to the question of reproduction, we shall see that

aiala suckle their young, keep them clean, wean them at

=? per time and educate them; but these maternal instincts

fact, gma rudimentary in women of civilized nations. In

Animals may take a lesson in hygiene from the lower animals.

Those oth ak rid of their parasites by using dust, mud, clay, &c.

: anid a; ring from fever restrict their diet, keep quiet, seek dark-

- Whena nid places, drink water and sometimes even plunge into it.

88 dog’s og has lost its appetite it eats that species of grass known

tive, Sh ga (chiendent), which acts as an emetic and purga-

o tan also grass. Sheep and cows, when ill, seek out

stances, ş bs. When dogs are constipated they eat fatty sub-

The ich as

deen € thing is observed in horses. An animal suffering from

; rner

Cit the <P at Fe regularly organized ambulances. Latreille

446 General Notes. [April,

wounded part witha transparent fluid secreted from their mouths.

If a chimpanzee be wounded, it stops the bleeding by placing its

hand dn the wound, or dressing it with leaves and grass, en

an animal has a wounded leg or arm hanging on, it completes

the amputation by means of its teeth. A dog on being stung in

the muzzle by a viper was observed to plunge its head repeatedly

for several days into running water. This animal eventually recov-

ered. A sporting dog was run over by a carriage. During three

weeks in winter it remained lying in-a brook where its food was

taken to it; the animal recovered. A terrier dog hurt its right

eye; it remained lying under a counter, avoiding light and heat,

although habitually it kept close to the fire. It adopted a general

treatment, rest and abstinence from food. The local treatment

consisted in licking the upper surface of the paw, which it applied

to the wounded eye, again licking the paw when it became ary.

Cats also, when hurt, treat themselves by this simple method of

continuous irrigation. M. Delaunay cites the case of a cat which

lso that of

eight hours under a jet of cold water. Animals suffering —

traumatic fever treat themselves by the continued application 0

cold, which M. Delaunay considers to be more certain than

any of the other methods. In view of these interesting facts, we

are, he thinks, forced to admit that hygiene and therapeutics, a

practiced by animals, may, in the interests of psychology, . al

studied with advantage. He could, thinks the British Me d

dicine, aa

me useful

indications, precisely becaùse they are prompted by instinct,

are efficacious in the preservation or the restoration of health.

SUICIDE oF Scorrions—The following experiments made .

two species of South African scorpions, by C. L. Morgan, ri us

cate that they do not have any suicidal instinct. He a =

signs of fresh wounds made by the sting. The nature of the

periments were as follows . PPN

1. Condensing a sun-beam on various parts of the p

body. The creatures always struck with the sting roun®, ses i

and over the heated spot, and seemed to try and remove the

of irritation. : careful

2. Heating in a glass bottle. As this admits of most in this

watching, I have killed some twenty or thirty individuals : body,

way. e creatures very commonly pass the sting Over ee point

as if to remove some irritant. The poison exudes from

of the sting and then coagulates. 5

3. Surrounding with fire or red hot embers, I first took 4 ae

paper, moistened a ring about a foot in diameter with ae cei

placed a scorpion within the ring. e paper was, by Gre

ignited. He walked without hesitation through the

S RAI ee

TORERE T

wn ae a tE a E ae

1883.) Psychology. 447

tried to make his escape. I made a ring of red hot wood

embers and placed a scorpion in the middle. He pushed his

way out, displacing two of the embers. I made a better fire-

wall, and put him in the middle again. He crept over the

embers. I placed him in the midst of a ring of embers on the

= fat and much-heated stone of the fire-place. He crept over the

embers again, but this time got baked before he could escape.

4. Placing in burning alcohol. I placed a layer of an eighth of

an ‘inch of alcohol in a shallow vessel, lit the alcohol, and placed

the scorpion in the midst of the burning spirit.

5. Placing in concentrated sulphuric acid. I moistened the

Ss pee ele ee ae à

sulphuric acid, and put in a scorpion. The creature died in about

ten minutes. (I have also tried other strong acids, a concentrated

-solution of sodium hydrate, and a potassium cyanide solution.)

: 6. Burning phosphorus on the creature’s body. I placed a

and lit the phosphorus with a touch of a heated wire. The

Creature tried to remove the phosphorus with its sting, carrying

aWay some of the burning material.

Me 7. Drowning in water, alcohol and ether.

tly barbarous (the sixth is positively sickening) to induce

n who had the slightest suicidal tendency to find re-

‘destruction.

n all cases repeated the experiments on several individ-

ave in nearly all cases examined the dead scorpion

lens. My belief is that the efforts made by the scorpion

source of irritation are put down by those who are

med to accurate observation as efforts at self-destruc-

/ one occasion I called in one of my servants to.

bottom of a large beaker with a very thin layer of concentrated

nd over its back, upon which my servant exclaimed,

448 General Notes.

individuals, I cannot place on record a single instance of clear and

unmistaken scorpion suicide.—/Vature.

EXHIBITION OF REASONING POWER IN THE POLAR BEAR—

A contributor to Nature relates the following instance of rè-

markable intelligence on the part of this animal in cracking cocoa-

nuts, In the Clifton Zodlogical Gardens there are two female

Polar bears, between two and a-half and three years old, which

came here quite young. A cocoanut was thrown into the tank,

it sunk a long way, and the bear waited quietly till after some —

time it rose a little out of her. reach. She then made a current

in the water with her paw, and thus brought it within reach. This _

habit has already been several times noticed in Polar bears. She

then took it on shore and tried to break it by leaning her weight

on it with one paw. Failing in this, she took the nut between her

fore-paws, raised herself on her hind legs to her full height, and

threw the nut forwards against the bars of the den, three or four

feet off. She then leaned her weight on it, hoping she had cracked

it, but failed again. She then repeated the process, this time sue —

cessfully. The keeper told the writer (J. G. Grenfell) she em —

ployed the same method to break the leg-bone of a horse. That

this is the result of individual experience, and not of instinct, is

clear from the fact that her companion has not learned the trick of -

opening them thus, nor could this one do it when she first came —

The method of throwing is precisely similar to that adopted by the

Cebus monkey described by Mr. Romanes (Animal Intelligence):

Tue Senses oF Bers,—Sir John Lubbock recently read to the

members of the Linnean Society an account of his further gri

vations on the habits of insects made during the past year. ee d .

two queen ants which have lived with him since 1874, and

are now, therefore, no less than eight years old, are sti

laid eggs last summer as usual. His oldest workers are

years old. Dr. Miiller, in a recent review, had on jah ;

Lubbock pointed out that he had anticipated the objections Sug,

e supposed i

source of error. The difference was, moreover, not one par

ciple, nor does Dr. Müller question the main conchae iad E

gested by Dr. Müller, and had guarded against th

at or doubt the preference of bees for blue, which,

. . = i John :

strongly indicated by his own observations on flowers: = the

also recorded some further experiments with eera naif

power of hearing. Some bees were trained to come sat

which was placed on a musical box on the lawn close to een

. The musical box was kept going for several hou seed

for a fortnight. It was then brought into the house an P yards

out of sight, but at the open window, and only about seven

from where it had been before. The bees, however,

the honey, though when it was once shown them the

1] alive and

= St

did notfind

ram

Anthropology. 449

readilyenough. Other experiments with a microphone were with-

out results. Everyone knows that bees when swarming are popu-

larly, and have been ever since the time of Aristotle, supposed to

_ beinfluenced by clanging-kettles, &c. Experienced apiarists are

= how disposed to doubt whether the noise has really any effect;

_ but Sir John suggests that even if it has, with reference to which

he no opinion, it is possible that what the bees hear are

ot the loud, low sounds, but the higher overtones at the verge of

: or beyond our range of hearing. As regards the industry of wasps,

he timeda bee and a wasp, for each of which he provided a store

of honey, and he found that the wasp began earlier in the morn-

_ ing (at four a. m.), and worked on later in the day. He did not,

however, quote this as proving greater industry on the part of the

abnormal mental action observed in many persons, and classi-

maik -He concludes an interesting discussion by asserting as

i sley has done before him, that the world owes nearly all

'mportant Innovations to persons whose minds occupy this

Position. He includes in this class original thinkers,

discoverers and inventors. He confirms the truth of

ge of Pope:

___ ® Great wit to madness sure is near allied,

And thin partitions do their realms divide.”

ANTHROPOLOGY.?

sor Or; pique. 6 ,

Hy tee T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, Dc.

450 General Notes. [April,

their food raw, and a disease of the gums spread among them.

The dead are put in a sitting position, the corpse is covered with

leaves of the cocoa-palm, and the women must keep a fire close

by until the body is dried. The corpse is buried only if there i$

nobody to keep fire. Kidnapping of these nations is practice

the crews of ships of all nationalities of the civilized world. Pre

vious anthropologists had admitted two different races in New

Guinea, and had made a distinction betwen the Papuans of the

coast and of the interior. The Papuans of the interior, however, —

belong to the same race as those of the coast, and there i$-

throughout New Guinea but one Papuan race. Virchow

the Papuans dolichocephalic and the Negritos of the Philippines

brachycephalic. Hundreds of measurements by Mr. Maclay

show that the purest Papuans range from .62 to .86 in cephalic”

index. The Papuans do not have the clustered hair attributed tò

them, and the size of the curl varies even on different parts of the

same head. The Malays on the opposite islands have for centu- :

ries trafficked with these natives for slaves, turtles, trepang

pearl shells. They even bring Malay girls and exchange

for Papuan girls. The blood, therefore, is very much mixed. The

height of the men on the Malay coast varies from 1.74 to 1.42" :

of the full-grown women it is about 1.32. 3

At Port Maresby, on the southern coast, Mr. Maclay ger | k

mixture of Polynesian blood among the Papuans. These ha

have a lighter skin and uncurled hair, the women tattoo a

selves as long as they have children, thereby improving "g

beauty. Ee

Measurements were made upon the heads of Negrin

Manila, whose cephalic index was .875 to .90. One ven

only 1.30 meters in height. Their faces were like those ot *

Papuans, while their customs are akin to those of the Me Orang:

islands. They reverence the fire and are very hospitable. ye

utan, or wild tribes of the Malay peninsula, were visited pa a .

scribed. The sumpitan, or blowing tube, with its tiny PO panes

arrows is their deadly weapon. In the mountains at the ae

of the Pakkan river, the traveler found Orang-Sakays, e men

.74-.82 for men, .75—.84 for women, and .74-.81” forca the

The diameter of Boe ant of hair is 2-4™™. The oe of v

skin is 28-42, and 21-46 Broca. One hardly knows his pains

admire more, the intrepidity and grip of Mr. Maclay, oF ke

taking enthusiasm in his work. Pa.

Revue p’EruHnocrapute.—This new candidate for

now passed through its first year, under the manag : i

Hamy, conservateur of the Ethnographic Muse X peen neg

While ethnography,technology and sociology have n° :

1883.) Anthropology. ; 45I

lected in the Revue d’Ethnologie, they have been quite over-

shadowed by anatomical and archzological papers. Indeed, this

fact was the first cause of the foundation of the Revue d’ Ethno-

graphie. The papers that have appeared in the review have been

so important, as a general thing, that the list is appended:

Cessac, L, de—Fétiches de pierre, &c., de lile de S. Nicolas (Cal.), p. 30.

Cessac, L, de—Sur les Comanches, p. 94.

Croix, I. E. de la—Les Sakaies de Perak, Malacca, p. 317.

§ E—Les initiateurs de l'art oriental, p. 288.

Duhousset, E.—Les arts décoratifs au Petit-Tibet et au Cachemire, p. 381.

Fegueux, E.—Les ruines de la Juemada, p. 119.

_ Hany, E. T.—Figures et inscriptions à El Hadj Meméum, p. 129.

Hamy, E, T.—La Croix de Teotilhuacan, p. 410.

Landrin, A—Ecriture figurative et comptabilité en Bretagne, p. 369.

t, Fr.—Les Truddhi et les Specchie d’Otrante, p. 22.

: Lenormant, Fr.—L’ethnographie ancienne du Mediterraneén, p. 226.

: Martin, Ern.—Les funeraiiles d’une impératrice de Chine, p. 230.

= Montano, J.—Indigenes de la province de Malacca, p. 41.

l Moura, J.—Le Cambodge préhistorique, p. 505.

Peney, A.—L’ethnographie du Soudan Egyptien, 1. Le Sennar; Les Tures au Sou-

= dan. t. Le Kourdofan, p. 397, p. 4

a! i » À. de—Distribution géographique des Négritos, p. 177.

z Retzius, A.—Ethnographie finnoise, p. 81.

l Révoil, G.—Archéologie et ethnographie do Comal, pp. 5 and 235.

] Rochebrune, A. T. de—Mollusques chez les peuples anciens et modernes, p. 466.

_ Scheube, Dr.—Culte et fête de lours chez les Ainos, p. 302.

Schumacher, P.—L’age de pierre chez les Indiens Klamaths, p. 500.

Vemeau, R.—Inscriptions lapidaires de l'archipel Canarien, p. 273.

cag most journals of the kind, the correspondence, reviews

w analyses, notices of societies, expositions, collections and mu-

~~ are quite as valuable as the original papers.

MADS OF THE IRoguoIs—It is quite curious how a book

pra round without being noticed. Mr. Elias Johnson, a

“You, _UScarora chief, published two years ago, at Lockport, N.

book entitled “ Legends, Traditions and Laws of the

or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians.”

et come within the circle of the NATURALIST'S vision.

cter by a recitation of parallel crimes and atrocities

eca Here and there the author holds aside the

dia S pAn dabo and gives us just the faintest glimpse of true

we. For instance, has any one before hinted that scaffold

fer po from the fact that resuscitation frequently takes place

use for strangers, and their hospitality was unbounded.

t is thrown upon savage mythology by the recital of

S, as The origin of the continent and of the animals,

Stonish giants, Atotarho, &c. The subjects of edu-

we Aig

452 General Notes. | April,

cation, treaties, civilization are treated in an off-hand manner.

The sociologists have racked their brains to find out how lower

races got from mother-right to father-right. Now there is no

doubt that the progress was gradual, consisting of several stages.

Mr. Johnson gives us one of the steps and a very important one,

illustrating also the saying: ‘‘ Where there is a will, there's a way

to break it.’ Let us suppose that a bear man marries a deer-

woman, the children are all deers. If he be a sachem his brother

must succeed him or the son of a sister, or some descendant of

a maternal line. His son, having to marry out of the clan, cam- —

not succeed him. But if he marry his son to a bear woman, that 1

is to one of his own clan, his grandson may succeed him, being —

of the clan of their mother. It is in this way that chieftaincy or

sachemship, or property is kept in the family. The daughters in

all cases being of the clan of the mother, there would not be

much ado in getting rid of daughters. Indeed, women were per ~

fectly free to chose whom they would out of their own clan.

AMERICAN COPPER ARTEFACTs.—A very popular recent work ©

on archzology revives the assertion that the mound-builders un-

derstood the art of smelting copper and bronze. It is with very

great relief of mind that one turns from the confusing specula-

tions upon which such theories are sought to be erecte ik:

reads the statements of a patient plodder. The bulk of pe i.

teenth annual report of the Peabody Museum is taken up W! $

monograph by Professor F. W. Putnam, on the copper wap

from South America in the Peabody Museum. The ona .

scribed and figured are beads, pendants, plates, bracelets, Ange

rings, gorgets, bands, tubes, spools, sheaths, ear-rings, celts,

heads, knives, harpoons, hoes, club-heads, morning-stals, í

Concerning all of which we take pleasure in quoting “f the

North America, outside of Mexico, before the coming '

Europeans, there is no evidence, as yet, that copper urged cut

clusions until we have other information of the subject :

seems yet to have been obtained.” the

BaByLonian TaLIsMAns.—No doubt our readers ae candle, 08

p 'hese cylinders were among the very first peo ght 50

draw attention to the long-forgotten Euphrates valley, OFS? uc

d and his

prominently to light by the researches of Layard am

Anthropology. 453

cessors. The mineralogical characters and the lapidary work on

the cylinders are described by Herr Fischer and the paleographic

portion of the work is by Dr. Wiedemann.

Warre Inprans IN SourH America.—Owing to the universal

custom of painting their faces and bodies with ochre, the aborig-

_ ines of our continent got the name of “red men.” Prichard

(Researches, &c., 1, 269) says : “ The American races show nearly

chet u

Prichard, “Researches,” v, 480,'481; Martins, Beiträge, 11, 87,

atl, 214, 385, 525; Herndon and Gibbon, “ Explorations,” 1, p

ecg H. v. Holten, Ztschrft. f. Ethnol., 1877, 105-115 ; J. D. Cor-

Ws: Bolivia,” &c., 1875, 58-70; and to many other original ob-

Servers. This is an exceedingly valuable monograph.

i CANNIBALISM IN New Encranp.—Mr. Henry W. Haynes read

before the Boston Society of Natural History, May 17, 1882, a

Se aaa new evidences of cannibalism among the Indians

ths England from the Island of Mt. Desert, Maine. The

_Surces of the evidence are the shell-heaps, and the witnesses are

rduous professions. Mr. A. W. Butler is the president,

e are indebted for notes on Mexico, and Dr. George

1€ archeologist, who has prepared a complete map

nption of Franklin county.

mA hay ARCHÆOLOGY.—The Anales del Museo Nacional de

ted enti commenced its third volume, the first part being de-

oe ly to archeology in the following papers :

ortant find; An elegant feather cape, by J. Maler.

blet, by Alfredo Chavero

mee of the Goddess of Water, by J. Sanchez.

re Nahuas, by Gumesindo Mendoza.

OGY IN, France.—The Anthropological Society in

other flourishing scientific societies, has its Bulletins —

S. But in Paris they go further, they have a Mu-

opology and a regular faculty, who deliver courses

€ach year upon some division of the subject. To

edifice they issue a quarterly journal, called Revue

454 Generat Notes. [April

d Anthropologie, founded in 1872, by Paul Broca, and edited by

Paul Topinard. In this review will be found original papers,

criticisms, revue préhistorique, revue des livres, revue des jour-

naux, correspondence and bibliography. It would be hard to find

a more comprehensive and reliable periodical. The last number

of 1882 furnishes the following original papers : r

I. List of Broca’s craniometric measures and processes. By Paul Topinard. ou

. Customs of the Japanese: wife, daughter, child, costume, food, &e By G

Maret. :

. Muscular variations in the races of men. By T. Chudzinski.

Populations of the Balkan peninsula. By G. Lejean.

1866, gave $150,000 to found a museum of archæology and eth-

nology. The building erected on the grounds of Harvard Uni-

versity now contains a collection second only to that in Washing-

on. The fifteenth Annual Report, by Professor F. W. Putnam,

contains the balance sheet, the announcement of the curator, 4

list of donations and a communication of sixty-six pages by Mr.

Putnam, upon copper objects from North and South Amam

This is, without doubt, the most valuable publication in existen

upon this subject, and we shall recur to it in a subsequent num

ber of the NATURALIST.

th inde-

THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN.—The Rev. S. D. Peet, wit $

fatigable energy has succeeded in founding a quarterly magazine up

on American aboriginal history, that has just entered upon! ae

volume. After migrations as numerous as those of some of ae ie

it immortalizes, it has settled down in Chicago, not to perish aie

ever, like the aborigines, but to renew its youth. In the ae

- number will be found Mr. Hale’s paper on Indian migrations ©

denced by language, Mr. Barney’s on native races

Mr. Peet’s on Ancient village architecture in America, t the

on an Aztec town in New Mexico, and Mr. Gatschets hie lin-

Chumeto language (California). The number also furnishes =

7 4g sus

whether good or bad; attempts to popularize ethnology by $ ae :

for the people books of travel, &c. It is to the. last n ri pre :

we now refer. Some of the most delightful tidbits © ma

tion upon subjects often hard to get at are to be foun ‘the Sioux

i We have one before us now, entitled “ eee

o akota; eighteen months’ experience as an n T Van

by Capt. D. C. Poole, 22d Infantry, U.S.A., published eo pir-

Nostrand, N. York. The author treats his subject in & of indiat

minded way, draws in a ic manner his picture

_ government, dress, habitations, their hospitality, bravery ©

1883.] Anthropology. 455

durance, and of the virtue and faithfulness of the women. On

the other hand, his eyes were fully open to the disturbing element

of the encroaching superior race. The various schemes for meet-

ing this difficulty are also considered, and wise suggestions made

for their adjustment.

DAWKINS ON THE ANTIQUITY OF Man.—In the course of his ©

address before the British Association, on the present phase of

the antiquity of man, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins took the ground

that the Trenton River stone implements of New Jersey were con-

temporaneous with those of the River Somme in France, while he

did not accept the Pliocene age of man in California, claimed by

Whitney and others. He thus concludes his interesting address:

“It remains now for us to sum up the results of this inquiry, in

which we have been led very far afield. The identity of the im-

plements of the River-drift hunter proves that he was in the same

tude state of civilization, if it can be called civilization, in the Old

tothe same hour, It is not a little strange that his mode of life

should have been the same in the forests to the north and south of

the Mediterranean, in Palestine, in the tropical forests of India,

and on the western shores of the Atlantic. The hunter of the

_ Teindeer in the valley of the Delaware was to all intents and pur-

seid the same sort of savage as the hunter of the reindeer on the

k nks of the Wiley or of the Solent. It does not, however, fol-

=e eat this identity of implements implies that the same race of

_ Men were spread over this vast tract. It points rather to a pri-

“~ and from this the river-drift man found his way into

Fegions where his implements occur. In India he hole

p : n

lores of the Mediterranean prove him to have belonged

456 General Notes. [ April,

either to the temperate or the southern fauna in those regions. It

wiil naturally be asked, to what race can the river-drift man be

referred? The question, in my opinion, cannot be answered in

the present stage of the inquiry, because the few fragments of hu-

man bones discovered along with implements are too. imperfect to

afford any clue. Nor can we measure the interval in terms of

years which separates the river-drift man from the present day,

either by assuming that the glacial period was due to astronomi-

cal causes, and then proceeding to calculate the time necessary for

them to produce their result, or by an appeal to the erosion of

valleys or the retrocession of water-falls. The interval must,

however, have been very great to allow of the changes in geogra-

phy and climate, and the distribution of animals which has taken

place—the succession of races, and the development of civilization

before history began.

MICROSCOPY .!

sulted in intra-cellular derangements. Parallel trials were í ag

fore made of picric acid, osmic acid and iodine, three differen Be

lutions of each being made; one in distilled water, one in alco s

and another in sea-water. The solutions in distilled water 3

alcohol proved almost worthless in each case, while eac eir

solutions in sea-water gave good results. It was found, curious"

enough, that the protoplasm of the cells was more easil

than the nuclei and karyokinetic figures. ; water

Solutions of osmic acid and corrosive sublimate in ed as

gave good preparations, but the iodine solution was regard

the best (re-agent). jodine,

y injured

A few drops of a saturated alcoholic solution of |

_ 1 Edited by Dr. C. O., WHITMAN, Newton Highlands, Mass.

: : -$

(2 Pringsheim’s Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Botanik. Vol. a pP TE

1883.) Microscopy. 457

added to the sea-water, gives the desired results. The alge re-

main in the solution 4-1 minute, and are then transferred di-

rectly into 50 per ct. alcohol.

A new METHOD oF PRESERVING AND STAINING PROTOZOA.—

For preserving these small organisms, various re-agents have been

recommended. Certes! and Landsberg” employ osmic acid ; Kor-

schelt chromic acid or osmic acid ; and Entz,‘ Kleinenberg’s picro-

ulphuric acid.

Finally, Blancë recommends the following very dilute picro-

sulphuric solution :—

ean

Pictic acid (saturated solution in dist. water)........ ae beeterey 100 vol.

Sulphuric acid (concentrated)........ FA BOL.

Distilled water 600 vol

POCO ee ee twee eee eee ewe eee ee eeeeseseeer eee ee eeees

for 15 grams of the solution. The acetic acid is added in order to

sharpen the outlines of the nuclei and nucleoli.

Bick. This liquid is preferable to osmic acid, because it does not

D render the objects non-receptive to staining fluids.

. ‘neentire process of hardening, washing, staining and mount-

mg can be more expeditiously performed under the cover-glass

no otherwise. The acid is allowed to work until the objects

gave become thoroughly yellow. The acid is then replaced by

: ct. alcohol, frequently renewed until the yellow, color

disappears: 96 per ct. alcohol is next used, and then

ardened objects may be stained with picro-carmine, or,

f, With an alcoholic solution of safranin. Five grams of

Pe dissolved in i5 grams of absolute alcohol; the solution

nding a few days, then filtered and diluted with half its

solution of safranin is preferable to picro-carmine, because

more quickly, and because one can so regulate its action

a sharp definition to the protoplasm or the nucleus.

the end

1S renewed until a moment arrives when no visible clouds.

° appear; at this moment the 80 per ct. alcohol is

1 absolute alcohol, and this by clove oil. :

is soluble in alcohol, the process of washing will of

Rend. Acad, Sc., Paris, t. 88.

458 Scientific News. [ April,

course remove or weaken the color; but decoloration is gradual,

so that one needs only to watch and apply the clove oil when the

color has been reduced to the desired intensity. This process

then, as has already been explained in the October number of this

journal, p. 779, consists in over-staining and then removing the

color to any desired degree. The process of decoloration is not

entirely arrested by the application of clove oil, contrary to Blanc's

assertion, hence it should be replaced by Canada balsam as early

as possible. The same method is adapted to other microscopic

animals. j

:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— That measles is a disease of parasitic nature, has been held

‘by Herr Tschamer, who found a small organism in the urine of

persons having scarlatina, and the same in cases of measles and

diphtheria. M. Le Bel, however, has lately found a vibrion peculiar

to measles; it isa short, slightly curved rod, highly refringent, and

very slow in movement. Its spores are held in a pouch of dead

protoplasm, which gradually disappears. Usually these vibrions

appear in the urine and during a few days at first; they dissap-

pear when the fever comes. In one case another occurrence of

spores was observed on the thirty-fifth day in an adult, an the

vibrion persisted. To have an idea of the intensity of the disease,

it is well to examine the urine immediately after emission. Again,

vibrions were found in the skin at the time of desquamation

(scaling). M. Le Bel cultivated the organism in a mixture ©

urine and bouillon, and injected some of the liquid into a rain!

pig. The animal was not inconvenienced ; but on the tenth day

thin vibrions were noticed in its urine; they disappeared on s

zelfth.

nd bury?

— Mr. Fr. Heger extended his researches to new-found ud-

ing-grounds near Hallein (Salsburg), a part of a grou

me Scientific News. 459

ing urns, near Reudorf (Bohemia), and to the partly uncovered

old burying-hills near Winklarn (Infer. Austria). The investiga- -

tions in Carniolia, conducted by M. F. Schulf, proved eminently

successful. Three tumuli have been opened, containing many

sepulchral urns, iron and bronze objects and glass and yellow

amber pearl. Director F. de Hochstetter himself conducted the

diggings near Watsch. Eighty burial-places with as many urns,

filled with ashes and burnt bones, and several others, containing

skeletons were brought to daylight. Many well-preserved bronze

fibule of different pattern, iron points of lances and celts have

been found, together with a bronze helmet with double crest,

quite like one from the burial ground near Hallstatt (Upper Aus-

tria). During the winter of 1881 to 1882, a shepherd dug out a

kettle, made of laminated silver, adorned with figures, now in the

Provincial Museum of Saibach (Carniolia)— Communicated by Dr.

F. V. Hayden,

- rit » When the mammoths lived.” How he extended the

ee Ai Northern Europe and the British Isles and to North

m erica as the result of personal observation is a matter of com-

on scientific history.

ce ary for each of the other branches. The total grant, Spent

460 | Scientific News. { April,

— In a paper on the early votaries of science in Rhode Island,

read by Dr. Parsons, before the Rhode Island Historical Society,

he remarked “that Rhode Island furnished, from the pen of her

founder, the earliest American contribution to philology ; that she

took part in suggesting the first great physical discovery made in

these colonies—that of the relation of electricity to lightning;

that she witnessed the first botanical garden, the first public lec-

tures on anatomy and the first professorship of natural history in

New England, and, finally, that one of her sons, whose medical

education was begun upon her soil, and ‘ripened in the skies of

many lands,’ was the first American to appreciate the value of

vaccination, began its application by submitting his own son to

the repulsive experiment, and succeeded in establishing it, through

doubt and obloquy, in public and lasting confidence.”

— The citizens of Montreal, says the Popular Science Monthly,

to Toronto, Niagara Falls, Boston, New York and New Haven,

or whatever Eastern city the American Association may meet =

The government of the Dominion is expected to make iat

grants of money to defray the expenses of British members, t Í

railroads and steamboats will provide excursions to the grea

lakes and Chicago, and to the provinces of the north-west as pute!

the Rocky mountains; and the association is promised its usua

revenue from the meeting.

— The subscription for the Darwin memorial has awakened ii

much enthusiasm in Sweden, says Nature, that 1400 pama

“from the bishop to the seamstress,” have contributed sum

“ varying from five pounds to two pence.” In Great Britain ;

ersons have contributed to the fund, and many in Germany. a

average intelligence of the people of Denmark, relating to T “ite

tific matters, is shown by the ample support, as the oe i

us, which is given to the Danish Natural History Journal ais

population numbering 1,784,741 souls. We wish as prop reel

ly large a subscription list for the Amertcan NAT

be made up in a population of 50,000,000! Those hey are

State and town aid to higher schools little know what they *"

doing to reduce the average education of our people.

— New facts concerning rabies in various animals bars Sii

presented to the French Academy by M. Pasteur, wi, they

Chamberland, Roux and Thaillier. All forms of rabies, ith

claim, come from the same virus. Death, after inoculation

Scientific News, 461

rabid saliva, may be either from a microbe found in the saliva,

from formation of much pus, or from rabies. The virus of rabies

is found not only in the medulla oblongata, but in the brain and

spinal cord. Animals sometimes recover after the first symptoms

of rabies, never after the acute symptoms. The authors have

now four dogs which cannot take rabies, however inoculated ;

whether this is from having had a mild form of it and recovered,

or from being naturally refractory, they cannot at present say.

contain an innumerable quantity of small organisms (vibrions and

bacteria) endowed with motion. The corpuscles, especially the

white ones, were profoundly altered; these (white) were much

more numerous than usual. Further, there were a number of

_ void corpuscles, about two-thirds or three-fifths of the size of

T the blood corpuscles, with one to three budding appendices. Hal-

~ lier has described this vegetal ferment of rabid blood, and he

i ray the fungus Lyssophyton. Lastly, the blood contained a

lob

eet The advantage of planting trees in streets and open spaces

yee has been the subject of correspondence in the local press

, æ@neva. Dr. Piachaud concludes that trees in streets do more

harm than

Pica as a protection from dust, while the evaporation from

Me Sand-storm was raging in Kern county a few days

it was raining in Fresno county a hundred miles further

The Sand was carried by the Kern-county storm up into

Upper stratum of air, when it was carried northward, and

he cz, Mto the rain-storm of Fresno county, descended with

- the Expositor mentions the fact of a mud-storm, but

mot account for the real estate portion of the mixture.— Cali-

ata A , Feb, ZO.

€ numbers of Science have been received. This is a

umal corresponding to the English Nature. It is pub-

Cambridge, Mass., by Moses King, and edited by S. H.

ag Be euch a journal was needed, and will doubtless

i ‘oe

462 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. (April,

— Another journal, of which we have received Nos. 1 and2

under the same cover, is the Bulletin of the Buffalo Naturalists

Field Club. The ornithological, botanical and especially Dr.

Kellicott’s notes on the early stages of certain caterpillars, are

particularly good. Some of the articles have a pleasant literary

flavor.

— Professor R. Owen, the veteran comparative anatomist, though

seventy-nine years old,is still in good health and publishing im-

portant papers. Rumors of his ill health are contradicted, we are

glad to see, by Nature.

— A most-interesting paper by Commander J. R. Bartlett, U.

S. N., assistant in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, on the Gulf

stream, appears in the Bulletin of the American Geographical So-

ciety.

— A third issue is S. E. Cassino’s Scientific and Literary Gos-

sip, edited by J. S. Kingsley. It appears once a month and con-

tains selected and critical articles,

— Professor P. A. Chadbourne, who died on the 16th of Feb.,

was lately president of Williams College, and at the time of his

death president of Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was _

in earlier years a zealous and successful teacher of science. He ;

gave moral and pecuniary aid to struggling students of er ;

and though he spent little time in original research, he i

younger men in their studies. He led the Williams Col ne

expedition to Labrador and Greenland in 1860, when conside :

material new to science was collected and worked up by ened

attached to the expedition. 4

— We neglected to record the death last year of Pop

Leith Adams, the author of a work on tertiary mammals of ge

and of works of travel, one relating to New Brunswick, east

resided for a period. His chair of Natural History at Qu iM.

College, Cork, has been filled recently by the appointment 0 a

M. Hartog. : |

; — om

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

PROCEEDINGS OF THE PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF Sc a :

July 25.—Mr. Meehan stated that a Broussonetta per hun-

recently fruited Though the plant had been introduc change

dred years, only males had hitherto been known, so that -

from male to female had in this instance taken place. “as of Fo :

Aug. 8.—The Rev. H. C. McCook described the is ck slaves

mica sanguinea upon F. fusca—raids in which the bla labor %

assist their red masters. Reds and blacks shared "a places

raising the young. The nests of F. fusca, conspicuous

1883 | Proceedings of Scientific Socteties, -> 463

where there were no red ants, were hard to find where the latter

were common. An attempt to introduce the red ant into a city

yard, failed through the attacks of the common pavement ant,

Tetramorium cespitum.

Aug, 15—Mr. Meehan exhibited some flowers of Helianthus

mollis, and informed the academy that’ out of sixty-eight flowers

in his garden, all but two faced south-east, although to so face

they had to make a circuit.

Aug. 22.—Dr. Leidy stated that a parrot, eighty years of age,

required the food to be placed in its mouth, as was the case with

pigeons which have been deprived of their brains. That mam-

mals lived longer before man interfered with them, was shown by

the wear of the crowns of fossil teeth.

Sept. 5—A paper entitled “ Conchologia Hongkongensis,’ by

S. W. Eastlake, was presented.

sO r was presented from Mr. R. E. C. Stearns,

upon the verification of the habitat of Conrad’s Mytilus bifurcatus

Mr. Meehan stated his belief that the want of trees upon the

prairies was due to nothing but the annual Indian fires; he be-

lieved the Indians existed prior to the recession of the lakes of

€ prairie region ; his remarks applied especially to Illinois ; Pro-

>or Lewis stated that evidences of glacial action abounded in

Illinois, while there was no evidence that man was pre- glacial.

4 Leidy described Acyclus inquietus, a rotifer with a finger-like

Process instead of ciliary disks, and gave particulars of other

rotifers without rotary organs.

2 Pt. 26—Dr. Leidy presented a paper entitled “ Rotifers

without rotary organs.”

acs, 3—Dr. Skinner remarked that the organs of offence of

a of Papilio, usually believed to be solid, is really hollow,

ns in and out upon itself. Dr. H. Allen spoke upon the asym-

mae of the nasal organs, exhibited principally by the septum,

Ich in most human skulls is deflected ; a portion of the lining

Mr. M e has an erectile character, which is probably protective.

sess eehan stated that at Atlantic City he had closely examined

birds ae on the sand, usually believed to be the tracks of

ök er had found that they were due to the action of water

Cis. tenanted by colonies of Hippa talpoides.

10.—Drs. Wood and Formad presented a paper upon the

vegi of diphtheria, and the Rev. H. C. McCook another upon

Snares of orb-weaving spiders. Dr. Wood stated that the

per o maceous plant “ Remigia,” the bark of which yields two

ve Snt. of quinine and.a peculiar alkaloid known as cinchonanine,

Bü ably capable of cultivation in many parts of the South-

See and in California. The Rev. H. C. McCook described

he eee ol Epeira, Æ gemma from Colorado, £. conifera, E.

: D from New Hampshire, and Æ. dicentennari@.

~ 17—Mr. Meehan stated that an isolated Ginko tree, in

TE Eie. v- a

464 Proctedings of Scientific Societies. (April,

Kentucky, had fruited; Cephalotaxis fortunii had been proved

moncecious, and he believed that all conifers were probably so.

Dr. Leidy described Pyxicola annulata, an infusorian with a chit-

inous shell, which it can close with a kind of operculum; it lives

upon plumatella. Professor Heiiprin spoke upon the fossil shells

of the Claibone beds of Texas.

Oct. 31.—The Rev. H. C. McCook drew attention to the useof —

ants as insecticides by Chinese, and stated his belief that as no

American species lived on trees, the probabilities were against

their usefulness for a similar purpose.

Nov. 7.—The following papers were presented: “ Revision of

Swainson’s genera of fishes,” by Jos. Swain; “ Ants as beneficial

insecticides,” by the Rev. H. C. McCook, the latter of whom

advocated the importation of the ant used in China for the pro-

tection of orange trees. Professor Koenig spoke of the common

occurrence, in West Philadelphia, of enclosures of biotite m

muscovite. ;

Nov. 14.—Mr. Meehan stated that the nest of the wood pewee

is not held together by any viscid secretion, but by cobwebs. `.

Nov. 21.—Mr. Wortman declared that the fossil Ursus amphi-

dens described by Dr. Leidy in 1853, was probably identical with

the variety of D. ferox now living in the same district, vi2, the

eastern slope of the Rocky mountains; Dr. Leidy endorsed Mr.

Wortman’s conclusion. Mr. Townsend called attention to the

rapidity with which the lost fangs of the rattlesnake were replac H

and mentioned a case in which they had been extracted an

re-developed six times. oS f the

Nov. 28.—Professor Koenig objected to Reinsch’s views ©

microscopic structure of coal. "a

Dec. 5.—Dr. Horn remarked upon the singular distribution

the apterous water-beetle Amphizoa, one species 0 which 1 fat

its California, a second the district northward of that State as s

as Vancouver’s island, while a third has been found high up

the mountains of Thibet. Mr. Meehan exhibited a spormi

Acroclinium rosea, some of the flowers of which were made

ble by the development of the chaffy scales of the re

Professor Cope presented a paper upon Uintatherium,

Seg: e awe

don and Triisodon, and gave the substance of it ve fishes

Dec. 12.—Papers upon the identification of the species of

in Shaw’s ni asioi, by Jos. Swain, and on Er -i

the Nearctic as a zodlogical region, by Pr ofessor Hei Pr Baul

presented. Dr. Leidy made some remarks upon ihe for whether

dz of North America, and said that it was difficult to te bee

fossilized bones of Equus belonged to the recent species be

extinct one that so nearly resembled it. Professor Cope this col

that the coincident existence of man and of the home"? -bearing

tinent would yet be demonstrated. The California g

gravels contain the remains of both. The first travelers

1883.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 465

cended the Paraguay twenty years after the discovery of America,

reported that they found horses in abundance. He had reason

to believe that the foot of Orohippus Marsh, did not differ from

that of Hyracotherium. Specimens collected in the Laramie beds

by Mr. Wortman strengthened his belief in their Cretaceous age.

A genus of Mammalia had been discovered by Mr. Wortman,

which he named Meniscoëssus. Its molar teeth resemble that of

Stereognathus Ow., of the Oolite. Professor Heilprin stated his

belief, from a comparison of the Mammalia, that the Nearctic

should be considered to form a portion of the Palearctic, and pro-

the name Triarctic to include both. Professor Cope

dwelt upon the distinctness of the Nearctic reptiles and fishes

from those of the Palearctic. Dr. Horn said that the coleoptera

found north of the St. Lawrence were likely to occur also in the

north of Asia, while those found south of that river were more

closely allied to those of Mexico. The general character of the

Japanese coleoptera was similar to that of the eastern United States.

The Rev. H. C. McCook stated that the distribution of ants sup-

ported Professor Heilprin’s position, but that there was not the

same correspondence between the spiders of the two regions.

Mr. Tryon declared that the northern part of both continents con-

tained the same genera and even the same species of mollusks,

but that farther south the differences increased.

Sera 19.—Dr. H. Allen spoke of the irregularity of the folds

the hard palate and the assymmetry of the dental arch, and

the ; in the embryo six regular curves range across

Palate, but at birth these have become irregular ; the speaker

aR Ns of Meniscotherium terrerubr@,a genus near Hyrax, and be-

eas = rosten Condylarthra; the teeth are tapiroid in

— Professor Lewis presented a paper upon “ Enclosures

y a oyite,” and Alexis A. Julien an aei the “ Genesis

mh, ne Iron Ores,”

— Hon of th Professor Cope presented a paper upon the distribu-

Wortm.. p atrachia and Reptilia in western North America. Mr.

-skull of G rew attention to the fact that the museum contained a

De Leig anis lupus, possessing a third molar in the upper jaw.

we i Sy mentioned that he knew of an adult man with only

D and two premolars on each side of each jaw.

€ ro-

true molars, Said that he had seen a large dog with four inferior

466 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, (April, 1883.

Jan. 16—A paper on Quercus durandi, by S. B. Buckley, was

read.

Jan. 23—Dr. Skinner stated that Argynnis cydele, instead of

carefully depositing the eggs, as is usual with butterflies, dropped

them from a distance upon the herbage.

Jan. 30—Papers were presented on Urnatella gracilis, by Dr.

Leidy, and on the terrestrial Mollusks of the Society islands, by

A. Garrett. Mr. Townsend exhibited a hybrid between the snow-

bird and the white-throated sparrow, and stated that the hybrids

between North American birds appeared to be rare. Professor

Lewis presented a rudely beveled piece of sandstone from the —

Philadelphia red gravel. It was believed to be artificial. Mr. —

Potts stated that he had examined the dam and reservoir at Fair-

mount for sponges, to find whether the decay of these organisms

contaminated the water. Mpyonia leidyi, the most abundant, was

a close-grained sponge, with but little sarcode; he did not believe

decaying sponges caused the pollution of the water.

Feb. 6-~Professor Cope described a new extinct genus and

species of Sirenia under the name of. Dioplotherium manigault

Professor Leidy exhibited some Anodontas six inches in length,

rom a pond in New Jersey, and Professors Lewis and Heilpria

identified them with a species found in the pre-glacial clay.

BrotocicaL Society oF WasHINGTON, Feb. 16.—Communice

tions were as follows: Discussion of Dr. Coues’ paper on pie!

ical nomenclature applied to histology ; Mr. Newton P. Scu «

-on biology and classification; Mr. John A. Ryder on the ge

tures of protoplasm and karyokinesis. f the

arch 2.—Professor Otis T. Mason on the human fauna 0

District of Columbia; Dr: Thomas Taylor on section nese on

mounting of hard woods, with illustrations; Dr. M. G. Eliseg

hybrid sterility.

New York Acapemy or Sciexces Feb. 12.—The vl i

papers were read: Minerals from the Weehawken ea he

exhibition of specimens), by Mr. B. B. Chamberlin; On ohia S

ogy and ore-deposits of Northeastern Chihuahua, by Dr. J

Newberry.

Mr.

+ ge

APPALACHIAN Mountain CLUB, Boston, Feb. ie Club, and

showed with a lantern some views taken on the trip AG

by Mr. John Tatlock, Jr., on the principal co-efficien

barometric formula of Laplace as applied to the

tain region was read.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Society, Feb. 1I

ý s h

Alfred Aylward delivered a lecture entitled, Dute

Africa.”

White Mouw

andant

5. = Com

| AMERICAN NATURALIST,

AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE

ES TURAL HISTORY.

EDITED BY

A. S. PACKARD, Jr, axo EDWARD D. COPE.

ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

W. N. LOCKINGTON, DEP. OF GEOGRAPFY AND TRAVELS.

Pror. H. CARVILL LEWIS, DEPARTMENT OF MINERALOGY.

ProF. HENRY SEWALL, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY.

’ Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, DEPARTMENT OF MICROSCOPY.

VOLUME XVII.

PART SECOND.

3 PHILADELPHIA :

n PRESS OF McCALLA & STAVELY,

Nos. 237 AND 239 Dock STREET.

1883.

CONTENTS.

The Some Brazilian Expedition. (Second on The

and wg Pao YMG) o os : . Herbert H. Smith . . . 707, 107

ee rk ey A Charles: Morrison.: C. usnis PAT

Pearls and Pearl iiis; PEN i. sbeihirtes Pearl Products.)

a sens, ae eee eee Wo Bi: Dalh OPO aN T

Catlinite; its its Antiquity as a material for Tikoved Pipes. [Illus-

RR MN os ee ales Guisc.ad ore Edwin A. Barber... ... 745

ee MOURN eg oy GL bes oo wns B.S. Hills wan ioe 811, 1028

On the Classification of the Linnzan Orders of Orthoptera and

es oid oii h viii h lev A. S. Packard, afi sisi Ly B20

Power of Scent in the T Wiis Vette o.oo cans Saniel N. Rhoadls c, +i: 4+. 829

a (Continued “hg re ie Dena 1882.)

lutiona ry Signifi cance ai inp Character, See eR N- ORD 8 L ieee tee ae te 907

Sa ania onthe Habits oi (

principalis), [Illustrat i1.. PTEE SE ene rra RaW, Aufl ORN 919

AN E Cio dee Arrik a oenas 926

the Genealogy of y prei [Ilustrated], - ge. washes A. S. Packard, Jove. ++ 932

te Bi A ane be oa eA Ak J E A ETET PEA 945

Sy er Clee BETS T EE eee . N. Lockington . . +1003

On the Shells of the Coleco desert and the Region farther

tone - [Illustrat Es a ee obert E. C. Stearns 1014

aa Report C4, Second Geological Survey of $: Aort

ngs E A E E Fersifor Frazer.. ..»... o

a valid ¢ NE SUN ea ay E mo è F UNE e E ee oe 1034

ab Staten Island, New York. ......... Sierry Fant so +: + s 1037

‘Ge of SE E a A a G T Suy TaM: r e ees 1039

chenial err Ad ee T Sterry Hunt... . = + =

ee ee Toda e OS T Macio. ; 1102

Me eet Hate, liiect) 202 Maen 1107

tp vad a Reuter Ts R R. Ramsay Wright.. s... 1112

- Thed Australia. (Iustrated.],. . s,s . Edward B. Sanger. ...+- 1117

mmber of Segments i in the Head Aat iest Insects. [Iilus-

i wits POG eee ie ae e R 6 POLT

hon wer, tree Sk bk s e JORR Ol. COMIS Scere ee

NEOs Coen larus. [Illus a , ie H Fernald... cvai: 1217

; of Cooper’s eon P ikas

Uaa s K . .. . Edward B. Sanger.. » . 1220

S eM By a oS, Theodore Link. sea ats

Experiments with (Tinstrated.] , a E EAE EN E Richard E, Kunze.. .... 1229

Position op nn antenna cts. C JA: Porter lin Sasien 1238

System. X the Compositæ and Orchideæ i in nite Blecural 7 a e

A e aaa S E OTEA Tgp n O aes

bits of Certain Sunfish. ` NE se Oe ath a a bce mae

: Toon Ta \

oF geological nomencla d cartography, 764; The British and American

A Advancement of hac in 1884. 765; Classical vs. sape; ge “pt ;

t Autoptien ce, 955; Questionable Innovations in Nomenclature, 1041 of the

ged eat The Study of Zoology in the Common seem: so Gov-

Contents.

RECENT LITERATURE,

hite’s Non-marine Fossil Mollusca of North America, 765; Wilder pee n ’s Anatomical

Technology as applied to the domestic Cat, 768 ; Recent Books and Pamphlets, 769 ; Joly’s Man

before Metals sch eR nid Second aii Survey of the pb ‘Conlhek of Penn-

sylvania, 851; CoueseS New England Bird Life, 854; Late Works on Evolution, 855;

; si tists’ Di-

d its

Tortugas and Florida Reefs, ‘pie Groff’s Mineral Analysis, 1268; Recent Books

hlets, 1268.

GENERAL Notes.

Geography and Travels.—The Arctic Regions, 771; Africa, 773, 863; America, 865; Asia,

866; America, 961; Asia, 962; Africa, 963; Geographical Notes, mo America, ; he

1145; Africa, 1147; America, 1150f; Nordens kiold’s Journey of two hundred miles into

Interior of Greenland, 1151 ; Geographical Notes, Irs1 ; The Dutch fairs Expedition,

; ica, 1269.

Geology and Paleontology—The S dA a Laramie Dinossurian Te

trated], 774; A new Edentate, 7 gical News, 778; A new Pliocene formation

; Geolo yi

nake River valley, 867; The ‘‘ lt Trochanter ” of T Dino osaurs, 869 ; pes ai

in France, 869 ; Geology of Lower Merion and Vicinity, 965; Hulke aa a sere 9:

Pl rus, Some new Mammalia of the Puerco Formati ;

Mr. Rand on the Geological Survey of Chester and Delaware counties, Penna., 1052; ii

pheric Dust S, ; The Progress of the Un in Terti r

logical Notes, 1057; A Chondrostean from the Eocene, 1152; The C ;

1153; The Quat ds at Billancourt, Pari 53; T a bi apres ae a .

is, 1153; The Java

of Paleozoic Rocks in tetera Brazil, 1156; Geological Notes, 1157 ; + Tracks in

the Geology of California. r271 ; The Cranium of Iguanodon, 1273; Discovery © ani a

Jura-trias of cra ae ; hoeslioie Appendages of Trilobites [Illustrated],

ogical Notes,

ite, a new mineral, 779 ; The Artificial formation of Mi s

; Concretions in Diassóait , 781; Mineralogical Notes, 781 ; Empholite, a new 872; The jn

The Cornwall Tin ores, 871; Mine Skye, 872; Mineralogical Nor ondini sA

fluence of Light on Minerals, » Rutile in Phlogopite, 1058; A new use pai

arees 1059; “ Sulfuraires,” 1059 ; nite, 1059; Mine sills A

tudies upon Rocks, 1158; Stibnite from Jn according

oe of Apatite, 1160; Precious Iolite Brazil, 1160; Se Oe ae ened Minerals, 0“

ion, 1161; Lithiophilite, 1161 ; So’ ecently form én; Mi af

ri Iphuric acid, 1162; Picranalci ise ; Mineralogical T poy

the Cryolite group from Colorado, 1278; The Uranium Minerals, 12 278; M

and Berks counties, Pa., 1279 ; Mineralogical Norisi 1279.

ues, 785; & Se

Botany.—Notes on the study of Fungi, 782 ; Analysis of Vegetable see ?, 73, Nectat in Spe

Gy lines, 787; Botanical Notes, 787; Ellis’ North American Fungi i

Contents, v

, 874; Botany at the Minneapolis meeting of the A. A. A. S., te Equisetum arvense

L., var. serotinum Meyer, 875; New Plants from California and Nev. a, etc., I, 875; Better

Methods of Teaching Botany, 876; Botanical Notka 877; The Growth ‘a Plants in Acid Solu-

hoe, 972; New s fi i

» 1067; Watson’s Cloister adie to American Botany, x1, 1163; A Hybrid Moss,

1164; Taan coe in Æcidium, 1164; New Species of North American Fungi, 1154; A

Study of The Survival of the F ttest, aad Prager soon ee reap pak 1168 ;

hae tease of Ins Mids stein Fun n Gy telia,

128r ; The Structure of the Cell-wall in "Be ra aind Sieli of w pisá pier im

trated, 1282; New Florida Fungi, I, 1283 ; Botanical Notes, 1285,

Entomology.—A unique and beautiful Noctuid T amk. Insects = stored Rice,

79°; S ain morphoses of the Meloidz, 790 ; Color ere in nocturnal Lepidoptera,

791; Entomological otes, 792; Caprification, 877 ; aia of "Gall fin, Plant-lice, 879 ;

on cynthia eon on the Sassafras and Tulip tree, 879 ; Lichtenstein’s Nomenclature of the

P ented in the Life-history of the Aphidida, 879; The old, old question of

ies, 975 ; ; Hiie ii 57 975; Salt-water Insects used as Food, 976; Altrdaifod of gen-

cration in Aphidi ; Food-plants of Samia hi fah Bitten by an Aphid? 977 ; Injury

by Colaspis tristis, 978 ; Steganoptycha a, Age mology at Minneapolis,

: ; The

rre

unonia cæœnia at Natick, Mass., ; The Colorado ona 1174; Rare Monstrosities,

1175; The Nervous System of ieee , 1175; Hymenorus rufi a myrmicophilous species,

1176; Migration of aaa sige: ; Recent Pibilcatoas, 1177; viet mological Notes, 1177; An

Epidemic Disease oi ialis, 1286; Occurrence of a Stratiomys Larva in Sea-

8 1287; Some recent Discoveries in pecan’ 3 Phylloxera 1288; Coleoptera infesting

ckly Ash, 1288; The Growth of Insect Eggs, 1289; Fe ctive devie ce employed by a Glau-

Fon eller, 1289 ; Saw-fly Larvae on the Quince, 1289; Entomolo ic in New York, 1289 ;

it Insects in agn 1291 ; Death of Dr. J. L. LeConte, 1291; Entomological Notes,

t391; Economic Notes, 1

ete, i TEL, or Pennatulida, 793; Heterozenetic Development in Diaptomus,

cages nanana ; The Coxal spen of SEETI and Crustacea, 795; Submetamorpho-

i Pace of the ; The Osteological racters of the genus Histriophoca, 798; The Breed.

the Isthmi ; ite tra [Illustrat rated], er Zoological Notes, 798a; Note on a Peripatus from

The — Illustra vere 881; The Structure ‘ad Embryology of Peripatus, 882 ;

nilla, 88. iti

nosomæ, 1077; The Cene Bi 078; cha

Ont 1078 ; Wn Reavers

oolog' mE

imulus (Must, nges [Illustrated], 1293; Pyrgula sont 1296; Sexual Characters of

. Te 1297; A new Snake Rom New Mexico, 1300; Habits of the Aye-aye,

1301,

vi Contents.

Physiology.—Locomotor System of Medusz, 891; The Origin of Fat in the Body, 391; The

Formation of Milk, 892; Interaction of the Spinal Nerve Roots , 892; Chemical tone

i d ter, 892; Nutrition of the Frog’ r 75 prolonged Hun-

ger upon the Blood Corpuscles, 893; Study he Physiology of the Kidney by

of its Change of Volum I; e Action of Ethyl Alcohol upon the Dog’s Heart, 1082; Rela-

tion of Art Press to the Duration of the Systole and Diastole of the Heart-beat, 1083;

The Excitation the - nters by Induction Shock 3; The Function of the

aso-motor Ce uction S,1

Spleen, A Tne Tubercle-bacillus, r195; The Function of the Cochlea, 1195 ; The ne

puscle of the Blood and its relation to Coagulation, 1303; Digestion of Meats and Milk, 1395;

y west Chlorophyll, 1305.

Psychology. — Gluttony in a Frog, 800; Activity of the Senses in new-born I i Bor; The

English Sparrow in Canada, 894 ; fasiiuch or Reasoning Powers in the Horse, 895 ; How Snakes

approach and swallow their Prey, 896; Battle of Ravens, 897; Reasoning Powers x apies

1199; Sense of Direction in Animals, 1199 ; The Intelligence of the American Turret Spider,

1305 ; Notes on a Happy Family, 1306 ; Gallant Conduct of a Robin, 1307.

Anthropology. — The growth of Children, 801 ; The American pet e 802; The Pipe

of Peace, 803; Comparative sal Philosophical Raiha into the chara of the e

an i i

899 ; ogy, 899; T : Tu a :

ippine Seg , 989 ; Shell Ornaments and Pipes ; Bertillon’s “ Savage Races,” 99°:

The American Autochthones, s; The Keike Asa 1085; The Charnay Collection,

1085 ; Revue ? Ethnographie, ; Anthropology in France, 1087; The American Antiquarian

hri i

y, 1087; tites ca,

Wisconsin Historical Collections, 1202; Iron from Ohio Mounds, 1203; Hum The

1204; Indian aT 1308; Notation of Kinship, 1309; German Anthropo logy, pni

Origin of Invention, 1310

Microscopy.—F P's Method of fixing S on the Slide, 805; ma

ting Fluid, 806; Rose bengale in combination with Iodine Green an d Blew de “te

Staining with Aniline Dyes, 90 ; Thr elfall’s Method of Fixing par 993;

pee in

5 =

n §

& =

[s]

Sesah 1089 ; Treat tment of Pelagic Fish Pass, 1204; Motor Nerve Ending, 1205;

Andres and Giesbrecht, 1312 ; The Registering Mitek screw, 1313; 4

13tq; An Improvement in the Carriers, 1315; Type-metal Boxes for A 13

Scientrric News, 807, 903, 998, 1093, 1206, 1318. ; T

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES,

Biological Society of Washington, 810; New York y of Sci 810; ere

of Natural History, 8:0; Appalachian Mountain cle = ean ‘Academy of N

Sciences, 905; New York Academy of Sciences, 906; Philadelphia Academy of

ences, 1000; Ameri Association for the A nt of ; 1093 ; Borne

Natural History, 1208 ; N y of Scie 1208; Sit i k New York

urforschender Freu Berlin, 1208; Biological Society of Washington, 13"; a

Academy of Sciences, 1318; of Na History, ask ;

ton

, Philadelphia, 1319; American Philosophical Society, 1

Haven, 1322,

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvi.— MAY, 1883.—No. 5.

WAMPUM AND ITS HISTORY.

BY ERNEST INGERSOLL.

E use of a circulating medium to facilitate commerce by

Simplifying the awkward devices of barter, is supposed to

a ee

| indicate a considerable advance towards civilization in the people

employing it. On this score the North American Indians ought

to stand high in the list of barbarians, since they possessed

an aboriginal money of recognized value, although it had no

“auction other than common custom. This money was made

Se or et) a eee

syed: aarti

fro

m sea-shells, and was known by various names, of which one

rvived popularly—wampum—to designate all varieties of

l shell beads and money,

ae Sea-shells, indeed, seem to have commended themselves for

- Purpose to widely different peoples. The great circulation

which the cowrie

è -shell ( Cypræa moneta) attained in tropical Africa,

and the South Sea islands, will occur to the reader. It was

TRS = coin of those regions in trading with the savages to the

X xclusion of everything else; and ships going after cargoes of

ae Pig Palm oil, sandal wood and similar products, were obliged

a" 8 Provide themselves with cargoes of cowries, at Zanzibar

a. same other port where they could be bought.

: itand = Was required to turn a cowrie into a coin was to find

Punch a small hole in it. But the American money was a

a Fe ee ee es eo ee

PO et oy

Pb advance upon this, since it was a manufactured article,

a wea tion to the €xertion of securing the mollusk’s shell, there

3 large expenditure of labor in fashioning the bead which

coin. Lindstrom (in Smith’s History of New Jersey)

’s utmost manufacture amounted only to a few

=No, v, 33

468 Wampum and its History. . [May,

pence a day; and all writers enlarged upon the great labor and

patience needed to make it, especially at the South. Hence the

purchasing power of a Wampum bead was far in advance of that

of a cowrie, the dentalium of the Pacific coast, or any other un-

wrought shell used as money; and this form was probably an

evolution from the use of single small shells, which still pre-

vail to some extent on the western shore of the continent.

Many small fresh-water shells, suitable for stringing and unsuited

for ornamental purposes, have been found in mounds and graves

in the Mississippi valley, and many archzologists believe that

these were employed as the currency of the tribes of that region;

it is very probable, but there seems to be little’or no positive evi-

dence (of record), that such was the case.

The very earliest accounts of North America show that this

money was in common and widespread service among the natives

as far north as the Saskatchewan, and westward to the Rocky

mountains. Among the far western tribes, who obtained it after

a succession of barterings through races living between them and

the coast, the beads came to be considered rare and precious, and

were devoted almost wholly to ornament; but everywhere east

the Mississippi their circulation commonly as a buying and sell-

ing medium seems well assured. The evidences of this are de-

rived not only from the accounts of early visitors to the tribes of

the interior, but from relics abounding at their village sites and

in their graves. :

The Pacific coast had a shell-money of entirely different char-

acter from that of the Atlantic side of the continent, but I defer

reference to it until later. The eastern money consisted of w

gated beads of two colors, white, and purplish or brownish b i

The white variety was most plentiful and of inferior value. o

was commonly made from the large univalves, Sycotypus i uff:

ulatus and Fulgur carica, whose pear-shaped, coiled shells are ail i

ciently alike to be easily confounded under the vernacular ae

“ periwinkle,” “ winkle ” or “conch.” But sometimes other ;

terial was used. Thus the “New England’s Rarities dicor =

: “ : le of whose —

by John Josselyn, gent, reads: “A kind of coccle ©

shell the Indians make their beads called wampumpese oget

mohaicks. The first are white,” etc. This is an ae P

Williams wrote in his “ Key :” “The New England & fm

ignorant of Europe's coyne. * * * Their owne i ft

1883.] Wampum and its History. 469

sorts; one white, which they make of the stem or stock of the

Periwincle, which they call Meteathok, when all the shell is broken

off” Again he says: “Their white they call Wampam (which

signifies white).” Loskiel, however, tells us that wompom was an

Iroquois word “ meaning a muscle.” The wampum made from

the periwinkle was distinguished in law as late as 1663 in Rhode

Island, and in 1679, Wooley, describing New York, says of it:

“They [the Indians] make their White Wampum or Silver of a

kind of Horn, which is beyond Oyster-bay ”—a phrase that cer-

tainly would not apply to a bivalve.

It appears certain, then, that the coiled, univalve, periwinkle

shells (they are from six to ten inches in length) were largely used

for this inferior grade of currency. It was only necessary to

take out one or two small sections of the central column of the

spire and smooth the edges; the hollow core made them natural

beads. Smith’s “ History of New Jersey” (1765) informs us that

this was precisely the plan followed, for it relates that “the white

wampum was worked out of the inside of the great conques into

the form of a bead, and perforated to string on leather.” Still

earlier testimony comes from the southern coast. Thus Beverly,

m his “ History and Present State of Virginia” (1705), records

that the riches of the Indians there consisted of “ Peak, Roenoke

and such-like trifles made out of the Cunk Shell.. Peak is of two

Sorts, or rather of two colors, both are made of one Shell, tho’ of

erent parts; one is a dark Purple Cylinder, and the other a

white ; they are both made in size and figure alike.’ The same

author also mentions a poorer kind of money yet, “ made of the

cockle shell, broke into small bits with rough edges, drill’d

ough in the same manner as Beads, and this they call Roenoke.”

ee authorities corroborate this and prove what I have been led

oe upon—the fact that the conchs were used mainly for

a white money, —because the popular idea has been that aX the

_ “7, Money was made from the valves of quahaug.

This bivalve is one of the commonest mollusks on the shore of

. “astern America south of Cape Cod. It is a thick, somewhat

a bec shell which buries itself in the sand under pretty deep

‘ wa The Indians gathered it alive by wading and feeling

ia S toes or by diving, and ate the animal with great gusto;

“Under the indeed, an article of extensive sale in all our markets

a sin © name of round or hard clam or quahaug, the scientific

: being Venus mercenaria.

470 Wampum and its History. [ May,

Toward the anterior end of the otherwise white interior of each

of the valves of this mollusk’s shell is a deep purple or brownish-

black scar indicating the point of muscular attachment—fishermen

call it the “eye.” This dark spot was broken out of the shell by

the Indians, and formed the material of their more valuable coins.

In descriptions of it we meet with a new list of terms and addi-

tional confusion. It was worth, on the average, twice as much as

the white variety ; and the latter was frequently dyed to counter-

feit it. Moreover, Loskiel is authority for the statement that the

natives of the New Jersey coast “used to make their strings of

wampum chiefly of small pieces of wood of equal size, stained

either black or white.” These were held far inferior to shell-

beads of either color; but I know of no other example of this

species of counterfeiting or substitution.

In New England Roger Williams describes this superior money

as follows : “ The second is black, inclining to blue, which is made

of the shell of a fish which some English call Hens, Poguaihock:

This money, he says, was called “ Suckéubock! (Súcki signifying

blacke).” Josselyn gives mohaicks as the Connecticut word.

Among the Dutch on the Hudson river (and frequently elsewhere)

seawant was the usual term, and they spoke of it as black or

white. There the various shades of blue, purple and dull black

found separate names, but made no change in value. In notices

of it among the early writers, whose carelessness is apparent, the

words wampum, wompam, wompom, wampampeege, wampumpeage

wampeage, peage, peag, wampum peak, mohaicks, suckauhock, <

wan, seawant, roenoke, ronoak and others occur. Seawant e

to have been properly a generic term indicating any and allen

of shell money; wampum was often used thus and is pie |

used altogether ; but originally it seems to have meant the p

beads alone, while the words peag (in its various forms), me Vit-

hock and mohaitks represented the black. In Beverly pas :

ginia,” however, this is precisely reversed, which leads us t0 wes

that the author made a mistake; southern writers unite IN pg

peak generic, while roenoke is a word unknown at the M

All of these terms are misspelled derivatives from roots M l

- 1 Misprint for suckaužock. oe

2“ Roanoke (a small kind of beades) made of oyster shells, which ae Haris

one to another, as we doe money (a cubites length valuing s!* pence oo

(1614), p. 41. For “a bushel” of these Powhatan sold his daugther:

- Poin Delawares in fact had a tribal treasury of wampum, out of

: jou paa the expenses of public affairs. At certain feasts

ikd ` quantity of it was thrown upon the ground to be scram-

FE Se i el aR eae NR ie O eae aa a ne Pomel YU ae te ae eh y aie Si oe ate

( E: FESR ee See aoe Se ate

Od for by.

1883.] Wampum and its History. 471

“shell,” and the Indian names for the Venus show their close

affinity with the group. “ Porcelan ” was a Dutch appellation.

Some of the methods of making this finer sort of bead-coin are

interesting. “ Before ever they had aw/e-blades from Europe they

made shift to bore their shell-money with stone.” This was

around Narragansett, and in the shell-heaps along the New Eng-

land coast are hidden these old flint awls of prehistoric design,

which may have been spun in some cases by a small bow such as

jewelers employ at present. In Virginia Beverly found that

both sorts of peak were “in size and figure alike and resembling

the English Buglas, but not so transparent nor so brittle. They

are wrought as smooth as glass, being one-third of an inch long

and about a quarter in diameter, strung by a hole drilled through

the center.” Lawson describes the drilling, “ which tl.e Indians

Manage with a nail stuck in a cane or reed. Thus they roll it

continually on their thighs with their right hand, holding the bit

of shell with their left; so in time they drill a hole quite through

t, which is very tedious work, but especially in making their

tonoak.” Brickell (1737) is worth reading on this point also.

The Coinage, so to speak, of this shell-money was, therefore, a

Werk of patient labor, and there was no fear of increasing the

ne wd beyond the demands of trade by the worth of one deer-

Since a savage would rarely make a single bead more than

Siiced for his immediate necessities. It was a true medium of

exchange—real currency, All the early accounts speak of it as

n © and “ money ” and “current specie.” “ This,” says Law-

‘on, “is the money with which you may buy skins, furs, slaves,

œ anything the Indians have ; it being the mammon (as our

i Peet 1S to us) that entices and persuades them to do anything

and part with everything they possess except their children for

ae Slaves, As for their wives, they are often sold and their daughters

_ «for it. With this they buy off murders; and whatsoever

Man can

do that is ill, this wampum will quit him of, and make’

eir Opinion, good and virtuous, though never so black

in th

y the youngsters—carnival fashion. Hired servants at

o Or anywhere else were paid in wampum.

472 Wampum and its History. _ [May,

It followed as a matter of course that the shrewd first traders

who came to New York and New Jersey should adopt this cur-

rency which all the natives were accustomed to, receiving it as

pay for their merchandise. They used it to buy peltries of the

Indians. Thus wampum quickly became a standard of values,

the currency of the colonists to a great extent in their transac-

tions with each other, and even a legal tender.

Though the beads were often used separately, the ordinary and

approved manner was to string them upon the sinews of animals

or upon cords, which might or might not be woven into plaits

about as broad as the hand, called wampum belts. The length ot

these strings varied, but in the North about six feet was found the

usual quantity computed by the Indians, and hence the fathom be-

came the unit of trade. In the Carolinas, according to Lawson,

the strings were measured in cubits, “as much in length as will

reach from the elbow to the little finger.” |

The Indians themselves were particular as to quality and size

of the beads, for upon the elegance of its finish (speaking scientifi-

cally, the amount of labor and time it represented) depended its

value. “When these beads are worn out,” says Lindstrom, at

engineer in New Jersey in 1640, “so that they cannot be strung

neatly, and even on the thread, they no longer consider them as

good. Their way of trying them is to rub the whole thread full

on their noses; if they find it full and even, like glass beads, then

they are considered good, otherwise they break and throw them

away. Their manner of measuring their strings is by the length

of their thumbs; from the end of the nail to the first joint makes

six beads.”

Seeing that profit and wealth lay in the possession of man

the burghers, as the easiest way of getting rich, began to make t

With their tools of steel this could be done very rap!

with the loss of the painstaking care with whi

wrought, came a loss of value, and the wampum ve

to depreciate. To widen their market it was carried to

land. Considering the many references to it, an

fact that it was made there aboriginally as well as south

am at a loss to understand Gowan’s statement that

wampum was not known in New England until it was 1n% site

there in October, 1627, by Isaac de Razier, who was cain

sort of amity-treaty commissioner from the New Netherlan

New Eng-

idly; but

ch the Indian :

ry soon began

d the undou I :

« the use of -

introduced

1883] . Wampum and its History. 473

Plymouth Colony. He carried wampum thither and bought corn.

To this introduction the pious Hubbard attributes all the wars

which ensued between the Puritans and the Indians. ‘ Whatever

were the honey in the mouth of that beast of trade [the Dutch ?]

there was a deadly sting in the tail,” he wails out, with much more

to the same purpose. The authority for Gowan’s statement is

probably an intimation in Nathaniel Morton’s “ New England’s

Memoriall” (1669), p. 67, followed by the remark that “Sundry

unworthy person’s ” sold firearms to the Indians for it.

It was during the administration of William Kieft that the

wampum currency was of greatest importance in New York,

Washington Irving, in his Knickerbocker History, Chapter vI,

gives a humorous account of it and the troubles to which it gave

rise. Kieft began by endeavoring to flood the colony with this

Indian money, which the Indians were content to take in exchange

for their peltries, but which of course had no intrinsic value. Says

the veritable Diedrich : `

“ He began by paying all the servants of the Company and all

the debts of the government in strings of wampum. He sent

Smissaries to sweep the shores of Long Island, which was the

Ophir of this modern Solomon, and abounded in shell-fish.

These were transported in loads to New Amsterdam, coined into

Indian Money and launched into circulation.

s And now for a time affairs went on swimmingly. * * *

ankee trad

€rs poured into the province, buying everything they

could lay their hands on, and ass the idei Dutchmen their

Pig Price—in Indian money. If the latter, however, attempted

Bhat the Yankees in the same coin for their tin ware and wooden

ta » the case was altered; nothing would do but Dutch guil- `

| heron like ‘metallic currency.’ What was worse, the

shell, troduced an inferior kind of wampum made of oyster-

ieee cs which they deluged the province, carrying off in ex-

: Fi ae the silver and gold, the Dutch herrings and Dutch

. ia early did the knowing men of the East manifest

= and in bargaining the New Amsterdammers out of the oys- ,

“Thy leaving them the shell. ;

how. was a long time before William the Testy was made sensible

: him by ho, etely his grand project of finance was turned a

: found it on Eastern neighbors; nor would he probably have ever

had maqout had not tidings been brought him that the Yankees

of mint ae pooscent upon Long Island, and had established a kind

; banks, S Oyster bay, where they were coining up all the oyster

F A

- q Hen this was making a vital attack upon the province ina

TOENA

. -

474 Wampum and its History. [May,

double sense, financial-and gastronomical. Ever since the council

dinner of Oloffe the Dreamer, at the founding of New Amsterdam,

at which banquet the oysters figured so conspicuously, this divine

shell-fish had been held in a kind of superstitious reverence at

the Manhattoes; as witness the temples erected to its cult in every

street and lane and alley. In fact it is the standard luxury of the

place, as is the terrapin at Philadelphia, the soft crab at Baltimore,

or the canvas-back at Washington.

“The seizure of Oyster bay, therefore, was an outrage not

merely on the pockets, but the larders of the New Amsterdam-

commenced.”

A valiant army under Stoffel Brinkerhoff having marched to

Oyster bay, routed the English there, “ and would have driven the

inhabitants into the sea if they had not managed to escape across

the sound to the mainland by the Devil’s Stepping-stones, which

remain to this day monuments of this great Dutch victory ove

the Yankees.” This done— -

“ Stoffel Brinkerhoff made great spoil of oysters and clams,

coined and uncoined, and then set out on his return to the Manr-

hattoes. A grand triumph, after the manner of the ancients, was

prepared for him by William the Testy. He entered New ve

sterdam as a conqueror, mounted on a Narragansett pacer. n

dried codfish on poles, standards taken from the enemy,

borne before him, and an immense store of oysters and clams,

Weathersfield onions, and Yankee ‘notions’ formed the ep :

opima Fadel several coiners of oyster-shells were led captive ® :

rrace the hero’s triumph. is

"i The pao Rig —— ias by a full Per of boys and ‘

negroes orming on the popular instruments a :

and clamshell, se habs < Corlear sounded his trun i

rom the ramparts. 4

“A great at was served in the Stadthouse from h |

and oysters taken from the enemy ; while the governor india

shells privately to the mint and had them coined into E i —

money with which he paid his troops.” I

To check the evil effects of this “inflation,” a law was P” of

in the New Netherlands, in 1641, prohibiting the tee :

anything but fine, polished strung wampum, except at five Berg:

stiver, while the polished was worth four for a stiver. Th mould be l

echoed in Connecticut by enactments that no seawant $ o

}

;

1883.] Wampum and its History. 475

paid or received except “strunge suitably, and not small and

great, uncomely and disorderly mixt, as formerly it hath beene.” In

Massachusetts “ wampam-peag” was legal tender (Act of 1648)

for all debts less than forty shillings, “except county rates to the

treasurer,” the white at eight for a penny and the black at four

fora penny. This remained the law till 1661, but wampum

served as money there long subsequent, as it did everywhere else.

It would be impossible to get at the volume in circulation, but

values are accessible. These remained substantially those I have

mentioned until 1673, when the true wampum had become very

scarce, owing to the hoarding of it by the Indians and its dispo-

sal to remote tribes. The Dutch council, therefore, issued an

edict enhancing its legal value twenty-five per cent. Such an

action as this the red man could not in the least comprehend.

Adair says they had a fixed value for every bead, and “bought

and sold at the current rate, without the least variation for circum-

stances either of time or place; and now they will hear nothing

patiently of loss or gain, or allow us to heighten the price of our

goods, be our reasons ever so strong.” This was a sad case for

an Indian trader !

Nearly a century passed and still the shell-money held a firm

Place in colonial trade, all along the coast. That observant

traveler, Dr. Kalm, who visited and wrote about the American

settlements in 1748, has much to say of the profits of trading

through this medium in Indian goods. “ The Indians,” he notes,

formerly made their own wampums, though not without a deal

a trouble; but at present the Europeans employ themselves

that way, especially the inhabitants of Albany, who get a consid-

erable profit by it.” This last fact is also mentioned by the Rev-

ua emg who further saw it made by white men on Staten

k is only a little later, indeed, that Jacob Spicer, the most

prominent man in Cape May county, New Jersey, advertised to

barter goods “ for all kinds of produce and commodities, and par-

a for wampum, offering five dollars reward to the person

“aking the largest amount of it. “ He succeeded in procuring a

_ Wantity of the wampum, and before sending it off to Albany [ef

Mtèa) and a market, weighed a shot bag full of silver coin and

the same shot bag full of wampum, and found the latter most val-

ey ble by ten per cent.”

476 Wampum and its History. (May, |

At this time and later, wampum was valued both as ornament

and money by the Canadian Indians. Kalm saw it among the

Hurons and also below Quebec. So slow, in fact, were the red-

men to relinquish this currency, that wampum continued to be

fabricated until within fifty years in several towns of New York

State (chiefly at Babylon, Long Island) to meet the demand for it

by western fur-traders. Glass beads were substituted at a very

early day, but although they were acceptable to the savages every-

where as a trimming, they never acquired the significance and

circulation as money, enjoyed by the genuine beads of shell.

Though with the tribes of the central region of North America, —

commercial transactions were all a matter of barter, and the :

standard of value, if any existed, varied with the especial local ;

. commodity, like buffalo-robes on the plains, blankets among the

Navajoes and Puebloans, or otter-skins in Alaska, yet the coast

tribes of the Pacific had a true money when white men first bè-

came acquainted with them.

This currency seems to have been confined nearly or por )

within the present boundaries of the United States and British

Columbia, and it comprised a variety of forms, one of which in

the northern and another sort in the southern part of this area

approached in solid and widely recognized value the substantial |

wampum. :

The northern and most celebrated of these varieties was the

hiqua, hikwa, hiaqua or iogua—for all these forms of the Chinook

jargon word are found. Agua consisted of string

of a mollusk (Dentalium) called by conchologists

S of the shell

“ tusk-shells. ,

‘These were gathered off the shores of Vancouver's and QU

Charlotte’s islands by prodding into the sea-bott

pole with a spiked board at the end, upon the point

the slender shells were caught. None were quite two

length, many much smaller ; and among all the Indians nO

om 4 long :

inches it

rth of

the Columbia river, the unit of measurement was a string a a |

a fathom’s length, or as much as could be stretched betwee™ =

extended hands of the owner. The larger the ot Er oa

their value; forty to the fathom was the standar i

fathom being worth scarcely half so much. Early in the

century a fathom was worth ten beaver-skins

whites in Oregon. With the advent of the Hudson Bay

pany’s traders, the %igua disappeared to a great extent,

in dealing "a pi |

$ 1883.] Wampum and its History. 477

were reckoned in blankets, as is now the case in many parts of

Alaska and Arctic America. .

South of the fur-trading posts, however, this money survived to

a much later date, and is even yet to be seen in certain remote

districts. “Those aboriginal peddlers, the Klikitats,” and other

Columbians, carried it to southern Oregon and to the Klamath

region year after year, whence it spread through all Northern Cal-

ifornia, receiving there a new name, allo-cochick, and an alteration

of estimate. The northern measure between the extended finger-

tips was discarded on the Klamath river for a string scarcely half

that length. Among the Hupas, still further southward, the -

standard became a string of five shells. Nearly every man had

ten lines tatooed across the inside of his left arm about half way

between the wrist and the elbow; in measuring shell-money he

| drew one end over his left thumb nail, and if the other end

T reached to the uppermost of the tattoo-lines, the five shells (ten

_ Years ago) were worth $25 in gold, or even more. Only one in

: ten thousand would reach this distinction, so that the ordinary

a Worth of a string was ten dollars. “ No shell is treated as money

tall,” says Mr. Powers, “unless it is long enough to rate as

_ twenty-five cents, Below that * * * it goes to form part of a

i Mman's necklace. Real money is ornamented with little scratches

‘Or carvings, and with very narrow strips of thin, fine, snake-skin

Wrapped spirally around the shells ; and sometimes a tiny tuft of

Scarlet woodpecker’s down is pasted on the base of the shell.”

“Rese marks manifestly were designed to give the money some

Ni of Sanction—make it represent somewhat the labor put upon

with which it had to compete. |

ata of the Eel river, and thence throughout all Central

uthern California, the staple currency was a shell-money

ea: ing the eastern wampum. Agua and allocochick were

: op dig of some rarity, ground at the tip sufficiently to admit

me & strung. The héwok and ülo of California were carefully

they ay r and represented a real cost of labor and time, though

Bee no intrinsic value. The two were of different shape

Md value.

The first-named, hawok, was of least worth, standing in the

sisted i white wampum of the East or our silver. It con-

Whole :, circular disks or buttons from a quarter of an inch to a

, k in diameter, and of the thickness of the shell from

eres Cut, For this purpose a heavy bivalve was chosen,

478 Wampum and its History. (May,

and broken into discoidal fragments. These pieces were then

ground smooth and polished by rubbing on blocks of sandstone,

which often had to be brought from a long distance to the makers

rancheria. This finished, a hole was bored through the center

with a wooden, flint-tipped drill forced to revolve very rapidly by

a buckskin string which wound upon it, unwound and rewound

itself in an opposite direction, through the incessant vertical move-

ment of a loose cross-bar in the operator’s hand. These hawok

disks were then strung upon sinews, or on cords made of milk-

weed fiber, but the strings were not of invariable length, though ;

' beads of like size must be put together. The very best of this —

was worth twenty-five cents apiece ten years ago; but the smallest —

always went by the string. This white bead-money was (and to .

a certain extent still is) the great medium of Indian trading

themselves. ` a

Their gold, so to speak, the w//o, is made from the shell of the $

abalone (Æaliotis) and chiefly from the red species (H. rufescens} i

These shells are cut with flints into oblong, keystone-shaped piects

from one to two inches in length, according to the curvature of

the shell, and a third as broad. Two holes are drilled near the

narrow end of each piece, and they are thus strung edge i ar

“Ten pieces,” wrote Powers, “generally constitute a string, a"

the larger pieces rate at $1 apiece, $10a string ; the smaller 18

proportion, or less if they are not pretty. Being suscep i

AEE E PAE EAT ETTEN E E EE S OENE ENET

PAT a a o Ei a

TANER Ss

Džen

E PLE ee

for necklaces on gala days. But as money it 1s ra

and cumbersome,and * * * [it] may be conside

jewelry.”

A third sort of money, very rarely see

cated on the islands off the southern coast and on the ee

mainland. This was called Zol-kol, and was made by ganas

the apex of the univalve shell of Olivella biplicata until gr :

could be passed through. It was slightly esteemed. per

Further south all these forms of shell-cutting disappear j bt

capacity of money, retaining value only as ornaments ; er

their use in trade south of California belongs under he | me

onora 7 7

red ratheras

n now-a-days, Was fab i

barter. Thus Bancroft notes of the natives of So

turqoises, emeralds, coral, feathers and gold were as :

part of their property, and held the place of money: regulat

There seems to have been an immense amount of h

money, higua, allocochick, hawok and ullo on the

Pacific et

Shee | inal)

eee ee rk, a eee

1883.] Wampum and its History. 479

Powers thinks an average of $100 worth to each male Indian

would not be too large an estimate for California at the time of its

discovery by the Spaniards. This portion equals the value of two

grizzly bear skins, or three ponies, or the price of two wives.

However it was not equally distributed any more than are riches

in civilized communities—a point for communists to consider.

The shore tribes were the coiners of this money and jealously

guarded their privileges. With it they bought skins, arms and

implements from the dwellers in the Coast Range, where grew

animals and materials not to be obtained along the beach. The

mountaineers, in turn, disseminated it far in the interior, where

finally the beads were prized and worn as ornaments, and ceased

to circulate. Moreover, an enormous waste and destruction was

always going on (a fact also true of the Atlantic coast) owing to

the practice of propitiatory sacrifices, and the widespread custom

of burying or burning all the wealth with each man (or noted

woman) who died. Thus the demand was always greater than

the supply, and a high value maintained. It is astonishing to read

how shrewd and thrifty the Indians were in respect to this shell

coinage. When Americans grew numerous and began to manu-

facture large quantities of the kawok, of course its value declined;

Moreover, with the partial civilization of the Indians, a new senti-

ment crept in, and some strange changes in primitive social econ-

omy followed.

i At present the younger English-speaking Indians scarcely use

n at all, except in a few dealings with their elders, like wife-buy-

mg, or for gambling. A young fellow sometimes. procures it as

an investment, laying away a few strings of it, for he knows that

cannot squander it at the stores; whereas if he really needs a

-few dollars of current cash he can always “ negotiate” his shells

kay some old Indian who happens to have gold or greenbacks.

ericans speculate in it here and there to advantage, working

pog the clinging love the aged savages retain for the wealth of

youth. These old men save all of it they can possibly

acquire, and hoard it like veritable misers, only on great occa-

“ons letting their women-folk wear any as jewelry. This hoard-

‘ng is not so much miserly greed, however, as it is a religious

stig since to their minds the shell-money is the only thing

orthy to be offered upon the funeral pyre of any famous chief or

èd friend, or sent along with their own souls into the spirit-

480 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [May,

THE NATURALIST BRAZILIAN EXPEDITION.

Paper I.—From RIO DE JANEIRO TO PORTO ALEGRE,

BY HERBERT H. SMITH.

(Continued from page 358.)

TER the hills in the immediate vicinity of Porto Alegre appear

to be formed of granite or porphyry, but I had no opportu: —

nity to note the geological features closely. The strips of wood-

land which remain are less matted than the forests of Rio de

Janeiro, and there are fewer vines and palm-trees ; ferns are abun-

dant, and we collected a score of species. One of the commonest

birds here was a brown species allied to the thrushes, and called,

Joao de barro—literally, clay-John. It owes this name to its

singular nest, which is composed entirely of clay, and roofed over

above ; it is frequently placed in the most exposed situations, such

as the tops of fence-posts, or the dead branches of trees. They

are very tame, and I have frequently watched a pair of them at

work. They bring the material, soft, unctuous clay, in g

sized lumps, which they obtain near some water-course, these _

lumps, previously well kneaded, are laid first on the post of

branch on which the nest is to be built, so as to for

each portion is well packed in with the bill, which is subsequently

used like a trowel to smooth the surface.

in the same way, the two birds working incessantly for several ;

hen the we

g is not hindered |

days ; they seem to prefer rainy or foggy weather, W

clay can readily be found, and when the buildin

inches in diameter, and with walls an inch anda half thick;

avity maybe compared to a mold of a very crooke

the entrance. The clay soon becomes nearly as hard as

and the nests may last for many years, though I do n

y yy je T found E

birds breeding in June; three dirty white eggs

a closely allied species is found throughout Sou

the birds use them more than once. In Rio G

are laid. This, 0 |

thern and

The sides are built up :

d squash, : :

ot know that

m a foundation; —

` by the too rapid drying of the parts which are already ae -

The nest, when completed, is nearly globular, seven OF TB

larger end forming the nest, and the smaller, turned down ae

‘ : z (partridge) was al

A gallinaceous bird called perdiz (partridg ) ttled with brows

is one of the best examples of protective coloratio

on the grassy hillsides. Its plumage, prettily mo! n that I havë

T ee

Pee TOUP

Mt Sa flor sk fet al)? Sage RS SACRE? Se Cems Rae SN ad Ya Wee: = os ee ye oe eet Pe ea Ne Sen ote Oe ty aa To) See ee et em, es oe ee eee Pe ee me

: ia =e ‘deren anc

~ Mol

babies

1883.) The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 481

ever seen. Itis paler on the back and dark beneath ; seen at a

little distance the spots resemble half-withered spikes of grass-seed

mingled with shriveled leaf-blades; beneath and on the wings,

the markings are nearly perpendicular, simulating stems and

leaves. Even the shadows under a grass-patch are mimicked

with marvelous fidelity. The bird, when approached, remains

perfectly quiet, even allowing one to pass within two or three

yards of it; and so perfectly is it concealed by its colors that

We seldom noticed it until startled by its sudden flight, almost

beneath our feet.

One day we hired a small boat, with two Portuguese oarsmen,

to take us to some of the low islands in the river. We found

that these were covered, in most places, with swampy forest of no

great height, the trees resembling temperate rather than tropical

Species; there were no palms. These woods gave us a few good

insects, and on the shallows near them we found many fresh-water

lusca—A mpullarias, Anodontas and Unios. In one place we

ame across a fisherman’s house—a mere shed of grass thatch,

but serving as shelter for the man and his wife, and four or five

with the least possible difference of age. One or two clay

cooking-pots, a coffee-tin, a plate or two and calabashes for water,

with hides to stretch on the ground for beds, constituted the en-

__ Mf property of the establishment, yet the inmates seemed happy

a m and they showed us such hospitality as was in their

The woman brought us some wild honey, which I grieve

had strong medicinal properties, at least to our unaccus-

stomachs. Travelers in Brazil should be very cautious

‘bout eating the honeys of the native bees; they often act as vio-

Cn Purgatives and cathartics, and some of them are decidedly

Poisonous.

The

a k man readily consented to fish for me with his cast net, and

Soon

- Pecies Pace us quite a little heap of small fishes. Some

Tide with

roi tho ” remind one of the old Devonian and Carboniferous

Heros and Acara were abundant, as were several Silu-

thick, bony plates (Chatostomus, Loricaria). These

though they are not at all closely related to them. They

Sometimes m all the Brazilian rivers, living on the bottom, and

- them dry ‘burying themselves in the mud when the waters around

cept P; they will exist in this way, deprived of water ex-

_ 3 Moistens the clay around them, for several weeks.

482 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition, Dy,

In their movements these Siluroids are very sluggish, and their

scale-like armor seems to serve as a real protection against large

predatory fishes and icthoyphagous birds.

Before going further it will be well to cast a general glance at

the physical features of Rio Grande do Sul. Except the sand-

banks and swamps of the lake-region, and some low alluvial lands

near the River Uruguay, it may be said that the whole province

is hilly or mountainous. The chains cross each other at all

angles, and it would be difficult, with our present knowledge, to

describe them in detail. In general the land is higher towards

the north, and the extreme northern part of the province prop-

erly belongs to the great orographic system which lies between

the Parana and the Atlantic. This region is essentially a table

land, much broken and frequently obscured by chains of hills and

mountains. Toward the ocean it is abruptly cut down, forming

that great rocky wall known as the Serra Geral, Serra do Mar, ot

Brazilian coast range; to the west it falls gradually, or in a sent

of mountain terraces to the Paraná. Soon after entering thè

province of Rio Grande do Sol the Serra Geral bends away ©

the west, leaving the sea; beyond this the highland edge may be

traced in a great curve to the valley of the Uruguay, but it grad-

ually loses its distinctive character; the table-land is cut up by

many rivers, and its outlines are lost among ranges of hills and

mountains. One of these ranges, parting from the Serra Gt,

passes southward through the middle of the province, separating

the tributaries of the Uruguay from the streams which flow wi |

the Lagoa dos Patos and the Lagoa Mirim.

Aside from these orographic features, the province is

into two very distinct physical regions. The rugged n

portion is generally covered with forest, heaviest on the !

and along the river-courses, but in the main continuous:

sometimes cold: from May to August, when frosts are 5-4 t

and ice is sometimes formed; snow is almos at

on the highest mountains. Though this region extends a iy

places as far as S: lat. 31°, the plants and animals are fest

tropical, resembling those of Rio de Janeiro; palms and : on the

are abundant; monkeys and toucans are as com Tae

Amazons; and brilliant blue Morpho butterflies, of age fn

Heliconii remind the entomologist that he is sti

1883]

the southern part of the province all this is changed. There

nearly all the land is open prairie, only on the hillsides scattered

bushes and low trees form a kind of pseudo-forest,

The climate here is colder and more variable ; light snow-

storms are common in the winter months, and the ground may

remain frozen hard for days together. All this region properly

belongs to the pampas of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic;

the plants are generally of the same prairie species, and the ani-

mals are almost entirely identical. Monkeys, anteaters, tapirs

= nd pacas have disappeared; in their places the naturalist finds

~ deer with branched horns, foxes, armadillos and so on. Instead

of parrots, toucans and trogons, there are hawks, ground-thrushes

and ostriches; ground-beetles and yellow butterflies, much like

“hose of our home fields, are seen everywhere.

aoe The two regions are very sharply divided, but outlying por-

_ lions of each are found within the boundaries of the other. On

: , the top of the northern table-land, well within the limits of the

3 forest region, there are extensive tracts of prairie-land; and some

of the hillsides, even as far south as Pelotas (lat. 31° 45’) are

oe Covered with forest, which has much the same character as the

_ Main body of the north. In general, however, it may be said

a that the dividing line between the forest and prairie lies a little to

n the north of the River Jacuhy, the upper portion of the Guahyba,

Which flows from west to east near lat. 30°.

| . OF sider the two regions differ much in their products. The

ie northern portion, beside its forest industries, is the main seat of

È agricultural employments; the lands are fertile, giving excellent

a bs tal corn, beans, mandioca, sugar-cane and tobacco. The

‘ | Prairie region is generally unfit for agriculture, and it is exclu-

; 4 ‘wely used for grazing, more cattle being raised here than in any

MST part of Brazil. .

a Fie the employments so the habits and characters of the peo-

their ho Steatly, The men of the north are farmers, fond of

ec hens mes and seldom traveling far away from them; fixed to

| ate al by which they are nourished. In the south every laborer

‘ills a n, accustomed to ride for days and weeks over the

| firey Spending very little of his time at home; he lives where

waon > eating his dinner of jerked meat and beans, and

7 takes ay elf in his poncho to sleep wherever the night over-

The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 483

ny ™ Ignorant in letters, he is wise in all that pertains to

1 RVI. no, y, _

484 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [May,

his roving existence, despising his more laborious brother of the

north. In disposition he is variable; the exigencies of his life

have taught him to mistrust strangers, and his rough hospitality

is generally guarded by a knife and pistol; so the farmer con-

siders him ill-natured and blood-thirsty. On the whole the two

classes have very little to do with each other.

But beyond this a very strong race-distinction has arisen,

owing to the influx of German immigrants who have chosen the

northern part of the province on account of its mild climate and

fertile soil. Of the 700,000 inhabitants of Rio Grande do Sul

about 110,000 are Germans or their descendants, and all excepta

few thousand of these are settled to the north of the River Ja-

cuhy. These figures, however, do not at all represent the impor

tance of the German element. It is the brawn and skill of the

province; the element of progress, which is building up manufac-

tures and doing away with the slovenly Brazilian agriculture; the

commercial spirit which has given this province, with its one poor

seaport, the most important trade south of Santos. The rich

northern lands of the province are rapidly being taken up by

German agriculturists, and their thriving plantations are seen 0”

every hand. The grazing industry remains in the hands of Bra-

zilians ; it is still the most important pursuit of the province, the

large amount of prairie land being favorable to it; but as a sour

of riches it is stationary, or perhaps decadent, the grazers being

unable to compete with the great proprietors of Uruguay and the

Argentine. The plantations, on the contrary, are yearly incoat

ing in importance, é

Porto Alegre owes its commercial importance almost entirely

to the German colonies which have been formed in its vicinity.

The first of these colonies, that of Sao Leopoldo, was establi

in 1823, soon after Brazil became an empire; this is now G

cipated,” that is, freed from special government co

has become a flourishing city of nearly 5000 inhabitants.

are many other colonies, nearly all formed by

grants, and preserving the German language and cu

in Porto Alegre one hears German spoken quite as often

tuguese. With three exception all the wholesale com “id k

houses in the city are German, and their warehouses wo sat

honor to any city. There are German retail merchants, : jes

cians, lawyers, schoolmasters; the two most important

German immi-

stoms ; eve#

as Por-

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 485

papers in the city are controlled by a German, who edits them

equally well, one in German and the other in Portuguese. During

our stay in the city a “ German Exposition ” was in progress, the

articles exhibited being agricultural or manufactured products

directly derived from the Germans of Southern Brazil; the dis-

play was an exceedingly good one.

The colonies are either public or private. In the former the

immigrant is assigned a tract of land without payment, and he is

under especial official control until such time as the colony is

allowed to govern itself. The private colonies are the property

of capitalists, who sell portions of land on credit, the payment

being commonly in annual installments for five years. This has

the advantage of giving the settler a choice of land, and of

relieving him from annoying official supervision. Formerly the

government paid the passages of immigrants destined for the

Public lands, but this plan has wisely been abandoned. Of late

years the German immigration to this province has somewhat

fallen off, and the Italian is taking its place; this is certainly a

Poor substitute, but it should be remembered that the Italians

a0 come to Brazil are generally farmers or rural laborers—a

very different class from the city refuse which goes from Italy to

es: United States. In Rio Grande do Sul the Italians are gener-

ally industrious and frugal, and they are well liked.

This is, perhaps, the only part of Brazil where immigration

3 has been completely successful. The Imperial government has

‘ d vast sums on colonization ‘schemes, some of them vis-

inary, others badly carried out, many doomed from the outset

to failure, owing to the poor quality of the colonists. I believe,

bi, er, that the main obstacle to successful colonization has

: the Presence of the slave element and the consequent degra-

dation of labor. An immigrant who has left Europe to better

ee ' Condition will never be content to work beside an ignorant

gi much less if he himself is treated as an inferior, hardly

R than the negro bondsman and only tolerated because he is

| If he is established in a colony, with ground of his

- e cultivate, he is still looked down upon by his richer neigh-

m F he oes his own work instead of ordering servants ;

ee. he is Subject to unpleasant official supervision, and if

gn B ea i i i lonies, he

finds that “scape this by buying a farm without the colonies,

a all the good land is absorbed in large plantations. In

486 The Polar Organization of Animals. {May,

Rio Grande do Sul, on the contrary, there are few slaves, and

most of these are on the cattle-estates of the south. The free

_ laborer is honored because experience has shown that his indus-

try leads to wealth; there are few large estates, and land can

always be purchased on favorable terms, Formerly there was

much jealously of the foreign element, but this has nearly disap-

peared, Finally, the immigrant is contented and happy, because

he can mingle with others of his own race, and because he knows

that he is creating a bright future for himself and his children.

THE POLAR ORGANIZATION OF ANIMALS.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

E previous papers by the writer under the title of “ Organic

Physics,’”? certain fundamental characteristics of protoplasm

were considered, and their relation to the functional conditions of

the developed animal body traced. There are still other basic

conditions in protoplasm which are directly related to the func-

tions of the developed animal. There is no just reason to doubt,

indeed, that each separate mass of living protoplasm generalizes

in itself all that we find specialized in the highest animal, and that

there is no- condition unfolded in the man which does not exist

potentially in the rhizopod. It is hoped here to show another of

those interesting relations. Gee.

The self-living mass of protoplasm appears to be a polar orga

ism in a double sense. It seemingly possesses a lateral or chemi-

cal polarity, which develops into the sexual polarity of animals.

The self-division of the rhizopod is a reproductive function ea

analogous to that existing in the developed animal, and the P :

polarity of the former appears to be represented by a lateral gr

' :ual polarity in the latter, the two similar halves of the eis.

ing the two poles in a complete double-sexed organism —

form of polarity has been considered in detail in the aga

‘referred to. But there is another polarity, which in the rhiz ;

displays itself im a differentiation of the exterior and the we

functions of the mass. The external region is sensitive, the pa >

nal nutritive in function. This statement has more in it pase

at first sight appear, for it expresses an organic relation thats 3

` ani March, F

1 AMERICAN NATURALIST, June, July and August, 1882, Feoruary

2883.

1883. ] The Polar Organization of Animals. 487

trols the whole development of the animal kingdom, and is as

strongly displayed in the man as in the protozoan. Both alike

possess a distinct nutritive and sensory polarity, each of these

functions having its separate pole.

This polarity is, in fact, particularly displayed in the fully pro-

gressed animal, as we shall hope to show. In its generalized con-

dition, in the rhizopod, it consists of a differentiation of function in

the two regions of the body. The external layer of the rhizopo-

dal body alone comes into contact with and feels the impressions

of outer force. Thus such sensitiveness as is possessed must be

confined to this layer. The impressions received, however, seem

to extend'inwardly, and to result in the production of a motor

function. The internal layer, on the contrary, is distinctly nutri-

tive in function. The food is, in various methods, brought into

contact with it, digested and assimilated. And as the sensory

impressions received by the external layer are transmitted and

produce motion throughout the entire body, so the nutriment

received by the internal layer is diffused throughout and assimila-

ted by the entire body.

At the very outset of life, therefore, a separation of its two active:

functions takes place as a necessary result of the opposed rela-

tions of its substance. The external layers of protoplasm become

„Opposite in function to the internal. Contact, irritation, motor in-

tigation, have their seat in the surface, and proceed inward. Nu-

trition has its seat in the interior, and proceeds outward. The

development of the one tends to the production of special chan-

- nels of sensory inflow, and special regions of motor contraction.

The development of the other tends to the production of special

m tive regions and special channels for the conveyance of nu-

triment, Thus the sensory and motor functions of the body

originate in the surface and spread inward. Its vascular functions

originate in the interior and spread outward. These separate

pactions are distinct only as regards their points of origin and

their characteristics, for throughout the whole intermediate region

they inosculate and interweave with each other. |

Separation of functional regions, thus indicated in the Pro-

; is markedly displayed throughout the whole line of devel-

pment of the Metazoa. In all the Metazoa an early step of

embryonal differentiation is the formation of two distinct layers of

cells, one bounding an internal cavity, the other forming a surface

488 The Polar Organization of Animals. [ May,

layer. The former is the seat of the nutritive, the latter of the

sensory function. Thus very early in life the animal possesses a

digestive and a sensitive layer of cells. It is an animate stomach

with a sensitive outer skin. There is no chemical differentiation

of tissue. The duty performed by each layer of cells is a conse-

quence of its position. The hydra, for instance, may be turned

inside out, and the functions of the two layers become reversed

without injury to the animal. In the higher animals, however,

these two layers grow unlike in character and incapable of replac-

ing each other. And yet in the highest animal there may be no

fundamental distinction. Each layer gains special organs, which

would not subserve the purpose of the other, but the character of

- their protoplasm may remain unchanged.

Between these two layers arises a third, the mesoderm, whose

origin is yet somewhat unsettled, though there is no reason to

doubt that it springs from one or both of the original layers. An

examination of this mesodermal layer, from the point of view here

` taken, leads to certain interesting conclusions. For, in the highest

animals, we find it to consist of several distinct tissues, which we >

may generalize into three. One of these is the nervous and

its related muscular tissue. A second is the vascular and its

related lymphatic tissue. The third is the connective or support

~ ing tissue, with its various forms of fiber, cartilage, bone, &c. The

~ mesoderm, then, seems to be a direct outgrowth of both the endo-

dermal and ectodermal layers. The external layer pushes inw

its channels of sensory inflow, which permeate every region

` the body, each line of inflow terminating in a muscle, or motor

organ. The internal layer pushes outward its channels of ai:

` tive outflow, which permeate every region of the body, and as the

` nerves may be said to deposit their conveyed force in the muscle,

so the vessels deposit their conveyed nutriment in the lymphatic

assimilative spaces. This is really about all we find in the bodys

complicated as it may appear. If we consider its basic ha |

istics, we are brought back to the two original layers, OF even |

the external and internal regions of the rhizopod. 445 t net

` grows in bulk the external layer extends itself inward im å ae

plex mass of nerve conductors, nerve cells and muscles. a i

manner the internal layer extends itself outward, in an Cen

complex mass of blood channels and lymph vessels. ge

therefore, we have but the two primary layers, with their

ee ee ete eal

1883.] The Polar Organization of Animals. 489

mately interwoven outgrowths. In the interspaces of these or-

gans other matter is deposited, which serves for their support and

forms the connective tissues.

Such is the true character of the mesoderm. The wall of the

inner cavity becomes the digestive region of the body. It differ-

entiates accordingly, involutions of it compose the various glands

which aid digestion, and blood vessels which have their true ori-

gin in its walls, carry the nutriment which it yields to all parts of

the interior. So the outer wall becomes the sensory layer of the

body, and sends its nerve channels inwards to convey motor en-

ergy to muscles, which are, fundamentally, but special arrange-

ments of nerve extremities. The mesoderm consists of these

Sutwardly-pushing nutritive and inwardly-pushing motor channels,

i the connective tissues necessary for their support. The

‘femaining general function of the body, that of the elimination of

aste and discarded material, is effected through the aid of both

layers,

So far we discover in the highest animal only a direct unfoldment

of What exists in the lowest. Protoplasm may be homogeneous

in structure, and every portion of it at once sensitive to external

contact and assimilative of nutritive material. But the different

relations of its different regions necessitates an early differentia-

‘ton of function. It becomes externally sensory, internally nutri-

tive. And in the highest animals this differentiation continues.

{tis remarkably unfolded, but there is nothing added to it. Its

ous vagueness, however, becomes a marked specialization.

We find in the simplest protozoan a double polarity vaguely de-

clared. The first is a chemical or sexual polarity, in which the

two lateral halves of the mass are concerned, and whose eventual

A result is the division of the mass into two vitalized halves. The

second is a sensory-nutritive polarity, of which the external and

— internal r egions of the bod

Be Sige y mass become the poles. Both these

polarities

are direct results of the native conditions of protoplasm

relations to external nature. And in the highest animals

nothing more than an extension of these differentiations

Polar; atities n and function, and a more specialized display of these

The sexual polarity seems to still affect the two oppo-

and its

‘prec... -S!0NS, so that every animal, except as warped by the

‘Pressure o

f life conditions, is symmetrically duplex, the two simi-

~~ Peang, as we believe, the male and female poles of a

490 The Polar Organization of Animals. [May, 4

double-sexed organism. In the higher animals a superior differ- :

entiation arises, in the division of sexual polarity between distinct —

individuals, yet its minor phase of the doubly-sexual organization —

of each individual, is still retained. ;

The other polarity of protoplasm mentioned is equally declared

in the highest animals. As the former remains a lateral, this be-

comes a longitudinal polarity, as we shall seek to show. Origin-

ally it is a polar or functional difference of the external and inter —

nal layers. This distinction persists in the highest animals, but —

each of the two functions gains its distinct pole. 4

The pole of the sensory function is not difficult to discover. It

becomes gradually declared as we ascend beyond the lower air —

mals, and displays itself in all the higher animal forms as the |

brain. This organ is the center of the motor and sensory nerve

fibers which collects, retains and again disseminates the impres- :

sions arising from external contact. Such an organ is perhaps |

not needed by lower organisms. Their defective sensory and :

motor organs render them but feebly sensitive to impression, and 7

they can easily respond to every contact of sufficient vigor tè 1

“overcome the sluggishness of their organs of sensation. But the l

whole course of development is towards a greater and more diver”

sified sensitiveness of the animal form. The highest animals a

respond to impressions of excessive delicacy. Almost every = A

influence of the outer world is capable of affecting them, whi 5

their complex muscular organization permits of a great vanci

responsive motions. ; -l

Yet evidently a movement in response to every impression; >

after such extreme sensitiveness is attained, would be p

injurious. The vigor of the organism would be exhausted. i

with the increase of sensitiveness there became necessary the: is

lution of some discriminative organ, some center of eee

which the motor energies received could be retained, a :

ed, only

be-

which the movements of the muscles could be controll pie

such impulses as were likely to be beneficial to the pase his :

ing permitted to pass onward. With the modus operandi | a

process we are not here concerned. It suffices eee :

retention of and descrimination between nerve imprest :

necessary ere any high development could be gained, oe 4

brain was evolved as the organ of this retention. The pase all

therefore, the true pole of the sensory function. Thithers™

| 1883.] The Polar Organization of Animals, 491

the motor energies received from the outer world through the

nerve channels. There these motor influences are combined and

; ined, in some method which is yet a mystery, until the highly

; complex relations of the mental organism are produced. Thus

= the conscious mind is the final outcome and the highest product

= of the combination of motor energies, and the brain the govern-

ing organ through which the movements of the body are con-

trolled,

=- But the nutritive function has likewise its organic pole, in which

the final and highest product of its exercise is laid up. In “ Or-

ganic Physics ” this question has been considered. The building

upand repair of the solid tissues of the body is only one of the

tesults of the nutritive process. A second result we conceive to

4 be the formation of the concreted portions of the liquid tissues—

z ‘the white corpuscles or leucocytes. And the ultimate result of

this process is the aggregation of the leucocytes into more and

more complex corpuscles, until, in their final and most complex

2 Stage, they are excreted by the reproductive glands as the germs

a of new organisms. The formation of such a germ is the final

_ Sutcome of nutrition. In, this germ the organic product has

reached its highest stage of synthesis. Chemical assimilation and

} Molecular complexity have attained their ultimate, and the ger-

eal cells exist as epitomes of the whole body. From this point

arig the reproductive organs form the nutritive pole of the

r Thus as the conscious mind is the highest product of the com-

, bination of motor energies, so the ovum or spermatozoon is the

. te product of the nutritive energies. The latter repre-

ae the utmost reach of organic synthesis, and the former the

~ of analysis, Nutrition, with its various results, is the

“the employed in the one ; oxidation, the agency employed in

ve Thus the two opposite processes to which life is due,

l Nutrition-and oxidation, has each its polar center, these poles being

Senasa in all the higher animals, at the opposite extremi-

ieee body. We might, with some reason, proceed to con-

: oo result of the action of these organic poles. The

TR "erm ceases to be a part of the body which produces it,

CAK

‘ ) ; temporarily connected with it for further nutrition and

7 development, We may say the same thing of the men-

H we accept the belief entertained by the great mass of

-7402 The Polar Organization of Animals. [ May,

mankind, and certainly not as yet disproved by the advocates of —

the opposite opinion.

We may further consider the relations of these two organic

poles. The energies and substances: organized in the body are

not those which originally existed there. They are derived from

the exterior world, and the body acts as a machine for their ab-

sorption and utilization. Food comes continually into the body, |

to be used primarily for nutrition, and ultimately for reproduction —

Motor energy comes continually into the body, to be used pri

marily for animal activity, and ultimately for mental development. —

Thus from the outer world food and force, matter and motion, —

pour constantly into the body, where they are separately em-

ployed, and their excess directed to the two poles, food to the —

reproductive, force to the mental pole. At these two poles they

are organized and exist as separate organisms, nourished by the —

body but not forming integral parts of it, the one fed with n

ter, the other with motion, and the body acting as an intermedium

to absorb matter and force from outer nature, and apply henii

the uses of its two diverse offspring. T

The above consideration leads to still another. It has beet |

frequently assumed that the animal body is organized solely u

der the influence of its external surroundings, and that its mE

is a result of a varied series of adaptations to outer o

But if our premises are correct there must be an inner "a

work also, vigorously molding the body, and growing more i

clared and energetic as the animal reaches a higher stage"

development. The rhizopod is not a mere creature of outer T

fluences. It has, in virtue of the conditions of existence of e

toplasm, the two polarities mentioned. Though acted upon 7

outer force, it reacts upon this force. Its lateral or sexual ge

ity controls the conditions and method of reproduct! opmett

motor-nutritive polarity controls the conditions of devel

These influences act vigorously throughout t kai

animal evolution as internal molding forces, resisting OF pS ee

the influences of the external molding forces. In the booy g

man, the highest animal, they have produced a f ‘yoke

double symmetry, which is strikingly indicative of T° “a.

polarity There is a lateral and a longitudinal rs n the

duplex paternal influence in the germ — itsel e

mature body in a double organism, compo of P

1883.) The Polar Organization of Animals. 493

halves connected in the median line. The longitudinal polarity

is little less evident. The human body is an elongated, irregu-

larly oval mass, branching at each extremity into limbs which are

_ fundamentally similar. The body forms a hollow cylinder, being

penetrated by a cavity which is devoted to digestion. Typically

itisa symmetrical cylinder, but its internal symmetry has been

broken by the requirements of the digestive function. The meso-

dermal arrangements do not detract from its symmetry. The

bones and muscles answer to each other longitudinally. The

excretory organs display a certain symmetry of arrangement, the

kidneys for the excretion of liquid waste posteriorly, and the

lungs for the excretion of gaseous waste anteriorly. Of the two

remaining sets of organs, the vascular and the nervous, they

seem, while generally related to the body as a whole, specially

related to its polar regions. The vascular system, while engaged

in the general duty of conveying nutriment and removing waste,

ar the special duty of elaborating germinal products and deposit-

‘ ing them at the posterior, reproductive pole. The nervous sys-

: tem, while conveying motor influences to and from the tissues

i generally, is specially engaged in conveying motor impressions to

| thebrain, the seat of the anterior or mental pole.

These poles answer to each other. They differ in organization

5 from their great difference in use, but they are seated in the oppo-

; nities of the body, while the special sense organs are

4 Y contiguous to the nervous pole, and the organs of food `

bee n lie in the vicinity of the reproductive pole. And as

a aea that these poles are not directly but only secondarily

“hed in the operations of the body, we have the fact that the

j “ag the reproductive organs may be both removed from

: can be » and its vital functions continue. In such a case there

Dià no reproduction, either mental or physical, no offspring,

tal is a an animal, yet the life of the animal as an individ-

2 Time necessarily affected, and may be long continued.

’ though ages are, to say the least, curious, and they extend,

: Me or less masked, through the whole animal kingdom.

ae as mae tribes the polarities have not yet become de-

2 but a prema They are still vague and general, and have

igo a uence over the form of the body. Hence the

o ower animals are very largely molded by exterior

Their bilateral and their longitudinal symmetries are~

EIN: ag N eS a een ae ee ree a

494 The Polar Organization of Animals. [May,

but slightly or not at all displayed. In animals of somewhat

higher organization, in which the polarities have become mort

localized, their effect upon the form is still largely masked bythe

influence of environing relations. Yet, though the poles assume

ciple of organization is usually manifest. In the higher animal

tribes the polar force asserts itself positively, and the resultisa |

harmonious combination of functions arising from two sets

fluences, those of external nature and those of the internal oF

ganic conditions. The formative energies inherent in protoplast |

assert themselves against the irregular influences of the ae

world, and produce in the highest animal a form of marked sy

metry. a

The polarity. of the animal body is, in fact, fourfold in a som

what fuller sense than here indicated, Each of the longitudi

poles is a double organ, so that each Jateral half of the body

sesses its longitudinal poles. And the brain of each si

directly connected with and controls the organic functions isi

other half. There is thus a cross relation between the anteni

and posterior poles. Each lateral half is, in a double sense,

to the other half, and each may be looked upon as the repre

tive of one of the parental organisms.

In the highest animals the action of the external forces

harmonize with, not oppose these internal energies. Pi

ties are not distinctly localized in the lowest animals, and the

little resistance to the action of external influences. ` The 9%

molded from without. But significantly, of the sya

animal development, the vertebrate, that in which lateral an

gitudinal polarity is most declared, has progressed far be:

less symmetrical lines. With every step of development

fluence of the polar tendencies grows more declared, W

molding agency of external force is more and ne

superficial variations. In man the organization 1s mar et:

and the molding influences of external nature arè >

to the influence of the internal tendencies. :

There is a minor phase of this organic polarity yr ‘

brief allusion is desirable. In a former paper the I ail

oxygen on the body was considered, and the pa ai

genation and nutrition shown. Oxygen, in fact, 15 From

the motor function, and the constant foe of nutna

The Polar Organizatio. of Animals. 495

point of view it becomes interesting to find that the outer layer,

the sensory region of the body, is the normal seat of ingestion of

oxygen. This is particularly the case in the lowest animals.

Food is ingested and dealt with by the interior substance of the

body. Energy and oxygen, the agent of energy, are absorbed

| This polarity of the function of oxidation is

sity of protection of the oxygen-absorbing tissue causes its inclu-

sion within the body, though in the highest forms it retains indi-

cations of an invagination of the ectodermal tissue, as in the gills

of fishes, and the lungs of land animals with their special nasal

channel of external communication.

In one kingdom of the organic world, the vegetable kingdom,

which the sensory function fails to develop itself, the oxygen-

ating function takes its place and becomes’the anterior pole in a

igitudinally polar organism. The symmetry of plants is, in

a, closely analogous to that of animals. In all the higher

toms of the plant world we find a cylindrical, elongated trunk

branching extremities. The two sets of branches are funda-

aan identical, though they differ through the influence of

fä nal differences. A tree, however, is a colony, and we must

upon the product of a single bud, with its cylindrical stem,

€s and rootlets, as the individual vegetable organism.

7 here no sensory pole, but there are analytic and syn-

poles, The leaves absorb oxygen, the rootlets absorb food.

er answer to the lungs, the latter to the intestines of ani-

But as these functions are here complicated with, and sub-

aed to, no higher ones, they become the principal mold-

agencies, and the plant becomes a symmetrically polar oxy-

$ Organism. It probably possesses the double polarity

Clearly exists in animals. The lateral, sexual polarity of

“S seems to be replaced by a cylindrical polarity in plants,

ier and outer layers of active tissues which bound the sap

Perhaps Possessing these opposite polarities. The other

a ae of oxygenation and nutrition, is a longitudinal one;

e the higher plant, as distinctly as the higher animal, is

ded by its internal constitution, and owes only its less

“al, Specific differences to the influence of external

ich

zm not carry this consideration further. It certainly

496 Note on the Classification of Moths. [May,

seems evident that the animal body is fundamentally molded by

the energies of a double polarity, the one arising from the chemi-

cal character, and the other from the physical relations of proto-

plasm. The influence of external energies, strongly declared in

the early phases of animal evolution, becomes less and less de

_Clared as the polar energies assert themselves, so that eventually !

the action of external force is confined to producing the minor,

specific differences of organization; while the deep-lying, typical

characteristics of organic form are due to the action of the polar

energies.

And the character of the polarity specially referred to in this l

paper may be thus epitomized. Nutrition is primarily devoted to q

the growth and preservation of the individual animal, while its l

excess or overflow is directed to the reproductive pole, where t

yields the germ of a new animal. Motor influence is primarily

devoted to the vitality and activity of the individual animal, while

its excess is directed to and retained in the sensory pole, where

riorly, the other anteriorly to their respective poles. The mate

rial germ is more matter than energy, the mental germ mor :

energy than matter. The one is*the ultimate of material 0 l

chemical complexity, the other of motor complexity. As Om F

pared with each other we may look upon the material germ

possessed of maximum matter with minimum motion ; and re

mental germ of minimum matter with maximum motion ; ie

essential difference consisting in the complexity of material agg™

gation in the one, and of motor aggregation in the other.

NOTE ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF MOTHS. ; ’

BY A, R. GROTE.

HEN we take a general survey of the different p |

tions proposed by authors, we must be struck with 1

ferent ideas expressed with regard to the composition of aie

and sub-families. Ata glance we see that the sub-families 0: =

Bombycidæ and those of the Pyralidæ (as the last are r p

in the “ New Check List”) have a higher value than the n wt

of the Noctuidz and Geometride, as adopted by Guen Fi

Packard. They rest on peculiarly strong structural grou” f

1883.] Note on the Classification of Moths. 497

having exclusive characters, and hence the effort of late to break

up the Bombyces into distinct families. Thus disassociated, the

general character of “form” as laid down by Agassiz neglected,

the next step is to force them into unnatural positions, to displace

the Hepialinæ, and rank them with the Castnians, or to produce

such an arrangement as Von Heineman proposes. The “ sub-

families” of the Noctuidze are, on the other hand, vague, and

they shade into each other, in such a way, that it becomes a mat-

ter of choice where we assign the limit. The difficulty lies

mostly with the Noctuidæ. Two groups, Bombyciz and Noctuo-

phalænidi, possess exclusive characters which have led to their

being treated as distinct families by the German entomologists.

In form these two small groups are decidedly noctuidous. The

one closely resembles the higher, the other the Catocaline group

of the Noctuidae. Certain general assemblages, such as the Bomby-

coidea, Hadeninz, etc., are, in a general way, admitted by Lederer,

denies them a scientific basis, and discards them in the

body of his work. Excluding the two groups above noted, he has

G division of the family at all higher than a generic one, The

‘SMe is true of Geometridz, although here the divisions show

More character, In the Pyralidz, however, the sub-family groups

are again strong. The existence of these sub-family groups are,

) Perhaps, dependent on the general question of the development

“the suborder. The intermediate groups have fallen out and

_ Sasedto be perpetuated,

ae There '$a certain parallelism between the Sphingidz and Noc-

: the ie from their usually naked larve, the hairy larve of

om. t Noctuids having a Bombycid analogy which Butler

_.. » Fegards as a real affinity.

: : Pe rope “Mural classification of the Noctuidæ, seems to me

i eo in my “ Check ‘List of 1876,” where I recognize

Packard Soma groups, the Noctuinz and Catocaline of Dr.

te in the Deltoides of Latreille; considering the other

Value. e above mentioned, as having a higher than sub-family

TR difficulty lies in the existence of groups intermediate

ea ily and Sub-family divisions as hitherto assumed. In

Wa ‘Characters, the different values between these groups

Before ect: Our terminology will have to be extended ; but

ees undertaken, m isi ith

a » More precision must be attempted wi

MS we have on hand,

498 Note on the Classification of Moths.

With the Noctuidz comparatively sharp division may be at-

tempted between the Noctuinz and Catocalina, yet an observer

such as M. Guenée classified a catocaline form as a species of

Heliophila, and I believe that an insect allied to Ophiusa has beea

recently described as a species of Taeniocampa, illustrating the

difficulties of the task. The Deltoids, on the other hand, slide

imperceptibly into the lower Catocaline. Here the tropical

forms are so numerous and diverse, that’ the links seem yet exist

ing and the value of this division is thus lowered below that of the

two others. Yet the extremes, such as Catocala and Hypena, are

readily distinguished. j

I would regard the Bombycidæ in the light in which I gather

the group is held by Dr. Packard, as a family of moths of ancient —

origin, and which, as it survives to-day, affords numerous syi-

thetic sub-family groups, which should not be divorced from he

family association ; its classification may be considered as typical :

of the arrangement of other groups of moths. Starting with

ideas derived from a study of the Bombycidz, we shall be bet-

ter prepared for an appreciation of the relationship existing ber

tween other groups of genera in nocturnal Lepidoptera. In tht

classification of the Noctuidæ it would seem best to hold a post

tion intermediate between that of Guenée and Lederer, in ordet :

to avoid, on the one hand, the formation of sub- family gro

which rest on slight characters and, on the other, to insure’ i

recognition of the break which probably exists between

groups first indicated under the names of Woctue nonfi asciale aud

Noctue fasciate by Borkhausen. The difficulty of studying thè

Noctuidz is increased by the number of forms inhabiting Noctis

no more than a dozen species mentioned in our books,

have about sixteen hundred. The number grows at

for example, which, to the appearance of Orthosia, has is

eyes and untufted abdomen of Teniocampa and the spine

more especially characteristic of the genus Agrotis.

1883.] Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 499

HETEROGENETIC DEVELOPMENT IN DIAPTOMUS.

BY C. L. HERRICK.

( Continued from page 389.)

CycLops INGENS Herrick (Cyc/ofide of Minn., p. 228, Plate 1v, Figs. 1-8).

Found in pools near Tuscaloosa, Ala., with ee pulex and Simocephalus

daphnoides, The post-imago is somewhat over 4} in. long, ż. e., not quite as long as

C. gigas according to Brady, which is very little cee Our form has longer sty-

lets and shorter antennæ in the ordinary stage, but the mature or post-imago has

shorter stylets. In the last stage prior to maturity the stylets are just as figured by

for this stage. It is worthy of remark that C. 4aufmanni Uljanin, which is

certainly founded upon a prematurely gravid larva (feet ities eee and antennz

: undifferentiated) corresponds perfectly with larvee of C. ingen

Brady himself considers C. keleri the same species, and we

| have here apparently an older stage with fully developed feet but

not yet provided with mature antennz.

A variety of C. ingens is found in cold springs at Tuscaloosa

and elsewhere in Alabama, much less in size and with the propor-

__ tions of the European C. gigas.

__ The large examples in shallow “prairie pools” were masked

“P P

by dense alge coating. The form of the fifth foot and stylets dis-

tinguishes the above from other members of the genus, and one

> tempted to regard these forms as varieties of C. gigas simply.

Parcus (Cyclop. Minn., p. 229) might be considered avar. of C.

- PECTINATUS, sp. nov. (Plate vi, Figs. 25-28).

t aat to C, navus, from which it is chiefly distinguished by a semicircular series

the spines af the iest the greatly elongated caudal stylets. In the post-imago

beet e nearly a as long as the abdomen ; the antennæ reach p to the

4 a Most characteristic, ngaei is a circlet of small spines one-

ston base of the stylets. Length o in,

R es sp. nov. (Figs. 24-25, Plate v; — 20-21, Plate vi).

Section with r7-jointed antenn

elongated; antennz reaching a little bul the first thoracic segment,

short, iai ia, ed formula =% o -©£ o_ vuevuuy yvy , the terminal joint rather

joints e.g. te three teeth near the extremity; antennules rather long, last two

oo nen a fifth foot 2-jointed, second joint with two nearly equal set; cauda

ae 7 tenuic enuicornis , of spermathzeca elongated.

Tyk iS species is the most slender Cyclops known to me, and

be recognized by the toothed terminal joint of the antennæ,

e crie confined to C, tenuicornis, “ coronatus stage.”

500 Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. (May,

The teeth of this species differ from those of “ Coronatus” too

much to confuse the two. This species is of the mavus and

parcus group, but the caudal stylets closely resemble tenuicornis.

Near Paducah, Ky.

CYCLOPS MODESTUS, Sp. nov

Antenne remaining 16-jointed in all individuals seen, very short,

— o — v —oguvvou vu uY —u; antennules short jointed; fifth foot threejointed,

with unequal spines; caudal stylets of moderate length, lateral setæ about half way —

to base of stylet, three longest terminal setze subequal.

This is a small species related to the preceding, but differs in

many respects, the form of the spermathzeca is oval. The egg

sacs are slender, elongate oval. Cullman county, Ala. |

PoST-EMBRYONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TWO SPECIES OF DAPHNIA.

In a previous paper it was shown that the spine found on the —

posterior portion of the shell in young and male individuals, t :

all members of this genus, is a persisting embryonal characte, ;

and its possible advantage to the economy of the animal wa —

pointed out. It was indicated that a recognition of the facts 7

brought out, would throw several species into synonymy. Pr

my wish, in this paper, to illustrate the extent of the variations |

passed through in the course of later development, by two << d

‘ples, one of which has been but imperfectly described, while te

other is new to America. pi

These two species differ from any known to me, though Pa

may possibly be found among some of Sars’ numerous sii

species. 7

DAPHNIA LONGISPINA Herrick (Microscopic Entomostraca, : 77)

n a figurë

This name was applied to the young, and in connection à. the

was given of a male with the spine on the head which, m *

female at least, was indicative of immaturity. The nae © $

particularly appropriate, for the mature female is not €v!

spined. ;

This name has been long applied to another form 1

but apparently to an immature stage of another spede |

it is really vacant. in a

In a paper (Notes on Cladocera of Minnesota) if ae

Geol. Surv. of Minn. 1881, the post-imago is figured, m oW

of the younger stage (a little distorted in the molt). angel :

able to complete the chain from the embryo to the posame

1883. ] Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 501

Plate vil). Fig. 3 is the embryo extracted from the brood cavity,

showing that the eye is near the extremity of the elongated head

even before the two eye spots have united (Fig. 10). Fig. 2

shows the early stage of post-embryonal growth. Fig. 1 is the

adult in the first stage in which all the peculiarities of the species

are pronounced. Fig. 4 is the post-imago (see also Plate x1 Figs.

{5-16 of Notes on Minnesota Crust., and Fig. 4 in the text).

DAPHNIA DUBIA, sp. nov. ?

This species is very nearly related to the preceding, differing,

however, in having the eye small and situated nearly in the cen-

ter of the head, while the previous one has an eye of usual size

and near the straight lower margin. The head is much more

acute than in the preceding but not carinated (Fig. 9). Both

these species have occasionally a horn in young stages (Fig. 14).

The claws are smooth or simply pectinate. The spine in the lat-

ter species is more elevated. It is remarkable that the same

Species has both forms of abdominal appendages represented at

Figs. 13 and 8,

ton ane post-imago of dubia has not been seen. The nearest ap-

Proach to it had a considerable spine, but the head had already

begun to assume the shorter form with a curved lower margin. `

The only allied species yet described from America, is D. Jevis

of Birge in which the development is tolerably well completed.

By filling up the gaps till all the stages in each case are known,

a a advanced one step toward an accurate determination of

Species, and require then to learn what variations in the process

Mealy. obtaining may be occasioned by alterations in the envi-

` arg But in. the mean time we are discovering the laws

d ich govern development and the historical affinities of the dif-

a Rrent genera and species,

Darnsra PULEX,

ah common species is subject to variations which are per-

‘ iy but there seems to be no reason for the separation of the

| ~~ K lata, as done by Birge. The differences relied upon are

toes: ett down the claw and the abrupt curvature of the

“Work margin of the head. Fig. 4 of Plate 1 in P. E. Mueller’s

a from Tuscal this peculiarity of the claws. Quite typical D. pulex

ts ia: however, do not have the fine teeth and only

fst on the abdomen.

502 Fleterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. [May,

SCAPHOLEBERIS ANGULATA, sp. nov. (Figs. 26-28, Plate V).

The genus Scapholeberis at present consists of two species, S.

nasuta Birge and S. mucronata with its three varieties (a) fronte

levi, (ò) fronte cornuti of Europe, and (c) armata? found in Min-

nesota, Illinois and Tennessee. With regard to the European

varieties it is remarkable that although they are not local varieties?

the horn upon the head appears in the larger individuals and not

as would be expected from the analogy of Daphnia, in young

and small individuals. However, it is to be noticed that the

spines of the valves in Scapholeberis are not persisting embryonic

characters like the spine in Daphnia, but the young are like

Ceriodaphnia. It may be that in like manner the crest upon the -

head in Scapholeberis is, instead of an embryonic appendage as

in Daphnia, a later production. It might then be suggested that

Scapholeberis is now undergoing differentiation or, in other

words, is a new genus historically, while Daphnia is past the

acme of its activity in the direction in which it has differentiated

and now retains its peculiarities by inheritance, and tends to con-

tinue them only so far as they are of functional value. .

The horn which sometimes appears in young of certain speci® :

_ of Daphnia (D. galeata) and seems so capricious in its produc:

tion, may be not unlike that of this species. ee

Were it not that S. mucronata is known to be very bees }

might be admissible to create var. armata a new species. Addi

tional details are given for this variety in Figs. 23-24, de a

Scapholeberis angulata, sp. nov.—Head of medium size; rostrum directed oo

ward and backward; eye of moderate size; macula nigra indistinct ; hago :

basin for antennz well developed; antennules long curved, armed with abe cal

sense hairs as well as the terminal olfactory ? filaments; cephalic portion of e

of antennæ marked by longitudinal lines connected at intervals by Sg” eeg

rior portion of the part of the basin on the valves reticulate ; “ mucro amiba ;

‘

ferior posterior corner of shell simply sharply angled; inner wall of g ght of the q

with a row of small spines below and posteriorly for a gen of pore known sp

shell; caudal teeth 5-7 in adult, being more numerous than in any ° i]

cies; size large. gä |

E E E CO i;

The “mucro” is absent in the smallest individual ohni

Scapholeberis seems to lie between Daphnia and er nag

agreeing with the former in heing a divergent ma ABE

* y ». . LF tal , 4

ily, but still with more affinities to the latter. Near a]

1 Birge. Notes on Cladocera. x

- * Herrick. Notes on Crustacea of Minnesota, Geol. Rep. sine

3 Kurz. Doclekas neuer Cladoceren, etc., p. 22.

is aa

1883.] Heterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. 503

SIMOCEPHALUS DAPHNOIDES, sp. nov. (Figs. 30, 31, Plate V; Fig.

io, Plate VI. -

Four nominal speeies of Simocephalus are deseribed: S. vetu-

lus Müller, S. expinosus Koch, S. serrulatus Koch, S. americanus

Birge. The differences in some cases seem quite trivial, since the

form of the macula nigra certainly varies with age along with the

shape and armature of head and the general shape of the body.

However, the present species is so unmistakable that it is not

requisite to enter upoa a discussion which lack of material

makes undesirable. ,

Simocephalus daphnoides, sp. nov.—General shape very like Daphnia; head regu-

curved and not strongly angled in front, not marked off from the body by a strong

depression ; eye of moderate size, macula nigra oval to rhomboidal; antennules long

curved; anterior portion of shell as deep as the posterior; the three curved

Spines at the lower posterior angle of shell are wanting; abdomen much as in S.

vetulus > claw fringed part way with weak spines.

This species is recognized by its oval shape and the Daphnia-

like shape of head. In old females the spine is about midway of

| the depth of the shell, but the upper outline is regularly curved

and not keeled as in vetwlus (Fig. 29, Plate V). Quite charac-

teristic is the absence of the three or four curved spines on the

shell angle (comp. Fig. 31 with 292). On the whole in this spe-

‘ = an approach to Daphnia may be seen. Near Decatur, Ala.,

= with Scapholeberis angulata, also in all Southern Alabama.

Certoparunta ALABAMENSIS, sp. nov. (Figs. 11-12. Plate VI).

Ceriodaphnia is a very perplexing genus, and one in which the

Ka ad age has not been studied. Three species have been

F oned from America, C. cristata Birge, C. consors Birge, and

3 m e i ata (= dentata Birge), there remaining pulchella, rotunda,

®© Kata, laticauda (? ) and quadrangulata, as described in Europe. .

e oe typical C. reticulata were collected back of Paducah, Ky.

EA Pepe shape of the fornices figured by P. E. Mueller can

same oed by pressure. I have little doubt that this is the

en described from Massachusetts and Wisconsin by

ieai head is not so suddenly angled behind the eye as

Cc by Birge, but more so than represented by Mueller.

Offered; StS, sp. nov. — The form for which this name is

but it Sa known from a single gathering at Tuscaloosa, Ala.,

Nts from any known species so much as to leave no

Ps,

504 Fleterogenetic Development in Diaptomus. [May>

doubt that it is a new species. A complete diagnosis unfortu-

nately cannot be given.

Head remarkably small and produced downward; eye very small; the head ex-

tends into a beak-like Spot nee the eye; the antennules are very long

aie as in Moina; the body is longer than in pone and the reticulations

a double contour line as in c pulchella ; the abdomen is slender and the sides

ui parallel, the claws being short and truncate, he spines of the usual size. Two —

summer eggs were in the cavity of the animal figure i

A fifth ae of Ceriodaphnia was ety in cold springs near —

Tuscaloosa, Ala., which is not greatly different from C. reticulate —

as defined by P. E. Mueller and Kurz.

CERIODAPHNIA (reticulata var.) PARVA, sp. (vel var.) nov.

+3io—r#is in. long, transparent; head not strongly depressed, somewhat abruptly

angled in front of antennules; fornices not very prominent; antennules short, coni-

cal, shell oblong, a in a sharp angle posteriorly, simply reticulated ; abdomen

rather short, not narrowed very much, distally rounded at the extremity; e

rather short, a spines short euived.

This very small species was found in considerable numbers,

but very little variation in size was noticed. C. pulchella Sats, is

0.5-0.6™, but the head is quite different, though the abdomen is

similar, Kurz says also, “ Die schalensculptur ist doppel- -linig,”

which is not the case in our species. |

C. quadrangula is 0.6", but several important differences are j j

observable between the two species. In that species the head is _

said to be “ valde depressum, ante basin antennarum ferme nom

angulatum;” the antennules are large and the abdomen pasty é

In general appearance this species is a reduced copy of |

reticulata, but the claws are smooth. Kurz speaks of a pe

var. of reticulata with smooth claws, but the fornices are then at

to be sharp.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII.

= 7 aes’ aseet female,

. -fifth feet of female.

MERS : es fifth feet of male.

de © oee antennules.

"o s mandible.

n" Gs ea

ew Canchocamptus, sp. n, ? fifth foot of female.’

qa. fifth foot of male.

fe Ds s antennules,

386, antenna of female.

"ox. s spermathæca.

= I2. “ stylets of female.

M23. " stylet of male.

a MB) a maxilliped.

PLATE VII.

— HETERocENETIC DEVELOPMENT IN DIAPTOMUS.

1883.) On the Morphology of Arteries, especially of the Limbs. 505

Fic. 15. Canthocamptus, sp. n., stylets of female.

“# 16, “

oe: 2 fifth foot of female.

“ 18. Diaptomus “ sanguineus,” fifth feet of larva (8).

* fifth feet of larva (2).

ir abdomen of larva (@).

mS, " fifth foot of adult (3).

yaey r: antenna of adult.

“ 23. Diaptomus “castor,’ margin of last segment (<j).

“ag ; 66

4 margin of last segment ( Ẹ).

25-28. Cyclops pectinatus.

29. Diaptomus pallidus, inner ramus of fifth foot (H)

10:

REMARKS ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF ARTERIES,

ESPECIALLY THOSE OF THE LIMBS.’

BY FRANK BAKER, M.D.

F is generally taken for granted that the variability of arteries

is such that they are of but little use in morphological studies.

Anatomists are usually of the opinion that since the function of

the arteries is to nourish the tissues, their course from the heart

to their destination is of too slight importance to the race to have

become a fixed character, and all search for law is abandoned.

But it is questionable whether some biologists have not too

hastily come to this conclusion.

Morphological laws are always obscure when studied in the

adult individual alone. To trace them we must examine the dif-

ferent phases of individual development and investigate the anat-

omy of related forms.

There is a period when the embryo of a vertebrate animal is

a6 Provided with a proper vascular system. During the early

Stages of the segmentation of the ovum, no vessels exist, the

young cells receiving the necessary nutriment from an interstitial

la, as do those of the lowest Protozoa.

This stage is of short duration. Throughout the minute disk-

Object which is hereafter to be a fully developed verte-

brate, certain cells appear, of a slightly reddish color, dotting

f the disk in a peculiar marbled manner. From their appearance

and isolation these are known as d/ood-islands. They touch each

A finally as they increase in number, either at some part of

ai 1A) ;

ares of a paper read hefore the Montreal meeting of the Amer. Assoc. for

= Beement of Science.

gd wee

506 Remarks on the Morphology of Arteries, [May,

their contour or by means of processes which they throw out, so

that there results a net-work, at first indistinct but gradually in-

creasing in clearness and color as the cells enlarge.

Each of these blood-islands then undergoes vacuolation, a por

tion of the protoplasmic contents becoming liquified and leaving

a cavity. By a budding process new cells are formed in the in-

terior of the mother-cells and becoming detached float free in the

fluid which fills the vacuole. At this period, therefore, the blood-

islands present an outside cell-wall with a contained fluid in

which float free cells or corpuscles, the whole arranged in a close

mesh-work.

Next the cell-walls wherever in contact thin away and disap-

pear, there resulting a tube the walls of which are the original

cell-walls of the blood-islands, the contents a fluid, plasma, m

which swim free blood-corpuscles. There is at first no special

difference in size among the vessels thus formed, nor is there any

structural difference by which we can distinguish arteries from

veins. No trunks or branches can as yet be made out, itisim

fact a capillary plexus that appears, all vessels lying on the same

plane and communicating equally with each other. ni

But a difference soon begins to be manifest. The rapidity of

growth varies greatly. Along certain lines the vessels begin s

increase in size so that soon there is visible distinction of capil-

laries, branches and trunks. This process of capillary and trun

formation extends from without inward, attains the PIOnsy b

of the embryo, finally reaching the rudimentary vesicle whi

represents the heart. (Plate VIII.) g Ak

It should be noted that the development is centripetal. No

ing is more natural than to look upon the arteries as a system

proceeding centrifugally from the heart outward.

However convenient this may be to the physio

surgeon, to the anatomist it embodies a fallacy. $

are the first formed, next the arterioles, then the branches a

larger size, finally the trunks. It is owing to the subtle p `

of this fallacy that the study of the arterial system has a

no farther. along

I have mentioned that the rapidity of growth is gee aa

certain lines, thus leading to the formation of trunks. It ge

ceivable that these trunk-lines should be intermediate g a

_ tion, but in fact they usually become established in certain his?

~ _ situations. What can be ascertained as to the causes for u7

PLATE VIII.

CIRCULATION IN THE EMBRYO.

er ae ee

PLATE IX.

ru j

\ :

\ P.

Ih (Vy

Win ot

CIRCULATION OF VERMES.

1883. ] Especially those of the Limbs. 507

We get but little information on this point from the embryo.

It will therefore be necessary to examine the vascular system in

those animals along which we suppose the line of descent to have

passed, getting thereby a fuller history of the successive stages

than we can do in the condensed abridgment shown us in embry-

onic life.

Not until we reach worms do we find the commencement of a

true d/ood-vascular system. It is true that even Amoebze have a

trace of vessels formed by the coalescence of vacuoles arising at

indeterminate points in the protoplasm, but these are not perma-

nent. In Vermes we have, formed within the layers of the meso-

blast, permanent vessels having walls and independent of the

body cavity. |

In the simplest form we have three longitudinal trunks, two

lateral, the third medio-dorsal. Simply connected behind, toward

the cephalic end they are somewhat coiled around the ganglionic

center which represents the primitive cerebrum, distantly remind-

ing us of the branchial arches of vertebrates. In some genera

transverse vessels connect these. This is more distinctly shown

in the ringed worms where a distinct transverse trunk exists for

each segment of the body. Some portion of these vessels may

become pulsatile, sometimes a transverse vessel, sometimes a dor-

sal one. This is the primitive heart, originally a portion of the

tubular system which takes on contraction. (Plate IX. figs. a, 4, £.)

Doubtless trunks were originally developed for the reason that

fluids will move more rapidly and effectively through a large

Straight vessel of uniform size than through a capillary network.

As these worms move their bodies longitudinally, mechanical

force acting on the blood would tend to enlarge the capillaries in

that direction,

Special nervous system and muscles. Hence each has a

semi-independent center of nutritive activity and a lateral trunk

F ready and effective supply. Vertebrate animals, including

man, share with these lowly organisms this peculiar ramification.

aorta gives off the intercostal arteries which pass around the

3y and connect with other longitudinal vessels (internal mam-

Bee:

508 Remarks on the Morphology of Arteries, [May,

mary and epigastric). In the lumbar and sacral regions a similar

arrangement can be made out, somewhat obscured by the modifi-

cations of the abdominal wall. This gives strong support to the

theory of the segmentation of the human skeleton. (Plate X.)

What can be said as to the limb-trunks? Let us examine

their plan. It will be observed that their bifurcations have a defi-

nite relation to the segments of the body. Thus for the pelvic

extremity we have first, at the sacro-iliac joint, a division of the

common iliac into internal and external iliac ; below the hip-joint

the main trunk divides-into superficial and deep femoral; below

the knee another bifurcation gives us anterior and posterior tibial;

on reaching the foot there is a division into external and internal

plantar, whence radiate branches to the toes.

In the thoracic limb a similar law can be discovered, although

the enormous preponderance of the cephalic extremity modifies

the vascular supply. The subclavian gives off the thyroid axis

after passing the sterno-clavicular joint; the superior profunda

represents profunda femoris; the next bifurcation is into radial

and ulnar; then the division of ulnar into deep ulnar and super-

ficial palmar arch, whence digital branches. Here again we have

a dichotomous division corresponding to segments of the limb, i

the main trunk dividing after passing the joint. eo

As far as I am aware no attempt has been made to explain this

law morphologically. The conditions of nutrition might be met

by a single axial trunk extending from the aorta to the phalanges

giving off branches irregularly. i:

If it is urged that simplification of trunks is desirable ee

movable joints, the numerous examples of high division show :

that the advantage is not great. ; 4

The existing RE eh of muscles might be ee 1

causing the peculiarities in the vessels. Itis true that me d

muscles are segmented in accordance with the divisions seg- a

limbs, but the superficial layers frequently extend from one ©

ment to another or even to a third. Besides, this segmen de- r

also requires explanation, and it is conceivable that it pe de |

pend upon the same causes that affect the bifurcation o

arteries.

May it not be possible to explain the division

arteries by deducing a general law dependent upon tic a

dent morphological condition? The arteries of the @ —

ATED Py ESAT E EE

of the limb-

Zz >

VE TANN

` ; te

IEAA

SUTE

wet

BAY

DINS

PLATE X.

D SS :

CIRCULATION OF THE ADULT.

1883. ] Especially those of the Limés. 509

though greatly variable and complicated in their origin, have

been beautifully explained by Rathke and his successors by ref-

erence to a general plan of branchial arches, a plan nowhere com-

pletely realized, but approximated more or less closely.

If we, in like manner, go back to the primitive limb, we have,

according to Gegenbauer, and others, a central stem along which

are developed radiate elements at regular distances, each element

arising at or near a joint. In the limbs of the higher vertebrates

the number of rays is reduced, those on one side being entirely

suppressed,

A discussion of the subject would be foreign to the purpose of

the present paper. I only wish to point out that the ramifica-

tion of limb-arteries affords the theory some support. For each

original ray would have its separate trunk, and at the convergence

of the rays these would fall into an axis trunk. Suppress the

tays of one side and a regular dichotomous division remains.

Proceed farther and gradually suppress those of the other side

and we might expect to find traces of those latest suppressed in

small trunks supplying new structures which came to be formed,

_ having as an indication of their radial character an origin not far

removed from the point of segmentation of the limb.

If this is a proper view the internal iliac and profunda femoris

in the lower limb, the thyroid axis and superior profunda in the

upper may be considered as arteries originally belonging to inde-

pendent rays now aborted. Of the same category are the inter-

osseous in the arm and the peroneal in the leg.

The operation of this law, if it be such, is obscured in some

cases by the formation of anastomoses crossing from one ray to

another at the points of segmentation. Thus arise the palmar

and plantar arches formed below the carpo-metacarpal and tarso-

metatarsal joints. :

It is also obscured by the operation of two laws derived from

the centripetal development of the vascular system. The first of

these may be called variability of convergence. If some cause »

slightly diverts a forming trunk from its normal course, the devi-

ation would increase in proportion as it approached the heart, the

‘tunk would debouch at an unusual point and this would cause

is known as an abnormal origin for the artery.

€ convergence may be more or less than normal. If more,

origin would be farther from the heart; if less, nearer. When

the

510 Remarks on the Morphology of Arteries, ete. [May,

the arteries of the limbs vary in convergence it is usually a de-

fect, and the bifurcation is, therefore, nearer the heart. The

brachial artery divides normally just below the elbow joint, cases

of a lower division are so rare that Quinn found but one in 481

cases, and that doubtful because complicated by other anomalies.

The same law hold good for other arteries. Now, if the normal

point of division is to be considered as the xoda/ point of the

archetypal ray, a slight variation would carry it to the next higher

ray, while the amount must be greater to carry it to a lower

one. Whena high division takes place it is usually near the

next higher node. The high division of the brachial is usually

as far up as the origin of the superior profunda.

Many examples of this law of convergence are seen in the

lower vertebrates. In reviewing these it should be borne in mind

that the original main branches of the aortic or spinal trunk are

the hypogastric arteries, these being comparatively large vessels

before the iliacs appear.

In birds we see the external and internal iliacs derived sep®

rately from the aorta—a case of defective convergence. In

Ornithorhynchus the profunda femoris, the femoral proper and

the internal iliac all come off together—another case of high

division. A similar condition obtains in the frog, where two ves-

sels, called the external and internal circumflex, whose homology

is unknown to me, come off at the same point as the femoral and

umbilical.. (Plate XI.) ce

Another law creating diversity may be termed intersubstitutio®

A trunk may be diverted from its usual situation and found in the

line usually occupied by a smaller vessel. This, it is supposable,

may be from some cause affecting the foetus, such as ager

force of gravity, embolism, or those unexplained causes whi

we call atavism or reversion to an ancestral type. A similar

phenomenon takes place after the. ligation of vessels. The ge

trunk is reduced or disappears and the channel of collateral cif

culation becomes the main one.

Another striking example of this is the case where

artery becomes posterior, passing down in the situ pr

arteriole known as the comes nervi ischiadici. This is the aa

arrangement in birds. (Plate XI.) ndoubt-

Functional activity of the parts to be supplied may ¥ wee

edly considerably modify the size and arrangement of art

the femora

ation of t

PLATE XI.

EXT. ILIAC

PROF UNDA

Monetremes.

CAUDAL

FEMORAL

INT. CIRCUMFLEX FEMORAL

PROFUNDA

SGIATIC

GLUTEAL

OBTURATOR

UMBILICAL

Divisions OF THE AORTA.

1883. ] The Hairy Woodpecker. 511

The variation of the long thoracic and uterine arteries in females

when lactation and gestation are established, is a familiar exam-

ple. In animals that move slowly or remain for some time under

water, it seems to be sometimes necessary to provide for a slow

purling of blood along nervous trunks. In sloths, the Ornitho-

thynchus and the manatee the main trunks break into plexiform

arrangements, and in Cetacea large plexuses encircle the spinal

cord. It is conceivable that the original capillary form has never

been entirely overcome in these cases. So too in the alimentary

canal of man. This, the oldest part of the body when viewed

phylogenetically, has also the oldest form of circulation. The

activity required is slow, but constant. Removed from external

influences, it has not become as highly differentiated in function as

the periphery of the body. The polypoid activity of the cells is

best kept up by a gradual welling of the blood through a series

of encircling capillaries. Even the larger branches show that

they are incompletely differentiated. The branches of the mes-

enteric arteries do not each separately carry blood to the part

they are to feed, but unite by cross anastomoses in a series of

loops, the whole resembling an enormously enlarged capillary

plexus, | .

If this view of arterial morphology be correct, all varieties

found in man and animals should be reducible to the general case

Prefigured by the radiate fin of fishes. Any important series of

exceptions that cannot be derived from the archetype would over-

throw the theory.

:0:

THE HAIRY WOODPECKER.

A. G. VAN AKEN.

HE pert, comely and invaluable bird designated in science as

7 Picus villosus Linnæus, though known in general parlance

-Simply as the hairy woodpecker, or “ sap-sucker,” has been various-

ly Portrayed by those attempting his biography. Careful inquiry

a among the masses discloses the fact that he is well and favorably

‘ ‘Known only to the few specialists in this department of natural

one history, while diversity of statement and contrariety of conclusion

a as the rule.

bo ) the present instance our purpose is merely to adduci

na fide observations, gleaned during the past few seasons in New

e some

512 The Hairy Woodpecker. [May,

Jersey, which may assist in determining, at least for the locality

whence they were taken, the comparative abundance of the species

as resident; the date of nidification; the number of eggs con-

stituting a set, and the value of the bird under consideration to

the pomologist.

We shall indicate certain facts brought to notice relative to our

sturdy little friend, as we have seen and become intimate with him

in his sylvan haunts in this State, while assuming domestic cares.

The compilation of facts from the library, or the examination of

the skins of defunct specimens in some museum, we generously

consign to those who attach more importance to this popular

method than we are wont to accredit to it.

Ornithologists have assigned as the habitat of this species the

Eastern section of the United States, though practically they differ

as regards the abundance or even presence of the “hairy” in

many sections of this district. We have found them moderately

abundant here (New Jersey) in favorable localities, especially m

the central portions of the State. The close resemblance exist

ing between the hairy and the downy woodpecker (Picus pubescent

Linnzus) in plumage, contour and habit has rendered thepresen

of the former often unnoted. The exercise of proper care, oye

by the beginner, will obviate such confounding of the cousms

The former averages 9-10 inches in length, the latter only 6-64

inches, so that one may quite readily detect the “ hairy” by his

superior size. There are other well-defined distinctions, but that

alluded to answers general purposes with little chance for errot

Our experience during the past three seasons, making i entifica

tion certain in each instance, has been the finding of almost T

quite as many nests of the hairy as of the downy wooden

though some may be disposed to question such a statement. ©

is a fact, however, for which we vouch, and can easily a

proofs therefor. Se

The date for nidification and the complement of eggs a ’

caused us considerable trouble and annoyance. Thus yee :

wont to state “four to five eggs are laid about May rst- p i

crediting which we sought to arrange our plans for the secu S q

a šet of eggs for the cabinet, in accordance therewith. But ae

of being crowned with success, all our efforts were abortive T

were careful to secure date and number of eggs in rek a ,

several nests that we found, certain of which were as follows: ~ |

1883.] The Hairy Woodpecker. 513

May 13th, 1880, we discovered our first authentic nest of the

hairy woodpecker. It was situated in a partially dead swamp

maple, nearly thirty feet from the ground. Though the day was

warm, the shaft of the tree smooth, without limb or excrescence

of any sort to assist us in shinning up to the coveted nest, we de-

termined to secure the eggs if possible. We had nearly reached

the entrance to the woodpecker’s home, when, imagine our dis-

may, at seeing three yourg birds dart out of the hole and run

nimbly up amid the topmost branches of the tree.

On or about April 20th, 1881, a friend detected a pair of these

birds building a nest in a dead basswood, about twenty feet from

the ground. Waiting about one week, he repaired to the tree

and carefully sawed out a piece of the wood some ten inches be-

low the hole and found the nest to contain three eggs. This he

pondered was not a full set, so replacing the piece of wood and >

securely tying it, ashe thought, with strong cords, he awaited the

laying of one or two additional eggs. When we visited the tree

again we were chagrined to find the cords cut by the sharp bills

of the parent birds, the block, which had been sawn out, fallen to

the ground and the eggs gone. Whether the old birds did not like

the cords or were merely of an investigating turn of mind and

wished to test the strength of the fastenings, or were actuated by a

spirit of pure “ cussedness” in destroying the nest and contents, we

did not consider it worth while to inquire, but, deeming ourselves

commiserable, decided that the very next time we were confronted

with a set of three hairy woodpecker’s eggs we would—wait for

the appearance of one or two more? oh, no; rather secure the

three despite the statements of the books that four to five com-

Posed a set, leaving to some other novice the verification of this

statement, ws

Again, on April 28th, 1882, while passing through a tract of

Woodland, our attention was directed to a circular hole, deftly

chiseled in a dead maple, whose top had been broken off by the

_Wind. The hole was only a few inches below where the top had

en carried away and about twenty to twenty-five feet from the

Sround, Our rap on the tree with a stick quickly brought one of

the old birds to the entrance, when, perceiving us, very little time

Was lost in deserting this for an adjacent tree, where, in response

ve few sharp notes, the mate delayed not to also take position and

to unite in sounding a general alarm. After sawing out a piece

514 The Hairy Woodpecker. [May,

large enough to admit of an examination of the nest, we found

only three eggs. We had almost forgotten the experience of the

past season, so, instead of using cord to secure the piece which

- we had removed in position again, we nailed it in and departed,

that the female might deposit the one or two eggs still wanting to

make the number required by the statement of the books. Three

days subsequent, viz., on May Ist, we again examined the nest by

removing the nails and found that it contained, as before, three

eggs ; but there was this difference, now each egg was pecked and

a young bird chirped at us from within the compliments of the

day. This was an unlooked for as well as unappreciated greeting ;

so, closing up the aperture, we departed in disgust. We in

imagination already placed the set of glossy white eggs in our

collection, in fact we had not counted our birds before they were

- hatched, but our eggs had hatched into birds, a possibility which

we had not counted upon at all; an occurrence, by the way, not

rarely met with by the procrastinating odlogist of limited expe

rience. Two other nests, quite similarly situated, each contained

young birds on May 8th and roth, respectively. |

It will be observed in the five instances above cited, the orthodox |

date and number of eggs in a set were not conformed to, a fact

which we regretted very much, since we had pinned our faith upon |

the statements of eminent authorities in the matter. Perhaps these

‘were very erratic specimens of this demure species which ig

chanced to encounter; we know not that this was the case, but this

we do know, the facts stand as stated. Another season’s exper

ence similar to the foregoing will militate very strongly against

the books as regard this section in the matter of the nidificatio®

of the hairy woodpecker. We shall assume in our personal opera-

tions the coming season that April 25th will do very well as i

date to seek for the hairy’s nest, and that three will make pan l

eggs, though should we discover four or even five we will n ;

reject them on that score. :

A single word in reference to the value of the hairy woodpecker

to every fruit-grower, despite a popular prejudice that strangely

enough is still extant in many portions of our country, which ő

expression in ther tion and ext ination system adhered

by presumably educated men. True, the Count de Buffon pin

in most sombre colors the entire family as “ being condemne?

. i ipi xis-

Nature to incessant toil and slavery, dragging outan insipid § E

-1883.] Editors’ Table. 515

ence, being a peculiarly wretched example of the inequality of the

distribution of happiness,’ and many writers of more recent date,

despite the eloquent refutation of the calumny by our greatest or-

nithologist, Alexander Wilson, seem to be imbued with a like

spirit. But what is the true state of the case as vouched for in the

testimony of every true working, field ornithologist ?

A beneficent Providence has richly endowed the family of

woodpeckers with qualities of rare excellence and worth. Espe-

cially is this true of the hairy. The principal count in the indict-

ment against him, that he bores the bark of fruit and other trees

in order to feed upon the sap and inner bark, will not stand, being

utterly false. An extended examination of the contents of the

stomach of this bird invariably fails to disclose an appreciable

amount of either, but in their stead a huge mass of insects and

larve. The perforations which he makes are merely for the pur-

pose of securing his quarry from their ensconsure neath the bark

out of the reach of other agencies. His is a work of destruction

and death—the dislodgment and consuming of myriads of borers,

&c.—not harm to the tree, but beneficial, as attested in innumera-

ble instances. In this despised, persecuted bird, we have a true

friend and effective co-worker, very materially assisting us in gather-

ing an ample return of perfect fruit for the labor and care expended

to this end in orchard, vineyard or garden. Ignorance and pre-

Judice have no place amid the general intelligence and humane

Principles of to-day and should not be tolerated. Let no one,

then, wantonly destroy either eggs or parent bird, but carefully

foster and protect them, even using his influence to secure the

Punishment of all thus rendering themselves amenable to law and

the just condemnation of every intelligent person.

penn.

EDITORS’ TASLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE.

~— The Government of the United States is displaying a lib-

srality towards scientific research which is worthy of high praise.

eh © Position assumed by our legislators on this subject is in ac-

Sordance with the spirit of the age, and represents the intellectual

: Status of the American people among the civilized nations. The

“PPropriations made by Congress for the development and exposi-

Our resources have kept pace in amount with the increase

VoL, xvn, —No

516 Editors’ Table,

of our population, and the development of intelligence. Thanksto

the character of the representatives of science at the seat of gov-

ernment, the expenditure of this money has been mostly wisely

directed. A full share of support has been given to abstract

science as distinguished from economic science. This is cause for

congratulation, for in this utilitarian country, pure science is too

often undervalued. It is remarkable, how, even in this day, the -

development of the mental instincts of our species may be neg —

lected for the purely physical, as though human happiness did not ;

depend as much on healthy mental as on bodily states. Tostate

the case more precisely, human happiness depends as much of

more on pleasant sensations (thoughts, etc.) of the brain, as on

pleasant sensations of the skin and stomach. By purveying tothe

first-named organs our rulers receive the lively thanks of all

ple in whom the said organ has been developed into a large and

active efficiency. Bet

neof the most satisfactory features of our Government scien-

tific work has been the liberality with which the books and atlases

have been distributed. It is true that by this means some, Pt —

haps, a good many copies, have fallen into unsuitable hands. | ;

this is a slight offset to the great benefits done to scientific men "

little means, to whom many of these publications are absolute 7

cessities. We do not join in the cry of waste of Goyen j

money raised, because many of these works are temporary *

in quantities to second-hand book-stores, etc., for ultimately #

find their way into appreciative hands. We do not conceive 4

the recent change in the work of distribution is an advance oñ

old one. It is now the rule that a certain large class of ip

publications shall be sold at cost of production, and not ere

away as heretofore. Apart from the hardship thus ine g

poorer scientific workers, as a simple question of right, g

are entitled to these works, since they are produced at the punnis

pense and paid for by the peoples’ money. What pen

have induced this change of policy we are at a loss to WIN"

. Tt does not seem to be in the interest of science. pee

The latest accession to the antivivisectionists (4 i

' Owen) is Prince Bismarck. From his distinguishe he

the past as a humanitarian, we anticipate for him grea witness

a beastiarian. Woerth, Gravelotte and Sedan all bear his B

the skill of his employés in humanitarianism ; and as "i

see the physiologists of Germany abolished; for s

only will be necessary under the reign of “ Bun 2 “able

Prime Minister.

have

the Rocky M

1883.] . Recent Literature. 517

RECENT LITERATURE.

position “ by being caught there when the river was a thousand

feet higher than it is now,” he goes on to say: “ There are

ed and sharp edges. These prove incontestibly the former

Standeur of the river, and exist to a height of 2000 feet or more

above the present river, and their sharp and well-defined edges

Would seem to prove their newness in the scale of time.”

The Salmon river region needs explanation more, perhaps, than

ever explored it. In investigating the permanent region of

ti fhe nature of this large district. Lieut. Symonds calls atten-

on to our almost entire ignorance of this region, and what he

. -» Say of the river must be new to our readers as it is to the re-

sna The Upper Snake river, as is well known, combines fea-

iss of rare geological and scenic interest.

a Moths the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake the (Snake) river takes

ich | vcstetly course, flowin through a tremendous cañon in

Which are

eo md 7 be

ility to steamboat transportation. Made by direction of the commanding

corps of the Department of the Columbia. By Lieut. THomas W. SYMONDS,

Wan Engineers, U.S. A., Chief Engineer of the Department of the Columbia.

33- Maps.

518 Recent Literature,

beauty, ranking with Niagara and the falls of the Zambesi, in

Africa. The principal are the Great Shoshone falls, the American

falls and Salmon falls. A number of streams flow into the Snake

from the lands to the south and west of its course, principal among

them being the Bruneau, Owyhee, Malheur, Burnt, Powder and

Grand Ronde rivers. The main branches from the east are the Ma-

the Salmon, the principal tributary of the Snake. It drains a |

by the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers, on the west by Puget

sound, and the regions of the St. Joseph and Clearwater rivers m 4

‘Northern Idaho. ascade i

A chapter is devoted to the geological history of the Cast ugh ]

mountains and the magnificent gorge of the Columbia aiat 4

these mountains, based on the observations, in 1874, of Pro A

J. LeConte. The author has also ascended and measured er :

tinct volcanos in Southern Oregon, beginning with Mount #1% —

Three Sisters, _

ly below that 4

of Mount Hood. He describes the surface geology of the yt l

Jumbia į

feet above the present river surface; and that at this time E of

was a great lake in the south-western part of the Ge 4

the Columbia.” This Quaternary lake on the map is ae coun-

ce Lewis. Many of the cañons in the Upper Colum! res, aad 1

try were not valleys of erosion, but volcanic rents or ret p a

our author concludes that “the courses of many of the E

1883.]

deeply encafioned rivers of this country were determined to a

very great extent by their waters finding and collecting in great

fissures, and that these fissures were formed during the late Ter-

tiary or during the upward oscillation of the Glacial epoch.”

PeNHALLOW’s VEGETABLE HisroLocy.!—In this little book of

about forty pages the author has brought together many things

_ which the beginner in laboratory work ought to know, and has

_ done so in such a simple and unpretentious style that it cannot

fail to be of great use, especially to those who take up the study

_ of vegetable histology by themselves, and who have no ready

teacher or demonstrator always at hand. The book contains,

first, a short chapter on reagents and media for examination, In

his the more indispensable materials are briefly noticed, and

~ femarks are made upon the methods of using them.

Ae second chapter deals with vegetable products. Here

again only the more important are taken up. The physical char-

acters are briefly given, and the various tests and the methods of

making them are described.

Next we have in outline a course of study for a beginner,

_ Which is simply a classified iist of subjects for study, beginning

__ with protoplasm, the nucleus, chlorophyll, etc., and ending with

the minute anatomy of the stem and leaf.

Three valuable tables are given, devoted respectively to cell-

contents, cellulose forms, and plant products. These resemble the

ssm use in chemical laboratories, and show at a glance the

Principal physical characters of most vegetable structures, and

their reactions in the presence of different reagents. ese

__ fables will prove to be very handy for the beginner. A short list

books of reference is given, and finally eighteen or twenty

Pages of blank leaves are left for notes and memoranda.

Ina Prefatory note the author announces that “ if there is suffi-

aent encouragement, it is proposed to issue a second edition, in

ich the plan will be much extended, thus making it of greater

X rir tage to the beginner, and also useful to the advanced stu-

X . With this end in view, suggestions from teachers and

org histologists will be gladly welcomed.” It is to be hoped

CE Pag time this promised enlarged edition may appear.

a Luvs’ Tar BRAIN anp ITs Functions. — This translation for the

os — national Scientific series will prove useful to many readers. It

Recent Literature. 519

i tog do duty many times under new names, and the skill dis- -

Mar” Me use of Students and Beginners in Vegetable Histology. By D. P.

x rgetable L£11Stology.

Agric i > B.S.; late professor of cieatiy and botany in the Imperial College

Svo, » Japan. Boston, S. E. Cassino, publisher, 1882. i

Pe 327. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1882.

520 Recent Literature. [May,

played in doing this reminds us of the great feast served to the

King of Spain, in which all the dishes were made of sows’ ears,

The translator has also not been entirely competent, for the lan-

guage is sometimes involved, and un-English words are occasion-

ally used. The book is, however, a valuable contribution to pop-

ular scientific literature.

JouRNAL OF THE PosraL Microscopricat Society.'—This new

magazine originated in the desire of the members of the Postal

Microscopical Society of the United Kingdom to utilize notes and

drawings that were buried in note books. Its two hundred pages

of clear type, illustrated with numerous plates, contain jottings

upon subjects too numerous to mention, yet the following illus-

trated articles may be cited as examples: Mr. Hammond on

Tubifex rivulorum, “ the most abundant worm in Thames mud;

the Rev. E. T. Stubbs on a supposed new species of Caligus,

which the writer, however, does not name; Mr. Hammond on

Stylaria paludosa on the larva of Tanypus maculatus ; and on the

structure and economy of Daphnia; E. Lovett’s observations on

the embryology of the Podophthalmata ; and W. Horner s bt

on the structure and habits of spiders. Although portions

the book exhibit the usual fault of microscopic work, viz.,

much of it is work done for the sake of the microscope rather

than to supplement the writer's observations and studies in on

department of natural science, yet it contains much that 1s 0

value, especially to the zodlogist. ;

CROSS ON ANDERSITE FROM CoLoRADO.?—The rock in quea

is described by Dr. Whitman Cross as a compact, dark, alm i

black rock, containing a few macroscopic glassy feldspars *

dark-green grains.

Microscopically it is made up of a ground mass atite

minute plagioclase crystals, pyroxene microlites and man ps

octahedrons cemented by a clear glass base, which somes”

_ contains light brownish globulites; all holding crystals of ee

oa pyroxene, magnetite and apatite. The pyroxene !

small crystals and irregular grains.

ptical e Sga the pyroxene crystals led Dr. Cross a

regard them as belonging to two divisions, a pleachroic OF j

rhombic one and a triclinic one. The former was looked. eg

as hypersthene and the latter as a triclinic representativ

augite. ' ted

treater

er the

composed of

pyroxene and magnite were dissolved; the latter was Or veated

rawn with a magnet. The pyroxene minerals were again ©

d Mice

t Journal of the Postal Microscopical Society, a Miscellany of Natu Collins o

scopical Science. Edited by ALFRED ALLEN. Vol. I. London, WY.» t- ae

` * American Journal of Science, New Haven, 1883 (3), XXV, 139-

Be i Re eS

1883. ] Recent Literature. 521

with hydrofluoric acid until the triclinic pyroxene was almost en-

tirely dissolved. The rhombic pyroxene was then analyzed and

found to possess the composition of hypersthene, The isolation

and chemical analysis of the rhombic pyroxene was performed

by Mr. W. F. Hillebrand of the U. S. Geological Survey.

The conclusion drawn is, that a large proportion of the sup-

posed augite is hypersthene in the andesites. The paper is an

important contribution to the micro-mineralogy of andesite, and

its publication in a completed form is awaited with interest. The

sci chemical analysis of the andesite was made by Hille-

rand :

Sp. Gr. SiO, Al,O, F&O, FeO CaO MgO Na,O

2742 «56.19 «16.117 4.919 © 4.433. 6.996 4.601 ~— 2.9618

TEO Mno PO, Cl H,O Total,

8368 trace 0.266 0.022 1.028 99.901.

—WM. E. W.

Year Book or THE GERMAN MaracorocicaL Socrety'—This

excellent periodical has now concluded its ninth year of publica-

tion, a fact upon which malacologists may well congratulate

themselves. Those only who have been personally engaged in

upholding a periodical devoted to a speciality, addressed to a

small audience of naturalists whose interest in their favorite study

'S too often counterbalanced by deficiencies of income,—the

alone can realize what a successful nine years’ struggle implies.

The society whose organ it is, is partly an outgrowth from the

enckenbergian Museum of F rankfurt, its curators, students and

cation more worthy to be the organ of German Malacology

f mentioned journal after an honorable and apparently success-

tul career of

Edit der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft, 1882. Frankfurt am

ed by Dr. W. Koper: M. Diesterweg.

522 Recent Literature, [May,

Whatever the source of the plan of the Frankfurt journal, its

inspiration and success are due more to its editor, Dr. Kobelt, than

to all other cc-operating causes whatsoever. His scientific qualifi-

cations for the task are well known, apart from which he possesses

an artistic pencil of rare facility which has been employed freely

for the illustration of the “ Jahrbuch” from the beginning ; while it

is an open secret that to Madame Kobelt’s brush we are indebted

for the tinting of the beautifully colored plates which have graced

the work from time to time. This lady is an enthusiastic collector

and excellent conchologist, and her labors as well as those of her

husband have been carried on in the midst of household duties

and the busy life of a physician in a country village. These per-

sonal details may be pardoned, since devotion, under difficulties,

to the promotion of science is the highest stimulus to those in

similar circumstances. i,

It will be rightly inferred from the above that the journal has been

well edited and illustrated from the first, and that it has contained

in preceding volumes some of the best malacological papers of the

time. The present volume is well up to the standard of its pre-

decessors, and contains, beside notices of current literature and

items of news, a continuation of Dr. Kobelt’s useful catalogues of

species, the most important of which in this volume are Fusus an

Pisania ; contributions to the conchology of South America by

Dohrn and Dunker; of the Tyrol by Vincent Gredler; of China

by Mollendorff; of Céntral Asia and Madagascar by Dohrn;

E. von Martens contributes to our knowledge of the Pulmonates by

Angola and Loango; P. Hesse discourses on the conchologi

aspects of Greece; Jickeli and Lobbecke describe various

velties ; while Schepman contributes a thorough, well illustra A

and important paper on the dentition of Hyalina. Herr T. :

Verkruzen, who is only too well known to American studen

opportunity of judging of the value of these criticisms. , volume

_ By no means the least important of the articles in this ú

is the editor’s account of a conchological journey to Spain, sak

the auspices of the Museum, with a view of investigating varie’ |

points in geographical distribution, but exigencies of spa set con-

us to cut our remarks short, with the recommendation

1883.] | Recent Literature, 523

chologists and libraries to number the “ Jahrbuch” among their

ssions. One suggestion may be permitted: that the future

numbers should contain an exact statement of the date of publi-

cation, which could be relied on in matters of priority, a matter of

some importance in these days of rivalry in research—W*m. H.

Dail.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINERALOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SECTION

OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL ScIENcEs 1880-1881. No. 2.—

This is a neatly printed little pamphlet of thirty-eight pages, con-

taining the notes on subjects germane to the objects of the sec-

tion, according to the title, during the years 1880-1881, and (to

judge from Mr. Rand’s last contribution on the volume Cs of the

2d Geological Survey’s publication, which did not appear till late

in 1882), for this latter year also.

‘here are thirty-six papers and short observations in all, of

Which fourteen are by Professor H. C. Lewis (secretary), and five

Mr. Theo. D, Rand (director), the latter including the only

i moderately long papers in the pamphlet. These are, in

wality, the only parts of the volume which can be reviewed, and

'S Proposed to devote a few words to them. The first of these

a. called, “ Notes on the Geology of Radnor and vicinity,”

and is mainly a criticism of Mr. Chas. E. Halls paper on the

Nelations of the crystalline rocks in Eastern Pennsylvania

Mr mary Phil. Soc., Jan. 2, 1880). Speaking of the serpentine,

of Rad ? says, that between the outcrops of the rock north-west

tine nor station and that near the Paoli, no outcrops of serpen-

ago been noted.

in Roy fand doubtless refers to the description of serpentine areas

belt of u final report, Vol. 1, p. 168, when he skips from his second

the upp son rock (south of the narrow limestone trough of

Hall had part of Gulf creek) to his third belt near the Paoli. Mr.

Ware no occasion to mention the occurrences outside of Dela-

: unpubl ontgomery counties in C,, nevertheless in the as yet

— Exsttown ¢ but stereotyped C,, he does describe the outcrops in

Possibly how tship, Chester county. These outcrops could not

ape ave escaped the observation of any geologist who has

6 otal township at all. Mining operations were conducted

a Mor to the publication of Rogers’ report, and it seems

524 7 Recent Literature. [May,

more probable to suppose that mention of them was in some way

omitted in the course of arranging his MSS for the press.! They

are marked in Frazer’s unissued map, which was colored in 1880,

Mr. Rand is right, in a sense, in insisting that the outcrops of

serpentine should be represented by detached areas rather than

by a continuous line, and Mr. Hall himself has been a notable

champion for this kind of geological Realism, but it may be car-

ried too far, and if this system had been uniformly adopted by

all geologists, no continuous structure of large areas would ever

have been attained. In the present instance it is almost as much

a matter of judgment as of observation where the limits of the

separate serpentine areas should be placed, for if the surface be

minutely examined and its indications alone regarded, each

these areas will show numerous interruptions of a few feet or

yards of continuity both witk and across the strike, where the

serpentinous matter is replaced by clastic rocks. In fact, much

of the area called serpentine has little to ally it to that mineral

but its blasting influence on vegetation, the rocks being of the

most heterogeneous and nondescript character.

Mr. Rand complains that Mr. Hall makes no mention of the

Potsdam sandstone which, following Rogers, he notes south as

the South Valley hill, beyond the signalization of “ sandy beds.

We think that Mr. Hall is entirely right in this, for the reason

that the hypothesis that these beds of white sand near the King

of Prussia, for example, may easily have resulted from the de-

composition of any of a great variety of rocks not Potsdam of

any other sandstones. It is true that it would not be difficult to

uth ale

ley Hill rocks here, than in joining the Potsdam and the j f the

i . + . ii

question it would simply shift a little to the wostward 4

tersection of the valley axis and the line of fault, whic e

supposes to bring up the lower series to the preset |

The observation of the intersection of the Serpentine ye estiOg

trap which has a more northerly trend in Easttown, 15 Coology

but not new. The second paper, called “ Note on the si phlet, l

Lower Merion and vicinity,” which is at the end of the pa Sur-

is a criticism of Mr. Hall’s volume C, of the 2d Geologic e.

1In the copy of Rogers’ final geological maps, before the writer, there Spread

be a color indication of one of these detached Serpentine masses, Mner west

Eagle tavern, in nearly a correct position, but of another exposure fi as the colo l

is no indication, This, however, is not perfectly satisfactory annette serpentine

in different copies, and the color for t ‘

1883.] Recent Literature. 525

vey of Penna. series. The first view that Mr. Rand expresses is

a“ regret that the publication was not delayed until the adjacent

parts of Delaware county were examined.” This had been done

before the issue of Cs, and we understand that the chief geologist

is almost ready to issue C;, which is to be devoted to Delaware

county.

The criticisms as to location of the areas of serpentine, which

Mr. Rand makes, are doubtless just, within the qualification pre-

viously made, as a large portion of these outcrops are but a short

distance from his residence, and it is not likely that he can be de-

ceived about a subject to which he has given so much attention.

At the same time it must not be forgotten that what one observer

would regard as evidence of a Serpentine outcrop, another would

not. In this respect Serpentine outcrops occupy almost a unique

position. It would seem to be only thus that such wide diver-

gences as are here noted are explicable. Professor Lesley’s

remark that “ the Serpentine belt of Bryn Mawr instead of pass-

ing in a straight line south-west * * * swings around south-

ward in a curve towards Chester,” &c., which evoked criticism

three months ago from another source)! is here also demurred to,

as if it were a remark of Mr. Hall, whereas Mr. Hall nowhere

appears to entertain such a view. The mistake which Mr. Rand

ears to have made as to the true authorship of the remark,

while quite natural, is a good illustration of one of the evils which

result from too much editing and commenting by the superior

officer of a geological survey.

The last two pages contain the real gist of the paper, and merit,

together with the map accompanying, a more detailed study.

$ Mr. Rand regards what he terms the “ Eurite,” south of the

air valley, “almost undoubtedly Potsdam sandstone,” but

€ difficulty in the case is to account for outcrops of Potsdam

sandstone of such widely different character existing so near

yS ae ;

Ayai, from Pomeroy to the Schuylkill, and beyond there, is

°mposed of a white hard sandstone, making precipitous cliffs,

: s

far es and probably of a fault, and this line of trap continues

nid the spot of which we are now talking; yet Mr, Rand

Valley. ve us believe that the South-Valley-hill and the Noni

cs ae long to the same formation. It is true that part o

a. 8 culty is disposed of in assuming that to the Potsdam

ferent patat of Rogers belong under and overlying schists dif-

from the sandstone proper; but this will remove only part

me Horizon of the South-Valley-Hill Rocks, Frazer, Proc. A, P. S., Dec. 15,

526 Recent Literature. [May,

of the difficulty, for a difference of horizon in the same forma-

tion at so short a distance would mean a fault, and if a fault is

once supposed it is easier to imagine it several thousand feet in

extent, if this will account for other phenomena such as

absence of the Potsdam where it ought to be on the northern

edge of the southern belt of limestones; than a few hundred feet,

leaving this and kindred difficulties to be disposed of by separate

hypotheses.

That the syenite south of the South-Valley-hill is an anticlinal

is very probable, since the whole structure of the South hill to

the Octoraro creek is anticlinal; but that the “ Eurite” which

occurs north of the anticlinal and south of the South Valley a

represents the Potsdam, we think “ almost without question”

not the case, for the reason among many others that the absence of

the white sandon between it and the valley would need ac-

counting fo

The map ick accompanies the paper is quite obscure, in

spite of the explanations in the title, and it is difficult to ascertain

whether the section given lies in Chester or Delaware county:

One other feature of the paper is natural pena to communica-

tions intended for small bodies of scientific men, wh Come

more familiar with each other’s works than with those of the |

ne | ay | te Ee ee

world outside. This may acount for an absolute silence as to e

thinking and working of any soul on these very interesting n ]

intricate questions except Professors Rogers and Lewis, Mr. a

whose work forms the target for this last contribution, and Mr.

Rand who shoots.!—P. F.

ECENT D PAMPHLETS.—Truck Farming at the South, a gue to the

eg] of era for Northern markets. By Dr. A. Oémler. New Yor nge

Judd & Co. From the ae blisher the

Fin 3 Causes. By Pau | hat member of the Institute. Traon bse See

agoma edition of wA French by W. Affleck, B.D. New York, Chas

Jamaica. Annual report of the Public Gardens and Piani for the ee

ing red 30, 1882, By D. Morris, M.A., director. Kingsto , 1883.

uthor

the

The Storage of Electricity. By H. L. Greer. New York, 1883. ha

or.

The Scientific Roll and Magazine of Systematized Notes. — >F. SGS

Part 11, Aqueous Vapor. London, 1883. From the Conductor, A. Ram pe

Art eap aY on Antistic qormi and the sciences useful to,

By R V. Clev r, A.M., M.D. Chicago, 1883. From the author. ns

tudy of ee poison of the Heloderma suspectum, or Gila monster.

we Mitchell and E. T. Reichert. Phi ladelphia Medical Times, peo i 78

Sur un Saccodon d’espéce nouvelle provenant de |’Equateur i he "From

aap “Ext. du Bulletin de la Societe Philomathique de part, 12 an

uthor

nae E, Report of the Zoological Society ot Cincinnati, 1882. aa fom the

he Selective Absorption of Solar Energy. By S. P. Langley. **

Pica Jour. of Science, Meith. 1883. From the author.

: í shortly.

1 Mr. Hall sends a reply to Mr. Rand’s criticism, which will be printed

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 527

Beiträge zur Kentness der a} lussfische Siidamerika’s, tv. Von Dr. Franz Stein-

dachner, Wien, 1882. From the author

On the value of the “ Secnate? as one Pht the primary zoological regions. Ext.

Proc. Acad, Nat. Sci., Phila., 1882. By Professor A. Hei mah in. From the author.

Observations on current American bibliography. By Dr. D. G. Brinton. Ext.

from minutes Numismatic and Antiquarian Soc. of Phila., ra 5, 1883. From the

author.

Allen’s Human Anatomy, Section Iv. Ar capa veins and lymphatics, By

Harrison Allen, M.D. Philada., 1883. From the a

Resúmen del Curso de kologá: Por A. Ernst. usual 1882. From the author.

Memoirs of the Geological Survey. England and Wales, The Vertebrata of the

Forest Bed series of Norfolk and Suffolk. By E. T. Newton, F.G.S. From th

Bird K Hicnsins from Mundesley. By E. T. Newton, F.G.S. Ext. from the Geo-

logical Magazine, March, 1883. From the author

A review of the non-marine fossil Mollusca of North America, By Chas, A.

White. Ext. from the Cocca report of the U. S. Geological Survey. Washington,

1883. From as depa

Tertiary history of tae aad vec district, bie Atlas. By ae E. Dutton,

U.S B. Aeblogical Survey. Washin 1882. m the depa

The eaha] Soeg Directory, in pias en pig yo and Oce-

anica, Compiled by Saml. E., Cass Bosto.

n, Mas

Annual report of the State PRR for rahe. deat Survey of New Jersey.

Camden, 1882,

Blements of campan r È ap ep = use as a text book in the pero A =

Science and Art at Ringoes, N. J., by C. W. Larison, M.D., 1881. From

author.

— of the e States Fish Commission, Vol. 1, 1881. Wahingiot 1882.

e commissi

r The Mi a cand See Palzeozoic in Soyth Wales, and aoe Ny sag with their

Ppalachian logues. By Dr. Persifor Frazer, From

“i satiation to a knowledge of the poor are of i lsc (Ostrea edulis

Ege Dr. R. Horst, Utrecht. T nonae by J. A. Ryder, 1882. Ext. Bulletin

. S. Fih Commission, From ndie Ryde

ro es Lectures on Philos phy. da ttle outlines of all the lectures at yi

Conco mer oon of Philos hy, 1882. Collected and arranged by R

Bridgman. Cambri e M pr

oe of the Geologic Hi Survey of India. co ag Indica. Series

an Tertiary and EN -tertiary SSTT Vol. u, Part V. Si biet Selenodon

Suina, ete. dekker, B.A

Annual report of nk C a of E zarian of Cormparnive Zalogy 3 at yaa

College, 1881-1882, Cambridge, 1882. From Professor A. Agassiz

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

news hae‘ been nae since that brought to Europe by Capt.

op o i i

528 General Notes. [ May, |

‘assistance of the Zowise, then beset by the sea. She was caught

in the pack and frozen in on Sept. 17. The wreck reported by

the Samoieds proved to be that of an old Russian whaler. It has

been decided by the Danish government to send outa search

expedition.

The ice in the Spitzbergen and Barents seas has this year been

so unfavorable for exploration that the geographical results have

been almost x7/, In 1881 the ice was exceptionally low down to-

wards the coast of Norway, while there was open water north of

Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. In that year the ice disap-

peared with extraordinary rapidity when it once began to melt,

while in 1882 it seems hardly to have given way at all. The

north side of Spitzbergen has been almost inaccessible, which

has not been the case for many years. Not improbably this was

due to the northerly winds, which brought fresh ice as fast as the

pack melted at its southern edge, so that possibly open water was

present in the region around Bering strait. It is the opinion ot

Baron Nordenskiold and other authorities upon Arctic matters,

that the Siberian seas can be navigated every summer from one

end or the other, and that the past year was favorable to pent

tration by way of Bering strait. a:

Fresh attempts to open up a trade route between Siberia and

Europe will this year be made by Mr. Sibiriakoff, Dr. Oscar

Dickson and Baron Knop.

The members of the Lena Expedition are reported by Lieut

Harder to have been in excellent health and comfortably settled

in winter quarters on Oct. 3. fs ri

=- An expedition, with Baron Nordenskiold at its head, will

sent out by Dr. Oscar Dickson, to explore the interior of ca

land. Baron Nordenskjold is confident that in the interior *

this ice-covered land an oasis exists, and believes t

reach it. It is hoped, also, to obtain some traces of th

Norse colonies, last heard from at the end of the fourteenth cen-

Their very location is matter of dispute.

Care Horn Expepition—The members of the French re

netic and Meteorological Expedition to Cape Horn = as a

commenced observations on the 26th. The air was Maire

AsiA.—Lieut.-Col. Beresford Lovett has published a — ,

the route from Teheran to Astrabad, and thence to Shahru roe

general aspect of Western Mazanderan is bare an ag yilla

relieved by fertile spots, and Col. Elliott remarks that tne ag

gers seem prosperous, wear good clothes, are fat a a

looking, and probably have a better lot than that of ane ia

German or Russian peasants. An opening of twenty for" i

a dyke of basalt, which rises up eighty or ninety feet °

’:

1883] Geography and Travels. 529

side, is called the Palang Durwaz or Panther’s Portal, and may

be the famed Caspian gates about the position of which antiqua-

rians are so uncertain. Damavaud, 19,950 feet in height, is an

extinct volcano.

iS only eighty miles from the sea. It has been ascended by

steamer for 1 50 miles. The banks of nearly all of these fine

fivers are uninhabited, but it appears from the report of Mr.

peopled only by tribes of Sundyaks‘ who are Dyaks with some

admixture of Chinese.

Bai nsdell has returned from a journey ot 11,000 miles or

ore in Western Siberia and Turkestan.

hill is separated from that of the Irawadi by a great range of

s. The traveler and his companions were robbed of most of

Property between Lhassaand Lob Nor; and at Saithang (lat.

= ig northward to Saitu (lat. 40°, long. 92°), probably the

jar

530 General Notes. [May,

and his forced residence among the Tekke Turcomans, reads like

a romance and is full of interesting facts respecting this “ Queen

of the World,” which still contains 500,000 inhabitants. Here

are the extensive ruins of Giaur Kala, the original site of Merv,

destroyed by the Arabs about the end of the seventh century,

and those of Bairam Ali, its successor, destroyed in 1784 by the

Amir of Bokhara.

The travels of General Macgregor in Beloochistan (1876-1877)

proved that the Mashkid and Mashkel rivers do not flow into the

sea or into the Helmand, but after their confluence in the roman-

tic pass of Tank Zorati flow mainly north-west to the Mashkel

Hamun, a marsh with no outlet. s

CAPELLO AND IvENS’ TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA.

—The narrative of Messrs. Capello and Ivens, who left Benguela

in Nov., 1877, in company with Major Serpa Pinto, and after-

wards parted from him and explored the Cuango northward’

The sources of the Cunene, Cuanza and Cuango were visited

ined ng

the region. The country is mountainous, cut up by mumerous

streams, and in many parts rich in vegetation. The habits, dwell-

ings, implements, weapons, etc., of these villagers are pretty mu

the same as those of other Bantii tribes which figure in the nar-

ratives of Pinto, Stanley, Cameron and others. ; E

The Bihenos are the greatest native travelers in Africa, and i

Bihé is rich and fertile. Elaborate methods of dressing the hair :

prevail. ae

The sources of the Cuango were found ata height of 475 A

feet, at about 114° S. lat., and a little east of 19° E. long. je ;

this point arise an infinity of spring-heads, the sources ~f ee

of the Tchipaca, Cuango, Cassai, Lume and Loando, flowing

wards the Congo-Zaire, Cuanza and Zambesi. The region aro

this remarkable watershed is rich in iron and copper, and

duces a wealth of vegetable products. point

e Cuango was followed to about 140 miles of the a

where it discharges into the Congo, and was aban f the

count of the intense aridity of the country. The cour a ig

river is obstructed by rocks, rapids and cataracts, 5O that

unnavigable. turies |

From the historical details given it is evident that for cen

the various African peoples have been in a state of com

migration.

GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY. ae his

New ORDERS or CRINOIDEA.—In the second edition ©.

American Palzzoic fossils Mr. S. A. Miller characterize wik 5

new orders and four new families of Crinoidea, with the fo! a

definitions : thin.

Order Agelacrinoidea and family Agelacrinidæ. Body

. 1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 531

circular, parasitic; its lower side a thin, smooth membrane or

plate of attachment ; its upper side more or less convex, and com-

posed of thin squamiform or imbricating plates, usually smallest

at the periphery. Ambulacra, a double series of transverse alter-

nating plates, with smaller ones sometimes intercalated. Two or

more rows of ambulacral pores. The ovarian or anal aperature

in one of the inter-ambulacral areas. The genera are Agelacrinus,

Edrioaster and Hemicystites.

Order Lichenocrinoidea and family Lichenocrinide. Body at-

tached during part or all of its life, circular, convex above, more

or less crateriform around the stem. A thin, attaching plate on

the lower side at some period of life. Upper side covered with

polygonal plates, without traces of ambulacra, arms, mouth, pec-

tnated rhombs or pores. Interior of visceral cavity with numer-

ous radiating upright lamellæ supporting the polygonal lamelle

Above. Stalk composed at its origin of interlocking plates, after-

Wards of circular ones, ending in a point, flexible and perforated

“longitudinal! À

toidæ, in the first of which the radiating and circular systems be-

‘Some complicated by the connection between succeeding coils

through the flattened connecting finger-like processes; while in the

latter the arrangement is more simple, as the interior radiations

connect with a single marginal circular system.

Myelodactylus is a coil in one plane, the whorls connected by

ngct-like processes, and each whorl is composed of a series of

Plates, having a tubular channel within.

Cyclostoides has a circular marginal series of plates, with

7 bular channel, connected with the interior by numerous

pores that radiate from the center. In both these genera, the only

known types of their families, the structure is so different from

that usual in the Crinoidea, that the terms calyx, ambulacra, arms,

“a Cannot be applied.

p I Slostoides is from the Hudson ‘River group, Myelodactylus

U m the Niagara, and Lichenocrinus from the Hudson River and

tica slate,

Tue Grotocy oF Sournern Arrica—The following is a

a Condensed quotation of the lately published narrative

«ests. Capello and Ivens : |

The Physical configuration of Africa, south of the pac

b. thus summed up: A depressed central basin, surround :

rene Vast circle of high land, gradually descending to the sea, ane

: ras iy deep ravines, through which rush huge water mars ai,

; dered in the interior, till they overflow and seek the lower le

o Ey. 7

Mo,

532 General Notes. [May,

fronting the ocean. From a very general geological point of view

we may define the regions running from the littoral to the interior

in the following order, viz., limestone, sandstone and granite,

These distinctions are not very exact on a closer view, the com-

ponent parts run into each other and change places, while precise

lines of demarcation are wanting. The west coast at the points

observed by us between Loanda and Mossamedes, and even further

to the north, shows a belt of tertiary deposits near the sea, with

abundant masses of sulphate of lime and sandstone, from which

they are separated by beds of white chalk alternating with primary

rocks, mostly gneiss, abounding in quartz, mica, hornblende,

granite and granulated porphyry. Towards the south large tracts

of feldspar are visible. At Mossamedes whole mountains are

composed of sulphate of lime, while carbonate of lime (in shells)

is frequent. Rock-salt and nitrate of potash occur stratified.

We were told that a basaltic line of great length exists along the

Moscambe chain. From that point commence true saharas of

shifting soil, abundant in sand, as in the parallel of Tiger bay. In

the transition from the lower zone to the interior, as at Dondo,

the soil of vast tracts is composed of schist, in perfect lamınæ,

and sandstone, red with oxide of iron, is visible in every direction.

In the mountains further in the interior the ground is composed

of granite-quartzy rock, extremely hard and compact; this 1s -

case throughout the belt up to Pungo N’Dongo, the surface sol!

being formed by disintegrated granite. th

These geological characters will naturally be repeated no!

and south in identical parallel regions, with variations 1n te ® ae

table-land, where we meet occasionally with hard and tough “i

sandstone and rocks of feldspar, as in the basin of the Lucalla. l

REMARKABLE LAnD-SLIPS.—A late number of Knowledge ord )

tains a remarkable account of two land-slips. The first of these

curred near Fort de l’Ecluse, at Mt. Credo, on the Rhone. Bo

Times Geneva correspondent says: “ The condition of things A

serious. The entire side of Mont Credo, on which the > el 3

built, appears to be giving way, and more earth-slips ate k re

The lower fort is considered past saving, and the pn le

re sal 0 ‘

been withdrawn. The rocks on which the fort stand A 7a

to get to a low level, having plenty to work upon in are oe

floods in the neighborhood of Castlerea. A bo

siderable distance, causing serious losses to t

Geology and Paleontology. 533

it was held in check for a time, but eventually bursting across and

rushing with amazing rapidity, it covered in its course over 120

acres of fine “pasture” lands. All communication between

INTERMITTENT WELLS IN Nesraska.—In looking over the April

Naturatisr I was glad to see the facts concerning these wells so

authoritatively stated. A few years ago, while examining the geol-

ogy of that region, I learned something concerning them, but did

not have time to investigate them as I wished. I now have no

doubt ot the facts and little concerning their explanation.

The region is table land slightly sloping toward the south-east,

‘way from the Platte river, which flows along its northern mar-

gin. Its geological structure is quite uniformly, as follows:

egg ee 2-3 feet.

A yellowish clayey soil (typical loess) stas GO-

enn, a a aa a A T aa rt

A reddish, coarser loess-like clay A eT o ™

Sand, with some Bravei, Jere Foe een ee ones Oren rE 40-60 “

The underlying rock is unknown, but probably belongs to the

Niobrara group. It is not unlikely that Bowlder clay underlies

ve Sand considerably, for it is well developed a little east of David

cty, and judging from the depth of wells I infer that its surface

slopes gradually toward the west, nearly to Shelby, if not beyond.

. The belief of the farmers of the region, “that the water-level

n these wells corresponds to the level of the Platte river, I do

not hesitate to Say, is correct. I was once quite skeptical about it,

but Careful examination of scores of cases in Polk, York, s

Surface of this lake must not be conceived as a true level, be-

rause its southern side is drained by the numerous streams whi

_ Pidly eastward, but such variations are not very apparent. I

l few cases permanent water is found in wells above this

Ee Where we may suppose a local basin-shaped deposit of clay.

This Subterranean circulation of water was first announced by

534 General Notes. [May,

Professor S. Aughey, of Lincoln, and more particularly of the

region further west, between the Platte and Republican (vide

Physical Geography and Geology of Nebraska, p. 59, also U. S.

Geological Report for 1874).

s to the cause of the rise and fall of the water in the wells of

the region, we may conclude that it is primarily due to a varying

pressure of the atmosphere. is may be inferred from its

observed connection with the direction of the winds. Southerly

winds usually attend a low barometer and winds from the north

bring high barometer. Hence we interpret the observations under

consideration, as showing that the water in the wells rises when

the barometer falls, and vce versa. ;

A circumstantial cause, so to speak, is the extensive sand deposit

in which the water is found, and which by rising above the water

becomes a great reservoir of confined air for the more compact

deposits overlying its present free circulation in that direction. ,

the barometer is steady for a few days, we may suppose this

reservoir is charged with air of uniform density and exerting unr

form pressure over the whole surface of the water, which is there-

serves asavent. The phenomena reported are likely, therefore, ©

become less marked as the country settles up and the number

wells increases. 'g3,) where

porous rocks, also from delf-pits and cesspools. a

ese have been made to blow whistles so as to indicate by 50

“ caverns” in the adjacent sandstone to explain the moveme ae

ders, but cat

ive conversation

with a Mr. Mackie, probably one of the gentlemen ced

. f ; jon

items observed by him in his extensive experience in that rege

as well-digger. Some of them, with others of my Ow tad

tion, are the basis of my generalization above. —/. £ =

PLATE XII.

FREI BV ROLY. NIBBABWANO CAROD SNAW MINE SNAODVMBMA

— N YÙ

NN N

\ a “Ge

CURT?

D”

A E

N \\

N :

SS ze V \

Yitq« ee NEL Won

Dw Ne

1883. ] Geology and Paleontology. 535

r P. primevus Cope. The specimen as it laid in the sandstone of

_ the Wasatch formation, was divided by a gutter which scattered

the posterior dorsal and lumbar vertebrae. These were all found,

_ More as in the common American tapir, but was of smaller size.

7 The middle three toes of both feet reached the ground, while the

_ ist and fifth projected laterally and posteriorly, like the dew-

| Saws of the hogs. The tail was longer and heavier than that of

oes

The animal was probably omnivorous in its diet. It was not

mished with any weapons of offense or defense pertaining to the

osseous System, so that it must have sought refuge in flight. The

-developed muscular insertions of its limbs and the digitigrade

character of its step, indicate that it may have had considerable

na bones of this species have been found wherever the beds

Wve, Wasatch epoch occur, but most abundantly in Northern

ooer From the Wind River valley Mr. Wortman brought

hte mens, and ten from the Big-Horn basin. One of the

| S$ now figured. l :

‘future number of the NATURALISTI hope to give a similar

~ Of the P, vortmani, of which a nearly equally complete

Pecimen has been found.—£, D. Cope. "ia

530 General Notes. [May,

he rebuts the inferences, showing that though some markings may

be questionable, others are undoubtedly impressions of plants——

Professor Owen spoke upon generic characters in the order Saurop-

terygia, before the London Geological Society, December 20,

1882. Pliosaurus approaches nearer than Plesiosaurus to a gen-

eralized Saurian type, as the teeth have the pair of strong enamel

ridges upon the opposite sides which occur also in the Crocodilia,

and the large size of the head and shortness of the neck show an

approach to the fresh-water Saurians. Polyptychodon exhibits a

third modification of the type. Professor Owen omitted to notice

the important work of Seeley on this group.

Silurian—Dr. Lindström has published a treatise upon the

Upper Silurian fossils of the north-eastern part of Sz-tshwan

(China). These chiefly belong to well-known Silurian genera,

but include Gomphophora, a coral with completely perforate

walls and six short spinous septa in each corallite; Ceriaster,

which resembles Columnaria, but has interior dissepiments and in-

creases by intracalicular budding; and Platyphyllum, allied to

Calceola in the form of the cup, and to Goniophyllum in interior

structure. Professor Winchell, in the tenth annual report of the

Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, refers the

Keweenaw cupriferous red sandstones, shales and conglomerates ;

the light-colored horizontal sandstones of the south shore of Lake

Superior in Wisconsin (with fucoids and Scolithus), and the St

Croix sandstone with its Lingulz and trilobites, to the Lower

Silurian.

Devonian—In the American Fournal of Science for February,

Dr. H. S. Williams writes of a remarkable molluscan fauna at the

base of the Chemung group, presenting much resemblance vi

that of the Kinderhook group. The facts point to a Kinde

fauna, the center of which was mid-continental, and a typ!

Chemung fauna which had its center in the Appalachians. hiss

blend at Ithaca, N. Y—In the same journal J. M. Clarke

scribes three species of Dipterocaris, a fossil genus of ce

from the Portage and Transition shales, and the lowest beds

Chemung.

: n Xournal of

Science, Mr. C. A. White gives some observations upon the ga

Tertiary —Where was the geological gaitar of ce n

And Mr. Garman’s blizzard-killed cattle, wher

1883,] Mineralogy. 537

bones be next year? Not fossilized certainly. Fossil bones may

be split by frost, but if the frost attacks them before they are

fossilized, their chances of being preserved are small indeed !

Quaternary—The remains of Colymdus septentrionatis Linn,

have been discovered by E. T. Newton, in the Mundesley River

bed, Norfolk, England. ‘The arguments respecting the Loess are

still continued. Dr. A. Nehring, of Berlin, answers H. H. Howorth,

in the February number of the Geologicol Magazine. He gives a

list of the steppe animals found in the European Loess (Lagomys,

Dipus, Spermophilus, Arctomys, Cricetus, Hystrix, Arvicola,

Equus, Antilope), and asserts his belief that a considerable part of

Germany or Central Europe once had a steppe fauna and flora.

This fauna was interposed between the Arctic fauna of the glacial

period, and the forest fauna of the Neolithic epoch. Postulating

a fauna and flora like that of East Russia and West Siberia, Dr.

Nehring maintains that the wind may have played an important

part in the formation of the loess-like deposits of many

places in Central Europe. . H. Howorth concludes his

“ Traces of a great Post-glacial flood ” in the March number of

€ same magazine. The marine drift, in which littoral and

deep-sea shells are often found confusedly heaped together, in

some cases with little mixture of sand or shingle, and confined to

small areas, unaccompanied by those sheets of silt which must

have remained had subsidence been the cause of its formation,

yields, in Mr. Howorth’s belief, conclusive evidence of a great wave

of waters, carrying the shells to vatying heights and distances ac-

cording to the conformation of the coast.

MINERALOGY .'

THE NOMENCLATURE or METEORITES.—As a result of a careful

study and classification of the 306 meteorites in the collection of

ag y the valuable work of the authors, our knowledge of

but it

~~ "*S in the following classified list :

" METEORITE.

L Houostperrre, A

ek - Octibbehite, tazewellite, nelsonite, catarinite, braunite, caillite, schwetzite,

7 st Sewellite, campbellite, burlingtonite, tuczonite, lenartite.

TBs i i

: eet! by Professor H. CARVILL Lewis, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila-

: whom communications, papers for review, etc., should be sent.

5 38 General Notes. [May,

II. SysstDERITE.

Pallasite, atacamaite, brahinite, deesite, lodranite.

II. SPORASIDERITE.

. Poty. ee —Toulite, logronite.

2 2. Oligosder e. — Aumalite, chantonnite, aiglite, montrejite, parnallite,

lucei te, anelli e, mesminite, belajite, butsurite, manbhoomite, banjite,

lim ite, bustite richmondite, tieschite, erxlebenite, quincite,

rickite ,

kardot <tadjerite, anal, ren

3- E —Howardite, cet ‘aman

IV. ASID

i rodite, eukrite, shalkite, chassignite, bokkevelite, orgueillite.

The classification adopted by Tschermak is much more simple,

being as follows:

I. METEORIC STONES.

. Eukrite—Anorthite and augite, iron being rare.

a bronzite, enstatite; iron rarely seen,

3. Chondrite—Olivine and bronzite with iron.

Il. METEORIC IRON.

4. Mesosiderite. miilicates and meteoric iron forminga granular mixture.

5. Pallasite—Meteoric iron porphyritically enclosing crystals of silicates.

6. Meteoric iron.

GeELatinous Sitica.—Dr. H. Leffmann has found that at the

bottom of bottles containing certain siliceous geyser waters from

the Yellowstone National park, there is deposited a quantity of

gelatinous matter looking like the white of egg, which, on n analy-

sis, proved to be nearly pure silica. It was piei structureless,

and by heat dried to a white opaque mass. After having

closed for several weeks in a closed rere with strong sulphuric

acid, it shrank to about one-tenth its vo

The water from the ‘ ‘Opal spring” is ope t, appearing ’

what is produced by adding an alcoholic scat of rosin to 4

large volume of water. The opalescence remains for m |

oo silica not being deposited unless the ane is evapy” :

ZEOLITES FROM FRITZ IsLanp.—B. Sadtler, Jr., has analyzed the

chabazite, mesolite and apophyllite from Fritz island, nC

ing, Pa. The analyses are published in the Am

Fournal, and they agree closely with analyses of he same miner

als from other localities.

Native LEAD From Ipano.—Professor W. P. Blake has co

native lead and minium near Bellevue, Idaho, where they —

galena. The native lead, a rare species, “ is in small rounded masses ie

or grains from an eighth to one-quarter of an inch in din ;

sometimes in irregularly reniform bunches, weighing an reer the

more. The red oxide is in the form of coatings or ir Ons

metal.”—Amer. Four. Science. :

1883. | Mineralogy. 539

Topaz FROM Mainr.—Mr. G. F. Kunz has discovered topaz in

fine and large crystals at Stoneham, Maine. Some of the large

opaque masses were parts of crystals measuring a foot across. Of

transparent crystals one of a bluish and greenish tint measured

2% inches vertically and three inches across. A number of in-

teresting minerals are associated with the topaz.

TURQUOISE FROM ARIZONA.—Professor W. P. Blake, in an inter-

esting article in the American ¥ournal of Science for March, de-

scribes some ancient mines of green turquoise in Cochise county,

Arizona. The turquoise, which he has called “ chalchuite,’ from

the aboriginal name of the gem, is of a light apple-green color

like that from New Mexico, and has a specific gravity of 2.7-2.8.

It occurs in rock in seams and veinlets rarely more than an eighth

or a quarter of an inch in thickness.

The locality is interesting from an archeological point of view.

The mine had been worked probably by the Aztecs and Monte-

zumas, and many ancient stone implements were found about the

mine. Turquoise was in general use among the various tribes of

a and was worked with considerable skill by ancient lapi-

ries,

Professor Blake thinks that turquoise should receive the min-

eralogical name of either “cal/ainite,’ a modification of Pliny’s

name “callaina,” or “chalchuite,’ derived from “chalchihuitl,” a

name probably older than Pliny’s.

MotyspenirE 1n Hone Konc.—F. Warrington Eastlake, in a

communication to Mature, notes the occurrence of molybdenite

or molybdenum glance (MoS,) on the island of Hong Kong. Sil-

ver has been observed in small quantities, also galena, lead and

Iron pyrites,

The composition of the molybdenite is, sulphur 40 per cent,

molybdenum 60 per cent, or one per cent less of sulphur than is

ven by Dana as the composition of American molybdenite.

WATER IN CHALCEDONY.—A geode of chalcedony recently re-

ceived from Salto river Uruguay, contains an unusual amount

SOME ENCLOSURES IN MuscoviTe.—Professor Lewis, in a paper

read before the Philadelphia Academy, on Dec. 26, 1882, discusses

‘Ae enclosures of biotite and magnetite so frequent in the musco-

vite of Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware. By dis-

šecting a crystal of muscovite enclosing biotite into a consecutive

Series of cleavage laminze, a vertical section of the crystal is ob-

tained, which, as exhibited in an accompanying plate, shows that

While the edges of both the outer and inner crystals remain_par-

allel in successive plates, the substance of the black biotite 1s

Stadually eaten away, and is replaced by the encroaching musco-

540 General Notes. { May,

vite as the summit of the biotite crystal is approached. The inner

black crystal contains a small hole filled by white muscovite, and

this hole enlarges with successive plates until finally the biotite

has completely disappeared, as though eaten away by the

muscovite,

The author confirms the observations of Reusch and Rose on

the parallelism of the crystallographic planes of the micas, as

proved by their “strike-figures.” The biotite is often altered into

an exfoliating hydro-diotite, just as muscovite changes into mar-

garodite (kydro-muscovite).

The superficial markings of reticulated magnetite are also dis-

cussed, and shown to be always parallel in direction with the lines

of the artificial “ strike-figures.” Their direction is, therefore, not

due to any twinning crystallization of the dendrites themselves,

but to the governing influence of the crystallographic lines of the

muscovite,

DoPPrLERITE.—W. Demel has analyzed a homogeneous speci-

men of dopplerite from Aussee, and after drying at 100°-120°,

finds 56.42-56.51 per cent. of carbon, and 5.34-5.20 hydrogen,

leading to the formula, C,,H,,O,. The ash contained a large pet

centage of calcium, the greater parts of which had probably been

combined with the organic matter. Experiments were made to

show that dopplerite could combine with calcium, and the conclu-

sion is reached that this mineral may be regarded as the calcium

salt of one or several acids belonging to the humus group.

“ MOTHER oF Perre.”— The very interesting discovery, a

nounced a few years since, that saltpetre (nitre) is formed in mar

by the action of a living ferment, just as alcohol is formed by pe

growth of the yeast fungus, introduces new conceptions of |

origin of the nitrates, and shows that the process of nite :

like that of acetification, is a true growth. As shown by F. i

Storer, in a recent number of Science, the practical application ©

this fact was made use of as long ago as 1686, when Sewall speaks

h has beet

shown by Schlésing and Miintz to consist of very oe joined ;

1883,] Botany. 541

ment composed of small cylindrical rods which moved rapidly

across the field of the microscope with a wriggling motion, often

bending themselves to form acircle. This may be the same as

that mentioned by Bechamp under the name of Microzyma crete.

In the same journal, Professor R. B. Warder gives a list of papers

referring to the influence of bacteria upon the changes of nitrog-

enous compounds.

That the natural nitrates are the result of a fungoid growth is

a fact interesting to mineralogists as well as to chemists, biologists

and naturalists generally.

BOTANY .!

the shade. Fig. repre-

ing, and also gives a trans-

verse section. All the fig-

ures are drawn one-third

of the natural size. The ,

Valves of the pod in ques-

tion, as shown at F ig. 2; Wistaria Pods.

turned entirely inside out

at their lower extremity, and separated from their pedicel, pie

lp:

Edited by Pror. C. E, Bessey, Ames, Iowa.

542 General Notes. [May,

Wistaria bean, above mentioned, was thrown violently for a dis-

tance of sixteen feet and rebounded four feet. If it had been

ejected with the same force from the position in which it grew on

its native vine, it certainly would have flown for a distance of at

least thirty feet. At all events, its enclosing pod proved itself to

be an energetic vegetable catapult.—Rev. J. L. Zabriskie, Nyack,

NV. Y., March, 188}.

ADDENDUM TO ARTICLE ON THE Compass PLant (Silphium

laciniatum).—In the Naturatist for August, 1882, to the list of

papers on the subject, at the end should be added:

Tuomas HILL, LL.D.—Proceedings of Am. Ass. for Adv. of Science at Troy, Au-

gust, 1870, p. 285.

THOMAS ee aE of Acad. of Natural Sciences Phila. for 1870, pp-

117-116.

—do. for 1875, p. 270 i

—Flowers and Ferns of the U. S., with colored plate of the plant, 2d series,

1880.

The extract on page 634 from paper by Francis Darwin m

Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. xvin, No. 112, 1881, has

some errors and omissions. It was copied from another jou

Now that I can copy from the original I give in full his conclu-

sion of experiments “On the power possessed by leaves t

placing themselves at right angles to the direction of inciden

light.” He says, p. 449: “Thus the result of the crpe

in the ‘Movements of Plants’ fby Charles Darwin, pp. 438- 444)

that the power which leaves have of placing themselves at nig"

angles to the incident light, is due toa specialized sensitiventss

to light, which is able to regulate or govern the action 0 nage

external forces, such as gravitation, or of internal forces suc

4 ty.”

He defines, p. 421, the terms epinasty and hyponasty, oid l

ployed by De Vries and himself, as follows: “ An organ b or

to be epinastic when the longitudinal growth of the upper m

half; ep

nasty, if unopposed will therefore result in the organ P” erse

convex aboe and curving downwards.—Hyponasty isthe ae :

of epinasty, that is to say, the organ curves upwards sits njami a

lower increasing more than the upper half in length. — a

Alvord, Washington, D. C. |

An APICAL CELL IN GymnosperMs.—One by he phaner-

acters relied upon to distinguish the cryptogams from a in the

ogams are disappearing. We have long supposed had one

development of the stems and roots of phanerogams i wing

one the old chat .

character which could be considered reliable. ae a

point (punctum vegetationis) in the cryptogams 1° a ae

f cells Me

which by repeated fission gives rise to the mass ©

ges) ss Re est re Stes eee hy ees Re en ea n

1883.] Botany. 543

up the stem or root. On the other hand, in the flowering plants,

it has always been held that the growing point was made up in-

variably of a group of cells. We had thus a marked difference

which seemed to draw a sharp line between the flowering an

flowerless plants. It is true that in the ringless ferns (Marattia-

ceæ) of the tropics, and the adder tongues (Ophioglossaceæ),

he growing point in the root is a group of cells, thus making a

slight exception to the law, but in all these plants the stems de-

velop from a single apical cell. So well established did this differ-

ence appear that in our “ Botany for High Schools and Colleges,”

this sentence occurs (p. 87): “In the phanerogams the primary

meristem is developed from a group of cells, instead of from a

single one; they therefore have no apical cell.”

We have now, however, the announcement by Dingler, in a re-

cent paper (Ueber d. Scheitelwachstum des Gy p Stammes),

that by making careful sections of the stems of seedling gymno-

sperms and rendering them transparent by maceration in water or

by the use of potash, he was able to make out the presence of an

apical cell in quite a number of instances. Thus an apical cell

was well made out in a species of Ceratozamia, one of the Cyca-

ez. It was also seen in the Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), in

Pinus mops and Cupressus pyramidalis. In a single instance an

apical cell was detected in a species of Ephedra, but as other ob-

servations failed to verify this, its occurrence may be doubted.

i that disappearing structures may persist in the embryo or early

ife long after they have ceased to occur in the adult—C. £.

Bessey,

endent on the mode in which it obtains its nourishment Four.

“yal Mic, Soc., Feb., 1883.

_ A Government Duty.—The Government has long recognized

A of providing means for the careful and exhaustive study

insects which are injurious to the crops of the e

grower, etc. It has appointed eminent scientinc

= eet, ee ee i

Men to devote their strength and time to the investigation of in-

544 General Notes. [May, 7

sect pests, and has placed sufficient sums of money at their dis-

posal to enable them to visit different parts of the country, and

thus to give to their work a thoroughness it could not otherwise

have had. This is as it should be, and no intelligent person now

doubts the usefulness of the Entomological Department at Wash-

ington. į

But if the investigation of injurious insects be considered a

government duty, will not the same reasoning show it to

equally its duty to provide for the similar investigation of the

numerous parasitic fungi which injure and often entirely destroy

farm and garden crops? The damage annually wrought by the

fungi is but little if any less than that by insects. Take, for

example, but one of the many affecting wheat and oat crops, viz,

the rust, and we find that through it alone the country loses every

year many millions of dollars; how many millions we hardly

dare venture even to surmise, lest we be accused of exaggeration.

However, as the annual wheat crop of the State of Iowa, is about

forty millions of bushels, a reduction of but one tenth on account

of the rust, would amount to a loss of four million dollars.

When we remember that it is a very common occurrence for the

injury from this cause alone to be fully a quarter or a third, a

1 loss must be

placed considerably higher rather than lower. Add now the annual

affect wheat, oats, barley and Indian corn, and we have t0

United States a sum aggregating at the very lowest estimate

allowable, from fifty to one hundred millions of dollars.

But the losses are not confined to our staple cereal crops.

d attacking al

which unfit them for food and hasten their decay. And the vey :

d is infested

timber of which our houses and barns are constructe

by species which cause decay and destruction. It 1s needless of

specify further. We have in the parasitic fungi and in ~~

the saprophytic ones, a host of enemies which annually destroy

immense values. Is it not one of the duties of the Dep se

of Agriculture at Washington to undertake the thorough, che

exhaustive study of these enemies? In what way heirs:

department do more good to the great agricultural inter

the country than by inaugurating such a work?—C. F: 2

Boranicat Nores—In the March Grevillea M. C. Co

scribes and figures a new Gasteromycete (Cyclode

from Ohio. In the same journal the editor describes D a

a curious case of a Vaucheria with distinctly septate fil charac-

All doubts as to its identity were removed by finding te f

teristic odgonia and antheridia. He strongly suspects

that under : e

ses

y y x j

1883.]

Entomology. 545

certain conditions zoogonidia may be produced by vaucheria, and

iggests the need of careful re-examination of all the species.

—-Wn, Trelease has published an interesting paper “On the

Structures which favor Cross-fertilization in Several Plants”

(Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist.), in which many curious facts are

brought together. Three plates accompany the paper, and add

much to its value. Professor Grant Allen’s paper on “ The

A flowering plant, new to

science, from North Wales, has just been described by Arthur Ben-

Zona region. Among these are Astragalus hypoxylus Wats., Mi-

mosa lemmoni Gr., Stevia plummere Gr., S. amabilis Lemmon,

beri Gr., Z. lemmoni Gr., Z. cuneifolia Gr., Verbena arizonica Gr.,

Euphorbia plummere Wats., Microstylis purpurea Wats., etc.——

Ravenel’s Centuries vir and vit of Fungi Americani, have been

received. They contain many interesting species described or no-.

ticed in recent ‘numbers of Grevillea.

ENTOMOLOGY.’

: RAILROAD CARS AS A MEANS OF DISSEMINATING Motus.—

-Ve you ever thought of the railroads as a means of disseminat-

Ing Noctuidze ? Traveling more than usual the past fail and

Summer, I was often struck with the numbers of Aletiz on the

tains. There were probably many others on the outside flutter-

ing at the lights or at rest upon the cars. I do not give it as

of great value or by any means conclusive; but there has

* This department is edited by Pror. C. V. Rrrey, Washington, D. C., to whom

ications, books for notice, etc., may be sent.

546 General Notes. [May, .

been this season a sort of coincidence between lines of railroad ©

d abundance of cotton worms. The northern limit of these

last, so far as I could learn, in central Mississippi, was just south

of Holly Springs, in Marshall county, within a breadth of some

fifteen miles, five east of the railroad and eight or ten west thereof.

On the Mobile and Ohio road, in the eastern part of the State,

the northern limit of the worms was Baldwyn, with a western

spread of eighteen or twenty miles. Between Baldwyn and Boone-

ville, the next station to the north, is an almost desert stretch of

twelve miles of low, swampy land, nearly destitute of cotton, and

but one night train runs northward. On the Mississippi Central,

on the contrary, there were some three regular north-bound

trains at night.

Another coincidence is worthy of mention. In 1881 I could

hear of Aletize, north of Tallahatchie, only at two points, both in

this (Marshall) county. The first extended from the river north-

ward four miles, and but a short distance east and west of the

railroad. The second was four miles south of Holly Springs, on

the eastern side of the track. In 1880 there were two points

propagation of Aletia north of Tallahatchie; one near Waterford,

the first station, four miles north, and the other, at Holly Springs,

fourteen miles north of the river. The latter was in the neares

cotton to the station, and nearly a mile east of it, the town lying

to the west.— Fudge Lawrence Fohnson, Holly Springs, Miss.

Insects as Foop ror Man.—Mr. Max Buchner's Contribu-

tions to the Ethnography of the Bantus! contains the following 1-

teresting notes which show that insects are by no means despi i

as food by this tribe of negroes, which inhabit a large portion

Southeastern Africa.

cover, vessels are placed with funnel-shaped entrance

vessels a vast number of white ants, males and females

and roasted on the spot. They are’ considered a great

even Mr. Buchner finding them very palatable. rous

A large, fat, subterranean cricket, as well as a large Coleopte )

larva, living in hollow trees, are equally sought for and roasts"

o fire. 366 » which

ut it is especially a large caterpillar called “ugoung™ s |.

is harvested ee the Ea Hie a held crop. It is about five cen,

timeters long, black, with yellow rings, occurs on

“belongs perhaps to the butterfly Crenis.” Whenever it a pice

in large numbers the negroes march out in full force from a

villages, camping out for weeks in the wilderness to ga out, the 2

cure the crop. After the intestines have been pressed eS

Hae

i arecaught —

delicacy,

1 Das Ausland, January 8, 1883, p. 23, ft.

1883.) Entomology. 547

caterpillars are dried before the fire and rolled up in packages of

h leaves. To a civilized taste they are most disgusting, the

smell reminding one of that of our cabbage worms.

In view of this custom it seems to be strange that the Bantas

refuse to eat snakes and amphibia of all sorts, even frogs and

lizards not being touched by them in times of starvation.

NUMBER oF MOLTS AND LENGTH oF LARVAL LIFE AS INFLU-

ENCED BY Foop.—Those who have had extensive experience in

rearing insects, come to appreciate the variability inherent in most

species whether in characters or in habit. Hence they feel as little

sympathy for those who discuss a question of habit as though this

last must needs be forever fixed in some one observed direction, as

for those who indulge in the hair-splitting of species on trivial

grounds.

In 1876 we hatched from the egg, larva of both Tenebrio molitor

and Tenebrio obscurus, with a view of ascertaining the number of

larval molts. Experience had taught us that they are cannibalistic,

so that each larva experimented with was isolated. Eggs of moli-

tor, laid May 29th, hatched a few days afterwards (June 5th).

One larva molted for the first time June 15th, and by May 3d of

the following year (1877) had molted eleven times when it died,

A second larva, hatched on the same day (June 5th), had molted

twelve times by June roth of the following year (1877), when it

died. Of obscurus, three larve, which hatched April 30th, 1876,

Were reared to the imago state. One molted but eleven times by

August 30th of the same year, became a pupa January 20th, 1877,

and finally a beetle, February 7th, 1877. The other two both

molted twelve times and attained the imago state February 18th

and March oth respectively. All were, as nearly as possible, under

like conditions of food and surroundings, and in all casesthe molt

t gave the pupa is not considered among the larval molts.

Since March 1 3, 1879, we have kept two larva of that common

Museum pest (Zrogoderma tarsale) in a tight tin box with an old

orm cocoon. They were half grown when placed in the

box. On, November 8, 1880, there were in the box twenty-eight

larva skins, all very much of a size, the larve having apparently

_ Stown but little. The skins were removed and the box closed

ĉgain as tightly as possible. Recently, or after a lapse of two

years, the box was again opened and we found one of the larva

i dead and shriveled up; but the other was living and apparently

_ jt changed in appearance. There were fifteen larva skins in the

< We cannot tell when the one larva died, but it is certain

_ oat within a little more than three and a-half years two larve

ie ‘Shed not less than forty-three skins, and that one larva did not,

. during that time, appreciably increase in size.

oe We know of no observations which indicate the normal or aver-

—-88e length of life, or number of molts in either Tenebrio or Tro-

VOL. XviI.—wno, v. 38

Bae i

548 Generat Notes. [May,

goderma, but it is safe to assume from what is known, in these

respects, of allied species, that in both the instances here referred

to, but particularly in the case of Trogoderma, development was

retarded by insufficient nutrition and that the frequent molti

and slow growth resulted therefrom and were correlated.—C. Y

Riley.

OVIPOSITING oF DIPLAX RUBICUNDULA.'— During the first week of

October I had an excellent opportunity of watching the egg-lay-

ing of this handsome little dragon-fly. They were quite abundant

in a small artificial pond, whose banks were of rock, extending

about two feet above the surface of the water. A little before noon

they appear flying over the water coupled in the peculiar manner so

well known in the dragon flies. As soon as fertilization has been

accomplished, and while still held together, the female begins to

deposit the eggs. The pair hover close to the surface of the

water, and within a few inches of the bank. In this position the

female dips the extremity of her abdomen slightly into the water;

then both flying forward, the abdominal end of the female is

curved strongly forward so as to strike the vertical surface of the

bank just at the same time as the head of the male strikes it.

These movements of wetting the tip of the abdomen and deposit-

ing the eggs alternate with great rapidity. Sometimes the water

is not fairly reached the first time trying; in which case the dip-

ping is repeated. Similarly the egg-laying movements are some

times repeated ; apparently, because the first movement was not

successful. ; :

e eggs are so glutinous that they adhere very easily. oe

number layed with each movement varies. Sometimes there isb

one; more frequently there are more. At first they are pai

vertical wall of rock was found to be very thickly ¢

them.—Professor W. A. Buckhout, State College, Pa.

A SMALL BELOSTOMA CAPTURES A Fisu.—In examining eo

small stream in Dakota last August, to see whether it was pm

ble for my buggy, I pushed aside the weeds growing at pe

of the water and saw a strange sight. A Belostoma a h

fourths of an inch long seemed to have just vanquishe “The é

three or four times its own length, and like a dace in ne me

bug, when first seen, was on the fish near the tail. The per i

gling feebly, turned over on its side and the bug craie D R

to its throat and apparently pierced it with its bill, and ‘ohether

appeared in a thicket of fallen weeds lying in the i 4

by the slight struggles of the fish or the strength of í eral

cannot say. All this occupied but little time, and being y

1 Compare also the process as observed in Perithemis Bimini E Packard, ,

Diplax in “ Embryological Studies on Diplax, Perithemis,” etc.

Jr. Memoirs Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, 1 871,—Zd.

a ae TETEE

a ee el eee Te pi

1883.)

Entomology. ` 549

feet away, I could not see minute points distinctly. It is prob-

able that the main struggle occurred before I disturbed them.—

J.E. Todd, Tabor, Towa.

Mosguitos vs. Mararia.—Dr. A. F. A. King, dean of the

Medical Faculty of Columbian University, recently read a paper

before the Philosophical Society of Washington, D. C., in which

he endeavored to sustain the thesis that malarial disease is pro-

duced through the instrumentality of mosquitos, which, by their

punctures inoculate the body with the malarial poison.

ile we cannot agree with Dr. King in his conclusions, it is in-

teresting to note how ingeniously prevailing phenomena connected

with malaria may be made to apply to the well-known habits of

the mosquito. Dr. King presented a series of twenty statements

drawn from the best medical authorities in relation to malaria and

which he argued would equally apply to mosquitos. They are

briefly as follows :

I. Malaria prevails most in moist and low localities.

2. It is rarely developed at a temperature below

3. It is checked by a freezing temperature.

4. It is most virulent towards the equator and along the sea-

Coast.

5. It has an affinity for dense foliage.

6. Forests and woody tracts act, nevertheless, as an obstruction

to its spread.

7. Atmospheric currents transport it. ae

8. It is developed in previously healthy places by digging up

the soil or making excavations which are apt to be followed by stag-

nant pools.

9. Bodies of water in the line of winds that waft it, have the

Power of arresting it. i

10. Absence of mosquitos appear to prevent malarial diseases.

11. Malaria diminishes in proportion as a country becomes

More thickly settled.

12. It usually keeps near the surface of the earth.

13. It is most dangerous after sunset.

14. Persons are most exposed to it while sleeping.

15. The white race is the most sensitive to it.

16, Fire destroys it.

17. It diminishes towards the center of cities.

18. It is most prevalent in late summer and autumn,

19. It is arrested by walls, fences, hills, rows of houses, cur-

-S OF even gauze-veils or mosquito nets.

20. It spares infants more frequently than adults.

_Extomorocicat Nores.—Mr. R. M. Lachlan having recently

Written on the occurrence of a marine caddis-fly in New id

fete ee to the genus Philanisus, Dr. Hagen calls attention to the

thatin +1 ee ges of the sea-fisheries of th couth

550 General Notes. x

coast of New England (1873, pt. 1, p. 379) he mentions a Phryganid

larva, probably a Molanna, found in Menemsha bay, Mass., in con-

nection with Chironomus oceanicus Pack. The report of the

Director of the (Illinois) State Laboratory of Natural History has

just been received from Professor S. A. Forbes and exhibits a

comprehensive plan of work, covering general natural history.

The investigations into the food of fishes and of birds, and into

the nature of parasitic plants and animals that are being prose-

cuted in this laboratory, are of the most satisfactory and thorough

character, and give the laboratory preéminence in these fields.

In the entomological work Professor Forbes has been ably as-

sisted by Mr. F. M. Webster and Mr. W. H. Garman.—In his

first annual report of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station,

Director Wm. R. Lazenby makes a satisfactory showing and de-

votes considerable space to economic entomology. In almost

every case the experience at the station with remedies for the

more destructive insects accords with and corroborates that which

we have placed on record. In the Proceedings of the Ameri-

man Philosophical Society (vol. xx, June to December, 1882), re-

cently issued, there are two important entomological papers. The

one is Dr. S. W. Williston’s “ Contributions to a Monograph of

the North American Syrphide.” As the genera and species of

this family occurring in the United States have never before been

tabulated, this careful paper is indispensable to the student of our

Diptera. The second paper is the “ Revision of the Dermestide

of the U. S.” by Dr. H. F. Jayne, accompanied by four plates,

drawn and engraved by Dr. G. H. Horn. As Dr. LeContes

synopsis of that family, written nearly thirty years ago, has be-

come incomplete by virtue of subsequent discoveries, Dr. Jaynes

paper is a most welcome contribution. Mr. F

tributes in the American Journal of Science (XXV, P. 137-138) 4

short illustrated paper on the antenna of Meloe, referrin ey

well-known distortion of that organ in the male sex and exp

ing its use during copulation.

ZOOLOGY.

marine animals have in past ages suddenly peris | or peti

element and been entombed: 1. (fishes) By either unusua ehg;

odical influx of fresh water from the land ; 2. By volcanic e

3. By earthquake waves; 4. By storms; 5. (fishes) wee yrrow-

tion, when massed together in frightened shoals, or when eet

ing in sand-and mud and accidentally buried by other a net

mud; 6. (fishes) By being driven ashore by fishes shallow

(fishes and mollusks) By too much and too little hae ,

water; 8. (fishes and mollusks) By frost ; 9. (fishes) os aa

parasites; 10, (fishes and mollusks) Miscellaneous © :

1883.] Zoology. 551

turbance of equilibrium of living and dead organisms, ferrugin-

ous springs, poisons, lightning, &c.; 11. Marine life surviving in

sh-water lakes.— Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society.

Tae Cause or “ Ror” ın SHeep.—The transformation of the

parasite worm, or liver-fluke, which causes “rot” in sheep, after

they

Th Possessed larval forms infesting various species of mollusks.

ese

= and remain there quiescent, only reaching maturity if swal-

_ Y€ttebrate host. goo

S Trematode with alternation of generations; but there is a good

of variety in the life histories of the different species. It was

? Times, 4th October, 1882.

552 General Notes. [May,

supposed that the liver-fluke had a somewhat similar life history;

but all attempts to discover what mollusk served as intermediate

The Cercaria had a tail, which, when fully extended, was more

than twice the length of the body. It was exceedingly active,

but soon came to rest, showing a strong tendency to encyst itse

in surrounding objects. Mr. Thomas had a few months previously

seen a sheep, which he had the best possible reason for knowing

and it has since proved that such was the case. Moreover,

collected evidence from independent sources, which rendered it

bile into the intestines, and are distributed over the fields, à

4 hed into 4

the manure. If the eggs fall on wet ground or are wa

ditch, development continues, and after a time, the le

i aie hatched out f

which depends upon the temperature, embryos are

the eggs. eee

. For the purpose of his infection experiments Mr. Thor :

tained eggs from the livers of affected sheep, and kep’ asferred :

water until the embryos were hatched, and then upon |

: z. i ‘mented | |

them to vessels containing the snails to be exper the pur :

After the embryos enter the snail, they best develop

1883.] Zoology. 553

monary chamber, as well as in the body cavity. Here the em-

bryo undergoes a metamorphosis, becoming elliptical in shape.

It becomes a mere blood-sac, in which the next generation is pro-

duced. The germs increase in size and each becomes a redia, as

the nurse-form, provided with pharynx and intestine, is called.

When the redia is ready to come forth, it breaks through the

walls of the brood-sac (sporocyst), increases in size, finally be-

coming one-twentieth of an inch in length. Within them de-

velop from minute cells germs of which form Cercariz, each with

a sucker at the anterior end and another in the middle beneath.

They have, also, the anterior part of the body covered with ex-

ceedingly minute spines, and this form is believed by Thomas to

become the fluke-worm. Similar forms in the same species of

snails were at about the same time reared independently by Pro-

fessor Leuckart, in Germany, whose statements confirm those of

Mr. Thomas in the Zodlogischer Anzeiger. Mr. Thomas’ final

r appears in the Quarterly Fournal of Microscopical Science

for January, and is illustrated with several plates.

CHROMATOPHORES IN CRUSTACEANS.—Dr. Max Weber has de-

scribed the structure of Haplophthalmus and Trichoniscus, genera

belonging to the exceptional Isopod sub-family of Trichoniscide.

€ structure of Trichoniscus, save in regard to externals, had

not before been investigated. The copious details which such

an y contains must necessarily be studied in the original.

riria general interest, affecting other isopods, are duly in-

icated.

Dr. Weber makes a digression on the subject of chromatophores.

Leydig first showed that in the same situations as chromatophores

are found cells without pigment, but otherwise similar, the whole

ming one common system. Also animals of constant tint

Possess non-contractile cells, presumably homologous with chro-

matophores. These are unquestionably distributed to the chro-

matophores. By means of gold chloride Dr. Weber has proved

this connection in the case of a common isopod (a young Philos-

i). Anger, fear, love and other emotions undoubtedly cause

animals with chromatophores to change color; yet it is usually

assumed that the play of the chromatophores serves to hide their

Possessor, and perhaps in some cases for protection. But Leydig

‘aw tree-frogs amid their natural surroundings, change spon-

taneously their beautiful green for a dirty gray tint, just as they

ote known to do in captivity, especially during murky weather.

The inference follows that a depressed temperature here acts on

the chromatophores, particularly when we consider that these or-

"S are an appanage of pcecilothermous animals. e learn

V. Platen, Moleschott and Tubini, that light acting directly

ae au the skin (apart from what is termed the chromatic function, or

the indirect influence of light through the eyes) enhances the

_ Metamorphosis of tissue. Dr. Weber concludes that one use at

554 General Notes. | May, |

least of the chromatophores is to diminish the transparency of the

skin and thus to lower the action of even moderate light when it

begins to affect injuriously the organism.

Tae METAMORPHOSIS OF PENEUS.—Dr. W. K. Brooks, in his

account of the metamorphosis of Peneus (Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity Circulars, Nov., 1882), noticed in the January number

the NATURALIST (p. 90), says :`

“Those familiar with the literature of the subject will recollect

that Fritz Müller kept under observation until it changed into a

protozoéa, a nauplius which he captured at the surface of the

ocean. He also secured, in the ocean, a very complete series of

larvæ, through which he identified his protozoëa with a young

Macrouran with the characteristics of the genus Peneus. He did

not rear the nauplius from the Peneus egg, nor did he actually ob-

serve the transformation into the young Peneus. Certain over-

cautious naturalists have therefore refused to accept his conclu-

sions until more conclusive proof should be furnished.”

Dr. Brooks then proceeds to state that he has captured the pro-

tozoëa of Peneus and reared it in confinement, witnessing every

one of the five molts between the youngest protozoéa and the

oung Peneus. “The whole metamorphosis of Peneus has

therefore been actually witnessed and there is no longer anyroom

for criticism.” :

If Dr. Brooks will read Fritz Miller’s two papers on the subject

(Arch, Naturgesch., Bd. xx1x., Zeitschr. wissensch. Zool., Bd. xxx),

he will learn that Müller did zoż keep the nauplius under A

sumed relation between the protozoéa and the n

over-cautious naturalists” wished to see proved eit

the nauplius from the egg of Peneus, witnessing thetra

of the nauplius into the protozoëa, or discovering intermeti

stages between the nauplius and the protozoëa. Brooks observa

tions have no bearing on the question whatever.

the connection between the stages older tha hows

That the nauplius belongs to the same series, he has not $

In fact, his youngest protozoéa is an older stage than the Yali a

protozoéa secured by Müller. He has riveted the links in pe

chain that were closely joined before, but has not tou )

weak spot! he

From the complete disappearance of the exopodites from a

five pairs of legs and the simplicity of the abdominal APRo Jara -

in the oldest stage observed, it would appear that Broom se

belongs to the genus Sycionia rather than to Peneus. uncom-

The larval stages of the Peneidz seem to my. Miller

mon in the warmer seas. Besides the published figures ee

vaa

1883. ] Zoölogy. 555

and Claus, I have seen drawings of the developmental stages,

from the protozoéa onward, made by Mr. Alexander Agassiz at

the Tortugas islands in 1881, and by Mr. J. W. Fewkes, at the

Bermudas, in 1882. No observer has re-discovered Müller's nau-

plius; yet in the light of our knowledge of the development of

Mysis, Euphausia and Lucifer, I see no good ground for refusing

toaccept Miiller’s reasons for believing his nauplius and zoéa stages

to be parts of one life-history.— Walter Faxon, Cambridge, Mass.,

March 9, 1883.

Discovery oF Eurypauropus 1N Europe.—Dr. R. Latzel, of

Vienna, writes us under date of February 23, that last summer he

discovered in Austria the genus Eurypauropus of Ryder. It is there

represented by two species, the rarer one of which is very similar

to Eurypauropus spinosus Ryder. He has also detected Pauropus

huxleyi of Lubbock. We believe this is the first time Pauropus

has been detected on the continent.

REPUGNATORIAL PORES IN THE LYSIOPETALIDÆ.— Having re-

in cave species, where there are apparently no enemies of these

Myriopods, their pores become at least externally obsolete. —A.

S. Packard, Fy

POISON-APPARATUS OF ScorPIONS.—M. oyeux-Laffuie finds that

the poison organ of the scorpion (S. occitanus) is formed by the

last abdominal segment, where two small oval orifices serve for

the exit of the poison; there are two glands, equal in size, and

ymmetrically arranged ; each occupies a space, covered externally

by the chitinous skeleton, and having internally an interior and

Posterior membrane, formed by striated muscular fibres, which

are inserted into the chitinous skeleton. By their contraction the

Polson is forced outwards. The wall of the gland consists of a

556 General Notes. [ May,

delicate layer, formed by cellular tissues and smooth muscular

fibres ; on its internal surface there are projecting lamellz, which

increase the extent of the secreting surface; below this, is a layer

of prismatic cells, which are filled with protoplasm, containing in

suspension, and in abundance, fine rounded granulations, which are

characteristic of the poison of the scorpion, and hide the nuclei,

which only become apparent on the addition of acetic acid ; these

are the cells which elaborate the poison, and from which it escapes,

by the rupture of the cells, into the central cavity of the organ.

Physiologically, this poison is very active, and that in direct re-

lation to the quantity introduced; one drop is soon fatal toa

rabbit and still more active on a bird; seven to eight frogs may be

killed by one drop, and the hundredth part of one is fatal to an

ant of large size. It would appear to affect the nervous system,

and has undoubtedly a marked action on striated muscle, sup-

pressing spontaneous and reflex t— Journal of the Royal

Microscopical Society.

Tue HABITS OF THE SNAKE BirD.—The mechanism of the neck

in the darters (Plotus) is treated by W. A. Forbes in the Proceed-

ings of the London Zodlogical Society. The darters feed entirely,

so far as Mr. Forbes had been able to observe, under water.

“ Swimming with its wings half expanded, though locomotion ©

effected entirely by the -feet, the bird pursues his prey ge

fishes) with a peculiar darting or jerking action of the head an

neck, which may be compared to that of a man poising a spear Of

harpoon before throwing it. Arrived within striking distance, ee

darter suddenly tranfixes, in fact, bayonets, the fish on the ope .

its beak with marvelous dexterity, and then immediately ooa

the surface, where the fish is shaken off the beak by jerking per

cently dead bird leaves little doubt as to the mechanism by whi “i

this peculiar impaling of the prey is effected. The eighth ae

cal vertebra is articulated with the seventh in such a way

two cannot naturally be got to lie in the same li

an angle, open forwards, of about 145°, when peer aan

s r ' l, . ; e al-

‘It is obvious that considerable advantage is gunn ier"

tion in question, the rapid protrusion of the narrow nee apan

oped a ants, etc.; w

ped form in the neck of the herons, cormor these parts it a

quires but aslight modification of the arrangement of theseF ie

those birds—none of which, so far as I know, impale their PS a

1883.] Zoölogy. 557

the darters—to bring about the perfect adaptation of these struc-

tures to a newly acquired mode of feeding. Mr. Forbes’ observa-

tions refer to the Indian darter (Plotus melanogaster), but will un-

doubtedly apply to our Anhinga bir

ZooLoGICAL NoreEs—Pyrotozoans:—The Journal de Micrographie

for February contains illustrated reports of Professor Balbiani’s

lectures at the College du France on unicellular organisms, also

continues the report of his useful course on Sporozoa, finishing

his account of the Coccidies. Dr. Pelletan, the editor, publishes

an account of the reproduction by division of Dinodsyon stipita-

tum——Some interesting Infusoria are described by A. Gruber

in the last number of Zeitschrift für wissen. Zoologie. H. O

Brady describes Keramosphzra, a spherical porcellanous foram-

inifer analogous to Orbitolites and dredged about twenty-five

degrees south of the south-western corner of Australia, by the

Challenger (Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist.).

Sponges.—Mr. H. J. Carter describes several new sponges, and

Proposes the group of Phlceodictyina for certain species having a

laminated and concentric structure. The green color of Spong-

illa is situated in the little spherical granules of the sponge-cell.

——Mr. Stuart O. Ridley describes four new Primnoans and Gor-

gonians from the Mauritius.

Celenterates.—The arrangement of the family Coralliide, to

Which the red coral of commerce belongs, has been discussed by

S. O. Ridley in the Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society of

London. These alcyonarian corals are chiefly remarkable for

Possessing a continuous stony axis, covered by only a thin corti-

yer of a softer spiculiferous material, into which the polypes

are retractile. Precious coral, probably all derived from the Med-

iterranean, is used by the Chinese and Japanese as ornaments,

a Chinese empress’s necklace having been made of alternate

pieces of jade and coral.—One of the most interesting results

of the studies of MM. A. Kowalevsky and A. F. Marion on the

development of the Alcyonaria, was the great difference observed

in the order of the appearance of various parts in Sympodium.

In some larvæ of delayed fixation the dissepiments were sketched

out while the vermiform stage persisted, and the ectoderm had

Oped mesenteric folds and a section almost identical with

that of an Actinia, while yet no sclerites was forming. In the

same laying were normal larve that were quickly transformed.

„_ _orms—Dr, J. Barrois publishes (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.) an

attempt at a general theory of the embryogeny of the Bryozoa

(Pe yz0a), founded upon the study of their metamorphoses. This

“Iver states that the relations between the larva and the adult

: have not before been fully made out. In the Entoprocta there is

ae > y complete passage, though in a complex manner, of the

ae organs of the larva into those of the adult. In the Ectoprocta

558 General Notes, [May, 7

the larvæ are more different from the adult form. The devel-

opment of the mantle in the larvæ and the reduction of the inter-

nal organs which accompanies it, are a series of purely adaptive

characters. Dr. Barrois believes that the entoproct larva repre-

sents the ancestral type of the entire group, remarks that such a

larva is constructed on the same plan as a rotifer, and conceives of

the original formation of a Bryozoan as resulting from a simple

change of life in an organism resembling a Rotifer. The Probryo-

zoa, in his hypothesis were free-swimming organisms possibly

analogous to the Rotifera. Professor M'Intosh describes Ce-

phalodiscus, a singular polyzoan dredged by the Challenger in the

Straits of Magellan, and allied to Rhabdopleura (Ann. and Mag.

Nat. Hist). The Rev. T. Hincks, in his sixteenth “ Contribution

towards a General History of the Marine Polyzoa” (Ann. and Mag.

Nat. Hist) describes six new species, and in his notice of the

Polyzoa of the Queen Charlotte islands give preliminary descrip-

tions of thirty-four species.—Mr. W. A. Haswell (Ann. and

Mag. Nat. Hist.) states that the elytra of the aphroditarean anne-

lids are connected with the functions of (1) protection ; (2), pro-

duction of phosphorescent light ; (3), sensation, and (4), incuba-

tion. In Zphione the scales are dense, causing the animal to

resemble a chiton. As they are provided with abundant nerves,

they are probably the seat of some special sense. The ova al

carried by ciliary action to the under surface of the scales, where

they adhere till the embryos are well advanced. Impregnatio®

probably takes place while the eggs are in this position"

A. Giard (Comptes Rendus) describes an annelid with yee

characters uniting the Lycoridea (to which it is closest) with pe

Hesionea and Polynoë, on the one hand, and with the ae A

on the other. It inhabits a sort of tube formed by the raised ve:

eral margins of the thoracic region, upon the dorsal aspect 4.

Balanoglossus (B. robinii), which at the Iles Glenans ae i

meter or more in length. The proboscis is entirely una

which is remarkable in a Lycoridian.

Mollusks—It appears that in Ceylon Helix hemastoma P

tected from observation by being covered with a growth of apo

which likewise grows on the trunks of the palms it gipsie

Helix superba also has a similarly green protective waste ak

dering it less visible to passing birds. An important i “Unior: :

article on the vascular and water-receiving system of the -aschrift :

ide and Mytilus, by Dr. H. Griesbach, appears in the Zé a

fir wis, Zoologie of Feb. 20, 1883. Hista

Crustaceans.—Professor F. A. Forel, Ann. and Mag. Ne a

enumerates the Entomostraca that constitute the agen, Pm same

fresh-water lakes, a fauna that in its general features pë: 2 plains

from Scandinavia to Italy and the Caucasus, and fron q lake

to the Alps. A complete list of the species inhabiting

ee a eee tt Soe ee

1883.] Zoölogy, 559

cannot be made at any one season, as the Cladocera periodically

disappear and occur at the bottom in the state of resting-eggs.

As these pelagic creatures can never rest on a solid body, they

have highly developed swimming organs and a light specific

gravity, yet they are sluggish, and escape destruction rather by

their perfect transparency than by their motions. Some feed on

Algæ, but most on animal food. During the night they swira

upon the surface, but in the day descend into the depths.

have a strongly pigmented black, brown, or red eye. Professor

Forel believes that the regular wind which at night blows from

the land to the water has been the cause which has kept a certain

portion of the entomostracous fauna of the lakes to the pelagic

area until it has become modified to suit its surroundings. As

the creatures sink during the day, they escape the breeze that

then blows towards the land.

Vertebrates— At the close of a valuable paper in the Proceed-

ings of the Zodlogical Society of London, on the colors of feathers,

r. H. Gadow sums up his conclusions as follows: We have

to distinguish between several categories of colors in feathers.

1, Objective chemical colors, directly produced by pigment. To these

belong black, brown, red, orange and yellow. 2. Objective struc-

tural colors. The feathers may contain no pigment at all, and the

color be produced solely by special structural arrangement of the

feather-substance, for instance, white, and frequently yellow; the

latter, if the surface is composed of very fine and narrow longi-

tudinal ridges. Or the feather contains a yellow to brownish-black

Pigment, and the color actually observed, as green, d/ue and violet,

1S produced by a specially produced and particularly constructed

Sparent layer between the pigment and the surface of non-

changing colors; blue and violet are always structurally objective.

Green seems to be only in a few cases the result of yellow pig-

ment combined with blue surface-structure. In most cases it

depend on the position of the light and eye. They are produced by

560 General Notes. [May,

describes Ofisthoplus degener, a new genus and species of snake,

with the maxillary edentulous, except at its posterior extremity,

where it bears a very long sulcated tooth. The same naturalist,

in conjunction with G. Doria, describes Zodtoca atlantica from the

Canary isles. Dr. Bean notices in the Proceedings of the United

States National Museum a collection of birds made by him in

the summer of 1880 in Alaska and Siberia. L. Stejneger pub-

lishes in the same Proceedings outlines of a monograph of the

swans, and Mr. L. M. Turner describes some variations in Lago-

pus mutus and its allies from the Arctic regions, especially the

western coast of Arctic America.

PHYSIOLOGY."

PHYSIOLOGICAL AUTOMATICITY.— Automatic and spontaneous

movement is one of the powers of undifferentiated protoplasm,

but it has been generally supposed that among the higher classes

of animals all automatic and spontaneous actions are brought

about by impulses proceeding from certain nerve cells. Thus the

contractions of the heart, which still proceed with a definite

rhythm after the organ is removed from the body, are supposed

to be excited by rhythmic discharges from the nerve cells, which

are contained within the cardiac walls. Dr. Gaskell has lately

shown, however, that when a slender strip of muscle, perfectly

ganglion free, is cut from the apex of a tortoise’s heart and hung

up in a moist chamber, after the lapse of some four hours the

strip commences to contract rhythmically and may continue thus

automatically active for some twenty to thirty hours. The initial

period of quiescence which follows the suspension may b

ened about one-half if the strip of muscle be stimulated at inter-

vals by a very feeble electrical current. “ Every part of i

muscular tissue of the tortoise heart possesses the property 0!

spontaneous rhythmical contraction, and the difference 1n func-

tion between the muscular tissue of one part and that of another

cular tissue of the frog’s ventricle this rhythmical pu gp

THE PRODUCTION OF THE SECOND HEART SOUND. si

twenty-third volume of Pfliiger’s Archiv, Professor Si py the

scribes experiments which show that the sound produced y

sudden tension of a membrane, loosely stretched across ;

end of a vertical tube filled with water, varies in pitch 1

1 This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL,

_ Jn the q

the lower |

of Ann Arbor, Michig®™ |

“pote N SO

MECENA

1883.] Physiology. 561

as the height of the fluid column. Hence he infers that the

sound comes from the fluid and not from the membrane. Further,

that as the membrane is subjected to unequal pressure on its op-

posite sides, is in fact distended by the weight of the water, it is

not able to produce sonorous vibrations. He then concludes that

the second sound of the heart, which is produced by the impact

of a fluid column, the arterial blood, against membranous septa,

the semilunar valves, originates in the vibration of the blood, and

not of the valves.”

On repeating these experiments by a modified method, C. E.

Webster concludes that the second sound of the heart is the

combined result of the vibrations both of the fluid blood column

and of the membranous semilunar valves.—/ourn. of Physiology,

Vol. ttt, p. 294.

A SIMPLE METHOD OF DEMONSTRATING THE ALKALINE REAC-

TION OF THE BLoop.—A drop of blood, obtained by pricking the

finger, is placed upon the smooth colored surface of a piece of

the dry, faintly reddened, g/azed, litmus paper, and after a few

seconds is wiped off with the corner of a handkerchief or clean

linen rag moistened with water. The place where the blood has

Stood is seen to be marked out as a well-defined blue patch upon

the red or violet ground. Nothing can be clearer or more con-

vincing than the demonstration of the natural alkalinity of the

blood which is afforded by this simple experiment —E£. A. Schäfer,

Journ. of Physiology, Vol. iti, p. 292.

INFLUENCE oF LicuT upon BacTerta.—Th. W. Engelmann de-

Scribes a new form of Bacterium, called by him 2. photometricum,

which exhibits some remarkable reactions toward light. This

erium moves only when illuminated, coming to a state of rest

ik “hn according as it is removed from or is brought into the

gat,

5 Access of oxygen is favorable and probably necessary to mo-

tion, but the gas has not the stimulating effect of sunlight. The

rapidity of movement increases proportionately with the intensity .

of illumination, and motion gradually ceases on removal from

ne light. Long continued action of very strong light, especially

when little oxygen is present, brings the Bacteria to rest. Sud-

den diminution in the intensity of illumination produces remark-

able agitation, such as rapid rotary movements. When the field

9f the microscope is partially shaded the Bacteria are seen to

was greater or less respectively as the supply of oxygen was

_ diminished or increased. a

| When the field of the microscope is illuminated by pure spec-

eal colors, most of the Bacteria wander into the region of the

red

-Ted rays where they are heaped in a narrow, sharply bounded

$62 General Notes. (May, 7

band. A smaller number collect under the yellow and orange

rays and form there a pretty well-defined band. The few remain-

ing forms are scattered in the more refrangible parts of the spec-

trum and more especially in the green rays. For the violet rays

the limits of sensitiveness of the Bacteria is not far from that of

the human eye, but their appreciation of the ultra-red rays goes

much beyond that of the eye. It is the ultra-red rays that are

most abundantly absorbed by the Bacteria and which act most

powerfully in exciting them to motion.—Pfliiger's Archiv., Bd. 30,

a Os.

Tue Diastatic ACTION oF SALIVA.—It has generally been be-

lieved that the activity of the ferment fzya/in, which in normal

human saliva rapidly turns starch into sugar, was arrested when

the alkalinity of the saliva was neutralized or the fluid made

slightly acid, and that therefore the conversion of starch of the

food into sugar, which is begun in the mouth, was completely

arrested when the food reached the acid juice of the stomach.

The late work of Chittenden and Ely (Fourn. of Physiology, Vol.

ii, p. 337), and of Langley and Eves (/éid, Vol. 1v, p. 18) has

shown that the diastatic action of neutralized saliva is more rapid

than that of the normal fluid, and that the addition of very

minute quantities of sodium carbonate has a destructive effect

upon the ferment, The former authors found that the addition of

a small amount of acid, .025 p. c. HCl, destroyed toa great ir

tent the starch converting power of saliva, but that when a sma

quantity of peptone was also added, the diastatic action of the

ferment was increased above the normal, Langley and Eves

point out that the peptones probably exert their favorable influ-

ence through combining with the free acid added to the saliva, —

thus preventing its destructive influence upon the iptyai

they find that the slightest amount of free acid in the mi

arrests the ferment action. cee

There is good reason to suppose that the gastric juice $

during the first three-fourths of an hour after the beginn l

“ digestion contains little if any free acid; so it is highly. prove

that the diastatic action of saliva continues for some timer is

the entrance of food into the stomach, though it seems tained .

that the salivary ferment is finally destroyed by the acid, COn

in the gastric juice. je

xture

ing of 7

—The background of conscious perception, physiologically © y um

ing, is defined by W. T. Sedgwick as “that standard a which

consciously held) with which we compare any suo ii

awakens consciousness,” We perceive difference of restri

d. The latter

tensity between a specific stimulus and its background. *"" aous-

may vary so that a stimulus which will to-day rome ying

ness or motion will not do so to-morrow. Instea ze

ae Physiology. 563

the reflex background by means of inhibitions, the author varies

the background as a whole thermally, and observes its effect on

reflexes. A reflex or headless frog may be heated so slowly that

although the heart may beat very fast, vigor caloris may be caused

without any motor reaction of its limbs. If the heart be tied

before hand, reflexes occur from gradual heating. This the author

thinks explained by assuming that in the first case the hot blood

passing inward equalizes the progressive heating throughout, or

changes the thermal background; while in the second case, with

no circulation, the background is fixed and the surface tempera-

ture rises to the point of difference which causes movement.—

Science, Vol. i, No. 5, p: 152.

Action oF DiGITALINE ON THE CIRCULATORY OrGANS.—(Pre-

liminary note by H. H. Donaldson and L. T. Stevens). The con-

tinuation of the experiments begun last year has yielded the fol-

lowing results: The work done by the heart of the common frog

is decreased by digitaline, whatever the dose, as was previously

shown to be the case for the heart of the “slider” terrapin. In

both frog and terrapin, the decrease occurs, whether the aortic

valves are intact or not. Variations in arterial or venous pres-

sure do not affect the result.

By a method permitting direct measurement of the fluid circu-

lating through the viscera and lower extremities in a unit of time

and under constant pressure, it has been determined for the frog

that the arterioles are constricted by digitaline. On this point

the terrapin has not yet been investigated. Digitaline has also

shown to increase mean blood pressure in both frog and

terrapin. We have, then, for the frog under digitaline a decrease

in the work done by the heart, a rise of mean blood pressure, and

a constriction of the arterioles. The first and second of these

points have been already demonstrated for the terrapin as well.—

Science, Vol. i, No. 5, p. 149

PERCEPTION oF LIGHT AND COLOR BY THE LOWEST PLANTS AND

ANIMALS.—The instances in which these faculties are exhibited

in the lowest forms even extending to some true plants, are very

humerous, but hitherto have met with little explanation. WwW:

geimann suggests three principal modes by which light is able

to affect these organisms, viz: 1. Directly, by modification of the

interchange of gases, without apparent addition of sensation. 2.

Y Modification of the sensation of necessity for breathing, owing

to Modification of the interchange of gases. 3. By setting up a

} process, which probably answers to our sensation of

: light, ‘ Of these the first may occur either alone or in combina-

a ton with the second; simultaneous occurrence of the first and

third may possibly take place.

1. Navicula is taken as the type of the first method, and most

mobile Diatomaceze and Oscillarineæ belong to the same class.

VOL, XVII_—wo, V, 39

Barei

564 General Notes. [May,

Movement is here intimately connected with the presence of free

oxygen, which, if not present, can be produced by these organ-

isms in the light.

2. Paramecium bursaria, When the proportion of oxygen is

normal, or somewhat greater than the normal amount, the infu-

sorian is usually very quiet; if, however, it sinks ever so little be-

low this degree, the animal becomes restless, and makes for

places in which there is more oxygen (e. g., edge of cover-glass);

in good light, but under otherwise similar conditions, the speci-

mens distribute themselves equally throughout the drop. Active

swimming is the consequence of serious diminution of the oxy- —

gen; if strong light is then applied for some minutes, the Para-

mcecium courses rapidly about, and if insufficient supplies of

oxygen are added from without, it shows itself very sensitive to

alterations in the illumination in the spectrum; it prefers red of

between the lines B. and C. High tension of oxygen reacts

strongly on the movements, for the animals then tend to swim

straight or in wide curves away from the point at which oxygen

is present in abundance. Strong illumination applied suddenly at

this time causes violent movements, and the Paramoecium o!

darts into the darkness, exhibiting the phenomenon of protopho-

bia. Thus this animal is highly sensitive to differences in the

tension of oxygen. PEEN:

3. Euglena viridis is taken as the third type. Here the tension

of oxygen has little to do with the movements. When the Z

of water is partially illuminated the Euglenæ gradually assem)’

in the lighted area, and usually remain there; if a sha ab

thrown upon the anterior chlorophyll-less portion of the body ae

animal turns and behaves as if wholly in darkness. This 1s no

due to the eye-spot which is placed here, as the reaction Is affec mee

when the darkness first reaches the protoplasm outside it. dis-

sensitiveness of the anterior end of the body is generally .

tributed amongst animals, and occurs in Paramecium o a :

spite of the greater amount of chlorophyll contained int A oof a

terior part. Engelmann has not as yet succeeded in ng :

or color-blind Euglene, but individuals from rsa any

and in different stages of development often show !mpe. Py

ations in their sensitiveness to light.—/ournal Roy. ee 4

Society, Feb. meen

PSYCHOLOGY.

ROMANES ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE.—Our purpose in We wil

this excellent book is rather expository than critical. "©

first notice the introduction to the work, and in subseque™ id

graphs give the author’s statements as to our presen ppi

of the mental endowments of the different groups f am

1 Animal Intelligence. By George J. Romanes., International Scientific ; eo

New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1883, 12mo, pp. 520.

1883.] Psychology. 565

the ascending order, as it is undoubtedly the freshest and, in

most respects, best work of the sort at our command. Mr. Ro-

manes, in the present volume, brings together the leading facts

bearing on the instincts and reasoning powers of animals; in a

second volume he proposes to consider the facts of animal intelli-

gence in their relation to the theory of descent ; in other words to

the evolution of mind in animals and man.

The present volume is largely made up of anecdotes about

animals, and as such will find many readers, as the subject is one

of much popular interest. Many of the anecdotes are, however,

fresh and pertinent, and while the author has, so far as possible,

endeavored to suppress anecdotes, he has found it of course im-

possible not to give most of his space to them. He has been

fortunate in having had placed at his command, by Mr. Darwin,

shortly before his death, “all the notes and clippings on animal

intelligence which he has been collecting for the last forty years,

together with the original MS. of his wonderful chapter on ‘ In-

Stinct.”” “This chapter,” adds Mr. Romanes, “on being recast

for the ‘Origin of Species,’ underwent so merciless an amount of

compression, that the original draft constitutes a rich store of

hitherto unpublished material.” In his second work he proposes

to draw upon this store more largely than in the present one.

In the introduction Mr. Romanes lays down the general princi-

ples upon which he constructs his work. His criterion of mind

ts as follows: “ Does the organism learn to make new adjust-

ments, or to modify old ones, in accordance with the results of

its own individual experience? If it does so, the fact cannot be

due merely to reflex action in the sense above described, for it is

impossible that heredity can have provided in advance for inno-

vations upon, or alterations of, its machinery during the life time

of a particular individual.”

_ Rejecting the theory of animal automatism on the ground that

never be accepted by common sense, he claims that asa

Philosophical speculation “by no feat of logic is it possible to

make the theory apply to animals to the exclusion of man.’ He

insists that the mind of animals must be placed in the same cate-

‘$ory as the mind of man. The proof is the fact that an animal

‘Sable to learn by its own individual experience. “Wherever

_ We find an animal able to do this, we have the same right to pred-

state mind as existing in such an animal that we have to predicate

_ “aS existing in any human being other than ourselves.”

i The author then attempts to draw the line between reflex and

_ instinctive action. This line, he thinks, “is constituted by the

—oundary of non-mental or unconscious adjustment, with adjust-

ment, in which there is concerned consciousness or mind.

me ally Mr. Romanes thus defines reflex action, instinct and

a “ : z a

3 Reflex action is non-mental neuro-muscular adjustment, due

566 General Notes. [May,

to the inherited mechanism of the nervous system, which is

formed to respond to particular and often recurring stimuli, by

giving rise to particular movements of an adaptive though not of

an intentional kind.

“Instinct is reflex action into which there is imported the ele-

ment of consciousness. The term is therefore a generic one,

comprising all those faculties of mind which are concerned in

conscious and adaptive action, antecedent to individual experi-

ence, without necessary knowledge of the relation between means

employed and ends attained, but similarly performed under simi-

lar and frequently recurring circumstances by all the individuals

of the same species.

“Reason or intelligence is the faculty which is concerned in

the intentional adaptation of means to ends. It therefore implies

the conscious knowledge of the relation between means employ

and ends attained, and may be exercised in adaptation to circum-

stances novel alike to the experience of the individual and to that

of the species.” ? :

These definitions, are, it seems to us, an improvement, in most

respects, on any which have yet been made, though in thatof

instinct the idea that instinct is the sum of inherited, originally |

conscious habits, might have been more distinctly emphasi

. J. Murphy’s definition, to which Romanes does not refer, that

“instinct is the sum of inherited habits,” is neat and terse. The

ed not under

facts recorded in the different chapters are arrang

pected, but roughly under the general heads of genera i

gence, memory, &c. Chapters are devoted to ants, bees, wasps,

nkey.

Of course any one can supply a number of published po

dotes and statements which the author has omitted; perhaps in

lack of acquaintance with the literature, so scattered a w

inaccessible. While speaking of the architectural habits jes !

ive bee, one wonders that the author had not acquainted we á

with the late Professor Wyman’s remarkable paper on the ¢ ma

the honey bee, as well as Reaumur and Maraldi’s observèt iig

but these, perhaps, were beside his purpose. Mr. Dall ese x

this journal (Dec., 1882) on the intelligence in a snai: ing it

power of recognizing a call or sound, and of distinguish Bo

from other sounds, was overlooked. As regards the intelligen?

of crabs, the case of “homing” instinct noticed by an English

server, would have been in place. A number ot tYP">* —

errors somewhat mar the book. =“ oe ‘the sub-

On the whole, the work is an excellent contribution oe

ject, though we must confess to a shade of disappoln” ”

here and there as tothe method of treatment, as from Fir”

other writings we had expected something a grain nave atic

has, moreover, failed to notice some authors who 4 Ma.

SE A eee SN SNE ERTS S SPN Le ame A REE mes San me SPREA oe ea

1883. ] Anthropology. 567

pated his views on various points. We shall look with interest

for the second work on “ Mental Evolution,” which demands

powers of high order for its successful treatment.

INTELLIGENCE IN Prorozoa.—Romanes in his “ Animal Intelli-

says, “ No one can have watched the movements of cer-

tain Infusoria without feeling it difficult to believe that these little

animals are not actuated by some amount of intelligence.” He

then describes the means taken by a large rotifer to shake off a

smaller individual which had fastened itself by its forceps to the

former. He claims that the beginnings of instinct are to be

found so low down in the scale as the Rhizopoda. He quotes

from Mr. H. J. Carter, who says: “ Even Athealium will confine

itself to the water of the watch-glass, in which it may be placed,

when away from sawdust and chips of wood among which it has

been living ; but if the watch-glass be placed upon the sawdust,

it will very soon make its way over the side of the watch-glass

and get to it.” .

He then cites the actions of the Actinophrys in getting its

food, and of Amceba in seizing its prey, young Acinetz, but con-

= ludes that we should not “be justified in ascribing to these low-

est members of the zoological stage any rudiment of truly men-

tal action.

ANTHROPOLOGY. '

THE CARSON Foorprints.—In the area of an excavation made

for the foundation of the penitentiary at Carson, Nevada, are im-

Most remarkable among these is a series which have been sup-

Posed to be the tracks of giant human beings, the ancestors of the

Present human race. Dr. Walter J. Hoffman visited the site last

fall in the interest of the Bureau of Ethnology, and brought to

Washington a cast of one of the depressions. Dr. Hoffman’s

= Conclusions, in a communication to the New York Weekly Herald

(Nov, 18), are as follows : “ The only animal capable of producing

‘Mpressions any way similar to these are the bear and the Mylodon,

9r gigantic ground sloth. They are neither of these, and the theory

saming Most followers is that ‘it is the missing link in the chain

of human evolution.’” A note in the last number of Revue d’An-

thro ve de Paris rehearses Dr. Hoffman’s researches, and ex-

Patlates on the evidence of the existence of Tertiary man. Mr.

7 K. Gilbert, of the U. S. Geological Survey, has received from

t. Russel a skilled observer on the spot, some valuable informa-

‘Upon these footprints, which he communicated to the Wash-

. Anthropological Society. Mr. Russel confirms Prof. Cope’s

mation that the beds are Upper Pliocene or Lower Quat-

¥ ‘Edited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

pressions in the sandstone that are probably footprints. The |

568 General Notes, [May,

ernary, and is convinced that the tracks are those of the Moro-

therium, an edendate. It is but just to Dr. Hoffman to say that

the opinion stated above is that of the people of Carson, and by

no means his own. The impression, of which a cast was taken by

him, is not a track at all. The mud was so soft that the animal's

foot sunk into it, pushed a ridge upwards two or three inches

higher than the outside level, and came out with a mass adhering

to it. Consequently no marks of claws or skin creases are to be

looked for. Very few doubt at this time the antiquity of man,

but the evidence may be weakened by too earnest pleading on

the part of its advocates.

Corea: Tue Hermit Nation.—In May of the past year Com-

modore R. W. Shufeldt negotiated a treaty between the United

States and Corea. In a few weeks commercial relations were

established with Great Britain, France and Germany. The open-

tain the most reliable and detailed information respecting We

aboriginal inhabitants of the country, the influence of the environ-

ing peoples upon Corea, the part which Corea has played in the

civilization of her neighbors, the detailed account of her historic

evolution, the story of the Jesuit missions in the last git

and finally the resources of the peninsula, we chanced to read@

- volume published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, of New w

titled “ Corea : The Hermit Nation,” by William Elliot Gi

The work is divided into three parts: 1. Ancient and l pe

history; 2. Political and social Corea; 3. Modern and ree

history. Of the aborigines nothing is known.

kingdoms of England, Scotland and Wales, the C

were distinct in origin, were conquered by a race from io pa

received a fresh infusion of alien blood, struggled in niv fa,

centuries, and were finally united into one nation, with o 4

and one sovereign.” To the sociologist the chapters on al

ment, feudalism, serfdom, social order, woman and 7

, ’ , , burial, em-

child-life, housekeeping, diet, costume, mourning and

ployments, mythology, folk lore and culture, wi i

valuable information. Those who regard Manco-Ceapa®, i fad

zalcoatl and their congeners to have been real persons, “aat

some comfort in chapter xxi, entitled “ The Dacha by the

wherein the story of Will Adams, an Englishman het “treated

Japanese, and of John Wetterree, a Dutchman similarly a

by the Coreans, is carefully detailed. The influence °

anism and Buddhism is well described.

1] furnish newand —

Contis

“Like the three

orean States ie

he E E aF PEROSA: LATAE R

1883.] Anthropology. 569

CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN Erunotocy.—tThe fifth

volume of Major Powell’s quarto series upon North American

ethnology has just issued from the Government press, though

bearing the imprint of 1882. It is simply three quarto mono-

graphs bound together and sent forth to the literary world upon

their own merits without introduction, as follows:

Observations on cup-shaped and other lapidarian sculpture in the old world and in

America. By Charles Rau

On prehistoric trephining and cranial amulets. By Robert Fletcher, M. R. C, S.,

Eng., Act. Asst. Surg. U.S.A.

A study of the Manuscript Troano. By Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D. With an introduc-

tion by D. G. Brinton, M.D.

The first paper has undergone no changes since it first appeared,

save a few literary corrections at the hand of the author.

he second paper has not previously been noticed in this jour-

Some may wonder why a work of this kind is published by

the Government. A celebrated chief of one of our late surveys

script.” There have been cases of perforations in aboriginal

crania in America—in Peru, in Michigan and in Illinois. We have

the Species, therefore, to hang the family on and to justify the

publication. Furthermore, Dr. Fletcher is, perhaps, the only

man in America who could have written this interesting paper,

being the active editor of the /udex Medicus of the Surgeon-Gen-

éral’s office, and handling the whole body of the medical litera-

ture of the world.

_*he third paper, already mentioned, is illustrated by four Fac

en colored plates, five uncolored plates and 101 figures in the

oe monograph has its own copious table of contents and

index,

A New Arrican Speecu.— Commenting upon Dr. Gustav

Nachtigall’s second volume on Sahara and Sudan, Mr. A. H.

A crisis Germa) in Phazania (Ferzan). Lepsius recognizes., in

oe = only two fundamental racial and linguistic groups, and

bers, while retaining their primitive Negro L

< eatigall shows that this group is distinct from Bantu and quite

Of tically Separate from the northern Hamitic stock. But, out

deference to the great authority of Lepsius, seeks to save the

bas, a

iit

570 Generat Notes. [May,

theory of the latter by tentative explanations. Mr. Keane, how-

ever, boldly affirms that Dr. Nachtigall’s inquiries have resulted

in “the discovery of an independent and widespread linguistic

family.” The most archaic form is the Teda or northern Tubu,

and the offshoots are the Dasa, the Kanem—north of Lake

Tchad, the Kanuri of Bornu, the Baele of Ennedi and Wanyanga,

and the Zoghawa of North Darfur. More distant members ap-

pear to be the Hausa, Fulu and Sourhay of West Sudan, the

Logon, Bagrimma (Baghirmi) and Mandara (Wandela) of the

Shary basin, and the Maba of Wadai.——Nature, March 1, 1883.

Tue PEABODY ACADEMY OF ScIENCE.—In the town of Salem,

Mass., was incorporated, in 1867, the Peabody Academy of Sci-

ence, formed by the union of the East India Marine Hall, the

Essex Historical Society and the Essex Institute, and blessed

with a fund of $140,000 from Mr. Peabody. In former times the

sailors of Salem visited all the most remote points of the earth,

when unadulterated aboriginal implements were plentiful and

could be had for a “ song.” These hardy men always remem-

bered their museum, and consequently the collection is very ne

in foreign material. The present officers are Wm. C. Endicott,

president; A. C. Goodell, secretary; John Robinson, treasurer,

and E. S. Morse, director. A very tull account of the museum

will be found in Cassino’s Scientific and Literary Gossip, Boston,

Mass.

Arcuxorocy oF Intinors——The third annual meeting of the

State Natural History Society of Illinois was held in Champaign

on the 28th Feb., 1882. The following communications “upon

the natural history of man were made: 1. Primitive religion n

America, by Hon. Wm. McAdams, of Jerseyville; 2. Prehistoric

remains in South-eastern Missouri, by F. S. Earle; 3. The great

Cahokia mound, by Wm. McAdams.

Tue Wyoming HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL Socrety.——Publi

cation number 4 of the above-named society is a very pp ok ,

phlet of letter-press and heliotype plates, descriptive and gi

tive of seven fine old aboriginal pots, all found in Pennsy a

excepting one. It does not often fall to our lot to be pl capers

archeological illustrations, so a little extravagant admiratio,

must be pardoned. Imagine a full page devoted to each T

Poro

m n

men, beautifully represented, and the opposite page to contain

that is said about the reverend vase, and you will have a sli ig -

conception of the pleasure that awaits you in reading publicat! ore

number 4.

Tue InpIAN Orrice REport—-If those who had oa ae =

the Indians from the earliest times could have foreseen | of

of the Naturalist and of the Smithsonian Institution, wl

1883.] Anthropology. 571

Ethnology, Peabody Museum, Archeological Institute, &c., what

charming and useful books they could have written. The same

is true of the Reports of Indian affairs, both under the War De-

partment and under the present management. Notwithstanding

their ignorance they did give us some very precious information.

With the growth of anthropological studies, the amount of solid

information in the Report of the Commissioner has kept pace.

The volume for 1882 contains 525 closely printed pages, and from

its correspondence and tables may be gathered a very intelligent

understanding of the name, location, number, occupation, educa-

tion, industry and status of every tribe of Indians with which the

_ Government has to deal. Especial attention is invited to the

report of education, now for the first time accorded a separate

table (316-327) in which industrial progress is combined with

mere school instruction.

PROGRESS OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN GERMANY IN 1881—1882.—The

Anthropologie in Deutschland in letzten Jahre,” pp. 101-124.

The subject is treated under the following particulars :

1. General information.

tions, p. 126 ; and O. Fraas on the progress of the prehistoric chart

Meeting of the German Anthropological Society at Frankfort,

A $- 14-17, 1882, pp. 65-227. "

A New ANTHROPOLOGICAL JOURNAL.—The prospectus has been

Published of a journal entitled, Internationale Zeitschrift für All-

and W. D. Whitney, in New

g. is editor and Joh. Ambr. Barth,

572 General Notes.

publisher. The Zeitschrift will appear in semi-annual parts, at

twelve marks a year. The scope of the journal furnishes sucha

good analysis of linguistic study that a translation is given:

I. NATURAL History OF LANGUAGE (Anthropology of speech),

1. Acoustic phenomena of expression (phonetics). Physical phenomena, anat-

omy, physiology, pathology of the vocal organs and of the ear, difficulties

of articulation, deafness, physiological explanation of articulate sounds,

2. Optical expression (graphics), physical and anatomical. Physiology of mim-

icry, gesture speech. Pathology of writing.

3. Present relation of acoustic and optic expression.

II. PSYCHOLOGICAL SIDE. Relations to psychology. Law of development (inher-

itance and variation).

1. Articulation. Symbols and shifting of articulation.

2. Sound. Psychology and shifting of sound.

3. Roots. Definition of roots.

4. Words. Sematology and change of meaning.

5. Sentence. Comparative syntax, including sign language.

ee ee oo

III. HISTORICAL SIDE.

1. Phylogenetic development. Origin and prehistoric evolution, historic evolu- -

tion, relation to ethnology, families of speech, &c.

2. Ontogenetic development. Child-speech, acquiring foreign languages, ke,

MICROSCOPY .'

;

METHOD oF PuTTING PELAGIC ANIMALS TO SLEEP IN ORDER TO

OBTAIN THEIR PHorocrapns.—Dr. Fol,? of Geneva, has made the

important discovery that Ccelenterates and Echinoderms may be

rendered insensible and kept so for hours and even days, witne

injury, by saturating the water with carbonic acid. i

taining vessel must, of course, be hermetically closed. pecs

mal at once becomes insensible and motionless, but preserves £

u ‘

life-like photographs, but also, as Dr. Fol suggests,

ing animals alive. Fishes and mollusks do no

ment, and crustaceans for only a short time.

Dr. Fol tried various narcotics, but found that S$

would not bring the animals to rest, while large doses ac

poisons. The same proved true of tobacco smoke d aque

solutions of ether, chloroform and ethyl bromide. Sulphy: cal

and carbonic oxide gave satisfactory results in only 4 few gos

Hertwic’s METHOD oF PREPARING AND CUTTING AMPHIBIA

Eccs.’—Although the amphibian egg has long been 4

object of study among embryologists—and quite: re

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Newton Highlands, Mass.

2? Zoologischer Anzeiger, No, 128, p. 698, 1882.

3 Jenaische Zeitschrift fiir Naturwissenschaft, XVI, p. 249» 1882.

1883.] Microscopy. 573

since section-cutting came into vogue as before—comparatively

little progress has been made in overcoming the difficulties that

attend its preparation for the microtome. The chie difficulties

are found in freeing the egg from its gelatinous envelope, and in

preparing it so as to avoid brittleness.

The best method that has thus far been proposed for these eggs

is unquestionably that of O. Hertwig, and I shall therefore give

it in detail.

I. In order to facilitate the removal of the gelatinous envelope,

the eggs are placed in water heated almost to boiling a ts

for 5-10 minutes. The eggs are thus coagulated and somewhat

hardened, while the envelope separates a little from the surface

of the egg and becomes more brittle. The envelope is then cut

under water with sharp scissors, and the egg shaken out through

the rupture. With a little experience a single cut suffices to free

the egg.

2. By the aid of a glass tube the egg is taken up and trans-

. ferred to chromic acid (one-half per cent), or to alcohol of seventy,

eighty, and ninety per cent. Chromic acid renders the egg brit-

tle, and the more so the longer it acts; therefore the eggs should

not be allowed to remain in it more than twelve hours. While

eggs hardened in chromic acid never change their form or be-

come soft when transferred to water, those hardened in alcohol,

when placed in water or very dilute alcohol, lose their hardness,

swell up and often suffer changes in form.

3. Alcoholic preparations are easily stained; but chromic acid

Preparations are stained with such difficulty and so imperfectly

that Hertwig omitted it altogether.

There is an important difference between alcohol and chromic

acid in their effect on the pigment of the egg. Chromic acid de-

stroys the pigment to some extent, and thus obliterates, or at

least diminishes, the contrast between pigmented and non-pig-

mented cell-layers. As the distribution of the pigment is of con-

siderable importance in the study of the germ-lamella, it is well

to supplement preparations in chromic acid with those in alcohol,

in which the pigment remains undisturbed.

Sether, so that the thinnest sections can be obtained without dan- .

&r of breaking.

F As the dorsal and ventral surfaces, and the fore and hind

ends can be recognized in very early stages, it is important to

know Precisely how the egg lies in the egg-mass in order to deter-

574 General Notes. [May,

mine the plane of section. In order to fix the egg in any given

position in the imbedding mass, Hertwig proceeds as follows:

a. Asmall block of the hardened mass is washed in water to

remove the alcohol, and in the upper surface of the block, which

has been freed from water by the aid of filtering paper, a small

hollow is made. This hollow is then wet with the freshly pre-

pared fluid mass.

6. The egg is washed in water to remove the alcohol, placed

on a piece of filtering paper to get rid of the water, turned on

the paper by a fine hair brush until it has the position desired;

the point of the brush is next moistened and pressed gently on

the upper surface of the egg, the egg adheres to the brush and

may thus be transported to the hollow prepared for it in the

block. i

c. After the egg has thus been placed in position, a drop of

absolute alcohol carefully applied will coagulate the “ fluid mass

with which the hollow was wet, and thus fix the egg to the block.

The block is again washed, and finally imbedded in the egg-mass,

which is prepared in the following manner: ;

Calberla’s Method of Imbedding—The white of several eggs Is

separated from the yelk, freed from the chalaze, cut with pas

and thoroughly mixed by shaking with a ten per cent solution

carbonate of sodium (fifteen parts of the white to one part of the

solution). The yelk is next added and the mixture shaken T

orously. After removing the foam and floating pieces of a

by the aid of filtering paper, the so-called “egg-mass 1S meg

for use. It is this fluid with which the hollow in the solid bl

is wet, as before mentioned, the block itself being only a piece

the same mixture after it has been hardened in alcohol. hite

Calberla soaks the eggs a few minutes (5-20) in the fresh pen

of the egg before imbedding ; Hertwig appears to omit this

of the process. dicated

After the egg has been fixed to the block as before ek te

(c), it is placed in a paper box and covered with the fresh 4

(1-2 deep). The box is then placed in a vessel that rs et

alcohol (75-80 per cent), enough to bathe its lower me 30-40

Sel, covered with a funnel, is heated over a water bath or

minutes, care being taken not to doi/ the alcohol. The aa (ninety

substance, thus hardened, is next placed in cold alco o a

per cent), which should be changed once or twice

twenty-four hours. After remaining in alcohol for al

eight hours the imbedded egg is ready for cutting.

1 Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 11, p. 445, 1876

nes %

recs 3

1883.] . Scientific News. 575

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— A number of American workers in biology desiring to have

established an association of American naturalists for ‘business

purposes, held a meeting at Springfield, Mass., April 10 and 11,

when an organization was effected, and discussions as to labora-

tory methods and other subjects were held.

The intention is to have an annual meeting for the purpose of

discussing topics of common interest for which, at present, no

opportunity is afforded, as for example:

Museum interests, in connection with which each museum

director could indicate his plan of work, the special groups of

which he was making exhaustive collections, so that work may

not be uselessly duplicated in many places; methods of museum

work, methods of exhibition, etc.

Methods of laboratory work; laboratory technique; new and

valuable points in staining, mounting, cutting and preserving of

sections

ns.

Systems of instruction in various departments of Natural Sci-

ence; methods with small elective classes; with large college

classes.

The position which the observational sciences should hold in

the college curriculum.

he amount of natural science which should appear in college

entrance examinations. The amount and character of such in-

struction in preparatory schools, etc. me

$ At the closing session it was voted to name the organization

iety of Naturalists of the Eastern United States.” Pro-

fessor A. Hyatt, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

_ Was chosen president; Professors H. N. Martin, of Johns Hopkins

University, and A. S, Packard, Jr., of Brown University, vice-

_ Presidents ; and Professor S. F. Clarke, of Williams College, secre

tary. It has twenty-seven members, representing all prominent

_ Colleges in its district.

| avy The Coast Survey will, during the present season, complete

te triangulation connecting the survey of the coast with that of

ze § carried on in ten different States, viz, New Hampshire,

‘ermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio,

RE-

576 Scientific News. [May,

etc. So many applications have been made to the Coast Survey

for data for maps of particular parts of the country, that the Bu-

reau has determined upon the compilation of data for a general

map of the United States on a scale of ten miles to the inch, which

will be exhaustive and complete so far as that scale will allow. It

will be superior to anything in the map line hitherto issued by the

government. The map will be published in several parts,

form a sort of atlas, the New England States being in one part,

and equal amounts of territory coveted by the others. This map

will be issued probably during the coming year.

te.

worse than further the biological studies so well begun in this

report. eae

regarded as normal. They examined about 150 different i51%

taken in the channel and the Mediterranean, and ina

found in the peritoneal liquid, in the lymph, in the blo ait the

in all the tissyes, microbes more or less numerous, having ction. 4

characters of land-microbes and capable of similar re Nees (In

These organisms were mostly the bacterium called ee :

other vertebrates, it is to be noted, microbes are not fou oo

blood and the lymph.) The authors cultivated the microbes S"

cessfully. They also repeatedly made an experiment W por |

sisted in putting a whole fish or part of it in paraffine ted with

120° or 140°. - After solidification the paraffine was C2% 5c thus

several layers of collodion and Canada balsam. The pee?

guarded from atmospheric germs, all showed, after er

an extremedevelopment of microbes (which were =a es

putrefaction). The authors propose to investigate

1883.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 577

penetration of these parasites and their influence on the vital

functions.— English Mechanic.

— Professor J. P. Lesley begins, in Proceedings of the Ameri-

can Philosophical Society, No. 112, an interesting biographical

notice of the late Swiss naturalist and geologist, Desor, who at

one time was so closely identified with American geology and

zoology during his residence in this country

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

BioLocicaL Society oF WasHrinoton, March 30.—Communica-

tions were made by Mr. Newton P. Scudder on the length of the

hatching period of the domestic fowl ; by Dr. Thomas Taylor on

Section cutting and mounting of hard woods; and on a new para-

site in fowls, of the nature of Trichina. Exhibition of specimens

included specimens illustrating Accidents to animals, by Mr. F.

A. Lucas;. The bones of the sea cow (Rhytina), by F. W. True;

Another jumping seed, Remarks on bee-fly larve and their singu-

lar habits, A burrowing butterfly larva, by Professor C. V. Riley.

Professor J. W. Chickering, Jr., on Mount Kataadn ; Professor L.

F. Ward on hybrid oaks of the District of Columbia.

Boston Society or Natura History, March 21.—Professor

S. P. Sharples gave an account of a visit to Turk’s island; and

Mr. S. Garman made some remarks on fossil horses.

April 4.—Professor Hyatt discussed the sudden appearance and

quicker evolution of ancient types of animals; and Dr. M. E.

adsworth spoke of the Bishopville meteorite.

New York Acapemy or Sciences, April 2.—The following

iper was presented: An inquiry into the carbon present in bitu-

_ minous shales, by Professor John S. Newberry. :

Appatacntan Mountain Crus, March 14—Mr. R. B. Law-

Fence read a paper entitled, “ Two weeks in Norway,” illustrated

by the lantern; Professor E. C. Pickering read a paper on moun-

tain observatories ; and Mr. A. E. Scott spoke on the exploration

Of the Twin Mountain range.

. PRocerpines OF THE PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,

D eb. 13.—Papers presented: “ On a new Unio from Florida, by

2 B. ‘A. Wright; “ Catalogue of the Fishes of the Atlantic Coast,

by Jos. Swain and G. B. Kolb; “Notes on the Birds of West-

° Moreland county,” by C.H. Townsend. Mr. Townsend called at-

tention to the albino birds in the collection of the Academy. Dr.

578 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. (May, 1883.

Leidy stated that the Anodontas brought to him were infested

with water-mites, marked with a Y-shaped yellow band; he iden-

tified the species with the Atax ypstlophorus, described by Bonz a

hundred years ago, as found in Anodonta cyguea of Europe. Pro-

fessor Heilprin attacked the theory of a great ice-mountain in the

north during the glacial era. In temperate regions clouds de-

scend in winter to 5000 or even 3060 feet, and it is impossible for

snow to form above the vapor line; how high this may be in the

Arctic regions is not known, but it can scarcely be higher than

6000 feet, which would render the filing up of ice to sucha height

that it would flow southward over the area believed to have been

glaciated a physical impossibility. Professor Lewis brought for-

ward the evidence of the striz and boulders in favor of a con-

tinuous ice flow, and stated that the ice in Greenland is now 6000

feet thick. Professor Heilprin believed 2000 feet to be more

nearly correct, and said that the thickness of bergs was greatly

over-estimated, as the part under water was usually assumed to

be equal in horizontal extent with that above, whereas, in fact, it

was, in most cases, much greater.

Feb. 20.—Professor Lewis read a paper by Miss Foulke des

cribing the formation and liberation from the interior of Volvox ~

globator, of amceboids, which showed their animal nature by de-

vouring the gonidea of the Volvox. These amceboids were 1i

C i

copper, with a laminar surface and structure caused by hammering

Dr. J

ment came toa fallen leaf, and immediately threw itself on

back and pulled the leaf over its body to hide itself.

alled attention

e hammers of

small beetle which had been knocked off a leaf on to 4 pave

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xviu.— FUNE, 1883.—No. 6.

PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES}

BY W. H. DALL.

Part I.

pie beautiful objects which form the subject of this discourse

are familiar to all, and though neither gems nor jewels they

are generally associated with them in our minds and put to simi-

lar uses in fact. No gem in its natural condition will compare

for a moment in beauty with the perfect pearl, as nature offers it;

any touch except that necessary to fasten it in its setting would be

desecration, On the other hand true gems, except the opal which

comes nearest to the pearl, in general owe their attractiveness

far more to the manner in which they are cut and polished than

to their inherent properties,

Pearls are produced by shell fish, or, more precisely, by certain

mollusks inhabiting the water, the inner layer of whose shells

Possesses the same iridescent or nacreous character, and is often

known as “ mother-of-pearl.”

The soft internal part of these creatures is covered by a thin

delicate membrane called the mantle, by the surface and especially

the outer edge of which the shell is secreted. The shell consists

t two parts, the epidermis and the shelly matter proper ; the lat-

ter, again, is usually composed of more or less different layers.

The epidermis or skin is of a horny texture and chiefly composed

se: a substance called conchioline. It is usually colored darker

| k Sieg brown, and may be extremely thin or almost invisible.

_ “May be entirely dissolved in caustic alkali, but is not affected

Aras delivered at the National Museum, Washington, at the request of the

ee of the Biological and Anthropological Societies.

VOL, XVII.—No. vr, 40

580 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. [June,

by ordinary acids, and serves as a protection to the carbonate of

lime of which the true shell is composed. This carbonate of

lime may be deposited in prisms, as of arragonite, in amorphous

or fibrous layers, or as “ mother-of-pearl.” In all cases it con-

tains more or less animal matter which binds it more firmly to-

gether. In the case of the pearly or iridescent shell, which is all

that it is necessary for us to consider at present, the pearly lus-

ter is caused by the action upon light of the minute layers of

which the nacre is composed. These layers are microscopically

corrugated, and their edges meet the rays of light and partly de-

compose them, as do the drops in a rainbow, producing the play

of varied colors. This has been proved in two ways, first, by

digesting mother-of-pearl in acid until all the lime is dissolved.

A pellucid membrane, representing the animal matter, still

remains, and if undisturbed still shows the iridescence. But if

pressed flat so as to remove the corrugations, it also loses its

pearliness. Again by means ofa diamond splinter, and an engine

invented by Mr. Barton of the British mint, similar corrugations

have been engraved on the polished surface of a steel button with

the result of producing the pearly play of colors; a proces

which would have proved commercially valuable could the en-

graved buttons have been kept from tarnishing.

There are also fine superficial lines on pearly surfaces which

may add to the effect. These run in various directions, are rio of

an inch apart, according to Dr. Carpenter, and may be due to the

minute cilia with which the mantle is provided.

Pearls are concretions in the tissues, of the same material as

that which composes the shell layers, and are usually due to the

presence, in the secreting tissue, of some irritating particle of

parasite, much as in the tissues of an animal a Trichina becomes

covered with a limy cyst. In the mollusk, however, the layers a

constantly added to until the pearl reaches a considerable he

When it becomes so large that the valves of the shell cann

close, the mollusk soon dies and the pearl may be washed bape

and lost. If the pearl escapes from the tissues during the ™

the animal, it may become cemented to the inside of the Se

pseudo-pearls may be formed by the mantle over projections pom

the inside of the valves. Concretions similar to pearls, but ! n

less, are formed in many mollusks, as is frequently

‘the common oyster on our tables.

1883. ] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 581

For technical purposes pearl-producing mollusks are divisible

into two classes, fresh-water and marine. It is noticeable that of

all the great multitude of air-breathing snails which live upon

land, or in trees, not one produces a nacreous shell; and, further,

that even among fresh-water mollusks none of the air breathers

are pearly, and few of those which breathe by gills, except part

of the bivalves, especially those belonging to the group typified

by our common river mussels, and so appropriately called the

Naiades, We will first consider these, of which the most import-

ant is the true European pearl mussel (Margaritana margari-

tifera L).

This mollusk is found in cool temperate climates over most

parts of the northern hemisphere, though not plenty in America

and somewhat irregularly distributed. It requires clear streams

or ponds, of which the water contains a certain proportion of lime.

These conditions are fulfilled in several parts of Britain, North

Wales, Sweden, France and Germany, Russia and Siberia. The

use and value of these pearls were known to the ancient Romans

at a very early period. One reason for the invasion of Britain is

said to have been the reputed pearl fisheries. Pliny remarks that

it was in his time a well-known fact that “in Britannia pearls are

found, though small and of poor color; for Julius Cæsar wished

it to be distinctly understood that the breastplate which he pre-

sented to Venus Genetrix in her temple, was made of British

Pearls.” Tacitus mentions them as indigenous produets of Bri-

tain in his life of Agricola, describing them as paler and less

brilliant than oriental (marine) pearls. The search for pearls, a

Profitable industry in which the ancient Britons eagerly engaged,

'S still carried on to some extent in Wales. The traveler who

Sojourns in the vicinity of Conway castle is sure to be solicited to

buy some British pearls, which in 1857 were worth from one to

three dollars an ounce, but are chiefly valuable as curiosities.’

‘Dout one mussel in a thousand contains a pearl large enough to »

be of any value, so that it is evidently not a very remunerative

Pursuit,

The British pearl fishery is fully described by Forbes and Han-

in their British Mollusca. The Conway and the Irt in Eng-

land, the Tay and Yythan in Scotland and the rivers of Tyrone

and Donegal in Ireland were the site of the principal fisheries.

1 ‘

Encycl, Brit., Ed. vir, Art. Pearls,

582 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. [June,

The Scotch fishery continued until the end of the last century.

The mollusks are still collected, but only as bait for the Aberdeen

codfishery. The peasants used to gather the mussels in the River

Tay before harvest time; the pearls were usually found in old and

deformed specimens; round ones, perfect in every respect and of

the size of a pea, were worth $15 or $20.

In the twelfth century it appears that there was a commerce in

Scotch pearls. In 1355 the Parisian jewelers enacted that no

worker in gold or silver should set them with oriental pearls ex-

cept in large ornaments or jewels for churches. In the reign of

Charles I, the Scotch pearl trade was of sufficient importance to

attract the attention of Parliament. The Scotch fishery seems to

have been nearly forgotten, when in 1860 a foreign dealer, Moritz

Unger, conceived the idea of making a tour through the districts

where the pearl mussel was known to abound. He found many

in the hands of people who did not know their value, and pur

chased all he could find. In consequence, many peasants took

up the search at times when they were otherwise unemployed and

some were so successful as to make $40 or $50a week. In 1865

it is estimated that pearls to the value of $60,000 were found.

One Scotch pearl was bought by the Queen for $200. Since the

fisheries have revived, the value of the pearls has risen, and g

ones bring from $25. to $100. One of the pearls, according to

Frédé, which ornament the royal crown of Great Britain, wes

found in the River Conway by a lady-in-waiting to Catherine, wife

of Henry VIII! The lady was fishing and accidentally hooked

a mussel, or picked one up on the sand, which out of curiosity

she opened and discovered a pearl of unusual size. Otherwise

its chief merit consisted in being a native production. It 1345

large as a bean. f :

American naiads afford few good pearls, the nacre not ahs

sufficiently brilliant in general, but a few very valuable pe

have been obtained from a Florida species. One is represent

to have been found in New Jersey which sold in Paris for Pr

In any case the labor and expense, at present rates, in this cou

try are so great as to render the business unprofitable.

In Germany the pearl mussel flourishes best in the pan

forest between Regensberg and Passau, and the streams xi

1 Frédé, Voyage, etc. 1882.

2 American Cyclopædia, Art, Pearls.

1883. ] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 583

head in the Fichtelgebirge. The Saxon fisheries are under the

control of the Crown, through the ministry of the interior and of

finance, and are chiefly located in the basin of the White Elster

and its tributaries, upon which are situated twenty-eight mill

reservoirs,

The shell of the pearl mussel is composed of three layers; the

outer brown or yellow conchioline or epidermis ; next a layer of

prismatic character, the calcareous prisms being set at right angles

to the inner surface of the shell, and lastly the inner layer of

pearly or iridescent shell, which in the pearl oyster is called

“mother-of-pearl.” The two latter layers are composed of car-

bonate of lime, and at the margin the horny epidermis usually

extends in a flap which is turned in over the edge but not at-

tached to the inner surface. The mature shells sometimes reach

six inches in length.

If a foreign body, such as one of its own eggs, a grain of sand

or a minute cercarian parasite penetrates where it irritates the

mantle and ‘cannot be removed, it speedily becomes encysted or

covered by a little capsule. This is thickened from time to time

by additional deposits, and thus becomes a pearl. Upon the part

of the mantle which makes the deposit, the character of the pearl

depends. Some of the concretions partake of the nature of the

epidermis, are brown and yellow and without luster. Most fresh-

Water pearls, when sawed in two, exhibit an aggregation of the

Prismatic shell substance radiating from a central point, which

alternates with concentric epidermal layers and is externally cov-

ered and adorned by a stratum of true pearl. If the last is thick,

clear and iridescent, the pearl is valuable, if not, it is worthless. It

is thus evident that the common notion of a pearl, as being pearly

throughout, is in most cases incorrect.

3 Disease may set up an irritation which will cause shelly concre-

tions to form in the tissues of the mollusk. These are usually

Small and irregular in shape, and in the pearl mussel are most fre-

quent in the substance of the large muscles which close the valves.

Such concretions are called sand-pearls, and are mostly used in

embroidery and cheap jewelry.

v In the above-mentioned cases the pearl lies in the substance of

“le mantle or tissues, but it may happen that with increasing size

it works out into the cavity of the shell outside of the mantle.

In this case it is very apt to become attached to the inside of the

584 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. [June,

shell, and having become so at one point, the size of the connec-

tion rapidly increases, so that the pearl is soon permanently

cemented to the spot. These are less valuable because less regu-

lar in shape and iridescence than the free pearls. In any case the

matter of which the pearl is composed is secreted at the expense

of the shell, so that it is not strange that a shell which contains.

good sized pearls is almost always recognizable, and that it is sel-

dom that a mussel of perfectly normal and regular shape contains

a pearl, The fishers claim that three characteristics of the out-

side of the shell indicate the presence of pearls, namely: 1.

Grooves or ridges from the beaks to the margin; 2. A kidney-

shaped outline; 3. The asymmetry of the valves with regard to

the median vertical plane of the animal.

The regulation of the pearl fisheries in Saxony is very ancient.

In 1621 Duke Johan Georg I, of Saxony, reserved this fishery for

the Crown, and appointed Moritz Schmirler conservator. From

that time to the present day (with a single exception during the

seventeenth century) the masters of the royal pearl fisheries,

twenty-one in all, have been direct descendants of Abraham

Schmirler, who succeeded his brother Moritz in 1643. The family

has changed their name in that time by one letter, and call them-

selves Schmerler. The present incumbent is Moritz Schmerler,

Senior}

These fisheries were carefully inspected from a very early

period, and general directions for their protection were drawn up

by Dr. Thienemann and authorized June 15, 1827. The waters

are inspected in spring to see if the mussel beds have been sof

turbed by ice or débris during the freshets. The area over whi

the fisheries extend is not searched every year, but is divided o

313 tracts, of which each tract is considered as equal to one day ;

work for three pearl-seekers ; and only twenty or thirty tracts are

fished over in any one year, so that after fishing each tract has ten

or fifteen years rest before it is fished over again. __ k

The pearl seekers, who appear to be quite at home !n the wat h

: on WN

gather the mussels with a peculiarly formed piece of iron, a

is sharpened at one end. With this they pry open the valves i

1For a full account of these fisheries see Dr. J. G. Jahn’s “ Perllischer ay

Voigtlande,” Uelnitz, 1854; and T. v. Hessling’s “ Perlmuscheln und ihre 5 i

for those of Bavaria. The data here presented in regard to the German nr fishery %

are due entirely to the report of Dr. HI. Nitsche on the fresh-water pe

illustrated by the International Fishery Exhibition at Berlin in 1880.

1883.] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 585

search the animal for pearls. If any are detected they cut the

muscles which hold the two valves together, and extract the

pearls; but if none are found the creature is restored uninjured

to the water. The pearls are put into a bottle of water on the

spot, and afterward dried and sorted in the house. Sometimes a

mussel will be found with small pearls in it which give promise of

better growth. Such shells are marked with the point of the

iron and put back. Sometimes excellent pearls have been ob-

tained from mussels which had been so treated. The pearl fishers

recognize four qualities of pearls: clear, half clear, sand-pearls

and refuse. The last are chiefly those which are composed only

of the prismatic or epidermal shell-substance, are brown or black

and without luster. Rosy and green pearls with fine luster are

very highly esteemed.

The yearly product of pearls is known from the royal account

books

In 1649 Abraham Schmirler obtained fifty-one large and forty-

two small clear pearls, thirty-two half clear pearls, fifty-nine

refuse and forty-two black pearls. But only since 1719 has a

complete report been made accessible. The results are shown in

the following table:

F Clear Pearls. Half clear, Sand-Pearis. Refuse. Totals.

ONO E E cn ; Labais

E E EAS

tA ae o... 1809] 90.45 | 726 | 36.35 |12co | 60.00} 552 |.27.60| 4288/214.40

1740-59 ..... 1412| 70.60| 578 | 28.65 | 485 | 24.25] 281 | 14.05 | 2751/137.55

1760-79 ...., 1042| 52.10 | 272 | 13.60 | 427 | 21.35 | 219 | 10.95| 1960| 98.00

Sones 1261| 63.05 | 243 | 12.15 | 357 | 17-85| 179 | 8.95| 2040|102.00

1800-19... 160 15| 261 | 13.05 | 325 | 16.2 10.15 | 2392|109.

1820-39 teses 659| 82.95 | 340 | 17.00 | 325 | 16:25 | 326 | 16.30 | 26501132.50

da ae 1884| 94.20 | 610 | 30.50 | 388 | 1940| 305 |25.25 | 3387/169-35

1860-79 dike be 1618) 80.90 | 682 | 34.10 | 450 | 22.50] 514 | 25.70| 3264 163.20

ees . eet

In 161 years., 12288 76.32 | 3708 | 23.03 | 3957 | 24-57 | 2779 | 17-25 !22732/141.19

Se os die teas hanna fea a

The table shows the total product for each quality for the peri-

ods of twenty years each, and the mean annual product of each

quality, also the totals and annual means for the whole period of

161 years covered by the table.

The pearls were formerly turned over to the Royal Museum of

Natural History, where they were held subject to the needs of

the directors of the famous Royal Art Museum of Dresden.

They were sorted and the finest employed in making articles of

Ornament, collars, bands, etc., and in embroidery. A magnificent

Pearl collar is one of the treasures of the Dresden “ Green vaults,”

586 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries, [June

it contains 177 pearls from the Elster, and is valued at about

$7000. The finest pearls found since 1819 were nine in number,

weighing thirty-five karats, and valued at eighty-five thalers each.

In 1802 the Royal Museum sold 7000 thalers’ worth of pearls,

and with the proceeds bought the Racknitz collection of minerals.

In 1826 forty-three particularly fine pearls were made into an

ornament for the Grand Duchess of Tuscany. The value of the

pearls obtained in 1879 was about $750. At present the pearls

come under the control of the ministry of finance.

Attempts have been made from very early times to induce arti-

ficially the formation of pearls by the fresh-water pearl mussel:

To an invention of this kind the celebrated Linnzus, “ father of

natural history,” owed his order of knighthood, conferred by the

King of Sweden in 1757. The plan, though successful in pro-

ducing pearls, was soon given up on account of the expense in-

volved. Attempts have been made more lately in Saxony to

obtain pearls in two ways: Ist. By introducing some foreign sub-

stance (such as a small pearl or a little pellet of porcelain) into

the mantle in imitation of the process by which the finest natural

pearls are developed; 2d. By inserting these bodies between the

mantle and the shell, as the Buddhist monks of China do with

their little tin Buddhas. The first process has not proved satis-

` factory ; in the second the substances used are generally covered

with a coating of nacre which may become quite thick but 1s

generally so irregular, and even angular, in shape as to make the

result of little value. In 1850 Herr Schmerler began the g

facture of nick-nacks, such as portmonnaies and little boxes ©

the polished valves of the mussels. These no doubt most of you

have seen. They appear at Niagara, at Coney Island, 1 wel

Yosemite and at Saratoga, wherever the travele ,

mementos are likely to be in demand. The manufacture ye

authorized by the Saxon government and already greatly eri

in value and importance the pearl fishery of which it was ongi

ally a mere incident. The latest improvement reported is that

polishing the shell until it is so thin that it becomes hee? ee

and a photograph can be seen through it, or the poran ae

have his own portrait photographed upon the reverse side

shell itself, and present it

“ Smiling through gates of pearl”?

to the lady of his choice.

1883.] Aboriginal Quarries—Soapstone Bowls, etc. 587

-` This industry is carried on in the town of Adorf, where many

hundreds of thousands of mussels are worked up annually. If it

were not for raw material received from other parts of Europe the

Saxon beds would soon be depopulated. A similar manufacture

has sprung up in parts of Bohemia and Bavaria. Naturally other

sorts of pearl shell are worked up in the same shops, especially

Haliotis iris Chemn., from New Zealand, and Turbo marmoratus

L., from the East Indies; Turbo pica L., from the West Indies

and the Californian “ abalones,” Haliotis cracherodii, splendens and

rufescens.

Japan produces some small but brilliant pearls from her fresh-

water mussels, Cristaria spatiosa and Anodonta japonica, especi-

ally the former,

In China the immense but thin-shelled Dipsas plicatus is made

use of to produce miracles by the monks of a Buddhist monas-

tery at Pú sa ch'i p’ang. Small stamped tinfoil images of Bud-

dha are slipped between the mantle and the shell at the front end

of the animal, and it is then placed in an aquarium or tank. In

two or three months they are covered by a coating of pearl which

fastens them to the inside of the shell while the embossed features

of the image stand out in relief As many as twenty of these

“miraculous” Buddhas are sometimes found ona single valve.

The pious pilgrims, in ignorance of the means by which they are

produced, consider this the highest testimony to the supernatural

er and powers of the venerated founder of their sect,

while the monastery reaps a handsome income from the same.

(To be continued.)

:0:

ABORIGINAL QUARRIES—SOAPSTONE BOWLS AND

THE TOOLS USED IN THEIR MANUFACTURE.

BY J. D. McGUIRE.

ia recent years soapstone quarries showing undoubted evi-

dences of having been regularly worked by early American

races, have been discovered in several of the States of the Union,

and it is highly probable that they will be found wherever the

šoapstone itself is met with of a character suitable for being

worked.” The manner of working the quarries, the tools used in

them, as well as the vessels there made are as yet comparative

588 Aboriginal Quarries—Soapstone Bowls and the (June,

novelties to our archeologists, and consequently but imperfectly

understood. The specimens found in the quarries, as a rule, are

_ bowls or dishes, although it is known that other articles were

manufactured from this stone.

Quarries of soapstone, showing evidence of extensive working,

” and similar to those we find on the Atlantic seaboard, have been

observed in California, and are described in the seventh volume of

Wheeler’s Survey by Paul Schumacher} although the California

Indians made vessels of a different character to those with which

we are familiar. It is suggested by Schumacher that the markings

of metal tools were observed in the California specimens, though he

does not mention the finding of any metal in the quarries. The

same suggestion has been made in regard to those articles which

we have in Maryland, because of the regular tool marks often

observable on the bowls; so far, however, as the remark refers to

our bowls, I believe it to be erroneous; primarily because I have

seen no indications of the use of metal, not having found a trace

of it in my researches, but principally because I have implements

of stone, found in the quarries, with which the whole work was

capable of being performed. These implements are all of stone,

and I feel satisfied that the quarries themselves belong to the pure

stone age; Kalm, the Swede, who visited this country early 1

the last century, describes pot-stone dishes as being made by In-

dians “ notwithstanding their unacquaintance with metals.” Al-

though we have no present data by which to demonstrate the

antiquity of our quarries, I think we have sufficient an

justify our belief that they certainly date to a time prior ze j

advent of the whites, still they must have been worked up to ns

within the historic period. According to the opinion of th

who composed the expedition of which Schumacher was =

chief, the California Indians do not appear to have p° ee

art of manufacturing vessels of clay ; or if they did, it

very limited extent. In Maryland, on the contrary;

abundant evidence that pottery and soapstone were used ‘oe

same time and by the same people, for broken soapstone shel

or bowls, have been found on village sites, and also 1n the

heaps associated with pottery. eer.

The area and development of these quarries seem are dif

sive, the regularity observed in the shape of the tools al ġ

ferent quarries, and also in the shape of the dishes, 56+

1883.] Tools used in their Manufacture. 589

uniform that one is almost persuaded that these quarrymen, if I

may so term them, were skilled artisans.

The Indians of California are said to have traded ollas for

those things which they stood most in need of, and is it not nat-

ural to suppose that the Indian of the East was less a trader than

his western cotemporary ?

Whilst the dishes do not appear to be difficult to manufacture,

so far as mere labor is concerned, there is a certain sameness

observable in the tool marks, both inside and outside the bowls,

that would hardly be met with were they made by untaught

workmen. The same may be said of the tools themselves, most

of which I have found to be regularly grooved and peculiarly

adapted to the work required of them.

Quarries showing undoubted indications of aboriginal occupa-

tion have been several times described ; their extent, the charac-

ter of stone worked, the shape of the dishes, &c., so that I shall

confine my remarks as much as possible to that which has struck

me as being of interest and novel in those remains.

It has been but a few years since the first of these quarries be-

came known, and their examination thus far has been confined

almost entirely to what could be found upon the surface, such as

bowls, dishes or other large objects ; and but little time has been

devoted to anything like a systematic examination, which, if

made, could hardly fail of interesting and valuable results.

Frank Cushing, under auspices of the Smithsonian, opened

one quarry at Chula, in Virginia, and others are known to exist

m Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New

Jersey, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia and North Caro-

lina, and all have, I believe, been discovered within the past de-

sade. Those thus far examined seem to have been devoted

Solely to the manufacture of articles intended for culinary pur-

Poses. Whereas the o//a of California, whatever its real use,

seems best adapted for holding liquids for the purpose of being

tted a distance, or for storage purposes, thus taking the

Place of pottery. Whilst the ol/a of California is better finished

our dishes, which, as is well known, are rude when found in

Warries, they all appear to have been taken from graves. Arti-

cles of Soapstone found in the East, on the contrary, are almost

exclusively surface finds in abandoned quarries, and so far as I

am aware no finished dishes have ever been discovered. It is to

590 Aboriginal Quarries—Soapstone Bowls and the (June,

be hoped that finished specimens will be discovered, for we know

they were made, and it is singular they have not been found.

Soapstone bowls are heavy, rough, take up much space, and be-

cause of their great weight are often left behind by field parties.

I have found four or five small pieces of soapstone vessels several

miles from any known working place, or vein of the stone, and

invariably these small pieces show tool marks finer than any that

we have as yet discovered in the quarries; some even are

smoothed; and pieces have been found with rough attempts at

ornamentation. Judging from the number of working places or

quarries, and the numbers of broken vessels occurring in them

soapstone must have been extensively used; this use, however

must have been confined within comparatively contracted limits,

because of the great weight of the material, unless when near

water transportation.

In Maryland, so far as I have observed, the process of making

soapstone vessels in quarries, the “pot-forms” seem to have been

first taken from the living rock, in a block of a suitable size for the

desired vessel. This form or block was obtained by picking 4

groove on the bed rock and deepening this groove to the desired

depth, when it was wedged loose after being cut under as far as

possible. The outer lines of the intended dish were then cut on

the form which was as yet as solid as it was when detached Peis

the quarry rock, and this cutting was done with a bladed imple

ment. These outside strokes of the tool are almost as bold as !

they had been given with an implement of metal, often a

three inches or more in length being taken from the bowl at

stroke. Almost all the bowls show this cutting process t° =

been followed and not the pecking or picking so often descr! to

as the manner of forming the bowl on bed rock. The oo

these dishes as a rule do not show the same bold stroke

generally find on the body of the bowl, and this I imagine to”

because the handles would probably be injured by ay |

severe usage, they were cut more delicately, aud generally

finer tool marks. eon

After the outer shape was thus given the bowl, = we

of the vessel was commenced, and here we find picking 43°

have been resorted to as when the outer form was first 7 Jð yes-

bed rock ; first a groove just inside the rim of the ere

sel was formed by pecking with a sharp-pointed- teal,

1883.] ` Tools used tn their Manufacture. 50T

core thus left must have been detached with a cutting tool, prob-

ably used as an adze. After the inner side was thus formed, I am

inclined to think a tool somewhat on the order of a chisel was

employed, for we find many of the vessels with smooth cut inner

sides which I suppose to be secondary cuttings. I have found

- celts in different quarries with ground edges only, which I am

satisfied were used in the quarry preparation of the vessels.

The tools used in quarrying and fashioning these dishes appear

to me to be a class of implements entirely distinct from anything.

which we have heretofore seen or had described. Those sharply

pointed and rounded quartz stones with sharp points and cutting

edges found in most quarries, were possibly used as suggested

by others, in the hands; but to my mind they are natural forms

not generally used. Whereas the true quarry tools were mostly

if not always hafted and grooved, roughly it is true, but dis-

tinctly. Their general shapes I might say are often almost iden-

tical with implements from the drift.

One thing very noticeable is the exceedingly rough and rude

finish of the dishes found in the quarries, whereas their outlines

as a rule are really symmetrical, Any one would, I think, be im-

Pressed with the want of finish in a collection of quarry speci-

mens, but more especially is this the case when compared with

those small pieces elsewhere alluded to, which we find in the

fields. The former are exceedingly rough and thick, and the latter

often smooth, always thin and delicate, and sometimes showing a

tude ornamentation in the lines found cut on them.

To claim that these quarry specimens were used in anything

like their present condition, supposing they were whole dishes, is

unreasonable, because of our inability to imagine purposes for

which they would have been serviceable. We find in the quarries,

almost invariably, broken vessels which must be the failures of a

manufactory. It will be asked, of course, where are the completed

vessels ? Whether cached or buried remains for the future to

disclose. We know ‘enough, however, to be able to say posi-

tively, the completed vessel does exist; but even then we know

4S yet but little of it in any condition. The worked surface of

rock in that quarry with which I am most familiar, varies from

ree to six feet beneath the present surface of the surrounding

Soil, and the quarry pits are indicated only by slight depressions

in the ground, now hardly observable. This filling in of the pits

592 Aboriginal Quarries—Soapstone Bowls and the (June,

is of course caused by freezing and thawing of possibly centuries.

On opening one of the pits the artificial character of the soil be-

comes manifest, consisting as it does of chips of the soapstone

without number, from the size of a pea to that of one’s fist, or

even greater, mixed with the soil; with here and there a handle,

a rim, or the bottom of a dish, and not unfrequently lost or

broken tools. Rude evidences of a forgotten race, of whom all

we know, or possibly can know, must be gleaned from these

abandoned workshops.

The shape of these vessels varies greatly, though generally

speaking they are oblong; some, though, are round and some

almost rectangular. They are from an inch to seven or eight

deep, and from three to fifteen or eighteen inches long. Whilst

some of these were small drinking cups that would have helda

gill or so, or were possibly children’s toys, others were sufficiently

large to hold a gallon or more. Almost invariably these dishes are

supplied at the ends with handles coming straight out an inch or two

from the body of the bowl. The only explanation of the absence

of finished specimens in the quarries that appears to me at all

plausible, is, that in the quarries the bowl was only blocked out

in the rough, and was left to be completed at the owner's leisure

in his home, where ornamentation and finish could be given at-

cording to the skill or taste of the individual possessor. The

outline being once formed, and the superfluous wei ht removed

in the quarry, the vessel could be carried with comparative ¢asê,

though some of the specimens are extremely heavy even them

and some that I have seen must weigh as much as fifty oF n

pounds, and could not have been transported any great distanc?

from where they were manufactured, except with a greoaie! pe

tion of strength than was probably ever made. To finish ere

as they were certainly sometimes finished—with delicate pt

smooth polish and rude ornamentation on the outer side—h sd

required the same skill as was necessary in giving the bow

original shape. It is highly probable that the quarry ene

finished specimens in or near the quarries, and I trust t found}

further research is given the subject some of them may be visi

but it is of course possible that these quarries were ony a

by those who were in search of vessels intended for their a wae

and they being fashioned to suit the taste of the individ

again abandoned; but this suggestion I do not think pr

1883.] Tools used in their Manufacture. 593

although I believe it is related that such was the custom of those

who manufactured the Catlinite pipes.

I have found two quarries in Maryland in which the manufac-

ture of soapstone articles seems to have been regularly and sys-

tematically conducted, one in Howard and the other in Balti-

more county. In many other places in these counties, and also

in Carrol, where soapstone crops out, I have found rude vessels —

which possibly may have come from workings that have escaped

my search, On the property in Howard, where one of these

quarries is situated, I found, at my first visit, the whole surface

of a large tract of woodland, possibly ten acres in extent, almost

covered with broken dishes and bowls, with a few implements

lying scattered here and there. The rock here crops out in cer-

tain places, but a dozen or more circular or elliptical depressions

show where either a detached cobble had been worked out or a

pit had been sunk to bed rock. For in this place I think both

cobbles and bed rock have been worked for the purpose of manu-

facturing soapstone vessels. In the Baltimore county quarry only the

solid beds of stone have been worked; this quarry.has produced

the best specimens of dishes which I have seen, and is now being

worked for commercial purposes. In clearing away the surface

soil in order to reach merchantable stone, many interesting speci-

mens both of tools and dishes, or bowls, have been found, but I

regret to. say that many more have again probably been covered

up, because of their value not being recognized by those working

: ‘Quarry. In this place I have found most of the quarry tools

4 Which I now possess, and a sufficient number, I think, to give one

a tolerably fair idea of the character of implement used in quarry-

Mand manufacturing soapstone bowls. Here there do not

: “Ppear to have been more than two or three pits worked, and they

’ are Not very extensive, although great numbers of pots must have

a here made, The quarry tools appear to have been generally

7 composed of black granite, with an occasional one of limestone

‘ clay slate. Whilst quartz is common in the vicinity of soap-

. teas and its cleavage of a character to lead one to suppose

wei would be generally used for making tools, I do not believe

u have been the case, although in all the descriptions I have

eg Soapstone quarries, quartz is said to have furnished most

as tools discovered, consequently I may be mistaken. Again

Matte is exceedingly brittle, and I hardly think would stand the

594. Aboriginal Quarries—Soapstone Bowls, ete. [June,

constant battering requisite to detach a block from the quarry, or

to fashion a bowl; while black granite on the other hand is one of

the toughest of stones, and will stand a great amount of work

without any appreciable wear. I believe many of these granite

tools to have been overlooked because of their great resemblance

to soapstone, either when lying on the ground or in the débris.

The black granite crops out immediately above both of the quar-

ries mentioned, and within a few feet of them. The quarry tools

are of various shapes, and have several features I do not remem-

ber to have seen described. Some few are delicate, but the ma-

jority of them are exceedingly rough in appearance, and are pect

liarly adapted to the work they had to perform. The tools, so far

as I can describe them, consist of picks, mauls, axes, both single

and double bladed, adzes, celts and chisels. The mauls, adzes,

axes, and picks were generally grooved, many of them roughly

and indistinctly, and were evidently intended to be used with han-

dies. In fact, one of the men working in the present quarry, who

had never suspected the use made of these tools, pointing to 7

roughly ground turtle-backed pick, now in my collection, said

that when they dug it out of the bank it had a handle a

to it, which was made of a forked stick that was wrapped around

it, and the ends tucked in the crotch of the stick. The names by

which I call these tools are meant only as descriptive of those

uses to which they appear to have been put, judging from their

shape, and not that they were necessarily used as are the tools to

which I liken them. There are some few implements, however,

that have shapes which appear unique, and can be compared t0

no implement now used by white people, with which I per

quainted. The mauls appear to have been used in battering h

substances, and are greatly worn on their ends. The axes se

blades flaked out symmetrically, and were many of

ended, as in fact is quite a common occurrence among Sev eet

the quarry implements, the cutting edges are quite sharp, n

would be capable of performing good work, although they S

not ground. The picks were generally sharp-pointed and qu!

heavy, and were grooved for handles, whereas there a“

picks, long and narrow, ungrooved and having 4 distinct A

curve, intended apparently for pecking, for being used mor e

adze, but even they, I imagine, would have performed quicker pees

more satisfactory work if hafted. The adzes appear to have

Ten aT

Fe ae. eee TE ee Oe ee ee ee ee ee eee

Be Ag pee PL

i a J

- Mensals,

which

1883.] Annelid Messmates with a Coral. 595

used for cutting towards one, as are adzes with us, and some of

them to have been so shaped as to have been peculiarly well

_ adapted for cutting in the living rock for the purpose of detaching

amass of it for particular purposes, or for giving a shape prior

to the article being detached.

Evans in his Ancient Stone Implements describes hatchets, or

broadaxes, like a certain class of tools found at Cissbury, in Eng-

land, in certain pits in the chalk, that resemble our soapstone

quarry tools in several particulars. Whilst Evans seems inclined,

judging from the shapes of these tools, to attribute them to the

Neolithic age, it is only, as he says, because of finding associated

with them one or two ground celts that they were not considered

Paleolithic. Judging from our present quarry experience, these

tools, whilst so ancient in shape, appear to be among the most

recent of the tools used during the stone age, which almost stag-

gers one’s belief in paleolithic forms. It is very often most diffi-

cult to describe stone implements, and I have seen but few palæo-

liths, and therefore may be mistaken, but there is no doubt in my

mind that implements identically similar in shape and material

with cave or river-drift implements, are to be found on the surface

and associated with polished articles of apparent recent date, and

nowhere is this more strikingly illustrated than in the immediate

vicinity of Washington city. These stones bear the same charac-

teristics which we observe in implements found under circum-

stances denoting a great age, but are in localities which lead us to

consider them as modern.

:0:

ANNELID MESSMATES WITH A CORAL.

BY J. WALTER FEWKES.

THE Occurrenee of annelid tubes on the under surface of many

Specimens of the well-known coral, Mycedium fragile Dana,

Several localities, led me to suspect that the relationship of

the wor ms which inhabit them to the coral, was that of com-

Similar instances have been described in other genera

authors who have mentioned the coral galls. A fact

adds to the interest attached to this subject is, that in

tall cases where the annelid is found associated with the

"a, it has modified the general shape of the Mycedium to

41I

VOL, XVIL—NO. vr

“R

ats

596 Annelid Messmates with a Coral. [June,

which it is attached. The young of M. fragile is a simple fungia-

like’ coral attached at its base, somewhat cup-shaped, with smooth

outer walls. As it grows older new individuals form as buds,

upon the upper part of the disk in circles about the original and

centrally placed polyp.

These buds differ somewhat from the parent, and as in the branch-

ing Madrepore, Madrepora cervicornis, we have two kinds of indi-

‘viduals, a single large—the original polyp—and several smaller

found below it on the sides of the branch; so in the saucer-shaped

colonies of Mycedium there are, as is best seen in smaller colo-

nies, an original polyp, found in the center of the disk on its uppèt

side, and smaller, or buds from the same, which are arranged in

regular concentric circles about it. The smooth under side of the

Mycedium is destitute of coral individuals, and is generally cov-

ered with Bryozoa, small mollusks and worms ; of the latter one

of the most interesting is the tubicolous annelid which is claimed

as a messmate of the coral, and is thought of more importanc

than the rest in the determination of the ultimate form of the

growing coral community.

The calcareous tube in which the worm lives is firm .

throughout most of its length to the under side of the coral. Its

terminal opening in a Mycedium of regular shape, lies near the

rim of the saucer-like disk of the young coral. In the growth

of the rim this extremity of the worm tube is imprisoned by the

increasing edge of the disk in such a way that it is wholly suf-

rounded by the live coral in the progress of its growth.

growth of the worm tube, however, keeps pace with the ye

of the coral about it, and as it rises above the upper eni

the Mycedium the opening into the tube is kept uncovered

this growth, so that the head of the annelid with its ge

branchiz can always have free communication with the avi ;

water, notwithstanding the tube itself is often wholly enclosed i

the calcareous secretions of the polyps. When the growing i

covers the terminal opening of the worm-tube the vom

but this rarely occurs, as the closing of the opening 15 poe i

prevented by a corresponding growth of the tube. © ‘a

specimens examined the extremity of the tube had we A

direction at right angles to the upper surface of the cor 4

ly united

ee re RM PY eter

ungia that

1 The resemblance is closer to the attached young (“ Strobila ”) om

to the free adult.

;

a Ag ee “A OP hee NE > ETE Se Wenn ee nS

Se ee E om rr, st te ees si

TA hea T S E E S ee DE NA A E T E CEE

1883.] Anneiid Messmates with a Coral. 597

projects a full half inch above that plane. The coral, however,

has formed “ @guo pede” along the sides of this projection and has

covered it to the very apex. The result is the formation of vari-

ations in the regular, growth of the coral which may be likened

to a coral-gall such as is formed by the crustacean genera, Hapa-

locarcinus, Cryptochirus and others. The greater part of the

worm-tube lies in sight on the under side of the Mycedium, while

its terminal opening is almost wholly concealed, being surrounded

by the live coral community through which there is, however, a

small opening into the tube cavity inhabited by the worm.

It is interesting to notice, however, that the modifications in

form of the growing Mycedium always begin on its rim in the

Vicinity of the tube opening. As the growth of the coral goes

on, the portion of the ccenosarc on the edge of the saucer-like

disk coalesces around the obstruction caused by the tube in

such a manner as eventually to completely surround it. When

this has taken place the end of the worm-tube grows upward and

seems to rise out of the midst of the growing coral. In all cases,

however, the shape of the coral is changed by the obstruction to

its otherwise regular growth.

In Porites and several other genera we have a similar commen-

salism of annelids and corals. Specimens of P. astreoides in

which these worm-tubes can be well seen, is found in almost

every collection of corals. Many specimens have the interior of the

Coral mass riddled with these worm-cases, whose openings cover

the Surface of the coral “head.” Such a combination of grow-

Ng coral and annelids, when both are alive, presents one of the

most beautiful sights upon a live coral bank.

_ While younger specimens of Mycedium, almost without excep-

tion, have a regular disk-like shape, which in older and larger

Colonies Where the annelid is not found, is still preserved, it al-

a always happens that the presence of the worm-tube leads

irregularity in form in the animal upon which it is found.

Younger Specimens are especially well adapted for a study of this

Phenomenon, Mycedium grows to the level of low water, and is

often exposed to the air by very low tides. It is, however, quite

hardy, and the short exposures are by no means always fatal. It

Prefers for its home sheltered lagoons to the open reefs beaten by

ies » Which would soon destroy its fragile disk. Its favorite

itat is the side of submarine cliffs and caves.

598 Progress of Invertebrate Paleontology [June,

PROGRESS OF INVERTEBRATE PAL/AZONTOLOGY

IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEAR age

BY CHARLES A. WHITE, M.D.

FAIR amount of work has been done during the past year.

No deaths have occurred among American paleontologists,

and one new name appears among those mentioned in the present

reviews.

In the American Yournal of Science for January, pp. 40-46, Mr.

Alexander Agassiz discusses the resemblance of living deep-sea

Echinids with those of Cretaceous age, under the title, “ The con-

nection between the Cretaceous and recent Echinid fauna.”

In the June number of the American Journal of Science, pp.

476-478, and one plate, Mr. John M. Clarke proposes and illus-

trates three species and two new genera of Crustaceans, Spathio-

caris and Lisgocaris, under the title “ New Phyllopod Crustaceans

from the Devonian of Western New York.” In the July number,

. pp. 55 and 56, he describes a Cirriped Crustacean from the De-

vonian, under the the name of Plumutites devonicus.

Dr. J. W. Dawson, in Proceedings of the Boston Society of

Natural History, Volume XX1, p. 157, has a “ Note on Spirorbis from

an iron-stone nodule from Mazon creek, Illinois.” Dr. Dawson

notes the occurrence of a Spirorbis in connection with a fossil

Millipede of the coal measures. He regards it as identical with

a form found in the coal measures of both Nova Scotia and Ev-

rope. This was published in 1881, but it was not noticed in my

last year’s review. i

Professor James Hall has prosecuted his great work for w 4

State of New Jersey during the past year as he has been aonga

the past. He also prepared a revised edition of all the pul

tions he had previously made on the celebrated Niagara fossils

Waldron, Indiana, with important additions of text and a

now thirty-six in all, and published the work in Professor U a

Annual report (the eleventh) of the Geological Survey of In Prov

for 1881. He has now in hand another important work for

fessor Collett’s next report. pee

Professor Angelo Heilprin has made the following pe

in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Scenes mise

delphia for 1882: “On the discovery of Ammonites 1 ih

of Tertiary age,” pp. 94; “ On the relative ages and class!

1883.] in the United States for the year 1882. 599

of the Post-eocene Tertiary deposits of the Atlantic slope,” pp.

= 150186; “On the occurrence of Nummulitic deposits in Florida,

= andthe association of Nummulites with a fresh-water fauna,” pp.

189-193 ; “ On the age of the Tejon rocks of California, and the

occurrence of Ammonites in Tertiary deposits,” pp. 196-214.

In the first of these papers Professor Heilprin states his positive

conviction that the Tejon group of California is Tertiary and not

Cretaceous, and in the fourth paper he reaffirms this opinion. In

the second paper he takes the ground thåt no true Pliocene de-

posits occur on the Atlantic slope of the United States.

In September Mr. U. P. James published No. 6 of his “ Palæ-

ontologist,” pp, 46-53. It contains “Descriptions of ten new

species of Monticulipora from the Cincinnati group, Ohio.”

The well-known Swiss palzontologist, Professor P. de Loriol

has, in the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History,

P. 118, Plate v, a “ Description of a new species of Bourgueti-

crinus,” from the Ripley group, Cretaceous, of Alabama.

Mr. S. A. Miller has published a new edition of his useful “ Cata-

logue of American Paleozoic Fossils.” He has also published the

following papers in Volume v of the Journal of the Cincinnati

Society of Natural History: “Description of two new genera and

tight new species of fossils from the Hudson River group, with

om ks upon others ;” “ Description of ten new species of fossils ;”’

k Description of three new species and remarks upon others sie

Description of three new orders and four new families in the

class Echinodermata, and eight new species, from the Silurian and

Devonian formations.” These papers are one each in the four

_ Rumbers of the journal, in the order here mentioned. They are

2 all illustrated on Plates 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9 of that volume.

Professor J. S. Newberry opposes the views of Professor Heil-

= ies that the Tejon group of California is of Tertiary age, in an

_ “ticle in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences for

1882, pp. 194, 195, entitled “On supposed Tertiary Ammonites.”

fessor A. S. Packard, Jr., in an article in the AMERICAN

Naturist for April, opposing the views of Professor Lankester

at Limulus is an Arachnid nearly related to the scorpions, calls

attention to the fact that scorpions and limuloid crustaceans ex-

Sted as early as the Carboniferous age, and were then as widely

““rentiated from each other as now.

Julius Pohlman, in the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Nat-

- 600 Progress of Invertebrate Paleontology . [June,

ural Sciences, Vol. 1v, No. 2, pp. 41-45, Plates 1 and m1, pub-

lishes “ Additional notes on the fauna of the Waterline group

near Buffalo.” One of the species he estimates had a lengthof —

thirty inches when perfect. .

In the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History,

Vol. v, pp. 119-121, Plate v, E. N. S. Ringueberg publishes “De

scription of two new species of Crinoids from the shales of the —

Niagara group at Lockport, N. Y. j

M. C. Schlumberger, of Paris, France, has “ Remarks upon a

species of Cristellaria,” in the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of :

Natural History, p. 119, with illustrations on Plate v. The Fora- |

minifer is from the Ripley group, Cretaceous, of Alabama, and is q

referred by this author, with some doubt, to the C. rotulata of 4

D’Orbigny. :

. Mr. Samuel H. Scudder; has done much in fossil Entomology, :

as the following notes will show: :

“Fossil Spiders,” Harv. Univ. Bull., 2, 302-303. (Reprinted ‘

under title: “Our knowledge of fossil Spiders,” in Field Natu-

ralist, 1, 61-63, Manchester, Eng.) J

“ Archipolypoda, a subordinal type of spined Myriapods from

the Carboniferous formation.” Memoirs Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, A

No. 5, p. 143-182, Pl. 10-13, figures also in text. [Criticised ys

Packard recently in Am. Nat. ] i

The general matter was printed in Si/iman’s Journal the year a

before, but this contains in addition the full description and discus |

sion of all the species and genera, twelve species, four genera -o i

The first part of Mr. Scudder’s Nomenclator Zodlogicus appeared

(pp. 19 + 376), containing a vast number of paleontological °° 4

era. The second part is now half through the letter M, pao ‘

contain about 80,000 references, being an index to Agassiz, 4

shall, the Zoological Record and Scudder. ao d

“ The affinities of Palæocampa Meek and Worthen, as gee q

of the wide diversity of type in the earliest known a (5) 10: 4

Amer. Four. Sci. (3), 24: 161-170. Amer. Mag. Nat. H pe i

286-295. fom |

“A new and unusually perfect Carboniferous cockroath T :

Mazon creek, Illinois.” Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., s OTA: l

=- “Notes on some of the Tertiary Neuroptera of nara a: : ;

and Green river, Wyoming Terr.” Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat T

407-409.

1883.] in the United States for the year 1882. 601

“ Older fossil insects west of the Mississippi.” Proc. Bost. Soc.

Nat. Hist., 22 : 58-60.

“On additional remains of articulates obtained by Dr. Dawson

from Sigillarian stumps in the coal field of Nova Scotia.” [Note

toa paper of Dr. Dawson’s.] Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond., 1882:

649-650.

Proof of Mr. Scudder’s memoir entitled, “ The Carboniferous

hexapod insects of Great Britain,” has been read, and will appear

shortly in the Memoirs Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 3, with one

plate. The general part of it appeared in Geological Magazine in

1881, under the title, “Two new British Carboniferous insects,

with remarks on those already known.” The plate contains,

among other things, a chromo of one Carboniferous wing to show

the colors remarkably preserved.

Mr. E. O. Ulrich began, in the October number of the Journal

of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, an important series

of illustrated papers on “ American Palaeozoic Bryozoa.” The

second paper appeared in the December number, and is to be

continued into the succeeding numbers for 1883. In the October

number of that journal, pp. 175-177, he publishes “ Description

of two new species of Crinoids from the Cincinnati group,” and

illustrates them on Plate v.

In the February number of the American Journal of Science,

Page 151, Mr. C. D. Walcott gave a “ Notice of the discovery of

a Peecilopod in the Utica slate formation.” In the March num-

ber of the same journal, pp. 213-116, he made further publication

of the same discovery with the title, “ Description of a new genus

of the order Eurypterida from the Utica slate.” The name pro-

Posed for the new genus is Echinognathus.

Bulletin No. 1 of the Illinois State Museum of Natural History

at Springfield, Illinois, has been issued, octavo, pp. 43. It contains

two articles by A. H. Worthen ani one by Charles Wachsmuth,

but no illustrations.

i Mr. Wachsmuth’s paper occupies pp. 40-43, and is entitled,

Descriptions of two new species of Crinoidea from the Chester

limestone and coal measures of Illinois.” :

Mr. Worthen’s articles are entitled respectively : “ Descriptions

of fifty-four new species of Crinoids from the Lower Carbonifer-

= limestones and coal measures of Illinois and lowa: and

“ Addenda-corrections and proposed new names for species pre-

602 Progress of Invertebrate Paleontology in the U. S., ete. (June,

viously described in the Geological Survey of Illinois, under

names that were preoccupied ; and descriptions of two new spe-

cies of fossil shells from the coal measures of Illinois and Kan-

sas.” All these species described and discussed by Messrs. Wor-

then and Wachsmuth are to be illustrated in the forthcoming

seventh§volume of the Illinois Geological Survey.

No. 3, Volume 1, of the Bulletin of the American Museum of

Natural History of New York, has been published, containing

sixty-one pages of text and four plates. It is wholly devoted to an

important work by Professor R. P. Whitfield, “ On the fauna of the

Lower Carboniferous limestones of Spergen Hill, Indiana, witha

revision of the descriptions of its fossils hitherto published, and

illustrations of the species from the original type series.” Pro-

fessor Whitfield proposes three molluscan genera, namely, Lepe-

topsis, Bulimorpha and- Eotrochus. The greater part of these

‘species were published without illustrations by Professor Hall in

1856, in the Transactions of the Albany Institute, and have be-

come widely known under the designation “ Spergen Hill fossils.

In the March number of Annals of the N. Y. Academy of

Sciences, pp. 193-244, he published “ Descriptions of new Sp

cies of fossils from Ohio, with remarks on some of the geological

formations in which they occur.” This is a preliminary publica-

tion of matter that is to appear in a forthcoming volume of the

Ohio Geological Survey, Forty-seven new species are described

and one new Cephalopod genus (Zrematoceras) proposed. The

formations from which the fossils come, are of Devonian and

Lower Carboniferous age.

uae a

In the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences”

Philadelphia for 1882, pp. 17-34 and Plate 1, Professor Henry ai

Williams published “ New Crinoids from the rocks of the on

mung period of New York.” He has also published ego

Cornell University press, Ithaca, N. Y., a “ Catalogue of the

sils of the Chemung period of North America,” pp. 14 oye) fe

During 1882 I have made four palaontological pek

follows: “ Conditions attending the geological descent of s

fresh-water gill-bearing Mollusks,” American Fournal of S0;

for May, pp. 382-386; “New molluscan forms from the Ar ms

and Green River groups, with discussion of some associated

heretofore known,” Proceedings of the U. S. National j

Vol. v, pp. 94-99, Plates 1 and 1v; “ Molluscan faunā

Museum,

1883.| Note on the Genus Campeloma of Rafinesque. 603

Truckee group, including a new form [Zatia dallii], pp. 99-101

late v; “Fossils of the Indiana rocks, No. 2,” Eleventh annual

report of the Indiana Geological Survey, pp. 347-401, Plates

37-55. Four new species are described in this work, but it is

mainly a republication of forms more or less well known. Seven

new plates were prepared expressly for this work, but the remain-

ing twelve plates are made up of figures which were engraved

over twenty-five years ago by John W. Van Cleve to accompany

a work on fossil corals, which he did not live to accomplish.

NOTE ON THE GENUS CAMPELOMA OF

RAFINESQUE.

BY R. ELLSWORTH CALI..

ge earliest known forms of this subgenus of the great mol-

luscan family Viviparidæ appears to have been described by

Thomas Say as a Limnæa,! the type of the group being the form

now common in collections under the name of decisa. The form

on which the description was based is illustrated by Fig. 6, on

Plate 111, and is reproduced as Fig. 13 by W. G. Binney in his

monograph of this family published as Smithsonian Miscellane-

ous Collections, No. 144. In a subsequent corrected edition of

the Encyclopædia the same form and plate appear, bearing how-

ever the name of Paludina decisa Say. This reference is the first

in which any of the forms of this group are referred to Paludina,

a subgenus not represented in North America so far as known.

In several instances European malacologists appear to have con-

founded these American forms with different exotic subgenera.

They have been referred by these foreign systematizers variously

to Ampullaria,? Melania’ Helix Cochlea’ and Melantho. Mr.

W. G. Binney appears to be the first among American authors to

employ the name of Melantho for these mollusks, though in this he

followed the unpublished work of Dr. William Stimpson.’ It is

! Nicholson’s Encyclopædia, ed. 1, 1817, and ed. 2, 1818.

oo Encyc. Meth., Tome 11, p. 32.

ea Syn. Meth., p. 134. ;

o o 2d Supplement, p. 226. (Hauley’s ed., 1856.) : G. Binney

Cae Conchyliologie, Tome 127. Quoted on the authority of 'W.G. 7

: — of personal verification. ie

ace to Smithsonian Misc. Coll., No. 144, p. Ul

604 Note on the Genus Campeloma of Rafinesque. [June,

difficult to understand how so accomplished a naturalist came to

adopt the subgeneric name of Melantho for shells distinctively

American and of fresh-water habitat, when for forty or more

years the genus was known to have been founded on a marine

fossil from the Paris basin, The genus is defined by its author’

in the following terms: “ Peristome incomplete, not effusive;

very thick; white. Subglobular. Marine.” It is classed by

him as a subgenus of Melania. Following Dr. Stimpson, Mr. Bin-

ney has brought Melantho into quite general use among Ameri-

can conchologists ; though occasionally one is found still using

the exotic subgenus Paludina.

Aside from the grave doubts excited by the history of this

genus with reference to its applicability, there comes into the

question the important consideration of priority. Mr. Binney m

his monograph makes no mention of the prior genus proposed

by Rafinesque, whose misfortune it has been to incur the incubus

of falsification in matters pertaining to natural science. That

naturalist, eccentric as he no doubt was during the latter portion

of his career, did actually collect from the Ohio river shells 0

this group, and did actually describe them. In the Fournal de

Physique for 1819} Rafinesque described his new genus Cam-

peloma, citing characters which I translate as follows: “ Shell

oval. Aperture oval, truncated at base; lip reflected, united in à

point behind. Umbilicus wanting. Animal unknown.” ro

the particular shell before him Rafinesque adopted the specific

name of crassula, and stated that he had only found it in TE

Ohio. Moreover he further characterized this species aS i

“ four whorls of the spire reversed,” a quite common feature, :

every collector knows, among certain species of this class, m

they are nominally dextral. The assumption that the bei

naturalist had before him a reversed specimen of Say’s P% alu

ponderosa is strengthened by his specific name crassula, pepe

in allusion to its texture. To this again is to be added the :

mology of the generic name, which, taken in connection d

cific characters, leave no room for doubt as to the real meee

the specimen on which it was founded. Being a scholar as

1 Bowditch. Elem. Conch., p. 27, Plate 1v, Fig. 15, 1822.

? Tome 88, p. 423.

. §Test ovale, Ouverture ovale, base tronquee, lèvres reflechies,

ponts posterieurement. Point d’ombilic. Animal inconnu.

te 4 tours de spires contraires,” , Loc cit., p. 423-

unies er

flexueuses,

SA, NR oe nr eee aa =

TAREN EL e a eh lk Bs

eS Se aa aaa

Pe ee ee ee

AS > ee

i e e

1883] Note on the Genus Campeloma of Rafinesque. 605

as naturalist, a dualism unfortunately not always enjoyed by stu-

dents of nature, he turned to the Greek for a generic name, and

found in it the words xapzy, a bending, and dopa, a margin, an

etymology in exact keeping with the sigmoid character of the

aperture of all the species of the genus.

It remains now to note what has been the reception of Cam-

peloma by naturalists. In botanical science and in other sections

of zoology than that relating to mollusks, his generic and specific

names have received little sanction. But among students of the

Mollusca one is occasionally found willing to do the “ Transyl-

vania professor” justice, when it can be shown all but conclu-

sively that his names are entitled to recognition. For years Cam-

peloma remained unknown, or if known its claims were un-

heeded. It remained for an American naturalist to first properly

apply Rafinesque’s diagnosis, and that naturalist was Dr. Theo-

dore Gill. In the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of

Natural Sciences for 1864,' he cites the main facts in the history

of Campeloma; shows that it has precedence. of Melantho by

three years; and that it could have been based only upon a mol-

lusk referable to Paludina as that genus was then understood by

naturalists. This is the first, and it must be admitted a successful

‘mpt to interpret Campeloma and refer it to a well-known

mollusk,

Among foreign authors Rafinesque’s genus appears to have

been as sadly misunderstood as Bowditch’s Melantho has been by

American Systematists. Herrmannsen? gives the correct date of

the founding of the genus and its proper etymology, but follows

enke in making it a subgenus under Turbo, thus entirely mis-

taking its Scope. But in the same treatise, on page 23 of Supple-

menta et corrigenda, he refers Campeloma to Melanopsis of

Ferussac, with a mark of doubt, thus further removing it from its

true position, Chenu? following the Messrs. Adams, makes

Melantho a subgenus under Paludina with a very poor figure @

ys Ponderosus serving as the type. Like the illustrious syS-

i atists he so implicitly followed, he makes Lamarck’s genus

oo a Synonym of Paludina, and further confuses the matter

Y giving Vivipara georgiana Lea, a place in illustrating Melan-

co `

A Loc, cil., p. 152.

"Indicis

M generarum Malacozoörum Primordia, Vol. 1, p. 161.

anuel de Conchyliologie, Tome 1, p. 310.

606 Note on the Genus Campeloma of Rafinesque. [ June,

tho. It is quite difficult to conceive of two species more widely

separated from each other than the two this author makes illus-

trative of Melantho. I know of no naturalist in America who

would not unhesitatingly refer these shells to separate and dis-

tinct genera. |

Summing up the facts in the case of this neglected genus, it

is certain that the shells constituting it cannot be referred to Pal-

udina of Lamarck, and equally certain it is that Melantho of -

Bowditch will not apply. There having been as yet no other

generic name proposed but Campeloma for these mollusks, one

Species of which was surely before Rafinesque in framing his

diagnosis, the rules of priority, and justice alike, will necessitate

its use,

A word or two regarding the forms included in Campeloma may

not be out of place. The genus has a wide distribution east of

the Rocky mountains, occurring in nearly or quite all the States

from Texas to Maine, to Minnesota and beyond into British

America. The most widely distributed species of the group's

Campeloma decisum Say, which is found throughout all the

northern sections of this region, extending into Nova Scotia and

far northward in the Province of Quebec; thus being the

only species the distribution of which reaches beyond the term

tory of the United States. It is the only form common in New

England. In the western portion of this latter area appear

another form, the Campeloma integrum DeKay, and in the ex-

treme south-west of Connecticut the distinct form Campeloma

rufum Haldeman, also occurs. The most western limit of pe

last species appears to be the Cedar river in Iowa, from whi

locality a single specimen has been placed in my cabinet. 7

three species mentioned, decisum, integrum and rufum are r a

associated in great numbers in certain parts of the State of ye

York, notably in the Erie canal, and wherever so found pe

their specific characters to a remarkable degree. Westward Ohio.

New York, in Western Pennsylvania in the drainage o elop

a fourth form occurs, which appears to reach its greatest es 7

ment in that great waterway, the Campeloma pena o ,

reversed specimen of which form, as has been said, serve a Ne

type of the genus. In the State of Ohio occurs a fifth Hs act

Campeloma obesum Lewis, which seems to luxuriate 1 y per-

waters of the central portions of the State. In Illinois, a.

1883] Note on the Genus Campeloma of Rafinesque. 607

haps further eastward, a sixth distinct form predominates, seem-

ing to replace all the others, the Campeloma subsolidum Anthony.

The form decisum also occurs in the northern portions of the

same State. From the Mississippi river, at a single station in

Mercer county, are collected peculiarly constructed forms which

may, until more is known about them, be doubtfully assigned to

Anthony’s swbsolidum. They have been described by Dr. Isaac Lea

as Campeloma milesii, his type, however, coming from Brand lake,

Michigan. Specimens of the same form have been received from

Arkansas. The forms thus far mentioned would appear to com-

prise all the species found in the Northern United States. Pass-

ing to the south of the great drainage system of the Ohio river,

including the Tennessee and Cumberland drainage areas, only two

forms appear common in some portions of the area we have de-

scribed, the Campeloma ponderosum Say, and C. rufum Halde-

man. The first of these attains a great size and high degree of

perfection in the Warrior, Alabama and Coosa river systems, as

well indeed as in the Tennessee river, in that portion of its course

which lies in the State of Alabama. The second species, Cam-

peloma rufum Hald., is taken in some numbers in the Hiawassee

river in Tennessee, where its forms exhibit great beauty and per-

fection, It should be remarked, however, of the shells from Ala-

bama which have been referred to this species, that grave doubts

are entertained of their correct determination ; the facts connected

with them pointing to a distinct and probably new species. In

all the shells which are thus known to be common to the two

areas, are presented some very interesting facts bearing on the

influence of environment on animal life. Over this last area, and

beyond toward Louisiana, occur other forms which, in a critically

accurate revision of the genus, it will be necessary to recognize

as good and distinct species. They are Campeloma decampu W.

G. Binney, occurring in the Tennessee drainage of North Alabama

and south to the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers,

n the Coosa and Cahawa rivers occurs a form described as Cam-

beloma nolani Tryon, which it will also be necessary to recognize.

n a few of the collections in which it has been placed it bears the

name of ponderosum, but would seem to be sufficiently distinct.

F rom this same State there has been described, by Dr. Lea, a

form known as Campeloma coarctatum, said also to occur in South

Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas.

608 Mosses. (June,

Summing up the facts of geographical distribution, as the spe-

cies are now understood, we have two entirely distinct groups of

these mollusks which, in general terms, may be said to be governed

in distribution by geographical features, and two of them—one

of the two being doubtful—appearing common to the two areas;

Campeloma decisum has the northernmost range, and Campeloma

ponderosum the southernmost. Further collections are yet needed

to fix definitely the range of the several species, and to properly

define their specific relationship.

It might be added, in concluding this note, that these neglected

mollusks promise a rich reward for him who shall study them

anatomically. Their life-history is entirely unknown; the limits

of the species poorly understood and thus far often misintet-

preted; and what is important from a purely zoological sta

point, their geographical distribution and the influence of envi-

ronment need careful elaboration.

302

MOSSES.

BY PROFESSOR W. W. BAILEY.

Mo have always had a peculiar attraction for certain stu-

dents, yet there are comparatively few who study them. m

ordinary school or even college courses of botany they are 9a y

mentioned. Indeed, the study of Cryptogams, or flowerless

plants, is by far too much neglected. Ferns, it is true, have many

votaries, scientific and amateur, but one rarely hears of any but a

specialist engaged in the examination of mosses, lichens, or fang!

Algz have been more fortunate, and have always excited more or

less popular interest.

It is, undoubtedly, the difficulty attending the study ©

that has caused them to be so much neglected. One

rather expert with the microscope to accomplish much

investigation. This entails expense, but after all not so m

that many persons of fair means might indulge in the purs™ Pe

good microscope, with its appurtenances, is to-day within a

reach of any who care to husband their resources for a while were.

the object of securing one. I must say, however, in pr

any purchaser who is himself unfamiliar with the instru

f mosses

in their

uch but

must be —

ing, tat

i T aea ole tae Say da e EASA a Se ea PDE A a e a E ae ee T

}

R ae ee

1883.] Mosses. 609

should always consult some specialist, otherwise he is likely to

commit an egregious error in his investment.

` Mosses can be studied throughout the year, hence they afford

a most delightful winter occupation. Certain species, varying with

the season, can always be found in condition, but of course

some regions are much more favored than others. In the White

mountains, for instance, mosses literally cushion the rocks, clothe

the standing or fallen trees, and spread over the ground. Often

they hang from moist cliffs in those billowy curves assumed by

Snow heaps on a roof. The traveler sinks knee deep in the drifts

they form. The number of species is often bewildering. A mat

removed, say from some wind-fall, is discovered to be a tangle of

many kinds. It would require an expert to separate them. Often

they are found, as in the case of the genus Fontinalis, trailing in

springs or running streams. They climb, too, high up into the

Alpine regions, some kinds being found only on giddy mountain

ops.

A few words about the study of these bewitching little plants.

One first has to determine whether the fruit is ¢erminal or lateral,

that is, whether borne at the ends of the stems or as an outgrowth

from the sides. Mosses are by this means divided into two great

Sections, the Acrocarpi and the Pleurocarpi. Any Polytrichum

would be an example of the first class, and a Hypnum of the

second. It is not always an easy matter to determine this point.

Having settled it, however, one next examines the urn, capsule or

theca (it is known by either of these names), to discover whether

or not it is covered by an operculum. This is a sort of lid, which

May be deciduous or persistent. If it does not fall away the plant

is looked for in Section A of the artificial key of Gray’s Manual

(edition of 1863, now out of print and rare). Otherwise we pro-

ceed to Section B. Under this second head we find that the mouth

the peristome. Delicate manipulation may be required to esti-

mate them, both in the use of the lenses and illumination, and in

the handling of the knives and needles. External to the teeth

610 : Mosses. [June,

lies the ring or annulus upon which they are inserted. It varies

much in its development. The capsules, it should be mentioned,

are, at some period of their growth, clothed with a membranous

cover, either entire like a candle extinguisher, when it is mitriform,

or split on one side and hood-like, when it is cuculliform. This

body, called the całyptra, is apt to be fleeting, and hence easily

lost. It is often entirely absent in mature specimens, but is im-

portant and should always be secured if possible. The capsules

assume all kinds of forms—cylindric, oblong, globose, pyriform,

unequal sided, obovoid, etc. The powdery particles they contain

are the spores or sporules. The capsules are borne on thread-like

pedicels, though sometimes nearly or quite sessile. An enlarge

ment of the pedicel just below the urn is known as apophysts. The

elongated receptacle of the flower takes the name of the vaginula.

Often the capsules are immersed or partly hidden in the floral

(perichetial) leaves, as in Fontinalis. “ Intermixed with the

reproductive organs are cellular, jointed filaments ( paraphyses).

Mosses have two kinds of reproductive organs, sometimes Sep

rated on different plants (diæcious), but oftener found on distinct

portions of the same plant (monecious). Some are even polyga-

mous, The fruit of quite a number is not known at all.

process of reproduction is quite recondite, and beyond the scop?

of the present article.

It should be said that the character of the stem and of the

leaves is most important. The latter must be closely studied as

to their shape, margins and appendages. The mid-rib may be

prominent, forming a costa, or even prolonged above into an aw".

The so-called arcolation or arrangement of the cells of the leaves

is quite characteristic, assuming very beautiful geometric we

In Sphagna, which some authors separate from true mosses,

cate cross sections of the leaves must be examined. À

There are many points of terminology and description pas

which I have not here entered, indeed, the terms mee i

tremely numerous, and to a beginner perplexing. One eee

master them and their application only by persistent use pis.

are usually defined in any good manual of mosses OF any oo

botanical glossary.

At every step of one’s work in the stud

pressed with the extraordinary beauty of t

The leaves are wonderful microscopic object

he objects TS

s, and the capsules

y of mosses he is i A

ee eer! ee We en ee

1883.) Mosses. 61D

with their teeth, often hygrometric, are fashioned with the utmost

delicacy. Then the whole habit of the various plants is so

diverse! Some are prostrate; others growing erect, like Poly-

Fig I

ote 1,—A Polytrich 1 apophysis; ped, pedi-

cols È beires) as ea ae chien eee i nae nee hie <a h Done ft at's W ad removed. of»

ayas

m; fer, s perisi g pe

: —A Mnium. cap, capsule; ger, peristome. Fic. we the same. caf, Capsule >

S {en peristome; op, operculum, Fic. VI.—A Hypnum. øer, peristome; a7, annt-

cap, capsule, .

_ trichum, imitate pine forests ; others, like Climacium, resemble

iniature palms. In Barbula th ne teeth are curiously twisted-

VOL, XVII,—wno. VI.

612 Mosses [June,

The foliage of some is dark-green in color; of others reddish or

brownish, and in Leucobryom it is almost white.

Mosses are widely distributed over the earth from the equator

to the poles, and inhabit very diverse locations. When dried up

by the heats of summer they will soon recover under the influence

of moisture, at once resuming their vivid colors and beauty.

They are probably among the oldest of the existing families of

plants, and their part in life is to prepare the way, by their action

on the soil and decomposition, for the higher vegetation. This

task they share with lichens, whose history is perhaps even lower.

Their direct economic uses are few, but as objects of study they

will ever possess an increasing interest.

The collection of mosses is a comparatively simple matter, and

may be here briefly stated for the guidance of such as maybe

inclined to gather them. In the first place, having selected some

specimen for preservation, shake out from it as much as possible

of the soil, or if the plant is attached to a tree, obtain a thin slice

of the bark to which it adheres. Always make notes of the

medium from which it is obtained, as earth, tree or rock. If the

kind of tree is known, indicate it on the accompanying label. It

should be stated, too, if the tree on which it grows is dead of

alive, or if the moss is on the ground, the character of the soil

Remember to affix the time and place of collection. The spec

mens are best preserved in a portfolio of binder's boards, oF td

book 10 X 15 inches, which can be tied together by tape A

strings, and is filled with bibulous paper. The collector shoul i

carry with him into the field besides, a number of paper envelope |

or pockets for the reception of specimens. Put but one g7 :

in each pocket. They require comparatively little pressure

mounting use a firm white paper six inches in length by pe s

a quarter (6 X 41%) in width. The plants can be attach 5

t sheets 10 ©

means of paste, and arranged in books or loose

herbarium. of the ;

Lastly, it may be of interest to state the names of som ~ :

American botanists who have been especially distinguishes ™ | :

field. Of these the late Wm. S. Sullivant is perhaps oe

known. He prepared the paper on mosses for Gray's a has

besides many elaborate and costly illustrated works. Death’ Ss

lately removed those other accurate and careful mu ambridge j

Coe F. Austin, of New Jersey, and Thos. P. James, of C Eo

Te a TE ee ee ye eo oTa

a E S ee ee h

1883:] Emotional Expression. 613

Mass. The veteran Professor Tuckerman, of Amherst, still

remains, and from him and Professor Lesquereux, of Columbus,

Ohio, the well-known palæontologist, we now hope to obtain a

work on mosses to supply the place of the old manual and to

bring the science up to date,

:0:

_ EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION.

BY A. T. “BRUCE,

+o Darwin, more than to any previous investigator, must be

credited precise and comprehensive explanations of emo-

tional expression, owing largely to the prominence given by him

to hereditary influences which often afford explanations of emo-

tional phenomena where individual experiences do not appear

sufficient. The study of emotional language is interesting both

from a physiological and psychological point of view. Consid-

ering its psychological bearings it seems proper, before entering

on a detailed description of any emotional expression, to present

in outlinė such a definition and classification of emotions as nar-

row limits admit of.

An emotion may be defined as a tendency to act accompanied

or unaccompanied by a particular feeling. In the common accep-

tation of the term, emotion means a tendency to act accompanied

by a feeling which is the distinctive mark of the emotion. Ten-

dencies to act in ways more or less definite on the application of

. Proper stimuli, when no feeling is present in the sensorium, are

Fespectively known as reflex or automatic actions, the stimuli be-

ing external in the former case and internal in the latter case.

e two kinds of emotive tendencies mentioned are separated

by no well defined boundary. Emotions accompanied by feeling,

when oft repeated, tend to become automatic, while emotions

ordinarily unaccompanied by feeling may, in the absence of

higher €motions, send impressions to the sensorium.

Instincts comprise a class of emotions, connecting emotions

accompanied by feeling with those unaccompanied by feeling.

nfining our attention to what is commonly known as an

€motion, it is apparent that the feeling accompanying each is

Pleasurable or painful. When the feeling is pleasurable the ten-

im cy is to continue the course of action entered upon; on the

other hand, when the feeling is painful, the tendency is to desist

614 Emotional Expression. [June,

from the course of action which has as its concomitant the pain-

ful feeling. Pleasurable emotions might be. defined as attractive

and painful emotions, as repulsive inclinations or tendencies.

Objects which by their stimuli bring about attractive or repulsive

tendencies, are pleasurable or painful. It is needless to say that

the pleasurable or painful elements are frequently so combined in

an emotion, that it is difficult to determine whether the compound

is pleasurable or painful. Looking at the physiological concomi-

tants of these two broad classes of emotions, evidence seems to

sanction the view that pleasurable emotions are accompanied by

well-sustained, while painful emotions are accompanied by ill-

sustained, nervous actions. Physiologically viewed, a pleasurable

emotion is a nervous action wherein the nervous energy does not

sink below a certain level, the repairs afforded by nutritive sub-

stances keeping it above that level. The physiological aspect of

pain is waste exceeding repair, the nervous energy thus sinking

below a certain level.

Ignoring feeling altogether, it must follow that a creature with

no hereditary paths of action already cut in its nervous: mecha-

ism would act mainly in lines where its movements were well

sustained. Such movements would, in the long run, come to

have a preponderance over ill-sustained or painful movements.

Moreover, movements from a source of pain being better ~

tained than movements towards that source would eventually

prevail. Consequently the repulsive nature of pain is x physio

logical consequence. Feelings accompanying attractive i

repulsive tendencies are by association pleasurable or painful. $

these conclusions be granted, we have an explanation of the eo

tions and of that totality of emotional influence which constitutes

will, as Professor Bain has pointed out.

Now the actions of every individual under an emotion

ulus of any nature, are determined not only by his own ©

ences, but by a vast experience of pains and pleasures pane

to him by his ancestors. Accordingly in studying the ge is

which are the objective -expressions of various emotions, ; ;

x A dividual ex

necessary to consider the ancestral as well as the ge hat itis

perience which has made the particular expression W4 is

The antithesis of painful and pleasurable emotions 1S jude al

limited “ principle of antithesis” extended so as tO " f pait-

emotional expression, Speaking broadly the expression © |

al stim-

1883.] Emotional Expression. 615

ful emotions is a relaxed state of the muscles while pleasurable

emotions are expressed by a vigorous action of the muscles,

This general statement needs modification in some cases where,

as often happens, pleasurable and painful emotions are combined,

or where the emotion, though painful, is expressioned by move-

ments from the source of pain, such movements, as before stated,

being better sustained than movements in the opposite direction.

Granting this fact, it must still be admitted that pain, fer se, often

is a strong stimulus in provoking muscular contraction. The

Writhings of one in pain are not simply movements from a source

of pain. Yet even in such cases the action is not long continued,

and is apt to exhaust itself sooner than actions expressive of

pleasure. Moreover such actions, under painful stimuli, are in a

certain sense movements from a source of pain, for the contrac-

tion of the muscles, by bringing about vascular dilation, draws

the blood from the over excited nerve centers; consequently the

€xcessive nervous action is lessened by their contraction. A

Proper understanding of what has already been said concerning

€motions in general will be of assistance in the study of particu-

lar emotional phases which it is the writer’s purpose very briefly

to discuss. The study of the whole field of emotional expres-

sion, at once precise and philosophic, attempted by Darwin, is

fully appreciated by naturalists. There remains, however, many

Points of interest connected with emotional expression, where an

extension of Darwin’s views is possible. In his “ Expression of

the emotions” Darwin appears to have based his order of pres-

entation on no classification of the emotions, moreover he occa-

sionally presents his “ principle of antithesis ” as an explanation of

€motional expression where the actions might be better explained

on the universal principle of pleasure sought or pain avoided. For

instance, the shrugging of the shoulders as indicative of helpless-

Ress is explained by Darwin, on his principle of antithesis, as being

the contrary of emotions expressive of éffort or determination. It

would appear more philosophic to ascribe such acts to incipient

cringing or cowering. Helplessness implies an obstacle which can-

not be resisted or overcome. Now it must be obvious that when a

Creature meets an adversary too powerful to be resisted or avoided,

the only course to pursue is to lessen the pain of chastisement

which the powerful adversary may inflict. If its adversary be a

bully of its own species, capable of being pacified by propitiatory

Movements, the movements of the weaker creature serve a dou-

616 | Emotional Expression. [June,

ble purpose. The actions of the creature are necessitated by the

universal law of movement in paths of pleasure.

The movements in the case under consideration would be the

protection of the softer and more sensitive portions of the body

by the harder and more callous parts. Accordingly the viscera

are protected by leaning forwards, by bringing the elbows to the

side and by spreading out the hands. The head is at the same

time depressed, presenting the less sensitive portions instead of

, the more sensitive face, while the shoulders are elevated so as to

cover the more sensitive neck. Putting all these movements to-

gether, we have the expression of abject helplessness denominated

cringing. But when for an aggressive and unavoidable adver-

sary, we substitute an insuperable obstacle, we notice the same

element of helplessness without the obvious need of self-protec-

tion. There are, however, similar elements in both cases. Con-

sequently by “ substitution of similars,” a process almost as get

eral in association as in reasoning proper, we have that likeness

of expression which a helpless shrug of the shoulders indicates.

The truth or falsity of this explanation of the impotent shrug

does not affect the general law of emotional expression or lessee

the necessity of reducing all particular expressions to various

phases of the same law. Taking the simpler emotions, of which

the distinctive expressions have been explained by Darwins

researches, it is possible to arrange them according tO tben

respective intensities on the scale of pleasure and pain.

Their respective positions on the scale would be somewhat &

follows :

Bright eyes.

Intense, expressed by ¢ Laughter, and

$ Partially contracted muscles.

Pleasurable a "

Less intense, including complacency, etc., expressed by incipi 4

smiles, :

ca actions

Mixed Anger, sullenness-~expressed more or less distinctly by the :

se of conflict. l

f ‘a by open mouth A

Agony, fear, astonishment, expressed

he ontracted occipito-frontalis and corrugsto®

Intense yore:

Grief, despair, helplessness, etc., expressed from

laxed muscles, indicating the exhaustio ee

Painful flight or pain.

Guilt, shyness, etc., characterized Ls ar

inducing blushes through the

vaso-motor mechanism.

Less intense

1883.) Emotional Expression. 617

The pleasurable emotions very briefly outlined in the table do

not call for much comment. The joint cause of laughter may be

suggested. The nervous activity which is the concomitant of

pleasurable feeling must be discharged by the motor channels,

Movements in lines of least resistance would take place in the

most worn channels. Such channels are obviously those con-

nected with automatic actions, such as breathing, which are con-

stantly open; consequently the movements of the diaphragm

result. But in order to fully explain laughter the interrupted

character of the expiratory blast must be explained. Now it is

perfectly obvious that an element of surprise is an important fac-

tor in the production of laughter. Surprise is accompanied by a

powerful inspiration and the sudden diversion of nerve currents

from their previous channels. This inspiration of surprise would

have to be followed by a strong expiration which, however, is

modified by movements of the respiratory muscles induced by

the pleasurable stimulus and by the diverted nerve currents which

find their exit through the most open channels.

The composite character of the emotions classed as mixed

€motions may need some explanation. Anger with men com-

monly results from some insult which detracts from self-esteem.

e effort is then made to regain that esteem at the cost of the

insulter. There is present in consciousness self-humiliated and

a representation of the insulter humiliated. More generally

stated, anger implies simply the effort to remove or attack any

pain-inflicting agency. In that event there is present in the mind

the same two elements of pain and pleasure, weakness and

strength, viz., the pain inflicted and a sense of personal power

able to resist the pain.

Astonishment when unmixed is, judging from its close likeness

to fear, a painful emotion. To the animal in its wild state any

Strange creature must, in most cases, be either its prey or its

destroyer, consequently there is the open-mouthed inspiration,

explainable, as Darwin has shown, as the inspiration which pre-

cedes efforts to escape or attack, while the open mouth also ren-

ders respiration less noisy, thus assisting the concentration of the

attention on the strange object. Astonishment seems to have

been primarily derived from a disagreeable surprise resulting from

the unexpected apparition of a destroyer. Shyness is probably

due to this same unpleasantness associated with strangers, aggra-

vated in the case of man by the known propensity of strangers

- criticise our appearance. Hence attention is called to self,

causing blushing.

618 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy. [June,

THE DEVELOPMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMAN

PHYSIOGNOMY}

BY E. D. COPE.

"T'HE ability to read character in the form of the human face and

“ figure, is a gift possessed by comparatively few persons, although

most people interpret, more or less correctly, the salient points of

human expression. The transient appearances of the face reveal

temporary phases of feeling which are common to all men;

but the constant qualities of the mind should be expressed,

if at all, in the permanent forms of the executive instrument of

the mind, the body. To detect the peculiarities of the mind by

external marks, has been the aim of the physiognomist of all

times ; but it is only in the light of modern evolutionary science

that much progress in this direction can be made. The mind,as

a function of part of the body, partakes of its perfections and its

defects, and exhibits parallel types of development. Every pect-

liarity of the body has probably some corresponding significance

in the mind; and the causes of the former, are the remoter

-causes of the latter. Hence, before a true physiognomy cal

attempted, the origin of the features of the face and general form

must be known. Not that a perfect physiognomy will ever be

possible. A mental constitution so complex as that of man can-

not be expected to exhibit more than its leading features ™ the

body; but these include, after all, most of what it is important

for us to be able to read, from a practical point of view.

The present essay will consider the probable origin of the

structural points which constitute the permanent expressio":

These may be divided into three heads, viz: (1) Those fhe l

:general form or figure ; (2) Those of the surface or inte

of the body with its appendages ; and (3) Those of the forms no

the head and face. The points to be considered under each ot —

these heads are the following :

I. The General Form.

1. The size of the head.

2. The squareness or slope of the shoulders.

3. The length of the arms.

4. The constriction of the waist.

5. The width of the hips.

a oe iladelphi®

1 Abstract of a lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute ee Evolu-

Jan. 20, 1881, in exposition of principles laid down in The Hypo

tion, New Haven, 1870, p. 31.

1883.] Developmental Significance of Human Phystognomy. 619

6, The length of the leg, peared of the thigh.

4 The sizes of the hands a

8, The relative sizes of the pi Bei

IT. The Surfaces.

9. The structure of the hair (whether curled or not),

10. The length and position of the hair.

11. The size and shape of the bs

12. The smoothness of the s

13. The color of the skin, hair Tad irides.

II. The Head and Face.

14. The relative size of the cerebral to the facial regions.

15. The prominence of the forehead.

16. The prominence of the superciliary SAN ridges.

17, The prominence of the alveolar borders jaws

21. The form of the nose.

22. The relative sjze of the orbits and eyes.

23. The size of the mouth and lips.

Fige 2.

Fig, 1,

prer myr of skull ot adult a relatively shorter J re and more I paar s

el í lat orter jaws an -

nent cobra r eat, young orang, showing relatively s j

620 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy, (June,

The significance of these, as of the more important structural

characters of man and the lower animals, must be considered

from two standpoints, the palzontological and the embryological.

The immediate paleontological history of man is unknown, but

may be easily inferred from the characteristics displayed by his

nearest relatives of the order Quadrumana. If we compare these

animals with man, we find the following general differences. The

numbers correspond to those of the list above given.

I. As to General Form.—{3) In the apes the arms are longer}

(8) the extensor muscles of the leg are smaller.

II. As to surface-—(9) The body is covered with hair which is

not crisp or wooly ; (10) the hair of the head is short; (13) the

color of the skin, etc., is dark.

III. As to Head and Face—(14) The facial region of the skull

is large as compared with the cerebral ; (15) the forehead is bi

prominent, and is generally retreating; (16) the superciliary

ridges are more prominent; (17) the edges of the jaws are more

prominent ; (18) the chin is less prominent; (20) the cheek bones

are more prominent; (21) The nose is without bridge, and with

Fic, 3.—Figure of infant at birth; g, front of face.

1883.] Developmental Significance of Human Phystognomy. 621

short and flat cartilages; (22) the orbits and eyes are smaller

(except in Nyctipithecus); (24) the mouth is small and the lips

are thin.

It is evident that the possession of any one of the above char-

acteristics by a man approximates him more to the monkeys, so

as it goes. He retains features which have been obliterated.

in other persons in the process of evolution.

In considering the physiognomy of man from an embryologi-

cal standpoint, we must consider the peculiarities of the infant at

birth. The numbers of the following list correspond with those

already used (Fig. 3).

I. As to the General Form—( 1) The head of the infant is rela-

tively much larger than in the adult ; (3) the arms are relatively

longer; (4) there is no waist ; (6) the leg, and especially the

thigh, are much shorter. ;

TI. As to the Surfaces—(10) The body is covered with fine

hair, and that of the head is short. `

UI. The Head and Face. —(t4) The cerebral part of the skull

greatly predominates over the facial; (16) the superciliary ridges are

not developed ; (17) the alveolar borders are not prominent; (20)

the malar bones are not prominent; (21) the nose is without

bridge and the cartilages are flat and generally short ; (22) the

eyes are larger.

It is evident that persons who present any of the characters

Cited in the above list are more infantile or embryonic in those

respects than are others; and that those who lack them have

left them behind in reaching maturity.

We have now two sets of characters in which men may differ

from each other. In the one set the characters are those of mon-

keys, in the other they are those of infants. Let us see whether

there be any identities in the two lists, z. e., whether there be any

of the monkey-like characters which are also infantile. We find

the following to be such:

T. As to General Forn—(3) The arms are longer.

1. Surface—{10) The hair of the head is short, and the hair

on the body is more distributed.

TII. As to Head and Face—(21) The nose is without bridge

and the cartilages are short and flat.

Three characters only out of twenty-three. On the other hand

622 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy. (june,

the following characters of monkey-like significance are the oppo-

sites of those included in the embryonic list: (14) The facial

region of the skull is large as compared with the cerebral; (15)

the forehead is not prominent ; (16) the superciliary ridges are

more prominent; (17) the edges of the jaws are more prominent.

Four characters, all of the face and head. It is thus evident that

in attaining maturity man resembles more and more the apes

in some important parts of his facial expression.

Fig. 4. Fig. 5-

__Portrait of the same a

4.—Portrait of a girl at five years of age. nd less protuberane?

FIG. Fic, 5.—

kenia years, showing the elongation of the facial region,

of the cerebral.

It must be noted here that the difference between the por

and embryonic monkeys and the adults, is quite the 54 ne i

those just mentioned as distinguishing the young from thea ak

man (Figs. 1-2). The change, however, in the case of the mo

is greater than in the case of man. That is, in the monkeys "°

jaws and superciliary ridges become still more prom!

man. As these characters result from a longer "i of

from the infant, it is evident that in these respects th d ee

more fully developed than man. “Man stops short s the

ment of the face, and is in so far more embryonic}

nent forehead and reduced jaws of man are characters

1882, P 5'

1 This fact has been well stated by C. S. Minot in the N ATURALIST for

PLATE XIII.

i f nose

: : a Soe tant pee

Esequibo Indian women, showing the following peculiarities : ree agh short femu

; : : pie 2 ro

prognathism, no waist, and (the right hand figure) deficiency of stature throb,

From photographs by Endlich.

1883.] Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy. 623

dation.” The characters of the prominent nose with its elevated

bridge, is a result of “acceleration,” since it is a superaddition to

the quadrumanous type from both the standpoints both of pale-

ontology and embryology.’ The development of the bridge of

the nose is no doubt directly connected with the development of

the front of the cerebral part of the skull and ethmoid bone, which

sooner or later carries the nasal bones with it.

If we now examine the leading characters of the physiognomy

of three of the principal human sub-species, the Negro, the Mon-

golian and the Indo-European, we can readily observe that it is in

the two first named that there is a predominance of the quadru-

manous features which are retarded in man; and that the embry-

onic characters which predominate are those in which man is

accelerated. In race description the prominence of the edges of

the jaws is called prognathism, and its absence orthognathism.

The significance of the two lower race characters as compared

with those of the Indo-European, is as follows:

Negro.—Hair crisp (a special character), short (quadrum. accel.);

prognathous (quadrum. accel.); nose flat, without bridge (quadrum.

retard.)?; malar bones prominent (quadrum accel.) ; beard short

—.

—

Fi paid : z eii brid: f. nose

IG. 6.—Profile of a Luchatze negro woman, showing de cient f geo

and chin, and iloga facial riii: and prognathism. - 7 Fac of of sed

sg showing flat nose, less prognathism and larger cerebral region, From serp

See Cope, the Hypoth othesis of Evolution, New “Haven; 1870, p31

? In the Bochimaus, the fi flat n at bones are codssified with To adjacent elements

as in the apes (Thulié),

624 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy. {June,

(quadrum. retard.) ; arms longer (quadrum. accel.) ; extensor mus-

cles of legs small (quadrum. retard).

Mongolian.— Hair straight, long (accel.); jaws prognathous

(quadrum. accel.) ; nose flat or prominent with or without bridge;

malar bones prominent (quadrum. accel.) ; beard none (embryonic);

arms shorter (retard.); extensor muscles of leg smaller (quad.

retard,).

i river of

Fic. 8.—Portrait of Satanta, a late chief the Kiowas (from the eph liy

Texas), from a photograph. The predominance of the facial region,

of the malar bones, and the absence of beard, are noteworthy,

i em-

Indo-European—Hair long (accel.); jaws orthognatho y

bryonic retard.) ; nose (generally) prominent with briag an

malar bones reduced (retard.); beard long (accel.); arms

(retard.) ; extensor muscles of the leg large (accel.).

The Indo-European race is then the highest by vi

acceleration of growth in the development of the i -

the body is maintained in the erect position er oped

leg), and in those important elements of beauty, 4 We )

rtue of the

by which

PLATE XIV.

Le ‘

FEA

Wrestler ; original in the Vatican. This figure displays the characters of the

The W.

male Indo-European, except the beard.

1883.) Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy, 625

nose and beard. It is also superior in those points in which it is

more embryonic than the other races, viz., the want. of promi-

nence of the jaws and cheek-bones, since these are associated

with a greater predominance of the cerebral part of the skull, in-

creased size of cerebral hemispheres, and greater intellectual

power.

A comparison between the two sexes of the Indo-Europeans

expresses their physical and mental relations in a definite way. I

select the sexes of the most civilized races, since it is in these,

according to Broca and Topinard, that the sex characters are most

pronounced. They may be contrasted as follows. The nunibers

are those of the list on page 618 already used. I first consider

those which are used in the tables of embryonic, quadrumanous

and race characters :

MALE, FEMALE.

I. The General Form. .

2. Shoulders square. Shoulders sloped.

4. Waist less constricted. Waist more constricted.

5. Hips narrower Hips wider.

6. Legs longer, Legs shorter.

8. Muscles larger, Muscles smaller,

II. The Integuments, etc.

to, More hair on body, that of head Less hair on body, that of head longer ;

shorter; beard. no beard.

12. Skin rougher (generally). Skin smoother,

LIT. The Head and Face.

- Superciliary ridges more prominent. Superciliary ridges low.

Eyes often smaller. Eyes often larger.

The characters in which the male is the most like the infant are

two, viz., the narrow hips and short hair. Those in which the

female is most embryonic are five, viz., the shorter legs, smaller

muscles, absence of beard, low superciliary ridges and frequently

larger eyes. To these may be added two others not mentioned

in the above lists; these are (1) the high pitched voice, which

never falls an octave as does that of the male; and (2) the

- Structure of the generative organs, which in all Mammalia

more nearly resemble the embryo and the lower Vertebrata in

the female than in the male. Nevertheless, as Bischoff has

pointed out, one of the most important distinctions between man

626 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy. (June,

and the apes is be found in the external reproductive organs of

the female.

From the preceding rapid sketch the reader will be able to ex-

plain the meaning of most of the peculiarities of face and form

which he will meet with. Many persons possess at least one

quadrumanous or embryonic character. The strongly convex

upper lip frequently seen among the lower classes of the Irish is a

modified quadrumanous character. Many people, especially those

of the Sclavic races, have more or less embryonic noses. A

pment of

Fic. 9.—Australian native (from Brough Smyth), showing small develop

muscles of legs, and prognathism.

wae

retreating chin is a marked monkey character. Shortm :

the oe

stature is mostly due to shortness of the femur, or thigh; F :

equalities of people sitting are much less than moa z ig a

standing. A short femur is embryonic; so 15 4 very larg

PLATE XV.

: Sass Se See eee

pear, Venus of the Ca haracteristic

ep pitol (Rome The form ner face present the c aracte

z ‘ies of the female of the Indo-European race

1883. | Editors’ Table. 627

The faces of some people are always partially embryonic, in having

a short face and light lower jaw. Such faces are still more embry-

onic when the forehead and eyes are protuberant. Retardation of

this kind is frequently seen in children, and less frequently in

women, The length of the arms would appear to have grown

less in comparatively recent times. Thus the humerus in most of

the Greek statues, including the Apollo Belvidere, is longer than

those of modern Europeans, according to a writer in the Bulletin

de la Société d’ Anthropologie of Paris, and resembles more nearly

that of the modern Nubians than any other people. This.

is a quadrumanous condition. The miserably developed calves

of many of the savages of Australia, Africa and America, are

well known. The fine swelling gastrocnemius and soleus

muscles characterize the highest races, and are most remote

from the slender shanks of the monkeys. The gluteus muscles

developed in the lower races as well as in the higher, distin-

guish them well from the monkeys with their flat posterior out-

line.

Some of these features have a purely physical significance, but

the majority of them are, as already remarked, intimately con-

nected with the development of the mind, either as a cause or as

a necessary coincidence. I will examine these relations in a future

article.

—:0:———

EDITORS’ TABLE,

EDITORS: A, S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE, _

—— The late meeting of the National Academy of Sciences

Was, in some respects, a noteworthy one. In the election of new

members it showed that official relations at the seat of govern-

Ment do not constitute a passport of admission to its circle. The

Academy evidently prefers that it shall furnish candidates for

g0vernmental responsibilities rather than that the Government

shall furnish it with members. On the other hand it partially

A doned its usual reserve in favor of pure science, and elected

two members whose services have been chiefly in the field of ap-

Plied science,

_ the academy appointed a committee to consider its relations

with the Government. One of the questions that should be agi-

VoL, XVII.—nNo, Vi 43

628 Recent Literature. [June,

tated is that of the compensation of its members. The members

of the French Academy receive a salary, and are paid for atten-

dance besides. Additional compensation is given for labor on

some of the committees. The government of Russia pays the

members of its academy $2000 per annum, and gives them

excellent lodgings in the academy building. The United States,

with its high esteem for education and scientific investigation,

should not do less than the autocratic government of Russia,

whose treasury is depleted, and whose people are so largely un-

educated. As the case now stands, in our so-cailed democratic

country, many members cannot attend the meetings on account of

the necessary expense, and none but rich men can hold some of

the leading offices.

:0:

RECENT LITERATURE.

Norwecian NORTH ATLANTIC EXPEDITION, 1876-8 — This

valuable memoir was forwarded to the editorial committee in

January, 1881, and proofs of the plates had been distributed some

months earlier, but the publication has been delayed until now.

It contains a review of the species of Buccinide native to

Northern and Arctic Atlantic ocean and its connecting waters.

with the nu-

pecies a

tioned. The species treated of are Chrysodomus pete Bean,

: ; H ,

Ñ. (Sipho) islandica Ch.; N. (Sipho) turgidula Jefle.; grat ia

with species ebur Mörch, fusiformis Brod., dalli F riele, n. w :

vita M. Sars, lachesis Morch, undulata Friele n. S. qni Friele; ]

Friele, and varieties ; the sub-genus Mohnia with 44. 127 species: a

Troschelia berniciensis King ; Buccinum with the following Chemn, |

B. undatum with varieties, ciliatum Fabr., gréndlanawcu™ © Bete

undulatum Miller, finmarkianum Verkr., humphreysia™ je

nett, hydrophanum Hanc., nivale and sulcatum Friele (2. PE a

va-nova@ Beck, glaciale L., and tenue Gray. erial forthe

It will thus be seen that this work contains rich py ips it

consideration of the student of Arctic mollusks and o „nized

which discrimination is of extreme difficulty, as 15 fully rec E

1 Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition, 1876-8. Zoology Y sal one mp

Buccinide. By HERMAN FRIELE. 4to, pp. 37, with six P

‘Christiania (Dec.), 1882.

1883.] Recent Literature. 629

by the author. Probably no two naturalists could be found who

would agree on the systematic place or relations of all the forms

of Arctic Buccinidze which have been described. But we have not

seen any discussion of them with which we felt a more general

accordance than that in Mr. Friele’s work. In regard to the gen-

eral relations of the group we feel that the limits of Troschel in

this, as in many other cases, are too narrow, and his distinctions for

family rank too refined and too exclusive. In dental, as in other

characters, the time is at hand for naturalists, who may not yet

ave done so, to realize that easy transitions from one group to

another exist in a majority of cases and may be found by sufficient

search. The genus Jumala of Friele, bears somewhat such a re-

lation to Strombella Gray, as Liomesus Stimpson, does to some

forms of Sipho. The median plate of the radula is edentulous,

In this it agrees with Beringius Dall (1879), and a doubt arises as

to their distinctness from each other. The type of Beringius is

Chrysodomus crebricostatus Dall, from Alaska. The only criti-

cism which occurs to us relates to one of the figures. We

doubt extremely whether the odtheca figured as belonging to

Buccinum terra-nove Beck (PI. 111, f. 16, 2-4), does not rather apper-

tain to a Neptunea, as it resembles precisely that of several small

forms of Neptunea allied to despecta, familiar to us in the north-

ern seas, while we have never met with odtheca of such form be-

longing to a true Buccinum.—I. H. Dail

caand Mexico, though almost purely descriptive in its character, is

of high value both from the carefully prepared text and well exe-

Sive, at the conclusion of the work, an introductory volume,

wherein the physical features of the country will be described and

illustrated with maps.

e mammalia have been enumerated and described by the late

E. R. Alston, and the text occupies portions of the first seven

numbers, and is illustrated with eighteen chromo-lithograph plates,

— by Wolf, Smit and Keulemans, a guarantee of their excel-

ncy. Mr. Alston has brought together what little is known of the

ia Centrali-Americana; or, Contributions to the Knowledge of the Fauna

Oumar e Mexico and Central America. Edited by F. DUCANE neen any

1882. VIN. Zodlogy, parts 1-1 5. Botany, parts 1-12. 4to. London, 1879-

630 Recent Literature, [June,

habits and distribution of the mammals. For the first time we have

definite information regarding the monkeys of Central America

and Mexico, comprising, as they do, perhaps, the most striking

feature ofthe region under consideration. There are eleven species,

representing two: families, and six out of ten genera of American

monkeys in all. The existence of monkeys north of the Isthmus

of Panama was long overlooked by zoologists, though recorded

by several of the older zoologists, notably Dampier $

1729). Apparently the species which extends farthest north is the

Mexican spider monkey (Ateles vellerosus Gray); it occurs in

Guatemala from coast to. coast, In Mexico it has not been found,

according to Reichardt, north of a point in Vera Cruz, near the

volcano of Orizaba, where it is common, living in small troops

in the deep ravines up to an elevation of 2000 feet above the sea.

Reinhardt “also found it at a height of 4000 feet in the eastern

parts of Oaxaca, but never on the Pacific slope of the Cordillera

in that State; and he believed that monkeys were not to be found

on the western coast further north than Tehauntepec.”

We are afforded fresh data concerning the distribution of the

Carnivora; the opinion of Dr. V. Frantzius is quoted that the

coyote is not indigenous to this region, but spread through Cen-

tral America subsequent to the Spanish conquest. “ He con-

siders it improbable that they should have existed among the

thick population of the semi-civilized natives who then occupied

the western slopes, and thinks that their invasion may have be

coincident with that of the European cattle, which were intro-

duced in the first decade of the sixteenth century.” A data

by Mrs. Salvin of a specimen of common skunk (Mephitis mipi.

tica) in the museum of Guatemala is the only positive ia

the range of this species into Guatemala, as it was not represe

in Messrs. Godman and Salvin’s collections. sera

he two Central American tapirs are discussed with consi

ble detail; although the adult of Baird’s tapir was not discov ae

th species are figured and their distribution partly ane

We are also treated to an excellent colored illustration still |

manatee, which is common on the eastern coast; Dampier #

mains the best authority as to its mode of life. The EE

of peccary are illustrated, and interesting accounts of pags E

are given ; the collared peccary ranging from “ 36° no o Negro

on the Red river of Arkansas, and as far south as the B y

of Patagonia.” In Guatemala “the collared peccary 'S E i the

. $ è % rr : h forest, but in

seen in parties of five or six individuals in t e ite-lipped

early morning they trespass into the clearings.’ The We

peccary goes in large droves in Guatemala as Y :

Rica, where they abound most in “the thick prime hi her-lying J

the warmer lowlands,” but is also met with in the hig k a

mountain woods. ahia Me

~ The antelope is not found south of Sonora and Chih a

1883.] Recent Literature. 631

Clark is quoted as stating that in this region “ the antelope is said

to have an abiding hatred for the rattlesnake, which it decoys first

into a striking attitude and then utterly annihilates by leaping into

e air and coming down upon the snake with its four sharp-

cutting hoofs placed together.” (See the illustration in the NAT-

URALIST On p. 179.

The birds are being treated in the same manner as the mam-

“mals by Messrs. Salvin and Godman; the reptiles, amphibians

and fishes, by Dr. Günther ; the mollusks, by Dr. E. von Martens ;

the crustacea, by Professor Huxley; the arachnida, by Rev. O. P.

Cambridge; the coleoptera, by H. W. Bates and others, including

r. D. Sharp and C. O. Waterhouse; the hymenoptera, by P.

Cameron ; the butterflies, by Godman and Salvin, and the moths

by H. Druce; the neuroptera, by Mr. McLachlan ; the orthoptera,

in part, by J. Wood Mason, and the rhynchota, by W. L. Distant.

The botanical portion is entirely in the hands of Mr. W. B.

Hensley, .

positions and their attachments. With the above-mentioned

; h :

verse sections of the proboscis and longitudinal sections, showing

i 1 ty of the mouth-parts and of the sucking apparatus of some Dipter:

Dissertation for the purpose of obtaining the Philosophical Doctorate at the Leip-

2g University, By GEorGE Dimmock. Boston, A. Williams & Co., 1881. 4to, pp-

50. 4 plates,

ae Memes Munddele. Trophi Dipterorum. Af Fr. MEINERT. Kjõbenhavn, 1881.

» PP. 91. 6 plates.

dere Aenntniss der mundtheile der Dipteren. Von EDUARD BECHER. Beson-

abgedruckt aus dem xiv. Bande der Denkschriften der Math.-Naturwissen,

Classe der K. Akad. der Wissenschaften. Wien, 1882. 4to, pp. 42+ 4 plates.

632 Recent Literature. [June,

in an instructive manner the relations of the cesophagus to the

mouth and proboscis.

It appears that complicated as are the mouth-parts of the Dip-

tera, the mandibles are least developed, or most often absent.

They are present in the female Culex, but are absent in Eristalis,

Bombylius, Musca and many other Diptera.

The maxillz are, next to the mandibles, the’ oftenest absent in

Diptera, but the maxillary palpi are usually, probably always, .

present. The labium is the most fully developed part of the

mouth, the large fleshy lobes so well developed in the house fly

being termed the /abel/z. It appears that the mouth-parts arè

most developed in the mosquito, which for this and other reasons

stands at the head of the Diptera. a

s to the poisonous nature of the mosquito’s bite Dr. Dim-

mock’s views may be considered as most probably correct. He

says: “ After having experimented a large number of times wi

the living mosquito, I am convinced that there is use made ol a

poisonous saliva. * * * When the insect is allowed to draw

its fill on the back of my hand, the subsequent swelling

from forty to forty-eight hours, and the amount of poisonous

effect upon me, as proved by numerous experiments, 1$ ™

direct proportion to the length of time which the Culex has oc-

cupied in actually drawing blood. The above-mentioned facts

would indicate a constant outpouring of some sort of poisonous

fluid during the blood-sucking process, and wouid necessi

tube or channel for its conduction. Now, no other channel: ae

through which saliva could pass from the base to the tip 1n shad

mouth-parts which Culex inserts in the skin, and this, toge

with the position occupied by the salivary duct in other Dipti,

leads me to believe, without as yet being able to give anatomical ia

proof of it, that the hypopharynx of Culex contain 4 duct

pours out its poisonous saliva.” Biy is

Dr. Meinert’s memoir is very well illustrated ; it 15 10 destlibe

with a brief Latin synopsis. His work, while exact in pee phic

tion of actual parts, appears to us to be lacking 1n aig gen-

breadth. For instance, he has some singular views as to a, He

eral homologies of the trophi of insects, especially D P calpella

uses Kirby and Spence’s terms cu/tellus for mandibles an 3 ophi d

for the maxillæ of Diptera. But his illustrations of the trof L

numerous Diptera are made with great apparent care an 4

ness, : though A

Becher’s work is not so well illustrated as the foregoing, of each

the number of genera represented is greater, a° type are rather

dipterous family are represented; the descriptions of the flea

rief, None of the authors compare the mouth-par's © gerlip of

with those of other Diptera, Becher only figuring the te :

Pulex. Dr

The latest article is a short preliminary one by “™

1883. ] Recent Literature. 633

in the Zodlogischer Anzeiger (1882), translated in the Journal of the

Royal Microscopical Society for February. This paper is on the

mouth-organs of sucking insects. After describing the mode of

taking food in the bees and bugs, which we refer to at another place,

he deals at greater length with the Diptera. He dissents from

Dimmock’s and Meinert’s view, that the labium of these flies is

made up of the labium proper and the epipharynx, but considers

e paired organs described by Meinert in Hippobosca, &c., as an

independently formed epipharynx, to be enormous developments

of the cheeks. The tactile hairs of the labella are connected with

nerves, and organs of taste are situated on the labella or fleshy

“tongue.” He confirms the opinions of previous observers as to

the pumping arrangements of the salivary glands and the sucking

apparatus of the pharynx.

Martin anD Moate’s How ro Dissscr A Brrp..—A handy

little volume is this, the second part of Messrs. H. N. Martin and

W. A. Moale’s “ Hand-book of Vertebrate Dissection.” To begin

by finding fault, almost the only fault that there is to find,and one

that is doubtless caused by the low price at which the book is

issued—the illustrations are too few and too rudimentary.

The pigeon is taken as a type, and has the advantage of being

readily accessible to all. The work begins by giving the zoologi-

cal characters of the division, class and sub-order. Those of the

order are omitted, and the character “sternum provided with a

keel,” is rather that of the order Carinate than that of its sub-

order, Schizognathz. The external characters of head, trunk,

limbs, feathers and skin are first described, and the student is next

directed how to prepare and examine the skeleton. This is fol-

-lowed by the dissection of the soft parts, the neck, pleuro-peri-

toneal cavity, veins and arteries, vocal, abdominal and reproduc-

tive organs, brain and cranial nerves, eye and ear. Clear and con-

cise directions are everywhere given, enabling any student of or-

dinary dexterity and application not only to dissect a pigeon, but,

better still, to dissect some other carinate bird, and note carefully

Points of distinction between it and the pigeon.

Mayer’s MONOGRAPH OF THE CAPRELLID@.2—The Caprellide

sd. After describing the species of the Ok

World, the author, apparently from want of material which it

Would seem our museums might have afforded, treats in a very

*Hand-book of Vertebrate Dissection. By H. Newett Martin, D. Sc., M.

D., M.A., Professor in the Johns Hopkins University, and W. A. Moare, M.D.

Partu, How to Dissect a Bird. New York, Macmillan & Co. 60 cents.

*Fauna and Flora des Golfes von Neapel und der Angrenzender Meeres-abschnitte,

lia von der Zodlogischen Station zu Neapel. vi Monographie; Caprel-

iden. Von Dr. P, MAYER, mit 10 tafeln in lithographie und 39 zincographien. Leip

7, 1882. 4to, pp. 201. Í

634 Recent Literature. [June,

inadequate way of our few described North American species,

The geographical and bathymetrical distribution are then given,

‘but the work is strongest, as one would naturally expect, in the

anatomy and histology of these creatures. The nervous and

muscular systems are elaborately discussed, and especially the

biology of these Crustacea, which is treated of under the heads

of habitats, symbiosis, mimicry and sympathetic coloring, play of

chromatophores, sensibility to external influence, duration of life,

molting, walking and swimming habits; parasites, etc., and phy-

logeny. The illustrations are numerous and excellent.

THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD FoR 1878.\—It is a pity that the ap-

pearance of a work of this description should be delayed nearly

four years beyond the natural time of publication. The editor

apologizes for the great delay in the appearance of the volume by

non-arrival of the MS. of the sections America and Arctic Re-

gions from the sub-editor of those sections. Mr. E. Wethered has

undertaken, however, in future to edit the section America. Still

the volume is a little larger than its predecessors, containing over

3530 entries. The list of contributors to the present volume is a

long one, numbering forty-five, and the list of journals and works

referred to fills twenty closely printed pages. :

After giving the titles, sometimes with a very brief synopsis of

works and articles on the stratigraphical and descriptive geology

of different countries, those of articles on physical geology, ap-

plied and economic geology, petrology, mineralogy, palzeontology,

maps and sections, and miscellaneous and general geology follow

in the order given. There is also a supplement for the p

from 1874 to 1877 at the end of each of the above divisions.

f course to the working geologist such a record as this must

prove invaluable. The editors promise that hereafter the yearly

issues will be more prompt and complete.

Grotosicar Survey oF Oxn1o2—The fourth volume of ye

vey contains reports upon the mammalia of the State, by A. M-

Brayton; upon the birds, by J. M. Wheaton pe fi the re

and amphibia, by W. H. Smith, and upon t fishes, T robi-

stated; but

Jordan. The first report contains little that is new. |

bility that the wild cat (Lynx rufus) is extinct in Ohio is

of the wolf no more recent particulars are given than qù ge

from Dr. Kirtland, who speaks of it as very rare in sess

from Hildreth (Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley), who J

that in 1848 it was nearly extinct. eo the

Nothing is stated with regard to the abundance or “ache

present occurrence within the State of the gray fox; the see

1 The Geological Record for 1878. An account of works on gehen gal

and palæontology, published during the year, wi 874 a:

by WILLIAM WHITAKER an .H. Darton. Lond

*Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio. Volume IV

‘Columbus, O., 1882.

1883. | ; Recent Literature. 635

said to be “ almost unknown in the Middle States ;” nothing is said

of the abundance or scarcity of the ermine, mink or skunk, and

the same defect of localization is evident throughout. The badger

“formerly extended to Ohio,” and the black bear was abundant

in 1805. The reader will search in vain for facts not contained in

older works.

The section devoted to birds is far better. It commences with

an account of the topography of the State, and in every case men-

tions the season at which the species appears, the localities it

prefers and its abundance or scarcity. Details respecting the

mode of nesting, eggs, food and habits are also systematically

given. The Carolina parrot was formerly a visitor, but has not

made its appearance for several years. The golden eagle is oc-

casional, and the white-headed eagle abundant in some localities.

A black vulture (Cathartes atratus) was observed in 1877. . The

white pelican is a not rare spring and fall migrant; the double-

crested cormorant occurs but rarely ; the Florida cormorant breeds

in the State, and several gulls and terns frequent Lake Erie. The

check list gives 292 species, of which only six are considered ac-

cidental. A bibliography of Ohio ornithology; a dissertation

upon the relation between latitude and coloration, in which the

author asserts, after a careful comparison, “that the pattern of

coloration in the adults of our Northern birds is the same as that

found in the young of allied Southern birds,” and a glossary, con-

clude this section.

hio supports thirty-six species of reptiles and twenty-five

batrachians. Of these, three are lizards and thirteen tortoises.

Jgosoma laterale is included on the authority of Dr. Kirtland;

Cistudo clausa and Emys meleagris are said to be rare; the cop-

perhead occurs along the waters of the Mahong, Big Beaver and

Muskingum rivers, and near Cleveland ; Eutænia proxima is rare ;

Tropidonotus erythrogaster has not been seen in the State by the

writer ; the hog-nose snake is occasional in the north-eastern part

of the State and in Scioto valley, and Pityophis melanoleacus,

Ophibolus calligaster, O. doliatus, Coluber obsoletus, Cyclophis æs-

tvus, Diadophis punctatus and Carphophis amenus are rare. —

. Of the Batrachia, Chorophilus triseriatus is rare, Hyla picker-

ingu is included solely on the extent of its extra-limital range, and

Spelerpes longicaudus is rare. The genera Desmognathus and

Gyrinophilus, though possessing well-marked characters, are not

admitted, but are included in Plethodon and Spelerpes. Dr. Smith

notes the occurrence of Menobranchus lateralis in the Hudson,

and gives the authorities for the statement, that when its gills

have been nibbled off by small fish, it can survive by cutaneous

and pulmonary respiration.

In the introduction to this section several curious particulars

~a regard to food are given. The bull-frog will vary its insect

tegime by eating mice and its own species, and Rana halecina has

636 Recent Literature. [June,

also cannibalistic habits. A toad has been observed to breakfast

upon nine wasps, and dine upon eight more. It does not swallow

bees and wasps immediately, but first presses them to death be-

tween its jaws, and thus avoids their sting. Insects and snails

form, however, the principal food of the amphibians of the State,

as well as of the lizards and smaller turtles. The danger from

venomous snakes is much exaggerated, as out of the few bitten

three out of four get well. This department is less valuable than

the others on account of the author’s manifest unacquaintance with

the nature of the higher systematic analysis. The only valuable

statements in this field are copied from other authors without cred-

it. This is especially true of the Urodela, although the author

states that “the classification and description” is taken “ from the

essay forms chapter x1 of the report of Profe

lain, State Geologist of Wisconsin, and has been prepared "7 = of

F. H. King, assistant on the Survey. It comprises 2 p

the report and is thus rather a voluminous contie os a sich

ject which is attracting much attention in this country, Now that

is one of much practical as well as biological interest. e a

our birds are described and the systematist’s work 15 about C0

pleted, their life-histories, habits and relations to their en “gi

are subjects still fresh and novel, and much remains to sets

towards harmonizing the discordant views held as to the va

vironments —

recor ,

> i : e facts i

birds as insect-destroyers. The materials for the contents —

by Mr. King were obtained from an examination |

of the stomachs of over 1800 birds, 1608 of which co

ibuted

From the

results which have been incorporated in this ag eee swe

1608 stomachs examined the dzsjecta membra of 76631

obtained, Part of his work was done in Jefferson COU

and part at Ithaca, N. Y.

Mr. King estimates, from of course imperfect data, ad

nty, Wiss

i ee

1883.] Recent Literature. 637

30,096, and for an equal area in the vicinity of Ithaca, 51,984. At

the rate of sixty-six per square mile, an area somewhat less than

that of our State (Wisconsin) would have a population of 3,565,-

” He then, after stating some facts, concludes: “ Fifty in-

sects of the average size would certainly be a small daily allowance

for the average bird. One hundred and twenty days is less than.

the time our summer residents are with us. At the rate assumed,

each bird would consume 6000 insects. This would give as the

aggregate number of insects consumed by the birds calculated to

occupy an area equal to that of our State, the enormous total of

21,384,000,000. Add to this amount the work which these birds

do in their Southern homes, and we have a low estimate of the

influence they exert over insect life.” After discussing a number

of topics, the author devotes the body of the essay to an account,

original and compiled, of the insectivorous habits of 295 species:

of birds. The work is rich in new facts, is the result of a great

amount of field-work, and is creditable both to the author and the

State, which has called for such work. Due credit is done to Mr.

S. A. Forbes, the pioneer in this line of practical biology.

THE ZooLocicaL RECORD FoR 1881.— Zo the Editors of the

American Naturatist:— While thanking the editors of the

American Naturauist for the appreciatory notice of the “ Zod-

logical Record” for 1881, contained in their April number, I

wish to be permitted to offer some explanation on one or two

points referring to that volume contained in the subsequent notice

of the German “ Zoologischer Jahresbericht” for the same year.

€xpert in one branch as to the importance of his subject may

differ from those of his fellow-workers on the value of detail ;

want of space was an important factor on this point; and it is

obviously useless to give (e. g.) the full and often verbose title of

Paper,

Palzontological papers were also originally deemed not proper

Subjects for a zodlogical record, save in recent forms bearing on.

existing animals. There is, moreover, a separate medium for

“se papers in the Palzontological section of our “ Geological.

Record.” Here again, however, the individual opinions of the

have been allowed to have weight; and the marvelous

638 Recent Literature. [June,

larly wish to be allowed to make some important corrections as

to facts; and I therefore add the following remarks on the sub-

ject from Mr. Stuart O. Ridley, zodlogical assistant in the British

Museum, by whom the record on Spongiida was contributed:

“ The remarks made in the review (at p. 395) upon the article

Spongiida of the ‘ Zodlogical Record’ for 1881 (Vol. xvi) are

almost wholly inaccurate, and it is necessary to point out one par-

‘ticular besides in which it is, at any rate, calculated to mislead.

“1, In the first place, the names of twelve authors are given as

following reasons : x

“R. O. Cunningham: the paper evidently referred to 1s 4 short

-abstract of a paper on sponges generally, containing no NO

facts or views. smbel):

` “C.W. Giimpel (apparently meant for an author named Güm V aL

the paper apparently intended had been already recorded in

XVII, 1880, at p. 23 (ad zit.) as belonging to the year 1880. a 4

“T. Mayer (P. Mayer is evidently intended) the paper apparently

intended is recorded by me under Protozoa, p. 16, as referring

-a Rhizopod and not furnishing any zoölogical information

sponges. :

“2. Secondly, ‘some’ writings by Sollas, Carter and WE A

are stated not to be mentioned by me. Comparing my 4

with the other similar record available for comparison, les) for A

‘Zoologischer Jahresbericht’ (Zoölogical Station, gt mene i

the year, I find that of works by Carter, I record all tho: a

tioned by the German work and in addition one pa give |

_fin.) and a second at p. 14 (ad jin.). Of works by Solias, which |

reference is given but which is evidently cnn ont perhaps |

f disadvantag™” y

ted to give more bY

1883.] Recent Literature. 639

twenty-four, viz., forty-two, It should, however, be noticed that my

article gives, at different points, full titles of twenty-five works deal-

ing directly and of seven others dealing less directly with Sponges,

and records matter relating to Sponges of “/irty-one others, with-

out giving their titles. Thus the total of works recorded is sixty-

three, and not eighteen, as might, perhaps, be inferred from the

wording of the review.

“T am therefore unable to see (with one small exception) any

validity whatever in the grounds given for the statement that, as.

regards the literature of Sponges, the student would find the

English Record imperfect.”—&. C. Rye, editor Zoöl. Record, 7

le Row, London, 14 April, 1883.

[We gladly make room for the foregoing reply to our notice in

the April number of this journal. The notice of the English

Zoological Record was prepared in a kindly, appreciative spirit,

least of all was it the reviewer’s design to make a “ disadvan-

ficing spirit is sufficiently evident. We should say frankly that

we did not read with care the body of either reports, but com-

pared the lists of works printed at the beginning of each chapter.

By overlooking, as in the case of the sponges, mention of those

Papers not enumerated in the English Record under.“ Chief

Works,” we gave, as Mr. Ridley shows, an erroneous impression

as to the completeness of the record, which we sincerely regret.

At the same time, it seems to us other persons might fall into the

Same error, and suppose that no author was mentioned whose

writings were not catalogued at the beginning of the several

chapters or sections. If the names only, of authors of minor

Papers and notes could be added at the end of “ Chief Works,”

etc, it would take but a few lines and be a great convenience.

Apparently the German recorders have catalogued the author’s

writings, both “chief” and minor articles and notes, referring by

number to the catalogue number, and thus secured a greater ap-

mar of accuracy.—A. S. Packard, . Fr., for Editors NATUR-

ALIST.

i RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Riley, C. V.—Reports of experiments upon the insects injuriously affecting the

i rs Ws 8

orange tree and the cotton plant. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bulletin N

i From the author, i

~ Reports of observations on the Rocky Mountain locust and Chinch bug. U.

S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 2, 1883. From the author.

Ennis, Facob.—T wo great works to be done on our sidereal system. Washington,

1883. From the author.

tkley, Mary H.—Notes on the developmeut of Rana sylvatica. Ext. Proc...

Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Oct., 1882. From the author.

640 Recent Literature. [June, a

Aimee, E > —Some pos in the development og Moimi wank Ext.

Pro t. Soc. Nat. Hist., March, 1882. From the a

tee z Fo .—Coal. Ext. Aai Pradai Ola ia April, 1883.

From the author

Dollo, M. TENA s sur la Présence chez les oiseaux du “ Troisième Trochanter”

des Dinosauriens et sur la fonction de celui-ci. Ext. du Bull. du Mus. Roy.

i 8 the author.

Green, Asa T.—Eureka, or the Golden Door Ajar. From the author,

Cassino, S. E. & Co.—Scientific and Literary Gossip,

Perot E, F. and Ulmer G. L.—-The Amateur Naturalist. From the editors.

Ashburner, Chas. A.—Editorial Mining Herald and Colliery Guardian. Progress

elds

Mapping the Anthracite Coal fields of Pennsylvania. Ext. Trans. Amer, Ins,

Mining Engineers, 1881.

The Anaa Coal beds of Pennsylvania. Ext. Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining

Engine 1882.

— Atlas of the Panther Creek Coal basin. Vol. 1. Southern Coal field, All from

the au

Ryder, F. ri Observations on the abs i ~ Ser a the food, e e

-development of Embryo Fishes, com estigations conducted

the Central amines, Washington, D. Cc. ro 5 a688i: pion the author, J

-———The microscopic sexual chearc ot the Momina Portuguese úi com»

mon edible oyster of Europe compared. From the author

Martin, H. Newell, Sewall, H. F, Sedgwick, W. ag d Brooks, Wn, Klee

aed roy to the employes of the Baltimore rt Ohio R. R. Co. From

Hébert, Ed.—Gisement des conches marines de Sinceny (Aisne). Ext. Bull. Soe.

Geol. de France, 1860.

——Sur la position hes Sables de Sinceny. Ext. id, 1879. ;

——Mémoire sur le gover Nummulitique du midi de la France. Ext. idem, 1882.

All from the author CPER

From the American

ieie “rtd S. Specimen of the nd Mes. eni

Antiquari and 2. From i i

Lyman, B. AA S fg utility of the enone a te Pennsy vania State a

4 logical Survey in the ty field. Read before Amer. Inst. Nin Be a

Feb. 23, Pike From the author Board

Brewer, W. H.—The American trotting horse, Why he is and what he is. a

of at atam of Massachusetts, 1883. From the author. $ Science, ;

The evolution of the American trotting horse. Ext. Amer. Jour.

1883. From the author a trachia, with .

Yarrow, H. C—Check- = of North American Reptilia an a

ogue of specimens in U. S. Nat. Museum. Bulletin U. S. Nat. Mie Na

From the author. h Americà

Jordan, David S., and Gilbert, C. H.—Synopsis of the Fishes of Nort

Bulletin No. 16, U. S. National Museum, 1883. From the pra

Foster, David.—The Scientific Angler. New York, Orange Judd & ane

publishers zur Natur-

Dunker, Wi. Theli , and Zittel, Karl A.—Pal one rhin Beiträg? authors.

geschichte der Vorzeit. verte Lieferung., Cas: 1883. From ma

Kerr, W. C.—The new Pap of North a From the Me

Marion, M. A, F.—Sur es récents des Scien x a

noncé le 5 Ernad Pease a is ® a Seance de Raie des Fe

emie d’Aix. 1883. From the auth

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 64!

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

Asta—Dr. L. E. Regel left Samar-land at the end of June

last, and proceeded to Hissar by the very difficult though short-

est route via Penja-kent, leading by the Fan river, Lake Iskander

kul, and across the Mur pass. In the center of this region is a

great mountain range, whose summits, the peaks of Kuli-kalan

and the Chundar and Bodhan mountains, are seen from Samar-

kand. South of this range runs the Saridagh valley, and beyond '

this rises the Hissar range proper; while northward lie the Kul-

i-kalan plateau, and thé valleys of the Pasrut river and of a tribu-

tary of the Voron. The plateau of Kul-i-kalan is about thirteen

miles in circumference, and has five lakes 10,000 feet above the

sea level. The mountains around have no real glaciers, but old

moraines are traceable. The tocks are fossiliferous limestones,

and the vegetation of the region is richer than that of any other

part of the basin of the Zarafshan. The forests are richest in the

zone between 4000 and 8000 feet above the sea level, where the ap-

ple, cherry, nut and the Archa occur. The Archa also predomi-

nates in the upper zone, which reaches to a height of 10,500 to

11,000 feet—higher up than the line of perpetual snow—and has

also birches, willows and an arborescent Ephedra. The Mur pass

(14,000 ft.) is very steep, and immense accumulations of snow are

found upon the southern slope, in the foggy climate of Hissar.

A series of lower parallel ridges of fossiliferous sandstone occurs

een the two main ranges and also betweenHakimi and Kara-

tagh, while the mountains are syenite, syenite-gneiss, granite and

fossiliferous slates,

Much valuable work has been done in the Caucasus and adja-

cent regions by the Caucasian branch of the Russian Geographical

Society. The highlands of the Caucasus afford a greater variety

of geological and physico-geographical features than the Alps,

together with such a variety of botanical, zodlogical and ethno-

logical features as can hardly be met with elsewhere, owing to their

Position between Europe, with its moist climate, highly-indented

Coasts and young civilizations, and Asia with its deserts and pla-

teaux, dry climate and ancient civilizations. The longitudes and

latitudes of Kars, Erzerum, Mysum and many other places have

n correctly determined, and pendulum observations have

shown that the geoid or true figure of the earth’s surface nearly

Corresponds with the spheroid on the shores of the Black sea, but

at Tiflis rises above it 1 587 feet, and at Gudaur 4371 feet.

i The Kars plateau is bordered by mountains reaching 9700 feet

in height, devoid of wood and deeply cut by rivers. Migrations

of various peoples are still going on, Armenians, Turks, Turco-

‘This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

642 General Notes. - [ug

mans, Russians, Greeks, Kabards and Osets moving to and fro.

The twelfth volume of the Memoirs contains the first part of a

large work by the late General Uslar, on the ancient history of

the Caucasus.

M. Nasiloff is spending a third year in the exploration of the

Northern Ural. He has explored the River Lala under 59° N.

lat., where he discovered layers of sphero-siderites; also the

banks of the Sosva and the Lozva, along which he has made large

geological, botanical and ethnographical collections.

The Batum province, the Santabago of antiquity, has a most

luxuriant vegetation, but is thinly peopled. The mountains of

the left bank of the Chorokh, between Batum and Artvin, are

spurs of the Anti-Taurus, which terminates near the Chorokh in

the peak Kvahid, 10,390 feet high. The deep gorges are occu-

pied by Mussulman Gurians, and each is so isolated from the

adjoining ones that the population has its own individuality. The

fields of Indian corn and rice are often scratched on terraces 3000

feet above the sea, close to ruins of small old fortresses, each of

which has its legend.

The small people called the Svanets, numbering only 12,000,

seem to be degenerating in every way ; goitre and cretinism are

common. These diseases are also known in Western Daghest ot

and in the valleys of the Andian Koyson ridge. The men and

women affected with a peculiar hysteric disease, bark like dogs,

and the natives consider it as the result of bewitching with T.

“ barking grass ” (a kind of Orchis). nad

The province of Kars consists of three parts : the basın of the

Olti, covered with clay hills and intersected by irrigation andj

the plateau of Kars, fifty miles long by thirty-five miles wide, ant

5000 to 6000 feet high, and a plateau 6000 to 7000 feet | gn

covered with good pasture land and dotted with lakes. S

. His route

Arrica.—Lieut. Wissmann arrived at Cairo Jan. 1. $ a

from Loanda, by way of Nyangwe on the Lualaba, to Me si :

led him through the unexplored southern half of the Cong? -

basin, which was found to be most densely populated. d

The people called Tushilange, residing between the Kasal ¢ :

the Lubi, are very numerous, and are ruled over by ee fyo

Kingengeand the more powerful Mukenge. Mule ‘co :

his wives, escorted the travelers to Nyangwe. The aerial

lake, which had been described to the travelers as 4 piso

turned out to be only three miles long. It has pr ently ne

outlet, and is 2230 feet above the sea. East o' om Lieu

dwell the Basonge, a very numerous people, "i Pe

Wissmann speaks as friendly, laborious and highly $ ai i

dustrial art. He brought away splendid specimen

weapons, carved ivory, inlaid wares and iron and — travel

Leaving the fertile plains inhabited by these tribes,

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 643

entered the vast virgin forests that extend to the Lubilash, a

stream as wide as the Elbe. There are no fruit trees in these

forests, and game and birds are therefore absent. Onlyelephants

and a kind of wild boar were met with.

Some difficulty was experienced in crossing this stream owing

to the ill-will of Kachichi, king of Koto, an old and much-rever-

enced sorcerer. Some shots and rockets finally frightened him

into lending boats.

Beyond the Lubilash the territory of the Beneki was passed

through. Of this tribe Lieut. Wissmann says that the villages

are models, well built and clean, the houses surrounded by gardens

and palm-trees. They are an agricultural people. Some of their

oo are so long that it took three or four hours to pass through

em,

Farther east they passed through the rich prairie lands inhabited

by the Kalebue and Milebue, extending to the Lomami, another

tributary of the Congo.

Another tribe visited was that of the Batuas, an undersized,

slender, dirty and savage-looking people who subsist on the chase

and on wild fruits, and whose arms and implements show a low

State of culture. On the long and dangerous journey from Lake

Tanganyika to Zanzibar, Lieut. Wissmann met with a most hos-

pitable reception from the renowned brigand chief Mirambo.

He says that Lake Lincoln, reported by Dr. Livingstone, does

not exist.

_ The mission station of Ribé, near Mombas, was recently vis-

ited by a marauding party of Wakwafi, a tribe through whose

territory Mr. Thomson's expedition must pass. The tact of Mr.

Wakefield averted a combat, which would have had a sinister

effect on the prospects of the expedition.

Dr. Fischer, on the part of the French Geographical Society,

has left Zanzibar for the interior, and intends to visit the un-

friendly Masai as well as to explore the country between Lakes

anyara and Naivasha.

: M. Storms arrived at Karema on the 27th September last, hav-

ing left the coast on June gth, thus making the journey in the

unparalleled short time of three months and a half.

Monseigneur Fr. Sogaro, papal vicar of Central Africa, from

Sahara to the equator, has left for Khartum.

_M.l’Abbe Guyot has ascertained that the Ruaha, or Lufigi, the

_ fiver that issues from the great lakes and empties itself into the

_ Sea below Zanzibar, is not navigable. It is a beautiful, broad

_ Watercourse in some parts, but narrower in others, and ull of

_ ‘Sts and rocks. Père Guyot spent seventy-two days in the dis-

trict, and is preparing a map of it

VOL. XVII,—No. v1, 44

644 General Notes.

GEOGRAPHICAL NotEs.—M. Yavorski is publishing the account

of his journey to Cabul. He passed by the once famous town of

Bamian, now in ruins. The Argentine expedition sent in search

of the murdered Crevaux has explored a portion of the course of

the Pilcomayo. The (French) Society of Historical Studies has

offered a prize of 1000 francs for the best essay upon “The

effects, from an. economist’s point of view, of the cutting of the —

Isthmus of Panama on the relations of Europe with countries

washed by the Pacific ocean.” wo new meteorological ste —

tions have been established in the north of Russia, east and west —

of the Ural chain, at Mesena (Europe) and Berezov (Asia). As

these are removed entirely from the influence of the Gulf Stream, —

and are in the track of the cold, dry winds that from time to

time sweep over Europe, they will prove important.——The Yel

low river has not resumed its southern course, and only flows —

Some of the members of

tions. He will now begin the exploration of the coasts Ot WF —

will now begin p ke Niger he

both mountain ridges that enclose the valley of Ferghem i

product of the wells, which are in the limestones @ raev

the chalk formation, is a heavy mineral oil, which,

oration of the naphtha, leaves a heavier “ hide

excellent water-proof cement when mixed with sand.

also mines of mountain-wax on the Kok-tube mona

sulphur mine at Karim-duvany. Baron Nordens la

tains that the constant advance of the ice-mass 1n ©

well as the fact that the country does not rise contin i

interior, show that the whole land is not covered Wh" Ti

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 645

ice; and the studies made by him and others upon the tempera-

ture and moisture of the air on the inland ice corroborate this

conclusion. His expedition started in May. A Danish expedi-

tion will also be sent to the east coast of Greenland. T

death of Dr. Kayser, who had been sent by the German African

Society to their station on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, is

announced in a communication from Zanzibar, dated Nov. 8, 1882.

——The Lena meteorological station is situated in 73° 22’ 30”

N. lat., and 126° 34’ 55” E. long. The health of the expedition

is satisfactory.

GEOLOGY AND PALAMONTOLOGY.

Tue Decay or Rocks GEoLociIcALLy ConsipERED.! — The

and in the Blue Ridge. In connection with the latter he de-

scribed the decay not only of the crystalline strata but of their

enclosed masses of pyritous ores and the attendant phenomena.

The decay of the primal and auroral strata of the Appalachian

valley, and the formation therein of clays and of iron and man-

§anese-oxyds was also discussed. The Pre-cambrian antiquity

of the process of decay in the Eozoic rocks in the Mississippi

Position seen in the Pliocene auriferous gravels in California was

described and explained.

Northern regions during the drift period was then considered, and

a thesis advanced by the writer in 1873, that the decomposition

erosion, which removed previously softened materials,

unt, LL.D., F.R.S., read before the National

, April 17, 1883.

646 General Notes. [June,

comparative studies of Reusch in Norway and in Corsica, in —

which similar views are enforced.

The principal points in the paper are resumed at its close, as

follows : ie”

1. The evidence afforded by recent geological studies in Amer-

ica and elsewhere, of the universality and the antiquity of the

subaérial decay both of crystalline silicated rocks and of c

ous rocks, and of its great extent in Pre-cambrian times. }

u. The fact that the materials resulting from such decay are

preserved 7 sifu in regions where they have been protected from

denudation by overlying strata, alike of Cambrian and of more

recent periods; or, in the absence of these, by the position of the

decayed rock with reference to denuding agents, as in driltless

regions, or in places sheltered from erosion, as within the St

Lawrence and Appalachian valleys. 7

ur. That this process of decay, though continuous through :

later geological ages, has, under ordinary conditions, been msig-

nificant in amount since the glacial period, for the reason that the —

time which has since elapsed is small when compared with pre-

vious periods, and also probably on account of changed atmos —

pheric conditions in the later time. ed

1v. That this process of decay has furnished the material ps :

rocks by the more or less complete loss of p

bases thus separated from crystalline silicate

the source, directly or indirectly, of all limestones and ca

rocks, and have, moreover, caused profound secular cha

the composition of the ocean’s waters. The decomposition

phuretted ores in the Eozoic rocks has given rise to oxy

iron ores 7m situ, and to rich copper deposits in various geog

oon eft in the pr

drift, but,

GEOLOGY OF THE CHESTER VALLEY OF Penxsyivania-— Tido

lowing note from Mr. Chas. Hall further criticizes pot A

Mr. Rand, which was the subject of a review by Fro!

in the May number of the NATURALIST:

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 647

to which he refers. I can with propriety, however, make a few

comments here on his argument.

In the first place Mr. Rand does not account for the absence of

slates, corresponding to the South Valley Hill belt (hydromica

_ slate), on the north side of the Potsdam sandstone of the North

Valley hill.

The Potsdam of the North Valley hill, in the vicinity of the

Schuylkill river and the sandstone east of the river, rests directly

upon a series of syenites, hornblendic and quartzoic rocks which

correspond in age to the rocks of the Reading and Durham hills

in Lehigh and Northampton counties (Laurentian).

r. Rand quotes a statement of mine that the “ hydromica

schists * * * are the Hudson River shales and flank the

Chester valley on the south.”

The quotation does not convey the fact that I argued that the

limestones of the Chester valley rested upon decomposed feru-

ginous slates with limonite ore and Potsdam sandstone.

The decomposed slates are without doubt the upper primal of

Professor Rogers.

N Primal slate. South Valley hill.

No Limestone,

Along the southern margin of the limestone in the district un-

der consideration (vicinity of the Schuylkill river) the limestones

pass by gradual alternations into slates (hydromica slates of the

South Valley hill).

_ The character of the limestone is very different along the south

Side of the valley from that on the north.

long the northern side of the valley there is nothing to be

Seen of a transition from the the upper primal slates into the lime-

Stone of No. 1

Adjoining the alternations of limestone and slate along the

_ Southern margin of the Chester valley there is no regular deposit

of an or quartzite in any portion of the district where I have

Worked.

The limestones along the northern edge of the Chester valley

are usually more or less of a light drab color, and decidedly

dolomitic, while on the southern side of the valley they are usu-

“y of a bluish cast and associated with white and blue marble.

The Marble is always confined to the southern side of the valley.

S a further argument in favor of the superposition of the

hydromica schists of the South Valley hill, I considered the syn-

clinal Structure of the north-eastern point of the South Valley

hill just north of Gulf mill and the synclinal structure of the

Mill escarpment,

648 General Notes. [June,

In the face of these and many other facts, I concluded that the

South Valley Hill slates must belong to a more recent age than

the limestones, and as there is a gradual transition from the lime-

stones into these slates, similar to that found in other portions of

the State, they must be of Hudson River age.

lave never observed any deposits of sandstone, of conse-

quence, within the South Valley Hill belt, and none at all between

the slates of the South Valley hill and the limestones.

Limonite ore does occur close to the junction of these slates

and the limestone, at a point just north of Gulf mill and also

south of the South Valley hill just west of West Conshohocken,

That deposit north of Gulf mill is intimately associated with

the slates of the South Valley hill, but is very different from those

in proximity to the Potsdam on the north side of the valley.

Without going further into details, I would say that Frazers

views and mine are at variance. He finds, I believe, rocks below

(underlying) the Potsdam sandstone and interposed between it

and the underlying syenitic rocks. il

Our observations along the junction of the South Valley H

slates and the limestones do not agree, and upon these two points

depends the structure of the succeeding measures south of the

valley. :

Unfortunately Mr. Rand has apparently taken the tangled

in hand and has begun in the middle to unravel a sna ee

can only be accomplished by careful observation and mee

extending over a much larger area thana single township.—®

E. Hall, Grove Hill, Page Co., Va., April 3, 83.

ANNUAL Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST OF NEW J w

1882.'\—This little volume is brimful of information se

the neighbor State, contains a complete geological eS the

smaller maps, one illustrating the geodetic survey, the o t geo

watersheds of the State; and six lithographs of pron 1882

logical features. The topographical survey was ne Bearfort

upon 430 square miles of rugged highland, and in ‘rst time, |

district three beautiful little lakes were mapped for the h ;

and two others correctly located. ing

The red sandstone, ae Triassic, occupies a br d wt a Z

the State obliquely, and containing 1507 square rr lands, ald :

plain shut in on the north and north-west by the Hig nd newer

open to the south and south-east toward the Cretaceous ene

orth of mE

minal mo . ! o

glacial drift and alluvial beds deposited in basi?S T g

Camden, N. J. wie :

1 Annual Report of the State Geologist for the year 1882.

Patterson.

1883. ] Geology and Paleontology. 649

glacial moraines. The shales vary in hardness from that of

scarcely compacted clay to argillaceous sandstone, and some of

the sandstone is argillaceous and liable to fall to pieces on expo-

sure to atmospheric agencies.

he report gives valuable information respecting the iron

mines, the output of which last year was 900,000 tons, or more

than in any previous year; the plastic clays, with their industry

of brick-making, terra-cotta and terra-cotta lumber (a mixture of

sawdust and clay, forming a light yet strong building material) ;

the changes of the shore line, the net result of which is consid-

erably in favor of old ocean, who has encroached upon the

meadow sod so that in some spots tracks of cattle and horses

are found on what is now the beach ; and upon seaside develop-

ments, climate, and the rapid progress of agriculture in the

southern and almost sub-tropical extremity of the State.

friends in the steam yacht. The following course was sailed over :

From this city to Halifax, N. S., standing well out to sea; thence

coastwise to Cape Sable and Yarmouth; across the inner mouth

of the bay to Grand Manan island ; up the coast of New Bruns-

wick to St. John and Truro, at the head of the bay; down the

coast of Nova Scotia to Annapolis, which river and several others

I ascendea, thus circumnavigating the entire sheet of water, which

is about 180 miles long by an average width of 40 miles. Sound-

ings and deep sea and surface temperatures were taken during the

cruise. A week was spent at Kingsfort, N. S., on the beautiful

Basin of Minas, a few miles from Cape Blomidon and Cape Split.

These tides are, as you say, one of the wonders of the world.

ey are caused, as are also the dense fogs of this region and of

the North Atlantic by the cold Gulf Stream,’ pouring from the

Fetic ocean by Smith sound, Baffin’s bay and Davis strait, along

the coast of Labrador, and through the Strait of Belleisle, which

discharges into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These cold, heavy cur-

rents hug the coast line as they run.

On doubling the south-east corner of Nova Scotia, at Cape

Sable, they strike for the first time the warm and lighter waters

from the south, and drive the latter before them toward the point

least resistance, which is up the Bay of Fundy. At its mouth,

OPposite Cape Sable, the tide rises 6 feet; opposite Digby, 28

feet; at St. John, 38 feet; off Windsor, 45 feet, and when ebb, a

ret Could not be filled with water in the harbor; at Truro,

feet, and at ebb the red clay bottom is exposed for a distance of

inao

This is a mistake. Labrador current is undoubtedly meant.— Eds.

650 General Notes. [June,

twenty-five miles. These measurements refer to spring tides,

which are highest. But the belief which so generally prevails,

that the tide assumes, as it rushes onward with loud roar and

great velocity, a high, almost vertical wave, or “ bore,’ as itis

termed, which even draws into its vortex such animals as may

stray near the beach, is wholly erroneous. There is no bore or tidal

wave on the Bay of Fundy. Navigation there is neither danger

ous nor difficult, unless it be from fog or ice. In the absence :

storms, the tides, ebb and flood, are accompanied by scarcely a

ripple. Even at Cape Split, where the bay suddenly contracts to

a width of about three and a-half miles, the “ wave” wll not meas-

ure one inch in height. What can have been the origin of this —

fable, which has not only obtained general credence among many,

but is even accepted by men of science without question, and is

yet chimerical as a madman’s dream? Probably the very trifling

bore which does really exist on two small tributaries of the bay,

the Petitcodiac and Shubenacadie. The bore on the former river

I measured at Moncton, N. B., eighty-nine miles E.N.E. of St

John, and found it just three and a-half feet high, with a travel

up-stream of six miles per hour. It is caused by the last of the

ebb tides being met and repelled by the flood tide in a narrow

stream confined by almost vertical banks——P. F. MeCourt, M.D,

im Scientific American.

A New Icuanopon!—M. L. Dollo, of the Belgium Museum of

Natural History, has carefully examined fifteen out of the twenty-

two dinosaurs that have been found at Bernissart, and on

the conclusion of M. G. A. Boulenger, who (Sur l'arc pelvien :

les Dinosauriens, Bull. de L’Acad. Roy. de Belg., m sn) mE

nized among them a new species of Iguanodon, to which Ke l

the name of Z. dernissartensis. This new form is muc "E

than the well-known Z. mantelli, the bones of which a yen

Se et ee

I. bernissartensis, with six. J. seeleyi, described by . a

Hulke in 1882, is thought to be identical with Li es :

but the question is not settled. The sternum in all the exei

GroLocica News—Post-tertiary.—A deposit of rhe Wolgs :

remains of the diluvial period has been laid bare by Sr

du etin

1 Sur les Dinosauriens de Bernissart. Par M. L. Dollo. Ext. y .

Musée Royal de Belgique. Tome 1, 1882

1883.] Mineralogy. 651

on its banks, between Zarizyn and Sarepta. Elephas primigenius,

Bos priscus, Elasmotherium, Camelus knoblochi and several ante-

lopes, stags, etc., are among the contents. Remains of animals,

the bones of which have apparently been broken by man, to-

, gether with many stone implements, have been found in the

crevices between the blocks of lava underlying a pumicestone

pit near Andernach, on the Rhine. As the pumicestone filled

the crevices to a depth of two or three feet, and the bones, etc.,

were beneath this filling-in, it is believed that there was a settle-

ment on the spot, the food-remains from which fell into the crev-

ices defore the deposition of the pumicestone. On the Middle

Ural M. Malakhoff has explored the lake dwellings of the neigh-

borhood of Ekaterinburg, and has discovered close by Irbit, very

interesting accumulations of bones, lake dwellings on Lake Ayat,

and stone and bone implements in a cavern close to the Mias

ironworks.

SS RS a at ee eee

MINERALOGY:

by Damour? It occurs crystallized in regular hexagonal prisms,

transparent and nearly colorless. Its hardness = 6.5 ; specific grav-

ity 3.28. It has a vitreous fracture and is without cleavage. At

first sight it resembles beryl, tourmaline or apatite.

Before the blowpipe it loses its transparency, blanches, and

Sives to the flame the green color characteristic of boric.acid. It

. Tt is essentially a borate of alumina with a small proportion of

iron. A mean of three analyses gave:

B,O, Al,O, Fe,O, K,O

49.19 55.03 4.08 0:70. == 100,

yielding the formula (Al,03, Fe:0;) BOs.

Il. Picro-epidote is a name proposed by Damour to designate a

Variety of epidote from Lake Baikal, Siberia, which has magnesia

* e and is infusible. It occurs in white or yellowish-white

small crystals in lapis lazuli. Des Cloiseaux has shown that the

stallographic and optical characters are those of epidote.

IIT. Dumreicherite is a new mineral of the alum group described

by Dr. C. Doeljer® as occurring in crevices in lava in the form

of superficial crusts. It was apparently monoclinic, but had a

. } Edited Professor H. CARVILL Lewis, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila-

Jeyk ja whom communications, papers for review, etc., should be sent.

4 Soc. Min. de France, T. VI, p. 20, April, 1883.

Zur Kenntniss der vulcanischen Gest. u. Min. d. Capverd’schen Inseln,

652 General Notes. [June,

fibrous structure. It is readily soluble in water, and has an

astringent taste. Its composition, according to Kertscher, is:

SO, Al,O, MgO H,O NaCl

36.65 7.14 45.01 tr.

giving the calculated formula 4 MgSO, + Al,S,O0,, + 36 aq.

=> oroo

_ Recent LitHorocicaL Work.—It is daily becoming more

evident that a classification of rocks either by their chemical

composition alone or by the minerals they contain, is artificial

and unsatisfactory, and that a true basis of classification is to be

found only by combining the general . characters of rocks with

their mode of occurrence as elucidated by field work. Lithologists

are finding that the microscope and the laboratory are not all-

sufficient, but that observation of the geological relations of the

rocks is of the first necessity. Lithology thus rises to a higher

sphere, and not content with giving a multitude of names to

rocks of varying texture and in different stages of decomposition,

is becoming one of the most important methods of geological

research. sch.

Perhaps no one is striving more earnestly toward the establis

ment of this broader method of lithological work than Dr. M 3

Wadsworth, of Cambridge. In a forthcoming work to be pu

lished by the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, he dwells pw

the importance of grouping the characters of rocks, rather yan

taking any one character as a basis of classification, and pe :

pares the usually received classifications with the Linnean a!

cial botanical classification. é

In the same essay certain conclusions are reached which a

much interest, and are often widely at variance with general si e

ceived theories. He holds that the interior of the earth arr

liquid, that eruptive, volcanic and plutonic rocks are l

eruptive, volcanic rocks. Meteorites are regar

derived from a hot, liquid mass, rather than from a § a e from

solid body, and it is suggested that they may have S with

the sun. The appearance of the memoir in full 1s awat i

interest.

CHARCOAL AS A PRECIPITANT FOR Gorp.—Mr. ;

: Davis? (Sr.) has discovered a novel and most intere

or separating gold from its solution by employing © causing

has found that charcoal has a remarkable energy 10 “4 *

1 Journ, Franklin Inst., April, 1883.

1883.] Mineralogy. 653

precipitation of gold from its chlorine solution, while other metal-

lic and mineral constituents of the same solution are unaffected.

The gold is thus both deposited and refined. All that is neces-

sary is to pass the solution of the gold ore through a charcoal

filter, when the gold in a pure state is deposited upon the char-

coal, which may then be burned and a button of gold readily

ined,

This discovery, so simple in its method, was at first ridicule

by chemists. Repeated experiments have, however, shown its

efficacy. Not only are no other substances than gold thus de-

posited, but the gold itself is completely separated from its ter-

chloride solution, the liquid after having passed through the

charcoal containing not even a trace o gold. As copper is not

affected by the passage through the charcoal filter, that metal

may be afterwards deposited by contact with scrap-iron. Silver

would already have been precipitated as chloride in the original

Solution. By this process, therefore, gold, silver and copper may

each be separated by most inexpensive methods from the same

solution

eposited, not from any affinity for carbon, but simply because

the chlorine in which it was soluble has been taken away to form

hydrochloric acid, in which gold is insoluble. It also follows

that copper and other metals soluble in hydrochloric acid are not

affected by the conversion.

_ CRYSTALLIZED SERPENTINE FROM DELAWARE.— Professor H. C.

Lewis! has described certain crystals of serpentine which occur

in the deweylite of Way’s quarry, Delaware. The deweylite con-

tains angular fragments of quartz, such as would be produced by

rowing a heated quartz crystal into cold water. It also contains

rounded masses of feldspar which are more or less altered into

deweylite. The deweylite is thus shown to be probably the

result of the alteration of graphic granite.

_1€ crystals of serpentine, of a smoky pearl color, have a

p caceous cleavage, and in the polariscope are shown to be

axial with a small optic-axial divergence. The physical and

chemical characters, including an analysis by Mr. Haines, are `

Siven, and the mineral is proved to be a true serpentine. The

“€avage and the optical characters show that it is crystallized.

X Tue Fiuorine Mrnerats—In an extended review of the

~ Orne minerals, by Professor P. Groth? our knowledge of these

3 ee Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Feb., 1883.

€itschr, f. Kryst., etc., VIT, 4th and sth Nos.

654 Generai Notes. [June,

minerals is rendered much more exact. He treats with especial

detail the cryolite group of minerals. Cvyolile is shown to be

monoclinic instead of triclinic. Pachnolite and thomsenolite are

shown to be species distinct from each other, the latter mineral

containing one molecule of water, as already proved by Brandl?

The crystals of pachnolite are monoclinic, having generally the

form of slender prisms, the prisms being striated horizontally.

Thomsenolite has the same characters, both minerals decrepitating

strongly when heated. Ralstonite, an isometric mineral, and

chiolite, a tetragonal mineral resembling cryolite, have been re

examined and Brandl gives. them new formule. Arksutite is

shown to be merely a mixture of cryolite and pachnolite, and not

a distinct species.

A Norwecian Dust SHower.--On the 26th of last February

a fine dust was discovered overlying the snow in Trondhjem Amt

(district of Drontheim), in Norway, and like the dust showers

which followed the volcanic outbreak of 1876, was thought to

indicate a recent volcanic eruption in Iceland. Dr. Reuse of

the mineralogical faculty of the University of Christiania, has,

however, shown that it is not of eruptive origin, but const

common sand, fine particles of quartz, hornblende and talc on

some associated fine particles of vegetable matter. — Althou .

volcanic origin of this dust has been disproved, it 1s neverth

of interest, considering the wide extent of snow-covered country

over which this dust was deposited.

Microuite From Expa.—A. Corsi? has found small crystals of :

microlite at several localities in Elba. It occurs in granitic f° ae l

and is associated with albite, orthoclase, tourmaline, lepidolite, ¢te

The principal forms are octahedra and rhombic dodecahedra. y

color it varies at different localities from dark, dirty geen

low, and from being opaque to transiucent, the eae i

being reddish-yellow. The powder is grayish-white. 49%;

characters are those usual to microlite. oo

F. Fontaine

Ametia County, Va., Minerats.—Professor W. f Amelia

contributes an interesting article upon the minerals ne d The

o., Va., giving much information not heretofore publishe helvite,

microlite and monazite, columbite, fluorite, beryl, ort mae elvite,

etc., are each described in detail. In the description mits t0

which includes Mr. Sloan’s analysis, Professor Fonta a ‘al by

make any mention of the original discovery of that =

Professor Lewis l ee A

Tne Wm. S. Vaux CorLecrion.—This magnificent = certain

minerals and archæological specimens, bequeathed un

1 AMER. NATURALIST for Jan., 1883, p. 76.

*Boll. R. Com. Geologico, 1881. 564.

"Am. Four. Se. and Arts, May, 1883.

1883.] Botany. 655

conditions to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, has

finally been received by that institution. There are over six thou-

$10,000. It includes suites of specimens from almost all parts of

the world, and is especially rich in relics of the Swiss lake dwell-

ers, in pottery and implements of the American mound-builders,

and in vases and idols from Mexico and Peru.

The sum of $11,000 is also given to be applied to the fitting up

of cases, to the care of the collections and to the purchase of

Specimens and books.

BOTANY.

New Western Grasses.—No full revision of North American

and Arkansas, Wolf in Illinois, and Gattinger in Tennessee, have

vi with the materia! of several collectors. We have freely

eur purpose jointly to publish as soon as possible a catalogue as

full and complete as our material will permit.

-Oward the furtherance of this object we would be glad of the

assistance of all botanists and collectors in the communication of

Sg and notes which may render our labors as effective as

The following list indicates some unpublished species, most of

Which are based upon recent collections, a few, however, having

Edited by Pror. C. E. Bessry, Ames, Iowa.

656 General Notes. : [June, :

been several years in herbarium, and a few being modifications

or changes of names for previously published species :

1. Pantcum autumnale var. pubifiorum. 16. Poa kelloggii.

2. Tripsacum lemmoni. 17. Poa flexuosa var. occidentalis.

3- Aristida falmeri. 18. Poa alsodes var. occidentalis.

4. Stipa stricta. 19. Poa stenantha var. brevifolia.

5. Muhlenbergia wrightii. ` 20, Poa wardii,

6. Sporobolus wolfit (Vilfa minima). 21. Poa elongata.

7. Sporobolus interruptus. 22. Poa nevadensis.

8. Agrastis foliosa. 23. Poa gracilis.

9. Agrostis exarata var. littorale. 24. Glyceria lemmoni (Poa lem-

10, Trisetum montanum. moni).

11. Graphephorum wolfii ( Trisetumwolfii) 25. Festuca jonesii.

12. Danthonia intermedia. Bouteloua burkii F. L. S.

13. Bouteloua havardit. — 27. Deyeuxia tweedii F. L. S.

14. Bouteloua pusilla. 28. Melica fruticosa F. L. S.

15. Eragrostis neo-mexicana. 29. Muhlenbergia dumosa F. L. S.

— George Vasey, Depart. of Agric., Washington, D. C., March 6.

MEMORANDUM As TO THE Compass PLant.—My correspondent,

Rev. Dr. Thomas Hill, LL.D.; formerly president of Ha

now at Portland, Maine, thinks the stages of growth of the seed-

ling of the compass plant (Si/phium laciniatum) should ha

accurate and repeated observations, and a report of the direction

of the young leaf at various dates. He made such oban

favorable, and wishes that such experiments could be on

again and minutely observed and reported. He planted in

and south rows, but (not trusting that) he says, “ over t

bed I stretched as soon as I had planted the seeds, ree

cotton threads, as exactly in north and south direction n heee

Then I had simply to measure by a paper protractor ee row :

made by the young leaves with the threads. The mie ae |

into rich, damp ground and be fairly exposed to lig a. 4

sides. Measure at the end of each week, keeping oa when

table.” He says, “they began to turn towards the met te length

about four inches high, twisting the petioles in the whole **">

as they do so.’ at were

In his letter he makes a diagram, grouping together pies n

their directions at different dates; when very young Ea

ight

CLASSIFICATION OF THE Ureptnes.—Mr. C. B. pomni

been studying the British plants of this group—the | $ sna papel

are familiarly called—and has embodied the res

1883. Botany. 657

published in Grevil/ea for March, 1883. The British species are

arranged under nine genera, as follows:

Uromyces, with twenty-three species. Five tribes are recog-

nized, viz: 1. Lepturomyces; 2. Micruromyces, in both of which

teleutospores only occur; 3. Hemiuromyces, with uredo and

teleutospores ; 4. Uromycopsis, with ecidia and teleutospores ; 5.

uromyces, with æcidia, uredo and teleutospores. The last is

again subdivided into (1) species with all three spore forms on

the same host plant, and (2) those with æcidia on one host and

uredo and teleutospores on another.

Puccinia, with sixty-six species. Five tribes are recognized

here also, viz: 1. Leptopuccinia; 2. Micropuccinia, both wi

teleutospores only; 3. Hemipuccinia, with uredo and teleuto-

Spores; 4. Pucciniopsis, with zcidia and teleutospores; 5. Eupuc-

cinia, with æcidia, uredo and teleutospores. This tribe is divided

into two sub-tribes as in Uromyces. e hetercecismal species

are P. graminis of wheat and various grasses, with æcidia and

on barberry ; P, rubigo-vera of barley and various grasses (and

wheat in this country), with zcidia on Lycopsis, Echium and

Symphytum ; P. coronata of various grasses (oats in this country)

with æcidia on Rhamnus; Z. mohnie of Molinia, with æcidia on

midiopsis, with æcidia and teleutospores, and (2) Euphragmid-

lum, with ecidia, uredo and teleutospores.

Cronartium, with a single species.

mT Micromelampsora, with teleutospores only ; 2. Hemimel-

ampsora, having uredo and teleutospores; 3. Melampsoropsis,

658 General Notes.

A Norte on TRADESCANTIA VIRGINICA.—Last summer I hadan

opportunity of observing many plants of the common spiderwort

under cultivation. Two variations in the structure of the flowers

were quite frequent. One was in their numerical plan, some be-

ing dimerous and avery few ‘etramerous. Another much more

perfect, at least as yellow thickened pads at the bottom of a deep

apical notch; and Ziurd, a petal deeply notched with purple cal-

losities at the bottom of the notch, as though its apical portion

had been arrested in its longitudinal growth and had simply t-

creased in thickness instead. In some cases this thickened por

tion was elongated and partly detached from the petaloid portion.

All of which goes to show:

1. The hairs on the filaments are modified portions of the blade

of a petal, and therefore portions of the phydlome, rather than

trichome.

2. The anthers, in this plant at least, are to be regarded as

modified portions of the petal rather than outgrowths from It

F. E. Todd, Beloit, Wis.

sset read a

INFLUENCE OF MOONLIGHT UPON PUT eee .

paper before the Paris Academy of Sciences, at its SeSSIC™ ""

5, 1883, upon the influence which the light of the moon has =

the direction of plant growth. “Plants of phototropic ® m

bility were grown from seeds in pots in a very dark panii the

on three nights exposed at a window to direct monik ti

stems bent over towards the moon and followed it in its CORA"

REMARKABLE FALL OF PINE PoLLeN.—On the 18th of apite

present year, in gathering some wàter plants (Zygnen

rolegniaceæ, etc.) from a prairie pond in Central powa oe

an abundance of what turned out to be pine pollen on the of the

of the water. Now there are no native pines in this P ee

State, the only pines being those planted for ornamen m ae pine

None of these, however were in bloom, neither pe ward oe

forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and ao ter

essey.

‘

1883. | Botany. 659

SIMILARITY OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CeLts.—In a paper on plant

cells and living matter, by Dr. L. Elsberg, in the Quarterly Four-

nal of Microscopical Science for January, the author concludes

that the frame of cellulose, analogously to the cement substance

of animal epithelia and the basis substance of other animal tis-

sues, is pierced by either single filaments of living matter ora

reticulum with more or less large accumulations of living matter,

interconnecting all neighboring tissue elements, and that the

plant, therefore, like the animal, is one continuous mass of living

matter, with interspaces which contain some non-living material,

BotantcaL Notes.—A. P. Morgan publishes, in the Journal of

the Cincinnati Society of Natural History (April, 1883) a valua-

ble paper on “ The Mycologic Flora of the Miami valley, Ohio.”

Descriptions are given of eighty species of white spored Agarics

found in the region designated. Among these are five new spe-

cies, viz., Agaricus miamensis, A. granosus, A. monadelphus, A.

estensis, and A. alboflavus, all of which are excellently illustrated

by large lithographic plates. A second paper is promised which

will treat in a similar manner the remaining Agaricini. Dr. C.

S. Dolley, of Rochester, N. Y., has again deserved the thanks of

from the pen of Mr. G. E. Davenport, whose name is a sufficient

guarantee of the excellence of the work. He has just published

€ comparative tables showing the distribution of ferns in

the United States,” as preliminary to his promised book, One

hundred and fifty-five species are enumerated, and their geo-

oF ue, Fowl Cholera and Southern Cattle Fever,” in the Report

the Department of Agriculture at Washington, for the year

nM 1881~2.—_In the same report Dr. Vasey has a paper on grasses

i Th. other forage plants, illustrated by twenty-five full-page plates.

es ese annual papers by Dr. Vasey have long given much value

a ‘the Department reports. The March Torrey Bulletin con-

pohong other interesting notes, one by Dr. Vasey on “Three

aa at ks,” with three plates; “ New and little-known Ferns

A U. S.,” by Professor Eaton, and “A list of Western

YOL i xvn,— no, vr 45

660 General Notes.

year and now issued in pamphlet form, include one “On Fer-

mentation,” by Dr. Sedgwick, which is a model of simplicity

coupled with accuracy. Excellent figures are given of yeast

plants and many forms of Bacteria. Dr. Rothrock has been

studying the microscopical distinctions between good and bad

timber, some of the results of which he embodied in a paper

read before the Am. Phil. Society, Feb. 2, 1883. A plate accom-

panies the paper. We should like to see more work like this

one. In the April Yournal of Botany appears a list of “ New

genera and species of Phanerogams published in periodicals in

Britain in 1882,” which ought to find a counterpart in some of

our American journals for American plants——J. C. Arthur de-

scribes and figures a new variety of the common walking-leaf

fern (Camptosorus rhizophyllus Link., var. intermedius) p S

April Bot. Gazette. It approaches C. sibiricus in shape

and character of the fibro-vascular bundle. It was collected on

limestone cliffs in Eastern Iowa.

ENTOMOLOGY.’ i

THE NEW CLASSIFICATION OF THE COLEOPTERA OF NORTH AMER

1cA.—This important work, prepared by Drs. LeConte and Hom,

and to which we referred to on p. 515 of last year’s Na =

has just been published by the Smithsonian Institution as No.

507 of its Miscellaneous Contributions. Its appearance bic

hailed with joy not only by coleopterists in this country, Mi

by all those interested in Entomology. It is a stately oe

ume of 567 pages, and though the general arrangement of ia i

ter is as in the first “ Classification,” the present volume 1s Mi

more than a mere second edition thereof. In the former ™ a

the Phytophaga, Rynchophora and what was formerly hinge"

Trimera were not reached, whereas the new classification © up

the whole order, is almost entirely re-written, and 1s brought :

to date. : that ie

The general arrangement of the families is in the main the

proposed by Crotch, with but one important change, Vi2» ss

Serricornia are placed before the Lamellicornia, the au Bee

fying this change by the close relationship existing bette relr

members of the Clavicorn series and the Serricormia. "ag

in the Clavicornia and Heteromera respectively. ca study

the introduction, which gives a very clear exposition of

ternal anatomy of the Coleoptera, illustrated by original " i

drawn by Dr. Horn. r

: : D cto

1 This department is edited by ProF. C. V. RILEY, Washington, =° ;

communications, books for notice, etc., may be sent,

188 3] Entomology. 661

A welcome addition to the volume is Mr.Henshaw’s plows

phy, consisting of a complete list of references to a

graphs or synopses of families, genera or species that have ‘hin

published.

A PRETTY AND UNIQUE GALL-MAKING TorTRICID.— In May,

1882, we received through Mr. H. K. Morrison, from Ft. Grant,

Arizona, some elongate galls—mere swellings of the stem—on a

sensitive plant, Acacia felicina. The moths issued during June

and July, and proved to be one of the most striking, pretty and

exceptional Tortricids known. The ac-

loom on a damson with a terminal band

of delicate crimson, contrasting with

streaks of metallic steel-blue, deep rich

brown, straw-yellow and carneous.

pe d a description under the genus eles combatant eas

Grapholitha, with which it has the closest size

affinities and to which Lord Walsingham, ‘who has examined

Specimens, would refer it—C. V. Rile ey.

GRAPHOLITHA NINANA, n. os —Average Ad age 1.9™™, Head hee the face and

palpi delicate Sulphur-yell llo top pin EERE dark-brown or black. Thorax

arie o en

with a pruinescent bloom and with two loipirudinal sae of de eous oh e

inner border margined with a streak of same color. ta pale straw-yellow with a

Series of six brown-black, costal spots (sometimes one or two intermediate ones indi-

e ie low, wi eg to th

fog

fad

aes

hid

al an cal; the first is lin t

wing and'connects hin or less distinetly with a black fine which obliques poste-

mer = makes an elbow almost at right a angles across the terminal fourth of

o six. w

ch metallic scales are sometimes in the pink fed, hd aai pa ai on inside of

transverse black line, while some black scales are also a le in the pink field

(three ree specimens J; fringes brown, faintly mente secondaries dark brown

Pale ; Wings beneath dark brown, strongl yi iridescent, the costal mar

‘Peated, a pale basal streak ee middle "3 primaries an ore oc pee = ee

ning the whole length along the upper ae of secondaries + te egs pale, tarsi

nalate yogs fer, Ret with secondaries.

Described fro N , three Qs. Slight oe in minute details, and but

unimportant Aan differences between the

SMUL IUM FEEDING ON OTHER hii ao Hagen (the £no-

mologist’s Monthly Magazine, April, 1883, pp. pi 5) considers

that Simulium may, after all, prove useful to man by causing the

action of large numbers of chrysalides of Pieris menapia,

Which is so injurious to pine trees in Washington Territory. Al~

662 General Notes. (June,

though no direct observations were made on the subject, Dr.

Hagen thinks that the black-flies attack and suck the helpless

chrysalides. That Simulium can subsist on insect blood is not

strange, since fleas and mosquitos are known to so subsist, and

the correctness of the belief seems to be corroborated by the cir-

cumstance that in those places where the Pieris abounded Simul-

ium molested neither man nor beast; while where the butterfly

was wanting the travelers were exposed to the usual annoyance

by the flies.

Loncevity 1n A BrettE—Dr. D. Sharp notes (Entomological

Monthly Magazine, April, pp. 260-1) that he kept a female of a

water-beetle (Dytiscus ræselii Fabr.) alive for nearly five years, and

that during the first two years a male accompanied her. Copt-

lation between the two insects was actually observed, yet a post

mortem examination of the female showed the ovaries very

small, the tubes containing no eggs, and, so far as known, the

beetle never deposited an

Dr. Sharp explains this fact that, in his experience, it is very

difficult to get the larger Dytiscidz to oviposit in confinement,

and that the eggs are only developed in the ovaries under circum-

stances suitable for their deposition.

Synopsis oF THE N. A. Hexioraina.—Mr. John B. Smith l

gives us, in the Transactions of the American Entomological a

ciety (Vol. x, pp. 205-255) a synopsis of this sub-tamily, or group,

as he prefers to term it. The paper is illustrated with two plates,

one of outlines showing the typical venation of the primaries,

admits that no really scientific classification of the sub: e

;

yet been made, and that his classification may be enter rather.

by individual opinion than by the conviction which serious Smith

1883. Entomology. 663

tempt at a correct arrangement of the sub-family. Where trivial

characters are deemed of generic use we think wing design or

ornamentation should not be entirely neglected, but might be

considered with advantage. Mr. Smith cites a few larve, but a

number more are known, and where those of species such as

Heliothis armigera (Hubn.) and H. dispaceus (L.) [ phlogophagus

Grt.] have been so long known and fully described, nothing is

gained by quoting later and less complete descriptions.

STYLOPISED ANDREN&%.—In the Entomologische Nachrichten for

March 1, 1883, there is an interesting article by Mr. H. Friese on

the successful collecting of Stylops aterrimus by digging up in

winter time the colonies of Andrena pratensis. He remarks that,

according to his observations, the stylopised Andrene have a

much denser pubescence on the abdomen than those not infested

with the parasite.

DEATH oF PROFESSOR ZELLER.—It was with deep regret that

we received the announcement of the death from heart-disease on

send him in return when the sad news reached us. Zeller was

born April 9, 1808. He was beloved by all who knew him, and

his place cannot easily be filled.

Fic Capriricators.— Two interesting articles upon the so-

called “fig insects” are contained in Part 1 of the Transactions

Foe they are Cynipids, giving the following arrangement of

em :

CYNIPIDA: Westw.

SYCOPHAGIDES.

Division 1,—Prionastomata, Division 2.—Aploastomata.

Blastophaga Gray. Sycophaga Westw.

Agaon Dalm. Apocrypta Coq.

PARESI Coquerel.

Xradibia S. Saund.

Protection or Insect CoLLEcTIONS.—The power which Tro-

Eoderma and other Dermestid larve affecting insect collections

664 General Notes. [June,

exhibit in resisting the effects of insecticides is well known. They

speedily recover from the effects of benzine; they will live for

_ days in a tight jar filled with camphor or napthaline, and when

they are within some dried insect they are unaffected even by the

strongest volatile poisons, such as cyanide of potassium.

There are three prerequisites which we believe to be more im-

portant than insecticides in protecting insect collections. They

are: Ist, absolutely tight boxes; 2d, the quarantining, for a

ficient length of time, of all specimens received through exchange

or otherwise; 3d, the keeping of the boxes closed as much as

possible during the time of the year when the parent Dermestid

beetles most abound. In the climate of Washington this dan-

gerous period extends from April till June—perhaps a little lon-

ger. At any other season there is not much danger from Der

mestid beetles.

Tue Cuicor IN Arrica.—It is stated in Burton and Camerons

“To the Gold Coast for Gold” that the chigoe (Pulex penetrans)

has been recently introduced and has spread all over the est

African seaboard and far into the interior. At the time of Captain

Burton’s first visit (1862) it was unknown on the west coast; but

now it ranks with the indigenous red, white and black ants, cèt-

tipedes, scorpions, venomous spiders and flies of the tzetze group,

as among the chief plagues of that region. .

— Herbert Morris, Germantown, Pa, of se

[In our experience we have found that while the beer

species is usually found upon the ground where it has

with the leaves, yet it is quite frequently attached as aw

scribed, and as we have recorded in our Fourth Report x

° : í ars

curve of the margins of the labium gradually pii has p

maxillæ per

mouth, at the point of origin of the paraglossæ. Besides :

1883.] Entomology. 665

tile hairs certain peculiar clavate pale hairs are placed on the

apex of the labium, which appear from observations to be analo-

gous to the olfactory hairs of the inner pair of antennz of Crus-

tacea, and, as they carry a minute opening at their ends, must be

considered as either gustatory or olfactory organs.

Like that of butterflies, the sucking-tube of the Hemiptera is

made up exclusively of the two maxilla, which unite in sucha

way as to form a double cylinder, the upper division of which car-

ries the food, the lower the salivary secretion. The mandibles lie

by the side of the maxilla, and can move about on the tube. e

end of the labium is provided with terminal nervous organs. In

the proboscis of Diptera the sucking tube is formed mainly by the

labium, which consists of a demi-canal, closed below partly by

the mandibles which are connected with it by a groove-and-ridge

joint and partly by the hypopharynx, which runs below the man-

dibles, carrying the salivary canal; on each side below the hypo-

pharynx lie the maxille.

Tue “Pine Mora or Nantucket.’—The author, Mr. S. H.

Scudder, sends us, under this title,a neatly printed pamphlet of

20 pp., with a colored plate, published by the Massachusetts So-

ciety for the Promotion of Agriculture. It embraces an account

of the injury to the pines (Pinus rigida) on the island of Nan-

tucket by a Tortricid, Retina frustrana, n. sp., with full descrip-

tive details and remedial suggestions, and ends with an appendix

(Pinus inops) around Washington, as published in the report of

the Entomologist, Department of Agriculture, for 1879. Mr.

Scudder is inclined to doubt the specific identity of the insect work-

ing on Pinus inops and P. rigida in other parts of the country with

his Retinia frustrana, but without very cogent reason. After study

and comparisons we agree with Fernald and Comstock. This fact

Practical conclusion of the pamphlet, which is that dy breaking

or cutting from every pine tree on the island every affected shoot the

insect might be virtually exterminated—a conclusion which pre-

Supposes either that the species is confined to the island or that,

ing more widely distributed, the parent moth could not or would

not fly from adjacent land. Mr. Scudder concludes that there are

two annual generations. While two have been plainly made out

for the latitude of Washington, it is yet doubtful whether more than

one occurs, as a rule, so far north as Nantucket. The irregularity

in development is apt to mislead, and in studying Dapsilia ru-

a Hübn, on Long Island, some years since, we were forced to

Consider it monogenentic notwithstanding the appearance of the

Moths in early spring.

The popular name chosen by the author is rather unfortunate.

Popular names for injurious larve are most appropriate when

666 General Notes. [June,

they apply to the larva state and when they indicate distinguish- |

ing habits or characters among allied species.

EntomotocicaL Norrs.—A Trypeta “gall” discovered by

Weyenbergh in the Argentine Republic on the terminal bud ,

of a Heterothalamus resembles in appearance the froth produced

by the well-known spittle-insect, but is somewhat more substanial

in structure. r. S. H. Scudder in Science for March 2, 1883,

discusses the interesting discovery by Mr. Charles Brongniart,

the fossil Phasmidz, from the upper coal measures of Commentry,

reproducing his sketch of the gigantic Zitanophasma fayoli—

The Stettiner Entom-Zeitung (1883, Nos. 4-6), contains the follow-

ing articles of interest to the American student: Möschler’s re-

view of the Brooklyn Check List of Macrolepidoptera ; on the

scales on the wings of Geometridz and their possible use for clas-

sification, by C. von Gumppenberg; continuation of C. Ploetz's

Synopsis of the species of Hesperia; J. Lichtenstein’s description

of the Aphidid genus Schlechtendalia, and Dr. Réssler’s remarks

as to the best system of the Lepidoptera. Une application de

l’Entomologieala Medicine légale, par M. Mégnin, in Le Natur T

February 1, 1883, relates to the discovery, in a house, of the drie

up body of a child, the presence of certain Dipterous and Coleop-

terous insects in and on the body, enabling Mr. Mégnin to ae

accurately fix the date of the death of the child-——Ayome

annosus Say, breeds, according to Mr. Coquillett, nw

Raphael Meldola discusses the mimicry oie

Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. xx1, P eee following

entomological papers: A new and unusually perfect can |

Notes on some of the Tertiary Neuroptera of game An- a

: entomol-

ogy, is by Wm. Trelease on the structures ‘which in

fertilization in several plants. Mr. G. N. Milco, p

of the Buhach Producing and Manufacturing Co., Stoc ig §

estimates this year’s Pyrethrum crop of the conti shows

Mercer county, to be at least forty tons.——Fritz ;: cgi poly

(Kosmos, March, 1883, p. 448) that chrysalides ©

> as of eo

damus from larvæ raised under like conditions were He o

olor, a fact that holds equally true of our own Papilios-

1883. } Zoology. 667

also criticizes (¢bid, pp. 466-9) Hagen’s paper on “ The color and

pattern of insects.”——Dr. Edward Hoffer (iid, pp. 412-421)

gives some interesting facts as to the nest-building of humble-

bees. We regret to see that with the change of political power

in California there has been a change in the officers of the Hor-

ticultural Commission that does not seem to be an advantage.

Bitter complaint is made. for instance, of the removal of Mr.

Matthew Cooke, who has been indefatigable in his labors on

the commission. ome vine cuttings from Madeira were

recently held in New York in the belief that they were affected

by Phylloxera. Specimens were sent by Collector Robertson to

the State Department and finally submitted to us for examination

and suggestion. We advised their immediate forwarding, as

there were no grounds for their detention.

ZOOLOGY.

Tue Emspryonic TENTACULAR KNOBS OF CERTAIN Puyso-

out other resemblances in the larvæ in which these structures are

found. The result was that an interesting likeness between the

Single (“embryonic”) nectocalyx of Monophyes and the “ primi-

tive scale” of Agalma was found. The following reasons led me

to regard these last-mentioned organs as homologous. Both are

formed in the same way, both are embryonic and are lost in sub-

sequent development. We have in the “primitive scale” of

galma an indication of the point in the development of the

Siphonophora, where the separation of the Physophore from the

Calycophore, or where the separation of both groups, from a

stem form,” took place. The embryonic bell of Monophyes is

an organ of motion; the primitive scale of the young Agalma,

although homologous to a bell, has lost the function of motion,

is an organ of flotation, while in Agalmopsis (Halistemma)

the embryonic bell is not even represented. The only structure

in thelarva of Agalmopsis (Halistemma), which shows the relation

this genus to the Calycophore is an embryonic tentacular

Knob, like that of the larva of Agalma, which is thought to be

The ees to the tentacular appendage of the Calycophores.

iS statement of a possible genetic relationship between these

668 General Notes.

two groups is not held to apply to the Pneumatophore (“ Pneu

matophoride” Chun), nor to the Discoideze.— F. Walter Fewkes.

NOTE ON ALAURINA PROLIFERA Buscu.—The rich pelagic fauna

of New England waters contains many genera and species

marine Turbellaria which have not been studied by American

zoologists. The accompanying sketches of Alaurina do not add

EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. —Fic. t angie asexual AY 1 peso =

- agar e — estitute of constrictions. Ther ere is a non-cilia

inal posterior spine ; the 7 ps cili ate

single constriction E: this A 4 was fou f wimming an nd in nate next rs

larv 1, or the eito ` > two arias which are e unit ; 5 was ;

sie Fis G. - 3. ~—The oldest spec of an asexual Alaurina whic terior and

in this m we have a deep ioe Ba n (4) midway aie the gg and the

terior etetem es of the body; this esenteiction has been see pof the two wa

two worms to separate from each other at that point; the post two small,

represented as united in Fig. 3, has four eye-spots, two large an of the W

the sma l r

bosci vie h A

which is pers with small ek Ri fee Sanaat whic ions d, terminal

divide the asexual Alaurina into t worms ; ¢, shallow on eofw

posterior aide: m, mouth (cilia sted. “There is no vent. 1.5,

resented in Fig. 3; s, lateral “spines,”

ok oa

1883.] Zoology. 660

anything to what is already known of the anatomy and develop-

ment of the genus through the researches of Busch, Metschni-

koff, Mereschkowsky and others, but are published simply to call

attention to its interesting development. This species, as already

stated, has been taken from only one other locality. Other spe-

cies, however, as A. composita Metsch., have been found in the

Atlantic ocean.

Color green and yellow, transparent and slightly phosphores-

cent. All the above-mentioned specimens were taken wit

Müller’s net in Narragansett bay.—/. Walter Fewkes.

Enormous SpipEr’s Wes.—When in Franconia valley, N. H.,

last summer, my wife and myself observed a spider’s web of such

enormous proportions that it seems worth while to put the phe-

nomenon on record. I regret that I was so foolish as to omit, at

the time, taking accurate measurements. The web was of the

geometrical kind—very perfect, and stretched between two trees,

one a small larch and the other a large sugar maple. The total

length of the guys or supports must have been fifteen feet at least,

while the web proper was, I should say, all of three feet in cir-

cumference. In my desire to be within bounds I really think I

under-estimate the dimensions. The span of threads indicated a

| very large builder, but our utmost search failed to find this archi-

, tect. I should greatly like to know what species probably con-

structed this enormous trap —W. W. Bailey.

THE STRUCTURE AND FORMATION OF THE COVERING OF THE

670 General Notes. [June,

Below the chitin-forming epithelium, is a bed of conjunctive

tissue, having all the essential traits of the dermis of higher ani-

mals

When the animal molts, it casts off only the external layer of

the epidermis, and below this may be already seen other yet soft

chitinous beds proceeding from the epidermis.

he digestive canal of the Crustacea is lined bya chitinous bed,

the structure and mode of formation of which is the same as that

of the external teguments. In examining this lining, M. Vitzon

discovered the presence of salivary glands.

he internal as well as the external lining is cast off in the

molt, but the Brachyuraand Macroura do not molt in the same

manner. The former keep their usual posture during the change,

the abdomen is freed before the cephalo-thorax and chele, an

the carapace separates from the epimera. The latter lie upon their

side, the membrane between the cephalo-thorax and first abdom-

inal somite is broken, and the cephalo-thorax is freed at once.

measurements of the rejected carapace and of the pr

before and after its change of covering, M. Vitzon arrives at the

belief that the increase in size of the creature takes place rari

the change, which is caused by it, and not, as usually s

during the time that the carapace is soft. of

Previous to the formation of the chitinous envelope, a pede

glycogenous matter is deposited around the body below Aa

carapace, and this reserve of nutritive matter has disappeared n

the new tegument is formed. These glycogenous subi i

constantly being stored up in the liver, ovaries, lymph, etc. pe

for the change that will exhaust them. In the Macroura, fs

reous depositions are formed in the stomach previous to ser

and in the Brachyura lime salts are abundant in the bloog W

the time of the change approaches. The

HINCKLEY ON THE MOUTH STRUCTURE OF Tare aii

Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural linet

the results of observations upon the mouth structure 0! ~

poles of Rana silvatica, R. catesbeiana, R. halecind, R. fi and HY-

R. palustris, Bufo americana, B. fowleri, Hyla versicolor 5

lodes pickeringii. The mouths of these adele a tad

merous shap”

‘thin the lips, om¢

pointed teeth, and also several fleshy folds within These

three within the upper and two to four within the pele appeat

folds are set along their free edges with fine teeth, W. gre action

out at right angles with the lip, but are laid back when ©" pi nged

wishes to reject any substance caught. The under lip is

under

with papillæ. In Rana the upper lip is shorter than in the ip

three

All

1883.] Zoölogy. 671

doubled inward at each angle of the mouth ; in Hyla and Hylodes

the upper lip is broad, and the border of the lower lip does not

double inward at the corners of the mouth; while in Bufo it is

broad and nearly straight, and the angles of the lower lip are

doubled in. Tadpoles feed first upon the gelatinous envelope that

surrounded the eggs they sprang from, and then by preference on

animal food. The two toads have one fringed fold under the

upper lip, and two on the lower ; those of the Ranidæ vary in num-

ber; while the two tree-frogs have one above and two or three

below. In some species the line of papillæ on the lower lip is

broken by a central fringe like that on the folds. The papillæ

appear to test the nature of the objects that touch the mouth.

HYBRIDIZATION OF Brook TROUT AND GRAYLING.—!I think the

brook trout and grayling could be crossed, provided the fish spawn

at the same time of year. The brook trout cast their spawn in

most of our streams during the fall and winter months and the

grayling spawn during the spring months. I have crossed the

striped bass with shad, herring with shad, white fish with salmon,

salmon with brook trout and brook trout with salmon trout.

The last-mentioned cross is the most successful and valuable

think they will make a large trout, suitable for rivers and

lakes. Next season I shall cross them again with brook trout,

and the young will be seven-eighths brook trout and one-eighth

salmon trout. None of the salmon trout and brook trout hybrids

yet produced have the vermilion spots of the brook trout.

think if the three-quarters cross does not bring them out, seven-

cighths will, and there will be a new family of speckled trout,

that will grow to a large size and be a choice fish.

I think the grayling and the California mountain trout could be

~ Crossed, as they spawn the same time of year. If I lived in a

. grayling country I would know before another season passed.

think the cross will be made within a few years, and I consider it

a very important point in fish culture. I have made many other

attempts at hybridizing with more or less success.—Seth Green,

in the American Angler, May 13th, 1882.

Errect oF Birps on Insect Lire.—In a recent brochure by

. S. A. Forbes, State Entomologist of Illinois, he shows that, in

es: Considering the effects of birds on insect life, there are three ques-

= to answer, as follows:

-L Do birds originate any oscillations among the species of in-

sects upon which they feed? That is, are their food-habits ever

5o inconstant from year to year that species which are at one time

Pt elements of their food, are at other times neglected and

Owed to multiply, without restraint?

672 General Notes. [June,

2. Do birds prevent or restrain any oscillations of insects now

noxious, or capable of becoming so, if permitted to increase more

freely? That is, do they bring to bear upon any such species a

constant pressure so great that those insects would increase

unduly if this pressure were removed by the destruction of the

birds ?

3. Do they do anything to reduce existing oscillations of in-

jurious insects? Do they sometimes vary their food-habits so far

as to neglect their more usual food and take extraordinary num-

bers of those species which, for any reason, became superabun-

dant for atime? In answer to the third question the paper has

been prepared. Mr. Forbes selected an orchard which for six

years had been stripped by canker-worms. He shot a considera-

ble number of birds therein for two successive years, on May

24th, 1881, and May 2oth, 1882, representing nearly all the kinds

seen in the orchards, made full notes of the relative abundance

the species, examined carefully the contents of all the st

obtained, and tabulated the results as the basis of his paper. i

appeared that the robin and twenty-six other species of v pis

sects, of which 16 per cent was canker-worms and only 4 Sain

insectivorous beetles, The blue bird ate 12 per cent. of can

worms. Mr. Forbes concludes: d habits,

1. That birds of the most varied character an to the

migrant and resident, of all sizes, from the tiny ate md

blue jay, birds of the forest, garden and meatpt w

arboreal and those of terrestrial habit, were cema i y of in-

attracted or detained here by the bountiful supp a

sect food and were feeding freely upon the Pe

abundant. That 35 per cent of the food of all the h ies of

gated in this orchard should have consisted of a single pee ae

insect is a fact so extraordinary that its meaning Cann ssed a5

taken. Whatever power the birds of this vicinity Pe argely

checks upon destructive irruptions of insect life was i pa Ps

exerted here to restore the broken balance of Oe aa of

_ 2. The comparisons made show plainly that the as insects

this concentration on two or three unusually nu oe their food |

was so widely distributed over the ordinary elements @ atic

that no especial chance was given for the rise of new |

among the species commonly eaten. _ indigo bi i, the

3. The fact that, with the exception of the ae with thos?

species whose records in the orchard were compa many catet

made elsewhere had eaten in the former situation |

1883.] Zoölogy. 673

pillars other than canker-worms as usual, simply adding their

nker-worm ratios to those of other caterpillars, goes to show

that these insects are favorites with a majority of birds.

THe Harry WOODPECKER, A CORRECTION.— Referring to the

interesting communication of A. G. Van Aken (Am. Nart., May,

1883, p. 515) upon the hairy woodpecker, there is apparently the

often repeated mistake made of confounding the work of the hairy

and -the yellow-bellied woodpeckers. Our author says: “ The

perforations which he makes are merely for the purpose of secur-

ing his quarry from their ensconsure neath the bark out of the

reach of other agencies.”

Now, if the circular holes arranged in horizontal lines in the

bark of fruitand other trees are referred to, there are two remarks to

made: Ist. These holes are not made by the hairy woodpecker

at all. 2d. They are made by the yellow-bellied woodpecker

(Sphyrapicus varius), not for the purpose primarily of obtaining

insects, but forthe inner bark and sap. This correction has often

been made, but that there is further need of it is evidenced in

many ways besides the particular statement referred to. e

two birds and their work are all but universally confounded by

the farmers and fruit growers of my acquaintance. The one is,

however, decidedly useful; the other, though insect-feeding in

part, does to the orchards and ornamental trees far more injury

than good. Among these trees the one should be carefully pro-

ora the other shot—7. % Burrill, Champaign, Ill, April 23,

1883.

_ ZOOLOGICAL NoTEs.—Protozoa.—Mereschkowski finds in an

infusorian named by Cohn Acarella siro, a link between the Ciliate

and Suctorial infusoria. The Acinetines present cilia in some

: of their development, but otherwise the groups have

hitherto been regarded as quite separate. Acarella siro, which

abounds in the Bay of Naples, has a somewhat pyriform body,

ending in front in a small conical neck, at the base of which is a

collar of long cilia in three superposed circles of seven or eight

each. Upon the margin of the orifice of the neck four suckers

are always present, constructed, like those of the Acinetina, of a

slender peduncle, ending in a globular enlargement. It creeps

slowly at times, at others, moves by sudden leaps, in both cases

by the action of its cilia. H. J. Waddington publishes in the Jour-

nal of Royal Microscopical Society the results of some experiments -

on the action of tannin on the cilia of Infusoria, especially Parame-

cium aurelia, the immediate action of the tannic acid rendering the

Cilia visible without any manipulation of the light. Also by the

use of sulphurous acid Infusoria are at once killed, and in most

, if the Infusoria are ciliate, the cilia are rendered visible ;

but if the Infusoria are only partially killed, they become

674 General Notes. [June,

almost motionless, while the ciliary action may be well observed.

A parasite has been lately found on the skinof a young

trout, by M. Henneguy, those in an aquarium at the College of

France having suffered much fron it. The organism is a flagel-

late Infusorian, and is named, provisionally, Bodo necator.

Echinoderms —The stalked Crinoids of the Carribean sea have

been worked up ina preliminary way by Mr. P. H. Carpenter in

the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy—the final

report to appear in those of the Challenger Expedition. ——Among

the numerous interesting finds of the Travailleur in recent cruises

is a new Eudiocrinus, being the fifth species at present known.

These animals belong to the family of the Comatulide. The new

animal is distinguished as Æ. atlanticus, the four others having

been found in the Pacific. It was dredged in the Bay of Biscay,

in a depth of 896". The Eudiocrini have only five arms (while

the other Comatulz have at least ten). While those of the new

form are simple, they are far from being of primitive type

The animal is not able (like the others of the same group) to fix

itself firmly to foreign bodies; it probably rests on the sea-bot-

tom with arms and cirri spread out, not having to fear either

waves or currents, But the muscular masses of its arms show

that it must be a good swimmer. Fifteen specimens were

tained. Oe

Mollusks —From C. Ashford’s observations (Journal of bie

chology, July, 1882), on the action of the heart in the snails ( i

cidæ) during hibernation, it appears that circulation gocs ia

slowly when the thermometer is not below 26-28° F. One

were not made at a lower temperature than this, owing to cern

ness of the Enylish winter, but Mr. Ashford thinks that ree

statement that the heart remains motionless throughout hit Ai

tion needs modification. In this country, with its cold ee :

it would be comparatively easy to examine the question an Aë

haps settle it. The Bulletin of the United States Fish are if

contains an article translated by J. A. Ryder, from the oie a

Dr. R. Hoorst. That observer speaks of artificial inp eal

as impossible in the case of the common oyster. gs nt, if

the bivalve shell develops from a simple unpaired rudiment,

opposition to the observations of Lacaze-Duthiers an Teredo, a5

The description of the development of the shell in rat in the

given by Hatschek, agrees with that observed by Hoo gui

oyster, and the latter thinks it safe to assume that the pent out

` of the shell in all mollusks takes place the same way, whic advo-

the monophyletic theory of the descent of the mollusca, 20°"

cated by Von Ihering. i

sFr i athique de

Vertebrates—In the Bulletin de la Société Philom

Paris M. Al. Thominot describes Saccodon cranocephalunh Sy and

acinid from the Rio Guyaquil. The teeth are small, sm

1883. ] Zoology. 675.

mobile. On account of the form of the teeth and the mode of their

implantation, the author proposes to unite the genera Saccodon,

Hemiodus, Parodon, Prochilodus, Citharinus and Cznotropus

as a sub-family with the name of Citharinina, A number of ich-

thyological papers by Mr. T. Gill, appear in late signatures of

the Proceedings of the United States National Museum. The

synonymy of the class Leptocardians is given, followed by a

Pediculate fish, with other brief articles. He discusses the rela-

tionship of the Echeneidids which he regards as a sub-order, which

he names the Discocephali, and states that the basis cranii is sim-

ple. Messrs. Jordan and Gilbert also notice certain neglected

generic names of Lacépède, and discuss the synonymy of the genus

Bothus of Rafinesque. ature, in reporting the Proceedings

of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, states that Mr.

Morton has ascertained that the Australian lung-fish, Ceratodus,

spawns in the Burnett river during the months of June, July or

August, the spawn being deposited in a slight excavation formed

in the bed of the river, at a depth of eight or ten feet, the male

and female remaining in close attendance on it until hatched. Ar-

rangements had been made by which it was hoped that a supply

(C æleonidæ), and membranous expansions which are com-

parable to the septa in birds.”

26, Mr. Everett Smith closes a series of notes on 293 species of g

Maine birds. In the same paper is noticed a flight of white peli-

1000

in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum con-

tain a criticism of Seebohm’s Catalogue of Birds. Mr. R. Ridg-

676 General Notes. [June

way describes a new warbler from the island of Santa Lucia, W. I,

a supposed new plover from Chili, and defines anew the genus —

Tantalus and its allies. Mr. L. Belding catalogues a collection —

of birds made along the western coast of Lower California——

Observations on four mules in milk, by Professor A. Duges, of

Guanajuato, Mex., are translated in the Proceedings of the United

States National Museum. Although observations relative to the

milk given by animals which have not passed through the state

of gestation are few, still a number have been recorded, including

some human beings. A mule in milk was observed by Dugès

near Guanajuato. The animal had never given birth to offspring,

nor had ever been served by an ass or horse. The mamma.

which issued with much force and fell foaming into the vessel pre-

pared to received it.” Dugès also records three other s “a

cases._—lIn a paper in the same Proceedings on the birds of the

tion of the writer, of all sounds issuing from animal beings. ,

“red monkey” (Ateles melanochir) is quite numerous, and ato

largest in size of Costa Rican quadrumana. The most abu :

kind, however, is the white-faced money ( Cebus hypoleucus). ; T

were often quite annoying from their habit of throwing dis.

nuts, etc., at the traveler passing below them. p

covered the place where I took my morning bath, a

noying in this particular that I appreciated as never

thetic story of the ‘ Boys and the Frogs,’ and had a

them in pure self-defense. But I felt like a murderer fortor

found the flesh of the “ watousa” (Dasyprocta crist p

the opinion of the writer, the most delicious meat he ever

pleasure of eating.”

before the p.

General—Zodlogy in Spanish America :'—The perusal Ot J

Resúmen del Curso de Zoologia, given at the Conte stirring |

of Caracas, leaves the impression that there is some little st

of the intellectual waters in that direction. i

The classification adopted, albeit the “Estruciones o ho

are intercalated between the Gallinæ and Palmipedes, af out

the arrangement of both fishes and batrachians is some

of date, is better than some to be found nearer home.

1 Resúmen del Curso de Zodlogia, leido en la Universidad Central. Por. As" a

Caracas, 1882. Pe

1883.] Physiology. 677

PHYSIOLOGY.:

A TEXT-BOOK oF Puystotocy.2—Dr, Foster's work may well

be regarded as epoch-making in the history of English text-books

of physiology. Few authors have combined the capability and

‘appreciative insight necessary to the treatment of this subject as

ascience. Physiology is a chain of reasoning connecting isolated

phenomena, and the study of that subject calls into play to the

fullest that mental discipline which gives the power of sifting the

true from the false and the acquirement of which is, ina measure,

the design of the student’s labors. A great drawback to the

general usefulness of Dr. Foster’s book has been the fact that the

discussions contained in it were on a scientific plane to which the

average medical student could hardly transport himself. In the

new edition, however, the author has sought by the omission of

the discussions of many disputed points and by the introduction

of new diagrams, to render his book especially useful to the medi-

cal student; there is given us, accordingly, a clear presentation of

practical information in which, at the same time, the scientific

aspects of physiology are held in full view.

COMPARISONS OF STRENGTH BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL ANI-

MALS.—M. Delbeuf, in a paper read before the Academie Royale

de Belgique and published in the Revue Scientifique, reviews the at-

tempts of various naturalists to make comparisons between the

Strength of large animals and that of small ones, especially in-

Sects, and shows that ignorance or forgetfulness of physical laws

vitiate all their conclusions :

er a plea for the idea, without which the fact is barren, M.

Delbeuf repeats certain statements with which readers of modern

zoological science are tolerably familiar, such as the following :

flea can jump two hundred times its length ; therefore a horse,

Were its strength proportioned to its weight, could leap the Rocky

mountains, and a whale could spring two hundred leagues in

height. An Amazon ant walks about eight feet per minute, but if

the progress of a human Amazon were proportioned to her larger

Size, she would stride over eight leagues in an hour, and if pro-

portioned to her greater weight, she would make the circuit of the

globe in about twelve minutes. This seems greatly to the advan-

tage of the insect. What weak creatures vertebrates must be, is

the impression conveyed. :

But the work increases as the weight. In springing, walking,

Swimming or any other activity, the force employed has first to

Overcome the weight of the body. A man can easily bound a

height of two feet, and he weighs as much asa hundred thousand

Stasshoppers, while a hundred thousand grasshoppers could leap

$ is department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Eag A Sxt-Book of Physiology. By Dr. M. Foster, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. 4th

678 General Notes. [June,

no higher than one—say a foot. This shows that the vertebrate

has the advantage. A man represents the volume of fifteen mil-

lions of ants, yet can easily move more than three hundred feet

in a Minute, a comparison which gives him forty times more power,

bulk for bulk, than the ant possesses. Yet were all the con-

ditions compared, something like equality would probably be the*

result. Much of the force of a moving man is lost from the ine-

qualities of the way. His body, supported on two points only

when at rest, oscillates like a pendulum from one to the other as

he moves. The ant crawls close to the ground, and has only a

small part of the body unsupported at once. This economizes

force at each step, but, on the other hand, multiplies the num

of steps so greatly, since the smallest irregularity of the surface

is a hill to a crawling creature, that the total loss of force 1s per-

haps greater, since it has to slightly raise its body a usand

times or so to clear a space spanned by a man’s one step.

By what peculiarity of our minds do we seem to expect the

speed of an animal to be in proportion to its size? Wedo

not expect a caravan to move faster than a single horseman, nor

an eight hundred pound shot to move twelve thousand eight bun-

dred times further than an ounce ball. Devout writers speak ofta

wise provision of Nature. “If,” say they, “ the speed of a mouse

were as much less than that of a horse as its body 1s smal ald

would take two steps per second and be caught at once. W

not Nature have done better for the mouse had she suppressed

the cat? Isit not a fact that small animals often owe their are

to their want of swiftness, which enables them to change ai

direction readily. A man could easily overtake a mouse IN

straight run, but the ready change of direction ger

. Plateau has depa i on the strength of insects, me

facts are unassailable. He has harnessed carabi, nec i

beetles (Melolontha) and other insects in such a way — He

delicate balance, he can measure their powers of draug :

announces the result that the smallest insects are pitt pa

proportioned to their size, but that all are enormous a pad

when compared, bulk for bulk, with vertebrates. A aie

scarcely lift two-thirds of its own weight, while one sm iit

of June-beetle can lift sixty-six times its weight. Fory Were

such June-beetles could lift as much as a draut ;

our strength in proportion to this we could play "|, movè

equal to ma dinsinthat of a horse, while an elephant could m

mountains, sd

This seems, again, great kindness in Nature, to the =

animal. But all these calculations leave ou me

chanical law: “What is gained in power is lost 10 aredi

. : : ndite

elevation of a ton to a given height represents an exper- hy fe

equal amount of force, whether the labor is pern can move

man or horse. Time supplies lack of strength. :

1883.] Physiology. 679

as much as a horse by taking more time, and can choose two

methods—either to divide the load or use a lever or a pulley. If

a horse moves half its its own weight three feet in a second, while

a June-beetle needs a hundred seconds to convey fifty times its

weight an equal distance, the two animals perform equal work

proportioned to their weights. True, the cockchafer can hold

fourteen times its weight in equilibrium (one small June-beetle

sixty-six times), while a horse cannot balance nearly his own

weight. But this does not measure the amount of oscillatory

motion induced by the respective pulls. For this both should

Operate against a spring.

A small beetle can escape from under a piece of cardboard a

hundred times its weight. Pushing its head under the edge and

using it as a lever, it straightens itself on its legs and moves the

board just a little, but enough to escape. Of course, we know a

horse would be powerless to escape from a load a hundred times its

own weight. His head cannot be made into a lever. Give hima

lever that will make the time he takes equal to that taken by the

insect, and he will throw off the loadat a touch. The fact is that

in small creatures the lack of muscular energy is replaced by

which was three times the bulk of the other, leaped an equal

height. This was what might be expected of two animals simi-

larly constructed. The spring was proportioned tothe bulk. In

Experiments on the insects with powerful wings, such as bees, flies,

dragon-flies, etc., it was found that the weight they could bear

without being forced to descend was in most cases equal to their

own. In some cases it was more, but the inequality of rate of

fight, had it been taken into the reckoning, would have accounted

or this.

Take two creatures of different bulk but built upon exactly the

Same plan and proportions, saya Brobdignagian and a Lilliputian,

and let both show their powers in the arena. Suppose the first to

Weigh a million times more than the second. If the giant could

raise to his shoulder, some thirty-five feet from the ground, a

Weight twenty thousand pounds, the dwarf can raise to his

Shoulder, not, as might be thought, a fiftieth of a pound, but two

full pounds, The distance raised would be a hundred times less.

a race the Lilliputian, with a hundred skips a second, will travel

an equal distance with the giant, who would take but a skip ina

“econd. The leg of the latter weighs a million times the most,

680 General Notes.

but has only ten thousand times as many muscle fibers, each a

hundred times longer than those of the dwarf, who thus takes one

hundred skips while the giant takes one. The same physical laws

apply to all muscles, so that, when all the factors are considered,

muscles of the same quality have equal power.— W. N. Lockington.

THE DIRECT INFLUENCE OF GRADUAL VARIATIONS OF TEMPERA-

TURE UPON THE RATE OF BEAT OF THE Doc's Heart.—In the

Proceedings of the Royal Society, Professor Martin, of Johns

Hopkins University, describes his researches upon the effect:

changing temperatures upon the rate of beat of the dog's heart

The heart was perfectly severed from all physiological connection

with the rest of body, with the exception of the lungs, and was

nourished by an artificial stream of whipped blood. “As the re-

sult of many experiments it was found (1) that the isolated dogs

heart beats quicker when supplied with warm blood, and slower

when cold bloodis supplied to it; (2) that the rateof beat depends

much more upon the temperature of the blood in the coronary

arteries than on its temperature in the right auricle or ventricle;

(3) that when defibrinated calf’s blood is used to feed the heart,

that organ cannot be kept alive as long as when defibrinated dog’ s

blood is employed; (4) that no matter how long an experiment

lasts, the defibrinated blood, circulated again and again through

the heart and Jungs, shows no tendency to-clot ; hence fibrinozen

is not produced in those organs.

The question answered by the first of t

one for whose solution the research was undertaken. The exper :

xtrinsic mee Z

ts sh i i its highly developed e Be

ments show that, in spite of its highly develop s, so far as

he above results was the

rhythm is concerned, in its own nerve-muscular tissues, a 4 :

iati ithin wide limits (42°-27, ©) J

to temperature variations within wide (4 To account

the frog’s heart or that of the embryo chick does. k

for the quick pulse of fever we, therefore, need ot

beyond the mammalian heart itself: we require no excita-

tion of accelerator cardio-extrinsic nerve-centers.

Skin Viston.—In a recent communication to the Vee .

emy, Professor Graber, of Czernowitz, describes a long te affone

experiments with regard to the “ skin-vision” of anima d of vis-

ing exact proof that certain animals, without te qualita-

ual organs proper, can make not only quantitative hiefly tothe

tive distinctions of light. These experiments relate c tic) lower

earthworm as representing the eyeless (or “ derma ee

animals, and to the Triton cristatus, as representative poets ae

(“ ophthalmoptic”) eyed animals. In a table Pro oa ee

presents columns of numerical “ ccefficients of rea! ce illumin-

cating how many times more strongly frequented a SPAC "=. th

ated with bright red, green or white without ul

ee eee, ee

Doa a E aie SS

1883.] Physiology. 681

one illuminated dark blue, green or white, with ultra-violet re-

spectively, the conditions being the same as regards light, inten-

sity, radiant heat, etc. In one set of experiments the animals

were in the normal state; in another, the anterior end of the

worm, and the eyes of the Triton were removed.——Nature.

PHOSPHORESCENCE AND RESPIRATION IN ANNELID WorMS.—Mr.

W. A. Haswell has investigated the structure and functions of the

elytra or scales, the possession of which is one of the most char-

acteristic peculiarities of the Aphroditacea.

‘With regard to the functions of the elytra, the author distin-

guishes (1) protection, (2) production of phosphorescent light, (3)

sensation, (4) respiration and (5) incubation

The protective function is in some cases the predominating one.

Thus in Iphione the scales are of extreme density, and cover the

entire dorsal surface with a complete armor. In others the scales,

though tough, are more readily detached, and in many instances

do not completely cover the dorsal surface, or are so delicate and

So readily parted with when the animal is irritated, that their

direct protective action must be very slight.

When certain species of Polynoé are irritated in the dark, a

flash of phosphorescent light runs along the scales, each being

illuminated with a vividness which makes it shine out like a

shield of light, a dark spot near the center representing the sur-

ce of attachment where the light-producing tissue would appear

to be absent. The irritation communicates itself from segment

attention of the assailant in the dark recesses which the Poly-

Noidz usually frequent. :

t the elytra act, like dorsal cirri, as organs of some special

sense, seems probable from their abundant innervation, as well as

from the presence, in many instances, of fimbriz and other appen-

S, some of which act as end organs for the nerve branches.

In Aphrodita and Hermione the scales have been observed by

Williams and Quatrefages to perform an important mechanical

on in connection with respiration. In these genera the dor-

sal surface is covered with a coating of felted hairs, which stretch

_ 8cross from one side to the other, and enclose a canal open in

front and behind, and having for its floor the dorsal wall of the

with the elytra and the “branchial” tubercles. These

682 General Notes. [June,

authors regard the oxygenation of the perivisceral fluid as taking

place through the thin integument covering the scale tubercles

and the tubercles at the bases of the dorsal cirri, and having ob-

served the scales to be subject to rhythmical movements by

means of which a current of water is driven continually over the

dorsal surface, thus renewing the water in contact with the

“branchiez.” In species in which the felt-like dorsal covering

does not exist, this function would appear to be in abeyance;

in Polynoé and allied genera, so far as Mr. Haswell has observed,

the elytra remain perfectly motionless, while the animal as a

whole is at rest. i

The sexual products reach the exterior through apertures in the

bases of the parapodia ; and the ova are carried by ciliary action

to the under surface of the scales, where they remain, adhering

by means of a viscid matter till the embryos are well advanced.

Impregnation probably takes place while the eggs are in this

situation.—/ournal of Royal Microscopical Society.

PSYCHOLOGY.

thinks it is P. cornutum. The following, which I am led to pak

municate with complete confidence in its truthfulness, I have =

from a friend, an educated lawyer: A full statement from rA

has been made to me several times, at intervals of some g 4

I made notes, and find my communicant agreeing clos a

his facts every time. Hence I give the following as the p!

his statements : “ts reach

It was near the South Platte cañon, where the foot hills along

the plains, on an afternoon in May, 1880. I was wale fe

a disused lumber road, when my attention was drawn a

strange movements of a horned toad. Instead of ninani

from me, I soon saw that it was making painful efforts to S€ ae

young one from my observation. I was deeply impre e from

the fact that it was a mother solicitous to save her op ;

danger. The young one acted wildly, and reo Teei it

and me, occasionally with a sidling motion against the youre is

she w give its movements a direction of her per where it

way she got the little thing into a depression are "But now,

squatted. I made no motion, but simply watched.

q otion, ply hich in fact

suddenly, the mother changed her conduct, w self, by

actually tactical, for she now tried to decoy me 7 at Ww

a little distance of her flight, then turn again, wi this to

1883. | Psychology. 683

draw my attention from her little one. The mother was full

grown, and the young one, I should think, was about one-third of

her size.

So it seems this tiny cousin of the Iguanas has attractive

psychic qualties, and so bird-like, too. But then if the bird heirs

from the lizard, it should be an estate of body and of mind. But

though a likeness in kind, how vastly superior to the inheritance

in degree.—S. Lockwood.

Buro AMERICANUS AT PLay.—Except in the love season, so

hermit-like is the common toad that I never suspect it of having

a spark of frivolity or fun in its make up. It has seemed to me as

the personification of a stupid stolidity. It catches insects. But

should the bug play opossum, Bufo would be completely hum-

bugged, for however hungry, it would not touch it. Bufo’s eyes

are everything. I do not think it can smell. If there is motion

wholesome. ‘On one occasion I saw a very large Bufo under a

gooseberry bush, whose shade sheltered him from the heat of the

summer sun. I plucked some of the ripe fruit, and having sucked

out the pulp I threw the sour rind so that it fell about an inch in

front of the toad, making a slight rebound. Some folks have a

Proverb— Where there’s smoke there’s fire.’ The Batrachian

holds to a similar conceit—* Where there’s motion there’s life.”

The gooseberry husk disappeared in a trice. I threw another.

Own it went, too—and a third, when the big goggle eyes seemed

Serious, as if looking into the matter. In vain I tried it again—

Bufo had learned wisdom by experience. :

_ Every one knows how a dog will play with a stick, and a kitten

with a ball. Under the seat, where we resorted of an evening last

summer, an old toad had his form or resting place. Into this

damp spot his back parts were pushed, and from it his grave, golden

eyes could watch while he waited for the cool of the evening.

One evening he came out hopping as was his wont. A bit of dead

twig had fallen from the tree overhead. Did he see it fall? I

Cannot say. But this is what was witnessed by more than one. He

took up that twig in his mouth, and sat on his hind legs like a

rodent. The toothless fellow could not bite the stick, but he did

go through a queer performance with it between his big lips, his

lo -fingered hands upon it, as if he was improvising a flute. It

Was a comical sight. It is evident that the creature was playing

with it. "The whole thing was quite deliberate. Perhaps it occu-

684 General Notes. [June,

. pied two minutes—a long time for Bufo to keep his mind on so

abstract a subject. He dropped the stick, hopped away several

feet, then turned round, came back and went through the same

performance again,in exactly the same way. He had now had

his play out, and left for the lawn, bent on the more sober pursuit

of getting his livelihood.

A toad may be made to learn. A friend at whose house wasa

basement, had several toads in the area. Towards evening they

came out with much regularity to feed. It did seem that they

knew her voice. They certainly had learned not to fear her pres-

- ence. Whether they distinguished her from others I do not know—

comparative or experimental observations are usually confined to

naturalists. The observable fact is this: These toads had been

taught reliance upon their benefactors. It was indeed beautifully

said:

— “ The toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”

I claim to have found “the toad-stone.’ The gem is psychic

—a modicum of educability in Bufo’s brain —S. Lockwood.

INTELLIGENCE IN THE ELEPHaNtT.—The following little ee

dent is related as illustrating to what a remarkable oe

reasoning powers of the elephant may be brought out, as H jai

showing the control experienced animal-trainers have pion? P

huge brutes. A medium-sized Asiatic male elephant with the :

T. Barnum and London Shows has been taught to ae

following: Dressed as a German, with a cap perched on = se

he is brought into the ring, and mounting a strong barrel ge

it backward and forward with his four feet. He then x rings

chair, sits on it before a table upon which is placed a bell, his

the bell, orders dinner, eats it, drinks out of a bottle oe =

mouth with a big napkin, fans himself with a palm-leaf ret psi

on his hind legs, his fore legs, on’ his head, lies down, ye head,

upon the ground, rolls over, gets up, holds his trainer on

an organ, walks on bottles arranged in a row, see with his

articles, takes off his clothes with his trunk, rolls a tub things,

nose, sets it on end, sits on it, and many other gie

closing by pushing his trainer out of the ring. Allt

without a word being spoken to him— xchange. í

; ac-

A Story or A Doc.—Sometime during the past wt

cidentally learned the story of a black-and-tan terri siderable

seemed to me so noteworthy that I have been at oes wing Ot

_ pains to authenticate it. I have now received the 10 of Provi-

a from the owner of the dog—Mr. W. S. Granger, a 7

ence, R. L:

“ At Christmas, 188ọ, our family all went to Newport £0 _

188 3.] Psychology. 685

a few days with a relative, Capt. Pitman, and Ponto being a mem-

ber of the family, we took him along, going by rail, and landing

at one end of the city, Capt. Pitman was then living near Elm

and Washington streets, and Ponto remained there a week, but

did not go around the city, and returned home by the same way

that we went. The following summer Capt. Pitman having left

Newport, his father was accustomed to take Ponto occasionally to

Silver Spring (about twelve miles from Providence). One day

arriving at the boat just as it was leaving, he jumped aboard and

left the dog behind. The Newport boat left a few minutes later,

and upon this Ponto jumped, and the boat making no landings,

went on to Newport. Here he disembarked at the other end

of the city, where he had never been, and from thence found

his way to Capt. Pitman’s former residence. The new occupants

tried to turn him away, but he was bound to remain and make

himself at home, which he did until the lady, who was then oc-

cupying the house, could write to Providence, when we sent for

him. Now, how he could have found his way to the house in the

short space of time, and after six months time, and never having

n to the steamboat landing, I cannot tell. When first there,

there had been quite a fall of snow and good sleighing, so that

the whole appearance of the city was changed from his first to his

second visit.” — W. W. Baile)

like, even though it had been swallowed, they would eject it.

The final result has been that the last eighteen months we have

686 General Notes, [June,

and though fond of raw steak, it does not seem to assimilate

nearly as well. Of course meal-worms, spiders and flies are

always their preference, and to these they will help them-

selves freely, though this arises I think largely from their ex-

hibiting life. Generally when hungry they stand with open

mouths calling loudly for us to feed them. Besides beef, pork

and veal as meats (mutton they dislike), their chief diet has been

crackers and cookies, though the latest development is a love for

corn and oatmeals when not ground too fine. For fruits in gen-

eral they do not care particularly. They sing incessantly during

‘ the late winter, spring and summer, but are more silent, though

not wholly so, during the molting period. By their side hangsa

pet robin which sings constantly also, but our closest observation

has failed to recognize from these “ mockers” the first note closely

imitating that of the robin, though they hear it so constantly,

whilst other sounds, as peeping of chickens, mewing Ot a ¢

snarling of puppies, filing a saw, and various bird notes, which

they neither of them have heard, as the cage always hangs in the

dining-room, constitute their chief delight. This has led me to

inquire whether they intentionally produce any of these special

sounds, or whether itis simply ¢heir method of singing. I do not

question but that in some instances they may be taught to follow

strains of music, but do they ever adopt it themselves? For per

sons our birds manifest strong preferences, but they do not seem

and are rather

strange lady, dressed in rather gay colors, undertook to touch on

of them as he sat on my hand, when he was so alarmed D fot

ble to fly, he dropped every tail feather, and stood tran

a moment till she withdrew —MVary E. Holmes. a

Mask1nG oF Crass,—It is a matter of common season

certain species of sea-coast crabs are during the greater E of-

their existence covered with a superficial growth of o

ganisms, such as algæ, sponges, polyps and tunicates, Wil

wise cover inert bodies, and which were consequently pei asa

to find their way to the carapace of the animal in que ;

result of pure accident. Dr. Graeffe, inspector of igr ae

instead of chance governing the location of these vould S

‘sites on the carapace of the crab, their presence nor who,

to the intelligent action of the animal supporting ©) tthe feet,

with of its

such forms as most strictly partake in their ane such a5

colors of the surrounding objects, and conta y ugh the

will be least liable to attract attention. Singular

species of crab thus disguising themselves arè

enough, |

ided on the

1883. | ; Anthropology. 687

back with a peculiar growth of hooked bristles, which tend to

secure the objects placed there, and to retain them until they shall

ave become firmly united or rooted to the mass. The crab is

seemingly aware of the fact that detached or lacerated por-

tions of polyps and sponges are capable of further growth and

development.— American.

ANTHROPOLOGY. '!

American Hero Mytus.—Dr. Daniel G. Brinton is the author

of a new work on American hero myths, published in Philadel-

phia by H. C. Watts & Co. Although professing to deal with

the great heroes, Michabo, Ioskeha, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatli-

poca, Itzamina, Kukulcan, Viracocha, Votan, Gucumatz, Bochico,

&c.,, the work has a wider scope and includes the whole

of a national hero, their mythical teacher and civilizer, often

identified with the supreme deity and creator, who appeared

among the ancestors of the tribe, gave them precious advice and

gifts and disappeared, leaving hopes of his return. As a rule,

each is a twin, or one of four brothers burn at one birth, gener-

ally at the cost of the mother’s life, who is a virgin, or at least

not impregnated by man. The hero struggles with his brother,

or one of his brothers, often involving the universe in repeated

destructions.

In the words of Dr. Brinton : “ All of these myths are trans-

Parent stories of a simple people to express in intelligible terms

the daily struggle that is ever going on between day and night,

between light and darkness, between storm and sunshine.” This

thought is brought out from page to page in a series of charming

Surprises which carries the reader’s attention onward to the end

of the book. : j

"Edited by Professor Oris T. MASON, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

688 General Notes. . (June,

Dr. Brinton thus summarily dismisses the Toltecs: “Who

were these Toltecs? They have hovered about the dawn of Ameri-

can history long enough. It is time they were assigned to their

proper place, and that is among the purely fabulous creations of

the imagination. Toltec, Toltecatl, signifies an inhabitant of Tol-

lan, the city of the Sun, in other words, a child of light. Without

a metaphor, it meant at first one of the far-darting, bright-shining

rays of the sun.”

One of the most delightful of the many pleasing things in the

volume, is the allusion to the ball-play of the stars, and to the

stars as the spots on the great tiger skin of the sky, on p. 119.

To have an exalted appreciation of one’s subject is requisite to

its presentation with such vivacity as to awaken the earnest atten-

tion of the reader. The only danger is, that the writer will be

carried off his feet by his own enthusiasm, and will think the thin

air of speculation to be the solid ground of truth. For instance,

Dr. Brinton strenuously insists that in all the hero myths t

idea of a supreme creator and god of light, superior even to the

sun itself, prevails. It may be so. Some will flatly deny. Others

will say: “ The facts are not so indisputably known as to justify

a dogmatic assertion.” It is apparent that the author has wal

in pleasant converse with Sir George W. Cox and C. P. Tiele.

to the unseen, and has its special ethical code; morality, a

ith reference to our

fellow-men, and has its special ethical code. Each, however, =

pends upon the other, and rules of conduct towards spiri

beings find their rationale in our duty to our fellow-men,

as the contrary. é a

It gives free pleasure to say in answer to what pros .

on p. Ix, that without doubt the Rev. J. Owen oa ae

an Episcopal missionary among the Dacotas, has pare es

myths from the tribe with which he has associated th Myths

known from all Indian tribes when Dr. Brinton wrote his ‘

of the New World.

ATHROPOMETRY.—The following tables on h

ments are given in Hovelacque’s “ Les Races Hu

uman measure —

el ”

5 eight.

Height. Heig

» m

-atagonians...,.1.78™ 5ft. 10 in. Roumanians, «++ mh

Polynesians... .. 1.76 Magyars 1.03

dirogot 5.66"... E3 Sicilians ... e... r

žuineans 1.72 Fins, iecit I.

Cales. . ois. 1.71

Scandinavians.. .1,71 Laps.» «9.950%

Scotch LI Papuans oe ae : a

Danes. .....+--1.68 Veddahs s.. «t ae 50

! :

Bushmen ..--++ 1,40

1883. | Anthropology. 689

Cranial in has long been a subject of inquiry for various

urpose . Hovelacque quotes from Broca the following:

Male.

Female.

ie Ut Rae a Pee See ees aa f: + cu. dm. 1.445

ME: BIRCODS sc) is ace er JA cee EMRE 1.564 1.366

amea. Hamels Ea ea lS wp Rin Ache Aik ee 1.574 1.356

Esquima Vis Cenk tea eee i A 1 428

New Calais Se OVERS Ves Ol are E a 1.330

nea Negroes ......... I ee 1.251

PATRON IAS DOARRE NEEE EE pin nines E T 1.329 1.198

The cephalic index is the ratio of the width to the length of

the skull, alieni ee and for convenience has received

Dolicocephaly .......0.ccec sce c cree esses eenseuases .75 and below.

Sub- dolicocephaly | Kap eus cus oe owe ik <i su Sip dine dines ERS -7501—.777

Mesaticephaly . 0... 05. s-sc0cscccnncsedes seeetadees -7778-.80

Sub ris taal <r Se Sang ApE ape ye RES AE OS Boe oe wae 8001=.8333

Brachycephaly,........00 secesccvecconsvesucssssess .8334 and upwards,

The races of men have been measured with a view to ascer-

taining their cephalic index. There are those who strenuously

Maintain that no evidence of race can be found in these measure-

ments, notably, of late, Mikluko-Maclay, respecting the Papuans ;

on the other hand, the utmost confidence is reposed in them by

others. M. Hovelacque furnishes the following table:

e T 5 Odes ca ey uke On: 71 Span. Basques......+++--+- ra

Veddahs UE g | Bas seiere ee ie

PEPE AEE TOEO TAE TE Gens 71 Annamites.. s.s.s... AGAN a

Pagonims 3.25) oa gan E uthenes (Slav. Wick aye he ‘82

I fttentots Sows cuss sb can ee 72 lagy r o ee PEE ES .82

C ya HO oe palo, Gy Sere! . .72 So. Germans ......+.-+++05

GOME a e Ai nun ee 0s qa. EA ches "(Slavs of Bohemia). .

{ hic ne ade sc eO Bes E sig 73 Croats... 2. ce ee ence eee e eee

MN R = 0 Se ee 74 preng eti P E E 84

Egyptian 76 Auvergnats .......0+-+-+++ ‘84

Poliesans hs eee oes 76 Savoyards ....00.+--+-ee08 85

Ainos 27D © Lapis ces vase cce cutee ses P AS

a a E E A eyes 17

The orbital index is another character of racial importance, it

is the ratio of the height to the width of the orbital cavity. A

few sok will show the variation in this regard :

E E debs .. -804 Auvergnats.....-.sseeeees 865

ah r Caledonians. perk na p006 Indo-Chinese TRTO

E E cee cs ... 836 Javanese. .... .. 9I

arenai Uaioe e i so - 84 Polynesians .....+++++++++ 92

Croats . iat "845 Chinese. ..... ee 938

The number of parts thus amenable to measurement are

counted by the hundred, M. Topinard gives 105 in the “ Peedi

et Procédés craniometriques de Broca.” The subject of asym-

metry as related to crime and atavism has been tsia aiy

forward by the trial of Guiteau, the assassin.

Diatecrs or Borivian Inpians—Dr. Edwin R. Heath, after a

three years’ residence in the department of Beni, in South Amer-

690 General Notes. June,

ica, contributes to the Kansas City Review (vi, 12) a paper of great

value upon the Indians of Bolivia, accompanied with seven vocabu-

laries. In the north-western part of Bolivia, along the Rivers Beni,

Mamore and Yacuma, are various tribes of Indians, some civilized,

others still savage, each having its distinct language, even though

living side by side, having constant intercourse and intermarry-

ing. The tribes mentioned in Dr. Heath’s paper are arranged

here in alphabetical order for ready reference:

Araunas——A cannibal tribe on the banks of the Madre de

Dios, a branch of the Purus, in N. W. Bolivia. Evidences of

. their cannibalism are given. They wear the hair long, go naked,

and are greatly feared by the Pacavaras and Cavinas.

ancaparangas—A savage tribe on the Madeira river, above

San Antonio falls, as far as the borders of Bolivia.. Dangerous to

travelers,

Canichanas.—A civilized tribe at San Pedro, on the Mamore, à

tributary of the Madeira. They resemble the Mobinas in stature

but are lean and bony. Vocabulary in the Kansas City Renew.

Cavinas——A mission on the Madidi river, just above its june

tion with the Beni in Bolivia. Reduced to seventy souls. Speak

the Tacana language. Ma-

Cayuabas or Cayowas.—In and around Exaltacion, on the M

more river. Well formed, average height 5% ft. Vocabulary 10

Kansas City Review. ;

Chicas On the west side of the Mamore, from Erat

to mouth of the Beni. Once in the Cayuaba mission but no

returned to savagery.

Mei A. caves tribe on the east side of the Ma

from Exaltacion to the mouth of the Guapore. They are a

ror to all who ascend the river. e Ive miles

Maropas.—On the east side of the Beni river, twe oE Maro-

from the river at the little town of Reyes. Related to the

. Vocabulary in Kansas City Review. ~ a a

Sabina al eke Gants Ana, mge Yacuna river, Bolivia Ia

nine miles south of Exaltacion. Vocabulary in Kansas Coia

Mosetenas.—At the missions of Muchanes, Santa a civilized,

at the head waters of the Beni river. They are partia age in

spin and weave, practice couvade. Customs and V

Kansas City Rev. een 11° and

Pacavaras—A small tribe on the Beni river, ee women

12° south, only twenty souls, almost white, well salary i Kai-

handsome, features Caucasoid. Customs and vocabu

sas City Rev. ae former

Tacanas— Divided into civilized and uncivilized; he

reside at the village of Tumupasa, lat. 14° S twenty thewest Of

of Beni river; the latter at Ysiamas, fifteen miles ' ae

Tumupasa. Vocabulary in Kansas City Kev.

Trinitarias—Reside in Trinidad, Bolivia. .

1883.] Anthropology. 691

Race COLOR AND NATURAL SELEcTION.—The fact that Mr. Dar-

win rejected natural selection as a factor in the production of the

difference of color in the different races of men, naturally prompts

a spirit of deference in offering the following views, notwith-

standing the well-known fact that he courted intelligent criticism

of his conclusions.

That color by its harmony with general or special surroundings,

in many cases not only assists animals in evading discovery and

destruction, but enables the Carnivora to secure their prey more

readily, is undisputed; yet sexual selection seems to be regarded

by Darwin as the principal if not sole cause of the difference of

race color in man.

Regarding a problem so involved, comprehending as it doubt-

less does the joint operation of several factors, possibly including

some that are unknown, it would be rash to do more than sug-

gest the probable.

When we reflect that there is good reason to believe that Africa

and the Asiatic isles were the birth-place of the human race, and

that it inherited from an ancestral form the dusky hue of the

old world primates, and then call to mind the luxuriant foliage of

the tropics that produces a deep gloom even at noonday, and

then consider the advantages that the dark hue of the skin would,

under such circumstances and with the body in a nude state,

give to its possessor, not only in the successful pursuit of the

chase and evasion of the Carnivora, but in the savage contests so

common among primitive and uncivilized peoples; may it not

fairly be inferred that natural selection played, and is still playing,

Sexual selection is one cause of the divergence from the origin

black, natural selection having long been rendered inoperative

¥ Descent of Man,” Part 1, Chap. vit.

VOL. xviI.—no. vr. u:

692 Scientific News. [June,

4 re

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The Appalachian Mountain Club has issued its Register for

1883, containing its by-laws, list of members, etc. A fresh num-

ber of its journal, Appalachia, was issued in April. Among the `

leading articles are Professor E. C. Pickerings’s on mountain ob- —

servations, A. E. Scott’s on the Twin Mountain range, and Mr. W. —

O. Crosby’s on the mountains of Eastern Cuba, in which he -

claims that Cuba has, in Post-tertiary times, been an area of ex-

tensive elevation, the, reefs fringing its mountains to a height of

nearly 2000 feet affording indisputable evidence. But he ques-

tions whether these reefs were formed while the land was actually :

rising. The reefs in fact are witnesses both for elevation and sub- —

sidence, “testifying with nearly equal distinctness to both elevation

and subsidence.” The coast of Cuba is said not to be probably

rising now, at least not at all points. Hence Mr. Crosby dots

not agree with Mr. A. Agassiz, who claims that the West Indian -

reefs, at least that of Alcaran, were formed during the elevation :

of the sea bottom, but accepts Darwin’s theory as an adequate —

explanation of the elevated reefs of the Greater Antilles ; and i :

claims that the upheaval of this portion of the earth’s crust rere

been interrupted by periods of profound subsidence, during With —

the reefs were formed. “The subsidence of 2000 feet, 0 Ae :

El Yungne is a monument, must have reduced the. Greater i :

tilles to a few lines of small but high and rugged islands; m

as Mr. Bland has shown, fully accounts for the absence, 1m A

immense tracts, of all large land animals, although they A

abundant here in Pliocene and earlier times.” ae

— An interesting lecture, by M. A. Milne-Edwards, a hee

deep-sea researches carried on during the recent ie a x

Travailleur, appears in the Annals de Chimie et de aha ie eao

other things, the author says, they often came across awa :

stance, at one time thought so important, called Bathybius, ane es

verified the conclusion already come to, thi iv a mae

down from its high pedestal. Bathybius is merely @ id when

red ar a

ive in the ak

830ft.). baer

Plants alone

g substances,

“Therefore the food prepared at the surface, un

of the sun’s rays, must gradually fall, like eer’

the submarine wastes where no plant canlive. —

1883.] ‘ Scientific News, 693

— The question whether ostriches will breed in this State seems

settled by what has occurred at Woodward's Gardens within the

last few days. One of the female birds at that resort has com-

menced laying eggs and bids fair to continue in the work for some

time. The first was laid on Tuesday and the second yester-

day. One of them weighs three and a-half pounds, is four

and a-half inches in lateral diameter and seven inches in

longitudinal diameter. The ostrich lays every alternate day

ose who have examined into ostrich farming are so confident

of its success that a corporation has been formed for that pur-

pose, with a capital stock of $30,000, all of it taken, called the

California Ostrich Farming Company. A tract of 640 acres has

also been secured on the old Abel Stearns ranch, near Ana-

heim, in Los Angeles county, which will be under the superin-

tendence of Dr. C. J. Sketchley, formerly of Cape Town and an

5, paca ostrich farmer.—San Francisco Chronicle, March 2,

1883.

— Ina recent lecture delivered at Leeds, says the English Me-

chanic, the Rev. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S., spoke on the bearing of

Strike them was that the two forms were actually alike, but the

one might be inserted into the blood of a human patient and be

perfectly harmless; whereas the other, if inserted into the blood

of a human patient, would cause death; so that the function was

absolutely unlike.

Chall enger made her deepest sounding, of 3862 fathoms. It was

inside a basin—that is, many hundred fathoms down it was

‘nclosed by a ridge. The temperature of the water at this great

ao ies Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained 22 eggs each, and the fourth

in’s Zoology ofthe Beagle. The number 9

694 Scientific News. [June,

depth was 36 degrees. It is a curious fact in connection with

such basins as this that the water of the bottom of them is of

exactly the same temperature as that which runs over the topof

the ridge several hundred fathoms above. The specimen of the

bottom secured at this sounding showed a soft, brown ooze, with

evidences of animal life——Sczentific American.

— The Division of Entomology, Department of Agriculture,

has begun the publication of a Bulletin. No. 1 contains reports

of experiments, chiefly with kerosene, upon the insects injuriously

affecting the orange tree and the cotton plant, made under direc-

tion of the entomologist, Professor Riley. The second number

includes the report by Mr. Lawrence Bruner, of his observations

upon the distribution of the Rocky Mountain locust, in British

North America, in 1882, in the region of Fort McLeod, and the

Cypress hills and neighboring regions. Mr. S. A. Forbes com

tributes memoranda of experiments relating to the use of kero-

sene emulsions on chinch bugs. The correspondence contains

items of considerable entomological interest.

— An interesting case of breeding is reported from ee

viz., the fruitful pairing at Halle, of a Gayal bull from India with

a cow of the long-horned African Zebu race, from the Soudan.

The latter belongs to the oldest races of horned cattle, whose

forms, as the figures on ancient Egyptian monuments witness,

ave remained the same for thousands of years. The result shows

(as Herr Kühn points out) that such animals of primitiv A z

which have been so long subject to the same conditions ot 1%)

may, with suitable treatment, prove to be unweakened bret

power of reproduction, even when placed in circumstances po

differ in the most extreme ways from those of their :

reached h

from America. They have been sent over by Lore Do a

hope that it may be possible to introduce the breed m Agis

lands, They are at present housed in the Duke O“ SThe

pheasantry, at Glengary, and are to be turned out in May. hich

Duke has recently imported a number of Soot

have been set free in the woods of mae ae |

be able to jud hether the experiment w1 | ee

judge w er p he Sadd Laboratory

at Annisquam, Mass., will be open for the reception 2 1883 i

during the coming summer from July Ist to Septem Natural

The laboratory is carried on under the Boston we ede oman’s

History through the liberality and cooperation 0 a7 i

Education Association. ed to the :

— Dr. E. R. Showwalter, of Mobile, Ala., has Pa Sesils and ma

University of Alabama his valuable collection © o spec

rine and fresh water shells, embracing more

mens, together with a fine library of scientifi

to take rank among the best collections in the

1883. } Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 695

— The King of Italy has conferred on Professor James Hall,

of Albany, the decoration of commander of the order of St. Mauri-

tius and St. Lazarus. He has also presented Dr. T. Sterry Hunt,

of Boston, the decoration of officer of St. Mauritius and St.

rus.

— A despatch from Berlin says that William Charles Hartwig

Peters, the German naturalist and traveler, is dead. Professor Pe-

ters was born in Coldenbiittel, Schleswig, April 22, 1815. He -

studied in Copenhagen and Berlin. He became known to the

public by his exploration, from 1842 to 1847, under the auspices

of the Prussian Government, of Mozambique, which he described

ina work of four volumes, published between 1852 and 1868.

From this work Bleek compiled his “ Languages of Mozambique”

(London, 1856). Professor Peters was connected for many years

with the medical department of the University of Berlin, and in

1857 he succeeded Lichtenstein as Professor of Zoology and

Director of the Zodlogical Collections. Professor Peters resem-

bled an Englishman or Dane rather than a German. His temper-

ament was rather sanguine, and his mental and physical move-

ments more rapid than is usual with the Germans. He was an

accute zoologist. and an untiring worker. His most important

contributions are in the department of Vertebrata. He leaves a

considerable family.

20:

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Nationa Acapemy or Scrences.—The annual stated session

of the National Academy of Sciences was held in Washington,

D. C., commencing Tuesday, April 17, 1883, at I1 A. M., at the

National Museum. The following papers were read :

1. On the genesis of metalliferous veins, by Joseph LeConte;

2. On the composition of the venom of serpents, by S. Weir

Mitchell and E. T. Reichert: 3. On the change in the properties

Atoms and Atomic groups caused by a change in the position

of a molecule, by Ira Remsen; 4. On the nascent state of oxy-

gen, by Ira Remsen; 5. On barometric gradients, by Elias

Oomis; 6. On the structure of the skull in Hadrosauride, by

D. ope; 7. Determination of the inequalities of the moon’s

Plement to Delaunay’s “ Theorie du Mouvement de la Lune,” by

N W: Hill; 8. Maxima and minima tide-predicting machine (ex-

hibition

tn, Photography, by H. A. Rowland; 15. Some experiments

Pon a method of forming a visible image of the solar corona, by

696 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [June, i

A. W. Wright; 16. On the phosphorescence of sulphate of qui-

nine, by A. W. Wright; 17. Further generalızations regarding

complex inorganic acids, by Wolcott Gibbs; 18. The Fauna of —

the Gulf of Mexico, by A. Agassiz; 19. On the great object-glass —

made by Alvan Clark & Sons for the Pulkowa Observatory, by

Otto von Struve. ‘

The following foreign associates were elected: Struve, Adams, —

. Cayley, Clausius, Dumas, Helmholtz, Kirchoff, Pasteur, Stokes, —

Sylvester, Hooker, Thomson, Anvers, Bertrand, Huxley, Virchow, —

Berthelot, Boussingault, Chevreul, De Candolle, Kölliker, Oppol-

zer,.Richthofen, Wurtz. 7

The following members were elected : Gilbert, Bell and Billings —

of Washington, and Hill and Jackson of Cambridge, Mass.

The following officers were elected: O. C. Marsh, president;

Simon Newcomb, vice-president; Asaph Hall, home secretary; —

and Professor Young, to fill a vacancy in the council. at

SITZUNGSBERICHT DER GESELLSCHAFT NATURFORSCHENDER —

FREUNDE zu BERLIN. 1882.-—Jan. 17. Herr P. Ascherson ex- —

hibited some leaves of Sar safsaf Forsk., and some petals r

Alcea ficifolia L., brought by Herr G. Schweinfurth from the

to the twentieth dynasty. Salix safsafis at the present timè —

common in Egypt and in the oases, and the dried leaves ex bited, | l

though at least 3437 years old, closėly resemble those of the fe

cent plant in texture and nervation. Alcea ficifolia is not indigem ;

ous in Egypt, but is commonly cultivated there, and its ocom

assertion of Blackwall, viz., that it is effected by means of

dation of a gummy nature; Herr Max Bertels show e

made by A. Bosjesman, and spoke of the coexistence of

power of design, with a low state of culture in other res 2

men, Eskimo, etc.; Herr W. Peters described three new S| i

Hyperolius and one of Limnodytis, batrachians from 908 aes

rica. pecimens eok

W. Eichter spoke upon ©

apan; Herr W. Peters described a new

marked variety of the ophidian genus Macroprotom™

rocco.

1882. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 697

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SociEtTy.—May 19.—“ A contribu-

tion toa Monograph of the North American Syrphide,” by Dr. S.

W. Williston, was presented ; Professor Cope read a paper upon

the “ Classification of the Ungulate Mammalia.”

June 16—Horace F. Jayne, M.D., presented a communication

entitled “ Revision of the Dermestide of the United States ;”

and a paper entitled “ Radiant Heat an Exception to the second

law of Thermodynamics,” by H. T. Eddy, of the University of

Cincinnati, was also read.

ug. 18.—Dr. Genth read a paper entitled “ Contributions from

the Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania.”

Sept. 15.--Professor Cope exhibited and described some re-

markable new fossil forms from the Permian rocks of Texas, and

communicated a “ Third Contribution to the History of the Ver-

tebrata of the Permian formation in Texas.”

Oct. 6.—Professor Lewis read a paper on the Terminal Moraine

in Pennsylvania ; Mr. Chase communicated a sixth series of Pho-

todynamic notes; Professor Cope described Meniscéessus conguistus,

the first mammalian species discovered in the Cretaceous.

Oct. 20—Dr. H. C. Wood offered for publication in the Transac-

tions a memoir entitled “ On the nature of Diphtheria, a clinical

and experimental research, by Drs. H. C. Wood and H. F. For-

mad ;” Commodore E. Y. McCauley offered for publication in

the Transactions a Dictionary of the Egyptian language ; Professor

I. C. White’s communication on the “ Geology of the Cheat river,

West Virginia,” was read; Professor Claypole’s notes on the

= Commingling of fossil forms,” “ The discovery of Holoptychtus

americanus low in the Chemung, at Leroy, Bradford Co., Pa,” and

on a mistake in the Geological map of Bradford county, were

read; Mr. Lesley described “ Some recent observations of the

amount of ice erosion along the crest of the Kittatinny moun-

tain,” by Professor H. C. Lewis; Professor Cope communicated

a catalogue of fifty-eight species entitled “ Synopsis of the Verte-

brata of the Puerco Eocene epoch,” and a paper “On the system-

atic relations of the Carnivora.”

Ov. 3.—Mr. Lesley exhibited some of the recent publications

Of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, and showed

ow near completion it now is. : :

Dec. tMr. Lesley made some remarks on the Egyptian

character of certain Hebrew names. The wser, or jackal-headed

, Was in use in royal names from the 4th to the 19th dynasty,

and the Hebrew name Zs'ral, corresponds with the hieroglyphic

Usrra, Esau is the Edomite Sasu. ee

vie Jan. 5.—Professor Cope communicated a paper entitled * First

Addition to the Fauna of the Puerco Eocene.”

Jan. 19.—A committee of three were appointed to draw up a

_ Memorial to Congress urging the continuance of the Light-house

6gp Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [June, 1883. i

Board and of the Coast Survey under the direction and control of

the United States Treasury Department.

eb. 2——Dr. Rothrock read a memoir on the microscopic dif

ferences in woods; and after discussion, with special reference to

the occurrence of abnormal rings in the timber, Mr. Price re-

marked that Dr. Rothrock’s important practical discovery was the

direct result of the practical use to which the American Philo-

sophical Society had put its portion of the Michaux legacy; Dr.

Frazer presented a paper entitled “Some comparative tabl

showing the distribution of Ferns in the United States, by G. E.

Davenport. is

Feb. 16—Professor H. C. Lewis introduced a discussion upon :

the thickness and movement of the Continental glacier. i Ha

March 2.—Mr. H. Hale read a paper on the Tutelo Indians and

PN,

March 16.—Dr. Brinton read a paper by Professor T. F. Crane, 3

of Cornell University, entitled “ On Mediæval Books and Ston :

Professor Cope communicated a paper entitled “ Fourth opum

tion to the History of the Permian Formation of Texas.

BrotocicaL Socrery or Wasgıncron—April imee ?

cations were read by Professor L. F. Ward, on the Hybri Ar

of the District of Columbia; by Mr. B. F. Johnson, pae T

servations on the climbing of snakes ; Professor C. V. Ri Nee E

remarks on the bag- worm ( Thyridopteryx epheme aj of the

W. True on the tape-worm and other parasites ın the egg Mat

domestic fowl ; Dr. Thomas Taylor on the living parasiti

the lungs, cavities and tissue of domestic fowl, and Mil

der on the muskrat (Fiber zibethicus) in captivity.

Se apr ee ee a ee ee eta UE, Be Ce, oi a a get ee ae a a

re .

Boston Society of NATURAL a v Ai

Fred. Wright read a paper on the glacial phenom" es.

Mr. S. Garman presented a few notes on the fossil horse

on the condition and doings of the society. The ae

were elected. The rest of the evening was give? 4 bull

the altar-mounds and sacrificial rites of the ne

the Ohio valley, by Mr. F. W. Putnam. 2

e *

ee AN” l

INDEX.

pn meak ears E hs

Academy, arser ey Sciences, 59, 627, 695.

a s mitchelli ? 160,

Shenial b

ele,

, Sense rt gp in, 219,

ssociation, IT.

Akebia, aa Kom leaves of, 117.

ies. om

Albite

Alcea fcifolia, 696.

Alpe g BE bewildered snow-bird, 105.

sory zi , Addendum to article on the compass

Ameba, 97,

Amphibian eggs, cutting, 572.

Amphicyon cus 237.

gnarl A 237.

Lee rin

364.

Artemia salina. gs”

Arthur le of, 505.

Rl aba Carly drania i

Arvicola, late Tertiary, 373. i

Asia, geograph eve 528, 64x.

onian talismans, 452.

Buell — a

of, r12.

ogy

Bat, o f wings of,

Ree? r

Battey, T, J., freshly hatched young of horse-

in germination, r2,

Bear, Ramp, W.A in, 448.

Beauchamp, W. M., distributian of Unio pressus,

3» 54, 55.

Be pr pase A oak ll 334-

gconomie r

Rootes, aag wie ine a riae

Bulgaria

Burrill, T Ty new species of Micrococcus, 319-

700

Butterfly hunting, 363.

mistaken instinct in, 196.

Cacao, 116.

Caddis Sy. a

Calama: Oas ceous, ag

Calendula, eo hai of, 3

Ca ~~. = > = ie la Campeloma of

Campbell, D yiia development of male prothal-

lium of horsetail, to.

gy of, 408.

Canidæ, extinct,

Canis latrans, si

lupus, oe.

microtis, 215.

Mewes in New England, 453,

Caprellic 33-

Capybara, fossil, +37.

Carabidz, fo at o

tions u birds, 418.

Cirbomlerius e Is, 4

Carson footprints

Carterella, 335.

Castoroides - soe

ulatus, a "Sts 55-

Caterpillars, 32 323.

dried leaves as food for, 423.

Catskill Kas of M iddle Pennsylvania, 274.

Cave flat-worm

cat a pa in gym perms,

e e p

99»

Cerat S peame A ag 675.

Ceratostoma albocosonatum , 318.

subulatum, 318.

Culcdeshole panna 503.

ta, 504.

dbourne, ~ A. thei 462.

panaee, habits in confinement, 119.

Chiteptera a omy of, 332

Chloroform, ‘se pr in imbedding, 345-

Cholesterin, 98.

is addope, 33.

224.

aoi

atory o

Grae en, fastinct of the seventeen year

oO.

occurrence of ~ fossiliferous

ta in the. lower Ponen

(Caska, Bi of Middle

Coal, anthracite, 1,

Cocci inellidz, fond a

rela tions ko birds, 418.

Coccosteus gn

Coclenterates

2 , 660,

bitoroides,

Bodon ie AAA. Pa

Index.

Cope, E. D. —_— of Cory

girise oscil ‘mammals of Ronzon,

nus codus

Coraes d on Elasmotherium, 72.

pene on Indian Mammalia,

Nation al Academy of Sciences, 627-

Nevada be d tracks,

note on the pe et E oas

superior molar, ang adi he of

R Neuroptera of

iwo new genera of Pythonomon,

Uint tatherium and Bathmodon, 68.

= pe pote, Ee Aefa, 427-

opepo

gi CF? heseroeaial nesis in, 208.

Copper artefacts, American, 452.

oe 315.

Coral, 5

Corea 568.

Corn, Yadian.

Corthylus pinedes inisi 84.

orvus ossifragus, 324.

Coryphodon, 406.

ow, 359-

Cowrie, 2

ame he hoe, gr.

ra orse: : oe

g of, 686.

Crane, pees aa fi , 360.

reeper, ee and white, 103.

Farii e

Cretaceous fils, 499.

mollusks, 536.

Crinoidea, 53

Crioceris isepunctat, 199-

Crow, fish, 3 +. x

Crustacea, be sa Pore ee

copepod, 8%

ont > bi a, 296 219

‘00 i

sal jon ture of oot dian

Cryolite

Gry ryote 7 Ha, lentaginis, 195-

Cesas, pseudosym ae r

Ctenacanthus rap fe go

Cuba, coral reefs of, 692

Catalans cipt "386.

a a oar us, 95

en ao ar?

Game 38 Pe

pee 499»

Daisy, hairs p 33. gian

Dall, W. H.,

wee

Darwin, C a;

Index. 701

Deta Shell ot 660, of the Travailleur, 92, 97.

Dermatea j “os “ag 192.

Dermestidz

Devonian ba. 3to. Pi

geology, 53

veii censat, 316.

e properties of, 440.

herium manigat, 309 309, 466. i

Diplax rubicundula, 548.

5 ana 349.

» 44 3+

Pistichopus rice dh 118.

Dogs, extinct of = N. America, 235.

Dog’s a x

Drawing Apparatus, 22

Dreams, 338. n

Dumreicherite, 651.

Earth, changes of pa of, 20.

ven ae

„41I

ermata, 436.

circulation of, 436.

fission in, 42

hybridization i in, 436.

f North American

Fungi, t92, re

Notice S “green Sylloge Fun-

Embryology, 336

Enchytræus ve vermicularis, 118.

mini

Sek P. ž ning region of Southern New

les 2

Entomol cated works, ar

» 558. ss

rasitic worms

Entoptychus cavifrons, 169. gene

Crassiramus, 168

nbdoidais 169

p! ns

Epeira, 463. ‘

Epischura fluviatiiis, 384.

Equisetum arvense, ous ik eia of, 10.

strigosum

Ermine, 214,

i 3) 555. 7

; aie les, 436.

S foordii, r6z. >

Fasciola hepatica, 435, 551.

Fat cel, 4a 444.

Faxon, W. Se agg pepe of Penzeus, 554.

Feathite, color 559.

Fewkes, J. W. pr A n of Tetraplatia volitans,

Alaurina prolifera, 668,

annelid messmates with a coral,

x tentacular knobs of

occurrence of of Alea na in New

"eae waters, 426.

sucker on the fin of the Hetero-

character-

La oes a cators, 663.

Filaria in nore s eye, 348,

Fire-fly,

Fish, 230,

ba, “

e of, 96, 97.

Fishes, foasil, was yoass..

of Florida and Texas, 331.

f ee nga p = pe k

parasites in, 5

Fluke, sheep, 551,

worm, 435.

Fly, cluster, 82.

Foon bebe: 337-

Forbes, S. A., A Scolopendrelia in Hlinois, 91.

So ; Bay of, tides of, 649.

North ios 192.

Galecynus geismarianus, 240+

Germs, disease, 2

Gillman, H. 1, discovery of m mound relics at Devil's

Gold habs si'e precipitant for, 632.

native, alloys, ien

Gaber. Pai,

Gomun ae to botany, 544.

Grasses, 6: "or

ian stone,

Gay ke Fs Bithynia i tentaculata, 205

ties for. Limax maximus,

remarks on the distribution of Mar-

Hae Soh 9 ogy of the Chester valley of

a , 646.

awk: conkon tailed, 344.

702

Hazel, male flowers, 117.

Heart, physiology of, 215.

sound, akg cond, 560, _

Heliothine,

parswa st nore 323.

sap he vetus, ie

Helix hemas

augos 312

Herrick, C. T blind bes on sil of the family Har-

pactici

heterogenctic™ d development in

ia s, 381

Herrings, kind of, 330.

espe „aaka. y s nematodon, 165.

Heteropo

Hibernation of j f jumping mouse, 334.

Hippa ta

His, she i pe a

Holmes, M, E., fabi ts a a caged robin, 102.

n, eal ita man, 464.

Horse’s we. "Filaria in, 3

Human anatomy, ‘Allon oa

Hunt, as S., decay of rocks EPE a a consid-

ere

O ndi hasy basilatus, 246.

orius, ieh 46.

Hydrochæru is eh:

Hybridization of Seek G trout and grayling, 671.

of cattle;

Hydrozoa, reproduction in, 432.

Hypoxylon holwayii, 393.

piceum,

Hyco, pg

Hysterium sphæri aceum, 193.

Idotæa tricuspidata, 438.

Imbedding, ore phos, 574.

Indiana, no

Indian pose

ladim, ‘Bolivian, dialects of, 689.

merican, music of, 226.

hiss, ite, pera

Infusoria, ye

Infusoria

Ingersoll, E w in oa and its history, 467.

Insa

pigas as food for

amagin. ave pit, 20.

effects of birds — 4 s

hearing in,

inheritance ig social instincts among,

mouth- -parts of, 631, 664.

a 64.

ames, J. Yo, 08

Parma, le

ohnson, PEE cars as a means of dissemi-

nating moths, 545.

Kayowe phonetics, 107.

King, F. oe instinct and memory exhibited by

the ing squirrel in arsaya a a

thought vos imig — of wings in , 36.

Kunckelia gy

Lagomys — 379»

Lamprey

Microscopie sections, eee

Index.

Lampyris 337-

Land-slips, 532

onsen rif

Leptospheeria stereicola, 317.

AEP 316.

Lepus ennisia

Liatris sanik ys of, 33-

Life, nature of, 234.

Limax m aximus, 205.

Limulus, ER

ES Society ‘of E New ork, prsi

Lippincott, J.S v Seer of omens coal in

nature a

Lockington, W. K. comparisons of strength be-

bai soe ba and =r — , 677,

ood, S., bufo at play, 683.

veoh apc in a horned

Lophiostoma aa wre

Lopholatilus, gr.

Lucilia macellaria, 423.

uumbriculus » 333.

um bricus agric ola, 435.

Lysiopetalidæ, 326, 555.

researches of, 449.

l M.

ae achenial hairs bay fibers of Com-

Nao

Ġ.,

germin

n, PE of, 343+ 455»

roa

—_ States, 275.

margaritifera, 324-

D., aboriginal

TA d the gm osed in

Measles, bacteria of, 458.

Megilla ta, 320. K

Melanconis apocrypta, 194-

decoraensis, 195.

ye -d :

Melipona, 340. P

Mendenhall, N. note = Mutilla, 323-

Meniscom

oe ee olophus, 53:

hi ræ e aa a scolytid

Meniscotherium ter rare

CH. ae. aa a stern =

Meteostsin, 37

Mexican Bn 453

Miacidz, 2

Mice,

Michi

ios , 229, 233, 44?

crocóccus, 443.

: g gallicidus, 370,

torum, 319-

ake pe .

toxicatus, 319.

Minnesota, geo

Mite, in fowls, 422

Index.

deep-sea, a

ena

preteens = shell of, 427.

orris, C., nic physics, r 135, 259.

organization of animals, 486.

es» vs, La a e 549.

Mosses,

Murtieldt, Th E., mistaken, in a butterfly, 196.

Muscov vite, 5

Mss, 2 — of Natural History, 297.

Maine perdi Oe 463-

Nearetic fauna, 465.

en +94,

ew Je

New Guinea, 304..

New Mexico, mining region, 149.

nag » 560.

Orohippus, 465.

Osborne, H. cy Sart al maaan shee, go.

Packard, A. S. sont cave- caves ahabiting mg Between, S.

po s of P des

ene ar mus

eyes,

note on spawning time of

Penzus, go.

703

Pelagic animals, 572.

Crustacea,

Penæus, metamorphosis of, 90, 554.

Pennsylvania, 523, bat.

Phaneropleu curtum, 160.

Pheasants, pt hag 431.

Phenacodus, 53

Philadelphia county, geology of, 6s.

Phosphorescence es nsects, ie

Phylloxera, 399+

419.

ire Poser 135, 2

Physogmonep, bates, aed

as t non *

Pere maiden, 651.

Picus iregi y

Pig

Piftdium, 94 9

Pillsbury, Bat bresa maximus in Central

Pinen moth, 5.

Pitcher plent:

Plains Michigan, 249.

Plants go Sa hg wei of species of, 416.

Sanie piena

Pleslarctoays Sit 45, 46.

Pleurolicus coca 167.

rys, ag

Pleurotoma pois

Retr snake, 26.

Polydesm „Dew species with eyes, 428.

ay culatus, 327.

vibraculum of, 95.

Ponent, lower, of — Pennsylvania, 274.

Porcupine, fossil, 3

Porto Alegre, 357, 4 a.

Potatoes, wild, oog, of, 415.

Princetun Scientific Expedition, 408.

Prodoxus, 197.

Pronuba, 197.

Proteus, 2 ot

Prothallium, male, of horsetail, ro.

Protozoa, 557, 567-

preserving and staining, 457.

Puff reais a”

n, :

Python heart of, during incubation, 335-

Pythonomorpha, 72.

Quaternary plants, 410.

pa ra

us, 1

amphorhynchus, 192. ee

, Indian stone graves, 130.

peg “white, 332.

Reptiles, 97-

eptiles, anatomy of,

Rhode Island, early

704

fertilization bed ators

structural a seamke cal pecu-

liarities in Presube and Prodoxus,

fostering the _— of economic

entomology, 420

gall-making ‘ortric

hibernation of Aletia xylina in the

3 420.

possible be of the cotton

i hog

natural sugaring, I

number of molts tat length of lar-

val life as in pee r wi food, 547.

wheat-stalk Iosoma,

obin, 102.

Rocks, decay of, 645.

Rodentia, extinct og North America, 43.

origin

—— of nh, oai effects of a varying,

Rotifer, 212, 463, 551.

Kast my oy yen

Rot in shee

Ryder, J. rie s green — = = Fra er, 86.

avity in embryo

mr ‘fishes, 98

Saliva, 562.

Salix sa pe 696.

Satyrus a

Sauropterygia, 536,

Scapholeberis s angulata, 502

49, 50.

Scolseninorphas eies. 438.

Se exe ndrella,

na, 92.

Scoria, 555.

poiso noi 219.

omy cide 446.

Screw worm n Central Aneli: 423.

Selache poir ae 2I

» 545.

$ conyzoides; hairs of, 33.

erpentine

Sex in the embryo, determination of, 441.

97-

Shark, os.

Shell, Br id scan, "growth of, go.

money,

of Commies and mollusks, 427.

enue

; fresh-wate; r, 96.

Silica, Selatinous, 5 8.

Of, 444.

Sil phon | lactone, 542.

Silurian fossils, 408

Simocephalus zen, 503,

Skin vision, 68

N Anae. ‘sactlae expedition,

Smith, S. I, supposed origin of the species of

Dopik the Bonin islands,

42 p

Snake bird, 556.

blind, 438.

coral, bite of, 26,

Snow bird, ros.

Index.

Society of wa og of the Eastern U. S., 575.

Solanum fendleri,

jam esii, 415 5.

tuberosum, 415,

dpi V. M;

249.

bebe. i resets, 440.

Spherella ilici j

x n

Squirrel, flying, 36.

Bs sil, 43.

Steppe m

ammals, 537. i ji

Stone, cup- — 107, ytd

image,

Streets, T. H. study ro the inet ae

the North Am w ‘shrikes, , to show

amon progenitor; 589+ (i

Sug:

Sula cyano

Stn eed natura

school, the eee 114.

Seaton; chimney, n nest of, 118,

Syllophodus, 47.

Tadpoles, mouth of, 670.

Taligrada, 406.

Tapir

, 630

Telea "poly phieny s, 664.

‘Temaocyon ages, 258.

Tertiary og eat t a Atlantic slope, 308.

410.

Rodentia, 43-

Tetraplatia ventas 426,

Tile fish, gt, 96.

‘in, 515.

Tinea pore 323+

sone ella, 323-

zella, 323.

Tita rnanko tayoli, 436.

Toad, oe 5, 683. Seti á

. "3 a ji

Todd, J. E. a small Belostoma mee :

marctus brevirostris 2

Towsse ndia grandiflora, ha hairs of, 33-

na, Mi . £79; S47 we

oderma h ”

Trout, ne Am {the N- tien

Turner, E anec

+ 539.

ent bicolor, 193-

Uintatherium, 68. 2 ee

Unionidz, 203+

Unio pressus, 204, 433.

Uredines, 656.

Urnatella gracilis, 466.

S, 316.

en, A, G., at ior ecker,

om dente

Vegetable pene th a E

technology, w s, 67.

ercenari

ce et embryolog

rimordial Pon nF ved of, 429.

Vertebrate head, segmentation of, 21

S visection, 175.

Volvox x globator, 578.

Vortex cavicolens, 89.

am: 467.

Wapati, 359.

ax- 117

Mia ete Oe E

e black pia white

Index. 705

Wells, ‘eae i 533

Whale, Biscayan, 432,

ine?

ihe. of invertebrate palzon-

logy int . S. for 1882, 598,

Whiteaves recent discoveries of fossi

fishes | in the Derai rocks of Canada, so

Williston, S bis E in the flexor longus of

the © foo, 24

Mariae ais hai 6

pec sn veh 11, 673.

ry-billed, 440, 673.

Worms, is. `

Erap biting, 89.

vision in,

iiem: A G., batteri hunting in the desert,

Yellowstone park, 349.

es J. L., dispersion of seed by Wistaria,

Zeolites,

Zoo pas g the future, 58.

Zot coek atlantica, 560,

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvi.—FULY, 1883.—No. 7.

THE NATURALIST BRAZILIAN EXPEDITION.

BY HERBERT H. SMITH.

Seconp PAPER.—THE LOWER JACUHY AND SAO JERONYMO.

A FEW days after our arrival at Porto Alegre we were in-

vited by Mr. B., a German merchant, to visit his coal mine

at Sao Jeronymo, fifty miles from the city ; berths were given us

on a small steamer which our friend was about to despatch to the

mine, and he himself finally consented to accompany us.

Our course lay up the river Guahyba, which, above the city, is

much widened, the channel being divided by several islands ;

here it receives several branches, spreading out in different direc-

tions like the fingers of a hand, whence the local name of Viamao,

or handway, sometimes applied to this section. The upper con-

tinuation of the Guahyba is properly the Jacuhy, which enters

the Viamao from the west. This is the largest and much the

Most important river of the province. It rises on the southern

flank of the Serra Geral and takes a general southerly course as

far as Cachoeira, where the rapids end ; from thence it flows east-

ward, with few curves, to the Viamao. The whole length, in-

: cluding the Guahyba, is not far from 400 miles, and it is naviga-

ble for small steamers, except during droughts, as far as Cachoe-

ita, 175 miles from the Lagoa dos Patos; large lake steamers

sometimes run up to Sao Jeronymo, fifty miles from Porto

Alegre

For some time after we entered the Jacuhy we saw only low,

Steeply-cut banks, lined in most places with forests of no great

eight; willows and leguminous trees were abundant, but palms

and woody climbers were almost wanting, so that the woods

VOL. XViL.—No, vir 43

708 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition, (July,

reminded us strongly of home. This forest belt is a mere screen,

hiding flat, open meadow, or mimosa thickets, behind. Thickets

and forest belong to the alluvial land of the river; in dry weather

they are well above the water, but after heavy rains they are often

covered to a considerable depth, the Jacuhy sometimes rising

nearly forty feet. As on other rivers which are subject to heavy

floods the alluvial lands are highest along the banks, where the

silt and mud brought down by the water are first deposited.

These high banks being more favorable to the growth of trees,

are well wooded; the lower lands behind are often swampy, and

they support only bushes and grass.’

The flood-plain of the Jacuhy is of small extent, generally lit-

tle more than a mile broad; it is composed almost entirely of

clays, though islands and banks in the channel are often sandy.

The river itself, in its lower courses, varies in width from a quat-

ter to half a mile, and it is generally deep all the way across, the

current is rather rapid; water clay-stained but not muddy. As

we advanced we could see low, rounded hills behind the forest

on each side, and eight or ten miles below Sao Jeronymo the

main land appeared at the river’s edge on the southern side;

beyond this it was continued, with little interruption, to the vil-

lage. These banks are never very high, and they show y

occasional ledges of soft, clay-like rock, with a pebbly beach =

low; they comprehend the space between the mouths a :

small tributaries, called Arroio dos Ratos and Arroio da t0

teirinha.

The first large tributary above the Viamão

which enters from the north; it rises in the i

important for the German colonies near its banks. :

pi northern side, is the village of Triumpho, and opposi pn

on the south bank of the Jacuhy, the village of 540 uate” |

Triumpho is conspicuous for its handsome church; pie ate :

there is little to distinguish the two places. They. 2 ga hedges

enough, the whitewashed and red-tiled houses backed 4 Up the >

and orange groves, or bright, prairie covered hillsides. ae

river there are wooded islands, and a rounded grames a

: ; ; f Triuapt

pears above the water's edge directly in front O ig ae

We landed just above São Jeronymo, where vn traction S

running to the coal mine, about seven miles. Stea

re Ihave noted

1 Something similar is seen on the Lower Amazons, whe

1883. ] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 709

not yet been introduced, but Mr. B. ordered out a queer little

box-like trolly, with a bony nag for locomotive; we seated our-

selves in the box, six of us in all; B. touched the nag with his

whip and the beast laid back his ears and started off in fine style.

The day was a perfect one; the heat tempered by a cool south-

west wind which here blows during a good part of the year. As

soon as we had passed the village hedges we emerged into open

prairie, beautiful rolling lands stretching back to higher hills on

the south and west. The prairie was quite smooth and cleap, the

grass mingled only with low herbs or dwarf bushes; flowers were

abundant, and among them we recognized such old friends as the

scarlet and purple verbenas. Low tracts between the ridges were

covered with a ranker growth; some portions were flooded, and

here great flocks of water-birds had gathered, snowy white her-

ons with an occasional black-winged stork or roseate spoonbill.

A kind of rail, called here Caracare, was very common, often

standing in pairs by the roadside and flying off with harsh cries

when we came up; this species is generally seen on dry ground,

though structurally it is a wader; an allied form (Parra) has im-

mensely elongated toes to enable it to walk over the floating

_ leaves of water plants.

A dozen thatched huts are scattered about the mine, which is

marked only by the shaft-tower and engine-house. Here we were -

fortified with a preliminary lunch, and duly rigged in the very ill-

fitting costumes which are usual on such occasions. My wife,

with a miner’s hood over her head, looked much like a very dirty

friar; our tame marmoset monkey, Billy, sat on her shoulder, but

crawled under the hood and clung to her hair in distnay as we

dived into the blackness. The shaft is a perpendicular one, fifty-

seven meters deep ; the coal-bed varying in thickness from one

and a half to two meters, dips very slightly to the north-north-

west. The coal resembles Cardiff coal in appearance, but is more

shaly, and contains a good deal of pyrites. Of its quality I

shall speak farther on.

Most of the miners employed here are English or Irish, but

there are a few Germans and Brazilians. They are paid one

milreis (about forty-four cents) per carload for the coal, three

loads being equivalent to a ton. At this rate a good miner

will earn about 100 milreis, or $44 per month. Including the

engineer, firemen, carpenter, blacksmith, &c., about forty men are

710 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [July,

employed here. The passages are already extensive, but only

one shaft has been sunk, the scale on which the mine is worked

at present not warranting further expense. One engine of forty

horse-power is used for the shaft, a smaller one being employed

for pumping ; the latter is required only once or twice a week,

the mine being unusually dry.

After remaining several hours at the mine we returned to São

Jeronymo, where we made our headquarters for several weeks.

The place, which contains perhaps 800 inhabitants, is a very good

example of the better class of villages in this part of the province.

The streets are regular but unpaved except by the native pebbles;

as usual there is a grass-grown, shadeless square, certainly far

from ornamental, and having no particular use unless it be

to pasture the village horses. The houses are generally well

built of adobe or brick, white-washed and covered with tiles;

there is a curious little chapel, but no church, The place con-

tains several good-sized stores with general stocks, two hotels, an

apothecary, blacksmith, saddler, carpenter, &c. A steam saw-

mill has been erected, and there is an important establishment

for the preparation of matte, or Paraguay tea, which is brought

from the Serra do Herval, forty miles distant. We mp

little dark rooms in the principal hotel, where the landlord t z

- much pains to make us comfortable. Our dining-room and ni

ting-room also contained the billiard-table, which is m

a Brazilian country hotel; luckily it was not much used ex be |

of a Sunday. We found, however, that the house was BES

by a party of rather noisy card-players, whose conviviality =

robbed us of sleep. Now and then, too, a drinking epee x

take place, and it was necessary to keep our doors well l A

bar out the revelers. For the rest the house was quiet a”

and we greatly enjoyed our stay here. =

Our pursuits were a standing wonder to the village ee a :

frequently came to visit us; the boys espe the mar

hours in gazing at us through the open window. y ga :

moset, came in for a share of admiration; the genus 15

here, and there was much discussion as to wheth often accom

was really a monkey or something else. As ge wits she 5008

panied us in our walks, perched on my wife’s sho j bichinho-

became known in the vicinity as a senhora d'ague? | :

the lady of that little beast. a

1883. ] The Naturatist Brazilian Expedition. JII

Nearly all the country around Sao Jeronymo is open campo, or

prairie, very similar to the pampas of Uraguay, with which it is

continuous; it is varied only with strips of forest along the

streams, and with occasional groves, or capoes, on damp hillsides.

The landscape is beautifully fresh and park-like; the heat is sel-

dom oppressive, even in the height of summer, and our long

horseback explorations were a continual pleasure. f

From one of the higher elevations, five or six miles south-east

of Sao Jeronymo, an excellent idea may be obtained of the to-

pography of this region. The country is seen to be occupied by

many irregular ridges, which commonly trend east and west, but

are much broken and excavated ; their tops are generally rounded,

and rocky ledges are not often seen. Between the ridges are

branching valleys, and among and on the hills there are innumer-

able hollows, many of which have no visible outlet. These val-

leys and hollows are always more or less swampy, and the plants

which grow in them are different from those of the main prairie;

the grass is high and rank, mingled often with thorny bushes and

thick-leaved aquatic plants. In journeying over the prairies one

may pass thirty or forty of these Janhados in the course of a day.

The small ones are insignificant, but the larger are dreaded by

the herdsmen, for in rainy weather they may be almost impass-

able; at any time the unwary traveler runs the risk of seeing his .

horse sink to the saddle girths—no pleasant predicament when

one must dismount in the mud and rescue his steed as best he

may. The banhados, in their general features, reminded me of

the flooded meadows of the Lower Amazons during the subsi-

dence of the river; some of the wading birds are, in fact, of the

Same species as those seen there.

The hills themselves are dry but fresh, with many clear streams

of cold water. The ground is covered with short grass, mingled

with innumerable flowering herbs; generally there are no bushes

or trees, but in some places a kind of palm called the pot is

abundant. This palm grows to a height of thirty or forty feet,

and has a thick rounded head of brushy pinnate leaves ; it is never

seen in clumps, but grows singly, scattered over the hillsides ;

seen from a distance it gives the landscape a curious dotted ap-

Pearance. The fruit of the potia has a yellow, acid pulp, which

'S eaten, and after a hot day’s ride over the campos it is very

refreshing, Many birds and mammals are fond of this fruit, and

712 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition.

it is probable that its edibility serves a useful purpose in prope

gating the species; the seeds being heavy would be dissemi

very slowly by ordinary means; but as it is they are often s

lowed whole by birds and passed unchanged through the intes-

speak of several species of foxes, but it is probable that these are

merely varieties. Armadillos of three kinds are more abundant,

campos a somewhat dangerous amusement. i

devour termites, and one frequently sees the mines which the

armadillos have made in the high conical nests of the insect

These nests are almost as hard as brick; the bones and muscles

of the forefeet in the armadillos are specially modified so as to

secure great strength for digging, and the large claws are used

like miniature picks in boring the tough clay. The only rodent

which I have observed is the prid, a small thickset species like

miniature capivara; it burrows in the ground and eats the seeds

of campo plants. A small skunk is occasionally seen; 1t 1$ 7

different from the North American species, and though a

„ Sesses.the terrible weapon of its family, this is so seldom | ue

that hunters do not hesitate to capture the animal with th

hands." ae

Nearly all the birds appear to be distinct from the forest id

cies; hawks are particularly abundant, and of many >

Troops of ostriches (Rhea americana) are occasionally seen,

in this district they are very wary. When riding over

we sometimes gave chase to them, but one might sc ai

to catch a locomotive ; the birds have a very pines F

they cover the ground amazingly. Though so tear a

they are not at all afraid of cattle, or of unmoum ees

quently they are seen feeding among the herds. pe

sists of seeds, grass, insects and so on; the herdsma

they also eat snakes, and for this reason their flesh is pat

eaten, though it is said to be very good. o a

The Rs is a mere shallow hole scratched im ue ;

but I han

i à ; : m

1 A rabbit and a small rat are also said to inhabit the ¢@ po

met with them. i

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 713

twenty, thirty or more eggs are found together, but it appears

that these are not all laid by one bird ; several females lay their

eggs together and take turns in sitting on them.’ The nest may

be left uncovered during the heat of the day, but in this region,

I believe, it is never entirely deserted.

The capées, or patches of forest, of which I have spoken, are

quite different in their character from the main forest farther

north; many of the trees are of distinct species ; there are few

vines or bushes, and one can ride freely beneath the branches.

The tree trunks and boughs stream with long pendant lichens or

“Spanish moss ;” there are many epiphytes, but orchids are not

common, and I noticed only two species. The soil of these capoes

is good, and they are the only lands used for plantations, the

prairies being considered unfit for agriculture. I believe, how-

ever, that the banhados, if drained, would be excellent ; their

soil, a rich black loam, could hardly fail to give abundant

returns. .

The campo lands are excellent for pasturage, and many thou-

sand head of cattle are kept on them ; these are rather small but

hardy, and well suited to the half-wild life which they lead.

Horses are raised only in limited numbers, as the herdsmen re-

quire them ; like the cattle they are small, and may be consid-

ered as a degraded race. The best of them are excellent riding

beasts for short journeys, but they are deficient in endurance. I

believe that better breeds, both of horses and cattle, might be in-

troduced here with great advantage. Sheep, which are occasion-

ally seen, might do well, but the climate is probably too warm for

Successful wool-raising. ci

The German element is but slightly represented near Sao Jer-

onymo. The people are generally of Portuguese descent, the

Poorer classes with more or less intermixture of Indian or Afri-

can blood; there are few slaves, and not many free negroes. The

Status of the population is much like that of similar districts

throughout Brazil; there are a few educated and intelligent fami-

lies, but the mass of the people are very ignorant, though not

Wanting in natural intelligence. All the men are, of course,

€xcellent horsemen. Costumes vary with the class. The better

- families keep much the European style, the men only assuming

* This habit is recorded of the African ostrich, and I believe that it is common to

a number of South American birds.

714 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. | July,

the famancos, or wooden-soled shoes, about their houses, and the

long boots and spurs, slouch felt hat and woolen poncho, or shawl

when riding. The poncho varies with the season; for cold or —

rainy weather it is a great circular cloak, generally of some dark —

cloth lined with bright red; the head is passed through a hole in

the middle and the cloak falls around the body. When riding

this covers the haunches of the horse, and the heat of the ani-

mal’s body serves to keep the rider warm. Cloaks of similar

form but of thin black cloth embroidered over the shoulders, are

often seen in mild weather; the ordinary poncho, however, isa —

brown striped shawl, of woolen or cotton, according to the

wealth of the owner; like the others it has a hole for the head.

This form is used during the summer, and it frequently takes the —

place of a coat. 3

The true herdman’s costume consists of a high-collared calico

shirt, very wide, baggy calico trousers, or rather drawers, often

some bright color, and a wide sash at the waist ; to these are gur

erally added an old slouch hat and a pair of wooden-soled slippers

which, when riding, may be carried in the hand. These men

carry long sword-knives, and often a large, old-fashioned, double- |

barreled pistol, giving them a sufficiently warlike appearance 3

Rarely the cherepd, a cloth tied around the waist, is used in liew :

of trousers. The saddle, at first sight, seems very an 4

great pieces of leather and a woolen cloth being generally carnet

under the saddle proper, which is only slightly curved; anot n s

cloth, or the skin of some animal, is fastened over the whole,

that the affair weighs two or three times as much as an m 2

English saddle. But the Rio Grande saddle, besides gi es

during the day, serves as a bed at night ; the two pieces of pee

are then spread on the ground with the cloth over them, . a

herdsman, wrapped in his woolen poncho, sleeps at = ene a

The poorer class of houses are coarsely built of clay SU standard oO

in a framework of poles and thatched with rushes. a Poel 7

articles of food are jerked beef and beans, but ma% ad ai

tea, is found in every house. This beverage is entent ~

throughout the southern part of South Amen a length

portant that I will describe its preparation somew. high forest _ 4

The matte plant! (Mex paraguaiensis) grows 1m the ie oe

i : d yerba in the spit

1 Called herva congonha, or simply Aerva in Brazil, and 7 eee

republics, ‘3

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 715

of the region between the Parana and the Atlantic, and perhaps

also in the Matto Grosso. It is a shrub or bushy tree from ten

to twenty feet high, and thickly covered with oblong-lanceolate

leaves, which are furnished beneath with peculiar aromatic glands.

The hervaes are commonly in mountainous districts, far from set-

tled places, and the peasants make long journeys to gather the

leaves. Having chosen a locality, they go over it in detail, hack-

ing off all the smaller boughs, and leaving only the. stems and

lower parts of the main branches. Soon after gathering, the

boughs are passed, one by one, through the flame of a long fire

bed with certain aromatic woods ; this operation lasts only half a

minute for each branch, but it requires a peculiar dexterity not

easily acquired ; an unpracticed hand will burn the leaves or dry

them unevenly. After this preliminary scorching the branches

are cut into smaller portions, which are gathered into faggots and

hung close together under a low shed; there a fire is maintained

under them for twenty hours or more. To secure good matte

this fire should also be fed with aromatic woods, which give a

bright flame without smoke; the workmen, however, frequently

use the first wood which comes to hand, such as the araucaria,

or Brazilian pine, which imparts a disagreeable odor to the leaves.

Being thus thoroughly dried the faggots are allowed to remain

under the shed until the time arrives for sending them to the fac-

tory; they are then untied, and the twigs are strewn over a clear

space of hard ground, which has been previously prepared ; here

they are thrashed with long poles until the leaves and twigs are

reduced to small fragments. The mass is then gathered up and

packed in baskets for transportation. Commonly the gathering

is repeated at intervals of five or six years in each Aerva/, and the

Product of a tree is said to be better after it has been despoiled

several times, The first cutting may take place when the tree is

fifteen years old. Sometimes the leaves of other species of Ilex

are mixed with the true matte, to its great detriment. Attempts

have been made to cultivate the tree, but without success; the

seeds grow naturally only at intervals of several years, and under

peculiarly favorable circumstances: It is said that germination

takes place only in those seeds which have passed through the

intestines of birds} If this be true the fact will be an important

*Conty ; Le Maté et les Conserves de viande, p.17. In this work a very com-

Plete account is given of the preparation of matte.

716 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [July,

addition to the large mass of evidence which tends to show that

plants are intimately dependent on animals for their propagation

At ail events it is certain that the Jesuits of Paraguay formerly

utilized the bodies of their Indian servants to induce germination

of Ilex seeds for their plantations.

Arrived at the factory, the leaves, if damp, are again dried by

exposing them for several hours to gentle heat in a furnace or

oven. The woody portions are then picked or sifted out, and the

leaves are reduced to finer fragments in mortars. The commer-

cial quality of the matte depends mainly on the thoroughness of

the last two operations, but somewhat, also, on the region from

which the leaves are gathered, nearness to or remoteness from

the sea, and the skill and care shown in the drying operations.

Paraguay yerba is perhaps the best, but that country furnishes

only one-fifth of the matte which is consumed in South America;

at least three-fifths is produced by the Brazilian province of

Parana, the remainder coming from Santa Catharina and Rio

Grande do Sul!

No South American thinks of drinking matte from a cup; it

is taken from small globular or oval gourds, which are ofen

prettily painted or carved, and sometimes elaborately ornamented

with silver. The gourds are half filled with the leaves, sug

being sometimes added ; boiling water is then poured in, peo

infusion is sucked through a tin or silver tube, the end of wit

is furnished with a perforated bulb. The same leaves See |

several infusions. Among the Rio Grande peasants the ne ea

bombilha handed to a traveler is the first mark of w

when he has sucked the liquor out, the gourd is filled with at

, a ce, to a

again, and passed to the next guest, or, in his absence, eee

ber of the family. Commonly the same gourd p ea hid

complete the circle two or three times before they are Saan

aside.

(To be continued.)

‘ +. Grande; it differs

1I have described the preparation as it takes place 1m Rio Gran ae

what in the other provinces and in Paraguay.

1883. ] Growth and Development. 717

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

Toe writer has endeavored to show, in a preceding paper,

that all the activities of animal life are largely, if not entirely,

dependent upon the action of external influences. A fuller con-

sideration of this subject seems desirable. There is no question

but that the voluntary motions are instigated in the lowest ani-

mals directly by external stimulation. In the higher animals

this instigation is partly direct and partly indirect, being largely

that of mental influences, which arise from preceding individual

or ante-natal impressions. Probably the involuntary motions

have the same origin. We know that the digestive activities are

set in motion by food pressure, and that the action of the kidney

ducts is instigated by pressure, while it is not improbable that the

actions of the heart and arteries result from a like influence.

If this rule be as general as it seems, then the animal body has

no innate power of motion. All its activity is accompanied and

rendered possible by oxidation, which furnishes its force. If

oxidation never takes place except through nerve stimulation, as

there is reason to believe, and if all nerve stimulation arises pri-

marily or secondarily through the influence of external force con-

tact, then the animal body is simply a mechanism adapted to

respond to the touch of outer force, and possessed of no inherent

powers of activity. However sensitive it may become through

nutrition, yet if utterly removed from external influence it must

remain quiescent, since oxidation of its protoplasm could not

take place. :

The organization of the body of the higher animals is in close

accordance with this idea. Every portion of it is brought under

the influence of external force. There has been evolved a highly

complex nervous system, with sensitive extremities on every por-

tion of the surface tissue, and on all the active internal mem-

branes, while motor fibers penetrate every region of the internal

body, Thus almost every cell is connected with the surface by

force-conveying fibers. And the surface extremities of the sen-

Sory nerves are adapted to receive motor influences of almost

‘very kind that exists in the external world. The skin is sensi-

tive to the direct contact of moving matter and the vibratory con-

AMERICAN NATURALIST, February and March, 1883.

718 Growth and Development. |July,

tact of heat. The tongue receives the finer contacts of liquid,

and the nasal nerves of gaseous matter. The coarser range of

vibratory influences acts upon the nerves through the medium of

the ears, and the finer range through the eyes. Thus the body is

like a highly delicate instrument, upon which nature plays witha

thousand fingers, and which responds to the faintest touch of

physical force, though it cannot act of itself any more than the

piano can yield music without a pressure upon its keys.

But an important secondary result flows from this primary rela-

tion of organisms to outer nature. Contact induces oxidation.

Nutrition follows. Growth takes place in the active regions of

the body, but not in the passive. In the study of the genesis of a

the species particular attention must be given to this fact. The

parts of the body which come most into contact with external

substances, and move most readily in response thereto, are those —

which grow and vary most rapidly. This is particularly the c

in the lowest animals, in which a developed nervous organization

is yet wanting. In them contact induces motion in the corm

ous surfaces. Local growth follows. Protrusion of sensitive and

active tentacles results.

In the higher animals, in which a nervous system has been de-

veloped, a different result of external contact appears. The pe

tion induced takes place at some internal point, and it 1$ heb: i

the subsequent growth occurs. Thus the influences which ie

local growth in low forms mry be generally distributed pris

out higher forms, and the great power which external ener

to mold the surface regions of the one, is reduced to a mini

in the case of the other. We may look upon ext ker ale

first inducing a genesis of pseudopodia, tentacles and other 1

appendages ; and as next inducing a genesis of war iak

nerve organs and muscles. A surface exposed to repeat ye

both grows more sensitive to touch, and the sett E

gradually makes its way inward, though protap r o

Every habitual touch either signifies some peril, oF ghest good io

condition to which the organism must res ied

is to be attained. The more readily it respon

its motions, and the more adapted they are ast ye

* . ` . 4 u h

animal, the more likely is it to survive. Thus, mre

channels leading inward from a sensitive surface Mis yet

f motions, o

direction, and induce a great variety O

1883.] Growth and Development. 719

running in the direction and inducing the motion best adapted to

the good of the organism, will be eventually selected, and the

others crowded out. If, then, the early local response to touch

and outgrowth of li mbs or tentacles is followed by an evolution

of nerves and muscles, out of the many possible directions of

these nerves and positions of these muscles, those which are of

advantage to the animal must be selected or the animal will

perish.

In the higher animals, then, there is not, as in the lower, a spe-

cial development of the parts directly exposed to contact. This

method of development has been succeeded by a development of

special: channels of force inflow, and of muscles to which motion

is principally confined. An impression received on one part of

the body induces growth in another part, in which the affected

muscle is situated. Yet it must not be supposed that all develop-

ment of the touched surface at once ceases. It is not enough for

the nerve to end upon the surface. It must have a peculiar ter-

mination, specially fitted to receive the contact influence of the

external force. These contacts are of several distinct kinds, and

each of them may be readily received by one form of nerve ter-

mination, but with difficulty by other forms. There is, therefore,

a natural selection of nerve terminations, the animal best fitted in

this respect having the advantage. Hence local growth of the

parts of the surface exposed to touch is succeeded by local modi-

fication of those parts, to render them delicately sensitive to

some special mode of touch. Development in response to force

contact is at first local protusion of motor organs, then a gradual

evolution of sense organs, nerve fibers and muscles, a convey-

ance of the contact energy inward from the point of its reception

to some internal point, and a localization of motor activity and

growth in internal regions of the body.

In the very lowest animals we find nothing to indicate the

existence of even the rudiment of a mind. There is no retention

p energy. Every excitation powerful enough to make itself felt

1S responded to by a reflex motion. We cannot fairly credit the

Ameeba with desire for food and definite motions towards food.

More probably it moves only in response to external pressure, its

Movements becoming definite in direction only when this pres-

Sure is similarly definite. If this be the case then the taking of

food is a chance result of motions without a fixed purpose. The

720 Growth and Development, i [July,

abundance of Rhizopod food, and the incessant motions of Rhiz- |

opods, are the two conditions through which the survival of these

primitive life forms is attained.

But every motion has some modifying effect upon the constitu-

tion of the body. Response to any contact causes increased sen-

sitiveness in the part affected. As the steel accepts magnetism

most readily in the direction in which it has been formerly mag-

netized, so does the Amceba respond to contact influence most

readily in parts that have been most frequently touched, and it

repeats most easily the special motions it has previously made.

Of the many motions and changes of form which may occur,

those best adapted to food-getting will be selected, since the ani-

mals making them will survive while their competitors will perish.

The various species of rhizopods indicate the various kinds of

rhizopodal motion that have best succeeded in food capture

Evolution in this early stage is first the preservation and then the

inheritance of such results of chance deviation as have proved

successful. é:

The best adapted movements from danger are as important y

the best adapted ones towards food. In the earliest life stages we

might imagine that survival of ill-protected forms could resu

only from retrograde movements, or from excessive reproduction. |

It would seem as if protection by the formation of defensive |

armor should be a late result of evolution. Yet, on the pu

trary, armor is assumed by some of the lowest forms at aii |

diatoms and various rhizopods. This result proves that nee

ditions for the assumption of defensive armor exist = l :

and arise from some native characteristic of protoplasm. =

+. All active

need we go far to discover the cause of this effect. aboot

protoplasm absorbs and employs water. But the water B

contains lime and silica in solution. As the water 15 eee

employed these substances are precipitated, and are sid into place I

the body in their insoluble form. Here chance apres They

They may be washed away by the surrounding wan

may continue on the surface, the minute particles ag&

to a solid coating. Proving protective they are

selection and inheritance act to the evolution of k

Very early, then, in the animal series evolution ta par motion —

tions. In one there isa naked body, trusting t° jas e

for safety. In the other there is a coated body, trus

1883.] Growth and Development. 721

for safety. Another form of armor may begin in the chance

clinging of sand to the jelly-like body. All such favored forms

are sharply selected from the multitude of variations, and thus

assume the definiteness of species. The intermediate, weakly-

protected forms are crowded out.

The subsequent evolution of naked and armored forms must

necessarily differ. The one becomes generally sensitive, gains

varied motor organs, and becomes swift and diverse in its powers

of motion. The other is sluggish and lacks sensitiveness. Sensation

is confined to the unprotected parts, and it is these which de-

velop into elongated organs of touch and movement. In the

one food is obtained by swift approach, safety by swift retreat. In

the other, food is usually obtained through currents made by cilia

or tentacles in the water, safety by a withdrawal within the

armor.

In all animals above the very lowest it is of importance that

the surfacé should grow in some degree indurated. If the naked

protoplasm were exposed freely to every contact there would be

constant motion in response, and the energies of the body be

uselessly and dangerously exhausted. The animals best adapted

are those which have limited and partly protected parts of the

surface alone exposed to the influence of the finer modes of force

contact, while the protoplasm of the remainder of the surface is

sensitive only to the more vigorous impacts. j

Surface induration may take one of two forms. It may in-

crease until the skin becomes a hard armor, to which the animal

trusts more than to motion, it becoming heavy in weight, slow in

movement and dull in sensation. Or it may end at a slight de-

gree of induration, the animal being light in weight, quick in

movement and sharply sensitive. Thus the two phases of evolu-

tion which appear in the lowest animals, reappear in the higher

With similar results. E

All protoplasm is sensitive to touch of all kinds, when exposed

to it, but each separate kind of touch tends to develop conditions

of appropriate sensitiveness. Excessive light causes a general

development of dark pigment, probably as protective against heat

effects through its active radiation. This aids absorption of the

light rays, and is the condition preliminary to the evolution of the

eye. Sound also tends to develop a receptive organ, The pre-

liminary condition of this organ is the deposition of solid parti-

722 Growth and Development. (July,

cles, which seem to collect the vibrations. In fact all the special -

senses make use originally of conditions which arise in the

body as necessary or occasional results of its action, and which

are subsequently developed by the incessant play of external

force, into definite sense organs.

In the secondary development of nerves the incessant inflow of

motor impressions renders some check important, since, as the

sensitiveness of the body increases, a muscular response to every

sense impression would totally exhaust the vital energies. This

check takes place wherever the nerve fibers are reduced in size,

the energy dissipating from that point, as electric energy dissi-

pates in the form of heat when its conductor is too much reduced

in size. This checked energy becomes growth force at the poss

of its dissipation ; and nerve cells, aggregating into ganglia, ap-

pear at these points. In the higher animals a special region for |

the checking of sensory force is developed, the congeries of nerve —

cells there produced constituting the brain. The growth of the

brain increases as sensitiveness increases and as the muscular

response to,impression is hindered, while the energies which out-

flow into the brain are stored up in some unknown manner, whose |

results we call the mind. :

_ Thus external impression appears to yield several successive

kinds of organic results. It first instigates growth at the imme

diate point of contact, and surface protrusions geese ae

reside the chief motor and sensory power. Secondly, pore’

nal energy forces its way inward, by conductive channels,

discharged at internal points. Growth of muscular ae

place at these points of discharge, and of sensory wea acked at :

points of reception. Thirdly, the inflowing energy 15“ ie

certain points on the nerve fibers, and instigates the grow! re

nerve cells at those points. Fourthly, the energy di special :

the principal ganglion causes the development of pe w

organism for its reception and organization. pe but arè :

organized we call the mind, its substantial basis the | aout 2

ignorant of the nature of either. Such seem to be the s o atly | ,

results of external force impact. The other organs ssid ce the

derived. The functions of digestion and excretion iar nday

growth results through pressure impressions pas the vasculat

system of nerves and muscles; the development muscles aa

organs is a necessary accompaniment of that of the Wr

1883.] Growth and Development. 723

ganglia ; and the growth of the connective tissues may be insti-

gated by muscular pull, gravitative pressure and other general

force influences discharged into the body.

Thus there is some reason to believe that all animal growth

and transformation is instigated, directly or indirectly, by the in-

fluence of external motor force, which penetrates the body,

induces oxidation (which could not otherwise take place) and

produces some phase of animal action, succeeded by an increased

blood flow to the point of activity and a subsequent special nutri-

tion. The indirect results of this principle—those of mental in-

stigation—arise from previous individual or from ante-natal con-

tacts, whose influence is stored up in the organism as a directive

energy. The ante-natal contact influences tend to the develop-

ment of the type; the individual to variations from the type,

which grow decided when new forms of contact, arising from

changed external conditions, act upon the body.

If we consider the life of an individual animal, it may seem

as if the idea here advanced is not sustained. For the inherent

physical and mental aptitudes of the body control its develop-

ment far more than external influences. But what is the life of

an individual? The aptitudes mentioned were derived from

parents, who in turn derived aptitudes from their parents, and the

parental line might be followed back, if we adopt the evolution

hypothesis, through an excessively long series of animals until

it reaches its source in the primitive speck of homogeneous pro-

toplasm. The complete life history of an animal really includes

the organic histories of all these precedent forms, though it be

millions of years in the making; and the germ of every advanced

animal is the record of an interminable era. But nowhere along

the line will we find all the organic aptitudes which are displayed

in the final form. These physical and mental characteristics were

gradually gained. The original rhizopod did not have them.

Whence, then, did the man obtain them? The original rhizopod

was not without its inherent characteristics. It possessed chemi-

cal differentiations to which the difference of sex may be ascribed,

and differences in the relations of its internal and

regions to which the separation of the motor aad nutritive func-

2 For illustrations of this fact see chapter on “ the law of use and effort” in paper —

on “The Method of Creation of Organic Forms,” by Professor E. D. Cope, Pro-

ceedings of American Philosophical Society, Dec. 1 sth, 1871.

VOL. XVIt.—no, vit, 49

724 Growth and Development.

tions may be ascribed. These characteristics of the lowest forms :

have had a constant influence upon the subsequent development,

and vigorously control the evolution of structure in the highest

animals. But all other organic characteristics must be due to the

play of the fingers of outer nature upon the whole long line of

progress. Nature has constantly surrounded and pressed upon |

the body with her varied energies, inducing responsive motions,

growths and variations, and influencing every step of evolution.

The most highly evolved body has been thus formed and molded,

and possesses hereditary characteristics derived from its whole

long line of ancestors. The same may be said of ‘its mental

strain. The mind receives and develops under the force of impres-

sions received from without. There is no proof that it has any —

self-power of development. It began in a possibility, which has

been wrought by outer nature into the existing actuality.

Each animal, then, has inherent conditions gained during age*

of development by its ancestors. As an individual it z but

slightly molded by exterior influences, its internal tendencies be

ing too vigorous to be easily bent aside. But these w

cies arose from the action of exterior influences on its long Ti

parentage. Hence its whole development is virtually a strugg

between external forces—those which play upon the animal denii

its short individual life, contending against those which have

played upon and become inherent in it during its long ar a |

life. It is as one impression contending against 4 ol

we can readily understand the stubborn resistance of the 11

rent organic conditions to external warping influences. ar

The influence of external contact upon life ang develop

strikingly seen in certain peculiar phenomena of ae peo :

world. Vigorous as are the inherited tendencies, yet thee alae

some cases checked by the action of external conditions which :

Amphibia, rhe

t ‘ os

als, do no The

pier intoa

tadpole that is forcibly kept in the wate haa of devel-

frog. Although inherently tending to attain’

of air with

opment, it seems to need the contact .

duce- the necessary changes of organization. z odification.

_ only to water contact nutrition proceeds without it remains i®

The Axolotl, a gilled salamander, continues ee

1883.] Growth and Development. 725

the water, but becomes the lunged Amblystoma if it leaves the

water. Reproduction takes place in the former stage, though

it is partly larval. Various other instances of this character

might be adduced. There are peculiar fishes, the Leptocephali,

which, by deprivation of normal contact influence, seem to re-

main embryonic throughout life. They are small, pellucid, rib-

less, cartilaginous creatures, destitute of generative organs, which

are found floating far out in the ocean. Gunther considers them

to be the offspring of various marine fish, which represent an arrest

of development in an embryonic stage. They have been exposed

to abnormal conditions, and failed to receive the contact influence

necessary to call into play the innate energies of development.

It may be, then, that growth can proceed at any stage of life, but

that for each new phase of development the animal must be ex-

posed to new conditions of nature. It has in itself the inherited

tendencies to successive phases of development until the highest

is attained, but these remain dormant until set in play by the

requisite kind of external contact.

If this be the case, every animal is, to a very.marked degree,

controlled by the influences of the outer world, growth, activity,

variation, and the inherent development being all dependant upon

the instigation of external energy. If we knew the various con-

ditions to which the ancestral line of any animal had been ex-

posed, and could reproduce those exact conditions with which to

surround its offspring, its development might be arrested at vari-

ous ancestral stages, and its line of evolution made out. The in-

stances given of retarded development in Amphibia, are cases in

point.

An animal species constantly surrounded by one unvarying set

of conditions will not change. Any tendency to change will be

restrained by lack of adaptation. Yet natural conditions vary

not only in kind, but also in degree. Two animals occupying

the same locality may be exposed to very different natural condi-

tions. One is played upon by comparatively few of nature’s in-

fluences, the other by very many, and the complexity of their

adaptations to nature are in accordance therewith. Thus evolu-

tion may be of two kinds. One is a change in constitution to

meet a change in climatic or other conditions. This produces no

change in rank of development. A second kind of change may

be either a progression or a retrogression. The animal becomes

726 Growth and Development. [ July,

adapted to simpler or to more complex conditions of nature, and

the question as to whether a creature is higher or lower in rank

depends entirely upon the degree of complexity in its adap-

tations.

Embryonic development closely follows the ancestral line. If

there has been a retrogression, the point from which the fall com-

menced is always attained by the larva, as in the case of the

barnacles and in other instances. But the successive changes of

condition are not all clearly displayed. Some stages of develop-

ment are retarded, others hurried through. It is probably a ques

tion of the influence of external conditions. Of the conditions

of nature to which the various ancestral forms of the animal

were adapted, many have vanished. Some yet exist. Thus in

some stages of larval life the animal would find no support from

nature. In others it is adapted to existing nature. The former

stages are hurried or slurred over in development, the latter are

passed through slowly. Of the many thousands of ancestral

forms which the embryo might exhibit, the great mass succeed

and overlap each other so rapidly as to be indistinguishable,

while some persist as marked conditions of larval life.

And if the animal is forcibly retained under conditions favor-

able to one of its larval phases of development, its individual life

may long continue in that phase, as in the cases above cited. 428

lives of intestinal parasites present marked instances of this kind.

One phase of life is pursued for an indefinite period in one host.

Yet as soon as another host is entered, and the animal exposed

to new contact influences, and surrounded by new conditions,

growth is succeeded by development, and a new life phase a5-

sumed. One instance of this is that of the Trichinia, which lays

its eggs only in the intestine of its second host.

It would seem as if the conditions surrounding the larva

strongly favored growth in that life stage, and hindered the m-

nate tendencies to develop. For the latter to come fully into

play, the animal must enter into the conditions necessary to &

next life stage, or at least be withdrawn from active external m

fluence, so as to permit the play of organic chemistry within its

tissues, and the consequent unfoldment of new conditions 0! the

tissues. :

The facts of insect transformation present the most striking

instances of the life process above considered. In the higher

1883. | Growth and Development. 727

animals, indeed, the conditions of embryonal life preclude the

long retention of larval stages. The embryo here is fully devel-

oped within the body of the parent, or within the egg with its

proper conditions of warmth and nutriment. There is no hin-

drance to a rapid development. But in many of the lower tribes

the young is born and abandoned to the influences of outer

nature while still in an early stage of embryonal growth. In its

further process of development it must be exposed in some stages

to advantageous, in others to disadvantageous conditions. Natural

selection will act to lengthen the period of the former, and

shorten that of the latter. The animal will develop irregularly,

now remaining long in one phase, now hurrying rapidly through

several successive phases. And the retention of any one phase

of life is not simply an effect of natural selection, but also of the

principle above enunciated, that the action of favoring external

contacts tends to restrain the operation of the innate tendencies

to development, and to promote simple nutrition and growth

without change of organs.

In insect larvæ very active nutrition takes place. The tissues

increase rapidly in size, but their further development is, for the

time, arrested. Other important effects result. The animal whose

life is arrested at the larval stage being exposed to all the mold-

ing influences of nature, gains specific variations similar to those

which occur in mature animals. As the conditions to which the

larva was originally adapted change, it changes in accordance.

It gains special habits and organs necessary to its success in this

stage of life, yet forming no part of its native plan of develop-

ment. These are adventitious organs, and are thrown off by’

the animal in its pupal development as useless additions to

the body. But the most marked and singular instance of this

Principle of growth occurs in another branch of the animal. king-

dom, the Echinodermata. There is nothing more remarkable in

the history of animal transformations than that displayed in the

development of the various members of the Echinoderm races.

Yet these strange transformations are undoubtedly results of the

Principle of development here enunciated. Only the core of the

is indicated in the form of the swimming larva. It has

gained many adventitious organs, probably as results of a long

Process of adaptation to conditions surrounding its larval life, but

Which are utterly outside its original life plan. Only the deep-

728 Growth and Development. [July,

lying organs are in the true line of development. When develop.

ment is resumed only these internal organs are retained as part

of the mature animal, and the secondary larval organs are thrown

off, or absorbed as nutriment by the new body. To so great an

extent has this secondary development proceeded, that in some

cases the discarded organs retain their power of swimming and

devouring food, though with no means of digesting it. The

energy of further development resides only in the core of the

strange creature which has surrounded itself with a temporary

shell of swimming, food catching and masticating organs. The

tissues of the mature form are molded out of those of the larva,

and its useless series of temporary organs discarded.

It would appear, then, that if any animal during its embryonal

development enters, at any stage of this process, conditions favor-

able to the persistence of that stage, its further development 1$

temporarily checked. The energy of outer influences resists the

action of internal energies. Nutrition opposes development. The

vigor of the organism is devoted to growth, and its energies of

change are restrained. Many animals pass on to maturity with-

out a halt. Others make several halts in the path of develop-

ment, in each of which nutrition checks unfoldment. For devel-

opment to be resumed, nutrition must be checked. The insect

larva must cease to eat ere it can resume its life progress. It also

seeks some shelter to secure it from danger during this pror

this being probably an instinct arising from natural selection.

And now proceeds a series of organic changes, arising perhaps

from the exercise of chemical affinities inherent in the tissues, by

which the molecules of these tissues are rearranged and ae

forms of tissue produced, the nutriment stored in the form ofis

sue during the larval period serving as material for the new-form-

ing tissues. all

It is quite possible that in the embryonal development of

animals there are periods of active nutrition in which gre d

replaces unfoldment, and periods of quiescence and cessal

nutrition in which the chemistry of evolution resumes 15 gee

acting on the products of nutrition and molding them mee

forms. In some cases these changes rapidly succeed each saa

In others the period of larval restraint grows abnormally sr

In such a case as that of the Aphis, the larva is so well se K

with food that its further development is completely chet

1883.] Growth and Development. 729

It reproduces by gemmation and continues larval through many

generations. Only in autumn, when the conditions of nature

grow unfavorable to its larval nutrition, do the long-checked

energies of development assert themselves, and the final progress

to maturity take place.

Marked instances of the same kind as those here considered

appear in other fields of life, and notably in the Hydrozoa. Here

as in insects we have species which progress directly to the

mature or Medusa stage, while in others there are long periods of

restraint in the larval stage, and of differentiation and reproduc-

tion of the larval form. In some cases the advancement to the

Medusa stage is checked to such an extent that the free-swim-

ming state is not entered, and occasionally only an aborted rep-

resentative of the Medusa, or mature Hydrozoan, appears.

In all cases one thing is evident; the development of repro-

ductive organs seldom occurs in the larval form, and is always

the last stage in the attainment of maturity. Though the larva

represents a former mature animal possessing reproductive organs,

it now fails to gain them, and such reproduction as it displays is

always by gemmation. It is a nutritive not a reproductive organ-

ism. The production of the reproductive organs is the final phase

of individual life. It is the signal that the animal has attained the

apex of its individual life, and is about to continue its existence in

the person of its offspring. Did these organs appear in the larva

they would indicate a retrogression, since sexual offspring would

be produced, and the final life stage fail to appear. Thus larval re-

tardation effects a lengthening of the individual life, and in some

insects constitutes the whole of the nutritive stage. In these

cases no nutriment is taken in the imago state, and only sexual

reproduction attended to.

The marked production of adventitious organs in Echinoderm

larvae leads to another thought. The modern theory is, that all

animals in their progression from the germ to maturity pass through

form phases indicating every ancestral type. But it Would be use-

less to seek for detailed indications of the ancestral forms in the

embryo, since probably only the core of these forms is repro-

duced. The general, deep-lying, essential features of structure

are displayed, but not the special superficial organs. Only when,

-asin insect and echinoderm larva, development is retarded, do

7 One case in which it does occur is that of the Amblystoma, above given.

730 Growth and Development. [July,

these specific organs appear, to be secondarily modified through,

the influence of changed conditions of nature.

The question might here be reasonably asked, why, if the lar-

val condition of the insect is often so superior to the imago for

purposes of nutrition, did the animal ever advance to a more in-

tricate life stage? Why did it not persist in its better adapted

ancestral form. This question it may not be difficult to answer.

There have been very great changes. in natural conditions, and

the relations of insect life have varied accordingly. Insects were,

in all probability, the first flying animals. If so, the possession

of powers of flight was a highly advantageous condition. It en-

abled the original insects to escape from their enemies on the land,

and they had no foes in the air. At this period, then, there was

probably no retardation in the larval stage, and the imago stage

may have long continued. Such a condition persists in some

species of insects. Later, however, the air became the home of

other flying animals, and the insect lost the security which it had

previously enjoyed. In the weaker and more exposed tribes, nat-

ural selection produced a lessening of the length of the imago

life period, and a hastening of the reproductive activity. But as

mature life was checked, larval life was lengthened. A certain de-

gree of nutrition was necessary, and could now be more safely

attained in the larval stage.

The same variation of conditions may have acted to produce

the larval retardation of the Crustacea, the Echinodermata and

other tribes. The soft-bodied and helpless Medusa seems partici-

larly subject to danger from foes. In its original development it

may have been much less so. A subsequent rapid destruction of

the mature animals may have caused the development of the bet-

ter protected colony of Hydrozoan larve.

Some final consideration of the method of

changes seems desirable. There are inherent in the ge

gies and tendencies, chemical, molecular, or whatever we is

to call them, adapted to the complete unfoldment of the Be

form. But, as appears evident, their operation can be checked ue

influences from external nature. There is a struggle w i

these contact influences and the innate organic energies. m i

ter are the resultants of numerous previous contacts Wi | ts |

acted on the whole ancestral line of the animal. The mind, ge ne

inherited tendencies, represents these ante-natal forces. The action

developmental

rm ener-

hich have |

1883.) Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 731

of inherited instincts acts as a check to larval nutrition, and tends

to bring the animal into conditions of quiescence and shelter in

which its further development may proceed.

Probably the unfoldment of the mental conditions continues

even while the animal is active in its larval nutrition. The new

awakening instincts more and more vigorously oppose the exist-

ing habits. Eventually the instincts gain precedence, through

some check to larval nutrition, active life ceases, and the animal

process of growth is replaced by the vegetative process of organic

synthesis. At the end of this period oxidation of tissue is re-

sumed, and the animal starts again into active life, with new

organs, new powers and new instincts.

Those insects which pass a period of individual nutritive life in

the imago state are those which stand highest in the line of evolu-

tion, and highest of all are the ants and bees, in which larval

activity and nutrition are largely obliterated, while the imago

stage of life is long continued. The same may be said of all

animal tribes. Long life after the reproductive organs appear is a

sign of a high phase of evolution, and the habits and mental

strain attained in this stage are superior, since they arise from the

influence of more complex natural conditions.

10:

PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES.

BY W. H. DALL.

Part II.—MARINE PEARL PRODUCTS.

uo marine mollusks which chiefly produce the pearl and

pearl-shell of commerce, are generally known as “ pearl-

Oysters.” They present little or no resemblance to the oysters

with which we are familiar, though they are related to them bio-

logically, They belong to the genera Avicula and Meleagrina of

Lamarck, and are of three or four species, distributed nearly in

the same latitude in different parts of the world. The most an-

cient and famous fisheries are on the coast of Ceylon and in the

Persian gulf. These were known to Pliny; Ceylon by the name

Taprobane, and the Bahrein islands of the Persian gulf as the

Stoides. Beside these the principal fisheries of the present day

are on the Coromandel coast, India; the Indo-Pacific islands,

es _ *specially the Sulu group; Margarita island, St. Thomas and other

732 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. (July,

places in the West Indies and Caribbean sea; Panama and the

Gulf of California.

The chief fishery of Ceylon has its headquarters at Kondachai,

on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Manaar, between’ the Island

of Ceylon and the southern extreme of India. It has been con-

trolled by the government from prehistoric times. In some re-

spects the fishery is carried on exactly as it was in the time of the

Romans; in the manner of regulating it and the disposition of

the right to fish, a variety of methods have obtained since the

time it has been controlled by Great Britain. This has been

partly due to the fact that the fisheries fluctuate greatly in their

product notwithstanding the immense wealth which has been

derived from them for centuries. Thus, from 1732-46, 1768-96,

1820-28 and 1837-54, the fishery was either given up entirely or

produced to the government less than the expenses of its regula-

tion and inspection. On the other hand the revenue during the

periods 1796-1809, 1814-20, 1828-37, 1855-60, was over five

millions of dollars, and the value of the product not less than

fifteen millions. In 1881 the government received a revenue of

$300,000 from the fishery, the value of the pearls obtained being

reported at one million dollars, exclusive of pearl shell.

These fluctuations are due partly to depopulation of the beds

by over fishing and partly to the fact that the mussels, though

usually attached by a strong fibrous byssus, have, when of mod-

erate size, the power of migrating from one locality to another, of

which they avail themselves when: the turbidity of the water a

other annoyance makes a locality distasteful to them.) Thus it e

said that, owing to the filth discharged into the sea from the ship-

ping and town of Tutikorin, on the Madras side of the straits

the oysters appear to be permanently abandoning that vicinity.

_ Two species of shells afford the pearls, the Avicula margaruy)”

era Lam., sometimes called the “ true pearl-oyster,” and Melea-

grina margaritifera Lam. The former is rarely larger than m

palm of one’s hand, is wing-shaped, rather globose and quite thin,

It has the most brilliant nacre and produces the finest pearls.

The shell itself is so thin as to possess no value as mother-o©

3 1C. f. Kelaart in Ceylon Calendar, 1858, Appendix; also Simmond’s “ Commer

cial products of the Sea,” London, 1879, p. 414. This last mentioned work g

tains the most thorough and valuable compendium of information relating ga

pearls and pearl fisheries to be found in the English language, and has been

quently drawn upon for the purposes of this article.

1883.] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 733

pearl. The second species is much larger and thicker; nearly

flat, and produces the most valuable pearl-shell as well as good

pearls.. Both species, with several local varieties, are somewhat

widely spread- over the Indian, Australian and Indo-Pacific seas.

The beds and banks are annually surveyed to ascertain their con-

dition. They are situated about twelve miles west of Ceylon, and

extend some ninety miles parallel with the coast, consisting of

calcareous or coral rocks covered with eighteen to forty feet of

water,

The numerous changes which have taken place in the mode of

letting and regulating the fisheries, have rendered it difficult to

give a thoroughly accurate account of their present status. Most

books of reference, such as the Encyclopædia Britannica and the

descriptions of such authors as Frédé, are compiled from other

accounts of different dates, and are therefore inaccurate and con-

fused.

It has been the policy of the authorities in Ceylon to divide the

beds and to allow only one fourth of them to be fished annually,

thus giving each bed four years’ rest. In earlier times seven years

was allowed. But the objection to the system is, that, owing to

the numerous enemies to whose attacks the shell fish are subject

(and other causes), banks of oysters have been known to disappear

almost totally within a single year when left unfished for more -

than three or four years. So while the temptation is very great

to leave the beds untouched for a long period, in hope of securing

a supply of large pearls, the danger that the whole may be lost,

More than counterbalances it. The government is therefore pro-

ceeding experimentally to determine the most suitable length for

. the period of rest. Experimental divings made from 1875-8

showed that the banks then being fished contained some ten mil-

lions oysters. The average number of pearls to be expected is

about two in one hundred oysters. The value per thousand of

the oysters depends upon the size of the pearls. The theory is,

that pearl-oysters in the last year of their existence double their

Value all round. If a thousand oysters produce pearls altogether

Worth $100, the catch is considered very good. One hundred as

ig asa pin’s head are not worth one as big as a pea, so that the

fishery is practically a lottery with a few prizes and millions of

blanks. To give all an equal chance, the boats are selected by

Tot, sent out by turns in fleets of about fifty, each fleet in succes-

734 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. (July,

sion, until all have had an equal number of chances. About 250

boats are actually engaged, and 10,000 people directly or indi-

rectly interested in the fisheries.

The fisheries begin early in March and last about six weeks,

_the weather and currents being at this time of the year most mild

and suitable.

Each boat has its complement of rowers, five diving stones

weighing about forty pounds each, and ten divers. Each boat

and all the men are numbered, and the government shed or enclo-.

sure, in which the catch is placed on the return, is divided into

similarly-numbered compartments, so that each man knows ex-

actly where to put the result of his day’s work.

The boats start about midnight in order to reach the banks by

sunrise. As soon as the boats have arrived on the beds a signal

gun is fired and the diving stones go over the side with a rum-

bling noise. Each stone is attached to its boat by a long cord

with a little numbered buoy to mark it, and in a loop near the

stone in this cord the diver puts his foot and is carried to the bot-

tom, which otherwise his own buoyancy would hardly permit him

to reach. The divers are all orientals of various nations, and g0

in pairs, one tending the cord while the other dives. The one on

board watches the motions of his comrade, draws up the stone,

then the basket of oysters collected, then the diver himself.

Ordinary divers remain under water fifty to eighty seconds,

rarely much longer. It is related, however, that some have bers

` able to remain as long as five minutes under the surface; this s

probably an exaggeration. They seldom take any precautions

against injury except to put a little oiled cotton in the outer ear.

The most painful part of the operation is not thẹ being obliged to

hold the breath, but the sensation of great pressure to which the

diver is subjected from the water. This in beginners often sai

blood from the vessels of the mucous surfaces and even ruptures

the drum of the ear. ae

They strip for their work. They have a girdle or & =

around the neck to which a basket is attached, into which the

shells are put as they are gathered. Into the girdle are stuck onf

or two spikes of iron wood, about a foot long and an ae

diameter. They are made very sharp at both ends and gee!

defense against sharks and rays. If a shark approaches the ich

endeavors to thrust one of the spikes into his open mouth, W

1883.] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 735

in closing upon it transfixes the lips and renders the ‘monster

harmless.

Each pair of divers keep their catch separate from the rest, in

large nets or baskets, so that luck and labor determine their

reward. `

They do not dive alternately, as too much time would be lost

in changing. The man who has been down floats or holds to a

rope at the surface a minute or two until rested, and goes down

again until weary, when his comrade takes his place in the water.

This continues without interruption until noon. The diver’s pay

is one-fourth the number of all the shells he obtains. The stimu-

lus of self-interest thus brought to bear is so great that, as the

time approaches for ceasing work the efforts of the men increase,

and there is never so much activity as when the heat is most in-

tense, the sun glaring fiercely and the sea like melted lead. At

length the signal gun is fired, every stone goes down simultane-

ously for one more haul, and then the fleet makes at once for the

shore. When they reach the beach, in an instant the divers are

in the water and each pair carries the results of the day’s work

to the shed. In two hours, unless delayed by adverse winds, the

boats are unloaded. At the shed the oysters are divided into

four heaps. The divers remove their heap, the three heaps be-

longing to the government are left in the shed, the total is assorted

into piles each containing a thousand oysters, the doors are

locked, guards stationed and everything is ready for the pub-

lic auction sale. This system, says Simmonds, from whom the

details are mostly derived, brings to bear upon the daily results

of the fishery the largest amount of private interest and the

smallest amount of government control. No man could be

forced into doing what the divers do voluntarily; no fixed

Payment would induce them to dive so often in the day, or to

unload their boats with equal dispatch. Their exertions are neces-

sarily very violent, and the divers as a rule are short lived. The

oysters are sold in lots of one thousand ; formerly in smaller

numbers, as twenty to fifty, ora hundred. As really fine pearls

are as scarce as really fine diamonds, of a hundred people who

buy, eighty suffer a loss, or at least make no profit. If the gov-

ernment or the subcontractors risked their profits on the actual

Yield of pearl and pearl shells obtained by their boats, many of

them would be ruined, as was formerly the case. But by taking

736 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. (July,

advantage of the tendency to games of chance inherent in the

oriental mind, the losses, if any, are distributed among a large

number of petty traders.

The shores of the Gulf of Kondachai present, during the sea-

son of the fishery, a remarkable assembly which has been graphi-

cally described by Percival, Frédé and others, A floating popu-

lation of ten to fifteen thousand is attracted by the opportunity

for speculation and trade. These protect themselves from the

night air by tents and temporary huts as near to the landing-

place of the boats as possible. -When the afternoon gum pro-

claims the return of the fishing fleet, a motley crowd rushes to

the shore to meet it. The contractors or sub-lessees, usually

dark, keen-looking Parsees or Malays, hail their boats in half a

dozen languages to learn the result of the day’s work; Hindoo

sorcerers, who, for a consideration will chain the appetite of the

shark and send the diabolical sting ray on an errand to Bombay;

jewelers of high and low degree, from the millionaire of Benares

to the itinerant peddler who fashions you a ring out of a half

sovereign before your eyes; vendors of cakes, confections, rice,

dates, fruit, lentils, ghee and barbarous varieties of pies; all cry-

ing their wares at the top of their lungs in twenty different dia-

lects; Merry Andrews, jugglers, gymnasts, tamers of wild beast

and serpents; Singhalese, Malays, Hindoos, Papuans, Africans,

Kanakas, Arabs, Englishmen; honest, brown Marava sailors 1

full dress of a breech clout and earrings; yellow Chinese in vant

ing nankin robes, most acute of bargainers, most adroit of

thieves.

The country away from the beach is low, sandy and ban

abandoned during a large part of the year and at no time inviting.

Along the margin of the strand stretch heaps upon hap

dead and refuse shells, the accumulation of centuries. wih e

blue Indian sea to the west, with myriads of tents, oftem rich ™

color and valuable in fabric, for a background; the white be

ment buildings, the motley booths, the fleet of myriad hoe ad

boats rocking gently on the summer sea, and the seething eee the

in and about it all—the scene is perhaps unique eve? pa

“ sunrise-land.”

The description, however, would be inadequate if it omitted *

mention the horrid exhalations which infect the air from T

thousands of decaying shell-fish, thrown into the sea only to

1883.] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 737

cast again upon the sands; from the refuse of a thousand little

camps and fifteen thousand unregulated barbarians; so that an

European is forced to saturate his beard with rum or his hand-

kerchief with some disinfectant if he would even go near enough

to view the extraordinary spectacle. Added to these outrages

upon the sense of smell, are swarms of gnats, mosquitos and

fleas, to say nothing of the innumerable poisonous insects which

run upon the ground, and the deadly serpents which infest the

shrubbery.

The shell-fish are allowed to die, the shells then open natu-

rally, the pearls are extracted, the Avicula shells thrown away,

the Meleagrina shells preserved for export as “ mother-of-pearl.”

These are known to commerce as “ silver-lipped”’ pearl shell.

Their nacre is very clear and bright, the shells attain the largest

size of any, sometimes eighteen inches, so that a pair of this size

open will extend a yard from edge to edge. The finest come,

not from Ceylon but from the Sulu sea, and are worth from

$400 to $700 per ton. The diver who collects a hundred shells

per day in fifty feet of water does a good day’s work.

So far the divers of Ceylon have refused to avail themselves of

submarine armor and several attempts to use the diving bell have

resulted in failure, chiefly from the irregularities of the bottom

and the small area which was accessible to those in the bell.

After the pearls are collected they are classed, weighed and

Valued. To class them they are passed through a succession of

brass cullenders called “ baskets,” of the shape and size of large

Saucers. There are ten or twelve of these baskets; the first has

twenty holes in it and the pearls which do not pass through after

being well shaken, are called of the twentieth basket. The suc-

ceeding baskets have 30, 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000

holes, and each basket gives its name corresponding to the num-

ber of holes to the pearls which reach but do not pass through it.

The pearls which do not pass through the eleventh and twelfth

baskets when these are used, are called masie. The pearls having

been sorted as to size by means of the baskets, are carefully

examined as to shape and color, and each size except the maste is

Susceptible of seven distinct descriptions. After being classed

they are weighed and valued according to their respective quali-

ties. The price of pearls is expressed at a certain rate per chow,

Which term has reference to the resultant of all their characteris-

738 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. [July,

tics. The number of pearls which are valuable for jewelry and

permanently retained for such uses is quite limited, the majority

of the small and defective ones are used in a medical preparation

highly prized in oriental countries, and of which I shall have

more to say hereafter.

The official reports of the importation of pearl and pearl shell

into different countries, which are the only sources of information

toward estimating the product, are meagre and doubtless quite

inaccurate, I find that the average imports of pearls per annum,

for ten years, into Great Britain, were $260,856.50; into France

only $39,294.32, which is somewhat surprising. Of pearl shell

or “mother-of-pearl,” the average annual value imported into

Great Britain during sixteen years ending with 1870, was $2377

500, nearly as much as the pearls, and in all probability at the

present time, when the demand for art purposes has much in-

creased, the importation value of the shells is greater than that of

the pearls.

A brief reference to the pearl fisheries of the Bombay coast of

India and of the Persian gulf will not be devoid of interest.

The finest pearls are obtained from the Persian gulf, but most

of them pass into oriental countries. The fisheries are chiefly of

the Arabian side of the gulf and are entirely in Arab hano

The intrusion of foreigners into the business would produce 4

popular tumult. There are four thousand or five thousand boats

employed along the entire coast, averaging twenty-two men me

boat. Being whiter than the divers of Ceylon, they blacken their

bodies when diving that they may be less conspicuous to S$

The product of the fishery is estimated at $2,000,000 pet il

of which half comes from the Bahrein islands, which were know?

to the ancients as the locality of a rich pearl fishery, under the

name of the Stoides. The great bulk of the best yellowish

pearls are purchased by natives of Bombay. A large number ©

pearls are sent to Bagdad, where the white ones are pre se

At the time when the Ceylon fishery was unproductive, ge

largest proportion of pearl shell and pearls imported - :

land were from this fishery, The shells are known as Egye .

tians,” as they are shipped from Alexandria. _ P

There is, or recently was, a pearl industry about ke

the Bombay coast, for which the native contractors paid the k

government a royalty of $20,000 per annum. The statement ;

1883. | Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. : 739

made in the Encyclopedia Britannica that the pearl product of

this vicinity is obtained from shells thrown on the beach by the

surf, which seems improbable. However the pearls are chiefly

seed pearls, too small to be of use in jewelry but employed by

the orientals in medicine. The powder of pearls is supposed to

have the virtue of strengthening weak eyes, and to be efficacious

in palpitations, hemorrhages, nervous and other affections. A

similar notion, doubtless derived from the Arabian physicians was

prevalent in Europe during the middle ages and may still be

found in pharmaceutical works of the last century. The gilded

youth of India, Persia and “ Araby the Blest” indulge in the

luxurious extravagance of substituting powdered pearl for lime

in the mixture of betel and areca nut, which they are accustomed

to chew.

The fisheries of the Sulu sea, Labuan and the Society islands

are productive, but offer no special peculiarities except the em-

ployment of women as divers in certain localities. As these

ladies are accustomed to supply their husbands with crabs and

other sea delicacies from an early period of their existence, by

diving for them, the transition is easy to pearl diving. They are

also said to be more steady and reliable than men, a virtue due

doubtless to the rigid discipline enforced by their lords and

Masters,

` Magnificent pearls are obtained at the Gambier and Paumotu

islands and the western and northern parts of the Australian

coast have lately been coming into notice as the source of a val-

uable and growing pearl and pearl shell supply. Ten years ago

these fisheries hardly existed, and but few statistics are available

in regard to them.

The native divers of this great Indo-Pacific region are said to

dispense with stones or weights. However, here as elsewhere,

the limit in time spent below water seems to be about a minute

and a quarter, and the limit of depth about twenty fathoms.

Divers will seldom go so deep, however, and the average does

not exceed ten fathoms.

The pearl fisheries of the west coast of America are supplied

from beds in Panama bay (now nearly extinct), and others in the

Gulf of California, of Meleagrina californica Cpr. The shells are

Smaller and thinner than those of the M. margaritifera, and have

the technical name of “ Panama” or “ bullock-shell.” They are .

VOL. xvi1.—no. vi, 50

740 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. [July,

valued at $90 to $125 per ton. The gulf beds in the seventeenth

and eighteenth centuries were very prolific. Eight hundred

native divers were regularly employed, and the annual value of

the pearls was $60,000. The fishery became exhausted, however,

and was gradually abandoned. Of late years it has looked up

again, and the Mexican government has farmed out the beds to

private parties who have been in the habit of granting licenses to

persons provided with the equipment for fishing, This method

ignores the preservation of the beds as such, and each licensee

endeavors to strip them as thoroughly as possible. Rubber

armor is used, and natives of Central America are employed as

divers. Even with these appliances the work is attended with

risk, and deaths are not uncommon. About three tons of fresh

shells are obtained by an ordinary party per day from water

about forty feet deep when the weather is fair. About one shell

in a thousand contains a pearl, but these are often of excellent

quality. The natives work on shares of the pearls; the shells go

to the vessel’s account. The working season is about

months. In 1882, 563 barrels of these shells were shipped from

San Francisco to Liverpool by sea, but this is only a small part

of the catch, which is usually shipped by coastwise steamer to

Panama and thence to Europe The pearl fisheries of the Carib-

bean sea are more productive than those of the west coast, though

still much less so than in former times. The species which oe ic

stitutes them is chiefly the Meleagrina squamulosa Lam., know?

to the trade as “ blue-edged” or “ black-lipped” pearl shell. ae

these most of the so-called “smoked pearl” buttons are i

The dark layers of the shell, present in most pearl oysters, are i

thicker and brighter in this species than in any other. Thes® ne

are worth $150 to $225 aton. They are found on several of d

West Indian islands, the northern coast of South America® of

even around on the coast of Brazil. The island of Margarita, ° a

the Venezuelan coast, is famous for its pearls. In 1597 about 359

valued at $5,000; and a third at $3,000, It is many years since such good 1% ie

has attended the divers of this region, though the product of pearls of l

has been tolerably constant.—( Mex. Financero, Jan., 1883).— W. H. D.

1883.]. ‘Pearls and Pearl Bh A 741

pounds of pearls were brought to Spain from these fisheries. In

1574 Philip II obtained a pearl from Margarita which weighed

259 carats and was considered to be worth $150,000. At present

the fisheries, though vigorously prosecuted, produce fewer large

pearls, and the best are considered not quite equal to the best

oriental pearls, being of darker color. To the ordinary method

of procuring the shells by diving they add a wooden frame set

with curved spikes which scratches the shells from rocky bottoms

and brings them up somewhat like a rake. In 1856 the pearl

products imported into England from all parts of this region were

valued at $112,000.

Enough has been said of the fisheries, and before closing we

may devote a little attention to the pearl in its literary, historical

and artistic relations.

Classical and ancient authors, treating of natural history, make

humerous references to pearls. Athenzus states that in the In-

dian seas a shell named derderi is found containing pearls, which

are sold in Persia for their weight in gold. This would bea

small price for a good pearl in our days. Pliny and Dioscorides

asserted that the shell which produces pearls remains during the

breeding season with the valves open and expanded at night.

Thus they receive drops of dew from which pearls are conceived

according to its quality. If the dew is pure the pearls which are

Produced from it are of lucid whiteness, which correspond in size

to the amount of dew received. If the dew is impure the pearls

are dull or muddy. According to these authors the shell fish

are afraid of thunder, and instantly close when they hear it. To

this is due the occasional conception of hollow pearls, containing

no substance. While in the sea, they assert, the pearl is soft and

tender, and hardens on being taken from it. These myths are of

Indian origin.

Pliny thought that pearls came to their complete size and form

in a month from the time the oyster received the dew at the sur-

face of the sea. This poetic fancy of the ancients, in regard to

the origin of pearls, has found expression more than once in

Modern verse. Perhaps the most elegant rendering is contained

in the following lines of Archbishop Trench :

“ A dewdrop, falling on the ocean wave,

Exclaimed in fear, ‘I perish in this grave!’

But, in a shell received, that drop of dew

Unto a pearl of wondrous beauty grew ;

742 fearls and Pearl Fisheries. [July,

And, happy now, the grace did magnif

Which thrust it forth (as it had feared) to die;

Until again, ‘ I perish quite,’ it said,

Torn by rude diver from its ocean bed.

Vain apprehensions! soon it gleamed a gem,

Chief jewel in a monarch’s diadem.”

In later times, with a nearer approximation of the true cause,

the older naturalists attributed the origin of pearls to disease. In

explanation of it they told that the waters on the coasts where

pearls were fished for were very unhealthy, and that the na-

tives there would not eat the flesh of those oysters which con-

tained pearls, regarding them as diseased, hard and ill-tasted,

while those in which there were no pearls were well flavoredand

comestible. These notions appear to have had their basis

fancy only.

Pearls are mentioned in the New Testament in several places,

but only once in the Old Testament,! though other versions of

the story of the Queen of Sheba speak of her dress as adorned

with pearls. The oldest use of pearls was doubtless by prehis-

toric people. Their remains, still recognizable and brilliant, but

ready to fall into powder, have been found in prehistoric mounds

and burial places in both hemispheres. It is doubtful, howeve

if they would attain any very great antiquity in such situations,

being very perishable; and we read of the pearls worn by UY

daughters of Stilicho? when, in 1526, after more than 1100 yar

their tomb was opened, the contents, jewels and stuffs, all wer

found in perfect preservation except some pearls which were ©

duced to extreme brittleness. alued

The Assyrians and Babylonians are said to have highly gat

pearls, with which they became acquainted through their mn

course with the peoples bordering on the Persian gulf. PH

_ were little known in Greece until after the defeat of Darius, T

many were found in the plunder of his camp. Later eae

Romans prized them highly, and transmitted them to Pe

dren as heirlooms. The importance of the person was 1 em

by the size of the pearls she wore, and Pliny intimates ts

large pearl was thus as good a protector for a woman

the street as a lictor walking before her. Pompey bro

ught from

16; 3%

1 Math. VII, 6; VIH; xi, 46. 1 Tim. 1,9. Rev. XVII, 45 XVIII, 12, 59?

21. Job xxvii, 18.

? Roman general under Theodosius ; died A. D. 408.

1883. ] Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. 743

his campaigns in Asia thirty head-bands of pearls, which he gave

to the temple of Venus which already possessed a few. Pearls

are spoken of as gifts made by Alexander Severus to his em-

press, and by Julius Czesar to Servilia, the mother of Brutus. In

the days of the decadence of the Roman empire pearls became a

very common ornament in Rome among the wealthy classes, and

were worn in great profusion, even upon the sandals, a practice

reprobated by St. Paul (1 Tim., ii, 9).

The story of the pearl dissolved by Cleopatra must be rele-

gated to the domain of fable. No vinegar would dissolve a pearl

of large size except after long maceration, and the acid which

would perform it quickly would be absolutely undrinkable. That

Cleopatra possessed a fine collection of pearls is doubtless true,

since one large one, captured by the Romans, was sawed in two

to form ear-pendants for the Capitolian Venus."

The Persians have always been great admirers of pearls, fre-

quent references to them appear in their literature. Hafiz, who

Wrote in the fourteenth century, has this beautiful simile, which

might be applied to his own verse:

“ Whose accents flow with artless ease

Like Orient pearls at random strung.’’?

To come to more modern times we may note that the Sultan

Solyman the Magnificent, in the sixteenth century, presented to

the Republic of Venice a pearl valued at 200,000 ducats, which

is Supposed to be the same as that bought afterward from a

Venetian jeweler by Pope Leo X for an immense sum. The

oors of Grenada used strings of pearls in repeating verses of

the Koran, as Christians used rosaries.

The largest pearl formerly known in Europe once ornamented

the hat of the King of Spain. It was brought from India in 1620

by Francis Gogibus, and was of great beauty but somewhat

fective form. The Shah of Persia, in 1633, according to Tav-

ernier, paid for a single pearl $65,000. This pearl was one of the

most celebrated in Asia and had belonged to the Sultan of Aden

Who obtained it from a merchant of Benares in exchange for

three hundred horses of pure Arab blood.

According to Frédé pearls were little known in France until

the time of Henry II, and Catherine de Medici.

p Cf. Frédé, Voyage etc., 1882, for an interesting résumé of this subject.

*Sir William Jones’ translation.

744 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. [July,

One of the most celebrated pearls in Europe is that called La

Pellegrina, in possession of the Zosima Museum at Moscow,

which has been the subject of several publications. It was

bought fifty years ago from the captain of an India ship at

Livorno, in Italy, and is perfectly spherical and of such brilliance

and purity as to appear almost transparent. It weighs about

ninety grains, and may be considered the most beautiful pearl

known. The imperial crown of Austria is ornamented with a

pearl of three hundred carats weight but of mediocre quality.

The best known and most perfect large pearl of recent times

is that belonging to the collection of the late Mr. A. J. B. Hope,

M.P., of London. It weighs three ounces, is an inch and a half

in diameter and two inches long. Its value is estimated at

about $60,000. The most usual dimensions of fine oriental pearls

is from one and a half to three times the size of a pea.

Each locality produces pearls of especial tint or character;

Japan and Celebes are noted for rosy pearls; the Gambier islands

for those of a bronze hue, derived from the hammer oystef

(Malleus); the Gulf of Mexico for black ones; the Marianne

archipelago for a very rare greenish kind; the Gulfs of Persia

and Manaar for the pure white orient pearls. Two pearls of &

ruby red, found in the waters of Ceylon over a century 4g are

said to be in the hands of the Rajah of the Sulu isles. These ar?

said to be of great beauty, but no more have ever been found,

though some of our American Naiades produce rosy Or pink

pearls. Pink and rosy concretions of great beauty but not nacre-

ous and therefore not true pearls, are produced by the quer?

conch (Strombus gigas L.) of the West Indies, and Turbines

_ Scolymus L. of the East. These lose their color in course

time, as do the shells from which they come, and true

never do.

It may be noted that pearls like most animal products, how-

ever hard, are occasionally subject to a sort of decay, OF ibe

with loss of brilliancy and consequent loss of value. Ag A

preventive against such evils, is to keep the pearl, when not i

use, in magnesia. Pearls should not be put in greasy orso :

water, nor subjected to contact with acids, such as the ‘sini si

fruit or vinegar. If constantly worn fluctuations may er

their brilliancy and tone due to differences in the exhalations ©

the wearer’s skin, which may result from changes of tem

illness or emotion.

1883. | Catlinite. 745

I may terminate this review of these exquisite organic pro-

ducts by a pretty tale from the Talmud, teaching us that the

people of that day esteemed but one object in nature of higher

value than pearls,

It tells us that when Abraham approached Egypt he locked

Sarah, his wife, in a chest that none might behold her beauty.

But when he came to the place of paying customs the officer

said to him, “ Pay custom.” And he said, “I will pay the cus-

tom.” They said to him, “Thou carriest clothes ;” and he said,

“I will pay for clothes.’ Then they said, “ Thou carriest gold;”

and he replied, “I will pay for gold.” On this they cried,

“Surely thou bearest the fine silk ;’ and he answered, “I will

pay custom for the finest silk.” Then they said, “ Surely it must

be pearls that thou takest with thee ;’ and he only answered, “I

will pay for pearls.” As they knew of nothing more valuable

than pearls, they demanded that the box should be opened in

order that it might be determined what concealed treasure it was

for which the owner was willing to pay customs even as for fine

pearls. And the box was opened, and then, as now, beauty and .

Virtue, idealized in woman, were acknowledged of earthly trea-

sures to be as pearls of great price.

:0:

CATLINITE.

Its ANTIQUITY AS A MATERIAL FoR TOBACCO PIPES.

BY EDWIN A. BARBER.

“ From the redstone of the quarry

With his hand he broke a fragment,

Moulded it into a pipe-head,

Shaped and fashioned it with figures ;

From the margin of the river

Took a long reed for a pipe-stem,

With its dark green leaves upon it;

eo ee a oe * ¥*

And erect upon the mountains,

Gitche Manito, the mighty,

Smoked the calumet, the Peace-pipe,

As a signal to the nations.”

Hiawatha.

For Many generations the native tribes of the United States

have procured a highly-prized material for the manufacture of their

tobacco Pipes at the Great Red Pipestone quarry, situated on that

746 Catlinite. [July,

portion of the dividing ridge between the Minnesota and Missouri

rivers, denominated by the early French settlers, Côteau des Prat-

vies. There has been some discrepancy in the statements of

travelers in regard to the exact location of this source of aborig-

inal supply. Carver informs us that near the Marble river “isa

mountain, from whence the Indians get a sort of red stone, out of

which they hew the bowls of their pipes.” Dr. Charles Rau, in

an article entitled “ Ancient Aboriginal Trade in North America,”

quotes from Loskiel,? principally in reference to the pipes of the

Delawares and Iroquois: “Some are manufactured from a kind of

red stone, which is sometimes brought for sale by Indians who

live near the Marble river, on the western side of the Mississippi,

where they extract it (sic) from a mountain.” Du Pratz errone

ously located the quarry “on the bank of the Missouri,” but, for

obvious reasons, he was, in all probability, misinformed by the

natives. :

- Catlin, who was the first white man permitted by the Indians to

visit the place, describes it as being situated between the St.

Peters and Missouri rivers, “ in a direction nearly west from the

Fall of St. Anthony, at a distance of three hundred miles.”

According to Dr. C. A. White, the quarry lies in Minnesota,

about thirty miles from its south-western corner, and three or four

miles from its western boundary® Dr. F. V. Hayden, who visited

the locality some years ago, writes of it as follows: “ On rea ng

the source of the Pipestone creek, in the valley of which the pipe

stone bed is located, I was surprised to see how inconspicuous 4

place it is. Indeed, had I not known of the existence of a

in this locality so celebrated in this region, I should have pa

it by almost unnoticed. * * * * The pipestone layer, a

‘seen at this point, is about eleven inches in thickness, only about

two and a quarter inches of which are used for manufacturing —

pipes and other ornaments. The remainder is too impure, 317,

fragile, &c. * * * * A ditch from four to six feet wide añt

about five hundred yards in length, extending partly across

1 Travels through North America, Dublin, 1779, p- 95.

? Smithsonian Report, 1872, p. 372.

3 Ib. p. 369.

` 4 Illustrations of the Manners, Customs and Condition of the N

dians. Ninth ed., London, 1857, p. 171, Vol. 11, Letter 54.

5 Vide AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. 11, p. 644.

orth Americal sad i

;

1883.] Catlinite. 747

valley of Pipestone creek, reveals what has thus far been done in

excavating the rock.”!

Professor I. N. Nicholet observes: “This red pipestone, not

more interesting to the Indian than it is to the man of science, by

its unique character, deserves a particular description. In the

quarry of it which I opened, the thickness of the bed is one foot

and a half; the upper portion of which separates in thin slabs, whilst

the lower ones are more compact. As a mineralogical species, it

may be described as follows: Compact; structure slaty ; receiv-

ing a dull polish; having a red streak ; color blood-red, with dots

of a fainter shade of the same color; fracture rough; sectile ; feel

somewhat greasy ; hardness not yielding to the nail ; not scratched

by selenite, but easily by calcareous spar; specific gravity 2.90.

The acids have no action upon it; before the blow-pipe it is in-

fusible per se, but with borax gives a green glass.”

Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, to whom Catlin sent specimens,

Pronounced it a new mineral, and gave to it the name of catlinite.

The Great Red Pipestone quarry of the North-west has been

the theme of some of the most interesting myths of the North

American Indians. Aside from the testimony of early eye-wit-

nesses of the customs of the native tribes, some of these legends,

which have been handed down through many successive genera-

tions, in various portions of the United States, would seem to in-

dicate that the material had been employed in pipe-sculpture for a

considerable length of time. Nearly all of these traditions of the

Sioux, Mandans, _Knisteneaux and other: tribes, as narrated by

atlin and other writers, while they differ somewhat in detail, ap-

Pear to be simply modifications of Longfellow’s version, as em-

bodied in his “ Song of Hiawatha.” In addition to savage myth-

ology, facts are not wanting to prove the comparative antiquity of

the aboriginal operations at Coteau des Prairies. “There are in-

i tions,” says Dr. Hayden, “of an unusual amount of labor on

the part of the Indians in former years to secure the precious

Material.’

The narratives of many of the early writers contain allusions to

catlinite. The Jesuit missionary, Marquette, who smoked the pipe

of peace with the Indians as early as 1673, describes the imple-

Am Four, Sci. and Arts, Vol. XLII, Jan., 1867, p. 19.

; Senate Doc, No. 237, Twenty-sixth Congress, Second Session, 1840-'41.

See Wilson’s « Prehistoric Man,” London, 1862, Vol. I, p. 11, et seq.

Am. Four. Sci. and Arts, Vol. LXIII, Jan., 1867, p. 20.

748 Catlinite. [July,

ment as being “made of a polished red stone, like marble, so

pierced that one end serves to hold the tobacco, while the other

is fastened on the stem, which is a stick two feet long, as thick as

a common cane, and pierced in the middle; it is ornamented with

the head and neck of different birds of beautiful plumage; they

also add large feathers of red, green and other colors, with which

it is all covered.”?

The red stone to which this writer alludes was, in all proba-

bility, the pipestone of Minnesota.

“The pipe of peace,” remarks Carver, “which is termed by the

French, the calumet, for what reason I could never learn, is about

four feet long. The bowl of it is made of red marble, and the

stem of it of a light wood, curiously painted with hieroglyphics

in various colors, and adorned with the feathers of the most beau-

tifsh-birds.”*

“This Calumet,’ writes Father Hennepin, “is the most myste- —

rious Thing in the World among the Savages of the Continent

of the Northern America; for it is usd in all their important —

Transactions: However, it is nothing else but a large Tobacco- —

Pipe made of Red, Black or White Marble: The Head is finely

polished, and the Quill, which is commonly two feet and a h

long, is made of a pretty strong Reed or Cane, adorn’d with

Feathers of all Colours, interlac’d with Locks of Women’s Hat

They tie to it two Wings of the most curious Birds they 4%

which makes their Calumet not much unlike Mercury’s Wand, of

that Staff Ambassadors: did formerly carry when they went 7

treat of Peace. They sheath that Reed into the neck of Birds

they call Huars, which are as big as our Geese, and spotted ik

Black and White; or else of a sort of Ducks who make thar ;

nests upon Trees, tho’ water be their ordinary Element, and whose y

feathers are of many different Colours. However, every Natio® :

adorns the Calumet as they think according to their own Genius ;

and the Birds they have in their country.” oe

Mr. John F. Watson, in his “ Annals of Philadelphia.” qual s

1 Dis. and Ex. Miss. Val., by J. G. Shea, New York, 1852. Father James

quette’s Narrative, p, 35.

er’s Travels, Dublin, 1779, p. 336.

According to Mr. Shea, “ We are probably indebted to Father Marquet ‘

addition to our language of this word” (calumet). (Dis. and Ex. Miss. ; pa j

p: 21.)

3 Discovery, etc., p. 93. London, 1698. u

Quoted by Col, C. C. Jones in “ Antiquities of the Southern Indians.

1883. } Catlinite. 749

from the work of the Swedish traveler, Professor Kalm, in refer-

ence to the Indians, preceding the year 1748: “ The old tobacco-

pipes were made of clay or pot-stone, or serpentine stone—the

tube thick and short. Some were made better, of a very fine red

pot stone, and were seen chiefly with the sachems.”

During the last century catlinite pipes were in general use

amongst the various Indian tribes of the United States. The

recent historians devote considerable space in their works to the

description and illustration of these characteristic aboriginal pro-

ductions.

Schoolcraft figures a number of Dakcta pipes, one of which re-

presents a tomahawk and another is a curious pipe with two rec-

tangular bowls, one placed behind the other and entirely distinct.

Catlin has also published many sketches of calumets which he

saw in his travels. He also made an interesting collection of these

objects, which fell into the hands of the indefatigable collector,

Mr. Wm. Bragge, F.S.A., of Birmingham, England (which collec-

tion I learn has been recently sold), in which was an unfinished

bowl from the quarry, a pipe in the form of a canoe, a Pawnee

catlinite pipe representing a buffalo cow in front of the bowl and

a calf at the back, and weighing nearly three pounds—in all a

series of thirty specimens, many of them beautifully inlaid with

metal.

The red pipestone is still much sought for by the modern In-

dians, and pipes of this material are common amongst the Santees,

Poncas, Apaches, Comanches, Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes,

Utes and, indeed, almost all the tribes east of the Rocky moun-

tains. In nearly every public and private ethnological museum of

any importance, modern examples occur, but these are generally

inlaid with lead, silver, tin or some other metal, and frequently

show the influence of civilization in their designs, being made in

imitation of iron hatchets, spear-heads, knives, the heads of horses

or other objects, animate or inanimate, of European introduction.

A fine specimen of the horse-head form, elaborately inlaid wi

lead or pewter, is now in the museum of the Davenport Academy

of Sciences, and a somewhat similar example, made by the Da-

a See “ The History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes,” Part 11, pl.

F Dr. C. S. Arthur, of Portland, Ind., owns a double-bowled catlinite pipe rey

Similar to that mentioned above, but possessing an upright ridge on the horizontal

neck,

750 Cathnite. [July,

kota Indians, I procured from Professor E. H. Crane, of Colon,

Michigan, who informs me that this tribe employs over seventy-

five different patterns in pipe manufacture, of which the calumet

is the only form for which they evince any degree of veneration

in their ceremonies. This traveler saw the Indians take the mate-

rial from the quarry and subsequently fashion it into pipe-bowls.

The process of making catlinite pipes employed by the Sioux at

the present day, is thus described to me by Mr. Chas. H. Bennett,

of Pipe Stone City, Minnesota: A piece of the rock is selected from

the best portion of the vein and the Indian sculptor, with an old

piece of hoop iron, or a broken knife blade which he has picked

up, fashions the block roughly into the desired form. Then slowly

and tediously, with the same tools, he bores out the bowl and the

hole in the stem, before carving the exterior, so that if, in the pro-

cess of boring, the stone should split, no labor will be lost. After

this is accomplished he shapes the surface into any design which

he may have in view. This work often occupies weeks before it

is completed, after which the carving is polished by rubbing it

with grease or oil in the palms of the hands. Some of the more

elaborate examples are inlaid with silver, lead or type-metal in the

following manner: The portions to be inlaid are first cut out of

the surface and a strip of heavy paper, first moistened, is wound

tightly around the carved portions. Through a hole in the pap

the melted metal is poured in until it fills all of the spaces. The

wrapping is then removed and all of the uneven surfaces of metal

rubbed smooth. These inlaid portions represent bands around

the bowl or stem, or are made in stars, circles or geometrical

devices, which give to the pipe a very ornamental appearance.

Fig. 1 represents a carved pipe, two-thirds of the size of nature,

which was sent to me by Mr. Bennett, made by a celebrated pip?

maker belonging to the Flandreau Sioux. The material of this

specimen is the purest and finest which I have ever seen, the color

being a beautiful deep red.

According to Professor N. H. Winchell, of Minneapolis,

Chippewa Indians, at the present time, inlay the gray pipor

with red catlinite to produce a showy effect. One of these, aoe

famous Bragge collection in England, is made of dark stone ™

with white metal and catlinite, from Pembina, Minn.

One of the finest catlinite pipes of recent date w

the celebrated chief of the Sacs and Foxes, Keoku

as owned by

k, which wa

1883. | Catlinite. . 751

formerly the property of Dr. E. H. Davis, of New, York, but is

now in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, England. This is

figured in the first volume of the “ Smithsonian Contributions to

Knowledge,” on the 230th page, though it is {there represented

less than half the size of the original, while another illustration of

it in Harpers Monthly Magazine for June, 1855, is further reduced

in size, and is placed with three of the celebrated ancient mound

pipes of Squier and Davis, beneath which occurs the simple

legend “ Indian Pipe-bowls.”

The long stems of the calumet, which have, for many genera-

Fic. 1.—Calumet with carving of ape and boy.

tions, played such important parts in the wars, treaties and reli-

gious ceremonies of the Indian tribes, deserve a passing notice.

Modern examples are often ingeniously made and profusely deco-

rated with stained feathers, porcupine quill wrappings, bead work,

human hair, gaudily-colored cloth and other ornamental trim-

mings, Specimens in my own collection are twisted and the spi-

ral edges of the wood ornamented by charred designs. One flat

stem in the collection of the Davenport Academy of Sciences is

beautified with carvings of hearts and arrows which pass entirely

through the center of the broad side. The stem hole which, if

straight or following the pith, should intersect the open spaces,

evidently passes around them ; we are at a loss to know how such

a result could be reached with the tools at the command of the

752 Cathinite. [July,

native workman. A stem belonging to a pipe from one of the

Western Territories, in the collection of Philip Sharples, of West

Chester, Pa., is closely wrapped with plaited moose hair, which is

ingeniously stained in various colors with geometrical devices and

representations of men and women. Another example presented

to the writer by John H. Mcllvain, of Philadelphia, is similarly

ornamented with narrow braids of plaited porcupine quill-work,

and was at one time the property of Eagle Head, a Sioux chief in

the vicinity of the Falls of St. Anthony. The latter specimen was

formerly in the old Peale Museum of Philadelphia. According

to Mr. C. H. Bennett, the Indians in producing the twisted stems,

which are generally made of ash wood, “ cut a long strip of paper

or cloth, wind it spirally about the stick and then cut along the

edges of the wrapping. The hole is of course burned out with

hot wire.” '

In olden times, as tradition has it, the Great Pipestone quarry

was held as neutral ground where hostile tribes “ buried all their

warlike weapons” and peacefully met together to secure the gift

which the Great Spirit had provided for their mutual benefit. Lat-

terly, however, the territory, which includes the Cdteau des Prat

vies, has been monopolized by the Sioux, and other tribes have

only been able to procure the valued commodity by barter. A

few years ago Professor Crane saw three hundred Yankton Sioux

on their annual pilgrimage to the quarry, for the purpose of ob-

taining material to supply their own demands and for exchange

with other tribes. Mr. Bennett, who has devoted much attention

to this subject, writes me as follows: “The Yankton Sioux have

no title or patent to the one mile square reserve, farther than that

stipulated in the treaty made by Government with them about

thirty years ago. The treaty is still in force, and the r ight of a

Indians to dig pipestone for making pipes will belong to them a5

long as the treaty holds good. A gentleman of Minneap’

claims the west half of the mile square which has the pipe

stone diggings and the falls on, and is the most valuable part,

through a patent erroneously issued by the Government 4 ee Re

ber of years since. The old head chief, Padanipapa or Si

Ree, says he saw 6000 Indians camped at the quarry

months about forty years ago. es

In regard to the antiquity of catlinite as a material for pip?

manufacture, there is a great diversity of opinion. Some

for two

writers

eres:

1883. | Catlinite. 753

believe that the pipestone quarry was not opened before the com-

mencement of the present century, whilst others agree with Mr.

George Catlin in the belief that the natives were familiar with the

peculiar properties of the stone and worked the quarry in far

remote times. Professor Crane is of the opinion that pipestone

has been extracted from this locality for many centuries, basing

his belief upon the discovery of catlinite objects in ancient mounds

in connection with other relics of undoubted antiquity. He as-

sures me that he has found large quantities of chips and small

fragments of red pipestone scattered over the country in the vicin-

ity of Sioux falls, Dakota, and was told by an aged man of con-

siderable intelligence that the latter had opened a mound in that

neighborhood, a few years ago, in which he discovered a catlinite

pipe of the oldest mound form. Be this as it may, recent investi-

gations have proved beyond doubt that this material has been em-

ployed by the Indians for a much longer time than has been gen-

erally supposed. A century or so ago, long, cylindrical, opaque

glass beads of a dark red color were made, in imitation of catlin-

ite, and were imported to the United States in large quantities for

traffic with the natives. These have been found in great abun-

dance in certain localities, as in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,

and in Montgomery county, New York, and other portions of the

Eastern States. The idea of furnishing such objects was sug-

gested to the early traders by the catlinite tubes or perforated

cylindrical ornaments which were common amongst the Indians,

and- which were highly esteemed by them. The glass imitations

soon superseded the native stone productions to a great extent

and doubtless proved a profitable source of income to the impor-

ters of Indian trinkets.

Indian graves in Chester County, Pa., have produced some cu-

tiously fashioned catlinite beads, some of them shaped in imita-

tion of barbed arrow-points and others four-sided tubes upwards

of an inch in length.

A considerable number of catlinite pipes have been taken from

graves, and also from some of the older tumuli. In the ethno-

logical collection of the Smithsonian Institution are several pipes

and ornaments of red stone which were found in Indian graves in

the State of New York while digging the Oriskany canal. The

Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology con-

tains Several minute pipes made of catlinite, which were discov-

754 Catlinite. [July,

ered by Mr. E. Curtiss under a cairn in Marion county, Kansas.

Professor J. D. Butler, of Madison, Wisconsin, refers to a pipe

recently presented to the Wisconsin Historical Society, by Ole

Rasmussen, which was found in Waupaca county in 1880, ata

depth of twenty feet beneath the surface of the ground, while

digging a well."

From a large number of such pipes, which have been brought

to my notice, I have selected a few of the most striking forms for

illustration in this paper. A catlinite pipe in the collection of Mr.

A. F. Berlin, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, is represented in Fig. 2.

This specimen was plowed up in a field in the vicinity of a mound

near Elmira, Stark county, Ill. When found it was entire, but

falling into the hands of the children of the finder, two pieces

were broken from the edge of the broad horizontal disk which

rests on the rectangular base. This pipe, which is carved from @

single piece of stone, although not unique in form, may be con-

sidered a rare type. The illustration is nearly the size of nature,

the basal portion measuring one and three quarters of an inch in

length. The stem was fitted in by wrapping the end to pero?

large orifice, which is scarcely less in diameter than the mouth 0

the bowl, which latter was doubtless designed.to hold but a smal

quantity of tobacco, adulterated probably with other herbs, which,

inhaled in the manner peculiar to the Indians, required but a s™

quantity to produce exhilaration or intoxication. Two other pipe

of the same material and almost identical in form, are in pos 4

sion of Dr. C. S. Arthur, the disks measuring four inches 1n diam

eter. In one of these a portion of the stem is carved in the "E

blance of an animal with one head, two bodies, two tails and si*

legs.

1See Am. Antiquarian, Vol. 111, No. 2, p. 141. è

1883.] Catlinite. 755

Mr. J. P. Jones, of Keytesville, Missouri, possesses an example

(Fig. 3) somewhat similar in shape to the preceding, with the ex-

Fic. 3.—From a tumulus in Boone county, Mo.

ception that the platform is extended beyond the disk and tapers

toa rounded point. A scroll or zigzag ornament is incised on

either side. This specimen was taken froma small burial mound

in Boone county, Mo. Another pipe, made of hard sandstone, of

a somewhat analogous, but modified form, was found in Chariton

county in the same State, and is owned by the same gentleman.

A pipe made of a light-colored stone, almost identical in form

with Fig. 2, is in the ccllection of Mr. G. S. Mepham, of St.

Louis, Mo. This was taken from a mound near Greenville,

Illinois (see also Fig. 195, p. 49, Archzol. Collections Nat. Mus.,

Rau

Mr. Charles C. Jones, Jr., of Augusta, Georgia, remarks in his

excellent work on the Indians of that State: “ Thus far the writer

has failed to discover a single instance of the use, among the

Georgia Indians, in ancient times, of the genuine red pipestone or

catlinite.”! In a recent communication, however, he sends me a.

sketch of a small catlinite pipe, found in May, 1877, on the right

bank of the Savannah river, in Columbia county, Georgia, Fig.

1 f - a

ht al mM H G

Fad iii E2

ye Vy Wy

FENG DS EZ.

| IN ati * we

i eth: A

bs T X l we ZG

c. 4.—From Columbia county, Ga. :

Lom ts the Ba in its actual proportions. “In the same

locality,” writes Col. Jones, “was picked up a large cylindrical

1“ Antiquities of the Southern Indians,” p. 407.

You. Xv.—no. vit 51

756 Catlinite. (July,

` bead, fashioned of the same material. In November of last year

(1880), in the fork of the Patoiligo and Flint rivers (Southwestern

Georgia), was obtained an oblong cylinder of catlinite, two anda

half inches long and a half inch in diameter. It is perforated

longitudinally, the diameter of the hole being nearly the quarter

of an inch. Near one end occurs also a transverse perforation.”

Dr. Charles Rau sends me a drawing of a pipe of unusual shape,

which he mentions in his paper previously referred to.’ “Its mate-

rial,” he writes, “ is the real cat/inite from the Céteau des Prairies,

in Minnesota—dark red with lighter spots. The exact shape is

shown in the accompanying drawing (see Fig. 5), which repre

sents the object in its natural size. The pipe,

however, is flattish, exactly half an inch thick in

the middle. The drawing, of course, shows the

À broader side. The cylindrical cavity for holding

A) the smoking material measures three eighths of

| an inch in diameter, and reaches five eighths of

an inch downwards, when it suddenly become —

much narrower until it joins the lateral stem

hole. The latter is nearly three sixteenths of at

inch in diameter. It is the smallest catlimite pipe

Ny yip

M KEGAN,

Hei

\ \\ |

Fig.

county, Ill.

Illinois, and was sent to me eight or ten years ago, by Dr. Joba

WML

J. R. Patrick, of Belleville, in the same State and county.

Fic. 6.—From a grave, Fort Wayne, Ind.

An example of red pipestone was discovered im 4

ave a

1See Smithsonian Report, 1872, p. 372.

1883.] Catlinite. 757

Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is now owned by R. S. Robertson, Esq.,

of that city. It is represented in its actual size in Fig. 6. The

form, while more modern than some of the other specimens fig-

ured, is not common at the present day. A few miles east of

Fort Wayne, in Allen county, a curious pipe of the same mate-

rial was found on the surface of the ground, a few years ago,

which is now in the possession of Mr. H. J. Rudisill, of River-

side, California. A full sized drawing of this specimen is given

in Fig. 7, and it will be seen that it is somewhat analogous in

form to the interesting pipe described and figured

by Mr. Henry Gillman, of Detroit, in his excel-

lent paper on the “ Mound-builders and Platyc-

nemism in Michigan, on which the figures 1697

have been scratched by some white man, The

Specimen illustrated in Fig. 189 in the “Smith-

sonian Contributions to Knowledge,” No. 287, by

Dr. Rau, belongs also to the same class. A pipe

of similar form, but made of a gray stone pos-

sessing a reddish cast, is owned by R. W. Mc-

Bride, Esq., of Waterloo, Indiana. As there is =

some doubt concerning the material of this speci- , pae Daas tad.

men, it has not been figured here, although it has

been pronounced catlinite by archaeologists who have seen it. It

was found on the surface, some years ago, on the present site

of Waterloo. Another example in the same collection is given

in Fig. 8. The material is supposed to be catlinite, it was taken

from a mound in Putnam county, Ohio, about fifty i

years ago, by Dr. Jonas Emanuel. The head, which

exhibits considerable artistic skill, is two and three

quarters inches in height. The eyes and mouth are

gouged out to a considerable depth, and may origi-

nally have contained pearls or nuggets of metal. =

Mr. S. Z. Landes, of Mount Carmel, Ill., has a catli- {

nite pipe which was recently found beneath the roots

of a tree which had been undermined by the waters

. : i Fic,8.—From

of White river, near that place. The bowl is plain, mound in Put-

-but on the upper portion of the horizontal neck an nam Co., Ohio.

animal resembling a weasel is carved in high relief. It was found

associated with copper ornaments, leaden bullets, a copper kettle,

a physician’s lancet and an iron box filled with mica.

l See Smithsonian Report, 1873, p. 369.

—e

758 Catlinite. [July,

According to the report of Long’s expedition to the Rocky

mountains, published in Philadelphia in 1823, the old Philadel

phia Museum contained at that time “ many Indian pipes of that

indurated clay found only (as far as hitherto known) on the Pipe

stone branch of the Little Sioux river of the Missouri; one of

these, however, was found on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, in

South America ; several were found in the territory now called

New England, and in the north-eastern part of the continent”

Unfortunately the specimen alluded to as having been found ia

South America, is probably lost, as the collection has long sincè

been dispersed. It is, therefore, impossible, at this late day, to

substantiate the statement quoted above.

Through the kindness of Professor W. H. Pratt, of Iowa, I have

been enabled to procure photographs, sketches and accurate de- |

scriptions of a most interesting series of catlinite pipes belong- i

ing to the museum of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, l

A careful study of this collection reveals two important facts: l

First, that catlinite is not always distinguished by a red color, but

that varieties sometimes occur of brown, slaty or greenish hues; g

second, that the forms of some of the older pipes, when consti

ered in connection with the circumstances of their discover)

would indicate a much longer acquaintance with this material, 0°

the part of the North American tribes, than has hitherto p

supposed probable. The set of modern Indian pipes in this <

lection comprises specimens of a bright red color, others ae

dark red or brown, and several of an ash or darker slate Be

sometimes approaching a greenish tinge. As the red color |

generally been considered one of the distinguishing characte

of catlinite, some doubt might naturally be entertained as em

identity of the material of the latter, were it not for the BATE

there are examples in the collection which are partially re

partially ash colored, and which are undoubtedly true «~ i

Such specimens combine in one piece the characteristics of se" 4

varieties of the stone, and present a mottled or variegate? ai i

ance, “In 1838,” remarks my informant, Mr. Pratt, : Litile o

made a pipe while stopping a day or two at the hou

Pope, then living near Fort Snelling, and presented it tothe e

It is of the dark ash color, and closely resembles some J

specimens in color and texture, but somewhat darker rapes :

them, and not in the least red. It is of the common Mom

1883. | Catlinite. 759

and is inlaid with lead.” This pipe has been presented to the

Academy, and the material is pronounced catlinite.

In addition to the recent pipes, the Davenport Museum con-

tains “four red, three partly red and partly ash colored, and

twelve wholly of ash color, but running in some to a slate color,

considerably darker,” all but three of which have been taken

directly from mounds, and those three found in their immediate

Vicinity. One of the most interesting specimens of these earlier

forms yet brought to my notice, is the wild-cat pipe, from the

Toolesboro’ mound, represented in Fig. 9 (museum No. 4558)

` Fic. 9.—Antique pipe from a Toolesboro’ mo

which is made of a variegated pipestone of a dull red or brown

color, mottled with patches and spots of ash, some gray, greenish

and light red. This was found associated with copper implements

and pieces of galena,

und, Iowa.

Fic. 1o—From a mound near Davenport, Iowa.

Another example shown in Fig. 10 (museum No. 4575), a com-

760 Cathinite. [July,

mon form in the oldest mounds, is made of a very dark red pipe-

stone, polished, from an extensive mound in Rockingham town-

ship, six miles south-west of Davenport. Three other specimens

from mounds in Louisa county, Iowa, belong to Mr. C. T. Lind-

ley, but are at present deposited in the same museum. One isa

bird-shaped pipe of a bright dark red color; another is also of

the bird form, but is of a solid gray color; the third is also gray

and plain.

Dr. C. A. White, in a recent letter to Mr. Pratt, writes: “ You

are quite right in supposing that some portions of the pipestone

from the Great Red Pipestone quarry are of an ash or similar

color, while other portions are spotted or mottled, or both. The

prevailing color is red, the color so commonly seen in pipes, and

the light colors are rather rare. It is not improbable that the

layer which furnished the best material for pipes may have been

found at certain local spots to have had a lighter shade than the

prevailing color, so that there might at certain times have been

more of that color found than the whole deposit will average. In

short, so far as color is concerned, I do not know why all the

specimens you refer to may not have come from the Great Red

Pipestone quarry.”

After a thorough study and comparison of the various spe

mens of this collection, both modern and ancient, Mr. Pratt as

sures me that beyond doubt the material of all the pipes alluded

to or described above is true catlinite.

A human headed pipe four and a half inches in length and

three in height, in the collection of Hon. Horace Beach, of Pran l

du Chien, Wisconsin, was found in a mound at Des Moines, le

The form, however, does not indicate a very high antiquity ; the

specimen belonged doubtless, to an intrusive burial. Half "i

platform and the head, which is situated near one end, is of a aut

reddish color, whilst the other half of the base is a dark om

brown witha greenish tinge. The line, showing where the a :

colors unite, is very distinct. After a careful examination yer’ |

specimen I unhesitatingly pronounce the material catlinite. s

other pipe bowl from the same collection is fashioned ee -

bright olive colored variety of catlinite, in which numerous > k:

spots of a lighter color are visible. This pipe was taken m

mound in Prairie du Chien, Wis. Mr. Beach is of the oPh

that it was a Winnebago production, belonging to 4 seco o

1883.] Catlinite. oe

burial, the material probably being obtained from the northren

part of the State. A third example, belonging to the same gentle-

man, is a very diminutive pipe, an inch in length, shaped in imita-

tion of an Indian moccasin. It was evidently intended to be used

without the intervention of a movable stem or mouth-piece, the

material being apparently catlinite of a dark reddish-brown color,

the stem orifice passing through the toe. It was found near Fond

du Lac, Wisconsin.

Henry G. Clay, Esq., of Philadelphia, has a catlinite pipe made

in the semblance of a bear’s paw, with inlaid ornamentation. Mr.

H. F. Sibley, of Fairfield, Ill., is the possessor of a catlinite cal-

umet which measures six and a half inches in length. It was

found in Minnesota. Another example in the same collection is

a diminutive pipe which was discovered in a cave in Kansas. In

a group of mounds in Rock Island county, Illinois, at a depth of

seven or eight feet, were recently found two other pipes made of

the dark red pipestone. One of these is unfinished, having no

perforation leading to the bowl. The other possesses a round

bowl with the head of an animal, somewhat resembling a mouse,

carved on one side. In the latter specimen the eyes of the ani-

mal are not indicated, and the stem hole does not reach entirely

through the bowl. These two last-mentioned examples have

been placed in the Davenport Academy.

Amongst nearly two hundred pipes, discovered by Squier and

Davis in a small sacrificial mound in Ohio, were many “ composed

of a red porphyritic stone, somewhat resembling the pipestone of

the Céteau des Prairies, excepting that it is of great hardness and

-interspersed with small, variously-colored granules.” When it is

own that catlinite becomes hardened by long use and exposure

m fire, there are strong reasons for believing that the “ red porphy-

ritic stone,” several times mentioned in the “ Ancient Monuments

of the Mississippi valley,” was in reality a variety of the true red

Pipestone. Some of the limestone pipes had been entirely cal-

cined by the heat “which had been sufficiently strong to melt

copper.

In support of the assertion that catlinite often occurs of colors

other than red, Professor Crane writes me that he has taken speci-

mens of this material from the great quarry which are pure white,

and also pieces exhibiting every shade of color between this and

deep red, including an ash-colored variety. A series of speci-

762 Catlinite.

mens of the stone, which he procured at the quarry, and which

he has sent to me for examination, includes a large number of

varieties, differing considerably in density, some pieces resembling

clay in softness, and others approaching jasper in hardness. In

this selection specimens are found of a light buff or rich cream

`- color; others present the various shades of red, whilst some are

of a dark ash or slate color. Pebbles of great hardness, which

were found in the drift close by, present the same diversity in col-

oring, and one example, of a deep red hue, is beautifully mottled

with circular spots of a lighter shade. Many of the specimens of ;

pipestone are variegated with small spots of a lighter or pink

color, while others are buff on one side and flesh colored or dar

red on the other. Says Dr. Hayden : “ This rock possesses almost

every color and texture, from a light cream to a deep red, depend-

ing upon the amount of peroxyd of iron. Some portions of it ae

soft, with a soapy feel, like steatite, others slaty, breaking into thin

flakes ; others mottled with red and gray.”

An examination of the several varieties of the stone, however

shows us that the deep red portions of the pipestone stratum are

the finest in quality and best adapted for pipe sculpture, which

fact will account for the prevalence of pipes of this color.

It has hitherto been generally supposed that catlinite was only i

found in one contracted locality—at the Great Red Pipestone

quarry ; but varieties of the same mineral occur at several points :

in Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Dr. White writes ofitas

occurring at Sioux falls, Minnehaha county, Dakota, where it 18

“ intercalated with the red quartzite.” Mr. Pratt informs me that the

largest specimen block of red pipestone in the Davenport cabinet

is from Blue Earth river, about seventy-five miles east —

quarry, and Professor J. D. Butler describes a pipestone, almost

identical with the catlinite of Coteau des Prairies, which occurs

Sauk county, and also in Brown county, Wisconsin, at he

geologist, writes Mr. Pratt that real catlinite is also foung, ©"

at several points in Minnesota, in Pipe Stone Rock, Cote

Watonwan and Nicollet counties, and sparingly at Po keet ;

falls. He also mentions it as occurring at the Great Palisades,

Dakota and in some parts of Wisconsin. Dr. Hoy," = he

states that “there is quite an extensive quarry of catlinite 12 ge

1 Am. Four. Sci. and Arts, Jan., 1867, p. 20.

1883.] Catlinite. 763

northern part of Wisconsin ; color a little darker than the western

variety; some specimens are dark ash colored.” According to

the Geological Report of Wisconsin for 1877, pipestone occurs

also in considerable quantities in Barron county.

It will thus be seen that the native pipe makers were not lim-

ited to one particular locality to procure their material. It is not

to be supposed that all of these deposits were known to them in

olden times, but detached fragments might have supplied them

with material in many places. It is highly probable that pipe-

stone has been used by the inhabitants of North America for

centuries, and was perhaps obtained at first in small pieces from

the drift of the Missouri and Dakota valleys, long before the

Great Pipestone quarry was worked and previous to the discovery

of the stone zz place. According to Dr. White,’ ledges of catlinite

are found in the north-western corner of Iowa, and the red quartz-

ite which overlies them is found scattered in boulders as far as the

Missouri State line, a distance of over two hundred miles. Pro-

fessor Chamberlin, State geologist of Wisconsin, writes, in a let-

ter to Mr. Pratt, “ Catlinite occasionally occurs in our drift.”

In reviewing the facts thus briefly stated it will be seen that

the stone of Céteau des Prairies and the adjacent territory must

have been employed by native sculptors for several centuries at

least, and, in all probability, for a much longer period. The early

Writers frequently allude to a peculiar substance commonly used

by the Indians in the pipe manufacture, which without difficulty

may be identified as catlinite. There can be no doubt that an

extensive traffic was carried on in this material for a considerable

length of time by the aboriginal tribes, extending from the At-

lantic coast to the Rocky Mountain system, and from New York

and Minnesota on the north to the Gulf of Mexico. The fact

that objects of catlinite have been taken from Indian graves in

the State of New York, and that others were found on the an-

cient site of an abandoned village in Georgia, at opposite points,

twelve hundred miles distant from the pipestone quarry of Minne-

sota, reveals the great extent of intercommunication which form-

erly existed amongst the North American peoples. When we

consider the fact that many pipes of catlinite have been taken

from the bottom of mounds from four to seven feet deep, where

they were found in connection with cloth-wrapped copper axes

1 Amer. NAT., Vol. 11, p. 644.

764 Editors’ Table. [ July,

and other objects of a high antiquity, and that some of them are

of the typical form of the oldest mound pipes, viz.: A cylindrical

or sculptured bowl rising from the center of the convex side ofa

curved platform, we are forced to believe that their age is very

considerable.

It is highly probable that future investigations may point toa

still greater antiquity of the art of fashioning objects in pipestone

than has been positively assigned to it in these pages, and, indeed,

it is within the range of possibility that the aboriginal operations

at the Great Pipestone quarry may be proved to have antedat

the Spanish discovery of America by many centuries.

:0:

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE.

The unification of geological nomenclature, and of the

system of colors used for geological maps, are two objects which

the International Congress of Geologists has proposed to accom-

plish. So far asthe nomenclature of the formations is concerned,

the only doubles emplois which occur, and which are likely to 0c-

cur, are to be found in the different names given by geologists to

the same formation when they exist in different continents. Such

duplications are not very numerous, but they are sufficiently 5°

to demand attention. The only attempt in this direction of uni-

fication with which we are acquainted, is to be found in the first

volume of the Comptes Rendus of the Congress, Paris, 1368. It

was there maintained that while the lesser sub-divisions of the

formation of Europe and America can rarely be identified, those

of primary and secondary grade are often clearly the same,

should bear the same name on both continents. The general

adoption of the uniform nomenclature may be greatly facilitated

by its recommendation by the Congress of Berlin.

A general uniformity in the system of geological coloration has

long prevailed, but in detail there is much discrepancy. At PI

sent there are three principal systems in use: those of the com

mittees which reported to the Congress of Bologna; that of the

United States Geological Survey, and that of the Geological sar

1For other objects of pipestone not described here, see proceedings of the Davy

port Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1, pl. Iv. :

2 Comparison of the horizons of extinct vertebrata of Europe and America

1883. ] Recent Literature. 765

vey of Canada. The considerations which should guide the final

selection of a uniform system, must be—first, availability for prac-

tical use ; and second, the extent to which any given system has

already been perpetuated in existing cartography.

e important condition first mentioned obviously includes the

presentation of a sufficiently large number of sufficiently distinct

colors or patterns, to include all the minor geological divisions

which have been, or are to be, discovered. From this standpoint

the plans sent in by the committees to the Congress of Bologna

are very defective. Their authors apparentiy forgot that Europe

constitutes but a small part of the world, and that the system to

be adopted must represent America, Asia, Africa, and Australia

The United States system, devised by Powell, is much better in

this respect. A combination of this with the European scheme

would do very well for the continents where they originated, but

we suspect that even this combination would not be sufficient for

the entire world. A larger list of colors and pattern variations

even than that offered by Powell, will be required when the geology

of the world comes to be known. In using them, also, care must

be observed to allow vacancies for the undiscovered formations,

bility of a meeting of the British Association for the

steamers has offered extensive facilities to the visiting members,

and the hospitalities of Montreal have been freely proffered. A

large number of members have signified their intention of avail-

ing themselves of this opportunity of visiting our continent.

It is desirable that the meeting of the American Association,

held the same year, shall be fixed at such a time as will enable

the visitors to attend it also. The locality should not be remote

from Montreal, and should be of easy access. An invitation will

probably be sent from Philadelphia, the birth-place of the Amer-

ican Association. Should this be accepted our British friends may

expect a warm and appreciative welcome. The Academy of

Natural Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the

Franklin Institute have appointed committees to take the matter

in charge.

Ea S a ATERT

RECENT LITERATURE.

Wuire’s Non-MarINE Fossi MoLLUsca oF NORTH AMERICA.

—In this work the palæontological student has for the first time

1 Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. J. W. Powell, Director.

A review of the non-marine fossil Mollusca of North America, By CHARLES A.

Waite. Extract from the annual report of the director of the U. S. Geological

Survey, 1881-82, Washington, 1883. Large 8vo, pp. 144, 32 plates.

766 Recent Literature, [July,

a connected view of a most interesting assemblage of fresh-water

andbrackish-water mollusks, belonging for the most part to a

transition period of great scientific interest, that between and con-

necting the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, z. e., the Laramie. Dr.

White first takes up each family in systematic order and traces

the history of its occurrence so far as it has been learned, from

the earliest known appearance of any of its species within the

present limits of North America until the present time, with a

general discussion of certain questions suggested by the facts

stated.

The author claims that the Laramie group is a transitional one

between the Cretaceous and Tertiary. ‘Neither the Laramie

group nor any true geological equivalent of it is at present known

anywhere except in Western North America. It there occupies

or is found at various localities within a large region, the present

known limits of which may be roughly stated as extending from

Northern New Mexico on the south to the British possessions on

the north, and from the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake on the

west to a present known distance out upon the Great Plains of

more than two hundred miles from the eastern base of the Rock

mountains. It has been traced within the western boundary of

both Kansas and Nebraska.” The history of this controverted

group is then given, and for the benefit of the general reader a

brief sketch of the evolution of the North American continent is

“The continent in its present shape has been produced by =

coalescence of two or more principal. portions, which were ele-

continental area. The two principal portions of the continent pre-

vious to the Cretaceous period were an eastern and western one

respectively, and before the close of that period they were sepa-

rated by a broad stretch of open sea. By the continued slow rise

of the whole continental area this broad stretch of open sea

tirely fresh at the close of the Laramie period. During thei f pi

ately succeeding Eocene Tertiary epoch at least, the great |

f Wester?

mie and

t of the

the plateaus and the great systems of mountains O

North America into the structure of which these Lara

Eocene strata enter. Some portions of the western pat

1883. ] Recent Literature. 767

continent continued to be occupied by fresh-water lakes of the

kind last referred to during the middle and latter portions of the

Tertiary period, but they were much less in size than those which

previously existed. They also gradually became smaller, and

finally disappeared by being drained of their waters, or remnants

of them remained to become the salt-water lakes of to-day.”

After a review of all the species, including the few Devonian,

Carboniferous, Jurassic and Triassic, and Cretaceous species, the

bulk of the review is devoted to the Laramie species. Each spe-

cies is well illustrated by excellent drawings. In conclusion the

' suggested.”

768 Recent Literature. [July,

WILDER AND GaGe’s ANATOMICAL TECHNOLOGY AS APPLIED TO

THE DOMESTIC Cat.\—The authors’ evident purpose in preparing

this work has been to acquaint the beginner in anatomy with the

instruments and other material necessary for use in dissecting, the

methods of dissecting, and finally a full description of the most

important parts of the cat, including the skeleton, the muscles of

the shoulder and arm, the more important viscera, the vascular

system, the nervous system in general, but especially the brain.

It is apparently not intended to be a contribution to the general

and comparative anatomy of the cat, as it is not exhaustive of the

anatomy of a single cat. Hence it would not be fair to compare

it with Mivart’s excellent work on the cat in all its relations, ana-

system. Under the head of terminology are several pages of

irrelevant and whimsical matter, including correspondence and

The authors have attempted a reform in terminology, and a oe

form is needed. Thirty-four pages are devoted to a discussion o!

have been omitted in the present book ; the discussion 1s too ra”

bling for a laboratory guide-book, yet the suggestions are in ee

cases excellent. e terms meson and mesal, ectad and eni rs

dorsad and ventrad, and the compounds on p. 32 are useful a

verbs, but we should hesitate before using the terms ppb

orsicumbent, latericumbent, cephaloduct, dextriflexion, OF pete

flexion, or even caudiduct. On the rare occasions when 4 gees

up man has occasion to pull a cat’s tail, we should say 5° in

many Saxon words, The term transection for transverse See

and hemisection for longitudinal section, are good innovations.

i i hu-

1 Anatomical Technology ds applied to the domestic Cat. An introduction o

man, veterinary, and comparative anatomy, with illustrations. By BURT & Co. 8yo,

and Simon H. Gace. New York and Chicago, 1882, A. S. Barnes

1883.] Recent Literature. 769

We then come to the anatomical dechnigue, or technology, to

which ninety pages are devoted. The instructions, descriptions

of instruments and apparatus are minute and exhaustive, ranging

from a description of injecting syringes and anesthetic box down

to that of the waste pail, the bottle brush, and killing fleas. The

descriptions are indeed so circumstantial that a fool may not err

therein. On p. 79 we are told how cats may be caught, and a cat

net and bag attached like a net to a hoop and pole, are suggested

when the cat can’t be inveigled by moral or manual suasion.

Chapter second begins with a general description of the skele-

ton, when the authors suddenly break off to discuss abdominal

landmarks and abdominal and thoracic transection, and then fol-

lows a long chapter (the third) on the preparation of bones, and

the details of preparation and arrangement of anatomical speci-

mens in the museum. The student is finally, in chapter fifth,

brought back to the study of the skeleton bones.

The directions for dissecting the muscles, viscera and nervous

systems, and their description, are clear and sufficiently circumstan-

tial. A good deal of space is given to the brain. An appendix

contains valuable hints, mostly relating to anatomical technol-

ogy, including the method of pithing a frog.

The illustrations are an important feature of the book. They

are usually well, though not elegantly, drawn, and the several

bones, muscles, and viscera are distinctly lettered, though the

lettering is rather clumsy.

By leaving out certain portions (including the three sets of

aphorisms), some twenty or thirty pages might have been saved,

and the cat’s hindquarters and other parts described, and the two

sets of limbs compared, to the student’s advantage.

While it must seem to the beginner, who has this book before

him, a very formidable and solemn matter to dissect a cat, yet the

work has been so conscientiously prepared that it will be very

useful to the teacher as well as the student, and now that Tulk and

enfrey’s Anatomical Manipulation (a work, by the way, not

mentioned by the authors) is out of print, this is the only hand-

book of the kind in the language.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.

Stearns, Winfrid A., edited by Coues, Elliott —New England Bird Life, being a man-

ual of New England Ornithology. Part 11. Non-oscine Passeres, birds of prey,

game and water Birds. Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1883. From the author.

Gaudry, Albert—Les enchainement du Monde Animal dans les temps géologiques.

Fossiles primaires. Paris; Librarie F. Savy, I 83. rom the author. :

, Persifor.—Notes from the literature on the Geology of Egypt, and examina-

tion of the syenitic granite of the obelisk which Lieut.-Commander Gorringe,

U.S.N., brought to New York. Ext. Trans. Amer- Inst. Ming. Eng.

From the author. i

aeter iron ores of the Middle James river, Ext. idem. read 1881. From the

author. i

Hill, Albert C-—Management of structural steel. Ext, Trans, Amer. Inst. Ming.

Eng. 1883. From the author.

770 Recent Literature. * Duy,

paid mt Troilus.—The analysis s furnace uppa. The determination of copper in

steel. Ext. idem. 1883. om the author

Schaeffer, Chas. A.—On the occurrence of yng in Williamson county, Texas, Ext,

idem. 18 author.

‘penne ipa 3r.—Note on settling tanks in silver mills. Ext. idem. 1883.

uthor.

oa ee x aie determination of manganese in spiegel. Ext. idem, 1883. From

the author.

src eel S. P.—Experiments on American woods. Ext. idem. 1883. From the

uthor

Richards R. H.—A new 2 Ep joy se ` Bags cork ores for jigging and table

ork, Ext. idem. 1883. . From the a

onia T. Sterry.—Coal Bet in naas? fea id 1883. From the author.

Blandy, F. F. ai mining region round Prescott, A Ext. idein. 1883.

From the auth

Bowron, W. M. p practical metallurgy of Titaniferous ores, Ext. idem. 1883.

From the author

Bayles, F. C. — Microscopie hipaa! ot the structures of iron and steel. Ext. idem.

1883. From the a

Goedyear, W. eer -gas as fuel. Ext. idem. 1833. From the author.

i eae E. Hillyer. —La ape di una Fauna Abissale nel Mediteraneo. Roma,

1883. From the author.

Cope, E. D — Paleontological een n, No. 36. First addition to the fauna of e aa

Puerco Eocene, On srains of the Eocene Mammalia Phenacodus _ 4

Periptychus Fouk ‘za braan to the history of the Permian Formation

Texas. Ext. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1883. From the au uthor. E

——0On the mutual “aoa pi , er yi kisiel Ext. Proc. Ac. N

Sci. Phil.

ae Arene an eo a to ee or pated we axe a

Oysters, ad rened to the Minister of Marine e Colo rae

Ext. Bu 1. U. S. Fish Commission. Transla eot ant ng Wt y Ryder.

——On the sexuality of the common Oyster and that of the Portuguese

Artificial fecundation of Portuguese “Oysë i; Trdastaied by J.

1883. From the tr ssas :

Jordan, D. S., and Hen w» H. W.—Report upon the Fishes elle uring

1875, 76 ‘and e in California and Nevada. Ext. Rep. Chief of Engia

Geog. Surv. W. of the rooth meridian. 1883. hey the authors.

Yarrow, H. C., and Henshaw, H. W.—-Report upon Reptiles and paa

collected during me kc 76 wap ‘1 in California, iia and Ne

idem. 1883. the au poe

Potts, praa rd F, Freshwater e, What, Where, When and Who wants te"

From the au re

aunt G. N. fe of new sub-species of Loxigilla from St. Christo

dation a

idem.

A. oe

ar on of a new species of bird of the family Turdide from Dominici

eos of a new species of Icterus from the West Indies, All from Prot

U S. Nat. si

——Description vy a new jokohen of the family Cypselidz. a

— Description of two new species of birds from Yucatan. c

ee of a new Chetura, All from Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci. Erom 2

author,

Editor Sanitary Engineer.—President Chandler and the N. Y. City Health Det

Rep. Sany. Eng., May, 1883. ie

mee FA —Seventeenth annual report on beh panel Museum and Labora '

lington, N. Zst 1883. From the a `

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 771

Gilbert, G. K.—Contributions to the history of Lake Bonneville. Ext. Ann. Rep.

Director U. S. Geol. Survey, 1880-81. From the author.

Lemoine, Victor.—Recherches sur les Oiseaux Fossiles des Terrains Tertiares In-

férieurs des environs de Reims. Deuxieme Partie. Reims, 1881. From the

author.

Wood, F. R.-—A paradise for Gunners and Anglers.

Janae 7. G.—Beschreibungen neuer Reptilien. Hamburg, 1883. From the

author,

Haie, Horatio.—Indian migrations as evidenced by language. Amer. Antiquarian

1883. From the author.

Hicks, L. E.—A critique of design-arguments, Chas. Scribner’s Sons, N. Y., 1883.

From the author.

Parker, W. K.—On the development of the skull in Lepidost s. Ext. Philos.

Trans. Roy. Soc. London, 1882.

——On the structure and development of the skull in Sturgeons, Ext. idem. Both

from the author.

Holder» Y. B.—The Atlantic right Whales. Ext. Bull, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., N.

Y. 1883. From the author.

Lemoine, — ——Sur Vencephale de l’Arctocyon Dueilii et du Pleuraspidotherium

Aumonieri, Mammifères de ’eocéne inférieur des environs de Reims.

——Sur deux Plagiaulax tertiaires, recueillis aux environs de Reims. From the

Comptes Rendus, Nov., 1881. From the author.

Walker, F. A. and Seaton, C. W.—-Compendium of the tenth census, June 1, 1880.

Parts 1 and u. Washington, 1883. From the department.

McCosh, ¥—Development. What it can do, and What it cannot do, N. Y., 1883.

_ From the author.

flower, W. H —On the Whales of the genus Hyperoodon. Ext. Proc. Zool. Soc-

London, 1882. From the author.

Crane, Agnes.—The New Southern railroad to Colorado and California. Leisure

Hour, London, 1883. From the author.

70:

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

Tue Arctic Recions.—The record of the winter spent upon

in 80° N, lat., by

Proper subordination is maintained. The Azra left Peterhead on

July 14, 1881, reached Franz Josef Land July 23d, and on August

2Ist was caught between the pack ice and land floe, sprung a

leak, and went down in eleven fathoms, giving time, however, to

Save a stock of provisions, etc. The shipwrecked crew at once

built a hut of turf and stones, and set to work to collect driftwood,

and shoot bears, walrus, and “looms.” In September a store-

house that had been previously built on Bell island was visited,

and its contents brought to the hut on Cape Flora. The pre-

Served meat and soups were saved for the boat voyage, but each

man was served daily with two-fifths of a pound of preserved

Vegetables, one-fourth pound of flour, and some tea and rum from

the stores. Fortunately the quantity of fresh meat obtained was

"This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

VOL. XVII.—No. VII. 5

772 General Notes. ` Í July,

so large that each man received one and two-fifths pounds, or even

more daily, The wood and coal were consumed by January ŝth,

and from that time the only fuel was blubber. Thanks to the

fresh meat, there was no sign of scurvy. On June 21st the re-

turn boat voyage was commenced, and was bravely continued,

with alternations of hauling across ice, until on August 2d

coast of Novaya Zemlya was reached. There the Hope, sent out

to search for the Zira, was met with, also the Kara and the Wil-

lem Barents The experience of the Zira, as well as the previous

one of the Tegethoff, prove that the winter on the southern side

of Franz Josef Land is milder than that of the same latitude on

Smith’s Sound. In December the thermometer rose to +31°,

with a mean for the month of +4°; in January and February the

mean was —26°, and the lowest —43°.

The presence of open water ensures that of bears and walrus

all the year round, and that of flocks of birds eight months out

of twelve. No deer, hares, or ptarmigan were met with on this

island either by the crew of the Aira or that of the Zegethoff. It

appears to be proved that this region is a suitable base whence to

push exploration towards the pole. :

Cliffs of columnar basalt, about eight hundred feet high, were

seen in Gray bay, also an old sea-beach ninety feet above the se.

All the bears shot during the winter were males, and the experi- |

ence of Lieut. Payer was in this respect similar.

Baron Nordenskjéld’s expedition to Greenland has for its ri

jects the exploration of the interior, to ascertain the extent of the

the fossils

. drift ice between Cape Farewell and Iceland, to study |

t, and also

and the peculiar blocks of ironstone on the west coas

to penetrate northwards along the unknown east coast. —

= f Greenland,

Baron Nordenskjöld believes that the interior O

like that of the large continents, is an enclosed valley

the winds having lost their moisture upon the bordering

tain ranges, must be dry and comparatively warm, as 15 the

in other parts of the world with winds descending from 4 ae

clad mountain, on the other slope of which they have lost

moisture. '

The Willem Barents has left tor the Arctic to endeavor

cover the Dutch expedition in the Varna.

It appears that there is now little doubt that the “ Zeni me

tive,” published in 1558 by Francesco Marcolini, is in the

authentic, and that civilized communities, the descendants d i

early Scandinavian colonists, persisted in the far north up

in the middle of the sixteenth century is a manuscri Ptolemy

covered by Baron Nordenskjöld in a manuscript copy 9! This map

ey, and that

moun-

ENEA A IEEE STA OEE

to dis-

map in use $

pt map di

1833. } Geography and Travels. 773

and Northwest America are clearly shown on this pre-Golum-

bian map.

ArFrica.—Mr. J. T. Last has visited the dreaded Masai at a

spot about 120 miles from the coast at Pagani. He was tolerably

well received, and obtained much information respecting their

language, customs, and social condition. He describes them as

a fine race, with high forehead, thin lips, and long, straight nose,

though with short crisp hair, and nearly black complexion. The

women are especially fine in height and build

Pére Depelchin, of the Society of Jesus, has sent to the Précis

Historiques a contribution respecting the tribes upon the Zambesi,

near the confluence of the Chobe. The Barotse are the ruling

tribe, and subject to them are the Ma-Nansa, the Ma-Laya, the

Ma-Shubia, the Ma-Ntchoia, the Ma-Mbunda, the Ba-Libale, the

Ma-Pingula, and the Ma-Hés. The Ma-Shukulombwe and the

Ba-Tonga are independent. All these peoples, although possess-

ing each a separate language, speak the language of their former

rulers, the Ma-Kololo. This tongue, called Se-Kololo, is a com-

pound dialect akin to the Se-Suto and Se-Chuana.

An African commission of the Lisbon Geographical Society

has recently published a memorandum on the rights of Portugal

upon the Congo. This document claims the Congo and the ter-

ritories to the north of it as belonging to Portugal by discovery,

Possession, and recognition. The territory claimed extends from

e Congo northwards to Molembo inclusively, with an opinion

that it could be claimed much further northward. The interior

boundary is stated to be undetermined, and to be dependent on

the needs and future resolutions of the Portuguese administration

and colonial policy, but capable of definition by future treaties

with native chiefs, or by their submission to Portuguese authority.

‘he point of discovery is well proved by reference to the voyages

Made in the fifteenth century, and the first colonizing expedition

Was sent out in 1491.

Dr. Oscar Lenz, in an address delivered before the Munich

Geographical Society, maintained that the aridity of the Western

Sahara, crossed by him between Morocco and Timbuctoo, is com-

paratively recent, and was caused by the felling of the forests on

the Ahaggar Mountain range, thus drying up the springs of the

river that flowed through the plains.

Few know that the so-called Queen of Madagascar is really

only queen of the half of the island, that dominated by the Hova.

This people formerly inhabited the centre of the island, and were

tributary to the Malagasy, but with English aid in the first half

this century they not only freed themselves, but conquered

€ir neighbors to the east as far as the coast. The Hova men

look much like sunburnt whites, the women often possess a sen-

Suous beauty. They are poor, and live in unfinished huts. In

774 General Notes. [July,

character they are false. Lies are virtuous, the mother teaches

her children falsehood. The Hovas have an hereditary nobility,

a middle class of workmen and traders, and a slave class.

Herr Von Maeehow states that the heights that border the val-

ley of the Kuango reach a height of eight hundred to a thousand

feet, while the stream in some places is eight hundred to @

thousand feet wide, in others reaches eighteen hundred paces.

verywhere were magnificent forests, and hippopotami were

abundant.

News from Mr. Stanley, dating to the middle of December,

states that he has started for Vivi, the first of seven stations €s-

tablished by the International African Society. At Vivi prepa-

rations are making for the construction of a railway line to the

landing place on the river, Bolobo, the last station established,

is seven hundred miles from the mouth of the Congo. The seven

stations already seem to have become centres of civilization, and

are making their influence felt upon the surrounding tribes, ab

tle have been introduced at Vivi, cabbage and lettuce are thriving

at Leopoldsville, and three small steamers are launched. Fears

are entertained lest through the claims of the Portuguese g0-

ernment obstructions to the freedom of way and commerce may

arise. ins

Several Swedish officers have recently left Europe to jom Mr.

Stanley.

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

Tue STRUCTURE AND APPEARANCE OF A LARAMIE DINOSAURIAS:

an account of the osteology of the skull, together with some 2i

tematic conclusions, in ke Proceedings of the Philadel

form and appearance of the skull, as seen in profile, 18 J ofa

e —

unusually elevated posteriorly, and remarkably contracted at - n

anterior part of the maxillaries. The flat, transverse €X

of the premaxillaries is absolutely unique. The poster

1883. ] Geology and Paleontology. 775

orbit. The peculiar position of the teeth gives the side of the

face, when the mandible is closed, a horizontally extended con-

cavity. `

The dentition is remarkable for its complexity, and for the dif-

ference in character presented by the superior and inferior series.

Leidy pointed out the character of the latter! in the Hadrosaurus

Soulkei, and I have described the character of the superior denti-

tion in the genera Cionodon? and Diclonius?

As compared with the Hadrosaurus foulkei, the dental maga-

zine is much deeper, and contains a greater number of teeth in a

vertical column, and probably a larger number in the aggregate.

I find in each maxillary bone of the Diclonius mirabilis, six hun-

dred and thirty teeth, and in each splenial bone, four hundred and

six teeth. The total number is then two thousand and seventy-

two

The greater part of the external and inferior faces of the ramus

of the lower jaw is formed by the surangular bone, which has

in the fossil, in its present condition. This development and den-

the Surangulars. The edge of the dentary is flat, thin and eden-

tulous, and closes within the edge of the premaxillary.

Vermal or corneous structures have left distinct traces in the

_ Soft sandstone about the end of the beak-like muzzle. Lamine

x brown remnants of organic structures were exposed in! re-

: sends a median prolongation backwards, which is embraced by

ie «Cretaceous Reptiles North America, 1864, p. 83.

“Vertebrata of Cretaceous formations of the West, 1875, p. 59.

__, Proceedings Philadelphia Academy, 1876, p. 250.

Be: Bulletin Geological Survey of the Territories. F. V. Hayden, 11, pp. 594-7,

776 General Notes. {July,

moving the matrix. One of these extends as a broad vertical

band round the sides, indicating a vertical rim to the lower jaw,

like that which surrounds some tea trays, and which probably

represents the tomia of the horny sheath of a bird’s beak. At

the front of the muzzle its face is sharply undulate, presenting

the appearance of vertical columns with tooth-like apices. Corre-

sponding tooth-like processes, of much smaller size, alternate

with them from the upper jaw. These probably are the remains

of a serration of the extremital part on the horny tomia, such as

exist on the lateral portions in the lamellirostral birds.

General affinities ——The structure of the skull of this species

adds some confirmation to the hypothesis of the avian affinities

of the Dinosauria, which I first announced, as indicated by the hind

limbs, and which Professor Huxley soon after observed in the

characters of the limbs and pelvis. The confirmation is, however,

empirical rather than essential, and is confined to a few points.

One of these is the form and position of the vomer, which much

resembles that seen in lamellirostral birds. The large develop-

ment of the premaxillary bone has a similar significance. So has

the toothless character of that bone and the dentary.

Among reptiles this skull combines, in an interesting way, the

characters of the two orders Crocodilia and Lacertilia. The ex-

tension of the premaxillary above the maxillary, so far as to over

lap the lachrymal, is unique among Vertebrata, so far as I am

aware. The free exoccipito-intercalare hook is scarcely less

‘remarkable.

Of mammalian affinity no trace can be found. he

-li

The

anterior limbs are small, and were doubtless used occasionally fr

those of the posterior foot. The inferior presentation 0 í

e summ!

nner of 4

ure of the cervical vertebrae. The general appearance

head must have been much like that of a bird. this

he nature of the beak and the dentition indicate, for

strange animal, a diet of soft vegetable matter. It cou

eaten the branches of trees, since any pressure sufficie ttached

comminution would have probably broken the slightly an an

teeth of the lower jaw from their places, and have scatte oo”

on the floor of the mouth, It is difficult to understand wre 7

such a weak spatulate beak could have collected or have “may

off boughs of trees. By the aid of its dentate horny edge

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 777

have scraped leaves from the ends of branches, but the appear-

ances indicate softer and less tenacious food. Could we suppose

that the waters of the great Laramie lakes had supplied abundant

aquatic plants without woody tissue, we would have the condi-

tion appropriate to this curious structure. Nymphzas, Nuphars,

Potamogetons, Anacharis, Myriophyllum, and similar growths,

could have been easily gathered by this double spoon-like bill,

and have been tossed, by bird-like jerks of the head and neck,

back to the mill of small and delicate teeth. In order to submit

the food to the action of these vertical shears, the jaws must have

been opened widely enough to permit their edges to clear each

other, and a good deal of wide gaping must, therefore, have

muscle. The indications are that the external ear was of very

small size. There is a large tract that might have been devoted

to the sense of smell, but whether it was so or not is not easily

ascertained.

ban

ctr

one |

the fourth trochanter (third trochanter Auctorum) are attached to

the proximal caudal vertebrz, one can see the huge tail swing

from side to side with each advancing step, and create a great

Swirl in the water. When the bottom was not too soft, they could

wade to a depth of ten or more feet, and, if necessary, drag

aquatic plants from their hold below. Fishes might have been

ie}

abundant.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES.

(All are natural size.)

PLATE Xvi. Side view of the skull of Diclonius mirabilis.

“ xvir. The same viewed from above.

XVII, Inferior view of the same.

XIX, Fig. 1. View of occipital region of the same. Fig. 2. View of the

ue extremity of the muzzle from the front. :

ar he complete iconography of this species will appear in the Report of the United

tes Geological Survey, under J. W. Powell, now in course of preparation

-E D. Cope:

“

778 General Notes, [July,

A new EDENTATE.—M. Burmeister describes, under the name

of Nothropus priscus,a sloth from the pampas of the Argentine

Republic. Megatherium, Scelidotherium, Mylodon, and other

gigantic related forms did not climb trees, and were not nearly

related to the existing Bradypodide, whereas Nothropus, though

twice the size of the largest sloth now living, probably possessed

their arboreal habits.. Though half the lower jaw with three

teeth is all that is known of this genus, the form of the bone and

conformation of the teeth is unmistakable, but approaches Cho-

loeepus more than Bradypus. The crown of the hinder molars:

has a tendency to divide into two lobes, thus recalling the molars

of the huge extinct gravigrades.

Grotocicat News. — Pale@ozoic.— In the May issue of the

Geological Magazine, Professor C. Lapworth commences a series

of articles upon the stratigraphy of the highly convoluted lower

Paleozoic rocks, with the object of showing that conclusions as

to the relative age of the strata, based upon their apparent post-

tion, may often prove erroneous through the abrupt sigmoidal

flexures that complicate their structure. After denudation

taken place, an older stratum of the upper part of the sigmaplex

or sigmoidal fold may apparently rest unconformably upon 4

newer stratum, ia

Tertiary —Baron von Ettingshausen contributes to the April issue

of the Geological Magazine an article upon the Tertiary flora 0

Australia, including a list of about a hundred species. Twenty-seven

species from Dalton, New South Wales, are all new, but only two of

the twenty-one genera are new, the others occurring in the Tertiary

of Europe (to), North America and North Asia (13), Java @)

Sumatra (3). Only six are contained in the living flora of ers

tralia. Thus the Tertiary flora of Australia is far more ae

allied to the Tertiary floras of the other continents than to er

living flora of Australia, Mr. E. T. Newton has published Ue

results of his investigations among the Vertebrata of the Fo ad

Bed series of Norfolk and Suffolk. Exclusive of some uor

Cervidæ, seventy-nine species are enumerated, including si

mammoth. Three species are entirely new. These ren a

long to the fauna of Great Britain in the period immediately an!

cedent to the Glacial epoch. are

Quaternary —The fauna and flora of the European pei 7

again brought to the front by Mr. Howorth in an answer (

the grassy regions which, according to Dr. Nehring. ex

supplied pasturage for this fauna, could not possibly be th hon

of the accumulations of dust needed by Dr. Richthofen $ me

of the origin of the loess. The Philosophical Faculty te

University of Munich have awarded the prize offered and

“Thorough description of the Diluvial Glacial formations

1883.] Mineralogy. 779

phenomena in the region of the South Bavarian high plateau, and

also in the Bavarian Alps,” to Dr. A. Penck, of the Munich Uni-

versity. The work treats of the last glaciation cf Upper Bavaria

and North Tyrol, of older glaciations in the same districts, and

of the formation of the Upper Bavarian lakes. A complete de-

scription of the effects of ice action in the defined localities, is

given, also a comparison with those of North Germany and

Scandinavia, and the concluding chapter has an able discussion on

the causes of the Glacial epoch. At a recent meeting of the

Geological Society of London, Mr. D. Mackintosh gave the

results of observations on the positions of boulders relatively to

the ground around and below them. His investigations were car-

ried on near Llangollen (Wales) and at Clapham (Yorkshire) and

his results are, that the average vertical extent of the denudation

of limestone rock around boulders has not been more than six

inches, and that this denudation has been ata rate of not less

than an inch in a thousand years. This gives not more than

6000 years since the boulders were deposited.

Recent.—The Rev. A. Irving (Geological Magazine, April) gives

the classification of landslips adopted by Herr Heini, of Zurich.

These “ Bergstiirze” are either “ Schuttrutschungen ” or descents

of. water-logged accumulations from the mountain slope into the

valley, a movement which sometitnes produces striations simu-

lating those of glacial action; “ Schuttstiirze,” or emptyings upon

the valley below of loose material, accumulated in a minor val-

ey on the mountain side; Felsschlipfe,” or loosenings of the

upper strata, when the general dip is towards the valley, by the

erosion of the lower part of the sides into a slope much deeper

than the dip slope of the strata of the mountain above ; and

“ Felsstiirze,”’ or the breaking loose from the sides of the moun-

tain of huge masses of rock.

MINERALOGY:'

; Š ited by Professor H. CARVILL Lews, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila-

del to whom communications, papers for review, etc., should be sent.

Amer. Fourn. Sc. and Arts, June, 1883.

780 General Notes. (July,

Fused with salt of phosphorus and borax it gives a remarka-

ble rose-colored bead in both flames. It is soluble in acid. The

following mean composition was obtained :

P,O, (Y,0,,Er,O;) (La,0,,Di,0,) Fe,O, H,O, H,O CO,

(combined) (lost at 100°)

24.94 8.51 55-17 .25 5.88 1.49 3:59 = 99.83.

Regarding the CO, as unessential and due to an admixture of

lanthanite, the composition of the remaining mineral is calculated

as follows:

P,O; (Y,Er,),0, (La, Di); O, Fe,0, H,0

30 12 10.28 55-73 .30 3-57 == 100

The mineral is therefore a hydrous phosphate of the cerium and

yttrium metals and is a new species. The mineral churchite ap-

proaches it most nearly in composition. The name Scovillite 1s

proposed for it, after the locality where it was found.

THE ARTIFICIAL FORMATION OF MiNERALS AND Rocks.—Nearly

all the interesting researches that have been made in forming

minerals by artificial means are due to the chemists and mineral-

ogists of France. Among these none are of more importance than

those performed by Messrs. Fouqué and Michel-Lévy in the for-

mation of various volcanic rocks and minerals through fusion.

Recently they have collected their researches, heretofore scattered

at different temperatures, carefully chosen, a number of artile

products closely resembling natural minerals and rocks were pie

duced. Thus from a fused mixture of anorthite and pa ge

plagioclase crystals were obtained by a white heat, kept UP a

forty-eight hours, and on a second heating at a lower temps a4

ophitic diabuse was obtained. ; rmed

Most of the basic basaltic rocks were thus artificially form dic

by one or more fusions of a mixture of minerals. The To ake

rocks, or those containing quartz, orthoclase, muscovite, ot

blende, &c., could not thus be produced. An amorphous vt

pra A eea was obtained, and the latter minerals wou

crystallize out of a fused mass. ite,

e interesting conclusion is therefore reached that gan

gneiss, and other acidic rocks, with their enclosed mo the

not the result of igneous fusion. This is in accord Wi con-

generally accepted belief of geologists, derived from many

siderations.

1883.| Mineralogy. 781

CONCRETIONS IN METEORITES.— Dr. J. L. Smith’ describes a

number of nodular or globular concretions which occur in

metecrites, and states that the presence of such concretions is

the general rule in meteoric iron.

e most common concretions are of troilite, a sulphide of iron.

These have a dark bronze color and are numerous and often of

large size. The troilite is often penetrated by a bright yellow

mineral known as schreibersite, a phosphide of iron and nickle.

Graphite also sometimes forms nodular concretions, and is com-

monly mixed with troilite. Daubreelite is another interesting

mineral mixed with troilite, being a sulphide of iron and chrom-

ium. A concretion of chromite was found in one meteorite. The

chromite was black, but a thin section under the microscope was

of a deep red color. Lawrencite, a green protochloride of iron,

and aragonite also occur in meteoric iron, the aragonite, however,

being probably of secondary origin.

Dr. Smith thinks that the presence of these concretions in-

dicates a former plasticity of the iron, caused by great heat.

MINERALOGICAL Notes.—A new edition of E. S. Dana’s Text

book of Mineralogy has just been issued. The list of new

minerals is brought up to date, and much important matter relat-

ing to the crystallographic and optical characters of minerals and

to new instruments has been added. A report on Virginia

minerals by Mr. A. S. McCreath of Harrisburg, recently issued,

contains numerous new analyses of ores, coals, &c., and will be

of great value to practical men. A variety of wad, to which

the name /epidophaite has been given, occurs in Thuringia 1a

fibrous or scaly masses, with silky lustre. It has a reddish brown

color and soils the fingers when touched. It contains eleven per

cent of oxide of copper. Gonnard has described an occurrence

of gedrite in the gneiss of Beauman, near Lyons. e mineral

is in almond shaped masses, with lamellar or fibrous structure.

The color is straw yellow to brown, and its characters are those

of an anthophyllite containing alumina. An emerald from

Paavo, in Finland, analyzed by F. J. Wiik, was surrounded by a

zone of radiated red albite, and this again by a yera of muscovite.

——Wollastonite has been obtained artificially by L. Bourgeois

by melting together the required amounts of lime and silica at a

right red heat and cooling for two days in a furnace. A mass

of acicular crystals was obtained, which, however, had optical

Properties unlike those of the natural mineral_——-Siderite of a

light green color occurs on hematite in the Lake Superior dis-

ict, and is often associated with calcite. It is found either in

crusts or in single crystals. 7

‘Amer. Fourn. Sc., June, 1883.

782 General Notes. (July,

BOTANY.

NOTES ON THE STUDY OF Func!I.—In view of the increasing in-

terest in the study of mycology in this country some general re-

marks on this subject may not be out of place. In the first place,

of course, here as elsewhere the question of uti/ity comes up.

The reply to this question given by Batarra, an Italian botanist of

the eighteenth century, is still applicable. In his “ Fungorum

Agri Ariminenses Historia,’ published in 1755, in the chapter

concerning the utility of Fungi, he says:

“Since everything placed on the earth by the wisdom of the

Creator has been created through some wise design, and since all

other productions contribute in some way to the uses of living

beings on the earth, it cannot rationally be denied that Fungi

also were intended to serve some good purpose, for the ideas of

the unlearned crowd who regard these productions as of no ac-

count, and think that the tribe of Fungi might all be destroyed

without causing any derangement in the economy of nature, and

without detriment to the living beings on the earth, cannot be

accepted by those who believe that God and nature made nothing

in vain. We have to admit that the utility to be found in Fungi

is not of the highest, yet this is not the fault of these productions

themselves, but arises rather from the pride of men and their un-

willingness to spend time and thought on those things which God

in His wisdom was not ashamed to make. ‘

“To specify more definitely then, in the first place, Fungi fur-

nish an abundant supply of food to many tribes of insects [a

plea which will find no great favor with agriculturists, I suspect],

“nor are they to be rejected as a means of sustenance for man.

he mushroom, for example, and the morrel and various other

kinds of esculent Fungi furnish an article of diet highly prized

even on the tables of the rich.”

Thus far Batarra’s reasoning has lost none of its force up oe

the present time. But whatever opinion we may hold as to the

absolute utility of Fungi themselves, it is certain that recent ma

vestigations into the habits and mode of growth of some of the

rot,” the “ grape rot,” the “ cranberry rot,” and the various ib

molds and mildews with which we have to contend still remat"

1 Edited by Pror. C. E. Bessey, Ames, Iowa.

1883. | Botany. 783

are safe in saying that the study of these minute organisms, pre-

senting as they do such a vast variety of curious and beautiful

forms, cannot fail to be of the deepest interest to the student of

nature, and may yet lead to good results. To contribute then to

this end and enlist perhaps new workers in the mycological field,

it is proposed in some succeeding apers to notice briefly some of

the microscopic Fungi, their habits and places of growth, and the

way to find them out.

cavity of the aforesaid pustules, which are technically called

Spermogonia from two Greek words signifying spore generators.

Just what part these spermogonia play in the growth cycle of the

fungus to which they belong is not yet certainly known. They

are, however, intimately connected with the Aecidium, which

again is now considered as only the first of three stages of

growth of a polymorphic, or rather trimorphic fungus, of which

the last and highest stage (teleutospores) is a Puccinia or Uro-

myces. In many species there comes in between these two another

form called Uredo, of which the spores, very similar to those of

the Aecidiums, are produced in subcuticular clusters not con-

tained in cups as in Aecidium, but which, when the cuticle which

at first covers them soon breaks away, are exposed on the surface

of the leaf, which, from this cause, appears as if covered with

little. heaps of yellow, or reddish-yellow dust. The Aecidium

and Uredo are oftener on the under surface of the leaf, but some-

times on both sides. Í

now one wishes to see some of these curious productions of

which so much has been written within the past few years, it is

only necessary to provide an ordinary pocket lens, such as may

be had at the opticians for twenty-five or fifty cents, and a tin box

Or pail with a tight-fitting cover, in which fresh leaves or flowers

may be kept without wilting and brought home for further ex-

amination, and go out into the nearest field to see what can |

und. At this date (May 21st) the leaves of the various species

Ranunculus may be examined for Aecidium ranunculacearum,

Which is now beginning to appear. The same species is also to

784 General Notes. (July,

be found on Anemone nemorosa and Thalictrum. The affected

leaves are easily recognized by the pale or faded spots on their

upper surface, on which may be seen with the lens the minute

spermogonial pustules, and on turning the leaf the cluster of

cups, light colored and mealy outside and bright orange-yellow

within, will at once be seen. Another form occurs on the Ranun-

culus abortivus, which was named by Schweinitz Æcidium ranun-

culi, but which he afterwards united with the first-mentioned

species. It differs from the ordinary form in the cups being

rather larger and less prominent, and perhaps of a deeper color

inside, but more especially in having the cups quite evenly dis-

tributed over the lower face of the leaf, and not collected in

clusters.

The leaves of the blue forget-me-not (Houstonia cerulea) also

now begin to show a very beautiful little A®cidium (A. Aoustom-

atum Schw.), of which the cups are much smaller than those of

the species on Ranunculus, and more inclining to red inside.

They are also more evenly scattered over the under surface of the

leaves, which are scarcely discolored above. There is also now

to be found on the leaves of the spring beauty (Claytonia) a very

fine little Æcidium, which will be succeeded a little later by 4

Puccinia.

In June there will be found on the leaves of the common bar-

berry bush (Berberis vulgaris) another Æcidium, which has been

proved by actual experimental cultures to be only one stage

common dandelion (Taraxacum dens-leonis) is to The

gus

th sur

tured epidermis of the leaf. This dust is the spores of 4 A the

which is the forerunner of a Puccinia that will appear later hence

season on the leaves of various composite plants, and has ae

been called Puccinia compositarum. These Uredo sports

1883. ] Botany. 785

examined under a compound microscope, are found to be studded

all over with fine projecting points, which give them a very neat

appearance.— F. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. F.

_ ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLE Tıssues.—Frémy classifies the con-

stituents of vegetable tissues as follows, the characters being

derived from their chemical constitution (Ann. Sci. Nat. xu,

1882) :

1. Cellulose Substances——In this group are included all those

constituents of vegetable tissues which dissolve without coloring

in bi-hydrated sulphuric acid, producing dextrine and sugar; which

are not sensibly altered by alkaline solvents, and which resist for

a long time the action of energetic oxidizers. Schwitzer’s reagent

(ammoniacal copper oxide) enables at least the three following

varieties to be distinguished :

(a) Cellulose—Dissolves immediately in the copper reagent. This

constitutes the larger part of cotton hairs and of the utric-

ular tissues of certain fruits.

(4) Paracellulose—Dissolves in the copper reagent only after the

addition of an acid. This constitutes the utricular tissue of

certain roots, and the epidermal cells of leaves.

addition of acids. It occurs principally in the tissue of

fungi and lichens, and is the “ fungine” of Braconnot.

2. Vasculose—This is the substance which enters most largely

cells and the fibers. It sometimes occurs on the exterior of tis-

Sues in the form of a continuous, resisting and horny membrane.

It forms, in fact, the solid part of woody tissues ; it is abundant

in hard woods, and in the sclerenchymatous concretions in pears ;

the shells of nuts and the stones of stone-fruit often consist of

this substance to more than half of their weight. Vasculose is

insoluble in bi-hydrated sulphuric acid, and in the copper reagent;

it does not dissolve sensibly at the ordinary pressure in alkaline

Solvents, but only with the assistance of pressure. This import-

d, or Schweitzer’s reagent. If, on the other hand, these sub-

Stances have to be freed from vasculose, the tissue is subjected

for several hours to the action of nitric acid diluted with its vol-

786 : General Notes. (July,

resinous acid, which can then be dissolved out by means of an

alkali

ali.

3. Cutose-—This substance constitutes the fine transparent

membrane which forms the surface of the erial parts of plants;

the “ suberine” of Chevreul is a compound of cutose and vascu-

lose. It possesses several characters in common with vasculose,

resisting the action of bi-hydrated sulphuric acid, but it is soluble

at the ordinary pressure in dilute or carbonated solutions of

potassa and soda. It contains more carbon and hydrogen than

vasculose. Subjected to the action of nitric acid it gives rise to

suberic acid. To separate cutose from the cellulose substances,

and from vasculose, the copper reagent is first used to dissolve the

former, and the tissue is then agitated with potassa at the ordi-

nary or at a higher pressure, the former dissolving the cutose, and

the latter the vascular. ;

4. Pectose—This substance is insoluble in water, but is dis-

solved by the action of dilute acids, and converted into pectine.

. It occurs ordinarily in the atricular tissues of roots and fruits, and

is recognized by subjecting the tissue with heat to the action of

dilute hydrochloric acid; it then forms pectine, which dissolves

in the water, and can be precipitated by alcohol.

5. Calcium pectate—This salt is often the basis of a tissue

which occurs in the form of a continuous membrane, serving 3S

in the pith of certain trees to bind the cells together. If this salt

is decomposed by an acid, the tissue is immediately disintegrated

into its constituent cells. Its determination is effected by heating

the tissue in the cold with dilute hydrochloric acid, which decom-

poses the calcium pectate, leaving the pectic acid in an inso

state; this is then heated with a dilute solution of potassa, ga

ducing a soluble pectate which can be again decomposed PY

acids.

6. The Nitrogenous substances contained in vegetable tissues are

dissolved by alkalies. ron

7. The /norganic substances constitute the ash after cala

and paracellulose. The utricular tissue of petals is comp rely of

most entirely of cellulose, thin spiral vessels almost entirely ~

vasculose,

Vasculose can be obtained in special purity from pt poe

the elder. After treating with dilute alkali it is boiled rulose int

hydrochloric acid in order to transform the paracellu

1883.| Botany. 787

cellulose; the ammoniacal copper reagent is then used, and the

treatment repeated eight or ten times until no further reaction

ensues. The pure vasculose thus obtained preserves a light yel-

low tint, maintaining the structure of the original tissue. The

mean of several analyses of vasculose gives acomposition corre-

sponding to the formula, C,;H,,O,;.—/our. Royal Mic. Soc. for

April, 1883.

A CHINESE Gymnociapus.—When Bentham & Hooker’s first

volume of the Genera Plantarum was written, the genus Gymno-

cladus was supposed to contain but one species, G. canadensis,

the well-known “ Kentucky coffee tree” of the Mississippi valley.

Recently, according to the Gardener's Chronicle, a second species

has been discovered in China, named by Baillon G. chinensis,

From its description it appears to be much like our native spe-

cies. Its leaflets are said to be more numerous, narrower, and

not acuminate, and the pod is thick (3-4 inches long) and but

slightly compressed. The shells, when steeped for a couple of

days in water, yield a saponaceous substance which is used for

washing. Do the pods of our species contain this property ?

Boranicar, Nores.—Puccinia buxi, the box rust, is figured by

. G. Smith, in a recent number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle.

Joseph Schrenk, in the April Torrey Bulletin, gives details of the

structure of the haustoria of Comandra umbellata, accompanied

three plates. He shows that in this case “there exists a di-

rect and unobstructed communication between the cells of the

haustorium and those of its foster root.” In the same number,

. L. Greene describes five new species of Western plants, Dr.

Vasey two new Western grasses, and Professor Tuckerman a new

California lichen (Ramalina crinita). A new Phallus (P. togatus)

rom Eastern Pennsylvania is described and figured in the May

Botanical Gazette. S. E. Cassino & Co., of Boston, announce

at the manuscript of the long-promised Manual of North

American Mosses, by Lesquereux and James, is completed, and

in the printers’ hands. It will be uniform with Gray's Manual,

and will contain copper-plate illustrations. It is to be issued in the

autumn._——M. E. Jones, the well-known botanical collector of

Salt Lake City, Utah, has issued a thirty page pamphlet, descrip-

tive of the ferns of the West. A few pages are given to gen-

eral structure, after which follow specific descriptions of the

senera and species which occur in the region from Nebraska

Westward. Altogether 108 species are described of which seven

are Ophioglossacez, the remainder being true ferns (Filices).

Recent numbers of the Botanische Zeitung contain a valuable

Paper (with a plate) on cell division in Closterium——J. G.

Lemmon has issued a pamphlet of twenty-three pages on the dis-

“every of the potato in Arizona, being the substance of a paper

; read before the California Academy of Sciences January 15, 1883.

VOL, XVI.—NO. vit. 53

eh eet

788 General Notes. [July,

great value. Each species is illustrated by wood cuts in the

text.

ENTOMOLOGY.’

A UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL Nocrurp.—The accompanying fig-

ure represents one of the most striking and unique of our N.

Noctuids in respect of color and

©. pterogostic design, the general color

E being of a bright golden-yellow, and

# the lines and shades of a deeper gold,

inclining to ferruginous or even och-

on ? 4

Cirrophanus triangulifer Grt. a, 1871 we submitted it to a number of

> > , at L . . . . i

hind aaa Paw ue, sa lepidopterists both in this country

and in Europe, when, finding that it

was unknown and could not well be referred to any defined ge-

nus, we gave it a MS. name, hoping some day to obtain =

female. In the summer of 1872 Mr. A. R. Grote visited St.

notes thereon, and among others took a hasty descripaah )

study, was quite imperfect, all important structura si

omitted, and some of the characters given belonging to the

only. The description was accompanied by a statement OF ©

getfulness as to the source of the type, which, considering a

fact that we were pretty well known to Mr. Grote at the timeat l

p. 122), while Mr. Grote amplified his own description in cto:

of the same year (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. 1875, P: 421) tat :

however, to the affinities of the species that we wish to R

tention. Grote at first allied it with Gortyna, leaving

7 š D. C., to whom

1 This department is edited by Professor C. V. RILEY, Washington, ~: í

communications, books for notice, etc. should be sent.

1883.] Entomology. 789

margin, however, by making it resemble Halesidota (Bombycidz)

in size and outline, his opinion being necessarily superficial. In

tions with Basilodes and Stiria, both in coloration, markings,

thoracic vestiture, frontal protuberance, compressed and exsertile

ovipositor, wing-venation and tibial armature, the form of win

having less classificatory importance. It might therefore, with

propriety, be placed in the Stiriina, a sub-family which has not

en very clearly defined, and in which Mr. Grote would bring

together several striking and aberrant forms! The small and in-

teresting Xanthothrix neumögenii H. Edw., has not only a sug-

gestive resemblance in color and marking, but real relationship

in the character of the frontal protruberance, tibial claw and

exsertile ovipositor. Nonagria has a quite different frontal pro-

jection, while Chariclea* Kirby, as defined by Lederer, has differ-

ent clypeal and thoracic characteristics, and a stronger tongue,

the European delphinii being the only species having the front

tibial claw. Since the capture of our first male we have ob-

tained other specimens from Missouri and Kansas, among them

two females, and the following generic characters will assist lepi-

dopterists in properly placing it :

Form robust. Head small; antennz with the basal joint scaled ; eyes naked, full,

globose; palpi short and slender with joints 1 and 2 subequal in length; 3 one-

third as long as 2; tongue feeble; clypeus (Q) with a central transversely oval

Projection ending in a brown corneous mouth or excavation, the lips being sharp,

arched dorsally, straight ventrally where a cylindrical, black tubercle projects yet

Somewhat further; an inferior, curved, sharp, clypeal carina; in the the protru-

ice, its excavation and the emargination are feebler. Thorax = with hairs

rima i

rounded, but with some variation in this respect; Venation as in, tiria, 7. 2.

normal. Ovipositor horny compressed from sides, simple and exsertile.

Structure is a very safe guide to habit, and we may conclude

that the Stiriinze with their horny, exsertile and specialized ovi-

oa APC DIE Oe

> Papilio, 111, p 32. i

We know nothing of Chariclea Stephens whom Staudinger gives- as authority

for nis. i

* Mr. Smith has well characterized Chariclea in his recent Synopsis of the Heli-

ER referred to last month. i

Since this was written Mr. Grote has published his latest views on the Stiriinæ

(Can. Ent XV, pp. 72-77), justifying our views as abov vexpressed, by desig: vagy

ES Citthophanus, and placing it in the Stiriinæ. He defines Cirrhophanus for 5

arth time, but still inaccuratety by omitting the front tibial claw, and on e

=, POSitor. The ovipositor may not always be exserted, but it is, as in Basitodes,

tiria, and Stibadium exsertile, and often remains exserted in the dried specimen.

790 General Notes. [July,

positors are endophytes—a conclusion strengthened by their ten-

dency to grease, and explaining perhaps our ignorance thus far of

their larve. There would also seem to be some correlation be-

tween this puncturing and thrusting ovipositor and the produced

and specialized clypeus, and perhaps also with the large claw on

front tibia; for these characters are most pronounced in the

female, and doubtless bear upon habit.— C. V. Riley.

INSECTS AFFECTING STORED Ricze.—In a lot of damaged rice

from the Chinese Centennial exhibit recently submitted to us by

the director of the National Museum, we found the following in-

sects: Numerous larve of Tenebrio molitor ; larvee of Tenebrio

and whose earlier states have hitherto remained unknown.

HYPERMETAMORPHOSES OF THE MELoip&.—lIn treating fer

transformations of the blister-beetles (vide Am. NAT., XH, p. 2°

we endeavored to conform to the existing nomenclature

characterizing the different forms which the larva presents, an

employed the following terms:

Ist larva TZriungulin (from the egg).

Carabidoid stage (after first molt).

2d larva < Scarabeidoid stage (after second molt).

timate stage (after third molt).

Coarctate larva (after fourth molt).

3d larva Third larva (after fifth molt).

Triungulin = first larval stage.

Caraboid == second larval stage.

Scarabeoid = third and fourth larval stages.

oarctate » = fifth larval stage.

Scolytoi = sixth larval stage.

: ing five

This nomenclature fully represents the facts, there being

distinct forms of larva, the difference in the third and fourth stab a

1883.] Entomology. 791

being but slight and not suggesting any other than a scarabæoid

larva. These five forms of larva will be found in all Meloids so

far traced in their earlier states, whether exuviation is but partial

and imperfect as in Sitaris, Meloé, Hornia, etc., or whether it is

more perfect as in Epicauta, Macrobasis, etc.— C. V. Riley.

COLOR PREFERENCES IN NOCTURNAL LEPIDOPTERA.—For two

seasons past (1881 and 1882) I have made fruitless attempts to

reach some definite conclusions as to the relative importance of a

few primary colors as attracting signals to night-flying insects, I

o not know whether the plan adopted is original or not, and as

it may yield some useful or interesting results in the hands of

others I briefly describe it. I made four or five sleeves, or cylin-’

vising a very serviceable and inexpensive Chinese lantern. The

advantage of this arrangement consists in the ease with which

the colored sleeves can be changed, any combination of colors

to allow the limital circle of illumination of each at first to touch,

and subsequently to intersect those of its neighbors. This dis-

Prominent, no matter from what side the dazzled insect may ap-

Proach the group. The apparent necessity for allowing the insect

792 General Notes. [July,

brilliant than the colored lamps.—Z. P. Gratacap, New York.

Enromotocicat Nores.—The British “ Council of Education”

has established a committee of economic entomology, and among

other able members appointed are Professor Huxley, Professor

Westwood, Professor Wrightson (president of Downton College

of Agriculture), Professor Dyer (sub-director Kew Gardens), and

Miss Ormerod. Dr. R. P. Hoy has published a list of the

cold-blooded vertebrates and Lepidoptera of Wisconsin. The

Micros are not included in the latter, but the Macros are very

well represented, and forty-seven species of Catocala are recorded

as taken within two miles of Racine. Professor C. H. Fern-

ald informs us that he has secured the collection of Pterophoride

of Mr. Charles Fish, who has been obliged to abandon their

study, and that he has also secured all of Fitch’s material in the

same family. We always experience a profound pleasure when a

careful, conscientious and competent student takes hold of any

given family with a view of eventually monographing or synopsiz-

i e report of the Entomological Society of Ontario,

for the year 1882, is just at hand. The society is in a flourishing

in-

dex to all the previous reports. There is a want of system ee

matter of these reports resulting in much repetition or n

while the use of the same cuts year after year becomes somewhat

tedious. Mr. George D. Hulst has an article on some Sesiidæ

in the May number of the Bull, Brooklyn Ent. Soc. (Vol. vi, Pe

8-10), giving accounts of Bembecia marginata, Sesia acer i *

Mellitia cucurbite,—three species of economic interest. He pa

into a singular error in quoting from our Sixth Mo. Ent. Rep. t ‘

account of the oviposition of Oberea perspicillata, and mistaking

it for that of the Bembecia, which, as he shows, oviposits On mA

leaf. He found that the eggs fell with the leaves to the groun f

and did not hatch before winter. Experience in the latitude o

St. Louis indicates on the contrary that they do hatch in the A

as stated in our report above cited, though doubt :

variation in this respect. In a synopsis of the genus ree

(tbid., pp. 5-7) Mr. J. B. Smith recognizes but four se the

sippus, ursula, weidemeyerii, and lorquini, sinking some ten & a

late finely-split species of Edwards (W. H.) and Strecker, © vill

rieties. In this we think he has done wisely, though many et

question whether arthemis Drury, which is made 4 ve),

fo EA

1883.] Zoblogy. 793

ursula, should not be considered a sufficiently good species.

The entomological papers from the transactions of the Iowa

State Horticultural Society, for the year 1882, have been pub-

lished separately for gratuitous circulation, and contain much in-

formation of practical value from Hon. J. N. Dixon, Miss Alice

B. Walton, and Professor Herbert Osborn. The monthly

meetings of the Brooklyn Entomological Society will hereafter

be held on the last Saturday of each month in Wright's business

college, corner of Broadway and Fourth Streets. The Stettiner

Entomologische Zeitung, Vol. 44, 1883, Nos. 7-9, contains beside

others of less general interest the following papers: Dr. H. A.

Hagen’s contributions to a monograph of the Psocidz (continued);

Remarks upon the influence of change of food upon morphologi-

cal varieties, especially in the species of the genus Eupithecia,

by Dr. A. Speyer; H. B. Möschler's notice of Fernald’s catalogue

of N. A. Tortricidae; and Dr. C. A. Dohrn’s list of Zeller’s en-

tomological papers, published after the appearance of Hagen’s

Bibliotheca. At the fiftieth anniversary meeting of the London

Entomological Society, held May 2d of this year, Professor J.

O. Westwood was elected by acclamation titular life-president of

the society.

ZOOLOGY.

THE Sea Pens or Pennatutipa.—Professor Milnes Marshall

and Mr. W. P. Marshall give an important and interesting account

of the Pennatulida collected in the Oban Dredging Excursion of

the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society.

Funiculina quadrangularis, Pennatula phosphorea and Virgularia

mirabilis were the three forms collected. ge

€ very primitive nature of the first of these is indicated by

the irregular arrangement of the polyps, their independent inser-

tion into the rachis, and in the comparatively slight difference be-

tween the polyps and the zodids, as well as by the shortness of

' Stalk, or part of the colony devoid of polyps. In Pennatula

we have the polyps fused into leaves, and there is a considerable

difference in the size of their constituent parts, as well as great

anatomical differences between the polyps and the zooids; the

Stalk is also relatively much longer. a

Virgularia is shown to be the most modified by the restriction

of the reproductive organs to imperfectly developed polyps, and,

in addition to these points, by the presence of the so-called radial

vessels which are absent from the other two forms. :

<i very curious discovery has been made with regard to Virgu-

laria; with but one exception all the known specimens of Virgu-

laria are mutilated, the lower end being generally, and the upper

“Ways wanting ; as a hypothesis, the author some time ago sug-

Sested that the tips were probably bitten off by some marine ani-

1 Le

8vo, Birmingham, 1883, pp. 81 (4 pls.).

Mice

gps

794 General Notes. (July,

mals, probably fish. Since then they have (through Mr, R.D.

Derbyshire) been able to examine the contents of a stomach ofa

haddock, which consisted of five fragments of V. mirabilis, and of

these, three were “ actual perfect upper ends;’ as a possible ex-

planation of this mutilation it is suggested that the apparent

absence of stinging-cells from this species is not only apparent

but real, so that the fish are enabled to bite at them with impu-

nity. As the specimens examined were not in a thoroughly sat-

isfactory condition for histological study, the question must be

examined again with more satisfactory specimens.

The evidence afforded by the dredging leads to the supposition

already suggested by Richiardi and Kölliker, that Funiculina

Jorbest, the supposed British species, is only the immature form

of F. quadrangularis, which is well known from the Mediter-

ranean. The most complete example from Oban is only thirty-

nine inches long, but at Hamburg there is a stem eighty-nine

inches in length.

The foregoing notice has been taken from the Journal of the

Royal Microscopical Society. Having received from the authors

a copy of the book, we can bear testimony to the excellence of

the plates. The authors quote Dalyell’s statement that Virgularia

when in captivity “remains contracted during the greater part €

the day, and the organs are seldom displayed before five or six 1

the afternoon;” but the authors with more reason suggest that

Pennatula appears to be “ nocturnal” when brought to the sur

face, “simply because the amount of light it receives in broad

daylight is vastly in excess of what it receives normally at

sea bottom, and that it is only towards evening that it is placed

under what to it are normal conditions‘as to amount of light.

The authors are strongly in favor of the now generally accepted —

view that Pennatula lives upright, planted in the sea bottom.

As regards the phosphorescence observed in the majority of :

the Pennatulida, P. phosphorea receiving its name from having MY

property, the authors say: “ This was well seen in the E

specimens while living; the more perfect female specimens whe!

suspended in a jar of sea water in the -dark, and irrita

whole surface of the feather in rapid irregular corru

Panceri’s observations on this subject are adopted, and h

presented at some length.

HETEROGENETIC DEVELOPMENT IN DIAPTOMUS, ere, COR

ollowing

TIONS.— The editors kindly allow me space to make the

emendations to the article entitled Heterogenetic Develo jer.

Diaptomus, rendered necessary by an unfortunate loss of prom”

the mail. d

Cyclops pectinatus (p. 499) should have stood “C thomas

ted or a :

cited by gently brushing the leaves, exhibited a fine i o

phosphorescence, the different polypes, when touched, show ie 7

minute brilliant points of light which appeared to flash eo 3

is views —

1883. ] Zoölogy. 705

Forbes ?” It is at least the southern representative of this spe-

cies, which consequently is distributed from the Great lakes in

Minnesota to the gulf. The similarity to C. dicuspidatus Cls., is

very close.

The description of Epischura (pp. 384-85) was written before

the second part of Mr. Forbes’ paper was obtained, and in making

up for the press, the generic description given in that place was

not referred to. It might be inferred from remarks on p. 384,

that in Æ. /acustris the female has a structural modification of the

abdomen, which is obviously not stated by Forbes.

Although the writer has since succeeded in rearing one Cope-

pod (Canthocamptus), and observing the transition from one of

the dimorphic conditions to another, and the two stages, in both

of which eggs are carried, are strikingly diverse, it should be

admitted that perhaps too much confidence was expressed in the

inferred conclusions upon Diaptomus.

It may be that Brady has confused two distinct species in his

account of D. castor, inasmuch as his descriptions disagree with

those of Sars. It is evident that the same peculiarities of distri-

bution maintain in England as here, however explained. Correc-

tions and information bearing upon these questions are earnestly

solicited.

greater elongation of the antennz in the former. There is a dif-

ference of .1™ in the length of the living adults seen.—C. L.

Ferrick.

THE CoxaL GLANDS OF ARACHNIDA AND CrRusTAceA.—lIn this

790 General Notes.

scribes the coxal glands of Scorpio, and also finds that the coxal —

glands of Mygale are elongated and lobed as in Limulus. He

remarks: “Possibly such coxal glands are in all cases the modi-

fied and isolated representatives of the complete series of tubular

glands (Nephrida) found at the base of each leg in the archaic

Arthropod Peripatus.” As will be seen in the foregoing note on

Peripatus, that animal is provided with a series of paired organs

which Moseley and Balfour, with Sedgwick, regarded as Nephrid- —

ia, homologous with those of Chetopod worms.

t now appears that homologous organs exist in a third type of

Arachnida, for not only do the spiders and Pedipalpi possess

coxal glands, but also the mites. In his excellent “ Observations

on the Anatomy of the Oribatide,” in the February number of ©

the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, Mr. A. D

Michael describes a sac which he believes to be glandular, and

which he calls the “super-coxal gland.” The organ was rst

recognized in the mites of this family by Nicholet, who supposed

it to be connected with what he and others imagined to be the

stigma.

When the upper part of the cephalothorax, and the adipose tissue

which underlies it, has been removed, “ what appears to be the

enlarged, blind end of a fine colorless sac, ma be seen on eati

side of the body, the seemingly blind end being nearest to the

eye; the sac descending obliquely downward and slightly forward,

and being attached close to the acetabulum of the coxa of

second leg; a closer examination shows that this is not the only

attachment, but that the lower end is apparently bifurcated, $

that the second branch is attached much nearer to the center 0

the body, and higher in level than the coxal branch. On di gut

ing out this sac, and carefully extending it, a matter by no mean

easy, it will be found that what seemed to be the blind end wa

not the end at all, but that the whole organ is an elongated pe

sage-shaped sac, bent upon itself in the middle and taking a

gle turn, so that the two halves cross, but for some distan

two limbs of the horseshoe (if 1 may call them so) lie ova aS

other, or are so closely pressed against one another as to apf"

one; it is only toward the end, that they stand free from S

other when 77 situ.” e i

Mr. Michael suggests that these glands are analogous s

nephridia (segmental organs) of Vermes, and the green s “of

Astacus and other Crustacea, and the coxal glands in scorp! i

especially the leech, is very considerable as regards the S

form of the organ, and to a lesser extent in the minuter be

the n

The sac (super-coxal gland) would correspond with the,

the nephridium, and the globular body with the vesicle.

1883. ] Zoölogy. 797

indicate the independent origin of these two types of Arthropoda

from the forms resembling some of the lower worms. We are

next to look for their occurrence in the Myriopods. Possibly the

repugnatorial pores of Chilognath may be found to be these

glands, which open above the insertions of the legs—A. S. Pack-

ard, Fr.

SUBMETAMORPHOSES OF FisHEs. — Professor A. Agassiz has

published the third part of his researches upon the submetamor-

phoses of the young of bony fishes, including the genera Labrax,

Stromateus, Atherinichthys, Batrachus, Lophius, Cottus, Cteno-

labrus, Gadus, Osmerus and some others.

The caudal fin passes through a heterocercal stage before

attaining the more or less homoocercal form that characterizes the

teleost caudal, and the pectorals pass through phases which recall

those of the Crossopterygia.

When two dorsals are formed from the continuous membranous

fold which is the source of all the vertical fins, the posterior ap-

pears to be usually differentiated before the anterior, but first

passes through a phase in which the two are confluent, though

e anal and caudal are already distinct. In Lophius the abnormal

form of the first dorsal is evident in embryonic stages, and this is

also the case in other forms with filamentary rays in front of the

dorsal. The anal is developed before the ventrals except when

the latter are adapted to some special purpose, as in the young of

some ganoids,, in some deep-sea fishes and in forms in which the.

ventral rays form long tactile filaments. The young of Lophius

Ptscatorius, when about an inch and a quarter long, looks almost

like a butterfly from the great development of its paired fins, and

he same occurs in the genus Onus. These extraordinary ven-

trals represent the enormous appendages of Pterichthys and other

Devonian genera.

In the position of the mouth, the cartilaginous skeleton, the

heterocercal tail, the great pectorals, and the rudimentary dorsa

and anal fins, the young of existing osseous fishes recall the primi-

tive fishes, the transformations of which into modern types can

be traced through the geological ages from the Devonian

upwards,

798 General Notes. [July,

Many fishes leave their eggs floating upon the surface of the

sea as, for example, the cod, some flat fishes, Ctenolabrus, Cottus,

etc. Eggs thus obtained are in excellent state for embryological

purposes, and from the advanced state of their segmentation it is

probable that they are deposited at night, which, as Mr. Ryder

first observed, is the time chosen by many marine fishes. The

s of Lophius float on the surface in the form of great ribbons,

agglutinated by a mucous material.

THE OsTEOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF THE GENUS HISTRIOPHOCA.

—About two years ago two specimens of the ribbon seal (H.

fasciata), a male and a female, were obtained by Mr. Wm. H. Dall

at Plover bay, East Siberia, and deposited in the National Mu-

seum. In the skeleton of the female the preparation of which !s

now completed, we have, so far as I am aware, the first accessible

material for an accurate diagnosis of the genus.

Diagnosis of the genus Histriophoca. —General appearance of the skull short,

broad and rather high. s in Phoca and Halichærus, Molars

small, conical, with rudimentary accessory cusps; single rooted, except the last mae

ial ery S

breadth. Nasal bones small and very short. Palatal area broad, elliptical, moder-

ately emarginate behind. Narial septum nearly complete. Interorbital bridge nar-

row; orbital fosse short but broad. Supraorbital processes rudimentary.

case large, occupying one-half the length of the skull. Auditory bull very large.

Lower jaw of medium length, small; rami in Phoca, Scapula without a

mion. Iliac crests abruptly everted. First digit of the manus longest.

From the foregoing diagnosis it is apparent that the genus

bears close relations to the other genera of the sub-family. It's

difficult to decide to which it most cl®ely approxima a) but

is my intention to publish elsewhere, in a short time, a thorough

description of the skeleton, upon a consideration of the charac:

ae of which this view is based.—Frederick W. True, March 12,

1883.

THE BREEDING PLACE OF THE LITTLE AUK.—The accompany"

ing view of Foul bay, on the west coast of Greenland, with ge

ciers descending into the sea, is taken from Nordenskiold's voy-

age of the Vega; while it is a characteristic Spitzbergen View, g

probably fairly well represents the aspect of the coast of Mae

during the height of the glacial period, it was designed by

author to illustrate the breeding place of the little auk (Mergi if

alle Linn.). This is one of the most abundant of the sea bir r

Northern America and Europe, straying south in the winte

along our coast as far as the Middle States, and being sometimes

driven inland by storms.

On Spitzbergen it occurs in incredible numbers, and ring

the talus, 100 to 200 meters high, which frost and weathe

form on the steep slopes of the coast mountain sides.

stone heaps form the palace of the rotge (or sea king, 2 the

1 In the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum.

fas

1883.) . Zoilogy. 798a

auk is variously called), richer in rooms and halls than any other

in the wide round world. “ If one climbs up among the stones, he

sees at intervals actual clouds of fowl suddenly emerge from the

ground either to swarm round in the air or else to fly out to sea,

and at the same time those that remain make their presence

underground known by an increasing cackling and din, resem-

bling, according to Friedrich Martens, the noise of a crowd of

quarreling women. Should this sound be stilled for a few mo-

ments, one need only attempt, in some opening among the stones,

to imitate their cry (according to Martens: roft-tet-tet-tet-tet) to

get immediately eager and sustained replies from all sides. The

fowl circling in the air soon settle again on the stones of the

mountain slopes, where, squabbling and fighting, they pack them-

selves so close together that from fifteen to thirty of them may

be killed by a single shot. A portion of the flock now flies up

again, others seek their safety, like rats, in concealment among

the blocks of stone. But they soon creep out again in order, as

if by agreement, to fly out to sea and search for their food, which

consists of Crustacea and Vermes. The rotge dives with ease. Its

single bluish-white egg is laid on the bare ground without a nest,

so deep down among the stones that it is only with difficulty that

it can be got at. In the talus of the mountains north of Horn

. sound, I found on the 18th June, 1858, two eggs of this bird

_ the winter in their stone mounds, flying out to sea only at pretty

long intervals in order to collect their food.”

homol-

The tail

PLATE XX,

From Nordenskidld.

with glaciers.

Foul bay, on the west coast of Greenland

{ 883 a Zoölogy, 799

Mollusks —The deep-sea mollusks are still engaging the atten-

tion of malacologists. From Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys we have re-

ceived a recent paper on the mollusks of the “Lightning” and

“Porcupine” expeditions, in which he gives the results of com-

parison of these shells with subappennine and Sicilian tertiary

shells; teaching first, the exact concordance of so many species in

their fossil and recent state, notwithstanding the lapse of the enor-

mous and incalculable time which has intervened, and second,

the extensive changes which have taken place during the same

period between the depth of the ocean and the height of land in

the North Atlantic area. In the Linnzan Society’s journal ap-

pears parts xv and xvi of Rev. R. B. Watson’s Mollusca of the

Challenger expedition.

crystalline spheres. The eye is situated on the terminal process

of the brain, and the optic nerves proceeding from it skirt the

outer surface of the crystalline sphere and penetrate it near the

hinder margin. This eye, therefore, may be considered as com-

posed of three simple eyes, placed anterior to the brain, with

reversed optical bacilli, and brought so close together that their

Pigmented or choroid layers are combined into a single ‘mass.

The eyes of the Chetognaths, though paired, have a similar

structure, and certain Planarians have eyes like one of the simple

eyes that are united in the median eye of the Crustacea.

Mprey, according to M.

sinning of July deposited its ova and regained the sea, which it left

800 Generai Notes. [July,

the United States National Museum, forms a volume of 250 pages;

the nomenclature and classification being based on the list of

Professor Cope, forming the first bulletin of the series, of which

the present is the twenty-fourth. Recent experiments by Drs.

Mitchell and Reichert, indicate that Heloderma suspectum is

poisonous, It is usually sluggish in its habits, and will not bite

unless provoked; but when the full-sized lizard (it grows to a

length of three feet) does bite, it produces a poisonous wound,

which may prove fatal. For the purpose of experiment, Dr. M.

caused the lizard to bite on the edge of a saucer, and when saliva

commenced to flow it was caught on a watch glass. Differing

rom the saliva of venomous reptiles, which is always acid, the

saliva of the Heloderma is alkaline. A very small quantity in-

jected into a pigeon produced its effect in a tottering gait in less

than three minutes, and caused death in less than nine minutes.

The specimen presented was fourteen inches long, fat and plump.

See NATURALIST, 1882, p. 907. That pigs will dive for fish is

averred by J. C. Hughes, in Forest and Stream, who, writing from

British Columbia, says: ‘‘ Pigs living upon the clear-water rivers

learn to dive after the salmon lying dead on the bottom of the

streams, and the interesting sight may be witnessed of a sow

diving for a salmon, and when obtained taking it ashore for her

little ones.”

Geneyal—The third heft of the current volume of Gegenbaurs

Morphologisches Yahrbuch contains a paper by Bütschli on a

hypothesis relative to the derivation of the vascular apparatus of

a part of the Metazoa. Under the title, “ Life, and its phy sical

basis,” Professor H. A. Nicholson discusses protoplasm, and so

called “ vital” phenomena ; while he discards the old “ vital force

of the vitalists, he holds the hypothesis of an inner directing

power in the vital phenomena of the higher to be absolutely 1m-

evitable, and that if this applies to man so it must to the mo

PSYCHOLOGY.

GLUTTONY IN A FroG—A rather interesting incident ovcuted

while I was a student in the Sheffield Scientific School, of Yale Ce

lege. In the Peabody Museum we had a large wire cage com

ing numerous reptiles, and among these was a frog of unusu

size.

On one of our excursions I brought in a number of frogs and

other animals, and going to the cage dropped the contents of the

satisfaction for a moment, then sprang upon

size, caught and swallowed it as quickly as t

1883. |. Anthropology. 8o01

there was another pause of a couple of minutes, and then with

another quick bound, he seized and swallowed a third frog, equal in

size to the second; this accomplished there was another pause of

about five minutes, and then another quick, savage bound for a

fourth victim, this time for a frog two-thirds the size of himself.

ch of the three was seized and swallowed head first, but the

fourth effort was not so successful as the others, for this he only

managed to get into his mouth as far as its hind legs, when there

was a pause and a struggle. The unfortunate frog in the mouth of

the large one persisted in holding its kind legs out sidewise, at right

anglesto its body, as ifconscious that these tactics would prevent the

other from swallowing it; and at the same time the large one used

its front feet, at times one, and again both, to straighten out the

hind legs of his victim so that he might be able to swallow it;

and while this struggle was going on, he made frequent efforts to

use the sides and bottom of the cage as an object against which

to press the other frog, so as to aid his efforts to swallow it. The

struggle, however, after lasting a number of minutes terminated

in favor of the smaller frog, for by desperate efforts it managed to

elude the grasp of its assailant; but while the battle did last it

used both its muscular and vocal powers to their utmost to thwart

the murderous designs of its enemy.—B. F. Koons, Mansfield.

Conn., May 22d, 1883: :

ACTIVITY OF THE SENSES IN NEW-BORN INFANTS.—In a récent in-

augural dissertation, Dr. Genzmer discusses the activity of the

senses in new-born infants. /néer alia, he says the sense of touch

is developed from the earliest period, and reflex actions are readily

excited by the slightest stimulation of the nerves of touch, espe-

cially of the face, then of the hands, and soles of the feet. The

feeling of pain is but slowly developed, and is only clearly shown

after four or five weeks, before which time infants do not shed

tears. Smell and taste are not distinguishable in infants. Hear-

in is perceptible in the first, or at most, the second day of life.

New-born infants are so sensitive to light that they will turn the

head to follow a mild light; while, if a strong glare be suddenly

thrown on the eye, squinting is induced, and even convulsive

Closure of the lids. After a few days the child will follow the

motion of various objects by movement of its head. Between the

fourth and fifth weeks the convergence of the pupils and coordi-

nation in vision are perceptible. A distinct perception of color

does not exist under four or fivé months; before then it is quan-

A rather than quality of light that is recognized —Eng. lish Me-

chante,

ANTHROPOLOGY. '*

THE GROWTH OF CHILDREN.—Dr. George W. Peckham, pro-

fessor of biology, Milwaukie, Wis., has been making inquiries

concerning the growth of children in that city. Cards similar to

l Edited by Professor Orts T. MASON, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

802 General Notes. [July,

those used by the Massachusetts Board of Health were distrib-

uted to all the teachers, who heartily codperated in the work.

The queries included sex, age, weight, height (upright and sit-

ting), color of eyes, hair, and skin, nationality and occupation of

parentage. Writers on anthropometry have commonly studied

the influence of age, sex, race, occupation, and general surround-

ings, without sufficient regard to the physiological laws through

hich they act. The size of an organism and more definitely of

any group of organisms is limited, and the influence which de-

termines tke amount of food that can be assimilated under the

conditions supposed is a power transmitted from parent to off-

spring, and known as the law of heredity. The size of an organ-

ism is the result of its inherited tendency as modified by the two

varying factors of waste and repair. By far the greater portion of

an individual’s surroundings are determined for him by the de-

gree of density of population in the locality in which he lives.

Some excellent remarks are made on Plato’s idea of archetypal

forms, and the comparative value of means and averages, with a

decided preference for the latter. In this the author has prob-

ably sacrificed ease to accuracy, except in very homogeneous

groups. The tables in the pamphlet, showing the comparative

growth of the sexes from five to twenty years, are very interest-

ing indeed, and the addition of nationality and other factors bring

‘out results worthy of consideration. ok

The reflections upon climate are quite startling. Indeed, it 1s

deemed improbable that climate has any considerable modifying

effect upon growth. This statement is subjected to a searching

examination in the light of researches, such as those of Gould,

Baxter, Walker and Beddoe. Walker's Atlas and Baxter's Re-

port, studied together, give abundant proof of the non-depen-

dence of stature on climate.

The density of population acts in two ways upon growth: It

modifies, first, the hygienic conditions of the whole popula

controlling the influence of occupation ; second, the intensity an

character of the struggle for existence.

t would seem that the superiority of stature in males over

females is due to two factors: first, the arrest of growth of lower

Tas . . 1

THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN.—The second number of

current year contains the following papers :

The Hill Tribes of India. By Professor John Avery.

Indian migration as evidenced by language, n, By Horatio Hale.

Native races of Colombia, S. A., iv. By E. G. Barney.

The Somme implements and some others. By S. F. Walker.

Piet D EA ge ee EE O T E E

į oo alae ee A

Been ena lig a ee a

1833. ] Anthropology. 803

The Potlatches of Puget Sound. By M. Eells.

Mythology of the Dakotas. By S. R. Riggs.

-The linguistic notes of the Antiquarian, by Mr. A. S. Gatschet,

are of great value.

Tue Pree or Peace—Mr. E. A. Barber has an illustrated

article on the pipes of the American aborigines in The Continent

for April 4th, which brings together much information of value.

It is pleasant to read the descriptions of the old writers of the

conquest. Says one: “ The salvages possessed a kinde of herbe

dryed, which, with a cane and an earthen cup in the end, with

fire and the dryed herbs put together, do sucke through the cane

the smoke thereof, which smoke satisfieth their hunger, and there-

with they live foure or five dayes withoute meate or drinke.”

Another says: “This cornet of claie is a little pan, hollowed

at the one side, and within whose hole there is a long quill or

Pipe, out of which they suck up the smoak, which is within the

said pan, after they put fire to it with a coal that they lay upon it.

COMPARATIVE AND PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCHES INTO THE CHAR-

ACTERS OF THE CRANIUM AND Brain.—The Bulletin of the Zoo-

logical Society of France for 1882 contains a treatise upon this

subject by Dr, L. Manouvrier, a pupil and disciple of Broca. For

fullness of detail and breadth of view, this work, which occupies

stood unless those it has with other parts of the organism are

first separated. In order to appreciate the influence of the intel-

lectual and of the physical development on the form and quantita~

tive development of the brain and cranium, it becomes necessary

to compare individuals and groups of individuals presenting very

evident difference in the development of intelligence or that of

the body, such as 1st, different species of vertebrates that are

nearly equal in intelligence but of different size, or vice versa ;

2, individuals of the same species, but of different ages; 3, indi-

| VOL. yino. vir,

804 General Notes. [July,

his own words. “ The strongest women, especially in the civilized

either sex.

succeeded in making some noise these last few years by reéditing,

apropos of the sexual difference of cranial capacity and weight o

brain, the antique pleasantries relative to the lightness and incon-

stancy of women. Unfortunately for these writers, the lightness

with which they have themselves passed over anatomical differ- l

ences as enormous as that in muscular development of which I 1

have just spoken, permits serious doubts as to their aptitude for

psychological analysis.” ai

The author devotes a chapter to the comparative quantitative

development of the brain and of various parts of the skeleton.

The femur and the mandible, according to our author, represent,

by their weight, the development of those parts of the organism

which influence the brain-weight, far better than do the size and

weight of the body. He therefore takes, and recommends others 4

to take, these two bones, with the addition, when possible, ofe

humerus, for the purpose of comparison. Unfortunately most

skeletons are so mounted that the two bones first mentioned with

the skull are the only pieces that can be separated.

To us it appears that the femur is about the worst bone that

could be chosen for the purpose of instituting a comparison

between the brain and the skeletal development of the two SEXES,

since its very considerably smaller size in the female gives that

sex an altogether fictitious advantage.

In weight of cranium the negro races surpass any others prs

have been subjected to comparison, so that the proverbial thick

ness of a negro’s skull has a foundation in fact. The skulls

Papuans and natives of New Caledonia are heavier than a

Parisians, while those of the American aborigines and of the

Bengalese are lighter. z

The weight of the female cranium, absoiutely about =

seventh less than that of the male, is, according to the limitei

rvations yet made, about two-ninths heavier when comp of

equal to that of the rest of the skeleton. The importance rder :

skull as a skeletal element diminishes in the following Aiak

1. Infant: 2. Woman. 3. Man of low stature. 4 Mam m

stature. 5. Anthropoid apes. The weight of the brain mf the a

portion to that of the body follows the same order as that%

1883. ] Microscopy. 805

cranium, and is thus proportionally heavier in woman than in

man, and, if allowance be made for the greater development of

weight of the skull in Parisians, Europeans generally, and Hin-

09s, than in negroes or other inferior races, and that in a new-

born infant both cranial capacity and weight of brain, as compared

with weight of skull, are three times that of the adult.

The weight of the mandible, compared with that of the skull,

is greater in man than in woman, so that in this character civilized

is so complicated by the relations between the brain and the

motor, nutritive, and, it may be added, reproductive functions,

and also by those between it and the size and age of the indi-

vidual, that it is impossible, with our present knowledge, to judge

with any certainty of the intelligence of an individual by the,

Weight of the brain, the capacity of the cranium or any relation

of these to the entire skeleton or portions of it. Yet some of the

relations established seem to point the road to further knowledge

of this most abstruse of subjects.

IN Memortam—The third part of volume m1, proceedings of

the Davenport Academy, is devoted to the life and labors of the

te J. Duncan Putnam. The engraving in front is as near per-

fection as a portrait can come, and will recall that pale, earnest,

“roughout is worthy of the subject, and of the generous spirits

i wo

It is his work as patron, editor, and enthusiastic friend of the.

Davenport Academy, which will give him an enduring place in

carts of anthropologists.

MICROSCOPY.

Frenzet’s METHOD oF FIXING SECTIONS ON THE Suipe?—In

the October number (1882) of the Naturatist, I have given the

“Xcel ‘lent method discovered by Dr. Giesbrecht of fixing sections

„Edited by Dr. C. O. Wuirman, Newton Highlands, Mass.

"Zoologischer Anzeiger, No. 130, p. 51, 1883.

806 General Notes. -o py

by means of shellac, and also Dr. Gaule’s method of using alco-

hol (50-60 per cent) for the same purpose. In the employment

of either of these methods, the object must be stained zx toto. Dr.

Frenzel now offers a method which allows one to color the sec-

tions after they have been fixed on the slide. Instead of shellac

a solution of gutta-percha in chloroform and benzine is used.

The solution must be filtered until it is clear and almost colorless,

and must not be made so thin that it will flow quickly on the

slide. The fluid is put on with a brush and allowed to dry be-

fore the sections are placed. If the object is imbedded in paraf-

fine or a paraffine mixture (e. g., four parts paraffine and one part

vaseline), the sections are smoothed out by the aid of a brush

wet in alcohol, and then exposed to a temperature of 35° to 50°C.

for five to ten minutes, in order that the gutta percha may be-

come sticky; they are then left for five to ten minutes in the alr,

and finally placed in a vessel containing absolute alcohol heated

t i

i=)

[e]

(g)

es]

is)

pat

fes]

aisam.

If the object is imbedded in celloidin, as is now frequently

tion. After the sections have dried on, they may be staim 4

washed and transferred to absolute alcohol as before. The appli

cation of clove oil before the balsam dissolves the celloidin.

_ THE Hertwics’ Maceratinc FLurp.!— For the isolation of

tissues in the Ccelenterates, Oscar and Richard Hertwig rec?”

mend the following mixture :

MN hs akg Pak cevccucdv cases a A seasoned r part.

a ee E EN ee AE OET EFEO EADE 1 i

aa ao E A E CLE ome E E ee

# 1000

eee ee wonee

| poate annae se e cells,

By means of this fluid not only the nerve cells, musc! hy ls

may be easily recognized, but also the tissues in the form,

lamellæ may be separated and studied as a whole.

tissue or whole animals are left in the mixture five to ten

tic

oe etal for severai hours in one-fifth per Be write

acid. ae l

e macerated parts can be further prepar t once before

preparation with needles. In the first case picrocarmine 1$

wards colored on the slide ; or they can be colored a is used,

1 Jenaische Zeitschrift, xtiT, p. 462, 1879.

1883. ] Scientific News. 807

in the second, Beale’s carmine, because it does not harden the

tissues, but assists rather the process of maceration. Pieces of

tissue may be preserved a long time in glycerine diluted with an

equal volume of water, provided a few drops of carbolic acid

have been added to secure against mold and Bacteria.

To obtain preparations of single-cell elements of Actiniz, the

macerated portion must be carefully divided up into smaller parts

by needles, and one or more of these parts placed under the

cover-glass. Light blows on the cover-glass with a needle will

cause the cells to separate. Care should be taken to support

one side of the cover by a hair, which is removed quite gradu-

ally, after the object has been reduced to very small cell masses.

Sliding of the cover may be avoided by placing wax feet under

its corners.

Dr. Mark has employed this method and obtained excellent

results with it. As he remarks, the great merit of this fluid is,

that it separates the cell elements and hardens them at the same

time. The dissociative and the preservative agent are combined

in such proportions that the action of the former is confined

within desired limits by that of the latter.

70:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

—Dr. Loring, commissioner of agriculture, has forwarded to

the secretary of the treasury the following statement submitted

to him by Professor Riley, the entomologist cf the department,

who says: In reply to the letter of the assistant secretary of the

treasury, with inclosures from the New York custom house

808 Scientific News. [July,

where the Phylloxera does not exist; but for the reasons first

given, I do not hesitate to say that there can be no danger in

sending them even there, so that they may certainly be forwarded

without fear of injury.

Wabasha street and College avenue. It has elected as curator

and corresponding secretary, Professor Edward Daniels. Help is

now wanted for the following purposes: bs

First. To make a complete collection of all ores, building

stones, clays, marls, cements, coal peat and other useful material

in economic geology, for the use of students, mining engineers,

builders and practical men generally. :

Second. To collect the remarkable and interesting fossils from

the great region west of and tributary to St. Paul, and all living

species.

Third. To found a complete scientific library.

Fourth. To establish courses of popular lectures, and classes

for practical instruction in the physical sciences.

To effect this purpose is asked: .

First. Donations in money. .

Second. Scientific books, pamphlets, and illustrative apparatus

to replace what was lost by the fire

Third. Specimens of ores, minerals, fossils, plants, bones and

skins of animals that can be mounted, insects, birds (especially

of the Northwest), shells, reptiles, and all objects of natural his-

tory. All money to be paid to the treasurer, D. L. Kingsbury,

Esq., of the firm of Bennett & Kingsbury.

Specimens should be sent to the curator, Professor E. Daniels,

at the academy room, 554 Wasbasha Street, St. Paul, Minn. i

— The eleventh annual report of the directors of the Zoölogi-

cal Society of Philadelphia, Mr. Arthur E. Brown, superintendent,

shows that the number of annual members is 577, the total num-

ber of members being 783. There was an increase the past yeat

of 9439 in the number of visitors. While no permanent improve- —

ments have been recorded, over 2000 trees and shrubs have been

planted in the garden. One of the most interesting adon o

recorded was a large Siren (Siren lacertina) from South Caroima o

Although this curious batrachian endures captivity well, it semmmi

impossible to exhibit it in a satisfactory manner. The necessi a

of its life requires it to be buried in several inches of soft m eo

which obscures the water as soon as it begins to move, SO that

is generally hidden from view. A very rare fox (Vulpe. fizient 7

from Yucatan has been added ; this specimen is probably the frs

1883.] Scientific News, 809

— The fourteenth annual report of the trustees of the Ameri-

can Museum of Natural History, states that a contract has been

made with Professor Ward for a collection of all the monkeys of

the world. Extensive collections illustrating the ethnology of

British Columbia have been likewise added. A rather new and

valuable feature has been added, that of public lectures by the

Superintendent, Professor Bickmore, over 150 teachers attending

the course. The trustees appeal to all public-spirited citizens for

an endowment to place the museum upon a footing “ commensu-

rate with the prospective greatness of our nation ;” while it also

asks for provision by the city for the erection of another wing to

contain the rapidly-increasing collections.

— The Newport Natural History Society was organized in May,

at Newport, R. I., with the following officers: President, Professor

Raphael Pumpelly ; vice-presidents, Hon. Samuel Powel, ex-Gover-

hor C. C. Van Zandt, Hon. Francis Brinley, Professor Fairman Rog-

ers, Mr. James Gordon Bennett, Mr. James R. Keene, Dr. Horatio

R. Storer, Gen. Robert B. Potter, Colonel Geo. E. Waring, Colonel

George H. Elliot, U. S. Engineer Corps, and Dr. Samuel W.

Francis ; secretary, Captain John A. Judson, C. E.; correspond-

ing secretary, Mr. Geo. C. Mason; treasurer, Dr. William C.

Rives, Jr. ; librarian, Lieut. William M cCarty Little, U. S. Navy;

curator and microscopist, Dr. J. J. Mason.

— At the annual meeting of the Worcester Lyceum and Natu-

ral History Association much interest was exhibited in museum and

natural history work. Mr. F. G. Sanborn is the curator of the mu-

seum. The society is outgrowing its present quarters and requires

larger rooms. To meet the demand for the study of living plants

and animals an outdoor enclosure is absolutely needed. >i

manifested an increasing desire for knowledge on the part of visi-

tors and a steady growth of interest in the study of zoology,

botany and geology. Accompanying the report is a long list of

gifts to the society.

— The eleventh annual report of the curator (Professor W.

N. Rice) of the Museum of Wesleyan University, indicates much

activity in this growing collection. The most important acces-

sions appear to be the skins of fourteen Australian marsupials,

besides the Ornithorhyncus and Echidna, as well as the great

lizard Hadrosaurus. The museum is now in good order, and ex-

cellent from an educational point of view.

— The death is announced by telegram from Madeira of Mr.

William Alexander Forbes, B.A., prosector to the Zodlogical

810. : Proceedings of Scientific Socteties. (July, 1883.

Society of London. Mr. Forbes was engaged in an expedition

up the River Niger, but succumbed to dysentery at the early age `

of 28. He was the successor in office of the late Mr. Garrod, and

the author of valuable papers on the anatomy of birds. He made

a visit to the naturalists in this country a short time since. His

loss, like that of Jevons and Balfour, is a serious one for England.

— Professor Gabriel Gustav Valentin, the noted German phys-

iologist, is dead at Berne. He was the author, among other

notable works of essays on the hibernation of animals, of several

embryological papers, a work on physiology, and a hand-

book of the developmental history of man.

:0:——

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

Brotocicat Society or Wasuincton, May 11.—Communica-

tions were read by Professor L. F. Ward, entitled Notes on some

hitherto undescribed fossil plants from the Lower Yellowstone,

collected by Dr. C. A. White in 1882; by Mr. Frederick W. True,

on a new pigmy sperm whale from the New Jersey coast. |

y. 25.—Dr. Thomas Taylor, on Actinomykosis, a new I

fectious disease of man and the lower animals, with exhibition

of a portion of the diseased viscera of a dog containing speci-

mens of the fungus Actinomyces; Dr. D. E. Salmon made some

remarks on Actinomykosis ; Professor C. V. Riley remarked on

curious Psyllidze and certain gall-making species.

New York Acapemy oF Scrences.—May 7.—The following

papers were read: On the finding of prehistoric Indian skeletons

at Far Rockaway, L. L, by Dr. N. L. Britton; exhibition of some >

interesting specimens of fossil fishes recently discovered, by Pro- 7

fessor John S. Newberry. 2

May 14.—The “ Singing Beach” of Manchester, Mass., by Drs.

H. C. Bolton and A. A. Julien; on a form of graphite found at

Ticonderoga, N. Y., by Dr. A. A. Julien; exhibition an de-

scription of some ores from North Carolina, by Dr. Pi

Ricketts.

May 28.—Notes on the flora and fauna of the 1

Curacao, Buen Ayre, and Aruba, W. I, by Dr. Alex

Julien. i

slands of

is A.

SE pS STR a PCIE Ere rN ar EA ce ier Sa E es cs ree

Boston Soctery oF Narurat Histrory.—May 16M .

Hotchkiss read his memoir of the late Professor William ™

Rogers. oe

APPALACHIAN Mountatn Crus.—May 10.—Rev. illiam C

the lantern.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

Vor. xvi.—AUGUST, 1883.—No. 8.

MEANS OF PLANT DISPERSION?

BY E. J. HILL.

FE paper which is embraced in the following pages can hardly

be called one on a subject of microscopy, though to establish

some of its facts it requires the aid of the microscope. But the

great interest now taken in all biological studies, leads us to look

and work beyond the field of view bounded by objectives. They

are instruments to help the eye, and are mainly useful when the

unaided eye fails to see distinctly. Hence the choice of a sub-

ject having a wider range than those ordinarily treated here. The

facts presented are mostly those that have come under my own

observation, based on an experience of several years of work in

field and cabinet, and may be easily verified by any one so dis-

posed, even if not already familiar, They are chiefly confined to

our own flora, that the paper may have a local interest, althaugh

many instructive illustrations might be cited from the writings of

others. They are also limited to the propagation of plants by

means of fruit, seed and spore, or analogous substitutes for these,

and to their adaptations and the agents that act upon them to ac-

complish this result. The agency of man is excluded except in

So far as it may be unintentional, or merely accidental, as in the

case of any animal. It is to the means of dissemination found in

nature, of which the plant may avail itself, that the subject will be

restricted 7 .

It is one that has to some extent received attention from botan-

ists, though in the main incidentally. Near the close of the last

* Read at the monthly meeting of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois,

Chicago, Jan. 12, 1883.

VOL. XVIH.—NO. VIII. 55

812 Means of Plant Dispersion. [ August,

century Joseph Gaertner published his great carpological work,

“De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum,” in which the fruits and

seeds of more than a thousand species of plants were described

and figured, and among them many curious contrivances, but

without specifying their use to the plant. It became a classical

work on morphology, and had its influence on the natural classi-

fication of plants. A. P. DeCandolle, in his work, “ Physiologie

végétale,” and Alphonse DeCandolle, in his “ Géographie botan-

ique raisonée,” paid considerable attention to this subject, and

have recorded observations of much interest. Among the Ger-

mans may be named Naegeli and Kerner, and of Italians, Del-

pino, as students of these phenomena. They did not escape the

notice of so careful an observer as Darwin. But the stimulus of

his writings has had a greater effect in directing the mind to them

than any extended observations of his own. The best and most

complete treatise we have seen, is that of Dr. Friedrich Hilde-

brand, of Freiburg, “Die Verbreitungsmittel der Pflanzen, Leip-

zig, 1873." In this small volume of one hundred and sixty

pages he brings together a great number of interesting facts, syS-

tematically arranged, and accompanies them with several illustra-

tive figures. Since, as already stated, the plan of this paper mainly

contemplates those facts that have come under my own obser-

vation, his work will be used only in a most general way. There

is enough in our flora to illustrate all the most important charac-

teristics of fruits and seeds, and the contrivances and agencies for

-their dispersion and propagation as noticed by him, so that there

is no need of resorting to the flora of the world to find them.

The subject is naturally divided into four parts, both as to

adaptations of structure and agents for distribution. The agents

are the wind, water and animals, for each of which are found con- |

trivances suited to these modes of spreading. There is a fourth —

class, dependent on special movements in the plant itself.

of these topics will be considered in order. |

I. In examining plants with reference to modes of distribution,

the agency of the wind is the most obvious and universal.

means to secure this result are quite various in kind, and ue :

mostly comprised in two divisions, adaptations of fruit and adap- -

tations of seed, 2

: i asto

1 To this I am indebted for some of the facts of this paragraph, 35 well

Sach’s Geschichte der Botanik, München, 1875.

1883.] Means of Plant Dispersion. 813

In contrivances for scattering fruits or seeds by wind agency, it

is plain that their mass must be relatively small and light, or if

large or heavy the buoyant part must predominate. The prob-

lem is to overcome the lightness of the air by a substance specifi-

cally heavier, which may, however, by the aid of currents of air

acting on some equipment, be wafted away from the parent stock.

The germ of a new plant may in this way be taken up and carried

a few feet or yards, or even many miles.. The modifications of

fruit to secure this end will be noticed first, some of the most

common examples being taken for illustration.

The samara, or key-fruit of the maple, is a familiar case. When

the key is double, as in the common maples and Negundo, each

part has a striking resemblance to the wing of an insect, being

thicker and narrower at the base, thinner and broader at the top.

In the ash the wing has a spatulate form; in the elm and birch

it is oval, the wing encircling the fruit. In the hop tree (Ptelea

trifoliata) it is similar, being almost circular. A contrivance much

like a samara is found in Liriodendron, the tulip tree. The nu-

merous pistils of a single flower are attached to a common axis,

making a cone-shaped collection as a whole. Each carpel is fur-

nished with a wing, pointing upward along the axis, and as they

fall away separately they may be taken and borne off by the wind.

If the fall of the samara, or key-fruit of the maple or ash be

watched, the usefulness of this appendage is easily discerned. It

falls with a whirling motion, like a stone with a shingle tied to it,

and may be carried to quite a distance even by a slight breeze,

and much farther if the wind be high.

Smaller but similar growths from the fruit are found in some of

the Umbelliferz, as in the carrot, parsnip, cow parsnip (Heracleum

lanatum), Polytenia, Archemora and Archangelica. In these the

achenia are more or less winged, as may be seen in the so-called

seeds of the carrot and parsnip of the shops.

Here also must be placed that adaptation for dispersion seen in

the common basswood (Tilia), a bract growing from the peduncle.

In form like the wing of a samara, it serves to carry the nuts

attached to the lower end of the stem and its branches, away from

the parent tree, and its gyrations while doing so are rather pecu-

liar and complicated. In the hop hornbeam (Osirya virginica)

and the blue beech (Carpinus americanus), the enlarged bracts of

the involucre, becoming dry when the fruit ripens, serve to bear

814 Means of Plant Dispersion. [August, |

away the masses of fruit they enclose. And the large membra-

naceous and inflated pod of the bladder-nut (S/ephylea trifolia), a

common shrub in rich open woods, is a kind of natural balloon,

readily made the sport of the wind.

As attachments to the end of fruits some good examples are

found in the Ranunculus family, in the tailed fruits of Clematis

and Anemone patens. The autumnal beauty of the virgin's

bower (Clematis virginiana) when these white plumes are fully

formed, quite equals that of its profusion of white blossoms in the

summer, and exceeds it in interest. Beauty and utility aie here

combined in the plan for dispersion by the wind. ` And one

hardly knows which to admire most, the broad purple eye of the

pasque flower (Anemone patens) dotting the prairies and hillsides

of the North in early spring, or its head of fruit, white with feath-

ery tails, seen ata later day. Some of the humbler anemones,

such as A. caroliniana, cylindrica and virginiana, with fruit thickly

clothed in matted wool, are well provided with means of disper-

sion by wind agency. ,

But the best contrivance for this mode of spreading is the

downy or feathery attachment to fruits, called pappus. Morpho-

logically it is a modified calyx; this, adhering to the ovary, rises

above it in a tuft of hairs or some kindred form in the place of

sepals. Its prevalence in the numerous genera of the great order :

Composite is a marked characteristic of these plants. In some,

as Aster, Solidago, Erigeron, Vernonia, it is so short as not to be —

very efficient for conveyance to any distance, though it furnishes 4

considerable aid, and must not be passed by as unimportant Its

most remarkable development is in the dandelion, thistle, fire-weed

(Erechthites), Lactuca and Sonchus. Generally it consists of ae :

copious tuft of hairs attached to the top of the achenium, and o

radiating so as to forma spheric or hemispheric mass. SOM®

times, as in the dandelion, the calyx tube is prolonged into a Supe n

when the fruit matures. This, dividing and spreading at the Pe

makes a globular head of hairs. That a downy head ike

serves its purpose well will be affirmed by all who, on 4 seas we :

y, have seen the air in the vicinity of a luxuriant growth o

thistles filled with their light forms of fruit speeding away te

tant fields. Far as the eye can discern them they may heise :

each with its tiny freight of fruit. Rivers and lakes, forests, hills

and mountains do not offer an insurmountable barrier to thet

1883.] Means of Plant Dispersion. 815

course, since they are able to pass over them. The way in which

the scales of the floral involucre open, facilitates the process.

When green they are more or less closely appressed to the head

of flowers ; when ripe they become dry and spread in a horizontal

plane, or become reflexed. This exposes the fruit to the ready

access of the wind, and it is easily lifted from its seat on the

receptacle.

In the valerians, two species of which are found in our limits,

Valeriana edulis and V. sylvatica,a modified calyx also serves

this purpose. Being persistent and coherent with the one-celled

and one-seeded ovary, its limb. divides into several plumose bris-

tles, much like a pappus; these, rolled inward in the flowers, un-

roll and spread as the fruit matures.

Among the endogens are found a few of these equipments. In

Typha, the common cat-tail rush, the ovaries are surrounded with

bristles, making the abundant down of the fruit, and adapting it

to wind dissemination.

In the sedge family are some examples of fruit adjusted to this

end, principally in Eriophorum, or cotton-grass, and in two species

of Scirpus, S. dineatus and S. eriophorum. Three species of Erio-

phorum are common about Lake Michigan (Æ. virginicum, E. poly-

Stachyon and E., gracile) in marshes and wet prairies, and may

easily be detected among the surrounding plants in summer and

early autumn by their cottony heads. The bristles which form

the perianth, generally short in other genera and species of this

family, lengthen greatly in the cotton-grass, in some cases to an

inch, becoming enlarged and numerous. The construction in

irpus is similar but not so marked.

The beards and awns of grasses will, to some extent, serve the

same purpose. Such as have them possess an instrument for

catching the wind, and the grain is likely to be more effectually

Scattered than in the case of those devoid of them. The com-

mon reed (Phragmites communis) has the rachis of the spikelets

of its ample panicle prominently bearded with soft hairs just be-

low the spikelets, which are easily detached when ripe. The

whole appearance is like a plume, and either as a whole or in

Parts is a light object that may be blown about by the wind. In.

Calamagrostis and Erianthus, there is an analogous arrangement. .

The spikes of Hordeum jubatum, or squirrel tail grass, of Setaria, ,

Gymnostichum and Andropogon are also aided by their hairs

816 Means of Plant Dispersion. [ August,

and awns. The grain of Stipa is scattered around the plant by

the wind, the long awn, aiding in this as well as in directing it,

point downward, like a dart to the earth, and pushes the back-

wardly roughened point into the sand, the grain boring its way

in as the awn twists and untwists according to varying conditions

of moisture.

Seeds also possess contrivances for dispersion analogous to

those already described for fruits. There are seeds with wings,

with tufts of-hairs at the end, with cottony fibers imbedding

them.

Some of the best examples of winged seeds are found in the

Coniferz, particularly the pine and fir. The seeds of these, either

singly or in twos, are attached to the inner sides of the scales of

- the cones, which, when ripe, open so that the seeds may easily

fall out or be detached by the wind. The Bignonia family has

good representatives of this mode. When the pod of the catalpa

opens, winged seeds are found, the wings being cut into a fringe.

Bignonia capreolata and Tecoma radicans, the latter common in

cultivation as the trumpet-creeper, are also provided with winged

seeds. In some of the smaller plants, as in species of Arabis (4.

levigata and A. canadensis) the little seeds have a broad wing

that materially helps their dispersion when the pod dehisces.

The analogues of fruit with pappus are seeds with a coma, oF

tuft of hairs. Some of the best illustrations are those of Ascle-

pias and Apocynum. The silky down of the seeds of the silk-

weed, or milk-weed (Asclepias) forms as efficient a means

spreading by wind agency as the hairs of the thistle or dandelion.

The hairs are fully developed as soon as the pod is ripe and

ready to open, and are so closely packed that on its opening

they bulge out in a fluffy mass like those in the boll of the a

ton plant, also a good example of a similar provision.

seeds of Asclepias are also very flat and margined, so as =

come under the head of those furnished with a wing, being thus

doubly provided with wind adaptations, The willow-herbs (Ep

lobium) also have seeds with a tuft of hair at the end. The mos

common and showy of these, Epilobium angustifolium, often

called fire-weed from its habit of springing up from ground a

cently burnt over by fire, is thus able to spread with rapidity, ike

its congener, Evechthites hieracifolia, of the Composite, also cal

fire-weed from the same habit.

1883. ] Means of Plant Dispersion. 817

In the willows and poplars the seed is enveloped in cottony

fibers, as in the cotton plant, rendering it very buoyant. The air

around a cottonwood tree (Populus monilifera) is well filled with

these whitened objects, like little bunches of cotton, on a windy

day in spring or early summer, when the pods open, thus verify-

ing its popular name.

In scattering the spores of cryptogams currents of air act ina

most effectual manner. The spores of the vascular cryptogams,

and of mosses, lichens and fungi, as fine as dust, can be carried

by the winds as readily as dust, and lodged in any soil suitable

for growth. In this respect they are like the pollen of wind-fer-

tilized flowers. Since many of these plants are parasites, and in-

jurious to animal and vegetable life, as well as beneficial in some

cases in keeping in check forms even more destructive, their

mode of diffusion offers a field of investigation of the greatest

practical importance. If the germ theory of disease be true, the

physician can find in the air one of the most efficient instruments

for spreading disease.

Many small seeds that have no special contrivance to secure

their dispersion are blown away from the parent plant. Their

intrinsic lightness is an adequate adaptation, as in the, case of

spores, The only peculiarity may be in the pod itself, in its mode

of dehiscence, or way of exposing the seed. It may open so

that the wind has free access to the seed; or the seed may be

caught in the act of falling and turned from its course. In the

mustard family the valves of the pods sometimes, as in Arabis,

loosen at the base and turn upward, thus exposing the seeds as

they hang in the partition between the valves. A loculicidal de-

hiscence or splitting of the wall of a capsule so as to open

directly into a cell, favors this result. In the pink family the pod

Splits up into several parts, often ten, effectually exposing the

small seeds. As seeds thus to be dispersed by wind agency, may

be mentioned those of figworts (Scrofulariacez), primroses (Prim-

ulaceæ), poppies (Papaveracee) and gentians (Gentianacez), a list

_ that might be much extended.

Nor should we limit the power of the wind in spreading fruits

and seeds to the lighter kinds, for it has an important effect on the

larger and heavier. As they mostly ripen at the time of the year

when the winds are usually strongest and often shifting in direc-

tion, nuts and heavy fruits are blown to a considerable distance

818 Means of Plant Dispersion, [ August, :

around the tree on which they grow. They do not fall vertically

as when the air is still, but are deflected from this course. All

who remember their childhood experience in gathering nuts, will

confirm this. They were not all found beneath the particular

tree that bore them. In this way the heaviest of the forest fruits,

like those of the butternut, walnut, hickory, chestnut, beech and

oak, are quite extensively scattered.

Plants are also blown about as a whole or in bulk, or their

fruiting branches are thus blown. This is not uncommon with,

grasses having capillary panicles. In this way species of Panicum

(witch-grass) and Eragrostis are sent whirling over the fields in

autumn,-and are often seen piled against a fence, or the windward

side of any obstacle by which they have been stopped. The

same is also true of many other plants. Some of our common

weeds are dispersed in this way. One example is in point. I have

often watched with interest the movements of a weed abundant

in gardens and cultivated fields, Amarantus albus. It is rightly

named in some localities the zumble-weed. The diameter of a

well-grown specimen is rather more than its height, the stems

spreading in all directions from the short tap root. Soon turning

upward at the ends, they make a bushy weed of a roundish form.

When ripe and dry the constant tugging of the wind tears it from

the soil and sends it rolling and bounding across the fields, much

like a hat blown from the head. This constant jarring threshes

out the seed that may have resisted gentler treatment, and sows

it broadcast over the fields to annoy the farmer the coming yeate

They are sometimes piled fence high in some of the large fields

of prairie farms, to be blown away again in the opposite direction

when the wind changes and dislodges them from their place of

temporary rest.

II. The second group of adaptations depends for its efficiency : '

on the agency of water. The limits of this paper will not eae

mit the enumeration of the various plants that may, in different ;

degrees, be aided in this way. If the germ is sufficiently pe ‘ n

tected from injury while in the water, from germination wi ee

destruction before reaching a place suitable for growth, this meas :

of transfer may be available in a large number of cases. It m

evident that islands have in this manner, and by the aid of wie :

and animals, often or even mainly obtained their species of plas.

usually like those of adjacent shores. The similarity of GE

188 3] Means of Plant Dispersion. 819

flora to that of the mainland near by is a proof of this, since many

of their plants could have been received in no other way, unless

the islands have been at some former era physically joined to the

continents, and afterward cut off by water through subsidence.

Hard fruits like walnuts, butternuts and acorns readily bear this

transportation, and their thickened coats serve not only to keep

the water from injuring the germ, but also help to float them by

rendering them lighter in proportion to the water displaced. So

too with hard seeds that may be dropped into the water by plants

which grow along its margin. In this way streams, and currents

on ponds, lakes and arms of the sea, aided by winds that drift

bodies along the surface of the water, bear their freight of seeds

and fruits from land-grown plants.

But aquatic plants, whose fruits and seeds ultimately sink in

water, must be principally dispersed in this manner. They gen-

erally grow in the stiller parts of streams and sheltered places of

pords and lakes, and their seeds are borne away by currents or

drifted by winds till lodged or dropped in quiet spots. Some-

times there are special equipments to facilitate this, like wings or

other floats, such as are also suitable for wind transportation. A

good example of this is the fruit of the common arrow-head

(Sagittaria), which, surrounded by a wing, easily floats away on

the water. The flattened spikelets of aquatic grasses, like Leer-

‘Sia, and the inflated perigynea of many sedges of the genus

Carex, as well as the bristies that surround the fruit of some, like

Eleocharis, contribute to this result. It is a common thing to see

plants floated off wholly or in part by water. The current of any

stream shows this. The shores of ponds and lakes, and the banks

of rivers are often strewn with species of the plants that grow

in them. By their examination the collector learns what may be

found in them even before seeking for their particular location.

If torn from their place of growth at the time of ripened fruit,

this becomes an effectual means of propagation. Stems of Pot-

amogeton and other Naidacex, of Myriophyllum and Ceratophyl-

lum, carry their seed in this way. This is especially true of some

plants that are rootless and float naturally on the surface, like the

Utricularie, or bladder-worts, some of which are provided with.

bladders to sustain them on the water. The duckweed (Lemna)

and Wolffiia are in this manner carried everywhere in the waters

they frequent, till they find some quiet place where they can mul-

820 On the Classification of the Linnean Orders [ August,

tiply and propagate themselves. The same is true of the great

family of Algz. As the air is the natural medium for scattering

the spores of terrestrial cryptogams, so the water is for the spores

of aquatic cryptogams. In some the spores are furnished witha

vibratile filament, a tail-like appendage that moves them about

like analogous organs in the flagellate Infusoria. Desmids and

Diatoms are found in all our waters, the sport of the waves and

currents. And as the majority of the Algz are unattached, float-

ing plants, they will be transported wholly or in part to all parts

of the medium they inhabit.

(To be continued.)

20:

ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE LINNAAN OR-

DERS OF ORTHOPTERA AND NEUROPTERA.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR.

F the forthcoming third report of the U. S. Entomological

Commission, we have endeavored to ascertain the position of

the Orthoptera in reference to allied ametabolous insects. The

following pages are extracted from the chapter, with some omis-

` sions:

We have examined the fundamental characters of the head,

thorax and abdomen, points neglected by most systematic writers,

not spending much time on the peripheral, 2. e., the superficial

adaptive characters of the mouth-parts, wings and legs, which

have been elaborated by systematic entomologists ; believing that

by this method perhaps more thorough and better ground

views might result. The outcome has been to lead us to separate

the Neuroptera, as defined farther on, from the Pseudonati

tera, and to regard these two groups, with the Orthoptera an

Dermatoptera, as four orders of a category which may be a

garded as a superorder, for which the name Phyloptera 1S ee

posed, as these four orders are probably closely allied to, if n

some cases identical with, the stem or ancestral groups ror

which probably all the higher orders—the Hemiptera, Coleop-

tera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera—have origini

We will first briefly summarize the characters, as we under ”

them, of the Phyloptera as a whole; then the distinguishing

marks of the four orders.

1883. ] of Orthoptera and Neuroptera. 821

Superorder PHYLOPTERA}

The mouth-parts are free, adapted invariably for biting ; the

mandibles being toothed and adapted for chewing; the first max-

illæ separate, with three divisions, the outer bearing usually five-

jointed palpi; the second maxillæ united to form a labium divided

into a submentum, mentum and ligula, the latter varying much,

being either cleft (Pseudoneuroptera) or entire (Neuroptera), and

bearing usually a three-jointed palpus, This is the primitive,

elementary condition of the mouth-parts, and such as obtains in

Coleopterous larvæ. The head is notable from the great develop-

ment of the epicranium. The clypeus is often divided into two

portions, a posterior (post-clypeus) and anterior (ante-clypeus) ;

in the other and higher orders the clypeus is entire.

The prothorax is usually very large and square, but in a few

families, as the Phryganeide, Panorpide, Psocide, Libellulide

and Ephemeridz, it is small and coilar-like. There is a marked

equality in size and form of the meso- and metathorax; in most

Orthoptera and some Pseudoneuroptera and Neuroptera, the

metathorax is often even larger than the mesothorax ; in this

respect the Phyloptera differ from any of the higher Hexapoda.

In both of the two hinder segments of the thorax the four tergal

sclerites, viz: the prasscutum, scutum, scutellum and_postscutel-

lum, are each well developed, and more equably so than in any

other order. The scutum is deeply excavated in front to receive

the often large subtriangular or cordate praescutum ; and in some

genera the scutum is, so to speak, cleft in two by the meeting of

the prascutum and scutellum in the median line. The flanks of

the thorax, or pleurites, are often very large, and the episternum

and epimerum are broad, oblong, or squarish, and these sclerites

are sometimes subdivided into an upper and lower division (supra

and infra epimerum or episternum). The sternum is often large,

flat and broad; it is sometimes divided into a sternum and præ-

sternum.,

The wings are usually net-veined, often with numerous longi-

tudinal veins, the branches of the subcostal, median and sub-

median veins being either very long, and parallel with the longi-

tudinal axis of the wing, or numerous and small (especially in

the hind wings of Orthoptera).

| From gÒlov, gens, nation ; zTepoy, wing.

822 On the Classification of the Linnean Orders | August,

The hind wings are often (Orthoptera and Odonata) broader

and larger than the anterior pair, the metathorax in such cases

being a little larger than the mesothorax.

The abdomen has in this group, including representatives of

the Neuroptera, Orthoptera, Dermatoptera and Pseudoneurop-

tera, besides a tenth nearly-complete segment, the rudiments of

an eleventh uromere, represented by a tergite forming the supra-

anal triangular plate. Well developed jointed cercopoda occur

in the Orthoptera and Pseudoneuroptera, while the forceps of For-

ficula (Dermatoptera) are undoubtedly modified cercopoda. An

ovipositor occurs in the Neuroptera (Panorpidz) and Orthoptera.

The metamorphosis is incomplete in all the orders of Phylop-

tera except the more recent and higher order, 7. e., the Neurop-

tera (in Erichson’s sense), in which the transformations are com-

plete, the pupa being quiescent and wholly unlike the larva.

The relative standing of the four orders of Phyloptera is shown

in the table or genealogical tree of the winged insects om page

820.

The sequence of the orders, such as we are compelled to adopt

in writing or speaking of them, is difficult to decide upon. Be-

ginning with what on the whole may be regarded as the lowest

order, we might first take up the Dermatoptera, which are, 1m

most respects, the most generalized forms, and stand nearest to

the Thysanura (Japyx).

The following is the succession of orders, placing the lowest

uppermost :

Dermatoptera Burm.

Orthoptera Linn.

Psendoneuroptera Erichson.

Neuroptera Linn., restricted by Erichson :

Before discussing the relative standing of these orders, We will

briefly indicate the more salient and generally applicable differen-

tial characters, especially what we regard as the more fun set

tal ones, but slightly touching upon the mouth-parts and wo

these being peripheral and more adaptive characters, and liable

to greatest variation, and being of less value in characterizin

orders of Phyloptera.

Order 1. DERMATOPTERA.

Forficula presents so many features separating it fr

Nic.

om the Of

thoptera, and is so composite a form that it should be reg4 ao

1883. | of Orthoptera and Neuroptera. 823

as the type of a distinct order, in which it was originally placed

by Leach, Kirby, Burmeister and Westwood. Its composite na-

ture is seen both in the elytra and the hind wings, which antici-

pate the Coleopterous type of wings. On the other hand the

larve resemble Japyx, the Thysanuran, with its anal forceps, and

in most respects Forficula is the lowest, most decided stem-form .

of the Phyloptera.

The Dermatoptera are characterized by the flatness of the body

and the large terminal forceps. The head is flat, horizontal in

position, while the presence of the V-shaped epicranial suture is

a sign of inferiority, as it is characteristic of Thysanura and

Platypteran larvæ as well as Coleopterous larvae, The remark-

able thoracic structure, which is described farther on, as well as

the curious overlapping of the abdominal tergites, forbid our

uniting the Dermatoptera with the Orthoptera. The small, short

elytra and the very large, rounded, longitudinally and once-cross-

folded hind wings, which remind us rather of the Coleoptera than

Orthoptera, are also important diagnostic features. Finally, the

metamorphosis of the Dermatoptera is even less complete than

that of the Orthoptera.

The ligula is bifid, being divided into a pair of two-jointed

paraglosse. The labium is thus similar to that of the Orthop-

tera, though scarcely more like them than like Termes.

Order 2, ORTHOPTERA.

The head is more or less vertical in position; the front is very

large, broad and long, the epicranial region very large and often

hypertrophied. The clypeus is large and subdivided as in Pseu-

doneuroptera. In the Orthoptera, as a rule, the deeply-cleft

ligula is indistinctly four-lobed, the outer pair of paraglossz very

Well developed, while the inner pair is minute or undeveloped, as

in the Acrydii, especially Caloptenus; but in the Locustariz the

ligula is four-lobed, and in the Gryllide decidedly so. In the

Mantidz and Blattariz the ligula is plainly four-lobed, nearly as

much so as in the Termitide. In the Phasmide the ligula is

intermediate in form between the Mantidæ and Locustarie.

The prothorax is usually remarkably large, particularly the

notum. The meso- and metanotum exactly repeat each other,

and the metanotum is usually (Acrydii and Locustariz) longer

and larger than the mesonotum, the hind wings being almost

uniformly much larger than the anterior pair. The pleurites are

824 On the Classification of the Linnean Orders {| August,

very large and square as well as high, the episterna and epimera

being large and oblong and equally developed. The sternites

are very large and broad. The coxe are sometimes (Blatta) very

large; the hind legs in the Acrydii are much larger than the

anterior pairs. The fore wings are narrower than the hinder

pair, and show a slight tendency to become subelytriform; on

the other hand the hind wings are very large and broad, dis-

tinctly net-veined, with numerous longitudinal veins, and they

fold up longitudinally.

The abdomen has eleven uromeres, the eleventh forming a

triangular tergite. The cercopoda are often (Blatta, Mantis, &c.)

multiarticulate and well developed, while the ovipositor is often

~ large and perfect. The metamorphosis is more incomplete than

in the Pseudoneuroptera.

With the exclusion of the Forficulariz, the Orthoptera, as here

restricted, are a tolerably well circumscribed group; and thoug:

there are great structural differences between the families, yet the

connection or sequence of the families from the Blattarie through

the Phasmide and Mantid and Acrydii to the Locustaria, and

finally the highest family, the Gryllidz, is one which can be dis-

tinctly perceived. There is no occasion for a subdivision of the

order into groups higher than families, as the Blattariz are but a

family removed from the Mantidz.

Order 3. PsEUDONEUROPTERA Erichson.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to satisfactorily characterize by

a sharp-cut definition this very elastic order. As regards the

thorax, there is no uniformity in the structure that we have been

able to discover, nor is there in the structure of the wings, nor

more than a general resemblance in the mouth-parts. -d

The definition of the Pseudoneuroptera in Hagen’s Synopsis

the Neuroptera of North America, as given in the analytical

table, which is stated in a foot-note to have been prepared at the

request of the Smithsonian Institution by Baron Osten Sacken,

gives no fundamental characters based on a study of the trunk.

Those mentioned are what we have called peripheral characte™

2. e., those drawn from the mouth-parts, wings and appen ae

So far as we know, no satisfactory definition of the Pee

roptera has ever been given. In Hagen’s Synopsis, wae

other superficial characters given, are these: “ Lower lip ™ e

cleft ;” “antennæ either subulate and thin, the tarsi three tonr

1883.] of Orthoptera and Neuroptera. 825

articulate, or setiform or filiform, in which case the tarsi are two

to four articulate.” These characters, though superficial, are the

most important yet presented, perhaps (disregarding the meta-

morphosis), for separating the Pseudoneuroptera from the genu-

ine Neuroptera. But the cleft labium is also to be found in

Orthoptera; and among the Orthoptera, which usually have five-

jointed tarsi, the Mantidæ have four tarsal joints. The Perlidæ,

Odonata and Ephemerina have been, by Gerstäcker (Peters and

Carus’ Zoologie), associated with the Orthoptera under the name

Orthoptera amphibiotica, but such an alliance does not seem to us

to be entirely a natural or convenient one; it is simply transfer-

ring a mass of heterogeneous forms to what, as now limited, is a

natural and well circumscribed category, and yet we confess that

it is difficult to give diagnostic adult characters separating the

Pseudoneuroptera from the Orthoptera, though the general facies

of the Orthoptera is quite unlike that of the Pseudoneuroptera.

In the Pseudoneuroptera, beginning with the more generalized

forms, the Perlidz and Termitidz, the labium (second maxillz)

is deeply cleft, the cleft not, however, in these or any other in-

sects, extending to the mentum, or even clear through the palpi-

ger. Each lobe is also cleft, so that the ligula is really four-

lobed; the outer lobes are called by Gerstäcker! the “lamina

externa,” and the inner the “lamina interna.” These finger-

Shaped, non-articulated fleshy lobes appear to be homologous

with, or at least suggest the outer pair of, paraglosse of the Col-

coptera and Hymenoptera. In the Perlidæ the four lobes of the

ligula are well developed, and the lobes of the inner pair are

broader than the outer. In the Termitida the lobes are well de-

veloped, but the inner pair of lobes is either one-half or not quite

So wide as the outer paraglosse ; the palpiger is cleft. In the

Embidz, according to Savigny’s figures, the ligula is four-lobed,

but the inner pair is narrow and rudimentary.

In the Odonata, according to Gerstacker’s excellent drawings,

the ligula varies much. In Gomphus it is entire; in some of the

higher Libelluline only two-lobed; but in Æschna it is four-

lobed, the outer lobe slender, but separate from the palpus. In

Calopteryx the ligula is widely cleft, the two inner lobes are wide

apart, while the outer pair is consolidated with the labial palpi.

12ur Morphologie der Orthoptera amphibiotica. Aus der Festschrift zur Gesellsch.

Naturforsch. Freunde, 1873.

826 On the Classification of the Linnean Orders [August,

Owing to the specialized nature of the labial palpi, the mouth-

parts of the Odonata are sufficiently sad generis and distinctive to

prevent their being placed among the Orthoptera, even if the

thorax were not so dissimilar. In the aborted labium and other

mouth-parts of the Ephemerina we also have strongly-marked

characteristics forbidding their being placed in the Orthoptera;

were it not for the strong resemblance of the Termitide to the

Orthoptera (Blattaria) probably no one would have thought of

carrying the Pseudoneuroptera over into the Orthoptera.

The relative proportion of the head and sclerites varies greatly;

no general rule can be laid down as to the relative proportions of

the epicranium and of the clypeus, or of the gular region. :

On this account I had at one time decided to split the group

into two, and to restrict Erichson’s Pseudoneuroptera to the Pla-

typtera, and to adopt Latreille’s term Subulicornia for the Odo-

nata and Ephemerina (Subulicornes of Latreille). It may, how-

ever be best for the sake of clearness to retain Erichson’s order

Pseudoneuroptera as he indicated it, and to dismember it into

what may be regarded, provisionally at least, as three suborders :

1. Platyptera (Termitide, Embidz, Psocidæ and Perlide = Corrodentia and O7-

~~ thoptera amphibiotica in part). :

2, Odonata (Libellulide),

3. Ephemerina (Ephemeride).

It is comparatively easy to give well-grounded differential char-

acters for these three suborders. They are so distinct that they

may. perhaps hereafter be regarded as entitled to the rank ot n

orders, or the Pseudoneuroptera may be dismembered into the

Pseudoneuroptera and Subulicornia (Odonata'and Ephemerina). i

1. Platyptera—The body is flattened; the head horizontal.

The pronotum is large, broad and square. The meso- and wa

notum are remarkable on account of the imperfect differentiation -

of the scutum and scutellum ; the latter is indefinite in outlines $

but very large. The flanks (pleurites) are, when long, oblique, OF q

are short. The sternites are usually very large and broad.. There —

are often eleven uromeres. Eo

2. Odénata.—While the Odonata and Ephemerina are aee

what alike as regards the form and venation of the fore wings,

their mouth-parts and thorax they are entirely unlike. ao

1 This name zat, flat, ttepdy, wing, in allusion to the wings which Pe e

majority (the Psocidz folding their wings rather rgof-like) fold their wings ™

the back. The Isoptera of Brullé comprise the Termitida. a

1883. } of Orthoptera and Neuroptera, 827

Odonata are remarkable for the great dorsal (tergal) development

of the mesepisterna and the enormous development of the meso-

and metapleurites in general, while the notum of meso- and meta-

thorax, though of the same type as the Orthoptera, is minute

in size, The prothorax is very small, both dorsally and on the

sides forming a collar.

The wings are as markedly net-veined as in the Orthoptera,

though the hinder pair are not folded longitudinally as in that

order. The Odonata literally live on the wing, and thus the

shape of the sclerites of the notum of the wing-bearing segments

approaches that of the Orthoptera, although the prothorax is re-

markably small compared with that of the Orthoptera, and for-

bids their union with this order, as was done by Gerstacker and

other German entomologists. The head of the Odonata is re-

markable for the enornious size of the eyes and the consequent

great reduction in size of the epicranium as compared with the

large epicranium of the Orthoptera. The mouth-parts are like

those of the Orthoptera except that the second maxilla form a

remarkable, mask-like labium. The abdomen is very long, slen-

der and cylindrical; there are eleven uromeres, the eleventh be-

ing well represented, while the cercopoda are not jointed but in

the form of claspers.

3. Ephemerina—In the small epicranium and the large male

eyes the Ephemerina resemble the Odonata, though the rudi-

mentary mouth-parts are in plan entirely unlike them. So also

the prothorax is small and annular, but the subspherical, con-

centrated thorax is remarkable for the large mesothorax and the

small metathorax. Hence, the hind wings are small and some-

times obsolete. The long, slender abdomen has ten uromeres,

and bears, besides the two long filamental multiarticulate cerco-

poda, a third median one.

The larve of the lower Odonata and of the Ephemeride

closely approach in form those of the Perlidz, showing that the

three suborders here mentioned probably had a common ances-

try, which can be theoretically traced to a form not remote from

Campodea. By reason of the general resemblance of the larval

forms of these three suborders it would be inadvisable to separate

the Odonata and Ephemerina from the Platyptera, although when

we consider the adult forms alone, there would appear to be some

§founds for such a division.

VOL. XViI.—nNo. VI. 56

828 On the Classification of the Linnean Orders, etc. (August,

Order 4. NEUROPTERA.

The head is horizontal and somewhat flattened, except in the

Trichoptera and Panorpidz, where it is subspherical and vertical.

The body shows a tendency to be round or cylindrical, the thorax

being more or less spherical, but there is great diversity in form

from the Sialidæ to the Trichoptera. The mouth-parts are free

and the mandibles well developed, except in the Trichoptera,

where the mandibles are nearly obsolete in form, and function-

less, thus suggesting or anticipating the Lepidoptera.

In the Neuroptera the ligula is entirely unlike any of the fore-

going and lower groups. It is entire, forming a broad, flat, large,

rounded lobe; it is largest in Myrmeleon, Ascalaphus and Man-

tispa, but smaller in Corydalis, where it is also narrower and in-

dented on the front edge.

In Panorpa the ligula is minute, rudimentary. In the Trichop-

tera it is also minute and rudimentary.

The prothorax is usually (Planipennia) large, broad and square,

but is ring or collar-like in the Trichoptera, being short and

small, much as in Lepidoptera. Except in the Trichoptera, the

meso- and metanotum are characterized by the large, cordate

prescutum, and in the Hemerobina the metascutum is partially

or (in Ascalaphus) wholly cleft, the praescutum and scutellum

meeting on the median line of the thorax.

In the Hemerobina and Sialidze the metathorax is as large, 0!

nearly as large, as the mesothorax, and the hind wings art as

large as the anterior pair. The wings are not net-veined, the

type of venation being entirely unlike that of the Orthoptera

and Pseudoneuroptera. The costal space is wide and

marked, and the transverse veinlets are few and fara

pared with the two orders just mentioned.

The abdomen is cylindrical, and there are g-10 uromeres- The

ovipositor is only developed in Raphidia, while the cercoer

are not developed. The metamorphosis is complete, as 19 the

Lepidoptera, etc., the pupa being entirely unlike the larva,

quiescent, often protected by a cocoon or case. The orde

be divided into two suborders:

1. Planipennia (Sialidze, Hemerobiide, Panorpidz)...- -

2. Trichoptera (Phryganeide).

The following tabular view will in a degree express

part com-

r may |

1883. ] The Power of Scent in the Turkey Vulture. 829

as to the classification of the orders of the hexapodous or winged

insects :

SUPERORDERS. ORDERS. SUBORDERS.

doe ae wae ob dese ee

Lepidoptera

Euglossata!, . Diptera (genuina):

t ere aes esise | ae Piina

SOPRO IN N | Coleoptera... ........ $ Coleoptera (goma):

| Homoptera.

| i eteroptera.

ost de Onna WR FE | Flegnighera, i.o 5 as « Physapoda,

Mallophaga.

Trichoptera,

f Neuropteta isuu oseti Plinipeanis.

Odonata,

Phyloptera . 4 Pseudoneuroptera ....| < Ephemerina,

Platyptera.

Orthopteracc. 71.5 iis

| Dermatoptera........

Cinura.

naptera*, , ...| 1 Symphyla.

sina . Rn a ee | Collembola.

THE POWER OF SCENT IN THE TURKEY VULTURE.

BY SAMUEL N. RHOADS.

E the Westminster Review of 7th month, 1847, occurs an

article setting forth the valuable additions Philip Henry Gosse

has made to scientific knowledge and the solution of some diffi-

cult problems in natural history. The article in hand is a review

of Gosse’s “ Birds of Jamaica,” wherein, among other quotations,

is given an extended one relating to the sense by which the

vulture distinguishes its prey at great distances. A controversy

on this subject, during the early part of our century, “ set together

[e propose the name Euglossata for the highest insects, comprising those orders

which, besides having the mouth-parts (either the first or second iia cr both)

modified so as to sip, suck or lap up liquid food, also have the bady cylindrical, and

the thorax more or less spherical and concentrated.

* This term is proposed for the Coleoptera al

*This term is proposed for the Hemiptera, in ne of which, except the Mallophaga

and PELEA (Thrips), the mouth-parts are united to form a sucking beak,

* This roposed for the Thysanuran apterous o which are perhaps

nearly the Allana equivalents of either of the three other superorders.

830 The Power of Scent in the Turkey Vulture. [August,

by the ears ” two opposing parties of naturalists, one side contend-

ing that the sense of sight was solely employed in foraging, their

opponents attributing to the sense of smell alone the necessary

guidance on such occasions. The perusal of this interesting

paper brought to mind two incidents somewhat parallel to those

related by Gosse, which I observed during the past summer (1882)

in New Jersey, one in particular being proof positive to my own

mind that the olfactories of a turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)

can alone serve its purpose in the discovery of food.

The facts on which I base so decided an opinion may be worthy

of presentation to the reader.

Whilst digging sweet-potatoes I noticed a very luxurious growth

of the vines covering a small mound in the field, and inquiry re-

vealed the fact that a horse and cow had been buried there some

years before. Just then nothing impressed me in that connection

save the immensity of the potatoes which we found overlying

these two graves, but in the afternoon, and during the following

day, “ buzzards” shadowed the farm by scores, seeming to obey

from all quarters of the heavens a mysterious summons to Con-

vocation.

I soon perceived the sweet-potato field was the “ radiant point”

of each speeding shadow. Buzzard after buzzard I traced as they

appeared in various portions of the sky with half-folded wings,

reminding me of mute, zrial hounds, “coming down the

scent,” their course, as swift, silent, and undeviating as an ai-

row’s. "Twas a strangely interesting spectacle to behold them

swoop within a few feet of the horse-hades, and rise again with :

slow, reluctant flaps, indicative of disappointment, then retum

to deliberately “beat” and “quarter” the ground, erially speak-

ing, with all the tact and persevering sagacity of their canine

compeers ; in fact the performance was suggestive of a fox-hunt,

in which reynard’s place was represented by the dead bodies,

“earthed” in this case, however, for other than reynard dase

One of the vultures in particular showed an extreme faith 0

the guidance of its smelling powers by alighting without demu 1

on the fence half a dozen paces from the centre of a 7

where, after some time of manifest uneasiness and uncouth Pe

turing, it was joined by a few of its more dubious companions.

This visitation of uncanny birds continued long after, though :

I never saw so many as at the first when the crop was plow a

SS et Ee eae es eR SEE AT ae

1883. ] The Power of Scent in the Turkey Vulture. 831

out, this disturbance probably releasing for a time the pent-up

odors.

I could detect no taint in the atmosphere of the place even

whilst working in the freshly-plowed ground, yet hundreds of

buzzards assembled from far and near, and with unerring accuracy

pointed out the place of burial with overshadowing wings. In

consequence of these observations the theory that the vulture

family are enabled to detect the existence of a dead body by

scent, unassisted by any of the remaining senses, and this

too at great distances, and when such carcass had laid deep under

the ground for several years, was to me satisfactorily proven.

Gosse, as I before stated, gives an instance confirmatory to the

one just related, justly attributing to the same species of vulture

this wondrous faculty of tracking its prey from afar. It was ob-

served in Jamaica :

“A poor German immigrant, who lived alone in a detached

cottage in this town, rose from his bed after a few days’ confine-

ment by fever to purchase in the market some fresh meat for

a little soup. Before he could prepare the several ingredients of

herbs and roots, and put his meat in water for the preparation of

his pottage, the paroxysm of his fever had returned, and he laid

himself on his bed exhausted. Two days elapsed in this state of

helplessness and inanimation, by which time the mass of meat

and pot herbs had putrefied. The stench became very per-

ceptible in the neighborhood, vulture after vulture as they sailed

past were observed always to descend to the cottage of the Ger-

man, and to sweep round as if they had tracked some putrid

carcass, but failed to find exactly where it was.”

The same authority proceeds to prove furthermore that not

only does the object of contention make use of its nose, but also

of its eyes in the search for subsistence. I will give this quotation

“ Here was the sense of sight unassisted by that of smelling,

for the meat was too recent to communicate any taint to the morn-

ing air, and the vulture stooped to it from a very far distance.

832 The Power of Scent in the Turkey Vulture. (August,

That any animal with eyes, especially bird’s eyes, should not

use them in connection with its other senses is undeniable, yet to

say that the vulture is gifted with a strength of vision extraordi-

nary as its powers of smelling is very open to dispute.

By analogy we may reason that as no member of the bird-

world is preéminently blessed in more than one of its senses, as

hawks, eagles, and owls by seeing, having wonderfully developed

eyes, or the ducks, sandpipers, and curlews by feeling, having

wonderfully sensitive and discriminating mandibles, why not then

restrict the vulture, whose development of nostrils is enormous

compared with that of its other organs of sense to smell. The

conclusion of Gosse just given, t. 2. that “ the sense of sight” in

finding “the piece of offal” was “ unassisted by that of smelling”

because “the meat was too recent to communicate any taint to

the morning air, and the vulture stooped to it from a very far dis-

tance,” is too hasty, especially the part I have italicized. It looks

as if he thought the “ distance ” would exclude the possibility of

the bird having scented the flesh so far, and this, too, in the face

of his previous argument that its unassisted power of scent was

so wonderful at like distances.

How do we know either that the offal was too fresh to taint the

morning atmosphere? Rather than this would it not be fairer to

conclude, after such proof of the extreme sensitiveness of the

vulturine olfactory, that the scent of newly-slaughtered flesh,

however imperceptible to the human nose, is as easily detected by

these accomplished scavengers as we men would discover our

proximity to some offensive carcass ?

That vultures seek and devour newly killed and even living

animals is well established, notwithstanding the experiments of

Waterton on the turkey buzzards of Demerara, in which he not

only noticed they never attacked the numerous reptiles in their

easy reach, but “ he even killed lizards and frogs and put them in

their way, but they did not appear to notice them until they at-

tained the putrid scent.”

Experiments with wild animals are unreliable meth

termining the value of hypotheses. To thus beg the questi

nature is unnatural, and such methods of inquiry are ™&

“ given the lie.” ’Tis too much like torture for a confess!

an entreaty for the true responses of nature’s oracle- Audubon

overlooked this truth when the fact of some confined vu

ods of de-

ono

ion than

ltures n -

1883.] The Siphonophores. 833

noticing the presence of a covered basket of carrion placed among

them, decided him forever against the ideas I have endeavored to

prove in this paper.

I find in the introduction to “ A Manual of the Ornithology of

the United States and Canada,” by Thomas Nuttall, a short para-

graph referring to this self-same experiment, and, as it echoes the

sentiments of his friend Audubon, whose follower he was, with

other naturalists of that day, I will finish by its quotation:

“Comparing animals with each other we soon perceive that

smell in general is much more acute among the quadrupeds than

among the birds. Even the pretended scent of the vulture is im-

aginary as he does not perceive the tainted carrion on which he

feeds through a wicker basket, though its odor is as potent as in

the open air.”

THE SIPHONOPHORES.

BY J. WALTER FEWKES.

(Continued from February number, 1882.)

V.—Tue DIPHYÆ.

Tere remain of tubular Medusæ yet to be mentioned a few

genera closely related to Diphyes! which form a characteris-

tic group called the Diphyæ.? While all of these jellyfishes like

Agalma and the majority of its relatives are furnished with a long

tube like axis, none of them have at one end of this stem an air

bladder for flotation in the water or upon its surface. Most of the

animals which we are now to consider have swimming-bells as

means of self propulsion by which they move through the water

with a velocity which is very great when compared with many of

their float-bearing relatives. As a rule, however, the members of

the division are smaller than the Physophore, and the gelatinous

substance of their swimming-bells is generally of a firmer con-

Sistency. The group may be said to include some of the most

specialized forms of the Siphonophores.

The Diphye with the exception of at least one genus called

1 For a popular account of the anatomy of Diphyes the reader is referred to the

AMERICAN NATURALIST for February, 1882.

? The terms Physophoridz and Diphyidz are family names and should give place

en ag and Diphye, which may be applied to groups containing several

Ies, i ; x

. 834 The Siphonophores. [ August,

Monophyes! have, like Diphyes, two swimming-bells or necto-

calyces. The most apparent difference in external shape between

the genera which compose the group lies in the modification in

size and shape of one or the other of these structures.

The genus of Diphyz which resembles Diphyes most closely

is known as Galeolaria (Epibulia). By many writers on these

animals, instead of being regarded another genus it is simply

called a species of Diphyes. It is larger, however, than the lat-

ter, and capable of very rapid motion, darting hither and thither

through the water, principally by the contractions of the poste-

rior of its two swimming-bells.

Galeolaria is widely distributed in the different seas, being very

common in the Mediterranean. In American waters it has been

taken off the Florida Keys in the Gulf Stream near Nantucket

and is likewise recorded as far north as the latitudes of Green-

lan

The variation in the shape of their swimming-bells is one of

the most prominent differences between it and Diphyes. While

in both genera these structures are two in number in Galeolaria

aurantiaca Vogt, both are much larger than in our common

Diphyes, D. formosa F. The anterior swimming-bell of the for-

mer genus is less conical in shape than that of the latter and as

far as external appearance goes seems less perfectly adapted to

rapid progress through the water. The part of the a

animal as it forces its way along in the direction in which tt

swims. While, however, it is the anterior end of the bell as t

moves forward, it is not homologous to the apex of other medusa

bells, but is morphologically one side of such a bell, or one wall

which has become very much thickened and modified in such a

manner that in its sidelong motion it may encounter the least

resistance from the surrounding water. :

There are deep-seated internal differences between the anterior

of the two nectocalyces in the genera Diphyes and Galeolar

1 The same is true, according to Chun, in Muggiæa. Specimens of a Da y

but one nectocalyx are very common in Bermuda and Tortugas. I had a

1883. ] The Siphonophores. 835

although their outward resemblances are so close. A somatocyst

and bell cavities exist in both. The radial chymiferous tubes

have the same inequality in length and a like tortuous course

brought about by the unequal development of the bell walls.

One peculiarity of the radial tubes in the bell of Galeolaria is that

two of the four radial vessels are connected by a smaller vessel

or lateral branch which extends through the bell walls parallel

with its rim. The posterior swimming-bell of Galeolaria likewise

differs in shape from that of Diphyes. One of the most interest-

ing of the differences in general form is the existence in Galeolaria

of two circular gelatinous plates which extend backward from the

lower side of the posterior bell rim, one on each side of the me-

dian line. These small disks have an important function to per-

form in the movements of the medusa, for they serve as rudders

by which the direction which the water takes on leaving the bell

cavity is determined. The steering of the animal while it is in

motion is thought by some to be brought about in the following

manner: When the lower bell by a simultaneous contraction of

its walls on all sides drives the water violently from its cavity

through the bell opening, the liquid thus expelled strikes the sur-

rounding medium and meets with a resistance. The result is

that the animal itself is driven forward. The direction which the

water takes as it leaves the bell depends upon the angle at which

these disks are set on the bell margin, and by altering this angle

the direction in which the animal moves is determined. Both an-

terior and posterior bells in Galeolaria contribute to the onward

motion, although propulsion is brought about in the main by the

posterior.

In the genus next to be noticed, allied in many respects to

those already studied, the disproportion in size of the two

swimming-bells is very apparent on account of the anterior bell

being so very much reduced in size. As it is much smaller

than the posterior it performs only a very small amount of work

in the onward motion of the medusa. A genus which possesses

these characters is called Abyla

Abyla is smaller than Galeolaria and somewhat larger than

Diphyes. It is more sluggish in its movements than either, and

consequently more easily captured.

1 Abyla is very common in the Mediterranean, but has not yet been taken on our

coasts,

836 The Siphonophores. [August,

The anterior bell (a) is distinguished by some of the most im-

portant characters of the genus. It is very small and hasa

rhomboidal shape. The anterior end is not conical as in Diphyes

nor rounded as in Galeolaria.

The bell walls are stiff andthe

bell cavity and bell opening

relatively very small. Most of

the interior of the bell is taken

up by a large somatocyst of

globular shape. The anterior

and posterior bells fit closely

together by faces, of which

ff a that of the anterior is slightly

\ a concave. ‘

+ Rar The posterior swimming-

|- 8. bell (4) differs widely in shape

$ BA, from that of either Diphyes

Zh a Diphyes

aea fI. or Galeolaria. Unlike the —

! latter there are no circular

z i) ene plates or rudders on the bell

; margin. From the point of

/ - union of anterior and posterior

LA bells there passes from onè

AN end of the nectocalyx to the

ae eye other a number of serrated

~ N ridges, five of which are con-

k i tinued into triangular projec-

l tions below the bell opening.

MO Upon one side of the bell

/ i between two of the pi a

ca ; prominent of these parall io

4 ib ridges there is a groove (e) for i

pa the lodgment of the axis when

Fic. 1.—Abyla pentagona (side view). his groove lies on

a, anterior bell; 4, tiana an. ê, salah retracted. T 8 h sterior

tudinal canal with cover; d, diphyizodid ; the same side of the po p

s, Stem; 4, tentacle, swim ming-bell as the opening

into the anterior bell cavity, Throughout a part of its length

the anterior bell, for two-thirds of the distance to the terminati :

this groove is covered by a thin transparent plate formed bwa

reflexion of one of the neighboring longitudinal ridges.

1883] - The Siphonophores. 837

function of this groove and its cover, the thin plate which has

en mentioned, is to form a receptacle into which the retracted

stem and its attached members can be wholly or partially with-

drawn. The modification in the form of the bell, resulting from

the formation of the groove and its cover, gives rise to a compli-

cation in the course of the radial canals in the bell walls. While

three of these tubes have a normal course extending directly

from a common origin to the bell margin ; a fourth which lies on

the same side as the groove or external canal and its cover, is

somewhat modified. It starts from a common union with the

others, but instead of passing directly to the bell margin divides

midway in its course into two branches. One of these branches

ends blindly in the bell walls a short distance from the bifurca-

tion, while the other after a tortuous course eventually ends in the

immediate vicinity of the bell margin?

The diphyizodid of Abyla (Figs. 2, 3, 4) closely resemble

those of Diphyes in many particulars. The covering scale (cs)

is, however, polygonal in shape instead of hemispherical, and

almost its whole interior is taken up by a large somatocyst (s).

The swimming-bell, clusters of male and female sexual bells,

tentacle and polypite are similar to those of Eudoxia.

The diphyizodid of Abyla, like that of Diphyes, was formerly

described as a genus widely different from that to which it is now

known to belong. Historically it is interesting from the fact that

from a study of its anatomy and growth the true nature of the

diphyizodid in general was recognized.

The reduction in size in the bell of Abyla has gone so far in a

genus called Monophyes that the anterior bell is missing and we

find a single swimming-bell which has resemblances to both the

anterior and the posterior nectocalyces of the genera which have

already been described.

The single swimming-bell of Monophyes has a baba

shape and is without ridges on its external surface. On one side

of the bell walls there is an enclosed canal out of the opening

into which hangs the axis. The axis or stem can be withdrawn

into the canal where, when retracted, it is securely packed in the

Same way that a like organ of Abyla is placed in the groove

‘A blindly ending tube also arises from the point of union of a radial and circu-

pini and extends to the neighborhood of the plate which has been described

838 The Siphonophores. [August,

covered by the gelatinous plate. The swimming-bell of Mono-

phyes resembles the posterior bell of Abyla in its possession of

Fig. 3. Fig. 4-

, FIG. 2.—Diphyizodid of Abyla (?) (Aglaisma), Fic. 3.—The same from a ae

side. Fic. 4.—Polypite of Aglaisma. 6, budding sexual bells; <s, regen” part —

łe, longitudinal canal on the under side of the covering scale; 0g, "e , ph, ten-

of the somatocyst; 9, polypite; s, somatocyst; sm, tube in covering ARAS

tacular knobs; v, villi on inner side of polypite.

this cavity. There is also in the walls of the bell of eee

phyes a blindly ending tube communicating with the 7 de

of the axis which corresponds with the somatocyst Of ©

1883. |

anterior bell.

The Siphonophores.

839

Monophyes is therefore difficult to determine.

The strict homology of the single nectocalyx of

In connection

? ete

Poo Pa {

A É

NA bsssprte tte

a nereerrn rn

ÈA

Ti y

4 kon

Çi ee

JEN

Fi. 5.

Covering

—Praya diphyes Köll. a, anterior bell; 4, posterior bell (nectocalyx); æ,

Scale; f, polypite; s, stem; ss, somatocyst; /, tentacle.

with Monophyes a very curious medusa from Newport, R. I., as

well as from many other localities, ought to be mentioned. This

840 The Siphonophores. [ August, : ,

medusa is called Diplophysa mermis, and is regarded by many

authors as the diphyizodid of this genus.

There are several of the tubular meduse belonging to the

Diphyz which depart very widely in general form from that as-

sumed by Diphyes, although they are evidently more closely

related to these than to the genus Agalma and its relatives. One

of the most beautiful of these is a genus Praya,! of which several

species have been described (Fig. 5). Praya has two nectocalyces

at one extremity of a long, highly flexible axis or stem, which

fit together side by side with the openings into their cavities

facing outward and backward in the direction of the stem. Each

bell is almost globular and has very flexible walls. In one spe-

cies? one of the bells is much larger than the other, but in the

others they are of about the same size. In many respects the

swimming-bells of Praya are peculiar. One species (Fig. 5) has

a somatocyst (ss) in both of the swimming-bells, while in others

this structure is confined to one of the bells, as in other

Diphyæ. The radial tubes in the species take a direct course

from a common junction to the bell margin.

The axis (s) is not capable of being drawn up into the interval

between the bells, but as the animal swims in the water trails far

behind and is thrown into many graceful curves by the on

motion. This stem, when extended, is found to bear at intervals

along its length little helmet-shaped transparent bodies (4) which

in general shape resemble the primitive covering scale of the lar-

val Agalma. The helmet and accompanying structures presently

to be described, form the diphyizodids which in the subsequent

growth of the Praya fall off one by one. After they have thus

separated themselves from their attachments, they develop =

medusz of very different outward shape from that of the atta

young (Fig. 6).

Although the helmet-shaped body (/) gives these diphyizooids 4

their form, they are by no means the only structures in the clus- :

ters. They cover other organs of a most important chm a

Below each helmet-shaped body we find a small botryoidal “iY

ter of bells bearing ova and probably spermatozoa, and a fl Eo

shaped stomach (polypite) (e) which resembles a similar body 4

1 Named from Porto Praya in the Cape Verde islands.

* The species of the Praya found in the Gulf of Mexico 1s probably"

Mus. Comp. Zoél., Vol. ey

ew. Ball. : Ai q

Net

bce Ser oo

bie eee =

1883.] The Siphonophores. 841

Eudoxia. From the base of this polypite there ~ a tentacle

(i) which has many side branches,

each of which bears a simple

pendant knob. The whole ten-

tacle with lateral branches is

easily retracted under the hel-

met-shaped covering scale, as is

shown in Fig. 6. As the Eudoxia

separates from the Diphyes and

leads an independent existence,

so the heimet-shaped members

Pre he 4 Praya cym-

Dial (a Ch.) L 6, sexual

bell; e, polypite; z, rinzai retracted,

of the Praya colony separate from with tentacular kno bs; //, somatocyst ;

l haped bod

it, and after subsequent growth oat

assume a very different shape from that which they have when

attached. Although it is not yet known what the ultimate con-

dition of the separated fragment is, there is probably no doubt

that it later acquires a very different form as it grows older.

There are two well-marked species of Praya found in the Med-

iterranean sea, which are known as P. cymbiformis Leuck., and P.

diphyes KOll.; they differ from each other in the relative size and

shape of the swimming-bells and in a character already pointed

out of the absence or presence of somatocysts in the posterior

bell. In still a third species from the Bay of Villa Franca in

Provence, we find the different attached diphyizodids so closely

crowded together that they touch each other side by side along

the length of the stem. This species, Praya gracilis F., is smaller

than the others, has swimming-bells of a different shape and the

openings into the bell cavity are larger and open more on the

sides than in the above species.

One of the most interesting genera of floatless Siphonophores

is a genus called Gleba or Hippopodius, which is very common

in the Mediterranean. This genus is placed by many writers on

these medusæ among the Diphyz, but its many differences from

the other genera are so great that it should probably be made

the type of a new group equal in rank to the Physophore and

Diphyz. The Siphonophorz! will then be divided into three

l Exclusive of Velella (Rataria) and Porpita, aberrant genera which have few

likenesses with the true Siphonophores and which are called Discoidex, These

medusz are more closely related to floating hydroids than to medusæ with attached -

842 The Siphonophores. [ August,

divisions, of which Agalma, Diphyes and Gleba are representa-

tive genera.

Gleba resembles the Physophore in possessing many swim-

ming-bells, and the Diphye in being destitute of a float. Diphyi-

zooids, if such exists, are unknown, and an opposite law from

that which exists in Agalma is followed in the order of develop-

ment of the nectocalyces on the nectostem. The group of Hip-

popodiz contains the two genera Gleba and Vogtia. The Amer-

ican representative is the genus Gleba, which is found in the

Gulf Stream.’ Vogtia is probably the young of Gleba. The

swimming-bells of Gleba are hoof-shaped structures and are

arranged in two rows or series, the opposite members of which

fit closely together. The resemblance in shape of each bell toa

horse’s hoof is very striking. The upper portion of the hoof

points downward and outward, and upon its face is found an

opening, the bell orifice, into a shallow bell cavity. The lower

surface is concave, and as the animal swims is uppermost in the

water. The bell substance although gelatinous and transparent,

is less flexible than that of most other Siphonophores. The bell

walls have little or no power of contraction and expansion, and

the bell approaches closely in structure the covering scales of

several other Siphonophora.

The velum of the swimming-bell has a crescentic shape, and by

its strokes upon the water, rather than by the contractions of the

bell walls, the medusa is driven from place to place. The shal-

lowness of the bell cavity and the irregular shape of the bell 1t-

self brings about a variation in the regular course of the tubes of

the bell. One of the radial tubes of the bell is much larger thon

the others, although all pass directly from a common he ”

the circular marginal tube. This long tube is swollen midway 12

its course into a flat disk-shaped cavity or enlargement of un-

known function and homology. The somatocyst lies just below

the floor of the concave face of the bell, opposite the bell e

ing, and hasa tubular form. It closely resembles the cen s

tube of the covering scales of Agalma. As it is probably homo

ogous with the somatocyst of other Diphyæ, it gives us 4 pe

the homology of the central tube of the covering ae de

somatocysts, wherever found, are the same as the pets F

. tubes” in Agalma. There are no true covering scales without!

1 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., 1x, 8.

1883. } The Siphonophores. 843

bell cavities as.in Agalma and some other Physophoræ. The

size of the swimming-bells of Gleba follow an opposite law of

decrease in size from that which exists in Agalma. In Agalma

the bells near the float are. very small, simple buds, while their

size increases as we recede from that point. Those, however,

which make up the most distant portion of the series are of

about equal size. An opposite law exists in Gleba, for the swim-

ming-bells near the end of the stem opposite that from which the

polypites hang are the largest and those at the other extremity

of diminutive size. By the arrangement of bells in Gleba those

placed highest, as the animal naturally swims, are small, and

those lowest are well developed, so that the axis is reversed as

compared with that of Agalma. The polyp stem is inconspicu-

ous or wholly wanting. The polypites and their appendages

seem to hang from the upper end of the nectostem. The differ-

ences between Gleba and Vogtia are mainly in the form of the

nectocalyces, and by many the latter genus is regarded the young

of the former. Much obscurity, however, still hangs about the

anatomy and development of both these most interesting

genera. :

The following more or less artificial classification is presented

as an aid to beginners in a study of these Siphonophora. The

genera known from our waters are designated by an asterisk (*) :

: SIPHONOPHORA.

Polymorphic medusz generally with a tubular formed body. With or without a

float. Young and adult free-swimming. With flask-shaped stomachs called poly-

pites and long contractile tentacles. Many have swimming-bells, covering scales

and tasters. Colonies moncecious or diccious. Reproduction (always) generally

eggs.

A.—With a float.

Physophore.

I.—Without axis, covering scales or nectocalyces.

Physaliade.?

* Physalia arethusa Til.

II.—With an axis.

a. Without covering scales or nectocalyces.

Rhizophysidz.

* Rhizophysa filiformis Forsk.

* Rhizophysa gracilis F.

* Rhizophysa eysenhardtii Geg.

‘In a natural system of classification Physalia and Rhizophysa should be sepa-

rated from the other Physophoræ, and form a new group of equal rank. For these

Chun suggests the name Pneumatophoridæ (Pneumatophoræ).

VOL, XVII.—NO, VIII, — 57

844 The Siphonophores. [ August,

4, With nectocalyces, without covering scales.

sophoridee.

. Without nectocalyces, with covering scales.

Athorybiade.

horybia formosa F.

Nectocalyces in several series with covering scales,

Forskaliadz

*Stephanomia atlantica F.

With nectocalyces in two rows, with covering scales,

Agalmidæ.

1. Tentacular knobs with involucrum and many terminal

laments.

Calliagalma F.

2. Tentacular knobs with involucrum and two terminal fila-

ments

a Aea Paru F.

a Tentaenlar Koia with involueram and one filament.

apsis fragili

4. NUE knobs sak involucrum, with one terminal

fil

ament.

Halistemma Huxley.

Polyp-like bodies on the nectostem between the nectocalyces.

Polyp stem with appendages in clusters.

Doubtful genera and sepas oe American waters +

: hing nomia ca y

aliphyta? an

B.—Without a float. F eae sometimes Fit by an oil globule in one oF

bot nectocalyces

I.—Several nectocalyces,

Hippopodiz.

*Gleba hippopus Forsk.

II.—One or two nectocalyces.

iphyæ.

a. One nectocalyx.?

sts ot

I. Nectocalyces with flexible walls of about equal size,

ranged side by side.

l The peculiar development of Nanomia, described by A. OE is different im

that of any other known Physophore. Jt resembles in many partic ars Hali

but as its adult tentacular knobs are unknown, I am unable to si it to this genus z

he absence es a primitive scale in the young allies it to Agalmopsis as

ited the nam

? The iri knobs of Haliphyta are unknow

as I have lime

* Muggizea, as limited by Chun, would also come _ under “B, a” ifa pei

nectocalyx is never developed and not broken off as formerly rappor

‘cies of this genus is sometimes found in North American waters

1883. } . &diters’ Table. 845

Prayide.

* Praya blaino.

2. Anterior bell conical or rounded, posterior with marked

longitudinal sides. Swimming-bells of about equal size.

Diphyde.

*Diphyes acuminata Lkt.

* Diphyes formosa F.

3. Anterior bell small, polygonal in shape. Posterior bell

with longitudinal canal covered with a plate.

Abylidz.

There are a few genera of Mediterranean Siphonophores which are introduced in

the above key since they represent families which probably occur in the Gulf Stream,

although they have not yet been taken on our coast.

:0:

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE,

The long persistence of the medieval type of education which

prevails in our schools and colleges has rarely been more happily

and forcibly stated than by Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in his

address before the late meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

His adverse criticism is chiefly directed against the great waste

of time involved in the study of Greek literature; and in the true

Scientific method he appeals to the facts best known to himself in

proof of the position he assumes. The examples he cites are the

lives of his ancestors, commencing with John Adams, President

of the United States, who graduated at Harvard University in the

class of 1755. We cannot do better than transfer to our pages

some of his remarks :!

“And so for us the college course, instead of being a time of

Preparation for the hard work of life, was a pleasant sort of vaca-

tion, rather, which preceded it. We so regarded it. I should be

very sorry for myself not to have enjoyed that vacation. I am

glad that I took my degree. But as a training place for youth,

to enable them to engage to advantage in the actual struggle of

life, to fit them to hold their own in it, and to carry off the prize,

must in all honesty say that, looking back through the years

and recalling the requirements and methods of the ancient insti-

tution, I am unable to speak of it with respect. Such training as

I got, useful for the struggle, I got after instead of before gradu-

ation, and it came hard; while I never have been able—and now,

no matter how long I may live, I never shall be able—to over-

come some great disadvantages which the superstitions and wrong

heories and worse practices of my alma mater inflicted upon me,

1 The Boston Herald, June 29, 1883.

846 Editors’ Table. [August,

And not on me alone. The same may be said of my contempo-

raries, as I have observed them in success and failure. What was

true in this respect of the college of thirty years ago is, I appre-

hend, at least partially true of the college of to-day ; and it is true

not only of Cambridge, but of other colleges, and of them quite

as much as of Cambridge. They fail properly to fit their gradu-

ates for the work they have got to do in the life that awaits

em.

“This is harsh language to apply to one’s nursing mother, and

it calls for an explanation. That explanation I shall now try to

give. I have said that the college of thirty years ago did not fit

graduates for the work they had to do in the actual life which

awaited them. Let us consider for a moment what that life has

been, and then we will pass to the preparation we received for it.

d * * * the railroadand

isbewildering. Theartificial barriers—national, political, social,eco

rection,

and the civilized races of the world are becoming one people, even if

theless the world in which our lot was cast, and in which we hav

had to live—a bustling, active, nervous world, and one very 7% i

to keep up with. This much all will admit; while I think I may

further add that its most marked characteristic has been an i

tense mental and physical activity, which, working sim ae

in many tongues, has attempted much and questioned ever

thing.

* * * * * x

1883.] Editors’ Table. 847

“How did Harvard College prepare me and my ninety-two

classmates of the year 1856 for our work ina life in which we

have had these homely precepts brought close to us? In an-

swering the question it is not altogether easy to preserve one’s

gravity. The college fitted us for this active, bustling, hard-hit-

ting, many-tongued world, caring nothing for auth ority and little

for the past, but full of its living thought and living issues, in

dealing with which there was no man who did not stand in press-

ing and constant need of every possible preparation as respects

knowledge and exictitude and thoroughness—the poor old col-

lege prepared us to play our parts in this world by compelling us,

directly and indirectly, to devote the best part of our school lives

to acquiring a confessedly superficial knowledge of two dead

languages.”

After narrating the history of his ancestors’ connection with

Harvard, and showing the small value to their subsequent ca-

reers of the Greek they there so laboriously acquired, he speaks

as follows:

“Such is a family and individual experience covering a century

and a half. With that experience behind me, I have sons of my

own coming forward. I want them to go to college—to Harvard

College—but I do not want them to go there by the path their

fathers trod; it seems to me that four generations ought to suf-

ce. Neither is my case a single one. I am, on the contrary,

one of a large class in the community, very many of whom are

more imbued than I with the scientific and thorough spirit of the

age. As respects our children, the problem before us is a simple

one, and yet one very difficult of practical solution. We want no

more classical veneer. Whether on furniture or in education, we

do not admire veneer. Either impart to our children the dead

languages thoroughly, or the Jiving languages thoroughly; or,

better yet, let them take their choice of either. This is just what

the colleges do not do. On the contrary, Harvard stands directly

in the way of whata century and a half’s experience tells me is

all important.” e

These extracts suffice to show the feeling with which one of

the most thoroughly Harvardized of Boston’s children regards

his alma mater. But we are glad to know that the Harvard of

to-day offers ever increasing facilities for the acquisition of posi-

tive knowledge, and for the training of the mind in the apprehen-

sion and pursuit of truth. Any other course would be suicidal,

and in failing to adopt it, the majority of our colleges are simply

digging their own graves.

848 Recent Literature. [August,

RECENT LITERATURE.

oLy’s MAN BEFORE Merats.'—The author’s aim in publishing

this book has been, as he says, to bring before the reader the

numerous proofs hitherto collected of the great age of the human

race, as well as to treat of the customs, the industry as well as

the moral and religious ideas of man, such as he was before the

use of metals was known to him, and in conclusion to briefly

sketch the possible appearance of this being. While the work is

by no means to be ranked with those of Lyell, Tylor, Lubbock,

Wilson, Dawkins and others, it may be read with interest because

written by a Frenchman, for it will be remembered that French-

men such as Boucher de Perthes, Broca and others, were the pio-

neers in modern inquiries into the antiquity of the human race.

The author is mainly expository, at times critical, at other times

strangely credulous and too much disposed to quotations. The

chapter on early man in America is the least valuable in the book,

and strangely obsolete. For example, though apparently written

in 1882, at least published in 1883, no mention is made of the

records of early man in California, or in the river gravels of New

Jersey. On the other hand as proofs of the antiquity of man in

the United States, we are treated once more to the statements of Dr.

Dowler regarding the New Orleans skeleton, to the very question-

able Natchez pelvis, which may have been washed out of a recent

Indian cemetery; also to the oft-quoted misstatement regarding

the human bones “extracted by Agassiz” from a calcareous con-

glomerate which forms part of a coral reef in Florida,” etë.

strange want of familiarity with recent American archæological

literature is shown. Reference on p. 163 is made to “ the recent

discovery of a human skull picked up at Jacksonville, on e

banks of the Illinois, one hundred feet above the present level of

the river, and remarkable, like that of Neanderthal,” etc. 4S

statement we presume refers to the calvarium dug out by the late

Professor Wyman from the shell-heaps of Jacksonville Florida. —

On the other hand the account of the French caves and Swiss

lake dwellers is excellent, and the figures, which we here pitt

duce, will elucidate the subject. It appears that the lake dwell-

ers were in Switzerland preceded by dwellers in caves who date

from the Palzolithic period. Kel-

e author appears to adopt Worsaés’ opinion, shared by

ler, Desor and Virchow, that the Neolithic lake dwellers were of

Keltic origin.

The chapter on antediluvian art, particularly that of the phe’

lithic cave dwellers, is well prepared and illustrated, as will be

seen by the accompanying illustrations selected from this aport

The author does not go to extremes, either in his views as

1 The International Scientific Series. Man before Metais. By N. JoLY. w

148 illustrations. New York, D, Appleton & Co., 1883. 12m0, pp. 385.

1883. ] Recent Literature. 849

G. 1.—Ancient Swiss lake dwellings, in part restored b comparison with the

ike huts of modern savages in New Guinea.

Zs ™

Fic A iodin shore kee of the inhabitants of New Guinea. After Du-

mont d’ Urville.

850 Recent Literature. [August,

FE MEK ioe

SIF BET Ei r i ee z

Fic. 3.—Drawing of Reindeer from the cave of Thayngen.

Fic, 4.—Horse engraved in outline upon reindeer horn.

1883.] Recent Literature. 851

oe”

Fic, 6.—Fragment of a scapula, found at Laugerie Basse, on which is engraved

the figure of a pregnant woman. ;

the antiquity of man nor as to his origin, which he acknowledges

to be as yet wrapped in obscurity, and he is candid and generally

Critical in his views, but not always inclined to sift his authorities,

hence while the book is very readable it is not always to be im-

plicitly trusted.

SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE ANTHRACITE COALFIELDS

OF PENNSYLVANIA.—The survey of these fields was commenced in

August, 1880, under the direction of Mr. Charles A. Ashburner,

geologist in charge, and the first results of the work done, pub-

lished by the State, have just appeared in the Panther Creek

Atlas, which contains eleven sheets, twenty-six by thirty-two

inches, relating to the geology of the extreme eastern end of the

hee (Schuylkill) coalfield, lying between Mauch Chunk,

moth bed, scale 800 ft. — I in.; three cross-section sheets, show-

852 Recent Literature. [ August,

beds with their included slate and bony layers, and the thickness

and character of the rocks between the respective beds, drawn on

the following scales : coal-bed sections 10 ft. = I in., coal-measure

sections 40 ft. — 1 in., conglomerate (mill-stone grit) sections 100

ft. — I in.; one topographical sheet, showing the surface features

of the same area covered by the mine sheets, scale 1 .=I

in.; and one sheet showing the development of the surface of

the highly-flexured Mammoth bed into a horizontal plane. In

addition to these sheets relating to the Panther Creek basin there

is one sheet giving a general map of the entire coalfields, with a

list of the working collieries, with their production in 1881, and

the thickness of the coal beds and coal measures in the different

districts, and also one sheet showing the annual production of the

region since 1820 to 1881 inclusive.

r. Ashburner’s report of progress descriptive of these sheets

is now going through the press; his more technical discus-

sion of the geology of the Panther Creek basin will not appear

until his final report is published, after the completion of the en-

tire survey.

The special. methods which Mr. Ashburner has devised, and

which have been approved by J. P. Lesley, State geologist, de-

serve particular notice, since they have, without doubt, applied

the science of geology more directly to the art of mining than

has ever before been done by any of the State surveys on te

American continent. When this survey was ordered the strong-

est prejudice existed among the mining men in the coal basins

against the possibility of the State corps accomplishing any m

sults which would be of utility in the exploitation of the coal

ds. Without the support and coöperation of the mining com-

panies, by which the facts in their possession could be obtained,

it would have been useless to have attempted any wo k. 2

information was secured by adopting a plan of work v hich sought

to clearly indicate the precise position of each coal be and the

amount of workable coal contained. The practical questions E

be answered were: How much coal is there? Where !s it? =

what depth? With how steep a dip? In what direction ? Wi

what basins, and saddles of what length, breadth, depth, an

height? In what direction would level drifts run? Where wou

i ?

water courses or other features on the surface of the ste

and the like. It is easily conceivable that it would be imp

d satisfac

sible to give indications of that kind so fully an ie

torily with a whole volume of words as with properly ae

structed maps and sections on scales large enough for reta e

measurements to be taken directly from them. As tar ortieth

Panther Creek basin is concerned, which is about one-forti

1883.] Recent Literature. 853

atlas sheets. A noticeable feature of the method of illustration

is that all facts which are very numerous are boldly separated

from the hypothetical deductions, so that Mr. Ashburner and his

assistants give every one the means of verifying, modifying, or

disproving their conclusions. This renders the work of more

prominent and practical value than much of the geological map-

ping which is published, and in addition inspires the confidence

of practical men.

The plan of representing geological structure of sedimentary

strata by underground contours, although not novel in itself, since

it has been employed extensively by Lesley in America in private

surveys, and Lyman in Japan in government surveys, yet Ash-

burner deserves the credit of perfecting the method and of prac-

tically applying it to the exhibition of the complicated structure

of the anthracite coal beds, which have every conceivable angle

of dip from o° of a horizontal position to 35° overturned from a

vertical position. With all this bold flexuring not a single break

or fault in the strata of the Panther Creek basin is shown in any

of the cross-sections, although the mine sheets show several of

inconsiderable extent, being all, however, under ten feet. This is

a remarkable fact when one recalls the numerous faults found in the

854 Recent Literature. [ August,

been exploded by our geologists as accounting for our Pennsyl-

vania anthracites, for there are no trap dyke exhibitions within

many miles of the anthracite basins. We shall await with some

impatience any explanations which Ashburner will be able to

prove with the facts which he is gathering.

A most remarkable thickness of coal is observed in one of the

sections of the Mammoth bed measured in the vicinity of the

“Old Lehigh Summit Hill mine (quarry).” The thickness per-

pendicular to its bedding is 114 feet, with 106 feet of workable

coal, yet 9I feet away the bed measures only 73 feet thick with

but 66 feet of coal. As great a change is observed in the thick-

ness of the coal measure, sandstones and conglomerates (Pottsville

conglomerate No. xu, or Millstone grit), from the bottom of the

Mammoth bed down to the top of the Mauch Chunk red shale,

No. xı (representative of the Mountain, St. Louis, Chester, and

Lewisburg, Va., limestones), At Tamaqua these strata measure

1700 feet thick, at Lansford, only five miles to the east, they only

measure 900 feet thick, while at the old Hacklebarney tunnel,

back of Mauch Chunk, eleven and a half miles east of Tamaqua,

and six anda half miles east of Lansford, they have thickened

again to 1550 feet. This is a fact quite inconsistent with all pre-

vious views which have been held in regard to the structure of the

carboniferous conglomerate in the anthracite region. Ashburner

offers no explanation other than in a note placed on the sheet which

says that it “ may show a non-conformability between the conglom”

erate and the underlying Mauch Chunk red shale No. x1, *

or a non-conformability between the individual strata forming the

conglomerate measures.” We understand that the facts devel-

d to the

Coves-Stearns’ New Encranp Biro Lire! —Wit

pletion of the second volume of this work, the incipien

1! New England Bird Life, Being a manual of New England Ormia Coues, :

;

vised and edited from the manuscript of WINFRED A. STEARNS by ee

ar II. Non-oscine Passeres, birds of prey, game and water Birds,

Shepard; New York, Charles T. Dillingham, 1883. 12mo, pp. 409-

ith the com- l

ras =

Pie

1883.] Recent Literature. 855

advanced crnithologist of the Eastern States is provided with the

latest and most complete epitome of the subject which he could

wish for. Indeed it will now, we should think, be a difficult

problem for the ornithological book maker to know how to plan

another book at all original, either in scope or treatment. What

between keys, check lists, manuals and ornithological biographies,

the field of avian biology has been pretty well covered, although

not entirely. We yet need, we think, elaborate, detailed, circum-

stantial bird lives; we require the results of more prolonged

field studies. For example, we have been unable to find in a

number of books at hand, how long the robin is engaged in

building its nest, just when its eggs are laid, etc.; the book be-

fore us does not state whether the kingfisher uses the same hole

year after year. Questions of this sort put to us by an incipient

ornithologist of eleven years, we cannot answer from the books

at hand. Moreover many of our ornithologists are boys from

ten to sixteen years of age; they do not find even in books like

the present such details of bird life as are suggested above, and

on the other hand they are repelled here and there by hard

words, words which we sometimes cannot explain to them.

Technical expressions and words which save but a few letters or

syllables should in such books as the present be substituted for

Late Works on Evotution.—Books and pamphlets on this

Prolific theme are multiplying, and authors, both amateur and

expert, treat it from biological, metaphysical and theological

standpoints. Amid much diversity, there is a general agreement

in the sentiments of the authors whom we quote below, in their

dissatisfaction with the bald Darwinism of Tyndall, and the one-

.,. The Theories of Darwin and their relations to Philosophy, Religion and Moral-

ty. By RUDOLF SCHMID, president of the Theological Seminary at Schonthal,

Wurtemburg. Chicago, Jansen, McClurg & Co

Final Causes. By PAUL JANET. New York, Chas. Scribner’s Sons, 1883.

Translated from the second edition of the French, by William Affleck, B.D. K

A Critique of Desiyn-arguments ; a historical review and free examination of

ÈE of reasoning in Natural Theology. By L. E. Hicks. New York, Chas.

Scribner’s Sons, 1883.

Development, what it can do and what it cannot do. By James McCosu, D.D.

New York, Chas. Scribner’s Sons, 1883.

Natural Selection and Natural Theology, a discussion between Dr. Romanes and

Dr. Asa Gray in Nature, Vol. XXVI, 1883.

856 Recent Literature. [ August,

evolution question, as may

from a letter of his to the Spectator (London) of Jan. 11, 1873:

“ Sır:—Any one interested in the subject to which you atuo

at p. 42 of your last number, namely, the relative importance in

causing modifications of the body or mind, on the one hand of

habit or of the direct action of external conditions, and on |

other hand of natural or artificial selection, will find this subject

briefly discussed in the second volume (pp. 301-315) of my ‘Va-

riation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.’

* *

which cannot be thus accounted for. He would be a bold man

who would attempt to explain by these means the origin of the

exsertile claws and great canine teeth of the tiger; i

horny lamellæ on the beak of the duck, which are so we pted

for sifting water. Nor would any one, I presume, even att

to explain the development, for instance, of the beautifully plumed

seeds of the dandelion, or of the endless contrivances

necessary for the fertilization of very many flowers by ii

through gradually acquired and inherited habit, or through

direct action of the external conditions of life. pea

> twos

„Now, it is precisely what Mr. Darwin here declares

difficult that the causal evolutionists, as distinguished ret is,

selective evelutionists, set themselves to accomplish. capable of

which are 7

firstly, to show that in the case of animals and plants incapa! w 4

movements of their own, their structure has been modine? ce of

scent by the influences of their environment, while px? ar =

in 7

those beings that can move, modification is the com

of the mutual interaction of the organism and its environ! paces 1

together. Since the general result displays adaptation, the

school must ultimately discover whether it be intelligen

is thus displayed or not, and if so, whence it proceeds. oolo-

_ The botanists are here in a greater dilemma than the 20°

gists, but the extraordinary discoveries of the relations of ise

to plants, bid fair to extricate them from their difficulty. |

1883.] Recent Literature. 857

tists at a safe distance, are now in the Darwinian woods, and are

trying to hew a way out. The question with Messieurs Janet

and Hicks is, not whether evolution be true, they accept this

latest dictum of science, but whether it be a result of design as

indicated by the causal school, or by chance, as follows from the

teaching of the selective or Darwinian school. On the truth of

the former doctrine depends the belief in intelligent creation,

The latter form of doctrine cannot admit of any such origin of

things, for, as Huxley has said, “teleology, as commonly under-

stood, has received its death-blow at Mr. Darwin’s hands.” Of

course the theologists, anxious to preserve and demonstrate the

doctrines of theism, seek for proof of design in evolution. This

leads them at once into conflict with Darwinism.

The works of Janet, Schmid and Hicks are what one might

term theologico-philosophical or philosophico-theological. They

agree in their general inefficiency and inadequacy in dealing with

the phenomena of the actual world. They display little or no

knowledge of the sciences on which the principles of evolution

rest, viz., embryology and palzontology. This being true, a good

deal of space appears, to the critical reader, to be occupied with

unnecessary and feeble discussion of the subject. Thus Schmid

tells us there are four theories of creation, viz., by selection, by

evolution, by descent, by direct creation! He sustains the third

of these supposed distinct doctrines. We think Dr. Schmid's

book the weakest of the three, and a person who desires to have

any clear idea of the doctrine of evolution had better avoid it.

anet’s work is an abler production. It is a prolonged investi-

gation of the probabilities of the truth of the teleological and

antiteleological schools of evolution. Probably had the writing

e work been postponed to the present time, the learned

author would have materially altered his views as to the nature of

the evidence obtainable, and would have discovered that there are

two totally distinct kinds of teleology. -He opposes the Darwin-

ians, using Bennett’s effective arguments against “ omnifarious

variation,” but he sustains the untenable position of Milne Ed-

wards respecting the nature of the animal mind.

Professor Hicks has written a polemical work in support of the-

ism by a doctrine which he calls eutaxiology. He distinguishes

it from teleology, as expressive of the general order of the uni-

verse; the latter being defined as the law of foreordination of

means to definite ends in creation.

The attitude of Dr. McCosh towards natural science has always

been liberal, and he has greatly aided the theological world in

understanding the doctrine of evolution. He, too, is an objector

to pure Darwinism, but has no scientific hypothesis to offer in its

Stead. His strongest objections are directed against the experi-

mental and derivative hypothesis of the evolution of mind. He

858 Recent Literature.

insists on the intuitive origin of some of the higher mental facul-

ties. In this we cannot follow him. His pamphlet is written in

a fair and conciliatory spirit.

To one who may desire to see the views of two of the advo-

cates of the originative and selective schools of evolution set

orth, we recommend the reading of the discussion between Dr.

Asa Gray and Mr. Romanes which appeared in Nature, closing

with the number of May 24, 1883. We quote the following

words from Dr. Gray, which repeat essentially the views ex-

pressed by Dr. Bennett and ourselves! at various times:

“I tak

gence which innumerable and otherwise inexplicable adaptations

of means to ends in nature were thought to furnish. If itis not

so, then the substitute utterly fails. For omnifarious and puei

casual variation is essential to it in this regard. Fitly 1s it Sat .

that ‘the theory merely supposes’ this. For omnifarious varie

tion is no fact of observation, nor a demonstration, or, 1n MY

opinion, even a warrantable inference from observed facts. It is

merely an hypothesis, to be tried by observation and experiment.

* * “But there is no evidence that all sorts of vane ever

appeared or tended to appear, and there is a musty max! :

“de non apparentibus eine non existentibus, which is not devoid

of application.” * * “The upshot is, that so far aS O06

tion extends, it does not warrant the supposition of omnifarious

and aimless variation, and the speculative assumption of it appears

to have no scientific value.” —C.

laborious work occupies 348 pages, indeed forming near ly ne

tire volume (xiv) of the Annales des Sciences Naturelles. a

illustrated by eighteen excellent, sharply-drawn, ne Vial-

plates. Besides the purely histological treatment, 5% >" pas

lanes, inspired by the epoch-making work of Went ac-

made a detailed study of the histological phenomena whic PT

company the post-embryonic development of insects. a

The work is divided ‘into three parts. The first compr!

1 NATURALIST, 1882, p. 457.

1883. | Recent Literature, 859

study of the tissues of the fully-grown larva and imago, including

the teguments of the larva, and its peripheral nervous system and

sensitive nervous terminations, its involuntary and voluntary

striated muscles, as well as the motor nervous terminations in the

voluntary striated muscles. The second part is devoted to a

The work has been evidently prepared with thoroughness, and

is the most important contribution of the year to the histology

and metamorphosis of Arthropoda.

Cassino’s INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS’ Directory.'—This book

is, in its present form, well arranged, and is both useful as a do-

mestic and foreign scientific directory. The names are arranged

in alphabetical order, and the American addresses are not arranged

as in some of the earlier editions very inconveniently by States.

e notice some omissions of importance in the German and

Austrian portions, but when it is taken into account that there

are in all upwards of 17,000 or 18,000 addresses of naturalists

living in nearly every country under the sun, any fault-finding for

sins of omission or commission are scarcely in place. e num-

ber of addresses of scientists, including amateurs, living in the

United States and Canada, we should roughly estimate at about

5500; in Great Britain about 3000; in Germany 1800 (probably

the number should be doubled or trebled); in Austro-Hungary

1000; while there are about 2000 French addresses. A direc-

tory of the scientific societies of the United States and Canada is

added ; they number about 200. af Oa

This directory is of great and constant use, as facilitating in-

tercourse between scientific as well as amateur observers of our

own and of different countries. i

Kuncker p'HercuLaIs’ ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF

Dirrera2—This magnificent work, for such it truly promises to

be when completed, should be at least introduced to the notice of

_| The International Scientists Directory. Containing the names, addresses, spe-

cial departments of study, etc., of amateur and professional naturalists, chemists,

physicists, astronomers, étc., in America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceanica. Com-

ay by SamueL E. Cassino. Boston, S. E. Cassino & Co. 1883. 1I2mo, pp.

* Recherches sur l’Organization et le Développement des Diptéres et en particu-

lier des Volucelles de la famille des Syrphides. Par JULES KUNCKEL D’HERCU-

Lais. Folio with numerous plates. is, 1875~

VOL, XVII.—No. VII, 58

757 OF

860 Recent Literature. [ August,

our entomological readers. Beginning with the transformations

and anatomy of a single genus, the author in the second part

extended his studies to the anatomy of other Diptera, until the

work promises, from what has already appeared, to be a worthy

successor of those of Straus-Diirckheim, Lyonnet, Newport and

Weismann.

Part first appeared in 1875, and received the grand prize of the

physical sciences given by the French Academy of Sciences. It

treats of the habits, tegumentary system and its development,

and the muscular system and its development of Volucella.

Only the atlas of the second part has as yet been published; it

comprises Plates x11-xxvi. The more notable figures are those

illustrating the nervous system of various Diptera, the longitu-

inal sections of the adult Volucella, with three enlarged views,

representing in one the heart, etc., in another the trachee and

air-sacs, and in a third figure the digestive and nervous systems.

The enlarged longitudinal section of the head and proboscis of

Volucella is especially valuable and noteworthy. There are also

numerous figures of microscopical sections. The plates have

been mostly engraved on steel by Lebrun

Purnam’s SoLPUGIDÆ or NortH America.—This posthumous

essay on the family of Solpugidz forms the concluding porti

of the third part of the third volume of the Davenport Academy

of Natural Sciences, issued in memory of Joseph Duncan oe

nam, late president of the academy. The brochure contains x

memorial meeting in honor of Mr. Putnam, biographical skete

by Dr. C. C. Parry and by Mr. W. J. McGee, with resohitif

passed by the Iowa Academy of Sciences and other socie ”

testifying to the scientific and moral worth of the young natu ake

he notes and articles on the Solpugide were designe i

the materials for a monographic account of this interesting group

of Arachnida, which occur in great rarity in North America, spe

bibliography. The work was done with great thoroughne f

Mr. Putnam, the description being detailed and comparative, of

is-

tive arachnology, and had Mr. Putnam lived he wou

an acknowledged authority as a zoologist in whateve

he might have chosen to work.

r depart

1883.] Recent Literature. 861

BREWER ON THE AMERICAN TROTTING-HORSE.’ — Professor

Brewer treats of the American trotting-horse as a breed in pro-

cess of formation. Prior to the present century it was the racer

that was valued; the diaigh Boa was but a slave. Representa-

tions of horses on Egyptian, Ninevite, Greek and Romar remains

show no trotting-horses, and the forms of the animals prove that

their racers could not compare in speed with modern ones.

With the improvement of roads, more attention was given to

the horse as a beast of draught, and various causes combined in

. this country to bring about that love for a ques taa ki

fashionable to drive one horse before a light carriage. This

fashion was to a great extent created by the laws against racing

that were enacted through the puritanic prejudices of the settlers.

To trot one horse against time was not racing in a technical

sense. Other causes were improvements in wagons and the in-

vention of steel springs ; the possession of hickory to make light

wagons of, and the.necessities of modern travel,

merican trotting-horse is a cross between the English

thoroughbred and the common stock of the country, which last

is a mongrel derived from English, French, Dutch and even

Swedish and Spanish sources.

LECTURES TO THE EMPLOYEES OF THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO

Raitway.? — These clearly-written lectures may be read with

profit by many others besides those for whom they were specially

prepared, and among whom, through M. Garrett, the president of

the road, the printed copies are distributed gratis. In the first,

“ How Skulls and Backbones are built,” Dr. H. N. Martin ae

in review the principal nevi o. the protective use

the vertebrate skeleton; in “ How we Move,” Dr. Sewall explains

in easy English the kia 1 of nerve aad muscle; ; “ Fermentation”

is the subject of Dr. Sedgwick; and Dr. Brooks treats of the

locomotive methods of some invertebrate anim

Lectures such as these, on scientific Subjects o or on art or his-

tory, themselves part of social science, would do more, in able

hands, to close saloons and put down the coarser forms of vice

than all the repressive measures that can be enacted. What all

men (and women) need is recreation, and in some shape or other

Pail will get it. Whoever provides a recreation of higher grade

that previously indulged in by the class it appeals to, isa

ee of society.

! The American hide Sotho Why he is er What he By Professor W. H

Brewer. Ex. from the re eport gone oree f Agricult stats Also The Erika

of the American Prottinig Bine er, Jour. “Sci. April, 1883.

i ? Lectures delivered ah hes Maciek 2 a Baltimore and Ohio Ra mem, by Pro-

essor H. N. MarTIn and Drs. H. SEWALL, W. T. SEDGWICK and W, K. BROOKS,

of the Johns Hopkins T mi Baltimore, 1882.

862 Recent Literature. [ August,

BULLETINS OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT oF AGRICULTURE/—

Bulletin No. 1 contains reports of experiments, chiefly with

emulsion of kerosene, upon various insects that injuriously affect

the orange tree and cotton plant. These kerosene emulsions ap-

pear to be toa Sead extent successful, both against scale insects

and the cotton-wo

According to Bulletin No. 2, Caloptenus spretus, the Rocky

Mountain locust, was generally scarce in 1882, so much so that

bing farmers have little to fear from it during the present

Jea

Polcas S. A. Forbes has experimented with emulsion of

kerosene upon the chinch-bug with good results. Hefinds that

soapsuds (1 Ib. soap to 10 galls. water) mixed with an equal quan-

tity of oil, make a good emulsion, so that the addition of milk is

not necessary. These fluids accomplish their work as well when

poured on with a sprinkler as when applied forcibly in a spray,

and kill the adult bugs as easily as the young.

RECENT Books AND PAMPHLETS.

Hayden, F. V., and Selwyn, A. R. C—Stanford’s Compendium of Geography pe

Spee North ‘America. Edward Stantord. London, 1883. From Dr. F

Hayden

Dollo, M. L. tee éme note sur les Dinosauriens de Lesbian, 462 Ext. du Musée

Royal Histoire Naturelle de Belgique. 1883, From the author.

Lewis, H. C.—The great Ice Age of Pennsylvania. Reprint fhe Journal Franklin

Institute, filet, 1883.

e Geology of Phi iladel phia. ae mom! pon 1883. Both me

i ational Geological Commissio Sub- comm mittees.

Trias, by A, Irving. Miocene per Eocene, i J. S. Gardner. pii jro

Post-pliocene, by H. B. Woodward. From the commission. ;

Minot, C. S.—Is Man the highest Animal ? aut Proc. Amer, Assoc. Advance

ment of Science, 1881. From the author saat

sila et T. McKenny.—Memoir E, B. , ile Ext. Geol. Magazine, M

83.

us forms of life

eax? author.

n and

——On the relation of the appearance and duration of the vario

upon the earth to the breaks in the continuity of the sapere!

Proc. Cambridge e Philosophical Society. Both from the au pose

Putnam, F. W.—Notes on copper implements sees Mic. “Ext Proc.

Antiquarian Society, Oct. 21, 1882. From the

Hoffmann, C. K.—Dr. H. G. Bronn’s Klassen und paneer: des Thi

Reptilien. Leipzig und Heidelberg, C. F. Winter.

gig "= ee of Science-—Transactions, Vol. vil, 1881-82.

er-reichs.

From F. H.

Clevenger. S. V.—Plan of the cerebro- -spinal nervous system Ext. on RAN S

pe Mesting of ihe Amer. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science,

rom

Sees z L Bonde. sur le pa E O de la faune Eocène inféri pavers

ns de R Ext. du Bulletin de la Société Géologique de

Bae 12, 1883. From ‘ke, author aux C

Renevier. 4 £.—Un sree: ae ique. Propositions du Comité Suisse A ele

missions Internat giq hte Sciences Physiques € an "

Genéve, Mai, 1883. Taa bi author

ure des envi-

ie rance, Fe Hi

Loo

r and

U S o peg of Aeir. Division of Entomology. Bull, Nos.

2. ©. V. RILEY, entomologi

1883.] Geography and Travels. 863

Terquem.—Cinquiéme Mémoire sur les Foraminiféres du système Oolithique. From

the author.

Guyot, A.—Louis Agassiz. A Biographical Memoir. Read before the National

Academy, 1877~78. Princeton, N J., 1883. From the author.

Scott, W. B.,and Osborn, H. F.—On the skull of Orthocynodon,—

Osborn, H, F—On Achzenodon, an Eocene Bunodont.—

Bruce, A. 7:~—Observations upon the brain casts ot Tertiary mammals,—

Scott, W. B.—On Desmatotherium and Dilophodon, two new Eocene lophiodonts.

Contributions from the E. M. Museum of Geology and Archeology of Prince-

ton College, Bulletin No. 3.

Ryder, F. A——On the mode of fixation of the fry of the Oyster. From the author,

Goode, G. B., and Bean, T. H—Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Z dlogy

at Harvard College. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision

of A. Agassiz, on the east coast U. S. xtx. Report on the Fishes. From the

Lydekker, R.—Synopsis of the fossil Vertebrata of India, and Note on the Bijori

Labyriuthodonts, Ext, Records Geol. Survey of India, 1883. From the

uthor,

——Palzontologica Indica, Series x. Indian Tertiary and Post-tertiary Verte-

brata. . 1 Pt. 4. Siwalik Camelopardidæ. Calcutta, 1883. From the

author.

Hulke. Y. W.—An attempt at a complete osteology of Hypsilophodon foxii, a British

Wealden Dinosaur. Ext. Philos. Trans. of the Royal Society, Part 111, 1882,

From the author,

——Address delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Geological Society of

London, Feb. 16, 1883. From the author.

m Sco caus

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

AFrica.—A journey undertaken by F. C. Selous in the Ma-

shuna country, lying between the Matabele settlements and the

Zambesi, has resulted in a considerable addition to our knowledge

of this region. The great mountain chain of Umvukwe, running

north-east to south-west forms the water-shed—all streams rising

on its north-western side flow into the Zambesi, while those issu-

ing from its south-eastern flanks must run into the Mazo.

Series of high and rugged ridges run in an east and west direc-

tion from the western flank of the Umvukwe mountains, and be-

tween these ridges flow the Umquasi, Mutiki, Mabane, Umpinge

and Dande, all tributaries of a large river flowing northward into

the Zambesi, and called the Panyame, Manyame or Hanyane.

This river, which on other maps is shown as joining the Zambesi

west of the town of Zumbo, is by Mr. Selous stated to enter fif-

teen miles at least to the east of that place. Between the ridge

besi, is a nearly flat and very dry district covered with mopani

forests. In crossing this dry belt the Panyame and its tributaries

as well as the Umsengaisi, which flows into the Zambesi about

a degree further to the east, become broad-bedded sand-rivers

‘This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

864 General Notes. [August,

“with little or no water. These lowlands swarm with Tsetse flies.

The Umsengaisi is the Zingesi of the map of the Royal Geo-

graphical Society.

The delta and lower course of the Sabi river, which enters the

Indian ocean about 21° S. lat., has been correctly surveyed, but

at the cost of the lives of Capt. T. L. Phipson-Wybrants, the

leader of the party, and of Dr. Ward Carr, F.G.S. The lower

district, called Machanga, is occupied by the Tongas, subjects of

mzila, whose traal is about 250 miles farther westward. The

district around the Sabi, when the higher lands are reached, is

exceptionally fertile.

The Thomson expedition is safe. Mr. Thomson left Bura, 100

miles from Mombasa, for Taveta, at the south-eastern foot of

Kilimanjaro, on March 2oth. ‘

The Ma-Gwamba, or “ Knobnoses,” as the Boers call them,

living north and south of the Limpopo, are by Pasteur Berthoud

stated, from linguistic evidence, to be of Zulu stock, and thus not

related to the Chuana. These Gwamba consider Umzila and his

people to be Zulu also, and the Ba-Tonga are stated to be akin

to the Gwamba. The Gwamba language is a sister of the Zulu. 3

If Berthoud’s statements are true, the tribe is one of great nu- =

merical importance.

Herr Pechuel-Loesche, who has served for some years as sec-

ond in command to Stanley, has given a clear description of the

mountainous belt, 200 miles wide, which shuts the Upper Congo :

from the coast. This range is of Cambrian age, and of slight A

elevation, averaging 700 to 1000 feet in height, and only pe a

and there reaching 3300. It consists of numerous paralle —

ridges, between which run affluents of the Congo, which is the

only stream of the region that cut across the entire system. TE A

the Congo runs in a ravine the whole way, and its bed has a tat

of 928 feet in about 300 nautical miles. Throughout this dis-

tance dangerous rapids abound, but the only vertical fall is Iam

gila, which is only sixteen feet high, and does not occupy the en-

tire width of the stream. Some of the mountain brooks have

cut their courses down to the level of the main river, but other

larger rivers that flow over horizontal strata enter by a cataract

Thus the Luenga falls from a height of more than 300 pene”

the Luvubi from 500 feet. The Congo rises from September “es

January, and again in April and May (the rainy season) when

waterfalls disappear under the swollen-waters. with

The summits of the mountains are rounded and covered kost

grass and small bushes, but the valleys contain forests of ne

trees. Further to the north is the great forest of Tschiy w

Dr. Pechuel-Loesche states that the “ Makoko ” from W ion,

De Brazza claims to have obtained a section of the Congo pene

is certainly nothing more than a local chief. Makoko yet A

means ‘the. ruler of the stream,” and there are several, =

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 865

the trusted friend of Stanley, and sold him a large tract of land,

and the others are only similar kinglets ruling small districts.

M. Mosionas claims to have discovered the descendants of the

people from whom the ancient Egyptians sprung. This honor

he attributes to the Hadendoas, a tribe of the Egyptian Soudan.

He maintains that he has found among them evident traces of

the language, manners, customs and beliefs of ancient Egypt.

Dr. Bayol's scientific mission in Senegal has resulted in the

discovery of a forest of ebony trees six miles n extent, and of

forty-five wood essences. pias

campaign in the Cascade range, from Mt. Shasta to Mts. Hood

and Ranier, a region which contains possibly the most colossal

outpour of volcanic matter in the world.

the Aleutian archipelago. One of these is named after Bering,

whose shipwreck and death occurred there ; the other is Mednoj.

ering’s island, where raised beaches and terraces have been

left by the subsidence of the sea. A Russo-American fur com-

pany is established here. . The vegetation is stunted and sparse,

presenting a great contrast to that of Kamschatka, which, spite

of its position, has an exuberant growth of birches, alders, wil-

lows, wild roses, rhododendrons, lilies, etc., far excelling that

found in Norway, as also an enormous variety of birds, including

“ Acrocephalus dybowskii, a sedge-warbler, Locustella lanceolata,

which possesses a grasshopper-like cry, a cuckoo, pipits, chats

and wagtails.

Dr. Otto Finsch states that the Gilbert or Kingsmill islands,

866 General Notes. [August,

consisting of eighteen atolls, and with an area of only twelve

Square miles, contain 37,000 inhabitants, while the Marshall group

with thirty-five square miles, distributed among thirty atolls, has

only 10,000. Four thousand ethnological specimens, illustrating

the lives of these islanders and of those of New Britain, have

been collected by this traveler, also some interesting prehistoric

remains from Ponapé, one of the Carolines, many skulls anda

The Marshall islanders are rapidly losing their ancient cus-

toms, and Herr Finsch believes that the great sea canoe, which

he has brought away, will soon be the last of those with which

this people, though without nautical knowledge, won repute as

mariners and undertook long journeys. European skiffs will

soon supersede them.

The people of the Gilbert islands retain more of their original

manners than those of the Marshall islands. :

The Maneap or assembly house of Butaritari, one of this

group, is 250 feet long by 114 wide; dimensions which are

aco in a structure held together by cords of cocoa-nut

ers,

Asta.—The six hundred thousand square miles contained in

Persia form a plateau roughly averaging from three thousand to

five thousand feet above the sea, and the entire region, according

to Col. Champain, is not only very poorly provided with means

has risen and fallen at irregular intervals since 1780, but was “a

feet lower in 1830 than in 1780. Lenz made permanent marks al

Baku in 1830 at the sea level, but the oscillations since that a

have shown no sensible decrease. On May 30, 1853, the level

pasture lands. The Tartars of Middle Siberia, once a pose |

: s ng the poo

_ Privileged merchants, are decreasing, and are among a miser-

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 867

From a paper by M. Smicroff, published in the /svestia, it is

evident that the climate of the Caucasus is quite continental.

The average annual mean temperatures are 5° 4’ Cels. at Alex-

anderpol, 8° 5’ at Stavropol, 12° 6’ at Tiflis, and 14° 3’ to.84? 5°

at Bakou, Lenkoran, Kutais, Poti, and Redut-kaleh, but the yearly

range of the average diurnal temperature is in most cases from

which temperatures lower than —20° are not found runs from

the Crimea to the Caucasus range, and along the northern slope

of the last towards Khiva, Tashkend, and Peking. The greatest

range of temperature observed was 60° 4’ at Stavropol, while at

Redut-kaleh it is reduced to 41° 6’. Large though this range is,

it is small compared with that of Yakutsk, which varies from +33°

8’ in summer to —-62° in winter.

M. Balkashin, in the /evestia, concludes that the Kirghiz are a

federation of several nomad tribes that formerly ranged from

Southern Russia to Lake Baikal, and were mingled together by

Genghiz Khan and his successors.

M. Grigorieff, in the /zvestia, shows that Henriette island is

the land sighted by Hedenström and Sannikoff from New Siberia

in 1810, and that Bennett island was seen by Sannikoff from the

northern coast of New Siberia in 1811. Thus the discoveries of

the ill-starred Jeannette are reduced to ni.

GEOLOGY AND PALONTOLOGY.

A NEW PLIOCENE FORMATION IN THE SNAKE RIVER VALLEY.—

In 1870 the Smithsonian Institution submitted to me for deter-

mination a series of specimens of fishes which had been obtained

by Mr. Clarence King, then in charge of the U. S. Geological

Survey of the 4oth parallel, in the south-western part of Idaho

Territory. Asa result of my examination I published descrip-

tions of eleven species of fresh-water fishes,’ and three of Astaci.

The first specimens derived from this formation were sent by Dr.

J. S. Newberry to Dr. Leidy, who described two species of fishes.

Subsequently Professor Condon, of the University of Oregon,

discovered the formation with some of its fossils on Willow creek,

in Eastern Oregon, fifty miles north-west of the original locality.

In 1880 I sent Mr. J. L. Wortman to this region, and he obtained

twenty-two species from these and other localities, of which ten

were new to science. He also procured bones of two species of

‘On Cretaceous and Tertiary Reptilia and Fishes, by Professor E. D. Cope, No-

vember, 1870, Proceedings Amer. Philos. Society.

868 General Notes. >» [August,

Mammalia. T ` ` lowing list shows the character of the fish

fauna:

aant a he ec es 6 I species

Rees oo ee REE ue a Pee os

AET ET PREN Gi'e 6 whe ou Oo Oia, bei bre bie oats pk ee

OPN as ck sigs E cobs pues paaueee een iS

E SR Che a te Ss Ce ee ee ag

Cobitide 7, J eis Se eee Low

Silene ee oe Bias See Oa Sh Pes ae ee OE ee A) ere

WERT ep ooo cas Cae oe om we De ow ee N ESE E S Bite

Tota va CUT Pie ia Fen CaN ye Sis i

Of the above, all differ from existing species so far as known,

but three of the species which represent the Percidz, the Cobiti-

dz, and the Siluride, respectively, have not been exactly deter-

mined. All the species differ from those of the Oregon lake (or

Lake Lahontan as it may prove to be). Of the families, all are

existing, and all are represented on the North American conti-

nent excepting the Cobitidae, which are now confined to Eurasia.

But of these eight families four are not now found in the Amer-

ican waters which empty into the Pacific ocean, viz., the Percide,

Siluridz, and Cobitidz and Raiidæ, excepting that there 1s one

species of the Percide in California. Five of the seven families

have not yet been found in the Oregon fossil lake basin, but as

two of them (Salmonide, Cottidæ) are found in the existing lakes

of that region, they will probably be found in that deposit.

The above-evidence is sufficient to prove that the Idaho Plio-

cene formation is distinct from any formation previously known,

covered in this formation by Capt. Clarence King. + sa

named! Astacus subgrundialis, A. chenoderma, and A. ine o°4

The mollusks of this formation have been described by £. Ð.

Meek, and they, like the fishes, determine it to be lacus fos

fresh, as already stated by Professor Newberry. The spant ‘

stated by Meek? to be distinct specifically, and in some gt nA

nerically, from all others hitherto described from the West. King’s

observes? that Mammalian remains received from fap ing

expedition include portions of Mastodon and Equus exce. py ae

Mr. Wortman obtained teeth and bones of the latter, an Fires

non bone of an undetermined ruminant of the size of the

elaphus.

The ungual phalange of an edentate allied to Megalonyx was

obtained from the same horizon and locality. dy, and is

r. Wortman informs me that the bone bed is sañ oe

_ both overlaid and underlaid by clay rocks of little pegs aes

formation covers several hundred square miles in ;

D. Cope.

1 Proceedings Amer. Philos. Society. 1870, p. 605. L

? Proceedings Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1870, 56.

"I. ¢., 1870, 67. l

oc, cit., Nov., 1870.

nt onl

Sijiqpart SUOJN

‘IAX 4ALV'Id

‘yeu yuaəaəs-3UO £

"OZ1S

Nore on Dicionivs.—The plates of the skull of the D. mirabilis, issued with

this number of the NATURALIST, should be bound with the preceding (July) num-

ber. The statement in the latter, “All the figures are of the natural size,” is of

Course erroneous. The spacé for proportion of size was left to be filled, and was

ne seventh nat. size.

is, 0

trabili

PLATE XVH.

Diclonius m

PLATE XVIII

size.

one-seventh nat.

1s,

mirabili

Diclonius

PLATE XIX.

Dicionius mirabilis, one-seventh nat. pe a and anterior extremities of

: ull.

1883.] Geology and Palaeontology. S69

THE “ THIRD TROCHANTER ” OF THE Dinosaurs.—M. L. Dollo

has recently instituted a comparison between the trochanters upon

the femur of Iguanodon and those of Anas, Bernicla and Cyg-

nus, and announces his conclusion that the so-called “ third tro-

hanes ” of the former (and of other Dinosaurs) is found also in

the avian genera mentioned. The great resemblance between

the dinosaurian and avian femur was noted by Huxley in 1870,

and has been generally admitted, but the absence, in most birds,

of the third trochanter, which is so conspicuous a crest in Igua-

nodon, has been a difficulty.

M. Dollo figures, side by side, the femur of Cygnus atratus and

that of Iguanodon BNA PR and the proof is evident that

the bird possesses the same trochanter—the position is the same,

the form very similar, but the size relatively far inferior

Dissection proved that the duck’s third Koden serves for

the insertion of the caudo-femoral muscle, which, as shown by

Meckel, is the agent in the curious lateral movements made by

the tail of the duck; and aiso for the insertion of the ischio-

femoral muscle.

The difference in the relative dimensions of the trochanters is,

therefore, correlated with the difference in size of the tails of the

two animals. The enormous tail of the Iguanodon needed for

its movement a massive muscle, instead of ‘the thin slip present

in the duck and swan.

Hesperornis, a bird so reptilian in many respects, ought, there-

fore, to have this trochanter, and M. Dollo remarks that although

Professor Marsh did not note its significance, it is plainly shown

in Plate xur of that author's work on the Odontornithes.

This trochanter cannot be homologized with either of the

three troshantees ound in mammals, since it serves for the inser-

tion of a totally different set of muscles from those attached to

either of them, and M. Dollo therefore proposes to distinguish it

as the “ fourth trochanter.”

Tue Puerco Fauna IN France.—Dr. Lemoine has published

the second part of his Researches on the ch Birds of the In-

ferior Tertiary of the neighborhood of Reims. In an introduc-

tion he distinguishes the two faunz of the me of France, which

peepee the beginning of the Tertiary, the Cernaysienne and

he Suessonienne. These correspond with remarkable equality

13 the Puerco and the Wasatch faunz, which I discovered on this

continent. Not a few of the genera are common to the two con-

abr but the extent of the identity cannot be fully understood

the present state of our knowledge of the respective forms.

Those of the Cernaysian fauna, as given by Lemoine, are the fol-

ing: Mammalia: He teroboru us, Hyodectes, Hyznodictis,

Lopbiodocharas by Pleuraspidotherium, Plesiadapis, Adapisorex,

Ptilodus ; POE Champsosaurus, crocodiles, turtles and Lacer-

870 General Notes. | August,

tilia; Aves: Gastornis edwardsi, Remornis heberti, Eupterornis

remensis Of the above, two genera, Ptilodus and Champsosau-

rus appear to be absolutely identical in France and New Mexico;

some of the others have near allies in New Mexico, but of iden-

tity there is not yet certain evidence.

In Europe, as in America, the Suessonian epoch ushers in the

genus Coryphodon. Hyracotherium also appears (Pachynolophus

gaudryi Lem., is a Hyracotherium), and Pliolophus. A num

of other genera are probably identical in North America and

France, as Miacis, Opisthotomus, Phenacodus, and Pantolestes,

with Lophiodon and Dichobune, not yet found in America. Hy-

zenodictis and Plesiadapis hold over from the Cernaysian fauna.

Uniformity of nomenclature requires that the Suessonian, in-

troduced by D'Orbigny, should replace the name Wasatch, which

was given by Hayden many years later} In like manner the

Cernaysienne of Lemoine is identical with the Puerco of Cope,

and the latter name has six or seven years priority. So also

the genera Ptilodus? and Champsosaurus? were named first m

America

The genus Gastornis proves to be one of the most remark-

able which paleontology has brought to light. It is the only bird

known, in which the cranial sutures are persistent, and it has indi-

two and a half meters.

Note-—Since the above was written a well illustrated paper

from the Bulletin of the Geological Society of France has come to

hand, which describes the species of Neoplagiaulax Lem. 106

pe, N. cocenus, differs from the Ptilodus medi@vus n lacking

the third premolar tooth from the lower jaw.—Z£. D. Cope.

MINERALOGY.*

EMPHOLITE, A NEW MINERAL.=——M. L.-J. Igelström has recently

described a new mineral from Hoérrsjoberg, Sweden, which, oc

curring in minute, generally microscopic crystals, has rece:

the name empholite, from éugwiciw, to hide. ns pee

The crystals are white, transparent, and very brilliant, having

a hardness of 6 or over, and belonging to the orthorhombic T

tem. They have an easy cleavage parallel to the crystallograph

1 See AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1877, p. 95-

ved in

sblished October

ov., 1881 (publis pies pears A

1883. | Mineralogy. 871

axis, and occur in narrow prisms, either as radiated aggregates or

as fibrous masses, filling cavities in damourite or pyrophyllite.

The crystals are ordinarily so disseminated and so small that

they are perceived with difficulty. They frequently occur in

fibrous masses like cyanite. In fact, they were at first thought to

be cyanite.

With cobalt solution a fine, blue color is obtained after heating.

The mineral is insoluble in acid, except so far as a yellow discol-

oration of the liquid is produced by the contained iron. Heated

in the matrass, water is given off without decrepitation. The min-

eral turns slightly yellow on exposure to the air. It has a fibrous

appearance under the microscope. In its infusibility, its hardness,

its cleavage, and, as Bertrand has shown, in its angles, the min-

eral is similar to cyanite.

ts composition, however, shows it to be a distinct species.

The following is a mean of two analyses, after subtracting 16 per

cent, of gangue:

SiO, AlO, = _MgO,CaO,FeO H,O

50.5 31.9 4 4.2

giving the formula Al Oz., 2 SiO, + 3 H,0.

Empholite appears to be a more hydrous variety of the new

mineral davreuxite.

Tue Cornwatt Tin orrs.—Mr. J. H. Collins contributes to the

Mineralogical Magazine? his third paper on the tin ores of Corn-

wall, England. The associated minerals are much the same as

thinks.that it is a distinct species. It occurs massive, and also in

spherical masses with radiated concentric structure, or in stellate

groups, and sometimes in six-sided tables. Hardness, 1-2.5 ;

Vol. v, p. 121.

872 General Notes. [August,

probably originally derived from the surrounding rock, and after-

wards deposited by thermal waters in fissures.

In this connection a valuable paper in the Amzerican Fournal of

Science on the Genesis of Metalliferous Veins, by Professor Joseph

LeConte, is of much interest in confirming this theory of vein

formation. Metalliferous deposits are now being formed in Cali-

fornia and Nevada, at Sulphur Bank and Steamboat Springs,

through the action of up-coming solfataric waters. Even cinna-

by chemical action as the waters approach the surface.

Professor LeConte holds that gold has in like manner been

deposited from an alkaline sulphide solution, and there are,strong

reasons for believing that this is the true explanation of our met-

alliferous vein deposits.

Tue Minerats oF Skye.—Professor M. F. Heddle’ has de-

scribed a new mineral locality in the island of Skye. Quite a

number of different zeolites occur in the igneous rocks, among

them being thomsonite, farcelite, mesolite, stilbite, analcite, lau-

monite, chabazite, gyrolite, and apophyllite. Saponite of a pale

red color, rarely oil-green, occurs in minute botryoidal groupings,

and in thin, vein-like processes. Plinthite, a variety of bole, fall-

ing to pieces in water, occurs in various forms. It either occurs

in beds of varying thickness among the strata, or in the form o

clusters of spheres of the size of peas, or as a thin layer among

the zeolites. Massive varieties of mesolite and of thomsnay

the latter sometimes called “rock soap,” are also described, an

several analyses are given.

MineratocicaL Nores.—Mr. J. J. Dobbie directs attention, 1

the Mineralogical Magazine, to a variety of saponite from yet

Glasgow, which has some peculiar physical properties. Te pnas

nite has probably resulted from the alteration of a trap rock, and na

a deep chocolate-brown color, a conchoidal fracture and the mee

feel so characteristic of most hydrated silicates of magnesia. hank 8

dull, but may be highly polished by rubbing with pas lti- :

When placed in water it splits into sharp angled fragments, pel

mately crumbling. It has the chemical composition of poo 088

——Hausmannite has been produced artificially by A. pis

and rhodonite by L. Bourgeois. Artificial hausmannite was

by heating chloride of manganese in an atmosphere charged ak

oxygen and steam, and rhodonite was produced by the fust a

equal parts of silica and binoxide of manganese. fe in the

Cloiseaux has begun the publication of an extended peor

June number of the Bulletin de la Soc. Min. de France, on the

1 Min. Mag., April, 1883, p. 115.

1883. | Botany. 873

characters of some feldspars. More than 400 determinations of the

optical constants of feldspars from numerous localities were

made, including sixty-four varieties of oligoclase and ande-

site and thirty-seven varieties of albite. Only mineralogists who

have been engaged in this kind of work can appreciate the labor

involved. The results will be of importance in showing how far

feldspars can vary from the type form while preserving their iden-

tity, and in distinguishing between such variations and the mix-

ture or alternation of different species. Among the specimens

examined is the moonstone from Mineral Hill, Penna., which is

determined to be a peristerite, containing probably certain admix-

tures of oligoclase. Some very beautiful transparent groups of

apatite crystals have been found in the Untersulzbachthal, in Salz-

burg. They have a white color with a delicate tint of mauve.

The largest of the specimens, so far found, has been deposited in

the South Kensington Museum. They are beautifully terminated

by a number of planes, and have an unusual luster——The Ore-

gon nickel ore is found in two varieties, which analysis has shown

to be almost identical with the ores from New Caledonia—gar-

nierite and noumeite. They also occur under precisely the same

geological conditions. Garnierite has a pale apple-green color,

adheres to the tongue, is not unctuous and falls to pieces in water.

Noumeite is darker, does not adhere to the tongue, is unctuous,

and does not fall to pieces in water. Noumeite contains more

water than garnierite.

BOTANY.’

and a few days later Mr. W. C. Stevenson’s Alphabetical Index

to Centuries 1 to x. By means of the latter we are able to make

sented .by but a single species. Under Helvellacee the genus

Peziza is represented by sixty-eight species, while of Pyreno-

mycetes there are of the principal genera as follows: Diatrype

14 species, Dothidea 13, Hypoxylon 13, Hysterium 11, Nectria

16, Sphzria 68, Valsa, 39. In the Uredinee, Æcidium has 14

species, Phragmidium 4, Puccinia 19, Uromyces 15, and in Usti-

l Edited by Pror. C. E. Bessey, Ames, Lowa.

874 General Notes. [August i

is the only one of the ordinary Fungi which is not represented

by specimens, It will be seen by the above that this distribution

is one of great value to the student of any department of fungol-

ogy, as the specimens are not confined to sit restricted group of

orders. The excellent index makes it an easy matter to find

any species, and possessors of the work will thanle Mr. Stevenson

for compiling it.

Century x1 is of unusual interest, as it is a special one devolad

to the Uredinez and Ustilaginez. In it there are thirty-five

turies (all in Cent. 111) make fifty-four species. Nine specimens

of Ustilago and two of Sorosporium represent the Ustilaginee.

In this century a note informs us ERE the species “ have mostly

been determined by Dr. W. G. Farlo

Since writing the foregoing, we aae received a second valuable

index also by Mr. Stevenson, and entitled “ An Index to Hab-

itats,” giving in alphabetical order the habitats of the first thou-

sand species. While not of as great value as the specific index,

this will also prove to be useful.

NECTAR IN SPERMOGONIA. —Rathay as shown that insects

are attracted to the spermogonia of Uredinez by a sweet secre-

tion. Many species of insects have been seen to visit the sperm-

ogonia, and without question the spermatia are carried away by

th ne would scarcely have expected such a device in plants

so far down the scale of vegetable life.

BOTANY AT THE MINNEAPOLIS MEETING OF THE A. A. A. Se

Botanists will find much to interest them in and about Mion z

lis in August at the meeting of the American Association ye a

Advancement of Science. The collector will be able to add pe

aud the sand hills to the eastward not less interesting and p Pr ast

able. The whole country westward and south- westward <

city is filled with ponds and lakes which teem with an un

number of aquatic plants, especially of the lower oe

mids and Diatoms of rare beauty occur in great n

ought to engage the attention of the microscopist. ae

several species abound, and will be in full fruiting stage e i

time of the meeting. The larger fungi are likewise rep dew,

by an unusual number of species, hile the rusts, smuts, min i

etc., etc., sometimes denominated the micro-fungi, may

up almost everywhere. Surely the association has not

1883. | Botany. 875

years met in a more naturally botanical place than Minneapolis

will prove to be, and there should be as a consequence an unusu-

ally large attendance of botanists and plant collectors.

EQUISETUM ARVENSE L., VAR. SEROTINUM MEyYER.—This “ acci-

dental state,” as Gray calls it, has been found in considerable

numbers this spring in Central Iowa. The specimens grew inter-

mingled with the ordinary form, and there was nothing, so far as

could be observed, in the conditions surrounding them which

could account for their abnormal development. An attempt will

be made to germinate the spores, should they prove to be per-

fect—C. E. Bessey.

NEW PLANTS FROM CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA, ETC. I.—TZhely-

podium neglectum, n. sp.: Annual, 2°-5° high, glabrous through-

out; stems stout, erect, striate, branching at the top; leaves ob-

lanceolate, three inches long, all petioled; root leaves irregularly

entate ; stem leaves long petioled, usually truncate at base, none

but the uppermost entire; dense racemes panicled; pedicels as-

sp.: Annual, 1°-2° high, stem

simple or branched above, pubescent below, with scattered re-

long, narrow; petals linear, light yellow, 214” long; stamens

only equaling the sepals; pod terete, 1’ long, appressed, those

near the root retrorsely pubescent, all bayonet-shaped, very acute ;

Style 1” long.

te, scarious; uppermost sti-

pules nearly orbicular, subtending some of the peduncles,

VOL. XVII.—no. VIII 59

876 General Notes. [August,

while the leaf is often wholly absent; flowers rather long

peduncled, clustered in heads or spikes; calyx large, loose, scar-

ious or membranous, hirsute-ciliate with very long simple hairs,

and also finely pubescent with stellate hairs, segments broadly

ovate, abruptly acuminate with a slender point, very finely serrate,

ong; petals obovate,-truncate, or retuse, erose, 6”--10" long,

> ‘ light purple; carpels‘smooth) deeply striate on the back, reticu-

= study are given to points in structure or physiology

lated on the sides, very strongly incurved.

A peculiar species, fruiting spikes resemble Lophanthus or Or-

thocarpus lacerus. ;

June 17, 1882, Duncan's Mill, Cal.—Marcus E. Fones, Salt

Lake City, Utah.

BETTER METHODS oF TEacuinc Botany.—It is encouraging to

notice from year to year a decided tendency in this country to-

wards better methods of teaching botany in the schools and col-

leges. The idea is gaining ground that it is better to study the

plant, independently of its classification, more, and the technical

matters which have to do with classification, or identification, less.

A year or two ago Professor Beal in a lécture before the Michi-

gan State Teachers’ Association presented very forcibly the ob-

jections and absurdities of the old methods, and sketched kis ot

New Botany.”! The favor with which this paper has been rece! ,

indicates that the teachers of botany are striving to reach re |

things. They were ready to take up with the suggestion $ id |

pupils should study the plants themselves first; that they s bake

find out by direct examination the structure of branches,

leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, etc., etc. This method ma the

fields and woods a great out-of-doors laboratory in whic a

real work of studying plants is done. Moreover, the object i

stantly kept before the student is to find out aX about every ee EN

not just so much only as will enable him to fnd. a

name. Often, in fact, many hours of interesting 4 Lite hate

not made use of in the systematic manuals.

e have now before us a little book,? by Professor

of Princeton, the evident intention of which is to foster .

of study commended above. A single sentence in pi “and n

will suffice to show this. “It is better,” says the au ey an

more interesting to spend the leisure of a whole unas ish

gle species than to hurry over a large number merely A oait

of discovering their names.” This certainly is the Macdlos+

to inculcate, and while we should not take exachy E ge

a | method of teaching. By W- hers

Mie PES, yg a re oer he ae meeting of the Mich. State joo z

eee e D si iia i oe See y =

’ Guide sor

tion of Planta. By George Macloskie, D.Sc, LLD. ete. New Yok, P

3. i

Macloskie

the m

1883.] Entomology. 877

kie’s plan as outlined in his book, yet the book will probably do

ood in directing the attention of teachers and students into bet-

ter lines of work.

Twenty-five pages at the beginning of the book are devoted to

the examination of the morning glory, and it is not too much to

say that any student who will carefully go through the work in-

dicated here will have a better knowledge of the’ structure of a

flowering plant than could be acquired by the “analysis and clas-

sification” of a dozen or more plants in the old way.

The last fifty pages constitute the guide to the examination and

description of plants.. Here again the student’s attention is di-

rected to finding out what the structure of the plant is, and little

or nothing is said about the matter of determining the plant's

place in any system of classification.

With the part of the book intended for the general reader we

have strictly nothing to do in this article; however, it may not

out of place to say that the author has presented in plain and

non-technical English the principal facts as to the structure of the

flowering and flowerless plants. Some errors of statement mar

e pages here and therë, due, doubtless, to hasty writing. Thus

“All dicotyledonous plants have open bundles” requires modifi-

cation ; so, too, the statement that the ducts in the rattan cane

afford a “free passage-way for the sap;” and that the large inter-

cellular spaces of aquatic plants are “for economizing material.”

—C. E. Bessey.

Algz

the bulletin of the Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. x1, possesses un-

usual interest. Certain Nostocaceous alge appear from the evi-

ce to have caused the death of many domestic animals which

drank of the waters of the lake at Waterville. The particular

Species which seems to have proved fatal is the Rrvularza fluitans

of Cohn. It occurs as little gelatinous balls “of the size of a tur-

nip seed,” studded with innumerable little points, giving them a

bur-like appearance. They were afterwards found in small quan-

tities in Lake Phalen, from which the water supply for the city

of St. Paul is obtained. In the words of the author, “This dis-

covery lends great additional interest to the real character of the

Waterville plant.” i

ENTOMOLOGY.’

_ Caprirication.—We referred in the June number to interest-

ing articles from Westwood and S. S. Saunders on the fig caprifi-

? This department is edited by Pror. C. V. RILEY, Washington, D. C., to whom

communications, books for notice, etc., may be sent.

878 General Notes. [August,

cators. The manner in which caprification or fertilization of the

cultivated fig is effected through these insects has often been

welt upon, and was discussed by the earliest writers. Three

important works have recently been published on the subject, one

by Solms-Laubach, one by Fritz Miller, and one by G. Arcan-

geli. Solms’ work! is the most exhaustive, and to give some

idea of the way in which the female flowers of the fig are fertilized

by the male flowers of the caprifig, we quote the following from

a notice of the work in Nature :

“With regard to caprification, it was known to the ancients

that an insect inhabits the fruit of the caprifig, and they also dis-

covered that the visits of this insect to the fruit of the fig exer-

cised some beneficial influence, either in accelerating ripening or

in hindering the fall of the fruit before it was ripe. Consequently

branches of the caprifig were hung on the fig trees at a certain

season to insure these visits, and effect what was termed caprifi-

cation. The insect that operates in this manner is a small hy-

menopter (Blastophaga grossorum Grav. syn. Cynips psenes Linn),

the complete annual cycle of development of which takes place

within the three crops of fruit of the caprifig, whilst only one gen-

eration visits the fig, and that, as will be seen, to no advantage to

the insect itself. In order to render what follows easily under-

stood, we will give the present Neapolitan names of the three

i i through the winter

crops of the caprifig. The fruits that hang a neha

of this generation visits not only the mammoni, es it her eggs

of the fig, if there are any at hand, in order to S that dhe it

Now, the remarkable fact in connection with per < er edible Pr

convey pollen to the female flowers, perishing in the ee ot

thermore, the insect that develops in the mammont depo finds an

in the mamme, and the generation proceeding therefrom end

asylum for its progeny in the profichi. Respecting yet. the

‘tion of the Blastophaga, Graf Solms claims to have wees the in-

portant discovery that the eggs must be deposited wit es

1 Die Herkunft, Domestication und Verbreitung des Gewohnlicher ne

‘(Ficus carica L.) Von Grafen zu Solms-Laubach. Göttingen, 1 oe

1883.] Entomology. 879

teguments of the ovule itself; otherwise they do not develop.

The fertility of the insect is astonishing, a very few of them being

able to pierce the numerous female flowers of a fruit of the capri-

fig. For this purpose the ovipositor is thrust between the branches

of the stigma, down the pollen channel of the style into the ovary,

and into the solitary ovule itself. This act causes a gall forma-

tion, whilst it does not prevent the development of the ovule into

an imperfect seed, which shelters and nourishes the larva that es-

capes from the egg.”

MIGRATIONS OF GALL-MAKING PLANT-LICE.— G. V. Horvath

(Revue d’ Entomologie, T. 11, 1883, pp. 64-7) has observed that

Pemphigus zee@-maidis Duf., which inhabits the roots of maize,

flies in autumn to adjoining elm trees, and in time produces the

winter egg, from which the following spring some gall-making

form hatches. Lichtenstein concludes that this must be Pemphi-

gus pallidus Hallid., which F. Low has shown to be synonymous

with Tetraneura alba Ratzb. The connection of the two insects

yet lacks proof, and seems improbable.

SAMIA CYNTHIA FEEDING ON THE SASSAFRAS AND TULIP TREE.!

which fed on ailanthus. Up to this time all appeared to have

gone well with them; but when, in December, the cocoons were

collected, I found, on cutting them open, that not one contained

a live chrysalis, and that the majority of the larvae had died before

turning to the pupa state. There were about 150 cocoons cut

open with the above result.

I found also that seventeen Cynthia cocoons, which I collected

from tulip trees, were in the same condition. No sign of insect

enemies appeared. The larva seemed to have shriveled up.—H.

H. Birney.

LicHTENSTEIN’s NOMENCLATURE OF THE VARIOUS PHASES PRE-

SENTED IN THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE APHIDIDH.—While the £n-

tomologists Monthly Magazine (March, 1882, p. 224) thinks proper

to publish a translation of my introduction to Adler's “ Cynipidz,”

e AMERICAN NaTURALIST considers my attempt to explain the

! Abstract of a read before the Biological Society of Washington, April 27.

paper

880 General Notes. [August,

biology of the Cynipidz as a very amusing illustration of the in-

sufficient and misleading nature of my theory regarding the evo-

lution of the Aphididz. Really, as the French poet says,

* * * Je n’avais mérité

ni cet espéce d’honneur, ni cette indignité, * * *

and as I consider the judgment of the entomologists of the new

world of great value, I trust friend Riley will allow me a few

words of explanation.

First of all, as I was already called in the French Academy at

Paris “Le Romancier du Phylloxera, because I had described the

curious migrations of Phylloxera quercus from one kind of oak to

another, I do not take the word “amusing” in its bad sense;

on the contrary, for the first quality in a novel writer is to amuse

his readers, and the second to be exact and truthful in his obser-

vations. :

Now, if I like to call winged females (?) (curious females laying

eggs or young ones without males) /arve and the eggs giving

birth to perfect imagos pupæ, whom do I harm? In the first lines

of my work, explaining my theory, I take care to say that I call

last envelope out of which issues the sexual imago. _

With this understanding I have described the evolution of many

plant-lice, and established a theory which, of course, meets paro

exceptions; but exceptions prove the rule, and one of the i

observers of plant-lice, Dr. Kessler, of Cassel, concludes his We

esting studies on the elm. gall-louse with the words: Es Mts

der Bestätigung der Lichtensteinschen Theorie über die Entwic

ords and not vi

time in deciding whether I would have done better to have calle

n their lectures

Biological of

Philosophical Societies of Washington, April, 1882) pace

n which

; , co

endeavor to explain by common illustrations MY Be

Pattie | æ in the same Way 2

Eaj the easiest

a p plant-lice B

to compare them to plants. ; die Forte

“Es ist also hier nicht anders zu schliessen als pap Aue

pflanzung dieser Insekten bloss durch ein pflanzen a

1883.]_ . : Zoölogy. 881

prossen in ihrem Leibe, und gleichsam durch Ableger geschehen

muss” (von Gleichen 1770).— F. Lichtenstein, Montpellier, France.

[We gladly make room for this communication from our es-

teemed friend without further argument at present. The letter

has been in hand for some time, and its publication delayed by

an oversight. ]

ZOOLOGY.

Nore on A PERIPATUS FROM THE IstHmMuS oF PAnaMa.—The

though with hesitation, to Peripatus edwardsii Blanchard. Grube’s

specimens came from Venezuela. The late Professor James

Orton collected a single specimen from the banks of the River

Napo, which I also referred in the above-mentioned note to P.

scribed species about four

seven pairs of legs), inhabits the Isthmus of Panama.

the Orton specimen now is I do not know. o

The accompanying drawing represents the Panama specimen ;

it was made by Mr. Emerton, and well represents the alcoholic

882 General Notes. : [August, :

specimen, the attitude not however being a natural one. Its color

was black-brown. The figure represents the specimen magnified

about three times. It had twenty-six pairs of feet. It may prove

to be distinct from the South American edwardsii or the West

Indian juliformis—A. S. Packard, Fr.

THE STRUCTURE AND EmsBryo.ocy oF Peripatus.—This link

between the worms and tracheate Arthropods has received much

attention of late, owing to the recent elaborate account of it by

Moseley, who brought from the Cape of Good Hope an abundance

of alcoholic specimens. The late Professor Balfour was engaged

just before his death in investigating the structure and embryol-

ogy of Peripatus capensis, with the view of publishing a complete

monograph of the genus. His drawings and notes have been

edited by Messrs. Moseley and Sedgwick, who publish them, with

an account of the external characters, generative organs and

velopment, prepared by themselves, in the Quarterly Journal of

Microscopical Science for April; it is a most important contribu-

tion to our knowledge of this interesting form. The drawings

are upon a large scale and materially assist in making the subject

clear. We will glean some extracts of more general interest

from the paper, as bearing both upon the generalized nature of

podat m

ner, to subserve mastication. * * * They are pe f

short papillæ, moved by an elaborate and powerful syste ae

muscles, which are armed at their free extremities by 4 p tial

points, similar to the claws borne by the feet, and n-

formed as thickenings of the cuticle. They have therefore ess%

tially the characters of the claws and jaws of the Arthr eee the

are wholly dissimilar to the seta of Chatopoda. rest satisfy

figures nor descriptions of the present paper would entirely Satin"?

f r by

1 Although this mass is called a tongue, it would appear to us, judging 5o fim

Figs. 5 and 7, to correspond rather to the membranous upper lip wy r of the buc-

ulus and Phyllopod Crustacea; the tongue in insects rests upon si gree above the

cal cavity, while this is represented as situated in advance of and ra

jaws. Compare also Balfour’s Embryology, p. 317.—4- S.

1883.] Zoölogy. 883

us as to the arthropodan nature of their teeth, but Professor

Moseley’s earlier memoir on the development of Peripatus, ap-

pears to us to indicate that they are the branch-homologues of the

mandibles of Arthropoda, the mouth-region of the adult Peri-

patus being somewhat degenerated as compared with the embry-

onic structure.

We have here also interesting descriptions of the histology of

the (for an Arthropod) strangely arranged nervous system, with

its two widely separated nervous cords. The account of the

trachez corroborates, in the main, Professor Moseley’s earlier

account. Says Balfour: “The apertures of the tracheal system

are placed in the depressions between the papilla or ridges of

the skin. Each of them leads into a tube, which I shall call the

tracheal pit (Fig. 30), the walls of which are formed of epithelial

cells bounded towards the lumen of the pit by a very delicate

cuticular membrane Foniatsui with the cuticle covering the sur-

face of the body. * Further investigation proved that

the trachee mai sii from the. slightly swollen inner ex-

tremity of the narrow part of the pit, the expanded walls of the

pit forming ~ pr pruneniat ep covering for the diverging bundles

of trachez. The trachez themselves are Regge!

minute, EN ii far as I could follow them) tube ch

opening by a separate aperture into the base of the tradida pit,

and measuring about 0.002™" in diameter. They exhibit a faint

Sada hg siratan which I take to be the indication of a spiral

fiber. Moseley states that the tracheæ arise from the

skin ‘all over the surface of the body, but are especially developed

in certain regions. He finds a ‘row of minute oval openings on

the ventral surface of the body,’ the openings being ‘ situate with

tolerable regularity in the centers of the interspaces between the

pairs of members, but additional ones occurring at irregular in-

tervals. Other similar openings occur in ve yeebeieng on the inner

side of the conical foot protuberance.’ * There is a

considerably more numerous than the legs. ` There is also a dou-

e row of openings, again more numerous than the legs on each

side of the median ventral line between the insertions of the legs.

Moseley speaks of a median row in this position. I think this must

be a mistake. * * * Both the dorsal and ventral rows are very

irregular.” A considerable number of openings were found around

the base of the feet, and the dorsal rows of tracheal apertures are

aan keg into the head and give rise to enormous bundles of

trac

he body-cavity is formed of three compartments—one central

and two lateral, the latter containing the “segmental organs,”

which are regarded as probably of an excretory nature and homol-

bony with the nephridia or segmental organs of the Chatopod

worms.

884 General Notes. [August,

Concerning the earliest phases of development of Peripatus,

which had not been treated of by Moseley, Balfour left some

drawings and sections, which, with other sections made from

material which he left, are worked out by Moseley and Sedgwick.

In a letter to Professor Kleinenberg he described the blastopore

as an elongated slit-like structure extending along nearly the

whole ventral surface; and further states, as the result of his ex-

amination of the few and ill-preserved embryos in his possession,

that the mesoblast appears to originate as paired outgrowths from

the lips of the blastopore.

The editors thus briefly summarize the more important facts of

the early development of Peripatus :

1. The greater part of the mesoblast is developed from the

walls of the archenteron.

2. The embryonic mouth and anus are derived from the respec-

tive ends of the original blastopore, the middle part of the blas-

topore closing up.

3. The embryonic mouth almost certainly becomes the adult

anus is in front of the position of the adult anus, but in all proba-

bility shifts back, and persists as in the adult anus.

4. The anterior pair of mesoblastic somites gives rise aes

swellings of the preoral lobes and to the mesoblast of the he i

Peripatus is indeed a remarkable type. Agreeing wi

lower worms in its pharynx, and especially its widely pl me

nerve cords, and with the annelids in its segmental organs; y is

trachee and the mode of its early embryonic developers

without doubt an Arthropod. As Balfour has stated, rats ji

embryo has procephalic lobes, and a glance at May bal

(Balfour’s Comparative Embryology, Fig. 169) shows cone +. te

kingdom.

m Pro-

cestral nature.—A. S, P.

Tue DEVELOPMENT or Renitta.—An abstract of

Wilson’s researches on the development of Renilla, 2

studying the mode of origin of the buds, he shows (“ haupt-

zodid”) is formed at an early stage as a median u ;

axial polyp, its function being to discharge water ri action

r by the a

of the sex-

TE ee A a a en ENAS

1883. ] Zoology. 885

effected by forcing the water to and fro. In this fact we find,

probably, the explanation of the very early appearance of buds

upon the axial polyp.”

| cts, of development, as far as they go, indicate the deri-

vation of Renilla from a form related to the Bathyptileæ, which

probably possessed a horny axis. Bilateral symmetry is strongly

exhibited both in the individual polyps and in the entire colony.

The author concludes that the bilateral environment determines

the bilateral structure.

Finally discussing the polymorphism of Renilla, the author

attempts to show that the zodids are probably not degenerate

polyps, but buds in a state of arrested development, whose direct

ancestors never possessed a more highly organized structure than

at present.

A new Parasitic Copepop CrusTacean.—During the summer

of 1880 and 1881 I received alcoholic specimens of a Caligus or

fish-louse, gathered from the skin of the “salmon”! inhabiting

Puget sound, Washington Territory.

form is convex, ovoid, color on dorsal surface dark rufous, on

A pe s

f Cali-

This

second abdominal segment measures 2™™ in length exclusive of the appendages, and

three-fifths of a millimeter at its widest diameter. After treating it with acetic acid it is

seen to consist of four distinct segments, This segment is cylindrical in form, slightly

tapering toward its tip. The mandibles of the buccal mass appear to two-jointed,

the basal joint probably movable, the second joint connate. The first maxilliped is

provided with a knob-like lateral process on the penultimate joint. This process is

ansversely ruled with parallel rugose lines, rendering it fit for trituration, The

large hooked spine, the outer branch of the first maxilliped, is present and is of the

same form as in Caligus americanus. secon i i

has the shape of a short, thick, hexapodous mandible, is deeply cleft at its middle.

The first pair of maxillipeds is two-jointed ; instead o ensiform extension it is

furnished with a sharp tooth at the inner side near the middle of the second joint.

This second joint terminates with a longer and a shorter blade-like flat bristle edged

i ow illi as a very

joint, the claw. The second pair of natatory legs its second joint continuous

h superior or outer branch. interior or inner branch is not connate with

second, but with the first joint of the superior branch. The inferior branch has

uperi as four long and three shorter pinnulæ and

several larger spines.. Not too much stress should be put on such inferior charac-

ters, as I have met with two i mericanus having also eight

femal

pinnulæ on the inferior branch of the same leg.

1 Probably the “ blue-back salmon.” See AMER. NATURALIST,1881, p. 177, “ Ob-

servations on the salmon of the Pacific,” by D. S. Jordan and Ch. H. Gilbert.

Amer. Four. Sci. and Arts, 18

886 General Notes. [August,

Length = female 934™™, exclusive of the egg-tubes; width across the widest part

f thorax about 414™™, Len ngth of the egg-tubes 15™™, their diameter 2™™, Twen-

tv-three fiche specimen

Caligus Perey as we may call it, appears to be closely allied

to C. productus Dana. No male specimens observed. The size

of the specimens were remarkably uniform, only a trifling differ-

ence could be noticed. The shape of the foliaceous abdominal

appendages as well as ; the arrangement of their sete are better

understood by an illustration than by a description. The visual

l j

yaa

1 3

Mii

ae pacificus, female

Mia 1.—Caligūs pacificus, dorsal view of ane rage twice enlarged, _ He pa He

ominal segment, about thirteen times enlar ged, ventral view; ? ith with which

pre Å, yan yellow (cement?) g pont 30, orifice on a minute et y vi

the external egg-tube connects, exit of oviduct ; af, aA Second

ifice (?); ig, gland; c, “ false ovais : ch, chitinous bead. ý doe ee

abdominal segment with appendages, Fic 4.—Fifth h leg of posterior i “i mandible.

ment; 4a, margin enlarged showing a kvalia ringe. a gri gt

Fic. lk pe ois maxilliped. Fic. 7.— Right third maxiliped Fi i6. —Eye; %

second maxi , Fari view, Fic G. 9.— jar 9 maxilliped. Fi. 10. :

anterior; 4, pain side,

organ consists te two large lateral and two minute poles

masses of pigment. A semilunar larger refractive body Ya in

the posterior median mass of pigment. Two very 5 ral sur-

drical vesicles are invariably seen juxtaposed on the ve frst

face and in the median line of the posterior terminus 9f

1883.] Zodlogy. 887

abdominal segment. They are of a dark yellow color and are

may be the true sexual orifices. The oviduct and the so-called

“false ovaries ” do not differ from the description and illustration

given by Dana and Pickering (C. americanus). A pair of smaller

roundish “ glands” occurs a little behind the middle of the intes-

tinal tract. Another pair of larger roundish masses, of a yellow

color, occurs more laterally and more posteriorly than the pre-

ceding. They may secrete the material for the egg-tubes.

ZOOLOGY AT THE NAPLES Sration.—The third volume of the

briefer papers and memoirs emanating from the zoological station

at Naples, dated 1882, form a thick octavo volume entitled Mitt-

heilungen aus der Zoologischen Station zu Neapel. One of the

more notable articles is that in continuance of Dr. Lang’s re-

searches on the comparative anatomy and histology of the ner-

vous system of the flat-worms; also his paper on the structure of

Gunda. To Ceelenterate literature belong A. Weissmann’s paper

on a peculiar organ of Eudendrium racemosum; Bedot's notice of

the Siphonophores of the Gulf of Naples; Andres on a case of

scissiparity in an Actinia; G. v. Koch’s notice of the Neapolitan

Gorgonians and the development of Gorgonia verrucosa ; and his

essay on the development of the coral-stock. A parasitic Eunice-

like worm is described by J. W. Sprengel. The Crustacea have been

treated by Kossmann in his ron the Entomiscidz, and his

studies on the Notodelphyidz. A contribution to ichthyology by

. Emery; and Dr. Dohrn's valuable studies on the primitive his-

tory of the vertebrate body are the more purely zoological con-

tributions,

Tue ELECTRIC ORGANS OF THE TorrEDo.—Professor Fritsch

absent in the torpedo, while the pacific organs are developed in

their place. In the first stage of its development the structure of

the electric organ is similar to that of embryonic muscle, as dis-

tinct longitudinal striae and traces of transverse striation are

evident.

KING-BIRDS, TYRANNUS INTREPIDUS, FEEDING THEIR YOUNG UPON

Fruit—In the summer of 1880 a pair of king-birds had their

nest in the orchard, and during the season they e very

familiar, and frequently alighted on the shrubbery around the

888 General Notes. [August,

house. When the fruit of the bush honeysuckle, Diervilla trifida,

began to ripen in June, the old birds visited the shrub often and

ate very freely of the berries and carried a liberal supply to

their young. During the last four days that the nestlings were

cenfined at home, a large share of their food furnished by their

parents consisted of this fruit, and as soon as the young were

able to fly they were conducted by their parents to the bush and

for several days honeysuckle fruit formed the greater part of their

food.

So tame did these birds become that the whole family would

occupy the bush for twenty minutes or half an hour at a time and |

eat fruit until I almost wondered where the little ones could store

away so much, while the inmates of the house stood or sat in the

doorway within four or five feet of them. We did not attempt to

drive them away but much enjoyed their company, and this fam-

ily of intrepid flycatchers continued to be frugivorous until the

bush was gleaned, occasionally sandwiching the fruit with insects

which attempted to pass. '

I had observed the same act in previous years, and have since,

but this was the most persistent fruit-eating of this kind that

have noticed. , ;

have repeatedly seen the young birds feed upon the wild soft

fruits of the pasture before and after leaving the nest,—Llisha

Slade, Somerset, Mass,

Bischoff showed that the development of the labia majora 1n g

constitutes a mark of distinction between man and the apes. <

the orang only are they found in a rudimental condition. From

an evolutionary standpoint their presence in man 1s dou

to the assumption of the erect position, which crowded

nal genitalia into a narrower space and produced the a

fold in question. ig

Blanchard in the Bulletin of the Socété Zodlogique de Frat

describes the extraordinary development of the nymphe m a

bushwomen of South Africa, and gives chromolithographs

them copied from the drawings of Lesueur. oe

Bischoff has examined the characteristics of the Fuegian * i

the exter-

dditional

rope, and is inclined to think that this is their normal condition" ae

ate during the colder half of the year, and that in the a per

countries of Europe this function is often performed at 1 ervals

of two or three months. of sav-

He thinks the constant work which oecupies the women :

11883, p. 34.

1883.] Leilogy. 885

age races and the poor of Europe, reduces the size of the foetus

and causes easy parturition.

In a paper on the cyclical development and the relationships of

the Siphonophora, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History

for March, C. Chun regards Monophyes primordialis as the stem-

form of the siphonophores ; how certain other genera have arisen

from this form is indicated; the very thoughtful essay is not of a

nature to be condensed.

meters; the other off the south of Spain, at 400 meters. The

last is exactly like a Pliocene species that occurs in Italy. These

and many other observations tend to show that a great number of

Pliocene forms yet exist in the depths, and that the Pliocene,

Quaternary and recent epochs are intimately related, and consti-

tute a homogeneous period quite distinct from the Miocene.

Arthropods.—In his contributions to the history of the fresh-

water Copepoda, Mr. F. W. Cragin describes with much detail and

with good figures some of our American species of Cyclops ob-

served at Cambridge, Mass. Several descriptions are from the

Russian, but the object of introducing them into the present paper

is not made plain, as it is not stated whether they inhabit North

America or not; neither are the Russian localities given-———At

a recent meeting of the Linnean Society Sir John Lubbock read a

paper upon the “sense of color amongst some of the lower

Animals.” He said some years ago M. Paul Bert made a series

of interesting experiments with the common Daphnia, or water-

flea, and he thought himself justified in concluding that its limits

of vision were the same as our own. Ina previous communica-

tion, however, he had shown that at the violet end of the spec-

trum the eyes of the Daphnia are affected by light which we were

unable to perceive. More recently he had made further experi-

ments, from which he concluded that the Daphniz are able to dis-

890 General Notes. l [August,

tinguish yellow and green light, and that they prefer either to

white light. No such result was given with blue or red solutions,

In such cases the Daphniz always preferred the uncovered half

of the trough in which the experiments were made. It was, of

course, impossible absolutely to prove that these creatures per-

ceived colors; but these experiments certainly showed that rays

of various wave-iengths produced distinct impressions on their

eyes; that they preferred rays of light of such wave-lengths as

produce upon our eyes the impression of green and yellow. On

the whole, he concluded that Daphnia can distinguish not only

different degrees of brightness, but also differences of color—

The paper of Csokor on the pig Demodex (D. phylloides) has been

translated into the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute by Pro-

fessor R. R. Wright. These mites cause the formation of subcu-

taneous abscesses frequently as large as a hazel nut. Its occur-

rence in Canada was announced by Wright in the NATURALIST for

December last.

pearing in the Proceedings of the United States National gree

r 1882. Eurypharynx pelecanoides, according to the i ree

tions copied from the Magasin Pittoresque, is certainly one cupy-

most singular of earth’s inhabitants. The head is short, sp

ing about an inch and a quarter out of the more than pe gio:

inches of the length of the fish, yet the mouth is capable ot € ns

mous dilatation from the structure of the jaws. The suspensor gee

ium is exceedingly long, and the mandible, of two ee back,

ures about four inches. Thus the articular angle lies o jong

along the side of the body. The upper jaw consists O ruken-

and slender stylet, probably the intermaxillary——Hertt ically

berg, of Heidelberg, has studied chemically and specie ae

the different pigments that he has extracted from the Spt |

birds. Most of these are red or yellow; green pigments :

TE Physiology. - 891

sively vegetable diet. The green color so common in birds is

due to an admixture of a yellow pigment (Psittacofulvine Kru-

kenberg) with a dark brown one; and Herr Krukenberg states

that no blue, white, or green pigment can be found among the

parrots. He believes that all the darker pigments are derived

from one substance, probably identical with Coriosulphurine,

which is thus the most widely spread pigment in birds’ feathers

The spring birds of Nebraska are enumerated, with notes, by

A. Hall in Forest and Stream——Mr. H. F. Osborn gives in

Science, for May 25, the results of an examination of the fetal

membranes taken from a female opossum which had been cap-

tured within a few days after impregnation. From this and other

Specimens and facts, Osborn concludes that the so-called false

chorion of some of the lower placental mammals in the marsupials

functions as a true chorion, ż. e. the functions of the allantois in

the placental mammals are, in a rudimentary way, performed by

the yelk-sac in the marsupials. “Finally, some genera of the mar-

Supials probably show the attachment of the allantois to the sub-

zonal membrane, which is the first step towards the establishment

of an allantoic placenta.”

PHYSIOLOGY."

Locomotor System or Mepus#.—Mr. G. J. Romanes con-

cludes his observations of the locomotor system of Meduse—

observations which throw a new light upon rhythmic action gen-

erally. He believes rhythmic action to be a primary endowment

of contractile tissue, the excitability of which under the constant

stimulation of the element it exists in is alternately exhausted

and restored. The action of ganglia is superimposed on this, and

is timed so as to coincide with the normal pulsatile action of the

muscular tissue. Muscular tones he attributes to a higher irrita-

bility in the structure than is possessed by rhythmic tissues.

Tue Ortcix oF Fat in THE Bopy.—In Pfliiger’s Archiv, Bd.

31, P. 11, Dr. Lebedeff tries to show that the common view

t May arise in the body as a decomposition product of albu-

minous matter, is erroneous. Dead bodies, under certain condi-

* This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

VOL, XVII.—No,. VIII 60

892 _ General Notes. [ August, í. :

tions, seemed to have their nitrogenous tissues replaced by a fatty

substance, adipocere. In phosphorous poisoning the nitrogenous _

tissues, particularly the liver, undergo a fatty degeneration. Itis _

usually taught that the fat arises in these cases from the decom-

position of tissue proteid, but Lebedeff seeks to prove thatthe

fat found in the “ degenerated ” organs has made its way to them

from the surrounding connective tissue, out of which it has been

dissolved, to be again laid down ina less soluble combination,

The disappearance of the proteid matter is due to an independent —

disintegration. The fat of the milk is not made by the proto- |

plasm of the mammary gland cells, but comes ready formed to

them from the blood. The view of nutrition, according to which

proteid food by its physiological decomposition gives rise to fat

in the body, has little experimental support.

Tue Formation of Mirx.— Schmidt-Mihlheim denies the —

truth of the view that the formation of part of the milk obtained q

from a cow begins only with the process of milking, and that the a

udder is too small to accommodate all the fluid which may be 7

obtained at one milking. The secretion as it is produced in the .

gland cells of the udder is forced gradually into the milk recep-

tacles, but leaves much of its fat clinging to the walls of the 2:

gland ducts whence it is gradually washed off during the process .

of milking, hence the milk which is last drawn is richest in pe i

there is no evidence, however, that the chemical propo

the fluid vary with different periods of secretion. Even alter

most thorough milking, some fluid still remains in the milk ~ :

whence it is driven into the milk reservoirs by the newly for shee

secretion pushing from behind, and may then be obtained a ae

the lapse of an hour. |

_ INTERACTION oF THE SpinaL Nerve Roorts.— Mr. Ka :

lays bare the spinal cord of a frog and divides all the nen :

upon one side except a single pair. He then lays the antemi

or motor root of this pair upon electrodes, and finds the stre me

of the electrical current, which is just too feeble to excite a pe pair

lar contraction. He then cuts the sensory root of the ae 5

and finds that the induction current now causes strong CO po

tions when applied to the anterior root. It seems from, ‘bility do

as if cutting the posterior root had increased the irritaDly”

the motor branch. fi

CHEMICAL DIFFERENCE or Livinc AND DEAD Mr -

Loew concludes, as the result of a long series of exper

capable of reducing silver salts, and therefore that the me .

forms a part.

NUTRITION OF THE Froc’s HEART.—*

vascular frog heart two groups of muscular fibers W

* In the not

ith different

1883.] Physiology. 893

the fissures, lets the blood penetrate into the substance of the

heart, and reddens the heart-wall; while the action of the sec-

ond group of muscles produces systole and diastole of the heart.

Now the actions of these two kinds of muscles—the heart-vessel

muscles and the proper heart-muscles—are not simultaneous and

similar under the influence of local stimuli, removal of the brain,

section of the spinal cord in different places, and poisons ; some-

times the heart-walls were observed to be pale in diastole and

deep red in systoles, and there were various other local differen-

ces of behavior. This led the author to seek also an anatomical

difference of the two groups of muscles, and he found one such

on microscopical examination, for the proper heart-muscle fibers

were cross-striped throughout and had long cell nuclei, whereas

in the others the cross-striping did not comprise the whole width

of the fibers, and the nuclei were oval. ith this anatomical

difference the different mode of reaction of the two kind of

muscles and their different function is intelligible —Nature.

EFFECT OF PROLONGED HUNGER UPON THE BLOOD CORPUSCLES.

—In May, 1881, a Mr. John Griscom, of Chicago, commenced a

fast of forty-five days. The author (Lester Curtis, of Chicago)

was invited by the “ managers” to make any investigations that

he pleased, and after satisfying himself that the fast was to be

conducted honestly, he chose the blood as a subject of study.

The first examination made, at the commencement of the fast,

shortly after the patient had eaten his last meal, showed the red

corpuscles abundant, bright-colored, pure in appearance, regular

and smooth in outline. Four days afterwards two kinds were

This improvement was not lost during the remainder of the fast,

though the abnormal appearance to some extent returned.—

aioe :

894 General Notes, [August,

PSYCHOLOGY.

THe ENGLISH SPARROW 1N CanapDA.—My first observation of

the English sparrow in Canada was in 1874. In June of that year

a pair was observed about the out-houses, and in a few days they

became quite familiar, having evidently made up their minds to

stay with us. I made them welcome for old acquaintance sake,

and thinking they would make good settlers was about to put up

a house for them, but before my well-meant intentions were car-

ried out it became apparent that they were providing for them-

selves in a manner quite characteristic.

On a peak of the stable was a box occupied by a pair of swal-

lows who were at this time engaged in rearing their young, 4

of this box the sparrows seemed determined to get possession.

The swallows resisted their attacks with great spirit, and, their =,

outcries bringing a host of friends to their assistance, the intrud-

ers were for a time driven off, but it was only to return again with

renewed energy and perseverance. The swallows were now sorely

from the place, leaving the sparrows in undisputed possession

the box, and there they remained and raised some young ones

during the summer. oe

In the spring of the following year the numbers had incr

and they began to roost under the veranda round the house,

which brought frequent complaints from the sanitary departm ie

and a protest was made against their being allowed to lodge there

at all. Still, in view of the prospective riddance of insect aie

from the garden, matters were arranged with the least es

disturbance to the birds, and we even stood by and saw them ¢ a

lodge a pair of house wrens who had for years been in pose

of a box fixed for them in an apple tree in the garden. So the nie -

ond year wore on, no farther notice being taken of the sparrow"

except that they were getting more numerous. fte >

I had missed the sprightly song and lively manners ee

wrens, and in the spring when they came round agam,

their usual industrious manner. They had only enjoy

sion for two days, however, when they were again QIS

1883.] Psychology. 895

Again the intruders were killed off, and domestic felicity reigned

for three days, when a third pair of sparrows came along, bent

the same object, and, if possible, more overbearing and determined

than their predecessors. This time I thought of a different mode

of accomplishing the object in view, and taking down the box at

night, nailed a shingle over the end and worked it flush round the

edges ; with a centre bit a hole was then pierced just large enough

to admit the wrens, but too small for the sparrows, and the box

put back in its place. Early in the morning the assault was re-

newed, but the wrens found at once that they were masters of the

situation, and never were two birds more delighted. From his

perch aloft the male poured forth torrents of scorn and ridicule,

while the female inside the box fairly danced with delight, and I

almost fancied was making faces at their enemy as he strug

ineffectually to gain admission or sullenly, but fruitlessly, tried to

widen the aperture.

Shortly after this dispute was settled I noticed ten or twelve

sparrows quietly at work at the grave vine, and, feeling pleased

at the havoc they were apparently making among the insects,

passed on, speculating mentally on the probable increase of fruit

I would have. In the afternoon they had moved to another trel-

lis, and I thought, “ Well, they are doing the work systematically

and, no doubt, effectually.” But shortly afterwards, while pass-

ing the trellis where they commenced, a slight débris of greenery

was observed along under the vines. This led to an examination,

which showed, to my intense mortification, that the heart ha

been eaten out of every fruit bud where the birds had been, and

nothing left but the outside leaves. The report of firearms was

heard several times in the garden that afternoon, many dead and

wounded sparrows were left to the care of the cats, and every

crevice where the birds were known to breed closed up at once.

Since then the wrens have kept possession of their box, and

with a little attention I can keep the sparrows out of the garden,

as they find plenty of provender round the stables; but they are

still on the increase, and if this continues in the future as in the

past, the time is not far distant when the streets and stable yards

will not furnish food enough for the increased numbers, and there

is no question but they will then betake themselves to the ficids

and gardens and take whatever suits them. This is the serious

view of the subject which has called for legislation in other coun-

tries, and may do so here unless some unexpected check arises

to prevent the necessity for it.

In the mean time it is well that all parties having opportunity

should take notes of the movements and increase of the birds for

future consideration —TJ. Mc/iwraith. Hamilton, C. W.

_Instinct or Reasoning Powers IN THE Horse.—Not long

Since a fine blooded mare was brought here from Kentucky and

896 General Notes. [ August,

placed in pasture, and the owner, not expecting her to foal, took

no particular care of her.

A couple of days ago she foaled while in the pasture and sur-

rounded by many other horses, which made so much over her

difficulty that she, being frightened, ran, with her weakling fol-

lowing after as best she could, in hopes to shelter herself and off-

spring from the torments of the herd.

In her excitement she made for the Floyd, a stream running

through the pasture, some thirty yards in width, which she

plunged into and swam to the opposite shore; the colt following,

but lacking strength, did not succeed in leaving the stream, but

with great tenacity of life clambered into some willows which —

grew on shore, and there remained, apparently “ hanging on for

like mad, attracted the attention of the workmen who, when they

noticed her particular desire that they should follow her—by her

NINE great joy when they did—went to the stream and rescued

the colt.

The mare showed them great kindness until she had recovered

her offspring, when she became instantly very vicious and wo

not allow one of the rescuers to approach her.—D. H. Talbot.

How SNAKES APPROACH AND SWALLOW THEIR Prey.—Speaking

of snakes and their elastic throat capacity, it occurs to me a

sixty years as naturalist and half a century as taxidermist wou

most likely bring several points of interest under an eye not to-

tally blind. By practice a man will sit or stand motionless pee

than he can at first believe possible, and it is only when this a

is acquired that animals are fully over-reached. They seem

recognize life in a great measure only by motion. j a

I have had a creature touch my coat with his nose and pass

only a little suspicious. I have had a humming bird hang sus-

pended within a foot of my own nose for half a mi!

me squarely in the eye, and as I did not even wins,

There is no perceptible movement. One little sp :

moves, while all the rest is fixed. The head moves 9y oe a

petus from the tail perhaps, and when striking distance is pa a

is i se

the muscles are gathered for the final spring. z apg is

no regard to what part of the object is reached. If down

caught, as is often the case, by a hind leg, that lee ae tches 2 ‘

first, while the body follows ina bunch. If a sna

1883. | Anthropology. 897

neighbor by the head, as the water snake lately referred to was

caught, he goes down head first; if caught by the middle, as I

once knew to be done, he is swallowed double, and in this case

the swallower was but six inches longer than the swallowed.

The seven red squirrels I took from the body of my black snake

followed each other head first. a most positive evidence of fasci-

nation, since it is hardly possible that such unbroken succession

could be the result of any other process. But the snake is not

the only creature that swallows “big things.” I once cut from

the throat of a hawk the foot, leg, shoulders, and shoulder blade

entire of a muskrat. I once took from the neck of a merganser

a sucker thirteen inches long whose head girth was double that

of the duck. I cut from the throat of a heron a chicken as large

as a woodcock, and sat almost an hour as “crowner's quest” be-

foreit got through my thick skull what those soft yellow feet and

bill belonged to. This capacity for extension is common among

birds and reptiles, owing to the flexibility of the posterior con-

nection of jaws or mandibles, they being held together by muscu-

lar contraction, and not by articular joints as in mammals; dis-

ae does not produce dislocation.—2. Horsford in Forest and

tream.

BATTLE oF Ravens.—The Frankfurt (Germany) Journal writes :

The gardener, Mr. Georgius, from Ginnheim, called at our office to-

day with a chest full of dead ravens, victims of a battle which was

fought high in the air among a flock of over four hundred of these

birds near the above-mentioned village. The ravens formed to-

gether into three detachments, and as if at a given signal flew at

each other, and with savage cries seemed as if they would tear

each other’s eyes out or their heads off with their beaks. he

ground was soon covered with the bodies of over fifty birds, which

were picked up by observers. Wounds on other parts of the body

except the head could not be found. The blows on the head ap-

peared on close observation to have been given with such force

that one was sufficient to destroy life. The cause of the battle

was doubtless the fact that the pairing season of the birds was

near at hand. Not only the males but also the females partici-

ay in the fight, as bodies of the latter were found among the

slain.

ANTHROPOLOGY. !'

THe Society oF AmeRICAaNIsTs.—The Congrès International

des Américanistes will be held in Copenhagen, 21-24 August,

under the patronage of Christian IX. Letters should be addressed

to M. W. A. Carstensen, general secretary. All persons interes-

ted in early American history, by paying twelve francs, may be-

come members, and will receive the published volume. The sum

should be remitted to M. Tietgen, directeur de la Banque privee

lEdited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

898 General Notes. [August,

de Copenhague. The programme includes the following sub-

jects:

HISTORY AND GEOLOGY.

The rasan of N. America by European este glee

The colonization of Greenland by the Northm

Mexican Calpullis, their administration and pie munism

ead d systems of Mexico Psi Peru before the conquest,

Critical examination of the Popol Vuh.

Grater of the kingdoms of Cezco, Trujillo and Quito, as to their sei legis-

lation, language, architecture, oe &e

Catalogue "ola ncient Peruvian divin

Migrations of the Carib race and their limits i in S. America.

ARCHÆOLOGY

Kjokkenmoddings sA Serenan pm other parts 4 America,

Sacred symbols fou

Religious and sablë atk iia of pinsaia types of idols, &c., in Peru.

Classification of the monuments of Per

oe: Pana haa Pee AND ETHNOGRAPHY,

itg Pan

he Dadia of N. America and of Western Asia piset

LINGUISTICS AND PALÆOGRAPHY.

ing.

Ditarik anguages on the coast and in ihi mountains compared.

THE SOCIETE p’ETHNOGRAPHIE.—In the excitement of pree

prosperity we must not forget the pioneers of our science. j

Société d’Ethnographie of Paris has just celebrated its. twenty

fourth anniversary. Its history may be briefly indicate th

Société d’Ethnographie Américaine et Orientale, s 14ta

March, 1859, incorporated 26th April. oe

Société d’ Ethnographie, this title assumed and recognized by

the government 28th September, 1864.

The society took Sen in the Exposition Universelle de ander

1867 ; Congrès international des sciences Ethnographiques, un

the patronage of the government, 1878. 8 =

The society founded the Institution Ethnographique, 107 r o

The society recognized as an institution of public utility,

The general secretary i is M. Leon de Rosny.

what

Fork Lore.—The folk tales of a peopie are to sociologi tech-

myths are to religion and stone implements to the history a

nology. Societies for the collection of these tales ana My is the

exist in various places, but the most active among :

Folk Lore Society of London. The hic Aaa are as

1878. The Folk Lore Record, Vol. 1. (For members and the

1879. Notes on the Folk Lore of the northern estas a p England

rdaers,

The Folk Lore Record, Vol. 11. (For members only.)

1883.] Anthropology. 899

1880, Aubrey’s Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme, with the additions,

The Folk Lore Record, Vol. 111, Pts. I and 11.

1881. Notes on the Folk Lore of the northeast of Scotland.

The Folk Lore Record, Vol. tv.

1882. The Folk Lore Record, Vol. v.

1883. Folk Medicine

Fol

Address G. Laurence Gomme, F.S.A, 2 Park Villas, Lonsdale

road, Barnes, S. W. London, England.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL Society oF Lyons.—The Anthropological

Society of Paris occupies such a prominent position among the

students of humanity, that other brilliant workers in the republic

are overlooked. All the world have heard of Chantre, Faure,

Guimet, Julien, Lacassagne, Lortet and Secard, founders of the

Société d'Anthropologie de Lyon, in 1881. The first volume of

the Bulletin covers the years 1881 and 1882.

THE TRENTON GRAVELS.—Dr. C. C. Abbott has contributed to

, Most wonderful of all, of a human wisdom tooth taken from

the undisturbed gravel nearly fourteen feet under the surface.

LECTURES on AntHRopotocy.—Dr. E. B. Tylor delivered two

lectures on anthropology at Oxford, February 15th and 21st, the

first of which is reported in Nature of May 3d. There is no

European anthropologist more popular in our country than Dr.

Tylor, and for this reason a few of his salient utterances are

quoted without comment: :

“The processes of development, or evolution, or transformism,

operation of natural causes, became modified or transformed into

the several races adapted for life in the various climates of the

earth.

900 General Notes. [ August,

“The discovery that men were already making rude flint im-

plements in the Quaternary period has made a new scientific de-

parture, placing primeval man in the hands of the geologists.”

To cross the border into the animal kingdom, and to see how

One species is transformed into another, we have only to look at

Huxley’s series of horses: “ Zodlogists, thus enabled to recon-

struct ideally the ancestry of the horse, are hopeful some day to

discover likewise the fossil pedigree of the rider.

“ Anthropologists do not feel, therefore, that their science has

been plucked up by the roots and planted somewhere else; it is

growing where it is only cultivated higher than in old times.

Dr. Tylor next discusses craniology,and shows what is its true

place in anthropology. The vexed question of philology, and its

credibility as a witness of blood relationship is very cautiously

handled. Regarding the hair, Dr. Tylor says: “ The cross sec-

tion of a single hair examined microscopically by Pruners

method shows it circular, oval, or reniform ; its follicle-curvature

may be estimated by the average diameter of the curls as pro-

posed by Moseley; its coloring matter may be estimated by

Sorby’s method. The wonder is that a single bodily character

should form a basis for rationally mapping out the divisions of

mankind. It is now well understood that the causes of race

color are not so simple as Hippocrates thought when he de-

scribed the nomad Scythians as burned tawny by cold.” The

in those regions where they are wild. Thus the negrp nei

originated not in Africa but in Andaman and New Guinea, waei

resented by the Egyptian and the Chinese is traced.

MICROSCOPY.’

ROSE BENGALE IN COMBINATION WITH IODINE GREEN AND

DE Lyon.—Rose bengale, according to Griesbach,? is the ain

of the eosine dyes. An aqueous solution is very use l z 5 the

ing chromic acid preparations of the spinal cord, as it CO RE

gray substance much more strongly than the white substan

1 Edited by Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Newton Highlands, Mass.

2? Zool. Anzeiger, Vi, No. 135, p: 172;

Breu

1883.] Microscopy. go!

Rose bengale may be used in combination with iodine green

bleu de lyon (two parts alcohol abs. and three parts aqua dest.)

and left for a few seconds, then replaced in the absolute alcohol

preparatory to mounting.

DOUBLE STAINING WITH ANILINE Dyes.—-Dr. Vincent Harris

contributes to the last number of the Quarterly Journal of Micro-

scopical Science (Vol. xxi11, No. 90, p. 292) a valuable article on

the use of aniline dyes in double staining. His experiments were

made with solutions of definite strength in regular sequence, and

confined to blood-corpuscles. The method of experiment finally

adopted was as follows: The blood was spread in thin layers upon

cover-glasses and allowed to dry in direct sunlight. The dried

blood was then wet with a few drops of some dye, and after five

minutes washed with a slow stream of water from a wash-bottle ;

it was then dried in the flame of a spirit-lamp and allowed to cool.

A second dye was then applied in the same way ; and after wash-

ing the preparation was mounted in balsam, without having re-

course to alcohol and clove oil. :

The following combinations of dyes were found to give good

results :

Roseine and iodine n.

Fuchsine and methylene blue.

Fuchsine and Bismarck brown.

Methyl violet and methylene blue.

Roseine followed by iodine green stained the colored corpus-

cles a bright red, with bluish-green nuclei; and the colorless cor-

puscles were so stained that three varieties could be readily dis-

tinguished. =

Fuchsine and methylene formed a very successful combination.

The methylene blue was used as a saturated solution in absolute

alcohol. Pee

Bismarck brown was prepared as a two per cent solution in

dilute alcohol. In the nae of this dye, it was found best to im-

merse the preparation twenty to thirty hours, as the color then

remains even when passed through alcohol and clove oil.

An aqueous solution of Hoffman’s violet was used with a dilute

Spirit solution of Bismarck brown.

The green dyes are not permanent. The solutions should be

quite fresh in order to secure successful results,

* Regarded as identical with Bismarck brown.

[August,

General Notes.

902

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1883 ] Scientific News, G03

_TsRetFatt’s Metuop oF Fixing Secrions.—Mr. Threlfall has

discovered a method for fixing sections on the slide which will

be found superior to that of Frenzel, described in the July num-

ber of this journal.

“A thin solution of caoutchouc in benzine or chloroform is

prepared and poured over the slide so as to forma film in the

same way that collodium is poured on a photographic plate.

When the film is dry the sections are arranged on it, and the tem-

perature of the slide raised to the melting point of paraffine; the

sections then fall on to the India rubber film which has become

sufficiently sticky to adhere to them perfectly. When the slide is

cold it is treated with naphtha or any light paraffine oil, the sol-

vent action being more rapid the lower the boiling point of the

oil used.

Absolute alcohol is readily miscible with the naphtha or light

paraffine, so that the solvent is readily removed. The slide can

now placed in successive alcohols, stained and returned to

absolute alcohol. It is now to be cleared with creosote or oil of

cloves and mounted in the ordinary way. Apart from the great

advantage of being able to stain on the slide, this India rubber

method seems to possess some points of superiority over the

shellac method of Giesbrecht, Zool. Anzeiger, 1881. This depends

on the fact that sections can be mounted iu balsam direct from the

naphtha—Zool. Anzeiger, No. 140, p. 300, 188}.

—:0:——

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Baron Nordenskjold’s expedition to Greenland started last

week in the Sofia, under the command of Captain Nilsson, and a

crew of thirteen hands. Baron Nordenskjold is accompani

Dr. Nathorst, geologist; Dr. Berlin, surgeon and botanist; Dr.

Forsstrand, zovlogist; Dr. Hamberg, hydrographer; two Lap-

landers, two Norwegian ice-masters, one harpooner, and Herr

Kolthoff as assistant zoologist, with Herr Kjellstrom as typogra-

pher and photographer. The Sofa carries provisions sufficient

for a sojourn of fourteen months on the inland ice, assuming that

the interior of Greenland is covered by ice. The Sofia had as

passengers to Iceland Count Stromfeldt, Dr. Arpi, and Herr Flink,

who intend staying in the island for some time for the purposes

of study and collecting.

— M. Fredericq, of Liege, says the English Mechanic, lately

put several aquatic coleoptera (including the great water beetle

in aqueous solutions of curare and strychnine in poisonous quan-

tity. A few drops of these liquors sufficed to poison a frog in a

few minutes. The insects, however, lived in them, some more

than a fortnight, others nearly a month (when the experiment was

concluded). These Coleoptera are certainly sensible to the action

of curare and strychnine, and the absence of symptoms of poison-

904 Scientific News. [Augast;

ing in the present case must be (the author says) because the ab-

sorption by the surface of the body and the mouth was #4. M.

lateau has previously observed that aquatic Coleoptera kept in

sea water do not absorb its salts

— The first Walker prize for 1883 was awarded to Howard

Ayres, of Harvard University, for an essay on the embryology of

CEcanthus niveus, the tree cricket. It will be seen in our adver-

tising pages that besides the regular Walker prize, the Boston

Society of Natural History, through the generosity of a member,

also offers a first prize of from $60 to $100 and a second prize of

$50 on the following subject: A study of the venation of the hind

wings of Coleoptera, with illustrations of all the families of Le

Conte’s and Horn’s classification.

— Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, N. J, has destroyed another

old belief in weather lore. For twenty years he has kept a rec-

ord of the building of their winter houses by the muskrats, the

storing of nuts by squirrels, and other habits of the mammals

which are commonly regarded as indicating the character of the

coming winter. His conclusion is that the habits referred to have

no connection with the rigor or mildness of the approaching

season.

— It is stated that five perfect human fossils have been discov-

ered in a cavern at the mines of Bully-Grenay, in the north

France. Weapons and utensils of stone and wood were found

along with them. The remains have been taken to the towns of

Lens and Lille, and invitations sent to the Academy of Sciences

and the British Museum soliciting the attendance of some ex-

perts.

— The Balfour memorial fund will probably yield an annual

income of £300, which it has been agreed shall be applied in <

dowing a studentship of original research in biology, and in mak-

ing occasional grants of money in aid ‘of similar investigations,

especially in animal morphology. >

— By a slip of the pen Professor W. W. Bailey said riha

ence, when he meant diameter, in his note on the big spider- i

in. Franconia. According to Mr. Emerton it was probably

of Epeira angulata, which he has seen two feet across. oy

— Adrian Luis Jean Francisco Sumichrast, an able naturalist

and collector, well known to the scientific world, died on w

of September, 1882, after a short illness, and in the fifty-four

rofessor Sumichrast, although for thirty ye :

Mexico, to the study of whose natural history and antiqu

ars a resident of eo

1883. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 905

de Geografia y Estadistica, of the Société Zodlogique de France,

of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, etc., and a valued

and active correspondent of the Smithsonian Institution, of the

Cambridge Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, and of several

other noted scientific institutions.

— Gen. Sir Edward Sabine, K.C.B., F.R.S., and president of

the Royal Society of London, died in June. Besides his activity

as member of various scientific societies, he will be remembered

for his studies of the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism, first

undertaken while attached to the Arctic expeditions of Ross and

Parry. His other papers on physical science were also numerous.

— om

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

eggs.

March 8.—Professor Cope gave an account of the Permian rep-

tilian fauna, and described a saurian intermediate between types

before identified from that formation under the name of Chilonyx

rapidens. The reptiles of this epoch all belong to the Theromor-

pha, and have no affinity. to those of Mesozoic times. The ba-

trachia and reptilia also resemble each other more closely than

do those of other periods, and both resemble mammals in certain

parts of their structure, so that the points of departure of all forms

of vertebrate life above fishes appear to exist in the Permian.

Professor Heilprin again insisted upon the impossibility of the po-

lar-ice cap attaining any such thickness as some have attributed to

it, and observed that if the principles he had enunciated were true,

they would apply also to Alpine and other summits, which must

rise above the line of greatest precipitation. He cited numerous

cts from various observers to prove that such lofty summits

have, in fact, a much thinner covering of snow than more moder-

ate elevations, and are in some cases entirely bare. Such an

arctic glacier as was postulated by some would require 25,000

years to move from 65° N. lat. to its terminal moraine, even if it

Moved at the rate of one foot per day. With the infinitesimal

slope it would have, two and a half inches would be a more prob-

906 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Aug,, 1883.

able rate of daily flow. Professor H. C. Lewis argued that condi-

tions different from the present existed in glacial times. For ex-

ample, the facts observed indicated a depression south of the

glaciated area in the Delaware valley and elsewhere, producing a

greater water surface. Errors often arose from want of attention

to the relative elevation of glacial striae. Stria upon the high

levels indicate the general movement of the ice, while those upon

the low levels show the local movements of the lower strata.

Professor Cope argued that the evidence was against a polar-ice

cap of sufficient thickness to give the glacial ice the necessary

motion; but that there had been rather an ice ring south of the

Arctic circle, which would account for the giacial phenomena.

March 15.—Professor Cope described various Permian reptiles.

Professor Lewis spoke of his discovery, in deweylite, of crystals

which the blow pipe and other tests proved to be serpentine. The

mineral contained also partially altered feldspar, and small, sharp

fragments of quartz. e micaceous serpentine was the result of

the alteration of the mica, but, being crystallized, was not a true

pseudomorph. The occurrence of serpentine in crystallized slate,

and the direct alteration of graphic granite into a magnesian

mineral were the points he wished to record.

March 22.—Miss Lewis exhibited drawings of the structure of

feathers in various genera of birds, and showed that the cell char-

acters might be utilized in classification. Professor Koenig stated

that recent experiments with a weak solution of gold containing

arsenic acid had convinced him that the compound known ;

purple of Cassius was not a chemical compound. Professor oe

said that upon the evidence of fossils received from Professor 7

Darby he had confirmed the determination of the existence

Permian strata in Brazil. :

March 29.—Dr. H. Allen called attention to individual pee

tion, and showed that parts related to each other varied toge sak

For example, whenever the lower jaw is malformed the ma hiis

which in its development is the proximal part of the same sis

with the lower jaw, has been found in many cases examined mi

malformed also. Two idiot skulls were exhibited to nes

retention of juvenile characters. It was shown that in ia this

atrophy of certain portions of the skull occurred, and iy pat

atrophy always affected parts that are last acquired by the oe

and are absent in lower animals, as, for example, the orbito-teB™

poral septum. Occasionally parts normally lost by man reappent

in senile skulls, such as the paroccipital process.

New York Acapemy or Sciences, June 4.—The gs r

papers were read: Evidences of former glaciation oe an ice-

mountain ranges, and their bearing on the question F. Kunz

period, by Professor John S. Newberry. Mr. George *-

exhibited some interesting and remarkable minerals.

THE. g

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvi.— SEPTEMBER, 1883.—No. 9.

THE EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMAN

CHARACTER}!

BY E. D. COPE,

HE complicated constitution of the human mind is well im-

pressed on the investigator as he seeks to understand the

` Origin of any one of the many different types of character which

come before him. The number of possible combinations of its

numerous elements, each of which present developmental phases,

is necessarily very great. The species of human minds, as one

may properly term them, are probably as numerous as the species

of animals, as defined by their physical structure. As in the case

of anatomical species, however, analysis of the mind reduces its

many details to a few leading departments. Although the classi-

fication of the elements of the mind is a classification of func-

tions; it is, if correct, a sure index of the classification of struc-

ture also; of the grosser and more minute structure of the brain,

Principally of the gray matter.

The division of mental activities into three primary divisions

is, generally admitted. These are: the emotions, the intellect and

the will. The emotions include the likes and dislikes, or the

tastes, and their strongest forms, the emotions and the passions.

The intellect includes those powers which rearrange the experi-

ences in an order different from that in which they enter the

mind. This new order may have sole reference to questions of

liking and disliking, and is then a product of the imagination ;

or it may be a result of experience of the laws of pure necessity,

+ The present. article is in continuation of the previous one on the Evolutionary

igni of Human Physiognomy, published in the NATURALIST of June, 1883.

VOL. XVII.—NO. Ix. 6r ;

908 Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. [September,

without regard to questions of taste; then it is a process of rea-

son. The will, properly so-called, is the spontaneous power of

the mind by which the other processes are originated, directed

or restrained. The range of the will, and even its existence,

are questions of dispute.

Below and behind these mental activities lies sensibility or con-

sciousness, in its forms of general and special sensation ; that is,

touch, and hearing, taste, smell, sight, and the muscular sense,

with many others, concomitants of both health and disease, Itis

well understood that these primitive mental qualities are more or

less developed in animals, in which the more purely mental func-

tions are rudimental. The doctrine of evolution teaches that from

this class the higher activities of the mind have been developed,

during long ages, through the agency of memory. The nature

of the present essay only permits a casual reference to the aston-

ishing character of memory, and the remark that its phenomena

demonstrate most clearly, of all others, that mind is an attribute

of some kind of matter.

If we now consider these natural divisions of the mind as they

present themselves in the combinations which we call hutas

character, we shall observe a variety in the mode of their action

which pervades all divisions alike. These variations fall under

two heads, those of guantity and of quality.

Thus as to quantity; one human mind may present a grem

amount of intellectual than emotional activity ; of imaginative

than rational intellection; of affectionate than irascible emo-

tion; of gastronomic than musical taste, etc., etc. The quantity

here indicated is probably an index of the proportion d

tissue devoted to the functions mentioned, The intensity

force of the action is a matter of quality. a

Of qualities the variety is much larger. They are gee

lel to those of inorganic force, and suggest the same kind i

ifications of the material bases, as those which effect one :

Two prominent qualities are fineness and coarseness. inen a

observes and uses detail in both rational and emotive acts, 4” w

essential to the precision of finish. Coarseness neglects deta, by

deals with the gross of things, and is sometimes acco ik good.

largeness of quantity. When it is not, the result 1S mallee

Fineness is, on the other hand, often associated with | ae

It is a more feminine attribute, while coarseness 15 more ma: u

1883.] Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. 909

Another pair of antithetic qualities are intensity of action and

the reverse. This probably means that a given bulk of brain

tissue produces a greater amount of energy ina given time than

an equal bulk of non-intense tissue.

The speed or rate of action in time, and its opposite, slowness,

are related to the last named qualities, but are not identical with

them. Thus growth of the mind always witnesses a diminution

in the rate of action, but an increase in intensity.

Tenacity of mental action is a very marked character, and of

great importance. It signifies the persistence of mental action,

or mental endurance, and may characterize the entire mind, or only

a part of it. Its opposite, seen in changeability, desultoriness or

fickleness, may also characterize all or a part only of the mind.

According as it characterizes the intellectual or emotional depart-

ments, are its exhibitions most varied, though they probably have

a common histological basis.

Impressibility and stolidity express antitheses of character

Which are seen every day. The term impressibility is used as

identical with irritability, and is preferred, because the latter has

special physiological and popular meanings, some of which are only

among its phases. These qualities are apt to pervade the entire

mental organism, although, like others, they may characterize a

part only. Impressibility is obviously a condition of tissue, since it

varies greatly with physiological conditions in the same person.

Its exhibitions in the department of the emotions may be con-

founded with strong development of the emotions themselves.

A moment’s thought, however, shows that easy excitation of

emotion is a different thing from energy of emotion, and is often

found apart from it. Impressibility of intellect shares with tenacity

a leading position as an attribute of a first-class mind, and the com-

bination of the two, forms a partnership of superior excellence.

I may mention here a quality whose absence is pathological,

and hence does not properly enter the field; this is tonicity. In

its normal condition every organ should be supplied with suffi-

Cient nutriment or energy to ensure the occupation of its entire

mechanism. Anything short of this is followed by poor work.

Debility of mental action in the emotional department is seen in

abnormal irritability, such as peevishness or “spooning ;” and in

the intelligence, in absence of mind and blundering; and in both,

in general frivolity,

910 Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. [September,

Returning to the primary elements of mind, we may examine

their divisions with reference to the question of growth. To be-

_ gin with the perceptions, there are great diversities in the acute-

ness of the general and special senses, and greater and less sus-

ceptibilities to physical pleasure and pain. In the important rep-

resentative faculty memory, the differences between people are

great. As perception as well as thinking involves a certain

amount of structural change, it is evident that susceptibility or

impressibility of the senses, which is the first stage of memory, —

signifies ready metamorphosis of tissue. Unimpressibility, which

impedes memory, is a consequence of resistance, on the part of

tissue, to the usual stimuli. Hence the effect of “ sights, sounds :

and sensations” is greatest in childhood, and the memory is most —

impressible, for at that time the nervous tissue is undergoing con- —

stant change, and nutrition being in excess of waste, constantly

presents new material to be organized. And I may here refer to :

the general truth, that consciousness of all kinds is the especial

and distinguishing attribute of life as distinguished from death or

no life? Whatever other phenomena we may be accustomed to

regard as “ vital,” are only distinguishable from inorganic motion

or force, because they primitively took their form under the

chik

guidance of consciousness, and are hence, so to speak, its & r

may speedily do so in pathological conditions. This preni

is now restricted to the nervous system, and to certain parts ar

the one which is, histologically speaking, the most generalized

the systems. And it is quite consistent with the “ doctrine T

unspecialized,” that nervous tissue in its unfinished state in a

hood should be more impressible to stimuli than at later pa

of life. But this statement requires this modification, that

is a stage of imperfection of mechanism which does not With

high sensibility, as for instance in the earliest infancy. i

age sensibility gradually diminishes. í

the appearance of many or all of the intellectual wee i

is also true that their full development precedes that 0 Hee

lect, in so far as they are developed at all. The prionnt m

1 The Origin of the Will, Penn Monthly, 1877, p. 440"

£883.] Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. QII

tion of the emotions is that of appetites. The first of these in

the necessary physiological order, and hence in time, is the appe-

tite of hunger. Second in order in the history of life, but not in

the growth of individuals, is the instinct of reproduction, such as

it is in animals who only multiply by fission. Very early in evo-

lution the emotion of fear must have arisen, and it is probably

the immediate successor of hunger in the young of most animals.

Anger appears as early as the mind can appreciate resistance to

its first desires, and no doubt followed as third or fourth in the

history of evolution. The rudiments of parental feeling would

follow the origin of reproduction at a considerable interval of

time. One of the latest of the instincts to appear, would be the

love of power; while later still would be the emotions of rela-

tivity (Bain) because they are dependent on a degree of mental

appreciation of objects. Such are admiration, surprise and won-

er. These, as well as all other consequences of inherited intel-

lect, appear earlier in infancy than they did in evolution, as may

be readily understood.

Of these instincts and emotions, it is to be supposed that hun-

ger remains much as it has ever been. The reproductive instinct

has, on the other hand, undergone the greatest modifications.

Sex instinct could not have existed prior to the origin of the

male sex, which must be regarded in evolution as a derivative

from the female. Hence it is probable that the parental instinct

preceded the sexual in time. These two instincts being the only

ones which involve interest in individuals other than self, furnish `

the sources of sympathy in all its benevolent aspects. Hence it

has developed in man into the powerful passion of love ; into

affection and charity in all their degrees and bearings. Fear be-

ing, as Bain shows, largely dependent on weakness, has varied in

development in all times, but must be most pronounced in ani-

mals of high sensibility, other things being equal. Hence its

power has, on the whole, increased until it probably reached its

extreme in the monkeys or the lowest races of men. Increasing

intelligence of the higher order diminishes the number of its

occasions, so that it is the privilege of the highest types of men

to possess but little of it. The earliest of the emotions of rela-

tivity to appear in time, has probably been the love of beauty ;

how early it may have appeared it is difficult to imagine. Sur-

Prise and wonder as distinct from fear, one can only conceive as

following an advanced state of intelligence.

912 Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. [September, |

Thus in psychology as in physiognomy, the palzontological

order of development is somewhat different from the embryologi-

cal, I might compare the two orders as follows :

-PAL ZZ, ONTOLOGICAL, EMBRYOLOGICAL,

; Hunger.

Reproduction, Fear.

Fear. Anger.

Anger. Beauty

Parental instinct. Wonder.

Power.

Power. Admiration.

Beauty. j

Wonder.

Sex.

Parental instinct. 2

The qualities enumerated in the first column follow each other —

directly in order from the simple to the complex. In the second

column this order is disturbed by the earlier appearance of the

derivative emotions, beauty, wonder, admiration and pity, or be-

nevolence, and the later appearance of the simple emotion of sex.

Thus in psychological as in other evolution, some of the products ie

of development appear earlier and earlier in life in accordance

with the law of acceleration.

The intelligence has already been considered under the tw

heads of the imagination and the reason. The action of the

imagination, unmixed with the exercise of reason, is chiefly to be >

seen in the creative fine arts, as distinguished from the imitative, 2

the mechanic, and other arts. The musician, the painter, the

sculptor, the poet, the novelist and the playwright, so far as th o

are not imitators, present the best illustrations of the work of the =

imagination. It is a faculty which must be very little devel ae i

in the animals below man. They occasionally make m MS ‘it BS

the nature of objects, and suppose them to be other than po

they are. Thus the Antilocapra supposes the Indian disguised

with a skin and horns, to be one of his own species, and big i

the penalty. But this is a most rudimental act of imagination," .

it be not mere curiosity, Baer

The reason, RER so-called, begins in its lowest grades with

the simplest rearrangement of the objects of sense and mem?

in accordance with some principle of relation. As the ieee

or standard of relation varies, so does the intellectual Bk

the process be discovery, or the enlargement of knowledge, M44

1 NATURALIST, 1883, p. 618. :

1883.] Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. 913

experiences (or hypotheses) will be successively encountered and

tested, and appropriate generalizations reached (inductions). If

the process be to accomplish the practical ends of life by use of

well-known means, the intellect uses the customary rules of action

as standards, be they moral or mechanical, financial or political,

and attains its deductions and applications. These two types of in-

tellect are strikingly distinct, and produce the most diverse conse-

quences. The inductive type is the most generalized, and hence

capable of the largest growth and adaptability, and the widest

range of thought. The deductive is the more specialized, the

more “ practical,” but less capable of growth or general thought.

Its most remarkable exhibitions are seen in the skill with which

some men conduct the game of chess, and corresponding enter-

prises in real life. Also the ingenuity of mechanical invention,

and the wonderful rapidity of calculation which some minds dis-

play. In intellectual as in many other vital phenomena, the facil-

ity once developed, the active process is often unaccompanied

by consciousness in many or even all of its stages.

Rapid and exact control of the muscles in obeying the direc-

tions of the mind is essential to the practice of many arts, espe-

cially to that of the musician. This accomplishment is acquired

through the medium of the conscious mind, and may be regarded

simply as the reflex of impressions made on the senses directed

by some simple rule which has been impressed on the memory.

The often surprising results involve the exercise of a very sim-

ple phase of intellection.

The appearance of the rational faculties in time, may be esti-

mated by their relative development in the existing divisions of

animals whose period of origin is known or inferred. The ani-

mal mind is capable of simple forms of induction and deduction,

and sometimes acquires considerable artistic skill. Bees, ants and

Spiders display these in varying degrees, and their antiquity is

probably coéxtensive with that of the known sedimentary rocks.

The supposed Ascidian ancestors of the Vertebrata, and even the

lowest vertebrate (Branchiostoma), display far less intelligence

than the articulates mentioned, which are really lower in the scale

of organic types. From such unpromising sources did the noble

vertebrate line descend. It is probable that the inductive act pre-

ceded by a little the deductive in time, as it does in logical order.

But the elaboration of these powers was doubtless long delayed ;

914 Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. |September,

for untold ages they involved nothing more than the discovery

and application of general principles of the simplest kind; such as

the customary sequence of natural phenomena, and the anticipa-

tion of their operations, as, for instance, in the laying up of winter

provisions, Occasionally deductive application of an old rule toa

new case would arise, as in that of the Mygale spider which was _

observed by Dr. McCook to substitute cotton for her own silk for

the lining of her nest. The development of the rational faculty has

been rather in quantity and quality, than in the nature of its con-

stituent parts. I may remark, however, that the embryological

order is here again different from the palzontological. Inherited

aptitudes, as for music, calculation, etc., precede, in children, any

considerable powers of thought, while the order of development

of the race has been the reverse.

As regards the appearance of the qualities of mind already

mentioned, which depend on character of tissue, it is difficult to

present an order which shall be generally true. Our ignorance

of the subject is profound; nevertheless observation of animals

and men leads to the following conclusions: First, the primitive

mind is negative, unimpressible, and little sensitive. In eves

lution, sensibility has been developed under stimuli, and di-

minished by disuse and repose. The energy of high-strung sen- oe

sibility has probably ever won for its possessors success in the l

struggle for existence, and more or less immunity from the pains

which stimulate to action? It is true that the non-aggressive and

ever-harassed Herbivora have developed the higher brain struc-

ture. The inferiority of brain type of the Carnivora 1S @ w

known fact of present and past time. The early ruminants were

smaller than the contemporary flesh-eaters, and therefore subject .

to the greatest risks. The best developed brains, those F

Quadrumana, have been developed in still more defenseless ee

mals, who in their arboreal life have been confronted by sa

more complex conditions. oe

orous nutrition, and the consequent constr

force-converting tissue. Rapidity without intensi

result from exercise, with a less vigorous constr

1 The relation of Man to the Tertiary Mammalia, Penn Monthly, 1875:

1883.) Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. gis

Fineness and tenacity, on the other hand, cannot be regarded as

being so much produced by use, as by very primitive conditions

of tissue. Restraint under pressure might produce fineness.

Long continued freedom from sudden changes, under pressure,

might account for the origin of tenacious tissue. As to quantity,

deficiency or diversion of nutritive energy or material must pro-

duce smallness, and the reverse condition, largeness.

These qualities impress themselves on the external as well as

the internal organization, and can be more or less successfully

discerned by the observer. I reserve the question of physiog-

nomy to a later article, and here consider only the evolutionary

bearings of character itself. As in physiognomy, we may arrange

the faculties and their qualities under the two heads of ancestral

and embryonic, or that of the species and that of the individual.

The order of ‘succession is the same in both kinds of develop-

ment.

SPECIES. INDIVIDUAL,

Indifference. indifference.

Emotions. Emotions.

Intellect. Intellect.

a. Imagination. a. Imagination.

b. Reason. b. Reason.

It is not practicable to go farther than this into the order of

evolution of characteristics. There is probably little uniformity

of sequence other than that I have already pointed out under the

head of the emotions.

As a complex outcome of the emotional and rational faculties,

must be now mentioned the moral sense, or the sense of justice.

It consists of two elements, the emotion denevolence, and the

rational power of discrimination or judgment. The former fur-

nishes the desire to do what is right to a fellow-being. Without

the aid of reason, it is benevolence, not justice, and may often fail

of its object. The rational element has acquired from experience

a generalization, the law of right. It perceives what is most con-

ducive to the best interest of the object of benevolence in his rela-

tion to others or to society, or whether he be a proper object of

benevolence at all. By itself, this quality is absolutely useless

to mankind. When it guides the action of human sympathy, it

displays itself as the most noble of human attributes. Many ani-

mals display sympathy and benevolence, but justice has not yet

been observed in any of them. Hence it has been said that it

916 Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. [ September,

cannot be a derivative faculty, but is “intuitive” in man. The

objection to this view is its great variability and occasional entire —

absence in man, individually and racially. It is the last to appear

in individual growth, as it has doubtless been in the order of evo-

lution, of mind.

I now devote a little space to the discussion of the distribution

of these qualities in races and sexes.

As regards the relative preponderance in action of the emotive

and intellectual faculties, it is an axiom that in the great majority

of mankind, apart from the necessities imposed by the simple

physical instincts, it is a taste or an affection or an emotion that

lies at the basis of their activities. Perhaps the most universal is

the affection of sex. Given two types of rational beings who are

objects of admiration and of pleasure to each other, each of

whom desires to possess the other, and who therefore employs

many devices to please and attract the other, and we have an

effective agent of general development. Then the parental and

especially the maternal affections, arouse and direct many labors.

Fear of suffering and death is at the basis of many others. The

love of power or of possession, including ambition, in a well-

known stimulus. The love of beauty is a strong motive in man)

persons, The pleasure derived from the exercise of the intelli-

gence is a sufficient motive for a life work in a comparatively

small number of persons. These are the artists and the pew

tists; but it is far from being an unmixed motive in E

them. .

Intellectual motives, however, enter into association with w

affectional in many instances, as for example in the profession of

teaching. But it is as guide and agent in the accom

the main ends of life that the intellect, especially the reason, ;

its great field, and displays itself in an endless variety of me :

If we now survey men as we find them, it is a general pi

that itis in the male sex that the greatest proportion of ra pe

method is to be found, and in the female the greatest proporti bp ce

of the affectional and emotional. As we descend the scale i

humanity, the energy and amount of the rational element ge. :

less and less, while the affectional elements change their we

tions. The benevolent and sex elements diminish in eer the

rapidly than the other sentiments, but it is probable that a e

emotions are less active in savages, excepting those of POTE

1883.] Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. 917

of fear. In the lowest races there is a general deficiency of the

emotional qualities, excepting fear, a condition which resembles

one of the stages of childhood of the most perfect humanity. To

this must be added revenge, where hatred may be reinforced by

several other sentiments, with a feeble perception of equivalent

suffering or punishment, which may or may not be just. The

pleasure of muscular exercise is greatly developed in people of

out-door habits.

The order of the appearance of the intelligence is nearly de-

pendent on the development of the powers of observation. In

most savages these are very acute, and vary according to the

nature of the environment which impresses them. The character

of most civilizations tends to diminish the power of the percep-

tive, while the higher departments of imagination and reason are

enlarged. The imagination reached a high development before

reason had attained much strength. With the exception of a few

families, the intelligence of mankind has, up to within two or

three centuries, expressed itself in works of the imagination.

When exact knowledge first began to be cultivated, it was in the

department of astronomy, where the least precision was attain-

able, and where the greatest scope for the imagination is to be

found.’ Next in time metaphysics was the throne of learning, a

field in which much may be said with the least possible reference

to the facts of observation. With the modern cultivation of the

natural and physical sciences, the perceptive faculties will be

restored, it is to be hoped, to their true place, and thus many

avenues opened up for the higher thought power of a developed

race. Thus it is that in the order of human development there

is to be a return to the primitive powers of observation, without

loss of the later acquired and more noble capacities of the

intellect.

The relation of the qualities of impressibility, fineness, inten-

sity, speed and tenacity to our development, in time, may have

been as follows: Impressibility of mind is no doubt an embryonic

character of “ retardation,” parallel and probably a consequence

of the retardation which is found in the human ‘skull and face.

1 The governments of antiquity required the knowledge of the Chaldean astrono-

mers as important to the success of their undertakings, and the governments of Eu-

rope and America were, for a long period, more liberal in their support of astronomy

than any other science. At present, however, geology shares in this aid, and toa

less degree botany and zodlogy.

918 Evolutionary Significance of Human Character. [ September,

The preponderance of the osseous and nutritive elements over

the nervous, is the usual accompaniment of non-impressibility,

and vice versa. Hence this quality is of late origin in the history

of the Vertebrata and of man, and is most developed in the

young, and better developed in women than in men.

Tenacity has an opposite significance, being an especial charac-

teristic of maturity in the human mind. Hence it may have been

more general in early ages than at present, but could have little

value so long as the mind remained small in quantity. Curiously

it is a quality which may coéxist with a good deal of impres-

sibility.

Fineness can only be a quality of full development, and is

totally independent of the other qualities. It is unknown among

savages, and is developed apparently in a few animals. Of inten-

sity it is difficult to say much definitely. The nervous operations

of animals often display the highest degree of this quality, and it

‘is not unlikely that its appearances differ as much in savages as

in civilized people. Its importance in mental action depends of

course on the kind and amount of mental function which exhibits

it. The same may be said of speed. The faculties which exist

are more or less affected by it. In the well formed reason it is

an important characteristic, and a special form of development.

Having gone as far into the origin and developmental relation

of mental functions and qualities as the nature of this sketch per-

mits, I refer briefly to the stimulus to their growth ; always re-

membering that the percentage of inherited qualities is much

larger in a given character than that of acquired ones. On

with use more rapidly than those of any other organ of

human body. Brain and nerve are apparently the most

all tissues; the one which retains the properties of the pa

protoplasm, multiplied and intensified a thousand fold. It has T

d matter

ways been the seat of creation, throwing off its “ forme

in useful directions, It is still doing so; and in the aul

brain ever creating itself, is in addition, the seat of a new creation,

which it executes through its instruments, the other organs °

the body. Hence the greatest sin against the brain is it

or disuse. The brain activity of to-day is an indication of hea

and happiness beyond what the world has seen hitherto.

human 2

1883. | On the Habits of the American Chameleon. 919

The greatest stimulus to exercise of the brain is human soci-

ety. Hence the greatest developments of mind have always been

in the centers of population. Whatever may be the passive vir-

tues of country life, it is the cities that furnish both the stimulus

and the field for the triumphs of mind.

TEE ARTE

OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF THE AMERI-

CAN CHAMELEON (ANOLIS PRINCIPALIS).

BY R. W. SHUFELDT,

CAPTAIN MEDICAL CORPS, U. S. ARMY.

NDER all circumstances lizards are interesting creatures,

meet them where we may ; as one evidence of this, how often

do we find them chosen, and that, too, for many ages gone by, as

objects to adorn pottery, vases and china, or modeled in silver

and gold to be worn as jewelry, or cast in the baser metals for

other purposes, such as bronze ornaments. There is something

very mysterious, at times, in their very look, their dignified mien,

their almost provoking silence; this is changed in us to a sense

of curious interest that is quickened as the reptile assumes its

livelier air, darts along the tree branch that it may be on, or shoots

with the rapidity of an arrow up the trunk of some old tree.

This singular interest amounts to positive fascination, as we come

to know the anolidae, and I assure you our little American

chameleon is one of the most engaging of the group, at the same

time, being one of the commonest of all the lizards found through-

out the lowlands of Louisiana; indeed, I have known instances

of two or three children capturing as many as twenty-five or

thirty in some old magnolia grove in the course of an hour or

two, and we may well imagine the number that would escape

from our juvenile collectors. It is certainly the exception though,

that any one ever disturbs or injures, either in city or forest, this

inoffensive and harmless little creature ; entitled as we are, how-

ever, to claim this for ourselves, it must be remembered, and it is

a fact not commonly known, that in the town and its immediate

neighborhod the chameleon has an uncompromising enemy in

the domestic cat. This animal, I have been informed upon un-

doubted authority, will, when the opportunity presents itself, pass

anything, meat, birds, and even fish, if there is the slightest

chance of securing one of these lizards, of which they seem to

920 On the Habits of the American Chameleon. [September,

E Y

Anolis principalis; \fe size, from nature, by R. W. Shufeldt, U.S.A.

eng

1883.] On the Habits of the American Chameleon. 92I

be so inordinately fond. The cat will stalk one, just as we all

have seen them attack some unsuspecting sparrow. Should the

lizard be on the trunk of a tree, and low down near the ground,

and the cat miss it in her spring, she will frequently, in her disap-

pointment, chase it up the tree, where of course the reptile wins

in such an unequal race.

In the forest, Anolis, no doubt, has many another animal foe

that makes it its prey. Our smaller hawks often seize and devour

them, when they appear, and are exposed in the open.

In addition to this, thec hameleon is subject to other accidents ;

its long tail is frequently broken off; this may grow out again as

it does in Ophisaurus, though I have in my possession a specimen

where this extremity healed over instead. Another specimen in

my collection, has some time or other, apparently long anterior

to capture, lost a foot, in this case a very pretty little stump has

resulted, leaving a member of considerable use.

I have, perched up before me, one of these little fellows, that was

taken for my special benefit several days ago ; the reader is pre-

sented with a very careful and accurately measured drawing that

I have made of him. They sometimes attain a length to exceed

this one, by two or three centimeters, rarely more. His entire

form is covered with the most delicate and minute scales, which

are found to be larger along the borders of the jaws and top of

the head, where they are regularly arranged. The nostrils are

seen within the rounded border of the snout above, and the

bright, black little eyes peep out through longitudinal slits form-

ing the eyelids, the latter being at the base of rather sunken

orbits. The oral gape is capacious, and the aperture leading to

the internal ear is founda few millimeters to the rear of its commis-

sure. In some specimens a jet black patch is found between the

eye and ear, and another above the forearm on the side, sur-

rounded by a whitish border; one or both of these markings

may be absent, the anterior one being by far the most persistent.

' During deep inspiration eight ribs may be counted on either side

of this lizard’s body; these rarely show when the specimen is at

rest and in good condition. See what peculiar feet he has, par-

ticularly the hinder pair, and I have taken unusual pains to rep-

resent these correctly, and to the best advantage. The fore feet

are arranged quite symmetrically, but the toes on the rear pair

an be spread out as shown in the cut, or drawn down, side by

922 On the Habits of the American Chameleon. (September, ;

side, to form a very narrow, and we must own, much more sightly

foot. Lying in the median plane, beneath the throat and reaching

back as far as the sternal space, Anolis possesses a peculiar orna-

ment; this consists in a fold of the common integument, con-

trolled by an exceedingly interesting apparatus that gives it the

power of protruding downwards and slightly forwards at will,

carrying the fold with it, to fully the extent shown in the figure,

or even more. Upon complete retraction this appendage is

scarcely discernible. Its sudden appearance has a very striking .

effect, as the skin of which it is composed is of a bright red color,

being decked over with the white scales, which are here larger

than usually found elsewhere on the body, that stand apart by

the stretching. Out of the large number of specimens that ee

have examined alive, this curious affair never appeared to be.

missing, though in some it was very much more prominent than n

in others, so we are forced not to attach to it any sexual distinc-

tion. The males are crested, also, along the dorsum, another

feature which becomes more prominent when this reptile is ex

cited. Under nearly all conditions the ventral parts of Anolis,

except the continuity of the tail, are white, longitudinally striped

with irregular dusky lines that are much more decided a the

throat, and almost amount to a mottling on the belly and;chest. Z

A certain amount of mottling occurs high up and along the b eo

This lizard can assume, apparently at will, one of two colors, S

an irregularly distributed combination of both of them; these

colors are a bright pea-green, the alternative being a very hand-

some shade of brownish-bronze, very dark in some old speci-

mens, very light in others.

The first time he comes under your observation he may be 0 n

e and aW

you witha pecu-

nce or twicê, —

body becomes a dead brownish-bronze, ever and anon iw

tibly flushing a lighter tint. You make a step nearer, Si

suddenly wheels and heads his course up the trun squatting

very low as he does so; you come still a little nearer,

vances up the tree in a spiral direction, until he is on the opp®

1883. ] On the Habits of the American Chameleon. 923

side of the trunk and out of your sight... At this moment per-

haps the thought seizes you to effect his capture, and you spring

forward to head him off; but in his cunning he has outgeneraled

you, he is nowhere to be seen on the sides of the rugged old

trunk; so for a more general inspection, you back away a few

steps, when, to your surprise, far above your head you behold

him stretched out along the first horizontal limb that extends

from the main trunk. Who would believe it though; who would

take him for the same nimble little fellow that had just escaped

us! He is now almost completely clothed in a complete suit of

bright green, his crimson gular pouch protruding and retracting,

reminding one of the opening and shutting of some tropical but-

terfly in the noon-day sun. At other times, when the surround-

ing circumstances seemed to demand it, he would have donned a

coat made up of irregular patches of the two colors, with their

various shades, at his command. This power of protective mim-

icry on the part of Anolis, for as an example of this we must

certainly regard it, serves him best when he resorts, which he

frequently does, to the bright green stalks of certain fresh-water

reeds and plants that are found growing luxuriantly about the

bayous and canals of his native haunts. It was in some such

locality as this, that, the other day, I observed one of the prettiest

examples of this very same protective resemblance, that one

would care to witness, almost equal to that famous butterfly that

Wallace so admirably figures in his work upon the Malay Archi-

pelago, now so familiar to all of us.

I had just scrambled over one of these so-called canals, that

divided, by the aid of an old fence, an extensive marshy tract from

a deserted field; this field was overgrown, in addition to various

other kinds of undergrowth, with a tall, bright green, ribbon-like

grass. As I pushed my way into this, a shower of grasshoppers

arose, making off in every direction ; by accident, however, I dis-

covered that two species did not resort to this mode of escape.

One of these was of a shade of green that nearly matched the

grass in question, the other, larger, was about the shade of the

grass after it was dead and dried by the sun. They both had

about the same form; the head was long and pointed in front, its

apparent length onan by the insect bringing its antennz to-

gether and sticking them out straight forward. Behind, the

wrinkled wings trailed out to a sharp point, like the pointed ex-

VOL. XVII.—to, Ix, 62

924 On the Habits of the American Chameleon. (Sept

tremities of the grass blades, and the heavy pair of limbs |

spring from the metathorax were long and slender, so as to assist

it in the deception. These insects, upon being alarmed, insteat

of taking to flight as the other varieties. did, simply, and v |

marked deliberation, shuffled down backwards to the pointed i

quietly hung there, where it demanded a pretty sharp pair

eyes to detect them, particularly if a breeze kept the grass in mc

tion at the time. i oN

Chameleons placed in alcohol for preservation, change in:

pears, the under parts often become so mottled as to mask

white entirely ; it commonly brings out in strong relief the!

gitudinal stripes on the gular space; the mottling on the upper

parts, is likewise made far more evident than in the living rept

The iris of Anolis, during life is of a bright hazel, with a perfectly

round pupil. When taken in the hand, they generally throw

jaws far apart and viciously seize any part of that member, that :

may ‘come within their reach. The bite of the larger specimens

is quite asevere little nip, but I have never seen a case WHEE

their delicate teeth could inflict a wound of sufficient depth, so í

to bring the blood. They will hang on for a long time, ton

usually than our patience will hold out, and it generally i

in our detaching them by the free hand. .No doubt, as tr

as this bite may be, it often saves the life of our char

as the unsuspicious, or children’ who pick them up out of i

ity’s sake, upon being suddenly pinched in that way, are

to involuntarily wring the hand until the lizard looses :

and promptly makes its escape in the grass or elsewhere. a

During the morning hours, among the trees, the ch )

are rarely seen) but as the sun approaches the zenith, an :

recesses of the forest begin to be thoroughly warmed, — :

fellows may be observed descending the trunks of the tre

engage in their favorite hunting expeditions, about the

roots that are exposed above the ground at their nesta

they capture all manner of insects which constitute j

and it is during these feeding times that wé have sg.

‘to behold some of their quaintest movements. : ge :

nate, not long ago, to catch one in the-act, the instant | ‘The ot

made a successful spring upon rather a large butterfly. me

1883]: — \On the Habits of the American Chameleon. 925

of the insect was in his mouth, while the wings were violently

flapping at the side of the lizard's face. The reptile would clinch

his jaws together spasmodically two or three times, shutting his

eyes with a very tight squeeze each time he did so. At last his

prey was silent, when with a few energetic kicks he tore off the

creature’s wings, and disposed of his body sans cérémonie.

Anolis principalis no doubt renders, by its constant destruction

of those insects which infest the trees of our Southern cities, a great

service, and that, too, in a very modest and unassuming way,

In this respect how much better they are than that miserable and

noisy little foreigner, the so-called English sparrow, that we have

taken so much pains to introduce and foster; a bird now found

in'every city of our Union, from Boston to New Orleans, in

alarming numbers; I:say alarming, because I know, full well, as

every ornithologist in the land knows, that the day is sure to

come when we shall have seen enough of his dappled brown coat,

so constantly and impertinently intruded upon us, at the expense

of our own avian favorites, and we shall learn to regard him, per-

haps only when it is too > late, as one of the agricultural pests of

the United States.

- The ‘season approaches when Louisiana, recovering from the

‘temporary shock caused by her mock winter, again puts forth the

Matural jewels of her animal and vegetable kingdoms, again, pre-

sents us with fresh flowers and fresh fields, after so short a relapse.

Birds once more stream northward, mammals throw off their semi-

torpidity and resume their usual avocations. In the overflown

bayous, rendered almost. unendurable by an atmosphere charged

with all the aromatic odors of a budding Southern spring, we at

‘this time, too, see the gaudy representatives of the reptilian

‘world gradually make their several appearances, Frogs croak,

Hylas peep, and in some sunny nook the deadly moccasin warms

his snuff-brown ‘coils, alone, dreaded and shunned. All rejoice

that-this happy season once more opens, andthe feeble grasp of

the winter god is withdrawn. Where is Anolis now? we have

“Rot far to. go,,indeed, to find our bi-colored masquerader ; see

-the emerald-clad scamp, as he eyes you from the brawny limb of

-the pecan, under which you stand. But what.is he upto! You

quietly watch him, and ‘his employment seems to be of such a

_ Mature that he soon completely ignores you, and proceeds with it

_ atall risks, and at all costs., The mystery is soon solved, and we

926 The Variability of Protoplasm. — [ September,

can readily appreciate this agitation, this bowing and strutting,

and all manner of quaint motions, as if the very last drop of his

quaint lacertilian blood was on fire—for coyishly, and with all due

deference, reclines before his lordship, his chosen mate, exerting

all her chameleonic powers to hide her blushes by vain endeavors

to match the colored pattern of her couch, with all the bronzes

and browns at her command. He can withstand her charms no

longer, and for the moment, laying aside all dignity, and the ob-

ject of his affections not unwillingly submitting, in the next in-

stant finds herself in the passionate embraces of her lord, who, to

make sure that he has actually won his coveted prize, winds

about her lithe form, perhaps in some mystic love-knot, his entire

caudal extremity, and blinds her eyes, first on one side and then —

on the other, by the extension of the flaming ornament at his

throat.

sO:

THE VARIABILITY OF PROTOPLASM.

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

a the other planets inhabitable, or is life confined to wi

earth? This is a question which has been widely debatet —

with various conclusions. It is not probable and hardly possible

that the surface conditions and temperature of any other planet

of the solar system closely resemble those of the earth. Be:

where in the universe may be very many planets approaching “i T

earth in condition, and on which life may exist. But as regara a ie

planets of our system the question at issue has hitherto a

whether their surface temperature might or might not "

that of the earth. If the former they might sustain life. R

latter it was held that they must be lifeless. i 5 uel

But to say that life can only exist under conditions SIMI%

those with which we are familiar is to make a bold assertion ,

measuring 10%

m the activ

It is ta

Soi ote

keene es Focal re eS es Pelee Ae ee ade en A

assumed that life everywhere must arise

protoplasm, and that protoplasm can only exist under ae

like those to which we are accustomed. This assump" i

yet be disproved, but it may be questioned.

1883.] The Variability of Protoplasm. 927

reasons for doubting that protoplasm, as we know it, is the only

possible physical basis of life. We are beginning to recognize

that the essential quality in protoplasm is its high atomed chem-

ical composition and its molecular instability, not some occult

property which can exist only in this special compound of

-O.H.N. In fact there is satisfactory reason to believe that in

terrestrial protoplasm there frequently occur differences in com-

position, which differences may, for all we know to the contrary,

be occasionally considerable. If it varies thus here, it may vary

far more elsewhere, and under conditions of temperature and sur-

face relations different from those of the earth, it seems not im-

possible that a basic organic substance may exist widely different

in its chemical composition from that with which we are ac-

quainted.

This question has been considered, from the chemical point of

view, by several writers. The first definite declaration which we

find on the subject, is that by Professor E. D. Cope, in a lecture

before the Franklin Institute, February, 1874,’ in which he sums

up his conclusions as follows: “ We are not necessarily bound to

the hypothesis that protoplasm is the only substance capable of

Supporting consciousness, but to the opposite view, that the prob-

abilities are in favor of other and unspecialized, but unknown

forms of matter possessing this capacity.” The same view was

expressed in more detail in his paper entitled, “ On Arches-

thetism.”?

Dr. Persifor Frazer has considered at some length the constitu-

tion of protoplasm in his paper entitled, “ A Speculation on Pro-

toplasm.”* He concludes that “If the sarcode or protoplasm be

Susceptible of slight chemical changes, and in fact suffers such

changes without losing the power to fulfill its function of repair-

ing waste tissue, then in the progress of the decay of worlds, and

the changes of external conditions consequent upon it, Darwin's

law of survival must inevitably be felt where an accidental altera-

tion of the substance of the sarcode and the resulting changes

impressed upon the structure, enable one animal to live where

others perished.” He deems it possible that chemical diversities

in protoplasm may become so great as to permit the existence of

"Consciousness in Evolution, Penn Monthly, Aug., 1875.

* AMER. NATURALIST, June, 1882.

* Amer. NATURALIST, July, 1879.

928 The Variability of Protoplasm.- [September, —

life under conditions widely different from those of our planet,

and that organic beings may exist under greatly diversified cir-

cumstances of temperature’ and physical relations.

A similar view was later expressed by Professor Cope, who

says: “It would be a monstrous assumption to suppose that con-

sciousness and life are confined to the planet on which we dwell,

Yet it is obvious that if there be beings possessed of these attri-

butes in the planets Mercury and Saturn, they cannot be com-

posed of protoplasm, nor of any identical substance in the two.

In the one planet protoplasm would be utterly disorganized and

represented by its component gases; in the other it would bea

solid, suitable for the manufacture of sharp-edged tools.” —

In a letter to the writer from Mr. John A. Ryder, in which he

describes his observations upon the characteristics of protoplasm,

he relates observed facts which clearly indicate chemical differ-

ences. Thus some forms of protoplasm were found to instantly

coagulate in the presence of water, while other forms refused to

coagulate. He found also considerable difference in color, trams-

parency, general appearance and behavior when exposed to the

action of chemical agents. He inclines to the conclusion that

“the protoplasm of each species is a distinct organization, and

its molecular composition may be of an approximately specific

type for each form, with an inherent capacity for variation in t ;

presence of the proper stimuli.”

As to the peculiar forms assumed by protoplasm, long thought

distinctive, it is now known that inorganic compounds, under

certain circumstances, may take on precisely similar forms. This

was first observed by G. Fournier in 1878, who found that mix-

tures of certam inorganic salts produced pseud me

sembling in appearance cryptogamic plants, Similar experiments

made by D. Monnier and C. Vogt produced colloid ee re

actly resembling organic cells and tubes. “ The artificial pseudo-

organic elements are enveloped in true membranes, possessing & 5

o-organisms, Te

1On Archæsthetism, AMER. NATURALIST, June, 1882.

* Comptes Rendus, XCiv (1882), pp. 45-6. ;

1833.] The Variability of Protoplasm. 929

experiments have been recently repeated by Dr. H. Valin, with

results still more marked and surprising.

To the conclusions as to the probable diversity of constitution

in protoplasm, arrived at by the above-mentioned authors, may

be added another, taken from a somewhat different point of view.

There are physical as well as chemical reasons why certain ele-

ments, and they only, are the main constituents of protoplasm.

This may partly arise from their abundance and general diffusion,

yet other elements which take nø part in the formation of proto-

plasm exist abundantly in all parts of the earth. But we may

note the additional fact that carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitro-

gen are the only abundant elements which exist under conditions

rendering active chemism possible. They all exist as gaseous

constituents of our atmosphere, which contains no other element

except in minute or local quantities. Two of them, oxygen and

hydrogen, combine to form the only generally diffused liquid

constituent of the earth. All other abundant elements exist as

Solids, and usually in the state of oxide.

Such is the general status of the chemical elements. All that

are widely diffused, with the exception of atmospheric oxygen

and nitrogen, exist as oxides. In consequence their chemical ac-

tivity has nearly disappeared. At one period in the earth’s his-

tory inorganic chemical action was probably very energetic. Now

it has almost ceased to exist, through a general oxidation and

solidification. Yet chemical activity has by no means ceased.

Organic chemism has replaced inorganic.

Modern physiological study has reduced to a simple formula

the essential principles of organic chemistry. Certain of the

Oxides are deoxidized. This is the basic principle of vegetable

chemistry, The molecules thus produced are reoxidized. This

is the characteristic feature of animal chemistry. A cycle of

change is passed through, beginning with simple oxides and

ending with the same simple oxides, while protoplasm forms the

intermediate phase of the cycle. Vegetable chemistry consists

Of a successive series of deoxidations, by which carbon and

hydrogen are released more and more from the grasp of oxygen.

The molecular result of these successive changes, compounded

in some way with nitrogen, constitutes the basic molecule of

Protoplasm. The exact method by which this is produced is not

known. But it is known that in its production certain stable

930 The Variability of Protoplasm. { September,

chemical compounds are decomposed, and that a complex chem-

ical compound results, rendered highly unstable through the

withdrawal of oxygen. The chemical stagnation to which oxida-

tion has reduced the elementary constituents of the earth is

partly overcome by this process of deoxidation, and active oxida-

tion becomes again possible.

This active oxidation displays itself in the animal body. The

elements concerned fall back towards the state of chemical sta-

bility from which they were removed, and the energy emitted

during this descent is that which constitutes animal life. But if

deoxidation is the chief chemical principle involved in the forma-

tion of protoplasm, why is it confined to the elements mentioned?

A probable answer seems to be that these elements alone exist

upon the earth under conditions which render such deoxidation

possible. The other abundant oxides are solids, and therefore

removed from any active influence of the agencies which aid the

deoxidation of carbon. Some of these elements exist, either in

their elementary or in a compound form, dissolved in water, and

perhaps in consequence are found in protoplasm. Under proper

conditions they might become active instead of passive agents m

protoplasm. Some of them which are generally diffused, such as

sulphur and phosphorus, seem to be essential constituents of

protoplasm.

This review leads us to a significant conclusion. Protoplasm

is a result of the successive deoxidation of the only elements

whose physical condition renders them susceptible to this chant

There is nothing to prove that such a process is necessarily con

fined to these elements, or that, if a state of affairs should ppa

in which these oxides existed as solids, and some other oxides

took their place as liquids and gases, an organic molecule me

ing to protoplasm could not be produced by a like deoxidation A

these latter elements. To affirm that carbon is the only elene

which can be deoxidized by the aid of sunlight, or by any ware

free energy, is to affirm something of which we can os

knowledge, and it is possible, and even probable, that m gs

spheres whose atmospheric constituents may consist of Bee `

chemical compounds analogous to, but not identical with, p

of our atmosphere, a like process of decompounding and rec

: i be active,

pounding into complex and unstable molecules may ie

and organic forms exist. To this effect of course the pre So

1883.] The Variability of Protoplasm. 931

free energy is necessary, whether it be derived from a sun or

from local sources of heat outflow.

It is, therefore, among the possibilities of chemical action that

spheres whose temperature is much higher or much lower than

that of the earth may be abodes of life. In an early period of

the earth’s history, when the elements which are now solid

oxides were liquids or gases, some of them may have played the

part which carbon now plays, and unstable molecules may have

been produced resembling those of organic life. Perhaps some

of the complex mineral constituents of the earth’s surface are

results of such an incipient organic evolution, as the mineral

substances known as fossils are results of a more advanced evo-

ution.

This idea leads us to a conception of a long series of efforts

towards the evolution of organic life, as the earth gradually

cooled, and one after another of its atmospheric constituents be-

came reduced to solidity. Every such substance may, under the

influence of heat emissions, have been aggregated with others

into unstable compounds, which is the essential principle of or-

ganic development. The degree of chemical complexity and

instability which could be thus produced would depend largely

on the rate of rapidity of cooling. The advantage which carbon

has had arises from its coming into play after the cooling of the

earth had virtually ceased. Hence its period of activity has been

much longer than that of the elements which may have preceded

it in this organic process, and the results are immensely superior.

But if our argument is of any value we seem to perceive tentative

efforts towards organic evolution during the whole period of cool-

ing of the earth’s surface, while success in this direction was at-

tained only after a stable condition of surface temperature was

reached. In other spheres a long continued stability of tempera-

ture may have been reached under other chemical relations, and

living beings composed of other constituents than those of earthly

Organisms have appeared.

932 On the Genealogy of the Insects. [September

ON THE GENEALOGY OF THE INSECTS?”

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. :

HE following table will approximately represent: our views as

to the systematic relations and genealogy of the ten orders

of six-footed insects, and is also in general accord with their —

metamorphoses : Fo Bs

X. HYMENOPTERA.

1X, LEPIDOPTERA,

VIII. DIPTERA.

1, Platyptera.

VII. COLEOPTERA, Termitide

OT Pae sie : h =

Ae Psocide. . i

T; nitetiepa, é |

s T Hemer KA Perlina.

\ |

V. Pš5EUDONEUROPTERA.

2. Odonata. ; ai

A s i

anita he III. ORTHOPTERA,

V. NEUROPTERA, \

II. DERMATOPTERA,

Metabola. |

I. THvsanora.

(Campodea.)

I. Thysanura—This. order comprises some lost type

resembling Lepisma, Campodea and Japyx, and more

Scolopendrella, the probable stem-form of

other words, from a hypothetical form resem

Scolopendrella, it is not difficult to suppose that .

majority of Hexapoda took their origin. It is possible that

few intermediate steps now lost, Forficula may have de: p

from the Thysanuran Japyx; this is suggested by the form :

l From advance sheets of the third report of the U. S. Boua o

mission.

1883.] On the Genealogy of the Insects. 933

body, the head with its V-shaped suture, and the abdomen with

its forceps, so like that of Japyx. The genus Lepisma is a rather

more specialized form than Campodea, and Machilis is still more

So, as proved by its mouth-parts and the presence of compound

eyes. Scolopendrella, with its abdominal true legs, comes nearer

to our hypothetical form than even Campodea. The group of

Poduridze (Collembola) is most probably a series of degradational

forms, criginally sprung from a higher, more generalized, Cam-

podea-like ancestor.

Il. Dermatoptera—This order, represented by but one family,

differs, as already stated, from the Orthoptera, with which it is

usually classified, much more than the Termitide. It stands

alone, and, as observed, its larvæ closely resemble the Thysanu-

ran Japyx.

the Orthoptera, we have a natural and easily circumscribed group.

Beginning with decidedly the most generalized and at the same

time lowest family, the Blattarize, followed by the Mantidæ, which

have a number of characters which recall the Blattaria, we pass

up through the Phasmidæ to the typical family, the Acrydii;

then succeed the Locustaria, and finally the Gryllidæ, which on

the whole are farthest removed from the stem-forms of the order,

the cockroaches. The close resemblance of a larval cockroach

to Lepisma indicates the direct descent of the Orthoptera from the

Cinurous Thysanura.

IV. Pseudoneuroptera—This is the most heterogeneous order

or assemblage of Phylopterous insects. While it is comparatively

easy to circumscribe the Neuroptera (taken in Erichson’s sense)

and the Orthoptera, as here restricted, the group Pseudoneurop-

tera is remarkably heterogeneous and elastic.. We have failed to

satisfactorily diagnose the order as a whole. The Termitidæ con-

nect the Orthoptera and Pseudoneuroptera so ‘closely that, except-

ing in the wings and other peripheral characters, they seem but.a

family removed from the Blattarie. For example, the Termitide

resemble the Blattariz in the form of the epicranium, in the

clypeus, which is but partially differentiated at the base from the

€picranium, in the form of the labrum, and the small eyes as well

as the mouth-parts.

In the thorax the Termitide approach the Blattariz in the un-

- TEA scuta of the meso and metathorax; while the pleu-

934 On the Genealogy of the Insects. |September,

rites are also very oblique and the femora are flattened and ovate

in form, as in Blatta. In the abdomen, as regards the form of the

tergites, as well as the urosternites and pleurites, besides the form

of the end of the abdomen and of the cercopoda, the Termitide

closely approach the Blattarie. The degree of metamorphosis

is also the same.

On the other hand, the close relationship of the Termitide to

the Embidz, as well as to the Psocidz and also the Perlide, and

the close resemblance of the Perlid larvae to those of Odonata

and Ephemerina, forbid our removing the Platyptera from the

Pseudoneuroptera.

We conclude, then, that the Ephemerina, Odonata, Platyptera,

as well as Orthoptera and Dermatoptera have had a common ori-

gin from some Thysanuran stock. It is possible that these five

groups are nearly equivalent and should take the rank of orders,

but the classification we have given in the tabular view on p. 932

may better express their relations.

The Odonata and Ephemerina are, as regards the wings and

metamorphosis, a good deal alike. The Ephemerina, while hav-

ing a highly concentrated thorax, are, as regards the mouth-parts

and hind wings, degradational forms, the result of probable de-

generation from a primitive, lost form. From what group the 3

Ephemerina may have originated it seems to us impossible to a

conjecture.

V. Hemiptera—The only clew to the origin of this well cir-

cumscribed order is the fact that in. the Physapoda (Thrips) and ee

the Mallophaga the mandibles are free and adapted for biting: : e

This would indicate that the entire group was derived from ances- -

tors allied possibly to the Phyloptera. The Mallophaga are ae 3

different authors referred to the Orthoptera and Neuroptera, but A

the development of the bird-lice as worked out by Melnikow

fully proves that in the form of the egg, the mode of dn .

ment and general form of the embryo, the Parasita and Mal A <

phaga travel along the same developmental path until just pe ——

hatching, when in Mallophaga the jaws remain free, while ee A

Parasita they become further modified and form a sucking t

There is a possibility that the Hemiptera may have d A

from insects remotely allied to the Pseudoneuroptera ; pe

forms resembling the Psocidæ; at least this family, the wing! a

forms of which superficially resemble the Mallophag a

1883.] On the Genealogy of the Insects. 935

hints which may throw light on ‘the origin of the Hemiptera.

They are evidently the offshoot of a stock which had an incom-

plete metamorphosis, or they may have descended directly from

a modified Campodea-like ancestral form.

VI. Neuroptera——The members of this order are, excepting

perhaps the Hemiptera, the most modern and least composite or

synthetic forms that we have yet met with in our ascent up the

insect series from the Thysanura. Moreover, in them for the

first time do we meet with worm-like, cylindrical-bodied larve,

or what we have called eruciform larve.1 These larve are sec-

ondary forms, derived, as Fritz Miiller has in a general way sug-

gested, from those larve which have an incomplete metamorpho-

sis. By what line of descent, however, the lowest group of Neu-

roptera, viz., the Sialidz, arose, it would be difficult to say. The

earliest winged insects were probably terrestrial ; the aquatic lar-

val forms of the Sialidz are evidently derivations from Campo-

dea-like terrestrial larvæ. But how the perfect metamorphosis

with the quiescent pupa of the Neuroptera was brought about,

is indeed a problem. It is evident, however, that the eruciform

larva is a derivation from a Thysanuran* type, as first stated by

Fritz Miller.

It seems to us that a consideration of the diverse larval forms

which occur in the present order, throws some light on the ori-

gin of a complete metamorphosis in insects in general. In the

Sialidæ, as the larva of Corydalis, or Semblis, we have a Campo-

dea-form provided with gills, and with the mouth-parts adapted for

Seizing and biting its prey. The terrestrial larve of the Hemer-

obiidz are evidently modifications of the Sialid larval form; the

differences of structure in them, such as the long slender mandi-

bles and maxilla and the short abdomen, being the result of their

carnivorous habits, and their being obliged to climb up the stems

of plants or to walk over the leaves after smaller insects. Under

Such circumstances the body would become shorter and more

concentrated, and the legs well developed. In the Trichoptera,

* See “ Our Common Insects,” p. 175, 1873. Also the AMERICAN NATURALIST,

Vol. v, Sept., 1871.

? We have, in the writings just quoted, called the second class of larvæ Leptiform,

the Thysanuriform, or Brauer’s expression Campodea-form, is prefer-

able. The Campodea or primitive Hexapodous form is evidently a derivative form,

which points back to a common six-footed ancestor of all Tracheata, to which the

term Leptiform may be applied.

936 On the Genealogy of the Insects. [September,

¿whose larvz live in cylindrical cases, the body is seen to be essen-

‘tially Campodea-like; the head is fundamentally like that of

Corydalis; the differences are adaptive.

But when we regard the larva of the Panorpide, we are deal-

ing with a new type; it is caterpillar-like, eruciform ; its body is

slender and cylindrical, the head small and. feet short and small.

‘Notice also its habits. The larva of Panorpa communis of Eu-

rope, as described by Brauer, is remarkably caterpillar-like or

eruciform. The head is small, well rounded, and the antenn

and mouth-parts are small and rudimentary, compared with those

of other Neuroptera, not excepting the Trichoptera. Moreover,

they are constructed on nearly the same type as those of cater-

pillars; for example, the mandibles are short, toothed, of the

same form as in Lepidopterous larve ; the maxilla‘ are short, and

whether more than two-lobed Brauer does not state, though his

figure indicates apparently a rudimentary third lobe; the palpt

are four-jointed, while the labium is small with small three-jointed

palpi. ;

The form of the body is thick and stout, like that of a Bomby-

cid (Arctian) larva. The short, four-jointed thoracic feet are ™

length and thickness like those of caterpillars. But ‘the most

striking resemblance to caterpillars and- saw-fly larve is seen in

the eight pairs of abdominal feet, which Brauer describes ss re:

cal or pin-shaped (kegelformig), while on the last (ninth: or

tenth?) segment are four finger-shaped, equal processes. ae

only the form of the body but also the arrangement and shape

the button-like setiferous warts on the body are strikingly like

those of some Arctian caterpillars. The pupa has free limbs ane

wings as in other Neuroptera. The larva of Panorpa os

inch deep into moss-covered, not wet soil. a

The larve of Bittacus (B. italicus and hagenit)

and figured by Brauer, have a rounded head wit ee

; . ed with those

parts; the mandibles are, however, rather long, compares aoe

of Panorpa; while the maxilla have apparently two maer a

lobes, and a four-jointed, short maxillary palpus; t

, as also described

body is not so thick as in Panorpa; it is cylindrical and ge

with long, scattered, dorsal spines, which bear one OF m.

1 Sitzungsberichte math.-naturw. Classe k. Akad. Wiss. , Wien,

2 Verhandlungen k, k. zool.-bot. Gessellschaft in Wien, 1871.

OS a UR alae pana aa a ae PA ve AEN T eet

h small mouth-

he labium is

. s. . i The 4 a

rudimentary, with a pair of short, minute, two-jointed palpi. a

1851. Tafell | 4

1883.] On the Genealogy of the Insects. 937

branches near the base, while there is a lateral row of slender fil-

aments and a row of ventral verticillate hairs. It thus bears a

resemblance to the larvae of some butterflies, as Vanessa antiopa,

and especially the young Polyommatus (Heodes hypopleas) or the

Bombycid larve of Anisota stigma or Platysamia, as. well as

Selandria larvæ. Brauer’s figures show a pair of abdominal, two-

jointed feet to each of the nine abdominal segments, while just as

in Lepidopterous larve and in that of Panorpa there is a pair of

prothoracic spiracles, none on the mesothoracic or metathoracic

segments, and there are nine pairs of abdominal spiracles, accord-

ing to Brauer’s figure, or one more pair than in Lepidopterous

arvæ.

The fact that there are in the larval Panorpidæ collectively a

pair of feet tò each abdominal segment (the terminal segment in

Panorpa bearing what are evidently homologues of the anal prop-

legs of caterpillars) is of much significance when we bear in

mind that while no caterpillars are known to have more than five

pairs of abdominal or prop-legs, some of the segments bearing

none, yet the embryos, as shown by Kowalevsky, have temporary

embryonic indications of legs, a pair to each segment (uromere) ;

it is a significant fact that the eruciform larve of the Panorpide

actually have two-jointed legs to each abdominal segment, the

penultimate segment in Bittacus bearing such legs, and the ter-

minal segment bearing leg-like processes in Panorpa. The ori-

gin of the Lepidoptera from the. same stem-form as the Panor-

pide thus seems a reasonable hypothesis.

In the metamorphosis of Mantispa, as Brauer has shown, there

is a hypermetamorphosis, i. e., two larval stages. The first stage

is Campodea-form but the second is suberuciform. The transfor-

Mations of Mantispa. appear to give us the key to the mode in

Which a metamorphosis was brought about. The larva, born a

Campodea-like form, active, with large, long, four-jointed feet,

living a sedentary life in the egg-sac of a spider, before the first

molt loses the use of its feet, while the antennz are partly

aborted., The fully -grown larva is round-bodied,. with small,

caterpillar-like feet and a small round head. Its, external appen-

dages retrograding and retarded, acceleration of growth goes on

Within, and thus the pupal form is perfected while the larva is

full-fed and quiescent; hence as a result the pupal stage became

a quiescent one, and by inheritance it gradually became a perma-

938 On the Genealogy of the Insects. [September,

nent habit characteristic of Neuroptera, all of which have a com-

plete metamorphosis. Hence this complete metamorphosis has

been inherited by all the orders of metabolic insects which prob-

ably originated from Neuroptera-like forms, and the imago repre-

sents a highly accelerated stage.

When we consider the imagos or adult Neuroptera, the small

collar-like prothorax, the spherical, concentrated thorax as 4

whole, and the cylindrical abdomen, are features which give them

a comparatively specialized and modern aspect. Without doubt

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. .

G. I.—Ist or Campodea-stage of Mantispa, highly magnified. FIG. 2

condition, before first moult; magnified. Fic. 3.—Adult Mantispa, with side H

of the same, the wings removed; nat. size.

the Neuropterous labium is a secondary product compared wih

that of the Orthoptera or the Platyptera, where it is deeply dit a

It will be remembered that in the embryo of all insects the la

bium or second maxille originates like the first pair. w

Origin of the Coleoptera. —Although the beetles are a remark-

bly homogeneous and well circumscribed order, there are a

larval forms and life-histories which point out with a tol y ie

degree of certainty the line of development of this en

order from the Campodea type. There are two series of a

which seem to us to throw light on the subject. p

First, the form of the free, active larvæ of the ade oa

groups of beetles, The larve of the Carabidæ, Dytiscide allied :

Staphylinidz appear to us to be on the whole !

1883.] On the Genealogy of the Insects. 939

than those of any other families. This ancestral Coleopterous

larva was probably directly related to the Campodea-form ances-

tor of the Hexapoda. The general form of the body, the

homonomous segments, the free, biting, toothed mandibles, the

well-developed one or two-lobed maxilla with their three-jointed

palpi, and the well developed second maxillz (labium), also the

four-jointed antennz, and the presence of ocelli, while showing

that the existing carnivorous larvae are the most specialized and

highly developed, also show that they have undergone the least

modification from the primitive type of Coleopterous larva. In

the scavenger larval forms, as the Silphide, Dermestide and

allied families, the mouth-parts begin to be modified and less de-

veloped, and the form of the body undergoes a change, becom-

ing thicker and with less developed feet.

In the Elateridæ and Scarabeidz, which in general are phyto-

phagous, we see a still more decided change; the body becoming

cylindrical and the mouth-parts more aberrant.

In the wood-boring Buprestidae and Cerambycidz, and in the

leaf-eating Chrysomelid larva, we witness a decided departure

rom the carnivorous type; the mouth-parts show a tendency to

become more or less aborted, the legs are frequently wanting and

the body more or less maggot-like. Finally, the tendency to a

gradual degradation and atrophy of the head, mouth-parts and

legs culminates in the grubs of the weevils (Curculionidz and

Scolytidze), placing them at the foot of the Coleopterous series),

and shows that they have undergone the greatest modification of

form, and have become adapted to conditions the most unlike

those which constituted the environment of the primitive Coleop-

terous larva.

The relative form of the maxilla appears to be a good index

as to the general development of the body in the different groups

of Coleoptera, especially those standing above the wood-boring

families. The facts may, for convenience, be arranged in the fol-

lowing form :

Cicindelide—Maxilla with a maxillary lobe or mala proper

ending in a two-jointed appendage which is longer than the

three-jointed palpus. (Antenne four-jointed ; three ocelli.)

~ Carabide.—Maxilla with the mala two-jointed; maxillary pal-

Pus four-jointed. (Antenne four-jointed, bifurcate ; ocelli often

VOL, XVIL—NO. 1x, 63

940 On the Genealogy of the Insects. [September,

Dytiscidæ (and Hydradephaga in general).— Maxilla with the

mala absent; the palpi four-jointed. 5

The maxilla in the aquatic forms of the Carabid type is only a —

modification of the Geodephagous maxilla; the terminal palpal

joint being acute and raptorial. er

Staphylinide —Maxilla with a one-jointed inner lobe (Xantho

linus), or the mala broad and setose as in the succeeding families —

(Platystethus and especially Bledius); maxillary palpi three and

four-jointed. a

The Staphylinid type of maxilla is simply a modification of

the Carabid, with a tendency to degeneration in the own

genera (Bledius, etc.). Many larve in this family are car

nivorous.

Elateride.—Maxilla with a two-jointed lobe or mala; the max

illary palpus four-jointed. Antennæ four-jointed, bifurcate as 10

Carabid larvæ; mandibles toothed. The larvæ of Elater and

Athous are free. While generally supposed to be vegetable

eaters (as Agriotes), those larvæ which live under the bark |

trees in mines made by longicorns and other borers, have been :

shown by Ratzeburg, Dufour and Perris to be in part carnivor:

ous, living on Dipterous and longicorn larvæ, as well as OF

excrementitious vegetable matter filling the burrows. P eren £ :

sectes du Pin Maritime, p. 190) has pointed out the close ar :

blance of the mouth-parts of this family to those of the :

Carabide. ae

going families; the maxillary lobe, or mala, being me

derma), and in Pyrochroa, which is carnivorous, 5

are as complicated as in any; but in the Buprestidæ a

melidæ they are less developed, while they are most rudi ;

in form and size in the wood-boring weevils and Scolytids

antennæ and second maxillæ and legs also share in the m

tion of structure consequent on the burrowing lignivero® T

of the larvæ. a

But it is in the so-called hypermetamorphosis of w a

that of the blister beetle (Epicauta) as well as hoe ‘in the

been fully described and illustrated by Professor Riley í (pP

first report of the United States Entomological Commit

1883. ] On the Genealogy of the Insects. 941

297-302, Pl. 1v), that we have a clew to the probable origin of

the different types of Coleopterous larvae. The metamorphosis

of the oil beetle (Meloé), originally discovered by Siebold and

Newport and also Fabre, is described in different entomological

manuals.’ In brief, the larvae of Meloé when hatched are very

minute, active, six-legged, slender-bodied creatures, parasitic on

wild bees ; as the legs end in three claws the insects in this stage

are called “triungulins.” These larve attached to the bees are

thus carried into the nests of the latter, where they feed on the

bee-larvee and bee-bread. On becoming fully fed, instead of

transforming directly into the pupa state, they assume a second

larval form, entirely unlike the first, the body being cylindrical

Fic. 4.—Hypermetamorphosis of Meloé. 4, triungulin ; B, 2d larva; C, 3d

- larva; D, pupa; Æ, beetle.

and motionless, with long legs; they then attain a third larval

(coarctate) stage, the head small and the body thick, cylindrical

and footless ; after this they assume a true pupa stage, and finally

become beetles.

Professor Riley has traced the hypermetamorphosis of the

blister beetle (Epicauta), which passes through three larval stages

Ore transforming to a pupa. He divides the life-history of this

beetle into the following stages: (1) Triungulin ; (2) second

larva (Caraboid); third and fourth Scarabeoid stage; fifth or

Coarctate larva; sixth or Scolytoid larva; (7) true pupa; (8)

beetle. (The reader should examine the figures in Pl. rv of the

first report of the U, S. Entomological Commission, otherwise he

‘See the writer’s “ Guide to the Study of Insects,” pp. 477-479, Figs. 447-451-

942 On the Genealogy of the Insects. [September,

cannot understand the following remarks. See also this journal

XVII, p. 790.)

It appears, then, that the first larva, or triungulin, in form

resembles the Campodea-like, primitive larval form of Coleop-

tera; the Epicauta triungulin closely resembles a Carabid larva,

the head, antenne and mouth-parts, as well as the legs and form

of the body in general, being on the primitive, Carabid type

(somewhat like Casnonia (?), Galerita and Harpalus); the second

larva, or Caraboid stage, though quite different as regards the

mouth-parts, and with a smaller head, thicker body and much

shorter legs, still adheres to the higher Carabid form (Carabus

and allies), During the Scarabzoid stage the larva rests nearly

motionless in the egg of the locust, and is like the curved clumsy

larve of the cockchafer or June beetle and other Lamellicorm

larvee, which also have the similar habits of lying still in their

burrows and feeding on the roots of grass, or, as in the case of

Osmoderma, lying nearly motionless in their cells in rotten”

wood. This sort of life going on, the larval blister beetle after

six or seven days assumes the fourth larval stage, and now,

from apparent continued disuse, the mouth-parts and legs he-

come more aborted than before, and the insect in this stage

may be compared to some Longicorn larve, with a general re- :

semblance in the curved, cylindrical body to the Ptinid and

Chrysomelid, and it even approximates in general shape Cane

lionid larve. In the pseudo-pupa or coarctate larva this prey =

of disuse and obsolescence of parts culminates in the immovl® —

stage preceding the pupal condition. We thus see that 10 m

life-history of a single species of beetle, change in the habits

environment, as well as in the food, is the cause of a change os :

the form of the body ; and this series of changes in the M which :

typifies the successive steps in the degradation of form ' on ; ;

characterizes the series of Coleopterous larve from the ee

down to the Curculionide and Scolytida. At first all larve We

carnivorous and active in their habits, with large mandibles a

well developed accessory jaws and legs; certain forms the me

coming scavengers, their appendages became, from parr

developed; then others, becoming phytophagous, bea 4

some cases still less developed, the jaws shorter am ee

with corresponding modifications in the other mouth a pw

antennz and the legs, while the body became thick, fat ai ~~

1883.] On the Genealogy of the Insects. 943

indrical ; until in the wood-boring and seed or nut-inhabiting

weevils the antenne and maxilla became rudimentary, almost

disappearing, while the legs utterly vanished. We see that a

change of habits and surroundings, with corresponding changes

in the form of the body and its appendages, both explain the

metamorphosis of insects in general and also the differences be-

tween the larval forms of the different orders.

The following view will convey an idea of the larve of the

Coleopterous families which in a general way correspond to the

different larval stages of the Meloide; it being understood that

the resemblances are suggestive and general, and not to be ac-

cepted in a too literal sense:

In Meloé more like Campodea than in Epicauta.

1. Primitive triungulin stage. Meloide.

Stylopide.

( ~ Cicindelide, i

Carabide, Dytiscidæ, Hydrophilidze.

i, Carsboid sige, od u Nitidularis, Dermestids, Coccinelli-

| Elatetide, Lampyride, Telephoride, Cleridz,

Pyrochroidz.

3. Scarabæoid stage.

erambycidæ.

Tenebrionidæ.

4. Coarctate stage, more or less | Mordellidæ.

cylindrical and apodous. g i

| Scolytidæ.

From the facts and considerations which have been presented,

we are disposed to believe, subject of course to future correction,

that the primitive Coleoptera were carnivorous forms, and that

the scavenger and phytophagous forms have been derived from

them, and are, therefore, secondary products, and as a whole of

more recent origin.

The primitive form of beetle was probably a Staphylinus-like

- form, with a long, narrow body and rudimentary elytra, and car-

Nivorous in habits. This has been suggested by Brauer,’ though

it occurred to us before meeting with his views.

Ase So wird uns der Staphylinus als eine der ältesten Käferformen gelten,” etc. Be-

trachtungen über die Verwandlung der Insekten im Sinne der Descendenz-Theorie,

von F, Brauer, Verh, k. k. zool.-bot. Ges., Wien, 1869, p. 313-

944 On the Genealogy of the Insects. [September,

Though the earliest beetle known is a Carboniferous weevil,

yet we imagine the Coleopterous type became established in De-

vonian or Silurian times, when there may have existed the proto-

types of the earwigs and beetles; for the two types may have

branched off from some Thysanuran form. On the other hand,

the primitive Coleopterous larva may have sprung from some

metabolous Neuropterous form. The larva of Gyrinus has a

striking resemblance to that of Corydalis and other Sialidæ, so

much so that a terrestrial Carabidous form most probably was of

Neuropterous origin, as indicated in our diagram. A

Origin of the Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera —The Eu

glossata probably had a common origin in the first place from

the metabolic Neuroptera. The Lepidoptera probably originated

from the same group from which the Panorpidz and Trichopt

branched off, and we agree with the opinion of H. Müller, who

maintains that the Lepidoptera and Trichoptera “ proceed tome |

common stock,” though we should suppose that the Panorpid@

in their larval stage represented forms like the ancestral cater

pillar. a

The adult structure and larval forms of the Diptera show that

they originated from nearly the same stock as the moths. pa

most perfectly developed Dipterous larvæ are those of the Culi-

cidæ and Tipulidæ ; these were probably the primitive forms; th

other Dipterous larvæ, notably the larval Muscidæ or magg

are degradational forms, and the lower Diptera appear to =

been degraded or degenerate forms. a

The case is different with the Hymenoptera. The saw-fly a 23

represent apparently the primitive larval form; and from their

semblance to caterpillars and Panorpid larve, show that the Hy-

menoptera and Lepidoptera may have had a common '

The footless larvæ of the parasitic Hymenoptera are cai BH

with their parasitic mode of life, and the similar forms nae

larval wasps and bees show that from disuse their nowt

and legs became aborted, and the immobile larve became * r

and thick-bodied. Hence such larve should be regaran.

secondary, adaptive larval types. The high degree of

tion of the bees’ mouth-parts, their concentrated bodies and a

mented thorax, with other characters, show that they eo

highest, most specialized and modern of all insects.

Note. —It should be borne in mind that the embryo

1883. ] The Mink or Hoosier Frog. 945

pair of temporary abdominal appendages on each segment. (uro-

mere); so also has the Lepidopterous and Coleopterous embryo,

which points back to a common, Scolopendrella-like type; this

also possibly indicating a still earlier, worm-like, Peripatus-like

ancestor for Myriopoda and Hexapoda at least, if not Arachnida.

For previous discussions as to the origin of insects the reader is

referred to the writings of Fritz Miller, Brauer, Lubbock, and

the author.

70:

THE MINK OR HOOSIER FROG.

BY J. H. GARNIER, M.D.

HIS frog (Rana septentrionalis) seems comparatively unknown,

and is found in localities far apart. It inhabits spring creeks

and rivers, but in lakes and ponds of the purest water I have never

seen it, nor captured a single specimen. It is quiet and solitary

in its habits, never associating in numbers like the bull-frog (R.

catesbiana), nor the green frog (R. fontinalis). It makes its ap-

pearance in April. It was first named by Professor S. F.» Baird,

now Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Rice pub-

lished some notes concerning it, which I have been unable to pro-

cure, and therefore furnish such particulars as have come under

my own personal observation. It is a silent and unobtrusive

species, and emphatically a river frog. It is never seen in

fields nor woods, but as the observer walks by the banks

of a brook, it seldom allows him to approach its lurking

place, but, being very wary, dives into the stream, gener-

ally making for the center, where it seeks the cover of some

friendly stone, buries itself in the mud, or conceals its body

among the water plants. If taken in the hand it emits a strong

odor of musk and garlic, or more properly the disagreeable scent

of the mink; this is sufficiently powerful to adhere to the hand

for a time, but soon passes away. it preys on water beetles and

Similar insects, but seems especially partial to the Julus family,

having generally found it in the stomachs examined. Why it

was termed “hoosier frog” I do not know, and I may be allowed

to add the name of “ mink frog,” which has a positive meaning.

The tadpoles rest in little bays, or may often be seen in the most

rapid current. If disturbed, like the adult, they dart into the mid-

dle, and it is no easy matter to secure specimens of the nearly per-

946 The Mink or Hoosier Frog. [September,

fected larva. They are very active and vigilant. I can aver that

I have seen the larva dart into the river from the edge, at the dis-

tance of a rod or more from where I was standing, and have had

no small trouble to secure even a few subjects.

The following measurements are the mean of twelve adults, im

inches, and carefully correlated : j

From end of snout to end of great toe....... .634 inches.

RIOR NORE TO VODE ied ss eano wee ceases ove tees sees te oe

Breadth of kedd a fwlb.: onna View bwe lees cutee AS Roe

Thigh in-lespths $16). 2 PRO is es

Peg i th eine pete eerete een Ge dias EOE 4, oe ae eek oe 1} ff

Taras dos. ee e TTN Re e

Extemaltoe doe L Pro oe eos erie -I is

Second, or longest’ in all’ frogs, doii irao ded. sae wues Eyes

r EEA E T es We

EI fea EN PED E AE O E male dak E T AEA

2 es api ba ee

PM OR ME Pe ves e E E ea vanes cv ews A A X

Forearm do : E A

External finger do.. kto tea i eA fee

Longest finger, or second, do. . “sek VE

Tardo OF DONAS COL) eoeueoo bce iin duces cart hers Gear. ae Gia

MUO GRO pad CO) isil. oro iko arkar o rania REA a AE se

From internal canthus to end of nose oo

From angle of mouth to symphisis of jawS .ssesssse.reneest pAg 2

This frog is easily distinguished from all others

America by the peculiar minky odor and by. the beautiful hazel- =

brown of the iris, features persistent in all specimens and in bw

stages when in life. These disappear, of course, in alcohol. The n

upper and lower lids are edged with a semi-transparent ae

border. The nostrils are small, black, and with a raised margit.

The ears are dark brown, marbled with sooty black. Above eacheye :

may generally be found a black blotch or spot, and a rece -

parallelogram of black on each shoulder. There is a sli sht pe

of raised skin from the angle of the mouth disappearing a : a :

shoulder, but the lateral fold is absent in all stages. oe

The coloration of this species is peculiar, and is so peri a

minedas

k 4S 4

and so little varied in the many specimens I have xa

not to permit it to be confounded with any other. The wal

dark olive-green, mixed with sooty brown. There «F

its outside

1 ring to

The foot when spread forms nearly a parallelogram, measu he

edge 114 inches long and 5 broad, which is large in proportion

species.

1883.] The Mink or Hoosier Frog. 947

blotches of an irregular round form, especially towards the rump,

each encircled with a dirty greenish ring or marbling. The head

is of a more uniform greenish-brown. The upper lip green,

shading to dirty white under the snout. Lower lip white. The

upper surface of the thighs, legs and tarsus are blotched in two

rows of spots, but not regularly banded, as also the arms. Soles

of feet and palms of hands a uniform sooty brown. The upper

surfaces of the external toe and the web attaching it to the sec-

ond is of a sooty brown; the remaining three toes and webs are

dirty white. The throat and all the inferior surfaces are of a

beautiful paper white, with creamy or gentle grass-green tinges

on the throat, giving a very pleasing effect. Occasionally a sub-

ject is found with a few scattered spots on the edges of the abdo-

men, or on the thighs, but.as a rule the line of demarkation be-

tween the upper and under surface is very well pronounced. The

lower eyelids are transparent, becoming white in alcohol. The

stomachs of many have been examined by me, and they contained

mostly Carabus, Julus and water insects, and on two occasions

some little fish, chubs, if I remember correctly, about an inch long.

Thus their food is like that of other frogs. On examining speci-

mens taken on 2oth July, 1883, the formation of the ova was con-

siderably advanced. Like the bull-frog and green frog, it retires

early to hibernate, and after the first sharp frost they all go to re-

pose, and for about six or seven months are never seen. |

In summer they may often be seen with the head and a bit of

the back out of water, resting among plants on the borders of

streams, and where the Potamogeton is in bunches, or the Ra-

nunculus is in beds, the herpetologist may likely secure his spe-

cimens.

But if the frog once disappears, he generally keeps from view

till all probable danger is past. It is useless to expect it to reap-

pear at the spot it left, as it dives several yards, it may be, rods,

before it stops. I have occasionally waited half an hour or more,

watching one that has so dived beside a stone, in the current or

otherwise. Perhaps they may have been really frightened, and

the feeling of fear may have remained, or they may have fol-

lowed some law of nature implanted within them in keeping con-

cealed for such a protracted period. Occasionally I have heard

their notes after they were secured and in my collecting case ;

but then it seemed truly a note of distress, and was in a different

948 The Mink or Hoosier Frog. { September,

tone and key from that rarely heard on the open stream. The

loud-throated bull-frog and his equally noisy congener, the

marsh or green frog, I do not consider indulge in the “chant

amour” during the heat of the summer, as nobody ever saw them

in coitu, at least I never did, although I have carefully watched

and made many inquiries, both from whites and Indians. But

how this takes place, or when, I cannot personally state for a

fact.

The tadpoles of some Batrachia congregate in schools, as may

be seen with the Bufo lentiginosus, Rana catesbiana, R. fontinalis,

&c., but that of Rana septentrionalis is as solitary as the adult.

The tadpole has the odor of the frog, though not so strong;

there is a band down the side, but it is not raised above the skin, a

being flat and a yellowish-green color, and disappears after the

absorption of the tail. The-beautiful soft hazel of the iris is there,

and when looked at in sunlight the same mild expression of the

face exhibits both innocence and repose. A

There are certain peculiarities in the life-history and in exter-

nal forms of these three Ranæ which so thoroughly agree that

they may be separated into a group by themselves. These I shall

endeavor to point out as concisely as possible:

1. They have no “chant amour,” or love notes, in spring.

the first autumnal

2. They retire early to hibernate with

frosts.

3. They live in the water and lie in wait for thei

not hunt for it on land. They poise the body on any

weeds, lie on the bank or any bit of stick or log that su

purpose, ee

4. The tadpoles of R. catesbiana and R. fontinalis require:

years to mature, and the mink frog requires the same period.

5. Adults in all three have no lateral fold, but merely he

raising of the skin from the angle of the mouth, and which Asi

minates or shades off on the shoulder. : of the

6. The foot is broader in proportion than in the sesh ON

family, and the second toe is proportionally shorter, #

liarity emphatically distinct, and can be seen ata glance b.

one who takes the trouble of even a cursory obser? ;

Webbed to extremities. . quite

7. When captured they sometimes utter a cry of distress t

and I have

r food, but do-

floating

its their

different from their ordinary croaking notes,

1883.] The Mink or Hoosier Frog. 949

seen the bull-frog open his mouth and scream for over a minute,

like a child in distress,

8. When they give their note it is always produced by inflating

the throat pouch and suddenly expelling the air, whereas in R. `

- halecina there is a pouch near the angle of the jaws, on either

side.

9. They are all tinged, more or less, with yellowish-green on

the chin, which soon shades towards the throat and breast, and

on the belly is white, more or less, in many subjects most beau-

tifully so.

There is thus an analogy in their life-history, and in their ex-

ternal conformation that at once forms them into a group by them-

selves, and makes a marked section. I am not aware, however,

that there is any anatomical difference sufficient to make a

genus. In fact I may be allowed to remark that anatomical

variations are more frequent among the Batrachia than among

any other class of the animal kingdom. There are species that

even produce the ova fully fertilized, viz., the Siredon genus, be-

fore the larva is perfect. The bones in the feet of some species

are never fully developed, and in others, closely allied, the bones

are perfectly formed. But this is a subject in itself, on which

much can be written, and at best such a subject can only end in

theory and personal ideas.

The love notes of the Ranidæ, admirably termed “chant

amour ” by the French, is a point in their history I have seldom

or never seen noticed in American works, and is a peculiar feature

in this “ /ife-history” that most emphatically marks whole sections.

If I hear the notes of a frog, I can tell to what class it belongs,

and when to expect its spawning season. On the 24th of June I

collected a number of R. septentrionalis and placed them in a large,

white, earthen vase. They remained quiet for a time, and I put

in some chips and a quantity of Ranunculus. Next morning

three couples were paired and lying at the bottom of the vase,

and secreted among the Ranunculus. One pair were on the sur-

face, but the female had been injured. It thus seems they accou-

ple in the night, and immediately sink and hide. Occasionally

there was a trivial chant amour from the last pair, evidently so

given, but the others were mute. The R. halecina may often be

heard croaking its lugubrious and dismal love notes from the bot-

tom of some muddy ditch. That of the mink frog is a rapid

950 The Mink or Hooster Frog. [ September,

squeaking croak almost like the notes uttered by a toad when

seized, with the finger and thumb, by its arm pits. I have since

heard the same love cry late in the evening, on the banks of the

stream, and have well recognized its peculiarly sharp ringing

croak. The male seizes the female by the lower portion of the

axilla, near the upper third of the dorsal vertebra, but not by the

lumbar regions. At this time the tinting on the chin and throat

was a fine gamboge-yellow, and was deeper toned in some speci-

mens than others, but not particularly more in the males than the

females. In both sexes it was equally beautiful. I could not

help being particularly struck by the extreme stillness of the pairs

in coitu among the Ranunculus. Nothing seemed to induce

them to move in any manner. They were at rest. I carefully

examined since on all opportunities, and searched the streams and

pools to find some in coitu, if possible, to observe them in their

natural embrace, but as yet without success. As mentioned, the

ordinary note of this frog is similar to that of R. Aalecna, but

much more sprightly, and its note of distress is little different, her

is more sepulchral. I have seen it distend the throat on both

sides of the tongue and give this peculiar cry, and there was

considerable depression in the center, over the glossal bones,

which demonstrated a sack on each side.

Thus it may be justly inferred that after the female is grasped i

the pair sink to the bottom and conceal themselves from view ae

and that they either bury themselves in the mud or seek the

covering of water plants, after the manner of those ın the n

earthen vase. It is likely some prompting of nature that thus

makes them bury themselves from sight, to protect themselves

from enemies that could, at that time, make them an easy pe

and in security perform their’ process of fecundation. I kept m

specimens referred to for over a fortnight, but no spawn was de-

posited. To-day is the 30th July. On the 24th a fine

Institution, The color on the chin has much faded, and is no"

The same creamy color is seen when they first make their app™ a

ance in the beginning of May or in April. Specimens €x% ee

to-day are devoid of ova, are considerably collapsed, and o

sides are sunk in. There is plenty of spawn in the soa

some places it is seen adhering to water plants and waving IM

1883. ] The Mink or Hoosier Frog. 951

current; in others in bunches, in little bays, but in all places situ-

ated half way between the bottom and surface of the water, I

also saw two similar bunches of spawn on the 24th June. Itis

therefore conclusive that Rana septentrionalis, the mink frog,

spawns towards the end of July. On the 24th ult. I obtained

several tadpoles, one a nearly perfected frog with only a small

fragment of the tail to be absorbed; several had both legs and

arms, and others the hind legs with the arms quite ready to make

their appearance, and the skin confining them at the shoulders,

transparent. Frogs now spawned cannot be completed this sea-

son, as there are plenty of tadpoles in October and in November

of R. catesbiana, septentrionalis and clamata. They are seen, all

of them, without limbs in spring, and at the present moment they

are all three being perfected and assuming the imago, or perfected

form. Thus it requires two years to perfect this little frog. From

my own observations and from the proportional size of numerous

specimens, it requires two years more to bring them to maturity.

Whether it was the effect of placing over a score together in

the middle of June that caused their accouplement, I am unable

to say, but there was no spawn deposited, which takes place at

once in natural positions after coitu.

In studying the “life-history” of any species, it must be care-

fully traced, step by step. Analogy here is.no criterion whatever,

and often ends in conclusions far remote from facts—errors need-

ing much trouble to rectify.

On the 2d of July a brook was examined that empties into the

Lucknow river, and on a small rapid, shallow and broad, with a

sandy and pebbly bottom, a cluster of tadpoles, of the species

under consideration, was seen in a great disturbance, each indi-

vidual on the outside endeavoring to force its way to some object

in the general center. This proved to be a brook trout, Salmo

Jontinalis, It was covered with tadpoles, and nothing but the

back bone was left, and a small portion of the head, sufficient to

identify it. In another similar spot I disturbed a fresh colony

and secured the skeleton of a chub, which had also been eaten,

nothing remaining but the back bones, head and tail. This is

Now preserved in alcohol, and every atom of flesh had been eaten

off, scales and intestines included.

About twenty of the tadpoles were taken home and placed in

a large glass vase filled with rain water. They were in various

Stages of growth, some not much over an inch, and others with

952 The Mink or Hoosier Frog. [September,

the legs far advanced, and nearly four inches long. Anxious to

discover if this frog, in its tadpole state, was essentially carnivor-

ous, I dropped into the vase several small dead fishes. Next

morning they were entirely consumed except the heads and the

bones of the back. They always began to eat the soft parts of

the belly and intestines, and then the rest of the fish.- Thus I

continued to feed them, and preserved several fragments of ani-

mals devoured. Several dead tadpoles of R. clamaia were

given them, the intestines of which were filled with mud and veg-

etable matter. So thoroughly carnivorous were these little crea-

tures that no fragment of any part of the body or head was left

except the engorged intestines. These relics I placed with the

rest, and have them carefully preserved. I have opened a num-

ber of these tadpoles, taken from the stream and dropped in cs

alcohol, and their intestines were often full of the common muddy

matter found in all species, but on most occasions it was mixed

with decaying animal matter, and small fish scales were visible

when the matter was placed on the field of a microscope. I :

placed the soft vegetable substance, on which R. clamata feeds,

i i

Se Resi A

piacere tas! eke ey

Re ees, estes ss

EES TRENE a) Wie =

in their jar, and they seemed indifferent to it, but as soon as

dead fish or tadpole was thrown in they immediately gave it their

the anus, ERS

d, with all

as is-

tad-

attention, invariably commencing to tear it open about

and then the rest of the abdomen was quickly devoure

its contents. I never saw them wrangling over their food,

always seen among little fish, nor on any occasion did one

pole chase another. i ye

It may be justly asked, “ Suppose a number of tadpoles of

various species were mixed together in a vase of water, how —

could one species be distinguished from the other t The tad-

poles are a study in themselves, and it requires long observation, -

and close inspection, to tell each apart, as they are often so a

lar in stages that it is no easy undertaking. It would re

many pages to point out all their differences, and even then the

unscientific reader would be left in a cloudy labyrinth. How-

ever, let us point out the characteristics of this species, 4

it may generally be known. It is Jarger in proporti

than any of the other American frogs when com

adult. The following are its measurements imme

the arms are excluded from the skin, when the la

greatest length, and is the mean measurement of nine speci

1 This habit was first observed in the tadpoles of Rana sylvatica by Professor:

1883. The Mink or Hoosier Frog. 953

Length trom nose to extremity of tail 4 inches,

do. of body and head..... 1% do.

Go. E a ; 25% do,

ee eA MN T Ss eet a OOR S 3g do

End of snout to inner canthus........ ts do.

Bronchial orifice to anus % do

Breadth of tail at anus........... % do.

Go. AW CENE... sanee ccs cage aeetee reece ee gens % do

The entire leg in length...... AM do,

When the legs first begin to show their development they are

a reddish-brown tint, and as they become more developed, be-

come more spotted or banded, the upper surface colored as the

adult. Thecoloration of this species, as now before me, is so

different from all others I have seen that it may be looked on as

specific, and I shall describe this pretty tadpole. The back is a

deep grassy-green, with numerous sooty spots. From the exter-

nal canthus to the insertion of the tail is an olive-yellow line,

more or less pronounced in various specimens. The sides are

green, with very many punctations of black, and a few spots of

the same color scattered among them. The abdomen is white,

and the separation of the colors on the sides is perfectly pro-

nounced. Lips edged with black. The cheeks are irridescent

green, and red, with a beautiful silvery tinge. The upper edge of

the fin of the tail, as also the lower, are well marked with a line

of black spots. Down the center, on each side, runs a line of

black spots that continues to the end of the tail, but are variously

developed in various specimens. The first half of the tail is

most beautiful, deep, irridescent green, with many red and aurora-

colored shades, that seem to melt into a silver plate beneath.

The eye is a perfect hazel brown, or reddish, and, as already

Stated, is persistent in all stages of this frog. From the angle of

the mouth, for nearly half an inch, is a well defined, narrow,

black line. In young specimens, the throat and chin are mottled

with sooty brown, as in almost all the other tadpoles, which grad-

ually disappears with growth, and, towards maturity, entirely van-

ishes,

This tadpole is extremely active, and the tail much longer in

Proportion than any of our North American frogs with which I

am acquainted, and, at the same time, narrower. A few days ago

T saw several little heads sticking up among the beds of Potamo-

geton, and after much trouble secured two specimens. I saw one

rush at, seize a large ephemera that came near it, and swallow it ;

954 The Mink or Hoosier Frog. | September,

yet it had not more than the third of its tail absorbed. I have

observed the same in R. catesbiana, the bull-frog, but have never

as yet noticed that of the R. clamata do so. These three species

remain silent after they first appear, until the rays of the sun

warms the water they inhabit, when the last two render the swamps

monotonously hideous, all night long, by an unceasing and seem-

ingly senseless clatter. There is a peculiar reverberation in the

notes of all frogs that renders it difficult to locate the exact spot

from which it comes. I may mention in passing that I have

stood on the mountain above Hamilton, at the head of Lake

Ontario, and distinctly heard the bellow of the bull-frog at the

further side of Burlington bay and in Dundas swamp, a distance

of from four to six miles. These notes were weird and strange,

and were truly a witchery on the air in the still summer night.

The tadpole of R. septentrionalis much resembles that of Alytes

obstetricans, so well described by M. F. Lataste, of Paris, a highly

distinguished herpetologist, whom I have the honor of number-

ing among my corresponding friends. He lately sent me his

“Etude du Discoglosse,” and among all the numerous works I

have read on herpetological subjects this stands preéminently

forth, for its scientific precision, acumen, and marked ability. i a

some points Discoglossus pictus seems to approach our Canadian

Rana septentrionalis, which can be pointed out in some subsequent

paper.

In regard to its geographical range it seems truly a northern

form. It is mentioned in the local issue of the Bulletin of the UL

S. National Museum, No. 24, by Dr. Yarrow, that there are: d

mens from Utah, Oregon, California, Moose river, Red nva

the North, both the last in British America, and I can add Onta: ae

rio and Manitoba. From this it is seen that it has 4 wide |

Rives AS

Ot ale

Me O64. so ae N

distribution, but being of a retiring nature it has doub

overlooked by collectors in many regions. Every ani :

place in creation to be for the general good. This seems ms pe :

its place, in the early stages of its career, as a scavenger of +

streams, and in the adult, as keeping down the over-abunie am

the insects that inhabit streams and their borders. I sear this

that it has been termed the “Rocky Mountain frog, bet ‘ae

name seems to me utterly untenable, as it does not belong to —

region particularly, nor was it first discovered there; ~

this is a point of not the slightest importance, and if ay, ne

gratified with the name, it gives me pleasure to know It.

1883. ] Editors’ Table, 95

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE.

Although the attempt is sometimes made in some quar-

ters to look down upon the work of biologists and geologists,

and to attempt to sever, in an artificial way, the pursuit of philos-

ophy from that of pure science, we have always insisted that

every thinking observer of nature in any department of science,

is, in his way, a philosopher, and not a mere hod-carrier to the

philosophic workman. Every monograph of a group of plants

or animals, every life-history of an organized being, every detailed

account of a fossiliferous bed is a brick, or at least straw for

making bricks, for use by the generalizer in science, physical as

well as natural. Physicists were formerly and very truly styled

natural philosophers, but the term in these days is quite as appli-

cable to the philosophic biologist in his quest for the origin of

life-forms and his inquiries into the nature and origin of life

itself.

The vivifying effects of the study of facts and of experimenta-

tion, as well as the debt owed by human culture to the inductive

method, have been insisted on by M. E. Chevreul in an essay

recently read before the French Academy. The author claimed

that the experimental inductive method, as followed by Newton

and his successors, is unquestionably the cause of the progress

of the physico-chemical sciences, while the absolute @ priori

method, as conceived by Leibnitz, barred the way to all further

Progress. While Newton sought the proximate cause in order

gradually to ascend to a possible first cause, Leibnitz started

from the first cause, which for him was everything. “The study

of the material world accessible to the senses, led, according to

the German philosopher, to nothing real, while the spiritual

World, without parts or dimensions, as represented by monads,

numerical unities endowed from their creation with motion, was

the object of pure knowledge, that is, of God himself.”

The scientific mind is still in training; it is still in leading strings,

and it will be long before it can let go of them and soar by a

Priori methods to reach ultimate truths. This is a healthy con-

dition, and a genuine agnosticism in so far as regards scientific

a priori deductions or guesses is at present, at least, an encour-

aging Symptom of modern science.

VOL. XVIIL—wno. 1x, 64

956 Recent Literature. [September, —

RECENT LITERATURE.

HAECKEL’s Visir TO Ceyton..—The author is widely known

for his popular works on biology and anthropology, and for his

richly illustrated folios and quartos treating of Protozoans and

Hydroids, as well as for his radical dogmatic views as an evolu-

tionist and philosopher, but he now comes before the public asa

charming narrator and most appreciative observer of nature in her

broader aspects. This little book thus reveals a new side of the

gifted author’s mind, and one which does much credit to the Jena

professor. yee

The impressions and sketches of tropical nature here recorded

were obtained during a residence of nearly four months in Cey-

lon, and will be valuable as affording, from a fresh standpoint,

views of tropical life and nature. Humboldt and Bates have —

given us pictures of Brazilian nature; Darwin has described the —

western slopes of the South American Cordilleras and the pam- —

pas, and Wallace has painted the gorgeous scenery of the Indian —

archipelago, while Hooker has drawn vivid sketches of the Indian

flora and Himalayan scenery and animated nature, and now

Haeckel has added a series of word-pictures of the Ceylon coast

and highlands, their vegetation and animal life, which formsa —

fitting companion to the classical volumes which have preceded

S. BiR

Haeckel has afforded us vivid conceptions of the aspects of the i

Indian ocean and its life along the coast of Ceylon ; of the dn

vigorous and magnificent forests mantling the shores e this

favored island, as well as the primeval forests and scenery 9f ™

Cinghalese highlands, the haunts of the wild elephant, great gra

ape and the Russa-deer, or elk.

record in enthus!-

i f the tropical forest,

cialist in botany. o

While we are treated to valuable and fresh descriptions in not

coral reefs of Ceylon, Haeckel was somewhat disappointed pee

explains the reason: rticularly

“The extended research of the last twenty years, a s more

the results of the Challenger expedition, have convince ge

and more that the living creatures of the different secret

by a long way, so dissimilar as the terrestrial fauna oa

ent continents. My experience in Belligam affor ae

of this. I found there, indeed, a considerable number of BET '

1 A Visit to Ceylon. By Exnst Haxcket. Translated by CLARA ee

ton, S. E. Cassino & Co., 1883. 12mo, pp- 337. <r

1883.] Recent Literature. 957

some very interesting forms, particularly among the lowest orders

of marine life: Radiolaria and Infusoria, sponges and corals, Me-

duse and Siphonophora; still, on the whole, the creatures of the

ocean-surface, as well as those of the coast-waters, displayed a

close affinity to the well-known marine fauna of the tropical Pa-

cific, as, for instance, the Philippine Fiji groups.

“It is quite possible,” he adds, “ that other shores round India

may be richer in various and peculiar forms than Ceylon. One

unfavorable condition is the enormous and regular daily rainfall,

which appears to reduce the saltness of the sea along the coast,

and to check the growth of the marine animals.’

The following quotation from a description of the primeval

forest on the table land of Ceylon, is an excellent picture of trop-

ical nature, and is a good example of Haeckel’s style:

“ But what is our sophisticated ‘ Waldeinsamkeit '"—with a vil-

lage a few miles away, at the best—to the real and immeasurable

solitude which reigns in this primeval wilderness of the Cingha-

lese highlands? Here, indeed, we are sure of being alone with

inviolate nature. I never shall forget the delicious stillness of

the days I spent in the sombre woods and sunny savannahs at the

World’s End. * * * Thesenseof utter loneliness which per-

vades these wilds is greatly heightened by the fact that the ani-

mals which inhabit them show scarcely any outward signs of life.

The wild elephant is, no doubt, to this day the monarch of the

forest, but once only did I ever see any; and the great Russa-

deer, or elk (Rusa aristotelis), which is said not to be uncom-

mon, and of which I often heard reports, I never saw at all.

These and most other natives of the forest are, in fact, chiefly

or exclusively nocturnal in their habits, and during the day re-

main hidden in the deep cool coverts. Even the great gray ape

(Presbytis ursinus), which is very common here, I but rarely saw,

though I often heard its gruff tones early in the morning.

“The melancholy cries of some birds, particularly the green

wood pigeons and bee-eaters are rarely heard excepting in the

early dawn; at a later hour the gaudy jungle cock (Gallus lafay-

ett) is the only bird that breaks the silence. This gorgeous spe-

cies appears to be nearly allied to the first parent of our domestic

hen is dressed in modest grayish-brown. The sonorous call of

this wild fowl, which is fuller and more tuneful than the crow of

his farm-yard cousin, is often heard for hours in the wood, now

near, now distant; for the rival cocks compete zealously in this

: | vocal entertainment for the favor of the critical hens. I could,

er, rarely get within shot, for they are so shy and cautious

that the slightest rustle interrupts the performance, and when

once I had fired a shot the forest was silent for a long time after.

“T often sat painting for hours on some fallen tree-trunk with-

958 Recent Literature. [September,

forms of the trees of the primeval forest, the gnarled and tangled

growth of their trunks and the forked boughs, bearded with yard- 7

long growths of orange mosses and lichens, and robed with ri a

green mantles of creepers. The lower part of the tree is er

wreathed with the white or strangely-colored flowers.of fragrant ve

epiphytal orchids, while their dark green crowns are gay with the :

ile the land leeches of Ceylon are n mi ;

Haeckel also speaks of the large worms, for w e n oa

try of Ceylon is famous :'`“ they are the giants of their kind, fve

feet long, an inch thick, and of a fine sky-blue e apa

is also made of the huge bird-catching spider (Mygale) whic?

of his hosts, an Englishman, had frequently seen in purs™

small birds (Nectarinia). : eo

ie h of the narrative is well sustained throughout, %

the translator’s work has been well done.

facts tor

tion than this popular writer. The treatment 1s catholic a

partial, and the author is not wedded to Darminta Poe che’ e

ple, although from want of knowledge, apparent), taken chie

of some other authors, his quotations and views are im

from the works of Darwin and Huxley.

1 Chapters on Evolution. By ANDREW WILSON, Ph. D., F.R

925 illustrations. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 183. 12mo, pp. 3

1883. ] Recent Literature. 959

The author prefaces his volume with the statement that “the

chief aim of the work is to present, in a popular and readily un-

derstood form, the chief evidences of the evolution of living

beings. * * * A considerable experience as a bio ogical

teacher has long since convinced me that the hesitancy with which

evolution is accepted, and the doubt with which even cultured

persons are occasionally apt to view this conception of nature,

arise chiefly from lack of knowledge concerning the overwhelm-

ing evidences of its existence which natural history presents.”

The plan of the book is logical and in a degree original. After

Stating the nature of the problem, Professor Wilson tells us

what the study of biology is, and the nature of biological studies,

and he notes, in passing, that “ an important characteristic of sci-

entific investigation exists in the fact that, having no prejudices to

defend or prepossessions to consult, the man of science stands in

no dread of the results to which he may be led, and is placed at

no disadvantage when he replaces beliefs, however time-honored

they may be, by the newer phases of thought to which his studies

have led.” Indeed, the author is bold, vigorous and thoroughly

Scientific in spirit, and while a grain iconoclastic, it is refreshing

to meet with scattered remarks and hits at the pseudo-conserva-

nesses, the evidence from missing links, from development, from

the life-history of insects; the evidence from the constitution of

colonial or compound animals, the fertilization of flowers, the evi-

dences from degeneration and finally from geology, these subjects

are dealt with fully and satisfactorily in succession, the whole

forming a compact argument neatly and forcibly presented, in a

Manner which the scientific expert will not only approve but find

little to criticize,

JoRpAN anp Gizpert’s SYNOPSIS OF THE FISHES oF NortH

America.—None among the Bulletins of the U. S. National Mu-

960 ` Recent Literature. [ September,

seum exceed, or even equal, in importance this that has lately —

been issued as No. 16. The fishes are a numerous class in the

waters of North America, even when, as in the case of this vol-

ume, the rich fauna of Mexico is excluded. The long coast lines —

of two grand oceans, together with the extensive fresh-water sys-

tems, raise the total number of species admitted in this synopsis

to 1340, including eleven marsipobranchs, sixty elasmobranchs

and seven chondrostids. The Physostomi number 510, and the

Physoclisti 747. mo

tion of the Chondrostei to the same rank. In deference to the

views of Gill, the order Apodes is accepted to include the Holos-

erosoma (Pleuronectidz) forty-seven species. :

ese numerous Ape A are placed in 487 genera, which form

130 families —a number probably somewhat too largë

account of the delay in publication, copious addenda "oa

up, and several new species are there referred to or described

the list of species is corrected up to date. ey,

The Percide of our authors exclude the Aphredoderid@, -

soma, the Centrarchidz and the Serranidz, but include eg: pr

sive group of darters, or Etheostomatinæ, so long fought a

separate family. Gill

The three species of Caulolatilus mentioned by Dr CH

Gill, and C. princeps Jenyns) are all referred to the latter 4

a view the correctness of which was proved by Locking ‘and, bY

years ago (Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1880, pp. 1e

parity of reasoning, the C. microps of Goode and Bean

to the well-known C. chrysops. :

This work is a necessity to every working stu

dent of icl

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 961

ology, whether occupied in the field or in the cabinet, and will, for

many years to come, be the standard of reference. Its value is

enhanced by the fact that it is the first large catalogue of species

in which the attempt has been made to follow out the classifica-

tion outlined by our leading ichthyologists, and founded on struc-

tural characters of more importance than the scales and spines

which are the basis of the older classifications.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Miller, F.—Dritter i aes zum Katalog der Seel egee re Sammlung des

uthor

Baseler Museums. 1883. From the

Chilton, C-—On two new poten Ext pabeja New Zealand Institute, 1882.

——Additions to the New Zealand Crustacea. Ext. id -» 1881,

——Additions to the Isopodan fauna of New Zealand. me , 1882.

—— Further additions to our ee of the New Zealand Anema Ext, idem.,

1882. All from the author

gigei H. T.—Aztec Musi. Ext. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1883. From the

author,

Lockington, W. N.—The role of InI Protophytes. Ext. Proc, Amer. Philos.

I Fr uthor.

- 1883. From the a

Silliman, B. CS of the scientific and economic relations of Sorgh

Sugar Industry. A report to the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture, a,

a Washineten, 188

Yarrow, H. C— Ch ad list of North American oy ong and Batrachia, From

Bulletin U. S. National Museum. From the au

Wi reite M. E The] Bishopville and reari Masaitis. Ext. Amer. Jour.

sci., 1883.

——The Argillite cae pac of = — basin. From the Proc. Boston

Soc. - Hist., 1882. Both from the

» W., and ps tel, K. A,—Palzon nan Beiträge zur Sap

a Vorzeit. XX1xX Band, 5th and 6th Leiferung, 1883. From the author.

:0:

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.

AMERICA.—At a recent meeting of the Royal et ohn

Society, Mr. C. R. Markham read an article upon

tions of Dr. Edwin Heath and others of the courses F the Am-

aru-mayu (Madre de E Dios) and Beni. The streams which flow

e Madeira. The Beni in flood is said to carry as much water

as the Mississippi, yet the Amaru-mayu is far larger, owing

greatly to the fact that its main tributary, or rather true upper

Course, the Ynambari, flows for nearly 200 miles between the

Andés a and an isolated line of hills, and receives tribute on both

The main stream of the Beni rises in the fertile Yungas of

* This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

962 General Notes. [September,

La Paz, and it is thus the natural outlet for the trade of the com-

mercial capital of Bolivia, as well as for the rich forest country,

full of rubber, cinchona and other valuable products. Yet until

the voyage of Dr. Heath, in 1880, this river had never been com-

pletely explored, and its lower course was so dreaded that rubber

collectors who had established their camps nearer to its junction

with the Madre de Dios than to Reyes, sent their gatherings to

Reyes, thence by land to the Yacuma, and thence down the Ya-

cuma and Mamoré. Many of the ravines and upper courses of

the tributaries of the Beni are known, but the Madidi has not yet

been followed down to its junction with the Beni.

Dr. Heath descended as far as “ California,” a recently formed

rubber camp, in a good boat, but his exploration of the to oe

unknown region below this was undertaken and executed in al

old boat caulked with corn husks and mended with bark ando |

mud. At the junction of the Amaru-mayu and Beni, the former

is 2350 feet wide, the latter 735 feet. Five miles below the river

spreads out to a mile in width. The rapids were safely d

the Mamoré reached and ascended, and in four months from, his

departure Dr, Heath was again at Reyes, where he was rec i

with honors. In 1882 he ascended the Beni from Reyes to —

a Paz.

mouth of the

the fifteenth a

century, and Maldonado with his band of gallant Cuzco youths Be

in 1861. The Amaru-mayu is to Cuzco, the Incas’ ancient ig

tal, what the Beni is to La Paz. The Inca Yupanqui

escended

value, and a military expedition sent by him not only W

it, but reduced under the Inca rule the countries as far as te

eni, ee

After the Spanish conquests the rivers and the forest a

around became a land of mystery, and though the ag

Cuzco made many attempts to descend the Amaru-mayl, BT

not until 1861 that the whole course was traversed by Mal ie

and seven companions, four only of whom reached in safety "°

first Brazilian town. en

Asta.—M. Millct, once second in command of the Dip ae

pedition to Tong-king, gives, in a recent number of the AA

Scientifique, a valuable account of that country. +

of Annam consists of Cochin China and Tong-ki

ment to welcome the French as liberators. wines

king is rather more than a quarter of that of ante

Cochin-China rather less. The principal streams are

river, which rises in Yunnan and crosses Tong-king from

1883. Geography and Travels. 963

east, its tributary, the Black river, the Thai-Bink, which with the

Red river forms the Delta of Tong-king, the Song-Ma, the Song-

Mo, and the Song-Giank. Most of these rivers are navigable,

and they furnish great facilities for internal- transport.

The climate from September to April is delightful, ranging

from 7° to 15° C. During the remaining six months, which con-

stitute the wet season, the temperature may rise to 35° C., yet at

times descends to 16°. The greatest heats are tempered by the

monsoon.

The lower courses of the rivers are densely peopled, and con-

tain many considerable towns, the largest, Ha noi, with 150,000

inhabitants. The north and west are mountainous, and the Lao-

= tribes inhabiting these regions are more or less indepen-

ent.

The soil is fertile, and almost every valuable product of tropi-

cal Asia grows or is cultivated there, though both in the cultiva-

tion and in the preparation of the products there is room for

much improvement. The sugar-cane, cotton, rice, coffee, tobacco,

tea, cinnamon, indigo, lac, essence of badian, ebony, rosewood,

ironwood, sandalwood, and a still more highly odoriferous wood

called calambac, are among its vegetable productions, while its

stream and mountains are rich in gold, silver, copper, tin, iron,

quicksilver, zinc and lead; bismuth and precious stones abound,

and coal is found near the sea and the rivers. The animal world

yields rich feathers, musk, wax and silk.

ore than 509,000 Catholic natives wait the coming of the

French, who, once in possession of Tong-king, could easily mas-

ter Cochin-China, then deprived of its principal resources. Cam-

bodia is already under the protection of the French, and the re-

union of these would give them a territory four-fifths the size of

rance and more than half as populous. “ Firmly seated here,

says M. Millot, “ we can watch the march of the events that will

disintegrate existing Asiatic empires. * * Saigon will sup-

plant Singapore when the Isthmus of Kra, at the head of the

Malay peninsula, is pierced by a ship canal, as it soon will be,

Since De Lesseps has the matter in hand.”

Arrica.—Nahdi Pasha, Governor of the Harrar, in the Galla

country, has recently given some account of the region to the

Société Khédiviale de Géographie. Two roads lead from Zeila

o Harrar, a summer and a winter road. ese unite at a point

less than midway, and form one road through Biakabonda and

the Gildessa pass. Gildessa the Galla territory begins. The

Galla sheikhs are responsible for the safety of travelers, and mer-

chants and simple messengers pass safely from Harrar to Zeila.

tween Zeila and Harrar the country is sterile, little known, and

inhabited by nomad tribes; but at and around Harrar it is fertile

and well cultivated. Each tribe of Gallas has its territorial limits

964 General Notes. [September,

trictly defined. They are skillful workmen, work tolerably in —

iron and brass, and cultivate coffee, etc. a

Commerce is carried on both by money and exchange in kind, :

Several Europeans are there, and one French and one Italian

mercantile house. =

M. Bazile Féris contributes to the Revue Scientifique a fall —

account of the Slave Coast, part of the shore of the Gulf of —

Guinea, on which French and British interests come into collision.

The coast is principally a narrow strip of land between the ocean —

and a lagoon which extends, with only two interruptions, which 2

often disappear in the rainy season, from the River Volta, which —

parts Dahomey from Ashantee as far as the Benin. A bar makes

access to the coast dangerous, but lagoons, canals and rivers facili- ,

tates internal communication. The principal products are those of Y

the oil-palm (E/eis guineensis), consisting of palm oil obtained by

triturating the fruit, and the kernels of the fruit, from which a .

finer oil is obtained. Most of the commerce has for a long time :

been in the hands of the French, but in 1861 the English estab-

lished their rule at Lagos, the principal port. The three chief a

races and languages are those of the Minas, the Géjis and the a

Yorubas, while the most widely spread European tongue is the ;

Portuguese. i

to learn whether any news of the missing ship has come, and :

wards return to the Kara strait and search the eastern coas a

or tree-forts, to which the inhabitants retire when pe ris the

Ata recent meeti i ty or a :

force of 200 men to surround the Indians ve hold

Romanet du Caillaud, gives the popu g

of Tong-king at more than eighteen millions.

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 965

GEOLOGY AND PALASONTOLOGY.

EOLOGY OF Lower MERION AND ViciniTy.—My attention ha

just been called to the articles in the May number of the Nart-

URALIST by Dr. Frazer, and in the June number by Mr. Hall, on

the Geology of the Chester valley and vicinity.

On page 523, Dr. Frazer has evidently written without exam-

ining the paper referred to (Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Nov., 1878), or

e map, when he credits me with calling the belt S. of the lime-

stone of Gulf creek the second and that at Paoli the third of “ ap-

proximatively parallel beds,” nor can I believe either he or Mr.

Hall has ever examined the northerly belt which lies about one-

quarter of a mile north of the outcrop of the belt east of Radnor

station, and with a strike approximatively parallel.

If the serpentine outcrops between Radnor station and Paoli

were described, as Dr. Frazer intimates, it is to be regretted that

he did not refer to such descriptions. If they were not described,

but were we// known, is it improper to describe them, if they were

erroneously set out in the only recent map published, to my knowl-

edge, a map issued by one connected with the geological survey

of the State, and of very recent date, when my paper was written,

and this even if they were correctly delineated upon an unissued

Dr. Frazer thinks the connecting of the serpentine areas in

Radnor, Easttown, &c., by a straight line curved at its eastern

extremity a mere matter of judgment, while I do not understand

him to dispute the correctness of my map, which shows the act-

ual outcrops to be at angles with Mr. Hall’s line almost through-

out.

Few geological problems are difficult of solution if we may but

fill a gap of two miles exhibiting constant surface indications of

certain rocks by the imaginary existence of other rocks of which

there are no indications.

Vill he mention an outcrop in Lower Merion, Radnor, or

Upper Merion at which one would find any difficulty in distin-

guishing the serpentine from the rocks bounding it? More

than this, the rocks of some of the outcrops not shown in

C 6 are precisely the same rocks which make the outcrops that

are shown.

It may be that the sandstone and sand beds on the north flank

of the South Valley hill and the associated iron ores are not Pots-

dam, but inasmuch as east of the Schuylkill the Potsdam occurs

In precisely that position, this extensive deposit is at least worthy

966 General Notes. [September,

of mention. Masses of sandstone of tons weight are not “sandy

beds.”

The remark as to the serpentine belt swinging around towards

Chester I did not attribute to Mr. Hall. I was criticizing no in-

dividual. I was simply pointing out what my observation con-

vinced me were conspicuous errors in Vol. C 6 of the Geological

Survey.

If on page 525 it is intended to convey the impression that!

was guilty of plagiarism, or at least of failure to give due credit —

to Dr. Frazer, I would offer as my apology the fact that my arti-

cle was read December 23, 1881, and published in April, 1882,

while his was read A. P. S. Dec. 15, 1882, eight months later. —

The statement, page 528, that C 6 did not appear until late in

1882 is certainly erroneous. It bears the imprint 1881, and was —

in our libraries in December, 1881, hence the inference deduced, —

that the imprint on the Proceedings of the Section is an erroris —

likewise a mistake. a

Dr. Frazer says: “The map is quite obscure, and it Is difficult

to ascertain whether the section given lies in Chester or Delaware

county.” eB

The map is distinctly stated upon its face to be of Lower Mer- .

ton and vicinity. The township lines between Lower Me n

Radnor, and Upper Merion townships and Chester county nee |

distinctly given and named upon the map. It was presum : a

those interested in the subject were aware in what counties those 3

townships were. The section line is clearly delineated as passing

through Radnor township into Lower Merion. E

I regret exceedingly if I have ignored the work of any one u

this field, and if I have, I have sinned through ignorance of :

through supposing that in C 6 was to be found the knowledge 0t

the region up to the date of its publication. _ : a

In natural science the first thing to obtain is facts, ana 1n sa

gion as geologically obscure as that south of the cac pane

every fact in regard to the rocks should be welcomed y neth

one desiring scientific truth rather than to sustain thenni g es

such facts be ascertained by the members of the Geolog mined

or by an obscure individual. Let the facts be Ot baie

$ ected, js

into them and who does not seem to have read the pap® i

which they are set forth. | ae

Two observers go over the same ground. Loe snot the

“every outcrop at least once,” and publishes a map the work

other, while not pretending to have done su ho ee

describes many serpentine outcrops which the ae pe

finds mica schists in two places where the first found SE

Now it is very easy for a third, who has not exam! tek G

crops, to suggest that the only explanation 1s that wat =

1883.} Geology and Paleontology. 967

server would regard as evidence of a serpentine outcrop another

would not; but is such explanation, without inspection, scientific ?

It is certainly not highly complimentary to the gentlemen referred

to to suggest that they cannot distinguish between mica schist or

gneiss and serpentine. Will a similar explanation suffice for the

omission of the very extensive porphyritic gneiss belt in Philadel-

phia and Lower Merion ?

To set this question at rest, it is my purpose to exhibit at an

early fall meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences a suite of

specimens from these outcrops, that those interested may see for

themselves.

If it is seriously urged that a continuous valley clearly syncli-

nal at each end is monoclinal in the middle of its length, it may

not be so very unwise or unfortunate, as Mr. Hall asserts, to en-

deavor in that “middle to unravel a snarl in the tangled skein.”

In defence of the Mineralogical and Geological Section, if de-

fence be needed, I would only say that had all its other founders

and members contributed as extensively to it as has its critic

there would have been nothing to criticise.— Theo. D. Rand,

hila., June 20, 1882.

HULKE ON ICHTHYOSAURUS AND PLEsIOSAURUS.—In the course

the radius and ulna (epipodial) in Plesiosaurus to a mesopo

(tarsal or carpal) position in Ichthyosaurus.

968 | General Notes. [Septet

SomME NEW MAMMALIA OF THE Puerco Formation—-Ata

cent meeting of the Philadelphia Academy, Professor Cope Stated

that he had recently received from the Puerco beds of New Mex

ico remains of a number of individuals of the extinct mami

he had named Periptychus ditrigonus} Besides jaws and teeth

with permanent and temporary dentition in good preservation,

superior molars, exterior to the external tubercles. Conoryetes

ditrigonus has the molars of both jaws larger than those of the C

comma, and there is less difference in size between the posterior

and anterior teeth than in that species. : :

The following new species accompanied the above : Penpiye

only, which soon unite. The anterior pair is represented |;

part of the external one which forms a narrow lobe. The

larger than in the true molar.

MIERE.

groups, its position is not likely to be in any known order of

Tertiary periods. i ae

GrotocicaL Notes.—General—The reports of the Brits

committees of the International Geological Commission s

geologists are much at variance in their ideas as to the relation,

1 Proceed. Amer. Philos. Society, 1882, p, 465.

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 969

corresponds to the Carboniferous of Europe; of Batrachia in the

rias-jura; and of Reptilia as low as the “ Panchet group of the

Gondwanas,” probably triassic. Remains of birds have hitherto

only been found in the Himalayan Siwaliks, and in one instance

in Sind; while no traces of mammals have yet been detected be-

low the eocene, and the great majority are pliocene.

Carboniferous.—M. Ch. Brongniart (Bull. de la Société Geol. de

France) describes 7itancphasma fayolt, an insect from Commen-

try, France, differing from recent Phasmidz chiefly in the pro-

portions of the parts of the thorax. The prothorax is equal in

length to the meso and metathorax, while in recent species the

mesothorax is longer than the other two parts. The total length

of the insect was about 10”. M. Brongniart gives a list of 111

insects that have been described from carboniferous strata, in-

cluding the present species and Protophasma dumasii, and adds

that he has 440 additional species from Commentry, to be de-

scribed ere long; out of this total of 551, 362 are Blattide.

Jurassic —Professor J. W. Hulke has published in the Transac-

tions of the Royal Society what he styles an “attempt” at a

complete osteology of Hypsilophodon foxii, a British Wealden Di-

osaur. e restoration is made by so competent a hand

from an extensive series of remains, in which the bones often

maintain their normal connections, it may be accepted as authori-

tative. Hypsilophodon was adapted to climbing on rocks an

trees, and its manus is more generalized and more lizard-like than

that of Iguanodon. It is represented in a quadrupedal position.

€ manus, as shown by the figure of a forearm in the Britis

Museum, has five digits.

Stated to have been the common ancestor of four distinct lines

of Perissodactyls. According to all present evidences, the rhi-

Noceros group originated in North America——Achenodon, dis-

coursed upon in the same bulletin by Professor Osborn, is supposed

by him to be the oldest of the pig family yet discovered. The car-

Nivorous characters of the skull, in many respects quite ursine,

are noted, and it is stated that many eocene Perissodactyls also

have this peculiarity——Another paper contains observations on

970 General Notes, [September, | |

the brain casts of tertiary mammals, by A. T. Bruce. Megenceph-

alon primevus had a comparatively large and well-convoluted :

cerebrum, apparently covering most of the cerebellum. On the

whole, the casts proved that the brains of tertiary mammals were

smaller and less convoluted than those of existing mammals.

The last paper in the bulletin is by Professor Scott, upon Desma- —

totherium guyoti, a Lophiodont from the Bridger Eocene, closely _

allied to Hyrachyus; and Dilophodon minusculus, one of the

smallest known Lophiodonts, and also closely allied to Hyra-

chyus. R. Lydekker has defined the family Camelopardalide

so as to include six fossil genera, commencing with the existing

giraffe, and proceeding through the forms Orasius, Vishnuther-

ium, Helladotherium, Hydaspitherium and Bramatherium, to

Sivatherium, the length of the limbs and neck, on the whole, .

diminishing downward. This view differs from that of Mivart,

who places Sivatherium near the prong-buck and Saiga. The —

long-limbed Camelopardalis sivalensis was a contemporary of the —

short-limbed Sivathere, so that the evolution of the long-limbed

form must have been in an earlier epoch.

Post-tertiary—Professor H. C. Lewis has published an abstract

of a lecture on “ The great Ice age in Pennsylvania.” In it he

states that “ there is every proof that, ages ago, z p

great Greenland glacier crept down so as to overspread the north-

eastern part of America and the north-western part of Europe.

He treats of this northern glacier as a sheet reaching from ee

land to St. Louis, and from Alaska to New Jersey, so thick asto

overtop Mt. Washington,” estimates its thickness in New = 7

land at 5000 feet, and gives reasons for supposing that the mett-

ing of the glacier need not be longer than from 10,000 to KA :

years ago. Ina lecture upon the geology of the neighbors lay,

Philadelphia, he defines the alluvium, Trenton gravel, brick clay)

red and yellow gravels, etc., and traces their history.

BOTANY. 7

Tue Growrn oF PLants IN Acın Sorutions. I.—The wes |

ing of plants with alkaline solutions, soluble phosphates, an 7

ganic extracts has been very extensively and variously w -

mented upon, but any comparative examination of a sé

oS ie aaa =

by the mi ma 4

destruction of trees through acid precipitation from manufactur

1 Edited by Pror. C. E, Bessey, Ames, Iowa.

1883. | Botany. 971

taric, citric, tannic, and salycylic. The experiment began June

22, 1882, and lasted until September 6. The strength of acid so-

lutions was 10% of acid, concentrated in case of the inorganic

acids, and saturated cold solutions of the organic acids, in one

of hydrochloric, nitric, and sulphuric acids, used to water the

plants was reduced one-half. The behavior of these plants in de-

eae as follows, the plants being classed according to the acid

used +

June 25. July 13. Aug. 24.

Hydrochloric... 6 full leaves. 6 full leaves; stunted. 5 full leaves.

PS rt e « gen) S “ ote

Carbolic....... A e “ 2 “ e s None.

Orne) 4 “ “ 6 “ 7 “ 5 full leaves.

Salycylic a p RRO ar 6 « sé 7 “ “ growing. 4 “ “

Sulphuri A RRA Ab Ea A a “ gn “ stunted. 26 “

bare... | yoa, a 9* « growing. 9* “

Tannic Hp Palit 6 « a g“ e e 9 * “

rites “sce ee o n “ ras ay “ ye

Water... 2.05; ir 4 “ 13 “ t i 7 “ ‘

From the first day of the experiment the first six plants, with

€ exception of the salycylic, were unfavorably affected by the

acids used, but maintained a deceptive appearance of vitality by

curtailing their expenditure of force in growing and applying it

upon a maintenance of leaves. The doses appeared severe, but

none of them died excepting the carbolic-acid plant, which very

the sulphuric-acid plant was the most thriving, then the hydro-

chloric-acid plant, and last, and just alive, the plant treated with

formic acid. :

VOL. XVII.—No. 1x, 65

972 General Notes. (September, q

leaves, were not strikingly inferior in appearance to the water

plant. The soils treated with inorganic acids first lost their re

tentiveness, and eventually all became similarly affected. The

water plant alone formed a secondary radical branch.—l. P

Gratacap, 77th st. and 8th ave., New York City

Tuckanor.—In the forthcoming volume of the Smithsonian

report. Professor J. Howard Gore will have a paper on tuckahoe,

or Indian bread. The word is a very common one in the sandy :

region of the Atlantic slope, but it does not apply to the same

substance, being applied to Orontium, Arum virginicum, a

vulus panduratus as well as to various fungi. The synonymyis —

quite formidable of the true tuckahoe, as Pachyma cocos (Fries),

Pachyma solidum (Oken), Pachyma pinetorum (Horaninow), Pa

ma coniferarum (Horaninow), Lycoperdon solidum (Clayton), ,

coperdon sclerocium (Nuttall), Lycoperdon cervinum (Walter), Selera

cium cocos (Schweinitz), Sclerocium giganteum (MacBride), Ti

haus rugosus (Rafinesque).

The affinities, habitat, growth and formation and chemical com-

position are worked out with’ the greatest care, several tables

analyses being given. em

“The most notable peculiarities of this substance are the entire

absence of starch (‘ No fungus has yet been found to contain t

starch,’ Sach’s ‘ Botany,’ p. 241), the comparatively small amoun —

extracted by solvents, the gelatinous character of the ceHuloss

and the very small amount of albuminous substance. Nothing

else yet analyzed has been reported to contain so large a propor

tion of pectinous matter. In ordinary fruits, such as arè

monly used for making jellies, these pectin bodies seldom a

to ten per cent. According to Sach’s Botany, ‘ the origin

loidal pectin is still unknown.’ Its nutritive value seems i

be entirely undecided. The older writers considered

ascribed w m

1 883. | Botany. 973

put. So we may safely conclude that P. cocos possesses no prac-

tical value; but it is unsurpassed in interest from a botanical

standpoint, especially since so little is known concerning it.”

New PLANTS FROM CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA, ETc. IL—Cym-

opterus corrugatus, n. sp.—Nearly acaulescent, perennial ; summit

of the stipe bearing a whorl of usually three leaves and three or

more sessile or long peduncled compound umbels; leaves ovate,

leathery, veiny, pinnate or occasionally twice- pinnate, leaflets ter-

nately or rarely pinnately parted or lobed, broadly ovate to cor-

date-ovate, lobes with a broadly cuneate base and rounded, very

obtuse teeth, each with a white, very sharp mucro ; petioles nearly

equaling the blade, which is 3’—4’ long ; root-leaves none; invo-

lucre absent or rarely present as a leafy bract; summit of the

peduncle much thickened, and with the pedicels fleshy, involucels

unilateral, scarious, of many scales united into a cup or almost

entirely separate, scales tapering into a fine, thread-like point ;

flowers white, short-stalked ; pedicels 6’’—1’ long; fruit 3” long,

oblong, curved, with very thin corrugated wings.

This plant resembles C. fendleri and C. glomeratus.

Rose creek, Nevada, June, 1882.

lva nevadensis, n. sp.—Annual, 6’-12’ high, widely branching

from the base; strigosely pubescent all over with blunt, many-

4,'-134' wide ; principal spines 4, straight, angled and somewhat

except when young, then red at base, springing from a very

short but a Sot flowers light yellow, about 1 A „long

and wide; petals oblanceolate or obovate, rounded, margin irreg-

war; ovary obovate, sessile or short-stalked, covered with

bunches of white or yellow, often hooked, short spines and

crisped wool; fruit not mature.

— Encinada, Mexico, April, 1882. aera

974 General Notes. (September, 4

trichium micromeris Gr., Poa nevadensis Vasey, elongata Vasey,

Stipa stricta Vasey, Festuca jonesii Vasey, two other grasses and

three ar four other phanerogams, as well as half a dozen species —

of new fungi. Some half dozen species are not yet named be —

side. Plants belonging to the same collection as new species, are

Breweria minima Gr., Draba unilateralis Jones, Rosa minutifolia

Eng., Rides viburnifolium Gr., Æsculus parryi Gr., etc.—Marcus E.

Jones, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2

BoranicaL Nores.—The June Journal of Botany contains 4

photograph, with a sketch of the life and labors of the late

George Stacy Gibson, F.L.S., a local English botanist of consid:

erable reputation. In the same journal H. F. Hance describes

a new species of Podophyllum, P. p/eanthum, from the Island of

Formosa. This makes the third species of this genus; the oldest

is the familiar May apple of our woods, P. peltatum Linn., the -

second is P. emodi Wall. Both these have solitary white flowers.

hang in a pendulous group from the fork of the stem-leaves——

Dr. Cooke, in the June Grevillea, enters a most emphatic protest

against the radical changes in specific names which the ney

views as to the real nature of the Uredineæ have brought 1% —

certain quarters. He has our hearty sympathy. We do not like,

for example, to give up Puccinia compositarum for P. flosculosorum

simply because Albertini and Schweinitz happened to name one :

of its stages Uredo flosculosorum. We wish the editor of Gre

villea all success in his war upon this ultra stickling for sie

plication of the letter (not the spirit) of the law of priority.”

We have received Arthur Meyer’s brochure, Das Chlorophy? s

korn in Chemischer, Morphologischer und Biologischer Bezie-

hung (Arthur Felix, Leipzig). It contains ninety-on€ eee

pages of text and three fine lithographic plates. We h Mi

able to notice it in full before long. In the bulletin of the #1

Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. x1, Mr. J. C. Arthur publishes “Descr

of Iowa Uromyces.” As stated in the preface, “It is an 3"

from the specimens, and in so far as possible all OF

(ecidium, uredo, and teleutospore) are described ie 3

$ $ : : ich 1

hoped other students of the lower plants will imitate — 7

Foerste in the June Botanical Gazette describes an enor

son ivy (Rhus toxicodendron) found near Dayton, Ohio, §

measured some distance from the base seventeen inches igit

cumference. Its first branch was fourteen and a half inches i

circumference, and another was abòut twelve inches.——

Houghton Farm Experiment Station Professor Penhallo¥

1883.] Entomology. 975

issued a bulletin on Diseases of Plants, this number being devoted

to (1) the normal condition of vegetable structure with reference

to cell contents, and (2) peach yellows. The work appears to be

well and carefully done. Four good colored plates accompany

the second paper.

ENTOMOLOGY.

HE OLD, OLD QUESTION OF SPECIES. —Dr. H. A. Hagen and

Mr. William H. Edwards have drawn swords on the question as

to how many species of Papilio of the machaon group we really

have. As the question is one of opinion we do not expect either

to convince the other. Dr. Hagen’s method, which’ is too much

based on the idea of fixity in species, would, if fully carried out,

do away with all divisions; while Mr. Edwards’s, though based on

a more philosophic and correct view of nature, too often rates as

Species what the majority of naturalists would rate as varieties or

races. In both directions the objects of classification may be per-

verted. There is, therefore, room for modification of the extreme

views of both disputants. Meanwhile the debate gives scope to

thetoric and argument, and enlivens the monotony of the mass

of descriptive matter that has hitherto prevailed in “ Pa-

pilio,” and rendered it rather dry to all but the describers. Dr.

Hagen is certainly not less capable of sound judgment, because

he has achieved distinction in other fields, and has made a spe-

Cialty of another order. Rather should his judgment be the

Sounder on such a point. Nor have Mr. Edwards's views addi-

tional weight because of his well-known tendency to make spe-

cies to be subsequently annihilated by himself or others, upon

fuller knowledge. In default of actual proof by breeding Dr.

Hagen has adopted the next best test, viz: the inseparability of

the various forms, Just as extensive rearing from the larve in a

Siven region almost invariably reduces the number of“ species,”

and broadens our conception of the limits of specific variation in

Such region; so the comparison of extensive material from all

regions emphasizes the principles of evolution by showing insep-

arable series and consequent genetic relationship. In this way

Not only species but genera often lose the definiteness they pre-

Viously possessed, and we have only series left. Yet the value of

Separating this series into more or less constant sets known as va-

reties, species, genera, etc., with their sub-divisions, is too appa-

rent to need argument, and only he who believes in the fixity of

Species ” in all time will be puzzled and baffled by the facts.

Mr. Edwards will, therefore, have the support of entomologists

Sênerally, and shows, in fact, full knowledge of his subject and

admirable humor in discussing it. :

Myrmecopuita.—Prior to 1876 this interesting genus of little

crickets was not known to occur in this country. Harris had

* This department is edited by Pror. C. V. Riev, Washington, D. C., to whom

ent. .

ications, books for notice, ete., may be s

976 General Notes. — (September,

previously mentioned the genus as having possibly been seen on

cucumbers, but the fact was left in doubt. In the early summer

of that year a single female was taken by Mr. H. K. Morrison in

Georgia, but under just what circumstances it was found he did

not recollect. A notice of this capture was published by Mr. S.

H. Scudder in the Naruratist (XI. p. 190). Dr. Hagen also re-

ports two specimens taken at Portland, Oregon, last summer.

Mr. L. Brunner recently took additional specimens of this minute

cricket in the vicinity of Washington, D. C., where it was by no

means rare in the nests of Formica rufa, and a closely related

species of ant,that lives under the bark of rotten stumps. Of

those taken one was a full-grown female, and the rest apparently

immature. Thus far the male of this genus has not been posi-

tively met with, though we suspect that some of the supposed

immature individuals are males. In Europe there are two spe-

cies, of which only the females have been taken.

r. Bruner will name the species after Mr. Pergande, who has

often met with it while looking for ants under decayed r

These facts show that in this country the genus possesses

same habits as in Europe.

SALT-WATER INsECTS USED AS Foop.—Mr. Edwin A. Barber,

of Philadelphia, recently sent us some Diptera, which he received

rom Professor A. Peñafiel, that were taken from the Lake Ta

coco in Mexico. They are a species of Ephydra which Dr. Wil-

liston, to whom we referred the fragments, believes is E. hians Say,

described from Mexico. Dr. Packard (American Fournal og

Science and Arts, February, 1871, p. 103-5) describes two s

of this genus, viz. Æ. californica from Clear lake and Mono ~

lake, California, and Æ. gracilis from Great Salt lake, Utah. d

The insects of this genus are interesting not only by r=

their inhabiting alkaline and saline waters, but also because t

n extensive

article of diet among the Indians of the West and Southwest.

Professor W. H. Brewer, while working on the geological we

some interesting notes he has left with Dr. Williston 5 ni

tious, and not unpleasant to taste. Pulverized and se aar :

cakes the food reminded Professor Brewer of the patet g else

e could liken it to. There are no fish or reptiles in the ee :

and on everything round about it. Itis probable that ehe griat A

is most washed up by the waves when assuming the p gee

but countless millions of these Ephydra flies rest on the

1883,] Entomology. 977

state near the surface, and that the yellow kernel referred to is

` the true pupa that dries within the puparium.

ALTERNATION OF GENERATION IN Apaipip®—Ina letter from

our friend Lichtenstein, which has been for some time mislaid, he

writes of Ritsemia:

“The true egg gives birth to the Pseudogyne fundatrix, which

increases in size and shows six-jointed antenne he Pseudogyne

fundatrix, without copulation, takes on the gall-like form. It is

like the Neuroterus in the Cynipide, all are females,—no males.

It produces gemmations of various sizes (pupa), out of which

issue the males and females. They copulate, and the true female

(eight-jointed antennz) takes on the gall-like form, and lays be-

neath herself the true eggs from which the fundatrix has to issue,

“You see it is precisely the history of Neuroterus (Pseudo-

gyne) and Spathegaster (true female), and what is still more

striking is that the young ones in Ritsemia remain in their parent's

skin until they are full sized, and issue only as Pseudogyne,

able to lay young at once, or as sexual individuals, able to copu-

late immediately. Is it not exactly like the Cynipida ?”

Foop-PLants oF SAMIA CYNTHIA.—Mr. Birney deserves credit

for his interesting observations on this subject recorded in the last

number of the NATURALIST, and we hope he will continue his

observations and ascertain the cause of death of the sassafras and

tulip-tree-fed larva. These trees are the favorite food of our

Promethea larva, the nearest indigenous ally to Cynthia, and it is

an interesting fact that while the former has never yet been found

feeding on Ailanthus, its introduced ally (feeding chiefly on Ail-

anthus) takes also to the very trees which Promethea prefers.

Cynthia has actually been bred to the imago from sassafras-fed

, both at Washington and elsewhere, and is recorded as

reared on Rhus, plum and Laburnum in Europe. Mr. G. D.

Hulst has recorded it here from tulip tree, sas

cherry, while Mr. P. E. Nostrand (Bulletin Brooklyn Ent. Soc.,

i, p. 77) found it feeding voluntarily on willow.

BITTEN BY an Apuip?—Some time ago Mr. Samuel Swan, of

New York, sent us the following letter. Specimens were subse-

quently forwarded, and proved to be Siphonophora rudbeckia@, a

large reddish Aphid common on Solidago and Rudbeckia. We

think there must have been some mistake about the biting,

which was probably done by ants or some other insect that es-

caped notice at the time:

A friend while crossing a waste lot last September gathered a bunch of golden

o rigida. He soon felt his hand becoming very hot, and, on examining,

their name. If I send you one or two will it assist you in ascertaining the

name, or do you already know the insect that infests that plant? Your reply will

much oblige. .

978 General Notes. [September,

INJURY DONE BY COLASPIS TRISTIS.—This common beetle is, like

its congener, C. brunnea, an almost universal feeder, and it is sur-

shoots of the twigs. The tips of the twigs thus injured dry up

and die. One of the peach trees I examined was full of such

dead tips, there being hardly any healthy ones left —E, A. Schwars, —

Washington, D. C., Fune 11, 1883.

from esculana, and it is withal a grayer species with the pale ati oo

dark shades more highly and abruptly contrasted. In an artivie —

(Psyche 111, p. 367, issued Dec. 16, 1882), he states that Prof :

more of a blossom and leaf feeder than a stem-borer. The Br =

ZOOLOGY. w

New Opsservations on Hypra.—W. Marshall canim aa :

stating his belief that the green color of Hydra viridis af nis

to a symbiotic process, but is a property of the polyp, ane hae

he agrees with Professor Ray Lankester; of this. ye 4

appear to be several geographical races, as the forms men at deat

by Baker, Trembly, Rösel, Pallas and Schaffer differ a gre ;

in size and in the proportionate length of the arms.

=e ae = ae

EA SS See a le r eee ahs Or be eee tN re a ae

1883. ] Zoölogy. 979

The young forms, just set free from their parents, have a re-

markable power of movement in the ectoderm ; this periodically

thickens into tubercles which are best developed in two circular

regions, but the number of tubercles is not constant. They may

to less favorable conditions of existence.

eview and comparative account of the Hydroidæ leads to

the belief that in Hydra we have to do with a form which has

been partly degraded and certainly modified. in adaptation to its

fresh-water habitat.—/ourn. R. Micr. Soc.

Kunstter on THE FLaGELLata.—In the Bull. Soc. Zool. de

France for 1882, J. Kunstler contributes some facts to our know-

ledge of the Flagellata. Heteromitus olivaceus, when treated with

- 980 General Notes. (September,

Prehensile flagella, often striated transversely, as though made

by the union of corpuscles placed end to end, occur in the Fla-

gellata. They can be seen in every individual that has been long

submitted to energetic coloring reactives, and are always situated

on the border of the upper lip. These buccal flagella are shorter

than the locomotive flagella, since they are never longer than the

body, while the filaments before mentioned may attain twelve

times the body length. Chilomonas paramecium and some other

species, when in more or less putrified cultures, or in a bad light,

become united into a zodglea-like mass.

Move or APPLICATION OF THE SUCKERS OF THE LEECH.—G.

When the leech detaches itself the edges are first raised, and then

the center.— Fourn. R. Micr. So :

Tue Devetopment oF Asciptans.—Some points in the be i

opment of one of our common Ascidians have been examinee :

by Mr. J. S. Kingsley, whose paper appears in the Proceedings a

the Boston Society of Natural History, illustrated with ap a

The species examined was Molgula manhattensis. The ee dish a

in i

leave the

without any change of water. The embryos do not ker

body of the parent until the tadpole state is attained, when f n

may frequently be seen passing out of the atrial opening % n.

adult. The segmentation went on as observed by Laan

thiers in an European species of Molgula, but the general dev o

opment of the latter species is more abbreviated and ace e

than in our species, whose development is like that of the ne

mal form, such as Ascidia ampulloides, described by Van 3

eden. A

Tue FooD oF THE Crayrisu.—In his “ Economic Relan

Wisconsin Birds,” Mr. F, H. King remarks that crayfish omic

been so little studied in regard to their habits that an econ oE

1883.] Zoology. 981

position cannot be satisfactorily assigned them at present. He

then quotes as follows from a letter from Professor W. F., Bundy:

“Crayfish feed on worms, small mollusks, insects that fall in

their way, small fish, and in general any kind of animal food,

especially carrion. They are industrious scavengers. This lat-

ter item, with the additional ones that they form a not incon-

siderable part of food for fish, and their damage to meadows

by burrowing, indicate where they come in the most direct rela-

tion to human interests.” The river species, adds Mr. King, he

regards as beneficial. Those which burrow in the meadows,

building mud chimneys which become sun-baked and interfere

quite seriously with mowing, he is in doubt in regard to, but in-

clines to the opinion that their services as scavengers more than

offset the damage they do. Crayfish are preyed upon to a con-

Eoee extent by various species of herons and some other

irds.

Tae Borrie-nose WnALe.— There has been considerable con-

fusion respecting the species of genus Hyperodon, since Dr. Gray

described and figured H. /atifrons from a skull found at the Ork-

ney islands. The chatacters upon which Dr. Gray’s species,

afterwards made into a genus entitled Lagenocetus, was founded,

certainly seemed important enough to be specific, since the

ascending part of the maxillary, which in skulls referred to H.

rostratus were thin, were in the type of H. latifrons very thick,

nearly touching each other in front of the blower, and higher

than the hinder part of the skull. Nevertheless Professor Esch-

richt expressed his opinion that Æ. /atifrons was only an old male

of the ordinary rostratus, bidens, butskopf, etc. (as it had been

variously called). Dr. Gray, in rejoinder, asserted that the fisher-

man who procured the head had assured him that it was that o

a female gravid with young, Thus the matter rested until last

year, when the second species was definitely disposed of by the-

observations of Captain Gray, before whom the subject was

brought by Professor Flower.

Captain Gray, observing the frequency of this Ziphioid in the

Seas between Iceland and Spitzbergen, harpooned several and

brought back their oil. This, upon analysis, proved to so closely

resemble that of the sperm whale as to be probably of equal

value for the special purposes for which sperm oil is used. ,

with the discovery that spermaceti existed in the head, induced

Captain Gray to devote himself to the capture of bottle-noses.

angular box-like form, squarely truncate in front, but differing

of the sperm whale in the presence of a small be

982 Geneva Notes. [September,

According to Captain Gray’s notes, this toothed whale attains

a length of thirty feet and then yields two tons of oil and two

hundred wéight of spermaceti. It feeds upon small cuttlefish,

and in pursuit of them stays below longer than others of its

order, a fact which makes it difficult to kill. After running out

700 fathoms of line, and remaining below two hours, an old male

will come up so fresh as to require a second harpoon, and will

attack the boats with head and tail. So strong are the muscles

of this whale that it can not only leap clear out of water, but can

guide itself in descending so as to plunge head first, instead of

falling helplessly sideways like the larger whales.

;

A SQoueaLING Toap.—On the 24th of May, an unusually warm

day for this region, while walking on the University grounds at

Berkeley, I noticed something hopping along on the hot gravel

of the road; upon close inspection it proved to be a toad. It

was heading for a small bunch of weeds for shelter ; as it squealed

like a mouse when I first poked it, I repeated the poking several

times, taking care not to hurt it; with each poke it squealed as

at first; if my eyes had been shut, I should have supposed the

squealing to have been made by a mouse. After experimenting

or a few minutes, I finally placed it in the shelter of the weeds

and walked on. :

Though not a specialist as regards toads, I have had the honor

of an acquaintance with these animals for many years, but this

Squealer is the first I have met with—R. & C. Stearns, in Culti-

vators Guide.

ingly the ancestors of birds had a two-jointed first ine

a three-jointed second finger, and agrees so far nes g= a

e eT

spurs and claws found in different groups of birds is given, ane :

it is pointed out that the number of phalanges is least, hi ghest

1883.] Zoology. 983

groups of birds. The writer points out that it is unadvisable

to put birds with a complete phalangeal schedule as descendants

of those with an imperfect one, as has sometimes been done.

HYBERNATION OF THE SPOTTED GopHER.—This is an interest-

ing little animal which is still met with around my residence here,

and I do not know whether its natural history has been well

written up. Twenty-five years ago, while digging for a private

road on a sidehill with a southern exposure, in the month of

March, I dug out one which was rolled up ina nice hibernacle

lined with dried grass. It felt cold to the hand when I took it

up and appeared to be quite insensible. I took it into the house

where the temperature of the room may have been about 70°

Far. Ina short time it began to show signs of animation, and

in half an hour was skipping about the room as lively as in mid-

summer. I regret exceedingly that I did not observe the action

of the heart while in the torpid state and the pulse, and the in-

crease, if any, as it got warmer and was finally restored fully to

animation. This was the only opportunity I ever had to make

such observations.

It has a stout neck and shortish tail like most of the marmots,

with rather regular rows of white spots along the back and upper

Sides. It is not figured by Anderson and Bachman, and I do not

remember to have seen it described —/. D. Caton, Ottawa, JU,

ZooLocica, Norrs.—FProtezoans——MM. Munier Chalmas and

Schlumberger have lately read before the French Academy some

observations on the dimorphism of the Foraminifera.

Echinoderms—A most interesting crinoid has been described

before the Royal Society by P. H. Carpenter. Among the col-

ions of the, Challenger expedition is a Comatula which was

dredged at a depth of 1800 fathoms in the Southern sea. Al-

though it is unusually small, the diameter of the calyx being

only 2™- the characters presented by this form are such as to

render it by far the most remarkable among all the types of Te-

cent crinoids, whether stalked or free. Of the four distinguishing

characters of this crinoid, which Carpenter calls 7haumatorcinus

renovatus, one appears in one or perhaps in two genera of Coma-

tulz, another is not to be met with in any Comatula, though

occurring in certain stalked Crinoids; while the two remaining

characters are limited to one family of the Palzocrinoids, one o

them being peculiar to one or at most two genera which are con-

fined to the lower Silurian rocks. Their appearance in such a

Specialized type as a recent Comatula is therefore, he adds, all the

More striking. this connection may be mentioned the

French deep sea expedition of the Talisman, which sailed June

Ist, and was to visit the Canaries, Cape Verd islands, Azores and

intermediate waters.

Worms.—At a recent meeting of the French Academy L.

984 General Notes. [ September,

Joliet read some observations on blastogenesis and alternating

generations in Salpa and Pyrosoma.

Mollusks—R. Bergh continues in the Verhandlungen of the

Imperial Zodlogical and Botanical Society of Vienna his elabo-

rate contributions to a knowledge of the Æolidæ, a group of

nudibranchs, accompanied by excellent plates. .

Arthropods.—In his comparative study of the arachnofauna of

Abyssinia and Shoa, published in the report of the Lombardy

Royal Institute of Science and Letters, Professor Pavesi describes

thirty new species of spiders, for one of which (Chiasmopes) he

establishes a new order. Count Keyserling contributes to the

Verhandlungen of the Zodlogical Botanical Society, of Vienna,

the fourth part of his “ New Spiders from America ;” a few spe-

cies are described from Colorado, the remainder from South

America. C. Norner describes very fully, in the same Verhand-

lungen, Analges minor, a new mite living within the quills of the

hen.—tThe researches on the fauna of the Black sea of Rathke,

Nordman and others, made as far back as 1823, revealed only

forty species of Crustacea, and led to the opinion that this sea

was barren in life of this sort. But 160 species have lately

been added by a number of Russian observers, of whom the most

prominent is Bobretsky. Czerniawsky now affirms, says Nature,

that the Crustacean fauna of a single bay of the Black sea, the

Bay of Yalta, is richer than that of the whole of the Belgian :

coast. This fauna was by some authors supposed to: be like i

that of the northern seas, but in a notice published in the

last volume of the Mémoires of the Kieff Society of Naturalists, :

M. Lovinsky points out the close relationship of the Black sea |

crustacea with those of the Mediterranean sea, the latter having

its northern forms as well as the Black sea. But’'the Black sea

fauna appears to be a part of the fauna of the Mediterranean

basin, slowly modified by the medium it inhabits; this opinion iS

supported by the kinship of several Black sea forms with big

of the Mediterranean and the Red sea, and by the richness

the Black sea fauna in more varieties and in such forms as are 7

purely local, the prevailing types of the fauna being still the cos” oe

mopolite ones. The Black sea fauna would thus be but a git

the Mediterranean fauna, but much impoverished, and modifie¢

to a great extent by the variety of local conditions. SA

Vertebrates. —At a recent meeting of the Berlin Physiologic

Society, Du Bois Reymond communicated a short notice 1 hark

letter of Professor Babuchin’s to him, which contains a fact mit

esting as showing the power of adaptation to their mone a

that electric fish possess. Professor Du Bois Reymond : toa

viously calied attention to the fact that the electric eels ané

lapterurus that live in badly-conducting fresh water shom"

far as have accommodated themselves to this medium, o

1883. } Zoölogy. 085

considerable development of their electric organ in length com-

pared with the small size of its transverse diameter; whereas in

the electric rays that live in sea water, which isa good conductor,

the electric organ has a greater transverse development, conse-

quently the electromotor powers of the electric organs of the

electric eel and Malapterurus on the one side, and of the electric

ray on the other, were to one another inversely as the conducti-

bility of the surrounding media. The measurements of Hum-

boldt and of Sachs of growing electric eels had shown that in

their growth the electric organ increased proportionally more in

length than in transverse diameter, which is a teleological adapta-

tion to the badly-conducting fresh water. Now the above-men-

tioned note of Professor Babuchin contained the communication

that in growing electric rays the electric organ increased propor-

tionately much more in breadth than in height; this is likewise

in conformity with the adaptation to the sea water, which is a

good conductor,

986 General Notes. [September, —

mammalian teeth, and it has also been observed that those at the

posterior part of the series are larger, and have a bilobed form of

crown, while those in front are simple and conical, a fact of con-

siderable interest in connection with speculation as to the history

of the group. It is not until after the disappearance of the teeth

that the baleen, or whalebone, makes its appearance, which, as is

well known, consists of a series of flattened, horny plates, several

hundred in number, on each side of the palate, separated bya

bare interval along the median line. This baleen Flower regards

as nothing more than the highly modified papilla of the lining

membrane of the mouth, with an excessive and horny epithelial

development, as seen in the row of papillz on the free edges of —

the laminz of the ridges of fibrovascular tissues in the palate of

oxen and especially the giraffe.

PSYCHOLOGY. 4

REASONING Powers IN THE Cat.—My brother-in-law, Mr.

Benjamin Hall, hada large emasculated cat which showed some

characteristics which may be worthy of record Sy

e was much attached to his master and followed him in his |

walks about the fields after the manner of a deg. On one occa of

sion he was thus conducted to a considerable distance from the — :

house into the prairie, where a considerable number of the spotted —

prairie gopher had colonized, invited, no doubt, by the favorable

condition of the soil for their burrows. The cat soon api

one of these, which he brought to his master, whose caresses and

commendations seemed to be highly gratifying to him. The cat

then made a breakfast of his capture.

projected out over the bird. Slowly and cautiously he

along the upper side of this limb till nearly over the

he gave a spring, caught the bird in its flight, and 1

ground and ran away with his prize. He had been often he

1883. | Anthropology. 987

not present himself for commendation as he did when he had

caught a gopher. Plainly he had learned something of the prin-

ciples of right and wrong. In the capture of the bird he exe-

cuted a deliberately formed plan, which manifested a very consid-

erable degree of reasoning powers beyond that of inherited

habit—/. D. Caton.

keeper for water. This being given to it, it eagerly swallowed

quantities of the fluid. “Ha!” cried the delighted joker, “I .

guess those nuts were a trifle hot, old fellow.” “You had better

e off,” exclaimed the keeper, “unless you wish the bucket at

your head.” The fool took the hint only just in time, for the en-

raged animal, having finished the sixth bucketful, hurled the

bucket after its tormentor with such force that, had he lingered a

moment longer, his life might have been forfeited. The affair was

not, however, yet concluded. The following year the show re-

Visited the same town; and the foolish joker, like men of his

genus, unable to profit by experience, thought to repeat his stupid

trick on the elephant. He took two lots of nuts into the show

with him, sweet nuts in one pocket and hot in the other. The

elephant had not forgotten the jest played upon him, and there-

fore accepted the cakes very cautiously. At last, the joker

proffered a hot one; but, no sooner had the injured creature dis-

covered its pungency, than it seized hold of its persecutor by the

Coat-tails, hoisted him up by them, and held him until they gave

way, when he fell to the ground. The elephant now inspected

€ severed coat-tails, which, after he had discovered and eaten

all the sweet nuts, he tore to rags, and flung after their discomfit-

ed owner.—Chambers's Journal.

ANTHROPOLOGY. *

Tue Cuarnay Correction IN WasHincton.—The following is

from Mr. A. Thorndyke Rice, editor of the North American Re-

vew, to Professor Baird, May 31:

“From advices received from Mr. Désiré Charnay, and dated

Paris, ay 12, I learn that casts, taken on the spot by means of

the proces Lotin de Laval, of many of the most notable inscrip-

tions and bas-reliefs existing in the ruined cities of Mexico and

! Edited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D. C,

VOL. XVII,—no, IX, 66

BLAS

ies

i a. Gh

<a oa NS

988 General Notes. | September, )

Central America, are now in transit to this country, having been

shipped from Havre, on the roth inst., on the steamer Labrador.

“These casts, a catalogue of which is enclosed, are duplicates of

those now on permanent exhibition at the Trocadero, Paris, ina

building specially appropriated to their accommodation. They have

been made with the express purpose of being exposed to public

view, and kept permanently in the Smithsonian Institution, under

such conditions as will afford to students of American antiquities

the fullest opportunities for studying these products of indigenous

art and these hitherto indecipherable inscriptions.

“ The expedition to Central America, of which these casts are

the result, was equipped and maintained in the field for about two

years at the joint expense of Mr. Pierre Lorillard and the Gov

ernment of France, and under the auspices of that Republic and —

the United States. I have myself taken a profound interest 10

the progress of its labors, and have had the general direction of

the work. It will therefore be exceedingly gratifying to me, a8

well as to Mr. Lorillard, to receive from you the assurance that

this unique and valuable collection of American antiquities will

be assigned such a place in the Smithsonian Institution as its €X-

ceptionally interesting character merits.

“Several applications for these casts have already been S

to us by various public institutions in New York, but in view

the national character of the expedition, it is desired first to °

the fruit of its labors to the Smithsonian Institution. n

“An early answer will oblige, because of the early arrival of

the collection, and of the expected coming from France "i

expert for the proper arrangement of the casts.”

Under date of June 4, Mr. Rice writes : ) ga

“I am sincerely gratified to learn that the Smithsonian e ;

tion tenders so cordial a reception to the Lorillard collec a ,

Perhaps I ought, in my former letter, to have given some iy ko

imate estimate of the size of these casts, so that you mg w

able to decide whether the space now at your comman d ae :

institution is sufficient to afford them opportunity for €l pat

eight to ten feet high, by six or eight feet broad. Be

“I shall be obliged if you will kindly advise me imme go Ae

whether the great size of these monuments is likely to Ph”

any obstacle to their fitting accommodation in the Smithso’ ”,

“The artist charged with the duty of setting them up m

from Havre on the 26th ult., in the steamship Sz. n

LISTE DES MOULAGES ENVOYES A WASHINGTON. |

1, Bas-relief, Indian, venant d’Oocosingo. 7. Pierre de P Inauguration A Temp i

2, 3, 4, 5. Pierre de Tizoc—g pieces. 8. Inscription—de alenq'

6. Grand fragment—de Tezcoco, g. Mietlanteuhtli,

1883. | Anthropology. 989

PALENQUE.,

10. Bas-relief—Intérieur du Palais,

II, 12, 13, 14, 15. Grand Salles Sculptés

16, 17, 18, 19, 20. ie

21, 22, 23, 24, 25.

26. Bas-reliefs, Fo

Temple des Inscriptions.

Bas-reliefs, Fond de l’Autel—Temple du Soleil.

27. Temple de la Croix, No, 2.

28. de l’Autel r

ita laa } Temple de la Croix, No, 1.

31, 32. Bas-reliefs, sous-basement du Palais.

33) 34,

35, 36, Katunes—lInscriptions,

k tae \ Marches de l’ Escalier.

» 42.

43, 44. De Vaile intérieure du Palais.

MERIDA.

45. Téte sculpté en angle. 47. Petit bas-relief de Cozumal.

. 48. Grand bas-relief de Cozumal.

46. Grand pilier—Colonne engagée;

CHICHENITZA.

49. | Grand bas-reliefs—Montants des 60, 61,) Grand bas-relief composé de

50. portes, sud ouest du Castillo. 62, 63 8 pieces, intérieur d’une

s ape 3 h A 4

2 Pilier et chapiteau de colonne— re Ssi ne ee partie du Jeu

£ Façade du Castillo, , 07.

uatre piliers sculptés venant

54. ss, i de la Salle supérieure du

55. | Piliers sculptés—Facade nord du 7% 7!- eu de Faune.

Castillo.

56. 72. Linteau en bois sculpté, même salle.

of 73; ipti ur linteaux de pierr

58. Fragments de piliers et chapiteaux. 74, ee _ a ising

59. Intérieur de la Grande Salle du Cas- 75. a?

tillo, 76, } Linteau sculpté et inscriptions ve-

eA nant du palais Akali—Sib.

LORILLARD CITY.

78. Bas-relief des Personnages avec Croix, 8r } Deux ngpa oH uY e

a "un $ -

venant du Temple. erre, n

ia Hant-relief, Linteau d’un palais. sar e sent z un apearen :

. Inseripti è li 83. Copie d’une obsidienne portant la

r Da pR 2 pot de la construction du Grand

Temple de Mexico.

Tae Puiippine Istanpers.—Dr. Samuel Kneeland contributes

to the Bulletin No. 2 of the Am. Geog. Soc., a paper on the Phil-

ippine islands. Much space is given to the history of the islands

and their geographical characteristics, but some very interesting

are brought to light about the natives. The chewing of

buy o is widely spread over the Indian and. the Pacific ocean. The

Yo is a bitter, pungent compound of a thin slice of the fresh

onga, the nut of the auca palm, enveloped in the green leaf of

etel pepper, a little lime being added to increase the stimu-

990 General Notes. _ [September,

umbrella in the leaf of the banana; most of his domestic utensils _

in the bamboo; his house, his mat, his hat in the various kinds of _

palm ; his fruit requires no cooking, and his fish and rice only —

the simplest. If ever there was a child of nature the Tajalis —

one. The insect and other natural enemies of man are plentiful —

The Philippine islanders are skillful weavers of vegetable fiber

mixed Malays, Japanese, Chinese, Siamese, Dyaks and Javanese —

The name /gorroti should be restricted to the hybrid Japanese —

and Chinese with the Indians. .

SHELL ORNAMENTS AND Pipgsrone.— Mr. Stephen Bowers —

writing to Science of June 22, criticises some of the positions —

assumed in Wheeler’s Vol. vit, taking the ground that the curved —

shell fish-hooks were ornaments (see Plates x1 and X11 op. ctt} —

Mr. Bowers also sends the following interesting note on the 0 —

currence of catlinite in California : :

Pipestone——In reading Mr. Barber’s interesting article in the :

July number of the American NaTurALIsT on catlinite, or pipè

stone, I was reminded of two beautiful specimens I found inano

Indian burial place in Santa Barbara county, California, manufac-

tured from this mineral. They are tubes, one of which measur —

a little more than five inches in length and five-eighths of ee

in diameter. The perforations are skillfully made, and the who

is finely finished. I have been unable to learn of any deposit 0!

catlinite in California——Szephen Bowers.

peoples of Asia and the boreal regions. In his intode i

Bertillon describes his method in the following words: Y Ya

Instead of saying this people are generous, th )

rópóbha a the kerhot ie a i anecdotes Ww

to the same conclusions. In fine, M. Bertillon s volume pri

ponds to a series of popular lectures, such as are given

cipal cities during the winter season.

1883.] Anthropology. 991

E AMERICAN AUTOCHTHONES.— Professor J. Kollman, of

Basel, well known for his many publications upon the crania of

' the European peoples, has made an elaborate study of the crania

of our American aborigines. The author starts out with certain

theses which he has sought to establish in other publications,

such as the undoubted existence of races possessing invariable

marks; man is a fixed type (Dauertypus), and races are also

i fixed since their production in the unknown past. Witness the

Malays and Papuas, neighbors so long in a homogeneous tropi-

cal area, and yet so unlike. With regard to America it was for-

| merly believed that a single race extended from Cape Horn to

the Northern ocean, Blumenbach and Morton standing for this

class of writers. Later on, from 1865, Waitz, Plotz, Andreas

Retzius, Virchow and Daniel Wilson demolished the unity theory.

Dr. Kollman divides his discussion into two parts :

1. The plurality of varieties (races) in America.

2. The spread of these varieties over the continent.

The data of his investigation are: North America, 917 skulls ;

Central and South America, 248 skulls; Eskimo region, 127

skulls; Mounds and shell-heaps, 208 skulls. The measurements

are partly original and partly from Otis, B. Davis, and Schaaff-

hausen. Omitting the ancient crania, the index for the remain-

ing 1292 is as follows:

index. Per cent,

Dolicocephalic ......... 63-75 22.77

MOCEDNANG oon. 6s bsisc du busca o a 76-80 . 35.92

Brachycephalic . . x 81-85 22.60

Hyperbrachycephalic 14.30

86-95

96-116 4.55

Artificially brachycephalic .

I. The plurality of varieties is proved.

2. The ubiquity of these varieties over the whole area is undoubted

3 The penetration of the varieties among one another is so complete that no tribe

Onsists of a single variety :

4 This penetration had taken place before the Columbian period. From that era

: we have:

MAr Ana T aaa e er ot CR ee y ar

2. Leptoprosope—Brachycephaly.

he Chamzeroprosope—Brachycephaly.

on - —Mesocephaly.

1a e —Dolicocephaly. a.

5 The differences of the Indian tribes are to be traced back not so much to climatic

influences as the craniological evidences prove.

6. The differences among the ethnic groups are due to the amount of varietal pene-

~ tration, which was not uniform in space or time. i

992 General Notes. [September,

different areas. The American continent, Eastern Asia and the ;

Polynesian isles received only euthycomous varieties,

accompanying table will exhibit Kollmann’s scheme of —

the pre-glacial sub-species and varieties :

SUB-SPECIES, | PENETRATION. VARIETIES, BY THE HAIR,

1, Chamzeprosope—

| Cham. dolich, lissotrich.

Dolicocephals “ mesoc. “

Europe $

(Long skulls, wide faces) North Africa } “ brach. n

West Asia | Leptopr. dolich, "

2. Chamzeprosope— po’ ae *

Mesocephals

(Medium heads, wide faces)

| Cham. dolich,euthycoma.

| America 7 mesoc. “

3. Chamæprosope— | East Asia }

Brachycephal

phals Polynesia

(Short heads, wide faces)

“ brach. r

| Leptopr. dolich. ai

| “ mesoc,

| | e brach.

4. Leptoprosope— |

Delick ha Cham. dolich. ulotrich.

s mesoc.

(Long skulls, long faces) Cent. Africa ;

So. Africa be brach. F

5. Leptoprosope— Melanesia Leptopr. dolich. ws

e m

esocep rete

(Medium heads, long faces) T brach, me

6. Leptoprosope—

Brachycephals

(Short heads, long faces)

Ae betee ratan Ave: merta AE

:0:

MICROSCOPY.? eee

THoma’s SLIDING Microrome.—Dr. R. Thoma, extra ae

professor of pathological anatomy at the University of pee

g, has been good enough to write us the following descrip”

(in English) of his instrument, which has acquired consi¢ pri

reputation both on the continent and in England? He adds ais?

remarks on it use: ae

€ microtome (Fig. 1) consists of a stand of caste ae

which slide two carriers. The large knife is attached ne

these, æ, which slides horizontally. The second, mi hol hs

. Cc : A

so as to raise the specimen as required. J

This, with a few modifications, is the general ee

! Edited by Dr, C. O. Wurman, Newton Highlands, Mass. ),P

* A description without figures appeared in Virchow’s Archiv. ixxxiv (1881);

189 -OI. i Ae

1883. ] Microscopy. 993

sliding microtomes ; but hitherto the carriers were constructed to

slide with two even surfaces between two even planes of the

stand, which intersect at a given angle, with the consequence that

show more or less imperfect results, owing to the fact that it

is impossible to obtain sufficiently exact plane surfaces. The in-

conveniences appear in small, scarcely perceptible irregularities

€ movement of the carriers, and the consequent impossibil-

ity of making sections as thin as with an experienced hand.

This induced Professor Thoma to enter upon a consideration

of the geometrical and mechanical difficulties to be surmounted.

The question to be solved was, how many points at least of a

body sliding between two planes must touch the latter for this

body to be perfectly steady in its position. It will be found that

five points are sufficient, and that a carrier on five points, between

two plane surfaces, will slide without difficulty between these

TTT TAMATA REED SEN

Fic, 1.—Thoma’s microtome. a, carrier for the knife; 4, carrier for the object;

*, micrometer-screw for fine adjustment.

planes, not differing too much from geometrically plane surfaces.

€ condition only must be fulfilled, namely, that the five points

are so chosen as to support steadily the center of gravity of the

994 General Notes. [September,

carriers, including their- accessory parts, namely, the knife and

object. Fig. 2 gives a more precise idea of the details of con-

struction

In the figure the lower spear of the carrier æ, which sup-

e knife, show three prominences,

tas gives the geometrical projection

of the five points, Within the —

the figure these points could not be —

drawn exactly as they are in the aan

ment itself. In reality they appear only

the stand. This arrangement was :

rable to facilitate the action of the oil $

Fic. 2,—Tr. Pi ea of p with which the sliding surfaces are to :

tux ene a be covered. Two of the ridges form —

carrier for the knife; b carrier er together parts of the oblique plane, and ie

Ta the object ; d, screw t attach the third catepan to the vertical Ei

Naples deak 8 e siqing plane. The same arrangemeti

s found in ro carrier 4, which sup-

ports the clamp in which aie object is placed. a

By this mode of construction the carriers will move gently and ve

eeoa even if the sliding surfaces on the stand are not

geometrical planes. It is still, however, of course desirable that &

much exactness as possible should be obtained in these Pee

their irregularities cannot fail to affect the sections, especi

they are in fact multiplied in the latter. Professor Thoma highly

commends Herr Jung, of Heidelberg, who makes the ni ae :

under his instructions, for the great exactness which he has

tained ee

As the efficiency of the newly-constructed instrument is best

judged of by practical experience of its gee Professor

Thoma peene og generally that it bas been d tha stone

micro-

1 Professor biring oe that at a time when already a number se Sag

tomes were in use, an instrument entirely different in its ponn Pe aa)

constructed on sition principles, appeared in America—the m P pper id

; y i

rgi:

dence a the invention is on both sides very evident. The value of w have

however, is at the same time el isted by the relative good re aimee

been otheined by this American meae Its limit as regards the H

sections appears to be 0.0004 in

1883. Microscopy. 995

say to 0.005™™ or in extreme cases to half that. It is not, how-

ever, all tissues and objects that will admit of sections of such

delicacy. Well-hardened liver may generally be cut to 0.015™™

this being about the diameter of the hardened cell, Occasionally,

however, in this tissue, sections of 0.010™™ can be obtaine -

phatic glands and brain may be cut to 0.010 or 0.075™™: em-

bryonic tissues, well imbedded, usually admit sections of 0.005

and 0.003™" In some cases even sections of 0.002™ thickness

can be obtained. These numbers refer to the largest size of the

microtome, and to serial sections. The two smaller sizes will

give sections of the same delicacy, but comparatively smaller in

extent of surface. The length of the sliding surfaces of the large

instrument is 40°™ and the edge of the knife is 23% In the

medium size these dimensions are 27 and 16 and in the small-

est about 21 and 11“

Professor Thoma also adds some practical remarks on the use

of the microtome and the necessary previous preparation of the

specimens, it being his opinion that further progress in section-

cutting is to be expected from the perfecting and development of

the technical methods of preparing, hardening, soaking and im-

bedding the tissues. Personally he feels sure that any tissue

(excluding bone and teeth before decalcification) may be prepared

so as to be cut to any degree of delicacy down to 0.002™ The

microtome will work with sufficient exactness to permit this, but

hitherto there are only a few tissues which we can prepare so per-

fectly as to admit sections of such extreme minuteness. e

following are the points to which he most especially wishes to

draw attention:

cut by freezing microtomes, for instance, on the simple and prac-

tical instrument of Hughes and Lewis. The addition of a freez-

ing apparatus to a thoroughly exact sliding microtome is neither

advisable nor necessary. The differences of temperature pro-

duced in different parts of the instrument would be apt to inter-

fere with the perfect planeness of the sliding surfaces ; whilst, on

the other hand, section-cutting with frozen tissues is so simple

and easy with the ordinary freezing apparatus that any further

complication in the way of a sliding support of the knife is

Superfluous.

tween the arms of the clamp attached to the carrier b (Fig. 1).

he clamp should then be fixed in such a position that the speci-

men is as near as possible to the knife-carrier. The knife will

996 General Notes, [ September, :

generally have to be adjusted so as to bring the whole length of —

its blade into action. Very hard specimens are frequently cut

with less difficulty by placing the knife more obliquely in regard —

to the long diameter of the instrument.

The inclination of the oblique plane upon which the carrier b i

slides is 1:20, and consequently the section will be 1-20th™

thick if the carrier is moved 1™ on the oblique plane. A scale

in millimeters with a vernier allows the operations to be exactly

regulated. The vernier will be found sufficient for sections of

0.015%" Sections of greater delicacy should always be made by

using the micrometer-screw (c, Fig. 1), which was designed to

obtain the utmost exactitude in the management of the carrier b.

Fig. 3 shows it on a larger scale. :

The carrier c’ slides on the same oblique plane as the carrier > a

The periphery A

the drum, ¢, which is firmly attached to the screw, sra ee ie

i i j jons a

thickness of section equivalent to 0.001™: The finest sections ;

axes, and admits, therefore, of a very easy

object in regard to the knife. It was devised to m

for occasionally turning the object between two succ

of sections, ‘ Between

The two metal plates, %%, form the jaws of the amp and tbe

them is placed the cork which carries the ine grees

latter is fixed by turning the screws, gg. The three axes al s

bone i

sal

1883.] Microscopy. 997

and cc, and round these the clamp can be turned, a being verti-

cal, and ġġ and cc hori-

zontal. In all positions

these three axes can be

rier supporting the clamp

and object. The details

4.—Clamp to be turned in three direc-

Fic.

tions (as seen from above).

partly new, and are ver

solid and durable. Their arrangement is such as to admit of a

division of the circles in which the clamp can be turned. a

nother improvement has been devised by Mr. Jung. This is

an arrangement which regulates the movement of the microme-

ter-screw in such a way that after a given number of divisions of

the drum, a spring registers to the ear and finger of the manipu-

lator the number of micromillimeters which the object has been

raised. These intervals can be varied, within certain limits, by a

simple adjustment comparable to a vernier. The construction of

this apparatus is decidedly very elegant, but the divisions of the

drum of the micrometer-screw are so large and easily visible,

even to weak eyes, as in Professor Thoma’s opinion to make such

complications useful only for very special conditions.

ther improvements by different manipulators relate merely to

secondary points, and do not touch the essential principles of

construction.

and it can then be adjusted on the

gummed cork and plunged again into

alcohol. The latter will, in a few

hours, harden the specimen as well as

he gum, and we obtain a preparation

like F ig. 5. ;

These methods are sufficient for the

great majority of cases, and the differ-

i : Fic. 5.—Hardened specimen

oom and V getable tissues can 4 adapted to cork a.

to their structure, between 0.030 and 0.005™™ Sometimes, how-

ever, and always if sections of extreme delicacy are required, it

998 Scientific News. [September,

is necessary to use more complicated procedure. For example,

the normal human lung hardened in alcohol and prepared as

above, will perhaps admit of sections of 0.030™' a human lung

affected by acute pneumonia may perhaps be cut to 0.015™™ but

if greater delicacy is required, the tissue must be soaked in gum

arabic, or other substance which admits of a more solid harden-

ing. In this case human lung will allow of sections down to

0.001% Objects of very small dimensions, like embryos, small

animals, leaves of plants, &c., must be imbedded in suitable masses,

which may be adapted to a cork, as above, before they are cut—

[To be continued.)

SCIENTIFIC NEWS. | p

— In closing his second lecture on whales Professor Flower :

argues against the theory of the derivation of the whales from

the Carnivora, and the idea that whales are an extreme modifica- ie

tion of the seals and sea-lion, calling attention to the fact that the —

hind-limbs are aborted and the tail developed into a powerful om

swimming organ. He thinks it more reasonable to suppose that CS

whales were derived from animals with large tails, which were

used in swimming, eventually with such effect that the hind

limbs became no longer necessary, and so gradually disappeared.

“The powerful tail, with lateral cutaneous flanges, of an Amer-

can species of otter (Pteronura sandbachii), or the still more

familiar tail of the beaver, may give some idea of this member im

ees

the primitive Cetacea.” He therefore suggests the derivation

of whales from the lower Ungulates, and that the earliest forms

were fresh-water types; the fresh-water origin of the group ac

counting for their otherwise inexplicable absence from the

taceous seas.

_—The Chinese and Japanese exhibits at the International

Fisheries exhibition must be novel and striking.

at the exhibition mark the Chinese as the most ingenious

accomplished fishermen in the world. ue

— In his notice of MM. Carl Vogt and Emil Yung's t

ce i

1883. } Scientific News, 999

and species of which still remain to be determined. “But,” he

adds, “while this conception deprives the Darwinian theory of

much of its seductive grandeur, evolution itself can lose nothing

by abandoning an absolute system in which mere hypothesis

plays far too large a part.” -

— Still a new zodlogical journal has been started in Germany.

The first number of the Zoologische Beitrage, edited by Professor

Anton Schneider, of Breslau, contains articles on the develop-

ment of Spherularia bombi, by A. Schneider; on the anatomy of

Nematodes, by E. Rohde; on the anatomy and histology of Peri-

patus, by E. Gaffron; on the reproductive process in bony fishes,

by A. Schneider; and on the development of the sexual organs

of insects, by A. Schneider.

. o

most beautiful cities of the West. President Dawson was to de-

liver the retiring address, while the meeting will be. presided over

by Professor C. A. Young. In the same week and place (Aug.

13-14), the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science

was to meet, and (Aug. 14) the Cambridge Entomological Club

was to hold a public meeting.

— Several apparently new destructive insect pests, besides the

Phylloxera have made their appearance in California; one is the

peach moth (Anarsia lineatella). It was first noticed in 1882, but

during the past summer has spread to an alarming extent.

Mr. M. Cooke also reports that the branches of the olive are

bored by a beetle, Polycaon confertus ; it also infests the branches

of the pear, cherry, apricot, plum, apple trees and grape canes.

— The library, laboratory and museum of „Indiana University

at Bloomington, was recently burned, involving the loss of the

Owen collection of fossils, and Professor Jordan’s extensive col-

lection of fishes. . Professor Jordan’s work on the fishes of the

United States, has recently been published by the Smithsonian

Institution, and the collection formed a part of his types.

— We have received a catalogue of books and papers relating

to the fertilization of flowers, compiled by D'Arcy W. Thompson,

and extracted from the English edition of Dr. Hermann Miiller’s

Fertilization of Flowers. The number of entries is 814, and

those of American authors appear to have been carefully recorded.

— The sixth annual meeting of the American Society of Mi-

1000 Proceedings of Scientific Socteties. September,

croscopists was to be held in Chicago, beginning Aug. 7 and con-

tinuing four days. l

— We have, for lack of space, failed to notice several recent geo- _

logical papers of interest. These are Mr. G. K. Gilbert’s Contribu-

tions to the History of Lake Bonneville, extracted from the —

annual report of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey,

1880-81. It is finely illustrated and gives the results of s

seasons’ explorations. Professor W. M. Davis publishes in the

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. vu, a

well illustrated paper on the relations of the Triassic traps and

sandstones of the Eastern United States; also a second paper on

the folded Helderberg limestones east of the Catskills, with nu- —

merous diagrams,

— A monument to the memory of the celebrated naturalist

and physio-philosopher, Oken, has been erected at Offenburg.

Visitors to the University grounds at Jena will remember seeing

his bust there, which has been on exhibition for many years.

:0;

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

was correctly pitched, and a series gave a complete octave :

together with the ninth, eleventh, and twelfth. Mr. Ca io

gued from these facts that the Aztecs were acquainted k js a

prove that those who made the instrument possessed the vee

knowledge to produce it. Mr. Skinner showed some coco

the Cecropia moth gathered from the elder. Those taken ™

near the base of the shrub were of stouter form than pepe

ered from higher up, and always proved to be females, hk

slimmer cocoons found on the higher branches always tu

male. ; of recent

April 12.—Professor E. D. Cope gave particulars Ci ftu

E883] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1001

islands until, at the end of the Cretaceous, the Andean range cut

off the sea to the west. Since then a great Tertiary formation

was laid down and the Amazon basin defined. The deposit made

by the river and its branches is not older than the post-pliocene.

Cretaceous strata occur near Pernambuco, and in these have been

found the remains of several genera of sharks, and of a crocodile

of the genus Hyposaurus, which occurs also in New Jersey; also

a genus of rays (Mesedaphus). These remains indicate a horizon

corresponding to the Maestricht chalk. A new pycnodont, Pvc-

nodus fiabellatus, had been found at Mapiri. In the lacustrine

ds near Bakia many fish and saurians have been found, and

crocodiles and dinosaurs, the former indicating a horizon above

the Pernambuco beds also occur. He thought the age would

prove to be near the Laramie. Some pampean beds near Bahia

as yet have yielded only one fossil, Torodon expansidens, sp. nov.

A batrachian (Arzarthrosus Cope, gen. nov.) has been found in

San Paolo, and is probably Permian, but may be Carboniferous.

The pliocene vertebrates of Brazil are very distinct from those o

orth America, but the fossils now being studied indicate marked

similarity in earlier periods.

April 18.—Professor Heilprin spoke of some invertebrate fos-

sils from Santa Cruz, Patagonia. Tertiary deposits are traceable

along nearly all the rivers of this region, and superimposed on

those are the pampean shingle beds. The fossils greatly resem-

ble those of N. Europe and Asia. Some forms are like those of

our west coast. Dr. H. C. McCook spoke of the mode followed

by orb-weaving spiders in making their snares. The foundation

lines form an irregular polygon. After securing these the spider

places the radiating lines alternately and almost opposite to each

other, retiring to the center after making each attachment, This

alternate opposition of the lines serves to strengthen the web.

He believed the radii to be single lines. The converging point

of the radii frequently seemed above the geometric center, prob-

ably to resist the spider’s weight.

April 26.—Professor E. D. Cope described the head of Diclonius

mirabilis Leidy,a saurian allied to the Hadrosaurus of the New Jer-

sey marl. A nearly perfect skeleton from the Laramie beds of Da-

kota was in the speaker's possession. The head was bird-like in

appearance, with spoon-like premaxillaries. Mr. Wortman ex-

Pressed his belief that Ga/era macrodon from the Post-pliocene of

Maryland should be placed in the genus Putorius, and dwelt on

the relationships of the Mustelide; he did not attach much im-

portance to color, size, and other individual variations. Dr. Horn

exhibited a piece of bed-ticking from a bed the feathers in which

had been destroyed by Attagenus megatoma. The interior sur-

face of this ticking was converted into a fine plush by the pene-

tration into the interstices of the material of the fine barbules of

1002 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Sept., 1883

animalcules. ae

3.—Dr. Leidy stated that examination of the plush ex- —

not by a flattening of tubercles, as may have been the case m-

animals having lateral motion of the jaws (as the Ungulates). He

defined about seven series of forms based on the mutations of the -

tubercles. Professor Lewis read a paper by Miss Foulke upon +

rotifer presumed to be new. : Re

ay 10.—Mr. J. Wilcox gave some interesting particulars |

respecting the surface soils of Canada, which are. thin and pooh

while water is scarce. He believed that the Laurentian fi

were once covered by sedimentary strata, since removed by

sion. The same speaker gave an account of the altered habits

the sheepshead and some other fishes in Florida. 2 fie

fresh-water streams and feed on Conferva and other vege”

food. Professor Lewis read for Miss. Foulke a description

a new species of rotifer, named by her Floscularia on

May 17.—Dr. Clevenger, of Chicago, gave the pager

researches upon the valves in the vascular system. Ina ied

ped the horizontal veins of the trunk had no valves, while m

vertical ones, those of the limbs and intercostal spaces, are

nished with them. In man precisely the same arrangemem™

vails, although the horizontal veins have become vertical an

vertical ones horizontal. He also alluded to the tendon’

hernia produced by the want of strength in ligaments W

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvi.—OCTOBER, 1883.—No. 10..

MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE,

BY W. N. LOCKINGTON.

PECIALIZATION is not in itself any proof of advance, yet

7 both in the domain of mind and that of organic life the term

is constantly used as though it carried with it the idea of pro-

gress, instead of, as is the fact, a mingling of advance with retro-

gression, the upward or downward tendency of which can only

be determined by a careful comparison of all the factors.

In all evolution, organic or super-organic, specialization com-

Mences at the bottom of the scale, anda higher grade is only

attained by a longer continuance in a generalized condition be-

fore specialization—a continuance during which, not some special

part but the entire organism becomes capable of wider activities.

As the upward development proceeds, branches break off, become

Specialized, and perfect or complete themselves, that is, become

incapacitated for further development. The real line of advance

is not to be sought for in the specialized offshoot, but in the grow-

ing stem from which it parted.

To give examples from the Vertebrata; it is not the highly

Specialized teleostean fish, such as the perch, that is in the line of

advance, but the more generalized ganoids and Dipnoi through

which the upward line runs on into the Batrachia; neither is it

the highly specialized flying pterodactyl that is in the line of ad-

vance from reptile to bird or mammal; nor can the line of mam-

malian descent be traced through the birds, in which, high though

the type is, specialization of some parts, accompanied by atrophy

of others, has resulted in organic completeness at a level lower

than that which has been reached by the summit of the mamma-

lian stem.

The highest specialization is that based upon perfection of the

VOL. Xvir.—no, x. 67

1004. Man's Place in Nature. | October,

greatest number of parts, not upon the great development of one

part at the expense of others.

In so far as the cow, pig or horse have lost digits, they Samal

degenerated ; in so far as the remaining digits are more perfect

than those of the primitive ungulates, they have advanced. As

a whole they have departed from the main stem of mammalian

life; by the completeness of their specialization they have sacri-

ficed all adaptability to other lines of life, and must therefore be

pronounced to be, by their very specialization, inferior to animals

which have retained their five digits, put them to new and varied

uses, and developed them all towards perfection. The hand of

the gibbon, though but a poor instrument compared with that of

man, is incomparably superior to the one-toed limb of the horse,

for it can be used to walk, to grasp, to pick up objects that are

needed, to bring food to the mouth; while the one toe of t

horse, MPA though it is for progress upon hard ground, is for

other purposes useless. If this one-toed limb, reached by com-

plete disuse of the other digits, and resulting in. incapacity

employment for more than one purpose, is higher than the fiver

fingered member which we have inherited from our hypothetical

simian ancestor, then, by a similar line of argument, is the natu-

ralist who is Droogh acquainted with the genus Scarabæus, 0t

the forms of Foraminifera, superior to a Cuvier, a Lamarck oF

Darwin.

Completion is one thing, advance another. The horse sands

near, probably at, the end of its line. Farther reduction of digits

would entail the loss of limbs, and advance in the direction’

brain is precluded by the want of an instrument sufficiently ge

eralized and mobile to do the brain’s bidding. Let those

maintain that man has not the highest type of limb because:

has carried to their fullest perfection the normal mammalian com-

plement of five digits, try to write their arguments with a z

dle finger only.

In the same way the folded teeth of the ungulates, though ut

questionably more perfect teeth than the simple tubercul

the powers of nutrition, but of a narrowing of those pe

a special class of bodia limitation which of itself precl

advance in other directions,

1883. ] Man's Place in Nature. 1005

Strangest of all arguments in proof of man’s structural infe-

riority is that which declares the upright face to be inferior to the

projecting snout, only for the reason that in the embryo the face is

formed beneath the fore-brain, a position permanently retained in

man. “The projecting snout,” says Dr. Minot, “is a higher struc-

ture than the retreating human face.” So be it; the baboon has

more of this higher structure than we have, the ant-eater excels the

baboon, and the pipe fish and gar fish are ahead of both. Let

us bow the knee before our superiors.

The persistence of an embryonal character is not of itself any

proof of degradation, and when the lack of the brute snout is

correlated with a high development of brain, it becomes evident

that the total is a structural advance.

We need not ask morphologists or embryologists whether man

is the highest animal. We have the proof of it every hour be-

fore our eyes. His powers of mind are the resultant of his struc-

ture, and have enabled him to conquer all other beings in the

Struggle of life. That animal is highest which possesses the

widest range of faculties. This man undoubtedly does; no other

animal has the power, by voice or pen, to exaggerate or depre-

Ciate its own importance; no other animal can use the powers of

‘Nature as he; no other can produce works which are propor-

tionately comparable to his; and if, therefore, morphology or

embryology contradict the facts of life, then are those sciences

unsafe guides, as they certainly are only partial ones.

But it may reasonably be doubted whether either morphology

or embryology sustain the position assumed by some enthusiastic

Students of those branches of biology.

Assertions of man’s animal inferiority are but the result of a

too violent reaction against the thoroughly untenable but far from

obsolete idea that man does not belong to the animal kingdom

at all, but is, by virtue of his soul, a being sublimely above all

others upon the earth—a being for whose benefit or pleasure the

earth itself, and all organic life upon it, were divinely prepared.

Only a part of man’s superiority is morphological, for mental

Or, as styled by Spencer, super-organic evolution does not enter

into the domain of morphology. Yet this mental evolution can

only be maintained, and could only have been gained, by the aid

of the most varied bodily relations with the outer world—rela-

i :

AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1882, p. 511.

1006 Man’s Place in Nature.

tions which are incompatible with any but the highest existing

perfection of bodily structure. Undoubtedly there are many

points in which man is inferior to some animals which, : re

whole, are structurally his inferiors. He cannot fly like a bin

or insect, swim like a whale, climb like a monkey, or run lik

horse ; his scent is inferior to that of many animals; in power

distant vision birds surpass him; in strength and size he ise

celled by many mammals, reptiles and fishes; yet no other a

mal can be adduced which has so wide a range of bodily facul-

ties. He can walk, he can run, he can swim (when he tries),

can climb; his delicately constructed fingers can pick up

smallest object, can shape the finest work, without having yet

their power of grasping, pulling and pushing; his ears are sus

ceptible of all the fine tones of harmony ; his eye can iate

the nicest gradations of color; his touch and eye combined cat

realize the myriad contours of form. Can any other animal fur-

nish such a list of powers? Mee

Amid all this superiority as a whole, man exhibits great incon

pleteness and imperfection in parts, and this, combined with ger-

eralization of organs and faculties, render it highly probable that

future ages may witness much further evolution, both in the

direction of the specialization and fixation of characters in dent

ative species and in the wider range of powers possessed by the

uncrystallized remainder. ;

Already the term man includes several forms which

popular prejudice will not recognize the fact. The Chinese ‘

the Ethiopian are as distinct from the Aryan as are the wo* e

jackal from the dog, and within our own nationality GN

exist which, as pointed out by Professor Cope, would

generic were they not prevented from becoming so by the

marriage of those which possess them with those who do :

Man in his present condition possesses a body in which

primitive mammalian type has been carried to great p“

without that corresponding degradation by loss of parts

fixed so many creatures in an inferior position, yet as

tendency of organic life is toward specialization in bs

direction, it is likely that in the future there will split off

Genera of Felidae and Canide, p. 27, Proceedings of the Academy of

Sciences of Philadelphia, 1879. ae

1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 1007

the human stem species that have aborted some parts, as for ex-

ample, some of the digits of the foot, or the hindermost molars.

Such species will be nearer completion and less capable of further

advance ; their mental growth as well as their bodily develop-

ment will be to some extent arrested by the abortion of the parts.

If, on the other hand, a portion of the descendants of existing

humanity acquire the power of using their feet to perform one

set of delicate offices in obedience to the orders of the brain

while the hands perform another set, and of using right or left

limbs equally well, a vast increase of mental power will be the

concomitant of such an acquisition. In many other directions

there are possibilities, the eye may gain a power of adjustment

that will convert it into microscope and telescope, the ear become

ably to close itself at will as is the eye, the touch become far finer

than it is now in those most sensitive.

Certain it is, at any rate, that a wide range of physical capa-

bilities is essential to high mental development. The Houhyn-

hym reads well in Gulliver's Travels, but an animal whose limbs

are degraded to a line of levers can never advance mentally.

Mind is an animal characteristic, and a classification of animals

which leaves it out is a one-sided classification.

:0:—

THE NATURALIST BRAZILIAN EXPEDITION.

BY HERBERT H. SMITH.

SECOND PAPER.—THE LOWER JACUHY AND SÃO JERONYMO.

( Continued from page 716.)

I WILL now describe the main geological features of the São

Jeronymo district, which I studied carefully during several

weeks, traversing all parts of it on foot or on horseback. My

observations here extended over a space about forty miles long

and twenty broad, comprehending the country south of the Ja-

cuhy to the Serra do Herval, between the Arroio da Porteirinha

on the west and the Arroio dos Ratos and Arroio da Divisa on

the east.

T have stated that the hills generally trend east and west.

Traveling southward from the Jacuhy, about forty miles, five

Main ridges are passed, each of which is successively higher than

the preceding. The first, at its highest point, is about 600 feet

1008 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [Oct

above the river, but it is generally much lower. Succeeding this

is an irregular swampy valley, two or three miles wide; then

several small streams, branches of the Arroio da Divisa, whi

cut through this ridge from south to north. The fourth ridge,

which immediately follows, is rugged and almost mountainous in —

its character, and higher than any of the preceding. It is fol-

lowed by a wide, deep valley, on the southern side of whichis —

the fifth ridge, properly the eastern end of the Serra do Herval,

which at this point is probably 2400 feet above the Jacuhy.

All of these ridges are composed of massive red granite, either

coarse or fine. It is intersected here and there by quartz veins,

varying in thickness froma few inches to many hundred feet.

Commonly these veins appear as little ridges on the surface;

larger ones form long hills, as may be seen just south of |

Arroio dos Ratos, on the road to Dous Passaros. The qua

varies from translucent to white or granular. ee:

Above the granite in some places are layers of gneiss and

mica schist. These are well seen in the beds of streams betweet

the third and fourth ridges which I have described, about fi z

miles south of the Arroio dos Ratos. Here the layers are v

much twisted and distorted, but the stratification is quite eR

Most of the layers are rich in mica, breaking with a schist

fracture, but some are massive, resembling the gray gneiss of Rio

de Janeiro. It is difficult to determine the strike, but this af

_ pears to be nearly E. W., corresponding to the trend of the gra?

ite ridges; some of the folds are perpendicular or reversed i

did not see them in contact with the granite, but they are appa

rently uncomformable. Gneiss is also seen south of the

ridge, in the bed of a stream; here it is massive, an¢ I sa

signs of mica schist. a

Overlying granite and gneiss, but seen only in the hollows 9®

d rocks,

tween the ridges, are layers of stratified and unaltere

forming the third great system seen here. In the Sao J ba

district these beds appear in three portions or basins; first, the

tween the Rio Jacuhy and the first ridge; second, betun o

first and second ridges ; third, between the fourth and fifth r105

just north of the Serra do Herval. The strike varies from

1883. ] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 1009

to S. E., N. W., the dip is generally a slight one to the N. or

N. E., but sometimes to the S. or S. W.. Thus, in general, the

strike of these beds also approximates to the trend of the granite

ridges.

On the southern flank of the fourth ridge the stratified rocks

are seen lying directly over the granite; they consist here of

sandstones, with layers of sandy shale, and two beds of coal, the

whole dipping S. W. at an angle of about 15°. The side of the

granite ridge, between the stratified rock, is inclined to the south

at an angle of nearly 20°. The approximate section, in ascend-

ing order, is as follows:

A. Granite.

B. 1. Coarse sandstone, 30 meters. This rock varies much in

appearance as it has been more or less weathered. Where it lies

flat on the hillsides or in the beds of streams, it is reddish or

_ purplish in color, and very hard, breaking with an angular frac-

ture. In cliffs, where it has been long exposed to the weather, it

is white, soft and friable, and worn into curious forms resembling

statuary. The stratification is irregular, and there are many in-

stances of false bedding. I suppose that the rock was formed on

a sea-shore, either in shallow water, exposed to winds and cur-

rents, or as blown sand in dunes. Towards the top there are

some layers of sandy shale, not well exposed.

2. A layer of sandstone, rich in iron, about two meters.

Where this rock has been long exposed to the weather the sili-

cious matter has been partly washed away, leaving the iron oxydes

in concentric layers. These form balls varying from twelve to

twenty-five centimeters in diameter. By selecting the richest

Specimens ore may be obtained yielding forty to sixty per cent of

metallic iron.

3. Clay conglomerate, two meters. The pebbles are silicious,

small and irregularly strewn in layers.

4. Silicious conglomerate, three meters, increasing in fineness

towards the top and passing into

5. Coarse reddish sandstone, eight meters.

6. Red micaceous shale, three meters.

‘7. Whitish shale, five meters. Probably this was originally a

dark shale, with much carbonaceous matter, the white color be-

ing due to weathering.

8. Coarse sandstone, fifteen meters.

“1010 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. (October,

9. Sandy shale, one meter.

10. Impure shaly coal, one meter.

11. Sandy shales, ten meters.

12. Coal resembling No. 10, two-thirds meter.

13. Sandy shales, ten meters.

These are apparently followed by other layers of sandstone —

and sandy shales to a thickness of forty or fifty meters. It should —

be stated that the thicknesses given above are merely approxi- :

mate and, in part, suppositional, the sections being much ob- —

scured. w

The coal at this place, called Dous Passaros, was mined many

years ago by an Englishman named Johnson, this being pe

the first coal mine opened in the province. The coal was carried 7

to Porto Alegre, over fifty miles, in ox-carts or on the backs of

mules; owing to this difficulty of transport, and to the poor —

quality of the product, the mine never paid expenses, and it hs —

long been abandoned. I found the shaft-house in ruins, covered

with weeds and vines, the shaft itself being nearly full of water.

The coal appeared near by in the bed of a stream. ae

Economically the most valuable basin of the three which I

have mentioned, is the middle one, or that lying between the first

and second granite ridges, about thirteen kilometers south of et :

extending about fifteen kilometers from eas a

greatest width being five kilometers. The rocks strike $

E. S. E., the dip being a very slight one to the N. N. E. Lue

section, in the main, agrees with that which I have just described,

the position of the sandstone and conglomerate beds, and the

layer of iron-ore, being the same. Instead of two layers

there is only one, but this is much thicker and the co

ter quality than that of the Dous Passaros mine. i n

In 1870 the “Imperial Brazilian Collieries Company ris

formed in London, with the object of extracting the coal d ie

basin; 100,000 pounds sterling of capital was subscribed, an ee

Brazilian government readily granted permission to exp

São Jeronymo district and establish mines in any part ae oe

gineers having reported favorably, work was commeret a om

over fifty miners being brought over from England. eo

*By an unfortunate accident my notes of the section at the mine, and of

other artificial sections, were lost.

1883. ] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. IOTI

nately the entire capital was exhausted in preliminary works, in-

cluding the railroad to the river shore at São Jeronymo, and the

company failed ; the mine and railroad with all privileges, were

sold at a low price, the purchasers being the house of Holtzweis-

sig & Co., of Porto Alegre. The coal has since been worked by

them, but on a small scale, the enterprise being in fact beyond

their resources. The original horizontal mine of the English

company was abandoned and the present perpendicular shaft was

sunk; this is known as the Arroio dos Ratos mine. The quality

of the coal varies somewhat, certain portions of it being inter-

stratified with shaly rock, and containing lumps of iron pyrites.

By experiments made on government steamers it appears that the

average São Jeronymo coal gives, ton for ton, about thirty per

cent less steam than good Cardiff coal; there is a proportionally

larger quantity of ash, requiring more labor for its removal, but

the engineers in this case reported little difficulty with clinkers or

stones ; other engineers, however, say that the furnaces become

clogged, and they suggest a modification of the grates to meet

the difficulty.’ In igniting power the Sao Jeronymo coal is prob-

ably superior to the Cardiff, the fires being lighted and steam got

up quicker with this than with the English coal. On the whole

the São Jeronymo coal appears to be well enough fitted for sta-

tionary engines, freight locomotives and river steamers; for

Ocean steamers it may serve if mixed with better grades. It does

not coke well, and its adaptability for gas making is doubtful.

The coal is in good demand in the province, where English is

very high, owing to the difficulty that coaling ships experience in

Passing the bar at Porto Alegre and Rio Grande. Comparing

the prices paid at Porto Alegre and Rio Grande (April, 1882), I

find that the Sao Jeronymo coal, where it can be used, is much

cheaper. This will appear from a simple calculation :

Ths Sao Jeronymo coal costs at Porto Alegre.......... per ton, 15 milreis,

At Rio Grande “ is s

Cardiff coal costs at Portb Alegre e pons

At Rio Grande ., a a s

Difference in favor of the Sao Jeronymo coal at Porto

Alegre ae “ 17 “

At Rio Grande er co

The milreis, by present exchange, is worth about forty-four cents.

SRE oe CR Oe en ee

* Latterly the quality of the coal has been much better than when the experiments

were made, é

1012 The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. [O

Allowing a difference of thirty per cent for the inferiority of

the Brazilian coal and the greater labor required in using it, it

would still have the advantage over the English coal in

much greater, and if the difficulty of the bar could be over i

it might even pay to carry it to Rio de Janeiro and the Rio d

Janeiro; but the house being unable to comply with the condi

tions did not accept the contract.) ba

I am unable to compare the Rio Grande coal with that of Santa

Catharina, but from such information as I can obtain, it appeal 5

that the mines of the latter province suffer the disadvantage of

being too far from navigable waters, and especially from ge

ports. The Sao Jeronymo coal, on the contrary, requires only a

short railroad transit, and it can be loaded directly at the river

banks near Sao Jeronymo; large steamers, as I have said, ascend

to this point. yee:

The iron ore bed, of which I have spoken, appears on the st

face about two kilometers south of the coal mine, in the bed ofa

stream ; the ore here is of reasonably good quality, but I do

think it would repay the cost of working, especially as the

does not appear to be fitted for the reduction of metals.

the surface the unweathered layer is comparatively poor 1

It would appear, in fact, that a boring made beneath the coal

bearing rocks again appear, but those on the surface ane

in the series than the section of the Arroio dos Ratos mi

three trial borings have failed to reach profitable coal. )

last boring at Xarqueadas, twelve kilometers east of São Jer

mo, traces of petroleum were obtained. ' a

The coal rocks in this basin are much obscured by $ ruj

of a dark, fine-grained basaltic rock, which is occasi

umnar; it is well seen about two kilometers S. W. of

* 1 In practical questions relating to coal, the field geologist labors under

advantages, his opinion being in fact far less valuable than that of a Co!

i The data on which the above paragraphs are based have been

collected from many sources, and used with much caution.

1883. ] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 1013

ymo, and farther on in the bed of the Arroio da Porteirinha. By

the decomposition of this and of porphyritic rocks farther up the

river, immense quantities of agates, chalcedonies and cornelians

have been formed ; very fine specimens may be picked up in the

streets of São Jeronymo, and they are found all along the river

shore to the mouth of the Arroio dos Ratos. Similar and still

finer agates are found to the north and west of this point, some

of them being nearly a meter in diameter ; some of the finest are

exported to Germany, and the trade is already of considerable

importance. The price paid for agates in Porto Alegre is ten

milreis, or about $4.40 per barrel.

The river shore at Sao Jeronymo and opposite Triumpho is

formed of granite, this being the last that I have seen of the rock

in this direction. The stratified beds farther north overlie the

coal rocks. I shall have occasion to speak of them in another

article.

In the bed of the Arroio da Porteirinha, and on the campos

between it and the coal mine fragments of silicious wood are

found ; logs of this are so well preserved that they might readily

be mistaken for half-rotten posts. Similar silicified wood occurs

in large quantities in the districts to the north of the Jacuhy,

but I have never found it in place. It is clearly much newer than

the coal rocks, probably Quaternary or recent.

Passing in review the geological section which I have de-

scribed, it will be seen that the basal granite forms a series of

cast-and-west ridges, successively increasing in height from the

Jacuhy to the Serra do Herval. The Serra, so far as I have any

knowledge of it, is formed throughout of granite, and on the

pposite or southern side there are other granite ridges, succes-

sively lower, to the Rio Camaquam ; the coal rocks, if I ma

trust to the information of herdsmen, reappear in valleys between

these. The Serra do Herval must therefore be considered as the

backbone of an area of upheaval which raised not only the gran-

ite but the overlying gneiss and coal rocks. The dip and strike

are modified by intrusions of trap, but the general inclination is

Ways aavay from thé central ridge. Thus, in passing north or

South from the Serra do Herval we find successively newer rocks

On the surface, and this rule holds good for some distance beyond

the Jacuhy.

Unfortunately the age of the coal beds is still somewhat prob-

“ematical, Owing to the absence of fossils; the only recognizable

| 1014 On the Shells of the Colorado Desert [October,

organic remains which I saw were some fragments of Lepidoden-

dron from the strata immediately overlying the coal bed atthe Ar —

roio dos Ratos mine. These were much compressed and broken, —

but the generic characters were still clearly recognizable, and

they are sufficient to establish the Paleozoic age of the beds. Be- :

yond this I can only give it as my decided opinion that the coal

rocks are of the Carboniferous period, and probably coeval with ne

the Santa Catharina coal formations. e

The question arises whether the coal beds were laid down in

one sheet, which was subsequently folded as the ridges were —

formed, and then denuded over their tops; or whether the ridges

already existed when the coal beds were formed, the latter having a

been deposited in the valleys between them? It appears to mè

that the ridges were partly raised before the coal beds were

formed; that the latter were first laid down in the hollows, but

gradually the upper beds extended over the granite hills. Subse- —

The original continuity of the beds appears to be proven by the : ;

general conformity of the. sections in the three basins which I 7

have described ; but the inclination of the coal rocks is eve-

where much less than that of the sides of the granite ridges.

Another question is important in an economical sense: Are

there other beds of coal below that which is now worked in the :

Arroio dos. Ratos mine? I think not. It seems certain that the

section in this basin is the same as that at Dous Passaros, whet

- the coal rocks lie directly on the granite, and no trace is seen

another coal bed below the iron-ore layer. As it appears

this latter bed has been cut in excavations made below the coa!

believe that further borings would only show layers of sandston®

followed, at no great depth, by the granite.

0: AND

THE REGION FARTHER EAST?

BY ROBERT E.. C. STEARNS.

Part I—Tue Puysas oF INDIO.

BOUT four years ago I called attention to certain

of fossil shells contained in a lump of earth taken

of Sciences, June »

1 This paper was read before the California Academy

It may be regarded as supplementary to my “ Remarks on

Colorado desert,” published in the NATURALIST, Vol. XII, March, 1879-

1883.] and the region farther East. 1015

bottom of a well forty-five to forty-seven feet deep, at Walter's

station on the Southern Pacific railroad, the level of the Colorado

desert at that point being 195.54 feet below that of the ocean.

The specimen of earth was collected by Professor Davidson,

who kindly submitted it for my investigation. Recently on his

return from the Transit of Venus Observation station in New

Mexico, he made a further examination in the desert, at Indio, a

station on the same line of railroad, 109 miles north-westerly from

Yuma (on the Colorado river), and thirteen miles this side, £ e.,

northerly from Walter’s,) where the previous collection was made.

This new material is from the surface, at a point where the line

of the road is twenty-seven feet below the level of the sea at low

water.

The soil is of the same general character as that from the well,

an exceedingly fine sediment, friable and readily separating in

water. The Indio sample contains numerous micaceous parti-

cles, in this respect differing from the specimen of earth from

Walter's station.

The molluscan forms include fragments of the valves of the

common fresh-water mussel of the region, Anodonta californien-

sis, also the gasteropods, Amnicola longingua, Tryonia protea (two

Fic. 1.— Tryonia protea.

varieties only, one smooth the other finely cancellated), also a

lection of between eighty and ninety of the pond-snails,

Physa, including perfect and imperfect specimens.

is portion of the collection is. of special interest, as it fur-

nishes a most satisfactory, because continuous, varietal chain con-

necting certain forms heretofore generally regarded as species, of

which I have, on various occasions, expressed the opinion as be-

! These places are in San Diego county, along the western flank and nearly at the

base of the San Bernardino mountains, which traverses the region diagonally in a

north-westerly and south-easterly direction, from the northerly boundary of the

State nearly to its southerly line, following the axis of the range, a length of about

150 miles,

1016 On the Shells of the Colorado Desert [Oc

ing at most but more or less colonial or local varieties of

same general form, if

The species of Physa heretofore credited to the southern

credits it to ‘‘ Pecos river, Texas,” but why Texas I have beet

unable to discover, as the Pecos is a stream several hun

miles in length, extending from its tributary sources in

southerly subranges and lower flanks of the Rocky mou

tending in fact, in part, farther east than the easterly flank or" os

hills of the Rocky mountains, and discharging on the easterly

Atlantic side of the continent into the Gulf of Mexico. oe

occurrence of any of these forms which have been regarded 2

belonging to the fauna of the Pacific coast regions, with which

are familiar and to which your attention has been her | tae

directed, within the area of more easterly faunal domains, ee

a most important significance as related to the variation

identity of species, and still more in its bearing upon the r ae

of faunal characteristics and specific characters to environs

conditions,

Still further to the east we have the Colorado of the |

or the Colorado of Texas (or little Colorado) as it 18 Vana i

called, which also empties into the Gulf of Mexico, anc

an area estimated at 38,000 square miles, extending north-wes :

toward the drainage basin of the Rio Pecos to the table p

New Mexico and Texas, the Staked Plain so-called, oF

1L. and F. W. Shells of N, A.

? Geographical Catalogue, April, 1867, species 368, 369-

1883. ] and the region farther East. 1017

Estacado of the Spanish, a nearly barren waste whose general

level is from 3000 to 4000 feet above that of the sea, its main

features otherwise being like those of the great interior desert to

the north-west, and that of the Colorado basin! in California.

Physa virgata Gld., is attributed by Binney? to Los Angeles,

where I found it abundant in the basin of the fountain in the

plaza near the Pico House, opposite the old parish church ; also

near San Diego and in the Gila river in Arizona, exact locality

not stated.

Cooper’ also gives its range as “ Mojavé river to Gila river,”

on what authority as to Mojavé river and region I do not know.

As above suggested a glance at the map is necessary to obtain

a clear idea of the extent of the area incidental to this discussion.

San Diego county alone includes an area of over 15,000 square

miles, and extends from the Pacific ocean to the Colorado river,

its southerly boundary extending easterly along the Mexican

line 175 miles to Fort Yuma, on the Colorado.

1 The drainage area of the various basins, within which either of the West Amer-

ican forms of fresh-water Mollusca occur, to which reference has been made in this

or previous papers of mine relating to the distribution of such forms, may be briefly

(in square miles) as follows:

Columbia river, 298,000

Colorado « , 257,000. s

MOGE ee 240,COO

This of course includes that of its tributary the Rio Pecos, the same as the Colorado

includes the Gila, etc,

Of the lesser basins the Sacramento is figured at 31,503, and the San Joaquin at

24,710 square miles, including the mountain slopes which descend to and merge in

meget these are the figures kindly furnished me by Wm. H. Hall, Esq., the

which added together make a total cf over 56,000 square miles west of the crest

ine of the Sierra Nevada range, and if this total be added to the drainage areas of

the exterior basing or regions above recited, show a grand total of 851,000 square —

Miles, to Say nothing of the vast area farther to the north not included within the

figures or limits of the Columbia River basin.

_ Omitting the Rio Grande area, which may be considered by some as at present

table ground, we have left 611,000 square miles, an area so vast as to require

the examination of a map in order to be appreciated.

ŽL. and F. W. Shells of N. A., p. 93:

* Geographical Catalogue.

1018 On the Shells of the Colorado Desert October,

The typical form of Physa humerosa may be stated in brief as

being rather short and stumpy, the upper part of the last or basal _

whorl flattened or tabulated, with a small, low, slightly elevated

apex, as a whole presenting a somewhat obtuse triangular aspect,

Its next of kin, geographically, is P. virgata, which is a rather

elongated form with an elevated spire. “ale!

Now the Indio lot exhibits some examples more triangular in

general outline and more tabulated or flattened above than the

typical or even ordinary Aumerosa, and variation also in the direc-

tion of virgata, and still other specimens passing, by way of said

species, to still greater elongation and elevation of the spire. Within —

these extremes of variation we have also a connecting link with —

the widely distributed and abundant P. heterostropha, which Bin- 7

ney! credits to Utah lake on the testimony of Capt. Burton's —

specimens in the Smithsonian collection, which brings that spe

cies within the drainage area of the Colorado river, and indicates —

the path of migration to the desert region wherein Indio and

Walter’s stations are situated. =

Besides the forms and thcir varieties as above, we have extreme a

variation amounting to distortion in several instances—all point- —

ing to this (Indio) locality as a most interesting region whereit

to study the phenomena of variation in this class of shells. a

In my recent paper on the Fresh-water Mussels, etc,” z3

particularly in that portion on the circumboreal distribution

certain fresh-water gasteropods, I refer to the Ameri

stropha as representing the European P. fontinalis ;

tion or intimacy of these various alleged species, as l

rial from new localities comes to hand, is evidently of great

portance as throwing additional light on geographical distr

and physico-geographical conditions.

* While Mr. Binney regards many of

scribed as synonyms, and so places them int

have referred; he often gives but a single figu

species as he regards as valid, and which inclu

synonyms, cy

The variability of the pond snails is so excessive |

the species heretofore

he work to wai

re to illustrate

de certain of

1 L. and F. W. Shells of N; A., p. 89.

2 Nov. 20, 1882, Proc, Cal. Acad. Sciences, “ On the History and

the Fresh-water Mussels,” &c., &c.

1883.] and the region farther East. 1019

out numerous figures. In nearly every colony, however isolated,

where individuals were at all numerous, I have rarely, if ever,

found so persistent adherence to a single form as to admit of

proper illustration by a single figure.

Part II.—ANODONTA CALIFORNIENSIS IN A NEW LOCALITY.

By the same mail which brought me the Indio parcel and Pro-

fessor Davidson’s letter relating thereto, a note came to hand

from Mr. Joseph F. James, custodian of the Cincinnati Society of

Natural History, who, after reading my recent paper on the

“Fresh-water Mussels,” etc., very kindly informed me that in

June, 1880, he collected “ Anodonta californiensis in the little

FIG. 3.—Anodonta californiensis Lea.

Santa Cruz river, just outside of Tucson, Arizona.” This item of

information gives quite an extension toward the east and south-

east of the territory before known as tenanted by californiensis.

The little Santa Cruz is a confluent of the Gila, and enters the

latter at Gila Bend. The Gila is a confluent of the Colorado,

joining the latter near Yuma. Tucson is about 250 miles east of

Yuma, and following the course of the Gila to the mouth of the

little Santa Cruz, thence southerly to Tucson, represents a sub-

drainage area of which the length is much greater.

An examination of a map of the region easterly and south-

€asterly of the main stream of the Colorado and of the drainage

the Gila, will enable one to take in ata glance the many

Streams which are tributary to and finally merge in the Gila and

Still later or afterward in the Colorado, which, together with the

important fact furnished by Mr. James, warrant the inference that

an exploration of the ramifications of the water channels of the

Tegion included within their net-work, will show that the domain

1020 Review of Report C, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna, (O i

of this Anodonta extends over a vast area, embracing thousands

of square miles of which as yet but little is known.

Every item bearing upon the geographical distribution herein

referred to, and more elaborately discussed in my recent paper

indicates the mountain lakes as the sources from whence the spe

cies have migrated, and point also to their descent from northerly

regions as well as from higher altitudes, and also contribute addi-

tional testimony as to the antiquity of these widely-spread though —

inferior forms of animal life. A

Admitting the presence of Physa humerosa within the drainage —

of the Pecos, to which we find it accredited, and considering the

new locality for Anodonta californiensis which Mr. James he o

given us, and the fact that the Zwmerosa form of Physa seems to :

be (geographically within the southerly portion of our West :

American or occidental Anodon province) a pretty constant com —

panion with said fresh-water mussel, we are encouraged to hope

that we may find this aspect of the general West American fora

of Anodon represented within such drainage areas as contain Of

are inhabited by the Physa. =

702

REVIEW OF REPORT C, SECOND GEOLOGIC

SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA. i

BY DR. PERSIFOR FRAZER.”

HIS new volume of the publications of the Pennsylvania 9”

vey deserves much more than a passing notice, from the em

nence of its editor and the number and nature of the cHHGS

which it challenges. ; I

As to the latter they should mence with the title page”

certainly !

ally to the writer and in his pages (54 to 64) of this vo

will be advisable to consider his part of the volume Ars d

doing so the writer wishes to protest against the heading of pag”

which should have been altered to conform to the title page

1 On the History and Distribution of the Fresh-water Mussels, da

Cal. Acad., Nov. 20, 1882. d £

2C, Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. “ The Geology ® a.

County after the Surveys of H. D. Rogers, Persifor Frazer and Charles

Edited by J. P. Lesley. Harrisburg, 1883.” ce

1883.) Review of Report C, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna. 1021

three hundred and ninety-four pages which follow this heading

are not in any sense a report of Persifor Frazer. That person is dis-

posed rather to regard them as constituting a scrap-book of some

new, some truc, some old, and some other things originating from

many persons, living and dead. One characteristic feature of the

book is the way in which one of its parts stultifies another. After

this perhaps comes the incongruous divisions of the subject

(divisions as incommensurable as inches, pounds and years),

which are woven together by the eminent editor so that

bewildered reader knows not whether he is reading Hartman,

Rogers, Lesley or Hall, and only becomes aware after half the

book is perused, that whoever else he may be reading it is not

razer

It is well known to most American and many European geolo-

gists that Rogers (and many other geologists of his time) was

clearly mistaken as to the constitution of a large series of rocks

which he called the “ talc-mica ” series, the error being that these

rocks contained no talc whatever, the mineral that was taken for

talc being a hydrous mica of the Damourite group. The term

“tale-mica” had almost disappeared from the papers of those

geologists who had kept up their lithology before the Second

Geological Survey was commenced, and the directors of most of

the State geological surveys (must we except that of Pennsylva-

_ nia?) are aware how much the labors of various assistants of the

latter survey have done to establish permanently, on a sound basis,

the true relationships of those schists.

Yet the old name, “talc-mica” region, is retained as if it actu-

ally defined something, and not only in the quotations from

Rogers, but in the numerous editorial comments. The magnesia

Which these schists are supposed to contain (contrary to the

results of repeated analyses by Dr. T. S. Hunt, Dr. Genth, Mr.

McCreath, the writer and many others) is made the basis of

an hypothetical speculation as to the superposition of the South

Valley Hill series on the limestone?

_*See p, 103, where also notice an argument in favor of the magnesian character

OF the schists “ because they have always been known as the talc slate belt.” The

term talc-mica occurs continually throughout the volume wherever Professor

__ Lesley’s work appears, although it is universally conceded by geologists that the

name was given under a misapprehension of the true nature of the hydromica schists

: ay in reality contain no talc at all, Most reports and treatises on these rocks in the

. last ten years have recognized these facts, and none more so than the Second Geo-

1022 Review of Repcrt C,, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna, [O

Mr. Hall's “ Notes,” 7. e., pp. 54 to 64, are brought

sub-heading of Rogers called the “Southern Gneiss.” For

reason neither the colored map (presumably that on wh

error of the county map-maker, in continuing a water €

very short distance too far along the Nottingham townsl

der, was not “culpably copied”)! nor the reduced page

placed opposite to Mr. Hall’s contribution, though he spea

first sentence of “the accompanying map,” and he in

present writer that this text was simply intended to explain

and not to propound or support any theory whatever.

plain in his pages, which are merely jottings from his field

book. In his preliminary remarks he defines the areas

map, which he has covered with certain symbols. All

eral observations agree perfectly with those made by

several years before Mr. Hall went to Chester county, p

that the same limestone underlies parts of these township

“not visible at the surface.” The rest of the “ Notes” a

localities where Mr. Hall has observed, “ A. Laurentian

“B. Sandstone and quartzite,” “C. Limestone,” “ D. F

he was “ not able to convince himself of the true chi

deposit.” While of E (mica schists) he frankly

structure I found it impossible to reconcile the s

this part of Chester county with that of Delaware

means of the numerous outcrops of rocks along ne

roads which cross the schist belt (if it be a belt), „e

logical Survey. Thus Report C for 1874 hasa description and a

(pp. 104 and 105) which seems to be conclusive as to their

_ cludes, “ both the analyses tend to support the view that the mii

which give the unctuous feel and pearly lustre to the schists belong to

ite group of the Margarophyllite section of hydrous silicates (Dan

What makes this nomenclature the more unfortunate is, that:

table tale rocks which are thus confounded with the larger zone

an important but very small geographical part, 3

1 See p, 10. The here of carelessness on the part i

1883.] Review of Report C, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna. 1023

the larger streams” (p. 60). So much for the text of Mr. Hall.

There is not the slightest suggestion of a theory of any kind. It

is in character like the record of facts contained in the “ Town-

ship Geology,” and it is nothing else; nor is there one fact added

which is new, unless it be the “laurentian syenite” which in divis-

ion “A” is called “syenitic gneiss,” “syenitic rock” and “syenitic

or granitoid rock.” These exposures, though not indicated on

Dr. Frazer’s map, are described in the text of his Mémoire on

this region printed in France and sent to the Geological Survey

of Penna., in June, 1882, as well as in the township geology of

the present volume. The reduced map of Mr. Hall has even

less claim to originality than the “Notes,” because the colored

map of Chester county, in which exists the “culpably copied”

error of Northeast creek, was printed in 1880-81. This map

contains all the data which are found on Mr. Hall’s map (except

the areas of “ syenite”) and a great deal more beside. It is with

the greatest respect for Mr. Hall, for his ability and for his work

that the writer here says that the purpose that can be served by

printing that part of the map opposite p. 6, which represents

Chester county (a small part on the left), is very obscure. Of this

map Professor Lesley says, “nothing is laid down which does not

appear above the soil” (p. 33). However this may be (and it is

not admitted), it is nevertheless true that many things appear

above the soil which are not on Mr. Hall’s map. The same au-

thority (p. 37) states: “ We owe to Mr. Hall's close and intelli-

gent observation the collection of a large amount of satisfactory

evidence for the general horizontality or low-dip angle of most

of the rocks of this region [the “southern gneiss region” ],

Whereas it had been taken for granted that a general steepness of

dip prevailed.”

Whatever may be Mr. Hall’s contributions towards this know-

ledge the writer does not know, nor does he desire in the re-

Motest degree to disparage them, yet the above editorial com-

Ment is most unjust to the earlier worker, who already had

Observed this fact in his study of Lancaster county, and sub-

sequently made it a most important factor in the explana-

tion of the intricate structure of Chester county near the

Delaware State border. [See Mémoire sur la geologie de la

Pennsylvanie. Lille, 1882. The horizon of the South Valley

Hill rocks, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., Dec. 15, 1882, pp. 322, 326,

1024 Review of Report C,, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna. (October,

328, and many other places of the report under review,

&c.] |

The first chapter of the book under review (by the chief geolo-

gist, Professor J. P. Lesley) consists of thirty-two pages, of which —

the first six pages contain a general statistical account of the his-

tory, population, roads, &c., of Chester county. Here a divisionol

the county into five regions is based upon Rogers’s old system, and

besides its very artificial character, contains faults which Rogers

himself would probably not repeat now were he to re-write it

These divisions are, 1st. “The southern region of Philadel-

phia gneiss,” which neither Messrs. Hall nor Frazer have been

able to adopt. This region is not defined by Professor Lesley, :

but judging from the water courses mentioned in connection

with it, it includes much of the chlorite and hydromia

schists. e

Chapter 11 is the “ Geological Description,” and commences by

alluding to the two maps of Chester county, one by Frazer,

printed in 1880, and the other by Hall in 1882. The chief geolo

gist here says, “ Professor Frazer is dissatisfied with several de

tails of the map as published, and especially with the manner of :

representing the hydromica schists south of the Chester valley” r

After repeating these objections in the Assistant's own WO!”

Professor Lesley states the reasons for printing the map, with

division which Frazer had after two years’ work fi iled to justi,

to be that “had the pink color * * been HSE er

schist area * * it would have confused the genle? A

should be allowed to agree with his own vi

printed work, or altered in an important particular,

it might agree with the views of others? Even Mr.

take the responsibility of this change, for he says

hydromica schists (of the South Valley Hill belt) spread

quoted passage, ‘The dips in this area, in fact all the measures, aram usually low :

very varying directions, and the angle with the horizontal pan a any oe

e notes were made in 1879 or before Mr. Hall had exp Eo

about the “ southern gneiss region.”

i er says in t ”

1 Speaking of feldspathic gneiss, which may be Potsdam, Fraz annii

1883.) Review of Report G, 2d Geol, Surv. of Penna. 1025

the south-west part of Chester county with a somewhat indefinite

line,” &c., &c.

It may not be entirely inapposite here to advert to the sin-

gular discrepancy between the principles and practice of one who

but a little while ago plead so eloquently in the “Iron Manufac-

turer's Guide” and in “Coal and its Topography” for the rights

of the subordinate geologist.)

In a great mass of description, taken bodily out of Professor

Rogers’s work, there is found evena description of a few lines given

to Wood’s chrome mine iz Lancaster county, made in 1853/ not-

withstanding that this mine is treated quite fully as it exists to-

day in Vol. Cs on pp. 177, 192, 193, 194, 195 and 196, and speci-

mens from it are recorded on pp. 286 and 287 of that volume.

A striking instance of the manner in which this volume is

edited is exhibited on the page plate opposite p. 98, called

“Three hypotheses of structure.”

The upper (Fig. 1) is called “Theory of H. D. Rogers,” the

lower (or Fig. 3) is entitled “Theory of C. E. Hall,” while the

middle (Fig. 2) designed to embody the fault along the South

Valley hill, is unmarked by the name of an author, though this is

the view defended by Frazer, and letters have been received by

the latter from many eminent geologists of the United States and

ada expressing their accord with it. The pre-Potsdam age of

the South Valley Hill rocks was also strongly endorsed by Pro-

fessors Gosselet and Barrois, who examined with great minuteness

the theories of the geology of this region put forth in the Mémoire

before alluded to.

A great deal of what has been objected to above may be con-

ceded to the editor of C, because of the latter's own difference of

` Opinion from that of Dr. Frazer, but this is not the case with all.

1 In the preface to the “ Iron Manufacturer’s Guide,” 1859, p.9, Professor Lesley

‘Says: ‘One must take the names as and where they are published, whatever may

be the unknown wrong done to the real workers and thinkers.” Again, p. 668, in

referring toa mistake made by Professor H. D. Rogers, he says: “ His work g full

of such blunders, the discredit of which would have been saved him had he given

ge credit to his various authorities whenever it was a or paa republished

ir own reports i ; anguage, as he should have done.

Tn the « nage go its Tomana ” (a charming little book now un-

fortunately out of print) Professor Lesley says (p. 210) : “ No primary report should

receive the touch of any hand but that of the first observer. Let it come fresh and

_ Clean before the examination of the world, and stand or fall (with its author) by its

wn merits,”

1026 Review of Report Cı, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna. [Octo

On p. 104 Professor Lesley speaks of Dr. Hartman’s geological

map of Chester county as defining the S. E. limit of the “Tale-mia —

belt.” On p. 105 he says, “Z have defined such a border;” which —

language would imply that the supposed border between the

‘hydro-mica and chloritic areas, which is given in the colored map, —

emanated from Dr. Hartman or Professor Lesley. The writer has —

never seen Dr. Hartman’s map, but the chance of his boundary

agreeing exactly with Dr. Frazer’s in such a country is not one —

in millions. The boundary now printed on the colored map is —

the identical boundary traced provisionally by Dr. Frazer on his

first manuscript map, and afterwards so completely disproved by —

its author that it was abandoned. Aust

It will also strike the average reader as in questionable taste to

refer (p. 106) to the supposed opinion of the late Professor John

F. Frazer, which he entertained, if at all seriously, simply asa

hypothesis which he never had the opportunity to decide; and

force Dr. Frazer into an apparent opposition to his father, by

the misleading words that the latter “assisted Professor Rogers

in 1853 and was personally very familiar with Chester county, —

Professor John F. Frazer did not study the geology of Chester

county under Rogers nor subsequently, and he would have been 5

the last to present the results of desultory observations du Fie

his visits for recreation as a definite theory founded on s

work. Ar

The third division is the “ Downingtown valley,” and the fo

the “Northern gneiss and Potsdam sandstone region.”

latter Professor Lesley follows Rogers, alluding to the “ a

trap” traversing the shale, the fact being that if there be any £

stone in this region it has been entirely overlooked by a

observers, its quantity is very inconsiderable, and its pack

make up almost, if not quite all, the igneous masses of the `

(new red) sandstone and shale. To this is appended nee

summary of the iron works, past and present, of the co

A word is due in explanation of the character of

work (i. e., Township Geology) which appears in Cy

months of 1879 and five months of 1880 were spent by

the collection of facts for the proper report on the geology

1883.] Review of Report C, 2d Geol. Surv. of Penna. 1027

would have been spent in Chester and the adjoining parts of

Delaware and Montgomery counties before he would have

felt ready to write their geology. Owing to the termination of

his connection with the Second Geological Survey, and the con-

sequent imperative demands upon his time of other occupations,

such notes as he had made, which would otherwise have been

ready in the early summer of 1881, were finished and sent to

the Geological Survey in Feb. 1882, with the request that he be

allowed to correct the proof; yet the first impressions seen by him

were the stereotype or plate proofs of pp. 145 to 354 (without

the illustrations), These were not received till the present year.

In the meantime Mr. Hall’s Report C, had appeared,’ and Pro-

fessor Lesley had stated in the introduction that we could now

“accept the Palzozoic age of the Philadelphia rocks with a mod-

erately reserved confidence.” This led to a paper on the horizon

of the South Valley Hill rocks, before referred to, which was

honored by favorable comment from a number of distinguished

geologists, among whom was Professor Lesley himself?

It is very much to be regretted that the generally valuable and

justly admired volumes of the Second Geological Survey of Penn-

sylvania should be accompanied by abook of this kind. Not only

can the text serve no useful purpose, except to indicate some dry

facts obscured by a great deal of very unsound reasoning, but it can-

not conceal by any amount of rhetoric the palpable fact that it

is amake-shift, consisting of heterogeneous materials in juxtaposi-

tion but not joined together. The colored map, which repre-

sents a great deal of hard work, is defaced by a belt which has no

existence in fact, as the writer well knows, for he sketched it

as a working hypothesis and completely refuted it afterwards.

It is hardly unfair to say that if there were a museum for the

Preservation of teratological specimens of geological literature,

this volume C, would be more fitly placed there than on the

Shelves with the best of its alphabetical sisters of the Second

Geological Survey of Pennsylvania.

1 October 24, 1882.

* Professor Lesley said in his remarks on the conclusion of the reading of the

Paper, that the subject therein treated had been constantly in his mind for many

months, and he had come to the conclusion that the views just presented were the

only safe ones to hold,

1028 Means of Plant Dispersion, [ October,

MEANS OF PLANT DISPERSION.

BY E. J. HILL.

(Continued from August number.)

III. A third agency in the distribution of plants is that of

animals. The adaptations of fruits and seeds for this purpose —

commonly assume the form of hooks and spines, attached in va-

rious ways so as to secure their adhesion to animals. The at-

tachment may be straight, but is more often curved, or if straight, ‘

‘ah

provided with barbs. It may be only a slight hook, as in the —

curved beak of the fruit of Ranunculus sceleratus, or strongly

hooked and barbed, as in the cockle-bur (Xanthium sirumarium).

Several of these contrivances deserve special notice. m

In the order Leguminosæ, we find the pods of Desmodium can-

escens, and some others of the genus, covered with hairs having

incurved tips, and easily adhering to the coat of any passing ani-

mal. In the order Rosaceæ some forms of Geum, notably &

rivale, have a persistent style, which, being bent or jointed and

becoming hard when ripe, serves the same purpose. In Agrimo-

nia the top-shaped persistent calyx is covered near the upper mar

gin with hooked bristles which harden at the time of fruiting, 414

aid in attaching it. Among the Onagracez, the bur-like fruit

Circzea, or enchanter’s nightshade, is covered with the same kind

of curved hairs. In the Umbelliferze, our two species of sat T

Sanicula marylandica and S. canadensis, have the fruit

coated with hooked prickles. In Osmorhiza, or sweet | catia

the ribs of the fruit are barbed and cling to an object wi

siderable force. In the madder family several species of bes

have fruit in the form of a bur, furnished with hooked bri:

But some of the best examples of this mode of attac

in the Composite, in which exist so many cases Ot-

sion. The cockle-bur has already been mention ;

lucre of the fruit is closed over the bony nut and clo :

hooked and roughened prickles, whose power of adhesion

well known to need description. In the burdock (Lap me

scale of the involucre ends in an awl-shaped, hooked app“

to scatter the heads of fruit, to the great annoyance '

herds. In Coreopsis, or tick-seed, the modified pappus ` d

this result. The flat achenium is tipped with two SHS.

sharp and stiff, which act as spears to be thrust into the

1883.] Means of Plant Dispersion. 1029

wooly coats of animals. In the allied Bidens, or bur-marigold,

the awns are downwardly barbed for more efficient action, and act

on the principle of the fishhook. Let one but walk among these

weeds in autumn, when the fruit is ripe and ready to be dispersed,

and the utility of the apparatus at once becomes apparent.

Another family well represented by burs is the Borragin-

aceæ. In Echinospermum, or stick-seed, the margin of the

nutlet is armed with one to three rows of prickles curved at the

apex. In Cynoglossum, or tory-bur, three species of which are

found in our Northern flora, the nutlets are covered with these

barbed and incurved prickles. In regions where sheep are kept, the

troublesomeness of the tory-bur and beggar'’s lice (C. morisoni)

are only too well known.

One of the grasses is furnished with efficient means of dissemi-

nation by animals, @. e., Cenchrus tribuloides, the sand-bur, growing

abundantly in waste glact and roadsides, in dry, sandy ground.

The persistent involucre, enveloping the fruit, becomes dry and

hard, and is covered with hooked spines, very adhesive to any

soft object that comes in contact with them. Even some of the

bearded grasses, like Elymus, with their rough awns, have some

power of sticking to the coats of animals.

The agency of animals in diffusing the spores of cryptogamous

plants must not be omitted. Insects, crawling over these when in

fruit, must get their bodies well dusted with the microscopic

spores, and carry them away, as in the analogous case of the pol-

len of flowers for cross-fertilization. The spores are sometimes

roughened by minute projections, appearing granulated or even

spinescent, like the pollen grains of Malvaceæ and many Com-

positæ, more adequately preparing them to cling to the bodies of

insects and other animals. Several mosses have these roughened

Spores, as Aphanorhegma, Pylaisæa velutina, Physcomitrium pyri-

Jorme, Trichostomum pallidum and others that might be men-

tioned. That Bacteria and Micrococci are thus carried by animals

is proved by recent research. When they are found in such vast

numbers in the air, they must of necessity lodge on the bodies of

dispersed in this manner. J. B. Schnetzler states “that the dejec-

tions of oe always contain numerous living Bacteria and

their germs.”

* Journal of Royal Mic. Soc., Oct. 1882, p. 658.

1030 Means of Plant Dispersion. [

The agency of animals in carrying fruits for food is an impor

factor in plant dispersion. They are often taken from the place:

growth to be consumed in some other locality, or stored for

Accident or fright may lead the animal to relax its hold, and

fruit falls to the ground. The habit some animals have of l

ing fruit contributes still more effectually to this end, since s€

will escape consumption and be securely planted for grow

Busy rodents, apparently living for their own enjoyment, are con-

tributing to the dissemination of their own food-plants. D

states that earthworms are in the habit of lining their bu

using seeds among other things, and that these sometimes

and grow. In this way these humble animals aid in spre

plants. ;

This is doubtless one of the ways in which acorns are sca

in regions of pine, which, cleared by the axe of the lumbe )

or destructive fire, soon yield a growth of oak, appearing eye

spontaneously. The oaks found here and there in pine forests!

nish the seeds; it only needs some mode of dissemination t0

them, like the agency of animals, wind and water. In pass

through some of the burnt districts of Michigan, I have non

that oaks sometimes escaped destruction by withstanding & Af

that had killed nearly every pine, whose resinous bark

death by fire. The scattered oaks stood ready to furnish 3

with another covering of trees, even if the ground were n

already stocked with their germs.

In a similar way the habits of birds are available in the

bution of plants. Those yielding the softer fruits are ta

pendent on them for dispersion. In the case of stone-fruits

plums and cherries, they eat the softer parts, the seed is gem

untouched. And birds are wont to carry the fruit away

tree that bears it, to be eaten elsewhere. The robin, we =

and other frugivorous birds, after plucking the dainty

often seen to fly off with loaded beak. They may be í

food to their young, but they are quite as apt to be sexi

better spot for the enjoyment of their meal. In either í

seed is scattered. And the seeds of many berries, hard

or minute stones or nuts, pass through the alimentary

birds and other animals undigested, and germinate

1 Vegetable Mold and Earthworms, p. 113:

1883. ] Means of Plant Dispersion: 1031

droppings. In this manner raspberries, blackberries, strawber-

ries, the elder (Sambucus), poke (Phytolacca) and many others,

which furnish food to birds, are multiplied.

It is therefore evident that the larger edible fruits, with their

rich pulpy sarcocarp and much smaller volume of seed, do not

exist alone for the animals that feed on them, but have another

end to serve, the preservation of their kind. The more attractive

the more likely to gain in the struggle for existence. If the

color, form, odor, or any other peculiarity of a flower be ex-

plained on the principle that its end is the advantage of the

plant bearing it, so we are to consider our various fruits as largely

subject to the same law. There is mutual adaptation in the two

kingdoms of nature, proceeding from its wise Author, but so far

as the plant and animal are concerned, they are governed by a

selfish principle, the law of self-preservation. The beauty we

admire in the scarlet aril enclosing the seeds of the wax-work

(Celastrus) and waahoo (Euonymus) when the pod opens to dis-

play them in the fall; the redness of the berries of the elder

(Sambucus pudens), and of the mountain ash (Pyrus americana),

are so many signals held out to attract the eye of the passing

bird, inviting it to come and eat, however much they may con-

tribute to the enjoyment of the eye that dwells upon their color.

IV. Another contrivance for spreading seed is the elastic move-

ment of the coats of the seed-vessel at the time of maturity.

Some of the best and most familiar examples are in the geranium

family, The two wild species of Impatiens (/. fulva and J/. pal-

lida) are excellent cases of this kind. The walls of the ripened

pods, still considerably succulent, suddenly contract and roll to-

gether, especially if some external stimulus be applied, as a touch

or the action of the wind, and throw the seed outward to some

distance from the plant. The wild species are exceedingly sensi-

tive, opening so suddenly and at so slight a touch as to be almost

startling in its unexpectedness, and hence have acquired their com-

mon name, touch-me-not. The wild geraniums possess this prop-

erty, but to a less marked degree. The receptacle of the flower is

Prolonged into a slender beak, around which, at the base, the five

cells of the capsule are arranged. Each cell tapers upward into

a slender prolongation formed by the hardened style, and adheres

to the beak at the top. When ripe they break away from the

base, curl. upward so as to bring the inside of the cell outward,

1032 Means of Plant Dispersion. [October,

and in the elastic movement project the seed with force. The

valves of the pods of violets also fold together when ripe, and

throw out the seeds attached to the middle part of them. Ha

mamelis, or witch-hazel, is even more remarkable; the fruit isa

two-celled, woody pod, opening at the top. Each cell usually

contains but a single bony seed. When mature the outer coat of

the cell separates from the inner, which encloses the seed. This,

pressing the seed as it bursts elastically from the top, often throws

it several feet as it escapes from the pressure, like a boy shooting

a pea or bean by pressing it between the two parts of a split stick.

These movements are generally due to the unequal tension of

cells on the outer and inner sides of the walls, causing a rapid

warping together in the direction of the greatest strain, and arè

similar to many other plant movements, like the bursting of the ;

anthers in the barberry.} | yy,

It will be seen from what has been brought to notice that a

great many kinds of plants are provided with means of disper-

sion, and that we can find genera and species in a large number of

families that furnish examples of special contrivances. No effort

has been made to be exhaustive in the treatment of the subject,

even for our own flora, as it has not received sufficient attentiog’

to admit of this. But that the greater part of plants qan aval

themselves of some agency, either in themselves or their

roundings, or both, seems very evident; it may be said, we: ce

admits of doubt. It is in accordance with the great plan of nature :

that all shall be cared for. ; Bee

Nothing has been said about the indirect aid furnished by = l

any further than that of any animal. I have frequently been entet

pare

tained, even if annoyed, while collecting plants, by ani on

contribution to this work. With clothes well covered with

and other adhesive fruits, the lesson has been learned ai ge

let them alone, not picking them off one by one, but lea

them to be brushed off in neighboring clumps of buses

patches of grass that may soon be the place of search, yi

most will disappear and be left to propagate their kind. At aay

times of the year a day’s work in gathering is also a

in dispersing. The indirect scattering of seeds by raiti a

1 Mr. J. C. Arthur, of Charles City, Iowa, being present at the reading d

paper, and engaging in the discussion that followed, stated that he wast

species of Euphorbia projecting their seeds with force from their pods. z

1883.] Means of Plant Dispersion. 1033

the chief carriers of produce, with which seeds are more or less

mixed, may also be noticed. That plants migrate along their

road-beds, where they find a natural highway, is evident from the

manner in which the plants of different regions are found to be

mingled, when capable of this migration, going along step by

step. But they too travel by rail, like members of the other

kingdom of nature, and the diligent collector will from time to

time be rewarded with a species new to his locality, which by its

sudden appearance and isolation will not easily be accounted for

in any other way.

In relation to what has been said, it is a matter of interest to

compare plants and animals with reference to their distribution,

and see which has the advantage in the struggle for existence.

It may be thought that the free-moving animal excels the fixed

plant in this respect. But a study of the whole life of each

shows that many species of plants have the advantage over ani-

mals. If we compare the faunas and floras of the different con-

tinents, or of wide regions of the same continent, the number of

plants of wide distribution much exceeds the number of animals.

It is especially true of cryptogamous plants, and in the northern

Parts of the northern continents. Of the 2928 species of plants

given in Gray’s Manual of Botany, 2668 are indigenous, and 676

indigenous species are common to Europe, or twenty-five per

cent. Of the mosses, including Hepatice, 502 are enumerated,

320 of which are found in Europe, or sixty-three per cent. Of

the vascular Cryptogams, thirty-five of the seventy-five are com-

Mon to the two continents, or about fifty per cent.’ Some

changes would have to be made in these figures if a comparison

based on later discoveries were instituted, but not materially

affecting the principle of distribution involved. This comparison

is made between land and fresh-water plants and animals dwell-

ing under the same conditions. It may be different with marine

plants and animals. This advantage of the plant is doubtless in

a great part attributable to its greater capability of enduring

changes while in the act of migration.- It is of a lower order of

life, and less sensitive to change in some stages of its existence.

Mountains, often of no great height, seas, often of no great width,

are insuperable barriers to the migration of animals; they perish

by cold, or hunger, or drowning, in their attempts to cross them.

: Gray’s Manual of Botany with Mosses, 1856. Introduction.

1034 Ts the Group Arthropoda a valid one? (Oca,

But the embryo plant, wrapped in its seed or spore, more €

overcomes these obstacles. Before it becomes a rooted oma

it has a greater freedom. gi

This idea may be enforced by untied a few sentences froma

work already referred to, that of Hildebrand: a

of free movement. It consists in the fact that their descen an s

before striking root in the ground, can, by means of various c

trivances, be spread around the parent plant in a wide circle, and

is not able to pass over a chain of mountains of a certain

or cross a broad expanse of water by swimming or flying.

permitted by its organization to live only in a marsh, it cani

wander from one marsh to another, or far away from the mai

in which it lives. No more can an animal, whose home is it

these hindrances are more or less easily overcome by the

plants. Being provided in themselves or their surroundings

the most varied equipments, they are borne far away by |

water; and even in spreading obtain aid from the

movement of animals, by whom they may be carried to

places,”

:0: l

IS THE GROUP ARTHROPODA A VALID 0

BY J. S. KINGSLEY.

NET EA years have passed since the four sub-ki

ber of groups, varying according to the author

all the group Arthropoda is accepted, only a very *

expressing any doubts as to its validity. The qu

naturalness we here propose to discuss in a very bri brief

anatomy was made the basis of systematic arrang

1 Die Verbreitungsmittel der Pflanzen, pp. 1, 2-

1883.] Is the Group Arthropoda a valid one? 1035

those animals which in their adult state possessed certain features .

in common were grouped together ; but with the study of embry-

ology and the introduction of the principles of evolution, this is

gradually being set aside and only those forms are associated

which are shown to have had a common ancestry and a common

descent. Thus classification will eventually be founded on gen-

etic relationships, and not primarily on analogies of structure and

accidents of form produced by similarity of environment and

similar causes without a common ancestry.

At first sight the homologies between the two groups of Ar-

thropoda, Crustacea and Tracheata, seem very evident and easy

to trace, the two groups appearing to be closely related. We

find in each the same general features, a jointed body, each seg-

ment of which is, to a certain extent, a repetition of its imme-

diate neighbors. To this jointed body are attached a varying

number of jointed appendages each modified for the purpose

of feeding, locomotion or reproduction. A straight alimentary

canal traverses the body as an axis, and above it is found the

dorsal vessel or functional heart, while on the floor of the body

Cavity is found the nervous cord, consisting of a series of ganglia

connected by commissures, and in each group, when the cesopha-

gus is reached, a commissure passes on either side connecting

the ventral chain with the brain or supra-cesophageal ganglion.

Thus far our knowledge, derived from comparative anatomy,

Seems conclusive, but when we attempt to trace homologies far-

ther, we"become entangled in a snarl which we think cannot be

untangled except by heroic treatment.

In the Crustacea the eyes, two pairs of antennz and the simple

Median eyes of the young of many forms are innervated from the

Supra-cesophageal ganglion; in insects one pair of antennz are

entirely absent, and we have nothing to indicate whether the pair

which exists corresponds to the antennz or to the antennulz of

the Crustacean. In the insect the post-oral appendages of the head

are three, mandibles, maxilla and labium; in the Crustacean we

find the same number of cephalic appendages, mandibles, first and

Second maxillze, but beyond this we cannot carry our homology

in a serial order. And further, the appendages themselves in the

two groups show very marked and important differences. In the

Crustacea the typical structure is biramous; we have a basal

Joint bearing two jointed branches. These parts to be sure are not

VOL. XVII,—No, x,

1036 Ls the Group Arthropoda a valid one ? [October,

evident in the adult of all, forms, but they are almost in iriably

found in the young at some stage of development.! In insects the

biramous structure of limb is never found,’ the appendages in

all Tracheata having a simple form consisting of a number of

joints serially arranged. In the Crustacea the organs of respira-

tion, when present, are either limbs modified for aerating the

blood or are appendages borne on the limbs. In the insects,

when the respiratory organs are present, we find air-tubes or

trachee permeating all parts of the body. In some forms i

. specialized organs for breathing are found, while in the higher

Arachnida pulmonary sacs are found in addition to the tracheal _

system. To repeat, in the Crustacea the blood is brought tothe —

oxygen, in the insect the air is carried to the blood.

When we turn to the alimentary tract we find an equa

marked contrast between the two. In the Crustacea the rimi-

tive stomach (archenteron) is usually formed by an im n

while in the insects this is never, so far as our present knowledge

extends, the case. The various portions of the alimentary tra

of the two groups are equally difficult to homologize; in fact, ;

any attempts in this direction result in showing analogies rather

differences in the insects and in the Crustacea as they Go in a%

two portions of the animal kingdom. In the Crustacea we ai

organ is not well differentiated, and on the other hand the salvat)

glands and malpighian vessels of the Tracheata are a 5

allel in the Crustacea.

In their development the Crustacea and Insecta sho

markedly their diverse characters. The segmentation ofe

a rule, centrolecithal, but the importance of this similarit

estimated when we reflect that in Gammarus locusta We

total segmentation, while in the closely allied G. pulex

tial. From this point on every stage of developm

1 As will be seen farther on the writer does not consider Limulus @

? With the solitary exceptions of Pauropus and Eurypauzopth i

biflagellate antenna is found, but which can hardly be regarded as 1

rule.

’The “ lung” of Birgus and some of the land crabs is a secondary >

feature, and has no importance in this connection.

1883.] The Serpentine of Staten Island, New York. 1037

diverging features, which, as they are well known, need not be

repeated here. The whole course of development shows that the

insects have been derived from a form like Peripatus, while the

Crustacea have had an ancestor resembling the Nauplius of the

Phyllopoda or the Copepoda. In both the iusects and the Crus-

tacea we have in the larval and in the adult state a serially seg-

mented body with appendages on the metameres, but this merely

points to a common Annelidan ancestor, and with the exception

of the Mollusca is a feature common to almost all animals above

the Ccelenterata. The ecdysis which occurs in the Arthropoda

is not to be regarded as indicating close relationship, but rather

as an adaptive feature, resulting from the unyielding character of

the hardened integument. In short, the only point not to be

easily explained, if we regard the two groups as not nearly

related, is the compound eye common to both, and which occurs

nowhere else in the animal kingdom. Still we have only to con-

sider the close resemblance of the eyes of the vertebrates and of

the dibranchiate Cephalopoda to see how little weight one organ

can have in classification.

In the foregoing discussion, which is merely suggestive and by

no means exhaustive, no attention has been paid to the Tardi-

grada, Pycnogonids, Limulus and Linguatulina. It may be that

they will have to be elevated to groups each equivalent to the

insects and Crustacea, or, as has been argued, that they are

branches from the Arachnida. We do not at present know enough

concerning the embryology of these groups to settle these points,

but the little which we do know, when considered in connection

with our anatomical data, is sufficient to show that none of them

belong to the Crustacean Phylum.

:0:—

THE SERPENTINE OF STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK?

BY T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D., F.R.S.

| HE serpentine of Staten island appears as a north and south.

range of bold hills rising out of a plain of Mesozoic rocks

On the west side are Triassic sandstones like those of the adja-

cent mainland, including a belt of intrusive diabase, and on the

fast the overlying and nearly horizontal Cretaceous marls, which

are traced south and west into New Jersey. The only rocks be-

1 Read at Minneapolis meeting of A. A. A. S., Aug. 21, 1883.

1038 The Serpentine of Staten Island, New York. [i

sides those here mentioned seen on the island, are smal

coarse-grained granite, having the characters of a vei

endogenous mass, and Others of an actinolite rock, both

among the sands on the north-east shore of the island.

Mather, who described this locality forty years sin

upon the serpentine as an eruptive rock like the parallel

diabase seen to the west of it, but Dr. N. L. Britton, of t

York School of Mines, who in 1880 published in the

ings of the New York Academy of Sciences a descripti

geological map of the island, recognized the serpentine.

to that which is stratified as a contemporaneous member

ancient gneissic series of Manhatten island, and appears

Hoboken, a view which is doubtless correct. a

The appearance of isolated hills of serpentine rising

newer rocks is common in other regions, and is by the

attributed to the fact that this insoluble magnesian silicate re

to a great degree the action of subaérial decay, which

gneisses and other feldspathic rocks into a clay that is

moved, leaving the beds and other lenticular masses 0

bedded serpentine in relief, In many parts of Italy, where

or belts of serpentine protrude in the midst of Tertiary

they have been described by the earlier observers as

masses. The question of their geognostical relatio!

often complicated by the fact that subsequent moven

earth’s crust have involved alike the underlying serp

the newer strata, and have given rise to faults and inve

which the younger rocks, overturned, are made to '

and even beneath the older. This condition of thingst

illustrated by reference to localities of serpentine lately

by him in Liguria and in Tuscany, where the true

relations of these rocks had been first indicated by Ga

structure above described was farther explained by

the similar inversions of strata along the western

Atlantic belt from the Highlands of the Hudson

along the Appalachian valley. |

The writer stated that although serpentine, under |

influences, decays much Jess rapidly than the harder

does not entirely escape this process. He showed t

on Staten island is covered in parts with a decayed.

ing portions of limonite separated by a process of $

1833.] A Classification of the Natural Sciences, 1039

preglacial times, since in the subsequent erosion it has been re-

moved from many parts of the serpentine belt. The details of this

decomposition of the serpentine and of its relation to glacial ero-

sion have been discussed by the writer in an essay on rock

decay, to appear in the American Journal of Science for Septem-

ber, 1883. He acknowledged in conclusion his obligations to

Dr. Britton for his careful description and for-his personal guid-

ance on Staten island.

:0;

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES.

BY T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D, F.R.S.

1° frame a rational classification of the natural sciences, and

to define their mutual relations, has often been attempted.

The present writer, in an essay read before the National Academy

of Sciences in 1881, and published in the Z. Z. & D. Philosophical

Magazine under the title of “ The Domain of Physiology,” sug-

gested the basis of such a scheme, and now, at the suggestion of

some of his readers, ventures to embody in a concise and tabu-

lated form the views then and there enunciated, in the hope that

other students may find it not unworthy of their notice.

The study of material nature, or of the physical universe (for

the terms natural and physical are synonymous), constitutes what

the older scholars correctly and comprehensively termed physics,

and presents itself in a two-fold aspect; first, as descriptive, and

second, as philosophical; a distinction embodied in the terms

natural history and natural philosophy, or more concisely in the

. Words physiography and physiology. The latter word has, from

the time of Aristotle, been employed in this general sense to

designate the philosophical study of nature, and will be so used

in the present classification.

The world of nature is divided into the inorganic or mineralog-

ical and the Organic or biological kingdoms, the divisions of the

latter into vegetable and animal being a subordinate one. The

natural history or physiography of the inorganic kingdom takes

cognizance of the sensible characters of mineral species, and

gives us descriptive and systematic mineralogy, which have hith-

erto been restricted to native species, but in a wider sense include

* Read in general session at Minneapolis meeting of A. A. A. S., Aug., 1883.

1040 A Classification of the Natural Sciences. [:

all artificial species as well. The study of native mineral s

their aggregations, and their arrangement as constituents

planet, is the object of geognosy and physical geograp

physiography of other worlds gives rise to descr

omy.

The natural philosophy of the inorganic kingdom, or

physiology, is concerned, in the first place, with what is ge

called dynamics or physics, including the phenomena of o1

motion, sound, radiant energy, electricity and magnetism

called chemical species, which, theoretically, may be.suppose

be formed from a single elemental substance or materia pı

Dynamics and chemistry build up the inorganic world, m

rise to the science of geogeny and, as applied to other worlds,

theoretical astronomy.

Proceeding to the organic kingdom, its physiographic i

leads us first to organography and then to descriptive and

tematic botany and zodlogy, two great sub-divisions of ai

ties manifested in the mineral kingdom, other and

which characterize the organic kingdom. On this high

of existence are found portions of matter which have be

_ dividualized, exhibit irritability, the power of growth by:

lation, and of reproduction, and moreover establish relation

the external world by the development of organs;

-iş foreign to the mineral kingdom. These new activiti

designated as vital, but since this term is generally

clude at the same time manifestations which are simply

cal or chemical, I have elsewhere proposed for the ac

acteristic of the organism the term biotics (Greek

taining to life). !

The physiology of matter in the abstract is dynam

mineral species is both dynamical and chemical, white

organized forms is at once dynamical, chemical and bic

study of the biotical activities of matter leads to orge

morphology, while the relations of organisms to one-

and to the inorganic world, gives rise to phy ,

and physiological zodlogy. We thus attain toa

1883. ] Editors’ Table, 1041

and simple scheme of the natural sciences, which I have endeav-

ored to set forth in the subjoined table:

NATURAL SCIENCES. | INORGANIC NATURE | ORGANIC NATURE.

DESCRIPTIVE. NERAL PHYSIOGRAPHY. T

General Physiography Deseriptive ae Systematic Organo

Min Descriptive oak Shematic

Natural History. Geo oenosy ; T. $ Botany and Zoölogy

> Descriptive Astronomy

PHILOSOPHICAL. MINERAL PHYSIOLOGY. BORE YSIOLOGY.

General Physiology eyes s2 z it

‘OF Chem Dekoni Morbio

Natural, Philosophy. Ge stare Physiological

Theoretical Aontan. Botany and Zoölogy

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE.

—— Without doubt a most serious objection to the study of

natural history, in the minds of young people and also older ama-

teurs, is the technical language used by specialists, Nomencla-

ture, botanical and zodlogical, is the pons asinorum of those who

are not always dull in intellect, or who have even a smattering of

Latin and Greek. Technical words, however, are necessary for

brevity and conciseness of expression, and for use in a polyglot

Science.

Changes in nomenclature are also a great ey vexing the ama-

teur mind most sorely. But by the application of the law of

Priority and holding specialists to binomial names, we shall after

awhile arrive at a reasonable amount of uniformity. The late

Professor Wyman abominated excessive nomenclature, and used

to declare his belief that specific and generic names should be

abolished and species, at least, numbered 1, 2, 3, €

ut now comes a new source of vexation to i ay biologist.

We refer to the use of lower-case initials in writing the generic

Name, either alone or coupled with the specific name, with an

initial in lower-case type. While certain ornithologists are to be

condemned for using a cumbersome trinomial nomenclature, cer-

tain entomologists and editors adopt the usage of librarians and

bibliomaniacs and write Turdus migratorius, turdus migrutorius.

e have of late years, for the sake of uniformity with English

and German writers (though much against our will), written spe-

Cific names derived from proper names in lower-case initials, and

1042 Recent Literature.

so they are and have been for some years printed in this

zine, although we should prefer to follow the rules i

bined, let us pause here. No well educated and sane Į

writes s john smith's Book or john ‘Smith s Book, but John $

book.

Can any one give us any good reason for not folloy

ordinary usage and writing the name of our common butter

Papilio Turnus, the specific name being a proper one, rathert

papilio turnus or papilio Turnus ? or worst of all write the

season and out of season, are the bane of modern biology,

we are glad that a natural disgust for these disagreeable co

itants of the study of living nature, tends to lead enthu

naturalists to eschew systematic biology, dried plants,

and dried beetles, and to seek the woods and fields

the habits and instincts of living animals, or to undert

more difficult and disciplinary anatomical and er

fields of research.

Another argument is the increasing attention to be given

after in public schools to the study of biology. Botanis

zodlogists who write text books should bear in mind that

form nomenclature is of particular importance. Cont

disgust should not result from the study of nature. \

logians are pleased to call the “natural” man rig.

against an overstrung nomenclature. The biologico

cal pu should be sugar-coated, or at least have no-

angles.

venran, 1

RECENT LITERATURE.

WEISMANN’s STUDIES IN THE THEORY OF DESCENT.

a works of Darwin, Wallace and Fritz Müller,

ject was both philosophical and purely scien

endeavoring to test the capabilities of the known fa

py the author discusses a question of ape

Gust WEISMANN. YY

widitions oie ri La ath notes, by Rat uae

With a prefatory notice by CHARLES pase. In 2 vols., with 8

London, Sampson Low Searle Rivington, 1882, Svo,

1883.] Recent Literature. 1043

e., whether there exists a special “ developmental force.” This

he believes cannot be decided by mere’ speculation, “ it must also

be attempted to approach it by the inductive method.” While

Weismann makes use of Darwin’s principle of natural selection,

he also accepts “ the transforming influence of direct action, as

upheld by Lamarck,” although he adds, “its extent cannot as

yet be estimated with any certainty.”

The work consists of five essays, The first is on the “seasonal

dimorphism of butterflies,” in which the author attempts to dis-

cover the causes of this remarkable dimorphism, and by this

. means to indicate at the same time the extent of one of the trans-

forming factors with reference to a definite case. How stimu-

lating the facts and results given in this chapter are to entomolo-

gists, whether they are interested in the philosophic bearings of

the fact or not, is well known; new and suggestive lines of re-

search have been opened by the author, and in this country car-

ried on by Mr. W. H. Edwards.

Weismann concludes from his studies in seasonal dimorphism,

“that differences of specific value can originate through the

direct action of external conditions of life on y.” He has cer-

tainly proved that new species arise by differences in climate,

while he also (in a note*to the English edition) concedes that

sexual selection plays a very important part in the markings an

coloring of butterflies, but he significantly adds, “ that a change

Produced directly by climate may be still further increased by

sexual selection.”

A second point, and one of particular interest, which the

author claims to be elucidated by seasonal dimorphism, is “ the

origin of variability.” Having shown that “secondary forms

are for the most part considerably more variable than _pri-

Mary forms,” it follows that “ similar external influences either

induce different changes in the different individuals of a species,

or else change all individuals in the same manner, variability

arising only from the unequal time in which the individuals are

€xposed to the external influence. The latter is undoubtedly the

causes in the same manner, or better, in the same direction.”

He then concludes :

fixed direction, determined by the physical constitution of the

Species. When, however, new climatic forms of butterflies, in

1044 Recent Literature. [Oct

which natural selection is completely excluded, and the nature of

the species itself definitely determines the direction of the —

changes, nevertheless show variability from the ve inning, —

we may venture to conclude that every transformation of a

ee:

rt)

(0)

anp

(e)

a fixed direction which entirely depends on the physi l

of the varying organism, and ‘is different in different species ot

even in the two sexes of the same species.” j

Weismann insists that too little is ascribed to the part

become transformed into a mammal, or to express

ally, why, from a given: starting point, the develo

ticular species cannot now attain, even under the most

external conditions, any desired goal; and why,

ing-point, given courses of development, even when ot Co

able latitude, must be restricted, just as a ball roine

hill is diverted by a fixed obstacle in a direction determi

the position of the latter, and depending on the direction

tion and the velocity at the moment of being diverted.

he remarks: “If, under heredity, we comprise ts e.

1 See my essay, Ueber den Einfluss der Isolirung auf die Artbildung:

1872.” i

1883.] Recent Literature. 1045

will not prove that external changes in the environment and

heredity, are not the two fundamental factors in the origin of life-

forms; natural and sexual selection playing a subordinate rôle,

and rather preserving forms already originated than bringing

about new bivlogical creations.

The second part opens with a discussion of the origin of the

markings of caterpillars, based on a knowledge of the early

stages of the Sphingida, which the author's industry has almost

alone furnished. His results certainly seem correct, and we think

analogous though far less numerous facts rae am, Sc. groups

of caterpillars, as well as saw-flies larva, which we have

will confirm Weismann's views. His evidence shows that there

were once Sphinx larva without any markings, but with a caudal

horn, as such a species now exists in the Berlin Museum.

characteristic caudal horn is older than existing markings, All

the data go to show that of the three kinds of markings, é z., longi-

tudinal and obiique stripes and spots, the first are the oldest, and of

the longitudinal stripes the sub-dorsal originated before the dor-

sal and spiracular. The question as to the relative ages of the

oblique lines and the spots does not admit of a general answer.

The lines and spots are believed to have originated by the known

factors of natural selection and “correlation” (Darwin), protec-

tive mimicry here acting as one of the factors of natural selec-

tion, the spots being of advantage to the larva. _ Sila

The second section of this part is on phyletic nse to in

metamorphic species. The author attempts to show that the

section. Weismann here also is emphatic in stating that the ex-

govt acne and induce

_ ternal conditions of life produce the

the organism to change. It seems to him “ incomprehensible

__ Strongly, these transformations corresponding in extent with

the organism is exposed in the two stages, to say nothing of the

fact that by such unequal divergences the idea of a aei e sys-

etely upset. ,

the author in the third part relative to the

hosis of Siredon into Amblystoma are well known, as

1046 Recent Literature. | October,

largely theoretical, and we doubt if the author’s conclusions as to

the reversion and causes of reversion can be proved, especially

since the climate in Utah, where adult Siredons abound, is as dry

as in Mexico. ;

In the fourth and last section of this part, while denying the

existence of a “ phyletic vital force,’ Weismann claims that while

the processes and results of evolution are mechanical, and there

is no interference of a directive teleological power in the pro-

cesses of the universe, yet that in the beginning there was “an

appointment of the forces producing them;” that

course of nature points back to a first Cause, a Creator

mechanism and teleology do not exclude one another, but that

there is a purpose in nature. ey

We take it that Weismann has been the first naturalist to show

very plainly and simply, and by use of the inductive as well as

deductive processes of thought, that teleology is not only possi-

ble but most probable. It seems to us he has afforded the clear-

est argument yet presented by an evolutionist for the existence of |

a First Cause. Hence materialism and teleology are opposi

poles of the same truth. Weismann remarks: “I believe that 1 :

have shown that the theory of selection by no means leads—as ;

is always assumed—to the denial of a teleological Universal

Cause and to materialism, and I thereby hope that I have cleared

the way for this doctrine, the importance of which it is scares!

possible to over estimate. Many, and not the most ill-informed,

do not get so far as to make an unbiased examination in the B®

because they are at the outset alarmed by the to them inevia

consequence of the materialistic conception 0

Mechanism and teleology do not exclude one another,

rather in mutual agreement. Without teleology there wou

no mechanism, but only a confusion of crude forces; and pean

mechanism there would no teleology, for how coul the iat

otherwise effect its purpose ?” Our author closes this a aah

work with the following words: “The final and main T? + that

this essay will thus be found in the attempted demonstration =

the mechanical conception of nature very wel r

united with a teleological conception of the universe.

waite

Maynarp’s Manuat oF Taxipermy,'—The author OF ip

Naturalist’s Guide” has, in this new venture, done aS i

it to be a clear, intelligibl d sufficiently brief descriptio? |

r, intelligible and su y tit thee the book

what is required. Indeed the author has purposely a"

Se oi

1 Manual of Taxidermy, A complete guide in collecting

By C. J. Maynarp, [ilustrated. Boston, S.

and Mammals.

1883. I2mo, pp. 111.

1883.] Recent Literature. 1047

lengthy instructions, but has rather sought to give a condensed

statement of the results of an extended experience.

The book comprises instructions for collecting and skinning

birds, making skins, mounting birds and making stands; also

similar directions for collecting, skinning or preparing for the

museum mammals as well as reptiles, batrachians and fishes.

The wood-cuts, though rude, are sufficiently well adapted for

“their purpose, and the book will be an indispensable guide to

amateurs and useful even to experienced taxidermists,

SAUNDER’s INsEcts Injurious TO Frurts.'—This is a well pre-

pared and very useful compilation from the works of our eco-

nomic entomologists, coupled with the results of the experience

and observation of twenty years. The work is thoroughly well

done, both as regards its simple, clear style, its freedom from

technicalities, its abundant and well printed illustrations (but few

being poor, though most of them are familiar) and the judicious

directions for removing the pests. To the fruit-grower it will be

4 great boon. The book is so well calculated to meet his every-

day wants, that the demand for it will be and should be ever in-

creasing. In other words the book is destined to be the standard

authority on this all-important branch of applied entomology.

Although the wood-cuts and source of information are acknow-

ledged in the preface with every disposition to give full credit to

the original authorities, yet we should prefer to see an occasional

reference in the body of the work to the author from whom de-

tailed statements are taken. The average fruit-raiser will not

Care, perhaps, to be troubled with such reference, still it is giving

farther credit to an author who has worked laboriously upon the

life-history and ravages of some insect, and lends additional au-

thority to the author’s statements. This is not said by way of

criticism, for our genial friend, the author, has done himself very

great credit in this work, and rendered excellent service to agri-

culture as well as to beginners in entomology.

Mason’s Minute Structure oF THE CENTRAL Nervous Sys-

TEM OF CERTAIN REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS?—This important

work of Dr. J. J. Mason upon the minute structure of the central

nervous system contains a magnificent series of plates, taken by

ne artotype process from negatives made by the author, illustra-

tive of numerous reptiles and of the following batrachians: Rana

Pipiens, R. halecina, Menopoma allegheniense, Diemyctylus torosus,

_ and Siren lacertina, Twelve sections of the spinal cord of Rana,

five of that of Menopoma and two of that of Siren are given.

Substantia reticularis, a network of connective tissue peculiar to

Injurious to Fruits. By WILLIAM SAUNDERS. Illustrated with 440 wood-

œs Philadelphia, 1883, J. B. Lippincott & Co. 12mo, pp. 436. $3.

a * Minute Structure of the Central Nervous System of certain Reptiles and Ba-

~ Sechians of America. Series A. By Dr. J. J. MASON. Newport, 1879-82.

K ‘

1048 Recent Literature.

the Batrachia, is well shown. It is noted that the relative

ness of the spinal cord in its anterior and posterior reg

“pends principally upon the extent to which the tail is d

Five sections of the medulla oblongata, two of the ceret

seven of the optic lobes and eight of the cerebral lobes are

also four of the nerve cells of Rana. The fullness of

is little marked, contrasts greatly with the transverse

ment and deep posterior fissure of the spinal cord of M

In the frog the cerebellum is placed vertically, and is ind

of the optic lobes, while in the tailed Batrachia the latter

to encroach on its substance. The writer poner sy

with any theory which claims to distinguish between

sensory cells, and states that the Ma! jE that hee

the true functional centers of the nerve cells, is ah

Recent Books AND PAMPHLETS,

Owen, R.—Aspects of the body in Vertebrates and Invertebrates. Lo

& Francis, 1883. From the author

eher .—The Iroquois Book of Rites, D. G. Brinton, p

e autho

Coburn, F. D.—Quarterly Report of the Kansas State Board of Agri

pies ending Dec. 31, 1881. Topeka, Kansas, 1881, From the au

S. A. Forbes.—Studies of the Food of Birds, Insects and Fishes, made at

State Laboratory of Natural History at Normal, Ill. 1883 From

Le Conte, Fos, —On mineral vein formation now in progress at Sulphur

Amer, Journal of Science. '

——On the genesis of Metalliferous veins. Ext. idem., 1883.

author

Miller, F. _Die Bod tg der beiden Viperarten in der Schweiz.

Nacht bo oe Pete rt at eat Sammlung des B

Beier Nachtra zum hpa $ is herpetologischen sensi :

pikia at und Reptilia, From the author. :

EOE es Stegocephalen aus dem Rothliegenden des

Grundes bei Dresden. 1v Theil. Berlin, 1883. From the

Putnam, F. W.—Iron from the Ohio mounds; a review of the state!

rar writers of over sixty years ago. Cambridge,

From the auth

Davis, N. ra Y., and E, L. Rice—List of Batrachia and

Bulletin No. 111, Chicago Academy of Sciences, 1883

Doering, mie ie Oficial la Comision Cientifica

yor eral de la na rapeaa al R

sobre la Pinen del T

erritorio

os durante la aspadicien. yo Sar fa

White, F, E.—Is the Blood a living fluid? Ext. Medical Record,

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 1049

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.!

arsoe, “beyond which nothing can be seen on sea or land but

ice and snow.”

Then returning to Hvarf he leads us westwards, and mentions,

seriatim, localities whose names are also found in the Sagas and

the other chorographies. Then occur these woras, “ Northwards

from Ericksfjord are two arms of the sea, named Ydrevig and

Indrevig. Next, northwards lies Bredefyord ; thence further to

the north is Eyrarfjord, and so on to Iself jord, which is the most

westerly fjord in the East Bygd.” He then says that a space of

twelve nautical miles of uninhabited coast separated the West

from the East Bygd.

Major points out that this description can only be ex-

Mr,

plained by referring Hvarf to Cape Farewell, or some headland

near it, as, were it a point on the west coast, the succeeding

Places toward the west would be southward of each other instead

of northward. He states also that the Nancy map, discovered

by Nordenskiéld, has only the words “Gronlandia Provincia”

Within a fancy festooned line, while the Zeno map, which is a

century earlier than the first voyage of Columbus, shows the

entire coast, east and west.

Portant information respecting the little known central provinces

of that country. The Andes in Colombia divide into three par-

allel ranges, of which the most western is the primitive chain,

and consists of granites and diorites infinitely older than the vol-

canic rocks of the central chain, which are of Post-cretaceous or

even Tertiary age. The continuity of the valley which separates

these two chains is broken at a point nearer to its southern than

its northern extremity by a great focus of volcanic action, repre-

sented by the volcanoes of Puracé, Sotara, etc. The upheaval at

'S point separates the valley of the Cauca, which flows north-

Wards into the Magdalena, from that of the Patia, which flows

South for 120 miles, and then turning abruptly westward along a

*This department is edited by W. N. LocCKINGTON, Philadelphia.

1050 General Notes. [

line of fault, finds its way to the Pacific through the wall of the

western cordillera, the only great valley that breaks that

ous rampart from Patagonia to Darien. To the north

second area of upraised tablelands occurs, with the vo

Herveo, Tolima and Santa Isabel on its southern limit, and

is no doubt that this upheaval once converted the valley

Upper Cauca into a lake, but at length the river worked y

northward along a line of fracture paralle! to the opposing we

ern cordillera, and it now flows through one of the ¢

ravines imaginable. fer

The State of Antioquia occupies this tableland, and is a

district with a healthy climate anda hardy, industrious po

cordillera Post-tertiary gravels, such as occur at the sea-l

found ata height of 6009 feet. N

This region was called by the Indians Zenufana,

Gold.” Its gold mines were worked by Indiane E rage

low grade of civilization, but tributaries of the higher r

great Indian road, connecting Bogota, the capital

with the Zenú and Darien kingdoms, traversed the counti

rivers of the more elevated regions are also rich m.,

15,000 of the natives of Antioquia are engaged in m

The Patia valley has a climate of its own, intermedi

the hot damp climate of the coast and the warm @iy

the interior. Cacao flourishes near El Castigo, sometl

ing a height of 120 feet; fine coffee is produced 0 lo

land, vanilla grows wild in such abundance that its 10

roots obstruct passage through the woods, and caoui

balsams and Brazil wood are found.

this it moves with a scarcely perceptible current añ

since the river above the pool is in volume many

1883.] Geography and Travels. 1055

than the Thames just above London the fissure must be very

dee

To the north-west of the western cordillera lie two rivers which

repeat, on a smaller scale, the features observed in the Cauca and

Patia. These are the Atrato and the San Juan, the former flow-

ing northward into the Atlantic, the latter southward into the

Pacific. Though much has been written about the Lower Atrato,

the upper portion of the valley is less known. According to Mr,

White, the river is navigable not only to Quibdó, where it is 250

yards wide, but to Llord, which is in the midst of the upper

basin, a region wel! adapted for agriculture, hilly but not moun-

tainous, and covered with virgin forest. The higher portions of

this valley (4000 to 5000 feet) are very healthy, and are diversi-

fied by open prairie. Here every kind of tropical produce may

be cultivated, as the temperature ranges from 60° to 80°, caou-

tchoue and the ivory nut are abundant, and copper, coal and gold

are met with.

_ The opening of a ship canal across the isthmus will render the

lands of this elevated yet fertile region accessible, and the colo-

nists are at hand in the neighboring State of Antioquia.

workings, it is probable that the trees are not more than 200 or

300 years old, and that at the time of the Spanish conquest much |

open land existed here, occupied by an agricultural Indian popu-

lation, now practically extinct.

Mr. White has ascended the Cerro Torra, a peculiar mountain

about twenty-seven miles east of Novita, on the San Juan. This

mountain, which abruptly terminates a ridge of hills, and rises

ut 12,600 feet above the sea, had not before been ascended,

Its western face is a horse-shoe shaped amphitheatre which slopes

regularly for half a mile or so, and then ends in a horse-shoe

shaped precipice, down which hundreds of streams fall a sheer

3000 feet, to collect at its foot into the River Surama. The moun-

tain consists of clay and mica slates, probably Jurassic, while the

igneous rock, the eruption of which upheaved it, is syenitic

granite,

_ Avery large proportion of the platinum produced in the world

1s obtained from the Upper San Juan.

VOL. XVIL.—NO. x $ 70

1052 General Notes.

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

Mr. RAND ON THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CHESTER

DELAWARE COUNTIES, PENNA.—In Mr. Rand’s communi

erroneously supposes that he is referred to as “ skipping fr

to the undersigned an unjust accusation of carelessness

competency.

The writer has casually seen some serpentine outcrops 1

Lower Merion, but has never seriously studied them. At

time, while many miles away from both serpentine and

books, he cannot vouch for what he might be able to pr

Lower Merion, Radnor or Upper’ Merion. He has little

however, that he could find there, as he has in other co

areas of serpentine of which no two field geologists

the boundaries alike, and rocks which the most experienced

opinion, but if the evidence is there he will be glad to a

nor will it in any way affect his theory of the structure, |

There is nothing in the language to which Mr. Rand nd

the moment of reading Mr. Rand’s remarks, the writer-

the impression that C, was Vien ge: at the oera

follows him, simply repeating that he has neither x

littled nor ignored” Mr. Rand's work. What ra ef

point out the injustice of condemning the results °% ito

worker in science, apparently because he does not happen” ;

his views, are |

In conclusion, the writer would suggest that il

things that might happen to the Geological a grees

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1053

Section than the awful fate Mr. Rand hints at—Persifor Frazer,

Sea Girt, Aug., 1883.

ATMOSPHERIC Dust AND DISEASE GERMs.—At a recent meeting

of the San Francisco Microscopical Society Mr. H. G. Hanks

read a paper on “Some notable features of the great San Fran-

cisco snow storm of December 31, 1882.”

A storm of brief duration, resulting in the fall of a few inches of

snow, would attract but little attention should it occur in the

Eastern or Northern States of the Union, but at San Francisco,

where such phenomena are almost unknown, the only instance on

record during half a lifetime naturally became the absorbing topic

of conversation. When, however, the warm air dissipated the

snow and the streets of the city assumed their usual appearance,

the wonderful snowstorm was forgotten. Apart from the storm

ing unusual and remarkable, there were certain features con-

nected with it, both interesting and important, which, no doubt,

escaped the notice of the casual observer, but to which my atten-

tion was drawn by accident. While the snow was falling, to all

appearance clean and white, the idea occurred to me that it

afforded an opportunity to obtain, without much trouble, a stock

of pure water for chemical purposes: With this view I melted a

quantity in a tin vessel in my private laboratory. To my surprise

I found the resulting water milky, a deposit or residue of a muddy

character remaining in the can. Without at first attaching any

importance to the circumstance, I proceeded to filter the water,

but found the filtrate still milky. Thinking the matter over, I de-

termined to examine the residue under the microscope, when

found that I had in the field of the instrument finely divided sand,

very much resembling that of the Great Colorado and Mojave

cent microscopic investigations. With this clue I submitted

the fine sand to a closer examination—mechanical, chemical and

Optical.

ber. On being calcined in a platinum dish, it at first burned,

then blackened, and on continuing the heat to incineration, the

While I was making these experiments a telegram appeared in

1054 General Notes.

the city papers announcing a “ shower of mud” at Fresno,

covered everything with a coating of gray, sandy mud,

diately wrote to the telegraph operator, and received

and a sample of the mud or dust. An examination s

were larger and the vegetable fiber more abundant.

bout the same time L. Figuera, of Modesto, called :

Mining Bureau, and in answer to inquiries made

that the snow which fell at Modesto was discolored.

turn he sent me some of the dust which fell with the

years ago snow fell at Modesto one inch deep, since

has fallen. On the occasion of the great snowstorm the

seven inches, but the weather was so mild that no ¢

done to animal or vegetable life.

The Modesto sand sample was found to be of the s :

character, but the particles were larger than the others m ent

and the organic matter was less, as follows: i

Organic Malter; s sosesc essss er eeeeeeerne ee

me PS os OSES a gai eis Ca MMe Gh E E pre” see 0.19}

The papers announced a sand storm at Bakersfield, and

sand at Virginia city; soon after there was a sand storm

Mohave desert, and at the same time a similar storm

violence in Death valley, Inyo county, but all these 0

the rancisco storm and cannot. be directly c sO

rapia lifts the sand in clouds which obscure the

an unnatural gloom to hang over the

arrer is at times wholly shut out REAGE

summits of the highest accessible mountains, on

even on the bare rocks, dust n x

called “star dust,” “cosmical matter” and other

which probably owe their origin to the causes

tioned,

The subject of atmospheric poison becomes i ap

is pate gat gic that the dust pr pee ge st Ena

uantity of organic matter, of which, without ibt, 4

ae EES May it not

py, pole vegetable life, and pee

to this cause ?

1883. ] Geology and Paleontology. 1055

It is well known that on the most arid portions of the Colorado

desert, when accidentally irrigated by the overflow of the river, a

dense and luxuriant growth of vegetation springs up from seeds

and germs which must have lain dormant for many years.

Certain localities in California have become unhealthy on the

introduction of water for mining purposes or irrigation, and in

many cases the country, before healthy, has become almost unin-

habitable from this cause. May not the same effect be produced

by germs brought by the winds? I leave the answers to these

questions to members of our society who have made a special

study of disease germs, and will conclude with a calculation I

have made of the quantity of dust that fell in San Francisco,

based on the weight obtained and quantity of snow, as found in

my experiments. Of course such a calculation can only be

roughly approximate. Without going into details, my calcula-

tion gives seventy-five tons to the square mile, supposing the fall

to have been uniform. It is fair to assume that the upper air is

frequently charged with dust, a portion of which falls near the

source, while a larger portion is carried to unknown localities, and

that the falling snow on the occasion of the December storm

gathered it together and deposited it in our streets.

__ Dr. Sternberg addressed the society upon the points presented

in Mr. Hanks’ paper. He said he had spent much time in micro-

he Evidences of Evolution. Among the evidences cited were

those furnished by the Ungulate Mammalia whose development

Since the beginning of Tertiary time (the Puerco epoch) is so

distinctly marked in the skeleton and the brain, He gave a syn-

Opsis of these in tabular form as follows:

fe: See

ot!

-sodxə pmen aet,

*pasodxa sour

-apos uopeydaouasour

£ jews

sosaydsima H

-oaut ÁBug)

"surid

maj X ‘sajosaqny-£

*sappaaqny-+

"ourl _ ee ~ (aa

K "ews sosaydsiwayy ‘any |pur “səpaəqm-E PEA lossas essas

x -oaut Asus *sapoaaqn)- “poom ~apsoddO *paavorr)

= ‘1əĝre] pue amp | *pas319 ‘paroa | Cany m,

X mws səanydswəy | -oam Aug ¿ | pue ‘saposaqny-b 'oowş Fumypopaug Seevuavess

S ‘op Ájquoq

N *painjoauos ami “paysan “poouwg

& ma a

‘op AyBurg pe È sarteetee,

*paynjoauos ‘amy =| ~yuaUIAD pue pa (Cansoddg)

“Bey = saaaydsimazy | -oaut Apqnoq | -1sa19‘sajauaqny-t ‘Pawa | “‘Burypopaqwy

'*NIVAA 'SASAHJOJVÐAZ 'SAV'IOW YOINIANS Fes hira A ay anne

1056

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1057

_ The primitive type remaining in the Loup Fork epoch is the

Proboscidia.

GEOLOGICAL Notes.— ¥urassic—M. Cotteau, in the sixty-sixth

issue of the Paleontologie Francaise, describes the Jurassic species

of the echinid genera Hemipedina and Cyphosoma. The latter

genus attains its greatest development in the Turanian and Seno-

nian stages of the Cretaceous, and is rare in the Jurassic.

Tertiary —In Paleontological Bulletin, No. 36, Professor Cope

adds to the fifty-five species of vertebrates of the Puerco epoch

the ophidian Helogras prisciformis, and the mammals Triisodon

levistanus, Mioclenus ferox, M. bucculentus, M. subtrigonus, and M.

General—Professor Hulke, in his anniversary address, re-

` Views the work done during the year by the Geological So-

ciety. He notes as subversive of once generally received

theories the fact that a much older fauna was found in the

lowest of three gravel terraces in a river valley near Paris,

an was afforded by the highest terrace ; and also the illustrations

repeatedly enforced to disprove the power of glaciers to excavate

tock-basins, Professor T. McK. Hughes has written graphi-

1058 General Notes.

cally upon the relation of the appearance and duration of the

tious forms of life upon the earth to the breaks in the coni

the sedimentary rocks. Postulating an earth-wave which

gradually force southward the depression of the Medit

and thus convert Africa slowly into Europe, he endeavors

what forms of life would be likely to persist. He then

some of the appearances and extinctions occurring in the var

formations, and concludes that the sequence of life upon thee

points to the persistence of oceanic and continental areas,

earth-movements of the nature of waves. The greatest

in the series of strata in England are those between

and lower old red sandstone, and between the Coal Measures

the Permian. Beh:

j MINERALOGY.’

THE INFLUENCE OF Ligut on Minerats.—It may not beg

erally known that many minerals lose their color or fade whi

the air. Experimes

made by Erdmann, by placing fragments in sealed tubes and

posing them to light for a year, led to the conclusion that air

moisture had no ipfluence, but that light alone effected the

in color,

RUTILE IN Putocorrre.—The beautiful phenomenon

ism is probably better shown in the well-known pale

Burgess, Ontario county, Canada (often known as sta

pi a ae other substance. The flame of a a

through a e of the mica, a rs as a six or V

As is shown by the niicioneone: this is due to the

minute linear crystals which cross each other at angle

The cause is the same as that which produces a two Or 5

igure a street lamp is looked at ona rainy night th

mbrella.

Mineralogists have long been puzzled to know p

these minute enclosed crystals are which thus proun.

i ny and they will be interested to know that they

rutile, r

The needles are flattened and almost colorless in

mica, but in a mica from Bodenmais, Sandberger has

of a deep reddish-brown color. Williams has also feet

needles of rutile in a magnesian mica which occurs l

diorite from the Black Forest. ba

Edited by Professor H. Carvitt, Lewis, Academy of n u

detphia, to whom communications, papers for review, cte.,

"ee oe

1883. ] Mineralogy. 1059

“ SULFURAIRES.”—M. Plauchud, having shown that the presence

of hydrogen sulphide in water containing vegetable matter is

due to the action of some species of conferve, which have the

power of reducing sulphates to sulphides, formulates the theory

that many of our natural mineral sulphides are due to the

reducing action of this class of alge. He sealed some of these

algæ, which he designates “sulfuraires,” between plates of gyp-

Sum, and after some months found granules of sulphur. Several

other observers have noticed this chemical activity of certain

alge, and have shown that this action occurs only when the

plants are alive.

€nstatite. Rose and Rammelsberg also analyzed the chladnite,

the latter stating that no feldspar was present.

Quite recently Dr. M. E. Wadsworth has examined the same

meteorite and come to the conclusion that there is no such min-

eral as chladnite, and that it is an aggregate of enstatite, feldspar

and augite ; with traces of other minerals. The microscope

clearly reveals the compound nature of the supposed mineral,

Which has a granitic structure and is a rock belonging to the

gabbro variety of basalts.

That such diverse conclusions should thus be reached by the

most able investigators seems indeed most strange. The conclu-

Sion of Dr. Wadsworth, undoubtedly the correct one, clearly

1060 General Notes.

show the superiority of microscopical over chemical i

tions in lithological work. Dr. Wadsworth supposes

origin of the meteorite was similar to that of the

either as rock or mineral, must therefore be abandoned.

New MINERALS.—M. Weibull describes as new three r

the

is translucent with a ferari IA color. Specific gravity 417

composition is:

SiO, FeO MnO MgO Calg igi i

29.94 46.88 18.83 3-01 L4 =

It appears to be merely a variety of knebelite, a mineral

scribed more than fifty years ago by Débereiner. iye

Silfo ergite, apparently a manganiferous actinolite or anti

lite, occurs in bladed crystals of a yellow color, resemblir

olite. Its cleavage, luster, hardness and specific ravity

about those of varieties of hornblende. Its composition sae

SiO, FeO MnO MgO CaO His

iri Su 8. Bey 808 0.44 =

characters of the pyroxenes. Its composition | is:

SiO, FeO MnO CaO MgO

48.29 aay Sij M iy; 2.83

are thé varieties, It wiil, indeed, not be ri

mineral species will be ives ‘and subdivided into g

es and varieties, as has already been done for garı

hornblende, mica, etc. A mineralogical text-

something more than a catalogue Meanwhile min

na new species, should indicate, if possible,

position

MINERALOGICAL Nores. —Mineralogists frequently

or phosphoric acid in a mineral under examinati

ally use molybdate of ammonia acidulated w

reagent, as prescribed i in works on passen:

f min

1883. ] _ Botany. 1061

a green sandstone and sand known as ancella-schicht. The sand-

worth has examined a supposed meteorite found at Waterville,

Maine, just after the passage of a meteor over the town. The

fragment was a cinder-like mass, the surface of which was coated

by a fused crust. Although a report like that of a small cannon

had been heard at the time the meteor was seen in the s y, sus-

picion was attached to this stone from the fact that the grass on

which it lay was unchanged in appearance. Professor Shepard

had analyzed it, but regarded it as doubtful. Examination

showed that it was a slag-like body, long exposed to the action of

the weather, and containing in its cavities remains of plant fibers.

The fluidal structure and the fused matters seen under the micro-

in fluorite. Professor J. S. Newberry has contributed interest-

ing articles on the formation of coal and the origin of carbona-

ccous matter in bituminous shales. He describes a number o

facts regarding the bituminous coal fields of the Mississippi valley

which clearly show that the “ peat bog theory” gives the true

explanation of the origin of that great deposit, as opposed to an

“estuary or raft theory ” now advocated by some geologists. He

holds that the carbonaceous matter in bituminous shales is due

to the presence of algze, which thus are the primary source of

petroleum and mineral gas.

BOTANY.

Tue Growru oF PLANTS IN Acip SOLUTIONS. II.— Before the

plants could be analytically exgmined they became disarranged

and some identifications lost. The following items are inter-

ing:

S 1 . .

The hydrochloric acid plant was examined for chlorine, the

‘Edited by Pror. C. E. Bessey, Ames, Iowa.

1062 General Notes.

whole plant being divided into three parts. The top, €

leaves and portion of stem, contained .205 grains of c

the middle or stem to within a few millimeters of the fi

.1373 grains of chlorine ; the roots, .102 grains of chlorin

sum of these amounts gave 3.54 per cent of chlorine i

: rides

were taken up by the plant. The percentage of chlor

excluding strand or beach plants, seldom exceeds one

The parts of another plant similarly divided into

and roots, gave, upon maceration in warm water, an

tion which when titrated with acid, vielded the followi

percentage for plants of this description

The percentage of ash of the other p £

order to observe if the use of acid waters had increased t

eral matter of the plant through its solvent action upon in

ingredients of the soil. This examination gave the f

ithe

Wri. dried plant.

Wate Mambo ocd ii be eseebel cisscsseede 1.1615 grammes

Paa AT E T WEBA a

Nitr 0 hye o

ae WG Ar gn Lee oe =. +5535

DEPICT go cei incites siete neds « 588g. s

Tede 6M asir inde do dee ar i 978 CF

Tatte, Oe ia hank ee ORS COV

Considering the devitalized condition of the > acid

mentioned above and the decreased weights of- ee

this table below that of the water plant, it is evi

acid waters a to introduce inorganic i donn

rious and destructive. The water plant

7th, having numerous roots, a tall flower stalk and did

inches long. The tdtoghlecie acid bulb died, as

ag acid subject, though one month later. No r

n any acid bulb except a few in the tannic acid.

sla ants were low, the flowers appeared without

leaves attained under these adverse circumstatieeay

aro of three inches.

On er: pe the tannic acid i col fl

were a dark purple, much deeper in color

plant. The bulbs were supposed to

(1883. | Botany, 1063

color. On April rst the tartaric acid plant flowered, the flowers

just emerging from the bulb. The citric acid plant flowered at

the same time. The oxalic acid plant flourished better than the

geranium plants will be watered with acid solutions, and grow

upon siliceous, calcareous and feldspathic soils.—Z. P. Cratacap,

77th street and 8th avenue, New York city.

into seven sections, under which the species are arranged as fol-

lows. The principal synonyms being given in parentheses :

Section I. AMORIA

T. bifidum Gray, nero rnia. 2. 7, breweri Wats son, California. 3. 7. ama-

bile H.B. & K., California and Mexico. 4. T, hemsleyi Loja. (T. amabile of Amer-

ican authors), Merin co pg . Potosanum Loja., Perito 6.7. goniocarpum Loja.,

Mexico. 7. 7, ciliatum ese Western orth A T. gracilentum Torr..

& Gr., California. 9. T. palmeri Watson, Guadaloupe island, 10. 7. amphian-

thum Torr, & Gr., Texas and Lande na. 11. 7. reflexum Linn., Canada goles

and Texas. 12, stoloniferum Muhl., Ky., Ohio to Miseourt: 13. ini

ies Michx., e Ca rolinas to ye orida, Arkansas and Texas. 14. -7. ecleas

tit. (7. told aebepe Hook.), T

Section T LUPINASTER.

15. T. parryi tie Colorado. 16. 7.6 ae por: California and Idaho.

ih T. longipes Nutt.. Oregon and eigr f Mis. - T. plumosum Dougl., Oregon.

9. T: gymnocarpon Nutt., Rocky Mts. 20. 7. ve ene Natt., a to

Washisxon baat and Ptah. 21. T “lemm onii Watson, Californ (By a

r., Rocky : e:

‘Califo 30. T. nanum Torey Calica and Utah 31. T. andersonii Gray,

California, teva and Utah.

Section III. PHYSOSEMIUM :

catum Lindl., California. 33. T. a daplis T orr. & Gr., California

and Guadaloupe island. 34. T. depauperatum Desv., California (also in Peru and

ili).

Sec’ IV. mah E

35. T. spinulosum Doug. Fifth 36. T. involucratum Willd., California.

Sy ae kath Nutt., na al 38. F: uttallié hi Steud. (T. polyphyllum Nutt.),

Californi mba A s ray, California. 40. T. appendiculatum Loja.,

obtusiflorum Hook.), California, 41. T. variegatum Nutt., California . T.

pauciflorum Nutt., California. ea Le aciculare Nutt., California. 44. T. triden-

tatum Lindl., California. 45- tsonii Loja., California. This is one of the

many forms which have been oe considered varieties of T. tridentatum.

i n V, CYATHIFERUM. s

6. T. cyath d. n and Rocky Mts. 47. T. darbigerum Torr.,

California ye R era Lij egon barbigerum, var. andrewsit Kellogg), Cal.

n VI. MICRANTHOIDEA,

49. T. microdon Hook., yar e and Oregon. 50. T. circumdatum Kunze

1064 General Notes. [ j

{not certainly known as North American). 51. 7. microcephalum Pursh, € rege ‘oe

and California. Paor

Section VII. EULAGOPUS. ee

52. T. macrai Hook. (7. albopurpureum Torr, & Gr.), Western North Am

53. T. neolagopus Loja. (hitherto included under the preceding species), Calif

The introduced species, which are often subsea

l ariu i

' oF,

procumbens Schreb., T. repens Linn. It will be remembered ! ha he

Dr. Gray says of the last in his Manual, “ Here probably |

duced, but indigenous northward.” j

bladed knife, I cut away the specimen. It prove

septentrionale Fr., measuring one foot across, an

pounds. The mass consisted of about six hori 3

above another, an inch or more thick, entirely free and $ at

from each other, except that they all proceeded from

fleshy layer, which was firmly attached to the wood

the fungus grew. The teeth which cover the lower surk

horizontal layers are cylindrical, awl-sha rocess? =a

inch long or more, their extremities at first truncate with

perfect fringe of short hairs, but the tips at length become

The whole is of a dull yellowish-white color and

hand, of the numerous imens of Polyporus ob

389) growing on partly dea trunks of oak trees id

I have never seen but a single specimen that I coui £

reach standing on the ground. Trametes pint also T

found near the ground, though occasionally a

fifteen or twenty feet from the ground growing from

place in the standing trunk.

It may be remarked that as a rule the large Pol i

nums that grow on standing trunks, are found not !

(883. | Botany. 1065

ground, probably on account of the more abundant moisture

which rises to a certain distance, even in the dead trunk, through

capillary force.— F. B. Ellis, Newfield, WY:

REVISION OF THE GENUS CLEMATIS OF THE UNITED AORE

Joseph F. James has just published a revision of the gen

Clematis of the United States in the Journal of the re pee

Society of Natural History (Vol. vı, July, 1883), the eee con-

clusions of which are embodied in the following ta

Section I. ATRACENE.:;

tragene americana Sims., A. UA AA

1. C. verticillaris DC. me Nutt., Clematis a americana Poir., C. colum

biana T. & G.

2. C, alpina Mill.,

var. ochotensis Gray == ped 4s et leka

. ochotens :

Section II. CLEMATIS.

baldwinii Torr. & Gr.

douglasii Hooker = C. wyethii Nutt.

C. ovata Pursh, C. sericea Michx.

C. Tebei Watson

Viorna urnigera Spac ch.

G coccinea i li C. texensis Buckl.

C. pitcheri Torr. & Gr., C. filifera, Benth.

ERSE)

8. C. bi igelo

aa, ire ERMA Walter

C. cordata pala C. cylindrica Sims., C. cyl-

indrica, var. crispa Wood, C. diva ricata,

10. C. crispa L. = O an peen C. viorna Andr.,

var. walteri Gray = < C cylindrica, var.

G cylindri ica, var. AAY

ori W

} C. lineariloba DC., “C. iain Pursh,

11, C. lasiantha pisat

12. C. pauciflora

13. C. ania Te & Gr. = C. nervata Benth.

a gras i C. cordata Pursh, C. cordifolia Moench, C.

14. C. virginiana L. = catesbyana, rsh, fragrans Salisb., C.

ennsylvanica Donn, C. purshii Dietr

var. bracteata DC. = C. bracteata Mœænch, C. holosericea Pursh.

15. C. Satin folie Nutt. = C. virginiana Hook. (in part, not Linn.)

r. brevifolia Nutt.

var. bracteata Torr = ook. (in part, not Linn.)

E Tease pat & Hill (not Nutt.), C.

var. californica Watson . = | A enig sis Olia, var. brevifolia Benth. (not

Nutt.)

_ [HE Boranicat CLUB or THE A. A. A. S—There was such a

gratifying attendance of botanists at the Minneapolis meeting of

e Ameri Association for the Advancement of Science that

a meeting was called on Thursday afternoon . Twenty-

five members, who are more or less interested in botanical studies,

responded to the call. An informal = was effected,

and several committees were appointed. Several excursions were

Provided for, and arrangements were made for calling the club

1066 General Notes. L

together, from time to time, for the reading and disc

papers, the exchange of notes, etc., while no small part

profit of the organization of the club was found in the social

joyment which it provided. s

r. Beal, of Lansing, was made chairman, and Professo

ter, editor of the Botanical Gazette, secretary. T

Proressor P, A. Saccarpo’s SYLLOGE Funcorum OMNI

CUSQUE COGNITORUM.—The second volume of this work

issued. It contains $13 pages besides 69 pages of addet

ing the number of species up to 6180, which is supp

include all the Pyrenomycetes thus far known. At th

this volume is an alphabetical index of all the specific n

the two volumes, the generic name being added in pares

after each specific name. a

atever may be thought of the many new genera into

the old genus Sphæria is here divided, there can be but one

ion as to the practical value of the work, which should be

hands of every student of mycology. The third vol

bracing the lower orders of fungi, 2. e., Sphæropsideæ,

nieæ and Hyphomycetez, will be ready some time in se

F. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. F. a

BENTHAM AND Hooxer’s Genera PLAnTaruM.—Eve

thus giving us a manual of the genera an

gamia. Volume t bears the dates of 1862 and

and 11 respectively; for Vol. 11 the dates are 187

while for Vol. 111 they are 1880 and 1883. The

been under way for more than twenty years.

as furnishing, for the first time in many years, a Gemi

ment of these plants. Seven “ series,” apparently

lent to the “cohorts” of Vols. 1 and 11, include

orders, These, with the orders they include, are as

Series I. Microsperma.—Hydrocharidex, Burmanniacee, Orchiden,

Series II. Ericyn#.—Scitaminew, Bromeliacee, Hæmodorace®,

lideæ, Taccaceæ, Dioscoreacewæ. Gp tae

1883.] Botany. 1067

Series IIT. CoRoNARIE”.—Roxburghiacee, Liliaceæ (which includes all the many

tribes and suborders—Smiliacez, Melanthacex, Trilliacex, etc—which have

often been regarded as distinct orders), Pontederiaceze, Philydracee, Xyridex,

Mayacee, Commelinacez, Rapateacez.

Series IV. CALYCINÆ.—Flagellarieæ, Juncacee, Palme (including Phytelephasiex

and Nipacez).

Series V. NUDIFLORÆ. — Pandanez, Cyclanthace, Typhaceze, Aroidex, Lem-

nacee,

Series VI. APOCARPÆ. —Triurideæ, Alismaceæ, Naiadacex (including Juncaginez),

Series VII. GLUMacE&.—Eriocaulex, Centrolepidex, Restiacez, Cyperaceæ, Gram-

inez.

With this volume we may now arrange the Monocotyledons in

our herbaria with something like satisfaction, which before was

impossible. The disposition of the genera in many orders, as for

example in the Graminez, being very different from that hereto-

fore followed, will necessitate some quite radical and at first con-

fusing changes, but from our experience with the grasses under

the new arrangement, we are confident that it will prove much

more satisfactory than the old —C. Æ. Bessey.

Botanica. Nores.—At the meeting of the American Associa-

tion for the Advancement of Science at Minneapolis, fifteen papers

upon botanical subjects were presented, a larger number than for

ized as follows: Dr. E. L. Sturtevant pointed out an interesting

parallelism between the structure of the kernels of maize and

sorgh

The box-huckleberry ( Vaccinium brachycerum

Michx., Gaylussacia brachycera Gray) was shown by Professor

M. Coulter during the present year. His paper will soon appear

in full—__pr, W. J. Beal brought forward numerous cases in the

Graminez in which the lower sheaths of the leaves are closed as

in sedges, instead of being open as is almost invariably stated in

VOL. XvII.—no. x,

1068 General Notes.

descriptions——J. C. Arthur described a minute fresh-y

(Rivularia fluitans) abounding in the lakes of 1

and which has this year again apparently been poisonous

——J. F. James argued that from structural and other c

the Composite should stand at the head of the

At the meeting of the Society for the

Agricultural Science at Minneapolis, August 14th

Peronosporee. e number of species has been

creased since his last revision in the Bulletin of the

stitution in 1876

ENTOMOLOGY.

ExTOMOLOGY AT MINNEAPOLIS.—Owing to the fact

were no active members and but two nono mer

at 2 P, M. did not take place. On the next day, however,

dience to a call made by Mr. J. A. Lintner, who was im

at Montreal rhe fix a day of meeting, the entomologist

association mbled and effected a temporary orga!

fore which Drisos S. A. Forbes read a letter from M

expressing regrets at his inability to be present. The

feeling at Montreal was explained by Mr. C. V. Riley

motion the old Entomological Club of the A, A. A. 9.

by the election ph Dr. D. 5. Kellicott, of Buffalo, N.

dent, Professor Herbert Osborn, of Ames, Ia., as

and Prof. O. S. Westcott, of Maywood, Ills., as s

The old rules were adopted with the modi

of any member of the association interested in ento

op oe member of the club, registration is me

pa ton meetings were held, and the attendance com

— the a ater ag? a se

stcott,

E Mendenhall, Thos. S. Roberts, Wm. Sat

E. H. Canfield, Jno. Hicks, GL Herri

We give a ‘brief accoun t of the subje

Life-histories of ‘Butterflies -= Mr, Wm. H. Ed

burgh, ise —_ sent in the following recent exp

1 This department is edited by Pror. C. V. Rigy, Wasl

communications, book for notice, ete, should be sent, sent,

1883. ] Entomology. 1069

“I have had from the egg Rutulus and Zolicaon. I have found

that Rutulus is constantly distinguishable from Turnus, after first

larval stage at least; that Zolicaon is closer to Asterias than to

Machaon. I will figure the larve of both species in full and the

imagos of Rutulus. I have had from egg and got drawings of

Colias amorphe, and I am not at all certain that it is zot a distinct

species from C. eurydice.

“Ihave had all stages of M. chalcedon, and had Phzeton colonizing

on same plant, so that I could compare the habits of the two species.

“I have had Lycena melissa from egg to chrysalis, and the

larva in last stages has the same organs on tenth and eleventh

segments that pseudargiolus larva has, attracts ants in the same

way, and gives them fluid to eat. And finally I have over 100

eggs of Parnassius, either smntheus or something close to it,

perhaps intermedius, from West Montana

“That is what I have done so far. I have had eggs of Argyn-

nis coronis hatch (or perhaps it was callippe) but the larve died.

“ As to butterflies this year, I have never seen them scarcer.”

Notes on Pedisca scudderiana—Mr. Riley exhibited plants of

Solidago containing the larve of this species, and made some

remarks on its habits which went to reconcile the published con-

clusions and differences between himself and Dr. Kellicott, and to

show that while the insect is commonly a gall maker, it was also,

exceptionally, an inquiline. The specimens showed that the

habits of the insect were variable, and that the larva was either

a leaf-crumpler, living in a bunch of curled terminal leaves held

together by a silken gallery, a stem-borer, without causing any

swelling, or the maker of a more or less perfect gall. He ha

also found it as an inquiline in the gall of Gelechia gallesolida-

ginis, the gall of which was always distinguishable from that of

e Pedisca; among other things by the burrow of the larva

always being traceable from the blighted tip of the plant, whereas

the Pzedisca larva lived at first in the tip, and when making a

gall always left the tip and bored in at the side. Dr. Keliicott’s

observations were accurate so far as they went, but did not take

into account the variation in habit. Mr. Riley had watched these

larval habits during the present year from the time of hatching,

and had concluded that the insect combined, in varying degree,

the four characteristics of gall-maker, leaf-crumpler, stem-borer

and inquiline. The larva living in the crumpled leaves later in the

Season had not been reared to the imago, but he had made com-

parisons of the young larve and found that they were exactly

alike, but they showed considerable modification as they devel-

Oped, especially after the last molt. Several other microlepidop--

terous larvae bored in the stems and lived among the leaves of

lidago; while another species, yet unbred, made a gall similar

to that of Pzedisca; but all the other larve known to him were:

easily distinguished from Pædisca.

1070 General Notes.

D. S. Kellicott said that he felt sure that his obse

his observations far enough to discover that all the

scudderiana fed at first in the terminal leaves. Late int

habits of Helia americalis, which he finds in the larva tate |

feed in the nests of Formica rufa. So far as he knew this

the first Lepidopterous insect known to develop in ants’

[To be continued. |

ENEMIES OF THE EGG-PLANT.—As an evidence that th

ance of Cassida texana and Doryphora juncta on the

neither were large plants. Besides the twenty-three

found on one of the plants four clusters of unhatched €

perfect insects of the zerana and thirteen larve.

THe PERIODICAL CICADA IN SOUTHEASTERN MASSACH

While driving across “the plains” of the central parts

tha’s Vineyard, Mass., in the last few days of June of th

observed large numbers of the periodical Ci (Cicada

decim). The scrub-oaks, which here cover the whol

were literally alive with them. Specimens of twigs

eggs were secured, as also of the insects themselves

must have been mistaken,” [4e p. 71. |

or three-quarters of a mile in width and of unknow g

posssibly this may acccunt for the fact that the gv

to above failed to elicit any knowledge of a p

1833.] Entomology. 1071

Supposing Dr. Harris to be right, we have here a slight accelera-

tion in development, due probably to the well-known milder

climate of the island—C. E. Bessey. |

recently received from Loudon county, Virginia, through the

National Museum, specimens which are also, in all probability,

accelerated individuals of the same brood. }

and allied genera, Prionomerus). The small family Murmidiide

Must now be added to these. Whether or not the second repre-

Sentative of the family, viz., the genus Mychocerus, has the same

habit as Murmidius remains uncertain. It occurs very rarely

under fresh bark of deciduous trees in the Southeastern States.

-he cocoon of Murmidius is of dirty white silk and bears a cer-

tain resemblance in shape to that of the typical Noctuid egg, b£,

having a broad circular base, the sides and top being rounded :

this resemblance is further enhanced by the presence in the

Urmidius cocoon of transverse and longitudinal ridges, though

they are by no means so regular as in the Noctuid eggs.—

Cok, Riley.

1072 General Notes. (October,

OsiTuARY.—Entomologists will learn with deep regret of the

death of V. T. Chambers, at Covington, Ky., on August 7th—his

fifty-second birth-day. He was a lawyer by profession, and yet

found time to do a great deal of entomological work. His

writings have been confined almost exclusively to the Tineide,

and all of his earlier papers were descriptive in their character

and were published mainly in the Canadian Entomologist.

His later writings, published in Psyche and the Cincinnati

Quarterly Journal of Science, dealt largely with the larval struc-

ture of the Tineidæ. In addition to these various articles, he

published in Bulletin 1, Vol. 1v of the U. S. Geological and Geo-

graphical Survey, a list of “ Tineina and their food-plants” and

an “Index to the described Tineina of the United States.” His

collection was some years ago deposited with the Cambridge Muse-

um of Comparative Zodlogy, and duplicates of many of his types

are in the possession of private individuals.

Just as the proof of the above is being read, we are pained to

learn that Mr. Townend Glover, for many years Government en-

tomologist, died at the house of his adopted daughter in Balti-

more, September 8th, from an attack of apoplexy. Mr. Glover

published his first report under the Government in the year 1854,

and from that year until 1878 nearly every volume of the Agricul-

tural Reports contains something from his pen. He was born 0

English parents on the ocean, we believe, somewhere near ~“

Janeiro, in 1813, so that at the time of his death he had ente t

upon his 71st year. He received his education in England, bu

came to this country when a very young man.

Entomotocicat Nores.—Mr. H. T. Stainton gives an ae

esting biographical sketch of Professor Zeller in the June nun

of the Extomologists’ Monthly Magazine, and we are glad to att

that Zeiler’s collection has been purchased by Lord W alsingh fi |

——F. Brauer, according to a notice in the Wiener Ent. Zeit, !

p. 155, records the larva of Anthrax flava as infesting No per

larvæ, and that of a Tabanus and of an Asilus as eating 1

Coleopterous larva—Jos. Mik (ibid, p. 156) confirms by í ey

vations of his own our ‘conclusions as to the sarcoph or to

non-parasitic nature of Cyrtoneura stabulans. E. H. pa

scribes and figures an abnormal larva of Melanippe mon (Th

which possessed the antennæ and thoracic legs of the maei

Entomologist, xvi, p. 121, June 1, 1883) ——Mr. Newton = com

of Ludington, Mich., gave us a call recently on his "Tii i

Cambridge, Mass., where he has been studying Myrm lates

with Dr. Hagen. Mr. Pierce has already finished some po

larvæ, and has made some interesting biographical discov P

We learn from Nature that the Swedish Gove

rnment

ip eR

made provision for an entomologist, whose duty it will ie ye

vise farmers as to the best means of destroying injuriou? i <

1883. ] Entomology. 1073

—Dr. Hagen, of Cambridge, has had occasion to study some-

what Grote’s nomenclature. Hé wrote us recently of Aetia ar-

gillacea Hübn., that he does not consider Hibner’s few words a

description ; that the figure is different from xylina Say, and that

the rejection of this last as having any priority in argillacea is en-

tirely out of the question. We sometime since came to the same

conclusion, Professor Forbes, State entomologist of Illinois,

recently sent out a circular statement of a new Dipterous wheat

insect which he termed “the wheat-bulb worm,” on account of

its being found in the larval state at the base of the stem just above

the root. From the figure and description we concluded that it

would prove to be some small Muscid, but we did not expect it

the Ontario Entomological Society last fall at the Montreal meet-

ng. has called a meeting of entomologists at Minneapolis, on the

Hi se August. All interested in entomology are invited to

i n i

Economic Nores.— The lesser migratory locust sei:

k has proved extremely destructive in the Rear go yi

Y, New Hampshire, the present season. Professor G. N.

guy to strawberries near Carbondale, His., by an undetermined

pa opod belonging to Chilopoda. A fuller account 1s given in

rm, Herd and Home for July.

1074 General Notes. [ October,

(Capsus oblineatus) has also proved very destructive to strawber-

ries this year in Illinois. Mr, Henry Edwards publishes (N.

Y. Evening Telegram, July 3, 1883) a very instructive account of

the work of Orgyia leucostigma on the shade trees in the squares

and parks of New York city. The army worm has attracted lit-

tle attention this year, notwithstanding the spring and early sum-

mer were cool and moist. We have heard of it chiefly from

Chester county, Pa~—-—The Hessian-fly -has proved so destruc-

tive to wheat in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, that

much of the wheat was plowed up in consequence. Yet we

doubt whether those entomologists who do not keep the run of

agricultural news have been aware of the fact, or whether any

specimens have been added to their cabinets. essrs. J. p.

Peters and G. N. Milco had 300 acres of Pyrethrum cinerariefo-

lium in cultivation at Stockton, Cal., this year, and are extending

the area of what they find to be a most profitable crop.

ZOOLOGY.

Ha:matozoa oF Fisnes.—P. Mitrophanow gives some account

of new monadiform parasites in the blood of fishes, and discusses

their relations to the blood corpuscles. He points out that z

consequence of their having been looked upon as curiosities, the

literature that deals with the presence of foreign organisms in the

blood of healthy animals, is in a very fragmentary condition.

The author has discovered in the blood of Cobitis fossilis and of

Carassius vulgaris'an organism which at first sight appeare ae

a Nematode, but which exhibited, on closer examination, n° in-

ternal differentiation, and some amceboid characters. Of about

30-40 ». long, it was only 1-114 ». broad, and moved witi ble

rapidity ; at its anterior end there was a flagellum of considera $

length, and the anterior was narrower than the hinder ent-

When dying, or less active, the organism became much rie

and an undulating membrane became apparent. The body 0 aie

organism, the membrane and the flagellum all exhibited a h wet

geneous highly refractive protoplasm of great contractile r ve

Some striking varieties of this form are described. the. ‘lar t0

tozoön found in Carassius vulgaris was at first sight sim ait

that found in C. fossilis, and just described, but it differed from

in its somewhat larger size and in the more distinct appas sa

its undulating membrane. For the reception of these form”

new genus must be established which may be known as. Ta

tomonas, and the two species as H. cobitis and H. caras ae S

giving an exact definition of these forms, the author prot eee

refer to the views of Gaule, and states that he comes bagi: h the

clusion that he has here to do with organisms and not "o Ee

derivates of anatomical elements, and he agrees with i cet

Ray Lankester that we have here Cytozoa. In consegue uld

the paper of the last-mentioned naturalist, he feels that PS

1883.] Zoology. 1075

be superfluous to discuss in detail his objections to Gaule’s views.

—Journ. Royal Microscopical Society, Fune.

EXTERNAL PARASITE OF THE Trout.—L. F. Henneguy de-

scribes, in the Comptes Rendus of the French Academy, an ani-

malcule which covers the surface of young trout. When fixed,

these infusoriform parasites have the appearance of small pyri-

form cells, fixed by their narrower end. When the infusorian is

free it expands and has the form of a Haliotis shell. If the fish

dies the infusorian guest abandons it and disappears, probably to

take up its abode on another. Most nearly allied to Bodo

(Amphimonas ) caudatus, it is distinguished by having three in-

stead of two flagella; the new form may be called B. necator,

This, says the notice in the Journal of the Royal Microscopicat

iety, appears to be the first described external parasitic flagel-

late infusorian. It seems to cause the death of its host by giving

rise to an alteration in the activity of the cells of the epithelium;

or in a young trout the cells appear to be undergoing active

division, which ceases when it becomes attacked by this parasite.

New Porto Rico Lann SHetis.—Cistula consepta and Chon-

dropoma tortolense Pfr., var. major, are described by Professor E.

von Martens, from Porto Rico. Thos. Bland appends a note

(Annals N. Y. Acad. of Sci., pp. 370- 371).—A. F. Gray.

MOLTING oF THE APoDEMES IN CRUSTACEA F, Macquard,

attracted by the recent statement of Vitzen that the apodemes,

with some other parts, preserve their ordinary relations on the

ecdysis of the lobster, notes that he has observed in the exuvia-

tion of the spiny lobster that the arcades formed by the meso-

phragms, and the longitudinal branches connected with them, are

broken just as much as are also the endothoracic arcades and the

Paraphragmal pieces of the endosternites. In other words, all

the connections between the mesophragms of the two sides, or of

uction is prepared for by a decalcification and softening of

these parts,

In the lobster, where the arrangements are a little different, we

li likewise a division of the mesophragms along the middle

fea’ and the separation of the branches of the endopleurites

om those of the endosternites, Similar solutions of continuity

rd Probably be detected in the apodemes of the Brachyura.—

ourn. Roy. Micr. Society.

pe loLTING OF THE SHELL IN LimuLus.—The mode of molting of

a crust or shell of the king or horseshoe crab (Limulus) iok

with ‘lieve, never been described, although we have been familiar

“tit for a number of years ; in fact, any boy who has been

ught up along the shores of our bays and estuaries from.

1076 General Notes. [ October,

Casco bay southward, is familiar with the cast shells of this

remarkable animal. When found in the course of molting the

shell, the creature appears as if spewing itself out of itself, as

the front edge or frontal doublure splits open around the extreme

edge, the narrow rent, easily overlooked in the cast skin, ending,

in a half-grown specimen six inches long, including the caudal

spine, a little over half an inch from the acute hinder edge of the

cephalothoracic shield. Not only is the outer shell cast, includ-

ing all the spines and hairs, but also the chitinous lining of |

«esophagus and proventriculus, the proventriculus corresponding

to the stomodzum of the embryo. What we call the proventricu-

lus corresponds to the “stomach” of authors, the true stomach

not being lined with chitine. How much of the rectum is cast

is uncertain, but the chitinous parts lying within the body and

serving as attachments for the muscles moving the caudal spine,

including two sets of slender, tendon-like processes, are cast

The gill plates are also cast, as well as the delicate hair-like set#

fringing their edges.

Moreover, and this is an interesting pcint, as in this respect the

molted integument or shell of Limulus is like that of an Asaphus

we have examined, the seven pairs of apodemes or internal pro-

cesses, six pairs of which support the six pairs of abdominal feet,

are also shed. This similarity of form in the apodemes of trilo-

bites and Limulus has been, to our mind, a strong argument for

the existence in trilobites of membranous abdominal swimming

feet like those of the Limulus. ‘

A small specimen taken in the act of molting, 50™ long, 1-

cluding the caudal spine, and 30™™ broad, was considerably

larger after casting its shell, measuring 65™™ in length, and 4

in breadth, or about one third larger.—A. S. Packard, Fr.

CRUSTACEA OF THE NEw ENGLAND COAST, ESPECIALLY OF ie

‘GULF STREAM SLOPE.— The number of species of this class ate

added to the faunal lists of this region is quite large, ere

greater proportion, as was the case with the Anthozoa and omit

odermata, have been obtained from what is known as the uniting

grounds ” or “Gulf Stream slope,” that is, from the slope un |

the continental plateau with the depths of the ocean basin. “tei

this slope flows the still comparatively warm water of the

Stream, bearing with it many forms of animal life which "a :

` previously known to occur north of the coast of Flot ae 2

between it and the shore flow the cold waters of the polar to live :

conditions of depth, temperature and nature of bo ;

none will be found. Thus at some spots 2000 or more of a sp 2

1883.] Zoblogy. 1077

ceedingly numerous; Catapagurus socialis Sm., was found in

swarms at several spots, and at others the maioid Euprognatha

rostellifera Stimpson, abounded.

Of Parapagurus pilosimanus Sm., about 400 examples were

taken at one station in 312 fathoms, always associated with a

polyp which builds itself around the crab and absorbs the shell it

resides in. This species was previously known only from a few

specimens taken by the Gloucester fishermen in deep water off

Nova Scotia.

During 1882 Crustacea were less abundant than in previous

years, but the large shrimps, Pandalus leptocerus and P. propin-

guus, occurred, the latter at depths of from 158 to 640 fathoms.

Among the most interesting species were the large cancroid

Geryon quinquedens Sm., which was taken in considerable num-

in from 322 to 452 fath. Lithodes maia abundant at 291

fath.; the macruran Pentacheles sculptus Sm., of the family Eryon-

tide, a form known only by six examples; the Crangonids,

Ceraphilus agassizii Sm., taken in from 291 to 640 fath., and Sa-

binia princeps Sm., in 374 to 452 fath.; Hippolyte lilljeborgit Dan-

ielsen, frequent in 144 to 640 fath.; Janira spinosa Harger, in

640 fath.; Astacila granulata in 291 to 640 fath. ; and Boreomysis

tridens in 351 fath. Two new species of Galatheidæ, allied to

unida, were also taken. i:

he scarcity of many species, such as Catapagurus socialis,

Pontophilus brevirostris, and a Munida which, though most abun-

in 1881, was not seen at all in 1882, is accounted for by Pro-

fessor Verrill by the occurrence of a severe storm which forced

the belt of cold water outward into the area occupied ordinarily

by the warmer water, thus lowering the temperature to a degree

to the more delicate forms. (

_ Other forms of Crustacea described by Professor S. I. Smith

Fand tenuipes, P. acanthonotus and P. carinatus ; Miersia

ssizii, M. gracilis and Meningodora mollis, three Ephyrinæ from

An lope

Malopeneus elegans, and Hymenopeneus debilis, and Sergestes

Tobustus. :

Protective C —The horned lizards

open, OLORATION IN PHRYNOSOME. e horne apd

em oads, as they are usually called in California, exhibit consid-

_ Stable vartation in color; I have collected them in Central -Cali-

1078 General Notes. [ October,

fornia (Placer county), and in the southern part of the State (Los

Angeles county), and have seen many (just caught) specimens in

the hands of others. The general tone or shade of color in each

instance seemed to harmonize closely with the general tone of

color of the earth or ground of the immediate locality or habitat.

For this reason, when the little creatures are perfectly motionless,

they are not easily detected. If the ground be of a yellowish, or

ochraceous tone, the color of the lizard is so nearly the same as

to excite attention to the fact; if of darker hue, or ashen gray, so

with these lizards. I have frequently noticed this relation of color

in these animals to environment, and have yet to find an excep-

tion to it; further than this, I am led to believe that a sufficient

number of living specimens, will show a similar protective factor,

in degree of development of the scale imbrications, tubercles so-

called and horns—or, in brief, in the sculpture aspect as related to

the surface texture of the ground which forms the local habitat

of these forms.—R. E. C. Stearns.

THE GARDENER BIRD (AMBLYORNIS INORNATA).—This bird ap-

pears, from the studies of M. Beccari, to excel the Australian

bower-birds, to which it has affinities, in the erection of a plea

sure bower. A small shrub in an open spot in the forest forms

the center of the edifice. Moss is piled around this and then a

number of branches plucked from an epiphyte are planted in the

soil in an inclined position, so that they form the walls of a cont

cal hut entered by a small opening, These branches continu

for some time to vegetate. Before the entrance the bird maxes &

lawn of tufts of moss carefully separated from all pebbles, bit us

wood or other plants. On this green carpet he strews the vio

fruits of Garcinia and the flowers of a Vaccinium that grows rare

rfak mountains in New Guinea, and the first report of its exis

tence was brought M. Bruijn by Malaysians. ;

bits of

TENGMALM’s OwL.—This little owl of the North, but slightly |

larger than the common Acadian owl, is not a very common Spe

cies within the limits of the United States, although it may bee

regular winter visitant, and it is not improbable that it

found breeding in the northernmost part of New Englan

indebte dto Mr. Montague Chamberlain, of St. John,

notes concerning the occurrence of Tengmalm’s ow

New Brunswick in summer. “ One shot by Mr. Jam

will be

N: B, for

December 31, 1881.” Audubon recorded the oc ee :

this species at Bangor, Me., “in the beginning of Septen M.

For a note of its capture in spring I am indebted to

Tufts, who obtained a male specimen taken at Dexter,

April, 1877; also a female specimen taken near Lynn, Ma

eet a Soe

Me. in ;

1883. ] Zoölogy. 1079

November 4, 1882. Mr. E. S. Bowler writes me that he obtained

one taken in Penobscot county, Maine, January 15, 1882, and

two taken in the same county January 23, 1883. Two were

taken near St. John, N. B., and sent to that city February 17,

1882. Mr. C. A. Creighton has informed me of one taken at

Waldoboro’, Me., in January, 1881. And I am indebted to Mr.

Ralph Miller, of Portland, Me., for a specimen taken by him alive,

x hand, in this city, March 3, 1883.—£veredt Smith, in Forest and

tream.

White Beavers.—When at Olympia, Washington Territory,

in June, 1882, my attention was called to a mounted specimen of

a beaver, an albino, belonging to Mr. E. T. Young, of that place.

It was clearly and absolutely white throughout, without the least

tint of the usual color, and in fine condition. I learned from the

ZooLocicaL Nores.—Protozoans.—Gigantic specimens of Actin-

Spherium eichhornii have been noticed by Professor Leidy in an

aquarium; they measured 3-1™ in diameter, independent of

€ rays, which extended from %-%™™ more. One o the

smaller individuals contained four water-fleas (Daphnia), and one

of the larger six of them.

‘ng experiments by M. H. A. Coutance. The experimenter pre-

Pared eight solutions containing one ingredient only, and three

™ which chloride of magnesia, chloride of potash and sulphate

Magnesia respectively predominated instead of chloride of

M. ‘um. The mollusks experimented upon were Venus reticulata,

Jtlus edulis, Venus decussata, Littorina vulgaris and Tritonium

1080 General Notes. (October,

undatum. The facts observed were, that every change in the

constitution of sea water is, in the long run, fatal, but that there

is great difference in the rate of the toxic action of any one solu-

tion upon the same animal, and great range in the resistance of

different mollusks to the same solution. The gasteropods suc-

cumbed before the bivalves, yet Littorina, defended by its opercu-

lum, resisted longer than the non-operculate and canaliculated

` Tritonium. The mussel died before either of the Venerida, and

V. decussata showed a vitality far surpassing any of the others.

The salts of soda and magnesia were far less fatal than those of

potash, and also sustained life longer than chloride of sodium

alone, but in the latter they extended their siphons a much larger

portion of the time than in sulphate of magnesia or sulphate of

soda. Death in the case of the bivalves arrived from muscular

enfeeblement, at last resulting in inability to close the valves.

Crustaceans.—In the Transactions of the New Zealand Insti-

tute, C. Chilton describes upwards of twenty new species

Crustacea, principally belonging to the Tetradecapoda, but in-

cluding two Brachyures, Hymenicus marmoratus and Hymenosoma

lacustris. Among the species are several obtained from a well

sixteen feet deep, one of which, the isopods Crumegius fo

and Phreatoicus typicus, are without eyes. This

a Macrural.

English crayfish and Paranephrops setosus.

Arachnids.—Mr. C. Chilton, in the Transactions

Zealand Institute, describes a sea-mite which he p

genus Halacarus Gosse, two species of which have

viously described from England.

of the New

laces in the

* j K . ; us

eneidids (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883) gives the views of eet

naturalists on their affinities, but states as the result yee thus

examination, that (1) the ventrals have true spines, | crani”

would be Acanthopterygians of Cuvier; (2) the

is simple, and there is no “tube.” Thus these fi

’s sub-or™.

rder Disc™

hich they have

nianus

between the

been pre

1883.] Physiology. 1081

with the single genus Myxine. In the Hyperoartia or Petromy-

ontide he recognizes the genera Petromyzon, Ichthyomyzon,

Ammoceetes, Entrophenus, Geotria, Exomegas and Caragola.

The form of the suproval laminz is the principal character made

use of, and Caragola, which has two such lamina, is made the

type of a sub-family.

PHYSIOLOGY.

STUDY OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE KIDNEY BY MEASUREMENTS

OF ITS CHANGE OF VoLuME.—Dr. Roy has employed an ingenious

instrument, the oncometer, devised by him on the principle of the

plethysmograph, for the measurement of variations in the volume

of the kidney. The apparatus consists essentially of a metallic

box lined with a flexible membrane, in which the kidney of a

living animal while in its normal situation can be laid and in-

closed in an air-tight manner. The space between the kidney

and the box is filled with warm oil which finds its exit by means

general rise of blood pressure which accompanies Gyspnora,

as would follow on common hydraulic principles. Division of

e splanchnic nerves, however, does not completely do away

With the reflex. It is very difficult to manipulate the nerves en-

l i » -

This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michigan-

1082 General Notes. [ October,

nected with the walls of the renal vessels. Stimulation of the

proximal end of the divided sciatic nerve is accompanied bya

rise of general blood pressure but by a fall in the volume of the

kidney; which change, as in the previous case, is due to a vaso-

motor reflex. e same results follow poisoning by strychnia

When the splanchnics are cut at the level of the diaphragm there

is a slight momentary decrease in the volume of the kidney, and

then a return to the normal. When the central or anterior end of

a divided splanchnic is irritated, the volume of the kidney is

diminished on both sides, showing a reflex vaso-motor consttic-

tion. Essentially the same effect follows when the peripheral

ends of the divided splanchnics are stimulated. Vaso-motot

fibers for both kidneys may run in the splanchnic of one side,

but individuals differ in the extent to which this appears to occur.

Vaso-motor fibers proceed to the kidney by paths other than the

splanchnic nerves.

Complete or partial closure of one renal artery, during the

course of an experiment, has no influence upon the blood current

or the volume of the other kidney, nor does stopping the circu-

lation in large extra-renal arteries, as those of the limbs, cause

any change in the volume of the kidneys. The volume of the |

kidney was likewise quite uninfluenced when a dog under obser-

vation was surrounded alternately with ice-cold water and water

heated to the body temperature.

THE ACTION oF ETHYL ALCOHOL UPON THE Doc's HEART— |

Professor Martin, with the assistance of a pupil, Mr. Stevens, has :

entered the debating ground of alcohol-physiology vit :

new and definite and therefore welcome statements Ol facts 0

regard to this subject. In the experiments of these gentlemen,

the living but completely isolated dog’s heart was suppil¢ |

a flask with an artificial current of warm blood, to which

ed dimi-

result is, in most cases, the same, but sometimes is litt

After the action of the alcohol has been fully mam x

heart can, in many cases, be restored to its original p Wi

d, undet

the action of the alcohol, with increasing relaxation pi on

and decreasing extent of contraction in systole, until ake

ance offered by the pericardium prevented farther increase ‘pat

in the heart cavities, and as the extent to which these ese

1883.] Physiology. 1083

rowed in systole became gradually less, the amount of blood

pumped out diminished proportionately. If the pericardium was

now cut away the heart began immediately to pump out more

blood, because its cavities expanded under the pressure upon

them in diastole, while the extent to which they were constricted

in systole remained the same. “The action of alcohol adminis-

tered in the manner and doses above described is, without pri-

marily altering the force of the heart beat, to alter its character,

so that the ventricular cavity is not obliterated at the end of the

systole, and the less so the longer the alcohol has been adminis-

tered. At first this incomplete systole is compensated for by a

periments, and also careful observations on a human subject,

failed to show any alteration of pulse rate due to alcohol.

RELATION OF ARTERIAL PRESSURE TO THE DURATION OF THE

SYSTOLE AND DIASTOLE OF THE HEART-BEAT.—The study of the

by means of which changes of pressure

Sure, at least within a range so extensive as that included between

Z aod 160 mms. Høg., have no influence whatever upon the oe

on of either the systole or diastole of the heart-beat in the dog.

VOL. XVI1,—no, x

1084. General Notes. [October, x

PSYCHOLOGY.

INTELLIGENCE OF THE HorsE.—As bearing on the question of

the intelligence of animals, I send the following note for pub-

lication at the request of Dr. Packard:

A few years ago Mr. Eli Rigby, living at Stillwater, a small

village a mile from here, turned his span of farm horses out

loose on the road, when, without his knowledge, one of them

went to the blacksmith shop of Mr. John Gould, who had been

accustomed to shoe this span. Finding the door of the shop

open, the horse entered and lifted up one foot in such a manner

as to attract attention. The blacksmith, supposing the owner to

be near by, examined the foot and found the shoe broken in such

a way as to hurt the horse when he walked, and he therefore put

on a new shoe, after which the horse went off home of his own

accord. Later in the day the blacksmith saw Rigby and asked

him if he had got his horse all right, which led to explanations,

when it appeared that Rigby not only did not know that the

horse had been to the shop, but he did not even know that there —

had been any trouble with his shoe. ee

Both Gould and Rigby are thoroughly reliable men, and 1 had e

this account directly from them.—C. H. Fernald, State College, —

Orono, Me. pave

EXHIBITION OF THE SAME INTELLIGENCE IN AN Ox.—Of a yoke

of oxen which had belonged to the Cape Ann Granite Compaty, —

one had become too lame for further usefulness, and in consider -

ation of past faithful services was turned out to grass. I ths ;

A few days since he was seen limping toward the blacksmit Y

foot to the smith, who watched his singular movements.

blacksmith examined the foot and discovered that a sma A '

had got crowded under the shoe and pressed on the foot in ch ia |

to produce the lameness. The stone was removed and the amtii

sent away, no doubt rejoicing in his ox heart that

least one man who could understand ox language sumi

relieve suffering —Cape Ann Advertiser.

the shop he took his place in the shoeing frame and held The

ADOPTION BY A CAT OF FIVE YOUNG Rars.—Apropes 2 e

facts stated by Judge Caton bearing on singular frien bee

oO.

afterwards the zwo kittens were destroyed, and the nex

it was found the cat had brought in zwo more young <

we were looking at this strange foster family the cat a

t morning

1883] Anthropology. 1085

the stable, jumped over the board and lay down, when the rats

at once ran under her and commenced sucking. What makes

the matter more singular is, the coachman told me the cat was a

particularly good ratter, and was kept in the stable for the pur-

. ”

pose of keeping down rats.

ANTHROPOLOGY.*

Tue ARCHÆOLOGICAL InstituTe.—The fourth annual report of

the executive committee, just issued, has its cheering and its

gloomy side. Three separate narratives are included in the same

pamphlet. 1. Mr. Bandelier has continued his researches in New

z ~ eges in our country. This institution has passed through ko

ntical period of its first year, and gives every evidence of a

Permanent success.

; Tne Caarway Cottection.—The Lorillard expedition enna

co and Central America has produced its fruit. According to

lp: a

Edited by Professor Otis T. M ASON, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington, D G

1086 General Notes. [ October,

the agreement made with M. Charnay, under the patronage and

superintendency of Mr. Thorndyke Rice, the French government

was to have the first set of casts and the National Museum the

second, The series for our country have arrived and are now

being set up in a large room appropriated to them in the National

Museum. There are two groups, one from Palenque, the other

from Chichen-Itza, and a few pieces from Ocosingo, Tezcoco, &e.

The Palenque groups are: 1. Bas-reliefs from the temple of In-

scriptions, twelve pieces; 2. The bas-reliefs constituting the

“altar” in the temple of the Sun, five pieces (Dr. Rau thinks

Charnay wrong, and that two of these belong to the next group);

3. The celebrated group of the cross, three pieces (five according

to Dr. Rau); 4. Bas-reliefs, katunes, sculptures, columns, &c,

eighteen pieces; 5. Bas-reliefs from Chichen-Itza, thirty-five

pieces, among which are the materials for two groups, one con-

stituting a sculptured dado of great interest, the other forming

an immense wall and inclined ceiling. These casts are made in

a composition of plaster and tow, which give them great light-

ness and strength. A careful scrutiny of these slabs, one after

another and from day to day, excites reflections concerning theit

fabricators and their civilization. No doubt the truth lies between

the two extremes of modern interpretation. The Spaniards de-

stroyed a well advanced civilization, something like the old Chal-

dean, but not one superior to their own. On the other

many evidences of survival obtrude themselves pointing tO @

savage origin and communal dwellings; but between the men :

who lived and wrought at Palenque and Chichen-Itza and of

roving savages were many milestones of progress. A writer m

Science drew attention to a discovery of Professor Cyrus beer

to the effect that the French commission, consisting noe

Mérimée, Augrand, Longperier, Aubin, De Saint-Priest and

appointed in 1860 to edit Waldeck’s drawing, took Catherw

ea a dates een eae 2 coats So. COLOR Raise a ete fy 5

Catherwood did not. But Charnay’s casts fulfill Dr. ie

predictions by exhibiting the glyphs which he said ought d ie

* Monuments anciens du Mexique.”

REVUE D'ETHNOGRAPHIE.— This journal, under the dir

Dr. Hamy, has passed safely through its first year, and iginal

with its present number upon the second volume. The GE

papers are as follows :

Corre, Dr. A Séréres de Joal et de Portudal, on the west coast

oO, ih

Ouar-

Tarry, M, H.—Excursion Archéologique dans la vallée de Oued Mya, gee

gla, in the Desert of Sahara, on the borders of Southern Algeria, pp: =%

Bertrand, Alex.—Les Troglodytes, ill., pp. 35-64.

Charnay, Désiré—Exploration des Ruines d’Aké, Yucatan, pp- 65-74

of Africa, Ph

1883. | Anthropology. 1087

Riedel, J. C. F.—Le Ponor, ou Pordre de la aE a Timor, pp. 75-76

Hamy. E.—Review of J. Harmand’s “Les races Indo-chinoises,” Herv vey’s “ The

Endau and its ` tributaries,” and Youths s “ Voyage dans le Carélie et dans

la region de l’Onega.

ANTHROPOLOGY IN FRaNcE.—The fasciculi 3 and 4 of the Bul-

letins de la Société d’ eee ee de Paris contain the follow-

ing papers of general interest

=. sur le poids comparé du cerveau chez les Hn et chez les filles [refers

Taam praats sur les trépanations AA by L. Capitan, pp.

5-538

Note sur les poumons des ourang-outangs, by M. peeve PP: 554-558.

Discussion sur l’ethnographie [criticisms upon the proposed “ Questionnaire de so-

ciologie et d’ethnographie ”], Pp- 557-578, 679-681.

amp ‘og l Ecole d’Anthropologie pour Panne 1882-1883. Sur les Galébis du Jar-

n d’Acclimation » by M. L. Manouvrier, pp. 602-643; 649-654; 662-671 ;

busses, 796-

La Croix de Teotihuacan, by E. F. Hamy, pp. EaSI

Le boudhisme à Ceylan, by M. Deloncle, pp. 658-6

Sur les tribus qui habitent la Terre de Feu, by M. pan Beauregard, pp, 672~674.

De ae des Dardous [a tribe in Cashmire], by M. Girard de Rialle, pp.

674

Discussion sur les types Kabyles, pp. 685-688, 888-897.

Quelques rpa ons sur Anthropologie des Comalis [Soumalies], by E. T,

97-706.

Lesa Social Mme. Clémence Royer, pp. 707-

L'Amérique préhistorique, by M. de Nadaillac, e752,

Les Chevaux dans les temps préhistorique et higoriaués, by M. Piétrement, PP:

752-757.

Remarks à propos du denombrement de la population sur quelques reeg

démograp higu agg par les catholiques, les protestants, et les israelites,

by latare ques ps 757-760.

Recherches ieee cans sur une série de cranes d’assassins, by M. Orchanski, pp.

Photographies de Criminels, by M. Bordier, pp. 795-796- ðu

Asie, Kachmir et Thibet, Etudes d'ethnographie ancienne et moderne, by Oli-

vier Biautecesd, pp. 820-8

Les i dentaires au Médicas et dans le Yucatan, by E. T. Hamy, pp.

79-88

Sur la vision binoculaire, by M. Rabourdin, pp. 897-899.

It Pulda consume too much space to present an abstract of

of these papers, but some of them are of very great ge

eral i interest to those who are pursuing special topics.

THE American ANTIQUARIAN SociETY.—Mr. hege iere

has prepared a complete list of the publications of this hon _

ee cation, founded in 1812. The catalogue commences

Vals, a Rani no E

1088 General Notes. [October,

Proceedings, October 22, 1855. Samuel O. Haven on American archeology.

waa tet October 20, 1866. On the establishment of a museum and professor.

hip of archzology and ethnology at Harvard Univ. by George Peabody.

bitin, April 23, 1872. Admixture of Japanese blood on our north-west coast,

Horace Davis.

eure igs, October 21, 1873. Origin, &c., of Indian ogi in N. England, and

a list of books in the Indian language, &c., by J. H mbull.

Proceedings, April 26, 1876. Remarks on Yucatan asd ‘de Mayas, by Stephen

í » Jr.

om a atin 25,1877. The copper age in Wisconsin, by James D. Butler;

at enport Tablets, by Farquharson; Discoveries in | ran, opie A

geo:

Proceedings, April 24, 1878. Terra-cotta pg from Isla Mujeres, by Stephen Sal-

isbury Mexican calendar stone, by Ph. J. J. Valentini.

Proceedings October 21, 1878. Archzeology of Yucatan, by Dr. and Mrs, Le

Proceeding, faked 30, Tea Mexican copper tools, by Ph. J. J. Valentini; Latter

m M. Le Plon

Proceeding, October te ib The Katunes of Maya history, by Ph. J. J. Valen-

Pesci se 28, 1880. The Landa seca bp Ph. Jj- Valentini, é

ee October 21, 1880, Mexican paper: an article of es Bit tnt J

Valentini; Biblioprephy of acata aan Cent. Amerie, by A :

Proceedings, As ate wba eg Coronado’s discovery o

Hale; Ma d Maya inscriptions, by pogaes Le

ican Chalchihultes, byr Pa: J. F

Proceedings, October 21, 1881. The seven cities of Cibola, by H. W. Haynes.

Tonei ie 9 26, 1882. Perforated Indian humerus, by H. W. Haynes; Not :

la, by Louis H . Aymé. alen- e

iaia October 21, 1882. The Olmecas and the Toltecas, by Ph. J. J. Va o

ni; aes: implements from Mexico, by F. W. Putnam. ae e

The r by M. Aymé and the following one by Mr. Valen- :

tini, Bae not hitherto been noticed in the NATURALIST. 2 :

scription of Mitla, by Burgoa, is given by Mr. Salisbury in a:

English translation, and M. Aymé completes the desc ae

seven cities, me T E oe

Plongeon Two Mex

vein of going cautiously or not at all. The author i

guine about the ai cae of the Maya.

author that he has discovered genuine and conoi evidenc”

of ee Ya between these Hittites ang the Basques, 2-

nvinced

; which pe )

bition testify, I give to the characters of Hamath, istice of he

Dan

is)

ia)

| Pa

(g)

; "U

amet e

Eer

Pai

process v was verified by comparisons with the Corean i k rte

1883. ] Microscopy. 1089

this key Professor Campbell proceeds to read the inscriptions.

It is too soon to say a word about the merit of this work, an

we shall wait with considerable impatience for the volume, ex-

plaining more thoroughly the method.

MICROSCOPY.'

TuHoma’s SLIDING MicroToME, IMBEDDING METHODS ( Continued

Jrom p. 998) —Professor Thoma adds to his description of his

microtome some remarks on the imbedding methods more gen-

erally used. The method of treating tissues with gum arabic,

first brought into use by Rindfleisch and Ranvier, is now very

generally known and practiced. The same may be said of the

method of cutting sections between two pieces of elder pith or

hardened liver, &c. These in certain conditions are very useful

x and covered with the fluid. The preparation cannot, how-

ever, be immersed directly in alcohol for the purpose of harden-

ing. It must be first hardened by alcohol steam, taking care

Never to raise the temperature of the steam above 30° C. For

md purpose Professor Thoma uses a simple apparatus represented

n Fig. 6,

A shallow water-bath, a, stands on an iron tripod, 666, and is

heated by a small flame, c. The water- =h

bath is covered by athin plate, dd. Upon

is plate is a small glass vessel, e, filled

with common alcohol and covered with

a perforated disk of tin, ff On this

eik are placed the paper boxes, gg,

containing the specimens and the imbed-

Ing fluid. The latter and the alcohol

vessel are again separated from the ex-

ternal air by a glass cover, Æ% This

es, slightly heated, will harden / i ;

= imbedding masses within a few days, +6 Appere heir

atter which time they are removed and dening egg-emulsion.

Subsequently fully hardened in a bottle

ins

Edited by Dr, C. O. Wutrman, Newton Highlands, Mass.

1090 -General Notes. [ October,

containing ordinary alcohol. The latter process determines the

degree of consistence of the imbedding mass. It can be made

extremely hard by repeated use of strong alcohol. After a few

trials it will be easy to find the convenient degree of consistence

for each specimen.

If the temperature of the alcohol steam is more elevated, it

will be found that the imbedding mass, instead of shrinking, will

appear to increase in volume, innumerable air-bubbles developing

in the emulsion. This can be easily avoided by using lower tem-

peratures. Another danger, however, exists in the holes which

the pins make in the walls of the paper boxes. The emulsion,

before hardening, is so very liquid that it will pass through the

smallest opening ; this renders it necessary not to withdraw any

of the pins from the sides of the paper box, and to use boxes

without any openings. It will be found that this mass adapts

itself perfectly to all surfaces of the specimens without pene

trating into their interior structure, and that it can be cut admi-

rably at all thicknesses down to 0.003™™ Another very agree-

able quality results from the fact that the newly prepared emul-

sion will adapt itself readily to hardened pieces. This enables

us to spread out fine membranes on pieces of the hardened im- :

bedding mass, and subsequently to imbed both in the way just

described. ;

After this praise of the egg-emulsion, it will be just to eae |

y which is occasionally disagreeable. It cannot ao

easily detached from the sections, and we have no means of dis

solving it in media which do not injure the objects. The mass

also colors in all the staining fluids generally used, and therefore -

The latter inconve

nience should in all cases be avoided by coloring the T a

in toto before imbedding. For this purpose the fluids of Gret

bly, a solution of so-called ce//oidin. If this substance cant s |

general be cut to such extreme delicacy as the album!

just described, it has a great advantage in being extremely pel

cid. The original communication of the last-nam

ve er 7

1 Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xvi (1879), p. 465-

2 Arch, f. Anat. u. Physiol. (Anat. Abtheil,), 1882,

1883. ] Microscopy. 109I

fluid consists of a concentrated solution of celloidin in a mixture

of equal parts of absolute alcohol and ether. The specimen is

soaked successively in absolute alcohol and ether, and in the im-

bedding fluid. This requires at least several days. After this

time the imbedding proper may be undertaken, and for this we

have the choice of two methods.

The even surface of a cork is covered with a thick solution o

celloidin, so as to form, by evaporation, a strong collodion mem-

decker gives for imbedding in paper boxes. As other observers

have remarked, his method frequently gives rise to a great num-

moistened with a drop of ether. This moist surface is adapt

E the stratum of liquid celloidin on the cork, and exposed for a

di Minutes to the open air. After this the whole 1s placed in

ilute alcohol, which in a few hours will unite the imbedding-

mass solidly with the cork.

1092 General Notes. [October,

In a great number of cases it may be regarded as a

advantage of the celloidin that it penetrates the tissues tho-

roughly and yet remains pellucid, so as to be more or less invisi-

ble in the specimen. This quality can be made use of in another

direction for the purpose of soaking specimens which are too

brittle to be cut after hardening alone, We may make use of cel-

loidin in a similar way to the gum arabic mentioned above.

minute normal and pathological anatomy of the lung in particu-

lar will derive great advantage from such a proceeding. Indeed,

we are not able to get a perfect idea of the changes produced by

pneumonia if we do not by this method or by the following (with

paraffine) prevent the loss of a great part of the exuded su

stances which in this disease lie loose in the alveolar cavities

The study also of micro-organisms in the lung will derive great

benefit from the celloidin method, and it will be very welcome to

many to know that the tissues imbedded in celloidin may be

stained with the different fluids, ammonium-carmine, alum-cat-

mine, borax-carmine, hematoxylin, analine colors and various

others. The reaction of acids and alkalies, particularly acetic

acid and solution of potash is, moreover, not interfered with.

And further, we are able to color the object before imbedding

with all staining fluids which are not soluble, or only little soluble,

in alcohol and ether.

After staining and cutting the sections may be mountes =

glycerine and various other fluids. Mounting in Canada noe

requires, however, some precautions on account of the ee

character of the celloidin. Absolute alcohol and oli of r

should be avoided and replaced by alcohol of ninety-six pef effet:

and by oleum origani. This is, at least the advice of Schi a

decker and Professor Thoma has had no occasion to be dissa a

fied with the result. é another

The efforts of Bütschli and Blochmann’ have gm ae tt

. we . 2 . in i ; de ji

splendid-imbedding mass? paraffine dissolved stechii Was

ecimens down ©

0.002™™ This method seems particularly ada re ats

be recommended. The long-known ammonium

occasionally useful. :

Dr. M. Schulgin} in order to obviate the incon

the same portion of the knife has always to be used,

1 Biol. Centralbl., 1 (1881), pp. 591-2, See this journal, H (18623 i

* The credit of introducing this mass belongs to Dr. Giesbrecht.

*Zool. Anzeig., vI (1883), p. 21.

venience that

has hada

1883. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1093

knife of a somewhat different construction made (but which he

does not explain). The advantage of this is that it can be move

along its whole length, so that different portions can be used for

cutting.

Professor R. Kossmann writes: “ Many to whom the turning

back of the micrometer-screw of the microtome is an annoying

delay, will be thankful to me for pointing out to them that in two

or three seconds it can be turned back its whole length by using

a kind of fiddlebow, such as is used for drilling holes. The loop

of the bow-string (made of strong silk cord, waxed or rosined) is

passed round the smooth neck of the screw, and the bow is

moved alternately to the left with stretched, and to the right with

slackened cord.”— Fourn. Roy. Microscopical Society, itt, 298.

:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— The new antiseptic, boro- glyceride, may furnish us with

another preservative. From an utter absence of smell, taste

(except a slightly sweet one) and innocuous qualities, it has been

Suggested that fresh fish preserved by it may be sent long dis-

tances in good condition. The boro-glyceride should be mixed

with Many times its bulk of warm water, and cloths wet with the

solution should be put in and wrapped around the eviscerated

. This is certainly a good field for experiment.—Scteniijic

and Literary Gossip.

Should divorce be necessary, the shrimp must also be returned;

ut not being always obtainable, there is room enough for a good

African quarrel among the natives.” — Scientific and Literary

:0:

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

1094 Proceedings of Scientific Societies, [October,

the United States Geological Survey, and that he had kindly

tion, that science belongs to no one country, but is cosmopoui

works between the different countries; that the pre

ment of allowing colleges only to import scientifi

free is not comprehensive enough, and that the sam

ought to be extended to students also; that the present

foreign influence to bring it up to the modern standard; |

there are published in the United States no abst

text-books nor any devoted to pure science, none 1

guages; that some action should be taken on the

that the committee was not yet prepared to suggest

action should be. For further consideration of this SU»

i : mmittee 0!

association, including the president, to present the ma

gress, and recommended as this committee, Professor Row t

Gen. Cox, Maj. Powell and Professors Young an g

power to add to their number. : Po!

The discussion of this report was introduced by Maj. ssicised

who moved that the clause be stricken out which cne-

American scientific text-books. He said that on 4

ie Ee ee

1883.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1095

scientific subjects, such as geology, botany and mathematics, there

were text-books by American authors which were equal to any

foreign works, and he thought the terms of the report too sweep-

ing. He insisted that in many departments of science there were

excellent American text-books. [ Applause.

Professor Mendenhall—lI think that the statement of the report

is true, except in exceptional cases. I take it that the report does

not mean to cover these cases. I approve of the statement.

Maj. Powell—In several departments of a science I am ac-

quainted with the American text-books are best. There are

Dana’s Geology and the Geology of Le Conte of California, and

Gray's Botany, which, in my judgment, are unequaled; and so I

might name many other good text-books. I have looked into

this matter the more, perhaps, because I am a member of a com-

mittee on the introduction of science into the public schools, and

my experience teaches me that these works which I have men-

tioned are not to be equaled elsewhere. [Applause.]

Professor Rowland—I agree with the statement of the commit-

tee as far as it relates to my own department of physics, and also to

chemistry and mathematics. The statement in these cases is en-

tirely true. We can only raise the standard of American schol-

arship in these departments by the introduction of foreign works.

I know that some text-books on physics in American colleges

are fifty years old. As a matter of policy it may be well to

a out the statement, but as a matter of fact the statement is

Tue.

Gen. Cox suggested that the only matter reported for action

by the committee was on the appointment of a committee to

memorialize Congress, and that this discussion was not germain

to that question, which was, “ Shall we appoint a committee to

memorialize Congress ?” :

aj. Powell insisted that if the report of the committee was

adopted it would be spread in full on the records as the mind of

Statement, :

Dr. Gustave Heinrichs, of Iowa, moved as an amendment that

is pretty steep.” [Laughter.]

APERA moved as a substitute that the recommendation of

$ committee be adopted, and the committee continued.

member of the standing committee said that in the situation

1096 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [October,

mendation should be confined to the subject of text-books for the

present. If the association could carry that point, it would then

feel encouraged to agitate for free importations of instruments,

or the present it was thought best to avoid the danger of polit-

ical dispute. He moved to lay Dr. Heinrich’s motion on the

table. ;

Maj. Powell asked if this would not carry the whole question

to the table.

The president ruled in the negative, and the motion was car-

ried, as was also Gen. Cox’s substitute.

After the reading in general session of an address on “The

Evidence for Evolution found in the history of the extinct Mam-

malia,” by Professor Cope, the association adjourned to meet it

Philadelphia i in 1884, at a date to correspond with the Montreal

meeting of the British Association. |

The following list of officers for the Philadelphia meeting, pre

sented by the standing committee, was approved by the associa-

tion

A le P. Lesley, Philadelphia, Pa.

General secretary—Dr. Alfred Springer, Cincinnati, O.

Assistant general secretary—E. S. Holden, Madison, Wis.

Treasurer—William Lilly, Mauch Chunk, Pa. E

Section fianprerident, H. T. Eddy, Cincinnati ; secretary, C

W. Hough, Chica

Section TOE iA John Trowbridge, Cambria |

vice-president, N. D. C. Hodges, Salem, Mas is

Section C—President, John W. Langley, ‘Ann Arbor, ;

vice- Brseidest Robert B. Warden, North Bend, sere

ction D—President, R. H. Thurston, Hoboken, N. J.;

ir B. Webb, Ithaca, D Y.

Section E—President, N. H. Winchell, Minneapolis; secretary,

Eugene A. Smith, Tuscaloosa, la.

Section F—President, E. D. Cope, Philadelphia; secretary,

E. Bessey, Ames, Ia. w

Section G—President, D. J. Wormley, Philadelphia, £a, 7

retary, H. Hitchcock, New York. N

Section H—President, E, S. Morse, Salem, Mass. ; 5

. H. Holmes, Washington, D. G: Ca

Section I—President, John Eaton, Washington, D

tary, C. W. Smiley, Washington, D C. i n

The following papers relating to the natural sciences were

Ion E. N:

The comparative strength of Minnesota and New England Granites. r

chell.

On Rhizocarps in the Palæozoic period. J. Daw

On the microscopic structure of the test of fossil Brachiopoda.

Clay pebbles, se an exhibition of specimens from Princetown,

inchell.

On glacial Cafions. W. J. McGee.

mes Hall:

Joe xt

1883.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1097

The life-history of the Niagara river. ate Robins

The singing beach of Manchester, Mass. H. C. and A. A. Juli

The equivalent of the New York Waterlime oe “Eales in a A. S.

Thermal B J. W. Chickerin

On Re aen, i in the Hamilton group of Pp re sete and—

On a fossil Fish from the amino Scie of Aa ~ hea E. i Claypole,

A new Vertebrate i the St. s limeston "Wm McAdam

The“ ‘Continen tal Type,”’ or rR oroli and geology of voitin Rich-

Owe

Tifany.

The earth’s rographic framework ; its seismology and geology. Richard Owen,

ng, Jr.

The Bini: valley in the Ice age, Warren pha

On the ancient oops of North America; its sem character and teachings.

. S New

a of explorations of the Glacial boundary between New Jersey and Illinois.

ight.

On erminal Moraine west of Ohio. T. C. Chamberlin

Relation = the Glacial sat at Cincinnati to the terrace in the Upper Ohio and its

tributaries.

Chances es in he currents of ie i ice of the last Glacial epoch in Eastern Minnesota.

Warren Upham.

The Kame rivers of M G: H- Sto

Evidences from Southern 1 oa England tka the Iceberg theory of the Drift. J.

Animal remains ee te Loess and esl Kimis Wm. McAdams.

On the power of Ice. J. S. N

é eB che talta of Middle Pennsylvania, E. W. Claypole.

The Pre-cambrian rocks of the Alps. T. Sterry Hunt.

The j og earl ” at New Madrid, Mo., in 1811, probably not an earthquake.

On the Sab of ‘Stake island, New York. T. Sterry Hunt.

On the genesis and classification of mineral veins. J. S. Newberry.

Ona me itiba Son the Catskill group of Pennsylvania. E. W. Claypole.

Sanok F.

Psephenus lecontei; on the external anatomy of the larva. D. S. Kellicott.

Parallelism of structure of Maize and Sorghum kernels. E. L. Sturtevant.

areas: Corn. D. P. Penhallow.

on the present condition of the box Sae Vaccinium brachycerum, in

"Pe ee county, Pennsylvania, E. W. Clay

1 of position on seed. E. L. Se

Pemred botany. E. ieee foris nt.

SEE

Ge arenaria ; its changes i in Pisces and prehistoric times. E. S. Morse. n

the structure of the skullin Diclonius mirabilis, a Laramie Dinosaurian.

On ig tituberculate type of superior molar, and the origin of the Quadritubercu-

ac Pharyngeal respiration i in the oo eure Kags spinifer. S. H. Gage.

An abnorma hid +a

Orchid; Hadbern Ly perbori ey.

Origi Sh ae of the Flora of the Central New York Th region W. R. Dudley. .

On icity of Sadbbacia angularis. Miss oe ie Murt

i n um case. E. S.M

i P. Howla :

eG . M. “Gs es A i

supposed ramineæ with cided sheaths. W. J. Beal.

The p Sst poisonous seaweed in the lakes of Minnesota. J. C. Arthur.

ompositz in the natural system. Joseph F. James. _ $c

wa aseline to prevent the loss of alcohol from specimen jars. B. G.

On two pr and S. H. Gage

wo primitive types of Ungulata. E. D. Cope.

1098 Proceedings of Scientific Socteties. [Oct., 1883.

Note on Phytoptide. Herbert Osbor

Note on the potato beetle ee Scien. fly aye we E. W. Claypole.

ster farming in Conne HCG

The Psyllidæ of the United States. V] fos.

Some recent discoveries in reference to Piylloxera. C. V. Riley.

Observations on siege poda. A. Hyatt

Section H.

Indoor games of the Po re E.

The great mounds of Cahokia. Wm. McAdam

Life amon the Monai in the Coriolis missions of Quebec province. Mrs, Er-

Whittles

The upost builders anes ps John Campbe

An abnormal human a stone grave in es F. Wa È

Typical shapes among ie Emblematic mounds. The different aera es exhibited |

b e animal. ie, weet. 5

tal pe BI A of t o Miss ouri river mounds from Omaha to St. Louis; con-

A. Sm f

Metrical standard of the Mound-builders—by the method of even divisors. Chas. =

“sae ei ae a geological standpo oint. Their inyatiar® association with the

. P. West

Osage war cu J. O. Dorsey. ee

deer son anai Mrs. A. C. Flet ; f ¢ 3

e observations on the laws 3 te pasa yi the Gens in Indian society, 4P

ang ee

An ancient village o of the emblematic Mound-builders. Caches guarded nf cigs

ffigies guarding ug et pal sacrificial places not far away.» sS. D

The -m collection at Washi : ason. ;

A new stand for ihoonting skills, yy E E. Chick. F. W. Putn Smith- ae

pave foe or mode signs of verbs in the Iroquois dialects. Mrs. "Eeminnie A. PEA

The correspondence between the prehistoric map of North America and the system

of social development. S. D. Peet.

East. E. S. Mors

hp and

ase. E. S. Morse. i

Game drives amon the Emblematic mounds. S. D. Peet. E

i g to its substitutes. Mrs, Erminnié

mith. . Ree

High ae pima ted wr ancient gen the religious structures co

vil historic time. eet. 7h

Vestiges of glacial man in Comes Minnesota Miss F. E. Babbitt.

A classification of the Sciences. J. W. Powell.

SECTION I. see

carp and its introduction into the a States. C. W. p

higa cars for city traffic. E. T. Cox

Bail p ova Edgar Frisby.

oods. Stephen S. Haight. vat

Improved method of se frat and shade trees for protection again

ts.

Ta tapia of pi i A agriculture by reason of non-agricultural

A new system for the treatment of sewer gas. T. E. Jefferson.

Life insurance and self-insurance. Elizur Wright. Mixter.

increase of the colored population of the United States. C: W. smiley.

e German carp and its introduction into the United States. 5

Seto, a Texan forage plant. Clifford Richardson. Ser

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvu.— NOVEMBER, 1883.—No. 11.

THE PRE-CAMBRIAN ROCKS OF THE ALPS?

BY T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D, F.R.S.

HE writer began by reviewing the history of Alpine geology,

and noticed first that speculative period when the crystalline

rocks of the Alps, including gneisses, hornblendic and micaceous

Schists, euphotides, serpentines, etc., were looked upon as altered

sedimentary strata of Carboniferous or more recent times. He

then traced the steps by which these views have been discarded,

and more and more of the rocks shown to belong to EoZ0ic or

Pre-Cambrian ages. In this connection the labors of von Hauer,

Gerlach, Heim, Favre, Renevier, Lory, Gastaldi and others were

analyzed, and reference was made to the great progress since the

Saj in 1872, published a review of Favre on the geology of the

Ips. i

The sections by Neri, Gerlach and Gastaldi in the Western, and

those of von Hauer in the Eastern Alps were described, arq it

was shown that all these agree in establishing in the crystalline

Tocks four great divisions in ascending order: 1st. The older

Sranitoid gneiss with crystalline limestones, graphite, etc., referred

by Gastaldi to the Laurentian. 2d. The so-called pietre verdi, oF

Sreenstone group, consisting chiefly of dioritic, chloritic, steatiti¢

and epidotic rocks, with euphotides and serpentines, including

~ °° talcose gneisses, limestones and dolomites, and regarded by

Staldi as Huronian. 3d. The so-called recent gneisses of yon

Bas and Gastaldi, interstratified with and passing into granu-

ites and micaceous and hornblendic schists, also with serpentines

and crystalline limestones. 4th. The series of argillites and soft

Blossy Schists with quartzites and detrital sandstones, including

Read at the Minneapolis meeting of Amer. Assoc. Adv. of Science, Aug» 1883

VOL,

XVIL—No. cr, 73

1100 The Pre-Cambrian Rocks of the Alps. (November,

also beds of serpentine with talc, gypsum, karstenite, dolomite

and much crystalline limestone. This fourth series, well seen at

the Mont Cenis tunnel, is still claimed by Lory and some others

as altered trias, but the present writer’s view, put forth in 1872,

that it is, like the preceding groups, of eozoic age, was subse-

quently accepted by Favre, and by Gastaldi, and is now estab-

lished by many observations. To this horizon belong the crys

talline limestones of the Apuan Alps, including the marbles of

Carrara.

The writer next recalls the fact that he, in 1870, insisted upon

the existence of a younger series of gneisses in North America,

alike in the Atlantic States, in Ontario, and to the north-west of

Lake Superior. These, in his address before the American Asso-

ciation for the Advancement of Science in 1871, he farther de-

scribed under the name of the White Mountain series, and sub-

sequently in the same year, called them Montalban. These rocks

were then declared to be younger than the Huronian, and to

overlie it, though in the absence of this latter it was pointed out

that in Ontario and in Newfoundland the Montalban reposes u-

conformably upon the Laurentian. When these newer gneiss

and mica-schists were first described in 1870, there was included

with them an overlying group of argillites, quartzites and crys

talline limestones, and for the whole the name of Terranovan ag

suggested provisionally ; but in defining in the following year the

White Mountain series, this upper group was omitted, and. ia

subsequently referred to the Taconian series, the Lower Taconic

of Emmons, and the so-called altered Primal and Auroral of H.

D. Rogers, in Eastern Pennsylvania. T

The writer next described his own observations in the Alps :

and the Apennines in 1881. He affirms the correctness of aa ,

taldi in referring the groups one and two to Laurentian #

Huronian, finds the third, or the younger gneiss and mica-s¢

group of the Alps, indistinguishable from the Moita ee |

regards the fourth as the representative of the American i

nian. It was maintained by Gastaldi that these pre- ‘orthes® a

groups of the Alps underlie directly the newer rocks of N l a :

and Central Italy, forming the skeleton of the apeiti aae :

pearing in Calabria, and moreover protruding in various OY a

in Liguria, Tuscany and elsewhere. The serpentines, euph m

and other resisting rocks thus exposed have been regarded ee)

1883.] The Pre-Cambrian Rocks of the Alps. 1101

eruptive masses of Triassic and Eocene time. The writer, how-

ever, holds with Gastaldi that they are indigenous rocks of pre-

Cambrian age exposed by geological accidents.

The uncrystalline rocks of the mainland of Italy are chiefly

Cenozoic or Mesozoic, and the only Paleozoic strata known are

Carboniferous, the organic forms of the limestones of Chaberton

having been shown to be Triassic. Triassic, Liassic, Cretaceous,

Eocene and Miocene strata are found in different localities resting

on the various pre-Cambrian groups. In the Island of Sardinia,

however, all these are overlaid by a great body of uncrystalline

lower Paleozoic rocks in which the late studies of Bornemann

and Meneghini have made known the existence of a lower Cam-

brian fauna, including Paradoxides, Conocephalites and Archeo-

cyathus, succeeded by an abundant fauna of Upper Cambrian or

Ordovian age. In the Island of Elba, according to Lotti, rocks

containing the latter fauna repose directly upon the crystalline

schists with serpentines. ,

The existence of the younger or Montalban gneiss in Sweden,

and in the Harz and the Erzgebirge was noticed, and to it were

referred the Hercynian gneisses and mica-schists of Gümbel.

The presence both in Sweden and in Saxony of conglomerates, as

described by Hummel, and by Sauer, wherein pebbles of the older

gneiss are enclosed in beds of the younger series, was discussed,

and the direct unconformable superposition of the latter upon the

older gneiss, in the absence of the Huronian, was considered;

evidences of the same relations being adduced from the Alps.

e gneisses of the St. Gothard, as seen on the Italian slope,

were also referred to the newer series, and the important studies

of Stapff, in this connection, were discussed. It was declared that

the views put forth by the author in 1870-71 on the relations and

Succession of the crystalline stratified rocks in North America,

and then extended by him to Europe, have been fully confirmed

y the labors of a great many European geologists, as already

shown. Those of Hicks, Hughes, Bonney, Callaway, Lapworth

and others in the pre-Cambrian rocks of the British islands were

cited in support of these conclusions. It was said that whatever

may have been the conditions under which these vast series of

“ystalline stratified rocks were deposited, there is evidence 1n the

Similarity of their mineralogical and geognostical relations of a

Temarkable uniformity over widely separated regions of the

1102 The Achenial Hairs of Townsendia. [November,

earth’s surface, as well as of long intervals of time, marked by

great foldings and disturbance, and by vast and wide-spread ero-

sion of the successive series of rocks.

In conclusion, the writer took occasion to call attention to the

important labors of the present school of Italian geologists, and

their great zeal, skill and disinterested service, as shown in the

memoirs of the R. Academia dei Lincei, and in the work of the

Royal Geological Commission, including the special studies,

maps and memoirs prepared by it for the International Geologi-

cal Congress of Bologna in 1881. The new Geological Society

of Italy, founded at the same date, gives promise of a brilliant

future, and has already published many important memoirs.

:0:

THE ACHENIAL HAIRS OF TOWNSENDIA.

BY PROFESSOR G. MACLOSKIE.

T genus Townsendia of Hooker, belonging to the Asteroid

Compositæ, includes about seventeen species, inhabitants of

the Rocky Mountain region from New Mexico and Colorado to

Eastern California. They are remarkable for the prostrate, hoary

habit of most of the species, the linear or spathulate leaves beng

crowded in rosettes around the rather large flower-heads; ,

hemispherical or broad campanulate involucre consisting of a f"

series of imbricating lanceolate bracts with scarious lacerate p

gins; the plane receptacle; the anthers obtuse at the wer

flattened branches and lanceolate appendages of the styles of ;

disk-flowers; and most of all for the pappus of the disk-flowe

consisting of many (fifteen to thirty) stout bristles, thic

downwards, unequal and scabrid or barbellate. One sr a

eximia) has the pappus consisting of two chaff-like bristles "n

from a ring of coalescing scales; and in several species e 2

pus of the ray-flowers is shorter than in the disk, or o <

whole or in part of scales. T. wilcoxiana has the papp"$ 5 y

long and fine upwards, but its bristles are thickened or be et

low; and in T, spathulata the pappus-bristles are somewhat

der, but their bases are thickened and coalescing into a file

that all fall off together. The achenes are flattened w

angles thickened ; sometimes those of the ray-

rous; they are narrow-obovate and more or less pud®"

in T. eximia, where they are broad-ovate and glabrous

1883.] The Achenial Hairs of Townsendia, 1103

In Professor Asa Gray’s synopsis of the species of this difficult

genus,’ the species are arranged in two sections, according to the

size of the flower-heads and the more or less decided acumina-

tion of the involucral bracts; and for sub-sections most use is

made of the characters of the achenial hairs. In some of the

species the hairs covering the fruit are described as acute or 1-2

dentate, or again as 2—3 cleft or bracted; and ina large sub-sec-

tion (including ten out of the seventeen species) the distinguish-

ing character is “ achenial hairs glochidiate-capitellate, i. e., briefly

bidentate at the apex, the teeth obtuse, recurved and sub-glandu-

lar (?),” whilst an additional species of a preceding section is

shown to have similar hairs. This peculiarity of the hairs is

referred to in Torrey and Gray's Flora of North America as to

T. sericea (“hairs minutely capitate ”), but not as to any of the

other species. In Vol. vr of Wheeler’s Survey it seems to be in-

dicated in the plate of Z. Rothrockii.

In a former paper? I described and figured the curiously hooked

hairs of the fruit of Z. grandiflora, and explained them as a spe-

cial case of the duplex hairs which I had found to be characteris-

tic of the Asteroidee and of most of the other tribes of the

Composite. Professor Gray kindly suggested that I ought to

extend my examination to all the species of Townsendia, and for

this Purpose he generously furnished me with materials from the

Harvard collections. I have also to acknowledge additional spe-

cimens kindly furnished by Professor Vasey, of the Agricultural

Department at Washington. sae

My first step was to test the glabrous achenes of T. eximia, as

Previous experience had shown that the glabrous species of gen-

era belonging to what I may term the duplex tribes, themselves

some duplex hairs, few in number or reduced in size, but

Sufficient to establish their affinity. It was consequently no surprise

to observe in the first shred examined from the achenial wall of

L eximia, several stout duplex hairs (each .23™™ by 0.27 mm) with

abruptly divaricating and slightly recurving tips, a decided case

Athe glochidiate-capitellate ” pattern. These hairs are so

parse as not to disturb the specific qualification of “glabrous

achenes ;” but they justify its reference to this genus, notwith-

Standing its chaffy pappus, and suggest that it (along with T.

„Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., Vol. xvr, p. 82 (1880).

On the Achenial Hairs of Composite, AMERICAN NATURALIST, Jan. 1883.

bei

UTE yS

Reet

Nein

1104 The Achenial Hairs of Townsendia. (November,

grandiflora) may be well shifted into closer proximity with the

glochidiate sub-section.

The next step was to examine the species represented as having

simple hairs. I was prepared for such, because in other genera I

have sometimes found the simple (as also the multicellular) hairs

of the perianth invading the achenial surface so as to become in:

termingled with the duplex hairs. But in Townsendia no such

phenomenon has as yet presented itself to my view. Although

quasi-simple hairs abound on the achenes of some of the species,

they are all really duplex. For descriptive purposes the term

“simple” may perhaps be retained ; but they are only apparently

such. The semi-hairs sometimes grow finer upwards, ending in

a straight point; the companion semi-hair will then be shorter,

with its point hiding in the wall of the longer one, or with th

point slightly or even abruptly diverging; and in. these canes

third division may be sometimes seen nearer the base, thus giving

variously the aspect of hair simple, or two-, or even three-toothed;

in such cases the semi-tubes of the composite hairs are unequal; 4

third tooth sometimes arises from an extra process on a sem

hair. In T. florifer, where the point of one semi-hair was fre

quently hid behind the other, by rolling it under the cover glass

we could readily bring it into view. Occasional triplicity of these

hairs accords with what occurs in other genera, and is caused by 4

one of the basal cells growing up beside the semi-hair which *

bears ; we have observed it in some species of Townsendia We

so described in the Synopsis (7: Parryi, T. wilcoxiana, sekat

it may perhaps be expected as an occasional variation, a 3

all the non-glochidiate species. z

The “glochidiate-capitellate ” character is merely incidental ®

the gerteral binary structure of the hair. When the gie

are of equal dimensións throughout, and when they a x p

same level before they abruptly diverge, then the diverging Ho

tremities spread out and recurve like the two flukes of an care a

and in one species (T. wi/coxiana) the whole duplex hair pe

long and slender, and its long extremities are circinately hey a

The average dimensions of the hairs in the other species g a

to .35™™ long, by .022™" in breadth. Each of them 15 5 sae í :

tube, like the two barrels of a fowling-piece. Ina wee he.

T. Rothrockii I was able to chase air-bubbles up and ach otber.

tubules, those in adjoining tubes being indepen dent of ea o

ASW

1883. ] The Achenial Hairs of Townsendia. 1105

and to expel the bubbles at the fracture. On placing unbroken

hairs in fluid, one may observe the fluid penetrating the wall and

very quickly displacing the enclosed air.

The quasi-glandular appearance of the diverging and recurving

extremities of these hairs in some of the species, may be a case

of sphacelation, the delicate apex. contracting as it withers, and

its contents becoming discolored. It is not impossible, however,

that the basal cell of the upper semi-hair (the one next the apex

of the achene) is a glandular sac; as it appears to become gorged

with fluid, and so to erect the hair which swings on the basal cell

of the lower semi-tube as on a hinge.

Many of the hairs of T. spathulata, and sometimes those of other

glochidiate species, have one of the semi-hairs ending sooner than

its comrade, sometimes just at the place for diverging. In this

way we get a uni-glochidiate condition (like an anchor with only

one fluke).

The examination of T. Watsoni started a difficulty which I have

not been able to solve. Gray describes its achenial hairs as

“short, obtuse, or having 2-3 obtuse apical teeth ;” I find them in

the specimens under examination to be-.32 to .34™ long (with a

few short ones intermingled), the semi-tubes not diverging, some-

what swollen at the extremity, occasionally one of the semi-tubes

outgrowing its comrade and then slightly bending outwards. I

do not find any of them lobed or toothed or triple (an extra tooth

may grow on one of the semi-hairs). But it ought to be remem-

bered that the entire condition may be in order of growth the

forerunner of the divided condition; this I have seen to be the

-case in other genera. The same explanation may apply to 7.

condensata, whose achenial hairs in the specimen before me are

obtuse, one of the semi-hairs slightly. exceeding the other ; per-

haps they divide at a later stage.

_ With these reservations and explanations the following analysis

IS Submitted as an attempt to bring together all the glochidiate-

Capitellate Species, and to marshal the other species around them.

4. wilcoxiana may get a sub-section for itself, being well charac-

terized by its very long pappus (11™™ the average of the other

Species being 6mm) and its long and. delicate duplex-hairs with

their Circinately rolled tips. 7. Watsoni seems, by its achenial

airs, to come near T. condensata, but other characters prev Se

itir approximation. 7. condensata has a number of slender

1106 The Achenial Hairs of Townsendia. [ November,

capillary filaments intermingled with the stout pappus-bristles,

Three species T. Fendleri, T. mexicana and T. Watsoni have very

short achenes. For the other characters used in drawing out the

following analysis, I am indebted almost exclusively to Gray's

synopsis of the genus.

SPECIES OF TOWNSENDIA, HOOK.

A. sop: Ogee decidedly acuminate ; head large.

wooly, perennial, with soft linear involucral-bracts, Pappus of about

fee bristles, with capillary men interposed. aneen hairs obtuse,

` sometimes slightly and unequally toothed densata.

é. Caulescent annuals or biennials with ET pubescence, perry

olate involucral-bracts.

* Pappus of disk plurisetose; achenes narrow-obov

Erect; leaves spathulate, achene pubescent ti acute or

1-a ote

Parryi.

hai

báin leaves narrow, ray-pappus of short scales; vce has

glochidiate. . Tigre

** Pappus of 2 subulate, chaff-like bristles rising from a crown wn of short

scales; achenes broad-obovate, glabrous, but with a few stout sais y

airs.

B. Involucral-bracts slightly or not acuminate; heads smaller or nartowel

ê apoa airs glochidiate, their tips usually recurving. !

pad about 3 inch broad, sessile. Leaves breed eee gh

Plants silky or strigulos

thulate, contol

Mier atthe leaves linear or ators spa

the head; involucral bracts mostly qs

Depressed sub- sta, leaves sant yo (% = p ava

the hemispherical head; involucral-bracts mostly obtuse.

e ispheri ead; inv a =

Depressed caulescent or sub-caulescent; leaves narrow

linear, the upper ones supporting the head ; wages :

somewhat obtuse; pappus of ray much shorter than ve pres

wool

*** Heads about 1% inch broad, sessile; leaves pope: Saab

-bristl lesci base into a ring, and falling 2

pappus-bristles coalescing at base into a ring, A Td pist

*#x* Heads & inch broad, hemispherical, usually er foe

lucral-bracts broad-lanceolate, slightly acute.

+ Leaves and involucre glabrous, the leaves thickish, spath

sine slightly exceeding the pedun ncle.

tf Fine cence; ray-pappus a crown of short sles

setze being often added.

t Leaves linear ; involucral-bracts 3- -seriate, unequal, ts

short (214mm), ots

or Head ah eo ke -\% inch broad, usually sessile.

Leaves spathulate below, upper ones linear.

Involucral-bracts 2-seriate, rather broad, somew gi

orter.

1883.] The Hibernacula of Herbs. 1107

Involucral-bracts 2-seriate, equal, obtuse; achene small Gk),

. T, mexicana,

d. Achenial hairs long, slender; their branches long and circinately rolled

downwards; heads 3 inch broad; pappus of very long bristles (ir),

thickening at base; plant depressed, acaulescent, glabrous.

leaves narrow-spathulate. . T. Watsoni.

f- Achenial hairs simple or bifid, the lobes acute; heads mid-sized, peduncle

mostly naked.

Leaves cauline, linear, or the lowest sub-subspathulate, acute or acuminate ;

involucral-bracts linear-lanceolate, 16. T. florifer.

Leaves radical, spathulate, their limb mostly broad and short; heads on

short scapes; involucral bracts somewhat broad-lanceolate.

17. T, scapigera.

THE HIBERNACULA OF HERBS.

Jeme

BY AUG. F. FOERSTE.

F the fall of the year, as the weather grows colder, the produc-

tion of the normal leaves of trees is suddenly checked. They

wither and fall off. Instead of them we find a close, compact

cluster of scales, and within these a number of young leaves and

sometimes flower-buds. These scales are designed to protect the

young leaves and flowers from the cold during winter; they are

therefore called the hibernacula or winter quarters of the tender

Parts. Towards. spring the growth of the inclosed leaves and

buds is very rapid, so as to burst open their coverings and allow a

Speedy development of the floral organs. Hence most trees pos-

sessing scaly buds flower early in the spring of the year.

t may not be as well known, however, that it is not at all un-

common for the earlier flowering, perennial herbs to possess hiber-

nacula, or winter buds, containing the flowers of the following

year; and that many of them owe the power of early developing

their flowers to this fact. On the study of a great variety of

belonging to all classes of flowering plants, during the win-

ter months, it became evident that such cases were by no means

Tare. Such a study may reveal also many other interesting facts

as the following pages will show.

‘rennial herbs, on the approach of winter, die down to the

of the ground. The stem still remaining beneath the

“arth is called the subterranean stem, and furnishes the buds from

1108 The Eibernacula of Heros. [November,

which the next year’s growth is developed. Thesé butds may be

either terminal or axillary. If they be axillary the terminal bud

will not grow up into a flowering stalk, but will continue its

growth beneath the surface of the earth; only the axillary buds

along the stem will form the flowering branches from year to

year. The result will be that the entire subterranean stem, which

remains after the decay of the aerial stems on approach of winter,

will have been the product of the single evolving terminal bud.

Such a stem is called a monopodium.

Claytonia virginica L., has a Hikietria.catelén composed of the

dilated bases of petioles, which in early spring give rise to linear-

lanceolate blades. Enclosed by the bases of the petioles during

winter are the diminutive racemes

which in spring elongate, show

two opposite leaves. toward their

base, and stand in the axils of

- the now fully developed single

leaves. The flowering b

are axillary and the growth Is

monopodial. In early sprig

several specimens were found in

the frozen earth which had al

ready begun growth.

On a do these plants ie

during the time they are

in the frozen ground and sil

— Claytonia virginica. a, plant ident!

rsist in growing?

tym A pnt in Hern s» Jent persist im @TOWREE TUE

undeveloped leaf. ita a tissues of

year before within sal

the corm-like root. The rootlets are extremely few and

and are generally arranged in dots on one great vertical

about the so-called corm, When the nourishment has beet. a

drawn for the maturing of the plant, these little roots ak T

up the store of food for next year's growth, and gee Í

takes them all the year to do this. By autumn another 9 bt

formed, which depends for its food not on the little rootlets, b"

on the store of food which they have accumulated.

Many other plants which have access to similar a

food, grow during seasons when the earth certainly cannot

1883.] The Hibernacula of Herbs. 1109

tum Torr. & Gr., Cardamine rhomboidea DC., and Erigenia bulbosa

Nutt., may be readily discerned beneath the fallen autumn leaves

during the last days of January ; and all of these have resource

to food secured the previous year.

Trillium sessile S., is also a monopodium. The hibernaculum

in this case is very highly developed, and encloses not only the

perfect plantlet of the following year, with leaves, sepals, stamens

and ovary, but also a little convex bud, from which the aerial

stem two years hence is to develop. In the first week of Febru-

ary a plant hewn from the frozen ground, three inches beneath its

surface, showed the leaves already protruding from the hibernacu-

lum. Slowly this growth continues, perhaps only on warm days,

until its proper season, April, arrives. The entire plant is then

only an enlargement of the miniature already extant in autumn.

Uvularia grandiflora Smith, another of the Liliacez, has linear,

oblong winter buds, which contain the aerial stems with their

branches, the leaves and the terminal flowers all in a state of high

development. They certainly contain a greater mass of detail than

any other known hibernacula of herbs.

The winter-bud of Asarum canadense. L., is very simple in struc-

ture, containing two leaves and a flower, enveloped by the loose

scales, or specialized ‘leaf-blades.

Anemone hepatica L., has a monopodial stem which produces

no aerial branches; on this account the plant is said to be stem-

less, e bud consists of three small scales and three to four

larger ones, the latter subtending each one flower bud. Within

are seen three to four poorly developed leaves, which are very

hairy,

Symplocarpus fætidus Salisb., resembles the Anemone in having

no aerial branches. A number of scales, showing by their varia-

tions that they are specialized petioles, are followed by a large

number of leaves. The inner scales alone bear flowering spathes

capable of development. However, almost all the earlier leaves

contain in their axils abortive spathes, pointing to a probable sum-

mer flowering ancestor which could utilize them all. Both the

Anemone and Symplocarpus have their flower buds highly de-

veloped, and being placed in the lower axils separate from the

leaves, they receive the first nourishment and hence appear before

the leaves. It is not unusual to find flowers in the first half of

tiar y which have mistaken the warmth of a few days for

IIIO The Hibernacula of Herbs. [ November,

Arisema triphyllum Torr., was observed by Mr. W. B. Werth-

ner, who has taken great interest in the study of hibernacula, |

: : nd

Fic. 2.—Arisema triphyllum ; top of bud two inches below surface of grot

in February,

quote his observation in the lines following :

“The corm has several lateral buds, and is ¢

overed with @

= pel

s covering

the

eh ,

Fic. 3.—Arisema base of the fiower stalk is seen |

triphyllum ; flower ’ h.”1

bud with convolute sieona hore rj peen ; `< another plant whi

spathe, and bud for Sanguinea canadènsis L., 1S à

ernaculue —

next year’s growth. contains the flower bud in the hibe Z -

‘ : be co

1 The scales composing the hibernaculum of the Indian turnip Arisema 004 :

as the modified sheathing petioles of leaves. The winter uds 0 f Cinci we

of a species of Trillium were discovered by Mr. A. P. Morgan, O -

communicated the fact to me,—A. F. F.

Sein

E E

1883.] The Hibernacula of Herbs. III

formed in the autumn. The specimens examined in the beginning

of February had already commenced growing in spite of the

frozen condition of the soil. The only way of insuring the con-

dition of a hibernaculum before

growth is to collect the herb in

October or November.

The winter buds of Dicentra

cucullaria DC., are surrounded

by the enlarged bases of last

year’s petioles and by numerous

small granules disposed on

branches which often terminate

ina leafbud. This would indi-

cate that the granules are also

bases of petioles which were ar-

rested in their development early

in life and specialized for the pur-

4.—Sanguinaria canadensis; aâ,

Be : FIG. 4. j

pose of r etaining the food which hibernaculum ; 4, ¢, d, leaves enwrapping

shall permit the plant to grow flower bud after removal of the scales

while the soil is still frozen. The hibernaculum contains the

entire plant in a high state of development, forming a pretty sight

even at this stage of growth.

Fic, 5.—Dicentra cucullaria ; a, tuberiferous bulb with hibernaculum (scaly

Ed >

bud); 6, ¢, d, two leaves and raceme of flower buds after removal of the scales

Earlier in this paper the formation of monopodial stems was

described, In conclusion it may be well to note the formation of

its Opposite, the sympodial stem, or sympodium.

In certain plants, after the stem is of sufficient age to produce

flowers, this office is undertaken by the terminal bud, which de-

velops into an aerial stem for this purpose. When autumn

arrives this decays, and it is evident that the continuance of

Srowth must depend upon the development of the axillary buds.

ext season these buds flower and their terminal parts are also

1112 The Hair-Sac Mite of the Pig. (November,

xilled down to the surface of the ground. Here again growth

becomes restricted to the axillary buds on these axillary branches.

This continues from year to year, so that one branch is continu-

ally being placed upon the other, and each branch becomes

limited to one year’s growth. And when the result is an appa- .

rently continuous stem it is called a sympodium. Polygonatum

giganteum has a sympodium. The stem of /effersonia diphylla

Pers., is the product of the same sympodial development. 1

hibernaculum consists of a number of scales followed by a num-

ber of leaves, in the center of which, terminating the stem, is the

flower-bud. This alabastrum is so highly developed as to have

the complete advantage of the leaves, insuring its appearance and

anthesis before the leaves have received sufficient nourishment to

force their way to the air. In this way a similar result is pro

duced to that noted in Anemone and Symplocarpus, where the

placing of buds in axils beneath the leaf-bearing internodes,

causes a like appearance of flowers before leaves. ee

Summary.—The list of plants has now been sufficiently &

tended to note the principal characters of hibernacula among

perennial herbs. a

The winter-buds of herbs consist of scales which owe their or-

gin to different parts of leaves (blades, petioles)" as in trees. 5

never attain the indurated character nor the resinous properties í

scales in arboreal vegetation, but like them are sufficiently aS

tive to enclose the leaves and flowers of the following year *

preserve them from the effects of a sudden change of WA

Unlike the hibernacula of trees, the inclosed parts begin dow

early in winter, and often break the bounds of their enclosure ie :

develop and push their way up through the frozen soil. ka by u

enabled to do this by the supplies of nourishment furn a

subterranean reservoirs in the shape of thickened stems a R i

the next season, is by no means rare. | =

:0:—

THE HAIR-SAC MITE OF THE PIG.

ABSTRACT BY PROF. R. KAMAN — ae jolie

N view of the discovery of the hair-sac mite (Dem p3 papel,

lorum) in the pig in America, a synopsis of Dr. Csokors F

may be of interest. e w.

i The scales which envelop the sympodially arranged bud ca a

fatum are evidently dilated stipules.

1883.] The Hair-Sac Mite of the Fig. 1113

After discussing the occurrence of hair-sac mites in man, the

dog, the cat, the Surinam bat, and in the Meibomian glands of

sheep,’ he considers the question of the specific identity of the

parasites in question, and especially the possibility of transference

from one species of animal to another. He gives a synopsis of

the various experiments which have been made to determine this

point. Gruby succeeded in infecting a dog with the Demodex of

man, and Ziirn relates a case in which a veterinary surgeon, a

coachman and his wife, who had the care of a dog suffering from

hes I Fig. 2. Fig. 3.

D. phylloides ; mare ventral aspect—the sma all fissure near the front of t

ventral i. of Di abdomen is the an aei in oi this two folds represent the

Penis, gos 2.—Female, Re aspect othe me toa an egg undergoing

parais n3 ira al and anal fissure behind the Fic. 3.— Section of

mn of vig. * ith sebaceous gland fillea with mites; ‘gin inflammation

_ Demodex-mange, had their hands and feet soon covered with

` Pustules į in which hair-sac mites were present.

~ On the other hand Rivolta endeavored, without success, to in-

fect One dog from another, and Mortemucci failed to transfer the |

Mites from one part of an affected dog’s skin to another.

Again, doubtful results are recorded by Friedberger and Weiss.

It is not infrequent to see dogs perfectly free from the skin dis-

ee living in the same kennel with affected animals, a circum-

Stance which points to the conclusion that the conditions which

vor contagion are often absent.

io tame

III4 The Hair-Sac Mite of the Pig. [ November,

In no animals except the dog and the pig does the Demodex

seem to cause any troublesome skin disease; in the dog, however,

this is very generally fatal.

From purely zodlogical methods of observation, both Leydig

and Megnin have come to the conclusion that the forms of Demo-

dex described by them are at least different varieties, and the fact

that the Demodex of man occurs in the least hairy parts of the

body and is perfectly harmless, whereas that of the dog is found

in the most hairy places, and may cause a fatal disease, seems to

point to the non-identity of the two forms.

Dr. Csokor next treats of the natural history of the Demodex

of the sow, and by a series of measurements defends its specific

distinctness. He sums up his table of dimensions as follows: l

1. D. phylloides only reaches the minimum length of D. cants,

never that of D. folliculorum. ee

2. The length of the abdomen in relation to that of the whole |

body is in D. phylloides 14, D. canis %, D. folliculorum 4. o

3. The relation of the breadth to the length is comparatively

twice as great as in the other forms.

4. The appendages of the mouth are more robust d this |

easier to study. ee

5. The egg is larger and is rather oval than fusiform; ae :

j 1 T

footed larva is also larger than in the other two forms, W

eight-footed larva is larger than that of D. canis, but smaller that

that of D. folliculorum. A

6. The differences between D. phylloides on the one hand, a

D. canis and D. folliculorum on the other, are of much p

extent than the difference between the two latter varieties, v

After describing the regions of the body, he calls a

the cuticle and the chitinous pieces which strengthen a `

transverse furrows on the abdomen (which is produced s- he

sharp point posteriorly) are shallower towards the thore

considers these as traces of segmentation. On the middle ye

line of the thorax is a chitinous ridge which gives origi e

pairs of transverse bars, to the outer thirds of which the by

dages are movably articulated; the first pair of transverse .

separates the thorax from the head completely. ie ea :

are three-jointed, the basal joint being three-sided ; ge

minated by five claws, of which two appear to belong to ei

ond joint and three to the distal. -

1883. | The Hair-Sac Mite of the Pig. 1115

The following are the appendages attached to the cephalic seg-

ment:

Ist. A pair of mandibles seen best from the dorsal surface and

resembling a pair of scissors of which both the blades are ter-

minated by blunt points. .

2d. A pair of maxillæ which lie in a depression on the under

surface of the cephalic segment:

3d. A pair of pedipalpi which are three-jointed, the middie

joint being soft while the last bears three incurved hooks.

4th. An unpaired stylet seen only from the ventral surface be-

tween the maxilla, which appears to be connected with the pharynx.

The appendages of the mouth move chiefly horizontally, and

are therefore of a masticatory nature, but the closed maxilla form

a sharp point anteriorly and thus form a piercing organ.

Some interesting particulars are given as to the development of

the cephalic segment and its appendages. The clear anterior

end of the egg is rounded off as the head segment, and already

the pedipalpi and the future eyes may be seen; the depression

ween the pedipalpi is then occupied by the outgrowth of a

pyramid which by a cleft in the middle line and a further longi-

tudinal division of each of the resulting halves is converted into

the mandibles externally and the maxillæ internally.

The pharynx is lined with chitin, and a short cesophagus leads

from it to the stomach, which occupies the greater part of the

thorax and which is seen in optical section to possess a. wavy

contour. Csokor considers this to be due to gastric coeca such

às are generally present in the Arachnida. The short intestine

Opens on the ventral surface behind the sternum in a fissure, which

's twice as long in the female as it is in the male.

_ A group of refractive particles in the end of the abdomen are

interpreted as urinary concretions; they are to be traced also in

the earlier stages of development. :

In stained specimens a rudimentary tracheal system 1s to be

detected from the dorsal surface, composed of two longitudinal

canals running back as far as the last pair of legs. These canals

ve a few branches and may possibly open on the exterior by

certain little protuberances which have already been described

Leydig and Megnin.

Two little crescentic bodies, further back upon the dorsal sur-

face, are interpreted as rudimentary circulatory organs.

OL, XVII,—No, 2 74

1116 The Hair-Sac Mite of the Pig. [ November, 4

Csokor has studied the locomotion of the mites in a drop of

oil on a hot stage, and finds the movements which are, at the

ordinary temperature, so sluggish, become then so energetic that

he considers the want of success of various experiments as to

infection to be due to the absence of a sufficiently high tempera.

ture. He calls attention to the fact that the disease has been

rapidly spread over the surface in a dog by the use of warm

water in washing affected spots, and that probably also the raising

of the temperature of the skin by the rubbing in of ointments

may contribute to the spreading of the parasite. He found that

the pedipalpi are particularly active in locomotion, and are able

to bore into a soft surface. :

Only the two terminal joints of the legs take part in locomo —

tion; the head may be moved from right to left and also upward a

and downward—the combination of these movements resulting :

in a rotation of the head upon the thorax. The abdomen may

be also flexed against the thorax in very active locomotion.

The eyes, which appear very early in development, are | 4

tute of pigment in the adult, and are situated upon the dorsal

surface near the mandibles. oe

The male is shorter than the female; the appendages of the 4

mouth are less developed; the abdomen is less than half the A

length of the body ; between the anal opening and the end of a 1

sternum are two curved chitinous pieces which represent * q

penis. a

The female is at once distinguished by the longer abdomen sz -

the three-sided structure which it contains, and which 1s pee

ally discharged through the fissure behind the sternum a5 ]

egg; the oviposition has been observed by Megnin. a 4

Csokor has traced the occurrence of three molts, the first ae i

tween the egg and the six-footed larva, the second pee i

six-footed and the eight-footed larva, the third between the ee a]

footed larva and the adult. ntt 4

Csokor concludes his observations by describing the M®

The hair-follicles in these localities a eted

sebaceous gland. Fig. 3 represents a section through an #

1883. ] The Geology of Central Australia. I1i7

gland. The cast-off cuticles are found toward the center of the

knots formed by the mites while the adult individuals occupy the

periphery, their heads being directed towards the bottom of the

gland. He considers that the habits of the pig would render

contagion easier than in other animals, and thinks that had the

swine he examined not been killed, the result of the disease

would probably have had as fatal an issue as is generally observed

in the similar disease in dogs.

:0:——

THE GEOLOGY OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.

BY EDWARD B. SANGER.

pe geology of the great central basin of Australia has until

recently been a matter of some uncertainty. From analogi-

cal reasons conclusions have been formed which are more or less

correct. Still at best they were but shrewd guesses. Our know-

ledge has been of a limited kind. The various explorers who

have ventured to cross the continent have seldom taken any

scientific men with them. Hence the reports received from time

to time of this serra incognita have been vague and conflicting.

Australia nevertheless has had not a few advantages in its scien-

tific history. Many men of science whose reputation is now

world wide, first became known to fame by their work on Austra-

lian shores, But the attention of naturalists has been restricted,

for the most part, to the east coast of the continent, while the

remainder has been comparatively neglected. This, to a certain

extent, was unfortunate, as the east coast possesses the novel Aus-

tralian features in the least degree. It shares its peculiarities with

other approximately well-known regions. Thus on the north-east

Coast there is a large intermixture of Asiatic characters. These

are less marked as the coast is followed to the southward, but

still there is a large proportion of forms belonging to the Pacific

islands, New Zealand, &c. On the south coast, however, the case

1s different, Here the flora and fauna are peculiarly Australian.

The Physical differences between Sydney harbor and Melbourne

are slight, but according to Tenison-Woods, the marine fishes are

of different species. The geological structure of the south and

“ast coasts also differs widely.

aken in its totality Australia is built on the true continental

Model: It has the characteristic elevated borders and the de-

1118 The Geology of Central Australia, [ November, 3

pressed interior. The highest border is on the east, facing the

largest ocean, and it averages about 2000 feet in height. The

south side is either level with the ocean or abuts upon it in cliffs

varying from 300 to 600 feet in height. The western is about

1000 feet above the sea, and the northern a little higher, Aus

tralia is thus in the form of an immense table-land. The seaward

side is generally precipitous, but narrow tracts of lowland some

times intervene between the elevated region and the sea. The.

continent slopes gradually inland from the elevated borders to the

central depression at Lake Eyre, which is south-east of the topo-

graphical center. The main cordillera of the continent forms the

eastern border. It consists essentially of a central granitic axis

with doleritic or dioritic dykes flanked by highly inclined Arch-

æan and Silurian schists, Devonian rocks less inclined and altered,

and the upper and lower coal measures. Over these lie the al-

most horizontal beds of the Hawkesbury series (Lower Meso- A

zoic). It is generally conceded that this cordillera is of Palao-

zoic age, and was elevated at the close of that period.

western border, as far as is known, resembles the eastern. ae

Throughout the table-land are various isolated mountat —

ranges which do not extend for any distance. These range

trend either nearly north and south or east and west. The largest 4

of them is the Flinders, which begins at Cape Jervis on the south 4

coast and extends to the south end of the Lake Eyre basi re T

it ends abruptly. West of Lake Eyre is a chain trending we :

north-north-east, consisting of two ranges, the Peake and

Margaret. North-west of these, on the 26th parallel, 1S pict

range, the Musgrave, which trends about east-north-east. + ihe

of this is another, the MacDonald, parallel to it. These are’ a

main ranges, but isolated mountains of granitic base crop out a

various places. eee

The south side of the continent is formed, with but little i ]

ruption, by a series of Tertiary rocks, representing probei

the formations from the Eocene upwards. They °x

ste sea it :

the Australian Bight are Miocene. The Murray Rivet

also formed by Tertiary rocks of various formations. — .

eastern and south-eastern coasts these deposits are overl; : from q

by volcanic emanations or by sands, clays and marls rel: spi

the sub-aérial weathering of the Paleozoic rocks. “°°”

1883.] The Geology of Central Australia. IIIQ

deposits are Tertiary, and sweep around the eastern side from

north to south, becoming more recent to the southward. Mt.

Gambier and Mt. Schenck are volcanic cones which are situated

near the southern limit of this disturbance. On the south side of

the continent raised beaches are common, but are of limited ex-

tent. The great central depression, is, like the Saharan desert, of

Mesozoic age. Its limits are as yet not strictly defined. Meso-

zoic fossils have been found on the east side all around the Gulf

of Carpentaria, and I have found Jurassic fossils i» situ 300 miles

west of the overland telegraph line. Covering the Mesozoic

beds in the interior are eolian deposits and drifts. On the north

coast the Palæozoic rocks outcrop again and are overlaid uncon-

formably by Mesozoic rocks. Such is the general structure of

the continent.

The region which I intend to discuss especially is that lying

between the south parallels 22° and 30°, and the meridians I 30°

and 140°.

The country contained within these limits comprises very

nearly the known limits of the great central basin. How much

farther it extends to the westward is a matter of doubt. If a ver-

tical east and west section could be cut through this basin from

the eastern cordillera across Lake Eyre and through the Peake

Tange, the approximate position of the rocks would be as seen in

the diagram

ic. aa G, granite; A—A, Archæan schists; ad, Archzean and Silurian

schist ya eyonian and Pa. C, Cretaceous; J, Jurassic; 4, me aay

cordillera, ő, e range; c’, Lake Eyre basin. r, inao of springs.

Now if a section were cut in a like manner through the Peake

range on the east, in a north-westerly direction through the Mus-

Stave range, we should have a section as seen in Fig. 2:

Fic, 2. G-G, ‘granite; A-4, Archean, 17 Jurassic; C, Cretaceous; 4; age

grave range; 6, Peake range; x, outcrop of springs.

The Musgrave ranges at their base are about 3000 feet er

the level of the sea; the Peake range 800 feet; Lake Eyre 3

1120 The Geology of Central Australia. [November

feet; and the eastern cordillera 3500 or 4000 feet. Thus there is

a gradual slope from the east and the west toward Lake Eyre.

The Peake range, arising as it does, roughly divides the great

basin into an eastern and western portion. It is worthy of remark

that the Peake range is flanked by the Jurassic formation on each

side, while the Cretaceous beds flank the ranges on the extreme

eastern and western boundaries. There is evidence to show,

however, that the latter beds are underlaid by Jurassic rocks.

The Musgrave range consists of a central core of granite, flanked

on either side by a great variety of gneissoid rocks much folded

and inclined at a high angle. Many dykes of doleritic rocks cut

through the metamorphic gneisses.

The granite varies greatly in character within short distances.

The most common is a large porphyritic variety with a coarsely

granular base. The orthoclase crystals often measure three

inches in length. Mineralogically the granite is usually of the

normal ternary kind, ¢. e., consists of orthoclase, quartz and mica.

The mica is almost iivasiebly biotite. Sometimes oligoclase is

found with the orthoclase, and often completely replaces it. In

other localities the granite loses its quartz and mica, and those

minerals are replaced by hornblende, the rock becoming a pur

syenite. Then again in the syenitic form the orthoclase pok

subordinate place and is replaced by oligoclase. In this variety

have found small quantities of augite as an accessory n

These varieties of composition all occur in the same mass na

may be stated as follows:

a, sheen —Consists of | ai quartz and biotite. Tourmaline often present

n small pockets or n

ó. Waiti ndic.—Same as aber but contains hornblende.

c. Oligoclase-bearing. —Oligoclase present and sometimes completely

thoclase

d. SyeniticHomblen de replacing the biotite. Quartz te? or nearly pepo gy.

e. do. Oligoclase-bearing. —Consists of hornblende and oligo sa as

Resembles the rock called trachydolerite (Abich). Augite aig pond |

an accessory mineral. i

The granite may thus be said to vary from its normal pe :

sition to a syenite. The normal rock is by far the most abu

Next in order is the syenitic variety.

The gneissoid rocks flanking the granite vary

position and physical characters as the granite itse

_ common kind is a light-gray coarse granular gneiss C :

quartz, orthoclase and muscovite or biotite, sometimes ]

replacing the

as much ia oo

if. The most

onsisting of -

1883] The Geology of Central Australia. 1121

the micas. This normal rock passes on one hand into metamor

phic granulite which has two varieties, one a fine-grained white

rock containing a preponderance of quartz ; the other reddish and

coarse grained, in which the orthoclase predominates. This

again passes into a true metamorphic muscovite-granite. This is

a light white-gray rock moderately fine in structure, and is very

different in appearance to the granite forming the central axis.

On the other hand the normal gneiss may become (a) hornblendic,

in which case it generally loses some quartz; (6) garnetiferous,

containing crystals of almandite; (c) epidotic, containing epidote

(pistacite). The last variety passes into unakite, a very beautiful

rock consisting of dazzling white quartz, reddish orthoclase and

yellowish-green epidote; and this again into pure epidosite by

losing its feldspar. All these rocks alternate with each other, are

much folded, incline generally at a steep angle, and strike north-

east. I consider them to be of Archean age; or the slates

and schists which form the Flinders range, and are probably

Cambrian or Lower Silurian, strike north-west and are uncon-

formable to the Peake and Mt. Margaret ranges, formations which

belong undoubtedly to the same horizon as the Musgrave Range

rocks.

The central granite is more recent than the Archæan gneisses,

as it faults them and in places has partially re-metamorphosed

them.

The dolerite rocks are probably more recent than the granite,

and are as follows :

%. Dolerite——Consists of augite, labradorite, magnetite, olivine and sometimes

chlorite. Biotite is often present as an accessory mineral. In structure it varies

from a granular crystalline to a jet-black aphanitic variety.

D: Norite.A coarse dark reddish-gray rock, consisting of foliated pyroxene and

labradorite.

c Augite-Andesite.—A nearly black, fine, granular rock consisting of andesite and

augite. The latter is often in distinct though small crystals, giving the rock a

Porphyritic structure.

The main dykes follow the strike of the metamorphic rocks,

but innumerable cross dykes are given off which run in every

direction. What the exact chronological place is for the grapes

and these rocks it is as yet, in the present state of Australian

geology, impossible to say. About sixty miles south o

Musgrave range there is another range exactly similar in every

Particular, which is known as the Everard. The MacDonald

L122 The Geology of Central Australia. (November,

range to the north is also constructed on the same plan. In the

Everard range the doleritic rocks are better developed, but oc-

cupy the same position and show the same variation in composi-

tion and structure. The two ranges are in fact counterparts of

each other.

The Peake and Mt. Margaret chain has essentially the same

structure, with the exception that the doleritic rocks are appa-

rently wanting. The Archzean gneisses exist here in the form of

crystalline schists, quartzites and limestones, and vary in charac-

ter. The strike is north-east, and they dip to the north-west ata

high angle. The schists are as follows:

Mica schist—-Contains both muscovite and biotite.

E alinic.

4. Specular (Itabyrite) containing much hematite.

c. Calcareous.

Hydromica schist.—Containing margarodite in place of the muscovite.

a. Garnetiferous.

b. aT

. Chloritic.

Chlorite sr —Greenish-gray,

a. arneti erous,

ġ. Epido

Hornblende seais idi of quartz and hornblende. Sometimes wholly of hom-

ende.

Actinolyte.—A tough, light-green rock.

Intercalated between these beds of schist are strata of:

Quartzite.

a. Feldspathic (orthoclase).

6. Micaceous (muscovite).

c rmalinic.

d. Hornblendic,

pg .—A dark red rock, Jaspery.

. Foliated hematite (micaceous iron ore).

pee ~—Coarse grained, blue, clinking under the hammer.

a. Pyritiferous,

6, Graphitic,

c. Micaceous. Ta

of granite .

Through these metamorphic rocks irregular masses ae :

tas mee

Musgrave range. The granite is more hornblendic, D as

always present. It is much coarser in grain, and is por i .

Veins of orthoclase of considerable size are present in it. a r

Through the metamorphic rocks are also: (1) Qus

bearing much pyrite. Near the surface this has been is

1883.] The Geology of Central Australia. 1123

and the quartz is cavernous. These veins follow the strike of the

schists,

(2.) Faulting them are veins of calcite in which are found the

following minerals: Pyrite, chalcopyrite, malachite, bornite, galenite

and selenite. None of these minerals are present in any quantity,

The calcite veins are seldom over six or eight inches in width,

while on the other hand the quartz veins attain, in some places, a

diameter of many feet. One in particular, situated near the foot

of the range at the Peake telegraph station, stands up like a

gigantic white buttress about fifty feet high, and is nearly eighty

feet in width. Many similar examples could be given.

The next formation in age is that forming the Flinders range,

which we have mentioned as ending abruptly south of Lake

Eyre. It is probably Cambrian or Lower Silurian, but is so sin-

gularly destitute of fossils throughout its entire length, that no

exact data, except from a lithological standpoint, are known.

The rocks are schists, slates, limestones and quartzites. They are

very different lithologically from the Archzan rocks ; they strike

north-west and are much folded and inclined at high angles.

Metalliferous veins are abundant in them. The great copper de-

Posits of South Australia are in rocks of this age. The ores are

sulphides. Carbonates of copper are abundant, but have not as

yet proved to be permanent. Gold is very generally found in the

quartz veins which run north-west, following the strike of the

rocks. The cross veins are not so rich. In the southern parts of

the range there are large deposits of galenite, which is very gen-

erally argentiferous. Besides these minerals, deposits of bismuth,

Sraphite, antimony and manganese are found, but are not worked.

The Cambrian rocks in fact all over the continent are the richest

M metalliferous lodes; although quantities of tin are found in the

granite of the Queensland cordillera.

Mile Jurassic formation abuts unconformably against these

“ambrian rocks at their northern termination, It is of vast ex-

tent, covering the whole of the central part of the great basin.

M ologically, curiously enough, it bears a striking resemblance

to other deposits of the same age in various parts of the world,

na notably in England and in the Western United States.

€ beds are uniform in character and consist of compact gray

shell-limestones, gypsiferous marlites, and sandstones. The lime-

ene is fossiliferous and contains the following characteristic

1124 The Geology of Central Australia. [November,

forms: Monotis, M. curta; Mytilus minimus, M. ingens, n, s.

(Tenison-Woods); Tancredia; Cytherea; Zima gigantea; Car-

dinia listeri; Pleurotomaria; Cucullæa oblonga; Avicula; Pec-

ten; and Modiola. In the gypsiferous marlites are found many

calcified Belemnites, B. canaliculatus and B. densus, but no other

fossils, as far as I was able to ascertain.

The beds are generally horizontal, but in some places are

slightly inclined. The inclined strata give rise to the low table-

top hills mentioned above. About a hundred miles west of the

Peake range there is a range of rough flat-topped hills trending

north. These consist of eruptive felsite breaking through the

Jurassic strata, partially metamorphosing and folding them, but

only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. The felsite is fine

granular in texture, and varies in color from white to red. |

A section taken near the outbreak of felsite shows the rocks ia

the following order, beginning at the surface: æ. Sandstone con-

glomerate, cross laminated in many places; 2. Gypsiferous mate

lite, containing Belemnites ; c. Compact gray fossiliferous lime :

stone; d. Compact ferruginous sandstone. This order of super-

position is the same wherever I have seen the Jurassic beds ri

the interior. A cross section of the Peake range is as seen

Fig. 3.

Fic. 3.—A, Archean schists; ¥, Jurassic beds; 7, springs. o

: l iven above.

The sequence of the Jurassic beds is the same as e at

At the Finiss springs these beds lie uncomformably sagt

the Paleozoic rocks as seen in Fig. 4. |

SIE eee et a ee EN

Fic. 4.——C, Cambrian; ¥, Jurassic; +, springs: . M

The beds do not vary lithologically, but the fossils afer |

absent. They seem to be distributed in patches. me

sandstone in every natural section that I have seen 1$ the ! ae

bed. Well borings, however, have shown that similar roc™” :

1883.] The Geology of Central Australia. 1125

derlie them. What the thickness of the whole formation is,

therefore, it is impossible to say. The thickness of the beds

mentioned above is about 250 feet; in many places, however,

some of the beds thin out and are wanting; this is notably the

case with the fossiliferous limestone.

Lake Eyre lies south of the center of this great zone of rocks.

They extend westwards probably nearly 300 miles. Then they

Sweep around the northern end of the lake and extend eastwards

for about a hundred miles, as far as I have been able to ascertain.

Circling around the northern boundary of the Jurassic beds and

lying unconformably on them, where they overlap, is another

series of rocks which varies greatly in character. In the north-

west they consist principally of kaolin beds, sandstones and lime-

stones. The kaolin beds are the best developed, and are un-

doubtedly derived from the masses of eruptive felsites mentioned

above. These beds flank the Musgrave and Everard ranges and

extend north an unknown distance.

The kaolin varies from a pure white, unctuous clay to gritty

and indurated siliceous varieties of different colors. The finer

inds are very abundant. One in particular, known colloquially

as the “ Charlotte Waters’ meerschaum,” is a beautiful soft white

variety. The Charlotte Waters telegraph station is built of it.

Neither the kaolin nor the beds associated with them (sandstones

and limestones) are fossiliferous, but eastwards they are continu-

Ous with beds resembling the Jurassic lithologically, but contain-

ing true Cretaceous fossils. So it is presumable that they belong

to that age. To the north-east and east the Cretaceous beds ex-

tend to the Gulf of Carpentaria and some distance into Queens-

lan They consist here principally of sandstones and gypsifer-

Ous marlites containing Ammonites, Belemnites, Trigonia and

remains of Ichthyosaurus.

outh-east of this great Mesozoic basin lies the immense basin

of the Murray river, The latter is covered with Tertiary depos-

its and is separated from the former by outcrops of the Cambrian

rocks, The Mt. Poole and Mt. Browne range, about sixty miles

South of Burke's grove at Innaminka, consists of these rocks and

auriferous quartz veins are being worked there at present. Over the

Cretaceous and Jurassic beds lie recent drifts and zolian deposits.

fo y gr eater part of the continent, in fact, is covered with such

“mations, and as they are so extensive and important, I will

Write of them in detail. d

1126 The Geology of Central Australia. —[November,

They are of two kinds, sand drifts and stony drifts. The

sand consists of rounded grains of quartz, and is arranged in long

low ridges, Between these ridges are open clay-flats or “ clay-

pans” formed of a yellow or reddish clay. Both sand and clay

have been derived from the slow sub-aérial weathering of the

granite and crystailine schists which form the ranges. Near the

latter the sand contains grains of feldspar, zircon, tourmaline,

magnetite and hematite. But further away it consists of pure

quartz. The feldspars decompose and form the basis of the clay

and the various salts with which it is impregnated. (See infra)

The sand hardens into a sandstone showing much cross-bed-

ding and oblique lamination, as might be expected from its aérial

origin. Through the rock are ferruginous bands in which are

carbonized remains derived from surface vegetation. The denu-

dation of this sandstone gives rise in part to the cliffs and table-

topped hills so characteristic of Central Australia. Throughout

the continent such deposits are now forming but similar condi

tions have produced the same formation at other epochs. thu

in New South Wales such a sandstone is found many feet m

thickness, and containing remains of ferns and cycads. They lie

unconformably on the Permian and Liassic coal-beds, and evt

dently belong to the Lower Mesozoic. In Queensland they owe

lie the Cretaceous beds and, according to Tenison-Woods, afè

Tertiary. In the interior basin there is a complete gap D

these beds and the Mesozoic rocks. They, as we have said, a

forming at the present day, and probably have been so doing ever

since the Mesozoic beds arose from the sea. The plant era st

of the beds in the interior, as far as I have examined them, are

not preserved well enough for identification. But here and a

throughout the interior are found remains of the gigantic =

supials — Diprotodon, Nototherium and Phascolomys. ae |

animals probably lived in the latter part of the Tertiary and ear ee

and middle Quaternary. re

Alternating with the sand deposits are plains composed pee

stony drift. This is, for the most part, derived from get

however, near the confines of the desert, wherever the aie

rocks outcrop, it is derived from them. The boulders am red

bles lie thickly strewn on the surface, and are stained a o

from the presence of the oxide of iron. It is owing to ths 7

1883. | The Geology of Central Australia. 1127

oration that the region covered by such deposits are known collo-

quially as “redstone plains.” The drift is often many feet in

thickness, and contains silicified wood and casts of existing land

and fresh-water shells. It is being, and has been, formed synchro-

nously with the zolian sandstones, and in many places the latter

merges indefinably into the stony drift. |

Following the course of the many dry watercourses which in-

tersect this region, are immense deposits of alluvium. Two dis-

tinct formations can be recognized ; an older and much the larger,

and a smaller recent one. The lower formation consists of beds

of sand, gravel and clay. The stratification varies from the most

regular deposits to beds showing oblique lamination and flow and

plunge structure. These deposits extend some distance on each

side of the watercourses, and vary greatly in thickness. It is in

these beds that the most abundant remains of the extinct marsu-

pials are found. They extend laterally far beyond the limits of

the more recent deposits which overlie them. The latter consists

of fine-grained, thin-laminated alluvium. It contains no remains

of Dipr otodon, &c., but existing fresh-water shells such as Ano-

don, Paludina, Physa, &c., are abundant. It is formed by the dep-

osition of sediment which the periodic floods bring down.

Such, as far as is now known, is the structure of Central Aus-

tralia.

At the close of the Archean age the rocks which we have de-

Scribed as belonging to that age, were crystallized, folded and

raised above the surface of the primeval sea, forming islands

which probably have not since been completely submerged.

After this elevation followed an immense period of quietude,

during which vast beds of sediment derived from the erosion of

these rocks, were deposited in a Paleozoic sea. Then at the end

of the Cambrian or Silurian period another elevation occurred,

and the rocks forming the Flinder’s range were crystallized and

upheaved. As I have said, at the northern extremity of this

formation the Mesozoic rocks lie unconformably on it; so that

there is a complete gap between. It is probable, however, that

the Mesozoic beds are underlaid by Devonian and Carboniferous

deposits. The structure of the eastern border region lends prob-

ability to this view. At any rate the whole lapse of time between

the upheaval of the Cambrian or Silurian rocks until the close of

Jurassic, must have been, in the interior basin, a period of

1128 The Geology of Central Australia. {November

slow oscillation and general quiet, during which beds of sediment

were formed slowly at the bottom of the sea. At the close of the

Paleozoic the eastern border and perhaps the western was ele-

vated, thus forming an interior sea and foreshadowing the form

of the continent. Another period of repose then followed until

at the close of the Jurassic a large disturbance occurred. Land

slowly emerged from the central part of the sea around the island

of Archzan rocks now known as the Peake range. Contempo-

raneously with this upheaval vast floods of felsite were poured

out through a line of fracture trending north and south on the

western boundary of this region of elevation. Then came another

period of rest, during which the waves and currents of a Creta-

ceous sea worked away at these new rocks. On the west side

vast beds of kaolin were formed, derived from the felsitic rocks.

In the remainder of the sea the conditions were much the same

as in the Jurassic period, and similar beds were formed. But the

fauna shows a gradual change in the life dwelling in the seas, #

might be expected. _ |

Finally, at the end of the Mesozoic age, the whole of the inte-

rior basin was elevated above the sea, and though minor changes

of level have occurred, has remained above ever since. Dae |

all these changes of level the southern portion of the continent

had not yet appeared, except the southern extremity of the F i

der’s range. But since the Miocene period the southern patt iy

the continent was raised above the sea. Either cone :

ously or subsequently there was a large amount of volcanic ie :

turbance. After this there was a subsidence, as is see? si -

fringe of zolian sandstones which, for a short distance out yea

surrounds the southern coast. at :

During Tertiary times there was a subsidence along por

ern border. According to Tenison-Woods there 1$ a long * i

at the edge of the Blue mountains, and for many miles ™ ae

bury =

stone (Mesozoic) nearly to the level of the sea,

the fiords and diversified scenery of Port Jackson and 0

of the eastern coast. The existence of the Great Barri

dicates a period of slow subsidence on the north-eas

Tertiary times, The western coast seems to have “aie e

pated in the general upheaval at the close of the ee has

1883. ] The Geology of Central Australia. 1129

probably been dry land since the close of the Mesozoic ; at least

there is no evidence of its having been submerged. As the land

arose the rate of elevation varied, occurring more rapidly in some

places than in others. Consequently the interior sea would be

changed first into an archipelago and this changed slowly into

dry land, containing small inland seas, which gradually became

large lakes such as Lake Eyre, Torrens and Gairdner. During

the early half of the Quaternary the climate was moister, and con-

sequently was better adapted for animal and vegetable life than at

the present day. That it was the case is shown by the greater

thickness and structure of the lower alluvial deposits, and also by

the bones of the great marsupials found in them. These animals

must have had a more luxuriant vegetation to feed upon than

now exists. The climate probably, through the elevation of the

southern border and other causes, gradually became more and

More arid until it reached the present stage. The giants of

earlier days have passed away, and strangely enough, as if nature

delighted in abrupt antitheses, they are replaced by some of the

smallest forms of the order of animals so characteristic of Aus-

lia.

Although the whole of this region is remarkably arid, the sur-

face is intersected by innumerable watercourses which, though

dry for the greater part of the time, periodically are filled by

-water from the ranges. In the eastern part of the basin

these creeks arise on the slope of the Queensland cordillera and

flow westerly into Lake Eyre. From the north-west flow the

Peake, Neales and others. Smaller creeks flowing in the same

Seneral directions are abundant. They either die out altogether

or unite with the larger ones, or end in the salt lakes so common

throughout the region. The salt lakes are generally but little more

than large clay-pans where the water has periodically accumulated

and then evaporated, leaving a deposit consisting of various salts.

Some, however, are larger, and like those I have mentioned, are

true lake basins. The true lakes are never I believe, completely

dry, but the water becomes very low and intensely salt and bit-

ie Every flood as it comes down spreads out on the flats bor-

dering the creeks, and extending laterally, in some places several

Miles, quickly evaporates, leaving a deposit of earthy sediment,

and finally a thin deposit of the salts. This process is repeated

time and again until considerable beds are formed. If the flood

1130 The Geology of Central Australia. {Nove | i

is a large enough one the water finally finds its way to the large

lakes (principally to.Lake Eyre). These lakes, if the flood is

very heavy, become tolerably fresh, and stay so until through

loss of water by evaporation (none of them have outlets) the

water again becomes salt. As evaporation proceeds the water

slowly recedes, leaving a dazzling white incrustation, and some-

times a layer of dead fish which have been brought down by the

flood, and when the water became too salt have been compelled

to succumb,

The lakes and clay-pans accordingly, unless seen in flood time,

are generally a painfully white plain fringed by a few sickly

Acacias. The salts are of different kinds ; the most abundant onè

deposited is sulphate of lime (gypsum). The general form of

crystallization of this salt is the common monoclinic twin ot

arrowhead crystal. Often, however, it is found in large transpa

rent slabs and in a fibrous state. The next in importance among ;

the salts are the carbonates of lime, magnesia and soda; t f i

chlorides of sodium and magnesium, and the sulphates of mag- i

nesia and soda and iron. All these are derived from the decom- ‘

position of the rocks forming the ranges from whence the water

courses arise and from the denudation of the outcrops of the ;

Mesozoic rocks which underlie the whole region. The acti

amount of rainfall on the eastern and western slopes of the boat :

(especially the eastern) is largely in excess of the demena 7

the watercourses, so there must be a large portion which soa%

into the ground and drains away along the incline ge the

interior, where it accumulates under great pressure. we si

andt

the case is shown by the existence of a line of cold 4 oe,

springs that extends north and south through the central l p

That the water comes from a great depth is evident from th ae

of their temperature and the mounds of travertine the

built for themselves. The overland telegraph line nearly Š fa

the line of outcrop of these springs. This line 1s also tHe

line of springs extends in an east and west direction a

the overlap of the Mesozoic rocks upon the Palaeozoic ast

the Flinders range. The explanation is simple.

ing from the north-west and north-east flows al

clines toward the central basin until it meets wit

schists of the Peake range. It cannot pass thro

ha barrier it

ugh them,

1883. | The Geology of Central Australia. 1131

accordingly it is forced to the surface by hydrostatic pressure.

Consequently there is a double line of springs following the

outcrop of the schists (see figures ante). A great deal of

the water flows on further south until it is obstructed by the

Paleozoic rocks of the Flinders range, whereupon it comes to

the surface, forming an east and west line of springs (see Fig. 4).

The quantity of salts contained by the water varies a good deal,

but is always considerable. The principal salts are the carbonates

of lime and magnesia. The travertine deposits are immense, and

in some places form hills 200 feet high. The general form of the

hills is that of a truncated cone. On the summit is a clear basin

of water fringed with rushes, and down one side a stream of

bright clear water trickles, soon to be re-absorbed by the parched

ground. Bubbles continually rise to the surface of the pool, and

are generally caused by the liberation from the water of carbonic

acid gas. In other cases it is marsh gas, derived by the de-

composition of the vegetable matter in the pool. When the

water issuing from a spring has built a mound up to a consider-

able height, the pressure not being great enough to force it any

higher, the travertine forms over the top, closing it completely,

the spring then breaks out anew near its base. Mounds can be

seen in every stage of evolution, from one the size of a bee-hive

to one long deserted by water, standing alone like a huge melan-

choly sentinel. In these mounds are found remains of Diproto-

don, &c. The conclusion is plain that an abundance of water

could be procured by artesian borings through the rocks occu-

Pying the central desert, and possibly in this way the country

May be developed in the future.

The topography of the interior is dismal and monotonous to a

degree. In every direction from Lake Eyre the land gradually

rises. The sandhill country predominates around the lake, but

occasionally there are patches of stony plains. Both the sand-

hills and the intervening clay-pans are sparsely covered with low

thickets or “ scrub” of Eucalyptus, Acacia, Melaleuca and Cryp-

tandra. Along the watercourses a few stunted gum trees are

found (Eucalyptus). The stony plains, though a little diversified

by the table-topped hills, are even more desolate in appearance.

rom north to east from the lake this is the character of the

country for hundreds of miles. Ridge after ridge of sandhills

Covered with Sparse vegetation, with here and there a dry aay-

VOL. XVH,——NO. x1, r

1132 The Geoloyy of Central Australia. —{November,

pan or salt lake glistening painfully white under the fierce sun; no

animal life save a few kites (Milvus affinus and Elanus scriptus), the

never-absent crow and mayhap a forlorn sandhill wallaby (Betton-

gia grayi), and the deceitful mirage making everything seem weird

and unreal. Such is the sight that greets the unhappy traveler

until his eyes grow weary and his heart grows sick, yearning

after cool streams and shady places.

The table-topped hills are generally derived from the erosion

of outcrops of the Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks ; in other cases

from the compact zolian sandstone. The sandhills trend nearly

north and south, generally a few degrees east of north, They

show the true sand-drift structure, and have a sloping and an ab-

rupt side. The direction of the trend is uniform over large areas.

\" =

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Wil

ATTAN

Baa

A-A, parallel sandhills; B-ZB, crescent sandhills;

If a sandy flat, to which the wind has free access, is exam” i

will be seen that the sand has been blown into a series of seth

or ridges, whose long axes are at right angles to the weer

the wind, and on examining them closer it will be found tha e

side towards the wind is sloping and the opposite abropk

then we have in miniature the sandhill country. The a

winds throughout the region are westerly and north-west ig

the ridges trend at right angles with their sloping sida a

the west or north-west. Where there is a decided van

C-C, clay flats.

1883. | The Geology of Central Australia. 1133

the direction of the wind the sandhills also vary. The drifting

sand has been arrested in its course by the bushes and other veg-

etation, and thus the sandhills have been gradually built up, al-

though they have often been cut away and re-deposited, thus

giving rise to the irregular position of their layers. Such is the

general surface formation of the sandhill country, but here and

there among the parallel ridges are solitary crescent-shaped sand-

hills whose long axes are at right angles to the prevailing system

of hills. Facing the concave side of this variety of sandhills

there is always a clay flat, at the other end of which the parallel

sandhills re-commence, as seen in the sketch.

In the above sketch the concavity of the sandhill B-B is shown

facing to the north; quite as often, however, they face to the

south. The clay flat is always opposite to the concave side.

These sandhills are usually several miles apart. What their ori-

gin is I cannot say. They possess the same structure as the

normally built ones. It is possible that they may be the remains

of another system of sandhills which by an alteration of climate

Producing a great change in the general direction of the prevail-

ing winds, have been swept away and a new system formed. But

if this is the case, why the crescent shape and why the variation

of position among them? They have certainly not been formed

by water, nor has their shape been modified to any great extent

by its action, for if that was the case some traces would be left.

And besides they are generally situated among the sandhills far

away from any watercourse. There must be some cause for their

existence. What that cause is I must admit is a mystery to me.

I think the subject worth investigation, for it is certainly remark-

able that there should be these anomalous cases scattered here

and there through a region unique for its uniformity.

In the north-western portion of the basin, where the Cretaceous

beds of kaolin occupy the surface, denudation has worn the soft

clays into a great variety of fantastic shapes. Minarets, castles,

temples and even grotesque images of man and beast are repli-

cated on every hand in the greatest variety of dazzling colors.

These are every shade from jet-black to snow-white. Gorgeous

Purple, delicate pink, rase red and somber brown, green and blue

are mingled together with amazing confusion and prodigality. It

'Sa riot—a mad dance—a very carmagnole of color. It wom

seem as if same mischievous elves had been rioting in nature's

1134 The number of Segments [ November,

color-laboratory and then affrighted by their pranks had fled,

leaving all this splendor blazing unknown under the fierce sun of

the desert—for a desert it is in everything save color. The Ar

karinga creek, which arises in the Musgrave range, in its south-

erly flow has cut itself a passage through these beds. On each

side are cliffs 400 or 500 feet high wrought into the strangest of

shapes and bedecked with the gaudiest colors. It seems as if

nature wished to show what she could do when she took the

artist’s tools in her own hand. But the lesson is lost, for few

mortal eyes, save now and then a wandering black fellow, more

intent on hunting lizards for his dinner than esthetic worship,

have ever beheld this gigantic sport of Dame Nature. But the

eye tires of it,and soon is fain to turn for rest to the somber

black-green of the scrub foliage. With the exception of this

brilliant tract all the rest of the interior consists of the dullest

and most prosaic country; sandhills and stony table-lands ad

nauseam,

Such is a brief and necessarily imperfect description of the

great Australian desert. We can see that Australia, though often

called paradoxical, is not so, but conforms to the laws of w

nental development. The outlines of the continent have existed

from the earliest times, and the whole has gradually been built

up, step by step, until we find it as at the present time. There

been no paradoxical break in nature’s handiwork nor in her laws.

We see here the same grand, impassive uniformity, the same dis-

regard for time that ever characterized her work, whether p

the molding of a germ of life, the elevation of the Alps or ve :

creation of a solar system. Future researches may amplify n

conclusions drawn in this paper, but the main facts will remat

unaltered.

A’ 4

THE NUMBER OF SEGMENTS IN THE HEAD

WINGED INSECTS:

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. ; a i

B. a study of the structure of the head of adult inse ee

very difficult, if not impossible, to determine the n" givet

segments in the head of winged insects. The number ® >

ical CO

_ Extracted. from the forthcoming third report of the U. S. Entomological

mission,

1883. ] in the Head of Winged Insects. 1135

by different authors is very variable, while it is popularly sup-

posed that the head corresponds to a single segment, and that the

different pieces are simply “ subsegments.” We will quote from

Newport, article Zzsecta, in Todd’s Cyclopedia of Anatomy and

Physiology, the views perhaps generally entertained on this

subject.

“ According to the investigations of the most careful observers,

Savigny, Audouin, Macleay, Kirby, Carus, Strauss-Durckheim,

Newman and others, every segment of the perfect insect is made up

of distinct parts, not always separable from each other or developed

to the same extent, but existing primarily in all. It is also believed

that the head itself is formed of two or more segments, but the

exact number which enter into its composition is yet a question,

So uncertain are the opinions held upon this subject, that while

Burmeister recognizes only two segments, Carus and Audouin

believe there are three, Macleay and Newman four, and Strauss-

Durckheim even so many as seven. These different conclusions

of the most able investigators appear to have arisen chiefly from

too exclusive examinations of the head in perfect insects, without

reference to the corresponding parts in larve. It is only by com-

paring the distinctly indicated parts of the head in the perfect in-

sect with similar ones in the larva that we can hope to ascertain

the exact number of segments of which it is composed. In the

head of the perfect insect there ought to be found some traces of .

the flesh fly, is one of the lowest forms we have yet examined,

and we have already seen that its head appears to be formed of

four and perhaps even of five segments. This is the greatest num-

hes have been developed from several segments to form the per-

€ct cranium and its appendages. It ha

1136 The number of Segments { November,

with naturalists to designate the head the first segment of the

body, and as every change in the nomenclature of a distinct part

ought always to be avoided, unless positively required, through

fear of creating confusion, we shall not deviate on the present

occasion from the established mode; but when speaking of itas

a whole shall consider it the first segment, while the aggregation

of segments of which it is composed we shall designate individ-

ually subsegments, distinguishing them numerically in the order

in which they appear to exist in the earliest condition of the fe-

tal larva.”

If we apply the law enunciated by Savigny, and which holds

good as a rule throughout the hexapod insects, 7. e., that each

segment of the body of insects bears but a single pair of jointed

appendages, we find that as the head of insects is provided with

four pairs of appendages, viz., the antennz, mandibles, first max-

illæ and labium (or second maxilla), there must be four corres

ponding segments.

While the subject becomes clearer when, with Newport, we

examine an insect in the larval state, the fact that the head of 7

sects is really composed of but four segments becomes readily

demonstrated when we examine the embryo at an early stage

its existence. In our embryological studies on the Thysanurouy

insects (Isotoma), on Pseudoneuropterous insects (Diplax), on te

beetles and the flea and Hymenoptera (Mematus ventricosus), "T

attention was specially directed to this point, and it appeared very

plain and easily demonstrable that the head of winged insects “

all orders consists of four segments (arthromeres) and no mor

An inspection of the figures published by the different "e

on the embryology of insects appears to confirm this viet

our “ Guide to the Study of Insects” (p. 20) we have given @®

ular view of the four segments of the head and the appendage

they bear. This view is fully confirmed by our studies om 1 |

embryology of the locust. The antennz and mouth-parts <

outgrowths budding out from the four primitive segments A C

head; the antennz grow out from the under side of the prota

alic lobes, and these should therefore receive the name of antel t

lobes. In like manner the mandibles and first and second MA

: sanurous pr

| See Embryological studies on Diplax, Perithemis and the Thy

Isotoma, by A. S. Packard, Jr.; Memoirs Peab. Acad. Sc., Salem, 1871,

Second Memoir, 1872. This view was stated in the author’s “ Guide® ) also

of Insects,” second edition. Graber (Die Insekten, Miinchen, 1879, P: 43° oe -

States that the head is composed of four segments. Bh

1883.] . in the Head of Winged Insects. 1137

læ arise respectively from the three succeeding segments. The

figures by Kowalevsky and Bobretsky and by other observers, as

well as those of the earliest stages of Diplax, Pulex and Atte-

labus which we have published, show that the cephalic segments

are first indicated, and that subsequently those appendages bud

out from the under side at a point situated on each side of the

sternal or median line of the body. It appears that the append-

ages arise between the sternal and pleural portions of the seg-

ment.

There, however, remains a portion of the head in front of the

procephalic or antennal lobes which afterwards becomes the clyp-

eus and labrum or upper lip. Do these parts belong to the an-

tennal segment, or are they rudimentary portions of a segment

situated in front of our first segment? This lobe or outgrowth

is evidently a single unpaired lobe which grows out in front of

the antennal lobes, and is seen to form the front or upper wall of

the mouth. We regard it as the tergal portion of the antennal

Segment, and the procephalic lobes as probably forming the pleu-

ral portion of the segment. The procephalic lobes, then, bearing

the antennz below, and higher up on the sides the eyes and

ocelli, become the epicranium of the larval and adult insect. It

follows, therefore, that the head of larval and adult insects is made

up mostly of the first or antennal segment, and that the epicran-

ium is the pleural portion of this segment, while the clypeus and

its offshoot, the labrum, is the dorsal or tergal portion of this

segment.

The only other portion of the head of certain adult insects

which remains to be accounted for is the so-called “ occiput.”

This forms the base of the head of Corydalus, a Neuropterous

insect, which, however, is more distinct in the larva. In most

other insects the occiput is either obsolete or soldered to the

hind part of the epicranium. We have traced the history of this

Piece (sclerite) in Diplax, a dragon fly, and have found that. it

“Presents the tergal portion of the fourth or labial segment. In

our memoir on the development of this dragon fly, Pl. 2, Fig. 9

the head of the embryo is seen to be divided into two regions,

the anterior, formed of the first three segments, and the posterior,

formed of the fourth or labial segment. This postoral <_<

at first appears to be one of the thoracic segments, but is after

added to the head. A. Brandt’s figure of Calopteryx virgo, Pl. u,

1138 Editors’ Table. [ November,

Fig. 19, represents an embryo of a stage similar to ours, where

the postoral or fourth (labial) segment is quite separate from the

rest of the head. The accompanying figure, copied from our

memoir, also shows in a saw-fly larva (Ne

matus ventricosus) the relations of the

labial or fourth segment to the rest of the

head. The suture between the labial seg-

ment and the pre-oral part of the head

disappears in adult life. From this sketch

it would seem that the back part of the

head, 7. e., of the epicranium, may be made

Head of embryo Nema- up in part of the tergite or pleurites ofthe

tus, showing the labial seg- ‘ : di as

ment, occ, forming the occi- mandibular segment, since the man 4

mr oS pda MD, wr muscles are inserted on the roof of the d

muscle of ikai 7 wo Retains head behind the eyes. It is this segment

oe ee. (la- which in Corydalus evidently forms the

Faget ats occiput, and of which in most other 1-

sects there is no trace in larval or adult life. ,

It appears, then, that the epicranium, or that piece (sclerite) A

bearing the eyes, ocelli and antennæ and in front the clypeus E

labrum, is formed from the original procephalic lobes, and repre

sents the first or antennal segment, and is pleural, the clypeusand

labrum being the tergal portion of the segment , ja

remainder of the original or primitive segments are obsolete,

cept in those insects which retain traces of an occiput or fourth :

é head probably

cephalic tergite. All of the gular region of th

represents the base of the primitive second maxillæ.

10:

EDITORS’ TABLE.

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E D. COPE. : l

autopsy has presented reports E

to the Anthrop™

The society of mutual

the brains of several of its deceased members P

logical Society of Paris. These reports are of great 1 of the

being among the very few accounts which we pos ai

structure of the brain in persons whose characters are #4

the investigators. It is clearly the only means of 3 af

foundations for a true physiology of the thinking Pte

brain, which we possess. Unfortunately we are OFF i

threshold of the subject, owing to the almost absolute B®

1883. ] Editors’ Table. 1139

this important branch of research. We know of no reason why

the anatomists and physiologists in every city in the world should

not organize themselves into mutual autoptical societies. We

will then have some basis for a true anthropology and a true

metaphysics.

rom a sentimental stand point, as well as from an intellectual

one, it appears to us better to utilize this beautiful organ in this

way, than to permit it to take the course prescribed by the unre-

lenting forces of nature. Thus may science rob the grave of

some of its most distinguished victims. Not that human sensibility

does not shrink from applying the knife to the organ that once

glowed with the fire of thought and feeling. But the alter-

native is much more repulsive, and has been the theme of un-

availing regret since man learned to admire and love his fellow-

man,

One of the members of the Anthropological Society expressed

his dissatisfaction with the work of the Mutual Autoptical Soci-

ety, on the presentation of the report on the brain of Louis Asse-

line. He remarked that the statements of the report show clearly

the immorality of such a society. He could not compliment it

on the discovery of a simian characteristic in this brain. Such

results, he said, were not happy. To this M. Topinard made the

following just reply: “‘You are not happy in your results.’

‘Happy,’ in what sense? It is not to be supposed that we pur-

sue a defined object, or that we have a course to sustain. We

seek the truth and nothing more. It makes no difference whether

we shall discover approximations or distinctions from the animals.

The only indication of distinction from the animals is to see cor-

rectly, and not to nurse preconceived ideas and illusions. The

Anthropological Society does not belong to any sect, neither in

One sense nor in another.”

—— It is undoubtedly the opinion of the more advanced

teachers of high and normal schools that some time should be

given in the common schools to the study of biology, tfr of

plants and animals. The study of plants is perhaps easier vad

handle in schools and with large classes of children than that of

animals, and should precede the study of the latter. Children of

from eight to ten years can easily be taught to understand the

Parts of a flowering plant, the roots, stem, leaves, corolla, petals,

Pistil, stamens and anthers ; and flowers of different species can

1140 Editors’ Table. [November, :

be obtained in sufficient quantities to enable teachers to place

one in the hands of each child. What we have to suggest refers

chiefly to the study of animals. a

The popular conceptions of the study of zodlogy in schools,

as we have learned from conversation with elderly gentlemen, —

life-long teachers of the old regime, is, that it consists in looking —

at a few stuffed birds and other specimens of the taxidermist's ar, —

and reading about them in books and memorizing those dreadiut

objects, zoological charts. From such a standpoint they do not .

think much of the study of zodlogy as a discipline. In fact, the —

presentation of an essay on the study of zoology as 4 mental

discipline, before a meeting of teachers, was received with mild

incredulity. Nothing but sums and grammatical rules will, in the :

mind of the average school-teacher, meet the demands of the —

times. ee

And so the first difficulty we have to contend with is the ignor

ance and often the prejudice of the teachers. We have few, very

few men or women, who know anything of zoology. It 1S taught

in the higher schools from books and charts. Where it is re

as an elective in college, it is studied but a few hours a week

teaches mathematics and Latin and Greek, after having

it from eight to ten years. In those directions he has

cial training. Were a fair amount of college time given to the

logical study, we should see these studies introduced into re

common schools and have teachers fairly competent om

them. teaches

Our remedy for the deficiency of trained biological ledge of

would be something after this fashion. A slight know ste

physical geography and of botany and zoology should ynr t

to enter college; some time should be given to these ener

least as an elective, each year after entering. In this ges i

petent teachers will be graduated. jed

In the common abudi the study of animals should be gai,

in somewhat the following way: In the primary schoo ae

ren up to ten years should learn the parts Ot 4 e ng Of

should also be taught object lessons involving the i e stuffed

shells, beetles, should watch a fish alive in a Jar, examine ous

birds; and they should be taught to compare the ahs

parts of a bird with those of a dog, cat or horse. t plants

In the grammar school, besides simple lessons — eat

children from ten to fifteen years of age should er

weekly lesson on animals, beginning with clam, que a ould |

ter shells, snail shells, beetles and butterflies; they 5 on”

rfly. ee

handle and draw a caterpillar, chrysalis and a bu :

understand something of the metamorphosis ofa butte ‘ent |

should also see a fish, draw it, learn the name of the outhi; d

see the gills, and the teeth on the inside of the M% * —

1883.] Recent Literature. I141

and its tadpole should be shown; a bird and its egg, and a cat or

dog, and they should compare the limbs and other parts of a

quadruped with their own arms, hands, legs and feet. A lesson

once a week through each year of grammar-school life could be

well taken from the time given to geography, in which the pupil

is forced to learn, besides what is valuable and necessary, a mass

of useless information, two years being given to the study of a

single book. We are convinced that geography, as usually .

taught, is a sham and a delusion, the books contain a great deal

of useless stuff, and at least a quarter of the time devoted to the

study might be given to natural history.

Having thus had at least a weekly lesson in zodlogy in the

three years of grammar-school life, and having learned the

different parts of a clam shell, and the parts of the animal, with-

out dissection, and so on with the beetle, butterfly, fish, frog, bird

and mammal, the pupil enters the high school. Here the boy or

girl can, with the aid of a competent teacher, take a rather more

advanced course with the same species of animal he has already

had. The clam can be in part dissected ; the lobster or crayfish

and beetle, butterfly and higher animal can be partially dissected.

In the case of a fish the student can, in connection with the study

of physiology, dissect the animal and see for himself the heart,

stomach, intestine and brain, and so with a chicken or bird of any

Sort. We have with much satisfaction taught a class of boys from a

high school to dissect a lobster, and they enjoyed the work, By

sending but a single hour a week, and confining the class to but

few objects, they can obtain a fair idea of zodlogy, which will be

à Pleasure and involve a fair share of mental discipline, and have

taken but little time from other studies,

rye an = eto course in general zodlogy, involving the ae

Morphology, reproduction, embryology and zoo-geograpny,

and by the senior year be able to digest the laws of the geologi-

cal succession of animals, and of their evolution as well as o

:0:

RECENT LITERATURE.

trove COR AND Horpen’s BRIEFER Astronot, == Mot af

tomy is now so closely allied in some of its methods, a

1 ae

and pian Science Series, Briefer Course. Astronomy. By Pger NEWCOMB

WARD S, HoLpEN. New York, Holt & Co. 12mo, pp- 338-

1142 Recent Literature, | November,

touches in so many ways upon the science of geology, thata

brief, compendious, general treatise like this, without the mathe-

matics, is useful to the geologist. He will be interested in the

chapters relating to the moon and particularly the tides and their

effects upon the earth’s rotation, since these subjects are now so

much discussed by speculative geologists, So also the chapters

on meteors, and especially the last chapter on cosmogony, in-

_ cluding the statement of the nebular hypothesis, will be valuable

as giving the opinions and conclusions of one of the leading

astronomers of the day, while the concluding paragraph will be

of interest as showing how the subject is treated: :

“Tt must be understood that the nebular hypothesis, as we hart

explained it, is not a perfectly established scientific theory, but

only a philosophical conclusion founded on the widest study o

nature, and pointed to by many otherwise disconnected facts

The widest generalization associated with it is, that so far aswe

can see, the universe is not self-sustaining, but is a kind of orgat-

going. It must have had a beginning within a certain nun” i

years which we cannot yet calculate with certainty, but —

not much exceed 20,000,000, and it must end in a chaos of 0-

dead globes at a calculable time in the future, when weve :

stars shall have radiated away all their heat, unless it be re: ae

by the action of forces of which we at present know fe

Nature Srupies.'—This is a compact reprint of essays bys

of the leading English popular-science writers W. rich ad |

in Knowledge. They are light, readable and timely pape i

vastly superior to much of the literature sold in DOO” ie

railroad cars. As for being “studies,” however, one pee

when we find Mr. Proctor who, we believe, started as an ® vas

mer, writing, very pleasantly to be sure but perhaps 2%% pni

who do

ce tO

the !

seem to be over strong evolutionists, appear 1n aes ”

question whether some of the facts stated under

pleasantly written, though he is a compiler, and his » the G

‘Nature Studies. By GRANT ALLEN, ANDREW WILSON, p & Wage

WARD CLopp, and RICHARD A. Procror. New York, Fun gee

dard Library No. gt. 12mo, pp. 252. 25 cents.

1883. ] Recent Literature. 1143

as to what has been done in Germany, and especially Belgium,

France and the United States.

Mr. Grant Allen also, like a busy bee, after visiting the “honey

ants,” takes up with “hyacinth bulbs” and then solaces himself

with “a winter weed,” and in the spring time discourses on “the

first daffodil,” and later on in the book, whether in the vernal season

or no, discovers “ the origin of buttercups,” and later on, perhaps

in some autumn number of Kzowledge, tells us “ what is a grape.”

The book is what in boarding-house idiom would be styled ex-

cellent “hash,” well-seasoned for the most fastidious stomach,

even when called upon to digest “ strange sea monsters.”

TUDIES FROM THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY OF JOHNS HOPKINS

University.—This number completes the second volume of these

important “ studies.” Among the strictly zodlogical papers are

Professor E. A. Birge’s notes on the development of Panopeus

sayi, with four plates; the structure and growth of the shell of

the oyster, by H. L. Osborn, with one plate; the nervous system

of Porpita, by H. W. Conn and H. G. Beyer, M.D., with one plate;

notes on the Medusæ of Beaufort, N. C., Part 11, by Professor W.

K. Brooks. Under the head of histology would come the paper

by Professor A. H. Tuttle on the presence of ciliated epithelium

in the human kidney.

_ The physiological papers are of much value; they are the fol-

lowing : On the effect of variations of arterial pressure on the

duration of the systole and the diastole of the heart-beat, by W.

H. Howell and J. S. Ely, with one plate; the action of ethyl alco-

hol upon the dog’s heart, by Professor H. N. Martin and Lewis

- Stevens, and lastly, a reprint from the Proceedings of the

Royal Society, London, of Professor Martin’s paper on the direct

influence of gradual variations of temperature upon the rate of

beat of the dog’s heart.

BULLETIN oF THE ILLINOIS STATE LABORATORY OF NATURAL

History. —This is the sixth bulletin issued by this useful institu-

ton in May last, and contains four papers by Mr. S. A Forbes,

the director, as follows: 1. The regulative action of birds upon

insect oscillations; 11. The food relations of the Carabide and

Coccinellidæ ; 111. The food of the smaller fresh-water fishes and

W. The first food of the common white-fish (Coregonus clupeifor-

iid The first two papers have already been noticed in this

Magazine, and the entire series are fresh and valuable contribu-

ns to biology, and contain the result of extensive and patient

observation,

ion, and is devoted to the Arthropoda. The general anatomy

the larva of Corethra, of a Copepod (Canthocamptus minutus),

1144 Recent Literature, [ November,

and of Gammarus limneus and Hyalella dentata are given, the stu-

dent’s attention being drawn to those points not requiring dissec-

tion. The figures might have been better drawn and engraved,

so that the dent should have a better model of such work be-

fore him, but the brochure will be useful, and we are glad to see

such a publication adapted for the use of American students.

Mogsius AND HEINCKE’s FISHES OF THE GERMAN OCEAN—

This appears to be an excellent brief account of the marine

of the German ocean prepared for popular use, and issued by the

Commission for the scientific investigation of the German ocean,

whose headquarters are at Kiel. Every species pee is ac-

companied by a good outline figure. There is a map

their geographical distribution. It is published by Paul pe

Berlin, 1833, and contains 206 pages.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

apone p ate method of collecting Flue-dust at Ems on the Lahn. Ext, Ta

r. Inst. Ming. Eng., 1883. iat

sei ssid and Silver ores in the West. Ext. idem.

Bower, A.—The Bower Barff Process, Ext. m.

Boyd, C. R.—The Ores of Cripple creek. Va. Ext. idem.

Spilsbury, Æ. G—Gold Mining in S. Carolina. — idem, :

Coggin, F. G.—Copper Slime Treatment. Ext. i $

ices 7. Erh e Blast Furnace of the wet PAN and Iron Company at Bo:

anoke, Va. Ext. idem

Ti heng os a —On the Mittin of Manganese in Spiegel, Ferom

eel, etc. Ext. idem

Niet F. B—The pies determination of Manganese: Est A

Ray , R. W.—The Divining Rod. Ext. idem

toe siaturdl Coke of Chestercounty, Va. Ext. idem.

a 5 A.—The Shelf Dry Kiln. Ext. idem

McC: —The Iron ores of the Valley of Virginia, Ext. idem.

Rothe, Pe P. ts treatment of Gold-bearing arsenical ores at Delt |

Canada. Ext. idem a

i ich C H—The jea aia position of the Philadelphia gneiss

Bx. ii

em.

Henderson, C. H.—The Copper deposits of the — Mountain.

Blake, W. P.—Min ning a storing Ice. Ext. id

All from the institut

Hunt, T. S.—The ig of Rocks serine conside

Sei ence, Sept., 1883. From the Ext.’

Louis Acad. Science, 1883. Fro m the uthor Flowers

Bennett, ‘5 gp —On the constancy of i a in 1 their visits to os

Linnean Soc. ree 1883. From the author (Menidia).

Ryder, % A -—On the Thread-bearing Eggs of the Silversides f

Bull. U. S. Fak, idat 1883. From the au uthor. ;

red. Ext. Amer. jar

Drown, T. M—Technical Training. An address to the Alumni } ee

Lehigh University, June 20, 1883. From the author. ar. Ext. dt

Dollo, M. L.—Qua on aM te sur les Dinosauriens te Bernis hor.

du Musée gees d’ Hist. Nat. de Belgique. 1883.

1883. | Geography and Travels. 1145

—Note sur les Restes de Dinosauriens rencontrés dans le Crétacé Supérieur de

Belgique, 1883. From the author.

Agassiz, A.—The Tortugas and Florida reefs. From Memoirs of Amer. Acad. of

Arts and Sciences. June, 1883. From the author.

Geinitz, H. B,—Ueber neue Funde in den Phosphat lagern von Helmstedt, Biidden-

stedt und Schleweke, 1883. From the author.

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’

rent to any. one who has lived long in China, and knows, on the

one hand, the large extent of thinly-populated country, and, on

the other, the character of the officials employed upon the cen-

about 250,000,000 a fair estimate of the population.

Although the Chinese race has spread over so large a territory,

and absorbed, more by its .energy and superior civilization, com-

bined with constant intermarriages, than by force, many native

races, one race at least has in part remained independent. This

is the Lolo, or as they call themselves, Lo-su and Ngo-su, the

Coloman of Marco Polo. Though confined within a much smaller

territory than in the days of Marco, an almost impregnable

aa f

In the discussion which followed this paper, Sir T. Wade said,

Population less than half a million, while the great fair or market

Wn of Hankow could never have had more

uang-lung and Kuang-si were easily distinguished from those

% the rest of the empire, and Kuang-lung was not joined to the

FERUS until six centuries after Christ. These people were not

mprobably a Malay immigration. While all other Chinese spoke

of themselves as men of Han, from the dynasty of that

1 : E is

This department is edited by W. N. LocKINGTON, Philadelphia.

1146 General Notes. [ November,

which began to rule over the rest of China 200 B. C., the Canton-

ese and Fokienese spoke of themselves as men of Tang.

Mr. Colquhoun gives the area of the Shan States, which in-

clude all Indo-China lying between Yun-nan on the north and

the Burmah and Annam ranges west and east, as 340,000 sq.

miles, 80,000 in the independent Shan States, and 260,000 in

Siam. Little is known of most of this region, yet it must be

thickly populated, since the Siamese records give 6,000,000 a5

the number of able-bodied men in their territory.

A correspondent of the North China Herald describes a jour-

ney from Hankow, on the Yangtsze, to Chunching in Szechuea,

720 geographical miles distant. The mountainous country 1s ei- —

tered by the first of the celebrated gorges shortly after passing —

Ichang, the highest port on the river open to foreign trade. In

Szechuen the Yantsze is known as the Ch’uan Ho, or river of

Szechuen, and flows through a succession of gorges in ranges —

which mostly run north and south. At Wan-hsien, 160 geograph-

ical miles above Ichang, a region of picturesque sandstone hills, l

is reached

The people are polished in manners and courteous to pare” :

The province is suffering from drought at the same time Wn

other in a sandstone formation. The towns and cities are

upon the cliffs. dé from

Mr. Carl Bock has recently traveled: from Bankok to t she :

tiers of the independent Shan States. Tschengmai, Kiang pe

immé as it is variously spelled, is the capital of the ha |

tributary to Siam, and is a fortified town of about Gare than

lying in a fertile plain of uninterrupted rice fields, at ng kI

third of a mile from the Me Ping, which is here 400 yer

is of great political and commercial importance, and con i

trade of the States with Siam and British Burmah. The tef

ests of the region are almost inexhaustible. From pe

Bock proceeded to Kiangtsen, on the Meikong, and on

of the independent Shan States. Mr. Bock’s further progi

stopped by hostility aroused chiefly by his own indiscreti?

railway from Bankok to the Shan frontiers would pass

rich and populous districts.

ruins to testify to their civilization, and appêi serail

though the King of Cambodia is their nominal suzere™

1883. | Geography and Travels, 1147

The Russian explorer, Konchin, has discovered that Kalitin

was mistaken in supposing that the steppe between Charzhui and

Uzboi was crossed by an ancient channel of the Oxus.

A considerable part of the basin of the Upper Irtish is annexed

to Russia by recent conventions.

Arrica.—A journey recently undertaken by the Earl of Mayo

from Mossamedes, on the west coast of Africa, to Ekamba on

the River Cunéné, throws much light upon the geography and

race movments of that part of Africa. Portuguese influence

extends to. the Cunéné, where, at Humbé, there is a mission,

while at Huilla, in the Sierra Chella, there is a fort and a Catholic

college. Humpata, north of Huila, is occupied by numerous

Boer families, who after seven years of wandering from Pretoria,

in the Transvaal, had reached this healthy and well-watered dis-

trict in the highlands of the western barrier of Africa’s central

plateau, and had already, in the course of eighteen months, uilt

comfortable stone or mud cottages with thatched roofs, and ha

constructed irrigation canals. The country between the Sierra

Chella and the sea is, for the most part, barren, but the valley of

the Gambos river, an affluent of the Cunéné, abounds in game of

every kind. The Cunéné is a smaller river than would be

imagined from its appearance on a map. At Humbe, some 200

miles from its mouth, it is not navigable for large boats in the dry

season, there is a bar at its mouth which prevents the entrance of

any vessel, and there are rapids about seventy niles from its

mouth and large falls where it crosses the Sierra; but it is said

to be navigable farther up its course. The curious Welwitschia

is abundant near the coast between Mossamedes and the River

Coroca, which is simply a sandy bed in the dry season, but a

oon allows a small area to be farmed.

Country east of the Sierra. They keep cattle, cultivate to some

extent, moving their villages when the soil is worked out, and are

they some very curious flat-headed iron instruments with which

y Se

oblige him to stand still, when they kill him with assegais.

Col, Jc A. Grant, the companion of Speke, writes to the Royal

. 76

1148 General Notes. [ November,

Geog. Society an interesting account of King Mtesa, whose death

was reported in the papers of july 13th. That he wasa very

remarkable man is evident from the respect entertained for him

by Grant, Speke, Baker, Stanley, de Bellefonds and other travel-

ers, as well as by the discipline he maintained and the affection

with which he was regarded by his people. He communicated his

love of acquiring information to his people, and the habits of ob-

servation thus enforced have raised his people above other Afri-

cans. The population of Uganda proper is probably not over 4

million, but if the inhabitants of Karagweh, Usui, Unyoro and

Usoga be included, the total may probably reach three millions.

The British government has annexed the territory lying south-

east of Sierra Leone as far as Liberia.

Northward of Sierra Leone, on the Futa Diallon coast, the

French have established several new stations. ;

Gerhard Rohlfs estimates the Jews in Africa at 220,000, 1m

opposition to Brunialti, who placed them at 450,000. EN

Dr. J. Partsch, of Berlin, presents evidence to show that the

shores of Tunis are not an area of elevation; as claimed by Th

Fischer. He states that the chief addition to the land saM

dred square miles of delta built out by the combined action %

the River Medjerda (the ancient Bagradas) and wind action 0n

the sands, since the third century. Carthage is still on a p

tory close to the sea, with the remains of some of its harbor

works at the water’s edge.

Mr. Thomson has been compelled to return to M

caravan on account of the hatred to white men among the NaS) —

her's caravat

aroused by the passage through the country of pg Mase

Taveta with his :

on the first weak caravan. The retreat was effected safely. cia

he caravan of Dr. Fischer consisted of 800 men, with

e 350 men Dr. Fischer took with him. im,

Dr. W. Junker was, when news was last received rye”

still in the Niam-Niam country, at the residence of ac

mio.

The total length of the Niger, according to Ce |

lieni, is over 2000 miles, the upper part, from the roc

a little below Bammaka, to its head-waters, may P“ }

part navigable for small steamers; the middle cours, |,

slaves, cattle, gold, etc., and is little known, iia

has often been ascended a considerable distance by

sels. Several of the towns are surrounded by we

ramparts.

1883.] Geography and Travels. 1149

- M. Roudaire, who with a party of engineers has been engaged

in making borings across the lowland between the Mediterranean

and the Algerian Chottes, is reported to have as yet met with

nothing more formidable than sand, so that the interior sea may

after all become a fact.

Max Buchner gives some curious particulars respecting the

kingdom of the “ muatiamvo,” south of the Congo. The muati-

amvo, or king, is not the only ruler, a second high authority is

the “ lukokessa,” or queen, who is not, however, his consort, but

entirely independent of him, with her own consort, the “shamo-

ana,” and numerous husbands of a lower order. The “ muati-

amvo,” whose name is Shanana, or Naoesh-a-kat, has sixty wives.

The country, about as large as Germany, can hardly have more

than two millions of people.

Kuilu, on the Loango coast, which M. de Brazza had intended

to secure as the starting point for his direct road va the Niari

1150 General Notes. [November, |

sont in advance, via the Ogowé, is about 280 miles in a straight

ine.

Mr. O'Neill, who is about to start for Lake Shirwa, writes that

from information received he begins to doubt if the Lujenda has

its source in that lake. Many native traders say that it rises ina

lake called Amaramba or Muaremba, and one who traveled from

one lake to the other, states that there is no connection between

them.

The French company entitled “ Les Factoreries Françaises du

Golfe Persique et de l'Afrique Orientale ” has obtained consider-

ble rights from Menelek 11, King of Shoa, who rules over Obock.

The company contracts to convey to Obock, at its own expense

and risk and in its caravans, at fixed prices, whatever goods the

king requires, also to convey the money. A mining engineer

has been sent to the king, at his request, to explore the mines of

copper, gold, silver, precious stones and coal which exist in Shoa.

The object of the company is the development of French com

merce with the east, and it has already established relations with

the districts of Persia on the Tigris and Euphrates. Obock is at

the exit of the Red sea and a few hours’ journey from Aden. M.

Soleillet reports that in his journey to Shoa, Kaffa, etc.,

that the coffee-plant forms the underwood of the forests from the

River Gueba. |

America.—Lieut. Bove states that Staten island, the eastern-

most of the Fuegian archipelago, has a deeply indented arta

mountainous, its peaks rising to 850 meters, and displays er

dant evidences of glacial action in moraines and lakes. ae

Cruz, on the eastern coast of Patagonia, is described as the ‘le

center for the population of the region, as it has s ae

range, the Nahue

‘tera. ‘Phe

illera. aie ate

of the Nahuelbuta, which reaches a height of 5000 fe The

t eruptions. * <

are to some =

iards in the

days of their conquests—conquests which were, however, * re

in their southward progress by the brave Araucanians, a The

possess a considerable proportion of good land in the sout™. aad

littoral region, some twenty miles wide, consists of Jur nine

ds three to

contributes this information, believes the coal to be J

coast range and littoral slope are heavily ooe the hat- -

short and unnavigable, the climate rough an i

pre ete ar a

E EE i

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 1151

bors open to the north-west, but closed to the south-west by sand

bars built by the northward current. The Cordillera in this re-

gion is almost unknown.

Henri Froidevaux, summarizing the investigations of the rivers

of Guiana, states, in agreement with Crevaux, that the abundance

of village sites and relics on the banks shows there was formerly

a much more abundant population.

NORDENSKIOLD’s JOURNEY OF TWO HUNDRED MILES INTO THE

INTERIOR OF GREENLAND.—According to the newspaper press,

advices dated Copenhagen, Sept. 21, from Professor Nordenski-

dld’s expedition to Greenland, have been received via Thurso,

| Scotland. They state that the expedition started from Antleiksi-

vick on the 4th of September, and reached a distance of 360 kilo-

meters inland, attaining a height of 7000 feet above the level of

i the sea. This is the first time human beings have penetrated so

i far into Greenland. The whole region is an ice desert, proving

l that there is no open water inland. Very valuable scientific data

have been obtained; Along the north-west coast a cold stream

| flows, which induces a very low temperature, but on the eastern

shore the weather is not so severe, and that coast is accessible to

steamers in autumn. The expedition will return va Reikiavik.

When the party were 140 kilometers east of the glacier’s bor-

der, the soft snow prevented their proceeding on sledges. Lap-

anders were therefore sent on with snow shoes. The rest of the

expedition visited the north-west coast between Waigattel and

Cape York. They were informed by the Esquimaux that two

members of an American Polar expedition had died, and the

rest had returned to Littleton island. On the 16th of August

the expedition sailed south from Egedesmire, making a short

stay at Ivighil and Frederiksdal, and tried to proceed eastward

three times through the sound north of Cape Farewell, and once

After having tried vainly to anchor in another fiord, more to ; x

, they returned, and arrived at Reikiavik on September 9

GEOGRAPHICAL Nores. — The celebrated Swedish "e

Capt. - G. Een, died suddenly, from heart disease, at Vivi, on the

Tivers, thenburg, July 3d, to explore and trade upon the Siberian

two Nordenskiöld accompanies her. Capt. Gronbeck and

ROL

1152 General Notes. [ November,

and make meteorological observations. Lieut. Schwatka is

making a thorough exploration of the courses of the Chilkat,

Lewis and Yukon. In the /evestia M. Karzin, an official of the

Verkhoyansk district, struck with the terrible fate of De Long,

publishes a list of all settlements and places where human beings

can be met with at different seasons on the coast of Northeast

Siberia. The Indian population of British North America is, by

a recently issued report, estimated at about 110,000. It is supposed

that the total native population of America, north of the United

States, is about 146,coo, of which some 25,000 are Innuit and

Aleuts. The planting of Pinus pinaster in the Landes of

wide, and stated by M. E. Blanc to come from a submerged se

tinuation of the Landes, are now entirely wooded over, Some 0 —

these dunes reach a height of 250 feet. South of the dunes®

old forest of cork-oaks and resin pines.

barked at Naples on July 25th, in the Italian man-of-war

ington, to resume his deep-sea and thalassographic ee

in the Mediterranean. On account of the frequent d |

Europeans on the International Society’s establishment

‘Congo, a succession of new appointments have poe

These include two Swedish gentlemen, MM. Westmar ad M.

vallson, and two English geographers, Sir F. Goldsmid 4

'E. Delmar Morgan.

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY.

our Eocene formations. The specimen representi

lacks the head and pectoral fins. There are no t pecs

br, and there are well developed basilar interne 2

zmals. : ries, 20" (

Crassupholis, gen. nov.—Scales numerous, 1n obia posterior

in contact ; formed of a small grooved disk and er coor

of verte

inter

spines. Dorsal and anal fins short, posterior ; the

1853.] Geology and Paleontology. 1153

mencing in advance of the latter. Caudal fulcra continued into

broad flat scuta extending forwards on the median line. Superior

lobe of caudal fin much more produced than inferior. A lateral

line.

Crassopholis magnicaudatus, sp. nov——Basilar interneural bones

18; body slender at dorsal fin and contracted at caudal peduncle.

Dorsal and anal fins moderate, caudal very large, with strong an-

terior fulcral rays. The fulcral scuta are longitudinally oval, and

ave a groove along the middle line. The caudal hamapophyses

are short and expand distally. They soon disappear in the

This discovery introduces the ancient order of Chondrostei to

ave Eocene fauna. The specimen was found by Mr. E. W. Hol-

and.

Tadd that gars of the genus Clastes are found in the Green

River shales, They are of two species, one with an obtuse muz-

ale like that of a Polypterus, and the other of the longer nosed

type like the C. cuneatus—E. D. Cope.

THE Carson Foorrrints.—The first definite information we

received on this subject was contained in a paper by Dr. Hark-

‘ory is untenable. Professor Marsh thinks they are made by

sloths. To prove this hypothesis it is necessary to account for

the absence of claws. The facts that gravigrade sloths walked

on the side of the foot does not preclude the taking of impres-

‘ons of claws. It is said, however, that the tracks, as preserved,

are Not the real tracks, but only rather impressions of the tracks

d by several layers of mud.—Z. D. Cope.

an QUATERNARY BEDS AT BILLANCOURT, PARIS. —

imigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, the Irish elk, the onae

"oS primigenius, some bones of birds and a few sponges an

1154 General Notes. [ November,

phases into which M. A. Gaudry divides the history of the Qua-

ternary epoch in the Paris basin. These six phases are:

1. A hot phase, with E/ephas meridionalis, transitional between

Tertiary and Quaternary.

2. A grand glacial phase, with troops of reindeer and Rhinoce-

vos tichorhinus.

3. A second hot phase, with the hippopotamus, deer, R/anoct-

ros merku and Elephas antiquus.

. A temperate phase, with a mixture of the species of hot and

cold climates, including Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros ticho-

rhinus and the reindeer. ;

5. A second short cold period, the reindeer age, in which the

rhinoceros has disappeared. ; :

6. The present climate, to which belongs the age of polished

stone (Neolithic).

Tue Java Urneavat.—* London, Aug. 29, 1883. A dispatch

from Batavia, Java, to the Lloyds, says that the towns of Anjer,

Tjiringin and Telokbelong have been destroyed by the ee

eruptions. It also says that all the lighthouses 1 the Sun

straits have disappeared, and that where the mountain of Kpn

tan formerly stood the sea now flows.. The aspect of the aere

straits is much changed, and navigation is dangerous. The =

wave completely destroyed Anjer. Many persons there ee

North Bantam was enormous. Since noon yesterday

is now at its normal height. The town is covere

layer of ashes, which was so hot when falling that it

Telegraph linemen report that while they hel? at work

a line near Anjer, early Monday morning, they saw 4 dipi

of the sea approaching with a roaring noise. They MA m

diately without learning the fate of the inhabitants. phe per

at Merak have disappeared, and all the people of the PAN E

ished.” s ‘of the a

The above dispatch is the first account received of 005 e

most disastrous volcanic upheavals on record, an

greatest phenomenon in physical geography which has of time

during at least the historical period, in the same spie

From the daily newspaper press and an article in Natur e

made up the following account :

The center of disturbance is the volcano of K

rakatoa, 4 ne

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1155

island some six miles long and four or five miles broad, situated

in the straits of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra. On Sunday

evening this volcano burst into a terrific eruption. The flashes

from the subterranean fires were seen at Batavia, some eighty

miles east of Krakatoa, The ashes from the volcano fell at Cher-

ibon, a town 125 miles east-south-east of Batavia, and about 250

miles eastward on the north coast of Java, from the outburst,

while the detonations were heard at Scerakarta, in the central dis-

trict of Java, a distance of over 300 miles. The town of Anjer

suffered apparently not only from the volcanic disturbance but

from a great tidal wave which swept through the straits of Sunda.

Anjer is, perhaps we ought to say was, a little seaport on the Java

side of the straits about twenty-five miles east of Krakatoa island.

This island, estimated to contain 8,000,000,000 cubic yards of

material, seems to have been shattered and sunk beneath the wa-

ters, while sixteen volcanic craters have appeared above the sea

between the site of that island and Sibisi istand, where the sea is

comparatively shallow, The Scengepan volcano has split into five,

and it is stated that an extensive plain of “volcanic stone” has

n formed in the sea near Lampong, Sumatra, probably at a

part of the coast dotted with small islands. A vessel near the

site of the eruption had its deck covered with ashes eighteen

ae deep, and passed masses of pumice stone seven feet in

epth.

Sweeping both shores of that passage and reached the coast of

Java on the morning of the 27th, and, thirty meters high, swept

the coast between Merak and Tiiringen, totally destroying Anjer,

. . £ ht

ave, and many lives lost. At Tanjong Priok, fifty-eig

haa tant from aaka, a sea seven feet and a half higher

the

Place, Immediate] i ddenly sank ten feet and a

half tely afterwards it as suddenly :

below the high water mark, the effect being most destructive.

1156 General Notes. [November,

such rapidity that on the 27th it reached San Francisco harbor,

and continued to come in at intervals of twenty minutes, rising

to a height of one foot for several days.

Farther advices from Colombo, Ceylon, dated London, Sept.

26, state that the recent earthquake at Java caused a sudden sub-

sidence of the sea at Colombo of fifteen feet. On the 27th of

August the water rose and fell violently for half an hour, when it

resumed its normal condition. Several vessels broke from their

moorings, but no other damage was reported.

Discovery OF PALÆOZOIC ROCKS IN WESTERN BraziL—!

region about Cuyuba is generally low, with little hills and ridges,

all formed of talcose and ferruginous schists, or of heavy quartz

veins. The schists strike nearly north-east, dipping north-west

at a high angle. The quartz is, in parts, very auriferous, and in

their time the mines of Cuyuba have been among the richest in

the world.

Twenty miles north-west of Cuyuba the land rises suddenly

about 2000 feet, this is the Chapadao or table-land; it is not, a

the name might imply, a fat elevated plain; the surface is rolling,

_ or even hilly and mountainous in parts, and the streams run

through deep valleys or cafions, This table-land, so far as I

have seen it, is composed of soft sandstones and clays of be 7

ages, overlying the schists and appearing at the edge of the pia-

teau in long precipices, often several hundred feet high.

The village of Chapada is on the highest part of the Canes

near its southern edge, and about thirty-five miles from Cre

Half a mile west of this place, on an open hillside, I found a kt

ruginous sandstone with casts of Spiriferze,Terebratule, TRE

lepti (?) and other brachiopods, with many Discinæ and p

the latter were also found in a kind of iron-stone above the Je

stone layer, and in soft shales below it. I found the same 1

at Laranjal, ten miles north-east of Chapoda, and at other poin

The Discina appears to me to be the D. /odensts, fous ae

Hamilton group of New York State, and at Erere, on ae

mazons ; one of the Spirifers also resembles an Erere spe en

These, with the Tropidoleptus, would, if my determinati Toit :

correct, indicate a Lower Devonian horizon for the st ,

beds; it is quite possible, however, that I may be vo =

have no books of reference on palzontology at hand, an we te

pretend to proficiency in that science. At all events e a

described are Palzeozoic, and in all probability either He

or Carboniferous, 7 oo feet of

My section through the Chapoda beds show nearly bee ee

The fossiliferous beds themselves occupy from ey nearly ê l

(not yet well determined), and they are. followed A conglot-

thousand feet of soft sandstones, capped by 350 fer oo

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1157

erate—in all over 2000 feet. The strike of the whole series is

E. W., the dip being a slight one towards the north. The rich-

est gold washings of the Chapodao are along streams which run

over the sandstone and conglomerates adove the fossil beds.—

Herbert H. Smith,

GEOLOGICAL Notes.—Si/urian.—M. Lebesconte, on the occa-

sion of the presentation to the French Geological Society of the

posthuinous works of Marie Roualt, gave the following reasons

why Cruziana and Rysophycus, described by that geologist,

should be considered to be vegetables and not the tracks of ani-

mals, as they were considered by M. Nathorst: (1) They are

met with not only upon the lower surface of the beds but also

upon the upper; (2) they occur even in the interior of the rock;

(3) the great majority anastomose in a most intimate manner,

showing plainly the points of junction, while the animal tracks

that simulate vegetable forms are broken at the point of junction.

Devonian —M. Oehlert has described in the Bulletin of the

French Geological Society eight new crinoids from the depart-

ment of Mayenne, including three Rhodocrinide, two species of

Melocrinus, a Phimocrinus, a Lecanocrinus and a Hexacrinus.

„Carboniferous —M. Zeiller (Bull. Soc. Geol. France, May, 1883)

gives the result of an examination of the coal beds of Tong-king.

e flora of these beds differs somewhat from that of the coal

beds of Europe, the greater part of Asia with China, and North

America, and seems intermediate between that of these continents

and that of Australia. The flora of the lower marine Carbonifer-

ous beds of Australia is similar to that of Europe, Asia and North

America, and the coal beds of New South Wales must therefore

be of Carboniferous age, to which also those of Tong-king

belong,

aa Besançon, and with many others. When, on the conha

level of the bottom of the closed basin is below ar al ;

Waters exterior to it, these exterior waters penetrate into it along

ne of the lines of rupture, enlarging the fissure by their erosion.

eoo

1158 General Notes. [November,

In this manner the Donbs traverses the basin of Morteau, receiv-

ing a rivulet from its interior as it passes.——M. Cotteau also

contributes a note upon the Jurassic echinids of Algeria, forty-

seven in number. One only of these species is found in the Ox-

ford stage ; thirty-seven to the upper coralline, and seven seem to

be Kimmeridgian. Nineteen are new and known only in Algeria,

while the remainder occur in Europe, usually at the same strati-

graphic levels.

Tertiary —The cerebral hemispheres of Arctocyon dueilit and

Pleuraspidotherium aumonieri, discovered by M. Lemoine in the

Eocene of the environs of Rheims, are stated by that geologist to

be so reduced in dimensions as to be scarcely superior in trans-

verse diameter to the olfactory or the optic lobes, the latter of

which are entirely uncovered ——M. Hebert (Bull. de la Soc.

Geol. de la France, 1882) has described in detail the nummulitic

group of the south of France. This group belongs to the M

dle and Upper Eocene, and occurs in the Central Pyrenees, at

Chalosse, at Corbiéres and Montagne Noire, and in the environs

of Nice.

General —Mr. G. K. Gilbert states that the great fault along the

western base of the Wasatch mountains is wanting opposite pe

Lake City. He suspects that the fault will yet be compl l

at that point, and that when the slip occurs it will cause an «at

quake which will destroy Salt Lake City.

MINERALOGY.!

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES upon Rocxs.—M. J. Thoulet, after c

ploring the absence of general results arrived at by lithologists,

has proposed to himself the study of all the physical pro thus

of the same rock in order that, by a comparison of the data :

obtained, any relations which exist between these diverse prf |

ties may be discovered, and at all events the physical eor )

the rock may be systematically stated. He holds pe. g the

should be systematized by the common application O! sf rocks

physical and natural sciences to the study of the geneet mnt

and shows the necessity of obtaining, in the first place, x4

cific heat and resilient elasticity or power of rebounding: eyed

This method of proceeding, although laborious, ' of

be alone capable of furnishing certain results. n

1 Edited by Professor H. Carvitt Lewis, Academy of Naina m g =

delphia, to whom communications, papers for review, ¢tc-» shou gabe

* Bull. Soc. Mineralogique de France, T. vi, No. 6, p- I61.

1883.] Mineralogy. 1159

The hygrometricity, or amount of moisture absorbed from the

air, is obtained by heating the rock at 100° C. until the weight is

constant, and reducing the result to decimals. In expressing the

hygrometricity of basalt as 0.371, it is meant that 100 grammes

of the dry rock weigh 100.371 after the expulsion of the humid

air. The hygrometricity of limestone is 1.669

The imbibition, or faculty of absorbing water, is measured b

soaking the rock in water for some time under the bell glass of

an air pump, and then weighing after it has been carefully wiped.

It represents the maximum of water absorbed by 100 grammes

of rock perfectly dried at 100° C. The imbibition of basalt is

0.551, of limestone 1.981.

The thermic resistance and coefficient of thermic conductibil-

ity is obtatined by determining the time, in seconds, which it

takes for an interval of temperature of 34° C., issuing from a fixed

source of heat at 100° C. to traverse the thickness of one centi-

meter of rock. The temperature of the rock at the beginning

and end of the experiment is noted, as well as its weight, amount

of surface, thickness, etc., much care being required for this de-

termination. The thermic resistance is obtained graphically from

these data. For basalt it is given as 83, and for limestone as 59.

The specific heat is obtained by a method previously described

by Lagarde and the author, and involves the immersion of the

rock in alcohol whose volume, density and specific heat are pre-

viously known. Thomson's galvanometer is used in the experi-

ments, and the specific heat of basalt is determined as 0.2699,

and of limestone as 0.253.

The elasticity of rebounding, which is directly related to the

molecular elasticity developed by either optical, thermic or me-

chanical vibrations, is determined very simply, by counting the

number of times that a ball of ivory rebounds from the rock. While

quartz causes the ball to rebound 42.2 times, basalt causes it to

rebound 25.9 times, and limestone 35.48 times. Taking the elas-

ticity of quartz as the unit, the resilient elasticity of basalt is

0.614, and of limestone 0.840.

STIBNITE FROM JapaN.—The very beautiful crystals and groups

of crystals of stibnite from Japan, are already well known to a

number of mineralogists. The specimens, by their beauty, bril-

‘ancy and size, will attract attention in any cabinet. They are

‘aid to come from the Island of Jaegimeken Kannaizu, in South

r ES, Dana, describing some remarkably fine specimens -

“cently received by the sie Shere at Yale College, it is shown

1160 General Notes. [ November,

that the crystals are noteworthy, not only on account of their size

and beauty, but also for their great complexity of form, i

Some crystals measured nearly two feet in length and two

inches in diameter. They occur in groups, which consist of

diverging crystals, many of which may be over a foot in length.

The prismatic planes are deeply striated, and the end of each

crystal is finely terminated by brilliantly polished planes. The

luster of these planes is unexcelled among metallic minerals, and

can be compared only with that of polished steel, as, for exam-

ple, the surface of a razor blade.

Professor E. S. Dana has observed as many as eighty-five

planes on these Japanese crystals. Forty-five planes was the

largest number previously observed on stibnite, so that forty new

planes are thus added. Some of the most complex crystals are

the smallest ones. Sometimes, even on large crystals, the minute

terminal planes are so rounded into each other that they c

not be measured. Often these steep pyramidal planes so sharpen

the end of the crystal as to give it a spear-shaped appearance.

mmon peculiarity of the Japanese crystals, as indeed of

all stibnite, is a bending over in the direction of the mace )

onal axis. The edge of the crystal, near its termination, peo

bent so as to form a right angle with itself. Crystals of stib :

from other localities have been described which were bane

such a degree as to form a complete ring. This curious are

liarity appears in all cases as if produced subsequently to SE

formation of the crystal. It has been shown that a slight pre

sure will permanently distort a crystal of stibnite. ao

The axial ratio as deduced from the measured angles IS

to be: :

a:bsc == T : 1.00749 : 1.02550

In order to preserve the brilliant luster of these agers 4

suggest that mineralogists keep them in a dark place, .

tected from dust and dampness. ae

A Beautirut Crvsrat or Apatite.—A. Schmidt, crit

burg, describes and figures in the last number of Zeitsc r

Kryst. (vix Band, 6 Heft), a remarkably beautiful crystal 0f Cren

less apatite from Floitenthale, a new locality.

which measures only about 1.5 centimeters in length, #7

resembles a garnet in general shape, being nearly equ” pro

geometrical beauty of shape and complex but pir re givet

portions can hardly be excelled, unless indeed the Er angi

greatly idealizes it. The specimen belongs to the i

National Museum. Do

Precious IoLire From Brazit.—lIn looking over ja colades 7

1883.] Mineralogy. 1161

prismatic mineral labeled topaz, which attracted his attention

from the fact that it showed no trace of cleavage on the broken

end, but had an irregular, conchoidal fracture. A trial of the spe-

cific gravity gave 2.67, too low for topaz, and it was concluded

that the crystal was iolite (cordierite). The crystal was 1.5 centi-

meters long and r centimeter broad, larger than ever before

known in Brazilian crystals. The absence of color in such a

large crystal indicates that the usual deep bluish color is acciden-

tal and due to some coloring pigment.

SEPARATION OF MINERALS ACCORDING TO THE DEGREE OF Co-

Lirsiopninite.—Mr. S. L. Penfield? has published two new

analyses of lithiophilite, which are of interest in that they sub-

stantiate the formula of an orthophosphate, Li (Mn, Fe) PO, for

€ species, and taken together with his previously published

analyses, complete a series showing a gradual transition between

the two extremes of a lithia-iron phosphate containing little man-

ganese (triphylite) and a lithia-manganese phosphate containing

but little iron (lithiophilite). Lithiophilite is, therefore, a man-

§anesian variety of triphylite. :

One of the analyses was made on a pale bluish, transparent,

brilliant lithiophilite from Branchville, Conn., and the other upon

specimens from Norway, Maine, a new locality. The specimens

from the latter place are blackened on the exterior by the oxida-

tion to which this mineral is particularly liable, but in the inte-

"or are of a light salmon color.

SOME RECENTLY FORMED M1NERALS.—A. Lacroix has arpana

uced crystals of gypsum by treating pulverized fluorite w!

Sulphuric acid and then adding water. After standing for seve

months at a low temperature until the liquid had evaporite

Small but beautiful transparent crystals of gypsum were us

upon the fluorite and on the sides of the containing flask.

in:

Brett Polytech. Fourn., 248, 112.

Amer. Fourn, Se., Sept., 1883.

1162 General Notes. - _[November,

In crystalline form as well as in the mode of grouping, the

crystals closely resemble some small crystals of gypsum which

occur at the salt works of Bex, Canton of Vaux. These may

also be of recent origin.

The same author has described some interesting minerals which

have formed upon some old Roman coins of the time of the Em-

peror Alexander Severus (205~234 A. D.), which were buried in

a mass of rubbish in Algeria. The coins contain eighty per cent

of copper, sixteen per cent of lead and four per cent of tin, and

through the action of dampness have become oxidized so as to

form malachite, azurite, cuprite and cerussite. The coins were

cemented by cavernous malachite, in the interstices of which were

crystals of the above minerals, The cuprite occurred in cubes

of cochineal-red color, and the azurite in clear blue crystalline

masses. The cerussite, the most interesting mineral noticed, oc

curred both in crystals and in crystalline masses of yellowish-

white color and adamantine luster. The crystals of this mineral,

never before noticed under similar conditions, sometimes wert

acid can be made as cheaply from American pyrites as from me

ported brimstone, and considering the great difference in freig

between the two raw minerals, the price of acid made from 0°

pyrites will be much lowered. Immense deposits of pyrites 0%

cur in Virginia, and these will undoubtedly be used pe

quantities for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Should ae

manufacturers of our sea-board cities use pyrites instead of B.) l

phur for this purpose, it is stated that commercial acid (66° B.)

can be made by them at one cent per pound. A most! ee

industry of great value to the country can thus be open veld

many mines of pyrites will be opened to add to the m ae

wealth of the Eastern States. ies oe

PICRANALCIME.—Some years ago Bechi described nana

from Monte Caporciano, Tuscany, under the name of TE

cime. It was stated to be an analcime of a red color con® po

ten per cent of magnesia, and only a half per cent of ‘on from

was generally regarded by mineralogists as an alterati fe

analcime. Bamberger, however, has shown that tb gO Se

magnesia in the mineral, and that in every respect, crysta S The

ically, optically and chemically, it agrees with analcim® g

name r picranalcime” must therefore be dropped from tea

miticrals,

MinerRALocica Nores.—To determine the mineralogio fe

cies to which the jade of different localities properly be! ade from

quently requires a chemical analysis. cimens of J foma

ew Zealand and from Southern Turkestan, the ae :

1883. } Botany. 1163

Allen and determined to be amphibole. Klein has recently

examined some crystals of w//manuite from Sardinia. The prin-

cipal planes were those of the cube, which was striated as in pyr-

ite, being due to the same cause, the repetition of pyritohedral

edges. Pyritohedral and dodecahedral planes also occurred, The

specific gravity was somewhat higher than usual, being 6.84. An

analysis showed a mere trace of arsenic. e determined per-

centages of nickel, sulphur and antimony agree closely with the

formula, Ni (Sb, S). The crystals were imbedded in calcite—

It has been found that almost all platinum ore is magnetic, and

that no purification can be effected by means of a magnet. Even

a weak magnet will attract a large percentage of platinum along

with the iron in an impure ore. Experiments have shown, in-

deed, that as much platinum as iron is attracted ——Go(d is re-

ported as occurring in a Cretaceous limestone in Williamson

county, Texas. It is supposed to have originally existed as an

auriferous pyrite, by the decomposition of which the sulphur

has been removed, the iron oxidized and the gold concentrated.

BOTANY."

Watson’s CONTRIBUTIONS To AMERICAN Botany, xI.— We

have the pleasure of again noticing another of Mr. Watson’s fre-

quent publications, this time a thick pamphlet of one hundred

Pages, extracted from the Proceedings of the American Academy

of Arts and Sciences (Vol. xvin). It bears date of August 15,

1883, and contains descriptions of many new species. There is

first a list of plants from Southwestern Texas and Northern Mex-

ico, collected chiefly by Dr. E. Palmer in 1879-80, occupying

nearly the whole pamphlet ; this is followed by five pages devoted

to descriptions of some new Western species. ee

The Commelinacez of the United States are revised in a foot-

material in the Gray Herbarium, Twenty-five “species are recog-

nized, as follows: 1. B. tenuis Griseb., Mexico; 2. B. prostrata

pe alg ica; 4. B. scorpioides Lag., Mex.; 5. B. hirsuta Lag.,

S. Utah to Te E TrA W.

ayes x., S. Cal. and Mex.; 8. B. eriopoda Torr., W.

and New Mex. ; 9. B. trifida Thurber, W. Tex., New, Mex. and

€X. ; 10. B, burkei Scribner, W. Tex. and New Mex. ; II. B. race-

ing Lag, N. Y. and Pa. to Wis., Tex., Ariz. and Mex. [this is

W A curtipendula Torr., of the manuals]; 12. B. bromoides Lag.,

By > t0 Ariz. and Mex. ; 13. B. havardi Vasey, W. Tex. Mag

hondrosivides Benth., Mex.; 15. B. litigiosa Lag., W. Indies ;

£ 7

| by Pror, C, E. Bessey, Ames, lowa.

YOL,

OL, XVII.—no, xI, 77

1164 General Notes. [ November,

16. B. elatior Griseb., W. Indies; 17. B. ciliata Griseb., S. Amer-

ica; 18. B. lophostachya Griseb., S. America; 19, B. nana Griseb,

S. America; 20. B. pilosa Benth., Galapagos islands; 21. 5.

aristidoides Thurber, New Mex. to S. Cal. and Mex.; 22. B. iria-

thera Benth., Mex. ; 23. B. texana Watson, Tex. ; 24. B. disticha

Benth., Peru; 25. B. multiseta Benth., Brazil.

A Hysrip Moss.—H. Philibert records (Rev. Bryol., X) a new

instance of a hybrid moss found wild, between Orthotrichum dia-

phanum and O. sprucei. He considers it a true instance of a hy-

brid sporogonium, resulting from the fertilization of an archegon-

ium of O. sprucei by antherozoids of O. diaphanum. The hybrid

was intermediate in its characters between the two parents, and

also in the time of producing its reproductive organs.—. Jour

Royal. Mic. Society for August, 1883.

petioles, the spores are thrown vertically 10-20" ja :

are the Æcidium of Uromyces pisi on Euphorbia cyparissias, th i

<LEcidium of Fuccinia straminis on Lycopsis arvensis an ee

symphyti on Symphytum officinale, while the Aicidiums on UT

leaves, as the Æcidium of Puccinia calystegia on Calystegia sep”

and the Æcidium of P. coronata on leaves of Rhamnus dischar cl ir :

4-6™™. or at most 8™"- He also notes that from cu

ter species, growing on the petioles of the leaves, the ae

thrown higher than from those on the thin lamina ot DS

Inaugural dissertation delivered before the Kaiser-

sitat at Strassburg, 1883.

_ New Species or NORTH AMERICAN Funct. Sep finitely |

Jolia E. & K—Epiphyllous, on light brown, rather 1%" ered

bordered and irregularly shaped spots, 1-4" aa

over the leaf and giving it a scorched or withered loo: ži

cia rather numerous, slightly prominent, black, a .

spores abundant, short, 20-30 X 114-134»., slightly, lid

faintly nucleolate, yellowish. On leaves of /va rant ere

Septoria cacalie E. &. K.—Spots rusty brown,

Wilhelms-Univer

1883. | ` Botany. 1165

Septoria helianthi E. & K.—Perithecia epiphyllous, immersed,

brown, collapsing 150. diam., on brown definitely limited spots

4-34 diam., with a yellowish scarcely raised border; spores

linear-filiform, hyaline, nucleate, becoming 3-5 septate, 30-70 X

2-3., generally attenuated towards one or both ends. This is

distinct from S, helianthicola C. & H., and from S. paupera Ell,

On leaves of Helianthus doronicoides. Manhattan, Kansas, Aug.,

188

Septoria gaurina E. & K.—Perithecia numerous, brown, im-

mersed, 100-140y. diam., visible on both sides of the leaf, but open-

ing above and expelling the linear, curved, continuous or I-3 sep-

tate, yellowish, granular 50-75 x 214-3. spores in the form of

white cirrhi. Spots light dirty brown with a rather irregular out-

line and a definite but only slightly raised border. On leaves of

Gaura parviflora. Manhattan, Kansas.

Septoria mimuli E. & K —Spots white (1-2™") with a dark bor-

der ; perithecia few (4-10), 80-100. diam., black, about equally

conspicuous on both sides of the leaf; spores linear, continuous,

faintly nucleolate, yellowish, often thickened at one end, 15-30 X

I-14. On leaves of Mimulus ringens. :

Septoria spherelloides E. & K.—Perithecia covered by the epi-

dermis, 80-90. diam., perforated above, scattered evenly over the

stem or collected on elongated blackened places, in which case

they appear like a minute Diaporthe; spores nucleate, filiform,

nearly straight, 15—22 X 1-1 Yu, On dead stems of Hypericum

corymbosum.,

safras Cke., which has globose brown, coarsely granular spores (?)

on indefinite, dark colored spots. : :

Phyllosticta decidua E. & K.— Spots thin, white deciduous,

I-2mm J:

iam., sit

definite but scarcely raised : perithecia small (60-100#.), ney

Spores oblone-elli tical, 3- 114-3. (mostly 3-4 x 1344,), the

longer ones Sith x 3 faint A Ke Mee of Leonurus cardi-

cca, Nepeta cataria and Mentha piperita. This appears to differ

P. galeopsidis Sacc, in its variable spores and deciduous

spots, which give the leaf the appearance of having. been eaten

Phyllosticta asimine E. & K.—Spots pale brownish, of irregu-

it shape (34-1), bordered by a ahir dak raised line; per yd

Cia Subglobose, deeply immersed, their apices barely visible on t ;

,Pper surface of the leaf, scattered, 100-120%. diam. ; SRA 28

sh with a slightly greenish tinge, obovate, 7-9 x 5~9

- leaves of Asimina triloba

1166 General Notes. [ November,

Phyllosticta lycii E. & K.— Perithecia depressed, 100p. diam,

black, visible on both sides of the leaf, on brown orbicular spots,

1-2™™" diam., at length whitening out and with a narrow dis-

tinctly raised border; spores elliptical or ovate-elliptical, 5-12

X2~3. (mostly 5-7 x 234.) subacute. The spots are concave

on both sides of the leaf, more distinctly so above, and on account

of the abruptly raised margin look like little round disks lying on

the surface of the leaf. On leaves of Lycium vulgare.

Ramularia mimuli E. & K.—Spots suborbicular, y4-y,™ with

a dark shaded border which is more conspicuous above; yphe

mostly hypophyllous, subfasciculate, continuous, subhyaline,

30-40 x 3u.; conidia cylindrical, hyaline, uniseptate, 30-40 x $"

On leaves of Mimulus ringens. Closely allied to R. phyteumats

Sacc. & Winter.

Cercospora vernonie E. & K.—Epiphyllous on small (re )

round, gray or purplish-gray spots (which finally whiten out), with

a distinct narrow raised border, which is surrounded by a pu

discoloration ; hyphz czspitose, subfuscous, continuous, subnoe®

lose and subdenticulate above, 25-40 x 4-5; conidia slender :

clavate, 6-9 septate, 75-100 x 3-4: On leaves of Vernonia fas :

ciculata, Manhattan, Kansas. Re i

Cercospora sambucina E. & K.—On small suborbitit a :

brown spots (2~3™), with a narrow raised border ; hyphe fa

cespitose, epiphyllous brown, flexuous, 100-150 x 3-4 COUN

uous; conidia cylindric-clavate, curved, 3—7 septate, 55-75 X

3-44. On leaves of Sambucus canadensis.

uniseptate, constricted and oblong-ovate, ends subacute,

3-3'%4p. On dead stems of Campanula americana. y

All the species above described were collected by Professor k

A. Kellermann, and all not otherwise noted were COM" —

Fairfield county, Ohio, in July and Aug., 1883. ngg

Corrections—In the December number of this journal (188)

p. 1002, top line, for “ 114 x 3,” read 114%. ; same pags “2

line from top, for “ 25—30,.,” read 35-5 5#.; same pages Tau

line from bottom, for “iolani,” read Solani.—F. B. Ellis, 4!

N. Fand W. A. Kellerman, Manhattan, Kan.

walks between them, and about 250 species Were >” cies

1883. | Botany. 1167

distinct plat allotted to it, the soil being quite uniform, and the

species being arranged according to their systematic sequence. I

have now had the collection under constant inspection for three

years, and have made a catalogue of the species, classifying them

in three groups, according to their power of survival under the

conditions as explained. * * *

Ciass A. Species that have shown a distinct tendency to spread over the walks and

take possession of the plots of ground that belong to their neighbors; fifty-nine

species,

Crass B. Species that have held their ground but do not spread; one hundred and

forty-four species

Ciass C. Species that would soon become extinct unless renewed; fifty-six species.

— F. G. Baker, in Fournal of Botany.

Cynoglossum officinale, Convolvulus arvensis, Plantago major,

etc., most of which are weeds. In Class B occur Ranunculus

acris, Dicentra spectabilis, Linum usitatissimum, Trifolium pra-

tense, Trifolium hybridum, Helianthus decapetalus, Solidago cana-

densis, Monarda fistulosa, etc., etc. In Class C we find Ranuncu-

lus bulbosus, Reseda odorata, Phlox paniculata, Cannabis sativa,

ordeum jubatum, Avena sativa, Lolium italicum, etc —Eb. Bor.

Notes. ]

Poputar Borany.—It is a matter of regret that the eminent

men who have devoted their lives to botany in this country, have

not found time to turn aside from their heavier labors now an

then, for the purpose of writing books for the people—the great

unbotanical majority who make up so large a part of every com-

munity. It would doubtless have taken valuable time, and no

doubt some of the things now donewould have been left undone,

yet we are confident that it would nevertheless have been muc

better for the science of botany. There is a duty which every

fic man owes to the community which supports or tolerates

„Possible for all the people to become botanists, a

cremists, etc.; only a favored few are permitted to ae :

a Science, and to them the people rightly look for in-

In a little book before us! we have a pleasant attempt by the

! Plant Lif By Edward Step.

New €: Popular papers on the Phenomena of Botany. By

‘w York, Henry Holt & Co.

1168 General Notes. [ November,

president of the Lambeth (England) Field. Club, to present ina

popular way many of the more important facts in modern bot-

any. It is not a text-book, and does not follow text-book

methods. We have first a pleasant and entertaining account of

microscopic plants in which Protococcus, Zygnema, Volvox, des:

mids, diatoms, etc., are described. With this as a basis, Chapter

II presents the main facts as to plant structure and |

Then follows an excellent chapter on the fertilization of flowers,

the opening sentence of which is well worth quoting: “Itis

popularly held that the chief end of plants is to minister to man's

sense of the beautiful in form and color, but recent investigations

of scientific men should dissipate so presumptuous a theory.” _

Predatory plants, ferns, mosses and lichens, horsetails, fungi,

etc., are taken up in various chapters, while less botanical sub-

jects, such as the folk-lore of plants, planets and animals, plants

and planets are intermingled. The chapter on the folk-lore of

plants contains much that is interesting. A paragraph here may —

serve to show the author's method: “Who was the miscreant

that altered the popular orthography of Digitalis purpurea from —

folk’s-glove to foxglove? With that alteration all the poetry and

the associations of fairyland were taken from the name, True, t

is still the noblest of our native flowers, and one that will ever be

a favorite with all; but it was the flower which supplied the ei

with gloves—delicately tinted silken coverings fit for the hands

such dainty folk—hence folk’s-glove.” Eres

The little book is well work reading by even those who i

versed in botany. Such will find little or nothing that 19 1%

new, but we venture to say that no one will read it without {ê

ing repaid for the time so spent. =

BoranıcaL Nores.—In a paper read at the Minneapolis meet

ing of the American Association for the Advancement of

Dr. J. W: Dawson described two Palæozoic species of whata

supposed new species is named P. egra.——1n

H. F. Hance describes a new genus of’ Liliace

of Disporopsis. It has affinities with the genus Poze

One species (D. fuscò-picta) from the province of Canton

1883.] Entomology. 1169

is described. Dufour has described a fungus which grows on

sponges, disintegrating the skeleton, and rendering it worthless.

He names it Torula spongicola. Most collectors have had to

do with the yellow filamentous growth named Ozonium, but hith-

erto scarcely assignable to any place in a botanical system. Rou-

meguére concludes, from his recent investigations, that it is a sort

of sclerotium stage of various hymenomycetous fungi belonging

to the genera Coprinus, Lenzites and Craterellus.

ENTOMOLOGY!

Entomotocy AT Mrinneaporis.2— Remarks on Arzama obliquata.

—Mr. Riley also gave his experience in rearing this insect during

the past two years. He exhibited specimens in all states, The

eggs are laid in curious, broadly conical or plano-convex masses

enveloped in hair and a mucous cream-colored secretion, which,

combined, look much like spun silk inside and the glazed exuda-

tion of Orgyia leucostigma outside. The larva, pale at first, and

more or less transparent during the earlier stages, but dark after

the later stages, bores into the stems of Sagittaria and Ponte-

deria and is semi-aquatic, the last pair of spiracles being excep-

tionally large and dorsal. There are two annual broods, the sec-

ond hibernating as larva in moss and decaying stumps near the

water. The moth shows great variation in color, and the sum-

mer generation is, on the average, not much more than half so

large as the spring or hibernated generation and generally much

paler. He had interesting notes on this and other semi-aquatic

Species, and would shortly publish a more full account of them.

Dr. Kellicott said he had bred this moth at Buffalo, N. gs

where it was very abundant, and he had found it to be single

brooded. It is associated with another species, an account of

August 15, 2 P. m., the club reconvened. Professor a a

Forbes presented a paper entitled, “ Memoranda with i ate

the contagious diseases of caterpillars and the possibility of usm

the virus of the same for economic purposes.” ‘The following 1$

a full abstract : i

use of contagious germs as insecticides—Pasteur made, in

1869, discoveries showing that a contagious disease of the silk-

worm, one of the two to which the rapid decay of the n E

try at that time was due, and known to the French under the

name of la flacherie, and . i

caused by the presence of ferment germs in the intestines of the

worms, and afterward in the blood. He stated ens onl

Proved, by means of careful experiment, that this disease oh

be easily induced in healthy worms by sprinkling their food wi

Pe This department is edited by Pror. C, V. RILEY, Washington, D. C., to whom

r Canications, books for notice, etc., should be sent.

inued from p. 1070.

1170 General Notes. [November |

the dust of the excreta of diseased individuals, or an infusion of

that dust; by exposing healthy worms to mere association with

those suffering from /a flacherie, and by simply moistening the food

of perfectly healthy examples with an infusion of mulberry leaves

which had begun to ferment. In this fermenting fluid appeared

immense numbers of bacteria—evidently chiefly Micrococcus and

Bacterium, as those genera are now. understood—and after infec-

tion of their food the silk-worms contained these same bacteria in

swarms, at first in the alimentary canal, where they set up a fer-

ment of its contents, and later without the intestinal wall, causing

a rapid decay of the tissues, accompanied by a conspicuous black-

ening of the skin. This invasion of the blood was usually post

elsewhere at this period ; that the numbers of the Micrococcus

increased rapidly when the bugs were closely confined p

food, the bodies of starved specimens being alive with them; f

that the same Bacterium occurred in myriads upon the su sk

cornstalks which had been punctured by the bugs, evidently w

tiplied freely in the fermenting process of the plant. and veg- :

found that it could be readily cultivated in both animal ae

etable infusions infected from the fluids of the bugs ; that it that a

its vitality in a dried condition for several months, ane ed

multiplied rapidly in the blood of caterpillars when Imt iess

by puncture with a fine needle, causing a torpid and he <a

condition. He had, further, lately observed among eee

tremely similar to sch/affsucht, and characterized, like that, ae

excessive development of a Micrococcus in the intestines Micro

the blood,—in both before death. He had cultivated this pe

coccus without difficulty in both animal and vegetabin 1 disease

and had begun experiments to determine whether tae 4 iese

could be conveyed to healthy caterpillars by the use

of thet

infected infusions. Se

Mr. Riley referred briefly to the similar endeavors by Pid |

peans to utilize these disease germs against injurious in "tific i

regarded Professor Forbes’s experiments of great go rest

portance, but doubted whether, for many reasons, == :

would prove of practical value to the farmer.

1883.] Entomology. : 1171

Bombus pennsylvanicus in a deserted wren's nest-—Professor

Osborn called attention to the fact that he had noticed this spe-

cies inhabiting a deserted wren’s nest situated under the roof of

a porch and at least twelve feet from the ground, it being the first

instance he was aware of where they nested away from the sur-

face of the ground.

Professor Westcott thought Xylocopa might have been mis-

taken for Bombus. Mr. Riley saw no reason to doubt the facts

mentioned by Professor Osborn or that Xylocopa with such

different appearance and habits could be mistaken for the Bom-

bus, which was well known to utilize mouse nests.

Dr. Kellicott had noticed the occurrence of the same or some

allied species of Bombus inhabiting a mouse’s nest in the brace

ota barn. Miss Murtfeldt had seen them domesticated in a

marten’s nest.

Plusiodonta compressipalpis.—Dr. Hoy presented for inspection

the larvæ, pupz and imagines of Plusiodonta compressipalpis. He

had watched this moth through its transformations, and had

noted that during its early larval stages its prevailing color was a

pea-green varied with uniformly-placed black spots, which in-

creased in number with each successive molt. Oniy during the

last stage of its larval life was the insect usually noticeable by

other than professional eyes, since then its color was reddish-

brown ornamented with cream white. Menispermum canadense

Was its food-plant. The cocoon was formed by first building two

nearly parallel, elliptical walls and then uniting them at the top.

me larvae which had been displaced after beginning to pupate,

had apparently become exhausted, or their teeth loosened, antici-

Ept, occupying only 30 days from the time the eggs were

a, but was much interested in Dr. Hoy’s account of ~

5 on of the cocoon, as it undoubtedly explained the meth

a prevailed in all species which simulated the surroundings by

a the outside of the cocoon with particles of the object

ment.

k Professor Herrick made inquiry as to what are sometimes

nown as frost flies. Dr. Kellicott called attention to a ga

rapa by T. Rymer Jones and one by E. Ray Lankester, ti

1172 è General Notes. | November,

be found in the Quar. Jour. of Mic. Sci., and stated that the spe-

cies common at Buffalo was Corethra plumicornis. Professor

Forbes had noticed the larve of Corethra abundant in the sto-

machs of fishes. Adjourned.

Aug. 17, 2 P. M., the club reconvened and the following sub-

jects were presented:

Food-habits of Gortyna nitela——Professor Osborn stated that

he had observed the larvæ of Gortyna nite/a boring in young twigs

of ash and had noticed many dead twigs from this cause. Had

failed to rear imagos from these on account of parasites. He had

also observed the same species feeding externally upon the leaves

of the common plantain.

Gall-mites.—Professor Forbes stated that Mr. Garman’s work

on gall-mites is in press; that Mr. G. has familiarized himself

with the bibliography of the subject and has made a careful study

of gall-mites with a view to description of the species from phys —

cal characters rather than from the standpoint of their effects. ae

Black-knot.—Mr. Saunders remarked that he had noticed this

year an unusual amount of the black-knot. Cee

Aug. 16, 10 A. M., the club reconvened, when the president,

Dr. Kellicott communicated the following : eo

Notes on certain boring Lepidopterous larve—i, Arama 0

liquata G.& R. This larva has already been referred to at s

previous session of the club by Dr. Riley ; some additional remar : x

may not be out of place. Its food-plant at Buffalo is almost enti rely

Typha latifolia. I have found it rarely in Sparganium.

I have not found, but the small larvæ have been seen as pe

June 12th. They feed at first in the spadix; they aiterwards oe

into the stems, remaining until fall, when they leave the erent :

crawl into the earth or old wood until April or May, when’

transform in slight cocoons; the moths appear late in he

Riley has called attention to the fact that the last pair 9f ni

cles are large and placed dorsally; this pride enable

leries and put in the water, they sink to the bottom al for

carneous hue of the mature larva and that of many ° females

especially when recently from the pupa shell. Reddish

pand from 42 to 46™™ the males 35 to 38" The discal $

head, thorax and palpi usually darker or fawn. mples; k

on primaries is black and well marked in most exa

1883.] Entomology: 1173

are two well defined black dots between the discal and the base.

female. He had recently called attention in the NATURALIST to

the correlation between the produced clypeus and the horny ex-

Sertile Ovipositor, and the fact that they indicated endophytous

larval habit. The various methods of imaginal exit in stem-

boring Lepidoptera, and the structural modifications that resulted

Were most interesting to the philosophical entomologist. In some

Species, as in:the Nonagria here mentioned, the clypeal point on

€ pupa seemed merely a consequence of the necessary point in

the imago, the pupa remaining in its burrow, and the imago bor-

à In some borers the larva prepared a iie ~x

waich the imago easily pushed open, the pupa remaining ae ea

Within its prison, while in others, closely related, the pupa

1174 General Notes. [ November,

the work by forcing itself partly out. There could be no ques-

tion as to the digoneutic nature of Arzama obliquata at Wash-

ington, and none as to its variability, as illustrated by his speci-

mens. He doubted the generic value of Sphida that had been

proposed for this species by Grote, or whether the five described

species represented more than two good ones.

antharis nuttalli injuring wheat—Mr. Riley exhibited wheat

which on the intelligent testimony of Mr. T. S. Roberts, of Min-

neapolis, had been injured by Cantharis nuttalli. The beetles

were abundant in some of the wheat fields of Dakota, and ate

into the grain while it was tender.

Adjourned to meet at the call of the president.

I have never eaten them raw, as my courage was not sufficient

but they are very nice when cooked in the ashes, tasting some

thing like roasted chestnuts. i a

Similar larvz of moths, etc., are eaten by the natives all over

the continent. But I have never seen them eat earthworms

raw snails, as some writérs have stated—Aadw. B. Sanger, MO”

ville Center, Long Island, N. Y.

ass—On the

OCCURRENCE OF JUNONIA ca@enrIA aT Natick, M a

17th of August I had the good fortune to see a se

Junonia cema flying by the roadside in this town. Unie wg

I had no means at hand for capturing it, so didn’t get t

sure of its identity, as I am familiar with the species from sw

ern specimens which I have had for a number of years in my

lection. iyed from

I will quote for you the following from a note lately recem Payelt

Mr, S. H. Scudder concerning cenia: “ You will find in ‘gs fit

Vol. 11, p. 276-7, a list of New England localities for «em sights

as I knew them four years ago, Nearly all the captures pp e

were of single individuals, and were along the coast ~a the

larger river valleys. The farthest north known to mé Nee

southern extremity of Maine, just north of Portsmouth, A — :

E. F. Smith, Natick, Mass. - aa

882 in 0

d Wo

Tue COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE'— I noticed in I r brood

garden in Perry county, Penna., that there was 10 seon

of the potato-beetle. Inquiry and examination 1n es rious t0

hood showed that the fact was generally true. 1 was at we

‘Abstract of a paper by Professor E, W. Claypole, read in Section F # a

meeting of the A. A. A, S.

1883. ] Entomology. 1175

know why the insect thus appeared to be single brooded in the

county, and purposed to make farther investigations in 1883. But

in 1883 the potato-beetle almost failed to appear at all. For the

first time, in my experience, since its arrival in the Middle States I

saw the potatoes growing free and strong. Here and there a solitary

specimen might be caught and a few nests of eggs and larve were

destroyed, but there was no occasion to use poison at all. My

neighbors were equally free, and during a journey to New York

I observed. everywhere the same immunity. Letters also from

my former residence in Ohio told me that the same condition

prevailed there. I think, conscquently, we may accept it as true,

that the potato crop has this season grown with less mischief

from its great foe than at any time since the first invasion.

wish, however, to call attention to the fact that the cause of

this great diminution in its numbers must be sought, not during

the past winter but in the preceding summer; yet that summer,

1832, was marked by no abnormal climate or weather; it was

neither very hot, cool, dry nor wet. On the other hand the sum-

mer of 1881 was intensely hot anc dry, the thermometer at one

time marking 100° for five successive days, yet all through that

summer the beetles were excessively abundant and injurious, and

several applications of poison were needed to keep them within

due bounds. The first beetle crop of 1882 was also as abundant

as usual, so that to the great heat and long drought of 1881 can-

not be due the diminution here poiated out.

tutes an abnormity of extreme rarity, the larva having the well-

developed antennze and prolegs of the imago. The specimen is

figured in the June number of the Æntomologist, 1883, p. 121, but

the notes given by Mr. Jones are unfortunately rather scant. It

Ever, quite peculiar. Only a few similar deformities are on

Tur Nervo Ed. Brandt gives

RVOUS System oF InsEcTs.—Professor Ed. :

car, “sults of his studies of the nervous system of the larve of Dip-

1176 General Notes. [ November,

tera of the families Leptidæ, Bibionide, Xylophagida, Therevide,

Dolichopodide, Fungicole, Limnobiidz and Tabanida. Thirteen

ganglia, two cephalic, three thoracic and eight abdominal, is the

normal number in all the families except the last, but Rhyphus

(Fungicolz) has the two last abdominal ganglia fused together.

The Tabanidz have only seven ganglia, one cephalic (no infra-

cesophagean ganglion), one thoracic and five abdominal, the three

first distant, the last two approximated. “Thus the nervous sys-

tem of the larve of Tabanide constitutes an intermediate form

between the nervous system of the larvae of the Muscidae and

that of the larvae of the Nemocera and some other families of

dipterous insects.”.—-—The same naturalist writes upon the ner

vous system of Stylops meltte and Xenos vesparum (Strepsiptera).

In the head the ganglion supra-cesophageum only is present,

thorax has one large ganglion with five nuclei; and the abdomen

a single oval ganglion connected with the thoracic ganglion bya

long and thin cord. The thoracic ganglion is divided into two

parts, the first corresponding to the ganglion infra-cesophageum

and the first thoracic ganglion of other insects; while perro

rior and larger part corresponds to the other thoracic ganglia a a

to some abdominal ganglia. oe

HYMENORUS RUFIPES AS A MYRMICOPHILOUS spEcies.—What

we stated on p. 748 of the last volume regarding the es

the larva of the above-mentioned species has been corre k

this spring. We have reared the beetle from larvæ foun Z

Messrs. Th. Pergande and E. A. Schwarz in large paige my :

nests of Formica fusca in the vicinity of Washington. we ae

constructs its nest of loose soil, and there are very pga |

sticks or other vegetable substances in those nests bee oe

likely to serve as food for the Hymenorus larve, and the T

habits of the species remain, therefore, a mystery. a ae

MIGRATION oF PLANT-LICE.—Y ou will perhaps have reer :

Comptes Rendus that I discovered this year the full cycle ® R

of Tetraneura rubra migrating from the roots Triinu E al

the trunks of the elms (Ulmus campestris). Now I ee undated

for the first leaves to see if the young issuing from the Ie ponding :

egg give me the Psendogyne fundatrix forming the ae use

all. I have but little doubt that it will be 50, ™ tirely the

winged pupifera, obtained at the grass roots, shows pei

same characters as the emigrant of the galls, an d it also

day I found the insect at the grass roots I found ! whe

ies of Aphis

they go,” he has ascertained this year that s p came back

the trees, on which he observed them, in June an piconeura tl

the same in October. The species observed are Sc! y Ape

Aplus padi, A. evonymi, A. viburni, A. sambuct, fe wise

and Siphonophora platanoides, —J. Lichtenstein, Montper

1883. ] Entomology. 1177

RECENT PuUBLICATIONS.—Jules Lichstenstein has republished in

condensed form, under the title of “ L’Evolution biologique des

pucerons en général et du Phylloxera en particulier,” the views

on the life-history of the Aphidide that he has of late years so

often repeated in numerous journals. Aside from his peculiar

nomenclature, which no one seems to follow, there is a partial

pages, on “ Les Coccides Utiles,” in rought to-

gether in systematic order what is known of the useful species of

scale-insects. Professor J. H. Comstock has published as a re-

port of the “ Department of Entomology of the Cornell Univer-

sity Experiment Station,” that portion of his report to the Depart-

ment of Agriculture for 1881, which was omitted a year ago for

want of space. The contents are, unfortunately, not indicated on

the title even of the author’s edition. The work forms a most

on British Spiders, with descriptions of three new species and

characters of anew genus, by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge; the

m3 'nstructive combination of Japanese, European and hines

i iie Four new Corean and nineteen Australian species are

1178 General Notes. [ November,

species, but they sternly refuse to look at any other forms than

their own. Dr. Horn finds fault with some of us for not study-

ing the American species, but collections from the United States

rarely or never come into the market.” he same naturalist

makes considerable additions to the Australian Curculionide,

describes a new Mantis from Pará, and gives a classification of —

the Homoptera. Thirteen families of this sub-order are defined, —

exclusive of the Aphid, Coccide, etc. (Phytophthiria), which

are considered to belong to a lower group, and also of the Thrip-

idz, which he regards as higher. C. O. Waterhouse describes

nine new Longicorns, three Buprestids and four Cetoniids from

Madagascar, and some Buprestids and Heteromera from various

localities. . Wood Mason describes two new Indian Papilios, l

and notes that the scentless group to which one of them belongs _

mimics the strong-scented and nauseous Philoxenus group—— —

Mr. H. W. Bates describes four geodephagous Coleoptera from

Northwest Mexico; and W. L. Distant two Rhopalocera from :

the Malay peninsula. M. Viallanes (Comptes Rendus, Novem- °

ber 14, 1881) remarks that in Musca vomitoria a pupa of fre

two to four days standing is embryonic in structure, ere 4

only of “two layers of central cells, one forming a solid a

composed of the epithelial cells of the digestive tube, which have :

reverted to the embryonic state, the other peripheral, consisting —

of the embryonic cells originating from the muscular nuclel a”

the cells of the adipose body. When the tissues of the ar ]

destroyed the tissues of the adult form.” The histobla i

composed of two laminæ, the outer thin, the inner thick. a

outer disappears, the inner increases to form the integumen ee

the adult———M. J. Lichtenstein (Comptes Rendus Feb. 20, pia

describes the apterous male of Acanthococcus acerts, and menti jis z

two or three other Coccidæ, the males of which are apet he

more easily reared from the ground than Cecidomy'" m ng

not careful are very apt to make the mistake that they a F aw’

the true gall-maker. Our experience correspon

and he is undoubtedly correct. In the last 1 des a most

(Vol. iv, Nos, 111-112) Dr. Geo. Dimmock conclu It

careful and interesting study of the scales of Coleoptera. <

1883.] Zvilogy. 1179

treat to read after an author as painstaking and original as Mr.

Dimmock. In the same number of Psyche appears a posthu-

mous paper by Mr. V. T. Chambers on the “ Classification of

the Tineidz.” Mr. E. B. Reed has compiled a General Index

of the Entomological Reports of the Province of Ontario, from

1870-1882. It consists of (1) List of Illustrations, (11) Classified

list of Illustrations, and (111) General Index. These are prepared

somewhat after the style of our “General Index to the nine

reports on the Insects of Missouri,” except that the original

sources of the illustrations are not given, which are to be regretted,

as they are, for the most part, not credited in the reports. An

index to food-plants would also have increased its value. One of

the most noticeable errors is in the index, where we find “Cadop-

tenus septemdecim, v., 31.” There is no such name on p.

ol. v, but on p. 30 there is a reference to C. [tcada] septemdecim.

On the whole, however, the compiler’s work has been well done,

and it will be found most useful to those who have occasion to

use the reports.

ZOOLOGY.

gards the line of fifty fathoms as the ideal boundary line between

the littoral and the deep-sea fauna, and that this depth is pretty

o- on, extends to a depth of 150 fathoms. In the tropics, Fuchs

claims, there is a comparatively sterile region, extending from

eae thirty to ninety fathoms; but no such region exists, as 1S

Di as.

li Now, he asks, by what physical conditions is this boundary

ia aar fathoms. determined, and ae himn m aep

Wi gs litioning cause of the appearance of the deep- i

ie ~ana he claims that pinpoaea plays but a very —

ite het in the distribution in depth of sea animals. Among :

eth brings forward to prove this is the absence of deep-se

kuo Shoal water in the Arctic regions, where the won

the same as at the bottom of the sea in the tropics. +n

VOL, XVIL—no, XI 78

1180 General Notes. [ November,

littoral region of the Arctic and Polar seas we find no traces of

deep-sea corals and Brachiopoda; of vitreous sponges, Echi

thuriz and Pourtalesiz; no trace of Crinoids, Brisingæ, Elasmo-

poda, or of that swarm of remarkable Crustacea and fishes which

characterize the deep-sea iauna. All these forms of animals oc-

cur, indeed, in the Arctic seas, but here also always, only in the

deep water, and not in the littoral region; and here the g

contrast between the littoral and deep-sea faunas is just as sharply

defined, and in the same manner as in warmer seas.” Many so

called “Arctic” animals found at great depths in southern lati

tudes, do not occur in the littoral region in the Arctic seas, but

are there confined to the deep water as in warmer seas. Alter

discussing the influence of temperature, the chemical conditions, —

and the movements of the sea, Fuchs claims that light is in reality _

the only factor that can be taken into consideration. oe

“Light is the most powerful factor amongst all the agents

which influence life upon the earth, and its importance 1s gae

ally overlooked only because, on the surface of the earth, it i8

everywhere pretty uniformly distributed, and therefore gives but

little occasion for the production of differences. But in the sea

the conditions are quite different. The light as it penetrates 1mo

the water is gradually absorbed by the water. It is thus gradi :

ally changed, and finally entirely absorbed, so that at a certai

depth the sea must be perfectly dark. It is to be remarked, hor 4

ever, that the relation of the sun’s light to the water of the seas

not perceptibly modified either by the temperature

existing variation in the chemical composition of the

corresponding difference of the living world. gers

rom the experiments of Secchi, Pourtales and Bouguen,

inferior limit of light in the sea lies between forty -three

fathoms, this being exactly at the depth F uchs “<a

outset as the boundary line between the littoral a doubt

faunas. Hence, there can scarcely any longer be ‘onal

adds, “ that the difference which is produced in the hich wed

sea by its conditions of light is no other than that wee th

tinguish as littoral fauna and deep-sea fauna: 1n ngpi eel

the littoral fauna is nothing but the fauna of light,

sea fauna the fauna of darkness. the

Fuchs has shown, on a previous occas pourtal

already mentioned of 43-50 fathoms, found by Sec of light; ”

and Bouguer, cannot represent the absolute limit j

that small quantities of light, no doubt, penetrate

1883.] Zoology. 1181

deeper into the sea, and, indeed, from the analogy of Torel’s in-

vestigations in the Lake of Geneva, as far as 100-200 fathoms.

Now, it is certainly very remarkable that the limit of nullipore

plants occurs at 150 fathoms, and A. Agassiz cites precisely the

same limit for the greater part of those littoral animals which ex-

tend beyond their normal boundary for some distance into the

region of the deep-sea fauna.

Many deep-sea animals, living in darkness, either have un-

commonly large eyes, like nocturnal animals, or are completely

blind. It is also well known that they are, for the most part,

either pale and colorless or unicolorous, and that varied colora-

tion is exceedingly rare, while a large proportion are luminous.

This last peculiarity the writer thinks of special importance, for

itis clear that luminosity can be of consequence only to such

animals as are destined to live in darkness.

He also refers to the fact noticed, by Moseley and others, that

the pelagic fauna shows a very great resemblance to the deep-sea

fauna. It is well-known that by far the greater part of the pel-

agic animals are animals of darkness, dwelling during the day in

the obscure depths of the sea, and only coming to the surface at

ran Luminosity is also as common among pelagic as deep-sea

animals,

; . Now 5

two blind Ophidiidæ, showing the closest resemblance to their

relations of the deep sea, are found in the caves of Cuba.”

n conclusion, Fuchs refers to the geological bearings of the

Subject. He had previously shown that, during the geological

Periods, when a warmer climate than at present prevailed at the

fi logical epochs, and in general we should lose all reliable

for judging of the faunistic conditions of geolo

1182 General Notes, [November

epochs. But when we know that the deep-sea distribution of

animals is determined, not by temperature, but by light, we may,

with perfect justice, assume that the fundamental features of the

bathymetrical distribution of marine organisms have mainly a-

ways been the same as now. |

VAMPYRELLA HELIOPROTEUS, A NEW Moneron.—T. W. Engle

mann describes this new organism, which he found among Cor

ferve in the neighborhood of Utrecht. It is distinguished from |

all previously known forms by the “ heliozoa-form ” (globular,

with long pseudopcedia), being able to pass over into “a

flat, discoid amceba-form. This metamorphosis was observed it

three instances, and extended over about five minutes. In the

heliozoa-form the organism moves by means of its long, contrat

tile pseudopodia, like an Actinosphcerium; in the a d

uoles. The author adduces, from the discovery of this organist |

a fresh argument against drawing any sharp line between teti

ferent sections of the Protista.—/ourn. R., Micr. Soe. =

DIMORPHISM OF FORAMINIFERA.—MM. Meunier-Chalmas #

Schlumberger, attracted by the discovery by one of them a” q

presence of two forms in every species of Nummulite, have

directed their attention to the Miliolidæ, where they have

served similar phenomena; so that dimorphism is to be d

in both the great divisions of the Foraminifera—Perforala

Imperforata. The dimorphism of the Foran? r

to the general view that they consist not of cellula

a structureless protoplasmic mass. He finds er thes

not only consist of cells, but that an ectoderm an

‘jt, is

derm of the stem. The ectoderm, which covers 1t, is

1 Bull. Soc. Zool. France, vit (1882), pp. 280-1.

1883. } Zoology. 1183

seat of the amceboid movements, which take place chiefly at the

superior extremity, where the endodermic axis is wanting,

cause of the movements is explained by the structure of the ecto-

derm. Its cells are immersed in a contractile protoplasmic mass,

to whose contractility the movements are due.

Though these organs have no cavity they may be considered

as degenerated polyps : (1) Because their tissues are the same ; (2)

because each has a calyx, and (3) because the polyps can, in cer-

tain circumstances, transform themselves into a nematophore.

The author’s observations were made on one species of Plumu-

laria, two of Antennularia and two of Aglaophenia. In the case

of one of the latter he found that the tissues constantly contained

parasitic alga; the endoderm “ yellow cells,” and the ectoderm a

green alga belonging to the Phycochromacee.— Journal of the

oyal Microscopical Society.

deep-water forms, and they may, with all the more reason,

Said to characterize the abyssal fauna, as no single representative,

r as is at present known, has been found to exist at a depth

less than fifty-eight fathoms. Only one form, E/pidia glacialis, has

here been dredged at such an inconsiderable depth, and even this

was dredged in the Arctic ocean, where true abyssal forms are to

be met with at comparatively shallow depths, This species, too,

can exist at immense depths, one form, Station 160, having been

dredged at a depth of 2600 fathoms; the greatest depth at which

any Holothuroid has hitherto been dredged being 2900 fathoms.

ong the more remarkable and distinguishing characteristics

of this order, Herr Théel mentions the agreement in several im-

Portant details, both in their internal anatomy and outer form, of

the adult and larval states; an agreement more close than occurs

’

1 *

the Reports on the Scientific Results of the voyage of H. M. S. Chale during

"ts 1873-6, Vol. tv (1882), pp. 176, and 46 pls. Cf. Mature, XXVII.

Bee i

1184 General Notes. [ November,

The dorsal appendages are so modified as to perform functions

different from the ventral ones. The report gives full details of

all the new species.— Fournal Royal Microscopical Society.

A new Unio FROM FLORIDA.—A Unio from the lakes of Sum-

ter county, Fla., has recently been described under the cognomen

of Unio cunninghami, by Professor Berlin H. Wright. Itis near

Unio buckleyi, but differs from that species in the absence of rays

in all stages of growth, its greater diameter, more angular ante-

rior portion, its abrupt posterior slope and heavy, oblique cardinal

teeth (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., p. 58, pl. 1, figs. 1-4)—4 £

Gray.

New LAND SHELLS FROM TENNESSEE.—Zonites wheatleyi and

Zonites petrophilus are described from The Cliffs, Knoxville, Tenn,

by Mr. Thos. Bland. The former, which has also been found at

Tiverton, R. I., is related to Z. viridulus Mke., from which it dif

fers in the form of aperture, in the descending last whorl and in

having a wider umbilicus. The latter resembles Z. arboreus Say,

in its general form, but varies in color, more developed stne

and has a much wider umbilicus than that well-known spect

(Annals N. Y. Acad. of Sci., pp. 368-369). Both species at

well figured.—A. F. G.

THE FRESH-WATER SHELLS OF COOPER’S CREEK, CENTRAL AUS

TRALIA—There are three genera of Gasteropoda, Physa A

Fig... Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5

Fic. 4.—Paludina ee

Fic. 1.—Physa. Fic. 2.—Physa. Fic, 3.—Pbysa.

5.—Tryonia. All nat. size,

3 ; Nat. size.

one of Lamellibranchiata, Anodonta 1 sp. (Fig. 6).

1883. ] Zoology. 1185

The gasteropods die when the water in the creek dries up, but

each flood stocks the creek again by bringing down young ones

which one can see in all stages of growth in the flood water.

The Anodonta lives all the time. When the water dries up it

buries itself in the mud, going deeper and deeper. I have seen

the natives dig them out alive from a depth of four or five feet

eight months after the water had disappeared from the surface.

The natives eat them, and large heaps (kitchen-middens) consist-

ing mainly of their broken shells mixed with the bones of ani-

mals, are common along the creek. I have eaten them and found

them to be remarkably tough— Edward B. Sanger.

NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF TWO GENERA OF BRANCHIOPODA

IN THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT.—The sandhills and stony plains that

cover the greater part of the interior are but seldom visited by

rain, Sometimes not for a period of two or three years, Conse-

quently all animals living habitually in this region are capable of

doing without water for long periods. After a rain the water col-

lects in shallow pools on the clay-pans and in hollows on the

stony table-lands, but it is soon evaporated by the fierce sun.

One day after a shower (the first in two years), as I was riding

across a clay-pan, I observed a strange rippling of the water in

one-of the shallow puddles. On examination I found the water

to be swarming with a species of Apus. They were of a large

size, measuring about an inch across the carapace. Now the as-

that that was the first time it had so done for certainly two years.

The clay-pan was in the sandhill country, sixty miles away from

any watercourse, and, moreover, there had been no flood for two

years in any of the watercourses. And anyway a flood would

never reach this spot. There that clay-pan had been baking in

€ sun, swept by the hot wind, covered and uncovered with drift

Sand, and yet two days after a slight shower the pools were

Swarming with full-grown specimens of Apus.

A few miles further on I camped on the stony plains by a small

Pool of water collected from this same rain; in this I found doz-

“ns of a species of Limnetis, a great number of tadpoles and a

Joung fish about an inch and a half long, which I vainly endeav-

ored to catch. Now this seemed to me more wonderful than the

erence of Apus. How could the egg of a fish exist that

“ngth of time in earth baked like a cinder? How could any

ving egg exist? It seems impossible, but I can conceive ss 2

oer explanation. The eggs must have been buried e

deeply and then when the moisture reached them developed rap-

is again how did the fish eggs get there È

y by some bird during some previous rain:

— like these we must a that animal germs have we ar

ity than we are accustomed to grant them.— Edw. B. ger.

1186 General Notes. [ November,

PRAIRIE RATTLESNAKE.—Since September last I have hada

prairie rattlesnake (Caudisona tergemina) in confinement. Two

points have interested me in his history. So far as I know he

has not eaten anything since his capture. In May last he shed

his skin without a break in it. On the 2d instant he repeated the

operation. Is this common among the snakes? I had supposed

that generally the skin was changed but once a year. He has

seven rattles,

P, S—The rattlesnake referred to has at last taken food. For

two or three months after his capture in September last, we tried

him with frogs, toads, mice, &c., but he would not touch them.

Occasionally some small animal has since been introduced into

the cage. Finally on the 6th instant (Aug.) an English sparrow

was put into the cage, and in a very short time it was illed

eaten. To fully swallow the bird occupied about thirty minutes.

—E, A. Gastman, Decatur, Ti.

SHORT-FARED Owr.—The following, which is decidedly =

most interesting information so far placed on record, was +

nished by Mr. H. A. Kline at our request, after purchasing from

him a set of eight eggs. Mr. Kline makes no vague gre

but gives us interesting facts as he observed them, an in

the spring of 1880

ago swamps of Il-

‘linois. As I was tramping through the dry grass along the edge

which proved to be a male in fine plumage. I afterwar

of several being killed in the same locality. one

very common in Johnson and Gage counties, Nebra of

occasion while out shooting prairie chickens in the a

’81~’82 I noticed one of these birds rise from the grass p to the

yards in front of me. A load of shot soon brought ‘from the

ground, when at the report of the gun four others rose ey were

me, but they

all very shy and kept well out of range.

to leave the place, as I found them in the same loc ao ih

for a fortnight. They were very wild, but I succee’™ gs were

two more good specimens. The site where t ese cg heavy

killed, was along an old ravine, which was covered W! the mark-

place after securing the three, as I thought they about ater

there, and I often noticed four or five of them fying mnor

sundown in search of mice, etc. They appeared to a

1883. ] Zoblogy. 1187

anywhere on the prairies, although I always met with best suc-

cess along the ravines. On the 17th of May I took my dog (a

pointer) and went to the same place where I got my specimens to

look for their nest, which I found without much trouble. The

dog was ranging a short distance in front of me when he was

suddenly attacked by one of the owls; it was soon joined by the

other (the male), and together they succeeded in driving him

from the field. They would swoop from the right and left, and

strike him on the back with their wings. Not being used to such

treatment by any members of the feathered tribe, he beat a hasty

Placing a steel trap on the top of a pole, but never succeeded in

flock, have taken up their residence in the outskirts of our oat

this winter (1882-3), and as many as four have been seen together

although they are very wary. A friend of mine while saps

Mm the marsh last fall had just shot a snipe, when one of at

Senus darted at the falling bird and had secured it, when the

other barrel dropped him, and he now sits in my collection. —~#-

: Butterfield, San Jose, Cal., Oslogist and Ornithologist.

1188 General Notes. [November,

HABITS OF THE PANTHER IN CALIFORNIA.—It is difficult to

acquire much knowledge of the habits of panthers in their

wild state. There are some peculiarities about the McCloud

River panthers, however, which have been noticed. They will

always run from a dog no matter how small he is. An under-

sized terrier is as good to chase a panther with as the largest

hound. When the panther finds that the dog is closing upon

him, he will always jump up into a tree. He will not climb the

tree like a bear, but will jump up into one of the branches, and!

have heard old hunters say that they had seen panthers jump

over twenty feet of perpendicular height into a tree. One blow

of the panther’s paw would kill the dog perhaps, but the panther

never stops to give the blow. It is quite possible that the pan-

ther jumps into the tree so as to be in a position to pounce upon

the dog when he comes up, but whether this is their reason for

resorting to a tree, or whether it is simply because it 1s the cat's

nature to run, as it is the nature of the dog to chase, it is the fact

in either case that the panther always runs from the dog, no mat-

ter how small he is, and never turns to face him. —

The behavior of the panther is no less peculiar after he has |

jumped into the tree, for when there he watches the dog cor o

stantly, no matter how near the hunter comes up to him. This

makes it a comparatively safe and easy thing for the hunter to

shoot a treed panther if the hunter has a dog with him,

while the panther’s eyes are fixed on the barking and cme

dog, the hunter can go as near as he pleases, and take w m

and deliberate aim as he pleases. As long as the dog o

barking under the tree and absorbing the panther’s attention S5

hunter is perfectly safe. All he has to guard against 1s wou n

the panther without killing or wholly disabling him, p w

case the victim might, in his dying struggle, encounter thè Ti

ter and do him a serious injury. It is be

Panthers are seldom seen roaming about by day. á ytime,

lieved that they are in the habit of hiding in trees 1n the er

partly perhaps for safety and partly for the purpose |

for food. On the McCloud river, however, I believe

the day, for the most part, in the inaccessible parts

stone cliffs which cap the mountain summits across

the fishery. These limestone cliffs and pinnacles are

and very difficult of access. One day I pet a pan

é :

1883. ] Zoology. 1189

follow them there, no dogs could track them there, no white

hunter with his rifle could reach their inaccessible retreat. In

these cliffs they were safe.

t is my impression that the panther, finding so safe a retreat

there, and one that is at the same time so near their food, make

these limestone cliffs their home, and rear their young there. At

all events the panthers’ tracks that lead to our houses come from

these cliffs, and the tracks that lead from our houses return to

the cliffs.

It would seem that a panther’s life when he does not volun-

tarily risk it by excessive boldness must be extremely free from

danger. No denizen of the mountains or forests is his equal. In

California he is called a lion, and he is well named, for like the

lion he is monarch of the forest. It is generally believed that the

grizzly bear is the most powerful of the wild animals of America,

but the McCloud River Indians say that the panther always kills

the grizzly when they have a fight. They say that the grizzly bears

are afraid of the panthers, and that the panthers spring on their

shoulders and cut their throats with their teeth. I imagine, how-

arrows.

will merely add in conclusion, that in consequence of ti

culty of killing the panthers, they are likely to main M

old for many years yet in the limestone cliffs bordering the ! a

Cloud river, for although settlers are now beginning to come into

1190 General Notes. [November,

this region, the chief effect of these settlements upon the pan-

thers will be to furnish them with a larger supply of domestic

food and to drive off the hereditary enemy of the panther, the

bear, while the rocky retreats where the panther makes his home

will remain as inaccessible as ever.—Livingston Stone, in Forest and

Stream.

ZootocicaL Notes.—Cwlenterates— Mr. Ryder (Bull. U. S.

Fish Comm., p. 165, 83) calls attention to a new enemy of the

oyster brood. It appears that a species of Actinia which is very

often attached to oyster shells swallows the embryo oyster, and

ejects small bluish-gray pellets from its mouth, these pellets con-

sisting of nothing but the empty shells of young oysters, the re-

mains of the ingested food of the Actinia.

Worms.—An important and fully illustrated paper by Hugo

Schauinsland, on the embryology of the Trematode worms, ap-

pears in the Jena Zeitschrift for July 20. The development of

several species of Distomums and of Aspidogaster conchucola 1s

given with more or less detail.

Mollusks.—Mr. J. A. Ryder, in his studies on the development

of the oyster (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., Feb. 1, 1883), ices

that the description given by Hatschek of the first appearance ™

the shell in Teredo, agrees perfectly with that observed by him

(Ryder) in the oyster, “and we may, as it appears t ee

safety assume that che development of the shell in all mollusks sa

place in the same way. This admıts of no question, and as te

last-named investigator very justly observes, it is a weighty argi"

ment in support of the position so ably defended by Von Ihering,

viz., the theory of the monophyletic descent of the Mop k

Crustaceans —Of Gerstaecker’s Arthropoda, Lief.9 and a w

2d part has been received ; it continues the account of "a

a, finishing the account of their geographical yes mphi-

their distribution in time, and begins the aese of the Sep —

pod Crustacea. It is accompanied by six plates. eae

Fishes —Mr. Ryder (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., Feb. 13, '83) ae

cords his observations on the absorption of the yelk, a

feeding and development of embryo fishes, with notes eee

remarks will be of general interest to embryologists. alt mt

claims that the protoplasm of different species of pE ib revi

have a specific character. J. Swain and G. B. ibing one

(Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., v, 638) the genus Noturus, m ya is

new species. A little-known whitefish (Career Nat Mus, —

described in full by Dr. J. T. Bean in the Proc. U. Fepidosaurls

v, 658. Dr. Bean also describes a new species of Alepo a

(A. esculapius) from Alaska. p

1883. | Zoology. 11g!

Reptiles —In a letter from Cape Town in the Proceedings Zodl.

Soc. London (1883, 32), G. H. R. Fisk mentions two ways in

which the naturally large and rapid increase of snakes is pre-

vented. A specimen of Saurophis laid four eggs in captivity;

these were swallowed by another snake (Coronella). Lizards

also destroy snakes, biting them one-third of their length from

the head.

birds—Two years ago, says the Scientific American, eighty-

four English skylarks were imported and loosened in Bergen

county, New Jersey. This was in the spring, and it was ascer-

tained afterward that about fifty of them paired and remained not

far from where they first beat the free air of America with their

wings. The lark is not a migratory bird, and it was feared that

our northern winters would prove too severe for them, but during

the next summer they were heard in Bergen and Passaic counties.

This, the third summer of their liberty, shows yet stronger proofs

of their naturalization and ability to breed here. They have been

heard in more places——A call for a meeting of ornithologists,

to be held in New York city, Sept. 26, has been signed by J. A.

Allen, Dr. E. Coues and W. Brewster. The name proposed for

the organization, which is for scientific as well as social objects,

is the American Ornithological Union.——Science says that when

obliged to wash birds, collectors wili find it an advantage to use

salt and water, instead of plain water. The salt prevents the

solution of the blood-globules and consequent diffusion of the

red hemoglobin. A new petrel from Alaska is described by

Mr. R. Ridgway in the Proceedings U. S. Nat. Mus (v, 656) un-

der the name of Gstrelata fisheri, or Fisher's petrel. Dr. H.

Gadow has an important illustrated paper in the- Proceedings of

the Zoological Society of London, on the suctorial apparatus of

the Tenuirostres

ence is sufficiently rare to be worthy of note, and at this “a

the voyage was performed on an iceberg or floe

of the animal gave little chance to observe peculiarities OF s

the only ones observed being its extremely savage disposition,

a degree far greater than I have ever seen in the camin ,

and its habit of floating in the water with the ai of the body

1192 General Notes. [November,

seals. Both of these habits I find to be mentioned by those who

have observed the animal under motion. It is much to be re-

gretted that the specimen did not live, as its presence in the same

pond with specimens of three other North American seals, the

common seal (Phoca vitulina), the California elephant seal (Macror-

hinus angustirostris), and Gillespie’s hair seal (Zalophus californ-

tanus), would have offered a rare opportunity for studying the

moral differences of these species. It is curious to observe that

the habit of floating perpendicularly, above referred to, is shared

by it with the sea elephant, which it resembles in dentition, and

quite strikingly in internal anatomy, the two genera forming a

group quite apart in subordinate characters from the other Pho-

cidæ” After the publication of this fact, Mr. J. A. Allen notes

the capture of a crested seal (Cystophora cristata) on the coast of

Massachusetts, claimed to be the first fully authenticated in-

stance of the occurrence of any seal, except the common Phoca

vitulina, upon the New England coast. The specimen was taken

at Newburyport, and goes to the Charleston (S. C.) Museum, says

Scientific and Literary Gossip. Mr. Henshaw states that

West coast Sciurus fossor occurs east of the mountains, as does aiso —

Spermophilus beecheyi. The latter occurs from Carson northward,

and shows no sign of inter-gradation into the S. grammurus form

of the central region. Lepus trowbridgii occurs also at Goose

lake, east of the Sierras. The following note, by J. C. Hughes,

of British Columbia, appears in Forest and Stream, and deserves to ;

uoted in these Motes: “Again, wolves (Canis lupus ss :

occidentalis) in the summer season live to a great extent on si

numerous berries growing in this part of the world, gape

surprise to many, as the wolf is generally considered to be stri d A

carnivorous in its habits. I have not been fortunate enough ie

see the animal myself in the act of feeding, but have b pit ;

upon the most trustworthy statements of others who have Ol —

so, and I have seen the excrement of wolves containing pot i

amount of berry seeds, upon islands where there were noe a

know that the latter ever partake of this kind of ape bet olay

dead, and peels off in large pieces, leaving the so an

with an exceedingly soft and sensitive covering. $:

1883. ] Physiology. 1193

is becoming detached it appears to annoy ursus, who endeavors

to assist the course of nature by tearing it off with his teeth, and

then licks the soft sole with his tongue. Perhaps he derives the

same pleasure from this that the average boy enjoys in nursing a

sore toe, or an elderly party in petting a favorite corn. e nu-

triment, however, to be derived from this barmecidal feast would

be about equal to the amount of blood that could be extracted

from a turnip. This circumstance may have given rise to the

story. On emerging from his den in the spring the bear isa

‘tenderfoot’ in the literal acceptation of the word. Those persons

who have had the outer skin of the palms of the hands and soles

of the feet peeled off after recovering from scarlet fever will keenly

appreciate the bear’s unhappy condition at this period, and until

the soles of his feet become again hardened, he does not travel far

from his den, to which place he nightly returns until ‘well heeled,’

and if found before this time becomes generally an easy prey to

the hunter, who has the black gentleman at a considerable disad-

vantage at this particular season. The tappen or plug which

Seals, so to speak, the intestines of bears during hibernation is not

confined to this animal alone, being also found in the racoon

(Procyon lotor); but on account of its small size in the last-named

animal is not so conspicuous, and consequently not so often no-

ticed.” In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

of London, 1880, Dr. W. B. Lewis details the results of an ex-

amination into the structure of the cortex cerebri of the pig, sheep,

PHYSIOLOGY.

THE EXCITATION OF THE VASO-MOTOR CENTERS BY INDUCTION

HOCKs.—H. Kronecker and R. Nicolaides in Du Bots Archiv.,

discuss the interesting question as to the strength and rate of gree

cession of electrical shocks which most powerfully excite

activity of the vaso-motor center in the medulla oblongata when

the stimuli are directly applied to it. According to present phy-

Stological views the natural impulses which proceed from nerve

ip): ichigan.

This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michig

1194 General Notes. [November,

centers are interrupted and not continuous in character, and it

would seem probable that that rate of artificial stimulation which

most powerfully excites the action of the nerve center is the rate

at which the center naturally discharges its energy. The follow-

ing are the results obtained during the research in question: Si

gle induction shocks applied to the medulla or spinal cord, when

the connection between these and the brain is severed, have no

effect upon blood pressure, or only a slight effect, and that when

the shocks are destructively strong. When middling strong stim-

uli were used, there was no summation of their effects until the

separate shocks succeeded each other at least two to three times

in one second. This slow rate of stimulation produces a greater

effect in raising blood pressure when the intensity of the single

shocks is increased. But the strongest stimuli of slow rate pro-

duce far less increase in blood pressure than stimuli of moderate

strength and greater frequency. The most favorable rate of stim-

ulation appears to be that at which the separate shocks succes

each other at intervals of Iy second. When the intensity te

mains constant, increase in frequency of stimulation raises bl $

pressure, but the maximum is reached when twenty to tuny

stimuli per second are reached. The maximum effect in ie

can be produced either through the application of strong sti a

of the rate 10-12 in onė second or by shocks of medium re 3

20-25 in a second. The maximum effect upon blood neice i:

by the rapid weaker stimulation. After the stimulation 1s Drot

to a close the blood pressure returns very gradually to its no

level. Dogs and rabbits were the animals experimented "a i

THE FUNCTION OF THE SPLEEN.— The spleen may bed

from an animal without apparently producing any speci®

ance; and though, from its periodical engorgement darie y

tion, it has been supposed to form a functional part of t 5

tive apparatus, we are by no means certain of its functions 7

body. :

Herzen comes forward in support of an old view of ` id

that there is a close relation between the trypsin, oF P of

ment, producing power of the pancreas and the act tah

spleen. The author makes an infusion of the pane ae

ing dog, and finds that it has little or no power to dig with pat

but if the same pancreas be extracted after mixing it W

the swollen spleen taken from an mn M full digesti

weal at, from varied E erniet, is, that during the rie)

len condition of the spleen in digestion, there 1s PF ation’

special ferment, which being transported by the po partial

pancreas, there sets up changes which result in the active

version of the store material of the pancreas into aes

teolytic ferment, trypsin.

1883.] Physiology. 1195

THE TUBERCLE-BACILLUS.— In two August numbers of the

Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., Dr. Ernst gives an extensive résumé

of the literature pertaining to Koch’s discovery of the bacillus

tuberculosis. The author has made inoculation experiments upon

lower animals, and he has made careful histological study of a

number of human cases of the disease, and concludes that the

following statements fairly represent the outcome of all investiga-

tions which have been made upon this subject :

“1. A staff-shaped micro-organism exists in all forms of the

os process, and its presence has been demonstrated in

them

“tt. It is more abundant in the rapid than in the slow forms of

the process.

“tu. Its specific nature as the cause of tuberculosis is claimed

by Koch on the ground of his observations.

“Iv. Its specific character has not been successfully refuted by

trustworthy observations.

“v, Its value as diagnostic evidence of tuberculosis is very

great, although its absence cannot be considered as excluding that

ocess,”

certain higher tones, viz., that the sound waves that a

into the cochlea occasion a synchronous vibration either in the

notes and the lon fi d notes and noises, and

r ger ones for the deeper ; ;

are set into synchronous vibration by them. This hypothesis has

igher animals. After he had succeeded in overcoming ihe

steat practical difficulties, he wounded the top of the cochlea ol

VOL, xvit, —No, x1, 9

1196 General Notes. [November,

the healthy ear in dogs which had been made absolutely deaf of

their other ear, and then observed their hearing powers by means

of the different notes of organ pipes between c and ¢””, On

the third day after the immediate consequences of the ope

tive interference had disappeared, it was found that the dogs

responded perfectly to the notes c”, c", c’’’, c", but were dea

to the deeper notes. This condition remained unaltered for

weeks, and when the animal that had been the subject of experi-

ment was killed, post-mortem examination showed that the top

only of the cochlea had been wounded, and that the filaments of

the auditory nerve that were distributed to that portion were

sitiveness as that for the deep notes. e

showed in these various aes different degrees of bagi

occasioned by the operation. Herr Baginsky believes that if

has by his experiments, in particular by the results of lesion ®

the top of the cochlea, verified experimentally for the mammè

lian cochlea the hypothesis of von Helmholtz.—Nature. —

PSYCHOLOGY.

pleased beyond expression. Here was something a ie, life at

old hash nor guess work ; here was a picture of inner i

home, worth all that had been previously wig, ok over

I could almost see him come out in the twilig

ruined house, and then set to work to restore it. Ic orkig

lay and relay the sticks of which it was composed, Wi to

back and shoulders ached, and then sitting up a moment | k

But the larger work on the dam just below was m1 eig

in natural history it is our luck to fill out, “acknow Thy

etc.,” that the whole merit belongs to a sportsman yee om

seems, as you will see, under the circumstances of days

have “risen from savage to civilized life.” A few -

-1883.] Psychology. 1197

mens for the State Cabinet, the desire inculcated in his first les-

sons in natural history became imperative, demanding verification.

Here was an opportunity to reach the inner life of an animal

whose works had been repeatedly described as exhibiting human

intelligence, but whose method and manner of accomplishment

no one had seen.

With two assistants the dam of an undisturbed family was

broken down to the bottom, displacing a large log which formed

its base. Then with jeers at his “ dam foolishness” his compan-

ions returned to camp; while he, secreted in the bushes close by,

awaited the result.

e says: “ At early twilight five beavers came out from holes

in the bank and looked the devastation all over. ‘ Their capacity

hole’

the digger would come to the surface to breathe, a

TERTERA the whole gap was filled. The process of covering

oodwork with earth, leaves, bog or whatever came to j

arate

1198 General Notes. [ November,

was done precisely as Mr. Collins described, hugging a mass

against chin and neck, and swimming with hind feet and tail

And thus, forgetful of time, I watched with absorbing and often

with almost breathless interest, the progress of the work, so that

when darkness faded into daylight the dam was completed, the

tired workers had retired, and I left for camp, repeating the reso-

lution, ‘I have killed my last beaver, the very last.’”

This is the point where the sportsman and naturalist rose from

against it, is one thing; felling a tree so it should not vary a foot

from a given line, the old dam, showed an engineerin

may possess, but which I should hesitate to assume. W a

define instinct as directing a few things without forethought or

previous knowledge, and repeating the same methods ever ie

ward. The bee builds the same cells, of the same nate

ever. The first and the last nest of the bird are precisely

and animals which dig holes in the earth have each a ene

culiar to themselves, which does not vary; even the pee

ness of the ground squirrel is no thought for the morrow, >

he hoards in the spring with all the industry of autumn.

by reason until separation is impossible, and all arh . ion

obliterated. He selects with engineering skill the site “hipe i |

then builds of such material as is at hand and of such dicate; ;

the exigences require, varying both as circumstances ds ‘ith

and conducting all with a degree of intelligence that pane” ie

upon the heels of humanity than that of any other ry w

ing. Why an animal so gentle, so harmless, should by clumsy

side the pale of civilized life, denied human association aa sb.

form and unseemly personal habits, is one of the g step of

nature not yet solved, but such is the fact. To him Horsf Pi

civilization is simply and inevitably annihilation.—B. a]

Forest and Stream. E a

ME: pre

lists’ Field ane

the fact that the striped squirrel (Tamias sviaien a

alive, will often lie limp and apparently lifeless, ti

a ee eee ee eee ae ee ee A A T >

1883] - Anthropology. 1199

trunk of the tree that, aided by its color, which so closely assim-

ilates it to the bark of hard-wood trees, it is difficult for an un-

practiced eye to detect it. The chipmunk has the same habit in

a less degree.

THE ENGLISH SPARROW “ PLAYING ’PossuM.”—In the same note

Mr. Fish relates the following case: “Among the birds, only the

English sparrow have I known to make use of this subterfuge.

One morning I saw four or five of these little pugilists engaged

in a terrific fight among themselves. They had pecked and ham-

mered one another in the slushy snow, and appeared reckless of

elms, when all at once, as if by magic, the little rascal straight-

tion of magnetic currents.— Fourn. Roy. Microscopical Society.

ANTHROPOLOGY. *

ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.

of Anthr Opology was organized with Professor Otis T. Mason,

vice-president, in the chair, and Professor George H.

Vermont, as secretary. The vice-presidential address on the

> e E

l Edited by Professor Otis T. MASON, 1305 Q street, N.W., Washington, D

1200 General Notes. [November,

Scope and value of Anthropological Studies has appeared in full in

Science. pe

The papers read were as follows:

oe ate mag" ate oe in pst Ohio valley. Altar mounds and their con-

ents. By Professor F. W. Put

CS aac games of the Japanese. “By Pidieskor E. S. per

3- The great mound of Cahokia. By Wm. McAdam

4. Life among the Mohawks in the Catholic missions of Quebec province, ah

Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith.

5. Metrical standard z the Mound-builders—by the method of even divisors. By

Charles Whittles g:

6. The Mound- builders identified. By Professor John Campbell.

i, ga shaorma human skull from a stone grave in Tennessee. By Professor F. w

8. ee shapes none ae RPE mounds. The different sia

hibited by the same animal. By S. D. Peet.

9 Personal observations at the Missouri river mounds from Omaha to Seon}

considered from a geological SPE EW — invariable association jmi

the Loess and rinie formation. By E. P. W

10, Osage war customs, By J. O. Daar

11, Some observations on the laws at cules of the Gens in Indian society, :

By Miss A. C. Fletcher P

12, An ancient village of the emblematic Mound-builders. Caches guarded by i

gies gies guarding the village and sacrificial places not far away. Bys :

D. Peet

13. Anew Gand for mounting skulls. By E. E. Ch set

14. Symbolic earth formation. By Miss A. C. Fletc

15. The correspondence between the prehistoric map f° ‘North America and the sy

tem of social development. By S. D. Peet.

16. The Charnay ese at Washington, By O. T. Mason.

17. Kitchens of the y E. S. Morse

18. Methods of arrow sien By E. S. Morse.

19. Game drives among the Emblematic mounds. By S. D. Peet. Le

20. Vestiges of glacial man in Central Minnesota. By Miss F. E. Babbitt. . sa5

21. High places connected with ancient villages; the religious structures Er

o villages in prehistoric time. S. D. Peet.

22. A classification of the Sciences. By J. W. Powell.

Taking the papers in their order, a very brief abstract is m

below, so that any of our readers may follow up 4 aul

special kaod by correspondence with the author. k

A Mr. Putnam’s paper was an evening lecture, ie ni

’

2, 17, 18. Professor E. S. Morse, of Pests Mass, pe j

instructive papers ait his experiences in Japan and 9°" |

1883. | Anthropology. 1201

of the Orient. The sports and pastimes of the Japanese, for chil-

dren as well as for adults, resemble ours in many respects, but

there are many that are different. Those which resemble are

much more difficult than ours, calling for much more time and

patience. The evolution of the kitchen from two or three stones

beneath a rude pot was well shown from the author's experiences.

The most interesting of Mr. Morse’s papers was a monograph on

arrow release throughout the world, in past as well as in recent

times. The paper was well illustrated. The author would be

thankful for references to arrow release in either ancient or mod-

ern times

3. Mr. McAdams, who lives at Alton, Illinois, gave his personal

observations on the Cahokia mound and its gigantic neighbors.

Sy is doubtless the finest group of terrace mounds in the United

tates.

4. Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith, under the direction of Major J. W.

Powell, has devoted several years to the Iroquois tribes. The

last season was spent among the remnants of the Mohawks at

their villages in Quebec province, where she has collected quite

extensive vocabularies. à

5. Colonel Whittlesey reviewed with caution the various meth-

ods of arriving at a metric standard among the Mound-builders.

The works of Mr. McGee and W. Flinders Petrie were especially

considered.

tor of the American Antiquarian, took the occasion of the prox-

mity of the association to the effigy mounds of Wisconsin, to

discuss these interesting objects in a series of papers.

in some Way with daily life and worship. Dr. Peet also drew

attention to the geography of our country wl

original culture. : - teer ee

9. Judge West, after sailing down the Missouri —

Omaha to St. Louis, and carefully inspecting the mour nas

_ the shore, comes to the conclusion that they are all older

latest river gravel formation.

1202 General Notes. [November, |

10. In a minute and careful manner, assisted by diagrams, Mr,

Dorsey described, from personal observation, the shape and ar-

rangement of the Osage camp, and the intricate system of vigil

discussions, and dances preparatory to a war, a foray, or a horse-

stealing expedition. This paper will be published in full by

Major Powell in the Contributions to North American Eth-

nology. si

11, 14. Miss Fletcher has been spending two years among the

Indians, living in their camps, and her experiences are of the

most absorbing interest. l

13. Mr. Chick’s apparatus for mounting delicate crania was

exhibited and explained by Mr. Putnam.

16. The Charnay collection is pretty well understood from

notices in Science, the Century Magazine and the AMERICAN Nat

URALIST. Dee

20. Miss F. E. Babbitt exhibited a series of rude palæolithic

implements of milky quartz, found in the modified drift of the |

Mississippi river above Minneapolis, fifteen feet beneath the sur-

face. Quite a discussion was evoked by these rivals of the finds

in the Trenton gravels. ey

22. The classification of Major Powell was general as regar®

science at large and elaborated only in the field of anthropology.

he author discarded all merely biological studies, and viewed 8

anthropological par excellence only psychology, language, arts,

sociology and mythology. a

The meetings of this section were generally well attended, and

the discussions showed that the audience were in T

thy with the speakers. At the next meeting Professor R

rse will preside, and Mr. Wm. H. Holmes will act as%

retary, =

Wisconsin HısroricaL CoLLecTIONsS.—The ninth volume a

this excellent series covers the years 1880, 1881, 1882. shat i i

tor, Mr. Lyman C. Draper, has brought together much a ua

teresting in the early history of the State, and thé

papers on archæology and ethnology : celia

1, Emblematic mounds in Wisconsin. By the Rev. S. D. Peet.

2. A mound near Boscobel. By the Hon. C. K. Dean.

3. Early historic Relics of the Northwest. By Professor J. D. Baler.

4. Indian customs and early recollections. By Mrs. H. S. Baird. ; a

The first paper begins with the history of explora d

the effigy mounds, and gives many valuable bibliograp me

ences. The author then summarizes his own studies of these

them. It isa remarkable fact that the large major a

works were situated on the natural lines of travel an settlers

prominent places which first attracted the apent paper,

The significance of the mounds is not discussed in U6 F

fix on paper

author's design being to describe them and to

1883.] Anthropology. 1203

shapes which are rapidly vanishing from the soil. The difficulty

of making out the shape is very great, owing to the action of the

elements and the hand of civilization. The figures are thus

divided: First, those representing inanimate objects, such as

weapons, badges and various emblems which are familiar to the

native races ; second, animal effigies as such, using the word ani-

mal in the sense of four-footed beasts, and all creatures inhabit-

ing the water or land belonging to the order of Mammalia ; third,

the effigies of birds and winged creatures. Another division

might also be added, and made to include fishes, reptiles and such

creatures as have neither wings nor legs. Then follows a detailed

enumeration of the forms in these classes. Mr. Peet has an orig-

inal way of mixing up his figures, being almost as bewildering as

some of the effigy mounds; they run Fig. 5, I, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8,9,

24, 25, 10, 13, 11, 12, 14, 18, 16, 17, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30, 26,

27, 28, 29.

Professor Butler describes a visit to Aztalan, and speculates

upon the method in which the bricks there found were burned.

His account of the copper implements in the State Historical So-

ciety’s Museum is valuable. The professor is quite a wag in his

Way, and is unable to repress himself even in serious company.

Tron FROM Ouro Mounps.—In the Proceedings of the Ameri-

can Antiquarian Society, Vol. 1, 1883, p. 349, Professor F. W.

Putnam reviews the statements of the old writers respecting

metal found in the Western mounds. Mr. Atwater’s iron-bladed

sword, or dagger with a steel blade, is traced to that gentleman's

imagination. Mr. Hildreth’s silver-plated copper ornaments are

thus characterized: “ A careful study of the Hildreth specimens

Pounding and rubbing, and by turning the edges over and under

the slightly concave edge of the copper foundation. This method

nam having found fragments of the “ Man with a broken ear.

The method of producing these curious objects has been nk e

studied out by the author. The next idol to be upset is Dr. Hil-

dreth’s “ plate of silver, which appears to have been the pA

Part of a sword scabbard.” This is shown to be identical wi

ornaments found by Professor Putnam in Tennessee moun

found j und in the

: a mass of materials from the altar of a mo

ttle Miami valley, and made by hammering a mass of serari

on in the same way that masses of silver and copper were

1204 General Notes.

ipulated. Professor Putnam, while correcting the misconceptions

of early writers, pays a just tribute to their zeal, and rejoices that

we are now able to see with clearer eyes than those who lived in

the days when nearly every fact observed was thought worthless

unless it could be immediately accounted for, and the unknown

became intelligible by the application of the power of the imag-

ination. )

bodily measures came subsequently into use, such as the Spa

pace, yard (Saxon gyrdan, to girdle), fathom (Saxon Fadhm, 10

embrace). From the earliest periods sculptors, painters, amt

vising schemes of human proportion, and to these schena

are indebted for the preservation of ethnic characteristics. i

urements obtains the mean. Art and anthropometry, na i

are to some extent antagonistic. Art seeks for the ee:

idealizes; anthropometry seeks for the real and n pages

Fletcher has added to his very interesting lecture a

bibliography, and refers to page 441 of the first n un

Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon Generals Wi

a copious bibliography of anthropometry. K

TREATMENT OF PeLracıc Fish Ecos.—The transpa yri

_ various Teleostei found floating on the surface of the sea f ursi

unusual difficulties in the way of hardening. I ye have faile

to all the fluids commonly used for this purpose, R pven the

to find any satisfactory method of hardening the r the ordi

germinal disk cannot be well preserved by any ° acid, for

hardening agents, Kleinenberg’s picro-sulphuric is

1 Edited by Dr, C. O. WHITMAN, Newton Highlands, Mass.

MICROSCOPY.’ oa

yar eel

1883. ] Microscopy. 1205

stance, causes the cells, all through the cleavage stages as well as

the later embryonic stages, to swell and in many cases to become

completely disorganized. The embryonic stages can be hardened

in chromic acid (one per cent), but the yelk contracts considera-

bly without becoming well hardened even after three days’ im-

mersion.

All sorts of wrinkles and distortions are caused when the ova

are transferred from the acid to alcohol. My best results have

been obtained with osmic acid and a modified form of Meckel’s

fluid. This fluid, as used by Dr. Eisig, consists of chromic acid

(1% per cent) and platinum chloride (34 per cent) mixed in equal

parts. Thus prepared it causes maceration of the embryonic por-

tion of the egg. By using a stronger chromic acid (1 per cent)

and combining it as before with the same quantity of platinum

chloride (1/ per cent), everything may be well preserved and har-

dened except the yelk. Before transferring to alcohol, after one

to two days’ immersion in this fluid, it is necessary to prick the

egg membrane in order that the alcohol may reach the egg

readily, otherwise the membrane wrinkles badly and often injures

the embryo ;

For the cleavage stages this fluid cannot be used with success

unless the egg has been first killed by another agent; for eggs

placed in this fluid continue to live for a considerable time, and

may even pass through one or two stages of cleavage. ;

therefore necessary to use some agent that kills almost instantly.

: e

left for twenty-four hours or more. This fluid not only arrests

the process of blackening, but actually bleaches the egg.

After this treatment it is an easy matter to separate the blasto-

derm from the yelk by needles, and the preparations thus 0

‘ined can be mounted 27 foto, or sectioned. As the blastoderm

's quite thin during the cleavage stages, a whole series of these

es may be mounted and studied from the surface to adro

tage. After removal from the acid the preparations may 5

a at once, and then treated with alcohol and mounted in

sam.

Moror Nerve Enpines—Ciaccio! has investigated a apol

nerve-plates in the depressor muscle of the jaws of Torpeao ™

thick ér i ; ips were then left for five

cut with scissors, the strips w in distilled water

Minutes in fresh filtered lemon juice, washed

Arch, Ital. Biok, 111, 75.

m E R

ume

1206 Scientific News. [November,

and placed for half an hour in one per cent solution of gold and

cadmium, being kept dark ; washed again in one per cent aqueous

solution of formic acid, in which they were left twelve hours in

the dark, then twelve in the light; finally kept in the dark in

stronger formic acid for one day and preserved in glycerine. The

fibers of such strips may easily be dissociated. l

:0:

SCIENTIFIC NEWS. borg

— A review in the Nation of Bentham and Hooker's Genera of

Plants, says: 3

“Some idea of the progressive enlargement of the field may be

had by a comparison of the number of genera characterized in

these successive works. The phenerogamous genera of

Linnzus, Gen. Pl. ed. t, A, D: 1737, WEEG. .scaveesere

e “ s

ed. 6, A. D. 1764, “ 4... asa

Jussieu, “ A. D.. 1789, si yh secu

Endlicher, “ A. De 1843, “ aboutssscce- 6400

Bentham and Hooker, at A. D. 1883, $ neran EE 7585

“If the last had been elaborated upon the scale of Endlicher, or

with the idea of genera which is still common if not { a

the number of genera would have amounted to at least ten pa |

sand. An estimate of the number of known species of ai

genus and higher group has been made throughout the pees

rough approximation only, mentioning first the number in Me

books, and the number to which, in the opinion of the auti ri

these may probably be reduced by botanists who adhere to a

Linnzan view of species; from which it appears that upon ~Y

very strictest estimate their number, as now known p mere :

the a ;

of botanists. The five largest orders, as well for genera 35

the orchid family in the list, will be a surprise to many. pense

knew only a hundred species; five thousand is now “ae :

estimate—about half as many as there are of Compost Tn both

hold to their proportion of one-tenth of the arier its pe

families every country and district is largely peculiar 1,

cies and types. The far greater prominence of Com

orchids is owing to the vast number of individuals

their paucity in the latter.”

— The British Association for the Advancement 7o 138:

elected Lord Rauleigh president of the assoc Lorne, te

Among the vice-presidents elected are the Marquis os Charles

Marquis of Lansdowne, Sir John A. Macdonald, 9f =. Dr.

Tupper, Sir Alexander Galt, the Right Hon. YT date of th

Charles William Siemens and Professor Huxley.

1883. ] Srientific News. 1207

next meeting, which will be held at Montreal, has been fixed for

the 27th of August, 1884. The programme will include a free

excursion to the Rocky mountains and trips to Quebec and Phil-

adelphia. The association has decided to invite the American

Association for the Advancement of Science to become honorary

members of the association during its visit to Montreal in 1884.

— The Répertoire de Pharmacie quotes, upon the authority of

Dr. Nessler, a recipe for an insecticide which is said to have a

great reputation among German horticulturists. It consists of

soft-soap, 4 parts; extract of tobacco, 6 parts; amylic alcohol, 5

parts; methylic alcohol 20 parts ; water to make 1000 parts. e

extract of tobacco is made by boiling together equal parts of roll

tobacco and water for half an hour, adding water to make up for

what is evaporated. The soft-soap is first dissolved in the water

with the aid of a gentle heat, and the other ingredients are then

added. The mixture requires to be well stirred before it is used,

and is applied by means of a brush or a garden syringe fitted

with a small hose.—Znglish Mechanic.

— A number of gentlemen met at the American Museum of

Natural History in New York, Sept. 26, and established the

American Ornithologists’ Union. Those present were: Dr. Elli-

ott Coues in the chair; Mr. E. P. Bicknell, secretary pro tem. ;

Messrs. C. Aldrich, Iowa; C. F. Batchelder, Mass.; Capt. Chas.

ndire, Oregon; N. C. Brown, Me.; Wm. Brewster, Mass. ; M.

Chamberlain, New Brunswick; C. B. Cory, Mass.; D. G. Elliott,

- Y.; Dr. A. K. Fisher, N, Y., Dr. J. B Holder, N Y.; T.

Mcllwraith; Dr. C. Hart Merriam, N. Y.; Dr. E. A. Mearns,

N. .-; Dr. D. W. Prentiss, Washington; Robert Ridgway,

Washington ; Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, La

date of the despatch, was about to proceed with the last sepa

of her voyage—the investigation of the Sargasso sea.—Englis

Mechanic.

— Under the title of Signal Service Notes, five pamphlets

relating to the work of the AN have been issued. The "m

'S on the work of the Signal Service in the Arctic regions, ma

Sontains the reports of W. M. Beebe of the Relief Expedition to

Lady Franklin bay, Grinnell Land; of Lt. J. S. Powell of ar

his work at Point Barrow, from Sept. 16, 1881, to Aug. 25, er

Powell’s report contains interesting ethnological notes.

~The muscular nerves of the torpedo or electric eel are, ac

1208 Proceedings of Scientific Socteties. (November,

cording to M. Stassano, more quickly paralyzed than those con-

trolling its electric battery. He has made experiments with

curare, bergamot, sulphuric ether, strychnine and digitaline, and

obtained the same general result with all. 7

— The French Association met at Rouen from August 16 to

25. A number of excursions were arranged, notably to Elbeuf,

Dieppe, Havre and Cherbourg. Ta

— The sudden death of Dr. Herman Müller by an attack of

lung fever, at Prad, in Tyrol, Aug. 25, will be a shock to those

who have been interested in his notable articles and works. Dr.

Müller was an upper teacher in the real gymnasium of Lipp-

stadt. He was a brother of the distinguished Fritz Miller, of

Desterro, Southern Brazil. Herman Miiller had, by his numerous

articles, many of which were published in Kosmos, and his a

made himself the leading authority on the subject of the mutual

relations of insects and flowers in promoting cross-fertilizatio. —

His two great works were “ Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch

Insekten,” published in 1873, and “ Alpenblumen, ihre D hee

tung durch Insekten,” 1881. The previous work has just iat

translated into English by Mr. D’Arcy-Thompson, and . J i

published. w a

Dr. Müller was a gifted observer, and, like the brother who 3i

vives him, a scientist of marked individuality. j

— The death is announced of Dr. Filippo Pacini, professor’

anatomy at the University of Florence, and well known edict

the Alps for many valuable contributions to scientific m and his

especially in his studies on the nature of Asiatic cholera, a

system of artificial respiration. o

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 4

Boston Society or Natura History, Oct. 3 nd” it

Putnam gave an account of the “Great Serpent is in Wit

Adams county, Ohio, and of some other ancient wor% =

consin and Ohio, examined during the past summer. ; a

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, Oct. 1.—A papa ae

(by title and abstract) on The Patio and Cazo Pe Chili, by P!

amalgamation of silver ores, used in Mexico and Chti 4 i

fessor Thomas Egleston.

SITZUNGSBERICHT DER GESELLSCHAFT NATTE ol

FreUNDeE zu BerLIN. 1882.—March 21.—Herr n to t

of the so-called “ wolf’s teeth” of the same in ie of!

genealogical development of the genus Equus. ut is l0

upper row of spits a small tooth is often to be set ejst j

with the increase in size of the teeth. To be con eae conta

must be included in the dental formula, which wil o

r premolars instead of three. A corresponding

1883. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1209

casionally, but very seldom developed in the lower jaw, but is

well exhibited in the skull of a zebra examined. This additional

premolar is a direct link with the tertiary Hippotherium

and Anchitherium. The development of the horse is probably

linked with that of the steppes, deserts and prairies; Herr Otto

Hermes denied a statement of Von Siebold, to the effect that “up

to the present time no male eels had been found in fresh water.”

Several male eels were found in the Lower Elbe, beyond the

reach of sea-water; Herr Wittmack made some remarks upon

the milky juice of Ficus carica; Professor Peters described the

reptiles collected in Socotra by Dr. Riebeck. Among them are

the new species Diplodactylus riebechit and Euprepes socotranus.

the formule p. M. 4-4

mM 3.4, Or 46 teeth in all, as in Otocyon. Also a skull of Cams

dingo, with four premolars in front of the. sectorial teeth in the

upper jaw. Herr Nehring stated that he had examined skulls of

domestic dog which had five premolars in one or both sides

of the maxillary, and an equal number in the under jaw also oc-

curred, One dog-skull showed seven or eight upper incisors. In-

stances of a less number than the ordinary also occur. This bos

tion usually exhibits itself at either the front or hinder end oft :

es of molars, that is, it is either the second tubercular or the

1210 : Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Nov., 1883.

June 20 —Herr A. W. Eichler read a dissertation of L. Cela-

kovsky upon the structure of the fruit scales of the Abietinz,

and added thereto extensive remarks upon their various forms in

different genera, and upon their mode of development. Herr A.

B. Frank made some remarks upon the hair cushions in the axils

of the leaves of Ærcilia (Bridgesia) spicata D. C., a Chilian plant,

climbing over rocks or tree stems. Herr Peters described

Lagomys littoralis from the Tschuktschi peninsula. Herr L.

in Wittmack spoke upon the specific characters of the flowers of

Hordeum bulbosum L.

July 13—-Herr Magnus described a new alga, Cladophora

ophiophila, parasitic upon the surface of the freshwater snake

Herpeton tentaculatum, a native of Siam, and also made some re-

marks upon the ovules of Reseda lutea. Herr von Martens de-

scribed some new land and fresh-water Central Asiatic snails, of

the genera Helix and Buliminus, and also a Scalaria and à

Turritella found by the Gazelle expedition. Herr Peters described

a new genus and species of Batrachia, Hy/onomus bogotensts from

Bogota. Herr H. Dewitz made a further communication upon

the climbing apparatus of insects, as instanced by Tek

dispar, Stenobothrus sibiricus, etc. Herr Eichler presented 3

communication from Th. Von Heldwich of Athens, upon hetero-

phylly in Ceratonia siliqua, a Grecian plant much frequented by

insects. ee:

October 17.—Herr Nehring illustrated some points rer

anatomy of Halicherus grypus Fabr. Three species oe )

of the com —

ls, is inclined to

place all in one species. The intestines were seventeen ti :

length of the body and were full of half-digested fiche

and of Ascaris osculata. Herr Peters changed the pre pty

batrachian genus Hylonomus to Hyloseirtus, and ey: graan

5 ý 5,

ovember 21. Herr Peters presented a new species Martens

lous batrachian Œdipus yucatanus, from Yucatan. "Aia 4

spoke of the land-shells of the Pacific coast of North A sae

and gave a list of the species. nia (A

cember Ig. Hei Peters described three new batrachia (a

blystoma krausei, Nyctibatrachus sinensis and Bufo buc teeth i

made some remarks upon the pterygoid and palatine p

of the bottom of the North sea. Herr Von Martens

remarks on the fauna of the Black sea with a comparison te

it and those of the Mediterranean and North sea.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST.

VoL. xvi.—DECEMBER, 1883.—No. 12.

DEVELOPMENT OF A DANDELION FLOWER?

BY PROFESSOR JOHN M. COULTER.

PrE are several reasons why the organogeny of flowers

should be carefully studied, not the least of which is, that

it reveals genetic relationships and could be made to read the

riddle of many a puzzling affinity. This paper is based upon

Some very careful observations made during the present year,

undertaken especially for the purpose of investigating the devel-

opment of an inferior ovary, of syngenesious anthers, and of

obtaining any possible evidence in reference to any of the con-

tending theories of the morphology of the ovule. It is not the

intention to discuss the various relationships indicated by the dif-

ferent phases in the development of the dandelion flower, though

that might help determine relative rank, for this would necessi-

tate a wider range of observation than the subject has received

_ ny one, but simply to give an illustration of such work and

to indicate what this specific case teaches with reference to the

ee subjects just mentioned.

Embry ology assures ‘us that the most essential characters make

ner appearance first, and that the order of development is fiom

: Seneral to specific. If such a law can find its application in ‘the

4 development of a flower, there can be no deeper-seated —

“a tion betwee groups of flowers than that of inferior or superior

L D Dr it is the very first character to make its appearance. Of

Po tie embryology of the plant begins far back of the flower,

m the seed, where the development of one or two cotyledons 1n-

Bra Probably the first natural division of seed-bearing plants.

Read in Section F of the A. A. A. S. at Minneapolis, Aug, 1883. :

VOL. Xy no, XII, 80

1212 Development of a Dandelion Flower. (December,

With this division confirmed in the structure of the stem and leaf,

we approach the development of the flower as the first index of

subdivisions. We are in the habit of making these subdivisions —

in the group of dicotyledons upon the basis of petals distinct,

united or wanting ; when in order of development this distinction

appears immediately after that of inferior or superior ovary.

Turning now to the specific case of the dandelion, we find that

the first structure which stands for each flower is a broadly ob-

conical mass, very flat and very smooth upon its upper surface

k (Fig. 1 a). This represents the broadened ex-

á e tremity of the lateral axis which is to bear the

flower, and thus far the developmental path pur

sued by flowers with inferior and those with

superior ovaries is the same. At the next step,

however, which is really the first step in the development of trie |

floral organs, the path divides, and in the case before us the apial

cells cease to grow and all further axial development is completely

suppressed. The peripheral cells of our obconical mass, wert,

continue to develop, and almost immediately five points p

cially rapid growth are detected, which make the upper edged

the rising ring faintly five-lobed (Fig. 1 6). This ring conti

to develop until the whole structure has assumed the app This

ofa a with very thick bottom and scolloped rim (Fig. =

; cup continues to elongate and hence ae

Fae more and more decidedly ee

presently a shallow horizontal constriction begins t0%

t pear (Fig. 3), dividing the whole mass at first into

Fic. 2. equal divisions and first distinguishing the | 0

above from the ovary below. This line of division forms a! .

parent node, and from this, without and igs a ne ee

<n Ss, e A

PP sion all the other floral organ Re have ;

real origin there. although, in the ret pe >

atic botany, such would be ca

this insertion, however, is the real origin, |

development is both acropetal ape basip'

ginning with the corolla, we have th a ‘anedes

neecium appearing in acropet ; the

finally the calyx. The only inference is, that all four

organs are blended together in the ern ring whee

pS) le See ee V es

Fic. L

Fic. $

1883. ] Development of a Dandelion Flower. 1213

the original obconical mass, that they are all essentially hypog-

ynous, and that their separate appearance at the so-called node

is simply a freeing of their upper extremities. In this case the

real order of development remains acropetal, and the apparent

late appearance of the calyx due only to the late development of

its upper portions.

Simultaneously with this constriction two other changes take

place. The tips of the petals begin to turn inwards and become

thickened, until finally their backs almost meet, thus furnishing a

close protection about the nascent organs within (Fig. 4a). Look-

ing down upon the mouth of the corolla tube at this stage, there

is a striking resemblance to a coral cell, and this likeness is inten-

sified by the flowers being massed together upon a broad recepta-

cle.. Then for the first time can it be noted that the contiguous

edges of the two inner petals are simply in contact but not united,

except at the very tip, and that the tube enclosing the essential

organs is a slit one. This slit extends almost to the constriction

or base of the corolla, the extremely short portion of complete

tube below representing what in anthesis is to become the true

tube; while the slit tube investing the essential organs is to be-

come the strap. In the bud state, therefore, it is the strap that

Protects the stamens for almost their entire length, strap and

stamens elongating pari passu. But during anthesis a wonder-

fully rapid development of the true tube carries the strap part far

above the stamens. During this rapid pushing upward, the slit

begins to widen from below, the tips of the two inner petals being

the last to separate, until finally the flat strap of the completely

open flower appears. So rapid is this pushing upward of the true

tube, that one whorl of flowers may have it fully developed while

the whorl next within will have no indication of its growth.

Having thus traced the corolla in its development, we will con-

sider a second and more important change which appears simul-

et with the constriction that marks out ovary and corolla

5 the node is seen there appear within five small PINEA.

which develop rapidly, become oblong, and are soon distinguished

pam here is an interesting resemblance of the corolla tube in both oe os

e “OM, to the filament. For the stamens almost fully mature before tha pinne

°S, Which is done often with great rapidity.

1214 Development of a Dandelion Flower, (December,

as the forming stamens (Fig. 4 4). These stamens remain per

fectly distinct until quite late in the history of the

---a bud, when they have become very much elon-

gated. Then the edges of the anthers, coming

in contact, begin to cling; the union appears to

_..¢ become firmer and firmer, until it takes quitea

pull to separate them. The union, however, is

only apparent, for careful cross-sections show

close contact between incurved edges, incurved

as if by being pressed firmly together, but no

blending of tissues. The two contiguous epider-

mal layers are continuous and complete. (Fig.5)

To complete the account of the development of the stamens,

mention should be made of the pollen grains. As soon as the

anther cells begin to elongate, exchanging ther

et Gly broadly oval outline for one that is narrower and

Fic. 5. finally linear, it is easy to detect within them ae

ably well-defined rows of large, squarish mother-cells, about two

rows in each half of the anther. As the growth proceeds the

contents of these mother-cells are seen to pass through the wel- z

known stages in the development of four pollen grains in eac

The pollen grains, when first freed from the mother-cell, *

roundish, but when the hairs begin to appear upon the style, they

become quite angular, generally six-angled in outline. A close

inspection shows that this angular appearance is due to the begit-

ning development of the wings, which gradually Jen aft

broaden and become dentate, until the mature pollen grains Vey

closely resemble those of Cichorium, so commonly fig way

The third organ to make its appearance is the pistil. cy

the stamens have become oval masses and are just be pee

constrict below into short, broad filaments, just within the $ :

mineal circle, there arise, at the so-called node, two OMe ae

upon opposite sides. Below the node, within, there 1$ y% E

a cavity, and the two outgrowths rapidly develop towards 1

other, overarching the cavity below, and presently meet

center, when they resemble two lips (Fig. 4 ¢). These 4P >

together, forming the style, and then elongate, Soon ==

is being constricted from above downward, until the py e

cavity has become flask-shaped, and the neck of the ei

up, leaving the cavity of the ovary some distance below aii

1883. | Development of a Dandelion Flower. 1215

of the style. It is at this stage that all the parts begin to elongate

rapidly, and the swelling appears at the bottom of the ovary-cell

which is to become the ovule, and then also the calyx appears in

the form of minute scales, which develop into the long hairs

known as pappus. Thus the apparent sequence in the develop-

ment of the four floral organs is corolla, androecium, gynoecium,

calyx; but of necessity the calyx is the oldest, though the part

called pappus is the last to appear. It was attempted in vain to

detect in the primitive ring, or later in the wall of the ovary, any

evidence of the blending of two or more distinct parts. No such

indications could be found, and the inference that all four floral

ergans are represented in the wall of this inferior ovary rests, not

so much upon the structure of the wall as upon the order of suc-

cession in the appearance of the floral organs. The idea that this

primitive ring really belongs to the receptacle, and that the node,

so-called for convenience, is in reality a node, would be tenable in

this case but for two reasons, viz., the late appearance of the calyx

and the fact that the corolla-lobes appear, not after the ring but

with it, indicating that it in reality belongs to the floral organs.

It remains yet to speak of the ovule and the support it furnishes

to any of the existing theories.

The ovule appears not exactly at the bottom of the ovary-cell,

but a little to one side. By carefully tracing the fibro-vascular

bundles, it was found that the axial bundle belonging to the pedi-

cel of the flower ended abruptly at the bottom of the cavity of

the ovary, sometimes rising into it as a small convexity, repre-

senting the real punctum vegetationis of the flower bud, the check-

ing of whose growth determined the character of an inferior

Ovary. Just beneath this terminal point two lateral fibro-vascular

bundles arise and run up each side of the carpellary wall. From

one of these lateral bundles, very close to its origin, a branch

arises which enters the funiculus (Fig. 6).

In this Case, therefore, the fibro-vascular

bundle which reaches the ovule is a branch

ansing from a lateral outgrowth from the

axial bundle. An attempt was made to

determine whether the nucleus of the ovule

ko a terminal or lateral growth on the

mculus. Both Grigorieff and Sachs, in re-

fo ches on Compositæ, and Cramer in other

tms, claim that the nucleus is a lateral growth on the funiculus,

Sie

ae i =

1216 Development of a Dandelion Flower. [December

but our dandelion could not be made clearly to show it. As forthe

ovule itself in this case being a lateral outgrowth on the floral axis,

there can be no question. At present two general views are held

as to the morphology of ovules. Robert Brown, Van Tieghem, Ce-

lakovsky and Warming, sustained by Dr. Gray, maintain that the

“ovules are productions of and borne upon leaves,” and this with-

out exception. Bessey? carries this view to an extreme in class-

ing ovules under trichomes, which they surely cannot be if we

restrict trichomes to epidermal outgrowths, yet the glandular

hairs of Drosera contain a fibro-vascular bundle. The ovules of

Orchidez are the only ones with which I am acquainted in which

the funiculus contains no fibro-vascular bundle, and hence coud

be referred to trichomes, just as the sporangia of ferns.

The second view of the morphology of the ovule, the one held

by Magnus, Rohrbach, Hanstein, Schmitz and sustained by

Sachs,’ is that the ovule has different morphological significance, :

“according to its mode of origin and position.” According to :

this view ovules are produced either on leaves (carpellary) of the

axis. To the latter origin are referred all those ovules which are

strictly terminal structures of the floral axis, as those of Typha

ceæ and Naiadeæ, and also those which arise as lateral a ae

dages of the axis. To his lateral division of ovules produced on

the axis, Sachs would refer those of our dandelion and all | et

posite. The two views, therefore, are in accord in certain COSY

and at variance in others, and the species under consideration

of the latter kind. It would be interesting then, if posse

is either a branch, and its parts the homologues OF | sad

their order of development disproves, or it is itself a leaf ae

comes the homologue of the other flower parts. In the œ

the dandelion it seems impossible that the ovule cam = If

fibro-vascular bundle from the-axis led directly into te siod

such a view might be tenable, but it extends upwards om

carpellary wall, and sends out a branch to the fun i

real lateral outgrowths on the axis then, as indicated a its

lateral fibro-vascular bundles, are the two carpellary

1 Gray’s Text Book, p. 267.

? Bessey’s Botany, p. 137.

3 Sachs’ Text-book, p. 504.

Ce gt R EE ae) ENA EE AO S TE ee ETEEN EE E ea E ET E

PRT OR E C EIA V EER P E S PIOR E EEO E E ERT E AE E S EN Ae AEM SLEE PERSE ~

1883.] Notes on the Chetonotus larus. 1217

thus become leaves and the homologues of the other floral or-

gans. It is most likely that the branch which runs up each car-

pellary wall corresponds to the midrib of the leaf. If so, in this

case one midrib produces an ovule, while the other does not, nor

do the margins of the carpellary leaves.

To sum up, in conclusion, the testimony of the dandelion:

I. The inferior ovary is produced by an arrest in the develop-

ment of the floral axis, the rising in a peripheral ring of the floral

organs, and the gradual arching over of the cavity thus produced,

by the carpellary leaves.

1. The syngenesious anthers are united by contact and pres-

sure, but in no sense structurally.

ut. The ovule is not produced directly from the axis, but is an

outgrowth from the surface (probably the midrib) of a carpellary

leaf.

:0:

NOTES ON THE CHAZETONOTUS LARUS.

BY PROFESSOR C. H. FERNALD.

B the year 1874, I spent'some time in the study of microscopic

forms occurring in the fresh-water streams and ponds in and

about Orono, Me. Among the animals observed was one which

occurs here in considerable abundance, which I suppose to be

Chetonotus larus Ehr.

The descriptions and figures of this animal given by Ehren-

berg, Dujardin and in the third edition of the Micrographic Dic-

tionary, are superficial and unsatisfactory. To gain a more com-

Plete insight into the structure of this organism, I spent some

time in the study of its anatomy and habits. ee

Chetonotus larus Ehr., is very common in the fine debris over

the bottom of ponds, streams and springs, as well as in decom

Posing vegetable matters in watering troughs, and in cisterns

which have no filters. I have found it at all seasons of the year,

even in midwinter in springs which were frozen over.

Tkig animals are aoui 3, of an inch long, one

i nd armed on

Ove, somewhat enlarged posteriorly, and a ari pat

d without spines,

1218 Notes on the Chetonotus larus.

of long fine hairs starting out near the eyes, but a little below

them. These appear to be tactile organs, as they keep them in

constant motion, apparently feeling around as they move about

slowly among the débris. The posterior end of the animal is

bifid, ending in two tapering caudal appendages which are quite

flexible, each being composed of two segments, and with tone

slightly expanded into a disk. |

In the basal portion of each caudal appendage is a gani it

= <=

Sars ee

Crete gr ete ee

ee ee oe

Chetonotus larus Ehr., magnified 750 diameters. 1,

seen upon the side without the side spines

when swimming they stick the caudal appendages We

nient object and hold themselves in place, or swing te

one side or the other as they may desire.

The mouth opens on the underside, close to the ci |

of the body, through a more or less hardened ring, and t

phagus passes up vertically about one third of the as wp

the mouth to the top of the head, where it turns sharply

back at an angle of about 45° for about the same i

turns again and runs horizontally towards the gate

about one-third the length of the animal, when it expan”

cesophageal bulb. This opens into a straight j

runs through to the anus between the caudal a

1883.] Notes on the Chetonotus larus. 1219

cesophagus is surrounded by a thick, dense, muscular tissue of

circular fibers, and the intestine is surrounded by a layer of large

nucleated cells, outside of which is another layer of much smaller

ones which are more difficult to make out.

Directly above the cesophagus is a globular body or cavity, but

I cannot conjecture what its functions are.

In the median line, above the intestine, is situated the ovary, in

which is developed but one egg at a time. This egg is very large

as compared with the size of the animal itself. The nucleus is

plainly visible even before the discharge of the egg from the

ovary. The oviduct is easily traced to the outlet immediately

above the anus.

I have often seen this animal discharge its egg, which, although

it is of such a large size, does not seem to cause it any inconve-

nience whatever. When one is moving about slowly and feeding

quietly, all at once it stops, and bending over slightly, with an

apparent muscular contraction, the egg is discharged, the time

occupied being not much more than one second, after which the

Chztonotus instantly returns to feeding as though nothing of

importance had occurred. I have watched the development of

the eggs at one time and another, though not continuously, and

the young when nearly ready to hatch are of the same form and

structure as the adult, but doubled up within the shell. I have

also seen all sizés from the egg up to the adult, and although for

want of assistance I have never been able to trace the entire de-

velopment of one individual through, yet I have no doubt that

these animals are never parasitic, and that they do not pass

through any alternation of generations. 2

It is exceedingly curious and interesting to see with what

facility they use the caudal appendages, sticking them to the glass

Slide or cover in such a manner that, by careful focusing, one can

see the sucker-like action of the tips of these organs while they

“way about one way and the other in the water. At the same

time the bands of cilia on the under side are in constant motion,

Ag a current of water to pass along by the mouth, carrying

cir food in Suspension, which they readily secure. Suddenly

they let go from the slide, and the action of the cilia causes them

-to move through the water with great rapidity, till they reach

some new feeding ground, where they again anchor themselves

and fish for another meal.

1220 On the Aborigines of Cooper's Creek, Australia. | December,

If a rotifer or any other moving form happens to touch even

the very extremities of the tactile hairs on their heads, they in-

stantly retreat and shoot off in some other direction.

To enable me to make out the digestive tract more clearly, I

fed some on indigo and others on carmine, but it was not a suc

cess. They did not take to that sort of food kindly. Isawonly —

one Chetonotus take in a particle of the indigo, which readily

and quickly passed along the cesophagus to the bulb, when itat —

once appeared to become conscious of having eaten some nause- |

ating substance. It at once let go its hold with the caudal ap-

pendages, the action of the cilia ceased, and the Chatonotus —

gradually doubled up a little, and then with a spasmodic effort it

attempted to throw up the particle of indigo. A reverse pett

staltic action of the muscles of the œsophagus took place, which ,

was plainly visible, sending the particle up about two thirds the

distance to the mouth, when the action ceased, and it gradually

went back again into the bulb. This was repeated several times,

after which all action ceased, and the animal died without a fur-

ther struggle. w

For the purpose of making a more careful study with higher —

powers than I could use while they were moving about oo

actively, I put a little cyanide of potash under the edge of the :

cover, and this quickly dissolving and diffusing through the water :

on the slide, very soon killed them without inducing any chang®

to interfere with a critical examination of their structure.

These studies were made before I saw a paper by i

Zeitschrift fiir wiss. Zoologie, 1876, which covers the gro nee

fully that I then laid my drawings and notes aside, not intent! $

to publish them. Ludwig states that these animals ae

maphrodites, the testes being situated below the anus. pees. a

not state whether mutual or self-impregnation takes place, a

the former I ought to have observed it, as I studied so many i

them and for so long a time. a

Si E NEEE S EN E ee E A rT ae fe A

:0:— i

NOTES ON THE ABORIGINES OF COOPER'S Chti

AUSTRALIA. |

BY EDWARD B. SANGER. wd Z

HE tribes and dialects of Australian aborigines vary ve ae |

account of them. Systematic study, however, would pr"

1883.) On the Aborigines of Cooper's Creek, Australia. 1221

do much to reduce this apparent chaos to intelligible order. But

they are dying out so fast that this will soon be impossible.

Wherever the white man treads they disappear. They seem to

have no power of adaptation whatever. Then again the customs

practiced among many of them are not calculated to increase

their number. Much has been told about them, but the natural

history of the race is still an unwritten book.

The tribes inhabiting the Cooper’s Creek region more or less

resemble each other in their manners and customs. The Die-

yerie (pronounced Dee-yerry) is one of the largest, and may be

taken as a type of the rest. Aside from their language they can be

distinguished from others in the immediate vicinity by a practice

they have of knocking out the two median incisor teeth in each jaw.

This habit is common, however, among other tribes in different

parts of Australia. - Why it is done or how the practice originated

they do not seem to know themselves. At any rate it is very

races. Their skulls are dolicocephalic, very prognathous, and

have immense supra-orbita] ridges. The mastoid process is al-

Ways large and rough. The malar bones are also very prominent.

The teeth are large and strong, but are always worn down to flat

Surfaces on account of the sand, &c., which they eat mixed with

their food. Their heads appear to be large, owing to the wavy

and bushy hair, eyebrows, ‘beard and mustache, but in reality

are not so. The cranial capacity is very small, generally not over

1350 cubic centimeters, Mentally, as might be expected, they

are of the very lowest caliber. They are unable to express or

understand any ideas except the most simple. Indeed, their lan-

guage is not capable of so doing. It has often been stated that

€y have a belief in a good and an evil spirit, a future life, &c.

I lived in constant intercourse with the Dieyerie tribe for a year,

and can absolutely affirm that unless taught so by the whites

with whom they came in contact, they have no such beliefs, and,

Moreover, are totally incapable of forming any such ideas; nor

Murray river and elsewhere on the continent are of a superior

- Stade, and very likely have such ideas, but these certainly do not.

7 are exceedingly timid in many respects, especially of the

1222 On the Aborigines of Cooper's Creek, Australia. [Decne | |

dark, and never venture away from their fire ona dark ne

without a firebrand.

They make fire by the friction of two sticks of wood. iie

often seen them do it, and moreover have done it myself. Two

sticks are taken, one of hard dry wood and tapered to a point,

the other is any piece of wood that has a soft spongy or fibrous

pith. A hole is cut in the side of the latter large enough to ad-

mit the point of the first. A narrow channel is also cut from the

hole to the side of the stick to let the powdered pith produced

by friction out. The soft stick is placed on the ground, held

firmly by the feet, and the point of the hard stick placed in the

hole prepared, and revolved rapidly by being rubbed through the

hands by a peculiar up and down motion, without ceasing until

the powdered pith begins to smolder, which it soon does, and

then the solid pith commences to smoke and finally smolders.

Then it is taken and whirled around in the air till there is a live

coal on the end. The whole process is ey simple, and ais

can do it.

Their mode of living is rude to a degree. They build rue

structures called “ wurleys,” in which they sleep. A wurley 8

formed by driving a few sticks in the ground inclined so that the

ends meet above ground, and then heaping branches and ie

over them until covered. A small entrance hole is left on ome

side. The wurleys are usually about three or four feet high it

side. A fire is built in front and a break-wind or mim 1

branches erected around it, and the habitation is complete.

can be done in less than an hour. These structures are aa

built on some elevation near water. The natives live 5

on snakes, lizards, mussels (Anodon), birds and seeds. Te a

ter are ground between two stones by hand, by the wee

meal called “ nardoo,” and then baked in the ashes. The ts

generally contains about twenty-five per cent 0 p

which wears away their teeth. They are often short of ie d d

consequently many of the tribes are cannibals. The wo

all the work, hunt, fish, &c. The men do nothing : r ha

help it. A narcotic plant, called Pitcherrie, is chewe di

A quid is passed from one to another until they are en ee

when it is plastered behind their ears to be kept till next 3

They are usually in a state of nudity, but, sometimes on

a dress which consists of a string many feet in length

1883.] On the Aborigines of Cooper's Creek, Australia. 1223

twisted human hair, and which is wound ina coil around the

waist and a few loops allowed to hang down in front. This, a

bone through the nose, and mayhap a necklace of grass stems

j J I

Pest spe og a’’, handle; 4, keg do, ; 4’’, handle ; c, boomerang

É shiel ipa ia ; e, handle; g, wooden dish ; art of bo oomerang to show carving ;

oute

r side; J’, inside; PA ope t g, pointed end of spea

ia When a boomerang is to be thrown it is grasped at a” with the concavity

ae ards and the flat side down (see section). It is thrown with an underhanded

tion,

i i itable wood in the vicinity to make them of. The spear figured is

and defense, and they are very expert in its use. Tribes that use throwing

only a f Rot, as a rule, very skillful with the boomerang. At any rate there are

€w in each of such tribes who are really very expert with it.

form their full-dre

implements, weap

Wana

wanyi. The polished and pointed radius of an emeu, used for piercing à hole

through the nose.

ss attire. The following is a list of all their

ons, ornaments, &c. :

1224 On the Aborigines of Cooper's Creek, Australia, [December,

Padlamookoo, The radius of the pelican (P. conspicillatus), worn in the nose,

ulta Kulta. Necklace of grass stems

Pillie. Fishing net made from the fibers of rushes,

Wanoo. Net for the hair.

Oolpooroo. ‘Twine made from human hair and worn as a girdle.

Anpah, Twine made from the fur of animals, worn suspended from the girdle in

front.

Kirrah. Boomerang.

Kirrahpinnah., Large boomerang used for striking.

Kaltie.

ear.

Narratietah. Wooden shield.

Pirrah. Wooden dishes for water.

Tatchie. A sharp flint used for cutting flesh.

They have a few customs the object of which it is difficult to —

surmise. When one of them dies, the hands and feet are cut of

and sent to the relations, who eat them. Af

Another custom still more curious has been known to be pae

ticed among them for some time. When the males have attained

an age of ten or twelve years, an operation is performed on their _

genital organs. The-urethras are split up with a sharp flint called

“tatchie” from the posterior part of the meatus at the point of 4

the glans, along the median line on the under surface of the age

as far as the scrotum. This process has been called circumcisio? 4

by the whites, but it is nothing of the sort. Among the na p

it is, along with other formalities, called “ making them ra

men.” They are then allowed to have connection with the :

males. Itis probable that it is a check on reproduction. i l

is not a sufficient supply of food for a large number, so he i

caution is taken. Itis worthy of note that in most places w !

game is abundant no such operation is known. o

They are generally monogamists, but they have no —

when tired of one woman in procuring another, and if the de 3

objects she is conveniently speared. They seem to be wis i

void of affection, and certainly have not the slightest ppt 1

gratitude or pity. If one is hurt the others laugh. gor |

had used to annoy me by continually begging for my eee

rile. One day I gave him an old-fashioned Colts loade alt |

powder only. He immediately went up to where the yg io

camped and, much to their consternation, began shooting abe. |

criminately at them, He returned to me highly bce a

cause none were shot, and when I asked why he wished ae

them, replied that he wanted to see them “ jump about

1883.] Zoölogical Gardens, a Critical Essay. 1225

They are very expert in tracking, and know their own country

very well, but I have often completely bewildered one when ina

place he had not been before. They have but little sense of

direction. They know the localities of a region and thus find

their way about. In a strange country they are comparatively

helpless, They have a good sense of humor, and are very sen-

sitive to ridicule. Dances are common among them, and gener-

ally celebrate some recent occurrence.

There are no chiefs, but they seem to be governed by the

oldest men, who form a kind of council. Organized wars be-

tween the tribes rarely occur, but if an aborigine strays away

from his own country and is found by another tribe, he is imme-

diately slain by them.

he members of a tribe have no fixed habitation in their own

region, but roam from place to place, wherever food happens to

be the most plentiful. In fact, in habit, structure and mental ca-

pacity, they seem to be the lowest forms of men.

“10:

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, A CRITICAL ESSAY.

BY THEODORE LINK.

FRERE is a great deal more in and about zoölogical gardens,

I believe, than most people are apt to imagine; indeed, a

lamentable ignorance or indifference concerning the true philoso-

phy of the subject seems to prevail, generally and individually.

: Hence zoological gardens are probably the most conservative

institutions to be met with. One may visit them, year after year,

and while everything around them abounds with the healthful

changes of our progressive age, they offer but few evidences of a

Proper spirit towards scientific advancement. It is certainly

strange that some of the shining lights in natural history have

ik gad an indignant cry against the obvious defects and

ally sg thrust upon our vision at every step. Only occasion-

hu n et with some traces of what might be termed semi-

ee eatian attempts at transcendental zoology ; but while these

by = in the right direction are hailed with genuine satisfaction

SSN of ‘animal life, it is a pity that they should be

little spa Specimens of comparatively small importance and but

The lio et value, such as deer and other native herbivores.

Ons and tigers, etc., the acknowledged monarchs and nobil-

1226 Zoological Gardens, a Critical Essay. [Decemb $

ity of the animal kingdom, are yet allowed to languish in dun-

geons and vaults.

Indeed, the noble beasts of the desert appeal particularly to

our sympathy from their iron-grated cells, and their perpetual,

uneasy walking to and fro is intensely distressing to every com-

passionate beholder. In briefly alluding to this sad feature of

every zoölogical collection, I do not so much desire to opena

new field of operation to the societies for the prevention of cruelty

to animals, but rather to impress upon the managers of zodlogt

cal gardens, at least, that the sight of cruelty, however unintet

tional, must necessarily detract from the pleasure and comfort of

the visitors. The superficial observer may not recognize such

niceties of distinction, but to the mind trained in utilitarian pur

suits, they are important considerations in the attainment of the

highest possible state of mental and physical comfort for all cot-

cerned. : :

Before proceeding any further, let us first consider the real m

“shows.” I have before me the constitutions and by-laws of oF

different zodlogical societies in the United States, and according

to the language of these documents, this mission is o T

“the study and dissemination of a knowledge of the natu! i

habits of the animal kingdom.” This definition does not a

to me to cover the ground, for the reason that there must first 9è

the ne uniti dy ; and these Ùt

necessary opportunities before we can study; ê m

disappointed zodlogist seeks in vain. In fact, in this ; fe)

zoological garden of to-day affords but few more advantage ‘

any of those traveling “shows” that come to us every®™

By way of example, I have passed days and weeks by oe

lion’s cage in European and American gardens, intent al

and observation; but with the exception of having, by a

sketches, impressed upon my mind the anatomical > pe

these interesting animals, I cannot say that in other respec a

perseverance has been rewarded to any great extent. I have’ i

ply found that an animal, as closely confined as most ¢ A

in zodlogical gardens, retains none of its natural habits o

exists—a mere automaton; and even this existence 1$ 5

under protest. Therefore, this aforesaid “ study and di

tion of a knowledge, etc.,” is “ a delusion and a snare. — |

In reviewing a few of my observations as well as some

1883.] Zoölogical Gardens, a Critical Essay. 1227

of statistical data which I have collected on the subject, I may

simply record what hundreds of others have undoubtedly ob-

served before me—they may not have deemed worth mentioning

conditions which are so obviously the inevitable consequences of

the current system of confinement; but in my opinion they fur-

nish an array of pregnant facts for the consideration of persons

financially interested in zodlogical collections, too important to

pass by unnoticed. For instance, it may not matter very much

for “ show ” purposes if most of the carnivores are partially blind,

and painfully stiff along the spinal column, since the public at

large does not easily notice these defects; but taken in evidence

as symptoms of premature physical decay, and in connection with

the fact that all closely confined animals last on an average not

even two-thirds of their natural life, these considerations gain in

importance and become powerful arguments in favor of a rational

reconstruction of the animals’ places of abode. Now suppose a

farmer discovered that his stock was getting blind, and stiff, and

dying off before their time on account of the defective construc-

tion of the stables, what would he do? He would naturally

remedy these defects by reconstructing his stables.

There is an impression among “animal men” that some ani-

mals will not breed in captivity. It would be strange, indeed, if

they did under the existing circumstances. Yet I am convinced

that it is not the sense of captivity which restrains them from

Propagating, but rather the incongruity between their artificial

habitation and their natural habits. The black bear is a striking

example. You will find him in the so-called bear pit. Why

bears should invariably be kept in fits has never been quite satis-

explained to me. The pit idea was, I believe, first intro-

a in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, but the savant, who

factorily

Mn RA it, died long ago without entrusting to posterity the

«lng thought which moved him to this achievement. Since

that ad all “ zoölogical ” bears are consigned to pits.

This brings us face to face with one of the most lamentable

tific res of zodlogical gardens, one which has retarded their scien-

eng artistic development more than anything else. I mean

servile, wholesale copying after “old masters” without any

discrimination. Yet there is scarcely a better field for

1 Provig

a that Flourens’

te ‘ Picable ik theory on the subject of longevity is approximately ap-

ene : TOR, XYI, xIr,

icated species of mammals as weli,

1228 Zoblogical Gardens, a Critical Essay. [December, |

the exercise of all the originality and versatility of a creative ,

genius than a zoological garden.

Let us now, for the sake of demonstration, examine why Mr, —

and Mrs, Bruin refuse to turn their pit into a nursery. The free

black bear has an economical way of spending the snowy season —

—he hybernates. As a captive, however, he is up and about all —

winter, because he does not recognize the paved recesses and

vaults of the conventional pit as proper places for retirement.

The loss of his good long snooze seems to unsettle him com-

pletely, and lead him into disastrous ‘irregularities in his mode of

life. For instance, instead of mating during the second fortnight

of the October term, as is his wont at liberty, I have known him

to copulate as early astheend of July. Now, since in the natural

state the periods of gestation and hybernation fall together, the

logical conclusion would be that with bears a periodical :

sion of animation is not only beneficial but quite necessary to the

development of vigorous offspring. That captivity does not pro-

duce absolute sterility in bears, is evinced by the fact that a female

in the St. Louis gardens recently miscarried about a month ater

conception. Such knowledge, added to some native ingenuity,

should enable us to construct enclosures for bears, where inal

probability, they would breed successfully. ae

The landscape features of a zodlogical garden claim the fll l

attention of the designer. The aim here must be to unite beauty

with use. On the whole, I would like to see the ruling ge

advocated in these pages for the care of the animals, extende?™

their surroundings, by imitating, as near as the climate one

the scenic characteristics of the homes of the various aon a

confined; this would be a pleasant delusion to

animal. These widely different styles of scenery: AGH

course, be blended into a harmonious and well-balanced co!

sition by a very guarded and gradual transition, thus m

delightful surprises at every step. ; a

The limits of this article do not admit of my giving s

of the results of investigation and study on this inte ‘ale

ject, or a graphic pen picture of the model zodlogic’ ~ i

such as I see it in my fancy—a very Eden of beau

mony, bursting upon us like a revelation, and fascinating “hot

itor by its innate correctness and completeness. I ben

ever, I have, in a general way, indicated the kzi

1883.] Zhe Copperhead. 1229

such a state of perfection could be reached. The foremost con-

dition will be the rational construction of enxclosures—not cages

—liberal in extent, and in strict accordance with the respective

habits and instincts of the animals to be confined. Cages cannot

well be avoided by traveling menageries ; in zoological gardens

they are inexcusable.

Of the late Mr. Darwin, it is said that “he seemed: by gentle

persuasion to penetrate that reserve of nature which baffles

smaller men.” How much to be regretted that Mr. Darwin was

not commissioned to reconstruct the great London “Zoo” in

Regent’s Park !

:0;

THE COPPERHEAD.

BY RICHARD E, KUNZE, M.D.

D: the last day of August of this year, I had the good fortune

to come within an unpleasantly close proximity of the head

of Ancistrodon contortrix without being bitten by that reptile, and

from the peculiar circumstances connected with it, I am led to

Propound these questions:

I. Does Ancistrodon contortrix ever strike at an enemy without

being coiled up in that characteristic attitude of Crotalus durissus,

previous to the latter’s giving his fatal blow and while sounding

his rattle ?

2. Does A. contortrix ever feign death ? ee

The reason why I am prompted to ask these questions Is, be-

Cause the only other specimen of the copperhead I ever met

during a period of twenty-nine years of collecting, was one I en-

countered in a coiled up and striking attitude, as I supposed, and

under circumstances which I will further on relate. Yet Iam

fully aware that the rattlesnake, when striking in order to seek

ood, does not first coil himself nor even sound his warning note

Previous to striking the fatal blow. These PORE ag

Vol. 1 of Science News in the year 1879. :

‘On the day mentioned I collected a quantity of Monarda

punctata in New Jersey, a quarter of a mile from the ie

Matawan, in Monmouth county. The field where I obtain ;

horsemint, of which I use considerable for medicine, ere

row strip of fallow land in the same enclosure with a cornhe

1230 The Copperhead. [December,

the west, an extensive swamp to the east, and bounded by the

New York and Long Branch R. R. on the north, near the june-

tion of the Freehold and New York R. R. This uncultivated lot

was overgrown with many plants of Monarda, Apocynum canna-

binum, a few Millefoliums, Asters, and much more of Cenchrus

tribuloides, the annoying hedgehog-grass. Here and there in the

sandy ground were a few Rubus canadensis and Cassia chame-

crista, which made up the vegetation of the spot, not covering

more than half an acre all told. It was gently sloping towards

the swamp, the steep bank of which, nearly twenty-five feet high,

was covered with bushes and a rank undergrowth of weeds and

briars, a fit lurking place for reptiles, and more so perhaps be-

cause on the side nearest the railroad trestle a number of springs

poured their pure water down over the shady declivity, making it

a resort for birds and other animals.

Having missed an earlier train, I did not arrive on the ground

until after 4 P. M., when the sun was fast receding in the west. I

took a hasty stroll over the field to better understand where to

commence work, and in so doing walked directly over of past

the locality where I afterward met the copperhead without having

observed anything unusual. Having had a kind of presentiment

all the morning and ever after, that I might possibly come acros

an Ancistrodon, which I did not have the slightest wish to dot

could not help examining all the ground most carefully bags

me, and so much so that it more than annoyed me during the

short time left for work.

While thus engaged cutting with my right han

which I carried in the left, and while slowly movin i

tion of the cornfield, with my back to the swamp and the pa

the sun lighting up the ground before me, I instinctively so

back a step on the discovery of a triangular-looking object a

me close to the ground, the other end of which was é E

den by intervening plants. Taking a hasty second look, x

ticed that it was the head of a serpent with the body strete ae

an opposite direction, and to all appearance dead i motion

eyesight, I could not, from where I stood, fully observe ee

dition of the reptile’s eyes, so as to assure me vn S

dead or alive. Taking another step or two south of where £

viously stood, I was enabled to take a lateral view of the op"

d the Monat,

g in the dee

1883.] The Copperhead. 1231

and at a glance discovered an unmistakable light issuing forth

from the latter's eyes, which warned me to be on my guard.

While I must have impeded the serpent’s progress, gliding as

he did toward the embankment of the swamp, and not ten feet

from the edge of it when first noticed, the snake must have been

as much surprised at my intrusion upon his siesta ground, as I

was. It seems as if he had suddenly discovered my presence and

was fully aware of my peaceful intentions, when I found myself

face to face with him at a distance of only fifteen to eighteen

inches from between his wicked-looking eyes and my hand. He

must have come to a sudden halt with the form of his body still

indicating the previous gliding motion. The head and neck was

pressed closely to the ground, and the former unusually flat.

After stepping to one side I took him to be a yellow rattler, so

very deceptive were his colors, but a glance at his tail revealed

the absence of the horny appendage. He appeared not to be

More than two feet in length, and was as thick in the middle third

of his body as a rattlesnake of twice that length, in fact, fully as

broad as my wrist. The appearance of the entire body was that of

complete relaxation, and presented an unusually broad surface of

y, the same as that I have often witnessed in rattlesnakes I

formerly had while asleep. Even the dorsal line was raised much

above the sides, which gave the back a triangular shape, much

the same as in Crotalus.

| It Was out of the question that it could be Heterodon platy-

rhinos, because the blowing viper has a thicker neck and tail, and

's differently marked and colored, whereas this serpent had a very

ected neck close to the head, and a more slender caudal ex-

+; >? nor would it hiss or blow, which is so characteristic of

Heterodon,

ap thought that it might be Pituophis melanoleucus, when it

rreg to me that a pine snake of such a thickness should be at

oe eos as long if not ‘more so, and then the very flat, triangu-

: R eal such a possibility as that, not to speak of the

male the specific name would indicate.

* ka. poii not a species of Tropidonotus either, although at a

kai a of the duskier specimens might be taken for a cop-

ot ~_ Sut we never find water snakes very far from their ele-

Many years ago, when collectin Chelonians f

1 > g many Chelonians for my

~ tS in Germany, I frequently started up unusualiy fine speci-

ofa ie ae

1232 The Copperhead. [December | j 7

mens of Tropidonotus beside their element. But oe

knows, their movements are far from sluggish.

Under exciting circumstances one cannot take in the ile

situation at once. The ground work of the flanks of my ophidian

was of a beautiful clear yellow, intermediate between a lemon and

orange shade, much brighter than a cream-yellow, and which pre-

vented me from determining him at first as an Ancistrodon contor-

trix. The specimens I had seen, dead or alive, were all more or

less of a dusky color or dirty gray, where this one was of a yel-

low hue. The bright, chestnut-colored, inverted Y-shaped

blotches on the sides seemed to be confluent on the dorsal line

with those from the other side, giving the back an appearance of

continuous bands. It was these bands which at the first glance

made me think that I had a yellow Crotalus before me, although

I very much doubt whether Monmouth county at present cat

produce sucha variety. Perhaps Professor S. Lockwood can in

form us whether such ophidians still inhabit that part of New

Jersey. :

It presented anything but the “ graceful lines” in which Ho |

garth describes the much-abused ophidian. The only ‘4

portion of this specimen consisted in a few inches of a slen prani

cylindrical caudal extremity. That portion of the body: from the

region of the anus to within a few inches of the constricted pat

of the neck, was disproportionally thick. The large flat, ti

lar head with its sunken features, so suggestive of the hip ir

face of a moribund individual, was anything but assuring;

its wicked-looking eye was suggestive of “ touch me

dare.”

However, in point of color he was a rare beauty; the

and clean-looking scales reflected the sunlight in a degree =

only to a varnished leather belt. The blotches on the dorsum

sides in shade of color resembled that of a horse-chestat

and well defined were the colors and markings.

thereafter I found an ophidian “ overall,” and not a

where I encountered him. I think that the fashionab i ;

tight trousers” belonged to my Ancistrodon. I threw ait

over an Indian hemp plant, calculating to take it ole vi

for future identification, when on looking for it a! after If

it was gone. A light breeze might have lifted and car

'1883.] The Copperhead. 1233

I now came to the conclusion to capture that serpent either

dead or alive. In looking around I could not see a stone as large

as a hickory-nut, nor a stick nearer than forty or fifty feet distant.

I cut one from an aspen sapling leaving it notched at the end.

The spot where I left the ophidian, apparently as motionless as

ever, was marked by a lot of cut horsemint, and when I returned

the reptile had given me the slip, and without any doubt resumed

his interrupted journey toward the swamp.

I spent some time in looking for him on the field, and even

started up another colubrine specimen resembling Ophibolus cleri-

cus B. & G. (syn. Coluber eximius Holbr.), over three feet long,

which hastily glided down the bank of the all-protecting swamp.

The latter would prove an El Dorado to the herpetologist.

it being near even-tide I cautiously resumed my work beside

that swamp, but could not help thinking of Mr. Whittier’s lines

addressed to the Amphisbzna, that

“ Far away in the twilight time

Of every people in every clime,

Dragons and griffins and monsters dire,

Born of water and air and fire,

Or nursed like the Python in the mud

And ooze of the old Deucalion flood,

Crawl and wriggle and foam with rage,

Through dusk, tradition and ballad age.

* = * * * *

* * * * sud

During the remainder of the day and evening I could think of

nothing else but that Ancistrodon. How close it permitted me

to approach him without showing any signs to resent my famili-

arity, although the latter was unintentional on my part!

It is barely possible that I lacked just a few inches too far off

for his aim, and thereby providentially escaped being str uck by

his deadly fangs. The effect of this episode on my mind is bet-

ter understood by the following dream, which disturbed my rest

that night :

I imagined myself beside a large meadow in a ducal park,

where my father had been horticulturist-in-chief, and where in

early youth we children used to play. All at once two gust weil

Pents raised their heads above the grass ar i bodies

reaching across the entire field, commenced to thrash the green

Sward. Finally the giant ophidians grew larger and still pa

until they appeared to vie in size with the sea-serpents of the

1234 The Copperhead.

New York Sun. This was too much ofa strain on the

condition of the dreamer, and making, as I suppose, |

effort at escape, I awoke to find myself in bed and ina

rested condition of either body or mind. And it was ne

wondered at either, after knowing |

“ Of that sea-snake, tremendous curled,

Whose monstrous circle girds the world.”

Nearly fifteen years ago, on or about the middle of

county, N. Y., for the purpose of enjoying a day’s shooting.

the edge of the swamp we flushed a covey of quail, which:

tered in the open on the hillside beyond. My setter s

up the scent again and presently came to a “ dead point’

of a little cedar tree. As soon as we came up, I ordered

to “ go on” and flush the game, which he refused to do, nor

he obey any future commands to the same effect. Te

companion to advance on one side of the dog, I passed

the other side of the cedar, where to my horror I disc

copperhead all coiled up, with his head elevated, and ri

give my dog a warm reception. I shouted “ heel up 5 tot

but.he refused to stir, and finally walked back and seiz

by the collar dragged him out of the way of harm. 3

then stepped up and killed the serpent with a charge of $

measured nearly twenty-four inches, and was of i.

color throughout. The specimen was badly mutilated,

removing its poison fangs, I left it on the field. My

blind in one eye, and it made me all the more app

his safety. ra

of the Hudson, between Spuyten Duyvil and Riv

chester county, a fine specimen of a copperhead, whi

killed close to the door of his residence, built on tert

and adjoining the property of the late Judge Whiting. Be

He and another friend having but just returned from a S%

trip on the hill, were seated under a grape arbor W

one of the terraces running parallel with the rear ¢

mansion. Their fowling-pieces stood within easy 1°

the open door. Of a sudden a rustling sound was-

leaves just back of their seat, and a moment laere

toad hopped down the embankment, when to th

, s

1883. ] The Copperhead. - 1235

was followed by an Axcistrodon contortrix, which, on reaching the

terrace, was almost ready to pounce upon his intended victim.

It was but the work of a moment for one of the astounded ob-

servers to draw the ramrod from a gun, with which he killed the

serpent, giving the batrachian a chance to escape.

It was a remarkably fine specimen of a serpent, measuring, I

believe, thirty-two or thirty-three inches in length, and but little

lacerated by the blow from the ramrod. I afterward presented it

to the Museum of Natural History of this city (New York). The

markings of this reptile were well defined, and the blotches of a

good chestnut color throughout. The ground color was rather

of a light grayish-brown, aad far from yellow.

Several other specimens of living A. contortrix, which I have

seen on exhibition in different places of this city, were all free

from that yellow color which distinguished the ophidian I met so

unpleasantly close at Matawan, N. J.

It is stated in “ Ophidians,” by Dr. S. B. Higgins, that the cop-

perhead invariably bites low, in contradistinction to the Crotalus,

inflicting a wound in the region of the ankle joint both in man and

animals. If this be so, then the act of coiling previous to striking

at a foe could be dispensed with. In Higgins’ work, which princi-

pally treats of the poisons and their galls as antidotes against the

bites of all venomous ophidians, the copperhead is designated as

Ancistrodon contortrix B. &. G.

As I find so little published in scientific literature about the

habits of the copperhead, I must have recourse to some accounts

clipped from newspapers. They illustrate one point in question, and

which relates to the part wounded when human beings have been

the victims. Another fact learned from the same source refers to

the number of young of the copperhead, which compares quite

favorably with statements regarding other serpents made in the

volumes of the AMERICAN NATURALIST, by various informants.

From the New York Sun (Aug. 2g, 1880).—In Reading, Pa., a

Copperhead snake, thirty-seven inches long, was found to contain

cighty-eight young snakes, all alive, and four to six inches in

length, when it was killed by James F. Hinkle.

From the New York Sun (Oct. 24, 1880).—Lewis C. wile af

Washingtonborough, Pa., killed a large copperhead snake which,

When Opened, was found to contain sixty young ones.

From the Oil City Derrick—New York Sun (July 13, 1879)—

fe ednesday evening a little boy named Mishler, whose parents

1236 The Copperhead.

reside in the lower end of the Third ward, in what is kn

once. He told that a snake had bitten him, and then

over his head. The lad showed a small red spot on hisa

where he said the bite was. The mother thought it was onlya

bee sting, and paid no attention to it until the wound began to

swell. Then the doctor was sent for, who pronounced it a snake

jut

and was quickly despatched with an axe. The boy was do

quite well last night, and there are hopes of his recovery.

From the New York Sun (Aug. 29, 1880).— While picking

blackberries on the Mine Hill mountains, Mary O’Brien, of Black

From the Philadelphia Times (Reading, Aug. 21, 1879)—At

the camp meeting of the Evangelical Association near Sinking

Springs, this county, Mrs. Mary Deitzel, aged sixty-five, 2 5

of the presiding elder, Rev. J. M. Saylor, was so badly bitten d

a copperhead snake this morning, that she was brought to ;

ing in an unconscious condition. * . eo a +

Deitzel desired to prepare an early breakfast. She reach ae

under the stove to get some kindling wood that had map

there to dry. When her left hand had been withdrawn I i.

der the stove, Mrs. Deitzel felt a slight pain. She saw a Mibe

blood on the knuckle of the first finger of the left rare

thought that probably a splinter had pricked her, or nd sei ae

mosquito or a spider had stung her. As her hand ana A search

menced swelling and getting stiff, she became alarmed. 4%

From the New York Sun (Oct. 24, 1880)—A copperheads

bit Mrs. Henry Overart, of Concord, N. C., on the pyr:

her left hand, and she died before medical aid reached ht i a

I have been informed by another physician, that Bari

a surveyor employed by the West Shore Railroad, w ee

near Highland, Ulster county, N. Y., was bitten in thera

1883. ] The Copperhead, 1237

copperhead. It was with the utmost care and exertion that his

life was saved.

Other instances of “ copperhead bites” I could cite from the

“snake columns” of the New York Sun, where death even re-

sulted in consequence of the injury received. But the locality

of the bite not being mentioned, it would not serve the purpose

of showing where such injuries are generally inflicted.

It has been said by Mr. J. A. Graves, a veteran showman, who

may be found at Bunnell’s Museum, of this city, that a snake

stretched out in a nearly straight line could not bite. As, for in-

stance, in such a position as this:

And if a copperhead should place himself in this shape,

alla man would have to do, would be to throw him out of posi-

tion with his cane, and then he could not bite him.

The copperhead I found at Matawan, N. J., did not place him-

self in such an aggressive attitude, if it may be so called. The

head and tail were in one line, as it were, with the intermediate

Parts lying in easy curves, just as we observe it in the gliding

Movements of such a serpent. oie

Since the foregoing was written I met a brother physician, who

was born and raised in Dutchess county, N. Y., and he told me

that in his boyhood he frequently found and teased the copper-

head or pilot, so-called, only a few miles south of Poughkeep-

sie, and what is now known as Milton Ferry, on the Hudson

River Railroad. A little above that place, and what was known

as Spachen Kill, a creek connecting with Gill’s millpond, was a

swampy neighborhood infested with copperheads. They we E

Plentiful that many of the laborers employed in building the

Hudson River R, R. at that place were bitten by those reptiles,

1238 Experiments with the Antenne of Insects.

and a number of the men died. A house standing in th

was so much troubled with those and other snakes, wh

refuge in the cellar, that it was burned down and allowed

main in ruins, no one caring to live there. Dr. C. H. Yelvi

told me that the copperhead zever bites when coiled up.

will throw the middle of his body into long, almost rec

curves, as the above drawing indicates, and with his

an inch or so of the neck slightly elevated above the gi

ready to defend himself. |

EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ANTENN& OF IN

BY C. J. A. PORTER.

f accordance with the suggestion of Dr. A. S. Pac

an article published by him in the NATURALIST, \

velot (Amer. NaTurAtist, Vol. x1, page 193), I made,

season of 1878, some pretty extensive experiments on

of insects with the view of finding out, if possible, wh

function, or functions if there may be several, of this part

sect economy. I experimented with a great many

and these of many different species of insects, and g

account of a few of these experiments, together with th

_ sions I have ventured to draw from the whole. Not that

say the experiments are in any way exhaustive, or that

clusions drawn are altogether correct, but I present |

may do something to excite others, who may be more!

to turn their attention and spare moments to this $

freely than it has been heretofore. I have selected from

such experiments as seem best to represent the whole,

be noticed by those who have read the above-mentt

that in some respects our results differ, while in mo»

they agree. The differences, however, may be due to

of experiment. A

1. I found a large humble bee on a clover stalk afew

my room; I caught it by throwing my handkerchief

then carrying it home, I placed it in a glass fruit-can

let it recover if in any way it might have been |

capture or carrying, When it seemed to have been

1883.] Experiments with the Antenne of Insects. 1239

time, I put it out on the table and let it run around and fly about

till I was satisfied it was all right. I then cut off one of the an-

tenne, cutting away about two-thirds of it. I noticed that it

immediately let the stump drop, but otherwise it did not seem to

care at first. But I soon found that it began to feel dizzy and to

fly very unsteadily, and when taken into the middle of the room

and let fly toward the window would not always strike it, but

would hit the wall often several feet to one side or the other. I

then cut off the other antenna in the same way. It soon began

to grow weaker and weaker very rapidly and to fly very labori-

ously, but was still able for some moments after to reach the

light of the window, though in a very random manner. On

reaching the window for the last time, it buzzed up and down the

pane a few times but soon ceased and began to walk back and

forth on the sill in a very restless manner, stopping every few

inches to rub the stumps of its antenne with its fore feet and

seeming to be in great pain. Soon it became too weak to walk

except with apparently great exertion. Finally it crept into a

small hole between the sill and the plastering of the wall. On

being driven out again it crept under a small stone lying on the

sill, and seemed to be trying to get away from the pain, remind-

ing me of the motions of an ox which has been struck a hard

blow on the horn. When taken from the window again it did

Not try to find its way back or even to fly, but crawled feebly

over the floor, growing weaker all the time, and if thrown into

the air would buzz and fall at once like so much wood. But all

this time I noticed its power of direction, as far as I could see,

Was not at all impaired, as far at least as walking was concerned,

and that its sight was as good as ever; for whenever I put my

hand, or any moving body, near it, say three feet, it would imme-

-diately roll over on one side, tuck the head under the body as if

to protect the mutilated antennz, and at the same time throw up

its legs as if to ward off my hand. At length it crawled up the

table leg and sat down on the first bead of the leg, some six

inches from the floor, and tucking the head under as far as pos-

Sible, seemed to give up in despair. In about ten minutes I got

Some sugar for it, but it was so far gone already that when I put

the sugar to its mouth I came very near knocking it off the table

leg with the straw on which I had the sugar. It took no notice

of it €xcept to push it away and wipe off with its feet what I put

1240 Experiments with the Antenne of Insects. (December,

on the stumps of the antennz, and then draw its head unde

again. It soon crawled further up the table leg to the secon

bead, where it sat till the next morning. As soon as I came ner

it the next morning it threw up its feet again to ward me off evet

before I touched it. It sat in the same position for fourteen hous

in all, and at the end of that time I saw it on the floor, but do

not know how it got down—whether it fell or came down of it

self. It sat in one place on the floor for some time, but at eng

began to crawl, or rather to drag itself across the room, carrying

the antennz up high as if sore. When it came to the sun on tit

floor through the window, it stopped, turned its head toward the

sun and sat down again as before, and in this position T'foundit

three-fourths of an hour after apparently dead. But it was i

dead. I picked it up and pulled out one of the antenne toe

amine it with a microscope. As I drew it, it came out by the

roots as it were, leaving a considerable hole in the side of i |

head, I left the body on the table where it lay perhaps an hott,

and I had almost forgotten it when I was surprised by my T

asking me, “ When are you going to kill that poor bee and putt

out of its misery?” On going back I found it had come to lÉ

again and was crawling over the floor as if in great nie

ing now and then to rub its mutilated head with its fore Be

thought it was time to kill it, and did so. I think it had fa

on account of the pain. l

2. I found on my window, where it had been for ae

it, one

a smaller humble-bee; I think, as I did not preserve t call

the kind which nest in the cornice of buildings, &c. k w

not notice anything, bad or good, which I put on its al” it ft

but when I cut off one, it seemed to hurt it much and we i

very much at random from place to place. When Fa tt

other it lost all ambition and strength, and did not try t° r

me, though I must say I gave it only a moderate came

handled its abdomen rather carefully. It was soon

too wr

tumble over on its side or back and not move till ¢ . hal

laid it on its back and walked on an errand a mile and a ha”

home; when I returned I found it had not mo :

killed it, : ec

But it might be well to say here that all humble-bees

so affected ; some hardly seem to know they have anf

1883. ] Experiments with the Antenne of Insects. 1241

not even by the loss of them; others again get very sick, and

then after awhile recover.

3. On the same day I caught a long fly-like insect on my win-

dow. Its antennz seemed very tender, even to the slightest touch

of a straw. When one was cut off it did not seem to hurt it

‘much. But when I put some pepper-sauce on the other it

contracted it very much and ran around as if it were crazy.

Once or twice it tried to clean it off with the mouth, but seem-

ing to get a taste of the sauce, it did not use its mouth so again,

but took its feet to it, and at the same time tried every few

steps to clean both mouth and antenne by rubbing them on

the window sill. The stump was not so much affected by the

sauce, though it noticed it also. I might remark here that many

grasshoppers act in much the same way under similar treatment.

4. I caught five common crickets with the intention, at first, of

trying to find out whether the power of direction resides in the

antenna. Of one I cut off the right antenna, of one the left and

of two both, leaving the other two whole. I then turned all five

out on the floor. The deantennized ones did not notice it at first,

but after a while they drew the remaining stumps several times

through the mouth and then let them alone. I could find no dif-

ference of movement among them, but all seemed as lively as

crickets generally are. Failing to find anything like a sense of

direction, I caught them again to try if I could find in the anten-

ne anything like a sense of hearing. Among the other noises I

made, I got a large jews-harp and played on it with all my might.

But they took no notice of it, at least as far as the antennz were

concerned, but sat in contemptuous silence, though I executed

for them, to the best of my ability, many martial airs of the land

with now and then a love song or a waltz. And let me say just

here that another cricket whose antennæ I had cut away, and

which I placed in the kitchen, “sang” all summer long. And

also that of all the experiments I have made, I have not been

able to find anything like a sense of hearing. Antennz all seem

to be deaf, Next, with these same crickets, I experimented to

find a sense of taste in the antennæ. Instead of using things

which might taste well to them, I used some table mustard and

Me pepper-sauce, Putting some of the mustard on the end of

* straw I found that when I touched it on the antenne they

Would remove them immediately. The stumps were not quite so

1242 Experiments with the Antenne of Insects, [

sensitive as whole antenne, as they did not clean it off

off the antenne. The pepper-sauce was, if anything, n

tasteful than the mustard (if it might be called a

results.

5. On June 11th I caught one of the large black atid

spotted beetles common in wheat fields. I gave him, wat

but he cared not a bit. Nor did he care any more when!

them off, and though I kept him a day after, he was as full

at the end of that time as before. This may be taken a

representative of most beetles. They are a very don't

least as to their antennz. .

6. Contrast with the last, however, the following:

oth I caught one of those Coleoptera which so many peop

take for butterflies on account of the way they fly.

a triangular insect with yellow and black bands ac

wings, It seemed to have nearly all its life concen

its antennz, so that whenever I even pinched one of

little, it seemed to paralyze the insect. When I cut th

walked a few inches and then fell, as I thought, dea

ticed that from the wounds of the head there came

which had a very high power of reflecting light. I

der the microscope, and was much surprised to find

when it first came out it reflected so much light as

to the eye, it soon changed color and ceased to reflect.

to examine it more, I ran several pin holes through we

then concentrated enough light on it to scorch the

my greater surprise it began to crawl away from the

been in a state of insensibility for at least fifteen mi

vived rig, slowly, but was able to drag _

mon most of the summer. Having spli

broom-straw, I placed in the cleft a piece of gum

taking the wings of the butterfly between the eee

of one hand, I presented to its antenne the se in

and then the other. It did not notice either end of th

long as I moved it about close to the antenn2 ;

1883.] Experiments with the Antenne of Insects. 1243

put the camphor end near to its head and mouth-parts, it would

begin to struggle with all its might as if to get away from the

fumes of the camphor; thus showing not only that it disliked

the smeil of camphor, but also that it did not smell with its

antenne. After experiments have shown the same thing of

other insects.

I will add here that this butterfly (as also many other species)

was little or not at all affected by deantennization, but flew about

the windows for many hours afterward, and when finally turned

out of the door, flew away as happy as ever.

8. This case represents many others which seem to me to

point to a sense residing in the antennz, and which out of respect

to old custom and belief I call feeling, for want of a better name.

I found a young grasshopper-like insect sitting on the edge of a

bucket of water. I found that on putting my finger to one side

or the other of its head, it would throw the antenne, which was

two or three times the length of the body, on that side, towards

my finger, and if it could reach it would touch it, though very

slightly, as if to feel for it. If I moved my finger to the other

side, it used the other antennz in the same way, or if I put my»

nger where it could use both at the same time, as in front,

or above, or behind it, it did so. I do not wish, however,

to be understood to say that the sense of touch lies in the an-

tenne, :

9. Add, lastly, to these the following: Toward the latter end

of summer an old gentleman sent me for experiment a large

Specimen of the common crab. I placed it in a bucket of clear

water and then found that whenever I put anything anywhere

Near it, it would throw out its antennz, on one side or the other,

and touch it slightly, much as the one last given. When left to

itself it would invariably sit with the antenne in a horizontal

Position and at right angles with the line of the body. But when

I cut off one it instantly pointed the stump forwards and upwards

While it held the other in the same position as before. Otherwise

It was not affected by the mutilation, but used the stumps as be-

fore, But when I smeared both well with pepper-sauce it would

not even feel with them till the water had cleaned them off. It

ved many days after deantennization, and seemed to thrive as

Well as ever.

Conclusions.—From all the experiments I have made, of which

VOL, XVII.—No, XIL 82

1244 Experiments with the Antenne of Insects,

the above may be taken as representative, I have been led to

make the following conclusions : : oe

ist. The antennz are not the organ of any one or of any com-

bination of what we call the five senses—hearing, seeing, smell-

ing, touching, tasting. With respect to these the only sense

or other, to tell the difference between good and bad tasting

things when such things are brought in contact with the anter

nz. But I do not think we have any more reason for saying that

insects taste with their antennz because they dislike to have such

things as pepper-sauce poured on them than we would have K

concluding that a man tastes with his nostrils simply because!

would object to having them filled with the same fluid. Buto

the other hand, this apparent sense of taste is, in many instances, |

nothing more than the insect’s desire to clean off whatever mi

be put on its antennæ, Every one knows that they are mo%

kept very clean by the insect at all times, and are, as a rule, ofal

parts of the body most free from extraneous matter. They

dom notice anything put to them unless it be of a nature to

here to them. But as soon as anything, even pure water,

to them, they immediately draw them through the mo

and if it be anything palatable, as sugar, for instance, tey a

to suck at it. But the very fact that often when they get

thing distasteful they begin to spit and clean the mouth, 1s en

to show that they did not get a taste of it before they put

the mouth. And aside from all this, who ever saw an

its antennæ to taste with? Butterflies and similar 1s

probing the deepest flowers, hold them nearly erect “i

others, such as the bee, wasp, &c., they scarcely reach x

lower part of the head, not to take into account the i

the extended tongue.

2d. I do not think the power of direction is in the y

is true some insects seem to have lost the power oo

their flight when the antenne are cut off. But besi™ oe those

that many others are not so affected, we know that wpa

that are, soon recover and are able to move about as Yr

3d. Lastly, I am inclined to adopt the opinion of

velot that the antenna are the organ of some sense a

by us, But I can hardly say with him that this seme

1883.] Composite and Orchidee in the Natural System. 1245

derstand him rightly) supplementary to that of sight. True it

seems in many cases as though insects deprived of their antenne

are somewhat blind; but in vastly more instances they do not

seem so. Take, for example, almost any beetle one may pick up.

Cut off the antenne and let them run, and we cannot get them

to act in any way not as before. Whatever it be it is in a very

different manner connected with the life of different insects. In

many instances the deprivation of them seems almost fatal; in

others again it is scarcely noticed. Cut them off from a sleeping

roach and it will barely awake. Take your scissors and snip them

from the gray “stinck bug” as it walks over your window sill or

on your door step, and it will stop short where it is and sit still

for hours in one place. All experiments of this kind are easily

performed, and I hope that many who have even a very few mo-

ments to spare, will pay some attention to this part of science, so

late in being fully investigated. If so, one object, at least, of this

paper will be accomplished.

ON THE POSITION OF THE COMPOSITZ AND

ORCHIDE# IN THE NATURAL SYSTEM.

BY JOSEPH F. JAMES.

HE various authors who have, at different times, written on

systematic botany, have had different schemes for a natural

arrangement of the orders of plants. Some have placed one order ,

at the head of the system, some another. Hardly two seem to

agree as to the ones which should follow in a natural sequence,

The large majority of writers, if indeed not all, have considered

the Polypetalous division of the Dicotyledons the most highly

developed, and have placed the Gamopetal in the second, and

the Apetalæ in the third class. Ever since the time of DeCan-

dolle, in 181 3, down to Bentham and Hooker, our latest authori-

ties, the Ranunculacez have generally been placed at the head of

the flowering plants. It is the intention, in the present paper, to

Show reasons why this should not be so, and to suggest another

and very different arrangement of the orders.

It would be well at the outset to remark that no system of bot-

any is to be regarded as unmodifiable. All opinions, all ideas, are

liable to change, and the fact cannot be better stated than was

expressed by Lindley, in 1845, in the preface to his Vegetable

1246 On the Position of the Composite and

Kingdom (p. x1). He says: “Consistency is but another wor

obstinacy. All things are undergoing incessant change. Every

of observation most so. Since 1836 the views of the autho

have, of course, been altered in some respects, although the

have experienced but little modification in others. This is inevi-

table in such a science as that of systematic botany, where the

discovery of a few new facts or half a dozen fresh genera may it- it

stantly change the point of view from which a given object is

observed. The author cannot regard perseverance in error com-

mendable for the sake of what is idly called consistency ; lt

would rather see false views corrected as the belief of their er

arises. * * * All that we can do is to throw our pebbles

upon the heap which shall hereafter, when they shall have sufi

ciently accumulated, become the landmark of systematic bo

With our modern ideas and knowledge of botany,

pretty nearly all come to the conclusion that any A

arrangement of plants is out of the question. Nor is the 10

altogether a modern one, for we find many old writers expresi

the same opinion. Says Lindley, in 1845: “ It is impossible, fro!

the nature of things, that any arrangement should an ,

shall represent the natural relations of plants ma ma

series. Itis generally admitted by those who have turned

attention to a consideration of the manner in which or

beings are related to each other, that each species is ames

others in different degrees, and that such relationship is bestet

pressed by rays (called affinities) proceeding from a given ce

(the species).” And Brongniart, in 1843, had also insisted

impracticability of a lineal arrangement of plants.

Although it is universally admitted, however, that r

cotyledons are of a lower type than the Dicotyled

would be rash, indeed, who would say that the

former division should stand lower than the lowest of t

That, for instance, the Orchideæ should be below the C

diaceæ or the Euphorbiaceæ. So that the only way Oe z

can with justice and method arrange plants, is on severa

lines.

As evolutionists, botanists must acknowledge that al

Monocotyledons or Dicotyledons, have sprung ad, and no t

but they must have diverged at a very early period,

1883. | Orchidee in the Natural System. 1247

resent two of the largest branches of the great botanical tree. So

that if we would find.the plants of the two classes which are most

closely allied, it must be with the lowest forms of each, rather

than with the lowest forms of the one and the highest forms of

the other. Leaving now for the present the consideration of the

Monocotyledons as lower in organization and structure, let us

turn to the Dicotyledons and see what disposition can be made

of the various orders, and which ones deserve to take the highest

rank in the scale.

The Polypetalæ, Gamopetalz and Apetale are the three classes

into which the Dicotyledons have been generally divided, a divi-

sion which, though in many ways artificial, is yet natural enough

to serve our present purpose. Now there are several things

which must be taken into consideration as establishing a high

rank in the vegetable kingdom. Every one knows that the office

for which every plant exists in nature, its chief function, is the

production of seed, and the manner in which this is performed

may be regarded as indicating, to a great degree, the relative rank

of a plant in the scheme. This being granted, it can hardly be

denied that those plants which produce the most seed with the

least expenditure of material, and have at the same time the most

perfect provisions for cross-fertilization, and are also among the

most dominant families, should take a very high, if not the high-

est rank in the system.

Now of all plants in the world, the Composite take the lead in

point of numbers and importance. Roughly estimated they

number from ten to twelve thousand, and thus form about one-

tenth of the whole number of flowering plants known. In some

countries they constitute one-sixth of the whole flora, so that if a

dominant type or family is a mark of high rank, where else than

at the head should we place the Composite? That it should

stand high would be immediately inferred from its very domi-

hance. For if not of a highly specialized type it would never

have been able to hold its own and increase to such an enormous

€xtent, and occupy so large a space in the flora of the world.

We recognize man as the highest type of mammal, and he too ts

the most dominant and the most widespread. Another argument

for the high rank of the Composite, is the fact that they have.

been developed from the first most profusely in the tropics.

There where the climate has been the most equable, most con-

1248 On the Position of the Composite and — [December |

stantly the same, we find the metropolis of the order. There

they are the most abundant. So, too, was man first developed in |

the tropics, or at least in countries with a tropical or semi-trop-

cal climate. ty

But what argument, it might be asked, can be adduced to jus

tify the statement that the Composite were first developed in the

tropical regions? Principally because the season of flowering of —

nearly the whole family is, in the temperate regions, in summer —

or in fall. The further north the place of origin of a plant is,

the earlier will it bloom in countries situated towards the equator.

Nearly all the members, for instance, of the Ranunculacee which

have a northern distribution, bloom very early in the spring. So

those species of Composite with a northern extension bloom —

first, and only those, while the more southern forms come latet

into bloom in their northern habitats. So that we would seem —

justified in concluding that as so many of our Composite do not

bloom with us in the temperate regions until late in summer ot

in autumn, that they have originated in the countries close to oF

on the equator. :

Let us now look at the flowers. We find that what looks to 3 }

superficial observer like a single flower, and is the eG

flower of the old botanists, is really a cluster, a head of ee :

flowers set on a common receptacle. The central florets 1 w

majority of the genera are all perfect and produce seed. pee if

Tubuliflore, comprising the larger part of the family, leon ue

many genera with the outer flowers modified for a specs E :

pose. While the disk florets are tubular, with five lobes yer :

corolla, the outer ones often become ligulate; the lower M a a

remaining as a tube, and the upper portion spread out 1

broad ray with from two to five teeth, representing the í adi

lobes of the corolla. The ray flowers sometimes pa de

oftener they are sterile, and their only purpose is to cad tele

find a definite number of stamens, five, all perfect, a!

the corolla tube and fastened into a ring, and shedding

len into the tube. Again, that the flowers-are all

and though the anthers and pistil are both present

1883.] Orchidee in the Natural System. 1249

the arrangement is such as to prevent self-fertilization, unless

very rarely. For as the pistil grows, it pushes the pollen out of

the tube, and on reaching the outside, expands its lobes ready for

fertilization, but not until then; and when, too, it is most likely

to receive pollen from a neighboring plant or flower-head.

Surely then we have here, in the Composite, a very high type

of flower. In the first place a very great saving of material is

effected by the union of the separate petals, such as we find in

the Polypetalz, into one piece. Secondly, in the reduction of the

calyx of the ordinary flower to pappus, bristles or scales, which

often also answer as means of dissemination, we have another

decided saving of material. Thirdly, the stamens being reduced

to a small number, and being so arranged as to shed their pollen

where it will not be lost, and is yet ready for use. Fourthly, the

pistil being mature only after the pollen falls, is thus assured of a

cross in fertilization, to the manifest benefit of the seed; and

fifthly, the flowers being set upon a common receptacle, are more

noticeable to insects, are more compact, more easily visited, and

are more likely to produce a larger number of seed. Each one

of these seeds, too, is separate, and that may be regarded as an-

other mark of a high rank. So that taking all things together, I

would place the large family Composite at the head of the

Gamopetalæ, and as the head of that class, at the head of the

whole vegetable kingdom.

It will be seen now that I regard the Gamopetale as of a more

highly organized and specialized type than the Polypetale. For

it seems to me that by the union of the separate parts of the

Corolla, and of the calyx into one piece, so much material has

been saved to the plant, so many idle expenditures have been cut

off, and the work is performed by fewer members and in a more

perfect manner.

It is a difficult matter to say what order shall be regarded as

Standing next to the Composite in rank. The family has few

near relatives, and is isolated in many respects from nearly all the

other orders. But considering the Composite as the head of one

line of development, it would seem that in the Labiate we have

_ mother order which is also, in many respects, highly specialized,

and ought to be regarded as at the head of the next highest line

in the Gamopetalez. The family is as remarkable as the om

Posite in one way, as it stands nearly alone in its peculiarities,

1250 On the Position of the Composite and [D

LaMaout and Decaisne have termed it a “ monotypic fam

For to know one Labiate is to know all of them. The genera

might be used as characterizing this family exclusively. The:

other order, Boraginee, which has the same sort of a

four-parted ovary, differs markedly in having regular flow

In placing Labiatæ next to Composite in rank, it

ply that in the Labiate we find, next to the Composite, the:

highly organized family of plants. Their predominance

ern Europe, where they have been subjected for so many c

ries to such a fierce struggle for existence, may accou j

measure for their peculiar development, and their ability to

their own in the world. Their aggressive nature, too, 15.

shown in the fact, that out of fifty genera known-

America, nineteen of them, or more than one-third, have i

duced species. ‘

Closely allied to the Labiatz, on the one hand, is the

cee, and on the other the Boraginee. It is, of cours

sible in this paper to indicate the position of all or

many of the natural orders. Scrophularinee should,

stand somewhere near Boraginez.

Leaving now the Gamopetala, let us turn to the

and examine some of the orders. Here again I w

many things, and first of all dethrone Ranunculacee.

by no means entitled to the first place in any system:

seems to me that here the Leguminose, as most sp

the first

flowers of many of the Ranunculacee are of the sin

with five petals, indefinite stamens and rany pistils i

with ten stamens and the peculiar fruit known as à “è u

modifications in the corolla have, of course, reference

fertilization. Many of the species cannot produce any

1883.] Orchidee in the Natural System. 1251

out the aid of insects, and the contrivances serving the same end

are many and various. Those with Papilionaceous flowers we

may consider as specially modified, and these include nearly

three-fourths of the genera and a still larger proportion of the

species. Laying special stress upon the seeds and means for

cross-fertilization here, as we have before, we see good reason for

calling the Leguminose highly organized plants. The legumin-

ous fruit and the papilionaceous flowers, are two things found in

no other family, and these two, or either one, will tell a legume as

easily as the compact head of flowers will point out one of the

Composit.

While the Leguminosz are entitled to the highest rank in the

Polypetala, the Composit hold the highest place of all, for the

former fall below the latter because of the separation of the

petals, the almost universal prevalence of a calyx, so profoundly

modified in the Composit, the increased number of stamens,

the smaller number of seeds produced, and their production in a

pod instead of separately.

Closely allied to the Leguminosz stand the Rosacez, but not

so highly specialized, having simpler flowers, more numerous

Stamens and other characters. Allied to both of these is the

order Saxifragez, and to it the Ranunculacee, and to the latter

the Umbelliferæ. In numerical strength and in distribution too,

do we find these several families arranged in much the same

order. Leguminosz with 6500 species, Rosacez with 1000, Um-

bellifera with 1300, and Ranunculacee with 540. In distribu-

tion the Leguminosz have the widest range and are especially

abundant in the tropics, the Rosacez come next, the Umbelliferz

third, being rare in the lowlands of the tropics, and the Ranun-

Culacez are last, largely confined to temperate and arctic regions.

Referring now to the Monocotyledons, we find that of all the

orders the Orchidez is the largest, there being known at present

tween 4500 and 5000 species. The order thus stands third

from Composite. We find the species of orchids to have a very

local distribution, but the family itself is very widely scattered.

Their metropolis, as with the Composite, is in the tropics, espe-

cially in America, and we find a large proportion of them to be

epiphytes. From the fact of the species having such a local dis-

tribution, it will probably be found that when the tropics have

been thoroughly explored, that the number of species will be ma-

1252 On the Position of the Composite and [Decembe,

. :

terially increased. Wallace (Tropical Nature, p. 50) says: “Mor

than thirty years ago the number of known orchids was estimated

by Dr. Lindley at 3000 species, and it is not improbable that they

may be now nearly doubled. [We have seen this to be the case]

But whatever may be the numbers of the collected or described —

orchids, those that still remain to be discovered must be enor-

mous. Unlike ferns the species have a very limited range, andit

would require the systematic work of a good botanical collector

during several years, to exhaust any productive district—say

such an island as Java—of its orchids. It is not, therefore, atal

improbable that this remarkable group may ultimately prove to

be the most numerous of all the families of flowering plants”

The Orchidez differ in a marked manner from all other plants, —

standing almost isolated. In no other order do we find such

marvelous contrivances to bring about cross-fertilization. ln

many and in fact most instances the visits of insects are abst :

lutely necessary in order to enable the plants to produce aly

seeds, and we could not find such a state of affairs unless =

order was a highly developed one. Many of the species have

been so profoundly modified, that only one kind of insect cat be ‘

of use. Some of the gigantic orchids of Madagascar are abso- :

lutely dependent upon large moths which are found in the samt

island? In other species the sexes are separated, or ther

or three different kinds of flowers of the same species. a

bears the pollen, another the stigma, and a third is provided l

both. The peculiar modification which the pollen has wa l

the grains tied together by elastic threads, and the po! k

closed in anther cells, is unknown to any other family except ie

Asclepiadez, a family in no way connected with the Orchideæ. k

A ; der shows it t0 i

point of fact, everything about the whole or en

nearly equal in rank, in point of structure, with the pE oly |

pointed out, viz., Compositæ and Leguminosæ. It would be =

to arrange any lineal scheme with Composite first, Les s

second, and Orchideæ third. No one would dream of sie

thing; but it is only just to say that each of these orders ®

the highest place in each class it occupies. o it

In the scheme here given (see chart) I have arrange placing

of the Monocotyledons given by Bentham and Hooker. throug

Orchidez at the head, we have affinities with Lin "o

Burmanniaceæ, Hydrocharideæ, Naiadaceæ and Ponten

there are two :

1883.] Orchidee in the Natural System. 1253

and the Liliaceze occupy the head of an alliance of which Junca-

cee may be considered the center. This alliance will include

Amaryllidez and Iridez, and connect through Flagellariee with

the Palme, which itself stands at the head of the Aroidal alli-

ance, with Lemnacez in the lowest rank. On the other hand,

Gramineæ and the other glumaceous plants are indirectly con-

nected with Juncacez, and are at the head of the glumaceous

wapuniny

woovusiy

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alliance, Though perhaps incorrect in some of the details, I

think that in placing Orchidez, Liliaceae, Palmze and Graminez at

€ head of the four lines upon which the Monocotyledons have

loped, that I am not very far from a natural scheme.

; Tt will very readily be seen, now, how utterly impracticable it

'S to arrange plants lineally. How could it possibly be done?

“OW could we, by taking the orders in the order of their highest

1254 On the. Habits of Certain Sunfish. (December,

development, Orchidez, Liliaceze, Palmæ and Graminea, say that

one was descended from or even directly connected with the

others? It would be a violation of all principles of classification,

and a libel on common sense. But when we take each order and

show how, through this genus or that one, it is directly or re-

motely connected with some other one, then we feel a little conf

dence in saying we are approaching a natural classification. None

of our systems can be entirely natural at present. We do not

know, as yet, the characters and affinities of all the plants in the

world, and until we do know that we cannot hope for anything

but an approximation towards the correct idea of a perfectly nat-

ural arrangement of plants. Lees

[ Note-—This article was first read at a meeting of the Cinci

nati Society of Natural History, and the first portion of it, vit,

that relating to the Compositæ, was afterwards read at the i-

neapolis meeting of the Am. Assoc. for the Adv. of Science.]

:0:

ON THE HABITS: OF CERTAIN SUNFISH.

BY C. C. ABBOTT, M.D.

Yt les Soe the two small centrarchoids, Mesogonistins chal é

don, or banded sunfish, and Enneacanthus simulans, Ot Spo"

sunfish, have been long known to ichthyologists, almost no .

has been recorded of their habits. ao :

In those of our shallow, sluggish waters, which have an"

nitely deep, muddy bottom, and harbor a rank gr wth of : pe ,

vegetation, the handsome, silvery, black-banded sunfish cae

mon species. In such localities, where often the weeds £

luxuriantly that a Scoop-net cannot be drawn, I have 5 be

hundreds of these fishes were passing what I think mer

most monotonous existence. In some places locomotion .

be rather a scramble among the water weeds, than a cof

swim. Still, these spots have their advantages, een

plants are to be found myriads of insect larve and ot .

popular, and indeed, they are better known as dwellers 1”

narrow quarters than as a prominent species 1n t

Lower Delaware valley. I believe they are not eu

water at all. I have frequently shown these fish to ol"

1883.] -On the Habits of Certain Sunfish. 1255

who rarely acknowledge that they have ever before seen them;

and this fact is corroborative of what I had long supposed, that

they are only to be found in out-of-the-way nooks and corners

where game fish seldom if ever come, and that hence their haunts

are not often invaded. In fact, one would scarcely expect to find

any fish in some of the weed-grown holes in the meadows, where

in truth scores of banded sunfish are quietly taking their ease.

Occasionally, however, I have seen this fish wander into quite

open waters, and here it is that it shows to such advantage when,

with its brilliant black dorsal and ventral fins spread, it moves

majestically along.

Although so small, it is a plucky fish, and promptly resents any

interference. Being a feeble swimmer, it depends, for defense,

upon the sharp spines of its dorsal fin, and it seems to know that

Banded Sunfish (Mesogonistius chetodon).

when these are erected it is quite free from molestation. Espe-

cially angry does it become when a great lubberly catfish chances

to wander near by and pokes his slimy nose into its haunts. At

ence the “bandy” is up in arms, and darts at the intruder with

reat violence. It is a veritable case of the king-bird and the

‘row over again, only beneath the water instead of in the air.

: I am still in the dark about the breeding habits of this fish. At

times I have thought that it scooped out a nest in the sand, as

the common sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) does, but I am not so sure

about it. During the spring of 1881 I found females of this spe-

“es heavy with immature ova, and I am now of the opinion that

x any nest is made it is in comparatively deep water, among the

7Y Stems, or at the base of some projecting root. Certainly if

1256 On the Habits of Certain Sunfish. (December, :

anywhere in open water I should have found them before this,

A puzzling fact that haunted me whenever I went fishing, until —

very recently (September, 1883), was, that I never found any very —

young “ bandies,” as I usually call them. I had often scooped up :

scores of the mud-loving Enneacanthi, found in the same quar- —

ters, but with never a “bandy” among them. Hoping ever for 1

better things, I continued to search for them, and at last success :

crowned my efforts. Early in September last I found scores of

little ones, some not more than half an inch in length. It is safe

to say, therefore, that the ova are deposited in May or June, Just

where, remains to be determined. Bho

A very constant companion of the preceding, to which I have

briefly referred as the spotted sunfish (Exneacanthus simulans) has,

one would think, essentially the same habits as the banded fish. 4

I have seldom, if ever, found them dissociated. They are even =

more numerous. The relative abundance of the two is about —

two to five, the larger number referring to the Enneacanthus.

Like all centrarchoids they are ċarnivorous, and feed upon living os

prey. During a recent ramble along Watson’s creek, I saw quite ‘

a commotion in the shallow water near shore, and on approaching

the spot I discovered that three of these spotted sunfish had at- e

tacked a crayfish which had just cast its shell. The battle lated

but for a moment after I became a spectator. One by aE pe a

limbs of the crustacean were torn off, and portions of them 7 4

voured by the fish in full view of their tortured victim. W3

see such sights as these, I cannot but think that there 15 4 screw

loose in nature—that nothing is perfect, and animal life 15 0

reaching out towards perfection. a a

I have said that these two sunfish have apparently the a

habits, but it is a case wherein appearances are misleading :

sidering that they are so very dissimilar in color, and pe

distinct, it recently occurred to me to determine, if possible, ;

there were not points of difference which I had overio’™

Gathering a large number of specimens from the same loc :

noticed that with a seine drawn ‘over a considerable 5

many of the two fishes were taken; but, wh

used, if a cluster of spatter docks (Nuphar luteum, Va: F

was covered, I ordinarily captured specimens of the banded

fish, and the spotted sunfish were taken from masses: p

phyllum of different species. This was not invariably ms

en a scoop

1883.] On the Habits of Certain Sunfish. 1257

but so generally that I concluded that the growths of Nuphar lu-

tum and similar plants were the favorite haunts of the banded

sunfish, and the muddy masses of Myriophyllum harbored the

spotted species.

On submitting the specimens to Dr. A. C. Stokes, of Trenton,

N. J., he kindly examined the contents of the stomachs of these

species by the aid of the microscope, with the following results :

In the stomachs of a dozen or more adult banded sunfish he

found Chironomus larve very numerous; Cyclops quadricornis

numerous; Daphnia sp. numerous; chitinous parts of small in-

sects present but not abundant; diatoms, desmids and fragments

of alge, probably accidental; and a single rhizopod (Centropyxis

aculeata). In very young fish he found Chironomus larve few,

and Cyclops quadricornis and Daphnia sp. numerous.

He adds, “ In the stomach of a full-grown fish there was from

seventy-five to one hundred Chironomus larve, which seem to

be the favorite food.” This. shows at a glance that the banded

Sunfish js essentially a surface feeder, and as we seldom see them

Moving about in the open water or near the surface, they are

Probably nocturnal in their habits. In an aquarium, however,

they seem to be as active during the day, as.at night, although

averse to exposure to direct sunlight. ;

The examination of twelve adult specimens of spotted sunfish,

resulted as follows:

In every case the stomach was empty, but the intestine con-

tained trachez, eyes, elytra, heads and chitinous parts of small

aquatic beetles. These were very numerous; also Pisidium sp.

occasional; several small univalve mollusks; a few Chironomus

; Occasionally a Daphnia and Cyclops; and Gammarus sp.

erous. In the very young spotted sunfish examined, there

Were found Pisidium sp. occasionally; many Daphnia and Chi-

Fonomus larvæ; a few fragments of insects; many Cyclops; a

W very small univalve mollusks, and a single water mite.

‘ere we have evidence that this species of sunfish is a bottom

num

4 feeder, and resorts to the mud rather than elsewhere for its main

_ food supply,

Thave already mentioned the great difference in the coloration

ese two sunfish, which are, as we have seen, quite intimately

sociated, Whether this difference has any direct relation to

t “it widely different feeding habits, I will not now essay to de-

1258 Editors’ Table. [December,

EDITORS’ TABLE, |

EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE. MS

We are just at present having, on both sides of the water,

a series of jeremiads preached by the high priests or prophets of |

science. It is perhaps well, at times, to go out into the streets,

to sit down in sackcloth and ashes, to bewail our situation, and

to improve the opportunity by asking alms of the passers-by. _

Professor Lankester appears before the British Association, tells _

the British public some plain if bitter truths concerning the en-

dowment of scientific research, and then coolly asks alms of the Me

British government for England alone (Scotland and Ireland let =

out) to the amount of the annual interest on two !

pounds. OPS

We wish the English government could be brought for a period

of one generation to make annual grants to that amount. Bes

would literally be a costly experiment, but that enormously ge

government has made, and is making in other directions, vastly

costlier ones. Bee

It is the fashion to depreciate the state

but that republic votes annually large sums of money for

education, higher as well as lower, which might well put oS

blush Great Britain and the United States. Meanwhile ce

tories for scientific research have been built at Roscoff, C

neau, Villefranche, Banyuls and elsewhere, founded by | bic

means, where England has at present nothing to compe

those institutions. Who in England is doing such w!

of science in Franc, —

d’Herculais and Viallanes? What publications

land to offset the Annales des Sciences Naturelles and mr:

thiers’, magnificent journal? The only English journ

sort is the excellent Quarterly Fournal of Microscopical

and American students. We do not wis oe

tract from English science, for in biology she can PO

men like Darwin and Balfour, Bentham and Hooker,

Huxley. a

The German government is at present engaged z

facture of soldiers and scientists ; her men of family gaT

herited genius are largely to be found among the

politically the German people are in leading SH!

1883.] Editors’ Table, 1259

= strings have been tightened within two or three years. Let im-

i perialism feed its soldiers and scientists, banish too inquisitive

and turbulent savants, like Vogt and Fritz Müller, socially snub

= its professors, and meanwhile build its splendid laboratories and

museums. It is perhaps laying the foundations for the future

= political and social advancement of the masses. 3

In this country the people may never, to any great extent, sanc-

= tion special educational grants beyond what the Government is

= how doing for its scientific commissions. We must look to private

generosity. Our people are developing national character; every

man, scientist or factory-hand, is, besides attending to his spe-

cialty, doing his part in “running” the Government. We cannot

afford to develop and train a privileged class of soldiers and sci-

entists ; strong in their specialty, weak in morals and statesman-

= Shipand all that make masterful minds. Still, jeremiads as applied

i to the United States are only too true. There is little danger that

; science in this country will be too much pampered. As has been

: insisted in this journal, and as Professor Rowland, in his many

= féspects admirable address, emphasized, we tend towards medioc-

rity. That is one great danger of democracies.

And after all, as much as money is needed to aid in scientific

~ fesearch, there is a greater demand for men and brains. There

si now living in this country numbers of young men of leisure

one or two graduates in any college who could be trained in original

aboratories and museums might be more effectu-

ally manned. if our leading citizens were more fully aware of their

: Science is becoming widely popularized in the pres-

generation, and the fruits will be seen in the next. But ina

VOL. XVIIL.—NO. XIN ; 83

1260 Recent Literature. . | Decémber,

RECENT LITERATURE.

Haypen’s TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE U.S. GEOGRAPHI-

CAL AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES OF WYOMING

AND IpAHo.—These bulky and very richly illustrated volumes

form the last of a series of twelve annual reports covering as —

many years, from 1867 to 1879, and which is notable for contain- —

ing a vast amount of valuable information concerning the geology —

and natural resources of an immense area lying west of the Mis-

sissippi valley and east of the Sierra Nevada range. It will be

remembered that June 30, 1879, Congress passed a law discon- —

tinuing this and the two other surveys then in existence, and

establishing what is now known as the United States Geological

Part 1 contains under the head of geology, seven illustrated

articles by Dr. C. A. White, entitled Contributions to Inverte-

brate Paleontology, 2-7, the first having appeared in the repor

of the survey for 1877; with the report of Mr. O. St. Joga E

geology of the Wind River district, and of Mr. Scudder on t

Tertiary lake basin at Florissant, Col., the latter being a repni

from the last volume of the Bulletin of the Survey. To se i

to Dr. White's articles, which are illustrated by thirty-one ext”

lent plates, among the large number of new forms descril bu

most remarkable are two coral-like Cretaceous forms with Che.

æozoic aspect, one referred with a good deal of doubt to ag

tetes, though the tabulze are apparently absent, and it may %5

Polyzoén ; the other coral is referred with doubt to eer Ai

Another palæontological fact of interest is the discovery ai

Cretaceous rocks near San Antonio, Texas, of a very large cra”

claw, described by Mr. Whitfield under the name of Para

if Wind River dis :

richly illustrated

tes by M

a frontis- |

tation of geological and typographical facts combined. < = God,

piece, giving > ern of Pike's Peak and the Garden of the fi

is an excellent pièce of chromolithography ; 45 8 Re

as we remember to have seen.

As Dr. Hayden remarks in the preface, pat

proved one iL ksb interest. “ It has a trend about

the west side all the sedimentary belts have pi the latter:

down to the Archzan, older than the Wasatch, an he te the

' mation rests on the Archean rocks all ane fe east side

range, seldom inclining more than 5° to 10°. = ily kno

of the range the series of sedimentary formations - jam si

to occur in the north-west are exposed from the

PLATE XX.

ot Spring Cone on west arm of Yellowstone lake.

PLATE XXI.

Giant Geyser in action.

PLATE XXII.

———

————

Old Faithful Geyser in action, 1871.

PLATE XXIII.

Union Geyser in action, Aug. 21, 1878; 7-464. M.

1883.J Recent Literature. 1261

stone, which rests upon the Archzan rocks, to the Cretaceous,

inclusive.” e range is regarded as a vast anticlinal of which

one side has been entirely denuded of the sedimentary rocks, ex-

cept the Middle Tertiary. On the same side of the range the

morainal deposits and glaciated rocks are shown on a scale not

met with by Hayden in other parts of the West. The most in-

teresting discovery made by the survey in this district was that of

three genuine glaciers on the east base of Wind River and Fre-

mont peaks, the first known to exist east of the Pacific coast.

The panoramic view ona large scale, by Mr. Holmes, of these

glaciers, conveys an excellent idea of their appearance. That they

were formerly much larger is shown by the moraines which were

ound on a grand scale in the Snake River valley, on the east side

of the Téton range. The numerous lakes have been the beds of

oa and the shores of the lakes are walled with morainal

ridges.

to the Phyllopoda. The essay comprises 210 pages, and is illus-

trated by wood-cuts, and thirty-nine plates, with a colored z00-

geographical map. This is followed by a series of five articles

Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S.N., on the osteology of Speotyto

cunicularia, Eremophila alpestris, of North American Tetraonide,

of Lanius ludovicianus excubitoides and of the Cathartide. These

are important contributions to a neglected subject, and are richly

illustrated with numerous woodcuts and twenty-four lithographic

The second part forms a bulky volume of 500 pages, and is

entirely devoted to an account of the Yellowstone National Park,

and its geysers. It is illustrated by several very effective chromo-

l ographs, a number of excellent wood-cuts, several of which we

are kindly allowed to reproduce (Plates XX-xxi11), a large num-

ber of Mr. Holmes’ characteristic panoramic views, and numerous

rea by Mr, Gannett, while in the atlas of maps 1s a large geo-

— map of the park, The whole is a most thorough and time-

y monographic account of the park. It will be remembered that

€ idea of setting apart this large tract as a national park origi-

nated with Dr. Hayden.

1262 Recent Literature. | [December,

The geology of the Yellowstone Park is by Mr. W. H. Holmes,

who describes the structure of the Yellowstone valley and its

tributaries as well as the mountain ranges; of these the two most

important, the Yellowstone and Washburn ranges, are com

of volcanic conglomerates, the larger part of the park being un-

derlaid by. rhyolite. The greater part of the volume, which relates

to thermal springs and geysers, is treated in a broad and compre-

hensive way by Dr. C. A. Peale, and is an important contribution

to this attractive subject. After describing the springs and gey-

sers of the park, he discusses thermal springs and geysers in

general, including those of Iceland, New Zealand, those of other

parts of the United States, those of Mexico, Central America, the

West Indies and South America, as well as those of Europe, the

Azores, Africa, Indian ocean, Asia Minor and Asia, with those of

Japan, Formosa, Malaysia, Australasia and Polynesia. Thermo-

hydrology is then discussed under the heads of thermal springs,

the chemistry of thermal waters (by C. A. Peale and Henry

mann), their formations and deposits, and the chemistry af de

posits (also by Peale and Leffmann); this part closing ec

account of geysers and theories of geysers, followed by a tu

bibliography of the subject, Dr. Peale describes and tabulates

over two thousand springs and seventy-one geysers. me

1 scientific

with a geographical account of the park, richly illustrated a :

maps by Mr. Henry Gannett, and the report of this distingui

geographer is a model of conciseness and critical accuracy ag

entire report does great credit to the conduct of this sory d

vey and to the energy and foresightedness of the disting

director. :

Brooks’ Law or ,Herepity.—This work is an elabo the

tempt at a solution of the difficult problem of hen the-

author's theory being in a degree based upon Darwin's nyp?

sis of pangenesis. és out-

The plan of the book is as follows: After giving coe ps ex-

line of the chief hypotheses which have been publishe

planation of heredity, with reasons for rejecting them,

presents briefly, in outline, a statement of his ow

then attempts to show that this theory furnishes 2” shel

theory of natural selection, that there is no æ 771077 n explana-

rejecting this theory of heredity, and that it furnishes oy 5 cannot

tion of many well-known facts which the author claims

without it be seen in their true relations. Finally

d the Origin gn

1 The Law of Heredity. A study of the cause of Variation mae ins Universi:

ing Organisms. By W. K. Brooks, associate in Biology, Johns 1 okie

Baltimore, John Murphy & Co. 1883. 12mo, pp. 330. With illustrat

borate at-

the author —

a basis for the

Gi 3

the author at

PLATE XXIV,

MALE. FEMALE,

MALE AND FEMALE RUFFED GROUSE,

YOUNG MALE, ADULT MALE. ADULT FEMALE.

ADULT MALE, YOUNG MALE AND ADULT FEMALE OF THE

RED HEADED WOODPECKER,

[From photographs of stuffed specimens in the collection at Druid Hu

Park, Baltimore.]

FEMALE,

MALE AND FEMALE WOOD DUCK, TO SHOW SECONDARY

. SEXUAL CHARACTERS.

‘| [From photographs of stuffed specimens in the Collection of the Mary

land Academy of Sciences.]

1883.] Recent Literature. 1263

tempts to show that it is supported by direct proof, and the work

closes with an extended statement of the theory.

Professor Brooks’ theory we wilt state in his own words :

“The union of two sexual elements gives variability. Conjuga-

tion is the primitive form of sexual reproduction. Here the func-

tions of the two elements are alike, and the union of parts derived

from the bodies of two parents simply insures variability in the

offspring. In all multicellular organisms the ovum and the male

cell have gradually become specialized in different directions. _

“The ovum is a cell which has gradually acquired a compli-

cated organization, and which contains material particles of some

kind to correspond to each of the hereditary characteristics of

the species. The ovum, like other cells, is able to reproduce its

like, and it not only gives rise, during its development, to the

divergent cells of the organism, but also to cells like itself. The

ovarian ova of the offspring are these latter cells, or their direct

unmodified descendants. ‘

“Each cell of the body is, in a morphological sense, an inde-

pendent individual. It has the power to grow, to give rise, by

division, to similar cells, and to throw off minute germs. During

the evolution of the species it has, by natural selection, acquired

distinctive properties or functions, which are adapted to the con-

ditions under which it is placed. So long as these conditions

remain unchanged, it performs its proper functions as a part of the

body; but when, through a change in its environment, its func-

tion is disturbed and its conditions of life become unfavorable, it

rows off small particles which are the germs or ‘gemmules

of this particular cell.

“These germs may be carried to all parts of the body. They

May penetrate to an ovarian ovum or toa bud, but the male a

has gradually acquired, as its special and distinctive function, a

Peculiar power to gather and store up germs. or

“When the ovum is fertilized each germ or ‘ gemmule perar

with, conjugates with or impregnates that particle of the ovum whic

is destined to give rise in the offspring to the cell which ee

sponds to the one which produced the germ or gemmule; or cise

£ unites with a closely related particle, destined to give rise ere

Closely related cell.

“When this cell becomes developed in the body of the off-

Spring it will be a hybrid, and it will therefore tend to vary cen

“ As the ovarian ova of the offspring share by direct inae hich

all the properties of the fertilized ovum, the organisms seyi

they ultimately give rise will tend to vary in the same m gem-

“A cell which has thus varied will continue to throw olf ge

Mules, and thus to transmit variability to the corresponding oe

in the bodies of successive generations of descendants un

vorable variation is seized upon by natural suse ona lected will

‘As the ovum which produced the organism vfaguetnen

1264 Recent Literature. [ December,

transmit the same variation to its ovarian ova by direct inheri-

tance, the characteristic will be established as an hereditary race-

characteristic, and will be perpetuated and transmitted, by the

selected individuals and their descendants, without gemmules.

“ According to this view, the origin of a new variation is

neither purely fortuitous nor due to the direct and definite modi-

fying influence of changed conditions. A change in the environ-

ment of a cell causes it to throw off gemmules, and thus to trans-

mit to descendants a tendency to vary in the part which is affected

by the change.

“ The occurrence of a variation is due to the direct action of

external conditions, but its precise character is not. My view of

the cause of variation is thus seen to be midway between that

accepted by Darwin and that advocated by Semper and other

Lamarckians,”

In a word then, Brooks’ theory maintains that these gemmules

only by chance pervade the whole body, but are, as a rule, con-

fined to the male cell or spermatozoon, hence the male element

is the originating and the female the perpetuating factor; the

ovum is conservative; the male cell progressive, Heredity of

ued

silver-gray rabbit, produced no effect. These gemmules are me ri

test the theory properly we should think experiments might n ;

is carefully thought out, well present

bution of permanent value to a most

of r

always to detect the operation of the law

peculation in good hands has always

discovery, and the simple endeavor to discover t

ity may at least lead to fresh fields of research. ~

After stating the theory, our author devotes a large P

been a fruitful soure"

he laws of here®

1883. ] Recent Literature. 1265

volume to a detailed statement of the evidence from hybrids,

from variation, from secondary sexual characters; and this chap-

ter is illustrated with the excellent figures here reproduced (Plates

XXIV, xxv), which will speak for themselves.

In the tenth chapter the author considers the evidence from the

intellectual differences between men and women; in the next

chapter the author's theory is considered as supplementary to the

theory of natural selection, the last chapter being in the way of

recapitulation and conclusion.

Now and then the author shows a tendency to take for granted

matters still in dispute, as, for instance, the nature of the process

of conjugation, which is, if we understand it, not proved to be of

the nature of sexual reproduction, though it would seem to be

such. There are a number of slight but unneccessary typograph-

ical errors, and a word or two, such as Branchipus, is misspelt.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE Kansas ACADEMY OF SCIENCE FOR

s. That no two persons are :

Course universally acknowledged, and is almost axiomatic, but

Mr. Galton makes us realize this fact as never be ore. ae

The book is a collection of scattered essays, published 1

" Inquiries into Hi ts Development. By Francis GALTON

uman Faculty and its Devei Big :

E.R.S. New York, Macmillan & Co., 1883. 87a, pp- 380, with illustrations.

1266 Recent Literature. [December, —

ferent journals, which are brought together with some revision,

condensation and rewriting. The author’s object has been “to

take note of the varied hereditary faculties of different men, and

of the great differences in different families and races, to learn

how far history may have shown the practicability of supplanting

inefficient human stock by better strains, and to consider w!

it might not be our duty to do so by such efforts as may be rea-

sonable, thus exerting ourselves to further the ends of evolution

more rapidly and with less distress than if events were left to

their own course.”

a et eee eS Et ROR

Newest

intellectual differences, mental imagery, number-forms, color

associations, visionaries, nurture and nature, associations, psycho-

metric experiments, antechamber of consciousness, early seat |

ments, history of twins, domestication of animals, possibilities r

theocratic intervention, objective efficacy of prayer, enthusiasm, z

the observed order of events, selection and race, influence ann a

upon race, population, early and late marriages, marks for family

merit, endowments, conclusion. i EE

The relations of these subjects to morals and ethics, a3 Fee:

by Mr. Galton, and also by other writers of what is some

calied the positive school, from the inductive and evolut af his 4

standpoint, shows what man may do for the improvement of 2 :

own race. eS

As the author says, we cannot but recognize the vast varira

natural faculty, useful and harmful, in members of the pa rei ae

and much more in the human family at large, all fie observe :

to be transmitted by inheritance. Neither can Hie Hie pele

i equa a

that the faculties of men generally are uneq Galton att ates

re Sia et eh,

able,” leads him to consider what may be van het

function of man in the order of the world. We shou

1883. | Recent Literature, 1267

rise to the conception that he has a considerable function to per-

form in the order of events, and that his exertions are needed ;

that he should look upon himself more “as a freeman, with

power of shaping the course of future humanity.” The question,

“How man can assist in the order of events,” he answers, “ by

furthering the course of evolution.” This means that man “may

use his intelligence to discover and expedite the changes that are

necessary to adapt circumstances to race and race to circum-

stances, and his kindly sympathy will urge him to effect them

mercifully.”

The book should be read by physicians, moralists, philanthro-

pists, biologists and intelligent parents, as well as the civil service

reformer, in fact by everyone interested in the advancement of

mankind, whether they accept all the author’s conclusions or not.

Tue Tortucas ann Fioripa Reers.!— Professor Agassiz com-

mences this memoir by the statement that Darwin's theory of

teef formation will not apply to the peculiar conditions existing

along the Straits of Florida. The southern extremity of Florida

was shown by the elder Agassiz to be of comparatively recent

growth, and the mode of growth ef the present reei, keys and-

mud-flats to be identical in its nature with past action. The

whole southern part of Florida is built of concentric barrier reefs,

cemented into continuous land by the accumulation and consoli-

dation of mud flats between them. The curve of the Florida

en found in any of the soundings taken east of the Mississippi.

The line of keys seems to be formed by the waste of the eii

lave been formed by the detritus driven to the westward by the

Prevailing easterly winds and the currents running we oR

oA incipient coral reef is already forming upon a patch to

irs of

i The Tor tugas and Florida Reefs. By ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. From Memoirs

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. XI.

1268 Recent Literature. [ December,

amount of animal life which can be sustained upon a small area,

under suitable conditions, can only be understood by those who

have dredged near the hundred fathom line on the west coast of

the great Florida plateau. The dredge not unfrequently brings

up large fragments of modern limestone, consisting of the dead

carcasses of the species now living on the top.

The Challenger and Tuscarora soundings have shown the ex-

istence of submarine elevations of volcanic. origin, forming exten-

sive banks, serving as foundations for barrier reefs and atolls, and

wherever such plateaux reach, on their windward side, a level at

which corals prosper, there coral reefs spring up and flourish.

At lower levels are plateaux where mollusks, corals, echinoderms,

etc., find the materials necessary for their coverings, These

submarine beds of modern limestone lie in the very track of the

ocean currents, and gain from them the carbonate of lime they

require. Murray’s experiments seem to prove that this amounts

to sixteen tons for every square mile a hundred fathoms dee

The foundation for a coral reef is formed by the accumulation

limestone and other animal remains upon an early fold of >

earth’s crust, or upon a volcanic plateau, and corals do not encrus —

the surface until the bank has risen to their bathymetrical limit.

Thus the deposition of animal débris comes in as a SUP 3

to elevation and subsidence, which alone were taken note | PY

the theory of Darwin and Dana, and accounts for the per

plateaux in regions where there has been little or no ¢ gi oe

level from other causes, to a height favorable for the grow!”

reef-building corals. ag >

Grorr’s MıneraL ANatysts.—This is a series of one hundre

ey fill out under thè

octavo pages giving blanks for the student to f mines

different physical characters and chemical reactions 0 sy she

ey are conveniently arranged and accompanied by a athe a

of terms most commonly used in describing minerals. a

found useful in laboratory work.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Upham, Warren.—Lake Agassiz, a chapter in Glacial Geology.

Acad. N. S., Vol. 11. From the author. Vol. xt, No.

Harger, Oscar.—Report on the Isopoda. Bull, Mus. Comp. Anat., YO" o

Cambridge, 1883. From the author. Tias, hee Inst.

Dewey, F. P.—Porosity and specific gravity of Coke. Ext. : 5S

Mining Eng., 1883.

Hunt, A. E.—Some notes and tests of an open-hearth steel charge -

plate. Ext. idem, , sde. a

Stone, G. C.—The determination of Manganese in Spinel. Ext. y Journal, Vo

Brinton, D. G.—The Folk-lore of Yucatan, Ext. from the Folk-lore , eee

I, Pt. vitt, London, Eng., 1883. From the author, i: eee 1333. Fro®

Allen A,.—The Journal of the Postal Microscopical Society, :

the editor.

E E I E L E EE oe E E E ara e ly ena E

Se S

E EEn LE a E a A ee

Ext, Bull. Mint.

made for boilet

ENEE ES ENAA anin ical E ; : Second | oe

1 Mineral Analysis. Designed by Professor Geo. G. Grol ES ee.

Lewisburg, Pa., Science and Health Publishing Co., 1993.

1883. ] Geography and Travels. 1269

White, J. W.—First aid to the Injured. Abstract of lectdłes delivered to the police

of Phi From the author.

Boehm, G.—Literaturbericht fiir Zoologie in Bezeihung zur Anthropologie mit Ein-

schluss der fossilen Landsaugethiere. Abd. Arch. fiir Anthropologie. Mun-

chen, I

Hoffmann, C. K.—Dr. H. G. Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs.

v Band, 11 Abth. Arthropoda. vi Band, 11 Abth. Reptilien.

Leche, W.—Zur Anatomie der Becken region bei Insectivora, Stockholm, 1883.

From the author.

Gregorio, M. A.—Intorne alla Publicazione di un gran Giornale Geologico Inter-

nazionale. From the author,

Agassiz, A-—Exploration of the surface fauna of the Gulf Stream. Vol. 11, Part 1.

The Porpitidz and Velellidz, Cambridge, 1883, From the author.

Cragin, F. W.—A contribution to the history of the fresh-water Copepoda. Ext.

Trans, Kansas Acad. Sci., 1883. _ From the author.

d See

GENERAL NOTES.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.'

Tue Durcu Circumpoiar Expepition.—On July 5, 1882, the

Dutch expedition embarked on the Norwegian steamer Varna.

Before the end of August the Varna was surrounded by ice at

about 70° N. lat. and 63° E. long. On September 18th the Dan-

ish steamer Dijmphna perceived the ship and attempted to render

aid, but was itself surrounded by ice, and soon both ships were

frozen in at about seventy-five yards distance from each other.

At the commencement of October enormous crevasses opened in

the ice, heralded by loud noises of cracking and splitting, and

the crew, who at the first warning had left the ship, found them-

selves completely separated from it. After the crevasses had

frozen over, the crew regained the ship, and continued observa-

tions until Christmas eve, when the ice floes again put themselves

in Motion, crashing against each other with such force that the

‘arna was literally crushed. The crew escaped with safety, and

with their documents, instruments, dogs and sledges, took refuge

on board the Dijmphna, the solid construction of which enabled

it to resist the movement of the ice.

tere they were compelled to remain until August rst, when,

as the Dijmphna had orders to spend a second winter in the Arc-

tic, they made for the land by means of boats and sledges, and

reached Waigatz island in three weeks. Here they fell in with

the Louise, the Nordenskjold and the Obi, all sent in search of caw

Varna, All collections and papers were saved; and not one

the crew was lost, in spite of the hardships endured.

AFRICA— The Dunes of the Sahara—Not more than a agp

part of the surface of the Sahara is occupied by sand-dunes, y

Principal groups of which are in the north of that desert, am

are those of Erg, in the Algerian Sahara, that of Iguidi, which

"This department is edited by W. N. LocKINGTON, Philadelphia.

1270 General Notes. [December,

continues the Erg group to the south-west into Morocco, and

that of Edeyen to the south-east of Erg. The Erg group ex-

tends from the 20° to 34° N. lat, and from 7° E. long., to 4° W.

long. Erg alone is reckoned to occupy 12,000,000 hectares,

or about 45,000 square miles, but the estimate is probably too

large, as immense spaces within the area are free from dunes.

The dunes are in some places piled into chains of sand mountains,

which may reach several kilometers in width, and 500 to 60

feet in height. The true dune, when not piled on other dunes, is

of uniform composition and regular form. The grains are usually

less than a millimeter in diameter, and the shape of the dune is

an elongated ellipse, with a concavity cut out of the leeward

side. The sand, driven by the wind, climbs up the long gradual

slope of the ellipse, and falls over the abrupt talus of the short

concave side, which is bounded above by a sharp edge. A sim-

ple dune seldom exceeds sixty-five feet in height, but here and

there one rises to more than two hundred feet.

The dunes occupy basins of Quaternary age, and have. been

formed by the disintegration of rocks of various ages. Disinte-

gration proceeds less rapidly in a dry climate than in a wet one, —

but in the Sahara there is no vegetation to protect the a :

and the disintegrated material is never consolidated into .

The chief causes of rock disintegration in the Sahara y, m ‘

great difference of temperature, amounting often t -i

tween the day and the night, and the action of wind-blown ee

upon the rocks; chemical action and the infrequent rains may TG

added. l r EE

Comali-land—The Geographical Society of Paris ef fy

malis, undertaken by M., Revoil in 1880. The region may p

divided into three zones, the coast, where the towns are al in

the mountains, which are often calcareous and are ogee |

their stratification with those along the borders of yi docks.

and the interior plateau, inhabited by nomads with fer there by

bed of blackish siliceous sand. These steppes ar patie

immense pastures, affording subsistence to the onnan the

oxen, sheep, goats, asses, horses and camels whic pe <a

only riches of the Comalis of the interior. Most se par S

are torrents of short course, and the only river |

pastures here and there. The climate is tempera

34° C. on the coast, and to 45° or even 55

SSL aos oe

ee ee en ae ee" 0s a ae ee Pe Me Oe

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1271

interior plateau, In the mountains, at an elevation of over 5000

feet, it sometimes sinks to 11.5° C. The nomads of the steppes

never cultivate the soil, are incurably lazy, wear only a piece of

skin or simple cloth for clothing, and suffer greatly from phthisis

and rheumatism, brought about by the action of the sudden

changes of temperature on their undefended bodies. The other

maladies most common among the Comalis are ophthalmia, cu-

taneous affections and scrofula. They have learned from the

Arabs the use of a few herbs, but the universal remedies are

bleeding and cauterization. Almost every native is tatooed all

Over with burns and scarifications.

€ principal interest of this journey is ethnographic. The

oldest human vestiges consist of heaps of shells mixed with

Dones of fishes and turtles, and strewn with flint implements of

various kinds and remains of rude pottery. M. Revoil concludes

that these remains must antedate 1700 B. C., and bases this opin-

ion upon the fact that the Egyptian paintings of the tomb of

Beikmara and those of the temple of Deir-el-Bahari show the

inhabitants of Poum, that is, the Comalis, in the possession of

tals. M. Revoil believes these mounds to be the work of the

Ichthyophagi and Troglodytes of the old historians; while the

more recent mounds of Hais, with their green and blue enameled

pottery, are pronounced of the Ptolomean era; and the red pot-

tery, amphoras, glass, etc., especially those found at Olok, seem

to be of Roman age. M. Revoil believes that contact with the

r Roman more than Arab, The men wear still the sagum ar-

sinveticum, while the women are attired in the degou, which is

fastened at the shoulder, and resembles the peplum of the Greeks.

a wedding or a marriage they carry the dazrabad or censer, 1n

Which they consume a resinous gum which gives out an odor

like that of Russia leather.

GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY. :

M. JuLes Marcou on THE GEOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA.—~if a

recent issue of the Bulletin of the French Geological Society, M.

Marcou reviews the work done by American pieces and adds

1272 General Notes. [ December,

gneiss, schists, argillites, slates, etc., and the contracted areas of

mountain limestone and trias, M. Marcou comes to the band of

fossiliferous Infra-lias, or Rhetian, which for more than a hundred

miles exists in close contact with non-fossiliferous talcose or

chloritic schists, quartzites, etc., and often in proximity to ie 3

veins of auriferous quartz. Here he capitalizes the words, “The

gold is not Jurassic, but of the age of azoic rocks and of the

most ancient graywackes.” The metalliferous veins are never en-

closed in the Rhetian, the close proximity of which to the gold-

bearing quartz was the cause of the announcement, “ made with

much solemnity, that the gold of California was much more re-

cent than had been believed, and that the Sierra Nevada and the

greater part of the other sierras of the Great Basin were of the — |

Rep ee E eee et eee

of Shasta City, he arrives at the Tertiary, commencing with t'i :

statement that there is no trace of Tertiary rock i

ret

(®]

oO.

mountains be-

tween Los Angeles, Point Conception and the neighborh in

coast, as shown at Los Angeies and San, Di ie . Marcot a

me s; M. Marco” |

the vertebrate remains of the Rancho de rails’ foul of Professor

Quaternary :

his savant, there was 10 > S pehas

stratigraphical and paleontological characters, J.

done before for the Eocene of Chico in making 1t

1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1273

M. Marcou then proceeds to make merry over tke Calaveras

skull, which bore in its encrusting gravel a Helix mormonum, and

which came from a shaft no one had seen. The existence of

Quaternary man in California is not questioned by M. Marcou,

the existence of mortars, hammers and other stone implements,

together with some axes of obsidian and even some fragments of

human bones, give incontestable proof of it, while the numerous

remains of Elephas, Mastodon, Rhinoceros, Bos, Equus, Canis,

ma, etc., prove the Quaternary age of these remains.

The reference of this unauthenticated skull to the Tertiary age

will, says our critic, “ suffice to give an idea of the incorrectness

and absolute lack of exactitude in observation of this economical

geologist or specialist of mining statistics.” “As for Tertiary

man, there is absolutely no trace of him in all California, at least

up to date.” ne

M. Marcou has not yet finished. The glaciers of California

are his next theme, and he laughs at the director and sub-direc-

tor of the Geological Survey of California for marching for hours

Over the glaciers of Mt. Shasta without ever dreaming they were

on a glacier, and at Professor Le Conte for bringing the northern

ice-sheet over California. ,

€ mountain ranges of California, according to M. Marcou,

belong to the following ages: i

I. Sierra Nevada, Tehachape and Sierra Madre (the mountains

south of the union of the Coast range and Sierra) to the Azoic.

1. The Coast range, as far south as Point Conception and Santa

Barbara, to the Eocene. i

ur. The Sierras of San Fernando and Santa Monica, to the

iocene,

Iv. The hills of Los Angeles, to the end of the Pliocene.

v. The mountains east of the entrance of Cajon Pass, to the

end of the Quaternary.

vi. The volcanic eruptions, to the commencement of the pres-

ent age

appears to have been observed by Hulke in Hypsilophodon, since

t paleontologist mentions a “ thin tri l

trough-like rit ” and lying in front of a mandible of cat ger

‘aurian, Hulke suggests that this bone may be connect Pot :

the Premaxilla, but M. Dollo states that in the seven skulls o

T. bernissartensis studied by him, it was attached to the lower cee

lat its presence in the upper jaw would render inexpli

Sieh a

Panels x,

Be Al

1274 General Notes. [ December, |

the relations of the facial bones to each other. Moreover the

anterior angle of the presymphysial bone bears some crests or

denticles of bone, which, had the bone been by any means forced

away from a previous union with the premaxillary, must certainly

have been broken off.

The coronoid process consists, in the order of their importance,

of the dentary externally, the coronoid internally, and a vertical

process of the articular posteriorly. It thus differs widely from

that-of the chelonians and lizards of the present age, in which it

is formed of the coronoid element only, and from that of the

ophidians, which is largely composed of the surangulat, but

approaches more nearly that of Hatteria, in which it is formed

of coronoid and dentary. From all existing reptiles it differs in

its position externally to the alveolar border and anterior to the _

end of the dentary series. The premaxillaries do not differ :

greatly in their structure from those of Hypsilophodon. The

frontals do not form any part of the upper orbital border, from

which they are separated by two supra-orbitals. These are b e

upon the two pre-frontals, which are also thus excluded from the

` exterior upper border of the orbit. Asa whole, the skull pe a

sents a far greater number of points of resemblance to H ndible i

than to any other living reptile. Each ramus of the ma ek

bears twenty-one teeth in use, and numerous partially pers

cervical,

rows on the internal face; while each maxillary carries

seventeen dorsal pairs, as the atlas and last dorsal pe Diclo-

ribs. In an appendix M. Dollo compares Iguanodon ee

nius mirabilis,’ and finds that his “ presymphysial f Professor

tical with the “flat, thin and edentulous” dentary 0 he

Discovery OF TRACKS IN THE JURA-TRIAS OF Coy ae ffy

fessor H. W. Parker, of Iowa College, has discovered 8°” —

animal footprints in the vicinity of Denver. . a

Of the slabs which he obtained one is about five feet lone .

of tracks, Ds ee

and a half inches long, and with a stride of ney ect to fort

and a straddle of five inches. The peculiarity ne ihe ends ¥

is, that every track exhibits but one apparent digi t threes} z

eighteen dorso-lumbar, six sacral and fifty-one caudal ve ost

slab gives five pairs of footprints, much

enough, part of each is rounded li the ‘st

sea-weeds. No hoofed animals lived then, ane — I th

very smal) in proportion to the size of the prints. am

1 E. D. Cope, AMER. NAT., July, 1883, p. 774-7-

;

< Following the terminology of Milne-

NOL. Xvn.—no xi. 84

- 1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1275

unmistakable tracks, in the judgment of Professor Parker, who,

rom long residence at Amherst, Mass., has become familiar with

the thousands of footprints found in the Connecticut valley, and

constituting the feature of the Amherst College museum,

In 1880, Mr. R. C. Hills, of this city, found a few Triassic

tracks on the western slope of the Rocky mountains, and the

are now in the museum of Yale College. — Rocky Mountain

News,

Locomotive APPENDAGES OF Tritopites.—In the autumn of

1882 the trilobite, Asaphus megistos (Fig. 1), was sent me for ex-

amination. In the delay of correspondence with palzontologists,

fortunately no report was made, for in the spring of 1883, twelve

months after finding the first specimen, the same party found the

second, which proved to be the matrix of the ventral surface of

the first specimen. It was found about one hundred meters from

the point where the first was obtained.

About two-thirds of the cephalic shield is broken off. That

part of the head anterior to a line drawn obliquely through the

left eye to the middle of the pleura of the second thoracic somite

on the right, is entirely wanting. With the head restored, the

specimen would be about 18.5 centimeters (73g inches) long; in

width, 11.5 centimeters (about 4% inches). On the ventral sur-

enti

thoracic, and four centimeters that of the abdominal portion of

, Directly beneath the eight somites of the thorax, ‘ex pairs of

Jointed limbs are distinctly seen; the two anterior pairs of append-

ages are situated directly under the first two thoracic segments ;

but from the character of these appendages, as well as the relation

oral aperture certainly existed, and presumably they were joo

Mts ar : i oove.

€ not preserved at the median e awards for the several

1276 General Notes. [ December, '

parts of the limb of a crustacean, the prominently-marked portion

of these ambulatory limbs is undoubtedly the meropodite, which

was in some cases two centimeters in length and quite large, with

the mero-carpopodite articulation well pronounced, so as to-leave

a distinct, pit-like depression in the matrix. The several joints

externally to that which is considered the meropodite can be dis-

tinguished by careful study of the several legs and the grooves

and foveæ of the matrix. The carpopodite was about the length

of the meropodite, but decidedly slender as compared with the

latter. If there was any positive evidence to show that these

were broad, lamellar appendages, adapted to swimming, then the

slender joints external to the meropodite might be accounted for

by supposing the edges were the portions visible. The propodite

was about two-thirds the length of the carpopodite, and also ap-

pears to have been slender and slightly curved backward; the ,

dactylopodites are not well preserved, yet sufficiently so to permit

the conclusion that they were not chelate. The posterior pair of

these thoracic appendages is directly beneath the posterior somite

of the thorax. The meropodites of the two anterior pairs of ap-

pendages, as shown in Fig. 3, resemble the same joints 1m the 2

thoracic limbs. ; fee =

In examining the matrix, Fig. 3 d, where the left limb irs

anterior pair is well preserved, it is seen to curve aroun ol

outer margin of the left lobe of the hypostoma, and, from the AS

dence which the surface presented when first examined, I pea

the opinion that this limb was chelate. In removing the i

stone so as to expose the left lobe of the hypostoma, and also =.

tablish the articulation of the claws, an accidental stroke ga pa

the evidence of this direct connection, yet at the fracture a

of two broken claws can yet be seen. At first I bee oy

to regard the distal extremity of this pair as chelate. ened i

tempting to remove the limestone, the surface clearly sf pr

conjunction of these parts. This condition could gcse peng

counted for by supposing one limb to have been SHIOR =i

another. It was to clear up this-point that the ren

adhering material was made. If chelate, the claws

and of about equal size as in Limulus. As th

quently found in this limestone formation, It 1S to

these limbs will also be found, so as to definitely “these SUP

On fitting the two specimens together, the ends of the ,

claws are seen at the fracture directly beneath

Saga ie ae eee ol

developed walking legs, extending near!

the carapace. The exoskeleton of the limbs seems =

somewhat different in character from the calcare f suc

of the dorsal surface of the animal. At least, it was Xe nem

acter as not to preserve well the integrity of the ftand ]

cess of fossilization. They could not have been so

XXVI.

PLATE

E O OS F OVN A E T EEA N REE ee EEN

1883. | Geology and Paleontology. 1277

judging from the symmetry of the matrices of the meropodites,

_ as well as from the general cylindrical character of limbs them-

selves.

On the ventral surface of the pygidium there are at least twelve

(pairs of) appendages ; posteriorly, an exact enumeration is im-

possible. The term pairs is used on account of the median groove,

showing in the structures a bilobed character. This groove is

continuous with the thoracic groove, and is somewhat narrower

and more shallow than the latter. From an examination of the

two specimens, these twelve or more appendages appear to be

leaf-like, or foliaceous, and on each side of the median groove the

direction was outward and somewhat forward, No doubt these

appendages were branchial in function, and also adapted to swim-

ming,

EXPLANATION OF PLATES XXVI AND XXVII.

Fic. 1.—Natural size. aa, meropodites of anterior pair of appendages—maxilli-

pedes ; 44, eighth pair of (thoracic) legs; c, articulation between carpopodite and

Propodite ; d, articulation between propodite and dactylopodite; e, branchigerous

organs beneat idi

IG. 2.—The specimens 1 and 3 fitted together, and reduced to nearly one-third

nat. size,

Fic. 3.—a a, matrices of meropodites of anterior pair of appendages; 6 4, ma-

trices of eighth pair of legs; c, branchigerous appendages; æg, left maxillipede,

Probably chelate; e, left lobe of hypostoma.

—F. Mickleborough, Fourn. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist.

Grotocicat Nores. — Triassic and Permian, — Among new

Stegocephali lately described by Herr Credner from the Dyas of

axony, are Acanthostoma vorax, Melanerpeton spiniceps, and Dis-

cosaurus permianus. The last is remarkable for the round disk-

like plates, built up of concentric rings, that cover its body.

Cretaccous—M. L. Dollo (Bull. du Mus. Roy. d’Hist. Nat.

Belg.) describes some remains of dinosaurs from the Upper Cre-

taceous of Belgium. Two vertebræ from the Mæstricht beds

may perhaps belong to the form described from the same beds

by Professor Seeley. An ungual phalanx from Louzee is evi-

dently that of a carnivorous dinosaur of about half the size of

_ S10n and other details of form, as well as in the fineness of the

_ prations, are ascribed to a new genus and species, and named

— byM. Dollo Craspedodon louzeensts.

Tertiary —In a recent issue of the Geological Magazine, Pro-

““Ssor Owen gives a basal view of the skull of Thylacoleo, show-

ing Clearly the very small size of the space for the cranial cavity

: € expansion and strength of the zygomatic arches.

1278 General Notes. [ December,

MINERALOGY' . Bes

MINERALS OF THE CRYOLITE GROUP FROM CoLoRADO.— W,

Cross and W. F. Hillebrand? who have previously described

a number of interesting species from the vicinity of Pike's `

Peak, have identified cryolite and several allied fluorides

from the same region, and have given a very exhaustive ac-

count of their method of occurrence, physical and crystallo-

graphic characters, and chemical relations. Cryolite occurs in

massive aggregates of crystalline individuals, and when fresh has

zone of purple or green fluorite, and next to this

veins of Altenberg, Saxony. Prosopite was also

crystals upon altered pachnolite in the quar a

The identification of this rare species is of much interest

authors deserve much credit for the care and skill ib POS

have applied to the study of the minerals in the nega?

Pike’s Peak. lon

Tue Uranium Minerarts—Heinrich Baron von F on

published* an exhaustive paper on the decomposition teu

uraninite, and on the chemical separation of ura a sions:

and other substances, and comes to some important COR aa

interest to mineralogists. The uranium minerals € a

1 Edited by Professor H. CARVILL Lewis, Academy of Natural SE a

delphia, to whom communications, papers for review, etc., should be se

3 Amer, Jour. Sc., Oct., 1883.

3 Zeits. f. Kryst., VIL n :

4 Jahibuch d, K, K, Geolog. Reichsanstalt, 1883, B. XXXII, Pp Fr

1883. ] Mineralogy. 1279

from both European and American localities, special attention,

however, being given to the gummite and associated minerals

from North Carolina. After a discussion of the various analyses

made by different chemists, and an examination of the homo-

gummite, not entitled to distinctive names, and that uranotil is

identical with uranophane, and should therefore be dropped as a

mineral species.

Both gummite and uranophane result from the alteration of

uraninite (pechurane), and therefore very properly follow that spe-

cies in the classification of some authors.

MINERALS FROM LEHIGH AND Berks counties, Pa. —E. F.

Smith and D. B. Brunner! contribute a series of analyses of min-

erals which occur in Lehigh and Berks counties, Penna., and de-

scribe a nmber of new localities.

are given,

Other minerals from Lehigh county are s¢/bite, pyrolusite and

chlvropal, the latter being a soft yellowish green substance accom-

es iron ore. The mineral is earthy and may be polished by

ion.

In Berks county, new localities and analyses are given for stil-

bite, der weylite, vesuvianite, titanite and bructte. Vesuvianite and

brucite were found at the now well-known mineral locality of

Fritz island, near Reading. The latter mineral forms thin color-

_ Tess laminz in seams intersecting limestone.

_ Miveratocicat Notes.—In the death of Professor J. Lawrence

Smith, at Louisville, Ky., on October 12, American mineralogy

loses one of its most eminent masters. His memoirs on corun-

‘um and emery, and his numerous physical and chemical investi-

gations on meteorites, together with his many contributions to

hemical mineralogy, have made his name well known to scientific

1 Amer. Chem, Journ., Sept., 1883-

1280 General Notes. [December,

men all over the world. In 1877 he described under the name of

rogersite a mineral resulting from the alteration of samarski

In the same year Daubrée, of Paris, named after him the mineral

Lawrencite, a protochloride of iron first detected by Dr. Smith in

meteorites. Dr, Smith has published in book form a collection

of his memoirs of especial interest to mineralogists. He was one

of the few American members of the Academy of Sciences of

aris——-At the American exhibition recently held in Boston,

several States exhibited collections of minerals. North Carolina

was especially well represented, making a large exhibit of beauti-

ful and often rare species. Among the most noteworthy minerals

were the following: Gummite in a mass weighing six and a half

pounds; wraninite in masses of several pounds weight; crystals

of monazite, fergusonite and xenotime ; large masses of allamite

and samarskite, one specimen of the latter weighing five pounds;

crystals of emerald over five inches long; brilliant prisms and

geniculations of rutile; quartz showing basal and other rare

planes ; beautiful crystals of spodumene, beryl, etc. ——The ny

mineral %örnesite, a hydrous arseniate of magnesia, has probably

been identified by M. E. Bertrand accompanying nagyagite from

Nagyag, Trannsylvania. ‘The crystals of hornesite are of a pale

rose color, have a talcose cleavage and are quite soft.—_— C! al

ing to the newspapers, “Missouri is said to have a new np the

adamscolite, that cuts steel.” ——What was probably one o a

richest finds of gold ever made in this country at one time, W

discovered recently in Amador county, Cal., according to a Ps

published there, which says a pocket of quartz, found less a

100 feet below the surface, and containing about es yen Am

quantity, yielded from $75,000 to $100,000. . en ake

quartz, it is represented, consisted of what were virtually kren

of gold——Tin ore is reported to occur in Ro k ee

Virginia. A vein of cassiterite, several inches in thic se ee

nearly east and west through a gneiss containing large YS" 1

feldspar with mica and quartz. :

BOTANY.’

A ‘new Species or Insecr-pestrovinc Fungus (see

Nar., Vol. xv, p. ewe

Entomopthora calopteni, n. sp——I. Empusa pe = pressure —

II. Tarichium stage: Odspores globular, or from fy.

somewhat irregular in outline, colorless, 36 to 39” ee often

walls thick (4.), colorless, smooth ; protoplasm ae ‘ound

vacuole, nat ek ee

Occurring as a clay-colored mass in the body ay Cot, 1885 :

ora of Caloptenus differentialis, Ames. lowa, ae rst Report

This is much like the species described by tec ar z

1 Edited by Pror. C, E, Bessey, Ames, Iowa.

;

TP eee

1883. | Botany. 1281

N. Y. State Museum, p. 44) as infesting the seventeen-year

Cicada, but the odspores in the latter are much smaller, being

but 1.6 to 2u., and in one case 3.8 to 54. The same fungus was

described briefly by Leidy (Smithsonian Contrib., Vol. v, Art. 2,

1851), who gave the size of the spores as y to 18s. long by 7 to

114, wide. The great difference in size between the spores in the

species infesting Caloptenus and those in Cicada shows them to

be distinct.—C. Æ. Bessey.

NOTES ON GYMNOSPORANGIUM AND RÆŒSTELIA.—In my orchard

is a row of red cedars ( Juniperus virginiana) running east and

west. At a distance of sixteen feet north of this row of cedars

is a row of apple trees, and at distances of sixteen and thirty-two

feet on the south side of the cedars are also rows of apple trees.

Mens of Reestelia. From the above statement it will be seen

that ali the apple trees, even those standing at the same dis-

tance from the cedars, are not equally affected, and it is to be

which do not flourish in this locality, among which notably are

the Baldwin and English Russett. This seems to indicate that an

enfeebled condition of growth in a tree, renders such a tree —

lable to the attacks of the parasitic fungi mentioned, and eee ae

ave a direct bearing on the artificial culture of Reestelia, for al-

1282 General Notes. [ December, :

suspect this the more from having the past winter raised some

seedling apple trees in a flower pot in the house, and from my

utter failure to produce even spermogonia on these seedlings,

although at the proper time last spring I placed fresh spores of

Gymnosporangium on their leaves. In order to test this matter

more fully I have saved seeds from apples grown on the Baldwin,

which, as stated, was badly affected with Reestelia, and from

apples grown on a tree next to it which was unaffected with

Reestelia, in order to ascertain, if possible, whether the seedlings

from these two trees will show any difference in their susceptibil-

ity to receive the inoculation of the Gymnosporangium spores.—

J.B. Ellis, Newfield, N. J., Oct., 1883.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE CELL-WALL IN THE COTYLEDONARY

STARCH-CELLS OF THE Lima Bean.—Several years since, while

studying in the microscopical laboratory of the University at

Lewisburg, Pa., I undertook a thorough study of the seed of the ;

Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus). Among other things of interest

I noticed a peculiarity in the structure of the walls of the cotyle-

donary starch-cells such as I have never seen noted in any wor

on structural botany, The following is an abstract from my

notes :

If the contents of the large cells (starch-cells of cotyledon), or

any except the procambium and epidermal cells, be removed,

end of the cell presents a very peculiar appearance (taken in very

thin section from alcohol eighty per cent menstruum). :

It seems to be perforated with holes (Fig. B), often so ee a

ous and large as to give to the wall the appearance of nee

or delicate net-work. The cause of this phenomenon for a long

time eluded discovery. The transverse section 0

Bi a rd

f the cell-wall

foration, and no very

distinguished, is seen to vary very much in thickness at oe

points, closely resembling a string of beads considerably sefy :

rated from each other; also where the middle lamella 1S a por- :

the outer lamellæ become thinner (Fig. C). Now the Bae :

tion of the wall contains more moisture than the outer i@° a

m them; !

ons of thic

peculiar

on of

spaces which were quite large. woe

The observations were made with a Beck’s “ Na Vs

objective ; B eye-piece, with the tube of the micros!

1883 ] Botany.

SRE LAC Yes

SSP SS :

ee os

> r ORNO

= =

MRA

‘Opes

Se aS

IRIG. A. :

from which ee cotyledonary cell containing starch and aleurone. Fic. B.—A cell

cellewall at e starch and aleurone have been removed, showing the appearance of

tion, (AI en seen in front view. Fic. C.—Structure of the wall in transverse sec-

the figures inuch magnified.)

and r i gis ú

equired most favorable position—Wm. Frear, Washington,

Froripa Funcor. 1—Aylographum quercinum E. & M.

urface of the leaf, flattened,

New

Perithecia scattered over the upper s

€ar, often branched, opening by a longitudinal fissure along

d with a fringe of brown,

8-204., ab-

rowded,

On leaves of Quercus virens.

ali l l — Sessile, gelatinous, hy-

"a To a tinge of rose color, ymn diam., convex, immarginate ;

with obovate, 35-40 x 15-20#.; paraphyses recurved and bert

vith a small knob-like swelling at the tip; sporidia 2-3 seriate,

1284 General Notes. [ December,

fusiform, subhyaline; endochrome three times divided, 12-16 x

3-3'%4., much as in H. castaneum S. & E. On living leaves of

Persea palustris, on patches of sterile mycelium of some Meliola.

Helotium maculosum E. & M.—Orbicular sessile, 3™ diam.,

plane or convex when fresh, concave when dry, disk dull, dirty

flesh-color, darker outside with a few brown bristle-like, faintly-

septate hairs arising from near the base; asci oblong-clavate, 55

x {2.; paraphyses rather stout; sporidia biseriate, broad fusi-

form, endochrome three times divided, 16-20 x 4-5». Differs

from H. castaneum S. & E., in its duller color, bristle-like hairs i

and larger, 3-septate sporidia. On pale brown spots on living

leaves of Persea palustris.

Meliola manca E. & M.—Mostly epiphyllous in small (1-2™)

suborbicular patches thickly scattered over the leaf and often sub-

confluent. Prostrate hyphæ with opposite branches and short,

obovate, alternate, obtuse branchlets (haustoria ?); erect hyphæ

(bristles) none; perithecia subglobose, about 200. diam., collaps-

ing, papillose, appendages none; asci ovate-oblong, mostly w

spored; sporidia oblong-cylindrical, brown, 3-septate, constricted

at the septa, slightly curved and a little flattened, 35-43 X 12-15%

On living leaves of Myrica cerifera. |

Meliola cryptocarpa E. & M.— Mostly epiphyllous, ees

small (2-4"") patches thickly scattered over the leaf and rat

confluent. Prostrate hyphæ pale brownish, irregularly branche

and septate, bearing numerous oblong-fusiform, pale brown, 34 :

Oe a Seago seat Ro cae ss

septate conidia, 30-40 x 5-9%., obtuse or acute above and ea :

tracted below into a short stipe; erect bristles, abundant, ee a

multiseptate, black, tips entire and paler; perithecia not al E

dant, often sterile, small, collapsing, surround

rowly elliptical, crowded, brown, 3-5 septate, 30-5 |

sporidia. On leaves of Gordonia lasianthus. Bee

Asterina delitescens E. & M.—Mycelium thin,black, oP ine

leaves of Persea palustris. ‘pelliculesa

Outwardly this has much the same appearance as ee brown,

Berk., but the specc. in Rav. F. Am., No. 75, have eft”

strongly constricted sporidia 35 x 19%. (

Syll.), and the mycelium is of a different character. oie

Kalch. & Cke., has the perithecia on small brown spores,

Asterina carnea E. & M.—Hypophyllous

1883. | Botany. 1285

brown, subcrustose mycelium composed of closely appressed,

subanastomosing brown hyphe extending for the most part along

the margin of the leaf or forming orbicular patches about 1⁄4%

diam., on which are seated the crowded, small (55-75.) sub-

globose (astomous ?) perithecia which are flesh-colored under the

pocket lens and bright straw color under a higher power, and

contain 4-8 obovate sessile asci 30-40 x 22-354., with eight,

ovate 2-celled sporidia 16-17 x 7-8. almost exactly like those

of the preceding species, having the endochrome divided into two

distinct parts separated and surrounded by a hyaline border. On

living leaves of Persea palustris —F. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. F., and

Dr. Geo. Martin.

BoranicaL Nores.—In the October Overland Monthly, Dr.

Parry contributes an interesting article upon “ Early Botanical

laure, Russula incarnata, Marasmius fagineus and M. capillarus.

Excellent lithographs are given of the first and second.——Fas-

cicle vr of Van Heurck’s Synopsis des Diatomées de Belgique has

lately been received. It completes the plates, which are now to

be followed by a volume of text. There are 132 plates.

Henry Brooks, of Boston, has prepared sets of sections of woods

arranged for instruction in schools. The sections are about 2x4

inches, and are neatly mounted between plates of mica. Three

_ Sections (one cross and two longitudinal) are given for each kind

of wood, and these are thin enough to make their study w th the

Naked eye, or with a low power, very easy and instructive. It is

to be hoped that many schools will supply themselves with these

sets,

1286 General Notes. [December,

ENTOMOLOGY!

Aw Epipemic DISEASE OF CALOPTENUS DIFFERENTIALIS?—Oa

Aug. 26th of the present year I noticed numbers of this com-

mon locust hanging to the upper portions of various weeds in

the attitude of life, but with their bodies falling to pieces and ap-

pearing in some cases as if they had been eaten into by birds.

A hasty examination of the bodies showed that the soft parts

were entirely destroyed, but the body more or less filled witha

pulverulent clay-colored mass. Suspecting some parasitic dis-

ease, I collected a number of specimens, and the following day

made a microscopic examination of the body contents. This

showed the substance to be composed of minute spherical bodies

massed together in immense numbers, which were evidently one

stage of some parasitic plant, and, as such, specimens were referred

to Professor Bessey, who pronounced them Entomophthora of a

species hitherto unknown. He has kindly described the species

under the name Entomophthora calopteni, and his description will

appear in this number of the NATURALIST. Bie

Subsequent observation showed the epidemic to be quite wide-

spread in this locality, but especially prevalent in the low land

adjoining a creek which runs about a mile east of the college.

wo or three weeks after first noticing them I could fin

scarcely a living specimen of this species of locust in that local-

ity, though in the college garden they were still plenty, and most

of them apparently quite healthy. :

Although the species of locust named is the one which “E

particularly affected, I have found Caloptenus femur-rubrum a

dently attacked by the same disease, but no mucroscopic exam

nation of the body contents was made. akak

The early stages of the disease have not been noted ”

tainty as yet, and so far as I can judge they are not marke spe

it be by a sluggishness of the insect. The locusts gee of

riably to climb to the upper portion of some tall weed ee fant

grass. They fix themselves firmly by legs and claws to k pe

so that they remain after death until broken to pieces, WAER-

fall away part by part.

n Ao a ate noted, which were apparently > pe

dead, the body contained a blackish fluid substance, but pa

very quickly be replaced, if it always occurs, by the m

is mass, however, remains moist for some days, :

kept in a dry place, becomes entirely hard, the oospor

ing their globular form and original size unaltered. Bega ay 3

ur knowledge of this parasite is still too prays pvt

positive conclusions concerning its economic ga ’ Jestructive

whether it can be controlled and used against su

1 This department is edited by Pror. C. V. RILEY, Washington, D. &

communications, books for notice, etc., should be sent. 38

2 Read before the Iowa Academy of Science, Sept. 27, 1993-

but finally, if i

C., to whom

1833. ] Entomology. 1287

insects as the different species of locust; points which will be of

special interest in case of another invasion of the Rocky Moun-

tain locust, though certain species of our native locusts are prob-

ably no less important economically if their abundance and con-

stant work be taken into consideration.

The odspores could easily be distributed in localities where the

disease occurs, and thus the disease could doubtless be introduced

in localities not previously infected, and once introduced it would,

like other epidemic diseases, under roper conditions propagate

itself. Further study is necessary to establish these points and

to determine what methods, if any, are to be adopted for the cul-

tivation of the disease.-— Herbert Osborn, Agricultural College,

Ames, Towa.

locust the body of this last contains chiefly the decomposing

“blackish fluid” alluded to, and this doubtless offers an inviting

nidus to the spores of the Entomophthora. The general appear-

ance of the pulverulent mass of spores is very similar to that of

assospora cicadina Peck, affecting Cicada when debilitated (31st

Rep. N. Y. St, Mus. Nat. Hist., p. 44, 1879)—C. V. R.

Occurrence or A STRATIOMYS LARVA IN SEA-WATER.—I send

herewith rough sketches of a salt-water grub found by me on the

28th of July, beneath a bundle of sea-wrack or Zostera—popu-

arly known as eel-grass—on the sea-beach at the north end of

Plum island, near the mouth of the Merrimac river. I never saw ,

4 grub that could stand the washings of the sea before, and I om

Surprised by its habitat as well as its size. I picked up er -

stass and the grub, and kept it in a box alive for three ide

when a child got the box and I lost the prize. I believe it =

attained its growth, and I regretted that its transtorna da

not be witnessed, Fortunately, fearing, lest the grub ro iS-

îppoint me, I measured and sketched the maggot, heir ce

black and white. The head was not larger than the end ot a

cambric needle. —A. W. Pearson, idepe gs

€ sketch is evidently that of the larva of a

anys, a fly typical of the diperas family Stratiomy idee. bone cd

the first time the larva has occurred in sea-water, SO tar

oe aware. Similar larve have occurred in a hot aTe we

Mdo (American NATURALIST, XVI, p. 599), also in DO ,

1288 General Notes, [December,

California (American Journal of Science, Feb., 1871, p. 102),—

ATF]

_ SOME RECENT DISCOVERIES IN REFERENCE TO PHYLLOXERA!—

Every new fact in the life-history of the insects of this genus has

an exceptional interest because of its bearing on the destructive

grape-vine Phylloxera. The genus is most largely represented

in this country by a number of gall-making species on our differ-

ent hickories, and the full annual life-cycle of none of them has

hitherto been traced. The galls are produced, for the most part,

in early spring; the winged females issue therefrom in early sum-

mer; and thenceforth, for the remainder of the year, the where-

abouts of the insect has been a mystery. The author has for

several years endeavored to solve the mystery, and at last the

stem-mother (the founder of the gall), the winged agamic females

(issue of the stem-mother), the eggs (of two sizes) from these

winged females, the sexed individuals from these eggs, and the

single impregnated egg from the true female, have been traced in

several species. There is some evidence, though not yet abso-

lutely conclusive, that this impregnated egg hatches exception-

ally the same season; also, of a summer, root-inhabiting life. In

Phylloxera spinosa, which forms a large roseate somewhat spinose

gall on Carya alba, and which has been most closely studied, the

impregnated egg is laid in all sorts of crevices upon the ve

and bark and in the old galls, in which last case they fall to the

ground. “Il aal

Up to this time they have remained unhatched, and wil ko

probability not hatch till next spring, thus corresponding to Ms

“winter egg” of the grape Phylloxera.

COLEOPTERA INFESTING Prickty Asu.—In his “ Notes ele

sects bred from Prickly Ash” (Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., es oe

Dr. Shimer states that “ among the Coleoptera obtained by wE

ing the prickiy ash bushes, I observe numerous SPPN Tn

small gray snout-beetle, an undescribed species of Cen fog

The species referred to is undoubtedly Zygobaris consper a

scribed by Dr, Le Conte in the Rhynchophora of N. A, P PA

and the seven typical specimens were in all probability

Dr. Le Conte by Shimer, and not, as stated (/. ¢.), by ion, but by

conspersa is, in my experience, peculiar to Xanthoxy my ileg

no means occurs wherever this tree occurs. I have n abe ae.

to find the earlier states of the species, but I have ea p 1 ¥

the small elongated scars occasionally to be seen on 4 by Ame

branches and which resemble those so frequently eee =

peloglypter on Ampelopsis, are the work of the Le with

f the other species mentioned by Shimer 1n peer d to that

prickly ash, only Micracis suturalis seems to be con wood ofall

tree. “His Liopus xanthoxyli bores in dead and dying WOW”

fore the A. A. A. 5. at Ma

1 Abstract of a paper by C. V, Riley, read be

__ “alls for identification of the same. There cannot be muc

Slender twig to which it intends to fasten i

A N

Country Gentleman, October 4, 1883, describes a slug-worm toun

an advance copy of his first report (for the-

1883.] Entomology. 1289

sorts of deciduous trees, and the two other species, Lemophieus

adustus and Sacium fasciatum, are also not confined to Xanthox-

The worst enemies of the tree are Trirhabda tomentosa and the

larva of Papilio cresphontes which, usually working in company,

not unfrequently defoliate large groves.—&. A. Schwarz.

Tue Growru oF Insect Eoos.—Dr. J. A. Osborne, of Milford,

Eng., has an interesting article (Hardwicke’s Science Gossip, Oct.,

1883, p. 225) on growth in the eggs of insects. He attributes it

solely to moisture. The most remarkable instance we know of

is that of the eggs of our katydids, especially of Phaneroptera

curvicauda (see 6th Mo. Ent. Rep., p. 165). Here the egg re-

mains so flat between the cuticles of the edge of a dried leaf that

it produces no swelling ; yet before hatching it becomes cylindri-

cal,even where the dry leaf is sheltered from dews and rains.

Egg growth is usually great in proportion as the shell is delicate,

and can generally be explained by endosmosis of moisture sur-

rounding it; but here the shell is tough and can get no moisture

beyond what is in the atmosphere, and there would seem to be an

inherent swelling power consectaneous with embryological devel-

opment.— C. V. R.

PROTECTIVE DEVICE EMPLOYED BY A GLAUCOPID CATERPILLAR.—

of utilizing its hair for the protection of the chrysalis is that em-

ployed by the larva of EZunomia eagrus, as described and figured

y Dr. Fritz Müller, in Kosmos, Vol. vi, p: 449- Around the

its chrysalis, the larva

constructs from its hairs, before and behind itself, a series of

Saw-FLY Larvae on THE QuinceE—Mr. J. A. Lintner, p af

sac"

: the species is the common Selandria ( Eriocampa) cerast 0}

Peck, pele to occur on apple, pear and cherry ; most

all insects that attack the pear will also attack the quince.

has favored us with

year 1881) as State

a correspondent injuring the leaves of his quince trees,

_ ENTomorocy in New York.—Mr. Lintner

1290 General Notes. | [Decak

entomologist of New York, and we have had much pleasure in

its perusal. It is one of the best entomological reports published

in this country. There is much to commend, not only in the

matter itself and the great care with which every opinion given

has been considered, but also in the scarcely less important de-

tails of arrangement of material; in the completeness of the

index and table of contents; in the excellent little bibliographical

lists accompanying the consideration of each species, and in many

other minor points.

The report opens with a forcible plea for entomological study,

and this is followed by a summary of the progress made in eco-

nomic entomology in the last twenty years, embracing a short

account of the personal werk of each of the leading entomolo-

gists, and reference to the chief entomographic collections. Fifty

pages are then devoted to a consideration of the most prominent

remedies and preventives against injurious species. This part of

the work is in the nature of compilation, with little that ts based

on the author’s experience or experiment, but it 1s admirably

done, and will prove most useful to those for whom it 1s more par-

ticularly intended. After a few pages on classification, the con-

sideration of specific insects begins. : `

"he injurious insects treated of comprise, in the main, those

Species which have lately been prominent in the State of New

ork. They are grouped into their respective orders, and areas

LEPIDOPTERA. —Thyridopteryx ephemeraformis, Tolype laricis, Be sei yoy x

Gortyna nitela, Heliothis armiger, Crambus vulgivagellus, or s EXSUCCUMS

sia lineatella, Bucculatrix pomifoliella, and Coleophora mativorella. ae

- DIPTERA.— Phorbia ceparum, Ph. cilicrura, Anthomyia brassica, A. "Drosophila ‘

raphani, A. zee, A. similis, Hylemyia deceptiva, Mallota posticata,

ampelophila, Meromyza americana,

COLEOPTERA.—Macrodactylus subspinosus,

Sphenophorus sculptilis. : rinotata.

HEMIPTERA.— Murgantia histrionica, Pecilocapsus lineatus, Enchenopa TE

These articles contain much original and valuable g e :

previous writings are used with discrimination and p p givesa.

The report closes with four appendices. Appen tae COS,

digest list of the entomological papers of Dr. Fitch e the State.

of his entomological works, chiefly in connection WIN <. apple

; : ; s s Sete the

Appendix B includes a list of 176 insects inn pore

Crioceris asparagi, Phytonomus — a

sp., N. petronius, n. sp., N. somnus, n. sp, Eudamus Ta 5

notes upon N. propertius, N. icelus, Eu, proteus an

and also a short paper on the Life Duration of the

D, miscellaneous addenda. A and B are most

worthy ; C, while valuable, is not so germane, being

sible to entomologists, for whom alone it

ane aS Insects of the

First annual report on the Injurious and other In (Issued Oct.,

By J. A. Lintner, State entomologist. Albany, 1882.

1883.] Entomology, 1291

Altogether the report shows such care, ability and conscien-

tiousness, that the people of New York are to be congratulated

on having so worthy a successor to Fitch.

The illustrations are from various sources, and for the most

part duly credited; a few are original. The press-work and paper,

while by no means first-class, are rather above the average for

State documents.

Fruit Insects IN CartForntA—lIn “Injurious Insects of the

Orchard, Vineyard, etc.” Mr. Matthew Cooke has given Califor-

nians a very serviceable little book Between two and three hun-

dred species of injurious insects are considered, and, although the

work is in part a compilation, many of the author’s own observa-

tions in the matter of remedies are given. By means of an exten-

sive correspondence with entomologists at the East, Mr. Cooke

reduced scientific errors toa minimum. The work is very

copiously illustrated, containing 750 wood-cuts. As an economy

ol space the remedies—124 in all—are grouped at the end of the

Work, and referred to by number at the close of the consideration

_ Of each species. The book is another evidence of the newly-

awakened interest in economic entomology on the Pacific slope.

_ With the push and energy which characterize Californians, Mr.

_ Cooke, seeing the need of such a work, has thrown it together in

an amazingly short time, and disarms all serious criticism by dis-

_ claiming in the preface any pretension to science, and by showing

_ that he was led to the study of insects by his business of manu-

Cturing fruit-boxes.

Deatu or Dr. J. L. LeConre—Just as we go to press we

rn with profound sorrow of the death of this distinguished

coleopterist. The loss of no other individual could be felt more

fenly by the entomologists of America. As a writer he had

a on the esteem of all, and his family has our sincerest sym-

pathy, Sas

| _ Eytomorocicat. Notes—Dr. Hagen publishes in connection

Zeit., 1883, 285-332), an interesting review of the history of the

American Agriculturist, that Macrodactylus subspinosus esi

ay á , House-

hog ations Insects of the Orchard, Vineyard, Field, Darai Lge bla SOG By

Mani, Storehouse, Domestic Animals, etc., wit “re California. cramento

or Cooke, late chief executive horticultural officer 0 ;

VOL. xvn.—wo. x11, 85

1292 General Notes. [December,

preeminence in this inviting field of research. He wrote much

for some of the leading natural history periodicals, and his two

- chief works are “ Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insecten”

and ‘Alpenblumen; ihre Befruchtung durch Insecten.”——At |

the meeting of the Academy of Science of Paris, September 17,

M. J. Chatain gave a description of the olfactory organs which

are found on the antennz of Vanessa io, The imports of raw

silk at the ports of New York and San Francisco for the month

of October, 1883, reached 2783 bales = $1,726,741. The imports

of waste silk and pierced cocoons at same ports, amounted to 50

pkgs. = $14,282. oe

Economic Nores.—It seems that the Treaty of Berne, to which

most of the European countries have assented and which pre-

scribes certain regulations as to the transit of plants with a view

of preventing the introduction of the grape Phyl

species heretofore described, is furcate and pours Virgi

to a relationship, and connecting the simple-stal

with the sea-fans or Gorgonacea. habits of

he paper also treats of the structure and col the

forms, and gives a new habitat, the codfishing banks: :

1 Description of a new genus and species of Alcyonoid polyp :

G ee remarks on tik vernctes and habits of related forms, Eka

. Stearns, pp. 96-101. Sih

Also read at the Montreal meeting of the Am. Assoc. Ady. Sciences

oot Set eee Sa EET

Wi ee eee ee

eee ae eee et ee ee

Ty a> cle ae en eee

psy, Cle ag ae a, Sl op Sree pe i Og SS ol i ee ie a A

ert ee

188 3] Zoölogy. 1203

magin islands, Alaska, for the gigantic Virgularian, Haliptera

blakei, previously described by the author.

Our FRESH-WATER SponcEs.—It is just twenty years since the

first extended synopsis of the fresh-water sponges was published

by Dr. Bowerbank (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Nov. 24, 1863) in-

cluding descriptions of twenty-one species. In 1842, twenty-one

years before, Dr. Johnston’s “ History of British Sponges, &c.”

described but two fresh-water forms under the names of Spon-

gilla lacustris and Spongilla fluviatilis. These names had then

long been applied to two supposable species, though no better

line of distinction had been drawn between them than the differ-

ing localities in which they were believed to be generally found.

In Johnston’s work also the descriptions fail clearly to distinguish

the species, and his illustrative figures appear to have both been

taken from specimens of Spongilla lacusiris. Three years earlier,

however (1839), Meyen had pointed out an essential difference be-

tween them, independent of their locality and general form; and

it is a curious fact that the name S, /acustris was finally attached

to the sponge which, in this country at least, affects rapidly flow-

ing streams, and S. fluviatilis to the one which prefers the still

studied by H. J. Carter, Esq., F.R.S., among the other representa-

tives of this growing family, became the basis of a new classifica-

tion by the latter (“ History and Classification of the known spe-

cies of Spongilla,” Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist, Feb., 1881) ; and

this excellent monograph, covering about thirty recognized spe-

cies, stands as our latest authority on the subject.

_ The labors of a few workers during the last four years have

added two well marked genera and a dozen or more American

Species to this list, and commenced the accumulation of a mass

of information as to their habits and distribution, that can hardly

fail to prove of value.

However meager may be the number of species in European

and other foreign waters, it is plain that in America these sponges

€xist in many varied forms which should be classified and de-

scribed. The circular somewhat widely distributed during the

Past summer with a view to invite contributions of sponges from

localities which the writer could not personally visit, has been,

thus far, quite disappointing in its results. Some contributions,

however, have been received from those zealous workers, Mr.

= forthe size and symmetry of its specimens, yet noticed. Some

Of the streams in the New England and Middle States have been

1294 General Notes. [December, —

peeped into, but the waters of the South are yet unexplored,

while those of the West are but meagerly represented, 5

A few suggestions, growing out of the experience of the writer

during the past three or four years, may be useful in promoting —

further effort. Pil).

As a rule, though as usual with some exceptions, fresh-water —

sponges growing exposed to the light are green, from the inclusion —

of chlorophyl granules; but @// sponges do not habitually ex-

pose themselves to the light, and the collector who merely gathers —

what may be seen as his boat glides over them, or as he walks —

along the bank of stream or pond, will miss some of the most —

interesting forms. Again, the size of a mass of sponge depends,

other things being equal, upon the length of time it has colo-

nized, so to speak, the particular location upon which it is found. :

It is believed, from the writer's observation, that the contents of

a single statoblast will rarely develop in one year into a sponge

of a size likely to attract attention, and at the end of the season —

it dies, the sarcode slime disappears, and in many, perhaps most

cases, the majority of its skeleton spicules are washed away. Be- :

fore dying, however, there will have been formed, within oa

meshes, from one to a dozen or more reproductive ies—the

statoblasts or winter eggs of the sponge—of which number We

may presume that an average of half a dozen may witi wna

chances of the following winter, and, germinating in the sprog,

their contents coalescing, will reclothe with a growth of aa

the persistent spicules, and form others, so that the resultant we

will, at the end of the second year, be at least six pe ee

as its ancestor of the year before. Increasing year a dis

something like this ratio, a few seasons coman E

turbed growth, will give us a sponge several inch pper T

which hay be the product of hundreds or thousands of stato-

blasts. Bait’ timited

In this part of the country, so far as observed in the eee

i i ikely to be foune ‘

experience of the writer, the only sponges likely to of the two

large dimensions, are the American representatives o

original European species, now known as Spongilla

and Meyenia fuviatilss, and the equally widely distri

to rejoice in the full sunlight. or ee

from its general form, or from surface indications

1883.] Zoölogy. 1205

do to guess that a strongly-growing specimen with clearly self-

sustained branches, belongs to the very variable species S. Zacus-

trioides. If statoblasts are few or apparently wanting, the proba-

bilities are increased. As between M. fluviatilis and S. fragilis,

the statoblasts of the former, when present, are pretty evenly dis-

tributed through the interspaces of the skeleton spicules, while in

the latter they occupy, primarily, a close pavement layer upon the

Supporting surface; and in other positions are generally grouped,

three, four or more together, in a common envelope.

Other species are occasionally found of a more or less massive

character, but the majority are filmy or encrusting, rarely exceed-

ing a few lines in thickness, though sometimes extended over

several square feet of surface. During the summer season their

appearance is that of more or less slimy growths in their favorite

localities upon the under, sometimes the upper side of stones,

roots or rotten timbers, or on Sphagnum or other water plants.

They have little color and generally bristle with minute spi-

cules. By the latter part of September and later, the sarcode

of many of these colonies and often a large portion of their

skeleton framework, will have disappeared, leaving only detached

groups of minute statoblasts adherent to the supporting sub-

Stance, biding their time for a new growth the coming season.

he successes of the writer have been largely found in his explo-

rations of such localities, and in the collection and examination

this class of material. From a boat or while wading with rub-

served in alcohol or allowed to dry thoroughly, otherwise they

Will soon mold

May be briefly stated: “ Place a few of the statoblasts upon the

am and a cover-glass. If the statoblasts now contain bubbles

these may generally be driven out by careful peas

me of the most interesting and characteristic features o

Me spoage will be disclosed. A few of the characteristic forms 0

1296 General Notes. [Decem shies

spicules, &c., of American sponges, are’ shown in the following

cut:

Expchhati ION OF Foti

The accompanying figures are drawn from nature by the aid of the amer lucid

and represent the relative sizes and shapes of /ike parts of severa al sponge

statosphere is magnified 3 p cing the spicules of the skeleton, marked a, 150 times,

all other figures 225 tim

. Carterius POPE tide tis of statosphere. (In the other genera these ca

bis sence we 4, dermal or flesh spicule; æ, birotulate spicule of outer í

of t

Parmu wia Bate skeleton ma a parmuliform spicule of statosphere.

2. :

3- Spong: ontan , Skeleton spic ;

4. y Pt diese Suviatilis— —ő, Skel spic ene d, biroi stat. spic. and - of rotule.

5. Tubella Pennsylvanica—a, skel. spic. ; ie inequibirotulate spic. wT

and disk.

6. Mois aieea skel. spic. ; æd, birotulate r spic. and disk,

7. Uruguaya corallioides—a, skel. spic

8. Spongilla lacustrivides—b, dermal spic. ; ; ¢, Stat, eit

11. Meyenia atl rie Ce birot. stat. spic.

ad veretti birot. stat. s wer

13. Heteromeyenia ar, ayrosperma—e. long, f, short, birot. stat. spic.

14. LHeteromeyenia Ryderi—e, long, f, short, birot. stat. spic.

—Edward Potts, 228 S. Third street, . z

a new H ‘

PYRGULA NeVADENsIS!—This is the name given takes in the

drobiinoid mollusk inhabiting Pape and Walker's

Sierra Nevada mountains, by the author. the ,

The species of Pyrgula Kertoi described, are me a

helvetica from Switzerland; P. bicarinata, France ;

from the Pyrenees, and P. andicola from the m

steropod from the mounts!

Sierra Nevada, va ae abcd species Ga the = moat

ssid reg e n, by Robert E, C. Stearns, in . Phil. Acad, Nat. ROT

71-17

1883.] Zeblogy. 1297

Its distribution hitherto, it will be seen, is Europe and South

America; inhabiting fresh waters in mountainous regions, and it

is interesting to notice that all the species of the genus as yet de-

scribed occur in mountainous districts, an instance of correlation

of form to external conditions.

Pyramid lake, although it receives the fresh water of the

Truckee river, the outlet of that gem of lakes, Tahoo, is very

strongly alkaline, and the water is not good for human use, al-

though it can be used fora short period without much incon-

venience,

The elevation of Pyramid lake is 4890 feet, and Walker’s lake

has an altitude of 3840 feet; the water is brackish.

These lakes are the remnants of the great Tertiary lake which

covered this general region, and are the pockets or deeper depres-

sions in the floor of the ancient lake.

Pyrgula nevadensis is a small shell, of five to six whorls, which

are traversed spirally by a single strong keel or carina. It is

white, smooth and glossy, and measures eighteen-hundredths of

an inch in length by about half as much in breadth. It occurs

also in a calcareous deposit with Pompholyx, another curious form,

as well as in the dredgings.

SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF LimuLus.—It has often been puzzling

to account for the fact that no cast-off shells of the Limulus,

young female are very abundant. During the past five years I

few

fe incorrect, as the living and dead males are often found, per-

aps quite as often as the grown females. | ci

uring the past sence in our shore trips from 2 T

Commission laboratory at Woods Holl, Mass., I collect "i rg

_ umber of cast-off shells of the Limulus, also a few small one

ale. (F ig. 1 B shows the well-known claw of the male, an

a Li .) ital y

. Upon further examination it was found that the geni T

'Ngs, located on the under side of first pair of abdominal appen:

1298 General Notes, | [December,

dages, are a sure distinguishing character of the sexes, even in —

{

Fic. 1.—A, female, and B corresponding male claw of Limulus.

the very youngest. (Fig. 2 A represents those of the female, and :

(

B those of the male, both natural size.

Fic. 2,—First Abdominal feet of male and female Limulus.

As here represented the openings of the beer er?

are transverse slits (Fig. 2 7), while the genital Open’

les

kept, seventeen were males and eighteen were females,

of foe possessed the modified claw of Fig. ! as there

essential difference in the hand and opposable thu

and female. i

These facts show that the male Limulus, while young,

sessing this character was found.

that large Limuli rarely, possibly never, shed, beca

those examined, there were no large ¢xuvia.

n the female

a 5

1883. | Zoölogy. 1299

Of the living and dead specimens examined, the females were

the largest, some measuring ten or twelve inches, and occasionally

even more, across the carapax, and the males eight to ten inches

in width. And the carapax of these large animals is usually

overgrown with alge and appear rusty and aged, while those of

the small and medium sized Limuli are bright and clean, appa-

rently kept so by their frequent shedding, but just how often this

takes place is not definitely known. Doubtless they shed several

times during the first year after hatching, for we have all stages,

from the egg up through the tailless forms to the perfectly-formed

Limulus, and all these certainly belong to the young of this year.

e increase in size at the time of shedding is remarkable.

At the laboratory of the U.S. Fish Commission, at Woods Holl,

Mass., during the summer of 1882, I found a small Limulus and

placed it in an aquarium, and the next day found that it had shed

during the night. It did not occur to me to make measurements

of the exuvia and young animal till after they had been placed in

alcohol, hence the results are not so reliable as some measure-

ments made of fresh specimens at ‘Woods Holl, this summer, by

Professor S, I. Smith.

he first was reared by Mr. Bruner, and, as we supposed, was

the second molt after hatching, and the second was of my own

rearing, and was the third molt; the third are the measurements

secured by myself a year ago.

No. 1. Aug. 3, 188}.

Exuvia. Young.

Entire MOM 5 os Ses an dare ten eens EEN > i years a

Mamk of carapax a.s... peiner oeir 2.0“ ee

Breadth of aee e A OSL a Lede 0 bs sehen eee? 3-5 * 5:4 “

Breédth of abdomen iscsi drsi ce ibe ean ss we ao 2.7 “ pga

Breadth hetween:eyes.i sse omms iener ie Feee iet sr bo “

mma OF tail. so... acc + eck cane + mmes saree tomer ae 3

eo, ia

No. 2. Aug. 20, 1503 oe Young

Peete length... cs cans venta venaee eee teere “ ae

met Of cafapat.: oo... cas ges geass iiaa K 2“

Breadth of carapax ae Sed 6k EEE A A E adie y 5.5 jii 73 k

Breadth of abdomen .........0ccesscesneersossss® 3-9 ‘“ a -

Rreadth between EYES. oa p< cle heebienee aber tere tty 3-3 “ > “

wg sith Oe BE RE R z idle

i 2 6, 1882.

No. 3. Aug. 2 Exuvia. Young.

BS ORI ou vine na per nsee CnAUee a sie gape a eper Ste

Length of CRA DER i ees os ENN eS a ae eee te ete 11.5 r 26.5

dth of carapax..........+ ty leaned cares 17.5 sb 16.5 "

dth of abdomen sissi ssi iene inen ia Ea a: P

Breadth between T E EE inbe san chuee treet eae 2“

f Heo t S. E E eer oe 10.1 * 17

ʻ nE Koons, Storrs Agricultural School, Mansfield, Cont., Oct.

eRT

1300 General Notes. (December,

latus, gen. et sp. nov. Group Homalopsinz, related to Tropi-

onotus.

Char. Gen.—Teeth isodont ; anal scute entire ; three internasal,

and two nasal plates; loreal present; scales carinate, poreless.

har. Specif.—Scales in twenty-one rows, all keeled excepting

the inferior one. Superior labials eight, all low and rather long,

the orbit bounded by the fourth, and cut off from the fifth by the

inferior postocular. Loreal low, much longer than high. Pre-

oculars two, both subquadrate; the superior the larger; the infe-

rior resting on the fourth superior labial. Postoculars three, the

median the smallest (the apex of the inferior cut off to form a

fourth on one side). Temporals 1-3, the anterior large, bounding

the sixth and seventh labials above. Rostral not prominent, —

separated in front, and from the rostral by a pentagonal azygos

plate. Frontal narrow, with concave sides, the anterior angles

touching the superior preoculars. Superciliary plates convex,

subtriangular, and nearly acute’ in front. Parietals elongate, pos- —

teriorly acute and much divaricate. Muzzle quite narrow, eyes

directed laterally, deca: Nie of

olor above ash-gray, with six or seven longitudinal series

brown spots. Those of the median two or three rows are sometimes —

united, forming short cross-bars. Those of the inferior series are

hers, Below

So ae

on the first row of scales and are blacker than the ot

rior borders. Top of head brown, with darker brown markings

as follows: A dark shade in the middle o

row x opening forwards on the frontal ;

a superciliary, and a transverse wave

do, of wal,

‘ cisco

I caught this snake in a net while fishing in the sai FA

river, New Mexico, on the ranch of Mr. H. C.Wilson, w a r

the boundary line of Arizona. In its characters It 15 quite a

combining the entire anal plate of Eutania with the gente”

acters of Regina B. & G., and a third internasal saps :

rarely met with in serpents. The only Nort Apara H

which it bears any resemblance is Tropidonotus taxisp like ¢

It is a good swimmer, and is doubtless piscivorom™ 5

water snakes, on to Mr. H.

I here take occasion to record my obligati opportun

Wilson, without whose aid I should not have had the

ontal.

Total length, M. .708; do. of rictus oris, 0215

1883.] Zoology. 1301

of making the excursion on which I took this snake and other

interesting objects —Z. D. Cope.

HABITS OF THE AYE-AYE.— Little is known of the habits of this

creature, as it is a nocturnal animal. Rev. G. A. Shaw sends a

few rough notes regarding it to the Zodlogical Society of Lon-

don, which appears in its Proceedings. He says: “ This curious

animal (Chiromys madagascariensis) has evidently been named

from the exclamations of the people who first saw it, and who,

upon first sight of anything so peculiar, wouid naturally utter the

usual Malagasy exclamation of surprise, Hay! Hay! And at

the present time among the people it is called the Haihay (pro-

nounced Hayehaye).” Native reports are contradictory as to its

habits in a wild state, especially as to its food. In confinement

it likes bananas and eats small fruits of various native shrubs, as

Movement. As might be imagined in a nocturnal animal, its

Movements in the day time are slow and uncertain, and it may be

said to be inoffensive then.” A number of superstitious beliefs

are connected by the natives with it.

Zootocicat Nores. — General. — MM. P. Regnard and R.

arenarius) be placed at 5, it is equal to 84 in the alligator.

Among birds the respiratory capacity of the common fowl is 12,

Several members of each of the following sub-king cep

Classes: Coelenterata, Vermes, Bryozoa, ect RER Zoon-

usca, Tunicata, Crustacea and Pisces, in all 117 species.

1302 General Notes. [ December,

erythrine is usually found in the superficial layer, but in some

species it occurs in the muscular tissue. Various phanerogamous

and cryptogamous plants also contain it. Numerous other pig-

ments are enumerated. One group of these is characterized by

the ease with which they can be transformed into zoonerythrine

under the influence of certain chemical or physical conditions,

such as elevation to the boiling point, or the addition of a drop

of acid, while another group is characterized by the impossibility

of transforming them into zoonerythrine.——J. Kollman (Zool.

Anzeiger, Oct., 1882) argues in favor of the double nature of the

excretory organs of the Craniota. The transverse canals are

probably homologous with the segmental organs of annelids, but

this does not apply to the unsegmented longitudinal canals, which

have a distinct origin and become afterwards connected with the

transverse canals.

Fishes-—The fishes of that part of the west coast of Africa

comprised between Cape Palmas and Cape Lopez are not yet well

nown. The most recent addition to our knowledge is the result

of the researches of M. Maurice Chaper upon the Gold coast, and

consists of thirteen species, four marine and nine fresh-water.

has made numerous observations upon the action of the eae

of the pyloric processes of fishes, with a view to ascertain whet F

they fulfilled in any way the office of a pancreas. His expen

ments were conducted af Havre upon ten species of fish

finta, Merlangus pollachius, Merlucius vulgaris, Gadi

minoids into peptones. They are therefore partial represen

of a pancreas, but have no action upon fatb. ae

Reptiles —The list of the Batrachia and Reptilia of Vs gree

pared by Messrs. N. S. Davis and F. L. Rice, inclu ee : nearly

four species of reptiles and thirty-two of batrachians, j éading

in Northern Illinois of an example of Siren lacerti

startling——F. Müller has contributed to the Catalog

Basle Museum an account of the distribution in Sw he. fatter

the two species of viper, Vipera aspis and V. berus. p

of the country, while the former is distributed in the "T

along the southern frontier.

Birds.—Professor Huxley (Proc. Zodl. Soc.) has sa

respiratory apparatus of the Apteryx differs from

birds chiefly in the greater size and lesser complexity < nee .

canals, the rudimentary state of the pneumatic sac an

ortions

species appears to occupy the eastern and nor a a and

n that the .

= ioe

ge Agee

1883.] Fhysiology. 1303

siderable development of the aponeurotic expansions; all peculi-

arities which approach the reptiles. There is nothing resembling

the diaphragm of mammals.

PHYSIOLOGY.'!

THE NEW CoRPUSCLE OF THE BLOOD AND ITS RELATION TO Co-

AGULATION.—It was the view of Alex. Schmidt that the fibrin of

clotted blood was a compound formed by the union of two fibrin

ctors, fibrinoplastin and fibrinogen, under the influence of a

third body, fibrin ferment. A number of reasons led to the be-

lief that one or more of the bodies necessary to the formation of

fibrin was derived from disintegrated white blood corpuscles,

Schmidt taught that fibrinoplastin and fibrin ferment owed their

origin to the breaking down of white blood corpuscles or allied

eres, while fibrinogen was present in normal circulating blood

asma

1304 General Notes. [December,

blood enclosed between two surfaces, one of which is concave;

the latter may be obtained either by using a curved cover glass or

by making a depression in the slide. Norris recommends a 5 p. c.

solution of sulphate of soda as an excellent preservative for the

extremely delicate “invisible corpuscles.” The special interest

of Bizzozero’s work lies in the relation supposed by him to exist

between the colorless corpuscles and the coagulation of the

blood. This author believes the fibrin to be derived from the

disintegration of the colorless disks, and the following are the

principal arguments introduced by him in support of this view:

1. Liquids which have a tendency to prevent coagulation pre-

serve also more or less completely the blood plates from destruc-

tion; atnong these liquids are solutions of sodium sulphate,

magnesium sulphate, sodium nitrate, strong sodium bicarbonate,

dilute sodium carbonate, glycerine, and 0.75 per cent sodium

chloride to which some methyl violet has been added. —

‘2. Experiments made upon blood kept within the uninjured

blood-vessel, after the manner of Briicke, showed that as long

as the blood remained uncoagulated, the blood plates kept their

shape, while the rapid coagulation of shed blood was always pre-

ceded by a destruction of the plates and the formation of granu-

lar masses from them. : ae

3. When a drop or two of blood was whipped with slen

threads for about 50-55 seconds, the threads then withdrawn an

slightly washed with 0.75 per cent sodium chloride meee

methyl violet, and then examined under the microscope Il)"

same liquid, they were found covered with a layer of plates ad

gether with some white corpuscles. If the whipping Was”

tinued longer the layer of plates became a granular mass OF i

transformed into a film of fibrin. He was able to heidi is

tent to watch this process, the deposition of the tesa

fusion into a granular mass and the subsequent formant ae

‘rin, by observing under the microscope a thread placed ye

current of blood, thus reversing the process of whipping. Jastin

4. When to a liquid containing fibrinogen and pE :

only, some of the colorless blood plates adhering to a 7 smn

sence of a forig?

he coagulation

ble

nificant or wanting altogether. The clot was not pei ae

cocytes adhering to the thread, for when bits 0 l of bone,

bodies such as the spleen, lymph glands, ulation Tè

etc., were added to the “proplastic ” liquid, no coag ime

sulted, except in the case of the last substance, W ‘til the white

caused a slight coagulum. The conclusion is, that ia leucocytes

blood corpuscles are shown to be different from

al ae Se a:

_ THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE AMERICAN TURRET SPIDER.

; (Old-fashioned chimneys, composed of mud and crossed sti

_ Sen in the log cabins of pioneer settlers.

Straight downwards twelve or more inches into the eart

1883. ] Psychology. 1305

this experiment must be regarded as conclusive evidence that the

plates have the chief rôle in coagulation.

Experiments madé upon animals with nucleated red corpuscles,

birds and amphibia, showed the presence of a pale nucleated

blood plate, differing from the white corpuscles, and which has

functions similar to those of the mammalian blood plate already

described.— W. H. Howell.

Dicrst1ion oF Meats AND Mi1K.—Jessen has carried out a

series of experiments to determine the time necessary for the

digestion of equal quantities of different meats and of milk.

Three different methods were employed in the investigation: 1.

Artificial digestion; 2. Introduction of the meats into the stom-

ach of a living dog by means of a fistula; 3. Upon a healthy

man, allowing him-to swallow the foods used and ascertaining the

time of digestion by means of the stomach pump. The results

obtained by the different methods were, on the whole, uniform,

as far as the relative time necessary for digestion in each case

was concerned, and may be stated as follows: Raw beef and

mutton were digested most quickly; for half-boiled beef and

raw veal, a longer time is necessary; thoroughly boiled and half-

roasted beef, raw pork and sour cow’s milk followed next; fresh

cow’s milk, skimmed milk and goat’s milk were still less easily

digested ; while the longest time was required for thoroughly

roasted meats and boiled milk.— Science.

AnmmaL CuLoropHyiyt.—Th. W. Engelmann has investigated

the function of the coloring matter of the green Vorticella, and

comes to the conclusion that it possesess fully the physiological

powers of vegetable chlorophyll, causing the evolution of oxy-

gen under the influence of sunlight and probably serving the ani-

Mal as an organ of assimilation. This view is contradictory to

the belief of most of those who have investigated this subject,

Which is, that chlorophyli found in animal protoplasm is really o

Vegetable origin maintaining a more or less parasitic residence

In it,

PSYCHOLOGY.

—The

Rev. H. C. McCook exhibited nests of Zi arentula arenicola Scud-

From half an inch to

le it extends

one inch of the tube projects above ground, whi h The

oo re or

kojecting portion or turret is in the form of a pentagon, MOF

small

regular, and is built up of bits of grass, stalks ob straw, oe

stalks | aod

twigs, &c., laid across each other at the corners. The upper ag

1306 General Notes. [December,

projecting parts have a trimming of silk. Taking its position

just inside the watch-tower, the spider leaps out and captures

such insects as may come in its way. The speaker has found

nests of the species at the base of the Allegheny mountains, near

Altoona, and in New Jersey on the sea-shore. In the latter loca-

tion the animal had availed itself of the building material at

have been previously familiar. In order to preserve the nest,

with a view to study the life-history of its occupant, the sod con-

lower openings plugged with cotton. Upon the arrival of the

nest in Philadelphia the plug guarding the entrance had bee

removed, but the other had been forgotten and allowed to remain.

The spider, which still inhabited the tube, immediately is

removing the cotton at the lower portion and cast some of ae

But, guided apparently by its sense of touch to the know o

that the soft fibers of the cotton would be an excellent matena! —

the very manifest inference that the spider must, for the first time,

have come in contact with such a material oes ae

mediately utilized its new experience by substituting “= pa

for the ordinary silk lining, or rather adding it thereto. :

Acad. Nat. Sct. Philada., June 19, 1883, p. 131- a

Nores on A Happy Famity.—M. Manouvrier (ne E

Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, an account of the pien ni se

some animals that lived together in a restaurant, an a male and

cipline. The companions were a large watch-dog, geons.

female cat, two female họunds, two hares and a avi gift d with ;

1883.] Psychology. 1307

the feeble bird on nose and feet, would often gently give up her

place; but- would sometimes move too slowly, and, teased beyond

endurance, would occasionally bound upon it without hurting it.

If the pigeon still continued its attacks, poor puss would dis-

charge her nervous tension by giving four or five bounds into the

air and then walk away. One of the hunting dogs, who was very

young, would often watch the hares at their play, while the strug-

gle going on in his brain between opposed inclinations was evi-

denced by a violent trembling of the body. The hares were al-

ways somewhat timid with the dogs and cats, yet would adminis-

ter blows with their feet when the former played too roughly

with them.

GALLANT Conpbuct oF A Rosin.—On a fine Sunday morning in

the month of May, my son with another young man were watch-

ing a sparrow, Passer domesticus, which was building or repairing

nything native born.” I think the robin showed fine pluck.

Had the hawk, on giving up his prey, turned upon his pursuer,

the odds would have been fearfully against that brave bird. "

the attack was so vigorous that the hawk was completely pi f

to get away by flight. Whether the traditional X ety.

can Obin ” experienced the emotion of gratitude = pep nad I

F eir of bird psychology that we cannot pan

3 VOL. xvi1,—no, XII, 86

1308 General Notes. [ December,

ANTHROPOLOGY .!

INDIAN ARcHAOLOGY.—The British authorities in India have

prosecuted their archeological researches with commendable

zeal. In the year 1880 appeared the charming volume, “The

Cave Temples of India,” by Messrs. Fergusson and Burgess, and

we have now to chronicle the appearance of two elegant quartos

forming Vols. tv and v of the Archzological Survey of Western

India. Volume tv is a report on the Buddhist cave temples and

their inscriptions, being part of the result of the fourth, fifth, and

sixth seasons’ operations of the Archzological Survey of West-

ern India, 1876-1879, supplementary to “ The Cave Temples of

India.” Volume v is a report on the Eleura cave temples and

the Brahmanical and Jaina caves in Western India. Both vol-

umes bear the imprint of Triibner & Co., 1883. Volume 1v has

groups, both in Bengal and Madras. The caves are divi i

among the three principal religions : the oldest and most ppe

sive to the Buddhist, the next in date to the Brahman, gro

smaller series to the Jaina. The oldest of all are the simple : C

excavated for Buddhist monks during the reign of Asoka ( gc

263-225) in the granite rocks of Bihar, and the series re :

to the Ajanta caves, probably as late as 700 A. The aF :

manical caves extend to the tenth century, while the Jem gom

vations, commencing at the same time as the Brahmanical, W

continued in the rock at Gwalior to the middle he ele

f so much pa-

tience, skill, and artistic advancement. ther want

Accompanying these wuvres de luxe comes aa iv” :

“Lists of Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency Sewell. a

Compiled ane the orders of government by pir report ‘

Vol. 1. Madras, Govt. Press, 1882.” - The volume 4 ji know!

of an investigation and correspondence respecting a iia Presi-

sculptures and monumental inscriptions in the | Hey mio

dency, in order to prepare the way for a detailed i en

furnish general information for the guidance of many t. Asiight —

Southern India who might be interested in the spe com et

notion of the magnitude of the work may be gathe are de-

fact that over 3000 villages are mentioned, and 325 oma

voted to the enumeration of the remains and inscrip™” aC

1 Edited by Professor Oris T. Mason, 1305 Q street, N. W., Washington,

1883. | Anthropology. 1309

fora {8...... 2* 2° 2 2» followed by 2° for himself, the binary no-

tation being 10,000, 1000, 100, 10, I. Every direct ancestor in

the zth degree admits of being specified by a particular number,

consisting of z + 1 places. e two parents are IO and II,

grandparents 100, IOI, IIO, III, and so on. Literally the three

past generations wou!d stand thus:

Noration oF Kinsuip.—The number of any one’s ances-

4 53

Child

Si m

4 eek, ~ ee

I mf Jn mm

Ses ES m

ae, —

M- mf fmf mna fin mim fum mmm

Numerically the same series would be:

A —, er m

1090 IOI IIO III

P ETES

I000 I0O0OI 1010 IOII I IOO IIOI IIIO Till

In the ancestry the even numbers mark males, the odd, females.

Each term carries on its face every step in the descent. Instead

of saying, for instance, B was father’s mother of A, we say B

was 101 of A. If the father’s-father’s parents of C were the

-mother’s parents of D, we say the 1000-1 of C are the 110-1 of

D. The case might have been one of half blood, say by the father’s

side, then the 1000 of C would be 110 of D. Translating the

inary into common figures, we have:

TABLE OF ANCESTRAL ROOTS.

GRADE OF KINSHIP. FATHER’S SIDE. | MOTHER’S SIDE.

Pa aoa :

+e A pe

I T O a = 3

eGor1[™

V—— eS

Grandparents. ,......... 4 5 ` A

P TE — pai i

Great- grandparents 8 9 10 EEE 13 14 5

Eii

1310 General Notes. [ December,

(= mother of) as the case may be, below each entry. Let 253 be

the number, then we get:

253 126 63 15 7 3 child.

: m m m m m_ child.

The foregoing is taken from a contribution to Mature by Mr.

Francis Galton. The m and f for mother of and father of con-

fuse one, the same letters having been recently used in an elabo-

rate paper in the Anthropological Institute Fournal for male and

female. It is to be hoped that Mr. Galton will continue his study

on this point and seek to extend the application of the system to

classificatory kinship.

GERMAN ANTHROPOLOGY.—The third and the fourth quarterly

parts of Archiv fiir Anthropologie, Vol. xiv, come to us in a sin-

gle binding. Among the original papers the following are of

general interest:

A case of abnormal hairiness in a child. By Dr. H. Ranke.

An alate extension of the skin in a human neck. By O. Kobylinski.

The eye of the Fuegians and the sight of the lower races in comparison W

cultured races. r. Seggel. oa.

HE alloys, their description and application among ancient peoples. By Dr. E. : oS

eyer. oe

ith that of

Account of Russian literature upon Anthropology, Ethnology, and Travel. By Dr:

Ludwig Stieda, pp. 387-90.

Review of Scandinavian literature. By Julia Mestorf, pp. 391-410. ie

Reviews of the Anthropological literature of America. By Dr. Emil Schmidt, Po

411-435. Re

path al SP yout

E eer rte ie ah es pra

Catalogue of anthropological literature:

1. Pristine history and Archeology. By J. H. Müller, 41 pp-

i. Anatomy. By Ad. Pansch, 5 pp. i

1. Ethnology and Travels. By Dr. Albrecht Penck, 90 pp-

1v. Zoölogy. By Dr. Georg Boehm, 13 pp.

Account of the anthropological collection of the Schneck:

furt, A. M. By H. Schaaffhausen, 30 pp.

Account of the anthropological collection of the Grand-Ducal

Schlosse, Darmstadt. By H. Schaaff hausen, 25 pp- :

Correspondenz-Blatt, from xiir, No. 9, to xIv, No. 4. eee

The titles of books and other publications mentioned’ a a

are not merely a catalogue of names, but important <a Archiv

followed by abstracts, many of them of great value. 106i n

is facile princeps among the journals of anthropology. ;

Colonel F. 4

Seely, examiner in the U; S. Patent Office, read a paper M i

the Washington Anthropological Society on the Origin tan

tion. Itis well known that one whose daily life is span

at all things in a peculiar manner. For instance, wi | il

for the rudest form of a machine and follow up its nee

to the perfected form, Colonel Seely would go just MET" ™

enberg Museums at Frank- :

Cabinet, in Alten |

1883. ] Microscopy. 1311

‘examine the perfected form and try to understand the machine

by a series of eliminations. He first, by way of explaining his

method, eliminates the improvements on the steam engine until

he gets us back to a savage man blowing through a hollow reed

that nature supplied. This was the starting point of invention, a

purely human characteristic. The author then applies his

‘method to bows and arrows, stone implements, etc., and is brought

‘to the following conclusion:

“TIt is clear that neither to Professor Dawkins and Professor

Gaudry, nor to Mr. Grant Allen, is it hard to imagine that a crea-

ture, inferior to man both in physical and mental structure, may

have made such progress in art as to be able to work so difficult

a material as flint, and to have developed such wants as to call

for the practice of that art. All lose sight of the nature of art

and the laws of human progress, and they indicate a conception

of art prior to man, but an inability to conceive of man as exist-

ing without a certain degree of progress in art. It would seem

to them that the first human creature, whatever his origin, must

have signalized his advent and perpetuated his memory literally

‘ Monumentum aere perennius,’

by instantly, without preparation or conscious need, chipping out

tools of flint. The quotation from Lucretius, :

‘ Arma antiqua manus, ungues, dentes fuere,

Et lapides, et item sylvarum fragmina rami;

is misapplied by archæologists. Lapides does not mean flaked

or polished stone any more than /ragmina ramı means dressed

timber.”

The author traces back of the rudest wrought stone, an age of

wood, and other perishable materials, and anterior to that the

age without invention.

MICROSCOPY.’

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN SECTION-cuTTING.— In sectioning

objects imbedded in paraffine, the knife is generally fixed, by a

clamp, more or less obliquely to the carrier, and the sections al-

most invariably roll. The rolling of the sections, which is

caused by the bevel given to the cutting edge of the knife in sharp-

ening it, besides leading to difficulties of manipulation in the pro-

cess of mounting, often injures or completely ruins the sections.

any efforts have been made to find some convenient means n

preventing the rolling, and very recently successful methods an

instruments have been devised to meet the difficulty. In pres

knives I have found places where the edge was SO thin - the

bevel appeared wholly wanting. Such portions of the kni e ae

ally cut without causing the sections to roll; and this fact mig

1 Edited by Dr, C. O. WHITMAN, Mus. Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. —

1312 General Notes. es [ December,

lead one to conclude that the entire blade could be made, by

proper treatment, to cut in the same way. It was in this direc-

tion that I at first hoped to find a remedy against the difficulty in

question ; but I have found that when the blade is reduced to the

requisite thinness, it lacks the firmness required for uniform sec-

tioning.

In Vol. xvi, p. 782, of this journal, I have given the method

used, until quite recently, at the Naples Zodlogical Station-for

preventing rolling. This method, which consists in holding a

needle, spatula or brush lightly over the paraffine during the cut-

ting of each section, is inconvenient and slow, and has already

been abandoned for the one described below.

THE SECTION-SMOOTHER! DEVISED BY MAYER, ANDRES AND GIES-

BRECHT.—The section-smoother (“ schnittstrecker’’) is an instru-

ment designed to prevent the rolling of sections ; it is attached to

the knife itself, and thus accomplishes its work unaided by the

hand.

eaeee

OSE

4 cht.

Fic: 1.—Section-smoother. After Mayer, Andres and Giesbre

The accompanying figure represents a portio

A 3 ney

with the section-smoother attached, and a block of se show

A section of the knife and rod, f’, is also given, 1n orde

the position of the rod above the edge of the you” cylindrical

The most important part of the instrument 1S pe alfel to,

steel rod, f, which is supported in a position exactly pare i

and close above, the cutting edge of the knife.

1“ Neuerungen in de Schneidetechnik,” in Mittheilungen aus der Zoo SR

zu Neapel, Vol. Iv, p. 429, 1883.

n of the knife, 4, 3

In this position Q :

et Oe ee

‘

tion of the drum. Each af

_ With the figures 1, 2, 3 and 15.

2 Work, it

ele left half of the drum, a 4, "e:

-~ in position by the screw, $, and may

1883.] Microscopy. 1313

the rod compels the sections to pass between itself and the knife.

The parallel position of the rod in the vertical plane is obtained

by rotating it about the axis, x, which turns in the hole c or c';

the parallel position in the horizontal plane is reached through

the screw æ and a’ ; and the vertical distance of the rod from the

edge of the knife is regulated by the screw, 6. The entire appa-

ratus is slipped on at the end of the blade, and held fast by two

springs that press upon the under surface of the blade. The rod

and its holder, which rotates on the axis, dd, can be lifted up

from the edge of the knife by the aid of the handle, 7, and turned

back far enough to admit of cleaning the rod and the knife. The

apparatus includes three interchangeable rods, differing in thick-

hess in adaptation to sections of different sizes.

Tue REGISTERING MICROMETER-SCREW.—In the “ Microscopy”

So closely opposed that the

dividing ‘line (dotted in the

gure) is scarcely visible. The

Periphery of each half is com-

Posed of two zones of unequal

radii. The larger zones, 4 and

» are in apposition, and to-

Sether form the graduated por-

€ smaller zones are marked

‘hen the drum is in order for

Fic. 2.—Drum of the new ernest

be rotated indepen-

1314 General Notes. [ December,

dently of the right half, a’ 0’, or of the screw, g g, by the aid of

a handle which fits the holes 2 x x.

When the half æ 4 is adjusted to the half a’ 6’, in the manner

represented in the figure, the fifteen equal parts into which the

zone 6 is divided exactly correspond to the same number of parts

in the zone 4’, so that the grooves which mark these parts in one

zone, become continuous with those of the other zone. Thus

adjusted the spring, which rides on the zones 60’ with a sharp

edge parallel to the grooves, will give fifteen sharp clicks in the

course of one rotation of the drum, the click being heard every

time the sharp edge falls into coincident grooves. In order to

adjust for fifteen clicks, it is only necessary to rotate aé until

groove fifteen becomes continuous with groove fifteen of the op-

posite half (a’ 4’). For one click in one rotation, the grooves II

must be made to coincide; for two clicks the groves 2 2, and

for three clicks the grooves 33. The intervals between sugoh

sive clicks may thus be made to correspond to }, 3, 5 Of a of a

complete rotation of the drum, and the thickness of sections cor-

responding to these intervals should be respectively .015, 0075

G5, OOF.

THE new Opject-Hotper.—The object-holder which res

companies the Thoma microtome is an invention of Mayer, Andr!

Wis = te See erage

TLE ML ME Mitel Hittite

Fic. 3.—The Object-holder and Carrier. : :

and Giesbrecht, and has been described by them in shep a i

fore cited. The object is now movable in all three i aa

is raised or lowered, and turned about the perpendicu pues “oo

free-hand; but in the two other planes it is moved by Trin de

that the plane of section may be altered at pleasure,

1883.] - Microscopy. 1315

process of cutting: ` As seen in Fig. 3, the object, o, imbedded in

a small piece of paraffine, is attached to a larger mass of paraffine

contained in a hollow metallic cylinder. The cylinder, 7, may

be slipped up or down in the cubical block, a, and turned around

its longer axis by means of a small metallic rod applied in holes

near its lower end (holes not seen in figure), The position of the

cylinder may be fixed by the handle, 6, which works like the

handle of a vise.

The block, a, may be turned about the transverse axis of the

frame which holds it, by the pinion d, and fixed by the screw e,

the head of which is provided with holes for the metallic rod.

In the same way the frame itself may be made to turn about

its longer axis by means of the pinion g, and fixed by the

screw f. :

The chief merit of this holder lies in the fact that the object

may be rotated very freely about the two axes of the frame, with-

out at the same time being raised or lowered very much. This

latter advantage depends on the fact that the axes of rotation are

near the top of the block, a; 7.¢., as near the object as possible.

The attachment of the object to a cylinder movable in a per-

pendicular direction, has the great advantage that pieces of more

than two centimeters in length may be sectioned. In order to

obtain room for pieces of greater length, washers og Or

thickness may be placed at first under the knife, and afterwards

removed.

ma (cf. NATURALIST, September, p. 993 ). The most recent

improvement, according to Mayer, consists in making the so-

called “points” of ivory, and the planes, on which the points

rious friction.

Prices of the Microtome and tts Adjuncts.—

The older microtome, consisting of a stand of cast-iron and the

two carriers, without the micrometer-SCreW ...++-++-+e5e%""* $24 00

Same with ivory “ points” and new object-holder....-+++++++++"* 27 50

The registering micrometer ScreW ......+++++ee0%* veeeucwoowues 10 00

Knife for oblique cutting (16 long) with étui.....-++++++- Fo BO

Knife for transverse cutting with étui, holder, &c..+..-++++++e+*** 8 00

Beetonsswannther 6 fos resres uc aes ene eth ees Cores 2 25

The complete set, including stand with ‘ planes ” of zinc and cop-

per alloy and ivory “ points,” registering micrometer-screw, ve

the two kinds of knives with étuis, and section-smoother pessas 55 $

This microtome can be obtained from the maker, Rudolph

1316 Scientific News. [ December,

Jung, 15 Hauptstrasse, Heidelberg, or can be ordered through

Geo. A. Smith & Co., 7 Park street, Boston, Mass. ;

TYPE-METAL Boxes FOR ĪMBEDDING.—I have before describec

the type-metal boxes and the method of using them in imbedding,

and should now add, what was unknown to me at the time, tha

the credit of introducing such boxes belongs to Mr. Geo. Dim-

mock. Mr. Dimmock also used for the same purpose quotations, —

such as are used by printers in filling blank spaces at the begin- —

ning and end of chapters. These quotations vary somewhat in

size, and are sold at 25 cts. a pound.

EE EREA

with glycerine, and then the box is washed with collodion and

placed on a water-bath in order to evaporate the ether. ‘ge

way a box is obtained in which paraffine can be kept for hours in

a fluid condition without escaping between the glass and the

metallic pieces. The box is kept ona small water-bath, made

for this special purpose, while arranging the object under the d wo

secting microscope,

SCIENTIFIC NEWS. |

— Dr. F. C. Noll has found a fluid which is very suitable for :

permanent preparations of delicate Crustacea and their larva, Pre ik

venting their shrinking or becoming too transparent. | ee

It is a mixture of equal volumes of Farrants med =

Meyer's fluid No.11. It is never cloudy nor entirely dry, althous”

it has such a consistency that air-bubbles scarcely ever

The preparation is sealed with asphalte or some other vat

In order to prevent the cracks arising in the asphalte varn

is better, after a time, to pass over it a layer of transp

shellac. ee

Hydroids, small medusz and other ccelenterates W ee ee

been hardened in alcohol and then stained may, the aul’ mi

be splendidly preserved in the above fluid.

r. W. S. Kent has found potassic iodid

serving Infusoria. It acts in a manner a

i ic iodide in dist

lows: Prepare a saturated solution of potassic iodide pe

water; saturate this solution with iodine, filter, and e

1 AMERICAN NATURALIST, Oct., 1882, p. 781.

1883. | Scientific News. 1317

brown sherry color. A very small portion only of the fluid is to

be added to that containing the Infusoria.

— Among the discoveries last summer of the U. S. Fish Com-

mission is that of a deep-sea fish, closely allied to the very strange

Eurypharynx dredged last year at the bottom of the Mediter-

ranean sea. Drs. Gill and Ryder have studied the anatomy of

this form, of which five specimens occurred, and have found that

it presents so many peculiar features as to entitle it to form the

type of a new order. Ten new genera and seventeen new species

of fishes were collected in addition, besides new mollusks and

worms.

our ornithologists, and ably represent American workers in this —

field.

— Professor Zittel, of Munich, while in this country visited the

collections of Professor Cope and the museums at Princeton and

ale, and was much impressed with their extent and importance.

e regret to announce the suspension of the Canadian Nat-

uralist, which the publishers announced in the last number issued,

which was Vol. x, No.

Another prominent figure in the scientific world, the illus-

trious paleontologist, Joachim Barrande, died at Prague, in Octo-

affable and yet distinguished manner an

all hearts. Barrande was an interesting,

acter, and his name will go down among the

of science.

heroes and martyrs

ch Academy, though

1318 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [ December,

tinents. His work was done in Bohemia, and his collections —

filled to overflowing the spacious apartments of his mansion in —

Prague, where he lived simply and unostentatiously, devoting —

his fortune to the preparation of the plates and text of his works, —

which he distributed with a princely hand. He belonged in every —

sense to the old régime. Faithful to the memory and interests of 2

his royal master and to monarchist principles, he was inflexiblein —

his adherence to Cuvierian ideas in biology, in his opposition to

ence has died in the fullness of years and honors. 3

— Professor Oswald Heer died at Zurich, Sept. 27. He was

born in 1809 near St. Gallen; in 1834 he became a privatdocent

for botany and entomology in the University of Zurich, whee

1836 he was appointed professor and director of the botanigt .

den. Since the year 1853 his continuous series of researches 1 |

fossil plants have made his name famous. His works on the his :

sil plants of Greenland and Spitzbergen were notable, re eo

extended work and papers on. fossil insects. His st kr : o

book, The Primeval World of Switzerland, in two volumes, WA

translated into English. It will always occupy am Ip" =

place in a scientific library.

PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. =.

rs Wee

by Dr. Thomas Gill on the ichthyological results of the ee

Dr. C. A. White on the character and funtie A hie a gn

the bull snake (Pityophis); by Professor Lester BP; terii y Dr

interesting botanical relic of the ese sie of Columbia, and by |

C. V. Riley on manna in the United States. a M. Stem

Nov. 2—Communications were read by Dr. George Wither

berg, U.S.A., on Micrococci; by Dr. E. M. Schae! “8 Dr.T

remarks on Manna, with exhibition of specimeni: Yi pito

Bean on arrested asymmetry in a flounder, hae? nic dic

specimens, and by Professor Lester F. Ward on es

yledons. x ngs ri

New York Acapemy oF Sciences, Oct. ba ee stret

now held in the new building of Columbia Col T were al

and Madison avenue. The following comm ne EE as

nounced: On the strata of indurated shales betw

1883. | Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1319

and the Palisades, N. J., by Mr. Nelson H. Darton; The Trenton

(N. J.) gravels and their contained implements, as bearing on the

antiquity of man, by Professor Daniel S. Martin.

Oct. 22.—Observations made during the past summer were

expected from several members, including Notes on the Copper-

mining region of Lake Superior, by Dr. N. L. Britton, and re-

ports by others upon points of interest at the Minneapolis. meet-

ing of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci-

ence.

Oct. 29.—The following paper was announced: The relative

soil-exhaustion by the sugar-cane crop, by Dr. A. R. Ledoux;

Mr. George F. Kunz exhibited some interesting minerals.

Boston Socrety or Naturat History, Oct 17.—Dr. C. S.

Minot discussed the histology of the skin of insects, and Mr. W.

O. Crosby spoke of the “ Purgatory ” in Sutton, Mass.

ACADEMY oF Narurat Sciences, Philadelphia, May 24.—In

answer to Professor Heilprin, Professor Lesley said that the

geological world was by no means unanimous with respect to

glaciation. No one could say that the movement of ice was from

One center, or that that center was in the far north. The Alps

had no center of glaciation. There was no foundation in fact

for Dana’s theory of the relations between continents and oceans.

Professor Heilprin replied that the Alps themselves were a cen-

ter of glaciation.

June 1.—Dr. Leidy spoke of a human bone found in a ravine

at Natchez along with bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx. As

there are Indian graves near, it was quite possible that the human

bone, which was lowest, may have been washed from the soil at

the top of the cliff, while the mammals came from a lower posi-

tion. Yet if the bone had not been human, no one would have

thought of such a solution, and the Natchez loam was not older

than the alluvium of the Somme, in which human implements

have been found with bones of the mammoth.. If proof of con-

temporaneity were forthcoming, it would indicate the existence

of man in North America a thousand centuries ago. Professor

Cope detailed the results of two days’ fishing in the Batsto river,

N The fauna of the region is Carolinian. Twelve species of

quires seven to fourteen days,

The Rev. Dr. McCook spoke of the |

ys.

hentzit in captivity. In the winter it was inacti í

torpid. It dog, land made the earth scratched up by its palps

1320 Proceedings of Scientific Soctettes. [December,

and anterior legs into soft balls with a liquid from its mandibles,

but it made no nest. The molting of another species of Mygale

was described. The skin broke along the middle line of the

found are so from the attacks of enemies. A large black spider

from San Diego, said to be very venomous, and to be in the h

of collecting the cocoons of other individuals of the same:

egs.

June 14.—A report on the habits and manners of the Engisi

. G. Gentry in answer to a note

of enquiry from the Concordville Farmers’ Club. . Pre

ably with the Laramie beds. On stratigraphical evid

beds seemed to belong to the horizon of the Green Ri

but the remains of fishes are not closely allied to those 10

the latter beds. A genus named by the speaker Plioplare

quite closely related to forms now existing. There was

and the marine fauna Tertiary. The formation com

Cernaysienne fauna in France was believed to be nearest 1n

tion was first determined, the name should be appl

French deposits. Professor Heilprin maintained the f

of the Laramie. The beds of Maryland and Eastern

New York were of the same horizon as the ie

Pennsylvania, so that it would be useless to sink W

tervening tract. Investigations extended into Living’

lect it by brushing the hands over it.

1883.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies, 1321

ben and Wyoming counties, N. Y., established the belief that

these sands belonged to the Lower Chemung. The oil in Penn-

sylvania never reaches the reservoirs from above, but principally

from below, though some of the material was formed from plants

contained in the beds themselves. Mr. B. S. Lyman, late chief

of the Geol. Survey of Japan, stated his belief that oil always

originates in the sand where it is found.

une, 21.—Professor Cope gave an account of the fossil fishes

from the Idaho and Oregon lake basins. Twenty-two species

were now known from Idaho, all distinct from those found in the

Oregon basin, and distinct from existing species, though, with two

exceptions, they belonged to existing genera. Among these

shes was a member of the Cobitida, a family not now repre-

sented in North America. The name of Idaho lake and Idaho

deposits was proposed for the Pliocene beds of Idaho. No re-

mains of mammals and very few of any vertebrates but fishes

were found in the Idaho beds, though the Oregon deposits are

full of bird remains. The Rev. Dr. McCook exhibited a nest of

Tarentula arenicola. :

Aug. 31.—Mr. Meehan, recently returned from a trip to Alaska,

Stated his conclusion, from the relations of ancient forests of

Abies sitkensis, and other evergreens, to the drift and superim-

posed younger forests, that the destruction of the former, the

covering of their site with hundreds of feet of drift, and the sub-

sequent exposure of their remains, were all the work of a few

hundred years. ;

Sept. 6.—Mr. Meehan spoke of the abundant exudation from

the cones of Adies sitkensis, and expressed his belief that honey-

dew was in most cases an exudation from the flowers and leaves

of plants. Sachs had suggested that its function in the arbor

vitæ, was to catch the wind-blown pollen, but this could not be

the case in plants of other classes that also produce it. The

Rev. Dr. McCook remarked that the honey-dew of aphides was

an excretion, as the drop always appeared at the anus. That p7

source of the honey. was vegetable, he had proved in the case o

the honey-ant of Colorado, which collects the liquid from the

alls of the scrub oak. |

? Sept. 13.— Mr. Meehan called attention to the flowers of Centau-

rea americana, a native of Texas. If the point of the united

Stamens be touched, the pollen will overflow and the pistil rises

above the stamen-tube. If now the pistil be touched, the entire

floret bends to the side or makes arcircular motion, and some-

times the motion is communicated to other florets. The motion

is only observed when the pollen is present.

Sept. 20.—Mr. Meehan et to the remarks of Dr. Horn,

at one of the summer meetings, respecting a species of grass

which yi £ t ly of sugar that the natives col-

hich yields so abundant a supply ner Sel ppa

1322 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [Dec.,

Nationat Acapemy or Sciences, New Haven, Nov. I

The meetings, which extended through four days, were w

tended, a large proportion of the members being present.

following papers were'read :

. Upon why a netei of a deaf variety of the human race, A. Graham Bell

2. On the Solar Eclipse of May 6, 1883. Reports by C. A. Young, E, S. 8

and C, S. Hastings

3. Notes on the Mass of Saturn. A. Hall. .

4. The Animikie rocks of Lake Superior, T. Sterry Hunt. ¢

5. On some new primary cleavage forms of albuminous matter. R. H

den. (By invitation.)

6. On the use of the word “ Light ” in Physics. S. Newcomb.

7. On the subsidence of particles in liquids, W. H. Brewer.

8. On + new photograph of the Solar Spectrum.

g. On the theory of errors of observation and probable results. S. N

10. On the stratified drift or terrace formation of the New Haven region, |

its kettle holes and deserted river channels. J. D. Dana. oe

11. Preliminary notice of phospho-vanadates, arsenio-vanadates and

vanadates, Wolcott Gibbs.

12. On the probable existence of new acids of phosphorus. Wolcott |

13. Notes on the mineralogy and lithology of the Bodie mining district

nia B. Silliman.

t4. On the ancient glaciation of North America. J. S. Newberry.

t5. Marriage institutions in tribal society. J. W. Powell.

16. Atmospheric absorption. S. P. Langley. .

Oss

ptodesma, of Be review of the Pecteni

vonian system. James Hall.

18, Personality in the measures of Venus’s diameter as derived during

the sun. O, T. Sherman. (By invitation.) ;

19. The reduction of barometric observations to sea-level. Elias 10°

INDEX OF VOL. XVII. PART II.

Abbott, C. C., gaoh of certain sunfish, 1254.

Abies sitkensis, 1

Abietinz, fruit scal vi ‘of, 1

A, Pean, roa Sciences, 1322.

ties neces, Philadelphia, 905

000, ee

Averatherium. 405.

Achenodon, 969.

tinia $ yst , Irgo.

pecs n 810

Actinospheriu um eichhornii, o 1319.

Æcidium, p

N, paa notes — 773, 863, 963,

Alepides osaurus tsa 1190.

ig: moneys

hical notes on , 865, 1049, 1150.

E SLR E jv sat ement of cience,

Saro thone

Mus m of ee History, 859.

Americanist, Society of, 898.

Analges m

Anarsia peas oie Sie.

Anatomical technique, oe

ee c mtortrix

An epatica, winter mead of, 1109.

ye sg ager

Anodonta couse

baat eggs o gos.

polis s principalis, 919.

arva infesting n, 1072.

yeei ahe , German, 121

Tylor ron, dh

Aq ai in

hnida, coxal glands of. 795.

"i of, 984.

2 logy, Indian, 1308.

Archæological Faite, 1085.

Arctic regione +771.

Arisema triphyllum, winter bed of, tīro.

4 pieneen bdg aid

Arthropoda, 1

Arzama obliquata,

1189, 1

isarum ca nse, what bads of, 1109.

4 scidians, Jercke ment of, 980.

Asia, hical notes phy re 1145.

Astac 868.

ospheric dust

E eae multimaculatus, 1300,

PE little, breeding ni "of,

Australia, Cent ral, a rigines o of, 5

geology of, a

mmals of, 1126,

Aye-aye, 1301.

_ Beaver, Manic

Aylographum y evabarche 1283.

Aztec musical ins ents, 1000,

moat bere

San. Lima, eal in se co PE starch-

ME TS of PORR period, 1193.

w ne

sai or olin and and Hooker’s Genera

1066,

new species vot insect-destroying

, 1280.

prea Cicada in Southeast-

rn Massachusetts, 1070.

mals, 11

retin Miet of hanger upon, 893-

new, the, I

Bombus pennsylvanicus, 1171.

Boro-glyceride, 1093»

Bo , American, 1163.

of A. A. A. S., 874-

Blood co:

Boul + 779+

Brain, bumman. ‘characters nan ol, 803.

Brazil, Southern, coal of, 707, 1007-

logy of, 707, tool, 1007-

Wore. discovery of palæozoic rocks in,

h Association, 1206.

Borers EOE

Buzzard, 8:

California, per logy ot 1 in, 1271.

1291.

Caligus RN e

peera turneriana; 2098 ie disease of,

le — i Hg 970.

Cantharis, pniti, =

Caprification

Caracas 3, flora of eae n 1157»

Carex, sugar-producing, 132

Carson footprints, 1153.

Caspian sea, Pi

eles, « “origin of markings of, 5

1324

Catlinit

Cat, adoption of pinion rats by, 1084.

Caton, J. J pom Bsc a ane in the cat, 986.

€ cal

Caucasus, ene of, ng 7

ane shr ee 11

C ell divis Rent Hag

mericana, I 2

Chariclea, 738.”

Charnay a 987, 1085.

Vereen

ces,

Cale, 17-year, 1070.

+ an in Green River shale, 1153.

bergen pe =e a

revision of, 1

Coal fields of Pennsylvania, 85t.

dirigono, 968.7

Cope, E. D., fossil fishes of Idaho and Oregon

Snake River valley, 867.

Index to Vol. XVII. Part I.

new snake from New Mexico, 1300.

Permian reptilian fauna, 905

agpi Chinese and J

rustacean, new parasitic, 885,

reat sang 1278.

Cyclo

Cymop

Cystopl hora rita n 4s yy

Dandelion fow tower, Serd

Datames

tan albat- watch, 1

Dermatoptera, 822 s 933-

pasnya ory 0 of, 1042 we

matotherium guyot 970»

p mae mmg h heterogenetic d

eae sena ee winter buds of,

Diclonius,

Direction, sense “in animals,

Directory, “Scientists” , 859:

Discina, Brazilian, 1156.

’ Sgt.

aioe som w., Siphe

Fish

pips, oe shoal

of vertel

Index to Vol. XVII. Partit. 1325

Fishes, African, 1302. Haeckel’s visit - Cey!on, 956.

o ology of, 1190. Hadrosaurus,

f, 1074. Hair-sac mite Tt pig, 1112.

of New ‘Jersey, 1319. Hairs, achenial of ‘Townsendia, 1102,

of North America » 9595 Halichzrus gryphus, 1210.

of the G Hausmannite a4

pyloric secretion of, Poan Fene ia, 7875 ee eer i

aain reefs Í eart, action of ethyl alcohol on dog’s, x 2.

Flounder, aS aR beat, relation ef ana rial pressure to dura-

Fluid, macerating, Hertwig’s, 806, 33+

pastime ah 1316. J toe, S, ‘nutrition o of, 892-

ste, Aue, F., hibernacula of herbs, 1107. Heer, O., obituary | ies of, 1318.

Folk-lore, 898. Helia americalis, in nt’s nests, 1070,

rints, Car: 1153. es ia gras, I r

Foraminifer elodermas .

Paya te dimorphism i in, 1182. i 5 +E pe bea ulosum ake

i ne $3693 6 Hemiptera, origin af 934-

Herbs, hiberna cula of, 1107.

taas be 1262.

Herrick, C. E. heterogenetic development in

cid

Forbes, W. A., reris T tig

France, Puerco fat aana i

Frazer , Persifor, pees ae Tan C4, Second = ispio mus, etc, Corrections,

Geological Survey of pote

sylvania, 1020. an fly, 1074.

Mr. Rand on the Geological Hiberna cula tu RAE

Siy of ke and Eear _ E, J., means of plant dispersion, 611, 1028.

ounties, Pa., Histriop oca, :

Frear, W., icin Ei N cell-wall in t pr ‘coty- Hittites in America, 1088.

itonay starch-cells of the Lima bean, 1281. | Holothuroidea, 1183.

Fr Peat inal SS. Horse, — < I

, Oi, I

Fuchs, o i thin deep-sea a auna, 1179. APET A of, 1084.

82. re: i f, 895.

’ large, 1064. trotti

bse guy iron on, ear Horsford, B., how ae approach and swallow

ne 1164. i rey

North piga ae 877. Howdl’ re. the new corpuscle of the blood

Fungus injuring sponges, 1169. and its relation to coagulation, 1303»

Human faculty, 1265-

Galeolaria, 834. röporión Tok r na catar sci-

— macrodon, Toor. Hunt, T. Sterry, classinca

Gal Peer D Or he At

Gallus ayet, 3957 TAES

arn. mink or hoosier fi Island

Gastman, E. A., prairie aauscaihe 2136. spine of Staten N.

Gastornis, m

Gedrite, uras , 978-

Genealogy ofi insects, 932. Hydroida, nematophores of, 1182.

Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 351, 1020, | Hydroids,

1052.

Geology of Brazil, toor,

California, 1271. Hypermetamorphosis, 94!

tago ; Hyperodon, 98t.

Pennsylvania, 1020. Hypsilophodon, restóred, 969»

ened ag pire ners 67.

pape „€, F.,a new parasitic ciki Crusta- Ichiyesacri, of 3

deposits, 1321.

Cladigtinn of: Bavarian Alps, 779- ; Bors 650, 869, 969, 1273+

laciers, 905, 906, 1319. í paraguaiensis, 714- ;

Glands, bri ok red, in Limulus and Arachnida , lae State p Aet of Natural History,

Gleba, 840

Glover, TE E, obituary of, 1 Indian bread, ore 972- f British North America,

aaria in a Cretaceous limestone in res 1163. = _semey ok tise aoc

Sela nikela, 1172. oa, activi e senses in, 80r.

Grasses, 1067. a, flagellate, 979. «5 ee 1316

Grass pr ras " preservanive m fuid for, 1316.

Gratacap y k pi oe preferences in nocturnal Sasect iator na gi, 2%;

‘Lepidoptera, 791. Insecticide, i cosh, vie

growth o plante in acid solu- | Insects, oe pas

tions, E [Ax :

Gray, A. F., note on ben itd shells from Ten- pe eb! growth of, 1287,

ge Ap a pie aem of, 88

G ew Uni b from Florida, 1184. T lory sad opment of, 858, 1319.

reenland, enal of, x histo! raving

or denskiold’s oe to, 903. rons o rilsa of. Ts

Growth and development, roz of n head of, ne

Guahyba river, 70 r mber of segmen!

Gymnocla dus, Chinese, 787. otc for oe .

Gymnosporangium 1281. ae tas 203 976-

Gypsum, recently formed, 116r.

1326

Invention, origin of, 1310,

Iolite age ree from razil, 1160,

ron from Ohi mounds, 1203.

va pines eters 973.

poison, ¢normous, 974.

Jacuhy river 1007,

aoe: we , k 7: ees

ames e positi mpositæ

i Orchides in the in æd natural system, 1245.

j stibnite from, Ancor

ava eruption, 11

ohns Ho _ niversity, biological laboratory

us E., pete from California

and Weveda, a., os; 973

Jungle cock,

unonia coenia, 11

j amare beds of Voces, 1157.

Echinids of Algeria, 1158.

Kellerman, W

nts mn Smg, Sh

Kidney. piysioiogy “yt gp 1081.

Kingsley, ) J; ., is the group Arthropoda a natu-

Kinship palin aa

oons, B, F Fy gluttony im ina n a frog, too o;

and J. B. Ellis, new Ameri-

Limulus,

Kunzé, R. i kee pakad, 1229.

Lamarckianis:

Lamprey, pessoa Sony Cte of 799,

g 890.

proportion in

seat are eas

- Martin, G. Gr aed |B B, Ellis, 9 ay Tiii o,

1283.

bes get ee sere Conde,

Index to Vol. XVIL Part IT.

z =e

"xin

Mesogonistius chetodon, 1255.

Meteorites, concretions in, 781.

Mergulus alle, 798.

Py, staining

Microtome, Hene y

Milk, formation

ocean

lg i

recen

notes on, Lateral

influence of light on, rs

Mink frog, 945.

Mites 196: 191.

ectes,

Mulcale a ASEE T :

M none fossil, of North America, 765.

PI stance of, to salt water

aea ia wir

Moss, h pret

Moths, fif

nce of

development

Julex'to Vol KVI. DN.

Packard, A. S., Jr., government aid to science,

1258.

nomenclature,

roar.

Peripatus from the Isthmus

of Panama, 881,

molting of the shell in Lim-

ulus, 1075

number o segments in the

mets of winged insects,

exc 2ssive,

obituary notice of Barrande,

Ps and orp of

amir 882.

value of the inductive meth-

od i in science, 95

zoology in the

schools, 1139.

ring

common

a,r

alzocampa

Prison implements, American, 1202.

Paludina a, 118

Panther in California, 1183.

Pantolambda,

apilio, pi ay 11 8. $

Pappus, 814. $

Paraguay t 714.

Parra, 709.

Peach mot h,

Pearls and tg fisheri ries, 731.

Pearson, A. W., occurrence of a Stratiomys larva

in sea- orgie 287.

Pelagic fa waga

ZS, 1204.

Pennatulida, 7 793-

Pennsylvania adr Ids of, 85r

pona gtn , 965, 1020, 1052.

Peripatus from os 7 9 y Bis

; dev nt er (St

Perintuch , 968.

Petrel, new Alaskan, 1191.

Peziza os , 1283.

Pha’ hallu: us, w, 787. J.

Fiero unt sea- “pens » 794.

of deep-sea animals, 1179.

Phrynosoma, proienr coloration in, 1077-

Phyllosticta san 165.

asiminæ, 1165.

decid 1165.

ycei,

loptera, 821,

Phylloxera, 1288, 1292,

Physa, A = an, 1184.

of goe desert, 1014.

Picranalicine, 1r

Pig Demodex, 8 feang

. diving for fish, 800.

hair-sac mite of, 890, IrI2,

ort ancient, 9

pee S, s, animal, 1301.

= Sor of shoulder girdle of, 799.

n France, Trs2,

Plants, Bentham and Hooker's genera of, 1066.

asihin of, p 1345;

dispersion of, r

dupa. ps Ba nes Str, 102

028.

fertilization of, mature pek a a

wth of, in acid solutions, 970,

1327

Pi iod t ip lpi , 117I.

Porter, C. J. A., experiments with the antennæ

Be! insects, nis

87.

Fuca: E, our fresh-water sponges, 1293.

Praya cyimbilormis, 841.

diphyes, 839, 840.

Preservative fluid, 1316.

Protoplasm, hintaa of, 926.

Pseudoneuroptera

Pterichthys rogoni, 1322.

Prerycollasaurus, 72

Ptilodus, 870.

Putnam, J.

Pyrgula nevadensis, 1

Pyrite for sulphuric acid, "1162.

Quaternary beds at Billancourt, Paris, 1153,

Radicipe ee a 1292.

Rail, Braz iha n, 799- 166,

and, T. D., gee al Lower Merion and

Mra sae U , 965.

Kapiri rys socialis, T092,

prairie, 1186.

Renilla EOT, mene of, 384.

epiratory psec of vertebrates, 1301.

Reptiles of Illinois, 1302.

Rhea americana, ne

Garon galeon al gis. cies of, r168.

a SeH

hoa, iss ao scent in the turkey

» 974

tsar ca 1193. R 1169.

atid M anap.: 1071

habits urmidius, `

— agers of the Mel-

sgh

insects oat oo rg

va noprycha y

a ney stlaypalcane; 7g

Ritsemia, faa

ari ns, poisonous, 877, 1068.

bin, coura , 1307.

pret y a formation of, 780.

oulet’s studies on, 1158.

Reestelia, ae

Rose bengaie

Rusa aristotelis, 957

Rust, box, 787-

wheat, 784.

Sabba ris, periodicity of, 1067.

Sabine, aero obituary of, 905-

Salt Lake City. fa - ult near, 1158.

Samia ne

of Australia, 1220.

Sanger. fae Can piar

‘ for man 1174. |

occurrence of f Branchi

ralian desert, 1

the — ian 2

Sao 2o Jeronymo, 707, 007.

Savage rapes, 999; Ser apg infesting prickly ash,

injury done by Colaspis tristis,

978.

1328

Sciara, 1178.

Scientific | ata te 1095.

urus fossor,

Scovillite,

Sea fans, 12 “9

Seal, hooded, 1191.

Sea-pen,;

Section cut cutting, ae Laer ene in, 1316.

pe eg on slide sale 805.

Trelis method A fixing, Do

S ns of dis

Sclancia ¢ cerasi, 12 =

Septoria cacaliæ, 1164.

Poem 1165.

“cme a, a

n of, 811,

muli,

sphærelloides, Es

nthifolia

argy. 792

Shells, f resh-water of — Australia, 1184.

Pot to Rico, 1075.

Shufeldt, R. W., habits of Anolis principalis,

919.

Sider ra Po H 875.

5 Silurian period, ga notes on, 1157.

ores, 833,

Skylark, ‘English’ II t, 1207.

m ae a gees feeding their young

iii eh

Smith, Dor E Tengmalm’s owl, 1 1078.

th, H. H., ry of palæozoic rocks in

Eea Brazil, 11

Na p eyre aer ilian expedition,

PE J. La ce, et eae notice of, 1279.

w, fro m New Mexico, 1300.

So!

Sparrow, on ge 894, 1199.

Species qi

Spermophilus ap Sin it 1192.

Sp campanule, 1166.

Staining, gor, 902.

Stearns,

REC rg mart epea in Phry-

pest arr ska 1296.

shells e" Colcemio desert,

_ Vicgelazinn Actinozoon,

white beavers, 1079.

O tee

St Paul — of Natural Sciences, 808.

Sumichrast, ABJ F., obituary of 904.

: banded, 12

Survival mg tg as,

fætidus, wi

3 1 cal winter buds of, r1c9.

‘Synaptera, 820.

Index to Vol. X VIL. Part IT.

Talbot, D. H., reas soning mon of horse, 895.

Tarantula arenicola, 13

Titre pR EEA 75

Threlfall’s method of fixing sections, 903.

1 a ie ay 1277.

Thysanura, oecenntig' f at, 932.

Tin ores, Cornwall, 8

Titanophasma fayoli, 9

Toad, squealing,

T ong-king, pass a flora of, 1157.

Torpedo, 1205, 120

electrical organs of, 887.

Tortugas,

alah gh chenial hairs of, 1102,

Tr acka of oimais, supposed, 1157, 1274.

Trematode worms, 1190

Firmen gravels, 899. ;

Tri EAEN revision, of, 1063.

dages of, 1275.

Trilobites

T li 407:

riungulin, 942.

Tru me W., tologia characters of the genus

Histriophoca,

PN 11

Tubercle-bacillus, tek

Tuckahoe, 972.

Tumble weed, 818.

744

| Turkey wesc

Types of animal iile, 1143.

Tyrannus intrepidus, 887.

Ullmannite, 1163.

Ungulates maate r “ in Tertiary time, oe

Unio cunninghami 184.

Uranium’ minerals, 1278.

ane: 4.

ces,

Uromyee £25) 7 aora, winter buds of, 1109+

Valentin, G. a of, 810.

pie at

ves in — ae “ee 1002

rella h pes eg 1182.

kaore origin of, 1043.

rates, fossil, ot India, 968.

Viner, 1302.

ria, I

Bl g 793, S99" Java, 1154-

Vulture, turkey, 829.

ad, 7 :

Watson" s, S., contributions to American botany

Weisma sl -, on hes theory of descent, 1042.

Whale, baie d, 981,

Wheat-bo > palani eg ;

92.

888. ia-

Women, hariei Fh History Associa

tion, 809.

Worms, earth, large, 958- .

Zetodon graci e, ori

Zoological gard ss Bh andelphia, 808.

tesaseptictm, 3